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The limited evidence of effectiveness of existing teenage pregnancy strategies which focus on sex education, together with growing evidence that factors such as poor school ethos, disaffection, truancy, poor employment prospects and low expectations are associated with teenage pregnancy, has increased interest in interventions which target these “wider” social determinants. This paper aims to identify promising interventions and priorities for future research and to make recommendations for policy and practice in the UK.

This paper discusses the evidence regarding the potential of interventions which target determinants of teenage pregnancy relating to school disaffection and low expectations, drawing on recent systematic reviews and trials to consider future directions for research, policy and practice.

High‐quality research evidence illustrates the potential of two approaches to address determinants of teenage pregnancy relating to disaffection and low expectations. These are school‐ethos interventions, which aim to facilitate a positive and inclusive school‐ethos, strengthen school relationships and reduce disaffection; and targeted, intensive youth work interventions, which aim to promote positive expectations, vocational readiness and self‐esteem through vocational and life‐skills education, volunteering and work experience.

Two forms of intervention which address key social determinants of teenage pregnancy – school‐ethos interventions and targeted youth work interventions – require more attention from researchers and policy‐makers.

This paper calls for a shift in the research and policy agenda. In addition to interventions that aim to address proximal, individual factors, such as sexual health‐related knowledge, there should be a more complementary focus on socio‐environmental as well as targeted individual‐focused interventions aiming to address the wider social determinants of teenage pregnancy.

This paper proposes a new visco‐elastoplastic constitutive model for asphalt concretes able to reproduce the non linear time‐dependent behaviour of such materials.The constitutive model has been developed with the aim of making it fit specific experimental features previously observed. Moreover the proposed formulation will be demonstrated to be fully consistent with general thermodynamic requirements. Apart from a rigorous analytical formulation; a corresponding rheological sketch of the model is also given. From this representation, it can be shown that the model is essentially a combination of a generalized Maxwell model and a hardening visco‐plastic element.

An account of the practical steps involved in building up, maintaining and exploiting a specialized collection of trade literature, standards and specifications, data compilations, and related material to produce a user‐orientated service (World Metal Index WMI). The origin and scope of the collection is outlined, together with the basic routines of updating (management responsibility, job allocation, delegation and supervision). The problems involved in co‐ordinating input from manufacturers, government organizations, national standards bodies, material users and commercially published sources in many languages are covered. The organization of files, indexing rules, etc. is described. The ‘spin‐offs’ and by‐products of the WMI are indicated. An attempt is made to answer the questions: Is the collection a successful information tool? Does it benefit the user? Finally, possible future developments are mentioned.

AROUND this time of a new year, newspapers and journals are packed with traditional space‐fillers on the theme ‘what I most enjoyed reading’ during the prevous twelve months. We are treated to the bookish thoughts of leading figures such as Jimmy Young, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Twiggy, Brian Clough and, of course, Angela Rippon. There's obviously no point in trying to compete in that field on level terms, so I'm giving myself a year's start.

This article argues that measures for project accountability and cost effectiveness generated by the Home Office's Policing and Crime Reduction Unit are ill‐suited to capture the full complexity of project work over time. A new research tool is proposed ‐ a Calendar of Action. This tool has the advantage of being more dynamic and it allows the recording of both quantitative and qualitative data. Its principal aims are to aid the modelling of project impact, the process of evaluation and the measurement of the intensity of action.