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The idea that patients should be informed about the benefits and risks of treatment options and involved in decisions about their care is, to many people, appealing and sensible. However, it has important implications. This paper briefly considers two motivations for involving patients in clinical decisions and explores some of the issues raised by these. It then makes some practical suggestions for those wanting to provide information to support patient involvement. The paper emphasizes that although the provision of more good‐quality information to patients is widely accepted to be a priority, it is not always a straightforward matter and warrants critical consideration. Substantial resources may be needed if it is to be done well.

The Informed Choice Initiative aims to make available to both professionals and users a range of leaflets about topics related to pregnancy and childbirth which are based upon the best available scientific evidence. For each topic covered there are two leaflets — one for health care professionals and one for patients. They are intended to facilitate women's involvement in decisions about their health care and help promote clinical effectiveness. The initiative is the result of a collaboration between the Midwives Information and Resource Service and the NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. The article describes the rigorous development process of the leaflets and discusses some of the issues raised by initiatives such as Informed Choice.

A postal survey to determine UK medical directors’ (n = 491) attitudes on the importance of effectiveness information; their own access, awareness and use of a variety of sources for information on effectiveness, their own use of and views on the perceived usefulness of the Cochrane Library; their attitudes towards their own role in the local application of clinical governance. Respondents reported high levels of awareness and access to a number of sources of clinical/cost effectiveness information. Respondents regularly referred to paper‐based publications more than electronic databases (only 10 per cent regularly referring to the Cochrane Library). Respondents felt that the Cochrane Library could be improved by increasing the number and range of topics and clinical areas covered, and by improving access and availability.

Rural populations have traditionally received less attention in Britain than their urban counterparts, and little research into their problems has been undertaken. Identifies and discusses potential problems in the provision of quality health care in rural areas, based on interviews with five senior NHS managers and supported by information from relevant published literature. Identifies trade‐offs between the various dimensions of quality which can occur in rural areas, and argues that they should be based on objective information and be undertaken explicitly.

The purchasing role of health authorities has been in existence for two years and public health physicians are expected to play a central part within this role. While the first year was dedicated to maintaining a “steady state”, differences are now appearing between authorities in the way in which purchasing is managed. Based on the views of senior managers and public health physicians working in purchasing authorities, considers how the purchasing process is developing and reports how public health medicine is perceived to be contributing to it. Identifies sub‐regional resource allocation as a major factor influencing the purchasing process. Conflicting views were found on the purchasing role of public health medicine, in particular with respect to health needs assessment. As purchasing evolves it remains unclear whether public health medicine will come to fulfil a largely technical role, or a more wider one in which it acts as advocate for the population′s health.

Man has been seeking an ideal existence for a very long time. In this existence, justice, love, and peace are no longer words, but actual experiences. How ever, with the American preemptive invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the subsequent prisoner abuse, such an existence seems to be farther and farther away from reality. The purpose of this work is to stop this dangerous trend by promoting justice, love, and peace through a change of the paradigm that is inconsistent with justice, love, and peace. The strong paradigm that created the strong nation like the U.S. and the strong man like George W. Bush have been the culprit, rather than the contributor, of the above three universal ideals. Thus, rather than justice, love, and peace, the strong paradigm resulted in in justice, hatred, and violence. In order to remove these three and related evils, what the world needs in the beginning of the third millenium is the weak paradigm. Through the acceptance of the latter paradigm, the golden mean or middle paradigm can be formulated, which is a synergy of the weak and the strong paradigm. In order to understand properly the meaning of these paradigms, however, some digression appears necessary.

It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.

The purpose of this paper is to critique the role of homeless hostels in contemporary society, examining their role and legitimacy as sites of discipline and regulation of behaviors, ideas and aspirations.

The research draws upon in-depth qualitative interviews and supplementary observations undertaken in two homeless hostels in Stoke-on-Trent.

The research finds that even the most benign interventions enacted in homeless hostels are infused with disciplinary and regulatory techniques and suggests that the author needs to consider the legitimacy and efficacy of such approaches when seeking to understand the role of the hostel in assisting residents in (re)developing their autonomy.

While there are legitimate reasons for the deployment of such techniques in some cases, legitimacy can be undermined where expectations go unmet or where developing residents’ and service user’s needs are not necessarily the main object of the interventions.

Hostel providers need to consider the ethicality and legitimacy of the interventions in place when seeking to help service users and residents to (re)develop their autonomy and ensure that efforts are focused in an effective and meaningful way.

Homeless people are among the most vulnerable and excluded in society. The paper seeks to draw attention to the disciplinary and regulatory techniques to which they are subject in order to ensure that approaches employed to support homeless individuals have a clear, ethical and legitimate basis.

The research draws upon original data collected as part of a doctoral research project into wider experiences of unemployment.

Aims to develop a greyscale “painting system” by enabling the physical reproduction of digital texture maps on arbitrary 3D objects selectively exposing “pixels” of photographic emulsion with a robot mounted light source.

After reviewing existing methods of “decorating” 3D components, the properties of photographic emulsion are introduced and the nature of the rendering process' pixels discussed. A proposed path planning algorithm, used to derive both the robot's movement and the exposure times directly from a VRML representation, is then presented.

Results obtained from successfully rendering images on the surface of a test object are presented.

Limitations of current system include the overall process time and the inability to handle objects with concave geometry.

The system requires no bespoke production tooling and fills an automation gap in rapid prototyping and manufacturing technology that is currently occupied by hand painting.

This chapter aims to discuss the changes that are happening in the heart of the James Bond films especially with how women are described and treated in the newest versions of the movie franchise. For that, this chapter focusses on Miss Moneypenny, a recurrent presence since the very first movie, Dr. No (1962), and one that also appeared in Ian Fleming’s novels. Fleming based Moneypenny on four different women he knew, and she can be described as an intelligent, brave and beautiful person. Unfortunately, the original movie Moneypenny was painted as almost a comic relief, but since she was portrayed by the actress Naomie Harris in Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015), Eve Moneypenny (as she was not called) had an upgrade, becoming an action-oriented woman who provided a new base for the so-called ‘Bond Girls’ of the films.