Stephen Bell – författare

Peer research is increasingly used in international academic, policy and practice environments. It engages members of a group or social network as trusted members of a research team working in communities and settings they are familiar with.

Critics, however, point to methodological concerns with peer research. These include the extent to which peer researchers genuinely represent the populations under study; data confidentiality; the emotional burden of enquiring into sensitive issues peers may experience in their own lives; and the reliability and credibility of data collected by people who do not have academic training. The book seeks to counter the marginalisation of research experience and skills derived from close relationships with people and communities, while reflecting critically on the strengths and limitations of peer research. Chapters by a wide range of international contributors illustrate the potential of peer research to facilitate an in-depth understanding of health and social development issues and enhance policy and practice.

This interdisciplinary book provides students and professionals working in health, social science and development studies with a thorough grounding in this new style of research. It will appeal to those interested in research and evaluation; sexual health and public health; mental health, disability and social care; gender and sexuality; conservation and environmental management; migration and citizenship studies; humanitarian issues; and international development.

Peer research is increasingly used in international academic, policy and practice environments. It engages members of a group or social network as trusted members of a research team working in communities and settings they are familiar with.

Critics, however, point to methodological concerns with peer research. These include the extent to which peer researchers genuinely represent the populations under study; data confidentiality; the emotional burden of enquiring into sensitive issues peers may experience in their own lives; and the reliability and credibility of data collected by people who do not have academic training. The book seeks to counter the marginalisation of research experience and skills derived from close relationships with people and communities, while reflecting critically on the strengths and limitations of peer research. Chapters by a wide range of international contributors illustrate the potential of peer research to facilitate an in-depth understanding of health and social development issues and enhance policy and practice.

This interdisciplinary book provides students and professionals working in health, social science and development studies with a thorough grounding in this new style of research. It will appeal to those interested in research and evaluation; sexual health and public health; mental health, disability and social care; gender and sexuality; conservation and environmental management; migration and citizenship studies; humanitarian issues; and international development.

Genome Duplication provides a comprehensive and readable overview of the underlying principles that govern genome duplication in all forms of life, from the simplest cell to the most complex multicellular organism.　Using examples from the three domains of life - bacteria, archaea, and eukarya - Genome Duplication shows how all living organisms store their genome as DNA and how they all use the same evolutionary-conserved mechanism to duplicate it: semi-conservative DNA replication by the replication fork. The text shows how the replication fork determines where organisms begin genome duplication, how they produce a complete copy of their genome each time a cell divides, and how they link genome duplication to cell division.　Genome Duplication explains how mistakes in genome duplication are associated with genetic disorders and cancer, and how understanding genome duplication, its regulation, and how the mechanisms differ between different forms of life, is critical to the understanding and treatment of human disease.

Genome Duplication provides a comprehensive and readable overview of the underlying principles that govern genome duplication in all forms of life, from the simplest cell to the most complex multicellular organism.　Using examples from the three domains of life - bacteria, archaea, and eukarya - Genome Duplication shows how all living organisms store their genome as DNA and how they all use the same evolutionary-conserved mechanism to duplicate it: semi-conservative DNA replication by the replication fork. The text shows how the replication fork determines where organisms begin genome duplication, how they produce a complete copy of their genome each time a cell divides, and how they link genome duplication to cell division.　Genome Duplication explains how mistakes in genome duplication are associated with genetic disorders and cancer, and how understanding genome duplication, its regulation, and how the mechanisms differ between different forms of life, is critical to the understanding and treatment of human disease.

New approaches are needed to monitor and evaluate health and social development. Existing strategies tend to require expensive, time-consuming analytical procedures. The growing emphasis on results-based programming has resulted in evaluation being conducted in order to demonstrate accountability and success, rather than how change takes place, what works and why. The tendency to monitor and evaluate using log frames and their variants closes policy makers’ and practitioners’ eyes to the sometimes unanticipated means by which change takes place.Two recent developments hold the potential to transcend these difficulties and to lead to important changes in the way in which the effects of health and social development programming are understood. First, there is growing interest in ways of monitoring programmes and assessing impact that are more grounded in the realities of practice than many of the ‘results-based’ methods currently utilised. Second, there are calls for the greater use of interpretive and ethnographic methods in programme design, monitoring and evaluation.Responding to these concerns, this book illustrates the potential of interpretative methods to aid understanding and make a difference in real people’s lives. Through a focus on individual and community perspectives, and locally-grounded explanations, the methods explored in this book offer a potentially richer way of assessing the relationships between intent, action and change in health and social development in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

New approaches are needed to monitor and evaluate health and social development. Existing strategies tend to require expensive, time-consuming analytical procedures. The growing emphasis on results-based programming has resulted in evaluation being conducted in order to demonstrate accountability and success, rather than how change takes place, what works and why. The tendency to monitor and evaluate using log frames and their variants closes policy makers’ and practitioners’ eyes to the sometimes unanticipated means by which change takes place.Two recent developments hold the potential to transcend these difficulties and to lead to important changes in the way in which the effects of health and social development programming are understood. First, there is growing interest in ways of monitoring programmes and assessing impact that are more grounded in the realities of practice than many of the ‘results-based’ methods currently utilised. Second, there are calls for the greater use of interpretive and ethnographic methods in programme design, monitoring and evaluation.Responding to these concerns, this book illustrates the potential of interpretative methods to aid understanding and make a difference in real people’s lives. Through a focus on individual and community perspectives, and locally-grounded explanations, the methods explored in this book offer a potentially richer way of assessing the relationships between intent, action and change in health and social development in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

The Hunter Region, between the Hawkesbury and Manning rivers in eastern New South Wales, hosts a rich diversity of vegetation, with many species found nowhere else. Spanning an area from the coast to the tablelands and slopes, its rainforests, wet and dry sclerophyll forests, woodlands, heathlands, grasslands and swamps are known for their beauty and ecological significance.

Flora of the Hunter Region describes 54 endemic trees and large shrubs, combining art and science in a manner rarely seen in botanical identification guides. Species accounts provide information on distribution, habitat, flowering, key diagnostic features and conservation status, along with complete taxonomic descriptions. Each account includes stunning botanical illustrations produced by graduates of the University of Newcastle''s Bachelor of Natural History Illustration program. The illustrations depict key diagnostic features and allow complete identification of each species.

This publication will be a valuable resource for those interested in the plants of the region, including researchers, environmental consultants, horticulturalists and gardeners, bush walkers, herbaria, and others involved in land management.