The UK government has recently implemented the Green Deal, a new pay-as-you-save policy which seeks to fundamentally reform the existing housing stock to make it more energy…
Abstract
The UK government has recently implemented the Green Deal, a new pay-as-you-save policy which seeks to fundamentally reform the existing housing stock to make it more energy efficient. Regarded by its proponents as a ‘revolutionary programme to bring our buildings up to date’ (HM Government 2010: 2), generate cash savings for householders, and simultaneously yield environmental benefits by reducing energy consumption, it promises much. However, there have been many critiques of the Green Deal from industry, environmental pressure groups and housing professionals. Moreover there has been very limited take up of Green Deal loans by householders, and those measures which have been installed offer perhaps only minimal improvements in overall energy efficiency. This paper therefore considers the potential generative and productive outcomes of the Green Deal by looking across three related issues: households with low incomes and in fuel poverty; the potential impacts on elements of the housing system; and, the extent of environmental benefits. The paper concludes by suggesting that the instead of being a revolutionary way to improve the energy efficiency of the UK’s domestic building stock, the Green Deal may potentially perpetuate existing social injustice and environmental degradation. The effort should, instead, focus on understanding how energy demand is created in the first place (e.g. desire for larger homes, energy-hungry appliances, heating in every room) through householders’ expectations and changing domestic practices.
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Rachel Louise Reid and Allan Hackett
The recent food scares combined with the wide body of literature suggesting improved health status of vegetarians has apparently fuelled the growth in the number of vegetarians…
Abstract
The recent food scares combined with the wide body of literature suggesting improved health status of vegetarians has apparently fuelled the growth in the number of vegetarians and semi/demi vegetarians. This expansion has been met by a considerable growth in the vegetarian convenience food market. A database of vegetarian convenience foods has been created which shows that there is a large and increasing number of vegetarian convenience foods available which show great within‐product ranges in terms of nutritional composition. The database indicates that vegetarian convenience foods are often high in fat and saturates and their consumption would not assist in meeting current dietary targets.
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The existing housing stock has a major energy saving potential and is mostly considered to be the sector in which energy efficiency most cost effectively can be achieved. About…
Abstract
The existing housing stock has a major energy saving potential and is mostly considered to be the sector in which energy efficiency most cost effectively can be achieved. About 30% of all energy use is consumed in the housing stock. The European union formulates saving targets, policies and regulations that have to be implemented by the member states and a considerable share of the EU budget for research and innovation is dedicated to this challenge. In recent years many policies, investment programmes, technical innovations and process innovations have been developed and been put into practice. However, it appears to be very difficult to realise massive renovation programmes in the existing housing stock and really make a step forward towards the energy efficiency goals. This special issue presents an overview of actual insights of the perspectives of energy efficiency in the housing stock based on several research projects and analyses and discussions about how the current policies will work out and which are the barriers that still have to be taken. We focus on the policies, the processes and the people.
The influence of extralocally produced texts, such as professional standards and systems of accreditation, on the ruling relations that govern teachers’ work and their learning…
Abstract
The influence of extralocally produced texts, such as professional standards and systems of accreditation, on the ruling relations that govern teachers’ work and their learning about that work is a matter of concern in Australia, as it is in Canada, UK, and USA. This chapter explains how a dialogic analysis and the construction of individual maps of social relations were employed to reveal the influences that governed teachers’ learning about their work at the frontline. A dialogic analysis of research conversations about learning, based on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, revealed the existence of both centralizing, hegemonic discourses associated with a managerial agenda and contextualized, heterogeneous discourses supportive of transformative learning. It also revealed the uneven influence of extralocally produced governing texts on both the locally produced texts and the “doings” of individuals. The production and use of “individual” maps represents a variation on the way “mapping” has generally been used by institutional ethnographers. From these informant specific maps, we can begin to observe some broad patterns in relation to the coordination of people’s “doings” both within a given context and from one context to another.
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Clodagh G. Butler, Deirdre O’Shea and Donald M. Truxillo
Interest in psychological resilience has grown rapidly in the last couple of decades (Britt, Sinclair, & McFadden, 2016; King & Rothstein, 2010; Youssef & Luthans, 2007)…
Abstract
Interest in psychological resilience has grown rapidly in the last couple of decades (Britt, Sinclair, & McFadden, 2016; King & Rothstein, 2010; Youssef & Luthans, 2007). Psychological resilience occurs when a person can “recover, re-bound, bounce-back, adjust or even thrive” in the face of adversity (Garcia-Dia, DiNapoli, Garcia-Ona, Jakubowski, & O’flaherty, 2013, p. 264). As such, resilience can be conceptualized as a state-like and malleable construct that can be enhanced in response to stressful events (Kossek & Perrigino, 2016). It incorporates a dynamic process by which individuals use protective factors (internal and external) to positively adapt to stress over time (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Rutter, 1987). Building on the dual-pathway model of resilience, we integrate adaptive and proactive coping to the resilience development process and add a heretofore unexamined perspective to the ways in which resilience changes over time. We propose that resilience development trajectories differ depending on the type of adversity or stress experienced in combination with the use of adaptive and proactive coping. We outline the need for future longitudinal studies to examine these relationships and the implications for developing resilience interventions in the workplace.
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Paige Milburn, Carol Galvin, Amanda Louise Bryan and Patrick John Kennedy
Factors that may influence risk and/or vulnerability to radicalisation or involvement in terrorism by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are currently undetermined…
Abstract
Purpose
Factors that may influence risk and/or vulnerability to radicalisation or involvement in terrorism by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are currently undetermined. The purpose of this rapid evidence assessment (REA) was to identify and review studies which consider the association between ASD and terrorism to explore potential risk or vulnerability factors and the implications for intervention.
Design/methodology/approach
The REA method was used to review the literature, with 16 papers meeting inclusion criteria.
Findings
Ten factors were identified as relevant to ASD and terrorism which were combined into four overarching themes: cognitive, social, psychological and ASD traits.
Originality/value
This REA presents a novel review of literature relating to ASD and terrorism. The findings are valuable to practitioners working with individuals with ASD who may present with the identified risk and/or vulnerability factors. The implications of these factors for intervention are discussed, along with directions for future research.
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Simon Levinson, Pieter Willem Nel and Louise-Margaret Conlan
There is a gap in the literature regarding the experiences of newly qualified Clinical Psychologists (NQCPs) working within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a gap in the literature regarding the experiences of newly qualified Clinical Psychologists (NQCPs) working within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the National Health Service (NHS). This paper aims to explore three aspects of newly qualified Clinical Psychologists’ experiences: their transition and development; working in multi-disciplinary teams located in large organisations; and support and coping in the role.
Design/methodology/approach
Seven participants each engaged in one semi-structured interview, and an interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted.
Findings
Three super-ordinate themes emerged from the analysis: A big jump, the transition from trainee to NQCP; The support of home comforts, old and new; and Acknowledging and desiring ongoing development.
Originality/value
Implications and recommendations for both Clinical Psychology training programmes and NHS employers are discussed, to support the development and wellbeing of this staff group, and in turn the clinical population they serve. These include gradually increasing caseloads on training, a staggered workload at the outset of the transition, and CAMHS teams ensuring appropriate supervision for NQCPs.
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Miriam McGowan, Louise May Hassan and Edward Shiu
Past research argues that identity-linking messages must use established descriptors of the social group (i.e. prototypical identity appeals) to be effective. The authors show…
Abstract
Purpose
Past research argues that identity-linking messages must use established descriptors of the social group (i.e. prototypical identity appeals) to be effective. The authors show that less established descriptors (i.e. identity-linking messages low in prototypicality) can be optimal for an important customer segment, namely, for those that affectively identify with the social group. This is because of the distinct self-motives underlying the cognitive and affective social identity dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach
A pilot and two experimental studies were conducted, using gender and nationality as the target identities.
Findings
Consumers feel more hopeful and have higher purchase intention for products advertised using identity depictions that fit with their predominant (uncertainty-reduction or self-enhancement) self-motive. Consumers predominantly high in affective/cognitive social identity prefer identity-linking messages that are low/high in prototypicality. An abstract mindset reverses these effects by encouraging a similarity focus.
Research limitations/implications
Future work should identify potential boundary conditions of the findings. Further, all studies use ascribed social groups. Future work should explore whether consumers relate differently to different social group, such as achieved groups, non-human groups or aspirational groups.
Practical implications
Adverts using established descriptors of a brand’s target social group may no longer fit the brand’s positioning. Understanding when and when not to use less established group descriptors to market brands is important for practitioners.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to explore the conditions under which priming consumers’ identity using less/more established (i.e. low/high in prototypicality) descriptors has a beneficial, or detrimental, effect on consumers’ purchase intention. In understanding these effects, the authors draw on consumers’ self-motives underlying cognitive and affective identification, a distinction not yet made in the identity-linking communications literature. The authors also explore the mediating role of hope – a central motivating emotion – in identity marketing.