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Modular construction is widely used for residential buildings of 4 to 8 storeys. In the context of open building systems, modular construction provides a systemised approach to design in which the benefits of prefabrication are maximised. There is demand to extend this form of construction to more than 12 storeys for residential buildings. This paper presents a review of modular technologies, and describes load tests and analysis on light steel modular walls that are used to justify the use of light steel technology to support higher loads.

For taller modular buildings, the effect of installation and geometric inaccuracies must be taken into account and it is proposed that maximum out of verticality of a vertical group of modules is 50mm relative to ground datum. Using these geometric tolerances, the notional horizontal force used to evaluate stability of a group of modules should be taken as a minimum of 1% of the applied vertical load on the modules. Robustness to accidental load effects is important in all high-rise buildings and it is proposed that the tie force in the connections between modules should be taken as not less than 30% of the total vertical load applied to the module in both horizontal directions.

Media images of unrealistic beauty have been identified as a determinant of women's body dissatisfaction. This experimental study aims to explore whether the negative impact of such images could be reduced by a one‐time educational intervention consisting of a presentation and discussion, teaching women to be critical of media images.

Female psychology students (n=176) from a university in the UK were randomly assigned to the control or intervention group and completed measures of body dissatisfaction after being challenged by images of the perfect female body. Follow up data were collected four weeks later.

The results suggested that the intervention had no immediate buffering effect on body dissatisfaction but participants in the intervention group showed a long‐term improvement for confidence, attractiveness and body‐parts dissatisfaction.

This one‐time intervention could be used to protect young women against the detrimental impact of media images in the longer term.

This study provides an evidence base for the use of an educational intervention for young people in schools and colleges.

The purpose of this paper is based on recent research at Oxford Brookes University which explored how metal building envelopes can provide high levels of air‐tightness.

An intensive research programme tested many of the foremost cladding systems used in the UK. Over 500 individual tests have produced reliable data on the performance of different joint types. This paper summarises that data and identifies key design issues and solutions.

The research has demonstrated that metal building envelopes can provide very high levels of air‐tightness providing that they are properly engineered and assembled. It also presents compelling evidence, based on whole building thermal dynamic simulations using the test data, that further increases in air‐tightness are achievable; far more energy can be saved by doing this than by increasing thermal insulation even further.

The testing programme concentrated on steel cladding systems, both built‐up and composite panels, with technical assessment of different joints assemblies using a dedicated purpose‐built air‐tightness test rig.

As this research and other studies have shown that far more energy can be saved by achieving high levels of air‐tightness than by increasing thermal insulation even further, it suggests that a major change in regulatory strategy is now due.

The value of the paper lies in the originality of the testing programme and method. Although BSRIA has been testing whole completed buildings for air‐tightness using large mobile fan units pressurising the building to 50 Pa, it is the first time that a variety of cladding systems have been tested for air‐tightness on a large scale and in a laboratory environment; BRE carried out air‐tightness testing on few steel cladding systems on a smaller scale.

Ethical decisions are generally based on the intensity of the moral issue at stake. While moral intensity has been studied variously, little is known about the link between individual cultural orientations and the importance attached to the characteristics of a moral issue. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of moral intensity on ethical judgement while evaluating the relationship between an individual’s cultural orientation and moral intensity.

Data was gathered from 308 tertiary students at a large public university in Ghana by means of self-administered questionnaires. The partial least square-structural equation modelling technique was used to test for the hypothesised relationships in this study.

The analysis reveals that moral intensity significantly predicts the ethical judgement of individuals. Further, the authors find a significant positive relationship between indulgence, self-restraint, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity-femininity and moral intensity.

Knowledge on the implications of cultural orientations on moral issues provides educators and trainers the basis for designing and implementing strategies that can help improve the ethical judgement of individuals.

The study introduces a new perspective to the moral intensity literature by highlighting the unique role of individuals’ cultural orientation in ethical decision-making.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides:

The purpose of this editorial is to provide an overview and brief summary of the present contributions to this third volume of recent Health Education Special Issue submissions on Healthy Schools and Colleges, commissioned early in 2010.

Authors working in the health education arena in either the school or college venues were invited to submit papers concerning current research‐related findings that addressed the topic of “what works, what is needed, and why?” as regards school‐based health education and health promotion efforts. After undergoing traditional peer review, five submissions fulfilling the basic criteria relevant to this volume were selected.

As in earlier volumes, the five papers reported here are reasonably diverse, and cover both the nature of common health problems and/or their solutions in schools, as well as college venues. In line with the first and second volumes of the 2010 series, all authors concur that multiple, rather than single, strategies are needed to support school‐based health programmes and health‐promoting behaviors. They also highlight the fact that health in schools is determined by both individual and collective health behaviors, and multiple rather than single stakeholders are needed to promote the implementation of efficacious programs and their sustainability.

While more research is needed, the ideas embedded in this special issue can assist stakeholders to develop or improve the efficacy and sustainability of school‐ and college‐based health promotion programs. The data specifically provide some direction about what is needed collectively to foster the health of the young people in the context of the health promoting school or college.

This study aims to explore the thermal reflectance of fabrics under sunlight or other thermal radiation sources at various color temperatures.

This study analyzed the spectral distribution of sunlight at different solar altitude angles as well as the spectral distribution characteristics of other light and thermal radiation sources, pointing out that their color temperatures can be used to identify their spectral distribution domains. Reflectance, transmittance, absorptance and color temperature domain reflectance of 35 different fibers and color fabrics were tested in a wide spectral range. The different behavior of these optical parameters in the segmented spectrum is discussed. The temperature rise tests demonstrate that the reflectance corresponding to the color temperature of the radiation sources is highly correlated with the temperature rise results.

The reflectance in the color temperature domain shows a strong correlation with the radiation source at same color temperature. The correlation coefficients for the 6,000 K xenon lamp test are −0.96 and −0.90 in two groups, and for the 3,200 K tungsten iodine lamp test are −0.87 and −0.90 as well.

The concept of fabric thermal reflectance in the color temperature domain was first introduced to match different thermal radiation sources. Validation of temperature rise is conducted through a self-constructed tester with unidirectional adiabatic heating. This new discovery could serve as a basis for developing functional fabric or clothing, such as sun-proof clothing, fire protection clothing, etc.