Valuing the small: countingthe benefits

This paper contains part of a reportcommissioned by a consortium oforganisations concerned with thesuccessful development of sustainabletransport strategies, and drafted byProfessor Phil Goodwin of UCL. It followsa report, Less Traffic Where People Live,which, using case studies of experiencehere and elsewhere in Europe hasdemonstrated that small-scale, or ?softfactors? can be effective in tacklingtransport problems, especially when usedin combination. Such examples includebus priority schemes, measures forimproving walking and cycling, trafficcalming, car clubs, school and workplacetravel plans, and the use of personalisedadvice and information to assist people inreducing the congestion and pollution theycause. The DfT?s report Smarter Choices ?Changing the Way we Travel, has alsohighlighted the significant potential whichexists to reduce traffic and congestion,providing soft factors are accompanied bysupporting measures to manage demand.The DfT has established a unit dedicatedto developing experience on soft factors,including on appraisal. Coupled with therecent report, there is a gainingmomentum behind expanding the role ofsoft factors in transport policy. These areall initiatives which are supported bynational and local government, and onwhich the sponsoring organisations havein recent years become active advisers aswell as campaigners.Taken together, such relatively cheap andpotentially popular initiatives are not onlypowerful contributions to theGovernment?s transport strategy: they arealso the leading examples of initiativeswhich can produce improvements swiftly? an important consideration both forpolitical reasons, and also in order toproduce the momentum and consensusfor longer term initiatives.This attractive combination of relativecheapness, environmental advantage,demonstrated successes in good practice,and speed of delivery would ? one mightthink ? lead to such policies being very highprofile indeed. However, this is not alwaysthe case. The problem this report addressesis reflected in recurrent concerns that themerits of such initiatives are overshadowedby the bigger, longer-term, much moreambitious ? and often much morecontroversial ??big? policies: especiallymassive rail or road infrastructure projects.In some ways it is natural that the ?big?initiatives should receive more attentionthan the ?small?, especially in view of along period of inadequate or distortedinvestment. But taken too far, this can becounter-productive. The question thisreport addresses is whether there is somesystematic reason, deep in the appraisaland forecasting methods, which preventsperfectly good initiatives receiving theattention and funding they deserve. Thesuggestion is that there are indeed someimportant biases of this kind, and thatsorting them out will have very helpfuleffects in avoiding wasted opportunitiesand accelerating delivery.This report addresses the followingquestions and is intended to be a helpfulcontribution to this area of work:> what are the barriers that prevent thesmall, good value-for-money schemesbeing taken up with greaterenthusiasm than the big, poor valuefor-money projects?> are there ways of restoring a balancedimplementation process?It is obvious that such barriers will includepolitical and ideological considerations,and the role of vested interests, but theyare not the focus of this report. Rather,the concern is that there may beweaknesses in the process of appraisaland assessment, preceding anyimplementation, which produce a biasagainst the small schemes. This processis intended to resolve practical questionsof design, economic questions of value formoney, planning questions of consistency,and the relationship between short andlong term objectives: it depends on a setof formal procedures and practices ?surveys, models, forecasts, appraisalframeworks ? built up over many years,and originating in the economic costbenefitanalyses whose principles andbasic features were established in the1960s and 1970s.The suggestion is made that there aresome in-built biases in current appraisaltechniques ? developed, as they were, ina different time and for a different agenda? which discriminate against some of thebest measures, and for some of the leasteffective

The integration and evaluation of a social-media facilitated journal club to enhance the student learning experience of evidence-based practice: A case study

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Introduction Nurses are required to interpret and apply knowledge so communities will receive care based on best available evidence, as opposed to care that is simply based on tradition or authority. Fostering nursing students' critical appraisal skills will assist in their capacity to engage with, interpret and use best evidence. Journal clubs are frequently used approach to engage learners with research and develop critical appraisal skills. Given new flipped and blended approaches to teaching and learning there is need to rejuvenate how research is utilised and integrated within journal clubs to maximise engagement and translation of evidence. Purpose This paper provides a case study of a single site Australian university experience of transitioning a traditional physical journal club, to a social media-facilitated club within a postgraduate health subject to stimulate and facilitate engagement with the chosen manuscripts. Data Sources This case study is based on our own experiences, supported by literature and includes qualitative comments obtained via student feedback surveys during November 2015. Design Case study. Implications for Nursing and Conclusion Social media-facilitated journal clubs offer an efficient way to continue developing critical appraisal skills in nursing students. The integration of a social media-facilitated journal clubs increased student attention, engagement with presented activities and overall student satisfaction within this evidence-based practice subject. Future rigorously-designed, large-scale studies are required to evaluate the impact of online journal clubs on the uptake of evidence-based practice, including those resulting in improved patient outcomes

Performance prediction tools for low impact building design

IT systems are emerging that may be used to support decisions relating to the design of a built enviroment that has low impact in terms of energy use and environmental emissions. This paper summarises this prospect in relation to four complementary application areas: digital cities, rational planning, virtual design and Internet energy services

Subjective and objective indicators of recovery in severe mental illness: a cross-sectional study

Background: This study aimed to determine whether subjective dimensions of recovery such as empowerment are associated with self-report of more objective indicators such as level of participation in the community and income from employment. A secondary aim was to investigate the extent to which diagnosis or other consumer characteristics mediated any relationship between these variables. Methods: The Community Integration Measure, the Empowerment Scale, the Recovery Assessment Scale, and the Camberwell Assessment of Needs Short Appraisal Schedule were administered to a convenience sample of 161 consumers with severe mental illness. Results: The majority of participants had a primary diagnosis of schizophreniform, anxiety/depression or bipolar affective disorder. The Empowerment Scale was quite strongly correlated with the Recovery Assessment Scale and the Community Integration Measure. Participants with a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder had signifi cantly higher recovery and empowerment scores than participants with schizophrenia or depression. Both empowerment and recovery scores were significantly higher for people engaged in paid employment than for those receiving social security benefits. Conclusions: The measurement of subjective dimensions of recovery such as empowerment has validity in evaluation of global recovery for people with severe mental illness. A diagnosis of bipolar disorder is associated with higher scores on subjective and objective indicators of recovery

The place of strategic environmental assessment in the privatised electricity industry

The private sector has given relatively little attention to the emergence of strategic environmental assessment (SEA); even recently privatised utilities, where SEA might be deemed particularly appropriate, and whose activities are likely to fall within the scope of the European Union SEA Directive, have shown less interest than might be expected. However, the global trend towards the privatisation of state-owned enterprises makes the adaptation of SEA towards these industries all the more pressing. This paper addresses the place that SEA might take within the electricity sector, taking the privatised UK electricity industry as an example. Particular challenges are posed by the radical restructuring of the industry, designed to introduce competitive behaviour, making the development of comprehensive SEA processes problematic, and requiring SEA to be placed in the context of corporate environmental policy and objectives.</p