Understanding community empowerment in urban regeneration and planning in England: putting policy and practice in context

Community involvement in the fields of town planning and urban regeneration includes a wide range of opportunities for residents and service users to engage with networks, partnerships and centres of power. Both the terminology and degree of the transfer of power to citizens varies in different policy areas and contexts but five core objectives can be identified. This article approaches the subject of community empowerment by exploring the theoretical literature; reviewing recent policy pronouncements relating to community involvement in England and by discussing a recent case study of an Urban II project in London. The conclusions suggest that community empowerment is always likely to be partial and contingent on local circumstances and the wider context

The demographic components of population aging in China

Past trends in fertility and mortality in China have led to an age composition that will age rapidly in the coming decades. In this paper we examine measures of population aging in China from 1953 to 1982, and then project population aging to the year 2050 using a cohort-components methodology. The projected measures of population aging that result from these forecasts are then decomposed into the relative contributions that are made to these changes by past, present, and future trends in fertility and mortality. Results indicate that China's population will age at an unprecedented rate over the next 70 years, both in terms of the absolute size of the elderly population and their proportion of the total population. At least 50 percent of the projected increase in population aging in China between 1980 and 2050 will be a product of the momentum for aging that is already built into the present age structure and vital rates. However, prospective trends in the measures of population aging become increasingly more sensitive to varying assumptions about fertility and mortality with time, and as older age groups are considered. This analysis provides the demographic basis for evaluating the possible effects of population aging on health care, social security, and other social and economic issues.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42989/1/10823_2004_Article_BF00120576.pd

Guidelines for the management of people with foot health problems related to rheumatoid arthritis: a survey of their use in podiatry practice

Background: In the last decade there has been a significant expansion in the body of knowledge on the effects of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on the foot and the management of these problems. Aligned with this has been the development of specialist clinical roles for podiatrists. However, despite being recommended by national guidelines, specialist podiatrists are scarce. In order to inform non-specialist podiatrists of the appropriate interventions for these foot problems, management guidelines have been developed and disseminated by a group of specialist podiatrists. The aim of this survey was to investigate the use of these guidelines in clinical practice. Method: Following ethical approval an online questionnaire survey was carried out. The questions were formulated from a focus group and comprised fixed response and open response questions. The survey underwent cognitive testing with two podiatrists before being finalised. An inductive approach using thematic analysis was used with the qualitative data. Results: 245 questionnaires were completed (128 – non-specialist working in the private sector, 101 non – specialists working in the NHS and 16 specialist podiatrists). Overall, 97% of the non-specialists (n = 222) had not heard of the guidelines. The non-specialists identified other influences on their management of people with RA, such as their undergraduate training and professional body branch meetings. Three main themes emerged from the qualitative data: (i) the benefits of the foot health management guidelines, (ii) the barriers to the use of guidelines generally and (iii) the features of useable clinical guidelines. Conclusions: This study has revealed some crucial information about podiatrists ’ level of engagement with the foot health management guidelines and the use of guidelines in general. Specifically, the non-specialist podiatrists were less likely to use the foot health management guidelines than the specialist podiatrists. The positive aspects were that for the specialist practitioners, the guidelines helped them to identify their professional development needs and for the few non-specialists that did use them, they enabled appropriate referral to the rheumatology team for foot health management. The barriers to their use included a lack of understanding of the risk associated with managing people with RA and that guidelines can be too long and detailed for use in clinical practice. Suggestionsare made for improving the implementation of foot health guidelines

Smart learning futures: a report from the 3rd US-China smart education conference

Abstract The third day of the third US-China Smart Education Conference featured a discussion with 27 thinkers representing higher education, business and industry, vocational training, and policy making. Researchers from the fields of artificial intelligence, computer science, educational technology, neuro-science and the learning sciences from many countries actively participated and are collectively the co-authors of this report. After two short presentations on computational neuropsychology and the next generation of artificial intelligence by two of the participants (Thomas Parsons and Yang Yang respectively), the participants were divided into four groups led by Phillip Harris (AECT Director), Joseph South (ISTE Chief Learning Officer), Chee-Kit Looi (NIE Head of the Learning Sciences Lab), and Maiga Chang (School of Computing and Information Systems, Athabasca University). The groups were asked to consider the following four questions: (a) What are the 5 most promising technologies likely to transform education in the next 10 years? (b) How do/will advanced learning technologies impact the future of education? (c) What challenges do advanced learning technologies bring to education? (d) What are the new demands for education in the future of society? The groups could focus as they deemed appropriate, modifying adding questions or ignoring any question. This report is a synthesis of those discussions

The geography of the knowledge economy in Britain

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m02/13990 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Framework for scenario development in LCA

This article is based on the work of the SETAC-Europe LCA Working Group ‘Scenario Development in LCA’, which has started its work in April 1998. The goal of the Working Group is to focus on the use of scenarios in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This article presents the results of the first phase of the Working Group. The previous definitions of scenarios include three common basic elements: the definition of alternative future circumstances, the path from the present to the future, and the inclusion of uncertainty in the concept. We define a scenario in LCA as ”a description of a possible future situation relevant for specific LCA applications, based on specific assumptions about the future, and (when relevant) also including the presentation of the development from the present to the future.” On the basis of the scenario definition we distinguish between two basic approaches for scenari