The Moderated Relationship of Appearance Valence on Appearance Self Consciousness: Development and Testing of New Measures of Appearance Schema Components

This paper describes the creation and psychometric properties of two independent measures of aspects of appearance schematicity - appearance salience and valence, assessed by the CARSAL and CARVAL, and their relation to appearance self-consciousness. Five hundred and ninety two participants provided data in a web based task. The results demonstrate the sound psychometric properties of both scales. This was demonstrated by good item total characteristics, good internal reliability of each scale, and the independence of the two scales shown through principal components analysis. Furthermore, the scales show independent and moderated relationships with valid measures of appearance related psychosocial distress. Negatively valenced appearance information was associated with increased appearance self-consciousness. More crucially, the impact of negative valence on appearance self-consciousness was exacerbated by the moderating effect increased salience of appearance. © 2012 Moss, Rosser

Spatial Fit, from Panacea to Practice

Within the broad discourse on the concept of fit and its relevance for the governance of social–ecological systems, problems of spatial fit have attracted particular attention. Mismatches abound between the geographical extent of an environmental resource and the territorial scope of the institutions affecting its use. Managing water resources around river basins is, perhaps, the most prominent illustration of attempts to reconcile the boundaries of an environmental resource with those of its respective institutions. Achieving perfect spatial fit has, however, proved an elusive task in practice. Beyond the difficulties of defining the physical boundaries of water and reordering institutional arrangements to reflect these, improving spatial fit for water can create new spatial misfits with other policy sectors upon which sustainable water management is dependent. The paper explores the way spatial fit is conceptualized, institutionalized, and practised, using the EU Water Framework Directive and its implementation in one sub-basin of the Rhine as an exemplar. The paper develops from the analysis a more differentiated and context-sensitive understanding of the concept of spatial fit of practical value to policy makers.Peer Reviewe

Spatiality of the Commons

This editorial sets the scene for the special feature by explaining the importance of geography to the commons and its governance, critically appraising the existing literature on this theme, highlighting important contributions from recent research and mapping out a future research agenda. It begins by reflecting on how little explicit attention has been paid to date to the spatial dimensions of the commons. The author critiques on the one hand the literature on the commons for conceiving of spatiality primarily as the local, physical context of commons use and regulation but also, on the other hand, the spatial science literature for generally neglecting the commons, both conceptually and empirically. The paper then pinpoints important exceptions in the fields of human geography and planning studies, assessing how these works contribute to a more thorough and robust understanding of the relationship between spatiality, the commons and their governance. The analysis of these select works making explicit reference to the commons is complemented with a reflection on how broader debates in the spatial sciences can enrich spatial research on the commons. The final section turns to the papers of the special feature, summarizing each of the papers in order and indicating how they each contribute to the themes developed in the editorial

Intermediaries and the Governance of Sociotechnical Networks in Transition

This paper makes the case for studying intermediary organisations as a window on the shifting governance of water and energy services in Europe today. It explores the notion of intermediaries and intermediation in a wide range of literatures and demonstrates how the governance concept can provide focus to the term, indicating how intermediaries can influence the pursuit of collective goals under shifting governance structures and processes. Against this conceptual backdrop the paper sets out the key governance challenges emerging from the ongoing transformation of socio-technical systems (addressing water and energy services) in terms of changing relations between the state and the utility, between service provider and user, between infrastructure and urban systems and between infrastructure and the environment. It subsequently provides empirical illustration of the emergence of intermediaries in the water sector across Europe, the relational nature of their work, the interests they pursue and the impacts they are having.Peer Reviewe

Value Proposition of Battery Energy Storage Systems on Electric Distribution Systems in Regulated Environments

The electric power grid will be facing new challenges in the coming years. One recent trend has been more efficient electrical devices throughout the world, stagnating load growth. In addition, the historic model of generating electric power using slow, large, centralized power plants is beginning to disappear as distributed generation (DG) becomes cheaper and more accessible, both to power utility companies and customers. The combination of these two changes results in a changing load profile that is difficult for traditional generation sources to follow. Finally, the growth of electric vehicles (EVs) will continue to exacerbate this issue. On the distribution level, these shifts in load profiles result in accelerated equipment aging and equipment upgrade requirements. In order to reduce equipment costs, this thesis surveys 4 distribution feeders from a local southeast utility, forecasting changes possible in the next five years, and calculates the value proposition of using battery energy storage systems (BESS) to mitigate issues caused by the changing demand load profiles. Siemens PTI’s PSS SINCAL’s functionality to achieve this goal is reviewed. It was found that some distribution feeders have high capacity equipment that would not require any modifications to withstand significant future changes. For the one feeder that does, a BESS had a lower value proposition than upgrading overloaded distribution equipment when using approximate equipment costs

Refracting Urbanism: The Multiple Histories (as well as Geographies) of the Networked City

This article was supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.This piece explores the role of history in the splintering urbanism thesis, and infrastructure studies more generally, to make the case for a more nuanced understanding of the multiple histories underpinning the networked city. I reflect on the use of history as an argumentative ploy in Splintering Urbanism, criticize common framings of the past in infrastructure studies, and map out an agenda for future scholarship on urban infrastructure histories based on this critique. In doing so, I argue that the messiness of infrastructure history gets obscured when told through evolutionary or retrospective narratives.Peer Reviewe

Individual differences in psychological adjustment to perceived abnormalities of appearance

Merged with duplicate record (10026.1/764) on 03.01.2017 by CS (TIS)This is a digitised version of a thesis that was deposited in the University Library. If you are the author please contact PEARL Admin ([email protected]) to discuss options.The aim of this programme of research was to investigate the differences between individuals in their psychological adjustment to perceived abnormalities of appearance. The first phase of the research was to refine and validate a measure of distress and dysfunction associated with having an appearance which is different from normal. Over 500 patients in plastic reconstructive surgery units were recruited as participants in a nationwide multi-centre trial. The resulting measure, the Derriford Appearance Scale 24r was shown to have good psychometric properties, and was used as a criterion measure of adjustment. A series of clinical interviews were conducted with contrasting groups of individuals identified as being either good or poor adjusters. Three analyses were carried out. The first took a grounded theory approach to the open ended section of the interviews. This produced an integrated phenomenological account of living with differences of appearance. It also demonstrated differences between the two groups - poor adjustment was associated with a more threatening and negative appraisal of situations and the self. The negative self view was more salient to the poor adjusters. The second analysis of the interview data was a hypothesis testing content analysis, designed to eliminate competing candidate hypotheses generated from the general psychology literature. From this study, it was shown that poor adjusters have a greater degree ofnegative appearance related thoughts, and a more negative appraisal of situations. They were both more pessimistic, and experienced more anticipatory anxiety. Using the interview sample, a third study was conducted, based on self-discrepancy theory. Poor adjusters were shown to place more value on their appearance, and have a greater discrepancy between their 'actual' and 'ideal appearance' selves than the good adjusters. On the basis of the interview studies, two further main empirical studies were carried out. The first tested comprehension of social cues. This did not differentiate the good and poor adjustment groups. Methodological, as well as theoretical reasons for this were proposed. The final study investigated the organisation of self-knowledge, using a sample of 70 participants recruited from a plastic and reconstructive surgery unit, and from two support groups. It was found that there were important differences between the adjustment groups. A high level of compartmentalisation of specific appearance information, greater levels of complexity of the self-concept, and an increased level of differential importance of aspects of the self concept containing specific appearance information were all related to poor adjustment. This set of findings was integrated with the earlier work, and is theoretically interpreted within a self-schema perspective. The contribution of this thesis is to develop the understanding of individual differences in adjustment from a relatively atheoretical field to a position where future research and clinical practice can progress in a theoretically integrated and meaningful way.PCFC in collaboration with Derriford Hospita

“Initially, We Were Just Names on a Computer Screen”: Designing Engagement in Online Teacher Education

This paper describes a research project that investigated the process of redesigning a fully-online unit, in order to enhance undergraduate Education students’ engagement in their learning. This redesign was guided by the development of an Engagement Framework, which presents five elements of engagement that are distinct yet interrelated. The results of this redesigned unit indicate that this Engagement Framework has the potential to offer unit developers and instructors a strong pedagogical and theoretical foundation for enhancing engagement in online learning. This paper provides a description of the Engagement Framework, the processes undertaken in redesigning a fully-online unit, the findings, and several emerging understandings related to the Framework and student engagement more broadly

Digital urban nature

Within policy and research debates on the smart city, the urban environment has become an arena of contestation. Claims that digitalisation will render the city more resource-efficient are countered by criticism of the tensions between smart and sustainability practices. Little attention has been paid, however, to the role of nature in digitally mediated urban environments. The flora, fauna and habitats of a city are a void in research and policy on digital urbanism. This paper provides one of the first conceptually grounded, empirical studies of ‘digital urban nature’ in practice. Taking the empirical example of Berlin, the paper demonstrates how a single city can spawn a rich variety of digital nature schemes, develops from this a typology to guide future research and analyses two schemes in depth to illustrate the aspirations and limitations of digital technologies targeting urban nature. The empirical findings are interpreted by bringing into dialogue pertinent strands of urban research: first, between smart environments and urban nature to explore ways of representing nature through digital technologies and, second, between digital and urban commons to interpret changes in the collective and individual use of urban nature. The paper reveals that digital platforms and apps are creating new ways of seeing and experiencing nature in the city, but often cling to conventional, anthropocentric notions of urban nature, with sometimes detrimental effects. More broadly, it suggests that exploring practices of digitalisation beyond the remit of conventional smart city policy can enrich scholarship on digitally mediated human-nature relations in the city.Peer Reviewe

Managing Water Infrastructures in the Berlin-Brandenburg Region between Climate Change, Economic Restructuring and Commercialisation

Global change is posing a major challenge to existing forms of natural resource use, socio-economic development and institutional regulation. Although trends such as climate change, socio-economic transformation and institutional change are global in their scope, they have very specific regional outcomes. Regionally distinct coping strategies are required which take into account both the diversity of regional impacts of global change and the local contexts of appropriate responses. This paper explores the impacts of global change on the management of water infrastructure systems in the Berlin-Brandenburg region in terms of three concurrent and overlapping challenges: climate change, socio-economic change and institutional change. It subsequently examines how regional actors in the water sector are addressing these three dimensions of global change