The impossibility of ethical consumption

In this accessibly written book, Devinney, Augur and Eckhardt pool their differing disciplinary expertise to deliver a slap of realism to research on ethical consumerism. As scholars of strategy, information systems and marketing, the authors take aim at the hysteria of research purporting to show evidence of ethical consumers and large-scale demand for socially responsible products and services. Since so-called ethical products – or at least those marketed as such – are generally seen to have failed in the marketplace, the book sets out to investigate this discrepancy at the level of the individual consumer and their product choices. The bulk of this seven-chapter book therefore investigates 'ordinary' consumers' consideration (or lack thereof) of the social features of products through a mixed methodology in different countries. The authors collate quantitative experimental investigation of individuals' decision-making processes with reports from interpretive research on consumers' rationalizations (chapters 3-6 and on the DVD which accompanies the book). Perhaps because of the philosophical tensions of mixed method work or possibly as a result of the multiple authorship, for me the book lacks some overall coherence and strength of message. As a result, the promise of the powerful argument captured in the book's arresting title is only partially delivered

Growing Up in Ireland: Social-emotional and behavioural outcomes in early adolescence. ESRI Report March 2021.

Growing up in Ireland today published a new report which documents the mental health and well-being of the 13-years-olds in the study and examines factors that were associated with these outcomes. Turning 13 is a key stage in the lives of Cohort ’98 as they transitioned from primary to secondary school and entered puberty, all in the context of the Great Recession of 2008-2013

Co-Product Potential of Algae Biocake

Society needs to find replacements for fossil fuels, which are finite resources that may be fully depleted within a few generations. While solar and wind have great potential as alternative energy sources, they are unlikely to completely replace all of the current fuel sources, particularly liquid fuels. Plant biomass has great potential for this market, and is already used in many forms for heat energy (e.g. direct combustion). However, the bulk density of important bioenergy crops, particularly grasses, is often low, which necessitates the use of binders in densification strategies. In the present study, waste algae biocake from a proprietary food-oil process was examined as a potential binding agent for the woody grass Miscanthus. Acid hydrolysis was used to determine the non-soluble material and the carbohydrate content of pure algae, Miscanthus, and blended pellets. The algae biomass had lower insoluble material (P\u3c0.0001) and glucose content (P\u3c0.0001) than Miscanthus, and all blends with 30% or greater algae had significantly less of both parameters. The energy content was not significantly different between algae and Miscanthus with or without blending, while algae had significantly higher ash content compared to Miscanthus. The compressive strength of the pure algae and pure Miscanthus was not significantly different; however, all algae blends of 30% or more showed significantly greater pellet strength compared to either biomass alone. Overall, the results of this study indicate that pressed algae biocake has the potential to act as a binding agent to improve pellet strength of Miscanthus in blends at 30% or higher, without sacrificing overall energy density, which suggests that the algae biocake could be a valuable co-product for biofuel industries

How lateral inhibition and fast retinogeniculo-cortical oscillations create vision: A new hypothesis

The role of the physiological processes involved in human vision escapes clarification in current literature. Many unanswered questions about vision include: 1) whether there is more to lateral inhibition than previously proposed, 2) the role of the discs in rods and cones, 3) how inverted images on the retina are converted to erect images for visual perception, 4) what portion of the image formed on the retina is actually processed in the brain, 5) the reason we have an after-image with antagonistic colors, and 6) how we remember space. This theoretical article attempts to clarify some of the physiological processes involved with human vision. The global integration of visual information is conceptual; therefore, we include illustrations to present our theory. Universally, the eyeball is 2.4 cm and works together with membrane potential, correspondingly representing the retinal layers,photoreceptors, and cortex. Images formed within the photoreceptors must first be converted into chemical signals on the photoreceptors’ individual discs and the signals at each disc are transduced from light photons into electrical signals. We contend that the discs code the electrical signals into accurate distances and are shown in our figures. The pre-existing oscillations among the various cortices including the striate and parietal cortex,and the retina work in unison to create an infrastructure of visual space that functionally ‘‘places” the objects within this ‘‘neural” space. The horizontal layers integrate all discs accurately to create a retina that is pre-coded for distance. Our theory suggests image inversion never takes place on the retina,but rather images fall onto the retina as compressed and coiled, then amplified through lateral inhibition through intensification and amplification on the OFF-center cones. The intensified and amplified images are decompressed and expanded in the brain, which become the images we perceive as external vision

Her majesty the student: marketised higher education and the narcissistic (dis)satisfactions of the student-consumer

Intensifying marketisation across higher education (HE) in England continues to generate critical commentary on the potentially devastating consequences of market logic for learning. In this paper, we consider the student-consumer prominent in these debates as a contested yet under-analysed entity. In contrast to the dominance of homo economicus discursively constructed in policy, we offer a psychoanalytically-informed interpretation of undergraduate student narratives, in an educational culture in which the student is positioned as sovereign consumer. We report findings drawn from in-depth interviews that sought to investigate students’ experiences of choice within their university experience. Our critical interpretation shows how market ideology in an HE context amplifies the expression of deeper narcissistic desires and aggressive instincts that appear to underpin some of the student ‘satisfaction’ and ‘dissatisfaction’ so crucial to the contemporary marketised HE institution. Our analysis suggests that narcissistic gratifications and frustrations may lie at the root of the damage to pedagogy inflicted by unreflective neoliberal agendas. We finish with a discussion about the managerial implications of our work

The fool, the hero and the sage: narratives of non-consumption as role distance from an urban consumer-self

One fruitful perspective with which to think differently about the consuming subject in affluent capitalist societies can be found in the field of non-consumption. Whilst ‘choices’ not to buy, own and use are often tacit in analyses of social class dynamics, identity expression, and consumer resistance, here we adopt the dramaturgical perspective of Erving Goffman to argue that forms of non-consumption may occur within expressions of role distance. Our interpretive analysis of interview narratives identifies three imagoes - the fool, the hero and the sage - that our informants reproduced to disaffiliate from a virtual self generated by participation in the shopping situations dominating many urban centres. We conclude that buying and consuming less in ‘everyday’ contexts may require the performance of alternative, culturally-available personas, and that role distance can signify alienation from a consumer role or, conversely, constitute a defence against actual attachment to it

Predicting and preventing pressure sores in surgical patients

PhD ThesisThe thesis comprises literature reviews which present arguments novel to the field and two discrete but related studies, which in combination make a contribution to the classification, assessment of risk and prevention of pressure sores. The first study, a randomised controlled trial involving 446 patients undergoing vascular, general and gynaecology surgery, the use of a dry visco-elastic polymer pad intra-operatively reduced the probability of pressure sore development by half. Pressure sore incidence was 11 % (22/205) for patients allocated to the dry polymer pad and 20% (43/211) for patients allocated to the standard operating table mattress. Both studies explored key prognostic factors using multi-variate methods. Analysis of data derived from the randomised controlled trial found four factors to be independently associated with post-operative pressure sore development including intra-operative hypotensive episodes, Day I Braden mobility scale and intraoperative mean core temperature. The second study, a prospective cohort study involving 101 patients identified non-blanching erythema, pre-operative albumin, weight loss preceding admission and intra-operative minimum diastolic blood pressure. Results are consistent with findings from the literature review which identified key factors in the prediction of pressure sore development (reduced mobility, nutrition, perfusion, age and skin condition). The second study also explored the clinical significance of erythema in defining and classifying the term 'pressure sore'. Using laser Doppler imaging it was determined that blanching and non-blanching erythema are characterised by high blood flow of differing intensity. Discriminant analysis identified three general patterns in skin blood flow, which enabled scan classification with good agreement between clinical and predicted classifications. The results confirm data derived from the prospective observations of skin suggesting that non-blanching erythema is not indicative of irreversible ischaemic damage and resolves in approximately two thirds of cases. The point at which non-blanching erythema becomes irreversible remains unknownNHSE Northern and Yorkshire: Tissue Viability Research Training Fellowship: NHSE Northern and Yorkshire Research Capacity Committee: Smith and Nephew Foundation Research Fellowship