Conceptualising and measuring prosperity

This paper has been produced as an Issue-Based Contribution to the sixth Global Report on Local Democracy and Decentralization (GOLD VI): the flagship publication of the organized constituency of local and regional governments represented in United Cities and Local Governments. The GOLD VI report has been produced in partnership with the Development Planning Unit (University College London), through the programme Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality (KNOW). GOLD VI focuses on how local and regional governments can address the local manifestations of growing inequalities and contribute to create ’Pathways toward urban and territorial equality’. The GOLD VI report has been produced through a large-scale international co-production process, bringing together over a hundred representatives of local and regional governments, academics and civil society organizations. This paper is an outcome of this process and is part of the GOLD VI Working Paper series, which collects the 22 Issue-Based Contributions produced as part of the GOLD VI process. In particular, the present paper has contributed to Chapter 8 on 'Prospering’, which focuses on prosperity as a culturally specific and multi-dimensional concept: one that includes, but is not limited to, the concept of income. The chapter explores key drivers of urban inequality reflected in the scarcity of decent work and in social-spatial disparities in the location of different productive activities within cities. Through the lens of ‘prospering’, the chapter analyses how local and regional governments can increase decent work opportunities, and, drawing on the impacts of COVID-19, how they can mitigate the effects of future pandemics and of climate change on decent work, urban prosperity, and inequality

Pathways to Urban Equality through the Sustainable Development Goals: Modes of Extreme Poverty, Resilience, and Prosperity

There has been a tendency for debates around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to focus on particular Goals or Targets. What tends to get lost, however, is the bigger picture. In this paper we ask: to what extent and under what conditions do the SDGs offer a pathway to equality? Specifically, we focus on the potentials of the SDGs as a pathway to urban equality in the decade of delivery. We focus on the ways that three key interrelated development agendas, eradicating extreme poverty, promoting prosperity, and building resilience, are mobilised through the SDGs. Together these agendas reveal tensions and opportunities in the relationship between the SDGs and urban equality. In discussion, we reflect on the potentials of an urban equality lens to read the SDGs, and the conditions under which they might contribute to the realisation of fairer and more equal cities

Cationic surfactants as a non-covalent linker for oxidised cellulose nanofibrils and starch-based hydrogels

International audienceRheological properties of hydrogels composed of TEMPO-oxidised cellulose nanofibrils (OCNF)-starch in the presence of cationic surfactants were investigated. The cationic surfactants dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were used to trigger gelation of OCNF at around 5mM surfactant. As OCNF and DTAB/CTAB are oppositely charged, an electrostatic attraction is suggested to explain the gelation mechanism. OCNF (1 wt%) and soluble starch (0.5 and 1 wt%) were blended to prepare hydrogels, where the addition of starch to the OCNF resulted in a higher storage modulus. Starch polymers were suggested to form networks with cellulose nanofibrils. The stiffness and viscosity of OCNF-Starch hydrogels were enhanced further by the addition of cationic surfactants (5mM of DTAB/CTAB). ζ -potential and amylose-iodine complex analyses were also conducted to confirm surface charge and interaction of OCNF-starch-surfactant in order to provide an in-depth understanding of the surfactant-induced gel networks

The benefits and harms of providing parents with weight feedback as part of the national child measurement programme: a prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Small-scale evaluations suggest that the provision of feedback to parents about their child's weight status may improve recognition of overweight, but the effects on lifestyle behaviour are unclear and there are concerns that informing parents that their child is overweight may have harmful effects. The aims of this study were to describe the benefits and harms of providing weight feedback to parents as part of a national school-based weight-screening programme in England. METHODS: We conducted a pre-post survey of 1,844 parents of children aged 4-5 and 10-11 years who received weight feedback as part of the 2010-2011 National Child Measurement Programme. Questionnaires assessed general knowledge about the health risks associated with child overweight, parental recognition of overweight and the associated health risks in their child, child lifestyle behaviour, child self-esteem and weight-related teasing, parental experience of the feedback, and parental help-seeking behaviour. Differences in the pre-post proportions of parents reporting each outcome were assessed using a McNemar's test. RESULTS: General knowledge about child overweight as a health issue was high at baseline and increased further after weight feedback. After feedback, the proportion of parents that correctly recognised their child was overweight increased from 21.9% to 37.7%, and more than a third of parents of overweight children sought further information regarding their child's weight. However, parent-reported changes in lifestyle behaviours among children were minimal, and limited to increases in physical activity in the obese children only. There was some suggestion that weight feedback had a greater impact upon changing parental recognition of the health risks associated with child overweight in non-white ethnic groups. CONCLUSIONS: In this population-based sample of parents of children participating in the National Child Measurement Programme, provision of weight feedback increased recognition of child overweight and encouraged some parents to seek help, without causing obvious unfavourable effects. The impact of weight feedback on behaviour change was limited; suggesting that further work is needed to identify ways to more effectively communicate health information to parents and to identify what information and support may encourage parents in making and maintaining lifestyle changes for their child

Facilitation of Verb Retrieval Skills in Aphasia: A Comparison of Two Approaches

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Microstructural, thermal, crystallization, and water absorption properties of films prepared from never-dried and freeze-dried cellulose nanocrystals

In this paper, the microstructural, optical, thermal, crystallization, and water absorption properties of films prepared from never-dried (ND) and freeze-dried (FD) cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are reported. Morphology of the ND CNCs reveals a needle-like structure, while after freeze-drying, they show a flake-like morphology. Microstructural analysis of ND and FD CNCs are further studied via small angle X-ray scattering to probe interactions. ND CNCs yield a transparent film with a low surface roughness (14 ± 4 nm), while the FD CNC film evidence a significant reduction of their transparency due to their higher surface roughness (134 ± 20 nm). Although Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses reveal no chemical change occurs during the freeze-drying process, yet a more intense thermal degradation profile is observed for FD CNC film, probably due to the higher oxygen ingress within the gaps created between the stacked flakes. This, in turn, results in a greater loss of crystallinity at a higher temperature (300 °C) compared to the ND CNC film. A rapid decrease in water contact angle of the FD CNC film proves that the morphology of flakes and their orientation within the film has a strong influence in increasing water absorption capacity

Unsettling lesbian motherhood: Critical reflections over a generation (1990-2015)

This article explores how advancements in equality rights combine with attitudinal changes in UK society and LGBTQ communities to impact on the experience of lesbian mothers over a generation. The author reflects on ordinary moments where sexuality and relationships become meaningful and situate emotions at the heart of analytical enquiry because it is through emotional interactions that micro–macro networks of relations intersect. Autobiography is combined with original data from empirical research to provide analytical entry points, which aims to advance understanding and also facilitate reflection on how we understand and come to know queer parenthood. Whilst there are now many routes into lesbian motherhood and the stigma of queer kinship is diminishing, this article demonstrates the need to problematize the prevailing narratives of coupledom that are emerging and tease apart the conflation of temporal progression, progressive rights and narratives of progress

Monovalent salt and pH-induced gelation of oxidized cellulose nanofibrils and starch networks: Combining rheology and small-angle X-Ray scattering

Water quality parameters such as salt content and various pH environments can alter the stability of gels as well as their rheological properties. Here, we investigated the effect of various concentrations of NaCl and different pH environments on the rheological properties of TEMPO-oxidised cellulose nanofibril (OCNF) and starch-based hydrogels. Addition of NaCl caused an increased stiffness of the OCNF:starch (1:1 wt%) blend gels, where salt played an important role in reducing the repulsive OCNF fibrillar interactions. The rheological properties of these hydrogels were unchanged at pH 5.0 to 9.0. However, at lower pH (4.0), the stiffness and viscosity of the OCNF and OCNF:starch gels appeared to increase due to proton-induced fibrillar interactions. In contrast, at higher pH (11.5), syneresis was observed due to the formation of denser and aggregated gel networks. Interactions as well as aggregation behaviour of these hydrogels were explored via ζ-potential measurements. Furthermore, the nanostructure of the OCNF gels was probed using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), where the SAXS patterns showed an increase of slope in the low-q region with increasing salt concentration arising from aggregation due to the screening of the surface charge of the fibrils