Wastewater as a Controversial, Contaminated yet Coveted Resource in South Asia

human development, water, sanitation

Reggae to Rachmaninoff: How and Why People Participate in Arts and Culture

Provides the results of a telephone survey conducted to help inform those whose aim is to broaden and diversify cultural participation, and promote the role of arts and culture in strengthening American communities

‘Hidden habitus’: a qualitative study of socio-ecological influences on drinking practices and social identity in mid-adolescence

This study explored mid-adolescents’ views and experiences of socio-ecological influences on their drinking practices in order to help inform the development of interventions to reduce alcohol-related risk. We conducted 31 in-depth interviews with young people aged 13–17 in North East England. Verbatim interview transcripts and field notes were coded systematically and analysed thematically, following the principles of constant comparison. We adopted Bourdieu’s idea of social game-playing and elements of his conceptual toolkit (particularly habitus, capital and field) during analysis. Analysis yielded three intersecting themes: (1) ‘drinking etiquette’: conveying taste and disgust; (2) ‘playing the drinking game’: demonstrating cultural competency; (3) ‘hidden habitus’—the role of alcohol marketing. Our work demonstrates that there is a nexus of influential factors which come together to help shape and reinforce mid-adolescents’ behaviour, norms and values in relation to alcohol consumption. Drinking practices are not just formed by friendships and family traditions, these are also subject to wider cultural shaping including by the alcohol industry which can encourage brand identification, and gear specific products to add ‘distinction’. However young people are not inactive players and they use aspects of capital and social games to help cement their identity and present themselves in particular ways which in turn are influenced by age, gender and social status. Guided by promising work in the tobacco field, interventions which focus on critical awareness of the framing of alcohol products by key stakeholders, such as policymakers, commercial industry and public health professionals, and by wider society may facilitate behaviour change among young people

Resilience in Undocumented, Unaccompanied Children: Perceptions of the Past and Future Outlook

Session 5: Strengths. Presenter: Stephanie Hapeman Scott, Ph.D., Catholic University of America (2009) - "Resilience in Undocumented, Unaccompanied Children: Perceptions of the Past and Future Outlook".The Ohio State University College of Social Wor

Assessing Scotland's Progress on the Environmental Agenda

For good reasons the environment has a high political profile in Scotland. This report is concerned with three important components of the environmental agenda and the way in which they are being taken forward by the responsible authorities in Scotland. The delivery of environmental outcomes on agricultural land by means of a range of current policies, including agri-environment schemes, cross-compliance conditions on direct payments to farmers and implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.The selection and management of a new network of Marine Protected Areas.Policy measures designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate climate change.Each of these topics is addressed individually in three separate chapters, aiming to identify some of the leading questions and the policy responses that have been adopted. The progress that is being made in meeting the objectives and aspirations set out in legislation and other key policy documents is then considered. Some of the objectives under review are determined entirely by the Government and by more local authorities in Scotland. Others arise primarily from obligations under EU legislation

Crystallizing the nexus of network content, structure, and behaviour in university-business open innovation research collaborations built for new product development

This thesis examines the relational complexities of university-business open innovation networks built for new product development. Through applying network inter-organizational theory, it aims to understand how this relationship type can be developed and managed to create new knowledge and produce mutually beneficial outcomes. This topic is important, as governmental bodies around the globe have developed policy initiatives that encourage universities to play a more significant role within the national innovation landscape, insomuch that collaboration might result in the commercialization of academic research and scientific knowledge and further enhance economic growth and competitiveness within many industries. However, the university-business open innovation literature remains fragmented, and often portrays this relationship type as merely a link to knowledge access or financial resources with little attention given to the complex relational issues that surround the alignment of such diverse partners. This often overlooks the social elements of knowledge generation and the process of innovation emergence which implicates the route value creation (or lack thereof) between affiliated parties. This thesis posits that value creation, within this relational type, is reliant upon the development, management, and strategic coordination of both externally and internally held social capital stocks. Through examining the functioning of an existing collaborative partnership between a university and a business, utilizing a mixed method social network analysis, light was made on the dynamic nature of how the relationship developed over time, the depth of interaction between partners, and how the actors within the network were organized for knowledge sharing. The analysis provides a greater understanding of the role relational context play on the flows of communication and the emergence of innovative outputs emerge. The main findings of this thesis are that the coupled process of open innovation relationships universities and business relationships require the capability to adapt and engage with the external environment to ensure sustainability. It also finds that contractual mechanisms only enable collaboration to a degree, but are most effective when informal interactions are fostered and, thus, concludes that the effectiveness of value creation might be contingent on local conditions. The findings of this thesis emphasize the risks of standardized approaches to manage encourage university-business collaborations, and provides guidance to managers and policymakers into the nature of these relationships post-award, insomuch that might effectively structure; as well as anticipate transitions and design elements of the relational exchange. It, thereby, provides a richer theory of university-business collaboration, and contributes to the open innovation literature

GP perspectives on hospital discharge letters : an interview and focus group study

Background: Written discharge communication following inpatient or outpatient clinic discharge is essential for communicating information to the GP, but GPs’ opinions on discharge communication are seldom sought. Patients are sometimes copied into this communication, but the reasons for this variation, and the resultant effects, remain unclear. Aim: To explore GP perspectives on how discharge letters can be improved in order to enhance patient outcomes. Design & setting: The study used narrative interviews with 26 GPs from 13 GP practices within the West Midlands, England. Method: Interviews were transcribed and data were analysed using corpus linguistics (CL) techniques. Results Elements pivotal to a successful letter were: diagnosis, appropriate follow-up plan, medication changes and reasons, clinical summary, investigations and/or procedures and outcomes, and what information has been given to the patient. GPs supported patients receiving discharge letters and expounded a number of benefits of this practice; for example, increased patient autonomy. Nevertheless, GPs felt that if patients are to receive direct discharge letter copies, modifications such as use of lay language and avoidance of acronyms may be required to increase patient understanding. Conclusion: GPs reported that discharge letters frequently lacked content items they assessed to be important; GPs highlighted that this can have subsequent ramifications on resources and patient experiences. Templates should be devised that put discharge letter elements assessed to be important by GPs to the forefront. Future research needs to consider other perspectives on letter content, particularly those of patients