Urban conservation areas and sustainable development: exploring the relationship

With increasing emphasis being placed on concentrating development in urban areas and improving the quality of life in British cities and towns, the importance of accommodating necessary development without compromising the valued heritage and architectural quality of urban areas is now becoming central to sustainable urban development. Urban conservation policy and practice has the potential to contribute to this and other aspects of sustainability. This paper explores this contribution and develops an analytical framework which draws out the key linkages between conservation area policy and sustainable development. The framework is then used to research the potential and actual contribution of urban conservation policy and practice in England, using a selective survey and two case studies (i.e. Winchester and Basingstoke). The main conclusions from the research are that: Conservation area policy can make a significant contribution to the principles of sustainable development; Most local planning authorities in England have not fully woken-up to this potential and have not developed policies or practices to address it; and Urban conservation policy needs to develop a more proactive approach in which local planning authorities actively guide and encourage new development with regard to use, design, layout, methods of construction, materials and energy efficiency

Choices, constraints and strategies of independence: retail store managers and the management of human resources

This research involved an investigation into the role of store level managers in the employee resourcing decision-making process in multiple retailing in the UK. The context of the retail industry is considered, including the employment characteristics of the workforce. The nature of HRM and employee resourcing in multiple store retailing and its link with corporate strategy is discussed. Particular consideration is made to the devolution of employee resourcing responsibilities to store level managers. The nature of retail management at local level is investigate followed by an examination of their choices and constraints takes place. An embedded case study research methodology was adopted, which comprised of three multiple store retail organisations and six branches. Qualitative face-to-face interviews were conducted with management throughout the organisational hierarchy. The majority of interviewees were managers at store level. An inductive approach was adopted for analysing the data. A number of key findings were made and conclusions drawn through the inductive analysis of the data. Store level managers held significant responsibilities for employee resourcing, particularly in the recruitment and deployment of labour. They operated within a context of increasing centralisation and constraints. This resulted in their practice of strategies of independence to circumvent these increasing limitations. These strategies of independence had significant implications for the implementation of corporate policy and the management of human resources at store level. It was in the execution of employee resourcing where strategies of independence were most frequently deployed as HRM was the functional area where store level managers had greater autonomy. This resulted in a focus on 'hard' HRM practices at store level, regardless of head office 'rhetoric'. In conclusion, a modification of Stewart's (1982) 'Choices For Managers' model is made, to more accurately reflect the reality of management processes. The consequences of store level managers' choices and constraints is conceptualised in the 'The Organisational Vicious Circle' model. This outlines how strategies of independence will perpetuate the limitations of local management

Interloper: Activating the Possible

This article seeks to open a dialogue on encouraging creative possibility in architectural education, with particular focus on the architecture studio. Although discussed through the practice of design, I present experimental methods that are adaptable across creative and speculative disciplines. Rooted in the conceptual difference between possible and probable thinking as identified by philosophers Didier Debaise and Isabelle Stengers, this article positions the role of the architect as being interstitially located in multiple temporalities (as well as occupying the liminal space between the real and the imagined) in such a way that this difference between possible and probable is seen to be potentially critical to the future of the built environment. Focusing on non-linear time (investigated through temporal mapping), situating the imagined architecture in the dynamic conditions of site (site studies/development of architecture), and through the introduction of an interloper (chance/event), this article acts as a framework for examining potential methods for nurturing and sustaining possibility in the space of the architecture studio

The Awakening: Empowered by water what are the personal and political implications for female activists in the Irish Anti-Water charges movement?

This research seeks to identify what are the personal and political implications for female activist in the Irish anti-water charges movement? While this movement is not a women-only organisation, nor is it concerned with gender-specific issues, the key findings in this research will demonstrate an astute and growing political awareness among women and a determined commitment to active political engagement. While this has not yet awakened any great ambition for these women to enter the structural political arena, their desire to have systematic and cultural change in Irish politics may hold the key for fuller female participation in the future. This thesis will argue that women are such a powerful resource to the anti-water charges movement; they can greatly influence and shape the organisations political goals. If the women‟s concerns and objectives are genuinely taken on board by the broader movement, there could be a popular push for a more accountable political system and culture that also facilitates women to take their place equally alongside men in Irish politics. Rather than trying to „fit‟ women into the current political system via gender-quotas, a change in system and culture, proposed and endorsed by women, may attract more able females into the Irish political arena by default. In order for the movement to embrace these concerns, it also has to organisationally demonstrate internal participatory practices and a culture that values and recognises the key contribution these women make

A Survey of Analogs to Weak MgII Absorbers in the Present

We present the results of a survey of the analogs of weak MgII absorbers (rest frame equivalent width W(2796) < 0.3 A) at 0 < z < 0.3. Our sample consisted of 25 HST/STIS echelle quasar spectra (R = 45,000) which covered SiII 1260 and CII 1335 over this redshift range. Using those similar transitions as tracers of MgII facilitates a much larger survey, covering a redshift pathlength of g(z) = 5.3 for an equivalent width limit of MgII corresponding to W(2796) > 0.02 A, with 30% completeness for the weakest lines. We find the number of weak MgII absorber analogs with 0.02 < W(2796) < 0.3 to be dN/dz = 1.00 +/- 0.20 for 0 < z < 0.3. This value is consistent with cosmological evolution of the population. We consider the expected effect on observability of weak MgII absorbers of the decreasing intensity of the extragalactic background radiation eld from z~1 to z~0. Assuming that all the objects that produce absorption at z~1 are stable on a cosmological timescale, and that no new objects are created, we would expect dN/dz of 2-3 at z~0. About 30-50% of this z~0 population would be decendants of the parsec-scale structures that produce single-cloud, weak MgII absorbers at z~1. The other 50-70% would be lower density, kiloparsec-scale structures that produce CIV absorption, but not detectable low ionization absorption, at z~1. We conclude that at least one, and perhaps some fraction of both, of these populations has evolved away since z~1, in order to match the z~0 dN/dz measured in our survey. This would follow naturally for a population of transient structures whose generation is related to star-forming processes, whose rate has decreased since z~1.Comment: 45 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables ApJ accepte

Exploring the implementation of a life skills training program for adolescents in the Texas foster care system

The purpose of this exploratory study was to gain an increased understanding of an independent living skills training program's impact on resilience, social support, and life skills for foster care youth participants. This study used a qualitative case study methodology and involved a purposive sample of 16 ethnically diverse youths and 9 adult staff members of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Youth participants were recruited through one of several state-contracted agencies that provided life skills training to youths in Texas. Data were collected through multiple sources and were analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistics. Scores on standardized measures of resilience, social support, and life skills, and youths' descriptions of these same constructs were compared. The change in scores on the standardized measure of social support were statistically significant (p=.006; p<.05), while total scores on measures of resilience and life skills were not. Although scores were not statistically significant, scores on the measure of resilience were in the "high" range, possibly indicating high levels of internal and external assets, and scores on the standardized measure of life skills indicated that youths showed "mastery" of approximately half of the life skills. Youths' descriptions of social support, resilience, and life skills were consistent with scores on standardized measures. Participants described biological family members as their greatest sources of emotional support and encouragement and their verbal descriptions corresponded with the internal and external assets defined in the standardized measure of resilience. Most participants had difficulty describing and recollecting life skills information such as managing money and locating appropriate housing, which was consistent with scores suggesting they "mastered" only about half of all items on the life skills assessment. Staff participants cited placement changes and lack of transportation as the most frequent occurring reasons a youth stopped attending life skills training. Findings from this study highlighted the strengths of foster care youth and have implications for future use of strengths-based theories and frameworks, and for gender-specific life skills training. Findings also indicate important implications for teaching life skills to youths in foster care and policies related to independent living services.Social Wor

Redbird Buzz Episode 23: Jane Lynch, May 1, 2023

Interview with Illinois State University alum Jane Lynch, who is an award-winning actor, comedian, author, producer, and singer. The interview was conducted by Rachel Kobus from Alumni Engagement on May 1, 2023, for the Illinois State University Redbird Buzz podcast

HNPCC (Lynch Syndrome): Differential Diagnosis, Molecular Genetics and Management - a Review

HNPCC (Lynch syndrome) is the most common form of hereditary colorectal cancer (CRC), wherein it accounts for between 2-7 percent of the total CRC burden. When considering the large number of extracolonic cancers integral to the syndrome, namely carcinoma of the endometrium, ovary, stomach, hepatobiliary system, pancreas, small bowel, brain tumors, and upper uroepithelial tract, these estimates of its frequency are likely to be conservative. The diagnosis is based upon its natural history in concert with a comprehensive cancer family history inclusive of all anatomic sites. In order for surveillance and management to be effective and, indeed, lifesaving, among these high-risk patients, the linchpin to cancer control would be the physician, who must be knowledgeable about hereditary cancer syndromes, their molecular and medical genetics, genetic counseling, and, most importantly, the natural history of the disorders, so that the entirety of this knowledge can be melded to highly-targeted management