Climate change performance measurement, control and accountability in English local areas

Purpose – This paper aims to consider how climate change performance is measured and accounted for within the performance framework for local authority areas in England adopted in 2008. It critically evaluates the design of two mitigation and one adaptation indicators that are most relevant to climate change. Further, the potential for these performance indicators to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation is discussed. Design/methodology/approach – The authors begin by examining the importance of the performance framework and the related Local Area Agreements (LAAs), which were negotiated for all local areas in England between central government and Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). This development is located within the broader literature relating to new public management. The potential for this framework to assist in delivering the UK's climate change policy objectives is researched in a two-stage process. First, government publications and all 150 LAAs were analysed to identify the level of priority given to the climate change indicators. Second, interviews were conducted in spring 2009 with civil servants and local authority officials from the English West Midlands who were engaged in negotiating the climate change content of the LAAs. Findings – Nationally, the authors find that 97 per cent of LAAs included at least one climate change indicator as a priority. The indicators themselves, however, are perceived to be problematic – in terms of appropriateness, accuracy and timeliness. In addition, concerns were identified about the level of local control over the drivers of climate change performance and, therefore, a question is raised as to how LSPs can be held accountable for this. On a more positive note, for those concerned about climate change, the authors do find evidence that the inclusion of these indicators within the performance framework has helped to move climate change up the agenda for local authorities and their partners. However, actions by the UK's new coalition government to abolish the national performance framework and substantially reduce public expenditure potentially threaten this advance. Originality/value – This paper offers an insight into a new development for measuring climate change performance at a local level, which is relatively under-researched. It also contributes to knowledge of accountability within a local government setting and provides a reference point for further research into the potential role of local actions to address the issue of climate change.

Researching with, not on:using photography in researching street children in Accra, Ghana

What is discussed in this chapter is work-in-progress, an opportunity for reflection upon elements of an on-going research project examining the lives of street children in Accra, Ghana. Street children have received much research in recent years but our project is, we believe, distinctive in two respects. The first of these is that access to reliable data on the growing presence of children on the streets of African cities is often problematic. Available research is often diffuse and hard to access, it is more often than not driven by the short-term requirements of specific programmes and interventions and as a consequence can be lacking in depth, rigour and innovation. Without the means to provide a sufficiently self-conscious and critical engagement with accepted understandings of the lives of street children, consideration of the experience of street children in Africa continues to rely heavily on the more capacious and better disseminated research from the Americas (e.g., Mickelson, 2000). At the very least, Africa's specific experience of large population displacements, diversity of family forms, rapid urbanisation, vigorous structural adjustment and internal conflict raise important questions about the appropriateness of such ready generalisations. Judith Ennew (2003, p. 4) is clear that caution is needed in an uncritical endorsement of the “globalisation of the street child based on Latin American work”. She is equally mindful, however, that as far as Africa is concerned the absence of reliable evidence continues to hinder debate.

Accommodating special needs users in the evaluation of an m-Learning application:a case study

Adult illiteracy rates are alarmingly high worldwide. The portability, affordability, and ease of use of mobile (or handheld) devices offer a realistic opportunity to provide novel, context-sensitive literacy resources to adults with limited literacy skills. To this end, we developed the concept of ALEX – a mobile Adult Literacy support application for EXperiential learning (Lumsden et al., 2005). On the basis of a medium-fidelity prototype of this application, we conducted an evaluation of ALEX using participants from our in tended user group. This evaluation had two goals: (a) to assess the usefulness of the ALEX concept and the usability of its current design; and (b) to reflect on the appropriateness of our evaluation process given the literacy-related needs of our participants. This paper outlines our approach to this evaluation as well as the results we obtained and our reflections on the process.

Multimodal field data entry:performance and usability issues

Mobile technologies have yet to be widely adopted by the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry despite being one of the major growth areas in computing in recent years. This lack of uptake in the AEC industry is likely due, in large part, to the combination of small screen size and inappropriate interaction demands of current mobile technologies. This paper discusses the scope for multimodal interaction design with a specific focus on speech-based interaction to enhance the suitability of mobile technology use within the AEC industry by broadening the field data input capabilities of such technologies. To investigate the appropriateness of using multimodal technology for field data collection in the AEC industry, we have developed a prototype Multimodal Field Data Entry (MFDE) application. This application, which allows concrete testing technicians to record quality control data in the field, has been designed to support two different modalities of data input speech-based data entry and stylus-based data entry. To compare the effectiveness or usability of, and user preference for, the different input options, we have designed a comprehensive lab-based evaluation of the application. To appropriately reflect the anticipated context of use within the study design, careful consideration had to be given to the key elements of a construction site that would potentially influence a test technician's ability to use the input techniques. These considerations and the resultant evaluation design are discussed in detail in this paper.

The French fifth Republic as an opportunity structure:a neo-institutional and cultural approach to the study of leadership politics

The Gaullist settlement of 1958 reconfigured the political institutions of France, introducing into the republican mainstream a new form of leadership politics. Adapting the literature on political opportunity structure (POS) theory, and using the French left as a case study, can help us understand how political parties, ideology and leadership adapt to political institutions and norms. It also illuminates what the consequences are of such adaptation in the contemporary period, particularly as regards the institutionally bound roles of political 'character', protocol and discourse. The paper appraises the relevance and appropriateness of POS theory to leadership politics in France.

Cognitive behaviour therapy for mothers of children with food allergy:a case series

Background: Food allergy affects quality of life in patients and parents and mothers report high levels of anxiety and stress. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) may be helpful in reducing the psychological impact of food allergy. The aim of this study was to examine the appropriateness and effectiveness of CBT to improve psychological outcomes in parents of children with food allergy. Methods: Five parents (all mothers) from a local allergy clinic requested to have CBT; six mothers acted as controls and completed questionnaires only. CBT was individual and face-to face and lasted 12 weeks. All participants completed measures of anxiety and depression, worry, stress, general mental health, generic and food allergy specific quality of life at baseline and at 12 weeks. Results: Anxiety, depression and worry in the CBT group significantly reduced and overall mental health and QoL significantly improved from baseline to 12 weeks (all p < 0.05) in mothers in the CBT group; control group scores remained stable. Conclusions: CBT appears to be appropriate and effective in mothers of children with food allergy and a larger randomised control trial now needs to be conducted. Ways in which aspects of CBT can be incorporated into allergy clinic visits need investigation.

Reply: 'Myopic foveoschisis: An ectatic retinopathy, not a schisis'

Full text: We thank Tsilimbaris et al1 for their comments on the appropriateness of the term ‘myopic foveoschisis’ to describe the condition that is characterized by the separation of neural retina layers associated with high myopia and posterior staphyloma. They have proposed the term ‘myopic ectatic retinopathy’ as a more literal and functionally more accurate descriptor of the condition to avoid the use of the word ‘schisis’, which may be misleading because it is also used to describe other conditions where there is separation of neural retina layers without the presence of staphyloma.2 Using the word ‘ectatic’ for this condition would imply that we are fairly certain about the pathogenesis and mechanistic factors that underlie its development and progression. However, this is not the case, unfortunately, as our review of the literature has shown. There are several theories ranging from vitreous traction to sclerosing changes of retinal vessels to progression of staphylomas as possible etiological factors. Therefore, it is likely to be multifactorial in nature—hence the success reported with different procedures that address either the vitreous traction factor using vitrectomy, peel plus tamponade or the scleral ectasia factor using posterior buckling techniques. In the absence of a good understanding of underlying pathogenesis, it is probably best to use purely descriptive names rather than mechanistic terms. The use of descriptive terms, even though similar, do not necessarily cause confusion as long as they are widely accepted as differentiating terminology, for example, postoperative pseudophakic cystoid macular edema (Irvine–Gass syndrome) vs cystoid macular edema associated with posterior uveitis in a phakic patient. The introduction of too many mechanistic or pathogenetic terms in the absence of clear understating of etiology can in fact cause more confusion, for example, serous chorioretinopathy vs central serous retinopathy vs serous choroidopathy. The confinement to broad descriptive terms can enhance communication and reduce confusion without committing to any presumption about etiology until it is better understood. This approach is probably best illustrated by the recent advances in the understanding of mactel21, a condition initially described and classified, using descriptive nomenclature, by Don Gass as bilateral, idiopathic acquired juxtafoveolar telangiectasis (Group2A) and as distinctly different from unilateral, congenital parafoveolar telangiectasis (Group 1A; Gass,3 pp 504–506 vs 127–128). Finally, it is worthy to note that for myopic foveoschisis associated with a staphyloma that is associated with outer layer macular detachment, Don Gass also descriptively included the additional observation (before the advent of OCT) that the retinal profile was concave rather than convex in shape, thereby differentiating it from rhegmatogenous detachments with recruitment of subretinal fluid that is associated with posteriorly located breaks and macular holes in myopic eyes. References 1.Tsilimbaris MK, Vavvas DG, Bechrakis NE. Myopic foveoschisis: an ectatic retinopathy, not aschisis. Eye 2016; 30: 328–329. 2.Powner MB, Gillies MC, Tretiach M, Scott A, Guymer RH, Hageman GS et al. Perifoveal müller cell depletion in a case of macular telangiectasia type 2. Ophthalmology 2010; 117(12): 2407–2416. 3.Gass DM. Stereoscopic Atlas of Macular Diseases: Diagnosis and Treatment, 4th edn. Mosby-Yearbook: St. Louis, 1997.

Service productivity:what stops service firms from measuring it?

Productivity measurement poses a challenge for service organizations. Conventional management wisdom holds that this challenge is rooted in the difficulty of accurately quantifying service inputs and outputs. Few service firms have adequate service productivity measurement (SPM) systems in place and implementing such systems may involve organizational transformation. Combining field interviews and literature-based insights, the authors develop a conceptual model of antecedents of SPM in service firms and test it using data from 276 service firms. Results indicate that one out of five antecedents affects the choice to use SPM, namely, the degree of service standardization. In addition, all five hypothesized antecedents and one additional antecedent (perceived appropriateness of the current SPM) predict the degree of SPM usage. In particular, the degree of SPM is positively influenced by the degree of service standardization, service customization, investments in service productivity gains, and the appropriateness of current service productivity measures. In turn, customer integration and the perceived difficulty of measuring service productivity negatively affect SPM. The fact that customer integration impedes actual measurement of service productivity is a surprising finding, given that customer integration is widely seen as a means to increase service productivity. The authors conclude with implications for service organizations and directions for research.

The roles of community pharmacists and other pharmacy staff:public perceptions

Introduction: The focus of the community pharmacist’s (CP’s) activities continues to move away from traditional dispensing activities towards the provision of health services. Current functions of CPs cover a combination of roles including prescription matters, counselling and service provision. These expanding roles, along with raised prescription volume, have increased CP workload. Therefore, it has become commonplace to delegate certain activities to other pharmacy staff (PS). This research aimed to examine public perceptions of CPs and other PS functions. Methodology: A self-completion postal questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 9769 members of the general public in England. Participants were asked to indicate which functions they believed CPs and other PS perform. Data were imported into SPSS 22 for analysis. Results: A response rate of 15.7% (n = 1537) was achieved. The roles most commonly attributed to CPs were monitoring prescription appropriateness (90.4%, n = 1390) and counselling patients on prescribed medicines (90.4%, n = 1389). The role most commonly attributed to other PS was sales transactions (92.4%, n = 1420). Similar numbers of responders agreed that the delivery of health services was the role of both CPs and other PS (58.9%, n = 906; 57.0%, n = 876). Conclusion: Despite a move towards more service based practice, the public still primarily associate the CP’s role with activities centred on dispensing. The provision of health services was seen to be equally carried out by CPs and other PS. As the CP’s service-based activities continue to develop, promotional activities may be required to ensure developments in CP functions are recognised by the public