Partnering in flight: From being to becoming

Current literature offers little understanding about how procurement methods are enacted in practice. Developments in procurement are often viewed as the result of responding to recommendations from particular constituents within the sector. The research seeks to remove itself from such deterministic leaning, counselling instead that procurement should not be viewed in static terms, but dynamically manifesting over time within a complex web of interconnections between various actors, their situated context and the broader industrial structure. Attention is given to how a client and construction firm engaged in a collusive interaction to realise an innovative procurement method that derived its legitimacy from a backcloth of initiatives promoted by various commentators. A case study of a medium-size regional contractor demonstrates how the first partnering arrangement was enacted within the UK affordable housing maintenance sector in the UK. The case study finds that the enactment of new procurement methods strongly relies on iterative learning between clients and contractors. It is further suggested that construction firms need to initiate new procurement in order to remain competitive within the sector. The findings point towards a pro-active initiative by the contractor and client to enact a ‘procurement first’. Encouragement may be drawn from this example by other contractors seeking to offer more than simply responsive procurement solutions.

A conceptual design of a wireless sensor actuator system for optimising energy and well-being in a building

This article presents a prototype model based on a wireless sensor actuator network (WSAN) aimed at optimizing both energy consumption of environmental systems and well-being of occupants in buildings. The model is a system consisting of the following components: a wireless sensor network, `sense diaries', environmental systems such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, and a central computer. A multi-agent system (MAS) is used to derive and act on the preferences of the occupants. Each occupant is represented by a personal agent in the MAS. The sense diary is a new device designed to elicit feedback from occupants about their satisfaction with the environment. The roles of the components are: the WSAN collects data about physical parameters such as temperature and humidity from an indoor environment; the central computer processes the collected data; the sense diaries leverage trade-offs between energy consumption and well-being, in conjunction with the agent system; and the environmental systems control the indoor environment.

Teachers’ voices about being a teacher: comparative studies in England, Finland and Sweden

The aim of the article is to present and discuss a study in which Finnish, English and Swedish teachers and student teachers described the implications of being a teacher. It is cross-national and consists of multiple case studies. Data were collected through twenty-four focus group dialogues, and 110 teachers/student teachers participated in the study. According to the study, we have found that teachers and student teachers in all three countries promoted pupils’ development of critical thinking, which is another way of saying that they focused on ‘the attitudes and values’ aspect of citizenship education; however, this was most evident in the Finnish and the Swedish focus groups. In England there is a subject emphasis to the professional role, the three countries ranked the topics (the pupils; the subject; the organization; the society; teacher identity; parents) equally, in Finland the teacher role did not appear to be as post modern as in the two other countries.

Are the NICE guidelines for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder being used in primary care?

This study aims to: 1) assess the proportion of General Practioners (GPs) who are aware of or who have read the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE; 2005a) guidelines for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), 2) compare this with the proportion of other mental health disorders found by previous research and 3) establish the prevalence of OCD in primary care. Questionnaires were sent to all GPs (n = 795) and practice managers (n = 157) in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, South East England. These contained 19 questions and took 5 min to complete. After the first set of responses, larger practices were visited and telephoned to encourage further responses. The response rates were 10.1% from GPs and 19.1% from practice managers. In all, 48.7% of the GPs were aware of the NICE guidelines for OCD and 30.3% reported that they had read them – higher than for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but lower than for depression. Of registered patients, 0.2% were diagnosed with OCD, lower than the 1.1% found in epidemiological studies.

Learners’ perceptions of being identified as very able: insights from Modern Foreign Languages and Physical Education

While learners’ attitudes to Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and to Physical Education (PE) in the UK have been widely investigated in previous research, an under-explored area is learners’ feelings about being highly able in these subjects. The present study explored this issue, among 78 learners (aged 12-13) from two schools in England, a Specialist Language College, and a Specialist Sports College. Learners completed a questionnaire exploring their feelings about the prospect of being identified as gifted/talented in these subjects, and their perceptions of the characteristics of highly able learners in MFL and PE. Questionnaires were chosen as the data collection method to encourage more open responses from these young learners than might have been elicited in an interview. While learners were enthusiastic about the idea of being highly able in both subjects, this enthusiasm was more muted for MFL. School specialism was related to learners’ enthusiasm only in the Sports College. Learners expressed fairly stereotypical views of the characteristics of the highly able in MFL and PE. The relevance of these findings for motivation and curriculum design within both subjects is discussed.

Emotional well-being and adjustment to vision loss in later life: a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.

Purpose: To review perceived emotional well-being in older people with visual impairment and perceived factors that inhibit/facilitate psychosocial adjustment to vision loss. Method: The databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL were searched for studies published from January 1980 to December 2010, which recruited older people with irreversible vision loss, and used qualitative methods for both data collection and analysis. Results sections of the papers were synthesised using a thematic-style analysis to identify the emergent and dominant themes. Results: Seventeen qualitative papers were included in the review, and five main themes emerged from the synthesis: 1) the trauma of an ophthalmic diagnosis, 2) impact of vision loss on daily life, 3) negative impact of visual impairment on psychosocial well-being, 4) factors that inhibit social well-being, and 5) factors that facilitate psychological well-being. We found the response shift model useful for explaining our synthesis. Conclusions: Acquired visual impairment can have a significant impact on older people's well-being and make psychosocial adjustment to the condition a major challenge. Acceptance of the condition and a positive attitude facilitate successful psychosocial adjustment to vision loss as well as social support from family, friends and peers who have successfully adjusted to the condition. [Box: see text].