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Exploring the relationship between housing conditions and capabilities: a qualitative case study of private hostel residents
Full text linkWhile housing can facilitate many of the freedoms associated with a ‘well-lived’ life, the Capabilities Approach (CA) is yet to have transformed housing research and evaluation. This paper explores the relationship between housing conditions and well-being, using Nussbaum’s version of the CA as the basis for analysis. It draws on data from a UK-based qualitative study of the experiences of individuals residing in privately-run hostels in the North of England. The analysis reveals much diversity in terms of the ways in which the residents perceived their housing conditions and the impacts of these on their exercise of key functions, despite all living in similar environmental conditions. This highlights the highly subjective and complex nature of the relationship between housing conditions and well-being. It is argued that a more robust understanding of the key factors that mediate the relationship being investigated is needed if the potential of the CA to advance housing research and evaluation is to be further realized
The theatre as therapy for military veterans? Exploring the mechanisms which impact psychosocial well-being and social connections during theatre-based programmes
Full text linkBackground: In many countries, performing arts and theatre practices are being employed with Armed Forces Communities. However, very little evidence exists outlining the psychosocial benefits of this practice. Therefore, this study aims to explore the perceived impact of theatre-based programmes on psychosocial well-being, and social connections, of U.K. Military Veterans.Methods: This qualitative study carried out semi-structured interviews with six military veterans who had participated in at least one theatre-based programme.Results: Four themes were generated from this study; providing a purpose, therapeutic storytelling, social connection, and the impact of the programme ending.Conclusions: This study provided unique insight into the benefits of theatre-based programmes on the psychosocial well-being of U.K. military veterans. The programmes were perceived as being beneficial for future employment opportunities, but the ending of these programmes was difficult for some and must be considered alongside provision
Drivers for energy analysis towards a BIM-enabled information flow
Full text linkDesign/methodology/approach: The paper presents a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) extracted from the developed Energy Analysis (EA) process maps and interviews with expert stakeholders. These KPIs stem from the literature review and link to the benefits of EA through industry expert review. The study includes; i) Development and validation of EA process maps adjusted to requirements from different stakeholders. ii) KPIs aligned with the EA process map. iii) Identification of the drivers that can facilitate lifecycle information exchange. iv) Opportunities and obstacles for EA within Building Information Modelling (BIM) enabled projects.
Purpose: EA within a BIM enables consistent data integration in central repositories and eases information exchange, reducing rework. However, data loss during information exchange from different BIM uses or disciplines is frequent. Therefore, a holistic approach for different BIM uses enables a coherent lifecycle information flow. The lifecycle information flow drives the reduction of data loss and model rework and enhances the seamless re-use of information. The latter requires a specification of the EA KPIs and integrating those in the process.
Findings: This paper depicts a viable alternative for EA process maps and KPIs in a BIM-enabled AEC design industry. The findings of this paper showcase the need for an EA within BIM with these KPIs integrated for a more effective process conforming to the current OpenBIM Alliance guidance and contributing towards sustainable lifecycle information flow.
Research limitations/implications: The limitation of the research is the challenge of generalising the developed EA process maps; however, it can be adjusted to fit defined organisational use. The findings deduced from the developed EA process map only show KPIs to have the ability to facilitate adequate information flow during EA.
Practical implications: The AEC industry will benefit from the findings of this primary research as they will be able to contrast their process maps and KPIs to those developed in the paper.
Social implications: This paper benefits the societal values in energy analysis for the built environment in the design stages. The subsequent lifecycle information flow will help achieve a consistent information set and decarbonised built environment.
Originality/value: The paper offers a practical overview of process maps and KPIs to embed EA into BIM, reducing the information loss and rework needed in the practice of this integration. The applicability of the solution is contrasted by consultation with experts and literature
Local government and democratic innovations: reflections on the case of citizen assemblies on climate change
Full text linkA wave of local and national authorities have implemented citizen assemblies to address climate change. This represents a potentially crucial point in the development of citizen assemblies, and offers a new setting in which to explore unresolved questions in the literature about the relationship between deliberative minipublics and the wider public sphere and decision making authorities. This article considers the significance of this recent development and the prospects that citizen assemblies present for sustained, meaningful democratic engagement. We focus on how these events are connected to the wider public sphere and institutions of decision-making. The article argues that these cases reveal normative and practical challenges crucial to understanding the sustainability and success of these events. We observe that traditional approaches to analysing deliberative processes may be limited in their capacity to navigate these challenges, and outline potential approaches that may provide insight into these questions
Resource planning strategies for healthcare systems during a pandemic
Full text linkWe study resource planning strategies, including the integrated healthcare resources’ allocation and sharing as well as patients’ transfer, to improve the response of health systems to massive increases in demand during epidemics and pandemics. Our study considers various types of patients and resources to provide access to patient care with minimum capacity extension. Adding new resources takes time that most patients don't have during pandemics. The number of patients requiring scarce healthcare resources is uncertain and dependent on the speed of the pandemic's transmission through a region. We develop a multi-stage stochastic program to optimize various strategies for planning limited and necessary healthcare resources. We simulate uncertain parameters by deploying an agent-based continuous-time stochastic model, and then capture the uncertainty by a forward scenario tree construction approach. Finally, we propose a data-driven rolling horizon procedure to facilitate decision-making in real-time, which mitigates some critical limitations of stochastic programming approaches and makes the resulting strategies implementable in practice. We use two different case studies related to COVID-19 to examine our optimization and simulation tools by extensive computational results. The results highlight these strategies can significantly improve patient access to care during pandemics; their significance will vary under different situations. Our methodology is not limited to the presented setting and can be employed in other service industries where urgent access matters
‘Whose Call?’ The Conflict Between Tradition-Based and Expressivist Accounts of Calling
Full text linkResearch evidencing the consequences of the experience of ‘calling’ have multiplied in recent years. At the same time, concerns have been expressed about the conceptual coherence of the notion as studies have posited a wide variety of senses in which both workers and scholars understand what it means for workers to be called, what they are called to do and who is doing the ‘calling’. This paper makes both conceptual and empirical contributions to the field. We argue that Bellah et al.’s (Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life, University of California Press, 1996) contrast between tradition-based and expressivist understandings of ‘calling’ highlights a fundamental but neglected fissure in the literature. Expressivist accounts amongst both scholars and research participants require only that ‘calling’ be deeply felt by those who experience it. However, tradition-based accounts require an external caller. Exemplifying this, workers who attest to a divine call and scholars who write about ‘calling’ in the context of particular Christian traditions understand ‘calling’ in terms of a relationship with God. These accounts cannot but be in radical tension. We suggest that this conceptual confusion can be understood in terms of MacIntyre’s notion of ‘tradition-constituted rationality.’ The implications of this argument for practice are evidenced in our report of a study of adherents to one such tradition, workers at a Christian organization that supports people in poverty. Through in-depth interviews with long-term volunteers, we seek to assess if tradition-based ‘calling’ can be evidenced in unpaid work for the lack of pay and career progression opportunities strongly suggest the presence of ‘calling.’ This study demonstrates that even in the context of work that exhibits duty and altruism associated with expressivist accounts of ‘calling,’ these workers’ understanding of the relationships between themselves, their clients and Jesus Christ dominate their work choices. It is the meaning derived from a divine caller, understood in terms of Christian tradition, that accounts for their decision to begin and to continue this work
Culture, Education and Conflict: The Relevance of Critical Conservation Pedagogies for Post-Conflict Afghanistan
Full text linkThere has been considerable focus on the widespread destruction of cultural heritage in Afghanistan since the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban in 2001 and much concern over the future for heritage in the region on the return of a Taliban regime in 2021, yet comparatively little has been written on the fate of Afghanistan’s national collection of paintings, manuscripts, and works on paper. Through a quasi-experimental study and using a combination of evaluation methodologies, this paper discusses whether the overall impact achieved in conservation capacity-building and training schemes in conflict zones justify the cost and risk of operating in such regions. Using an international collaborative conservation training course carried out in 2020 at the Afghan National Gallery in Kabul as a case study, it discusses the appropriateness and effectiveness of the signature pedagogies in conservation when working in a conflict scenario, and highlights the limitations present in conservation training programmes in post-conflict scenarios and the need for sustainability of such programmes. The results of the study found that common constructivist-focused, Eurocentric conservation pedagogies may not be effective for training museum professionals in regions where this approach is unfamiliar
Making fun of feminism: British television comedy and the second wave
Full text linkThis paper addresses the representation of second wave feminism in two mainstream comedy shows starring male comedians. Scott On … (BBC 1964–74) and a sketch narrative which featured in the 1980 season of The Two Ronnies (BBC 1971–1986) brought feminism into family living rooms. While these shows make fun of feminism they also represent key aspects of the second wave, often echoing debates taking place in the women’s liberation movement. Despite their conservative politics Scott On … and The Two Ronnies put feminist ideas on screen in the 1970s and early 1980s; they represent a mainstream resistance and response to the second wave activism which was changing the British social and political landscape. Such shows make fun of feminist politics, yet in doing so they register and refract feminist debates
Medicating Georgia: Writing Doctors in the Old South
Full text linkThis essay looks at two medical families in Georgia between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Kollocks from Savannah and the Fort family from Milledgeville. Lemuel Kollock (1766–1823) moved there in 1792 from Connecticut to set up a medical practice. He married and had two sons and a daughter (Phineas, 1804–1872; Mary, 1806–1885; and George, 1810–1894). Phineas became a doctor and returned south after qualifying to practise in Savannah. The correspondence covers the social and professional contexts of practice, as well as the challenges of life and work in a climate like Georgia. A striking picture emerges of the place and importance of medicine in people's lives. Tomlinson Fort (1787–1859) was a native Georgian who set up in medicine in Milledgeville in 1810. He developed a wider public profile than Kollock, both as a doctor and in banking and politics. Most significantly, he published in 1849 his Dissertation on the Practice of Medicine, written in clear jargon-free English, which gives a detailed and practical perspective on health in the deep South. These surviving writings allow us to examine the place of medicine within the distinctive conditions of the society of the time
The effect of government support on Bureaucracy, COVID-19 resilience and export intensity: Evidence from North Africa
Full text linkThe literature on the imperativeness of government support for firm survival since the onset of COVID-19 is vast, but scholars have scarcely considered the impact of such assistance on managers’ time, nor the extent to which support measures induce resilience and export activity. Accordingly, this study assesses the impact of government support on (1) bureaucracy and (2) resilience using data from 535 Moroccan SMEs. It further evaluates the influence of resilience on direct versus indirect exports, and espouses the institutional voids, resource-based and strategy-creation view to explain the associations through a contingency lens. The results demonstrate that (1) government support increases bureaucracy which, (2) surprisingly triggers and enhances resilience. Furthermore, (3) resilience has a positive impact on direct exports but (4) adversely affects indirect exports. Theoretically, the findings acquiesce extant calls for measurement specificity in export performance. Practically, stakeholders’ attention is drawn to the value of managers’ time well spent