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The purpose of this paper is to outline the development, piloting and evaluation of the Who’s Challenging Who? (WCW) training intervention for social care staff to improve their empathy and attitudes towards people with learning disabilities (LD) and challenging behaviour (CB).

A phased approach was taken to the development and testing of the intervention. Initially, the existing literature was reviewed, the theoretical background of the intervention was developed, and then the intervention was designed. A pilot study was undertaken, followed by further development, and a large-scale randomised controlled trial (RCT).

WCW had a small positive effect on staff empathy 20 weeks after the intervention, and small to moderate effects for other staff reported outcomes (e.g. positive empowerment attitudes and positive work motivation). Being trained by people with LD and CB encouraged staff to reflect on the impact they have on the people they support. The trainers with LD valued their role, and saw benefits beyond this (e.g. friendships).

It is possible to carry out high-quality RCT evaluations of social care practice, and research should continue to generate evidence in this way, as in healthcare settings. However, there were difficulties in retaining participants.

People with LD can be actively involved in the co-production and delivery of social care training.

Employment and a fair wage can increase the confidence and empowerment of people with LD.

This is the first large-scale RCT of an intervention that aimed to improve empathy/change attitudes in social care staff who work with people with LD and CB.

Research on emergent behavior has been a significant topic within disaster studies. Through a detailed review of the literature we provide background information about this particular branch of disaster sociology. Following a brief discussion of the process by which literature was selected, important trends and areas of debate are discussed. These include the validation of previous findings, an expansion of the discussion on emergent phenomena and a critique of the bureaucratic approach. We conclude with implications for the theory and practice of emergency management.

Baker Perkins will be exhibiting two MPC/V compounding lines; a 330/660 litre Drydisperser high speed mixer/cooler combination and a laboratory double Z‐blade mixer‐extruder at the Europlastique Exhibition in Paris, 3–10 June.

This paper investigates the risk incurred in UK property investment by the major investing institutions. The historic variability of investment returns from property is compared with that from long dated British government bonds (gilts) and ordinary shares (equities) using data from the JLW Property Index.1 A variety of definitions of risk are examined in order to assess the relative risk of property, considered both in isolation and as an integral part of the overall institutional portfolio. The investigation concludes that, since the late 1960s, property has involved significantly less risk than either of the two alternative investments.

In the 1970s, yields on UK commercial investment property appear to have been influenced principally by the cost of long term capital and the rate of rental growth. Consequently, yields tended to respond to the economic cycle, falling in times of economic recovery and rising when the economy moved into recession. However, in the 1980s so far, yield trends appear anomalous by comparison. Yields failed to rise on the advent of the recession in 1980–81, despite a sharp rise in the cost of capital, yet rose in 1982 just when the economy began to emerge from recession, and have since continued to rise as economic recovery and rental growth have gathered pace. This paper seeks to explain recent movements in investment property yields and to reconcile these with trends in the 1970s. It concludes that the behaviour of yields in the 1980s can be explained by the dominance of institutional investors in the property market, and by their perception of the changing risk attributes of property (compared with alternative investments) which have resulted from changes taking place in the investment markets and the UK economy.

Purpose – Cory Booker will likely step down as mayor of Newark in 2014 or 2018. When he does, the possibility of a strong Latino candidate emerging is quite likely. There are a number of black politicians who would like to succeed Booker as well. This chapter identifies eight potential successors to Booker and assesses their ability to create a multiracial electoral coalition using prior vote performance in citywide elections.Design/methodology/approach – This study regresses district (or precinct) level vote preferences for the aforementioned potential successors in previous elections on the racial and ethnic composition of the district, using voter district demographic data from 2000 and 201011The 2010 data is still incomplete at the time of publication. As such, this data will be used sparingly. compiled by the US Census Bureau and the Minnesota Population Center.Findings − There is a decade’s worth of evidence suggesting racially polarized voting among blacks and Latinos in Newark. The racialized black and Latino candidates examined in this chapter had much stronger support in districts with large coethnic populations. In contrast, the more deracialized candidates often had softer support in districts with high concentrations of coethnic voters, but often performed better in districts with higher concentrations of non-coethnics.Originality/value − While the author cautions against reading too much into the findings, the results do portend a future of racially polarized voting in Newark, especially as the city’s population diversifies and as different factions vie for power.