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The main aim of the evaluation was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the service in order to contribute to its further development and sustainability. The study was carried out in partnership between Lincolnshire Adult Social Care and Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust. A secondary aim was to determine the impact of the service on the quality of life and independence of service users using appropriate scales. These measurements were performed in parallel with an audit of the performance and cost effectiveness of the service. Service users, carers and staff all contributed to the evaluation. Initial results have indicated a positive response to the equipment, with a reduction in anxiety and increased independence for both the service user and carer.

Good library service means providing information that will satisfy the needs of patrons. Developing a sound collection of materials is best achieved by assessing user demands. Requests for materials are not always for specific titles, but rather for information related to a certain subject area. This is often the situation for state and local history. When developing a collection in local history, the librarian is faced with deciding what types of materials should be obtained to best satisfy patrons' needs. Examining materials actually used provides a valuable selection tool to aid in the collection development process.

The intra-organisational relationships of through-life support services providers are complex, especially given the multifaceted nature of the provision required. For example, capabilities within the UK highways maintenance arena must support engineering design, routine maintenance and the on-going management of the network. While collaboration in construction projects has formed a major research focus in recent years, there is a paucity of work examining collaboration in-flight.

Through a micro-practices approach, two contracts delivering highway infrastructure maintenance and renewal services are examined to explore the intra-organisational relationships that determine the quality of service delivered.

Despite the rhetoric of collaboration and integrated working that pervades the contemporary project discourse, there was a clear focus on addressing immediate technical and commercial concerns, rather than on creating the conditions for integrated working to flourish. On the occasions where the collaborative environment was prioritised, a more integrated service was delivered.

In contrast to other accounts of the ways collaborative working shapes performance, this research reveals an acute need for a sustained collaborative effort; as soon as “collaborative working” was normalised, the level of integration and seamlessness of service was diminished. This questions normative notions of what defines collaborative working in projects and suggests a need for re-framing it as an on-going accomplishment of actors involved. Such a perspective resonates with notions of “organizational becoming”, particularly in that attempts to foster collaboration are themselves constitutive of the unfolding and shifting nature of intra-organisational relationships that emerge in complex contractual arrangements.

The purpose of this study is to examine the causes of consumer stockpiling by Muslim consumers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Specifically, this paper examines exposure to COVID-19 information and its relationship with panic buying directly, indirectly through anxiety and as moderated by resilience.

In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study surveys 1,006 Muslims from a sample of 1,392 UAE citizens and residents about their exposure to COVID-19 information, anxiety, resilience and panic buying.

Greater exposure to COVID-19 information had a direct effect on panic buying yet a much weaker indirect effect through increased anxiety. This mediating effect is only significant at moderate to high levels of resilience, suggesting panic buying is a particular coping response of resilient individuals who experience anxiety after greater exposure to COVID-19 information. Anxiety was found to increase panic buying above that directly related to COVID-19 information exposure.

Findings provide some guidance for policymakers where a nuanced approach to building and directing resilience and in directing information flows are needed to curtail panic buying within their Muslim populations.

While the phenomenon of consumer stockpiling is referred to as panic buying, the findings suggest that anxiety plays a smaller role in the process than preparedness prompted by crisis-related information exposure. Furthermore, this is the first study to date to specifically examine COVID-19 related panic buying among a Muslim population.

Attempts to theorize the relationship between the informal and the illegal sectors of the economy. States that there are significant behavioural similarities. Proposes an emergent paradigm based on dual labour market theory to explain the similarites and differences in order to guide future research in each area. Applies the theory to the production and marketing of crack cocaine and shows how the model helps us to understand issues of exploitation and risk makagement within the drug market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents, cultivation, behaviours and consequences of materialism in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Given the UAE’s dramatic transformation into a developed and commercialised nation, such an investigation is highly warranted.

In this study, four focus groups and 25 in-depth interviews with UAE nationals were conducted. A conceptual model theorising the antecedents, cultivation, behaviours and consequences of materialism in the UAE emerged from a grounded theory analysis of the primary data and existing literature.

Rapid development, commercialisation and a substantial increase in new wealth have led to the development and socialisation of material values. Conspicuous and status consumption is creating an increasingly judgmental consumer society that is further cultivating material values in an ongoing cycle. Traditional Emirati values are also being expressed through materialistic displays. The consequences of materialism for the Emirati population include both positive and negative impacts on well-being, an increase in financial distress, delayed marriage and family conflict.

The model guides policy makers beyond constraining consumption via advertising and financial regulation towards breaking the cycles that cultivate harmful materialistic tendencies. The use of a more socio-cultural approach is recommended, which includes building self-esteem, resilience to judgements, use of cultural influencers, re-direction efforts and campaigns raising awareness and recognition of materialism as a social problem.

This is the first study to develop a comprehensive model of the antecedents, cultivation, behaviours and consequences of materialism in an emerging market.

Life studies are a rich source for further research on the role of the Afro‐American woman in society. They are especially useful to gain a better understanding of the Afro‐American experience and to show the joys, sorrows, needs, and ideals of the Afro‐American woman as she struggles from day to day.

The role of nostalgia in consumers’ lives and its application in the design of marketing strategies has been highlighted in prior research. However, the role of nostalgia as well as the consumers’ nostalgic inclination in the development of new products has not been investigated yet, either for existing products or new ones. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to underline and understand the collaborative process of value co-creation for both actors (companies and consumers) in the development of nostalgic new products.

A double methodology was used through a netnographic study (which is inspired by ethnography) and semi-directed interviews. Concerning the netnographic approach, the data collection were conducted on both general and specialized social networks, web sites and forums. The semi-directed interviews were conducted among 12 individuals. The verbatim were analyzed through a content thematic analysis. The use of both methodologies helped to underline recurrent and complementary findings.

The analysis highlights four main results: first, the main criteria for selection and purchase of products and services; second, the perception and dimensions of nostalgia; third, the link between nostalgia and consumption; and finally, the relationship between nostalgic experiences and the co-creation process.

This research is the first to study the value of the co-creation process for the development of nostalgic new products.

SEPTEMBER finds the summer irrevocably over, although there will still be one or two very beautiful months in the English autumn remaining. It is usually the time when the older librarian thinks of conferences, and today he realizes regretfully that these have receded into what already seems a remote past. This month as we write we have to repeat the expectation we have expressed every month since May that before these words appear in print the threatened lightning attack on the life of England will have been made by the Nazis. It is becoming so customary, however, that one can only suggest that so far as circumstances allow we proceed with our normal work. The circumstances may make this difficult but they should be faced. One thing stands out: that in public libraries, at anyrate, the demands made by readers have gradually returned to their usual level and in some places have risen above it. This does not always mean that the figures are as high as they were, because in many of the great cities and towns a part of the population, including a very large number of the children, have been evacuated. In spite of the pressure on the population as a whole, it would seem that head for head more books are being read now than at any previous time.

The purpose of this paper is to explore primary school children’s beliefs towards eating fruit and vegetables in a deprived area in England.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 children aged 9-11 from an after school club at a primary school in a deprived area in the West Midlands. Interviews were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Six master themes emerged from the data: “effect on the senses”, “feelings about food”, “healthy vs unhealthy foods”, “effects on health”, “convenience” and “family and friends”. Analysis showed that children seemed to have a very good awareness of the health benefits of eating fruit and vegetables. However, negative beliefs were associated with sensory perceptions (such as taste, texture, appearance and aroma), availability, and the competing desirability of other, unhealthy foods. Also, although parents were key influences, siblings and friends were often perceived as negative influences and would tease children about eating fruit and vegetables.

Suggestions for interventions include increasing the appeal and availability of pre-prepared fruits and vegetables in both home and school environments. Additionally, an approach to eating more fruit and vegetables which focusses on siblings and friends is advocated as these groups appear to play a key role in terms of promoting the consumption of these foods.

This study is novel as it uses individual interviews to explore primary school children’s attitudes towards fruit and vegetable consumption in a deprived area in England. By focussing on the specific behaviours of fruit and vegetable consumption, the findings aid the development of interventions that are designed to improve children’s healthy eating behaviour.