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Using discrete light rays — or ‘ray streaks’ as they are now called — to help in the teaching of the elementary principles of optics is not new. The apparatus shown in FIGURE 1 bears a close resemblance to that developed by F. Meier in the 'thirties. However, the use of such apparatus has been largely neglected or limited to demonstration work, and the usual ray‐box suffers from the disadvantage of producing, by means of a lens, a virtual source.

While environmental sustainability may have been intensified by different occurrences such as global warming, increased carbon emission, loss of biodiversity and natural resource depletion, there are concerns that rising population combined with the quality of institutions have serious implications on the attainment of environmental sustainability. While this may seem factual, tackling environmental problems by adopting population reduction policies might not necessarily guarantee a sustainable environment without addressing the quality of institutions. This chapter examines the effect of population growth on environmental sustainability as well as the interactive effect of population growth and institutional quality on environmental sustainability in West Africa region, using data from 2006 to 2019. Adopting the System Generalized Method of Moment method, findings indicate that population growth has a positive but insignificant effect on environmental sustainability. Population growth when interacted with institutional quality had negative and significant effect on environmental sustainability. The result demonstrates that environmental problems cannot be effectively addressed through population policy alone, hence the additional need for strong and institutional quality to ensure environmental sustainability in the region.

Those most socially disadvantaged are at a greater risk of common mental disorder (CMD). The need to evaluate the health impact of social policy interventions that aim to reduce social inequalities between the disadvantaged and the better off is well recognised. This paper reports findings from a review to explore evidence on the health impact of UK policy interventions that aim to tackle the key social determinants of CMD. These were previously identified from the literature as cumulative socioeconomic deprivation, unemployment, psychosocial work characteristics, and poor social relationships. We identified some evidence of a positive impact on CMD of urban regeneration schemes, but evidence was sparse on interventions relating to the other determinants. The ability of research to inform policy designed to improve the lives of the disadvantaged could be assisted by a broader definition of what counts as evidence. This may include wider use of qualitative methodologies and a more deliberate focus on social processes known to be implicated in mental health.

Recognizing the demand for a reliable subjective instrument to gather information on walking to occupational activities on the neighbourhood scale, this paper outlines the Neighbourhood Walking to Occupational Activities Questionnaire (NWOAQ) recently developed at the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde. The approach follows reliable techniques in the design of questionnaires including the analysis of currently available instruments, interviews with the potential case study participants, and the use of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). It describes the testing of NWOAQ, following a ‘mixed method' adopted to sample the population of three case studies in Basra City, in Iraq (Al-Saymmar, Al-Mugawleen, and Al-Abassya). Cronbach's ‘Alpha Test' (Cronbach, 1951) was conducted on three significant variables selected; ‘the perceived environment' variables; the ‘constructs of the TPB' variables; and the ‘walking outcome' variables. This displayed different alpha levels, which were; 0.76; 0.74; and 0.87, respectively. Based on CAT, the level of internal consistency that would render a group of indicators reliable should be no less than 0.60.