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1 – 10 of 253Shows how new project directions within the US Department ofAgriculture Extension Service and the virtual revolution incommunications technologies have allowed the Youth…
Abstract
Shows how new project directions within the US Department of Agriculture Extension Service and the virtual revolution in communications technologies have allowed the Youth Development Center to redefine its mandate and greatly expand its services. Details the purchasing of hardware and software that has become an information management platform called CYFERNET (Child, Youth, and Family Education Research Network). Examines how CYFERNET has taken advantage of collaborative energies and the accessibility of the Internet. Finally, reviews some complex issues for virtual library.
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Renate Minas, Sharon Wright and Rik van Berkel
The purpose of this article is to examine the governance of activation in relation to the decentralization and centralization of activation for social assistance recipients in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to examine the governance of activation in relation to the decentralization and centralization of activation for social assistance recipients in Sweden, The Netherlands and the UK.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper outlines broad trends in the governance of activation policies in Europe, focusing on processes of decentralization and centralization in Sweden (characterized by a context of shifting national and local level governance of policies, cultivated within a strong tradition of active labour market policies); The Netherlands (where there has been a deliberate shift in governance towards the local level); and the UK (typified by highly centralized decision making in policy design but local variation in delivery).
Findings
The comparison identified different paths of decentralization and examines how these processes interact and overlap with modes of centralization/coordination of policies. Finally, the paper demonstrates the interface between the modes of decentralization and centralization.
Originality/value
The investigation of vertical changes in the governance of activation in three country case studies provides an original in‐depth analysis of types and paths of decentralization and centralization.
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Policy brief on how to mitigate the negative impacts of Universal Credit on financial insecurity and crime based on the paper d’Este, R. and Harvey, A. (2022), “The unintended…
Abstract
Policy brief on how to mitigate the negative impacts of Universal Credit on financial insecurity and crime based on the paper d’Este, R. and Harvey, A. (2022), “The unintended consequences of welfare reforms: Universal Credit, financial insecurity, and crime”, The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization.
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Poetry has often taken a back seat in library collections. Many librarians do not feel competent to make selections of poetry volumes. When they do, they often find that poetry is…
Abstract
Poetry has often taken a back seat in library collections. Many librarians do not feel competent to make selections of poetry volumes. When they do, they often find that poetry is not borrowed and read. Unfortunately, the result is that an important part of literature is not well represented in many library collections. In addition, the reading public is not as familiar with poets and poetry. A primary reason for this is that many poets are published by small presses and, therefore, are not always widely reviewed.
Minghui Hou and David Franklin Ayers
The purpose of this study is to identify discourses of sustainability of community colleges and how they related to sustainability imaginaries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify discourses of sustainability of community colleges and how they related to sustainability imaginaries.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a combination of research strategies associated with corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis. Data included 57 issues of Community College Journal, a professional magazine published by the American Association of Community Colleges, and 2,972 abstracts of dissertations about community colleges. Publication dates ranged from 2010 to 2020.
Findings
Community college discourse of sustainability coheres around six themes: careers and fields of study; curriculum and credentialing; campus ecological sustainability; administrative roles and processes; external organizations, partnerships and processes; and fiscal sustainability. There is little evidence of a sustainable living imaginary found.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis is limited to a specific set of professional and academic texts about community colleges. Future researchers should explore discourses of sustainability in other contexts.
Originality/value
There has been no research associated with critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to explore community college discourses of sustainability, specifically in the field of community college leadership. The findings of this study situate the community college within contests over sustainability competencies in the practice of community college leadership development.
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Tenley M. Conway, Chelsea Dalton, Jennifer Loo and Laura Benakoun
The ecological footprint represents a simple way to assess the amount of materials consumed and waste produced by a given entity. The approach has been applied to countries…
Abstract
Purpose
The ecological footprint represents a simple way to assess the amount of materials consumed and waste produced by a given entity. The approach has been applied to countries, towns, households, and more recently university campuses. One of the challenges of using the ecological footprint at a university is the difficulty of determining how large the footprint should be. The authors have developed a calculator specific to the needs of a university campus, and applied it to the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM). Rather than focus on the overall size, the purpose of this paper is to instead create several scenarios to help communicate the relative impacts of alternative actions.
Design/methodology/approach
An ecological footprint calculator appropriate to the campus was developed and applied to UTM. Three scenarios were then created: on‐campus electricity generation versus electricity purchased from the grid, current commuting patterns versus those expected if a student bus pass is adopted, and use of virgin office paper versus recycled office paper.
Findings
The results of the calculator suggest that energy consumption represents the largest component of UTM's footprint, followed by commuting to campus.
Practical implications
The relative benefits of on‐campus electricity generation, increasing public transit use, and the adoption of recycled paper are all highlighted through the scenario calculations.
Originality/value
This paper presents a way to avoid the difficulty of determining how large a university's footprint should be through the use of an alternative scenario method, which provides an easy way to communicate the impacts of consumption decisions to a campus' community.
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Rita Adjei, Michael Addaney and Leslie Danquah
This study aims to determine the impact of resource use behaviours of students of a public university in Ghana on ecological sustainability. It examines the land area required to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to determine the impact of resource use behaviours of students of a public university in Ghana on ecological sustainability. It examines the land area required to provide the resources used and also to assimilate the wastes produced. It also suggests an effective way to initiate participative discussions on environmental sustainability and consequences of resource use in a university setting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a mixed methods approach to gather and analyse data on students’ lifestyles concerning ecological footprint. The data was analysed using the Predictive Analytics Software and a modified version of the ecological footprint analysis (EFA).
Findings
The current ecological footprint of students in the university is not environmentally sustainable. The sample population had high average ecological footprint of 3.62 hectares, representing an ecological impact score of 135.85. The findings provide lessons on how universities and analogous institutions interested in sustainable practices could foster ecologically sustainable development.
Research limitations/implications
Additional data collection methods such as a longitudinal study would provide a more comprehensive assessment of the impact of resource use behaviour of students in a public university in Ghana on ecological sustainability.
Social implications
EFA and findings can support universities to effectively integrate sustainability practices into their policies and practices to help students contribute to making society more sustainable.
Originality/value
This is an original research and makes a contribution to EFA and sustainable practices of public universities in Ghana.
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Jesús Mauricio Flórez-Parra, Maria Victoria Lopez-Perez, Antonio M. López Hernández and Raquel Garde Sánchez
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the internal and external factors related to the disclosure of environmental information in universities which reflect the actions carried…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the internal and external factors related to the disclosure of environmental information in universities which reflect the actions carried out in these universities.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking as reference the first 200 universities in the Shanghai ranking, several factors associated with the degree of environmental information disclosure in universities – governance dimension, the relationship and participation of stakeholders, position and prestige as signs of the quality of the institution and cultural concern in the university’s country for the environment – are analysed.
Findings
The results obtained show that the size of the leadership team, stakeholder participation, the position of the university in rankings and cultural concern in the university’s country for the environment are determining factors in the university’s environmental actions and, consequently, in their disclosure. Other factors – such as the size of the university, the level of self-financing and financial autonomy – do not affect the disclosure of environmental information.
Originality/value
Scant research exists on the environmental commitments of universities; this paper aims to fill that gap. Their role as the main channel of research and as instructors of future professionals makes them points of reference in society. Research on university ranking has traditionally focussed on teaching and research results, but environmental issues are becoming increasingly important. This paper enumerates the factors that influence the dissemination of environmental information in the most prestigious universities. This research also provides an original approach by considering not only top-down but also bottom-up strategies through communication channels and the incidence of cultural factors.
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The implementation of sustainability-related policies at universities has been marked by a greater sense of urgency in recent years. Despite this emerging trend, it is still…
Abstract
Purpose
The implementation of sustainability-related policies at universities has been marked by a greater sense of urgency in recent years. Despite this emerging trend, it is still unclear which leadership processes, at which levels and which theoretical concepts encourage sustainable transitions within universities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study aims to offer a systematic literature review of the existing literature on sustainability-related leadership processes, levels and theories that encourage the transformation of universities, aimed at providing guidance on this topic; uncovering gaps in the literature; and finding new paths for future research.
Findings
Leadership processes in the context of sustainability-related transitions have been approached in a rather fragmented way in the literature, and the scientific field would benefit from more in-depth and longitudinal studies. In total, this study identifies 95 processes that are related to 17 aspects of universities’ transitions.
Research limitations/implications
The various leadership levels are involved in transition processes at different stages. The theories of distributed and sustainability leadership seem to be the most frequently used theories in the literature.
Practical implications
Structuring and defining leadership processes, levels and theories can lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of the transition process and, in a broader sense, of the process of sustainability integration in higher education. A better knowledge of how such a transition develops could contribute to the enhancement of existing sustainable development strategy and policy.
Originality/value
By focusing on an underresearched topic through a theoretical perspective of leadership theories, this study contributes to literature pertaining to leadership levels and processes involved in sustainability transitions of universities.
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Denise Martin, Lynn Kelly, Sharon Jackson and Sabina Byszko
Drawing on the literature from the field and the recent experience of an evaluation into a child abuse investigation in Scotland, the purpose of this paper is to argue that…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the literature from the field and the recent experience of an evaluation into a child abuse investigation in Scotland, the purpose of this paper is to argue that evidence from the literature suggests that a more holistic approach drawing on the ideas of communities of practice could improve the way in which child abuse investigations are conducted.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper has been informed by a recent evaluation of a new national unit that was set up to investigate suspected child abuse in Scotland. This unit was established as part of the transition from eight regional police services in Scotland to a single national police service, Police Scotland. An important part of this evaluation was to consider the messages from previous research into the development of national police units and the role of the police in child protection investigations more generally.
Findings
What was uncovered were the challenges that police officers face in the current context of child abuse investigation particularly around construction of child abuse investigations, collaborative working, staff well-being and training.
Practical implications
The practical implications of this paper are as follows: police investigations into child abuse experience a range of issues, multi-agency and holistic approaches are more effective, agencies should be encouraged to establish communities of practice and staff need adequate levels of support and training.
Originality/value
This paper contributes towards a growing body of work examining the way in which child abuse investigations are conducted by police and the importance of inter-agency collaboration to support this. It contributes to academic debates and knowledge of the overall investigation process where, to date, there has been a paucity of literature and research that has tended to focus on evidence and experiences and to a boarder literature recognising the need for holistic approaches to tackle child abuse.
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