Can Carbon Nanomaterials Improve CZTS Photovoltaic Devices? Evaluation of Performance and Impacts Using Integrated Life‐Cycle Assessment and Decision Analysis

In emergent photovoltaics, nanoscale materials hold promise for optimizing device characteristics; however, the related impacts remain uncertain, resulting in challenges to decisions on strategic investment in technology innovation. We integrate multi‐criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and life‐cycle assessment (LCA) results (LCA‐MCDA) as a method of incorporating values of a hypothetical federal acquisition manager into the assessment of risks and benefits of emerging photovoltaic materials. Specifically, we compare adoption of copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) devices with molybdenum back contacts to alternative devices employing graphite or graphene instead of molybdenum. LCA impact results are interpreted alongside benefits of substitution including cost reductions and performance improvements through application of multi‐attribute utility theory. To assess the role of uncertainty we apply Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis. We find that graphene or graphite back contacts outperform molybdenum under most scenarios and assumptions. The use of decision analysis clarifies potential advantages of adopting graphite as a back contact while emphasizing the importance of mitigating conventional impacts of graphene production processes if graphene is used in emerging CZTS devices. Our research further demonstrates that a combination of LCA and MCDA increases the usability of LCA in assessing product sustainability. In particular, this approach identifies the most influential assumptions and data gaps in the analysis and the areas in which either engineering controls or further data collection may be necessary.     

‘The Bad People Go and Speak to Her’: Young People’s Choice and Agency when Accessing Mental Health Support in School

Concerns about the mental health and well‐being of children and young people have been articulated in health and education policy fields as a call for closer working between schools and providers of mental health support services. Drawing from a Scottish study, this article explores issues of access, when mental health initiatives are sited in formal educational settings. In particular, it focuses on the implications for the agency of children and young people seeking support from those services when and how they choose. The study argues that over‐reliance on teachers as the main referral route to service influences what is deemed to be a problem, who is thought to need support and how the interventions are viewed by the children and young people. Alternative approaches are discussed, which offer opportunities for children and young people to explore the available services and make their own choices about their level of engagement.     

Institutional Shaping of Interagency Working: Managing Tensions between Collaborative Working and Client Confidentiality

Tensions between imperatives for sharing of information aboutclients, patients, and offenders and those for confidentialityand privacy have become a prominent but unresolved issue inBritish public policy in the context of greater pressures towardinteragency collaboration. This article analyses empirical datafrom a major Economic and Social Research Council–fundedresearch project designed to provide the first systematic evidenceabout the ways in which local partnerships working in sensitivepolicy fields in England and Scotland attempt to strike settlementsbetween sharing and confidentiality and discusses the impactof national government's attempts to increase formal regulationof their information-sharing practices. To do this, the projecthas developed a methodology to operationalize neo-Durkheimianinstitutional theory and demonstrates that theory in this traditionhas the power to identify and explain patterns of information-sharingstyles adopted in local collaborative working. The overall conclusionis that the stronger assertion of formal regulation by nationalgovernment may well be leading to the greater prominence ofhierarchical institutional forms but it may also be associatedwith the counterassertion of other institutional forms, too,and in ways that may reinforce problems that greater regulationis intended to address. In particular, we show that neitherdoes increased formal regulation always lead frontline staffto be more confident about local information-sharing practicesnor should it lead observers to be more confident that data-sharingpractices will be more transparent or consistent from localityto locality.     

Building research capacity for social work practitioners: a regional perspective

This article explores the research experiences, interests and capacity of social work professionals working as frontline workers and managers in human service organizations in regional South Australia. It also draws attention to social work practice issues requiring further investigation as identified by these professionals. The research data for this paper were collected using quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data provided evidence to show the extent of research interests among social work practitioners in the region. Qualitative data added depth to the findings by identifying social work practice issues as described by research participants. The study revealed that few participants had any research experience; however, the majority felt the need to undertake research, expressed interest in research training and a desire to be involved in research projects. These findings have implications for higher education providers in the social work discipline. They draw attention to the importance of better preparing students for research in practice, and also for schools of social work to actively engage in building research capacity and output in regional Australia.

Abbreviations: Frontline social work professionals (FLSWP); The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)     

No Place Called Home: Life Quality and Purpose of Homeless Youths

Subjective quality of life (SQOL) has been reported to display remarkable resilience to objective circumstances. This is thought to derive from the capacity to interpret experience in positive ways, but is defeated by very adverse circumstances. This raises the question of whether such positive mental devices are able to adequately protect the SQOL of homeless youths, who typically face substantial objective trials. This study compares youths who are homeless or at risk of homelessness with youths living consistently with their families (control group). It was found that both the homeless and at risk youths reported significantly lower SQOL. These youths also reported lower levels of personal meaning than the control group, and higher existential vacuum. Of the variables measured, personal meaning provided the strongest prediction of SQOL, challenging theories that would predict choice/responsibleness to provide the predominant contribution. Lack of differences in response between homeless and at risk youths suggests that subjective difficulties may precede homelessness rather than stem from it. A model is proposed to describe the possible factors involved in the maintenance and erosion of SQOL.