'Staying on': the effects of recent changes in educational participation for 17–19 year-olds in Norway and Scotland

In this paper we consider some of the implications of the growth of educational participation for the labour market integration of young people between the ages of 17 and 19 in Norway and Scotland. In particular, we focus on the experiences of disadvantaged youth and assess the extent to which they benefit from participation in post-compulsory schooling. We argue that in terms of success on the labour market, post-compulsory secondary education is only beneficial to those intending to continue into Higher Education. We demonstrate the existence of persistent inequalities among 'non-traditional stayers', and show that despite greater access to post-compulsory education, young people from middle class families still retain important advantages in both Norway and Scotland. However, we argue that in Scotland, females and those from less advantaged social positions are more disadvantaged than their Norwegian counterparts.     

Hot Jobs in Cool Places. The Material Cultures of New Media Product Spaces: The Case of South of the Market, San Francisco

This paper explores the localization of new media production in San Francisco. It is contextualized within a debate about the material culture of cyberspace. Much rhetoric has been expended in 'reading off' idealized 'online' worlds into probable 'off-line' worlds: the 'death of geography' is a case in point. The case is made for a corrective to both the idealist-culturalist, and the materialist techno-economic, accounts of cyberspace that accords an opportunity for both to infuse one another. The paper uses the concept of the material cultural practice of making products, underpinned by the notion of product space, to argue in favour of a co-construction of the 'off-' and 'online' worlds. The case study illustrates the point of how the most ecstatic 'online' community is rooted in a particular space and place, and how 'off-line' practices are essential to its 'online' presence.     

From protection to concern: child protection careers without apologies

This article provides evidence from a study of the careers of children in an English local authority from the point of the child protection investigation with a follow up of one year. The study demonstrates the way that for the vast majority welfare needs are ignored in the process of investigation and identifies the need to refocus investigations. The authors suggests criteria that can be used to provide a clearer focus on whether to investigate a referral.     

Exploring structural habitat heterogeneity in sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) for urban biodiversity support

Implementation of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) as part of cities’ transition towards climate resilience encompasses unique opportunities to enhance urban nature qualities. SUDS include individual elements integrated in the urban landscape, e.g. rain gardens or wet basins, which are usually constructed with low structural heterogeneity. Structural heterogeneity of habitats is, however, associated with a high degree of biodiversity. This study explored potentials of habitat heterogeneity enhancement in SUDS using structural heterogeneity as a proxy for biodiversity potential. In an interdisciplinary workshop, landscape architects and urban ecologists designed individual SUDS elements with enhanced structural habitat heterogeneity, hereafter bio-SUDS. The redesigned SUDS elements were infiltration trench, curb extension, rain garden, swale, wet basin, and dry basin. To evaluate the bio-SUDS designs, we developed an index of habitat heterogeneity in SUDS based on registration of 45 structurally important components. The conversion from standard SUDS to bio-SUDS entailed substantial increases in structural heterogeneity ranging from 4 to 18 additional components within elements. Larger bio-SUDS elements returned higher index scores, but the relative score increases were substantial for all bio-SUDS and in the range of a factor of 2–5.5. Increased terrain differences, meandering edges, stones, gravel, boulders, deadwood, and brown roof-like vegetation were the components most often employed in the bio-SUDS designs. In conclusion, implementation of bio-SUDS has potential to increase structural habitat heterogeneity thereby providing habitat for biodiversity in urban green areas. The developed bio-SUDS index can assist in future assessments of ecological qualities in designs and real-world SUDS elements.     

Trapped bodies,moving minds: Uncertainty and migration among marginalised urban youth in Ethiopia

This paper from YOUR World Research highlights and explores the role of positive uncertainty in lives, strategies and transitions towards adulthood of marginalised children and youth in two urban locations in Ethiopia. Young men and women embraced notions of positive uncertainty, making journeys to street situations and internationally in search of more hopeful futures. While youth navigate uncertainty positively in the short term, the research suggests this is temporal and their agency relational and embedded. They seek support from peers but still want to belong and be accepted by their families and communities.     

International venture capital research: From cross-country comparisons to crossing borders

Venture capital (VC) has become an international phenomenon, and VC firms are a specific kind of service firm whose characteristics have distinctive implications for international behaviour. There is now a disparate body of research on international aspects of VC across a number of disciplines comprising finance, economics, strategy, entrepreneurship, international business and economic geography. A novel aspect of this paper is that we review and synthesize this disparate literature. A number of research gaps and limitations in the theoretical and methodological approaches involved in previous studies are identified and suggestions made for further research. We show that the vast majority of the literature relates to cross-country comparisons; that is, macro-level comparisons of VC industries across different countries and micro-level comparisons of VC behaviour across countries. From our review of the literature, we argue that an under-researched area concerns the influence of institutional contexts, especially the role of social networks and cultures. Furthermore, our review of the literature indicates that there is a major research gap in relation to work dealing with the crossing of country borders by VC firms. We suggest that resource-based, capabilities, institutional and network theories may be offer insights to further our understanding of the behaviour of VC firms in this area.     

TIIDA 2008诠释“时尚高品质 快·乐·慢生活”

不知不觉，中国的各大城市间开始流行起“快·乐·慢生活”的风潮，越来越多的人也开始意识到，“快生活让我们失去了太多。不仅是健康，还包括对生活的热爱、激情和享受，对周围的一切丧失了新鲜、好奇、体会与感动，生活的细节早已被快节奏的生活、工作所忽视。”正如约翰·列侬曾经说过，当我们正在为生活疲于奔命的时候，生活已经离我们渐渐地远去。     

Environmental Equity: The Demographics of Dumping

Research addressing “environmental equity” and “environmental racism” claims that facilities for treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes (TSDFs) are located disproportionately in minority areas. In the first comprehensive study of TSDFs to use census tract-level data, we find no nationally consistent and statistically significant differences between the racial or ethnic composition of tracts which contain commercial TSDFs and those which do not. TSDFs are more likely to be found in tracts with Hispanic groups, primarily in regions with the greatest percentage of Hispanics. Different geographic units of analysis elaborate on, but are consistent with, these results.     

Integrating post-qualification study into the workplace: The candidates' experience

The PQ framework for qualified social workers has struggled to become consistently established within workplace training and practice organisations across the UK. This is likely to become a focus for change as the Government reviews current structures and attempts to 'modernise the workforce' by encouraging the creation of cultures of post-qualification learning and continuing professional development [PQ/CPD]. This paper argues that the current emphasis upon the rhetoric of 'performance management' needs to be balanced by attention to the realities of integrating operational and professional development demands within socio-cultural contexts. This paper reports and discusses the results of a questionnaire survey into the experiences of registered PQ candidates within a Local Authority SSD. A summary of key results is provided. The discussion identifies a number of themes and strategies for integrating PQ into the workplace. These are based upon a range of attitudinal and practical factors, such as decision-making; supervision; study arrangements; mentoring; and motivation, that cover some of the experiences of candidates. The paper concludes by drawing parallels with similar developments within nursing and recommends that all stakeholders involved in PQ development need to help establish the conditions within practice contexts where social workers can link service and policy initiatives with the requirements for post-qualification study.     

Fertility in Kenya and Uganda: A comparative study of trends and determinants

Between 1980 and 2000 total fertility in Kenya fell by about 40 per cent, from some eight births per woman to around five. During the same period, fertility in Uganda declined by less than 10 per cent. An analysis of the proximate determinants shows that the difference was due primarily to greater contraceptive use in Kenya, though in Uganda there was also a reduction in pathological sterility. The Demographic and Health Surveys show that women in Kenya wanted fewer children than those in Uganda, but that in Uganda there was also a greater unmet need for contraception. We suggest that these differences may be attributed, in part at least, first, to the divergent paths of economic development followed by the two countries after Independence; and, second, to the Kenya Government's active promotion of family planning through the health services, which the Uganda Government did not promote until 1995.