scholarly journals Farming Intensification and Environmental Justice in Northern Ireland

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Gladkova
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Local Residents

Abstract Going for Growth, an industry-led strategy to expand the agri-food sector, was adopted by the Northern Irish government in 2013 in order to encourage farming intensification in Northern Ireland. This approach, however, threatens an already fragile natural environment and has already had detrimental consequences for human health and well-being. This article employs an environmental justice perspective to scrutinize farming intensification in a community affected by this phenomenon. Based on findings from semi-structured interviews with local residents, the article describes their exposure to environmental risks as a result of farming intensification. The uneven distribution of environmental burdens is also coupled with limited opportunities for the local residents to engage in environmental decision-making and to be recognized as active agents of change. The article concludes that farming intensification in Northern Ireland is marked by procedural environmental injustice and should be addressed by downscaling levels of production and reforming decision-making processes.

scholarly journals Capturing the clinical decision-making processes of expert and novice diabetic retinal graders using a ‘think-aloud’ approach

Eye ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie Curran ◽  
Nathan Congdon ◽  
Tunde Peto ◽  
Catherine Dardis ◽  
Quan Nhu Nguyen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Diabetic Retinopathy ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Clinical Decision Making ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Think Aloud ◽  
Fundus Images ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Abstract Background Diabetic eye screening programmes have been developed worldwide based on evidence that early detection and treatment of diabetic retinopathy are crucial to preventing sight loss. However, little is known about the decision-making processes and training needs of diabetic retinal graders, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Objectives To provide data for improving evidence-based diabetic retinopathy training to help novice graders process fundus images more like experts. Subjects/methods This is a mixed-methods qualitative study conducted in southern Vietnam and Northern Ireland. Novice diabetic retinal graders in Vietnam (n = 18) and expert graders in Northern Ireland (n = 5) were selected through a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected from 21st February to 3rd September 2019. The interviewer used neutral prompts during think-aloud sessions to encourage participants to verbalise their thought processes while grading fundus images from anonymised patients, followed by semi-structured interviews. Thematic framework analysis was used to identify themes, supported by illustrative quotes from interviews. Mann–Whitney U tests were used to compare graders’ performance. Results Expert graders used a more systematic approach when grading images, considered all four images per patient and used available software tools such as red-free filters prior to making a decision on management. The most challenging features for novice graders were intra-retinal microvascular abnormalities and new vessels, which were more accurately identified by experts. Conclusion Taking more time to grade fundus images and adopting a protocol-driven “checklist” approach may help novice graders to function more like experts.

scholarly journals Questioning Facilities Management in Higher Education in Egyptian Context for Better Decision-Making Process of Funding Allocation

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Mona Mohamed Abd Elghany ◽  
Reem Aly Elharakany
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Facilities Management ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Strategic Relationships

The quality of education is influenced by the managerialization of the universities, which refers to the introduction of substantial changes in the decision-making processes of the academic institutions, and the application of renewed information systems along with new managerial methodologies to restructure the organisational strategic relationships with stakeholders. This paper proposes a questionnaire to assess the importance of facilities in universities according to their financial budget consumed value. Semi Structured Interviews were conducted with the heads of logistic and financial departments in Egyptian universities, twenty public universities and twenty-three private universities, in order to identify criteria for the most significant university's facilities and appealing infrastructure that contributes to the quality of education.

scholarly journals The incorporation of Māori environmental values as part of the Ruamāhanga Whaitua Implementation Programme in the Wellington Region, Aotearoa New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bryn Cal Hickson Rowden
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Management Processes ◽  
Local Government Level ◽  
Implementation Programme

<p>In recent years, there has been significant efforts to create frameworks in which Māori values are incorporated as part of environmental management processes in Aotearoa New Zealand(Forster, 2014; Harmsworth et al., 2016). This research explores the factors that influence the incorporation of Māori values at the local government level, and what barriers Māori values face to being incorporated in environmental management. This research focused on a case study of the Ruamāhanga Whaitua Committe Implementation Programme process in the Wellington region. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information on the opinions of members of the Ruamāhanga Whaitua Committee. The interviews were analysed using a critical theory approach. The research found that there was a clear discrepancy between the values and behaviours expressed by some non-Māori members of the Committee. The result of such a discrepancy was that Māori values were not sufficiently part of environmental decision making. Such a discrepancy was a result of the political structures of the Regional Council’s Whaitua Implementation Programme process. The majority of the decision-making power was found to be situated ‘higher’ up in the organisation, outside of the Committee. Overall this research found that there are important opportunities to make sure iwi values are not only included, but form the basis of decisions.</p>

scholarly journals The Terror Raids: An analysis of the criminalisation of green activism in Aotearoa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Megan Paish
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
State Agents ◽  
Democratic Freedom

<p>The objective of this thesis is to identify how criminalisation by mainstream media, police, politicians, ‘the public’ and court processes affected green activists, with specific reference to the Terror Raids of October 2007. Drawing on media analysis - covering news articles from 15 October 2007 to 15 November 2007, and 1 January 2017 to 31 July 2018 - and semi-structured interviews with eight participants (all green activists, two of whom were arrested in the Terror Raids), this research explores the issues of colonisation, activism, criminalisation, and resistance to criminalisation in detail.   The research concludes that state agents and mainstream media contributed to a ‘blanket criminalisation’ of activists in the Terror Raids and that this criminalisation had significantly detrimental effects on the activists, whānau , and wider groups. This intense criminalisation was produced as a result of activists being labelled as ‘terrorists’. As a result, the Raids represented an evolution in the criminalisation of green activists in Aotearoa - from inconsistent forms of criminalisation (in which previous criminalising narratives had been joined by narratives relating to democratic freedom and environmental justice) to the application of intense criminalisation by the state and mainstream media of all activists in the Raids. This research demonstrates, therefore, the power of labelling. However, this thesis also identifies the power of green activism and the resilience of campaigners to this intense criminalisation. It emphasises that resistance can survive even when confronted by intense criminalisation and state violence. It concludes by emphasising the significant contributions green activists make to the environmental well-being of Aotearoa and to the international environmental justice movement.</p>

Online Opinion Leaders in the Health Promotion Digital Era

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-309
Author(s):  
Joyce Cheah Lynn-Sze ◽  
◽  
Azlina Kamaruddin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Opinion Leader ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public

Health opinion leaders have widely embraced social media for health promotion and public health communication which can make a strong influence on the public decision making. However, despite the growing relevance of public health threats such as infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and natural disasters, research has paid little attention to the qualities of opinion leaders. Moreover, there is limited evidence that public health organisations use social media appropriately to engage in meaningful conversations with audiences. Thus, the aims of the study are to describe principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders to promote health issues, to discuss the strategies of social media used, to explain the opinion leaders’ influence attributes in health decision making and finally to develop a model of online opinion leader in the contemporary health promotion era. Content analysis was conducted on Facebook postings of five selected health opinion leaders. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 10 followers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that there are three principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders, which are language, interaction and themes. There are three strategies opinion leaders use to influence the public: social connectivity, social support and social consultation. Furthermore, there are five opinion leaders’ attributes that influence the public’s decision making, namely personality, authenticity, trust/credibility, professional knowledge and social position. The model would be beneficial in educating and guiding the current public health opinion leaders in order to establish health and social well-being. Keywords: Online opinion leader, online health communication, public health, two-step flow theory, decision making.

Instrumentation to Understand the Child Protective Services Decision-Making Processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 81-108
Author(s):  
Alan J. Dettlaff ◽  
Dana Hollinshead ◽  
Donald J. Baumann ◽  
John D. Fluke
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Improved Outcomes ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Child Welfare Outcomes

When children come to the attention of the child welfare system, they become involved in a decision-making process in which decisions are made that have a significant effect on their future and well-being. The decision to remove children from their families is particularly complex, yet surprisingly little is understood about this decision-making process. As a result, instrumentation has been developed and adapted over the past 20 years to further understand variations in child welfare outcomes that are decision-based and, in particular concerning the removal decision, in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the intersecting factors that influence caseworker decisions. This chapter presents research and the development and use of this instrument, drawing from the decision-making ecology as the underlying rationale for obtaining the measures. The instrument was based on the development of decision-making scales used in multiple studies and administered to child protection caseworkers in several states. This effort is part of a larger program of research that seeks to better understand decision-making processes in child welfare systems in order to promote fairness, accuracy, and improved outcomes among children and families.

scholarly journals Decision trees in environmental justice research — a case study on the floods of 2001 and 2010 in Hungary

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1025-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyula Nagy ◽  
György Vida ◽  
Lajos Boros ◽  
Danijela Ćirić
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Tree ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Decision Tree Method ◽  
Tree Method

Abstract Environmental justice is a normative framework for the analysis of environmental impacts on the wellbeing of individuals and social groups. According to the framework, the deprived social groups and ethnic minorities are often more exposed to environmental risks and hazards due to their disadvantaged situation, and due to the lack of representation and political power. To manage the impacts of injustices and to include the citizen in the decision-making processes, proper information is needed on local attitudes and decision-making processes. Therefore, this study sought to (i) identify the main factors shaping the attitudes towards environmental injustices and (ii) to analyse the attitudes and perception of the various social groups and (iii) to identify the main factors which are shaping the attitudes and actions of those who were affected by the floods of 2001 and 2010 through the use of decision tree method. The data for the predictive model was acquired from a questionnaire survey conducted in two disadvantaged and flood-hit Hungarian regions. Based on the survey data, a principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted, which resulted in three principal components; fear, social change, and change in the built environment. The study focused only on the elements of the “fear principal component”, due to the decision tree tool homogenous groups identified in relation to this component. Our analysis showed that ethnicity has a determinative role in the emergence and the level of fear from floods; the Roma respondents expressed a significantly higher level of fear than others.

scholarly journals Information and choice of residential care provider for older people: a comparative study in England, the Netherlands and Spain

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 1121-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
LISA TRIGG ◽  
STEPHANIE KUMPUNEN ◽  
JACQUETTA HOLDER ◽  
HANS MAARSE ◽  
MERITXELL SOLÉ JUVÉS ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Older People ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Quality Information ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Decision Making Processes

ABSTRACTThis study compared how older people use quality information to choose residential care providers in England, the Netherlands and Spain (Catalonia). The availability of information varies between each country, from detailed inspection and survey information in the Netherlands, through to a lack of publicly available information in Catalonia. We used semi-structured interviews and group workshops with older people, families and professionals to compare experiences of the decision-making process and quality information, and also to explore what quality information might be used in the future. We found that most aspects of the decision-making experience and preferences for future indicators were similar across the three countries. The use of quality information was minimal across all three, even in England and the Netherlands where information was widely available. Differences arose mainly from factors with the supply of care. Older people were most interested in the subjective experiences of other residents and relatives, rather than ‘hard’ objective indicators of aspects such as clinical care. We find that the amount of publicly available quality information does not in itself influence the decisions or the decision-making processes of older people and their carers. To improve the quality of decisions, more effort needs to be taken to increase awareness and to communicate quality in more accessible ways, including significant support from professionals and better design of quality information.

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