“It’s Just a Matter of Adjustment”: Residents’ Perceptions and the Potential for Low-impact Home Practices

In addition to material, spatial and thermal standards and norms that influence the resource intensity of home environments, a key indicator of the environmental impact related to housing is found in residents’ ways of life. Of interest to the study presented in this paper is how residents’ perceptions of home and living standards relate to opinions on environmental issues and the reduction of resource use, exploring the potential and willingness to engage in low-impact ways of living. Empirical material from a questionnaire (n = 156) and interview study (n = 22) with residents in a tenant-owned housing association in Sweden provides insights into conventions and perceptions surrounding practices primarily linked to voluntary simplicity, living smaller as well as sharing spaces and resources. The study emphasizes the need for understanding residents’ perspectives and the implications this might have for targeting the resource intensity of homes in future development and policy.     

A socio-technical approach to post-occupancy evaluation: interactive adaptability in domestic retrofit

Understanding the process of domestic retrofit is important for learning and innovation. This is particularly the case for low carbon retrofits such as those undertaken under the UK's Retrofit for the Future (RftF) programme, with its aim to achieve an overall 80% carbon reduction by 2050. Current post-occupancy evaluation (POE) research has both theoretical and methodological limitations with implications for technical and behavioural research in the built environment. Drawing on relevant ideas and concepts from social practice theory and science and technology studies, principally prefiguration (constraints/enablement), black-boxing, heating and cooling practices, this paper demonstrates how the relationship between buildings and people could be reconceptualized as mutually constitutive and co-evolving through a process of ‘interactive adaptation’. The concept of ‘interactive adaptation’ is explored through a novel approach to integrating physical and social data collected from a sample of dwellings selected from the RftF programme. Analysis yields insights into the influences and pathways of interactive adaptation resulting from retrofit technology and practices. The implications of these insights for policy-makers, the research community and practitioners are discussed: end-use energy demand policy needs to be informed by a socio-technical approach.     

Financialization and the subprime subject: the experiences of homeowners during California’s housing boom

This paper extends scholarship on the ‘everyday practices’ of global finance by specifically examining the decisions, motivations, and financial practices of homeowners caught up in the subprime lending boom in California. Drawing on evidence from 80 in-depth interviews in Oakland and Stockton, the paper explores how homeowners enacted their own subject positions within the financial ecologies of subprime markets. The research enriches and complicates our understanding of the interplay between financialization and the formation of financial subjects, and highlights how race and class, affective ties, and distinct socio-spatial relations shape and inform borrowers’ financial decisions and practices, even during a period of excessive credit access and house price speculation.     

Accommodation of China’s Industrial Heritage in Urban Conservation Practices (Ⅱ)

In recent years, the conservation of industrial heritage in China has gained increasing attention within the broader context of urban conservation practices. For both policy-makers and scholars, accommodating this industrial heritage will emerge as a pertinent issue for consideration as a growing number of industrial architectural legacies dating from the Republican and Maoist eras come under (re)development pressures. This paper thus traces the development of industrial heritage conservation practices in China and discusses several dilemmas intrinsic to this type of conservation, including issues of authenticity, representativeness, and distinction. Based on comparative case studies from China and other international precedents, this paper also seeks to illustrate the different approaches that could be pursued while still attaining a balance between competing interests and claims.     

Utilization and impacts of hydrogen in the ironmaking processes: A review from lab-scale basics to industrial practices

Hydrogen (H₂) energy is a promising candidate to replace carbon monoxide (CO) as a reductant for iron oxide reduction in revolutionary ironmaking industrial processes, and numerous studies have been conducted to intensively study the utilization and impact of H₂ in ironmaking processes. Therefore, this review first collects and compares the H₂-assisted reduction mechanism and kinetics. The impacts of H₂ on the reduction accompanying behaviors, such as the disintegration, swelling, sticking, softening, and melting of iron ores, are then summarized. Third, the performance of H₂ predicted by either mass and heat balance models or numerical simulation models in various ironmaking processes is highlighted. Finally, the different applications of hydrogen-rich materials in blast furnace and non-blast furnace ironmaking processes are further compared to illuminate H₂ utilization before our outlook on the use of H₂ in the ironmaking industry.     

Impact of Business Practices on Individual Energy Consumption

Changing behaviours and attitudes towards more sustainable individual energy consumption is a difficult topic to address. After identifying the most recurrent factors influencing the bad energy consumption, society's environmental short-sightedness, a lack of individual responsibility and a tendency to put responsibility upon firms, institutions, and governments, the authors evaluated the effect that business practices can have on individual behaviour. By qualifying as highly credible sources of information, positioning themselves as examples to follow, and providing its employees with the necessary smart and innovative technology, business communities can have a major impact on changing individual behaviours towards more sustainable energy consumption.     

Application of MSD prevention practices by nursing staff working in healthcare settings

ObjectiveThe objective of this article is to examine the application of MSD prevention practices among nursing staff and to identify organizational factors that may or may not support their application.MethodsWe measured the application of prevention practices and its determinants by means of a questionnaire filled out by 399 nurses and nursing staff in Canada. A qualitative component was conducted with two focus groups in order to validate and enrich the interpretation of the survey results.ResultsResults show that most respondents “often” (4) apply MSD prevention practices in their daily professional tasks. Significant differences were observed based on position, mission of the institution, degree, and training.ConclusionsThe characteristics of the nursing staff (position, training, etc.) and the specificities of the setting must be taken into consideration in MSD prevention interventions for nursing staff.     

Traditional diets in everyday life: Perspectives from Hispanic Caribbean communities in New York City

Abstract

We utilized key informant interviews to examine traditional diet (TD) perceptions among members of the Hispanic Caribbean (HC) community in New York City (Dominicans, Cubans and Puerto Ricans, n?=?23). While the cuisines share many similarities, the interviews revealed differences in how the TDs were evaluated. Cubans emphasized the unhealthiness of their TD, while Dominicans and Puerto Ricans emphasized the importance of their TD in daily life. Participants identified unhealthy aspects of their TDs (predominance of carbohydrates and fried foods, and the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables), and discussed motivations for dietary changes (migration, the demands of new labor routines, health concerns, and spouse/family influence). The analysis demonstrates that distinct ideas, symbols, and meanings associated with TDs reflect how these communities relate to their heritage countries, as a result of distinct migration histories and global forces shaping cuisines and societies in the diaspora and the Caribbean.     

Atomic Afterimages

This article examines the recirculation of Robert Del Tredici's photographs of the Cold War nuclear weapons complex. Originally published in his groundbreaking book, At Work in the Fields of the Bomb (1987), a number of Del Tredici's photographs have been republished in a series of post‐Cold War US Department of Energy reports. The article examines the post‐Cold War circulation of Del Tredici's images in these official government reports and analyzes shifts in their meaning across different historical periods. Ultimately, this paper raises questions about the critical stance of Del Tredici's photographs as they are republished in government reports and examines ways in which the meaning of his photographs responds to both Cold War and post‐Cold War contexts.