University of Bath

About: University of Bath is a education organization based out in Bath, Bath and North East Somerset, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 15830 authors who have published 39608 publications receiving 1358769 citations. The organization is also known as: Bath University.

The values and motivations behind sustainable fashion consumption

Abstract: The growth in ethical consumption behaviour and greater interest in sustainable fashion from a production side provides grounding for the emergence of a new consumer market for sustainable fashion. To date, however, most studies in this field focus on the production end of the emerging market, with little exploration of the consumers. Of the work, there is on sustainable fashion consumption; the majority discuss perceptions of sustainable fashion by the general population, with little work sampling actual consumers of sustainable fashion. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the values and motivations underpinning actual sustainable fashion consumption. Thirty-nine in-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of frequent sustainable clothing consumers. The study follows a means-end theory approach linking purchased products back to purchasing criteria and personal values. This study therefore contributes to the overall understanding of sustainable fashion consumption and gives insights into purchasing criteria and behavioural choices of sustainable fashion consumers.

Roles, responsibilities, and relationships in mentoring: a literature review and agenda for research

Abstract: Mentoring in the preparation and education of teachers is of interest and concern in many countries. In the USA, mentoring plays an important role in the inservice education of teachers (Little, 1992). In other countries, including England and Australia, the time that preservice or student teachers spend in schools on initial teacher education (ITE) courses has increased in recent years (Department for Education, 1992; Tisher, 1995) accompanied by necessary redistribution of responsibility and resources from higher education institutions (HEIs) to school. Schools and mentors are increasingly equal partners with the university in the preparation of new teachers. Some have greeted the shift with unreserved enthusiasm: It offer(s) the opportunity for a quantum increase in the power and effectiveness of ITT (initial teacher training) (Tomlinson, 1995, p. 2). Others have responded with alarm, warning that mentoring may become simply a label for a new bureaucracy of teacher training (Smith & Alfrod, 1993, p. 104). The mentoring literature illuminates the roots of both the enthusiasm and the alarm. The inadequacy of theory-practice models of teacher education (Goodlad, 1990) and the increased adoption of reflective practice approaches to teacher education (Schon, 1987) concentrate attention on the work of schools in ITE. For some, the moves toward school-based training are the overdue empowerment of teachers as equal partners in the education of student teachers (Wilkin, 1992b). Recent research into how student teachers learn to teach has increasingly emphasized the need for student teachers to recognize previously constructed images and beliefs about teaching and examine the impact of these history-based personal beliefs on their professional development (Calderhead & Robson, 1991; Cole & Knowles, 1993; Holt-Reynolds, 1992; Johnson, 1993; Watzlawick, 1978). This emphasis casts doubt on the applicability of traditional academic HEI environments as conducive settings for learning to teach (Elliott & Calderhead, 1993). Much literature on mentoring is either descriptive or declarative with little analysis or theoretical underpinning to the study and practice of mentoring. This paucity is cause for concern. The reasons for the largely pragmatic approaches characterizing much of the current literature are easily understood. For example, the speed with which legislation in England (Department for Education, 1992) had to be implemented led to an almost inevitable emphasis on the management of the transition. This emphasis was exacerbated by implementation happening within schools, institutions where the prevailing culture tends to be one where doing is given greater value than thinking (Fenstermacher, 1992; Richert, 1994). In consequence, several studies provide overviews of mentoring and its management (McIntyre, Hagger & Burn, 1994; Wilkin, 1992b), but few examine or analyze the intricacies of mentoring interactions (Glickman & Bey, 1990), how mentoring relationships operate between the individuals involved, or how and what student teachers learn from their mentoring experiences. In this article, I review literature relevant to an examination of the nature of these interactions between mentor and student teacher. This review has limited scope and does not represent a full or comprehensive review of all mentoring literature. I do not consider many important issues, such as mentors' pedagogical and subject knowledge, the impact of institutional cultures, and the management and implementation of mentoring programs. Approaches to Examining the Literature on Mentoring Four distinct but related approaches characterize research into mentoring. First, some writers have examined the particular expertise of the different personnel involved in the training of student teachers and developed distinct roles and responsibilities for those involved. Second, other writers have taken a functional approach, identifying the stages of development that student teachers go through and developing corresponding models of mentoring designed to meet the mentee's current needs. …

Electrochemical biosensors and nanobiosensors.

Abstract: Electrochemical techniques have great promise for low-cost miniaturised easy-to-use portable devices for a wide range of applications-in particular, medical diagnosis and environmental monitoring. Different techniques can be used for biosensing, with amperometric devices taking the central role due to their widespread application in glucose monitoring. In fact, glucose biosensing takes an approximately 70% share of the biosensor market due to the need for diabetic patients to monitor their sugar levels several times a day, making it an appealing commercial market.In this review, we present the basic principles of electrochemical biosensor devices. A description of the different generations of glucose sensors is used to describe in some detail the operation of amperometric sensors and how the introduction of mediators can enhance the performance of the sensors. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is a technique being increasingly used in devices due to its ability to detect variations in resistance and capacitance upon binding events. Novel advances in electrochemical sensors, due to the use of nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, are presented as well as future directions that the field is taking.