‘Social License to Operate’ (SLO) is now a key term in natural resource development vocabulary across the world. Like industries such as mining, forestry and renewable energy, the concept is ...increasingly found across aquaculture research, policy, and activism. As a state in which SLO has been well-studied but is also continuing to be questioned, Tasmania constitutes a useful case study to investigate the concept and to reflect on the lessons learnt for the state and more broadly. Using a desk-based thematic analysis of scholarly literature and grey literature from industry, government and NGOs, this study shows that aquaculture SLO in Tasmania depends on messaging and perceptions of benefits, sustainability, and procedural fairness as well as historical, international, national, and local industry context and the trustworthiness of a broad range of actors. If SLO for aquaculture is to be achieved and maintained, industry and government messaging should focus on a broader range of factors than only benefits for jobs and economy and environmental sustainability - as is often the focus.
•Location- and industry-based experiences can inform our understanding of aquaculture SLO.•The demand for sustainable practice underpins social license to operate.•Aquaculture SLO in Tasmania based on historical, international, national, and local industry context.•Tasmanian aquaculture SLO also depends on trustworthiness of a broad range of actors.•Benefit messaging should be broader than jobs, economy and environmental sustainability.
•Acceptance factors were investigated with an extended technology acceptance model.•Social and individual factors, as well as system characteristics determine user acceptance.•User acceptance is an ...important driver for the widespread adoption of autonomous driving.
Autonomous driving is believed to provide numerous benefits for individuals and society, including increased road safety, reduced traffic congestion, and an improved ecological footprint. However, many barriers still hinder the widespread acceptance of autonomous vehicles. Research has proposed governmental policy strategies to accelerate the diffusion of autonomous driving, but less is known about end-user perceptions of this innovative technology. First, we employ a qualitative research design to identify the elements attributed to individual acceptance of autonomous driving. Furthermore, we organize a research model based on the technology acceptance model, validated with an online survey of 316 participants. The findings reveal how social influence, system characteristics, and individual factors determine individual acceptance of autonomous driving. The research helps to strengthen the existing body of knowledge by highlighting individual perceptions, with implications for practitioners.
Inclusive education of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) has become a global trend. However, a considerable number of studies have shown that mere enrolment in mainstream classrooms is not ...enough to support the social participation of pupils with SEN. These children are at risk of experiencing difficulties in their involvement with peers at school. Thus, the question arises of how social participation can be fostered in mainstream classrooms. A systematic review of 35 studies was conducted to investigate which interventions are effective in inclusive mainstream preschool and elementary classrooms. Teaching interaction strategies to typically developing pupils, group activities in the academic context (cooperative learning and peer-tutoring), support groups for pupils with SEN, and training paraprofessionals to facilitate social interactions, were found to improve the social participation of pupils with SEN in general education classrooms. Nevertheless, there is need for more intervention studies implementing a variety of strategies and including different groups of pupils with SEN.
•Most interventions focus on fostering social interactions of pupils with ASD.•Teaching interaction strategies to TD pupils is an evidence-based strategy.•Peer mediated learning groups and support groups seem to be effective.•Training paraprofessionals to facilitate interactions seems to be effective.
While there are ambitious targets to increase the share of renewable energy technology implementations in the different EU-states, it is increasingly recognized that social acceptance may form a ...factor constraining the expansion of their implementation and use. In order to investigate the Finnish social acceptance towards renewable energy technology implementations, a multiple choice questionnaire was designed with three groups of questions: background information, awareness of renewable energy technologies (RETs), and willingness to invest in RETs. The answers showed that the long-term economic feasibility of using RETs locally in homes was not obvious to 33% of the fifty interviewees. In general, 62% of the interviewees were willing to pay extra cost to obtain green energy. More than half (52.4%) of the interviewees think that public sector should take the first step towards renewable energy production. Likewise, in the respondents’ view, the public sector should take the initiative for implementing RETs by providing business models and incentives to encourage citizens to implement RETs in their houses.
► Examines the factors affecting older adult adoption of digital technology. ► Reports on two case studies of older adults learning to use digital touchscreen tablet devices. ► Proposes models of ...older user technology acceptance from ease-of-learning, and system & user perspectives.
This paper examines the factors and theoretical frameworks for the adoption of technology for older adults, and proposes two models of technology acceptance and rejection, one from an ease of learning perspective, and one from a system and user perspective. Both models are supported from reports on two case studies of older adults using handheld touchscreen tablet devices; one in which the participants are supported during tasks primarily related to walking and navigation, and one in which participants are unsupported in communication related tasks. The first study shows the powerful role that facilitating conditions have for learning how to use digital technologies for this user group, whether supporting through step by step guidance, providing a friendly space to use trial and error methods, and/or provision of a manual. The second study shows the pitfalls of a lack of facilitating conditions during initial use, and highlights potential for appropriate design in helping to avoid some user errors during this phase.
The concept of a social licence to operate (SLO) that first emerged related to mining has been developed into several strands of theoretical models and used to study the social acceptance of ...industries in different contexts. There is an emerging literature on SLO for salmon-farming, but very few quantitative analyses are done to identify and assess factors that affect the level of social acceptance. Models that explain social acceptance levels from people's trust in an industry or company, their confidence in governance, and views on procedural and distributional fairness (trust models) are designed for quantitative analysis, and they have been successful in explaining social acceptance levels for mining. In this paper, we use survey data to test whether the factors in trust models can also explain the level of local social acceptance for salmon farming in Norway. From the structural equation modelling analysis, we conclude that these models at best have limited explanatory power in our case. We then develop an alternative model to analyse social acceptance, where factors of perception and attitudes and respondents' individual characteristics are tested as direct regression paths to influence level of acceptance. This model explains the variation in the data well. The factors that most strongly affect the level of acceptance, and which industry or authorities also can influence, are the perception of to what degree aquaculture is environmentally sustainable, whether the industry acts according to society's expectations, and if the industry is trustworthy. Practical implications for the industry and governance are discussed.
•Social licence to operate (SLO) is studied in the context of Norwegian aquaculture industry.•Models developed in mining literature do not fit the data well, a simpler model provides a better fit.•Scale, structure and role in the local economy are among the sector-specific factors explaining the result.•Country-specific factors related to governance also influence SLO model in this case.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the social acceptance of renewable and non-renewable energies in Iran using the social acceptance pyramid. Design/methodology/approach Today, ...social acceptance is considered a very important phenomenon in the development, implementation and achievement of energy policy goals. Low acceptance will make it difficult to achieve energy development goals; therefore, social acceptance must be taken into account when making policy. Firstly, the model criteria, using data obtained from questionnaires, are weighted by the Shannon entropy method and, finally, four sources of fossil, nuclear, wind and solar energy were ranked by means of VIKOR, Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Findings The results show that, in Iran, the social acceptance criterion and trust sub-criterion are the most important criteria for energy acceptance. The results of the ranking of options based on multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques show that, given Iran's specific energy requirements, social acceptance of fossil energy is higher than wind, solar and nuclear, and wind, solar and nuclear energy come later in the rankings. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature in two ways: Firstly, social acceptance is considered a very important phenomenon in the development, implementation and achievement of energy policy goals; thus social acceptance must be taken into account when making policy. The results of the ranking of options based on MCDM techniques show that, given Iran's specific energy requirements, social acceptance of fossil energy is higher than wind, solar and nuclear, and wind, solar and nuclear energy come later in the rankings. Also, the social acceptance criterion and trust sub-criterion are the most important criteria for energy acceptance in Iran.
Major life stressors, especially those involving interpersonal stress and social rejection, are among the strongest proximal risk factors for depression. In this review, we propose a biologically ...plausible, multilevel theory that describes neural, physiologic, molecular, and genomic mechanisms that link experiences of social-environmental stress with internal biological processes that drive depression pathogenesis. Central to this social signal transduction theory of depression is the hypothesis that experiences of social threat and adversity up-regulate components of the immune system involved in inflammation. The key mediators of this response, called proinflammatory cytokines, can in turn elicit profound changes in behavior, which include the initiation of depressive symptoms such as sad mood, anhedonia, fatigue, psychomotor retardation, and social-behavioral withdrawal. This highly conserved biological response to adversity is critical for survival during times of actual physical threat or injury. However, this response can also be activated by modern-day social, symbolic, or imagined threats, leading to an increasingly proinflammatory phenotype that may be a key phenomenon driving depression pathogenesis and recurrence, as well as the overlap of depression with several somatic conditions including asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic pain, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and neurodegeneration. Insights from this theory may thus shed light on several important questions including how depression develops, why it frequently recurs, why it is strongly predicted by early life stress, and why it often co-occurs with symptoms of anxiety and with certain physical disease conditions. This work may also suggest new opportunities for preventing and treating depression by targeting inflammation.
Impressive growth rates of solar photovoltaics (PV) in higher latitudes are raising concerns about seasonal mismatches between demand and supply. Locating utility-scale PV projects in alpine regions ...with high solar irradiation could help to meet demand during the winter season. However, similar to wind farms, large solar projects change the landscape and may therefore face social acceptance issues. In contrast to the rich literature on wind energy, social acceptance of solar power has received less attention. This paper helps close this gap with the help of a large-scale survey (N = 1036) that examines the acceptance of alpine solar projects in Switzerland through choice experiments. In addition to attributes that are well established in the social acceptance literature, such as local ownership, along with both distributional and procedural justice, we also investigate the influence of innovative design elements on acceptance. Our findings suggest that local ownership, as well as colored solar panels that reduce the perceived landscape change may increase social acceptance, implying that projects should be kept local and low-key. We also find that acceptance of alpine solar projects is higher among the affected population than among inhabitants of non-alpine regions.
•Choice experiment with representative sample of N = 1036.•64% of respondents would (rather) accept alpine solar projects.•Green PV panels are preferred over conventional panels.•Local ownership increases social acceptance.•Young respondents are more open to innovative design elements.
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