A participatory exploratory futures framework to support net zero decision-making on subnational scales

The UK is legally required to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with commitment from the central government. Realising this target depends on the aggregate climate mitigation action on local and regional scales and substantial shifts in citizens’ behaviours. Yet currently there is no statutory responsibility or systematic framework for UK local and regional authorities and communities to deliver net zero emissions.This research explores the prospects for adopting futures studies to support subnational scale net zero decision-making. Futures studies can fulfil a range of purposes; inform policy and investment decisions and change perceptions about what the future may hold. There are a wide range of approaches and methods depending on the degree of uncertainty about the future and focus, such as techno-economic feasibility or socio-economic factors. The complexity and uncertainty in meeting the decarbonisation challenge warrant a broad view of the future, and the inclusion of diverse perspectives.This thesis comprises three papers. The first proposes a participatory exploratory futures framework on subnational scales. A qualitative method is adopted to enable a participatory element to include diverse perspectives, and the exploratory futures approach ensures a broad outlook. In papers two and three, this framework is applied to case studies on two spatial scales: A regional authority (North of Tyne Combined Authority) and an intentional ecological community (Findhorn Ecovillage). For the regional authority, two sets of futures were developed - one before the Covid-19 pandemic and one where restrictions were largely removed.The thesis contributes to the literature on energy and climate governance at subnational spatial scales. The findings from these case studies will be of interest to policymakers and decision-makers and the futures research community. First, participants found it challenging to consider futures that did not meet the legislated net zero target or did so after 2050. It was found too that decarbonisation progress can be constrained by socioeconomic dependencies with the wider system outside the spatial scale focus. The two sets of futures showed how shocks can lead to substantial shifts in accepted behaviours and values, such as greater appreciation of local environments and communities.These findings highlight the importance of including a diversity of perspectives both on spatial scales and over time in developing futures for net zero emissions decision-making support. This thesis makes the case for a systematic futures framework on subnational scales in the critical role of local and regional governance in achieving the UK’s 2050 net zero emissions target.</p

Irradiance probability distributions for optical wireless communications

This dissertation is concerned with the irradiance distribution of electromagnetic waves propagating through random media, with an emphasis on optical waves through the atmosphere for applications to optical wireless communications. In the literature it is common practice to adopt heuristic combinations of classical distributions for various random media. However, the underlying physical processes can be very different. For example, the presence of air bubbles in underwater optical wireless communications and the event of solar superior conjunction in deep space communications. Here an analytic method is proposed which directly incorporates the medium refractive index into the irradiance distribution. As a case study, the distribution is shown to be more accurate compared to previous distributions for underwater links in the presence of air bubbles. Furthermore, a distribution model is proposed for deep space communications and shown to apply beyond the region of validity of Rician distribution. For turbulent atmospheric links it is known that classical distributions inaccurately predict the low-intensity tails. This has significant effects on systems error performance under moderate-strong scintillation. A novel method is proposed wherein the large-scale fading is written as a product of random variables thus generalizing the extended Rytov theory. The resultant distribution shows excellent agreement with data collected from the literature. Furthermore, a heuristic physical theory is presented which describes the association of the large-small scale induced variances with the distribution parameters. The error and capacity performance of optical wireless communication systems hindered by turbulence and pointing errors is investigated. Monte Carlo simulations support that, in some cases, inaccuracies in previous fading models result in erroneous conclusions in the order of few dB. Besides turbulence, the presence of fog can severely hinder optical wireless links. A general turbulence-fog fading model is derived by combining the proposed turbulence-induced fading model with a previously published fog-induced fading model. System performance error analysis is carried out showing the fog detrimental effects. The utility of Bessel-Gauss beams in free space optics is still an open problem. Novel expressions for the induced large-small scale variances are derived by applying strong scintillation theory. Using the proposed fading model, optical wireless links error and capacity performances are investigated. The analysis indicates that a performance gain can be obtained over moderate distances. The final research in this dissertation investigates the applications of the obtained results to diffuse and multiple dominant specular component radio channels. Novel distributions are derived and the resultant predicted system error performance is compared with previous models.</p

Therapy with young children in Chile following sexual abuse: a child-centred relational perspective?

Although several recent Chilean and international studies have explored the perspectives of children, caregivers, and therapists participating in therapy following sexual abuse, there is a lack of attention to children aged three to six. This thesis aims to illuminate what a child-centred relational perspective offers for understanding the practice of therapy with young children in Chile who have lived through sexual abuse (CSA), by asking how therapists construct the nature and challenges of this therapeutic work, and how can a child-centred relational lens illuminate the experience of psychotherapy following CSA for a young child and her caregiver. The research involved two components, conducted during the years of the global Covid-19 pandemic: online interviews with ten therapists at public specialised centres in Chile, all of whom were working with young children who have experienced CSA; and an in-depth case study focused on the experiences of one family (a five-year-old child and her mother) who were participating in online therapy. The latter included observation of one of the family’s online therapy sessions, and an online interview with parent and child, using drawing and finger puppets to explore her verbal and non-verbal narratives of the experience of psychotherapy. The data was analysed using thematic and narrative approaches, informed by psychosocial perspectives. The use of a child-centred relational lens offers interesting insights into the practice of therapy with young children following sexual abuse. The analysis illuminates how the embodied relational co-presence of play ties together the relational and material realms of therapy and becomes central to how therapists and the young child(ren) make sense of the aims, purposes, and practices of CSA therapy. The adults involved in the process —therapist and caregiver— have a central role in helping children make sense of the reasons why they are attending therapy ('the why', i.e., the CSA) and of its practices ('the what for', i.e., they go there to play). The findings also show how therapists navigate their young clients’ ‘hundred languages’ (cf Malaguzzi 2012) and agentic expressions in the in-person therapy room. Although therapists acknowledged the importance of play in therapy with young children, the global shift towards online work during the pandemic seems to have heavily restricted play as a mode of therapeutic practice. Online therapy is substantially different from in-person therapy for all actors involved: children’s play is contained, adults’ and children’s agentic expressions take diverse new forms, and so are therapists’ practices and central aims, as they rely much more on the spoken word when they communicate with the children and place caregivers and their therapeutic needs in the spotlight. By combining methodological and theoretical aspects of childhood studies and psychotherapy research, this thesis develops a novel approach towards an understanding of the practice of therapy with young children in the context of public specialised centres in treating sexual abuse in Chile. The research also generates valuable insights that can inform and support the needs of Chilean practitioners in the area when working with young children and their families.</p

Tick hazard in the South Downs National Park (UK): species, distribution, key locations for future interventions, site density, habitats

Background South Downs National Park (SDNP) is UK’s most visited National Park, and a focus of tick-borne Lyme disease. The first presumed UK autochthonous cases of tick-borne encephalitis and babesiosis were recorded in 2019–20. SDNP aims to conserve wildlife and encourage recreation, so interventions are needed that reduce hazard without negatively affecting ecosystem health. To be successful these require knowledge of site hazards. Methods British Deer Society members submitted ticks removed from deer. Key potential intervention sites were selected and six 50 m2 transects drag-sampled per site (mostly twice yearly for 2 years). Ticks were identified in-lab (sex, life stage, species), hazard measured as tick presence, density of ticks (all life stages, DOT), and density of nymphs (DON). Sites and habitat types were analysed for association with hazard. Distribution was mapped by combining our results with records from five other sources. Results A total of 87 Ixodes ricinus (all but one adults, 82% F) were removed from 14 deer (10 Dama dama; three Capreolus capreolus; one not recorded; tick burden, 1–35) at 12 locations (commonly woodland). Five key potential intervention sites were identified and drag-sampled 2015–16, collecting 623 ticks (238 on-transects): 53.8% nymphs, 42.5% larvae, 3.7% adults (13 M, 10 F). Ticks were present on-transects at all sites: I. ricinus at three (The Mens (TM); Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QECP); Cowdray Estate (CE)), Haemaphysalis punctata at two (Seven Sisters Country Park (SSCP); Ditchling Beacon Nature Reserve (DBNR)). TM had the highest DOT at 30/300 m2 (DON = 30/300 m2), followed by QECP 22/300 m2 (12/300 m2), CE 8/300 m2 (6/300 m2), and SSCP 1/300 m2 (1/300 m2). For I. ricinus, nymphs predominated in spring, larvae in the second half of summer and early autumn. The overall ranking of site hazard held for DON and DOT from both seasonal sampling periods. DBNR was sampled 2016 only (one adult H. punctata collected). Woodland had significantly greater hazard than downland, but ticks were present at all downland sites. I. ricinus has been identified in 33/37 of SDNPs 10 km2 grid squares, Ixodes hexagonus 10/37, H. punctata 7/37, Dermacentor reticulatus 1/37. Conclusions Mapping shows tick hazard broadly distributed across SDNP. I. ricinus was most common, but H. punctata’s seeming range expansion is concerning. Recommendations: management of small heavily visited high hazard plots (QECP); post-visit precaution signage (all sites); repellent impregnated clothing for deerstalkers; flock trials to control H. punctata (SSCP, DBNR). Further research at TM may contribute to knowledge on ecological dynamics underlying infection density and predator re-introduction/protection as public health interventions. Ecological research on H. punctata would aid control. SDNP Authority is ideally placed to link and champion policies to reduce hazard, whilst avoiding or reducing conflict between public health and ecosystem health.</p

Infrastructure alternatives in an incomplete modernity: a case study on the re-emergence of rainwater harvesting in Mexico City

Modern infrastructure networks make cities work by providing essential services such as water, sanitation and energy. However, across the urban Global South, universal and reliable services remain unachieved. What prevails instead is an ‘incomplete modernity’ expressed in unequal, segregated and often decaying networks. In this context, the present thesis addresses the emergence of rainwater harvesting (RwH) as an alternative infrastructure for household water supply in Mexico City, where the shortcomings of the local network have been catalogued as signs of a longstanding ‘water crisis’. In order to understand how new social and technological configurations are incorporated into contexts of incomplete modernity, data was collected through primary and secondary research (interviews, observations and documentary research) and analysed from a qualitative methodological approach. The results indicate that RwH has become a palliative niche for a dysfunctional socio-technical regime that systematically relegates marginalised populations from accessing adequate water services. The development of innovative RwH systems specifically designed for the needs of these populations has matched with concurrent narratives related to sustainability and social justice, contributing to the momentum of a niche space that is now being supported by the state through new policies and regulations. While these developments will not break the structural power arrangements behind the differential access to water in Mexico City, RwH has proven useful as a decentralised infrastructure that enables underserviced populations to improve their autonomy by reducing the time, effort and stress that implies getting water in conditions of disadvantage. The findings of this case study provide a fine-grained account of a contingent socio-technical change process happening in a Latin American megacity, adding to the emerging literature on urban transitions and transitions in the Global South.</p

[Book Review] Castoffs of Capital: Work and Love among Garment Workers in Bangladesh. By Lamia Karim. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2022. 256 pp.

With the globalization of the apparel industry and the rise of export giants like China and Bangladesh, the reigning stereotype of garment assembly line workers holds them to be young, female, and victimized. Lamia Karim's Castoffs of Capital: Work and Love among Garment Workers in Bangladesh provides an antidote to this limited view. Using ethnographic and life history research, Karim presents a nuanced portrait of the aspirations and realities of low-wage factory workers through the stories of their lives both inside and outside the workplace. Comparing younger women workers with older women who have “aged out” of the industry, Castoffs of Capital traces how class, gender, and age shape workers' capacities to craft meaningful lives on their own terms. With careful attention to love relationships, household arrangements, and the physical toll of factory work, Karim's analysis contrasts workers' hopes for a good life with the stubborn persistence of “cruel optimism” (Berlant, 2011) when their aspirations are turned against them.</p

Investigating the limits of familiarity-based navigation

Insect-inspired navigation strategies have the potential to unlock robotic navigation in power-constrained scenarios, as they can function effectively with limited computational resources. One such strategy, familiarity-based navigation, has successfully navigated a robot along routes of up to 60 m using a single-layer neural network trained with an Infomax learning rule. Given the small size of the network that effectively encodes the route, here we investigate the limits of this method, challenging it to navigate longer routes, investigating the relationship between performance, view acquisition rate and dimension, network size, and robustness to noise. Our goal is both to determine the parameters at which this method operates effectively and to explore the profile with which it fails, both to inform theories of insect navigation and to improve robotic deployments. We show that effective memorization of familiar views is possible for longer routes than previously attempted, but that this length decreases for reduced input view dimensions. We also show that the ideal view acquisition rate must be increased with route length for consistent performance. We further demonstrate that computational and memory savings may be made with equivalent performance by reducing the network size—an important consideration for applicability to small, lower-power robots—and investigate the profile of memory failure, demonstrating increased confusion across the route as it extends in length. In this extension to previous work, we also investigate the form taken by the network weights as training extends and the areas of the image on which visual familiarity–based navigation most relies. Additionally, we investigate the robustness of familiarity-based navigation to view variation caused by noise.</p

A shared receptor suggests a common ancestry between an insecticidal Bacillus thuringiensis cry protein and an anti-cancer parasporin

Cry toxins, produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, are of significant agronomic value worldwide due to their potent and highly specific activity against various insect orders. However, some of these pore-forming toxins display specific activity against a range of human cancer cells whilst possessing no known insecticidal activity; Cry41Aa is one such toxin. Cry41Aa has similarities to its insecticidal counterparts in both its 3-domain toxic core structure and pore-forming abilities, but how it has evolved to target human cells is a mystery. This work shows that some insecticidal Cry toxins can enhance the toxicity of Cry41Aa against hepatocellular carcinoma cells, despite possessing no intrinsic toxicity themselves. This interesting crossover is not limited to human cancer cells, as Cry41Aa was found to inhibit some Aedes-active Cry toxins in mosquito larval assays. Here, we present findings that suggest that Cry41Aa shares a receptor with several insecticidal toxins, indicating a stronger evolutionary relationship than their divergent activities might suggest.</p

Financial capital and ghosts of empire: editorial

In this special issue, we take up the metaphor of the ghost to identify the seemingly intangible yet undeniable persistence of racism, empire and colonialism in finance and the global capitalist economy. In the aftermath of a world system built through colonialism, imperialism and their race-making projects, we all emerge haunted by racial colonialism. Despite this differently-expressed but shared global condition, we also live in a world marked by a willed forgetfulness, occurring more broadly, and especially in fields like economics and political economy. We argue that in order to understand the cultural economy one must confront the ghostly aspects of it. This special issue contributes to the cultural economy of finance by demonstrating pivotal ways in which finance actually works. We do so by refracting the lens of contemporary financial activity to reveal hidden ghostly power relations connecting the past of empire and colonialism with the present of financialisation and coloniality.</p

Partial flipped classroom approach and student engagement in the classroom: evidence from a UK university

We explore the association between students’ pre-class online learning and their perceptions of in-person class engagement preparedness at a UK University. The introduction of a partial-flipped classroom (PFC) approach in a second year intermediate management accounting module provided the research setting. We used a questionnaire to collect data and employed statistical and qualitative data analysis techniques. We find that students who engaged with the pre-class online learning tended to engage more with the in-person learning materials/activities, and perceived a significant link between learning content and outcomes. We also find that students’ perception of the PFC may be influenced by the nature/extent of their engagement with the approach, fee status, and less likely to be influenced by age or gender. Our paper contributes to the PFC literature by providing exploratory evidence on the association between pre-class online learning and student engagement in subsequent in-person class learning.</p