The opportunity and desire to buy:Owner-occupation in Scotland’s new towns, c. 1950-80

This article explores the role of the post-war new towns in Scotland in providing people with the opportunity to own their own homes. Most importantly, it traces the development of this policy prior to the ‘Right to Buy’ of the early 1980s when tenants were offered substantial discounts by local authorities, housing associations and crucially, new town development corporations. The article challenges the dominance of rented tenure in existing accounts of Scottish housing, showing that there was demand in Scotland in the decades before the introduction of incentives. This article takes a ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ approach to understand a period of expanding opportunity for some, though not all, of those relocating and starting new lives in East Kilbride, Glenrothes and Cumbernauld. Archive evidence exploring policy and the response of the new town development corporations is complemented by analysis of life narratives provided by those that moved to the new towns and their children. In doing so, this article contributes to a growing scholarship that challenges stereotypical perceptions of class and identity in the immediate post-war decades whilst also revealing new insights into the post-war state as an enabler of opportunity for some

Does energy efficiency of UK SMEs affect their access to finance?

To effectively mitigate climate change, a crucial focus area is enhancing energy efficiency in firms and industries. This objective becomes even more imperative in light of the recent escalation in energy prices caused by the Russo-Ukrainian war. Given the limited financial resources of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), facilitating their access to finance becomes a potential avenue for reducing carbon emissions. Based on our knowledge, this is the first study that analyses the potential impact of energy efficiency on access to finance for SMEs in the UK. We consider a dataset of 2,855 UK firms from 2015 to 2021 collected from the Longitudinal Small Business Survey. We find that energy efficient companies and firms that show energy saving behaviours are facing fewer credit constraints. These results are robust if we control for several company characteristics, including age, size, turnover, industry, location, and legal status

Importin 13-dependent axon diameter growth regulates conduction speeds along myelinated CNS axons

Axon diameter influences the conduction properties of myelinated axons, both directly, and indirectly through effects on myelin. However, we have limited understanding of mechanisms controlling axon diameter growth in the central nervous system, preventing systematic dissection of how manipulating diameter affects myelination and conduction along individual axons. Here we establish zebrafish to study axon diameter. We find that importin 13b is required for axon diameter growth, but does not affect cell body size or axon length. Using neuron-specific ipo13b mutants, we assess how reduced axon diameter affects myelination and conduction, and find no changes to myelin thickness, precision of action potential propagation, or ability to sustain high frequency firing. However, increases in conduction speed that occur along single myelinated axons with development are tightly linked to their growth in diameter. This suggests that axon diameter growth is a major driver of increases in conduction speeds along myelinated axons over time.<br/

Using social media to infer the diffusion of an urban contact dialect:A case study of multicultural London English

Sociolinguistic research has demonstrated that ‘urban contact dialects’ tend to diffuse beyond the speech communities in which they first emerge. However, no research has attempted to explore the distribution of these varieties across an entire nation nor isolate the social mechanisms that propel their spread. In this paper, we use a corpus of 1.8 billion geo-tagged tweets to explore the spread of Multicultural London English lexis across the UK. We find evidence for the diffusion of MLE lexis from East and North London into other ethnically and culturally diverse urban centres across England particularly those in the South (e.g., Luton), but find lower frequencies of MLE lexis in the North of England (e.g., Manchester), and in Scotland and Wales. Concluding, we emphasise the role of demographic similarity in the diffusion of linguistic innovations by demonstrating that this variety originated in London and diffused into other urban areas in England through the social networks of Black and Asian users

Improved Monitoring of Subglacial Lake Activity in Greenland

Subglacial lakes form beneath ice sheets and ice caps if water is available, and if bedrock and surface topography are able to retain the water. On a regional scale, the lakes modulate the timing and rate of freshwater flow through the subglacial system to the ocean by acting as reservoirs. More than one hundred hydrologically active subglacial lakes, that drain and recharge periodically, have been documented under the Antarctic ice sheet, while only a handful of active lakes have been identified in Greenland. The small size of the Greenlandic subglacial lakes puts additional demands on mapping capabilitie aiming to resolve the evolving surface topography in sufficient detail to record their temporal behavior. Here, we explore the potential for combining data from CryoSat-2, TanDEM-X, and ArcticDEM to document the evolution of four active subglacial lake sites in Greenland. The inclusion of the new data sources provides important information on lake activity, documenting that the ice surface collapse basin on Flade Isblink ice cap was 50 % (30 meters) deeper than previously recorded. We also present evidence of a new active subglacial lake in Southwest Greenland, which shows signs of being hydrologically connected to another subglacial lake in that region. These findings show how improving the measurement capabilities of subglacial lakes, improves our current understanding and knowledge of the subglacial water system and its connection to surface hydrology

Mixed anion control of negative thermal expansion in a niobium oxyfluoride

A significant change in thermal expansion with anion composition has been identified in the niobium oxyfluoride, NbO2−xF1+x from 0 &lt; x &lt; 0.6. Fluorine doping leads to a transition from positive thermal expansion to unusual zero and negative thermal expansion caused by transverse anionic vibrations. This work has consequences for the development of advanced technological materials with tuneable low thermal expansion and is the first example of the use of multiple anions to control thermal expansion

Population genomics of the white beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris)::Implications for conservation amid climate driven range shifts

Climate change is rapidly affecting species distributions across the globe, particularly in the North Atlantic. For highly mobile and elusive cetaceans, the genetic data needed to understand population dynamics are often scarce. Cold-water obligate species such as the white-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) face pressures from habitat shifts due to rising sea surface temperatures in addition to other direct anthropogenic threats. Unravelling the genetic connectivity between white-beaked dolphins across their range is needed to understand the extent to which climate change and anthropogenic pressures may impact species-wide genetic diversity and identify ways to protect remaining habitat. We address this by performing a population genomic assessment of white-beaked dolphins using samples from much of their contemporary range. We show that the species displays significant population structure across the North Atlantic at multiple scales. Analysis of contemporary migration rates suggests a remarkably high connectivity between populations in the western North Atlantic, Iceland and the Barents Sea, while two regional populations in the North Sea and adjacent UK and Irish waters are highly differentiated from all other clades. Our results have important implications for the conservation of white-beaked dolphins by providing guidance for the delineation of more appropriate management units and highlighting the risk that local extirpation may have on species-wide genetic diversity. In a broader context, this study highlights the importance of understanding genetic structure of all species threatened with climate change-driven range shifts to assess the risk of loss of species-wide genetic diversity.</p

Large scale transcriptional analysis of MHC class I haplotype diversity in sheep

Domestic sheep (Ovis aries) have been an important component of livestock agricultural production for thousands of years. Preserving genetic diversity within livestock populations maintains a capacity to respond to changing environments and rapidly evolving pathogens. MHC genetic diversity can influence immune functionality at individual and population levels. Here, we focus on defining functional MHC class I haplotype diversity in a large cohort of Scottish Blackface sheep pre-selected for high levels of MHC class II DRB1 diversity. Using high-throughput amplicon sequencing with three independent sets of barcoded primers we identified 134 MHC class I transcripts within 38 haplotypes. Haplotypes were identified with between two and six MHC class I genes, plus variable numbers of conserved sequences with very low read frequencies. One or two highly transcribed transcripts dominate each haplotype indicative of two highly polymorphic, classical MHC class I genes. Additional clusters of medium, low, and very low expressed transcripts are described, indicative of lower transcribed classical, non-classical and genes whose function remains to be determined.</p

Sweden, NATO and gendered silences on Feminist Foreign Policy

Sweden was the first state to adopt a Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) in 2014, drawing on its state feminist tradition and support for the UN Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Yet following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and its move to seek NATO membership - abandoning its non-alignment - a gendered silence on FFP pervaded. Significantly, this thus predated the official abandonment of FFP following the election of a new government in October 2022. NATO membership was viewed as incompatible with FFP. Yet, NATO has long sought to project itself as a gender just actor, including through engagement with the WPS agenda culminating in its inclusion in the 2022 Strategic Concept. Further, Sweden – as a NATO partner – had been a stalwart of the Alliance’s work on WPS. This article contributes to understanding the role of gendered silences in shaping strategic narratives, in this case concerning Sweden’s NATO membership bid. It provides insight for policy makers and diplomats on the impact gendered silence can have on the wider efficacy of FFP and WPS, even during processes such as NATO enlargement which might otherwise be viewed as ‘gender neutral’