A Policy Development Perspective on Drinking Water Policy

This paper seeks to address the lack of knowledge in the water industry of how policy development can be understood to have shaped the development and application of European Union (EU) drinking water policy. In particular, the paper develops a comparative understanding of how policy development can be viewed as having affected the development and application of the Drinking Water Directive (80/778/EEC) in England/Wales and the Republic of Ireland. As a result of this focus, the paper explores policy development issues relating to conflicting interests, invalid causal theories, political symbolism, lack of attention to detail by policy makers, and the allocation of duties and resources. It is subsequently established that consideration of these issues is useful in fostering a focused understanding of how policy development may have affected policy application. Despite the significant changes which took place with regard to the development of the current Drinking Water Directive (98/883/EC), the paper concludes by arguing that greater attention should be accorded the conflicting interests and abilities of Member States during the development of EU water policy, particularly if attempts are to be made to identify measures targeted at improving the application of EU water policy in a diverse political and economic union of member states.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Attitudes, behaviour, and engagement toward water consumption and conservation in a higher education setting

There is a need to develop more nuanced and playfully informed understandings of people’s attitudes and behaviour toward water consumption and conservation in particular settings, particularly if we are to design initiatives designed to engage and then change behaviour. The Southeast of England, in the United Kingdom, is an example of a water stressed region where better understandings have a potentially key role to play in helping to tackle the issue of water scarcity through attempts to reduce the personal consumption of water. Therefore, this paper presents the findings of a small-scale research project that sought to playfully engage participants in an exploration of their attitudes and behaviour toward water use in a university setting. In particular, an interactive questionnaire was designed whereby participants were encouraged to give their answers by placing counters in buckets of differently coloured water. From an awareness perspective, the study found that whilst females appeared to be more aware of their water usage, participants in general appeared to be unaware of retro fit programmes design to improve water conservation. As a result of these findings, it is suggested that future education campaigns better reflect the needs of different groups, particularly in communities with highly transient populations, such as those in University towns. From an engagement perspective, the interactive nature of the data collection was noted as appearing to be successful in encouraging engagement over time. In conclusion, it is suggested that such playful approaches to data collection and awarweness raising can be a useful in not only enaging but promoting a better understanding and awareness of water usage.Peer reviewe

Minimally Allowed Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Rates From Approximate Flavor Symmetries

Neutrinoless double beta decay ($\beta\beta0\nu$) is among the only realistic probes of Majorana neutrinos. In the standard scenario, dominated by light neutrino exchange, the process amplitude is proportional to $m_{ee}$, the $e-e$ element of the Majorana mass matrix. Naively, current data allows for vanishing $m_{ee}$, but this should be protected by an appropriate flavor symmetry. All such symmetries lead to mass matrices inconsistent with oscillation phenomenology. I perform a spurion analysis to break all possible Abelian symmetries that guarantee vanishing $\beta\beta0\nu$ rates and search for minimally allowed values. I survey 230 broken structures to yield $m_{ee}$ values and current phenomenological constraints under a variety of scenarios. This analysis also extracts predictions for both neutrino oscillation parameters and kinematic quantities. Assuming reasonable tuning levels, I find that $m_{ee}>4\times 10^{-6}$ eV at 99% confidence. Bounds below this value might indicate the Dirac neutrino nature or the existence of new light (eV-MeV scale) degrees of freedom that can potentially be probed elsewhere.Comment: 19 Pages, 4 .eps Figures, 3 Table

Quenched Chiral Perturbation Theory for Baryons

We develop quenched chiral perturbation theory for baryons using the graded-symmetry formalism of Bernard and Golterman and calculate non-analytic contributions to the baryon masses coming from quenched chiral loops. The usual term proportional to $m_{q}^{3/2}$ is substantially altered due to the cancellation of diagrams with internal quark loops. In addition, the $\eta'$ ``hairpin'' vertex leads to a new correction, proportional to $m_{q}^{1/2}$. We compare our results to numerical lattice data and use them to estimate the size of the quenching error in the octet baryon masses.Comment: 7 pages (An abridged version of this note will appear in the proceedings of Lattice'93. Latex + 14 postscript files, bundled using uufiles. Needs psfig.) UW/PT-93-0

Theft! A History of Music

Greay Whales Eschristius robustus are the only large whales that are specialized bottom feeders, foraging on bottom sediments. When surfacing after a feeding dive a mud plume is formed at the surface as remaining sediment is strained out between the baleen. In the Chukchi Sea, Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris are attrackted to these mud plumes in search of food particles.Gråvalar Eschrichtius robustus är de enda stora valar som är söker föda genom att filtrera bottensediment. Då valen återkommer till ytan uppstår ett sedimentmoln då sediment pressas ut mellan barderna.    Under den svenska expeditionen “Beringia 2005ˮ sågs flockar om flera 10 000 övervintrande kortstjärtade liror Puffinus tenuirostris i Tjuktjerhavet. I områden där även födosökande gråvalar förekom, sökte lirorna aktivt föda i sedimentmolnen. Kortstjärtade liror lever i första hand på krill, och i de områden där de stora flockarna av liror observerades förekom höga koncentrationer plankton. Eftersom lirorna trotts tillgången på plankton dras till sedimentmolnen måste dessa innehålla organismer som är extra attraktiva som föda. Det är sedan tidigare känt att andra havsfåglar dras till sedimentmolnen, men detta är första gången det beskrivs för kortstjärtad lira

Ichthyofaunal Diversification and Distribution in the Big Creek Watershed, Craighead and Greene Counties, Arkansas

Big Creek is a relatively small deltaic stream, in northeastern Arkansas, in an area of intense cultivation. Recently it has been dredged in the interest of flood control. Lost Creek and Mud Creek are the major tributaries of Big Creek and collectively drain the Big Creek watershed. The streams were found to have relatively low alkalinity, moderate carbon dioxide, adequate oxygen values, and relatively high turbidity. Channeling of Big Creek and Lost Creek has effectively destroyed distinct pool-riffle biocies and reduced the number of acceptable spawning areas. Lost Creek, also, receives effluent from residential dwellings, a secondary treatment sewage plant, and a meat rendering plant. Mud Creek, in the absence of channeling and deleterious effects of effluents, provided a relatively greater diversity of habitat than did Big Creek or Lost Creek

A model for the onset of oscillations near the stopping angle in an inclined granular flow

We propose an explanation for the onset of oscillations seen in numerical simulations of dense, inclined flows of inelastic, frictional spheres. It is based on a phase transition between disordered and ordered collisional states that may be interrupted by the formation of force chains. Low frequency oscillations between ordered and disordered states take place over weakly bumpy bases; higher-frequency oscillations over strongly bumpy bases involve the formation of particle chains that extend to the base and interrupt the phase change. The predicted frequency and amplitude of the oscillations induced by the unstable part of the equation of state are similar to those seen in the simulations and they depend upon the contact stiffness in the same way. Such oscillations could be the source of sound produced by flowing sand