Climate change: Time to Do Something Different

Copyright: © 2014 Page and Page. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these termsThere is now very little, if any, doubt that the global climate is changing and that this is in some way related to human behaviour through unsustainable preferences in lifestyle and organisational practices. Despite the near conclusive evidence of the positive relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, a small proportion of people remain unconvinced. More importantly, even among the much larger number of people who accept a link between human behaviour and climate change, many are inactive, or insufficiently active, in attempting to remedy the situation. We suggest this is partly because people are unaware both of how their day-to-day behaviours connect with energy consumption and carbon emissions, and of the behavioural alternatives that are available to them. This, we believe, is a key reason why individual lifestyles and organisational practices continue in an unsustainable way. We also suggest that the psychologists and behavioural researchers who seek to develop a better understanding of people’s relationship with, and reaction to, environmental issues, might also be on track to suffer a similar blindness. They risk becoming fixed on investigating a limited range of established variables, perhaps to the detriment of alternative approaches that are more practically oriented though, so far, less well explored empirically. In this article, we present the FIT framework as an alternative perspective on the variables that might underpin pro-environmental activity and behaviour change. After briefly reviewing the related literature, we outline that framework. Then we present some early empirical data to show its relationship to a range of pro-environmental indices. We follow with a discussion of the framework’s relevance in relation to pro-environmental behaviour change and make proposals for future research.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Quantum Mechanics as a Simple Generalization of Classical Mechanics

A motivation is given for expressing classical mechanics in terms of diagonal projection matrices and diagonal density matrices. Then quantum mechanics is seen to be a simple generalization in which one replaces the diagonal real matrices with suitable Hermitian matrices.Comment: 9 pages, LaTe

Apollo Soyuz pamphlet No. 7: Biology in zero-G

The effects of weightlessness on small living organisms, and methods for improving biological techniques were investigated in the seven experiments reported in this pamphlet which is intended as a curriculum supplement for secondary schools. Topics include: (1) killfish hatching and orientation; (2) microbial growth and changes in biorhythm; (3) cell separation by electrophoresis; (4) microbial exchange in the space raft; and (5) changes in astronaut immunity during spaceflight. The pamphlet is intended as a curriculum supplement for secondary schools

Obstetrical aspects in congenital ichtyosis

We present a case of congenital ichthyosis because obstetrical literature is scarce and most obstetricians could need a reminder and update. Congenital ichthyosis (CI) comprises a variety of skin disorders characterised by abnormal keratinization of the epidermis, which are mostly transmitted in an autosomal recessive manner. This condition is rare (seven per million people) with various clinical neonatal expressions and diversified prognosis, from self-healing to lethal. Even less severe phenotypes have significant associated morbidity and mortality. CI babies are often born prematurely and are at highest risk for complications during the postnatal period .CI, while fairly rare, is a condition well described in the literature, mainly from the neonatal point of view. We describe a case in which congenital ichthyosis was diagnosed after birth, and summarise the present literature with particular attention on obstetric implications as the prenatal diagnosis, genetic and ultrasound testing, perinatal complications and care for future pregnancies

Three problems of intergenerational justice

Intergenerational justice raises profound questions about the appropriate scope, pattern and currency of distribution. In this short article, I evaluate three arguments for restricting justice to dealings amongst contemporaries and argue that each can be overcome without abandoning the central tenets of liberal egalitarianism

Reparations for Police Killings

After a fatal police shooting in the United States, it is typical for city and police officials to view the family of the deceased through the lens of the law. If the family files a lawsuit, the city and police department consider it their legal right to defend themselves and to treat the plaintiffs as adversaries. However, reparations and the concept of “reparative justice” allow authorities to frame police killings in moral rather than legal terms. When a police officer kills a person who was not liable to this outcome, officials should offer monetary reparations, an apology, and other redress measures to the victim’s family. To make this argument, the article presents a philosophical account of non-liability hailing from self-defense theory, centering the distinction between reasonableness and liability. Reparations provide a non-adversarial alternative to civil litigation after a non-liable person has been killed by a police officer. In cases where the officer nevertheless acted reasonably, “institutional agent-regret” rather than moral responsibility grounds the argument for reparations. Throughout the article, it is argued that there are distinct racial wrongs both when police kill a non-liable black person and when family members of a black victim are treated poorly by officials in the civil litigation process

An Initiative to Educate and Support Young Adults Diagnosed with Hypertension

An Initiative to Educate and Support Young Adults Diagnosed with Hypertension Page Tomlinson, BS, RN, DNPc Background: Hypertension is a common diagnosis in the US with significant long-term effects. While guidelines for optimal hypertension management exist, young adults lag behind older adults in treatment and control3. The young adult is arguably more capable of lifestyle changes, primarily due to fewer physical limitations than older adults. Promotion of disease self-management is the most effective way to engage young adults in seeking control over their blood pressure1,2. Lifestyle modification as a young adult decreases costs of care and risk for cardiovascular events, while lack of guidance and support at this stage of life may increase risk for cardiac events over their lifetime. This project examined disease self-management in young adults aged 18-39 years at a local primary care office. Methods. Patients aged 18-39 years with diagnosis of hypertension were identified. A questionnaire on self-efficacy in hypertension management was sent and preference for lifestyle modification counseling (LMC) was assessed. Follow up calls placed. Semi-structured interviews conducted. Provider survey conducted. Results: Three patients discussed their experience of being diagnosed with hypertension in semi-structured interviews. Fourteen patients were not interested in participating. Provider survey (n=7) response 100%. Patient information handout created. Conclusions. While the literature demonstrates the positive effect of LMC on outcomes in hypertensive young adults, efforts to engage this population proved challenging. Young adults desire consistent guidance and support with lifestyle modification yet are unwilling to engage in lifestyle modification when they are asymptomatic and do not have rapport with the offering provider. Key Words: hypertension, young adult, support, lifestyle modification Word count [246] References: Johnson, H., Olson, A., Lamantia, J., Kind, A., Pandhi, N., Mendonça, E., Craven, M., & Smith, M. (2015). Documented lifestyle education among young adults with incident hypertension. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 30(5), 556-64. Trento, M., & Porta, M. (2012). Structured and Persistently Reinforced Patient Education Can Work. BMJ: British Medical Journal 345, e5100. Zhang, Y. E., & Moran, A. (2017). Trends in the Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension Among Young Adults in the United States, 1999 to 2014. Hypertension, 70(4), 736-742

Geminga: A Cooling Superfluid Neutron Star

We show that Geminga's surface temperature can be understood by both types of neutrino cooling scenarios, i.e, slow neutrino cooling by the modified Urca process or fast neutrino cooling by the direct Urca process or by some exotic matter, and thus does not allow us to discriminate between these two competing schemes. However, for both types of scenarios, agreement with the observed temperature can only be obtained if BARYON PAIRING IS PRESENT IN MOST, IF NOT ALL, OF THE CORE OF THE STAR. We also comment on the recent temperature estimates for PSR 0656+14 and PSR 1055-52, which pertain to the same photon cooling era. We argue though that observational evidence for the slow neutrino cooling model (the ``standard'' model) is in fact very dim and that the interpretation of the surface temperature of all neutron stars could be done with a reasonable theoretical a priori within the fast neutrino cooling scenarios only. In this case, Geminga, PSR 0656+14, and PSR 1055-52 all show evidence of baryon pairing down to their very centers. xxx----To be published in Ap.J. (June 10 isue).---xxxComment: 26 pages, AAS LaTeX, CAL-54