Financial Risks of Investments in Coal

Analyzes the regulatory, commodity, and construction risks of investing in coal mining and coal-fired power plants. Examines industry analysts' consensus on viable alternatives to coal, including natural gas, solar, wind, and energy efficiency

Performing inter-professional expertise in rural advisory networks

AbstractIn this paper we draw on in-depth research to explore inter-professional working in rural land and livestock management and introduce the novel concept of inter-professional expertise. An increasingly intricate regulatory framework, the diversification of the economic base of rural areas away from primary commodity production and a growing emphasis on environmental protection and ecosystem services mean that the management of land and livestock are becoming more complex in their objectives, more demanding of specialised technical knowledge and skills and more rule-bound in their procedures and processes. To assist them in meeting these challenges, farmers and other land managers turn to a growing array of rural professional advisers. Increasingly the achievement of private and public objectives for rural businesses depends upon the integration of a variety of specialised expert inputs. So, alongside pressures to differentiate the specialised knowledge they have to offer, rural professionals face demands to work together to help clients solve complex problems and deliver multiple objectives. It follows that rural land and livestock management present a rich context in which to explore the dynamic relationship between different types of professional experts. As a departure from the strong tradition of farmer-centred research examining extended knowledge networks in rural settings, we therefore explore the working relations between advisers themselves. Using concepts of relational agency and socio-material approaches we identify the skills and strategies involved in this inter-professional communication and working, with relevance to expert-expert interactions and the negotiation of contemporary professional expertise in fields far beyond the provision of rural services. We find that it is in the ways that experts perform, act and interact in the field that professional expertise and, by extension, inter-professional expertise – is realised and practised. Thus as working practices are increasingly shared, credentialism is pursued less by achieving the monopolies of old and more by striving for new monopolies of inter-professional practice

Early detection of stress in strawberry plants using hyperspectral image analysis

Strawberry plants produce one of the highest quantities of soft fruits in the UK. The plants are grown in fields and glass houses where the environment is hard to completely control. There are a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses that affect the plants' production rate, lifespan and the quality of the fruit. It is possible to mitigate these stresses, but first they must be detected as early as possible. Drought, or water deficit, is an environmental stress which impacts the plants' productivity. The stress can be monitored by looking for visible signs, but detection by a person can occur too late. Using technology could improve the detection before a person can see the signs. One such technology is hyperspectral imaging. Hyperspectral imaging has the potential to detect certain features in plants by examining their reflectance spectrum. In this work, a spectral range from visible to near-infrared will be used to record reflectance changes from plants during drought experiments. The data collected in this thesis comprises strawberry plants undergoing drought conditions. Initial inspection of the data suggests that a difference in reflectance may exist throughout this time period, but the data is noisy and changes subtle: using whole-plant measures may not be as accurate as selecting individual leaves. Also, particular leaves may be more suited to hyperspectral inspection than others. Therefore, the work in the rest of the thesis focuses on automatically selecting suitable quality leaves from which to derive hyperspectral measures. Leaf locations are selected automatically by combining 2D spatial information and select wavelengths from the hyperspectral data to extract leaf features (leaf centres and vein patterns), and this information is used to initialise a level set shape model to segment the leaves. The results from the 2D segmentation are evaluated, and results suggest clearly visible leaves can be segmented well automatically. However, it is hypothesised that further information is required to select the best possible leaves for analysis from the set of segmented leaves, so 3D plant information is then incorporated into the approach. The orientation of leaves, and shadows, are likely to influence the spectral signatures, and occluded leaves are undesirable. Therefore, the leaf orientation, position and height are taken into consideration when selecting leaves for measurement. To do this, 3D surface models are created from multiple digital images captured at the same time as the hyperspectral data. The hyperspectral data is then mapped onto the model and suitable leaves are identified based on their orientation, height and distance from the centre of the plant. This allows for selection of a subset of leaves as sources of hyperspectral measurement for each plant. This approach, from segmentation to leaf selection and measuring, is built into a fully-automated pipeline, and evaluated. The resulting leaves are selected from the other time points in the time series data, and the spectral signatures are compared to the initial manual inspection. The automatically selected leaf data show similar spectral responses to the manual approach. The challenge of detecting changes in these spectral profiles is investigated and discussed

Electricity consumers in regional Australia: social acceptance of coal-fired power and renewable energy

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the energy-related attitudes of consumers and explore the factors associated with social acceptance of renewable energy. Methods: Findings are based on a quantitative survey of 325 respondents from regional Australia. Frequency distributions, cross tabulations and non-parametric tests were performed. Findings: Overall, respondents agree that climate change is occurring, that it is human-induced and that society has a responsibility to act. Surprisingly, respondents who are pro-coal generation show strong support for renewable energy, despite being undecided on the climate change issue and not perceiving a connection between electricity usage in the home and climate change. Respondents who are anti-coal generation show low support for all fossil fuels, despite the fact that they will continue to underpin the energy system for some time to come. The research found that demographic variables, notably gender and education, along with political affiliation, are associated with varying levels of support for particular energy technologies. Conclusion: Research on consumer attitudes towards energy sources is crucial if Australia is to make a transition to a low-carbon electricity market

The prefrontal cortex and obesity: a health neuroscience perspective

The level of activity within an individual’s prefrontal cortex seems to be critical to dietary self-control and the likelihood of overconsumption and obesity. Lower activity can make individuals more vulnerable to the appeal of calorie-rich foods. Sustained overconsumption and obesity can cause changes in the prefrontal cortex that further discourage dietary self-regulation, creating a reciprocal relationship that reinforces the poor dietary choices and encourages overconsumption.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/brainscanresearchsummaries/1000/thumbnail.jp

Evaluating the Real-World Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy Efficacy Research on Eating Disorders: A Case Study from a Community-based Clinical Setting

Objective There is a growing consensus that there is a need to test the real-world effectiveness of eating disorder therapies that show promise in efficacy research. The current paper provides a narrative account of an NIMH-funded study that attempted to apply efficacy findings from CBT research to an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) at the largest community-based eating disorder program in the United States. Method We describe the study as originally envisioned as well as the various challenges that the researchers and the IOP staff encountered in implementing this study. Results The different training, assumptions, and “ways of knowing” of the research team and the treatment staff in regard to the nature of eating disorders and their treatment created multiple challenges for both groups during the study period. We describe valuable lessons learned about how to - and how not to -implement effectiveness designs in clinical settings that are relatively unfamiliar with empirically-based research findings. Discussion It is hoped that our experience in attempting to apply efficacy-based research findings on eating disorders treatment in a community-based clinical setting will prove helpful to other researchers and service providers engaging in such translational research.NIMH grant R34MH07169

Relationships between circulating leucocytes and Leucocytozoon simondi in mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, ducklings

Leucocytozoon simondi is an apicomplexan blood parasite of waterfowl that frequently causes significant mortality, and thus is expected to provoke a significant immune response in hosts. Using blood smears collected in consecutive weeks from 30 wild-stock mallard, Anas platyrhynchos, ducklings, we tested with repeated measures analyses for associations between leucocyte profiles and L. simondi infection intensities. With each of the five weeks of leucocyte profiles as response variables, we found evidence of fewer circulating heterophils and more circulating lymphocytes in the third week of infection associated with more intense L. simondi infections from the second week, but no significant relationships between leucocytes and the other four weeks of L. simondi infection. With each of the five weeks of L. simondi infection intensities as response variables, we found no associations with leucocyte profiles. Collectively, our results did not reveal tight links between leucocyte profiles and parasitism by L. simondi. Our data suggest that L. simondi was relatively benign to our wild ducks