Come for the looks, stay for the personality? A mixed methods investigation of reacquisition and owner recommendation of Bulldogs, French Bulldogs and Pugs

Brachycephalic breeds are proliferating internationally, with dramatic rises in popularity juxtaposed with common and severe breed-related health problems. Physical appearance is as a dominant factor attracting owners to brachycephalic breeds; however, whether these owners will choose their current breed for future ownership and develop 'breed-loyalty' in the face of health problems is not yet known. The aims of this study were (1) to quantify levels of, and explore factors associated with, brachycephalic dog owners' intentions to: (i) reacquire and/or (ii) recommend their current breed to potential first-time dog owners, and (2) to use qualitative methods to explore why brachycephalic dog owners would or would not recommend their current breed. This large mixed methods study reports on 2168 owners of brachycephalic breeds (Pugs: n = 789; French Bulldog: n = 741; Bulldogs: n = 638). Owners were highly likely to want to own their breed again in the future (93.0%) and recommend their breed to other owners (65.5%). Statistical modelling identified that first-time ownership and increased strength of the dog-owner relationship increased the likelihood of reacquisi-tion and/or recommendation. In contrast, an increased number of health problems, positive perception of their dog's health compared with the rest of their breed, and dog behaviour being worse than expected decreased the likelihood of reacquisition and/or recommendation. Thematic analyses constructed three themes describing why owners recommend their breed: positive behavioural attributes for a companion dog, breed suited to a sedentary lifestyle with limited space, and suitability for households with children. Five themes described why owners recommended against their breed: high prevalence of health problems, expense of ownership, ethical and welfare issues associated with breeding brachycephalic dogs, negative effects upon owner lifestyle and negative behavioural attributes. Understanding how breed-loyalty develops, and whether it can be attenuated, will be key to controlling the current population boom in brachycephalic breeds in the long-term

Design thinking and design doing: Describing a process of people-centred innovation

The research forms part of the author’s long-term enquiry into the challenges of implementing Design Thinking (DT) and its relationship to Inclusive Design (ID), something that has been understudied and under-researched. Both fields advocate research with users and have a history spanning decades, but they have remained largely separate in terms of academic research and practical application. The author was approached by the series editor for his expertise at the intersection of ID and DT. “State of the art” DT ideas and approaches were evaluated through study of circa 50 recent academic publications, papers and journal articles. Field research was based on personal leadership of over 70 ID projects with government, business, and the voluntary sector leading to frontline discoveries and insights. Peer-reviewed academic publication, conference presentation, and keynote delivery helped test ideas before making the link between ID and DT and delivering the publication. This 13,000 word, sole-authored chapter outlines gaps in the long-term effectiveness of DT, outlining five principles that aim to engender a more sustainable approach by aligning it to ID. These five ideas give an overview of newly-articulated frameworks, tools and methods for academic and industry application. The chapter sets a context for 16 other chapters within the publication and establishes the need for more empirical research to link between DT and ID. The ideas in the chapter have been used to direct practice-based research projects and education programmes at the RCA as well as organisations in its network. 700 Hong Kong civil servants have been trained using these ideas, alongside numerous industry organisations including Tata Consulting Services and Panasonic

Urban air pollution and health

A chapter on urban air pollution and healt

On the interpretation of event and sub-event rainfall chemistry

Variations in precipitation chemistry between and within rain events have been examined in order to identify possible relationships with synoptic, mesoscale and micrometeorological processes. A microprocessor-based acid rain monitor was used to provide high resolution meteorological and rain chemistry data from which two case study events have been selected to illustrate event and sub-event rainfall chemistry characteristics. Event rainfall chemistry is strongly influenced by the history of the prevailing air mass and the synoptic situation. From back trajectories calculated at the 950 mbar level it is clear that air mass history can change markedly within a few hours. These observations emphasise the value of high resolution rainfall chemistry measurements. Pollutant concentrations in rainwater have been shown to fluctuate markedly within the course of individual events as a result of both advective and scavenging processes. Advective effects may result from: (a) air mass discontinuities at frontal zones; and/or (b) variable rainfall interception of the air mass prior to arrival at the site. A simple mathematical model has been developed to describe the scavenging mechanisms and it shows good agreement with field observations. Theoretical considerations suggest that in-cloud processes give rise to most of the observed decline in concentrations

Using archive data to investigate trends in the sources and composition of urban PM10 particulate matter : application to Edinburgh (UK) between 1992 and 1997

By extending the method of Stedman (1998), daily data of atmospheric concentrations of gravimetric PM10, black smoke (BS) and sulphate aerosol (SA) from national networks were analysed to determine the trends in time of the contribution of different sources of particulate matter to total PM10 measured in central Edinburgh. Since BS is an indicator of combustion-related primary sources of particulate matter, the quantity obtained by subtraction of daily BS from daily PM10 is indicative of the contribution to total PM10 from other primary sources and from secondary aerosol. This PM10-BS statistic was regressed on SA, since SA is an indicator of variation in secondary aerosol source. For Edinburgh, SA is a considerably better indicator of PM10-BS during summer than winter (reflecting the much greater photochemical generation of secondary aerosol in summer) and there is evidence that the contribution of other secondary aerosol (presumably nitrate aerosol) has increased relative to SA between 1992 and 1997. The concentration of non-combustion primary particulate material (marine aerosol, suspended dust) to PM10 in Edinburgh has not changed over this period but is about twice that calculated as the U.K. national average. The increasing input to PM10 from secondary aerosol sources at regional rather than urban scale has important implications for ensuring local air quality compliance. The method should have general applicability to other locations

Variation of the beta coefficient in the relaxed eddy accumulation method

Increased usage of the conditional sampling techniques of the relaxed eddy accumulation method of measuring trace gas fluxes from vegetation raises questions as to the physical meaning of the beta factor. Using sensible heat flux data to calculate beta by comparison of the eddy covariance and conditional sampling algorithms suggests a mean value of 0.56. A theoretical approach based on the Gram-Charlier distribution is shown to need cross product terms up to the 4th order to provide a good description of beta by taking into account the skewness and flatness of the distributions of the components of wind velocity and scalars. This description also shows that beta is not constant but will vary with turbulence characteristics in time and space. Values of beta for scalar and momentum fluxes are shown to vary over a typical range of 0.40 to 0.63

Acid deposition during two contrasting frontal rainfall events

Analysis of the chemical composition of rain at high temporal resolution provides additional information on wet deposition processes. High resolution data was obtained using a microprocessor-based acid rain monitor at two sites in SW Scotland and SE England. Meteorological details of the transport and wet deposition processes during two frontal rain events were examined and related to rainfall composition. Rapid depletions of ion concentrations during heavy rainfall in the first event were interpreted using a rainfall scavenging model. The sub-event data for the second event showed the influence of frontal discontinuities. Increasing ionic concentrations during this second event were attributed both to the change in air mass, and to diminished upwind precipitation scavenging

Interpretation of variations in fine, coarse and black smoke particulate matter concentrations in a northern European city

The PM2.5, PMcoarse and black smoke (BS) particle metrics broadly reflect different source contributions to PM10. The aim of this study was to generate data for PM2.5 at an urban background site in the UK, and to use the daily collocated measurement of PM2.5, PM10 (and hence PMcoarse) and BS to yield insight into source influences on particulate matter for input to developing PM air quality policy. Mean daily PM10, PM2.5 and BS for a year of measurement in Edinburgh were 15.5, 8.5 and 6.6 mu g m(-3). The PM2.5 data were well-within possible future limit values proposed by the European Commission Clean Air For Europe programme. Daily PM2.5 and PM10 were significantly correlated (r(2) = 0.75) with PM2.5 contributing 54%, on average, to PM10. The daily BS:PM10 and BS:PM2.5 ratios were more variable, and significantly lower in summer than in winter, reflecting the greater contribution of non-black photochemical secondary particles to PM10 in summer. Analysis with respect to wind showed a dominant influence of dispersion on BS and PM2.5 but both dispersion and a wind-driven suspension influence on PMcoarse. The latter was higher than in central England (Averaging about one-third of the PMcoarse), and greater for on-shore wind direction, suggesting a sea-salt source for this component in addition to other particle resuspension contributions. Overall, the data showed that excursions in PM10 were driven more by variations in PM2.5 than by PMcoarse or BS. Both PM2.5 and its proportion to PM10 were significantly elevated for aid-masses passing over continental Europe and the British Isles, whereas BS varied less with air-mass origin, supporting the conclusion that concentrations of particulate matter, particularly of finer PM, are strongly influenced by regional scale synoptic meteorology (presumed to be predominantly secondary PM), whereas BS is dominated more by local sources. Comparison of BS with a nearby rural site suggested that approximately three-quarters, on average, of the urban BS was local in origin

Development and operation of a microprocessor based wet deposition monitor

A microprocessor-based system for monitoring wet deposition is described. The system makes real-time measurements of the conductivity and pH of 0.5 mm sequential rain samples. The samples are then stored on an event or sub-event basis for subsequent laboratory analysis. A brief review of some of the problems associated with collection and storage of rainwater for chemical analysis is given in the context of the current instrument. The system was operated for a sis month period at a site in southeast England. The event resolution of the device enabled detailed study of acid deposition episodes and associated air mass back trajectories. The sub-event data enabled study of wet deposition scavenging processes and advective concentration changes. Rainfall chemistry and meteorological changes associated with frontal discontinuities were well characterised by the monitor. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Lt