Television and environmental sustainability: Arguing a case for a code of standards in NZ

This article explores the portrayal of the environment and environmental sustainability by free-to-air network television in New Zealand. The results are based on a three-month survey of a) the portrayal of the use and treatment of the environment, and b) the reporting of environmental news. While television includes environmentally-oriented programmes (eg. some BBC Horizon documentaries), there are no regular programmes about the state of the environment, sustainable use of resources and energy, and there is no regular environmental slot in the news in New Zealand. Some programmes and advertisements are environmentally unfriendly and a few trivialise resource abuse. It is argued that the media has an ‘orchestrational’ influence on social norms and behaviours, and that to eliminate counter-messages requires the addition of a new ‘environmental standard’ to the Code of Broadcasting Practice. It is also argued that coverage of environmental news is quite narrow and, in the case of Television New Zealand, inconsistent with the stated aims of the Television Charter. New Zealand  television could and should make a valuable contribution to environmental sustainability

Uric acid levels and outcome from coronary artery bypass grafting

ObjectiveElevated uric acid levels have been associated with an adverse cardiovascular outcome in several settings. Their utility in patients undergoing surgical revascularization has not, however, been assessed. We hypothesized that serum uric acid levels would predict the outcome of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.MethodsThe study cohort consisted of 1140 consecutive patients undergoing nonemergency coronary artery bypass grafting. Clinical details were obtained prospectively, and serum uric acid was measured a median of 1 day before surgery. The primary end point was all-cause mortality.ResultsDuring a median of 4.5 years, 126 patients (11%) died. Mean (± standard deviation) uric acid levels were 390 ± 131 μmol/L in patients who died versus 353 ± 86 μmol/L among survivors (hazard ratio 1.48 per 100 μmol/L; 95% confidence interval, 1.25–1.74; P < .001). The excess risk associated with an elevated uric acid was particularly evident among patients in the upper quartile (≥410 μmol/L; hazard ratio vs all other quartiles combined 2.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.53–3.11; P < .001). After adjusting for other potential prognostic variables, including the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation, uric acid remained predictive of outcome.ConclusionIncreasing levels of uric acid are associated with poorer survival after coronary artery bypass grafting. Their prognostic utility is independent of other recognized risk factors, including the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Ode to planet Earth

"Good planets are hard to find", as the saying goes. This paper gives an 'extra-terrestrial' overview of the 'awesome' (literally) features of our Planet, which conspire to produce its finely-tuned, life-enabling environment. This is the first in a series of 'resource appreciation' papers. We protect what we value: these papers aim to encourage readers to value Nature's resources, and therefore protect them. The sequel paper is 'Ode to H2O' (Buchan, 1996), which reverences the wonder properties of the first pillar of life - water

Ode to H2O

Water is the wonder substance: no other has such a wide range of 'talents' (i.e. exceptional properties). As a liquid, it is 'Nature's fluid' - the solvent and support medium for life. In all three phases (ice, liquid and vapour) it is the main controller of Earth's climate, and (elusively!) is the greatest source of uncertainties in predicting future climate change. Yet sadly, freshwater degradation is among our top few environmental threats (Gleick, 1993). This article is one of a 'resource appreciation' series. It describes the 'wonder' properties of water, showing that Nature had only one choice for Nature's fluid, and encourages conservation. It is a natural sequel to a first paper, 'Ode to Planet Earth' (Buchan 1994), which describes the special, life-enabling features of spaceship Earth, the Sun's only watery planet

Ode to soil

Water and soil are the "twin pillars" supporting life on the land. Buchan (1996) reviewed the many "talents" (wonder properties) of water. This paper reviews: a) the remarkable talents and natural functions of soil - a much more complex (indeed messy!) material; and b) our many uses of soil materials, in agriculture, industry, construction, the environment, and in sport and recreation. Soil is the sustainer of life – our provider and protector. It is the origin of our body minerals (including bones). It is a remarkable store-and-release mechanism for water and nutrients. It is Nature's "recycling yard": its teeming life forms close the cycle of life by converting dead plant and animal matter into nutrients for inheritor generations. Thus it is the "living mantle" on the landscape, feeding plants, crops and forests. Further, it makes planet Earth life-friendly by moderating climate; it is a rich source of raw materials; and it supports our sports and recreation. Soil is the second most complex system on the planet – after the human body. Nothing matches it for the huge diversity of its components, and for the point-to-point variability in its properties. Sadly, soil degradation is a major global problem. Improving respect for soil and water is critical for sustainable civilisation on planet Earth

Modelling TDR response in heterogeneous composite materials

The use of Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) techniques for measuring the moisture content of composite materials is a mature art, but it usually makes assumptions about the homogeneity of the material, since the response of a parallel transmission line to transverse dielectric variation is non-linear. Further, because the electric field distribution depends on the moisture distribution within the material, an analytic solution to the sensitivity distribution in the transverse plane is impracticable, so numerical solutions are required. We describe an integral equation approach to model the response of the TDR system to a heterogeneous dielectric body. Then, in conjunction with a suitable dielectric model of the composite material, the TDR response to moisture content distribution may be quantified

Improved models of particle-size distribution: an illustration of model comparison techniques

We investigated a relatively unexplored area of soil science: the fitting of parameterized models to particle-size distribution (a subject more thoroughly explored in sedimentology). Comparative fitting of different models requires the use of statistical indices enabling rational selection of an optimum model, i.e., a model that balances the improvement in fit often achieved by increasing the number of parameters, p, against model simplicity retained by minimizing p. Five models were tested on cumulative mass-size data for 71 texturally diverse New Zealand soils: a one-parameter (p = 1) Jaky model borrowed from geotechnics; the standard lognormal model (p = 2); two modified lognormal models (each with p = 3); and the bimodal lognormal model (p = 3). The Jaky and modified lognormal models have not previously been introduced into the soil science literature. Three statistical comparators were used: the coefficient of determination, R²; the F statistic; and the Cp statistic of Mallows. The bimodal model and one modified lognormal model (denoted ORL) best fit the data. The bimodal model gave a marginally better fit, but incorporates a sub-clay mode (untestable with the present data), so we adopted the ORL model as the physically best benchmark for comparison of other models. The simple Jaky one-parameter model gave a good fit to data for many of the soils, better than the standard lognormal model for 23 soils. The model comparison methods described have potential utility in other areas of soil science. The Cp statistic is advocated as the best statistic for model selection

TDR modeling for near-surface moisture profile measurement

Conventional time domain reflectometry (TDR) for measurement of water content typically uses a parallel waveguide buried in the material under test, and provides a measure of the mean permittivity and hence water content of a volume surrounding the waveguide. Here we describe an alternative arrangement whereby the waveguide is positioned outside the material. With the altered arrangement, the mean near-surface water content may be deduced using a modeling technique. However, by making measurements at several different positions of the waveguide relative to the material, we show that combining forward modeling with an inversion technique enables the near-surface water content profile to be determined. Using laboratory measurements, we demonstrate that for a coarse-grained soil, an accuracy of 2% volumetric water content is feasible when using an accurate time domain reflectometer, a selfcalibration technique and the Topp equation for translation of real permittivity to soil water content. We then outline two improvements on the modeling and inversion techniques. The first is a simplification of the forward problem that reduces the size of the field matrix and the number of unknown variables. We then describe how combining the simplification with alternative approaches to the inverse calculation can yield improvements in calculation time

Enhanced integral equation modelling for moisture sensors

Integral equation (IE) methods are viable for modelling the interaction between microwave signals and porous materials for measurement of moisture content. Practitioners of IE methods frequently use delta basis functions to represent the field in each cell, but the inherent approximations limit accuracy. Although higher order basis functions provide one alternative, here we retain the geometric and cell density advantages delta functions, but address accuracy by correcting for the field integration errors of the conventional moment method. Our approach circumvents the errors that arise when assuming that the field of a cell is adequately represented by a source at its centre, and has resulted in close agreement between empirical results and the model. The new technique retains the rapid calculation and suitability for use in dielectric tomography and for modelling the spatial response of moisture sensors