Split families unified

We present a simple supersymmetric model of split families consistent with flavor limits that preserves the successful prediction of gauge coupling unification and naturally accounts for the Higgs mass. The model provides an intricate connection between the Standard Model flavor hierarchy, supersymmetric flavor problem, unification and the Higgs mass. In particular unification favors a naturally large Higgs mass from D-term corrections to the quartic couplings in the Higgs potential. The unification scale is lowered with a stable proton that can account for the success of b-tau Yukawa coupling unification. The sparticle spectrum is similar to that of natural supersymmetry, as motivated by the supersymmetric flavor problem and recent LHC bounds, with a heavy scalar particle spectrum except for a moderately light stop required for viable electroweak symmetry breaking. Finally, Higgs production and decays, NLSP decays, and new states associated with extending the Standard Model gauge group above the TeV scale provide signatures for experimental searches at the LHC.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure

Intelligence Management and the security stovepipe in Northern Ireland, 1968-1974’

Right from the beginning of the Northern Ireland Troubles, two different strands of British intelligence were developed in Northern Ireland that failed to effectively cooperate or coordinate their efforts with each other. Though the JIC, the Office of the UK Representative and later the Northern Ireland Office were all aware of (and opposed) the lack of singular control over intelligence in the province, they were unable for much of the 1970s to wrest control of security intelligence from the hands of the Army and Special Branch. This problem, which emerged as a result of both the developing nature of the deployment in the early 1970s and from the fear of alienating RUC Special Branch meant that a Security-Forces-controlled intelligence ‘stovepipe’ emerged that exclusively served the purpose of enforcing law and order rather than aiding in the UK government’s wider political strategies. Records from the National Archives show that at times this stovepipe operated without reference (and at times in opposition) to the political initiatives also being tried by the UK government in the province

An environmental-psychological study of sustainable housing: a transactional approach.

The main aim of this thesis is to utilise the transactional approach from environmental psychology for the study of sustainable housing. The interdisciplinary field of environmental psychology has recognised for some time the importance of considering human behaviour not only in terms of personal psychological processes, but also in terms of the broader social and physical context in which behaviour occurs. This need to consider phenomena at different levels of analysis sits comfortably with the transactional-contextual approach described within environmental psychology. However, although the transactional approach is often affirmed by environmental psychologists, many studies do not in fact fully conceptualise human behaviour in the physical and social context. The phenomenon investigated by this thesis is 'sustainable housing'. As such, the phenomenon of 'sustainable housing' is first conceptualized within this thesis using person-in-environment as the unit of analysis, with the main focus being the relationship between individual environmental preferences and sustainable housing design. The first aim of the thesis was to outline a theoretical framework for conceptualising the person-in-environment relationship with respect to sustainable housing. This was done by building up a conceptual model from the literature in such a way that the 'transactional whole' is elaborated in much more detail than would normally be the case for a closely defined study of environmental attitudes or aesthetic preference. The individual component of the model is built around the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which is expanded to include environmental perception and preference. The conceptual framework is then explored and developed using case studies that illustrate the importance of considering the individual, the socio-cultural context, and the environmental aspects of sustainable housing together. The first case study (N=74) looked at the psychological aspects of sustainable water and wastewater management within the domestic context. The findings suggest that greywater and rainwater systems are by and large fairly acceptable as a concept to the general public, although there are several concerns regarding the safety of such systems. There were more concerns raised about the idea of compost toilets, concentrating particularly on issues of odour and hygiene, with many people not believing that such toilets would be hygienic or odour-free. The second case study (N=844) examined the effect of building materials on environmental perception and behavioural intention. The results clearly demonstrate that the material used as cladding for house façades significantly influence people's attitudes and preferences towards particular houses. The findings of this study begin to show a link between environmental preference and behavioural intention. Subjective commentary clearly demonstrates that associative meanings are inferred from cladding materials. Following on from the second study, the third case study (N=108) examined the change in inferred meaning associated with a change in cladding material. Participants in this study were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. Two factors were varied between the experimental conditions: the exterior façade material (timber or render), and the description ('standard' or 'sustainable'). Attitudes were found to be a significant predictor of behavioural intention for the survey where the house was described as sustainable. Interestingly, there were differences within the 'sustainable description' surveys which were related to the cladding material, with subjective norms being more strongly associated with behavioural intention when render was the cladding material. Therefore, environmental meaning is considered to be a moderating variable in the theory of planned behaviour. When the house was described as 'standard', environmental preference turned out to be a much better predictor of behavioural intention than any of the three TPB components. The final chapter discusses the major findings from the three case studies in relation to the conceptual model built up from the literature. The empirical data was found to provide considerable validating support for the conceptual model, and two refinements were made to the model following the three case studies. Suggestions are also made concerning ways in which the approach outlined can be taken forward, both within the academic domain of environmental psychology, and also into other areas, such as sustainable housing

An approach for assessing clustering of households by electricity usage

How a household varies their regular usage of electricity is useful information for organisations to allow accurate targeting of behaviour modification initiatives with the aim of improving the overall efficiency of the electricity network. The variability of regular activities in a household is one possible indication of that household’s willingness to accept incentives to change their behaviour. An approach is presented for identifying a way of representing the variability of a household’s behaviour and developing an efficient way of clustering the households, using these measures of variability, into a few, usable groupings. To evaluate the effectiveness of the variability measures, a number of cluster validity indexes are explored with regard to how the indexes vary with the number of clusters, the number of attributes, and the quality of the attributes. The Cluster Dispersion Indicator (CDI) and the Davies-Boulden Indicator(DBI) are selected for future work developing various indicators of household behaviour variability. The approach is tested using data from 180 UK households monitored for over a year at a sampling interval of 5 minutes.Data is taken from the evening peak electricity usage period of 4pm to 8pm

Combining diverse data sources for CEDSS, an agent-based model of domestic energy demand

CEDSS (Community Energy Demand Social Simulator) is an empirical agent-based model designed and built as part of a multi-method social science project investigating the determinants of domestic energy demand. Ideally, empirical modellers, within and beyond social simulation, would prefer to work from an integrated dataset, gatheredfor the purposes of developing the model. In practice, many have to work with less than ideal data, often including processed data from multiple sources external to the project. Moreover, what data will be required may not be clear at the start of the project. This paper describes the approach to dealing with these factors taken in developing CEDSS, and presents the completed model together with an outline of the calibration and validation procedure used. The discussion section draws together the most distinctive features of empirical data collection, processing and use for and in CEDSS, and argues that the approach taken is sufficiently robust to underpin the model’s purpose – to generate scenarios of domestic energy demand to 2049

Adaptive Water Law

This is the published version