Contemporaneous Monitoring of the Whole Dynamic Earth System from Space, Part I: System Simulation Study Using GEO and Molniya Orbits

Despite the wealth of data produced by previous and current Earth Observation platforms feeding climate models, weather forecasts, disaster monitoring services and countless other applications, the public still lacks the ability to access a live, true colour, global view of our planet, and nudge them towards a realisation of its fragility. The ideas behind commercialization of Earth photography from space has long been dominated by the analytical value of the imagery. What specific knowledge and actionable intelligence can be garnered from these evermore frequent revisits of the planet’s surface? How can I find a market for this analysis? However, what is rarely considered is what is the educational value of the imagery? As students and children become more aware of our several decades of advance in viewing our current planetary state, we should find mechanisms which serve their curiosity, helping to satisfy our children’s simple quest to explore and learn more about what they are seeing. The following study describes the reasons why current GEO and LEO observation platforms are inadequate to provide truly global RGB coverage on an update time-scale of 5-min and proposes an alternative, low-cost, GEO + Molniya 3U CubeSat constellation to perform such an application

Happiness as stable extraversion : internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire among undergraduate students

The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) was developed by Hills and Argyle (2002) to provide a more accessible equivalent measure of the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI). The aim of the present study was to examine the internal consistency reliability, and construct validity of this new instrument alongside the Eysenckian dimensional model of personality. The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire was completed by a sample of 131 undergraduate students together with the abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data demonstrated good internal consistency reliability (alpha = .92) and good construct validity in terms of positive association with extraversion (r = .38 p < .001) and negative association with neuroticism (r = −.57 p < .001). The kind of happiness measured by the OHQ is clearly associated with stable extraversion

How to Undertake a Clinically Relevant Systematic Review in a Rapidly Evolving Field: Magnetic Resonance Angiography

Objectives: The aim was to determine which generations of the evolving technology of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) are currently of clinical relevance in two clinical applications. Our purpose was to plan a systematic review that would be valuable both to purchasers driven by cost-effectiveness and to practicing clinicians. Methods: Information was gathered from a search of major bibliographic databases, from a short questionnaire sent to 500 U.K. vascular radiologists and vascular surgeons, and from local clinical The authors thank A. Jackson and all those who completed a questionnaire. This work was carried out with the financial support of the Secretary of State for Health under the NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme, project 97/13/04. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Secretary of State for Health. In part, this work was undertaken by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which received funding from the NHS Executive. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS Executive.experts. We asked which of the MRA techniques were currently used and, assuming availability, what would be their technique of choice. Results: There were 206 published articles that satisfied preliminary inclusion criteria: 69 discussed 2D time of flight (TOF); 47, 3D TOF; and 38, contrast-enhanced techniques. There were 162 questionnaires returned (60 radiologists, 102 surgeons). Of the total respondents, 77/162 (48%) used MRA in the assessment of carotid artery stenosis; 47/77 (61%) used 2D TOF; 32/77 (42%), 3D TOF; and 26/77 (34%), contrast-enhanced techniques. Thirty-five of 162 (22%) respondents used MRA in the assessment of peripheral vascular disease (PVD); 15/35 (43%) used 2D TOF, 4/35 (11%) used 3D TOF, and 22/35 (63%) used contrast-enhanced techniques. For those wishing to use MRA, contrast-enhanced techniques were the method of choice. Conclusions: The TOF methods that represent earlier generations of the technology remain clinically relevant, and will therefore be included in our systematic review. To ensure complete and relevant coverage in reviews of other evolving technologies, it would be advisable to obtain data for guidance in a similar way

Use of magnetic resonance angiography to select candidates with recently symptomatic carotid stenosis for surgery: systematic review

Objective To determine if sufficient evidence exists to support the use of magnetic resonance angiography as a means of selecting patients with recently symptomatic high grade carotid stenosis for surgery. Design Systematic review of published research on the diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance angiography, 1990-9. Main outcome measures Performance characteristics of diagnostic test. Results 126 potentially relevant articles were identified, but many articles failed to examine die performance of magnetic resonance angiography as a diagnostic test at the surgical decision thresholds used in major clinical trials on endarterectomy. 26 articles were included in a meta-analysis that showed a maximal joint sensitivity and specificity of 99% (95% confidence interval 98% to 100%) for identifying 70-99% stenosis and 90% (81% to 99%) for identifying 50-99% stenosis. Only four articles evaluated contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography. Conclusions Magnetic resonance angiography is accurate for selecting patients for carotid endarterectomy at the surgical decision thresholds established in the major endarterectomy trials, but the evidence is not very robust because of the heterogeneity of the studies included. Research is to determine the diagnostic performance of the most recent developments in magnetic resonance angiography, including contrast enhanced techniques, as well as to assess the impact of magnetic resonance angiography on surgical decision making and outcomes

Private Financing or Not, That is the Question: Lessons from the Light Rail Systems in Spain

The objective of this paper is to analyze if there is any difference between the light rail systems in Spain according to whether they have been carried out through public financing or private financing (totally or partially). The importance of this study lies in the fact that, for decades, the public–private partnership has been proposed as an alternative to public financing of public transport projects in order to obtain additional financial resources, reduce the public deficit, and increase efficiency. However, there are hardly any detailed studies describing how these initiatives have turned out. Therefore, the present study analyzes if there is any difference in the main variables explaining the performance of light rail projects in Spain depending on their source of funding can be found. For this, the relationship between variables related to design, operation and costs of the projects, and the percentage of private financing were statistically analyzed. As the most relevant conclusion, we underline the fact that the investment per passenger increases when financing is completely private. This would indicate that the most cost-effective lines, from a social standpoint, were financed totally or partially by the public administrations, whereas the least beneficial ones for society were assigned to private enterprises. This finding provides an advance in the knowledge of the consequences of private participation in the financing of public transport projects, indicating, moreover, that the biggest beneficiaries of this type of projects might be the construction companies and the politicians involvedThe authors would like to thank the ERDF of European Union for financial support via project ‘‘Herramienta para la evaluacio´n previa de infraestructuras de transporte pu´blico’’ (GGI3003IDIE). We also thank to Public Works Agency and Regional Ministry of Public Works and Housing of the Regional Government of Andalusia (AOPJA) and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of the Government of Spain

Strategic green infrastructure planning in Germany and the UK: a transnational evaluation of the evolution of urban greening policy and practice

The evolution of Green Infrastructure (GI) planning has varied dramatically between nations. Although a grounded set of principles are recognized globally, there is increasing variance in how these are implemented at a national and sub-national level. To investigate this the following paper presents an evaluation of how green infrastructure has been planned for in England and Germany illustrating how national policy structures facilitate variance in application. Adopting an evaluative framework linked to the identification of GI, its development and monitoring/ feedback the paper questions the impacts on delivery of intersecting factors including terminology, spatial distribution and functionality on effective GI investment. This process reviews how changing policy structures have influenced the framing of green infrastructure policy, and subsequent impact this has on the delivery of green infrastructure projects

Continuity and change in the institution of town and country planning: modelling the role of ideology

The institution of town and country planning rests upon ideas and concepts which will always be contested. Such concepts include ‘liberty’, ‘community’, ‘society’ and ‘the state’. It is a function of political ideology to seek to fix the meanings of contested concepts and thus exert control over political reality. By analysing the particular conceptual structure of the ideologies which seek to influence planning from positions of political power, the analyst can show how these ideologies are related to shifts in the conceptual and institutional structure of planning. The paper illustrates this analytical method in the context of the transition from the ideology of New Labour to the ideology of the Conservative-led Coalition government in England after 2010

Change in the political economy of land value capture in England

Variations in the character, performance and impact of policies and practices to capture land value for the community are usually examined by analysing experience in different countries. Such international comparative research is cross-sectional and does not cover the evolving relations between systems of land value capture and the economies, polities and societies within which they are set. This paper examines the relations in England between the extant political economy and supporting ideologies, and the distinctive forms of land value capture that they produced. It traces the shift from a top-down, strategic approach in an era of corporatist government before 1979 to the subsequent extension and consolidation of bottom-up practice set within the context of neo-liberalism. The analysis highlights the evolution of the idea of land value capture and the policies and practices associated with it, especially the contestation that informed such changes