Individual Carbon Footprint Reduction: Evidence from Pro-environmental Users of a Carbon Calculator

We provide the first estimates of how pro-environmental consumers reduce their total carbon footprint using a carbon calculator that covers all financial transactions. We use data from Swedish users of a carbon calculator that includes weekly estimates of users’ consumption-based carbon-equivalent emissions based on detailed financial statements, official registers, and self-reported lifestyle factors. The calculator is designed to induce behavioral change and gives users detailed information about their footprint. By using a robust difference-in-differences analysis with staggered adoption of the calculator, we estimate that users decrease their carbon footprint by around 10% in the first few weeks, but over the next few weeks, the reduction fades. Further analysis suggests that the carbon footprint reduction is driven by a combination of a shift from high- to low-emitting consumption categories and a temporary decrease in overall spending, and not by changes in any specific consumption category

Three Li-rich K giants: IRAS 12327-6523, IRAS 13539-4153, and IRAS 17596-3952

We report on spectroscopic analyses of three K giants previously suggested to be Li-rich: IRAS 12327-6523, IRAS 13539-4153, and IRAS 17596-3952. High-resolution optical spectra and the LTE model atmospheres are used to derive the stellar parameters: ($T_{\rm eff}$, log $g$, [Fe/H]), elemental abundances, and the isotopic ratio $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C. IRAS 13539-4153 shows an extremely high Li abundance of $\log\epsilon$(Li) $\approx$ 4.2, a value ten times more than the present Li abundance in the local interstellar medium. This is the third highest Li abundance yet reported for a K giant. IRAS 12327-6523 shows a Li abundances of $\log\epsilon$(Li)$\approx$ 1.4. IRAS 17596-3952 is a rapidly rotating ($V{\sin i}$ $\approx$ 35 km s$^{-1}$) K giant with $\log\epsilon$(Li) $\approx$ 2.2. Infrared photometry which shows the presence of an IR excess suggesting mass-loss. A comparison is made between these three stars and previously recognized Li-rich giants.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, accepted for A

Making sense of the Master Data Management (MDM) concept: Old wine in new bottles or new wine in old bottles?

This paper presents an insight into the emerging concept of Master Data Management (MDM) and highlights issues that both academics and business managers should consider to better understand the meaning of this ‘hot topic’. This critical reflection paper is forward looking and attempts to make sense of the MDM concept and highlight the issues associated with implementation. We argue that both the Data Warehousing and ERP concepts are the forerunners to the emergence of MDM. We argue that MDM is effectively Data Warehousing branded with ERP market rhetoric and contains an added repository of ‘master data’. We see MDM as another attempt at data integration due to the failure of previous Data Warehousing, ERP and ERPII/BI initiatives. Finally, we argue that more research should be conducted to fully appreciate the true meaning of the concept of MDM and MDM implementation

Extra dimensions in all aspects of life—the meaning of life with bipolar disorder

Living with Bipolar Disorder (BD) greatly affects the whole life; still the meaning of it is poorly explored from the perspective of the individuals actually living with it. The aim of this study is thus to explore the existential meaning of life with BD. Ten persons, six women and four men, (aged 30–61), diagnosed with BD were interviewed. A reflective lifeworld perspective based on phenomenological philosophy was used. The findings show that living with BD entails experiencing extra dimensions in all aspects of life, expressed in terms of a magnitude and complexity beyond that which is perceived as pertaining to normal life. The essential meaning of the phenomenon is further described by its constituents: “a specific intensity”, “a struggle to understand”, “an illness that is intertwined with one's whole being”. Living with BD means more for the individual than having episodes of depression and mania and must therefore be understood from a holistic perspective. Adequate care for persons with BD, therefore, includes places for safe and profound reflecting about existential issues, such as identity, trust and self-confidence. The present study recommends the caring services to change their ways to explain and talk about the BD illness

Comparative Population Genetics of Two Invading Ticks: Evidence of the Ecological Mechanisms Underlying Tick Range Expansions

Two species of ixodid tick, Ixodes affinis Neumann and Amblyomma maculatum Koch, are simultaneously expanding their ranges throughout the mid-Atlantic region of the US. Although we have some understanding of the ecology and life history of these species, the ecological mechanisms governing where and how new populations establish and persist are unclear. To assess population connectivity and ancestry, we sequenced a fragment of the 16S mitochondrial rRNA gene from a representative sample of individuals of both species from populations throughout the eastern US. We found that despite overlapping host preferences throughout ontogeny, each species exhibited very different genetic and geographic patterns of population establishment and connectivity. I. affinis was of two distinct mitochondrial clades, with a clear geographic break separating northern and southern populations. Both I. affinis populations showed evidence of recent expansion, although the southern population was more genetically diverse, indicating a longer history of establishment. A. maculatum exhibited diverse haplotypes that showed no significant relationship with geographic patterns and little apparent connectivity between sites. Heteroplasmy was also observed in the 16S mitochondrial rRNA gene in 3.5% of A. maculatum individuals. Genetic evidence suggests that these species rely on different key life stages to successfully disperse into novel environments, and that host vagility, habitat stability and habitat connectivity all play critical roles in the establishment of new tick populations

Database queries and constraints via lifting problems

Previous work has demonstrated that categories are useful and expressive models for databases. In the present paper we build on that model, showing that certain queries and constraints correspond to lifting problems, as found in modern approaches to algebraic topology. In our formulation, each so-called SPARQL graph pattern query corresponds to a category-theoretic lifting problem, whereby the set of solutions to the query is precisely the set of lifts. We interpret constraints within the same formalism and then investigate some basic properties of queries and constraints. In particular, to any database $\pi$ we can associate a certain derived database \Qry(\pi) of queries on $\pi$. As an application, we explain how giving users access to certain parts of \Qry(\pi), rather than direct access to $\pi$, improves ones ability to manage the impact of schema evolution

Oil Crop Platforms for Industrial uses : Outputs from the EPOBIO project

EPOBIO is an international project to realise the economic potential of plant-derived raw materials by designing new generations of bio-based products that will reach the marketplace 10-15 years from now. This report addresses the establishment of industrial crop platforms for oil

До проблеми міжетнічних контактів сарматських племен Північного Причорномор’я перших століть нашої ери (за матеріалами ліпної кераміки)

(uk) Стаття присвячена дослідженню проблем трансформації сарматського ліпного керамічного комплексу як вияву міжетнічної взаємодії племен Північного Причорномор’я І – ІV ст. н.е.(en) The article investigates the problems of transformation of Sarmatian ceramic plastic complex as a manifestation of interethnic interaction of the tribes of Northern Prychornomorya in the I – IV centuries A.D

Study on the state of play of energy efficiency of heat and electricity production technologies

This report provides an overview of the current state of the art of the technologies used in EU for power and heat generation as well as combined heat and power generation (cogeneration or CHP). The technologies are categorised per fuel but also in terms of technology selection. The fuels considered are the ones reported in the Strategic European Energy Review report on Energy Sources, Production Costs and Performance of Technologies for Power Generation, Heating and Transport (SEC(2008) 2872).JRC.F.6-Energy systems evaluatio