Establishing the requirements to support improved adoption of alternate technologies for the long-haul road freight decarbonisation

The UK has a target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, which will require the decarbonisation of road transport. However, in the long-haul road freight segment, the optimal pathway to achieving net-zero is uncertain. This review paper explores and evaluates existing approaches to building decarbonisation pathways for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). The search and review methodology, utilising the frameworks SALSA, PRISMA, and PESTEL, found gaps in three main aspects of pathway building. While a number of the studies considered vehicle or energy systems, a few took a broader system-level view. The parameters used for measuring the utility of the alternate technology required to achieve net-zero were not comprehensive. Further, the pathways lacked a socio-technical approach. The findings from the research have been used to provide insights and a conceptual framework that can be used for building a comprehensive model for improving technology adoption for the HGV decarbonisation pathway

When public policy ‘fails’ and venture capital ‘saves’ education:Edtech investors as economic and political actors

Educational technology (Edtech) investors have become increasingly influential in education; however, they remain under-researched. We address this deficit and introduce the grammar and landscape of Edtech investment into education research. We empirically examine venture capital Edtech investors and argue that they are economic and political actors. Investors construct the Edtech industry through their investment and advancing particular imaginaries. They legitimate their authority in education through narratives of expertise and measures of social impact. They consolidate the Edtech industry by constructing social networks to perform the political work of futuring. The analysis provides original insights into the power of Edtech investors in education and proposes a research agenda examining new relations between the education, technology, and finance industries

How to strategically position European SMEs as part of an electric vehicle technology value chain

European policy aims for a clean transport sector for improving the competitiveness of the automotive industry. By supporting small and medium enterprise (SME) development, European Union (EU) can achieve both economic growth and emission reduction targets. It is expected that there will be changes in the established relationships within the automotive supply chain in moving from internal combustion engine (ICE) to electric vehicles (EVs), and SMEs that are more capable of developing those technologies might have a role in the possible EV based automotive value chain re-shaping. The "European Network on Electric Vehicles and Transferring Expertise" (ENEVATE) partnership conducted a series of interviews with SMEs throughout North-West Europe to investigate support areas that SMEs need to have to play a role in this possible EV based automotive value chain re-shaping. It was found that SMEs needed more support for protecting technology, establishing relationships and funding investments

Equatorial Pacific gravity lineaments: interpretations with basement topography along seismic reflection lines

The central equatorial Pacific is interesting for studying clues to upper mantle processes, as the region lacks complicating effects of continental remnants or major volcanic plateaus. In particular, the most recently produced maps of the free-air gravity field from satellite altimetry show in greater detail the previously reported lineaments west of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) that are aligned with plate motion over the mantle and originally suggested to have formed from mantle convection rolls. In contrast, the gravity field 600 km or farther west of the EPR reveals lineaments with varied orientations. Some are also parallel with plate motion over the mantle but others are sub-parallel with fracture zones or have other orientations. This region is covered by pelagic sediments reaching ~ 500–600 m thickness so bathymetry is not so useful for seeking evidence for plate deformation across the lineaments. We instead use depth to basement from three seismic reflection cruises. In some segments of these seismic data crossing the lineaments, we find that the co-variation between gravity and basement depth is roughly compatible with typical densities of basement rocks (basalt, gabbro or mantle), as expected for some explanations for the lineaments (e.g., mantle convection rolls, viscous asthenospheric inter-fingering or extensional deformation). However, some other lineaments are associated with major changes in basement depth with only subtle changes in the gravity field, suggesting topography that is locally supported by varied crustal thickness. Overall, the multiple gravity lineament orientations suggest that they have multiple origins. In particular, we propose that a further asthenospheric inter-fingering instability mechanism could occur from pressure variations in the asthenosphere arising from regional topography and such a mechanism may explain some obliquely oriented gravity lineaments that have no other obvious origin

Linkage of atmospheric blocks and synoptic-scale Rossby waves: a climatological analysis

The link between atmospheric blocking and propagating and breaking synoptic-scale Rossby waves (termed PV streamers) are explored for the climatological period 1958–2002, using the ERA-40 re-analysis data. To this end, potential vorticity (PV) based climatologies of blocking and breaking waves are used, and features of the propagating waves is extracted from Hovm¨oller diagrams. The analyses cover the Northern Hemisphere during winter, and they are carried out for the Atlantic and Pacific basins separately. The results show statistically significant wave precursor signals, up to 5 d prior to the blocking onset. In the Atlantic, the precursor signal takes the form of a coherent wave train, emanating approximately 110◦ upstream of the blocking location. In the Pacific, a single long-lived (10 d) northerly velocity signal preludes the blocking onset. A spatial analysis is conducted of the location, frequency and form of breaking synoptic-scale Rossby waves, prior to the onset, during the lifetime and after the blocking decay. It reveals that cyclonic streamers are present to the southwest and anticyclonic streamers to the south and southeast, approximately 43% (36%) of the time in the Atlantic (Pacific) basin, and this is significantly above a climatological distribution.ISSN:0280-6495ISSN:1600-087

Research shapes policy: but the dynamics are subtle

Major policy initiatives such as the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) in the national contract for UK general practitioners might variably be informed by evidence at their inception, implementation and subsequent evolution. But what evidence gets admitted into these policy debates—and what is left out? Using QOF as an example, this article demonstrates what an analysis of the relationship between policy and the associated research can tell us about the underlying policy assumptions and about the role of evidence in policy debates

BRain health and healthy AgeINg in retired rugby union players, the BRAIN Study: study protocol for an observational study in the UK.

INTRODUCTION: Relatively little is known about the long-term health of former elite rugby players, or former sportspeople more generally. As well as the potential benefits of being former elite sportspersons, there may be potential health risks from exposures occurring during an individual's playing career, as well as following retirement. Each contact sport has vastly different playing dynamics, therefore exposing its players to different types of potential traumas. Current evidence suggests that these are not necessarily comparable in terms of pathophysiology, and their potential long-term adverse effects might also differ. There is currently limited but increasing evidence that poorer age-related and neurological health exists among former professional sportsmen exposed to repetitive concussions; however the evidence is limited on rugby union players, specifically. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We present the protocol for a cross-sectional study to assess the association between self-reported history of concussion during a playing career, and subsequent measures of healthy ageing and neurological and cognitive impairment. We are recruiting a sample of approximately 200 retired rugby players (former Oxford and Cambridge University rugby players and members of the England Rugby International Club) aged 50 years or more, and collecting a number of general and neurological health-related outcome measures though validated assessments. Biomarkers of neurodegeneration (neurofilaments and tau) will be also be measured. Although the study is focusing on rugby union players specifically, the general study design and the methods for assessing neurological health are likely to be relevant to other studies of former elite sportspersons. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the Ethical Committee of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (reference: 11634-2). It is intended that results of this study will be published in peer-reviewed medical journals, communicated to participants, the general public and all relevant stakeholders

A census of atmospheric variability from seconds to decades

This paper synthesizes and summarizes atmospheric variability on time scales from seconds to decades through a phenomenological census. We focus mainly on unforced variability in the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere. In addition to atmosphere-only modes, our scope also includes coupled modes, in which the atmosphere interacts with the other components of the Earth system, such as the ocean, hydrosphere, and cryosphere. The topics covered include turbulence on time scales of seconds and minutes, gravity waves on time scales of hours, weather systems on time scales of days, atmospheric blocking on time scales of weeks, the Madden–Julian Oscillation on time scales of months, the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation and El Niño–Southern Oscillation on time scales of years, and the North Atlantic, Arctic, Antarctic, Pacific Decadal, and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillations on time scales of decades. The paper serves as an introduction to a special collection of Geophysical Research Letters on atmospheric variability. We hope that both this paper and the collection will serve as a useful resource for the atmospheric science community and will act as inspiration for setting future research directions