Urban Structure and Energy -- A Review

The nature and form of the urban environment is a critical determinant of the sustainability of our society, as it is responsible directly for a large proportion of consumed energy, and influences indirectly the patterns and modes of energy consumed in everyday activities. We examine the current state of research into the energy and greenhouse gas emissions attributable directly or indirectly to urban form. Specifically, we look at the embodied (construction) and operational energy attributable to the construction, maintenance and use of residential dwellings, and we review the literature on the relationship between urban structure and private travel behaviour. While there is clear evidence from both intra- and inter-city comparisons that higher density, transit-oriented cities have lower per-capita transport energy use, the effect of housing density on residential (in-house) energy use is less clear. More detailed research is needed to examine the relationships between urban form and overall energy use

The Redfern-Waterloo Authority: Sydney's Continuing Use of Development Corporations as a Primary Mode of Urban Governance

The paper analyses the forces that have led to the NSW government s creation of another urban development corporation in Sydney, the Redfern-Waterloo Authority. It firstly examines the concept of New State Spaces as a primary mode of urban governance in the post-Fordist era, involving the application of neo-liberalism to major urban projects using public-private partnerships. The paper then reviews the use of urban development corporations by the NSW government since the 1960s as a potential exemplar of new state spaces, and suggests reasons for the frequent adoption of such corporations as a governance mechanism for urban development and redevelopment in Sydney. The local conditions in inner city Redfern-Waterloo that have prompted the creation of the Authority are then examined. After outlining the powers and roles of the Authority, the paper analyses the specific political and institutional contexts that drove the decision to create the Authority at the end of 2004. The extent to which the Authority illustrates the new state spaces thesis is analysed. Finally, possible reasons for the unabated use of urban development corporations by the NSW government in relation to their lessening use in other areas such as the UK are put forward

Magmatic, Metamorphic and Structural History of the Variscan Lizard Ophiolite and Metamorphic Sole, Cornwall, UK

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordData availability statement: The field data, electron-microprobe analysis data, the CA-ID-TIMS and laser ablation U-Pb data and XRF data used for structural analysis, geochronology, geochemistry and thermobarometry in the study are currently being archived at Oxford Research Archive for Data (ORA-Data). It can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.5287/bodleian:0zwDDM7QmThe Lizard ophiolite, Cornwall, South-West England, is the largest and best-preserved ophiolite within the Variscan orogenic belt. It forms part of the Rheic-Rhenohercynian suture zone, and was obducted northwestward onto the passive continental margin of Avalonia (Laurussia) during the Middle Devonian. It comprises an almost complete thrust slice of oceanic crust with sheeted dykes, gabbros, Moho transition sequence, and upper-mantle peridotites, underlain by a metamorphic sole. Despite the importance of the Lizard ophiolite in understanding Variscan tectonics, the origin and age of the Lizard ophiolite are debated. We present new field observations, structural maps and cross-sections of the Lizard ophiolite from extensive re-mapping, integrated with U–Pb geochronology, petrology, thermobarometry, and whole rock geochemistry. We report new U–Pb zircon (CA-ID-TIMS and LA-ICPMS) ages of 386.80 ± 0.25/0.31/0.52 Ma (Givetian) from a plagiogranite dyke intruding the Crousa Gabbros at Porthoustock, and 395.08 ± 0.14/0.22/0.47 Ma (Emsian) from partial melts of the metamorphic sole Landewednack Amphibolites at Mullion Cove. These ages, respectively, precisely date the formation of the Lizard ophiolite oceanic crust, and the age of cooling post peak-metamorphism of the sole. Petrological modeling on the Landewednack Amphibolites suggests peak metamorphic conditions of 10 ± 2 kbar and 600 ± 75°C. We demonstrate that the Lizard ophiolite formed as a supra-subduction zone ophiolite overlying an inverted metamorphic sole, and we combine our observations and data into a new geodynamic model for the formation and obduction of the ophiolite. The current data supports an induced subduction initiation model.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)University of OxfordLeverhulme Trus

Assessing the potential for Bluetongue virus 8 to spread and vaccination strategies in Scotland

Europe has seen frequent outbreaks of Bluetongue (BT) disease since 2006, including an outbreak of BT virus serotype 8 in central France during 2015 that has continued to spread in Europe during 2016. Thus, assessing the potential for BTv-8 spread and determining the optimal deployment of vaccination is critical for contingency planning. We developed a spatially explicit mathematical model of BTv-8 spread in Scotland and explored the sensitivity of transmission to key disease spread parameters for which detailed empirical data is lacking. With parameters at mean values, there is little spread of BTv-8 in Scotland. However, under a “worst case” but still feasible scenario with parameters at the limits of their ranges and temperatures 1 °C warmer than the mean, we find extensive spread with 203,000 sheep infected given virus introduction to the south of Scotland between mid-May and mid-June. Strategically targeted vaccine interventions can greatly reduce BT spread. Specifically, despite BT having most clinical impact in sheep, we show that vaccination can have the greatest impact on reducing BTv infections in sheep when administered to cattle, which has implications for disease control policy

Star forming dwarf galaxies

Star forming dwarf galaxies (SFDGs) have a high gas content and low metallicities, reminiscent of the basic entities in hierarchical galaxy formation scenarios. In the young universe they probably also played a major role in the cosmic reionization. Their abundant presence in the local volume and their youthful character make them ideal objects for detailed studies of the initial stellar mass function (IMF), fundamental star formation processes and its feedback to the interstellar medium. Occasionally we witness SFDGs involved in extreme starbursts, giving rise to strongly elevated production of super star clusters and global superwinds, mechanisms yet to be explored in more detail. SFDGs is the initial state of all dwarf galaxies and the relation to the environment provides us with a key to how different types of dwarf galaxies are emerging. In this review we will put the emphasis on the exotic starburst phase, as it seems less important for present day galaxy evolution but perhaps fundamental in the initial phase of galaxy formation.Comment: To appear in JENAM Symposium "Dwarf Galaxies: Keys to Galaxy Formation and Evolution", P. Papaderos, G. Hensler, S. Recchi (eds.). Lisbon, September 2010, Springer Verlag, in pres

Canalization and developmental stability in the Brachyrrhine mouse

The semi-dominant Br mutation affects presphenoid growth, producing the facial retrognathism and globular neurocranial vault that characterize heterozygotes. We analysed the impact of this mutation on skull shape, comparing heterozygotes to wildtype mice, to determine if the effects are skull-wide or confined to the sphenoid region targeted by the mutation. In addition, we examined patterns of variability of shape for the skull as a whole and for three regions (basicranium, face and neurocranium). We found that the Br mice differed significantly from wildtype mice in skull shape in all three regions as well as in the shape of the skull as a whole. However, the significant increases in variance and fluctuating asymmetry were found only in the basicranium of mutant mice. These results suggest that the mutation has a significant effect on the underlying developmental architecture of the skull, which produces an increase in phenotypic variability that is localized to the anatomical region in which the mean phenotype is most dramatically affected. These results suggest that the same developmental mechanisms that produce the change in phenotypic mean also produce the change in variance.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75710/1/j.1469-7580.2006.00527.x.pd

Reactive community-based self-administered treatment against residual malaria transmission: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Systematic treatment of all individuals living in the same compound of a clinical malaria case may clear asymptomatic infections and possibly reduce malaria transmission, where this is focal. High and sustained coverage is extremely important and requires active community engagement. This study explores a communitybased approach to treating malaria case contacts. Methods/design: This is a cluster-randomized trial to determine whether, in low-transmission areas, treating individuals living in the same compound of a clinical malaria case with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine can reduce parasite carriage and thus residual malaria transmission. Treatment will be administered through the local health system with the approach of encouraging community participation designed and monitored through formative research. The trial goal is to show that this approach can reduce in intervention villages the prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum infection toward the end of the malaria transmission season. Discussion: Adherence and cooperation of the local communities are critical for the success of mass treatment campaigns aimed at reducing malaria transmission. By exploring community perceptions of the changing trends in malaria burden, existing health systems, and reaction to self-administered treatment, this study will develop and adapt a model for community engagement toward malaria elimination that is cost-effective and fits within the existing health system. Trial registration: Clinical trials.gov, NCT02878200. Registered on 25 August 2016

Search for Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Binary Coalescences in the Galactic Halo

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole (PBH) binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$. The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing non-spinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$, we place an observational upper limit on the rate of PBH coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO