Internet-based public debate of CCS: lessons from online focus groups in Poland and Spain

This paper makes three contributions to the developing literature on public opinion and understanding of CCS. The first is a discussion of online focus groups as a deliberative method in experimental and perhaps consultative contexts. The second is the role of anchoring and associative reasoning in the development of public opinion of CCS, illustrated through the coincidental timing of the investigation with the Fukushima nuclear accident. The third is a discussion of managing public-facing energy messaging in an age of public access to online information. Two multi-day, online focus groups or "dialogue boards" were held, one in Poland and one in Spain, with participants drawn from regions with active CCS development potential. The nature of the groups led to participants being subject to wider social influence through discussion of the topic off-line. They were also able to research and present evidence on the topic to the group, deepening debate and allowing the emergence of 'experts'. The study illustrates and affirms the importance of trust in message source, the difficulties of challenging pre-existing concerns and opinion and the challenge potentially posed by access to conflicting online information

CARDIOACCELERATORY EFFECT OF MUSCARINIC BLOCKING-AGENTS IN THE DOG

To test whether the tachycardia in response to atropine after adrenergic blockade is partly due to a central excitatory action, the effects of atropine, methylatropine and methylscopolamine were compared in dogs in neurolept-anesthesia. The latter two agents proved to have effect, similar to atropine. A central action is therefore improbable. It was possible to partly abolish the tachycardia by hexamethonium. The cardioacceleration by atropine, methylatropine and methylscopolamine, so far as it is not caused by muscarinic receptor blockade, can be explained by the unmasking of an underlying acceleratory tone

MECHANISM OF THE DECLINE IN VAGAL CARDIAC ACCELERATION IN DOGS IN NEUROLEPTANESTHESIA

Muscarinic receptor blockade in beta-adrenoceptor blocked dogs in neuroleptanaesthesia reveals a vagally-mediated cardiac acceleration ('inherent VCA'); the heart rate reaches a maximum level within 10 min, then declines spontaneously. Experiments were designed to settle whether the decline in the VCA is due to a decrease in peripheral responsiveness and/or a decrease in central vagal tone. The decline in VCA was assessed in one group of dogs (n = 12) over a period of 170 min, after which ganglionic nicotinic blockade (Exp 1) or vagotomy (Exp 2) was carried out. The maximum 'inherent VCA', defined as the difference between maximum heart rate after muscarinic blockade and the rate after nicotinic blockade or vagotomy, was 68 +/- 10 and 64 +/- 11 bpm, respectively. The VCA declined to 75, 50 and 25% of the maximum levels after 23 +/- 7, 42 +/- 8 and 127 +/- 18 min (Exp 1) or 21 +/- 4, 51 +/- 12 and 113 +/- 20 min (Exp 2). The maximum heart rate in response to electrical vagal stimulation (maximum 'stimulation VCA') was established according to two scenarios in two groups of dogs matched for maximum 'inherent VCA' (n = 7). In the 0-min (Exp 3) and 170-min scenario (Exp 4) vagotomy was carried out 10 and 180 min after the muscarinic blockade. Expressed as percentage of the maximum 'inherent VCA', the maximum 'stimulation VCA' was 116 +/- 7 and 41 +/- 8%, respectively. This implies that the peripheral neuroeffector responsiveness declined by 75% over the given time period. The rate of the spontaneous decline of 'inherent VCA' over the same period was 77% (Exp 4), being not significantly different from the rate of decline of the maximum 'stimulation VCA;. This result excludes a decrease in central vagal tone and indicates that the spontaneous decline in VCA is due to a decrease in response of the peripheral neuroeffector system only