A Conjoint Analysis of Site Selection for the U.S. Broiler Industry: Impications for Louisiana (Bulletin #882)

The purpose of this study is to analyze broiler industry executives’ decisions on where to locate a broiler complex in the United States. The specific objectives are to identify factors affecting site locations of broiler complexes in the United States and to measure the effects and relative importance of these factors on the broiler complex location decision.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/agcenter_bulletins/1013/thumbnail.jp

Predictors of Individual-Level Innovation at Work: A Meta-Analysis

peer-reviewedNumerous narrative reviews related to innovation in work organizations have been published, yet very few quantitative reviews have been conducted. The present meta-analysis investigates the relationships between four predictor types (individual differences, motivation, job characteristics, and contextual influences) and individual-level workplace innovation. Results indicated that individual factors, characteristics of the job, and factors of the environment were moderately associated with phases of the innovation process. Implications for future research opportunities are discussed.ACCEPTEDpeer-reviewe

Monitoring groundwater temperatures in a shallow urban aquifer before, during and after installation of a Ground Source Heat System in Cardiff, U.K.

Exploitation of shallow urban aquifers, warmed by the Urban Heat Island Effect, is a relatively new concept in the U.K. An extensive groundwater temperature baseline monitoring network has been established for a shallow superficial aquifer in the city of Cardiff, U.K., to characterise groundwater temperatures and monitor the impacts of the first open-loop ground source heat pump (GSHP) installed in the city. In Spring 2014, temperature profiling was carried out at 1m depth intervals at 168 groundwater monitoring boreholes across Cardiff, establishing baseline groundwater temperatures within the shallow (<20m) superficial aquifer during the groundwater’s forecast coldest time of year. Data was contoured to form the first U.K. 2D city heat map. During the warmest time of year, Autumn 2014, a subset of boreholes were re-profiled to ascertain seasonal temperature variation, defining the Zone of Seasonal Fluctuation. Re-profiling was again carried out at these boreholes in Autumn 2015 to confirm these temperatures as normal for that time of year. By comparing Spring and Autumn profiles, the average depth to the base of the Zone of Seasonal Fluctuation was found to be 9.5mbgl. Two >100m boreholes showed the urban warming effect may extend to 80mbgl, before temperatures follow the predicted geothermal gradient. We term this the Zone of Anthropogenic Influence. After initial baseline temperatures were established, a site was selected for the installation of a shallow GSHP. Before installation work began, a monitoring network was set up to establish a temperature baseline for future GSHPs and identify any impacts on the thermal resource caused by removing ~2°C from the abstracted groundwater prior to reinjection into the aquifer. This comprised of 97 temperature loggers in 60 boreholes, including the abstraction and recharge boreholes and boreholes up and down gradient of the site. Some of these boreholes have multiple loggers at different depths, including the near-surface, but the majority of loggers were placed within the boreholes’ slotted sections, below the base of the Zone of Seasonal Fluctuation. In addition, six boreholes, including those used for the GSHP, have been telemetered, providing real-time temperature data. The aim of the monitoring network was to establish a baseline for groundwater temperatures in the shallow aquifer and to monitor local changes in temperatures close to the GSHP system. This study aimed to provide understanding of how GSHPs interact with the groundwater in order to confirm the sustainability of groundwater temperatures as a long-term thermal resource and provide planners with knowledge needed to develop sustainable wide-scale GSHP systems/networks. We present temperature data taken before and after installation

Bayesian hierarchical inference of asteroseismic inclination angles

The stellar inclination angle-the angle between the rotation axis of a star and our line of sight-provides valuable information in many different areas, from the characterisation of the geometry of exoplanetary and eclipsing binary systems, to the formation and evolution of those systems. We propose a method based on asteroseismology and a Bayesian hierarchical scheme for extracting the inclination angle of a single star. This hierarchical method therefore provides a means to both accurately and robustly extract inclination angles from red giant stars. We successfully apply this technique to an artificial dataset with an underlying isotropic inclination angle distribution to verify the method. We also apply this technique to 123 red giant stars observed with $\textit{Kepler}$. We also show the need for a selection function to account for possible population-level biases, that are not present in individual star-by-star cases, in order to extend the hierarchical method towards inferring underlying population inclination angle distributions.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

ERS syllabus for postgraduate training in respiratory infections:A guide for comprehensive training

ERS has developed a syllabus for postgraduate training in respiratory infections to guide programme designers http://ow.ly/xJ0R30m8CYB

Establishing an urban geo-observatory to support sustainable development of shallow subsurface heat recovery and storage

Low-enthalpy ground source heating and cooling is recognised as one strategy that can contribute towards reducing reliance on traditional, increasingly insecure, CO2-intense thermal power generation, as well as helping to address fuel poverty. Development of this technology is applicable in urban areas where high housing density often coincides with the presence of shallow aquifers. In urban areas groundwater temperatures can be elevated due to the subsurface Urban Heat Island effect. Uptake and development of this technology is often limited by initial investment costs, however, baseline temperature monitoring and characterisation of urban aquifers, conducted in partnership with local authorities, can provide a greater degree of certainty around resource and sustainability that can facilitate better planning, regulation and management of subsurface heat. We present a novel high-density, city-scale groundwater temperature observatory and introduce a 3D geological model aimed at addressing the needs of developers, planners, regulators and policy makers. The Cardiff Geo-Observatory measures temperature in a Quaternary aged sand and gravel aquifer in 61 boreholes and at a pilot shallow open-loop ground source heating system. We show that repurposing existing infrastructure can provide a cost effective method of developing monitoring networks, and make recommendations on establishing similar geo-observatories

Groundwater heat pump feasibility in shallow urban aquifers: experience from Cardiff, UK

Ground source heat pumps have the potential to decarbonise heating and cooling in many urban areas. The impact of using shallow groundwater from unconsolidated sedimentary aquifers for heating in urban areas is often modelled, but rarely validated from field measurements. This study presents findings from the ‘Cardiff Urban Geo-Observatory’ project. This study focuses on an experimental open loop ground source heat pump scheme retrofitted to a school building. Field monitoring for three years between 2015 and 2018 provided data on the environmental impact of the scheme on aquifer conditions. Average aquifer thermal degradation in the first three years was kept below 2 °C, with a maximum change of 4 °C measured during the heating season. The numerically modelled predictions of thermal degradation around the production and injection wells are compared with long-term field monitoring data, providing new insights into both aquifer, and user, behaviour. The Seasonal Performance Factor (SPFH4) of the pilot installation was 4.5 (W13/W50) in the monitoring period. An initial thermal resource estimation of the wider aquifer volume suggests that lowering the temperature of the aquifer by 8 °C could generate equivalent to 26% of the city's 2020 heating demand, but achievable heat extraction would in reality, be less. The study concludes that large parts of the aquifer can sustain shallow open loop ground source heat pump systems, as long as the local ground conditions support the required groundwater abstraction and re-injection rates. Future schemes can be de-risked and better managed by introduction of a registration of all GSHP schemes, with open sharing of investigation, design and performance monitoring data, and by managing thermal interference between systems using spatial planning tools

Translating and transforming care: people with brain injury and caregivers filling in a disability claim form

This article examines how the Disability Living Allowance claim form, used in the United Kingdom to allocate £13 billion of disability benefits, translates and transforms disability and care. Twenty-two people with acquired brain injury and their main informal caregivers (n = 44) were video-recorded filling in the disability claim form. Participants disagreed on 26% of the questions, revealing two types of problems. Translation problems arose as participants struggled to provide categorical responses to ambiguous questions and were unable to report contextual variability in care needs or divergences of perception. Transformation problems arose as participants resisted the way in which the form positioned them, forcing them to conceptualize their relationship in terms of dependency and burden. The disability claim form co-opts claimants to translate care and disability into bureaucratically predefined categories, and it transforms the care relationship that it purports to document

An Expert Consensus Statement on the Management of Large Chondral and Osteochondral Defects in the Patellofemoral Joint

© The Author(s) 2020. Background: Cartilage lesions of the patellofemoral joint constitute a frequent abnormality. Patellofemoral conditions are challenging to treat because of complex biomechanics and morphology. Purpose: To develop a consensus statement on the functional anatomy, indications, donor graft considerations, surgical treatment, and rehabilitation for the management of large chondral and osteochondral defects in the patellofemoral joint using a modified Delphi technique. Study Design: Consensus statement. Methods: A working group of 4 persons generated a list of statements related to the functional anatomy, indications, donor graft considerations, surgical treatment, and rehabilitation for the management of large chondral and osteochondral defects in the patellofemoral joint to form the basis of an initial survey for rating by a group of experts. The Metrics of Osteochondral Allografts (MOCA) expert group (composed of 28 high-volume cartilage experts) was surveyed on 3 occasions to establish a consensus on the statements. In addition to assessing agreement for each included statement, experts were invited to propose additional statements for inclusion or to suggest modifications of existing statements with each round. Predefined criteria were used to refine statement lists after each survey round. Statements reaching a consensus in round 3 were included within the final consensus document. Results: A total of 28 experts (100% response rate) completed 3 rounds of surveys. After 3 rounds, 36 statements achieved a consensus, with over 75% agreement and less than 20% disagreement. A consensus was reached in 100.00% of the statements relating to functional anatomy of the patellofemoral joint, 88.24% relating to surgical indications, 100.00% relating to surgical technical aspects, and 100.00% relating to rehabilitation, with an overall consensus of 95.5%. Conclusion: This study established a strong expert consensus document relating to the functional anatomy, surgical indications, donor graft considerations for osteochondral allografts, surgical technical aspects, and rehabilitation concepts for the management of large chondral and osteochondral defects in the patellofemoral joint. Further research is required to clinically validate the established consensus statements and better understand the precise indications for surgery as well as which techniques and graft processing/preparation methods should be used based on patient- and lesion-specific factors