Design of low/zero carbon buildings - learning

This report is published by Design Research Unit Wales and is the second output of the Low Carbon Institute's (LCRI) Low Carbon Built Environment programme work package, 'Design of Low/Zero Carbon Buildings'. It focuses on varied procurement processes and construction techniques leading to the realisation of low carbon schools and colleges in the UK and beyond. The objective of the project is to provide design teams involved in the delivery of low/zero carbon buildings with clear but non-prescriptive design guidance based on current best practice

Design of Low/Zero carbon buildings - dwelling

This report is published by Design Research Unit Wales and is the first output of the Low Carbon Research Institute’s (LCRI) Low Carbon Built Environment programme work package, ‘Design of Low/Zero Carbon Buildings’ and is produced to coincide with the conference ‘Low Carbon Homes: Lessons from Practice’ at the Welsh School of Architecture on 14th October 2011. The objective of the project is to provide design teams involved in the delivery of low/zero carbon buildings with clear but non-prescriptive design guidance based on current best practice. The work package aims to examine buildings within the sectors of Housing, Education and Healthcare and this document looks at case studies within the affordable housing sector, analysing procurement and construction techniques and the cost impact of meeting the demands of changing legislation. Edition 1: October 201

Taxon-specific multiplex-PCR for quick, easy, and accurate identification of encyrtid and aphelinid parasitoid species attacking soft scale insects in California citrus groves

Citricola scale, Coccus pseudomagnoliarum Kuwana (Hemiptera: Coccidae), is a serious pest of citrus in California's San Joaquin Valley, but not in southern California where a complex of Metaphycus spp. Mercet (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) suppress it. This has created interest in using these (and other Metaphycus) species for biological control in the San Joaquin Valley. A critical step in assessing an organism's potential for biological control is the ability to accurately identify it. For Metaphycus spp., this currently requires slide mounted adult specimens and expert taxonomic knowledge. We present a simple, quick and accurate method to identify any life stage of the ten major parasitoids of soft scales in California citrus, based on amplification of ribosomal DNA, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Three multiplex-PCR protocols amplify products of taxon-specific sizes, allowing direct diagnosis of taxa accommodated by the PCR, and reducing identification time to a fraction of that of existing methods

Design of low/zero carbon buildings - learning

This report is published by Design Research Unit Wales and is the second output of the Low Carbon Research Institute’s (LCRI) Low Carbon Built Environment programme work package, ‘Design of Low/Zero Carbon Buildings’ and is produced to coincide with the conference ‘Low Carbon Learning: Lessons from Practice’ held at the Centre for Alternative Technology on 5th September 2013. The objective of the project is to provide design teams involved in the delivery of low/zero carbon buildings with clear but non-prescriptive design guidance based on current best practice. The work package aims to examine buildings within the sectors of Housing, Education and Healthcare and this document looks at case studies within the education sector, analysing design, procurement and construction techniques and the cost impact of meeting the demands of changing legislation. Edition 1: September 201

Reconciling atmospheric and oceanic views of the transient climate response to emissions

The Transient Climate Response to Emissions (TCRE), the ratio of surface warming and cumulative carbon emissions, is controlled by a product of thermal and carbon contributions. The carbon contribution involves the airborne fraction and the ratio of ocean saturated and atmospheric carbon inventories, with this ratio controlled by ocean carbonate chemistry. The evolution of the carbon contribution to the TCRE is illustrated in a hierarchy of models: a box model of the atmosphere‐ocean and an Earth system model, both integrated for 1,000 years, and a suite of Earth system models integrated for 140 years. For all models, there is the same generic carbonate chemistry response: An acidifying ocean during emissions leads to a decrease in the ratio of the ocean saturated and atmospheric carbon inventories and the carbon contribution to the TCRE. Hence, ocean carbonate chemistry is important in controlling the magnitude of the TCRE and its evolution in time

Drivers of Continued Surface Warming After Cessation of Carbon Emissions

The climate response after cessation of carbon emissions is examined here, exploiting a single equation connecting surface warming to cumulative carbon emissions. The multi-centennial response to an idealized pulse of carbon is considered by diagnosing a 1000 year integration of an Earth system model (GFDL ESM2M) and an ensemble of efficient Earth system model simulations. After emissions cease, surface temperature evolves according to (i) how much of the emitted carbon remains in the atmosphere and (ii) how much of the additional radiative forcing warms the surface rather than the ocean interior. The peak in surface temperature is delayed in time after carbon emissions cease through the decline in ocean heat uptake, which in turn increases the proportion of radiative forcing warming the surface. Eventually, after many centuries, surface temperature declines as the radiative forcing decreases through the excess atmospheric CO2 being taken up by the ocean and land

Quality standards for the management of alcohol-related liver disease: consensus recommendations from the British Association for the Study of the Liver and British Society of Gastroenterology ARLD special interest group

Objective Alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is the most common cause of liver-related ill health and liver-related deaths in the UK, and deaths from ALD have doubled in the last decade. The management of ALD requires treatment of both liver disease and alcohol use; this necessitates effective and constructive multidisciplinary working. To support this, we have developed quality standard recommendations for the management of ALD, based on evidence and consensus expert opinion, with the aim of improving patient care.Design A multidisciplinary group of experts from the British Association for the Study of the Liver and British Society of Gastroenterology ALD Special Interest Group developed the quality standards, with input from the British Liver Trust and patient representatives.Results The standards cover three broad themes: the recognition and diagnosis of people with ALD in primary care and the liver outpatient clinic; the management of acutely decompensated ALD including acute alcohol-related hepatitis and the posthospital care of people with advanced liver disease due to ALD. Draft quality standards were initially developed by smaller working groups and then an anonymous modified Delphi voting process was conducted by the entire group to assess the level of agreement with each statement. Statements were included when agreement was 85% or greater. Twenty-four quality standards were produced from this process which support best practice. From the final list of statements, a smaller number of auditable key performance indicators were selected to allow services to benchmark their practice and an audit tool provided.Conclusion It is hoped that services will review their practice against these recommendations and key performance indicators and institute service development where needed to improve the care of patients with ALD

The Shedding of CD62L (L-Selectin) Regulates the Acquisition of Lytic Activity in Human Tumor Reactive T Lymphocytes

CD62L/L-selectin is a marker found on naïve T cells and further distinguishes central memory (Tcm, CD62L+) from effector memory (Tem, CD62L−) T cells. The regulation of CD62L plays a pivotal role in controlling the traffic of T lymphocytes to and from peripheral lymph nodes. CD62L is shed from the cell membrane following T cell activation, however, the physiological significance of this event remains to be elucidated. In this study, we utilized in vitro generated anti-tumor antigen T cells and melanoma lines as a model to evaluate the dynamics of CD62L shedding and expression of CD107a as a marker of lytic activity. Upon encounter, with matched tumor lines, antigen reactive T cells rapidly lose CD62L expression and this was associated with the acquisition of CD107a. By CD62L ELISA, we confirmed that this transition was mediated by the shedding of CD62L when T cells encountered specific tumor antigen. The introduction of a shedding resistant mutant of CD62L into the tumor antigen-reactive T cell line JKF6 impaired CD107a acquisition following antigen recognition and this was correlated with decreased lytic activity as measured by 51Cr release assays. The linkage of the shedding of CD62L from the surface of anti-tumor T cells and acquisition of lytic activity, suggests a new function for CD62L in T cell effector functions and anti-tumor activity

[Comment] Redefine statistical significance

The lack of reproducibility of scientific studies has caused growing concern over the credibility of claims of new discoveries based on “statistically significant” findings. There has been much progress toward documenting and addressing several causes of this lack of reproducibility (e.g., multiple testing, P-hacking, publication bias, and under-powered studies). However, we believe that a leading cause of non-reproducibility has not yet been adequately addressed: Statistical standards of evidence for claiming discoveries in many fields of science are simply too low. Associating “statistically significant” findings with P < 0.05 results in a high rate of false positives even in the absence of other experimental, procedural and reporting problems. For fields where the threshold for defining statistical significance is P<0.05, we propose a change to P<0.005. This simple step would immediately improve the reproducibility of scientific research in many fields. Results that would currently be called “significant” but do not meet the new threshold should instead be called “suggestive.” While statisticians have known the relative weakness of using P≈0.05 as a threshold for discovery and the proposal to lower it to 0.005 is not new (1, 2), a critical mass of researchers now endorse this change. We restrict our recommendation to claims of discovery of new effects. We do not address the appropriate threshold for confirmatory or contradictory replications of existing claims. We also do not advocate changes to discovery thresholds in fields that have already adopted more stringent standards (e.g., genomics and high-energy physics research; see Potential Objections below). We also restrict our recommendation to studies that conduct null hypothesis significance tests. We have diverse views about how best to improve reproducibility, and many of us believe that other ways of summarizing the data, such as Bayes factors or other posterior summaries based on clearly articulated model assumptions, are preferable to P-values. However, changing the P-value threshold is simple and might quickly achieve broad acceptance