Public opinion and understanding of the impact of electric vehicles:a UK experience

The UK Government places pressure on the automotive industry to reduce carbon emissions by prioritising the manufacture of alternative fuel vehicles. Hence, electric vehicles (EVs) are a priority for the automotive industry given they emit minimal carbon emissions compared to petrol and diesel vehicles. Despite the continued improvement in the manufacture of EVs, issues regarding the viability and affordability of the vehicles influence the market for EVs. This paper explores opinions regarding (i) the viability and environmental impact of EVs as a replacement for petrol/diesel vehicles; (ii) the affordability of EVs; and (iii) knowledge and familiarity of the use of EVs. 130 respondents to a questionnaire, along with interviews with participants within the automotive industry inlcuding an owner of an EV, generally supported literature on the study of EVs. Findings of this research identified that views relating to the viability of EVs focussed on range anxiety, charging speeds and battery life. Views relating to the affordability of EVs are influenced by the initial purchase price of the vehicle, along with costs associated with the battery and charging point. Finally, it is clear that consumers with greater knowledge about EV technologies are more likely to embrace EVs

Good for the Soul

Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton lived at the heart of the emergence of confessional poetry in the nineteen-fifties and sixties. The two women became friends while attending seminars given by Robert Lowell, a pioneer of the confessional movement. Sharing common experiences of mental illness, unhappy marriages, childbirth, and social pressures created a bond between them that significantly affected their poetry. Sylvia Plath tragically ended her own life at the age of thirty-one, as did Anne Sexton, eleven years later, at the age of forty-six.   It was my intention to comparatively study the lives and poetry of Plath and Sexton from the aspect of the effects of mental illness on their writing, specifically looking for the evidence of hope and hopelessness in their bodies of work. The process of this project required that I write my original poetry even as I studied theirs, and my goal was to create a comprehensive collection of fifteen original confessional style poems published side by side with short compositions about the connections and commonalities I discovered between myself and these two women. My collection is titled Good for the Soul: A Tribute to the Confessional Poets Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. In my research, I discovered that their hope and hopelessness was my own. They used the resources of their experience to convey, in metaphor, the love, hate, joy, guilt, sadness, confusion, wonder, and desperation they felt in their world. I did not discover with certainty what propelled them both to give up on life, but I do know that in my quest to understand them as poets, I found we had much in common. And I found the poet in myself

État des lieux au printemps 2003 de la reconnaissance des acquis (RA) dans les établissements d'enseignement postsecondaire publics du Canada première partie /

Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 15 août 2005

Resourcing and recognition: Academics\u27 perceptions of challenges experienced embedding work-integrated learning in the curriculum

This paper explores academics\u27 perceptions of work-integrated learning (WIL) resourcing provisions and challenges at one institution to better envisage institutional support for WIL. The study draws on the WIL Curriculum Classification Framework to unpack how support and resourcing aligns to different modes of WIL. This study reports on the perceptions of 95 academics from a range of disciplines, teaching a variety of WIL activities. Findings are organized under core resourcing challenges: workload and recognition; developing WIL; administering and scaling WIL; sustainable management of industry relationships, and; other support requirements. Findings suggest mixed perceptions on WIL resourcing, space for more WIL integration in subjects, and consensus on the under-recognition of WIL work. Findings highlight the invisibility of academics\u27 efforts to embed WIL in curriculum, showing clashes in workload modelling and WIL practices. The study has implications for institutional WIL resourcing and recommends more coherent policies for recognition of WIL work

Association of Accelerometry-Measured Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Events in Mobility-Limited Older Adults: The LIFE (Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders) Study.

BACKGROUND:Data are sparse regarding the value of physical activity (PA) surveillance among older adults-particularly among those with mobility limitations. The objective of this study was to examine longitudinal associations between objectively measured daily PA and the incidence of cardiovascular events among older adults in the LIFE (Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders) study. METHODS AND RESULTS:Cardiovascular events were adjudicated based on medical records review, and cardiovascular risk factors were controlled for in the analysis. Home-based activity data were collected by hip-worn accelerometers at baseline and at 6, 12, and 24 months postrandomization to either a physical activity or health education intervention. LIFE study participants (n=1590; age 78.9±5.2 [SD] years; 67.2% women) at baseline had an 11% lower incidence of experiencing a subsequent cardiovascular event per 500 steps taken per day based on activity data (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.84-0.96; P=0.001). At baseline, every 30 minutes spent performing activities ≥500 counts per minute (hazard ratio, 0.75; confidence interval, 0.65-0.89 [P=0.001]) were also associated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular events. Throughout follow-up (6, 12, and 24 months), both the number of steps per day (per 500 steps; hazard ratio, 0.90, confidence interval, 0.85-0.96 [P=0.001]) and duration of activity ≥500 counts per minute (per 30 minutes; hazard ratio, 0.76; confidence interval, 0.63-0.90 [P=0.002]) were significantly associated with lower cardiovascular event rates. CONCLUSIONS:Objective measurements of physical activity via accelerometry were associated with cardiovascular events among older adults with limited mobility (summary score >10 on the Short Physical Performance Battery) both using baseline and longitudinal data. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION:URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01072500

The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure

Impact of Macrophage Inflammatory Protein-1α Deficiency on Atherosclerotic Lesion Formation, Hepatic Steatosis, and Adipose Tissue Expansion

Macrophage inflammatory protein-1α (CCL3) plays a well-known role in infectious and viral diseases; however, its contribution to atherosclerotic lesion formation and lipid metabolism has not been determined. Low density lipoprotein receptor deficient (LDLR−/−) mice were transplanted with bone marrow from CCL3−/− or C57BL/6 wild type donors. After 6 and 12 weeks on western diet (WD), recipients of CCL3−/− marrow demonstrated lower plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations compared to recipients of C57BL/6 marrow. Atherosclerotic lesion area was significantly lower in female CCL3−/− recipients after 6 weeks and in male CCL3−/− recipients after 12 weeks of WD feeding (P<0.05). Surprisingly, male CCL3−/− recipients had a 50% decrease in adipose tissue mass after WD-feeding, and plasma insulin, and leptin levels were also significantly lower. These results were specific to CCL3, as LDLR−/− recipients of monocyte chemoattractant protein−/− (CCL2) marrow were not protected from the metabolic consequences of high fat feeding. Despite these improvements in LDLR−/− recipients of CCL3−/− marrow in the bone marrow transplantation (BMT) model, double knockout mice, globally deficient in both proteins, did not have decreased body weight, plasma lipids, or atherosclerosis compared with LDLR−/− controls. Finally, there were no differences in myeloid progenitors or leukocyte populations, indicating that changes in body weight and plasma lipids in CCL3−/− recipients was not due to differences in hematopoiesis. Taken together, these data implicate a role for CCL3 in lipid metabolism in hyperlipidemic mice following hematopoietic reconstitution

Sex differences in the adult human brain:Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank participants

Sex differences in the human brain are of interest for many reasons: for example, there are sex differences in the observed prevalence of psychiatric disorders and in some psychological traits that brain differences might help to explain. We report the largest single-sample study of structural and functional sex differences in the human brain (2750 female, 2466 male participants; mean age 61.7 years, range 44–77 years). Males had higher raw volumes, raw surface areas, and white matter fractional anisotropy; females had higher raw cortical thickness and higher white matter tract complexity. There was considerable distributional overlap between the sexes. Subregional differences were not fully attributable to differences in total volume, total surface area, mean cortical thickness, or height. There was generally greater male variance across the raw structural measures. Functional connectome organization showed stronger connectivity for males in unimodal sensorimotor cortices, and stronger connectivity for females in the default mode network. This large-scale study provides a foundation for attempts to understand the causes and consequences of sex differences in adult brain structure and function

A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity

Our growing awareness of the microbial world’s importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth’s microbial diversity