The vulnerability of refrigerated food to unstable power supplies

This paper describes a simplified model for estimating the vulnerability to spoilage of a number of refrigerated foods in households, resulting from interruptions to the electricity power grid. The tool is demonstrated on a sample of three foods (milk, chicken and fish) in India, which historically has suffered significant interruptions. The effect of interruptions is quantified in terms of tonnage and monetary value of potential losses, in a number of simple scenarios. These losses are estimated for rural and urban areas of each Indian state. Our model indicates that extensions to the duration of power supply interruptions increases potential losses in domestic refrigerators, and that these losses are considerable when compared to losses expected in previous stages of the food supply chain. The current model’s estimation of weight of food lost may be converted to a nutritional value, which opens an opportunity for new multidisciplinary areas of research

“Like, pissing yourself is not a particularly attractive quality, let’s be honest” : learning to contain through youth, adulthood, disability and sexuality

In this article, we (re)conceptualise containment in the context of youth, gender, disability, crip sex/uality and pleasure. We begin by exploring eugenic histories of containment and trace the ways in which the anomalous embodiment of disabled people (Shildrick, 2009) remains vigorously policed within current neo-eugenic discourse. Drawing upon data from two corresponding research studies, we bring the lived experiences of disabled young people to the fore. We explore their stories of performing, enacting and realising containment: containing the posited unruliness of the leaky impaired body; containment as a form of (gendered) labour (Liddiard, 2013a); containment as a marker of normalisation and sexualisation, and thus a necessary component for ableist adulthood (Slater, 2015). Thus, we theorise crip embodiment as permeable, porous and thus problematic in the context of the impossibly bound compulsory (sexually) able adult body (McRuer, 2006). We suggest that the implicit learning of containment is therefore required of disabled young people, particularly women, to counter infantilising and desexualising discourse and cross the 'border zone of youth' (Lesko, 2012) and achieve normative neoliberal adulthood. Crucially, however, we examine the meaning of what we argue are important moments of messiness: the precarious localities of leakage which disrupt containment and thus the 'reality' of the 'able' 'adult' body. We conclude by considering the ways in which these bodily ways of being contour both material experiences of pleasure and the right(s) to obtain it

The Present Position & Future of the Manganese Industry with Special Reference to Indian Resources

Statistics are quoted which show that manganese ore production is tied directly with world steel production, but fluctuations in steel output affect Indian ore production much more than production from other sources. A steady and increased demand for manganese is likely to result from research and development into: 1'. Improvement of quality of the end product and concentration of the manganese metal content to reduce freight charges. 2. The technical advantages of manganese as an alloying constituent in steel and the replacement of the more expensive alloying constituents, such as nickel, by manganese in alloy steels. 3. The use of manganese in non-ferrous alloys with particular reference to alloying constituent which increase the stability of the ductile gammaphase of manganese. 4. Manganese as a coating to provide corrosion and abrasion resistance to steel and non-ferrous metals, particularly in those fields in which zinc and nickel are at present used. The formation of a research and development organization to promote the use of manganese is advocated

Waste heat recovery from urban electrical cable tunnels

Electrical power distribution within cities is most often distributed through underground cables located just below the road surface. Due to steadily increasing electricity demands, many power suppliers are making large investments in housing these cables in underground tunnels. These urban cable tunnels often extend to many kilometres in length. Through the electrical loading of the cables a significant amount of heat is generated. Often this heat has to be removed through ventilation in order to avoid overheating the cables and to provide safe conditions for access. As opposed to rejecting the heat to the atmosphere, this low grade energy could potentially be recovered, upgraded if necessary, and distributed to nearby heat users above ground. This paper discusses possible heat recovery methods applicable for urban electricity distribution networks, i.e. transformers and cable tunnels. It also presents results from a modelling-based preliminary feasibility study which used cable tunnels in London as a case study

School toilets : queer, disabled bodies and gendered lessons of embodiment

In this paper we argue that school toilets function as one civilising site (Elias, 1978) in which children learn that disabled and queer bodies are out of place. This paper is the first to offer queer and crip perspectives on school toilets. The small body of existing school toilet literature generally works from a normative position which implicitly perpetuates dominant and oppressive ideals. We draw on data from Around the Toilet, a collaborative research project with queer, trans and disabled people (aroundthetoilet.wordpress.com) to critically interrogate this work. In doing this we consider ‘toilet training’ as a form of ‘civilisation’, that teaches lessons around identity, embodiment and ab/normal ways of being in the world. Furthermore, we show that ‘toilet training’ continues into adulthood, albeit in ways that are less easily identifiable than in the early years. We therefore call for a more critical, inclusive, and transformative approach to school toilet research

Paramedic utility in screening patients who present to Emergency Medical Services and who may benefit from an Advance Care Plan: A mixed methods study with explanatory sequential design

We used a two phased mixed methods study with an explanatory sequential design to understand how frequently paramedics attend patients who, on paramedic assessment with the Gold Standards Framework Proactive Identification Guidance, are end-of-life and have advance care planning. We subsequently explored paramedic views on paramedic screening of patients to assess if they are end-of-life and onward referral to their General Practitioner for advance care planning.Paramedics screened and recorded 14.9% of patients as end-of-life and 44.3% of these patients were assessed to have no advance care plan in place. Where paramedics screened patients and they did have an advance care plan in place, 36.8% had only a Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. Paramedics found using the Gold Standards Framework Proactive Identification Guidance to screen patients for end-of-life status useful and straightforward and considered themselves well placed to complete this task. Future research is required to address the practicalities of implementing a paramedic screening and referral tool for end of life care that results in the intended outcome of supporting effective advance care planning