Customer Attitudes to Water Use and Its Conservation

© 2016 Jenkins et al.; This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Aims: Understanding how customers engage with and view their water usage is crucial to the design of more effective water demand management policies and programmes. This paper presents the findings of a small-scale research project that sought to explore customer attitudes to the use of water and its conservation, particularly in the context of seasonal tariffs used during the summer peak usage months (May to August). Study Design: The study adopted a qualitative approach, implemented through a series of face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted with domestic water users in Bishops Stortford, East Hertfordshire (UK). The research was carried out by staff from the School of Life and Medical Sciences at the University Hertfordshire. The study was conducted over a period of 6 weeks. Methodology: A series of 20 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were carried out with a pre-defined sample population. The selected customers were split into two equal sized groups depending on their relative water usage to reflect either an increase or a decrease in water usage [as a consequence of Affinity Water’s seasonal tariff trial]. Results and Discussion: The study highlights study participants as being disengaged from their water usage and the associated efforts to reduce their usage, so simply increasing water prices at seasonal peak usage times was not, on this occasion, an effective method to adopt to reduce domestic water usage. However, by subsequently exploring customer attitudes towards a selected range of alternative water conservation measures, such as the subsidisation of water efficient appliances, and rebates for reduced water usage, it is established that alternative water conservation measures may have the potential to more effectively encourage a reduction in water usage. However, as the findings of this study also serve to highlight, the issue of ‘institutional trust’ emerges as a key issue to consider when seeking reductions in water usage by increasing its unit cost, with accusation of profiteering looming large. Conclusion: It is suggested that a richer mix of policy responses demand management will be needed to convince domestic water users of the need to reduce their water usage.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Heavy Meson Hyperfine Splittings: A Puzzle for Heavy Quark Chiral Perturbation Theory

We show that there is a large discrepancy between the expected light flavor dependence of the heavy pseudoscalar--vector mass splittings and the measured values. We demonstrate that the one--loop calculation is unreliable. Moreover, agreement with experiment requires the leading dependence on SU(3) symmetry breaking to be nearly cancelled, so that the heavy quark mass dependence is unknown and the expected dependence on the light quark mass is not realized.Comment: 11 pages (LaTeX, 2 PS figures available upon request), MIT-CTP#216

Utilizing Short- and Long-Term Evaluation to Measure the Impact of a Long-Standing, Multi-State Educational Venue

The purpose of this program evaluation was to utilize short- and long-term surveys to measure the impact of a multi-state Range Beef Cow Symposium on knowledge change and changes in beef cattle production practices. Symposium participants completed end-of-session surveys and ranked their degree of knowledge change, with a 36% return rate. Follow-up surveys were mailed to past symposium participants who noted changes made to their production practices, with a 23% return rate. For symposium survey respondents, 70% were male, a majority were white, over 60% were under 50 years, and they represented 16 states. The estimated annual increase in profitability was positively associated with symposium attendance. Participants gained knowledge across all topics presented. For follow-up survey respondents, 86% were male, a majority were white, 62% were between 50-69 years old, and they represented 9 states. The estimated annual increase in profitability was positively associated with the likelihood to make operational changes, as well as notable changes made to genetics and selection, marketing options and plans for cattle, risk management, and time of calving. Over 70% made notable changes to cattle genetics, nutrition, health, marketing, replacement heifer development, and range management

Occurrence of the Old World bug Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius) (Heteroptera: Plataspidae) in Georgia: a serious home invader and potential legume pest

Specimens of Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius) were collected in northern Georgia in late October 2009, where they were invading homes in large numbers. This is the first known occurrence of this species and the family Plataspidae in the New World. Megacopta cribraria was previously known from Asia and Australia. A key is provided to separate Plataspidae from other families of Pentatomoidea in America North of Mexico. A diagnosis and figures are provided to facilitate recognition of M. cribraria. Reported host plants and other aspects of the biology of this species are reviewed. Megacopta cribraria is considered a pest of numerous legumes in Asia, has the potential to provide biological control of kudzu, Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willd.) Ohwi, (Fabaceae) and likely will continue to be a household pest in the vicinity of kudzu fields as well as become a pest of North American legume crops

Systematic review of clinical practice guidelines to identify recommendations for sleep in type 2 diabetes mellitus management

Introduction Sleep quality, quantity and timing have been shown to impact glycaemic control, with a role in insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance and HbA1C levels, in both diabetic and non-diabetic populations. The aim of this study was to identify recommendations for sleep assessment and management in international clinical practice guidelines focused on type 2 diabetes mellitus management in adults. Study design: Systematic Review. Methodology Clinical practice guidelines which focused on the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus in adults were included (n = 35). Two independent reviewers utilised the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation tool (AGREE) II and a third reviewer resolved any disagreements. Included guidelines were assessed for recommendations about sleep in diabetes management (n = 14). Data were extracted on sleep recommendations ,themes were generated from the extracted data and narrative syntheses were created. Results From 1114 identified papers, 35 guidelines met the inclusion criteria. Fourteen of these guidelines included recommendations pertaining to sleep, which broadly fell into five categories; sleep assessment, sleep as a therapeutic target, sleep and co-morbidities of type 2 diabetes mellitus, shift work and sleep and driving. Recommendations varied across guidelines. Conclusion Few guidelines provided recommendations relating to assessment and management of sleep in type 2 diabetes care. Most of the recommendations were related to obstructive sleep apnoea. However, few guidelines discussed sleep as a therapeutic intervention for diabetes mellitus or described the potential importance of sleep quality and duration in glycaemic control

GIS-based estimates of former and current depressional wetlands in an agricultural landscape

Before European settlement, 23% of Illinois (3.2 million of 14 million ha) was covered by wetlands. It is estimated that 90% of those wetlands Were lost during conversion of the landscape to agriculture and urban, use. Champaign County was one of the most extensively drained counties in Illinois, with 39-60% of original county area estimated to have been drained. Current and future efforts to conserve and restore wetlands would benefit from information on the number and distribution of former wetlands. We used GIS to estimate the spatial extent, density, pattern, and sizes of former and extant depressional wetlands in Champaign County. We derived several models of former wetlands; all models used hydric soils but varied by using Digital Raster Graphics (DRG), 30-m Digital Elevation Models (DEM), or Digital Orthophotography Quarter Quadrangles (DOQ). We also combined the DRG and DEM models, and we conducted visual field surveys for saturated or ponded conditions to test the models. The DRG model was conservative: it identified fewer and larger wetlands than the DEM model (the DOQ model was judged inadequate). Depending on the model selected, we estimated that 1077-4090 depressional wetlands formerly existed in the county, and that 78.6-91.6% were drained, accounting for 1108-2777 ha of lost wetland habitat in Champaign County alone. Thus, depressional wetlands accounted for the vast majority of historical wetland loss and should be a priority for wetland restoration efforts. Spatial pattern among wetlands also changed: an organism adapted to the former landscape had \u3e 50% probability of reaching another wetland within 260 m: today that same species faces a 7.8% probability at that distance. The modern landscape of Champaign County (and others like it) poses potential risk for remaining wetland metapopulations, and GIS models of precise former wetlands locations can be a valuable initial tool for wetland conservation and restoration efforts

Developing and Piloting an Adventure-Oriented Confidence-Building Curriculum for Youth

Youth are bombarded with a myriad of life stressors that impacts their self-esteem and ability to be resilient. Young people from diverse backgrounds across the state of Utah participated in a three-day camp structured around a newly developed confidence-building curriculum. Practical application and high-adventure activities reinforced the concepts taught in the curriculum

Transcribing your own qualitative data

The aim of this toolkit is to help you plan properly for transcribing, and save you time by helping you do your transcribing more efficiently. The toolkit includes advice on project planning for transcribing, tips for good quality recordings, advice on equipment and software and suggestions to help you save time while transcribing