Now again

Now Again is a participatory performance made up of a series of individual and group activities that create opportunities to notice how we fit and shift in our environment. Reflecting the dance histories of the artists, the variable dynamic possibilities of the city are brought into focus through specific ‘scores’ that, as propositions for engagement, activate simple movement patterns or observations. The aim is to allow responsive noticing of the immediate environment, but also to enliven it in unexpected ways. Individuals who are participants and observers, dedicated or incidental (passers-by), become part of the disclosure of the physical and the social. The rigid structure of the city is re-imagined as a fluid, choreographic entity invested with organic qualities. Performances move between a series of city locations, each with differing activities. Designated ‘nodes’ in the city grid (certain streets, a square, a doorway, footpath, a hole in a wall or a particular tree), have been chosen for their imaginative, affective, or energetic resonances. These are ‘mapped’ by the perambulatory, physical, sensory, and relational engagement of all participants. This is a collective dance created through noticing the feelings and patterns of the physical self in the built, natural, and social environment. In some sites, the artists perform, while in others they lead a participative performance. Ephemeral, self-led, performance experiments designed to disappear into the fabric of the city, will also be invited. A mobile app enables audience participation. The app employs GPS data to trigger information specific to that site (written prompts, sounds and scored provocations)

Getting to Common Ground: A Comparison of Ontario, Canada's Provincial Policy Statement and the Auckland Council Regional Policy Statement with Respect to Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous rights are crucial to contemporary land use planning and policy in settler states. This article comparatively analyzes the manifest and latent content of the 2014 Provincial Policy Statement of Ontario, Canada (PPS) and the 1999 Auckland Council Regional Policy Statement of Aotearoa New Zealand (ACRPS) in order to evaluate their relative capacity to recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples. While the results show that jurisdiction is an impediment to fostering common ground between Indigenous peoples and settler states, the authors conclude that the PPS and the ACRPS serve vital roles in building dialogue and equitable planning outcomes

Getting to Common Ground: A Comparison of Ontario, Canada’s Provincial Policy Statement and the Auckland Council Regional Policy Statement with Respect to Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous rights are crucial to contemporary land use planning and policy in settler states. This article comparatively analyzes the manifest and latent content of the 2014 Provincial Policy Statement of Ontario, Canada (PPS) and the 1999 Auckland Council Regional Policy Statement of Aotearoa New Zealand (ACRPS) in order to evaluate their relative capacity to recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples. While the results show that jurisdiction is an impediment to fostering common ground between Indigenous peoples and settler states, the authors conclude that the PPS and the ACRPS serve vital roles in building dialogue and equitable planning outcomes

The scope for joint household/commercial waste collections: a case study

Although commercial and household wastes are compositionally similar, common UK practice is for separate collections. This paper uses vehicle routing and scheduling software to predict the benefits of allowing household and commercial wastes to be collected together by a common vehicle fleet. This was compared in a case study in which collections were made from over 25,000 households on an alternate weekly basis and from 577 commercial premises having one or more collections each week. Modelled joint collections reduced vehicle mileage by up to 9.8%, equating to an annual saving of around £36,800 and a carbon equivalent saving of 2688 kg per annum. The modelled benefits were greatest when a common starting time (6 a.m.)was adopted for the commercial and household collections. The modelled rounds were estimated to have sufficient time and vehicle capacity available to allow an additional 50% of commercial waste to be collected, equating to 35.8 tonnes per week

The Sustainability of the Gig Economy Food Delivery System (Deliveroo, UberEATS and Just-Eat):Histories and Futures of Rebound, Lock-in and Path Dependency

Online food delivery has transformed the last-mile of food and grocery delivery, with unnoticed yet often significant impacts upon the transport and logistics network. This new model of food delivery is not just increasing congestion in urban centers though, it is also changing the contours and qualities of those doing delivery – namely through gig economy work. This new system of food consumption and provision is rapidly gaining traction, but assessments around its current and future sustainability tend to hold separate the notions of social, environmental and economic sustainability – with few to date working to understand how these can interact, influence and be in conflict with one another. This paper seeks to work with this broader understanding of sustainability, whilst also foregrounding the perspectives of gig economy couriers who are often marginalized in such assessments of the online food delivery system. We make use of systems thinking and Campbell’s (1996) conflict model of sustainability to do this. In assessing the online food delivery in this way, we seek to not only provide a counternarrative to some of these previous assessments, but to also challenge those proposing the use of gig economy couriers as an environmentally sustainable logistics intervention in other areas of last-mile logistics to consider how this might impact the broader sustainability of their system, now and in the future

Serum Calcium to Phosphorous (Ca/P) Ratio is a simple, inexpensive, and accurate tool in the diagnosis of primary hyperparathyroidism

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) diagnosis is challenging and is based on serum calcium (Ca) and parathyroid hormone (PTH). Because serum Ca and phosphorous (P) are inversely related in PHPT, we investigated the diagnostic value of the serum Ca/P ratio in the diagnosis of PHPT. We report a single-center, case-controlled, retrospective study including 97 patients with documented PHPT and compared them with those of 96 controls (C). The main outcome measures were: serum PTH, 25-OH vitamin D, Ca, P, albumin, and creatinine. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of the serum Ca/P ratio were calculated. The results were verified using an independent, anonymous set of data extracted from a laboratory database containing over 900 million entries. A total of 35 (36.1%) PHPT patients had normocalcemic PHPT (NCHPT). Ca and PTH were significantly higher in PHPT than in C (p < 0.0001). P was significantly lower in PHPT than in C (p < 0.0001). The Ca/P ratio was significantly higher in PHPT than in C (p < 0.0001). Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves analyses identified a cutoff of 2.71 (3.5 if Ca and P are expressed in mg/dL) for Ca/P ratio with a sensitivity and specificity of 86% and 87%, respectively (p < 0.0001), confirmed by the independent, big data approach. In conclusion, Ca/P is a valuable tool for the diagnosis of PHPT and is of superior value compared to serum Ca alone, especially in NCPHT. Because Ca/P is simple, inexpensive, and easily accessible worldwide, this ratio is useful for PHPT diagnosis, especially in laboratory/medical settings relying on limited resources, such as low-income countries. © 2017 The Authors. JBMR Plus is published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

Hepatitis C reinfection following treatment induced viral clearance among people who have injected drugs

Background: Although people who inject drugs (PWID) are an important group to receive Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) antiviral therapy, initiation onto treatment remains low. Concerns over reinfection may make clinicians reluctant to treat this group. We examined the risk of HCV reinfection among a cohort of PWID (encompassing all those reporting a history of injecting drug use) from Scotland who achieved a sustained virological response (SVR). Methods: Clinical and laboratory data were used to monitor RNA testing among PWID who attained SVR following therapy between 2000 and 2009. Data were linked to morbidity and mortality records. Follow-up began one year after completion of therapy, ending on 31st December, 2012. Frequency of RNA testing during follow-up was calculated and the incidence of HCV reinfection estimated. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine factors associated with HCV reinfection. Results: Among 448 PWID with a SVR, 277 (61.8%) were tested during follow-up, median 4.5 years; 191 (69%) received one RNA test and 86 (31%) received at least two RNA tests. There were seven reinfections over 410 person years generating a reinfection rate of 1.7/100 py (95% CI 0.7–3.5). For PWID who have been hospitalised for an opiate or injection related cause post SVR (11%), the risk of HCV reinfection was greater [AHR = 12.9, 95% CI 2.2–76.0, p = 0.002] and the reinfection rate was 5.7/100 py (95% CI 1.8–13.3). Conclusion: PWID who have been tested, following SVR, for HCV in Scotland appear to be at a low risk of reinfection. Follow-up and monitoring of this population are warranted as treatment is offered more widely

ICT for Sustainable Last-Mile Logistics:Data, People and Parcels

In this paper we present a vision of how ICT can be leveraged to help combat the impact on pollution, congestion and carbon emissions contributed by the parcel delivery sector. This is timely given annual growth in parcel deliveries, especially same-day deliveries, and the need to inform initiatives to clean up our cities such as the sales ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles in the UK by 2040. Our insights are informed by research on parcel logistics in Central London, leveraging a data set of parcel manifests spanning 6 months. To understand the impact of growing e-commerce trends on parcel deliveries we provide a mixed methods case study leveraging data-driven analysis and qualitative fieldwork to demonstrate how ICT can uncover the impact of parcel deliveries on delivery drivers and their delivery rounds during seasonal deliveries (or “the silly season”). We finish by discussing key opportunities for intervention and further research in ICT4S and co-created Smart Cities, connecting our findings with existing research and data as a call to the ICT4S community to help tackle the growth in carbon emissions, pollution and congestion linked to parcel deliveries