‘This town’s a different town today’:: Policing and regulating the night-time economy

This article considers recent policing and regulatory responses to the night-time economy in England and Wales. Drawing upon the findings of a broader two-year qualitative investigation of local and national developments in alcohol policy, it identifies a dramatic acceleration of statutory activity, with 12 new or revised powers, and several more in prospect, introduced by the Labour Government within its first decade in office. Interview data and documentary sources are used to explore the degree to which the introduction of such powers, often accompanied by forceful rhetoric and high profile police action, has translated into a sustained expansion of control. Many of the new powers are spatially directed, as well as being focused upon the actions of distinct individuals or businesses, yet the willingness and capacity to apply powers to offending individuals in comparison to businesses is often variable and asymmetrical. The practice of negotiating order in the night-time economy is riddled with tensions and ambiguities that reflect the ad hoc nature and rapid escalation of the regulatory architecture. Night-time urban security governance is understood as the outcome of subtle organizational and interpersonal power-plays. Social orders, normative schemas and apportionments of blame thus arise as a byproduct of patterned (structural) relations

Cirrus clouds

Andrew J. Heymsfield, Martina Kramer, Anna Luebke, Phil Brown, Daniel J. Cziczo, Charmaine Franklin, Ulrike Lohmann, Greg McFarquhar, Zbigniew Ulanowski and Kristof Van Trich, American Meteorological Society , January 2017, this article has been published in final form at DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/AMSMONOGRAPHS-D-16-0010.1 Published by AMS Publications © 2017 American Meteorological Society. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy (http://www.ametsoc.org/PUBSCopyrightPolicy).The goal of this article is to synthesize information about what is now known about one of the three main types of clouds, cirrus, and to identify areas where more knowledge is needed. Cirrus clouds, composed of ice particles, form primarily in the upper troposphere, where temperatures are generally below -30°C. Satellite observations show that the maximum-occurrence frequency of cirrus is near the tropics, with a large latitudinal movement seasonally. In-situ measurements obtained over a wide range of cloud types, formation mechanisms, temperatures, and geographical locations indicate that the ice water content and particle size generally decrease with decreasing temperature, whereas the ice particle concentration is nearly constant or increase slightly with decreasing temperature. High ice concentrations, sometimes observed in strong updrafts , results from homogeneous nucleation. The satellite-based and in-situ measurements indicate that cirrus ice crystals typically depart from the simple, idealized geometry for smooth hexagonal shapes, indicating complexity and/or surface roughness. Their shapes significantly impact cirrus radiative properties and feedbacks to climate. Cirrus clouds, one of the most uncertain components of general circulation models (GCM), pose one of the greatest challenges in predicting the rate and geographical pattern of climate change. Improved measurements of the properties and size distributions and surface structure of small ice crystals — about 20 μm, and identifying the dominant ice nucleation process — heterogeneous versus homogeneous ice nucleation, under different cloud dynamical forcings, will lead to a better representation of their properties in GCM and in modeling their current and future effects on climate.Peer reviewe

Processing of Ice Cloud In-Situ Data Collected by Bulk Water, Scattering, and Imaging Probes: Fundamentals, Uncertainties and Efforts towards Consistency

In-situ observations of cloud properties made by airborne probes play a critical role in ice cloud research through their role in process studies, parameterization development, and evaluation of simulations and remote sensing retrievals. To determine how cloud properties vary with environmental conditions, in-situ data collected during different field projects processed by different groups must be used. However, due to the diverse algorithms and codes that are used to process measurements, it can be challenging to compare the results. Therefore it is vital to understand both the limitations of specific probes and uncertainties introduced by processing algorithms. Since there is currently no universally accepted framework regarding how in-situ measurements should be processed, there is a need for a general reference that describes the most commonly applied algorithms along with their strengths and weaknesses. Methods used to process data from bulk water probes, single particle light scattering spectrometers and cloud imaging probes are reviewed herein, with emphasis on measurements of the ice phase. Particular attention is paid to how uncertainties, caveats and assumptions in processing algorithms affect derived products since there is currently no consensus on the optimal way of analyzing data. Recommendations for improving the analysis and interpretation of in-situ data include the following: establishment of a common reference library of individual processing algorithms; better documentation of assumptions used in these algorithms; development and maintenance of sustainable community software for processing in-situ observations; and more studies that compare different algorithms with the same benchmark data sets

Managing a globally unique nexus of acid mine drainage, karst, and world heritage site

The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (COH WHS), South Africa, is located downstream of the actively decanting West Rand Goldfield (a.k.a. the Western Basin). It is therefore the only UNESCO-protected karst landscape in the world that is under threat from acid mine drainage (AMD). The perceived threat has generated wide and considerable concern for the preservation of the fossil sites. This perception has been fuelled by a poor understanding of the surface and groundwater resources of the WHS which, in turn, has precipitated often alarmist reporting in the media, some even hinting at the possible delisting of the site by UNESCO. These circumstances have presented significant challenges to management efforts directed at protecting the aquatic environment and outstanding universal value of the site. Not the least of these challenges has been gaining the support of direct stakeholders (e.g. landowners and local authorities) and interested and affected parties (e.g. non-governmental organisations, environmental lobbies, the media). Contrary to popular expectation, the mining industry has collaborated freely and copiously in its provision of mine water data and information, in stark contrast to an embargo placed on municipal wastewater quality data and information by a local authority. Against this background, the poster describes the challenge of informing the perception of typically non-scientific interested and affected parties regarding the impact and risk to the environment and its inhabitants, with a credible scientific understanding of the magnitude of this impact and the natural resilience that characterises the affected environment

Expanding biogas on UK dairy farms: a question of scale

Expanding Anaerobic Digestion (AD) in the UK will not only depend upon finding appropriate economic structures to support on‐farm developments but also an appreciation of environmental issues such as less Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions; reduced use of artificial fertilisers; and better management of farm wastes. At the core of this paper is the Anaerobic Digestion Analytical Model (ADAM) that examines the economic and environmental impacts of integrating AD into UK farming systems. However, the average dairy farm in the UK is not of sufficient size to enable profitable biogas production. Indeed, farm size, as represented by FBS/FAS data used in ADAM, needs to be scaled by three to four times for a biogas enterprise to break‐even. To boost profitability, some farms may use additional energy (food and non food) crops as well as other high energy sources such as biodiesel residues etc. In some circumstances, possibilities may exist for neighbouring farmers to co‐operate and manage a biogas installation that processes manures and energy crops to increase the scale of an on‐farm plant. Despite issues of scale however, on‐farm AD plants do have the capacity to (i) reduce Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions that a dairy farm produces; and (ii) the by‐product of digestate provides farms with greater nutrient availability for crops