The ethics of sociocultural risk research

In socio-cultural risk research, an epistemological tension often follows if real hazards in the world are juxtaposed against the essentially socially constructed nature of all risk. In this editorial, we consider how this paradox is manifest at a practical level in a number of ethical dilemmas for the risk researcher. (1) In terms of strategies for seeking informed consent, and for addressing the power inequalities involved in interpretative and analytical work, researchers can find themselves pushing at the boundaries of standard understandings of ethical practices and ways of engaging informants in their studies. (2) Impact on participants is another key area of concern, since the subject matter on which data are collected in risk research may be a source of uncertainty, anxiety or unwanted self knowledge. (3) Risk researchers also face the possibility of institutional repercussions of raising risk issues with people who usually normalize the risks, thereby stimulating distrust in the institutions or organizations with formal responsibilities for risk management. There are no simple formulae to guide the researcher in dealing with such ethical issues and paradoxes. It is important, though, to recognize their specificity in risk studies, including the ambiguous status of questions about vulnerability since judgements about 'who is vulnerable' and 'in what ways' are themselves influenced by the situational framings and understandings of participants and researchers

Photon assisted tunneling in pairs of silicon donors

Shallow donors in silicon are favorable candidates for the implementation of solid-state quantum computer architectures because of the promising combination of atomiclike coherence properties and scalability from the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Quantum processing schemes require (among other things) controlled information transfer for readout. Here we demonstrate controlled electron tunneling at 10 K from P to Sb impurities and vice versa with the assistance of resonant terahertz photons

Interwell relaxation times in p-Si/SiGe asymmetric quantum well structures: the role of interface roughness

We report the direct determination of nonradiative lifetimes in Si∕SiGe asymmetric quantum well structures designed to access spatially indirect (diagonal) interwell transitions between heavy-hole ground states, at photon energies below the optical phonon energy. We show both experimentally and theoretically, using a six-band k∙p model and a time-domain rate equation scheme, that, for the interface quality currently achievable experimentally (with an average step height ⩾1 Å), interface roughness will dominate all other scattering processes up to about 200 K. By comparing our results obtained for two different structures we deduce that in this regime both barrier and well widths play an important role in the determination of the carrier lifetime. Comparison with recently published experimental and theoretical data obtained for mid-infrared GaAs∕AlxGa1−xAs multiple quantum well systems leads us to the conclusion that the dominant role of interface roughness scattering at low temperature is a general feature of a wide range of semiconductor heterostructures not limited to IV-IV material

A smart phone application for increasing fruit and vegetable knowledge and intakes: Development and inital testing

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Governance traps in climate change politics: re-framing the debate in terms of responsibilities and rights

There is a strong sense of malaise surrounding climate politics today. This has been created at least in part by factors such as the chasm between the scale of action required and the adequacy of current political commitments, stalemate in global negotiations, the low price of carbon, and a growing sense of indifference among the publics of some developed countries about the threat posed by climate change. Within the policy community these issues are generally treated as different problems each to be overcome on their own terms. Yet, we argue, suggested solutions to these problems hold much in common—namely a focus on identifying agency, whether the capacity of institutions to act or the behavior of individuals. What is often missing from such accounts of climate politics is a recognition that the problems of how agency is attributed, what we might term governance traps, are structural in nature. Governing climate change therefore requires that we study the conditions through which these challenges arise and which in turn serve to frame agency in particular ways. We suggest that examining the ways in which notions of responsibilities and rights are currently being framed within climate politics provides one way into these dynamics. This opens up the critical questions that need to be addressed ahead of the critical Conference of the Parties meeting in Paris in November 2015

Temperature dependence of the electron spin g factor in GaAs

The temperature dependence of the electron spin $g$ factor in GaAs is investigated experimentally and theoretically. Experimentally, the $g$ factor was measured using time-resolved Faraday rotation due to Larmor precession of electron spins in the temperature range between 4.5 K and 190 K. The experiment shows an almost linear increase of the $g$ value with the temperature. This result is in good agreement with other measurements based on photoluminescence quantum beats and time-resolved Kerr rotation up to room temperature. The experimental data are described theoretically taking into account a diminishing fundamental energy gap in GaAs due to lattice thermal dilatation and nonparabolicity of the conduction band calculated using a five-level kp model. At higher temperatures electrons populate higher Landau levels and the average $g$ factor is obtained from a summation over many levels. A very good description of the experimental data is obtained indicating that the observed increase of the spin $g$ factor with the temperature is predominantly due to band's nonparabolicity.Comment: 6 pages 4 figure

Amplified ambivalence: having a sibling with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Despite increased awareness of family responses to chronic illness and disability, there is still a need to understand experiences of well siblings. We begin to address this by asking “What is it like to have a sibling with juvenile idiopathic arthritis?” (JIA).Eight families with an adolescent diagnosed with JIA participated. Four members of each family, including one healthy sibling, were interviewed and transcripts analyzed using grounded theory. Analysis suggests healthy siblings see their family as different to ‘normal’ families, forfeit time with peers, share vicariously adverse experiences of their ill sibling, and feel inadequately informed. Such experiences amplify the ambivalent nature of sibling relationships and are possibly felt most strongly during late childhood and early adolescence. Support from extended family can reduce these negative experiences and facilitate social and emotional adjustment which also occurs over time as the children mature. These findings have implications for healthcare professionals and voluntary organizations

Public values for energy futures: Framing, indeterminacy and policy making

PublishedJournal ArticleCopyright © 2015 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Energy Policy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Energy Policy (2015), DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2015.01.035© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. In the UK there are strong policy imperatives to transition toward low carbon energy systems but how and in what ways such transitional processes might be realised remains highly uncertain. One key area of uncertainty pertains to public attitudes and acceptability. Though there is wide-ranging research relevant to public acceptability, very little work has unpacked the multiple questions concerning how policy-makers can grapple with and mitigate related uncertainties in efforts to enact energy systems change. In this paper, public acceptability is identified as an indeterminate form of uncertainty that presents particular challenges for policy making. We build on our existing research into public values for energy system change to explore how the outcomes of the project can be applied in thinking through the uncertainties associated with public acceptability. Notably, we illustrate how the public values identified through our research bring into view alternative and quite different problem and solution framings to those currently evident within UK policy. We argue that engagement with a wide range of different framings can offer a basis for better understanding and anticipating public responses to energy system change, ultimately aiding in managing the complex set of uncertainties associated with public acceptability.Natural Environment Research CouncilLeverhulme Trus