Energy use and related emissions of the UK residential sector: quantitative modelling and policy implications

Reducing energy demand and carbon emissions from the UK housing stock through efficiency improvements is the focus of policy interest. The 2008 UK Climate Change Act set legally binding targets of an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions against a 1990 baseline. The majority of emissions in the residential sector are carbon dioxide emissions arising from energy used for heating homes and water, cooking, lighting and electrical appliances. The sector s contribution to total UK emissions is significant and therefore reducing energy use in homes is an important factor if the UK is to meet its targets. In this research an initial survey of studies of the residential sector has been conducted to review factors considered to influence energy use and related emissions in UK housing. Further review identified energy and climate change policy instruments and structural change in the energy supply sector between 1970 and the present. A subsequent time-line of policy and events describes the changing, historical policy landscape related to energy efficiency improvements in the sector. As a result of these reviews, a need to better understand how householders have responded to technical energy efficiency improvements in housing, and the influence of social and economic factors, was identified as a research gap. In order to model householders historical behaviour Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was identified as an innovative approach for this field of research as a potential means to measure sector efficiency in a new way. The analysis has two stages. In the first, DEA is used to measure the relative efficiency with which the UK housing sector has managed its energy use and related emissions to deliver energy services such as space heating and lighting to householders. In the second stage, multiple regressions are used to examine whether the variability over time in the efficiency measure can be explained by policy interventions, energy market developments, and economic and social factors. DEA is a method for modelling the relative performance efficiency with which an observed sample converts measurable inputs to quantitative outputs. In this research, samples consist of annual observations of the UK housing stock, using data largely taken from DECC s UK housing energy fact file. An efficiency frontier of performance enveloping the observed sample points as closely as possible is constructed through DEA mathematical programming. The core of the analysis lies in identifying relevant quantitative input and output measures from available data. A range of measures of comfort and energy service levels to represent energy service outputs, and household energy and emissions data to represent inputs are examined in the analysis. The result is a timeline of efficiency performance that can be related to socio-economic change and the history of policy interventions. The analysis shows that the efficiency of the UK housing stock to manage its energy use and related emissions has not followed the steady upward trend that might have been expected from technical innovation. There is evidence of rebound effects over time, with householders behaviour in response to technical efficiency improvements acting to raise comfort levels rather than lower energy usage. Nevertheless, statistically significant roles can be identified for factors such as income, price and tenure which have implications for policy design and control and lead to a number of policy recommendations

Digital community assets: Investigating the impact of online engagement with arts and peer support groups on mental health during COVID-19

The digitisation of mental health support has acceler- ated since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated the impact of digital engagement with community assets on mental health during COVID- 19. Digital engagement is typically not location-bound, but the restricted movement enforced during ‘lock- downs’ meant that people were primarily accessing digital community assets from their home environ- ments. We report findings from a study utilising two creative workshops and semi-structured interviews to investigate how support operates in and through three digital community assets; an online peer support forum, a social enterprise running regular creative challenges nationally via social media and a local in-person crea- tive arts support group. The concept of ‘more or less digital’ captures the ways that people’s experiences of digital community assets extend beyond the platforms to incorporate settings of use. The analysis identifies how support is diluted through digital engagement, the value of minimal and muted forms of engagement and user-led designs for future hybrid forms of support. The article concludes by emphasising the importance of analysing digital community asset engagement in the settings of use and how such knowledge is vital for plan- ning support in a future under continual pressure to be increasingly digital

Social ideas of Methodist ministers in Alabama since unification

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThe problem of the dissertation is to ascertain the social ideas of Methodist ministers serving in the Birmingham Area of The Methodist Church from 1939 to 1960; to discover the origin of these ideas and their development historically; to make an analysis of these ideas in the context in which they develop; and to discover what hypotheses are most adequate to account for the development of these ideas. Methodologically the study depends primarily upon the historical method, which is supplemented by the use of interview, observation, and a questionnaire entitled "Beliefs of Methodists." It was found that the social ideas of Methodist ministers were expressed primarily in the areas of temperance, the relationship of church to state, world order and related topics, and race relations. In the presentation of all social ideas except race the ministers demonstrated a marked uniformity of opinion. There is considerable tension among the ideas of ministers as they relate to race relations [TRUNCATED]

Senior Recital: Elena Prestwood, soprano

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Performance. Ms. Prestwood studies voice with Eileen Moremen.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1930/thumbnail.jp

Bristol urban integrated diagnostics project. Challenge theme report: Carbon neutral city

This report presents the key findings of the Carbon Neutral City theme of the Bristol Urban Integrated Diagnostics (Urban ID) pilot project, one of its four themes and five case studies. Urban ID was one of a small number of projects funded by the seven UK Research Councils and Innovate UK’s Urban Living Consortium to explore sustainability in city contexts. Urban ID brought together researchers from the two universities in Bristol, representatives of Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council, the Bristol Green Capital Partnership, Bristol Health Partners, community groups and companies to explore and co-create means of diagnosing urban sustainability problems and potential solutions.The carbon neutral city theme explored four key questions:•What does ‘carbon neutrality’ means for the Bristol Urban Area (and what is the Bristol Urban Area) and over what timescale should such a vision be achieved?•What are the barriers to decarbonisation across the three scopes of carbon emissions (energy use; energy supply; consumption of goods and services)?•Can Urban ID co-design top-level aims and aspirations for the Bristol Urban Area in relation to carbon neutrality up to 2050?•Can carbon neutrality for the Bristol Urban Area include ‘all embodied carbon’ as well as emissions from energy use and supply?The project team concluded that in order to develop a pathway to carbon neutrality for the Bristol urban area there are several key questions to be addressed:1) What is the carbon budget for the urban area associated with energy production and use in the city region across different sectors – energy supply, domestic, transport, industrial and commercial?2) What are the current emissions from scopes 1, 2 and 3 (energy use; energy supply; and consumption of goods and services)?3) What are the ‘business as usual’ projections for emissions to 2030 and 2050 and how do these differ from a carbon neutral pathway?4) What mitigation actions are needed in different sectors to ‘zero’ the per-capita emissions value and how can carbon budgets assist with this?5) What is the embedded carbon in goods and services consumed and items purchased in the urban area and is this included in the carbon neutral definition? 6) What level of carbon sequestration is it appropriate to consider to offset any remaining emissions after mitigation actions across sectors?7) What are the geographical and economic boundaries of the Bristol Urban Area in relation to the carbon neutrality definition?8) What is the baseline year and what is the end point/target year for the Bristol Urban Area?The project reveals significant challenges in attempts to design and implement a pathway to a carbon neutral city, but also offers a range of insights and suggestions as to how the above questions might be addressed

Enhanced Infection of Liver Sinusoidal Endothelial Cells in a Mouse Model of Antibody-Induced Severe Dengue Disease

SummaryDengue virus (DENV) causes disease ranging from dengue fever (DF), a self-limited febrile illness, to the potentially lethal dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS). DHF/DSS usually occurs in patients who have acquired DENV-reactive antibodies prior to infection, either from a previous infection with a heterologous DENV serotype or from an immune mother. Hence, it has been hypothesized that subneutralizing levels of antibodies exacerbate disease, a phenomenon termed antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). However, given the lack of suitable animal models for DENV infection, the mechanism of ADE and its contribution to pathology remain elusive. Here we demonstrate in mice that DENV-specific antibodies can sufficiently increase severity of disease so that a mostly nonlethal illness becomes a fatal disease resembling human DHF/DSS. Antibodies promote massive infection of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), resulting in increased systemic levels of virus. Thus, a subprotective humoral response may, under some circumstances, have pathological consequences

Heating controls: International evidence base and policy experiences

This report presents a synthesis in the form of narrative summaries of the international evidence base and policy experiences on heating controls in the domestic sector. The research builds on the former Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) commissioned (systematic) scoping review of the UK evidence on heating controls published in 2016 (Lomas et al., 2016), and the Rapid Evidence Assessment of smarter heating controls published in 2014 (Munton et al., 2014). The report consists of two parts. Part 1 involves a (systematic) scoping review of the international evidence base on the energy savings, cost-effectiveness and usability of heating controls in the domestic sector. Part 2 contains the findings from an analysis of the policy experiences of other countries

A Basic Understanding of Accounting Principles: a Case-by-Case Study

To complete my thesis, the Patterson School of Accountancy and the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors college created a special class just for accounting majors to complete their theses on time. This thesis is a collection of case studies illustrating many topics in the study of accounting. Each case study covers a different topic including the revenue cycle, leases, fraud, inventory classification, and much more. Data is presented in financial statements, tables, and in reports. Instead of covering one topic, the topics examined are all topics/issues an accountant could face throughout their career. An accountant has many different faces: financial advisor, tax consultant, fraud investigator, financial statement preparer. Each case encompasses one of these different faces and illustrates the many different jobs an accountant completes in their career. Every week, we were given a new case to complete. Some of the cases involved solving a problem for a company, researching the fraud effects of a company, or simply prepare a set of financial statements for a company. Most of the cases were completed with groups assigned to our class each week. We were given a week to complete the case, and then our professor and thesis advisor, Dr. Dickinson, would review our cases and provide valuable feedback. Even though many of the cases were completed in groups, each student’s thesis is an individual piece with different insights into the cases based on each student’s personal findings. Some cases required the use of outside research and others did not. This thesis is a comprehensive study of many topics in accounting

Facilitating stakeholder dialogues on a carbon neutral city: We need to talk about carbon (and air quality)

© 2018 WIT Press. The issues surrounding successful public engagement with climate change mitigation policy and decision-making have been extensively researched and identified as barriers to long-term civic and civil engagement. The challenge of transforming our urban spaces to mitigate and adapt to climate change was a key theme of the Bristol Urban ID project, which explored the “business as usual” approaches in policy, practice and engagement that limit truly transformational actions. As part of the project, a Carbon Neutral Bristol 2050 roundtable was held with civic leaders and stakeholders. Discussions focussed on defining carbon neutrality targets, “scopes” and boundaries for Bristol, exploring the opportunity for Bristol to be a carbon neutral city leader, how to build political, business and citizen space for engagement with carbon neutrality, and the role of Bristol Green Capital Partnership (BGCP), a cross-sector network of over 800 organisation working for a sustainable city, as an enabler and facilitator of change. The findings demonstrate a need for organisations working on interconnected environmental, social and wellbeing, and economic issues in cities, such as carbon neutrality and air pollution, to communicate and collaborate. Partnership working is essential to improving city-wide engagement in carbon and air quality management decision making, and to developing integrated city sustainability management strategies that recognise co-benefits and trade-offs. A set of guidelines highlight the need to create political space for people and organisations to talk about carbon and air pollution to develop city plans

Architectural Design Factors Of Domestic Violence Shelters That Affect Outcomes For Female Domestic Violence Victims: A Naturalistic Inquiry To Establish Grounded Theory For Future Research

Designing domestic violence shelters for women must be considered from a feminist perspective, inclusive of theories of embodiment, as the female victim's emotional state (mind) is a critical component in determining her overall state (i.e., level of distress). The primary objective of this study (Specific Aim 1) was to identify the mental and emotional state of female domestic violence victims upon entry into a shelter as a means of establishing specific user needs which should directly impact the design of the shelter. The primary hypothesis (Hypothesis 1) was that upon entry into a shelter environment, victims are experiencing high levels of distress compared to normative controls. The secondary objective of this study (Specific Aim 2) was to identify shelter users? perceptions of the current shelter environment in which they lived as a foundation for matching specific design criteria with the specific needs of the female domestic violence victim (i.e., stress reduction) in an attempt to understand the relationship between user needs and individual design characteristics of the shelter. The secondary exploratory hypothesis (Hypothesis 2) was that anxiety or stress is reduced over time; therefore, the architectural design of a shelter that promotes independence will result in less distress among domestic violence victims utilizing the shelter. Thirty-three domestic violence victims in Fort Worth, Texas participated in focus groups and interviews conducted over a four-month period of time in 2009. Qualitative analysis of this data yielded four emergent themes: (1) loss of independence and control: the second layer of fear; (2) the search for security; (3) reconnecting to self; and (4) expressions of humanity. Quantitative analysis was utilized to measure participant stress levels at three intervals during their thirty day shelter program: (1) within the first twenty-four hours of shelter entry; (2) seven to ten days after shelter entry; and (3) fourteen or more days after shelter entry. Findings of this researcher have been utilized to generate design objectives that can be extrapolated to apply to other locations of shelters and could impact the design of new facilities as well as the redesign of current shelters