Community composting activity in the UK - 2006

This report presents findings from a comprehensive survey of the community composting sector across the UK in 2006. The report characterises community composting activity in terms of: 'The types of groups and organisations involved in the sector 'The range, mix and details of composting and related activities 'Volunteer and employment opportunities 'The sector's work and relationship with local authorities 'Barriers, problems and opportunities 'Evaluation processes 'Income and funding 'Age of the sector and future plans This report is one output from a Defra funded project called 'Unlocking the Potential of Community Composting' (WRO211). The project is lead by the Integrated Waste Systems research group at the Open University in association with the Community Composting Network (CCN), London Community Recycling Network (LCRN) and the New Economics Foundation (nef

Kant’s Neglected Objection to the Ontological Argument

This paper argues that Kant’s most famous objection to the ontological argument -- that existence is not a real predicate -- is not, in fact, his most effective objection, and that his ”neglected objection’ to the argument deserves to be better known. It shows that Kant clearly anticipates William Rowe’s later objection that the argument begs the question, and discusses why Kant himself seems to have overlooked the force of this criticism in his attempt to demolish the traditional proofs for God’s existence

Feeling the squeeze? Tabbies or tigers: the case of social enterprises contracting in the fields of recycling and work integration

Current UK policy is encouraging the identification, emergence, transmutation or invention of third sector organisations that will have a social enterprise orientation with a particular focus on them as vehicles for the delivery of public services (Audit Commission 2005). This can be seen as part of the new governance agenda (Taylor, Wilkinson and Craig 2001, Kendal 2003, Stoker 2004) the form of which is still emergent. One view of governance refers to a 'hollowing out' of state powers (Rhodes, 1997) and a shift from state control to co-ordination using mechanisms such as networks and partnerships to bring together the public, private and third sector as well as community actors and citizens in reforming services. Local Authority white paper (2006) promised further decentralisation moving functions downwards to special purpose bodies and outwards to agencies and communities. The new Local Government White Paper emphasises the role of community engagement, partnership arrangements and devolved budgets with voluntary organisations at the local level (NCVO 2006: 2-3). Such processes are aimed both at both private and third sector providers. In this new distributed system of governance partnership and collaboration plays an important role in the implementation of social goods although these processes are never unproblematic (Huxham & Vangen 2000; Taylor Taylor, Wilkinson and Craig 2001). Nevertheless the contracting out processes continue to gather speed: with recycling and waste, care, leisure services, work advice, health services, prison and probation at various stages in the continuum of change. Against this background the role and form of social enterprise organisations appears at times to be assumed to be 'heterogeneous' and 'good' with all organisations tending towards similar development trajectories with uniform support needs. What is often not distinguished so clearly are the differing types of social enterprise; the different sub-sectors of the economy they are operating in; the variety of markets and funding regimes they are involved in; the different partnership regimes they are embedded within; and their different cultures and connection to local communities. All of these factors have implications for what types of organisations (large/small social enterprise; local/national organisations, and even social enterprise or private organisation) are favoured in the contracting processes and how such processes may affect their wider mission and ethos. Social enterprises are sometimes treated by policy makers, and at times by leaders, practitioners and researchers within the sector as if they were one thing. Crudely we might say they are treated as if they are all cats when in reality some are tigers and some are tabbys – with every breed in between. Nevertheless, despite the heterogeneity of the social enterprise scene we are seeing evidence of a convergence of form in contracting processes which, we argue, tends to favour the tigers and squeeze the tabbys. This paper reports on recent empirical research and analysis in 2 sub fields of social enterprise activity: (a) the delivery of waste and recycling services (Slater 2006) and (b) the delivery of work integration and advice activities for the disadvantaged (Aiken 2006, 2007)

An assessment of the remodelling of bifurcations in hazel (Corylus avellana L.) in response to bracing, drilling and splitting

This paper provides an insight into the ability of bifurcations in hazel trees to remodel themselves after bracing, drilling and splitting. The study uses evidence from field observations and testing the strength of these bifurcations using a universal testing machine alongside wood density tests. This work highlights the importance of the centrally-placed xylem at the apex of hazel forks in supplying tensile strength to the bifurcation. Additionally, it provides evidence that rod-braced bifurcations can atrophy in terms of their tensile strength, growth rate and wood density, suggesting that thigmomorphogenesis plays an important role in the development of a strong bifurcation

Investigation into the effect of Y, Yb doping in Ba2In2O5: determination of the solid solution range and co-doping with phosphate

In this paper we examine the effect of Y, Yb doping in Ba2In2O5, examining the solid solution range and effect on the conductivity and CO2 stability. The results showed that up to 35% Y, Yb can be introduced, and this doping leads to an introduction of disorder on the oxygen sublattice, and a corresponding increase in conductivity. Further increases in Y, Yb content could be achieved through co-doping with phosphate. While this co-doping strategy led to a reduction in the conductivity, it did have a beneficial effect on the CO2 stability, and further improvements in the CO2 stability could be achieved through La and P co-doping

The level of occlusion of included bark affects the strength of bifurcations in hazel (Corylus avellana L.)

Bark-included junctions in trees are considered a defect as the bark weakens the union between the branches. To more accurately assess this weakening effect, 241 bifurcations from young specimens of hazel (Corylus avellana L.), of which 106 had bark inclusions, were harvested and subjected to rupture tests. Three-point bending of the smaller branches acted as a benchmark for the relative strength of the bifurcations. Bifurcations with included bark failed at higher displacements, and their modulus of rupture was 24% lower than normally formed bifurcations, while stepwise regression showed that the best predictors of strength in these bark-included bifurcations were the diameter ratio and width of the bark inclusion, which explained 16.6% and 8.1% of the variability, respectively. Cup-shaped, bark-included bifurcations where included bark was partially occluded by xylem were found, on average, to be 36% stronger than those, where included bark was situated at the bifurcation apex. These findings show that there are significant gradations in the strength of bark-included bifurcations in juvenile hazel trees that relate directly to the level of occlusion of the bark into the bifurcation. It therefore may be possible to assess the extent of the defect that a bark-included bifurcation represents in a tree by assessing the relative level of occlusion of the included bark

Evaluation of ERTS-1 image sensor spatial resolution in photographic form

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Multispectral Resource Sampler (MPS): Proof of Concept. Literature survey of atmospheric corrections

Work done in combining spectral bands to reduce atmospheric effects on spectral signatures is described. The development of atmospheric models and their use with ground and aerial measurements in correcting spectral signatures is reviewed. An overview of studies of atmospheric effects on the accuracy of scene classification is provided

Effects of a Geographically-Targeted Intervention and Creative Outreach to Reduce Shelter Intake in Portland, Oregon

Animal shelters focus much of their efforts towards decreasing euthanasia and one of the best ways to reduce euthanasia risk may be to prevent cats and dogs from ever entering a shelter. This study, conducted in Portland, Oregon, relied on the capabilities of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to precisely and scientifically identify an intervention area (with high shelter intake) and to identify control areas to compare the project results with community-wide trends. The intervention itself was designed and implemented in a comprehensive way by seeking numerous paths to engage pet owners and reduce shelter intake of cats and Pit Bull type dogs. This research highlighted the ability of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to significantly improve a community's capacity to identify the most appropriate locations to focus resources and to closely track and measure interventions. Portland's targeted intervention to reduce shelter intake utilized many outreach tools with varying levels of impact. The overall intervention yielded a reduction in intake of owned cats that was greater in total numbers and percentage than four control areas. Furthermore, this work identified a percentage of cat spay/neuter out of the estimated number of owned, originally intact cats within the intervention and control areas. As percentages approached or surpassed 20%, those areas realized larger intake reductions than control areas with lower percentages

Treatments of the exchange energy in density-functional theory

Following a recent work [Gal, Phys. Rev. A 64, 062503 (2001)], a simple derivation of the density-functional correction of the Hartree-Fock equations, the Hartree-Fock-Kohn-Sham equations, is presented, completing an integrated view of quantum mechanical theories, in which the Kohn-Sham equations, the Hartree-Fock-Kohn-Sham equations and the ground-state Schrodinger equation formally stem from a common ground: density-functional theory, through its Euler equation for the ground-state density. Along similar lines, the Kohn-Sham formulation of the Hartree-Fock approach is also considered. Further, it is pointed out that the exchange energy of density-functional theory built from the Kohn-Sham orbitals can be given by degree-two homogeneous N-particle density functionals (N=1,2,...), forming a sequence of degree-two homogeneous exchange-energy density functionals, the first element of which is minus the classical Coulomb-repulsion energy functional.Comment: 19 pages; original manuscript from 2001 (v1) revised for publication, with presentation substantially improved, some errors corrected, plus an additional summarizing figure (Appendix B) include