Estimating the environmental impact of home energy visits and extent of behaviour change

The objective of this study was to estimate the environmental impact of a home energy visit programme, known as RE:NEW, that was delivered in London, in the United Kingdom. These home energy visits intended to encourage reductions in household carbon emissions and water consumption through the installation of small energy saving measures (such as radiator panels, in-home energy displays and low-flow shower heads), further significant energy saving measures (loft and cavity wall insulation) and behaviour change advice. The environmental impact of the programme was estimated in terms of carbon emissions abated and on average, for each household in the study, a visit led to an average carbon abatement of 146 kgCO2. The majority of this was achieved through the installation of small energy saving measures. The impact of the visits on the installation of significant measures was negligible, as was the impact on behaviour change. Therefore, these visits did not overcome the barriers required to generate behaviour change or the barriers to the installation of more significant energy saving measures. Given this, a number of recommendations are proposed in this paper, which could increase the efficacy of these home energy visits

Serradella variety evaluation.

Trial 89ME83, 89ME84, 88ME88 and 87M62 Serradella variety trial.Korbelka, Mukinbudin, Woolocutty, South Carrabin annexe. Trial 88ME89 Serradella/Grass mixtures for acidic sandplain soils.North Bodallin. Trial 87M92 Management of Serradella pastures.South Carrabin annexe. Trial 87M64 Establishing Serradella under a cereal crop.South Carrabin annexe

Santiago extends the range of burr medics

The release of Santiago follows an extensive Department of Agriculture testing programme conducted primarily in the 325 to 425 mm rainfall zone. Santiago substantially outperformed both Serena and Circle Valley and was the best amongst the large number of non-commercial medic varieties tested. About 500J000 ha were sown to burr medic between 1983 and 1988 and the Department of Agriculture expects that the release of Santiago will result in additional new plantings fro

Pasture research programme for the medium rainfall zone of WA

Field Assistants: I.R. Rose S.P. Davis Soil Analysis: I.A. Pritchard. A. Screening trials M. polymorpha var brevispina. M. truncatula. T. cherleri - 84KA41, 84KA42, 84KA43, 84KA47. B. Large scale M. polymorpha evaluation - 84KA38, 84KA39, 84KA40, C. Long term Medic species evaluation - 82KA44, 82KA45. D. Species characterization trials - 83KA66, 83KA67. E. M. murex evaluation - 83KA45. F. Dwalganup replacement subclovers - 83KA69. Since 1981, the major emphasis of the Katanning pasture programme has been to select pasture species suitable for replacing ryegrass on soils where Annual Ryegrass Toxicity (ARGT) has been a major problem. These soils have traditionally been the hardsetting sandy loam soils of acid to alkaline reaction trend. Subterranean clover has failed to persist in these areas due to problems of burr burial, transient waterlogging and a lack of hardseededness. Screening work to date has successfully identified the species Medicago polymorpha var brevispina to be a suitable alternative to ryegrass and as such, a considerable proportion of resources were directed into a more detailed evaluation of the species

Pasture research programme for the medium rainfall zone of W.A. species selection and management related in particular to the ryegrass toxicity problem (Fund 492/0035).

Species evaluation, 85KA69, 85 KA 70, 85 KA 94, 85 KA 68. Small plot evaluation, 85 KA 89, 8S KA 90. Long term medic species evaluation, 82 KA 44, 82 KA 45. Drill run evaluation of M. polymorpha, 84 KA 38, 84 KA 39, 84 KA 40. Species characterization trials, 83 KA 66, 83 KA 67. Serradella evaluation, 85 KA 72, 85 KA 73, 85 KA 74, 85 KA 7

Farm systems research involving new pasture species.

The effect of grazing on Circle Valley medic production. Effect of rotations on M. polyrnorpha production and persistence and cereal crop yields, 84 KA 35, 85 LG 44, 84 KA 37 Effect of tillage x gypsum x nitrogen on continuous cereal production, 84 KA 28. Effect of gypsum x seeding rate on the seed yield of three pasture legumes. Pasture species tolerance to grass and broadleaf herbicides. Undersowing cereal crops with burr medic

Couple stresses and discrete potentials in the vertex model of cellular monolayers

The vertex model is widely used to simulate the mechanical properties of confluent epithelia and other multicellular tissues. This inherently discrete framework allows a Cauchy stress to be attributed to each cell, and its symmetric component has been widely reported, at least for planar monolayers. Here we consider the stress attributed to the neighbourhood of each tricellular junction, evaluating in particular its leading-order antisymmetric component and the associated couple stresses, which characterise the degree to which individual cells experience (and resist) in-plane bending deformations. We develop discrete potential theory for localised monolayers having disordered internal structure and use this to derive the analogues of Airy and Mindlin stress functions. These scalar potentials typically have broad-banded spectra, highlighting the contributions of small-scale defects and boundary-layers to global stress patterns. An affine approximation attributes couple stresses to pressure differences between cells sharing a trijunction, but simulations indicate an additional role for non-affine deformations.Comment: 8 figures, 1 tabl

Exploring the anthelmintic properties of Australian native shrubs with respect to their potential role in livestock grazing systems

We measured in vitro anthelmintic activity in extracts from 85 species of Australian native shrub, with a view to identifying species able to provide a degree of worm control in grazing systems. Approximately 40% of the species showed significant activity in inhibiting development of Haemonchus contortus larvae. The most active extracts showed IC50 values of 60–300 mg/ml. Pre-incubation with polyvinylpolypyrrolidine removed the activity from some extracts, implicating tannins as the bioactive agent, while in other cases the pre-incubation had no effect, indicating the presence of other anthelmintic compounds. Plant reproductive maturity (onset of flowering or fruiting) was associated with increasing anthelmintic activity in some species. Variability was observed between plants of the same species growing in different environments, while variation between individual plants of the same species within a single field suggests the existence of distinct chemotypes. Significant activity against adult H. contortus worms in vitro was also demonstrated in a limited number of extracts tested against this life stage. Our study indicates that there is potential for Australian native shrubs to play an anthelmintic role in grazing systems, and highlights some plant biology factors which will need to be considered in order to maximize any anthelmintic effects.A. C. Kotze, J. O’Grady, J. Emms, A. F. Toovey, S. Hughes, P. Jessop, M. Bennell P. E. Vercoe and D. K. Revel

Promoting sustainability and pro-environmental behaviour through local government programmes: examples from London, UK

In recent years within the UK, behaviour change as a policy tool has gained popularity. Concurrently, the role of local authorities in both tackling unsustainability and reducing carbon emissions has become more prominent. This paper describes a recent study in the UK that aims to understand how local authorities are working to tackle unsustainability and encourage pro-environmental behaviour change in the population. Through interviews with local authority sustainability officers from London, this paper reviews the extent of sustainability work currently being undertaken by local authorities to assist residents transition to a more sustainable lifestyle. The study discusses key findings from the interviews, drawing on the commonalities and factors that influence local authority sustainability programmes. The key finding from these interviews is that there is a need for more robust monitoring and evaluation of local authority sustainability programmes. Robust evaluation would improve understanding of the potential contribution that local authority sustainability work could make towards addressing unsustainability and meeting national emission reduction targets. In addition, it would assist the development of the evidence-base on behaviour change interventions and their effectiveness