Enriching Stakeholder participation through Environmental Valuation; Eliciting Preferences for a National Park Designation in Northern Ireland

This paper provides the theoretical framework and describes the preliminary steps for combining collaborative planning and non-market valuation techniques to improve the decision making process and stakeholder involvement in land use decisions. Combining components of Collaborative Planning (CP) — a Planning theory seeking to achieve the highest level of consensus possible amongst all stakeholders — with non-market valuation techniques (Travel Cost Method and Contingent Behaviour) - widely used in environmental economics — this study attempts to elicit the preferences of the Northern Ireland population which could be affected by the proposed designation of a National Park. The CP elements of public participation are first used as an aid to design the survey instrument and then explored as a means of the validation of results analysed from the survey. In a Contingent Behaviour survey, key attributes are set at varying levels to assess how respondents’ welfare would be affected by hypothetical changes in the management and infrastructures of a recreational area.travel cost, contingent behaviour, revealed preferences, stated preferences, national park designation, collaborative planning, stakeholder involvement, Environmental Economics and Policy,

The age, geological character and structural setting of quartz-pyrite veins in the Assynt Terrane, Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland.

A set of previously unrecognised quartz-pyrite veins are present in the Assynt Terrane of the mainland Lewisian Complex, NW Scotland. The veins cross-cut the Badcallian and Inverian fabrics, and the Scourie Dykes. The veins have been reworked by Laxfordian deformation fabrics (ca. 1.8 Ga) and later brittle faults of various ages. Fieldwork analyses suggest that the veins are a multi-modal system of tensile/hybrid fractures which are locally influenced by the existing foliation of the gneisses. They are inferred to have formed during regional NW-SE extension, an orientation that is almost orthogonal to the NE-SW extension direction associated with the intrusion of the Scourie Dykes. Microstructures within the quartz veins suggest that overprinting Laxfordian events reached maximum temperatures of 500°C under moderate strain rates, while pervasive ductile deformation was restricted mainly to the Canisp Shear Zone and was succeeded by brittle deformation as the temperature decreased but strain rates remained high within the shear zone. Re-Os dating of the pyrite within the quartz veins gives an age of 2259±61 Ma, placing the emplacement of the veins after the oldest dates for the Scourie Dykes (2420, 2400 & 2375 Ma) but before the youngest ages (1990 Ma). Sulphur isotope analysis suggests that the pyrite is of primitive mantle origin and may have been either stripped from the crust by fluid circulation or was associated with the intrusion of the Scourie dykes. The presence of the quartz-pyrite veins in both the Assynt and Gruinard Terranes suggest they were amalgamated during or prior to Inverian deformation while the absence of the veins in the Rhiconich Terrane is consistent with the suggestion that this terrane was not amalgamated until the Laxfordian Orogeny. The emplacement of the veins may linked to the formation and/or amalgamation of the Loch Maree Group supracrustal sequence

Reducing Bias from Choice Experiments Estimates in the Demand for Recreation

In valuing the demand for recreation, the literature has grown from using revealed preference methods to applying stated preference methods, namely contingent valuation and choice modelling. Recent attempts have merged revealed and stated preference data to exploit the strengths of both sources of data. We use contingent behaviour and choice experiments data to show that, with choice experiments exercises, when respondents are asked to choose which improvement programme they prefer for a site with recreational opportunities, failing to consider the information explaining the number of visits that respondents intend to take to a recreational site under each hypothetical programme leads to biased coefficients estimates in the models for the choice experiments data.travel cost, contingent behaviour, choice experiments, revealed preferences, stated preferences, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q51, Q26,

What does global mean temperature tell us about local climate?

The subject of climate feedbacks focuses attention on global mean surface air temperature (GMST) as the key metric of climate change. But what does knowledge of past and future GMST tell us about the climate of specific regions? In the context of the ongoing UNFCCC process, this is an important question for policy-makers as well as for scientists. The answer depends on many factors, including the mechanisms causing changes, the timescale of the changes, and the variables and regions of interest. This paper provides a review and analysis of the relationship between changes in GMST and changes in local climate, first in observational records and then in a range of climate model simulations, which are used to interpret the observations. The focus is on decadal timescales, which are of particular interest in relation to recent and near-future anthropogenic climate change. It is shown that GMST primarily provides information about forced responses, but that understanding and quantifying internal variability is essential to projecting climate and climate impacts on regional-to-local scales. The relationship between local forced responses and GMST is often linear but may be nonlinear, and can be greatly complicated by competition between different forcing factors. Climate projections are limited not only by uncertainties in the signal of climate change but also by uncertainties in the characteristics of real-world internal variability. Finally, it is shown that the relationship between GMST and local climate provides a simple approach to climate change detection, and a useful guide to attribution studies

Body Trust Moderates the Relationship between Physical & Emotional Awareness & Eating Disorders in Adolescents

Eating disorders (EDs) have a complex relationship with interoceptive awareness (i.e., awareness of inner bodily sensations; IA). Research suggests that physical hyper-awareness and tendency to distract from bodily sensations are positively associated with ED symptoms, and body trust (i.e., experiencing one’s body as safe and trustworthy) is negatively associated with ED symptoms (Lattimore et al, 2017; Merwin et al, 2010; Duffy et al, 2020). While physical awareness (PA) and emotional awareness (EA) have been shown in nonclinical samples to be beneficial for affect regulation, similar facets of IA are associated with higher symptomatology in ED samples (Price & Hooven 2018). As such, PA/EA may not be associated with ED symptoms independently, but rather may interact with the need to distract or lack of trust in one’s body to increase ED symptoms. The current study aims to elucidate whether body trust and tendencies towards distraction moderate the relationships between physical/emotional awareness and ED symptoms. Adolescent girls (N=357) completed self-reported ED and IA measures. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that PA, distraction, and body trust were all uniquely and positively associated with ED symptoms (psp=.125). Body trust moderated the relationship between both PA/EA and ED symptoms (ps=.001, -.049), such that lower body trust was associated with a stronger association between PA/EA and ED symptoms. However, distraction did not moderate the relationship between PA or EA and ED symptoms (ps\u3e.288). These findings suggest that while both distraction and body trust are significantly correlated with ED symptoms, only body trust moderates the relationship between emotional/physical awareness and ED symptoms. Understanding these relationships may aid in the creation of treatment interventions for adolescents with EDs

Project Thetis

The most prevalent pollutant in beachfront ecosystems is microplastic. Microplastics are the broken-down remains of discarded plastic products that are less than 5mm in diameter, and they can be found in large numbers in the top three inches of sand. Animals that inhabit burrows in the sand, as well as sea life, are affected by this plastic due to accidental ingestion. Project Thetis is constructing an autonomous robot that is capable of driving over the dry sand on the beach to collect these microplastics. We will prioritize the preservation of the ecosystems we involve ourselves in, so the robot will have as little impact on the topography of the sand as possible. The methodology for achieving our goals is to separate sand and plastics based on their unique terminal velocities. Sand has a lower terminal velocity than the average microplastic, so the air will be moving at a higher velocity than the sand carrying it upward. The velocity of the air will in turn also be less than the terminal velocity of microplastics, allowing the microplastics to fall into a collection bin. Future goals for the project involve utilizing the microplastics collected to make 3D printing filament to reuse material and prevent it from reverting back to what it is currently: microplastic

Who is classified as untestable on brief cognitive screens in an acute stroke setting?

Full completion of cognitive screening tests can be problematic in the context of a stroke. Our aim was to examine the completion of various brief cognitive screens and explore reasons for untestability. Data were collected from consecutive stroke admissions (May 2016–August 2018). The cognitive assessment was attempted during the first week of admission. Patients were classified as partially untestable (≥1 test item was incomplete) and fully untestable (where assessment was not attempted, and/or no questions answered). We assessed univariate and multivariate associations of test completion with: age (years), sex, stroke severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS)), stroke classification, pre-morbid disability (modified Rankin Scale (mRS)), previous stroke and previous dementia diagnosis. Of 703 patients admitted (mean age: 69.4), 119 (17%) were classified as fully untestable and 58 (8%) were partially untestable. The 4A-test had 100% completion and the clock-draw task had the lowest completion (533/703, 76%). Independent associations with fully untestable status had a higher NIHSS score (odds ratio (OR): 1.18, 95% CI: 1.11–1.26), higher pre-morbid mRS (OR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.02–1.60) and pre-stroke dementia (OR: 3.35, 95% CI: 1.53–7.32). Overall, a quarter of patients were classified as untestable on the cognitive assessment, with test incompletion related to stroke and non-stroke factors. Clinicians and researchers would benefit from guidance on how to make the best use of incomplete test data

Cardiovascular risk factors indirectly affect acute post-stroke cognition through stroke severity and prior cognitive impairment: A moderated mediation analysis

Abstract: Background: Cognitive impairment is an important consequence of stroke and transient ischaemic attack, but its determinants are not fully understood. Simple univariable or multivariable models have not shown clinical utility for predicting cognitive impairment. Cardiovascular risk factors may influence cognition through multiple, direct, and indirect pathways, including effects on prior cognition and stroke severity. Understanding these complex relationships may help clinical teams plan intervention and follow-up strategies. Methods: We analysed clinical and demographic data from consecutive patients admitted to an acute stroke ward. Cognitive assessment comprised Abbreviated Mental Test and mini-Montreal Cognitive Assessment. We constructed bias-corrected confidence intervals to test indirect effects of cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, vascular disease, atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus, previous stroke) on cognitive function, mediated through stroke severity and history of dementia, and we assessed moderation effects due to comorbidity. Results: From 594 eligible patients, we included 587 in the final analysis (age range 26–100; 45% female). Our model explained R2 = 62.10% of variance in cognitive test scores. We found evidence for an indirect effect of previous stroke that was associated with increased risk of prevalent dementia and in turn predicted poorer cognitive score (estimate = − 0.39; 95% bias-corrected CI, − 0.75 to − 0.13; p = 0.02). Atrial fibrillation was associated with greater stroke severity and in turn with a poorer cognitive score (estimate = − 0.27; 95% bias-corrected CI, − 0.49 to − 0.05; p = 0.02). Conversely, previous TIA predicted decreased stroke severity and, through that, lesser cognitive impairment (estimate = 0.38; 95% bias-corrected CI, 0.08 to 0.75; p = 0.02). Through an association with reduced stroke severity, vascular disease was associated with lesser cognitive impairment, conditional on presence of hypertension and absence of diabetes mellitus (estimate = 0.36; 95% bias-corrected CI, 0.03 to 0.68; p = 0.02), although the modelled interaction effects did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: We have shown that relationships between cardiovascular risk factors and cognition are complex and simple multivariable models may be overly reductionist. Including direct and indirect effects of risk factors, we constructed a model that explained a substantial proportion of variation in cognitive test scores. Models that include multiple paths of influence and interactions could be used to create dementia prognostic tools for use in other healthcare settings