Impact of European Water Framework Directive Article 7 on Drinking Water Directive compliance for pesticides: challenges of a prevention-led approach

Article 7 of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) promotes a prevention-led approach to European Drinking Water Directive (DWD) compliance for those parameters that derive from anthropogenic influences on raw water quality. However, the efficacy of pollution prevention interventions is currently uncertain and likely to be variable, which makes absolute compliance with the drinking water standard a significant challenge. Member State governments, the WFD competent authority, the DWD competent authority, water suppliers and agriculture are all affected by and have a different perspective on the nature of this challenge. This paper presents a discussion of these perspectives applicable to stakeholders in all European Member States; the analysis is supported with examples from England and Wales. Improved understanding of the challenges faced by each group is needed if these groups are to achieve the shared goals of WFD Article 7 compliance and DWD compliance without a disproportionately negative impact on agricultural productivity. In addition, the European Commission needs to be aware of and address a potential incompatibility between WFD Article 7 and the DWD. With this in mind, targeted recommendations for action are presented for each stakeholder group

Non-commutative Complex Projective Spaces and the Standard Model

The standard model fermion spectrum, including a right handed neutrino, can be obtained as a zero-mode of the Dirac operator on a space which is the product of complex projective spaces of complex dimension two and three. The construction requires the introduction of topologically non-trivial background gauge fields. By borrowing from ideas in Connes' non-commutative geometry and making the complex spaces `fuzzy' a matrix approximation to the fuzzy space allows for three generations to emerge. The generations are associated with three copies of space-time. Higgs' fields and Yukawa couplings can be accommodated in the usual way.Comment: Contribution to conference in honour of A.P. Balachandran's 65th birthday: "Space-time and Fundamental Interactions: Quantum Aspects", Vietri sul Mare, Italy, 25th-31st May, 2003, 10 pages, typset in LaTe

Modular symmetry and temperature flow of conductivities in quantum Hall systems with varying Zeeman energy

The behaviour of the critical point between quantum Hall plateaux, as the Zeeman energy is varied, is analysed using modular symmetry of the Hall conductivities following from the law of corresponding states. Flow diagrams for the conductivities as a function of temperature, with the magnetic field fixed, are constructed for different Zeeman energies, for samples with particle-hole symmetry.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figure

National Infrastructure Commission Digitally Connected Infrastructure System Resilience: Literature Review (UCL)

This literature review was produced by Dr Tom Dolan, Senior Research Associate ICIF and UKCRIC, UCL on behalf of UCL and Arup for the National Infrastructure Commission. The literature review presents and critiques key areas of academic literature relevant to four research questions on digitally connected infrastructure systems (DCIS) posed by the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC). The review provides additional context to support analysis, findings and recommendations presented in the main project report, and can be read as in conjunction with the report or as a standalone documen

Systemically Resilient Prosperity: Adapting to and learning from COVID-19 (and other strategic challenges)

Briefing Note for UKCRIC Insights Series COVID-19 provides us with an opportunity to learn about resilience National Prosperity is enabled by a National System of Infrastructure Networks (National Infrastructure) and a suite of complementary prosperity enabling systems (such as social infrastructure facilities and services, households, communities and businesses.) Sustained long term National Prosperity requires National Infrastructure and all complementary prosperity-enabling systems to be intrinsically resilient to the disruptive impacts of current and future strategic challenges

Systemic Perspectives on National Infrastructure for a Sustainable, Resilient Net Zero Future

All aspects of Modern life are infrastructure-enabled. National infrastructure (NI) simultaneously: supports the realisation of societally beneficial outcomes; and determines the level of GHG emissions; air, water, noise pollution; production of solid waste and sewage. Therefore, all sustainability and resilience challenges are interdependent emergent properties arising directly or indirectly from National Infrastructure. NI is a systemically, societally, economically, globally significant leverage point. The systemic transformation of NI into a net zero enabling, resilience enhancing, sustainability supporting system is urgently needed to catalyse the speed, scale and breadth of synergistic action needed to achieve Net zero and tackle other sustainability and resilience challenges. Systemic perspectives on, and systemic characterisations of, NI; its societal purpose; and the interdependent mechanisms that enable NI to fulfil its purpose are needed to support the required systemic transformation. This paper provides these