Controversial Issues in Adventure Education

The book, Controversial Issues in Adventure Education, will address some of the most controversial topics in the field of adventure education. It will consist of 15 questions set up in a debate format where adventure education professional will present opposing viewpoints on each issue

The 2011 February superoutburst of the dwarf nova SDSS J112003.40+663632.4

We report unfiltered photometry of SDSS J112003.40+663632.4 during the 2011 February outburst which revealed the presence of superhumps with peak-to-peak amplitude of up to 0.22 magnitudes showing this to be an SU UMa type dwarf nova. The outburst amplitude was 5.4 magnitudes above mean quiescence and it lasted at least 12 days. The mean superhump period during the plateau phase was Psh = 0.07057(19) d.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 12 pages, 5 figure

Will warming affect food web structure?

The question is: Will warming affect food web structure? The rationale for asking this question comes from theories and laboratory observations that predict warming to decrease the quantity of producer relative to consumer biomass because rates of consumption increase more rapidly with warming than do rates of production. However, in natural ecosystems this is seldom observed. To explain this dichotomy, I posit the hypothesis that organisms adapt to their environment in many ways, and over various timescales such that the way in which individuals respond to temperature is contextual and dependent upon many other variables. Beginning with the contextual effects on the individuals themselves, in Chapters 2 and 3 I conduct laboratory experiments to investigate the effects of warming upon individual level rates of production and consumption and I then investigate how those individual level effects of warming govern the ratio of producer to consumer biomass. These experiments demonstrate that the initial ratio of consumer to producer body size is more important than temperature in determining change in the ratio of consumer to producer biomass. I then conduct field observations of the rocky shore community to investigate which key processes determine the ratio of consumer to producer biomass in this natural ecosystem. In Chapter 4, I observe that wave exposure affects the causal link between producer and consumer biomass, but also that producers and consumers respond to wave exposure in different, and apparently weakly connected ways. In Chapter 5, I observe that heterogeneity in the biomass of producers within communities is key in determining producer species richness and that the interaction between these two variables determines the abundance and group richness of consumers. Overall therefore, the results indicate that variation in individual attributes, and variation in individual responses to their environment and each other, are key in determining both community structure and whether it will be affected by warming. Thus the answer to the question is: I doubt it

Economic instruments and traffic restraint

Tax and Transport Policy: In recent years there have been increasingly strong linkages between national fiscal systems and environmental/transport objectives. Within the European Union, European Commission (EC) policy has been outlined in documents such as ‘Towards Fair and Efficient Pricing’ (1), and ‘Fair Payment for Infrastructure Use’ (2). In summary these well-researched documents advocate that transport infrastructure charges should normally reflect the marginal social costs at the point of use. These marginal social costs should include not only marginal wear and tear costs on infrastructure, but also ‘external’ costs imposed on society, the environment and the wider economy through accidents, pollution, emission of climate change gases, congestion etc.. While regulatory and physical design mechanisms are also recognised as having an important role to play, it is tax and charging instruments that the European Commission and national states see as being most effective at encouraging efficient and sustainable transport systems in the longer term. In practice, moving towards such a strategic policy aim has proved problematic. In the first place, transport taxation is an increasingly political sensitive subject, as the autumn 2000 ‘fuel price’ protests in several European countries showed. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that marginal changes in the fiscal framework would provide sufficient encouragement to make a real difference in consumer behaviour. It requires a major restructuring to address the issue of environmental performance. This chapter therefore explores the potential to move towards more radical actions in a way that might succeed in overcoming the shortcomings experienced by more short term strategies. Structure of the Chapter: This chapter first considers the purposes of taxation and the implications of this for the use of fiscal policies in the new transport agenda of managing transport demand. It then considers the fiscal policies that can be used to influence consumer behaviour in acquiring and using different forms of transport, before going on to explain how these policies have – or have not – been used in the recent past in the UK. The chapter then argues that the use of fiscal policies has been quite limited, particularly in comparison to other countries. It therefore advocates and examines the implications of the adoption of a wider range of fiscal policies, as part of a wider package of economic instruments and regulations to achieve transport demand management in an effective manner that also recognises the political sensitivities involved

Using the personal taxation regime to encourage modal shift : an international review

Correctly pricing transport behavior to take account of the ‘external’ costs such as congestion, emissions and congestion imposed on society by excessive car use has long been a tenet of effective Transportation Demand Management. But while policy makers have striven to increase public transport subsidies, raise petrol taxes, and introduce road user charging schemes to change the price of car travel, the wider influences of the personal tax regime has had relatively little attention. This paper is a review of reforms to the personal tax regime to favor more environmentally benign forms of travel and, in particular, to encourage employers to take part in TDM-type programs. The results reported are based on work undertaken for the UK Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, and the Inland Revenue. In addition to reporting the British situation, it also outlines how this same process has been approached in the United States, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and Norway, and at how successful they have been thus far with respect to TDM objectives. It then draws conclusions as to which direction policy makers could aim for the future

Role of Imaging in Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion

Percutaneous left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion is now a valid alternative to long-term oral anticoagulation in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation at high thrombo-embolism risk, especially for patients who are considered ineligible for anticoagulation. The most frequently used occluders worldwide include the WATCHAMN (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA, USA) and the Amplatzer Cardiac Plug or Amulet (St. Jude Medical/Abbott, St Paul, MN, USA) devices. Multimodality imaging is key in the understanding of 3D aspects of the LAA and surrounding structures anatomy. Imaging is essential for procedural planning, during each step of the procedure and for device surveillance after implantation. Multimodality imaging, including 2D/3D echocardiography, fluoroscopy, and cardiac computed tomography can increase the safety and efficacy of the procedure

Identification of the mechanical properties of tires for wheelchair simulation.

The development of high performance wheelchairs and wheelchair simulators requires dynamic models taking into account the properties of tires. In this paper the properties of two wheelchair tires are measured by means of a rotating disc testing machine and are compared with the properties of bicycle tires, which have similar dimensions and structure. Tests are carried out considering variations in speed, inflation pressure and load. The possibility of fitting experimental results with the Magic Formula, the Dugoff formula and a linear model is discussed. A dynamic model of a wheelchair is developed, which includes a linear tire model derived from experimental results. Steady turning and slalom manoeuvres are simulated. Numerical results show the effect of tire properties on the handling characteristics of the wheelchair.N/