The repair of flood-damaged property: a critical review of the needs of homeowners

One of the primary reasons why firms fail to meet their customers' needs and expectations is due to their lack of awareness of exactly what those needs and expectations are, i.e. there is a gap between company perceptions of customer expectations and what customers actually expect. With five million people, in two million properties estimated to be living in flood risk areas in England and Wales, flooding and flood damage to property are somewhat inevitable. In fact, the increased frequency of flooding and the growing number of properties being constructed on floodplains suggest that these statistics are set to worsen in future. However, there is inadequate understanding of domestic property occupiers’ needs regarding flood damage reinstatement. Therefore, as part of a wider investigation, a review of those needs and concomitant issues is presented. The severity of the impact of a particular flood event on a household is influenced, in part, by factors that can be classified into two main categories: flood characteristics and the individual household characteristics. An initial assessment classifies homeowners’ needs as: time, utilitarian needs, relations and communication, health and safety, commitment and flexibility, economy and aesthetics. In order for insurers and repairers to offer services that will satisfy their clients, sound knowledge and consideration of the needs and expectations of homeowners is vital

Satisfaction issues in the reinstatement of flood damaged domestic property

The frequency of flooding is forecast to increase in the UK, as is the number of properties at risk of flooding. Following major floods in England and Wales in recent years, questions have been raised concerning the quality of service received by insured homeowners during the repair of their properties. At present there is little existing research that evaluates homeowners' perceptions and their levels of satisfaction with respect to the performance of their insurers, repair and restoration companies and loss adjusters during flood damage reinstatement claims. As part of a wider investigation, a review is presented of issues relating to satisfaction and service quality. A proposed approach is put forward for measuring satisfaction of insured homeowners in flood claims. Knowledge of the determinants of insured homeowners' satisfaction in flood damage repair works would be beneficial to all stakeholders involved in the claim chain and should lead to an improved service for homeowners

Enforcing International Law: Implications for an Effective Global Warming Regime

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka den antibakteriella effekten hos ett polyestertyg med tunna invävda koppartrådar. Frågeställningen som skulle besvaras var ifall koppartyget hade en baktericid eller bakteristatisk effekt. Koppartyget är ännu i prototypstadie och om det visar sig ha antibakteriella egenskaper är det tänkt att användas inom klinisk verksamhet för att förhindra bakterietillväxt i sår och andra känsliga lokaler. Koppar är ett essentiellt spårämne, men har också antimikrobiella egenskaper som utövas genom ett brett spektra av mekanismer där skador på cellmembranet är en av de viktigare. Metoderna som användes för att inokulera bakterier på tyget var absorptionsmetoden, där en näringsbuljong innehållande Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 pipetterades på tygproverna, och transfermetoden där tygproverna trycktes mot en agar som racklats med peptonsaltlösning innehållande S. aureus. Totalantalet viabla bakterier per tygprov beräknades efter kort kontakt (<1min) och inkubering (18-24 h vid 37±2°C) genom att räkna viable count. Resultaten efter inkubering visade signifikant skillnad i totalantal bakterier mellan koppartyget och negativ kontroll i tre av fyra försök. Kort kontakt visade tendens till viss antibakteriell effekt. Slutsatsen är att koppartyget skadade och dödade bakterier då de fick inkubera på tyget, medan fler försök behövs för att säkerställa effekten av kort kontakt med koppartyget. The purpose of this study was to test the antibacterial effect of thin copper treads woven into a polyester fabric. The investigation was done by inoculation of Staphylococcus aureus strain ATCC 6538 to the fabric and evaluation of the number of viable cells post exposure by viable count. The issue to be answered was whether the copper fabric had a bactericide or bacteriostatic effect? The fabric is still in prototype stage, and if proven to have antibacterial properties the aim is to use it to prevent bacterial growth in wounds and other vulnerable locations in clinical care. Copper is an essential trace element, but also has antimicrobial properties through a wide range of mechanisms where cell membrane damage is one of the more important. Methods used for inoculation was the absorption method, where a nutrient broth containing S. aureus was pipetted on to the fabric specimens, and the transfer method where the fabric specimens were pressed onto an agar plate that had previously been spread with peptone salt solution containing S. aureus. Total number of bacteria per fabric specimen after short contact (<1 min) and incubation (18-24 h at 37±2°C) was calculated. Incubation showed significant difference in total number of bacteria between the copper fabric and negative control in three of four tests. Short contact showed a tendency of antibacterial effect. The conclusion was that the copper fabric harmed and killed bacteria during incubation but that more records would be needed to be sure about the effects of short contact on bacteria

Nuclear Star Clusters and Bulges

Nuclear star clusters are among the densest stellar systems known and are common in both early- and late-type galaxies. They exhibit scaling relations with their host galaxy which may be related to those of supermassive black holes. These may therefore help us to unravel the complex physical processes occurring at the centres of galaxies. The properties of nuclear stellar systems suggest that their formation requires both dissipational and dissipationless processes. They have stellar populations of different ages, from stars as old as their host galaxy to young stars formed in the last 100 Myr. Therefore star formation must be happening either directly in the nuclear star cluster or in its vicinity. The secular processes that fuel the formation of pseudobulges very likely also contributes to nuclear star cluster growth.Comment: To appear in "Galactic Bulges", E. Laurikainen, R.F. Peletier, and D.A. Gadotti (eds.), Springer Publishin

Politics and Economics of Second-Best Regulation of Greenhouse Gases: The Importance of Regulatory Credibility

Modellers have examined a wide array of ideal-world scenarios for regulation of greenhouse gases. In this ideal world, all countries limit emissions from all economic sectors; regulations are implemented by intelligent, well-informed forward-looking agents; all abatement options, such as new energy technologies and forestry offsets, are available; trade in goods, services and emission credits is free and unfettered. Here we systematically explore more plausible second-best worlds. While analysts have given inordinate attention to which countries participate in regulation—what we call “variable geometry”—which has a strikingly small impact on total world cost of carbon regulations if international trade in emission credits allows economies to equilibrate. Limits on emission trading raise those costs, but by a much smaller amount than expected because even modest amounts of emission trading (less than 15% of abatement in a plausible scenario that varies the geometry of effort) have a large cost-reducing impact. Second best scenarios that see one sector regulated more aggressively and rapidly than others do not impose much extra burden when compared with optimal all-sector scenarios provided that regulations begin in the power sector. Indeed, some forms of trade regulation might decrease the financial flows associated to a carbon policy thus increasing political feasibility of the climate agreement. Much more important than variable geometry, trading and sectors is another factor that analysts have largely ignored: credibility. In the real world governments find it difficult to craft and implement credible international regulations and thus agents are unable to be so forward-looking as assumed in ideal-world modelling exercises. As credibility declines the cost of coordinated international regulation skyrockets—even in developing countries that are likely to delay their adoption of binding limits on emissions. Because international institutions such as treaties are usually weak, governments must rely on their own actions to boost regulatory credibility—for example, governments might “pre-commit” international regulations into domestic law before international negotiations are finally settled, thus boosting credibility. In our scenarios, China alone would be a net beneficiary of pre-commitment that advances its carbon limits two decades (from 2030, in our scenario, to today) if doing so would make international regulations more credible and thus encourage Chinese firms to invest with a clearer eye to the future. Overall, low credibility is up to 6 times more important in driving higher world costs for carbon regulations when compared with variable geometry, limits on emission trading and variable sectors. In this paper, we have not explored the other major dimension to the second-best: the lack of timely availability of the full range of abatement options, although our results suggest that even this will be less consequential than credibility.Greenhouse Gases, Second-best Regulation