Enabling local rapid change solutions to the Climate Emergency

Three quarters of UK Local Authorities (LAs) have declared Climate Emergencies. Most include an ambition for carbon neutrality by 2030. Yet a lack of clarity on a national policy framework through to 2030 means that LAs now face the challenge of creating an enabling environment to respond to urgent Climate Emergency targets. This paper reviews the implications of the LA Climate Emergency Declarations for local policy making in respect of low carbon retrofit. It will focus on evidence from a council whose dedicated project team is creating and implementing 2030 Climate response strategies, as well as built environment practitioners who have expertise to deliver retrofit services. Using documentary evidence and expert testimony, this paper will explore the gaps in creating an enabling environment/policy roadmap to 2030, the role might local government play in delivering large scale domestic retrofit, and how to align the various stakeholder groups. The paper finds that despite the simplistic term ‘retrofit’, the domestic retrofit landscape is far from simple. It is not a homogenous entity, rather a complex, multi-layered and segmented eco-system. We propose reviewing this segmentation through the lens of ‘first-mover’ which would help clarify where efforts should be focused, and which measures could be taken to accelerate consumer engagement. The authors discover there is potential for Local Authorities to develop novel approaches to retrofit processes, by taking the role of ‘middle actor’, reshaping the customer journey and engaging a range of stakeholders to stimulate local economies and deliver on social and environmental goals. Open collaboration with third sector organisations can provide access to research, resources, and networks to help deploy rapid change solutions

Did increasing the state pension age in Ireland affect the retirement rate of 65-year-olds? Quarterly Economic Commentary Special Article, Autumn 2017

In January 2014, the qualifying age for the Irish contributory state pension increased from 65 to 66 years. Individuals born after 1 January 1949 could no longer qualify for the pension at age 65, while individuals born before this date could still qualify, provided they had the required social insurance contributions. In this paper, we examine whether this change in the qualifying age had a causal effect on the retirement rate of 65-year-olds in Ireland. To do this, we compare the retirement rates of two groups of 65-year-olds in 2014; one group was born just after the cut-off date, thereby making them ineligible for the state pension at age 65, while the other group was born just before the cut-off date, making them potentially eligible, subject to meeting the insurance contribution requirements. We do not find clear evidence that the change in the retirement age had a causal effect on the retirement rate or the employment and unemployment rates of 65-year-olds in 2014

Upper Dimension and Bases of Zero-Divisor Graphs of Commutative Rings

For a commutative ring R with non-zero zero divisor set Z∗(R), the zero divisor graph of R is Γ(R) with vertex set Z∗(R), where two distinct vertices x and y are adjacent if and only if x y = 0. The upper dimension and the resolving number of a zero divisor graph Γ(R) of some rings are determined. We provide certain classes of rings which have the same upper dimension and metric dimension and give an example of a ring for which these values do not coincide. Further, we obtain some bounds for the upper dimension in zero divisor graphs of commutative rings and provide a subset of vertices which cannot be excluded from any resolving set

Analytic perturbation theory in QCD and Schwinger's connection between the beta-function and the spectral density

We argue that a technique called analytic perturbation theory leads to a well-defined method for analytically continuing the running coupling constant from the spacelike to the timelike region, which allows us to give a self-consistent definition of the running coupling constant for timelike momentum. The corresponding $\beta$-function is proportional to the spectral density, which confirms a hypothesis due to Schwinger.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure

Evaluating the neurophysiological evidence for predictive processing as a model of perception

For many years, the dominant theoretical framework guiding research into the neural origins of perceptual experience has been provided by hierarchical feedforward models, in which sensory inputs are passed through a series of increasingly complex feature detectors. However, the long‐standing orthodoxy of these accounts has recently been challenged by a radically different set of theories that contend that perception arises from a purely inferential process supported by two distinct classes of neurons: those that transmit predictions about sensory states and those that signal sensory information that deviates from those predictions. Although these predictive processing (PP) models have become increasingly influential in cognitive neuroscience, they are also criticized for lacking the empirical support to justify their status. This limited evidence base partly reflects the considerable methodological challenges that are presented when trying to test the unique predictions of these models. However, a confluence of technological and theoretical advances has prompted a recent surge in human and nonhuman neurophysiological research seeking to fill this empirical gap. Here, we will review this new research and evaluate the degree to which its findings support the key claims of PP

A differential identity for Green functions

If P is a differential operator with constant coefficients, an identity is derived to calculate the action of exp(P) on the product of two functions. In many-body theory, P describes the interaction Hamiltonian and the identity yields a hierarchy of Green functions. The identity is first derived for scalar fields and the standard hierarchy is recovered. Then the case of fermions is considered and the identity is used to calculate the generating function for the Green functions of an electron system in a time-dependent external potential.Comment: 14 page

Two-Loop Calculations with Vertex Corrections in the Walecka Model

Two-loop corrections with scalar and vector form factors are calculated for nuclear matter in the Walecka model. The on-shell form factors are derived from vertex corrections within the framework of the model and are highly damped at large spacelike momenta. The two-loop corrections are evaluated first by using the one-loop parameters and mean fields and then by refitting the total energy/baryon to empirical nuclear matter saturation properties. The modified two-loop corrections are significantly smaller than those computed with bare vertices. Contributions from the anomalous isoscalar form factor of the nucleon are included for the first time. The effects of the implicit density dependence of the form factors, which arise from the shift in the baryon mass, are also considered. Finally, necessary extensions of these calculations are discussed.Comment: 29 pages in REVTeX, 18 figures, preprint IU/NTC 94-02 //OSU--94-11

Vulnerability to bullying in children with a history of specific speech and language difficulties

This is an electronic version of an article published in Lindsay, Geoff and Dockrell, Julie and Mackie, Clare (2008) Vulnerability to bullying in children with a history of specific speech and language difficulties. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 23 (1). pp. 1-16. European Journal of Special Needs Education is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com/10.1080/0885625070179120

Taming Landau singularities in QCD perturbation theory: The analytic approach 2.0

The aim of this topical article is to outline the fundamental ideas underlying the recently developed Fractional Analytic Perturbation Theory (FAPT) of QCD and present its main calculational tools together with key applications. For this, it is first necessary to review previous methods to apply QCD perturbation theory at low spacelike momentum scales, where the influence of the Landau singularities becomes inevitable. Several concepts are considered and their limitations are pointed out. The usefulness of FAPT is discussed in terms of two characteristic hadronic quantities: the perturbatively calculable part of the pion's electromagnetic form factor in the spacelike region and the Higgs-boson decay into a $b\bar b$ pair in the timelike region. In the first case, the focus is on the optimization of the prediction with respect to the choice of the renormalization scheme and the dependence on the renormalization and the factorization scales. The second case serves to show that the application of FAPT to this reaction reaches already at the four-loop level an accuracy of the order of 1%, avoiding difficulties inherent in the standard perturbative expansion. The obtained results are compared with estimates from fixed-order and contour-improved QCD perturbation theory. Using the brand-new Higgs mass value of about 125 GeV, measured at the Large Hadron Collider (CERN), a prediction for $\Gamma_{H\to b\bar{b}}=2.4 \pm 0.15 {\rm MeV}$ is extracted.Comment: v3: 23 pages, 7 figures, Invited topical article published in Particles and Nuclei with update using the CERN Higgs discovery. Abridged version presented as plenary talk at International Conference on Renormalization Group and Related Topics (RG 2008), Dubna, Russia, September 1 - 5, 2008. v4 typo in Eq. (3) correcte