An evidence base and critique for environmental regulatory reform

Societies have established various forms of governance to protect the natural environment from the adverse effects of human activity. While direct “command and control” regulation has achieved significant improvements in environmental protection, concerns for its efficiency have led governments to seek alternative approaches to achieve environmental policy objectives. Commentators describe a shift from “government” to “governance” as policy makers and regulators seek to harness wider social forces beyond government, while risk-based regulation is pursued to target constrained regulatory resources for maximum effect. However, robust evidence for the effectiveness of different forms of regulation is lacking. This thesis addresses this gap, providing an evidence base for instrument selection and a data-informed critique of regulatory reform practice. Research followed a case study strategy, gathering qualitative data through 58 in-depth semi-structured interviews, analysed using the NVIVO™ Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis System (CAQDAS), with senior policy makers at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, England (Defra) and senior executives in businesses and trade associations in 5 UK sectors. (1) A new typology of regulatory instruments has been compiled, validated with sector experts, refined for policy end-users, and published as part of Defra’s guidance on instrument selection. (2) The critical case of instrument selection in practice at Defra has been examined for the first time, revealing factors affecting choice, the use of coregulation to develop evidence and the importance of retaining policy maker skills for new forms of regulation. (3) A multiple-case study of senior business representatives found five strongly preferred voluntary regulation, seven expressed significant doubts about its effectiveness, and 19 expressed no general preference. While voluntary approaches were valued for flexibility and lower burdens, direct regulation offered stability and a level playing field. They sought inter alia coherent, evidence based regulatory frameworks, delivered through positive regulatory relationships. This research progresses the better and smarter regulation debate on the use of alternatives to direct regulation and has already been used to inform policy making in practice

A Model for the Genesis of Arterial Pressure Mayer Waves from Heart Rate and Sympathetic Activity

Both theoretic models and cross-spectral analyses suggest that an oscillating sympathetic nervous outflow generates the low frequency arterial pressure fluctuations termed Mayer waves. Fluctuations in heart rate also have been suggested to relate closely to Mayer waves, but empiric models have not assessed the joint causative influences of hemt rate and sympathetic activity. Therefore, we constructed a model based simply upon the hemodynamic equation deriving from Ohm's Law. With this model, we determined time relations and relative contributions of heart rate and sympathetic activity to the genesis of arterial pressure Mayer waves. We assessed data from eight healthy young volunteers in the basal state and in a high sympathetic state known to produce concurrent increases in sympathetic nervous outflow and Mayer wave amplitude. We fit the Mayer waves (0.05-0.20 Hz) in mean arterial pressure by the weighted sum ofleading oscillations in heart rate and sympathetic nerve activity. This model of our data showed heart rate oscillations leading by 2-3.75 seconds were responsible for almost half of the variance in arterial pressure (basal R^2=0.435±0.140, high sympathetic R^2=0.438±0.180). Surprisingly, sympathetic activity (lead 0-5 seconds) contributed only modestly to the explained variance in Mayer waves during either sympathetic state (basal: ∆R^2=0.046±0.026; heightened: ∆R^2=0.085±0.036). Thus, it appears that heart rate oscillations contribute to Mayer waves in a simple linear fashion, whereas sympathetic fluctuations contribute little to Mayer waves in this way. Although these results do not exclude an important vascular sympathetic role, they do suggest that additional Ji1ctors, such as sympathetic transduction into vascular resistance, modulate its influence.Binda and Fred Shuman Foundation; National Institute on Aging (AG14376)

A Model for the Genesis of Arterial Pressure Mayer Waves from Heart Rate and Sympathetic Activity

Both theoretic models and cross-spectral analyses suggest that an oscillating sympathetic nervous outflow generates the low frequency arterial pressure fluctuations termed Mayer waves. Fluctuations in heart rate also have been suggested to relate closely to Mayer waves, but empiric models have not assessed the joint causative influences of hemt rate and sympathetic activity. Therefore, we constructed a model based simply upon the hemodynamic equation deriving from Ohm's Law. With this model, we determined time relations and relative contributions of heart rate and sympathetic activity to the genesis of arterial pressure Mayer waves. We assessed data from eight healthy young volunteers in the basal state and in a high sympathetic state known to produce concurrent increases in sympathetic nervous outflow and Mayer wave amplitude. We fit the Mayer waves (0.05-0.20 Hz) in mean arterial pressure by the weighted sum ofleading oscillations in heart rate and sympathetic nerve activity. This model of our data showed heart rate oscillations leading by 2-3.75 seconds were responsible for almost half of the variance in arterial pressure (basal R^2=0.435±0.140, high sympathetic R^2=0.438±0.180). Surprisingly, sympathetic activity (lead 0-5 seconds) contributed only modestly to the explained variance in Mayer waves during either sympathetic state (basal: ∆R^2=0.046±0.026; heightened: ∆R^2=0.085±0.036). Thus, it appears that heart rate oscillations contribute to Mayer waves in a simple linear fashion, whereas sympathetic fluctuations contribute little to Mayer waves in this way. Although these results do not exclude an important vascular sympathetic role, they do suggest that additional Ji1ctors, such as sympathetic transduction into vascular resistance, modulate its influence.Binda and Fred Shuman Foundation; National Institute on Aging (AG14376)

Better by design: Business preferences for environmental regulatory reform

We present the preferences for environmental regulatory reform expressed by 30 UK businesses and industry bodies from 5 sectors. While five strongly preferred voluntary regulation, seven expressed doubts about its effectiveness, and 18 expressed no general preference between instrument types. Voluntary approaches were valued for flexibility and lower burdens, but direct regulation offered stability and a level playing field. Respondents sought regulatory frameworks that: are coherent; balance clarity, prescription and flexibility; are enabled by positive regulatory relationships; administratively efficient; targeted according to risk magnitude and character; evidence-based and that deliver long-term market stability for regulatees. Anticipated differences in performance between types of instrument can be undermined by poor implementation. Results underline the need for policy makers and regulators to tailor an effective mix of instruments for a given sector, and to overcome analytical, institutional and political barriers to greater coherence, to better coordinate existing instruments and tackle new environmental challenges as they emerge

Participatory citizens and hybrid cities:imagining green spaces in Manchester's Northern Quarter

This paper presents an innovative community project through the notion of research through design. With Manchester as our hybrid city backdrop, we look specifically at community greening groups in the Northern Quarter (NQ). Thirty-four participants attended 12 conversations that asked: how do you respond to a greening challenge with the digital communication and technology you carry with you? Through the use of IDEO and D:School’s Empathy Map we reveal conversational themes that will inform a design challenge

Power to Represent: The Spatialized Politics of Style in Houston Hip Hop

Combining quantitative sociophonetic methods and a qualitative, ethnographic acpproach to the study of language and social relations, my current research program focuses on the role of language in competing hip hop cultures. This research draws on early scholarship in cultural studies (Hebdige 1979), as well as what some have termed post- subcultural studies (Muggleton & Weinzierl 2003). Central to my own work are two theoretical concerns shared by these currents of scholarship, including: (1) How sociohistorical forces (including institutionally-mediated social action) shape cultural frameworks for symbolically staking out a position in the social landscape (2) How prominent social positioning in local cultral hierarchies shapes popular ideas regarding such intersecting notions as authentcity and indigeneity Regarding the first of these concerns, I examine how popular hip hop artists reflexively bring into focus a repertoire of spatialized social practices by rapping about them in their music -- a discursive practice I term metastylistic discourse. By selectively rapping about social practices indexical of their experiences of place, not only communicate a particular take on the local (i.e. their own); they directly position social and indirectly position soicolinguistic practices centrally among stylistic practices distinguishing Houston aeshetically from the cultural forms associated with other scenes. Central here is the second concern I share with current approaches to cultural studies, particularly, the significance of where social actors (i.e. established artists) find themselves in local social hierarchies. Established artists shape and reshape ways of talking about local life partly through econtextualizing prior texts. It is through the circulation of such texts that a discursive framework emerges, the product of a trans-modal series of recontexutalizations which serve to communicate an experience of Houston, what it looks and sounds like. In short, my current project works to close the gap between sociolinguistic approaches to the formation and interrogation of stylistic norms and research in cultural studies along these same lines (Hodkinson 2003, Piano 2003). By examining these processes in the context of hip hop, my work illustrates how social actors shape cultural norms through performanc

Hierarchy in Honeycombs

The main aim of this project was to examine the effects of introducing hierarchy into honeycombs and determining the variables that preside over the global response of the structure. Specifically to understand how the in and out-of-plane elastic and non-linear plastic properties of honeycombs were affected by hierarchy. Analytical analysis of hierarchical honeycombs has been used to explain and predict the response of finite element simulations validated by experimental investigations. The early stage of the investigation focused on finding if the elastic modulus could be maintained or improved on an equal density basis due to the introduction of hierarchy. It is clear that honeycombs are sensitive to hierarchical sub-structures, particularly the fraction of mass shared between the super-and sub-structures. Introduction of an additional level of hierarchy without reducing performance is difficult, but was possible by functional grading. Another original result was that it was determined when the sub-structure could be assumed to be a continuum of the super-structure. Meaning the material properties from a single unit sub-cell could be used as the constituent material properties of the super-structure, as in previous work by (Lakes 1993) and (Carpinteri et al 2009) for example. Work investigating the in-plane, non-linear plastic response of hierarchical honeycombs showed that the introduction of hierarchy into honeycombs can have the effect of delaying the onset of elastic buckling, which is a common failure mechanism for low relative density structures. As such it was possible to achieve a marked increase in the recoverable energy absorbed by hierarchical honeycombs prior to elastic buckling or plastic yield. The potential benefits are less apparent in higher relative density structures due to the onset of plasticity becoming the first mode of failure. The out-of-plane properties also investigated showed no increase in the elastic properties due to the introduction of hierarchy, but showed a marked increase in the out-of-plane elastic buckling stress of 60% when compared to a conventional hexagonal honeycomb of the same relative density.Rolls-RoyceGW

Improving language mapping in clinical fMRI through assessment of grammar.

IntroductionBrain surgery in the language dominant hemisphere remains challenging due to unintended post-surgical language deficits, despite using pre-surgical functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) and intraoperative cortical stimulation. Moreover, patients are often recommended not to undergo surgery if the accompanying risk to language appears to be too high. While standard fMRI language mapping protocols may have relatively good predictive value at the group level, they remain sub-optimal on an individual level. The standard tests used typically assess lexico-semantic aspects of language, and they do not accurately reflect the complexity of language either in comprehension or production at the sentence level. Among patients who had left hemisphere language dominance we assessed which tests are best at activating language areas in the brain.MethodWe compared grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh-subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking) with standard tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming), using pre-operative fMRI. Twenty-five surgical candidates (13 females) participated in this study. Sixteen patients presented with a brain tumor, and nine with epilepsy. All participants underwent two pre-operative fMRI protocols: one including CYCLE-N grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh-subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking); and a second one with standard fMRI tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming). fMRI activations during performance in both protocols were compared at the group level, as well as in individual candidates.ResultsThe grammar tests generated more volume of activation in the left hemisphere (left/right angular gyrus, right anterior/posterior superior temporal gyrus) and identified additional language regions not shown by the standard tests (e.g., left anterior/posterior supramarginal gyrus). The standard tests produced more activation in left BA 47. Ten participants had more robust activations in the left hemisphere in the grammar tests and two in the standard tests. The grammar tests also elicited substantial activations in the right hemisphere and thus turned out to be superior at identifying both right and left hemisphere contribution to language processing.ConclusionThe grammar tests may be an important addition to the standard pre-operative fMRI testing