Living in an active home: household dynamics and unintended consequences

To meet UK decarbonisation and climate change targets, significant changes to existing and future housing stock will be required. The development of Active Buildings has the potential to contribute to meeting these targets. Active Homes, as a particular type of Active Building, alter how energy is produced, distributed and consumed, as well as how homes are designed, constructed and then lived in. Before occupation, Active Homes are designed and developed around imaginary users, yet residents do not always live in the homes in ways envisaged by developers. This paper draws on data from a qualitative longitudinal study involving in-depth interviews with Active Home inhabitants and developers across five UK case sites. Interviews elucidate how developers envisage future residents and their assumptions about how people will live. As the household is a particularly gendered sphere of society, three qualitative longitudinal case studies are then presented to explore the way gender interweaves with women’s experiences of Active Home residence. Expert visions do not always fully encompass the gendered household dynamics of everyday life. Implications are drawn from how these Active Homes are experienced and lived in: what considerations developers can give to the design, controls and information that are more tailored to residents’ needs

Transformational innovation in home energy: How developers imagine and engage with future residents of low carbon homes in the United Kingdom

Decarbonisation and climate change targets require multiscale sociotechnical energy transitions that include significant changes to housing stock. In the UK, the development of Active Buildings, which directly seek to be efficient energy producers, have zero carbon emissions and provide grid flexibility, has the potential to make a significant contribution to meeting these targets. Active Homes as a particular type of Active Building represent a potentially transformational innovation by altering how energy is produced, distributed and consumed, in addition to how homes are designed, constructed and then lived in. In this paper we draw on insights from qualitative interviews with stakeholders involved in the development of different Active Homes to consider motivations for development, and their views on how residents will reside in and interact with the homes. We highlight a potential conflict between a desire to prioritise the needs of residents with a belief amongst some that to do so, user engagement with technology should be minimised. This has implications for design decisions, which in turn influence how residents experience and live within the homes. In illuminating these narratives, we indicate the necessity of ongoing engagement with residents to understand how Active Homes – with particular emphasis on the operation and control of technologies – are experienced, in order to inform the successful rollout of current and future developments

From active houses to active homes: understanding resident experiences of transformational design and social innovation

Active Buildings can contribute to efforts to address decarbonisation and climate change targets, and have the potential to support social aspirations for technical and infrastructural change. Yet achieving such goals is challenging. Active Homes as a type of Active Building represent a particularly interesting prospect; altering how energy is produced, distributed, and consumed, but also how homes are designed, constructed, and lived in are studied. Active Homes are designed with expectations of how residents will engage with them, but residents do not always live in the homes in ways envisaged by developers. Hence, there is a risk that the homes will not be experienced as comfortable living environments, or otherwise perform as anticipated. Thus, understanding resident perspectives is crucial to the successful wider rollout of Active Homes. We draw on social science research with designers, developers, and residents to explore expectations of life in an Active Home. Our longitudinal research design enables us to contrast early expectations with post-occupancy experiences, elucidating what residents consider to be successful aspects of Active Home developments. Our research reveals instances where expectations remain unfulfilled, or where living in the homes has been experienced as challenging or disruptive. In highlighting such insights, we offer recommendations relevant for future development

Associations with age and glomerular filtration rate in a referred population with chronic kidney disease: Methods and baseline data from a UK multicentre cohort study (NURTuRE-CKD)

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common but heterogenous and is associated with multiple adverse outcomes. The National Unified Renal Translational Research Enterprise (NURTuRE)-CKD cohort was established to investigate risk factors for clinically important outcomes in persons with CKD referred to secondary care. METHODS: Eligible participants with CKD stages G3-4 or stages G1-2 plus albuminuria > 30 mg/mmol were enrolled from 16 nephrology centres in England, Scotland and Wales from 2017 to 2019. Baseline assessment included demographic data, routine laboratory data and research samples. Clinical outcomes are being collected over 15 years by the UK Renal Registry using established data linkage. Baseline data are presented with subgroup analysis by age, sex and estimated GFR (eGFR). RESULTS: 2996 participants were enrolled. Median (interquartile range) age was 66 (54 to 74) years, 58.5% were male, eGFR 33.8 (24.0 to 46.6) ml/min/1.73m2 and UACR 209 (33 to 926) mg/g. 1883 participants (69.1%) were in high-risk CKD categories. Primary renal diagnosis was CKD of unknown cause in 32.3%, glomerular disease in 23.4% and diabetic kidney disease in 11.5%. Older participants and those with lower eGFR had higher systolic blood pressure and were less likely to be treated with renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASi) but were more likely to receive a statin. Female participants were less likely to receive a RASi or statin. CONCLUSIONS: NURTuRE-CKD is a prospective cohort of persons who are at relatively high risk of adverse outcomes. Long-term follow-up and a large biorepository create opportunities for research to improve risk prediction and investigate underlying mechanisms to inform new treatment development

The Continuing Use of Problematic Sexual Stereotypes in Judicial Decision-Making

This article examines the continuing use of problematic sexual stereotypes at appellate level in the English and Welsh legal system. Using five cases as illustrations, it argues that, notwithstanding professional training and guidance on sexual equality matters, certain senior judges in this jurisdiction still at least sometimes openly employ crude and problematic sexual stereotypes in their judgments or fail to deal appropriately with the use of these stereotypes by trial judges. The central point is that there is still a significant problem with the open use of crude sexual stereotypes in legal reasoning at a senior level in this jurisdiction, despite the pressure on all members of the legal system to appear to be ‘politically correct’

A spiral scaffold underlies cytoadherent knobs in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes

Much of the virulence of Plasmodium falciparum malaria is caused by cytoadherence of infected erythrocytes, which promotes parasite survival by preventing clearance in the spleen. Adherence is mediated by membrane protrusions known as knobs, whose formation depends on the parasite-derived, knob-associated histidine-rich protein (KAHRP). Knobs are required for cytoadherence under flow conditions, and they contain both KAHRP and the parasite-derived erythrocyte membrane protein PfEMP1. Using electron tomography, we have examined the three-dimensional structure of knobs in detergent-insoluble skeletons of P. falciparum 3D7 schizonts. We describe a highly organised knob skeleton composed of a spiral structure coated by an electron dense layer underlying the knob membrane. This knob skeleton is connected by multiple links to the erythrocyte cytoskeleton. We used immuno-electron microscopy to locate KAHRP in these structures. The arrangement of membrane proteins in the knobs, visualised by high resolution freeze fracture scanning electron microscopy, is distinct from that in the surrounding erythrocyte membrane, with a structure at the apex that likely represents the adhesion site. Thus, erythrocyte knobs in P. falciparum infection contain a highly organised skeleton structure underlying a specialised region of membrane. We propose that the spiral and dense coat organise the cytoadherence structures in the knob, and anchor them into the erythrocyte cytoskeleton. The high density of knobs and their extensive mechanical linkage suggest an explanation for the rigidification of the cytoskeleton in infected cells, and for the transmission to the cytoskeleton of shear forces experienced by adhering cells