Reflections on the uptake of climate change policies by local governments: facing the challenges of mitigation and adaptation

Background There is a growing body of literature that examines the role of local governments in addressing climate change vis-a-vis mitigation and adaptation. Although it appears that climate change mitigation strategies - in particular those addressing energy issues - are being adopted by a large majority of local governments, this cannot be said of climate change adaptation. This paper explores the uptake of these two types of climate change policy by local governments in the Netherlands. The central research question is: What lessons can be drawn from comparing the adoption and implementation of local climate change mitigation policies with local climate change adaptation policies in the Netherlands? Our paper contributes to the body of literature on climate change policy implementation, drawing particular attention to the ongoing debate on the institutional dimension of the adaptation-mitigation dichotomy. Methods A comparative case study research design was chosen to study the adoption and implementation of climate change (i) mitigation and (ii) adaptation policies by local governments in the Netherlands during the period 1998 to 2013. The data involved 89 expert interviews and secondary data sources from four research projects conducted by the present authors on local climate change policy implementation. Results Most Dutch municipalities have local climate change policies that address mitigation. Local governments pay relatively little attention to adaptation. The difference is mostly due to the take-up of central government-led policy support schemes aimed at the vertical integration of climate change mitigation policies. Moreover, mitigation is typically framed as an 'energy' issue whereas adaptation is framed as a 'water' issue. This has far-reaching consequences. Climate change adaptation has never been prioritized, nor has it been supported with properly funded policy support schemes. Conclusions In the realm of local climate change policies, adaptation is still considered an 'add-on' to climate change mitigation policy. Moreover, adoption and implementation of both adaptation and mitigation suffers from institutional inertia in Dutch local policy practic

Polychloroprene Rubber/Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) Nanomembranes for Pervaporation Separation of Azeotropic Mixtures

Chloroprene rubber is a high performance elastomer with remarkable ageing, heat and oil resistance. A new class of elastomeric nanocomposite was prepared by incorporating reduced graphene oxide (RGO) into chloroprene rubber (CR). RGO is synthesised from natural graphite, through GO route via Hummer's method. This paper focuses on the influence of reduced graphene oxide on chloroprene rubber based elastomeric composites and their pervaporation separation of azeotropic liquid mixtures. The effect of concentration of RGO on separation factor, pervaporation separation index (PSI) and flux of the membranes were analysed. Chloroprene loaded with 0.9 phr (parts per hundred rubber) RGO shows an improved permeation rate among all other membranes while chloroform/acetone (80/20) azeotropic liquid mixture was used as feed solution. Flux increases with increasing the concentration of filler, reaches an optimum value and then decreases. Interestingly PSI also shows similar trend

Non-adiabatic pumping in an oscillating-piston model

We consider the prototypical "piston pump" operating on a ring, where a circulating current is induced by means of an AC driving. This can be regarded as a generalized Fermi-Ulam model, incorporating a finite-height moving wall (piston) and non trivial topology (ring). The amount of particles transported per cycle is determined by a layered structure of phase-space. Each layer is characterized by a different drift velocity. We discuss the differences compared with the adiabatic and Boltzmann pictures, and highlight the significance of the "diabatic" contribution that might lead to a counter-stirring effect.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, improved versio

The Effectiveness of Teleglaucoma versus In-Patient Examination for Glaucoma Screening: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible visual impairment in the world affecting 60.5 million people worldwide in 2010, which is expected to increase to approximately 79.6 million by 2020. Therefore, glaucoma screening is important to detect, diagnose, and treat patients at the earlier stages to prevent disease progression and vision loss. Teleglaucoma uses stereoscopic digital imaging to take ocular images, which are transmitted electronically to an ocular specialist. The purpose is to synthesize literature to evaluate teleglaucoma, its diagnostic accuracy, healthcare system benefits, and cost-effectiveness. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted to help locate published and unpublished studies. Studies which evaluate teleglaucoma as a screening device for glaucoma were included. A meta-analysis was conducted to provide estimates of diagnostic accuracy, diagnostic odds ratio, and the relative percentage of glaucoma cases detected. The improvements to healthcare service quality and cost data were assessed. RESULTS: Of 11237 studies reviewed, 45 were included. Our results indicated that, teleglaucoma is more specific and less sensitive than in-person examination. The pooled estimates of sensitivity was 0.832 [95% CI 0.770, 0.881] and specificity was 0.790 [95% CI 0.668, 0.876]. The relative odds of a positive screen test in glaucoma cases are 18.7 times more likely than a negative screen test in a non-glaucoma cases. Additionally, the mean cost for every case of glaucoma detected was $1098.67 US and of teleglaucoma per patient screened was$922.77 US. CONCLUSION: Teleglaucoma can accurately discriminate between screen test results with greater odds for positive cases. It detects more cases of glaucoma than in-person examination. Both patients and the healthcare systems benefit from early detection, reduction in wait and travel times, increased specialist referral rates, and cost savings. Teleglaucoma is an effective screening tool for glaucoma specifically for remote and under-services communities

Autonomy supportive environments and mastery as basic factors to motivate physical activity in children: a controlled laboratory study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Choice promotes the experience of autonomy, which enhances intrinsic motivation. Providing a greater choice of traditional active toys may increase children's activity time. Mastery also increases intrinsic motivation and is designed into exergames, which may increase play time of a single exergame, reducing the need for choice to motivate activity compared to traditional active toys. Providing both choice and mastery could be most efficacious at increasing activity time. The energy expenditure (EE) of an active play session is dependent on the duration of play and the rate of EE during play. The rate of EE of exergames and the same game played in traditional fashion is not known. The purpose was to test the basic parameters of choice and mastery on children's physical activity time, activity intensity, and energy expenditure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>44 children were assigned to low (1 toy) or high (3 toys) choice groups. Children completed 60 min sessions with access to traditional active toys on one visit and exergame versions of the same active toys on another visit.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Choice had a greater effect on increasing girls' (146%) than boys' (23%) activity time and on girls' (230%) than boys' (minus 24%) activity intensity. When provided choice, girls' activity time and intensity were no longer lower than boys' activity time and intensity. The combination of choice and mastery by providing access to 3 exergames produced greater increases in physical activity time (1 toy 22.5 min, 3 toys 41.4 min) than choice alone via access to 3 traditional games (1 toy 13.6 min, 3 toys 19.5 min). Energy expenditure was 83% greater when engaging in traditional games than exergames.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Boys and girls differ in their behavioral responses to autonomy supportive environments. By providing girls with greater autonomy they can be motivated to engage in physical activity equal to boys. An environment that provides both autonomy and mastery is most efficacious at increasing physical activity time. Though children play exergames 87% longer than traditional games, the rate of energy expenditure is 83% lower for exergames than traditional indoor versions of the same games.</p

Effects of Local Weather Variation on Water-column Stratification and Hypoxia in the Western, Sandusky, and Central Basins of Lake Erie

Hypoxia, low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations (<2 mg/L), has been a major issue in Lake Erie for decades. While much emphasis has been placed on biological factors, particularly algal blooms, contributing to hypolimnetic oxygen depletion, there has been little focus on the role of weather. For this study, we monitored water temperature and DO concentrations at sites in the western, central, and Sandusky basins in Lake Erie during June and July 2010–2012. We then compared trends in stratification and DO concentrations to weather patterns during that period. We found that during those three years, there was significant variation in weather patterns, particularly decreased ice coverage and increased storm events in 2012. These weather patterns corresponded to 2012 having the warmest water temperatures, some of the lowest DO concentrations, and a deeper and thinner hypolimnion (especially in the central basin) than the previous years. We found a relationship between weather and hypoxia, providing further evidence for why these basins are susceptible to low DO conditions during summer months. The role of weather in hypoxia is another indication that the lake is vulnerable to effects of climate change and should be considered in management strategies

Efficient and Robust Approaches for Analysis of SMARTs: Illustration using the ADAPT-R Trial

Personalized intervention strategies, in particular those that modify treatment based on a participant's own response, are a core component of precision medicine approaches. Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trials (SMARTs) are growing in popularity and are specifically designed to facilitate the evaluation of sequential adaptive strategies, in particular those embedded within the SMART. Advances in efficient estimation approaches that are able to incorporate machine learning while retaining valid inference can allow for more precise estimates of the effectiveness of these embedded regimes. However, to the best of our knowledge, such approaches have not yet been applied as the primary analysis in SMART trials. In this paper, we present a robust and efficient approach using Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation (TMLE) for estimating and contrasting expected outcomes under the dynamic regimes embedded in a SMART, together with generating simultaneous confidence intervals for the resulting estimates. We contrast this method with two alternatives (G-computation and Inverse Probability Weighting estimators). The precision gains and robust inference achievable through the use of TMLE to evaluate the effects of embedded regimes are illustrated using both outcome-blind simulations and a real data analysis from the Adaptive Strategies for Preventing and Treating Lapses of Retention in HIV Care (ADAPT-R) trial (NCT02338739), a SMART with a primary aim of identifying strategies to improve retention in HIV care among people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

Correction: Zare et al. Encapsulation of miRNA and siRNA into Nanomaterials for Cancer Therapeutics. Pharmaceutics 2022, 14, 1620

In the original publication [...

Correction: Zare et al. Encapsulation of miRNA and siRNA into Nanomaterials for Cancer Therapeutics. Pharmaceutics 2022, 14, 1620

In the original publication [...