Climate change and fuel poverty

The research examined the possible effects of rapid climate change on fuel poverty (needing to spend more than 10% of income to maintain a satisfactory level of warmth and other energy services in the home). One particular concern was the prospect that there might be a shutting off of the Gulf Stream, which warms Britain and the rest of north-western Europe. Computer simulations of the climate indicate that shutting down the Gulf Stream would cool England by about 3°C. Climate is not the only variable that will affect future levels of fuel poverty. The other main ones are what will happen to the energy efficiency of the building stock, to incomes and to energy prices. The aim of the project was to examine what might happen to each of these four dimensions and construct three scenarios in each dimension (most likely, high and low) to capture the range of variation in possible outcomes. A total of 81 (3x3x3x3) scenarios were modelled and analysed. Since any changes in the climate system take decadesto play out, but it is extremely difficult to predict social, economic and technological changes even 25 years in the future, it was decided to set an objective for this research of looking forward to 2030.

Sustainability: a survey and critical analysis

The terms 'sustainability' and 'sustainable development' have been widely used in the context of environmental issues since the 1987 Brundtland Report, but there has been controversy about what they mean, if anything. This thesis examines how a concept like sustainability is used to attempt to change the world and how, conversely, its meaning is changed by the political context in which it is used. Some people have seen sustainable development as an attempt to co-opt environmentalist concerns, rather than a genuine shift in approach.This thesis examines the contemporary debate about sustainability and its historical origins in wider concerns about Progress that have been present since the beginning of the modern age at the end of the eighteenth century, but were largely dormant from the middle of the nineteenth century until the 1970s. Following a review of literature, many of the key players in the debates of the last twenty years were personally interviewed. Sustainability is shown to be a concept coined by environmentalists in the 1970s to counter criticism that concern about the environment was unimportant relative to social problems like poverty. It also had the advantage that it placed opponents of environmentalism on the rhetorical defensive.The thesis explores the sharp debates in recent years as environmentalists and economists have struggled for control of the concept. It shows how adoption of the concept of sustainability requires a rethinking of the utilitarian philosophy that has been the ethical basis for economic theory to date. It also shows that environmentalists have retreated from simplistic neo-Malthusian thinking about economic growth.The uptake of the idea of sustainability is seen as marking a loss of confidence in the modern age's identification of Progress with crude domination of nature. There is growing acceptance of the idea of physical limits in view of the increasing evidence. Paradoxically, the concept of sustainability is based on criticism of modernity's approach to nature but retains modernity's optimism about the rational control of society. The recent collapse of confidence in socialism has underlined scepticism about that aspect of modernity just as much as the environmental crisis has undermined its goal of the domination of nature

Charging for Domestic Waste: combining environmental nd equity considerations

Compared with most other EU member states, the UK has relatively low rate of recycling of household waste, and sends a relatively high proportion of disposal in landfill. Under the provisions of the EU Landfill Directive, this situation will hve to change radically in the next ten years, with much less waste being sent to landfill, in a context in which the qunaity of household waste continues to increse at about 3% per year. A number of national policy documents have in recent years proposed how this challenge might be addresed, most recently the report from the Strategy Unit in 2002, Waste Not, Want Not.

The Distributional Impacts of Economic Instruments to Limit Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transport

The research reported in this was conducted under the project The Social Impacts of Environmental Taxes: Removing Regressivity, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation under it Programme on Environment and Social Concerns. The project is investigating the social implications of environmental taxes and charges in relation to four environmental issues - the household use of energy, water and transport, and the generation of waste. The is a report of the component on the household use of transport.

Towards the Design of Environmentally and Socially Conscious Water Metering Tariff

The research reported in this paper was conducted under the project 'The Social Impacts of Environmental Taxes: Removing Regressivity', funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation under its Prograamme on Environment and Social Concerns. The project is investigating the socil implications of environmental txtes and charges in realtion to four environment issues - the household use of energy, water and transport, and the generation of waste. The is a report of the component on the household use of water.

Economic Instruments for a Socially Neutral Nationl Home Energy Efficiency Programme

The research reported in this paper was conducted under the project 'The Social Impacts of Environmental Taxes: Removing Regressivity', funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation under its Prograamme on Environment and Social Concerns. The project is investigating the socil implications of environmental txtes and charges in realtion to four environment issues - the household use of energy, water and transport, and the generation of waste. The is a report of the component on the household use of energy.

Analysis of blood transfusion predictors in patients undergoing elective oesophagectomy for cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Oesophagectomy for cancers is a major operation with significant blood loss and usage. Concerns exist about the side effects of blood transfusion, cost and availability of donated blood. We are not aware of any previous study that has evaluated predictive factors for perioperative blood transfusion in patients undergoing elective oesophagectomy for cancer.</p> <p>This study aimed to audit the pattern of blood crossmatch and to evaluate factors predictive of transfusion requirements in oesophagectomy patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data was collected from the database of all patients who underwent oesophagectomy for cancer over a 2-year period. Clinico-pathological data collected included patients demographics, clinical factors, tumour histopathological data, preoperative and discharge haemoglobin levels, total blood loss, number of units of blood crossmatched pre-, intra- and postoperatively, number of blood units transfused, crossmatched units reused for another patient and number of blood units wasted.</p> <p>Clinico-pathological variables were evaluated and logistic regression analysis was performed to determine which factors were predictive of blood transfusion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 145 patients with a male to female ratio of 2.5:1 and median age of 68 (40–85) years were audited. The mean preoperative haemoglobin (Hb) was 13.0 g/dl. 37% of males (Hb < 13.0 g/dl) and 29% of females (Hb < 11.5 g/dl) were anaemic preoperatively. A total of 1241 blood units were crossmatched and 316 units were transfused to 71 patients. Seventy four patients (51%) did not require blood transfusion during their hospital episode. 846 blood units not used for oesophagectomy patients were reused for other patients and 79 units were wasted. The overall crossmatch to transfusion ratio was 4:1 and reuse and wastage rates were 65.2% and 6.3% respectively. The independent predictors of blood transfusion include age >70 years, Hb level <11.0 g/dl, T-stage, presence of postoperative complications and anastomotic leak.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The cohort of patients audited was over-crossmatched. The identified independent predictors of blood transfusion should be considered in preoperative blood ordering for oesophagectomy patients. This study has directly led to a reduction in the maximum surgical blood-ordering schedule for oesophagectomy to 2 units and a reaudit is underway.</p

Interleukin-10 inhibits osteoclastogenesis by reducing NFATc1 expression and preventing its translocation to the nucleus

BACKGROUND: IL-10 has a potent inhibitory effect on osteoclastogenesis. In vitro and in vivo studies confirm the importance of this cytokine in bone metabolism, for instance IL-10-deficient mice develop the hallmarks of osteoporosis. Although it is known that IL-10 directly inhibits osteoclastogenesis at an early stage, preventing differentiation of osteoclast progenitors to preosteoclasts, the precise mechanism of its action is not yet clear. Several major pathways regulate osteoclastogenesis, with key signalling genes such as p38, TRAF6, NF-κB and NFATc1 well established as playing vital roles. We have looked at gene expression in eleven of these genes using real-time quantitative PCR on RNA extracted from RANKL-treated RAW264.7 monocytes. RESULTS: There was no downregulation by IL-10 of DAP12, FcγRIIB, c-jun, RANK, TRAF6, p38, NF-κB, Gab2, Pim-1, or c-Fos at the mRNA level. However, we found that IL-10 significantly reduces RANKL-induced NFATc1 expression. NFATc1 is transcribed from two alternative promoters in Mus musculus and, interestingly, only the variant transcribed from promoter P1 and beginning with exon 1 was downregulated by IL-10 (isoform 1). In addition, immunofluorescence studies showed that IL-10 reduces NFATc1 levels in RANKL-treated precursors and suppresses nuclear translocation. The inhibitory effect of IL-10 on tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-positive cell number and NFATc1 mRNA expression was reversed by the protein kinase C agonist phorbol myristate acetate, providing evidence that interleukin-10 disrupts NFATc1 activity through its effect on Ca(2+ )mobilisation. CONCLUSION: IL-10 acts directly on mononuclear precursors to inhibit NFATc1 expression and nuclear translocation, and we provide evidence that the mechanism may involve disruption of Ca(2+ )mobilisation. We detected downregulation only of the NFATc1 isoform 1 transcribed from promoter P1. This is the first report indicating that one of the ways in which IL-10 directly inhibits osteoclastogenesis is by suppressing NFATc1 activity

From Computer Metaphor to Computational Modeling: The Evolution of Computationalism

In this paper, I argue that computationalism is a progressive research tradition. Its metaphysical assumptions are that nervous systems are computational, and that information processing is necessary for cognition to occur. First, the primary reasons why information processing should explain cognition are reviewed. Then I argue that early formulations of these reasons are outdated. However, by relying on the mechanistic account of physical computation, they can be recast in a compelling way. Next, I contrast two computational models of working memory to show how modeling has progressed over the years. The methodological assumptions of new modeling work are best understood in the mechanistic framework, which is evidenced by the way in which models are empirically validated. Moreover, the methodological and theoretical progress in computational neuroscience vindicates the new mechanistic approach to explanation, which, at the same time, justifies the best practices of computational modeling. Overall, computational modeling is deservedly successful in cognitive (neuro)science. Its successes are related to deep conceptual connections between cognition and computation. Computationalism is not only here to stay, it becomes stronger every year

Els Principis de la sostenibilitat

Bibliografia p. 215-224La sostenibilitat és, sens dubte, un tema d'actualitat omnipresent i alhora ple d'incerteses, en què manquen conceptes prou definits. L'autor hi aporta una visió panoràmica que analitza els orígens i l'evolució de les idees que han deixat empremta, no tan sols en els debats acadèmics, científics, polítics i socials, sinó també en les grans decisions internacionals que volen incidir en un canvi de paradigma en la relació dels humans entre ells mateixos i amb la seva casa comuna actual. Molt més enllà dels límits i dels consensos que s'han establert sobre el "desenvolupament sostenible", l'autor intenta aportar respostes al tema complex de quin és el futur de la sostenibilitat en l'actual context internacional de crisi i necessitat de canvis estructurals