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Commercialising Sustainable Energy Research and Development for Small and Medium-Sized Energy Companies
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to investigate the commercialisation of sustainable energy research and development for small
and medium-sized energy companies. The use of the case study approach has allowed the findings to be intrinsically
linked. This has enabled the results to be interpreted ideographically in terms of the case particulars. Information has not
been interpreted nomothetically thus ensuring that there are no law-like generalisations inferred. Three case studies have
been undertaken in the energy sector and these are reported according to the company background, research and
development and conclusions. It is found that an appropriately designed Sustainable Energy business model provides the
opportunity to overcome key barriers and challenges to commercialising sustainable energy research and development
for small and medium-sized energy companies. The paper indicates that innovative revenue models will enable
Sustainable Energy research to be undertaken by small and medium-sized energy companies to maximise their activities
Examining the effects of celebrity trust on advertising credibility, brand credibility and corporate credibility
Get PDFDrawing on signalling theory, this study aims to fill a gap in knowledge by examining the effects of celebrity trust on advertising credibility, brand credibility and corporate credibility, both directly and based on the moderating variables of age, gender and ethnicity. The research has three objectives: (i) to explore the effects of celebrity trust on advertising credibility, brand credibility and corporate credibility; (ii) to explore the effects of celebrity trust on advertising credibility, brand credibility and corporate credibility, based on the moderating effects of consumer demographics; and (iii) to explore the effects of the other constructs on each other, i.e. advertising credibility on brand credibility and corporate credibility, and brand credibility on corporate credibility. For this purpose, a survey of 625 respondents was conducted in London. The empirical results show that celebrity trust has a positive effect on both advertising credibility and brand credibility, and that these effects are moderated by consumers’ ethnicity, with no obvious effects of age or gender. No effect was found on corporate credibility. The effects of advertising credibility on brand credibility and corporate credibility, and of brand credibility on corporate credibility, were found to be significant. The significant implications for managers and researchers are highlighted
C-Reactive Protein-guided antibiotic prescribing for COPD exacerbations: a qualitative evaluation
Get PDFBackground: Antibiotics are prescribed to over 70% of patients presenting in primary care with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). The PACE randomised controlled trial found that a C-reactive protein point-of care test (CRP-POCT) management strategy resulted in a 20% reduction in patient-reported antibiotic consumption over four weeks following consultations for AECOPD in primary care.
Aim: To understand perceptions of the value of CRP-POCT for guiding antibiotic prescribing for AECOPD; explore possible mechanisms, mediators, and pathways through which the intervention had its effects, and; identify potential barriers and facilitators to implementation from the perspectives of patients and clinicians. Design and setting: Qualitative process evaluation in UK general practices. Method: Semi-structured telephone interviews with 20 patients presenting with an AECOPD and 20 primary care staff, purposively sampled from the PACE study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using framework analysis. Results: Patients and clinicians felt that CRP-POCT was useful in guiding clinicians’ decisions about prescribing antibiotics for AECOPD, and were positive aboutintroduction of the test in routine care. The CRP-POCT enhanced clinician confidencein antibiotic prescribing decisions, reduced decisional ambiguity, and facilitated communication with patients. Some clinicians thought the CRP-POCT should be routinely used in consultations for AECOPD, others favoured use only when there was decisional uncertainty. CRP-POCT cartridge preparation time and cost were potential barriers to implementation. Conclusions: CRP-POCT guided antibiotic prescribing for AECOPD had high acceptability, but commissioning arrangements and further simplification of the point-of-care test need attention to facilitate implementation in routine practice
Oxidative stress, telomeres and cellular senescence: What non-drug interventions might break the link?
Get PDFTelomeres are higher order structures that cap and protect chromosome ends. Telomeric DNA naturally shortens during somatic cell division and as a result of oxidative stress. Excessive shortening disrupts the integrity of the telomere, causing cellular senescence, one of the hallmarks of organismal ageing. The accumulation of senescent cells with ageing contributes to the loss of tissue homeostasis and the development of age-related pathologies. Hence, counteracting telomere shortening may be one relevant approach to develop strategies for healthier ageing. In this review I present the case for the existence of a link between oxidative stress, accelerated telomere shortening and cellular senescence. I also examine findings from human observational studies exploring associations between telomere length and oxidative stress-related parameters. Finally, I discuss results from randomised control trials testing the impact of non-pharmacological lifestyle interventions on the maintenance of telomere length, considering the potential mechanisms that might be involved
A GHG Metric Methodology to Assess Onsite Buildings Non-Potable Water System for Outdoor Landscape Use
Get PDFThis paper documents a water:energy greenhouse gas (GHG) metric methodology for a decentralized non-potable water system that was developed as part of a Professional Doctorate in Engineering (DEng) research project by the first author. The project identified the need to investigate the challenges in changing the use of potable water to recycled water for landscape irrigation (LI) and for water features (WFs) at a medical facility case study (MFCS) in Abu Dhabi (AD) (the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The drivers for the research project were based on the need for AD to decrease desalinated potable water as well as reduce the environmental impact and operational costs associated with the processing and use of desalinated water. Thus, the aim of the research discussed and presented in this paper was to measure the impact of using recycled and onsite non-potable water sources at the MFCS to alleviate the use of desalinated potable water and reduce associated energy consumption, operational costs, and GHG emissions (latterly in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), for LI and WFs. The analysis of three case scenarios at the MFCS compared different approaches to alleviate energy use, costs, and GHG impacts for the use of recycled water in LI and WFs against a baseline. The findings led to a proposed sustainable water conservation and reuse (SWC) strategy, which helped save 50% desalinated potable water for LI use by soil improvement, building water system audits, and alternate non-potable water reuse. The recommendations for this paper are to develop a SWC strategy forming the basis for a water protocol by the competent authority for regional medical facilities including an assessment methodology for building decentralized non-potable water systems to measure their energy, GHG emissions and financial impact
Evaluating additive manufacturing for the production of custom head supports: A comparison against a commercial head support under static loading conditions
Get PDFThe provision of wheelchair seating accessories, such as head supports, is often limited to the use of commercial products. Additive manufacturing has the potential to produce custom seating components, but there are very few examples of published work. This article reports a method of utilising 3D scanning, computer-aided design and additive manufacturing for the fabrication of a custom head support for a wheelchair. Three custom head supports, of the same shape, were manufactured in nylon using a continuous filament fabrication machine. The custom head supports were tested against an equivalent and widely used commercial head support using ISO 16840-3:2014. The head supports were statically loaded in two configurations, one modelling a posterior force on the inner rear surface and the other modelling a lateral force on the side. The posterior force resulted in failure of the supporting bracketry before the custom head support. A similar magnitude of forces was applied laterally for the custom and commercial head support. When the load was removed, the custom recovered to its original shape while the commercial sustained plastic deformation. The addition of a joint in the head support increased the maximum displacement, 128.6 mm compared to 71.7 mm, and the use of carbon fibre resulted in the head support sustaining a higher force at larger displacements, increase in 30 N. Based on the deformation and recovery characteristics, the results indicate that additive manufacturing could be an appropriate method to produce lighter weight, highly customised, cost-effective and safe head supports for wheelchair users
Water resource management in the context of a non-potable water reuse case study in arid climate
Get PDFThis study evaluates an existing non-potable water system serving outdoor services for a medical facility
case study (MFCS) in Abu Dhabi (AD), United Arab Emirates, using mixed methods research to identify water
demand and availability of non-potable water, and to optimize water reuse for reducing waste, energy consumption
and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The MFCS footprint
includes 50% landscaping. The water used for irrigation is
from non-clinical/non-potable water, treated condensate
water, a by-product of air conditioning. For 5 months per
year, there is a predicted non-potable water deficit, so costly
and non-sustainable desalinated potable water is required for
irrigation. The findings include that there is a nonpotable water deficit due to an excessive consumption for
landscape irrigation (LI) and water features (WF), and that
177,288 m3 of condensate and desalinated water was wasted
(equivalent to 71 Olympic swimming pools). The contribution of this research is to demonstrate that water wastage, a
contributor to GHG emissions, is due to inadequate field
testing and verification, water tank storage problems and a
lack of LI and WF water demand management. Strategies to
address these issues are suggested and will be useful to
building owners, operations and maintenance teams and
facility managers to substantially decrease water consumption in any type of buildings with a non-potable water system, as well as helping AD to achieve its target of a 22%
reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 (Environment AgencyAbu Dhabi (EAD 2017))
The Influence of Maturity Status on Muscle Architecture in School-Aged Boys
Get PDFPurpose: To determine the differences in muscle architecture of the lower limb in pre-peak height velocity (PHV), circa-PHV, and post-PHV boys. Method: Muscle architecture variables from both the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and vastus lateralis (VL) were derived from ultrasonographic images in 126 school-aged boys. One-way analysis of variance using Bonferroni post hoc comparisons was employed to determine between-group differences, and effect sizes were calculated to establish the magnitude of these differences. Results: All muscle architecture variables showed significant small to large increases from pre-PHV to post-PHV, excluding GM fascicle length (d = 0.59–1.39; P 0.57; P < .05); however, only the VL muscle thickness and physiological thickness increased from circa-PHV to post-PHV (d = 0.68; P < .05). The post-PHV group also showed larger GM pennation angles than the circa-PHV group (d = 0.59; P < .05). Conclusion: The combined results showed that maturation is associated with changes in muscle morphology. These data quantify that the maturity-related changes in muscle architecture variables provide a reference to differentiate between training-induced adaptations versus changes associated with normal growth and maturation
Dopaminergic Progenitors Derived From Epiblast Stem Cells Function Similarly to Primary VM-Derived Progenitors When Transplanted Into a Parkinson’s Disease Model
Get PDFNeural transplantation in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) offers to replace cells lost during the progression of the disease process. Primary fetal ventral mesencephalon (VM), the origin of bona fide midbrain dopaminergic (DAergic) precursors, is currently the gold standard source of cells for transplantation in PD. However, the use of tissue from this source raises ethical and logistical constraints necessitating the need for alternative supplies of donor cells. The requirement of any alternative donor cell source is to have the capability to generate authentic mature DAergic neurons, which could be utilized in cell-replacement strategies. Mouse pluripotent stem cells can efficiently generate electrochemically mature midbrain DAergic precursors in vitro using a stepwise control of FGF signaling. Here, we have compared DAergic transplants derived from two progenitor cell sources in an allograft system: mouse epiblast stem cells (EpiSC) and primary fetal mouse VM tissue. Cells were transplanted into the striatum of 6-OHDA lesioned mice pre-treated with L-DOPA. Drug-induced rotations, a number of motor tests and drug-induced abnormal involuntary movements (AIMs) were assessed. Functional improvements were demonstrated post-transplantation in some behavioral tests, with no difference in graft volume or the number of TH immuno-positive cells in the grafts of the two transplant groups. L-DOPA-induced AIMs and amphetamine-induced AIMs were observed in both transplant groups, with no differences in rate or severity between the two groups. Collectively, in this mouse-to-mouse allograft system, we report no significant differences in the functional ability between the gold standard primary VM derived and pluripotent stem cell-derived DAergic transplants
A case study of food handler hand hygiene compliance in high-care and high-risk food manufacturing environments using covert-observation
Get PDFObservation of behaviour is superior to cognitive data, which does not equate to behaviour. Covert-observation is seldom used in food manufacturing to assess behaviour. In this case study, closed-circuit-television footage (15h) in a business were reviewed to assess hand hygiene compliance using an electronic-checklist. Hand hygiene attempts were observed prior to entering high-risk (cake/pie)(n=47) and high-care (sandwich/salad)(n=153) production areas. Business hand hygiene protocol required handwashing durations ≥20s. Observed durations ranged 1–71s, 98% of observed attempts before entering production areas did not comply with the protocol. Observed non-compliant practices may have implications for food safety in manufacturing