147 research outputs found
Climate impacts of energy technologies depend on emissions timing
No full textEnergy technologies emit greenhouse gases with differing radiative efficiencies and atmospheric lifetimes. Standard practice for evaluating technologies, which uses the global warming potential (GWP) to compare the integrated radiative forcing of emitted gases over a fixed time horizon, does not acknowledge the importance of a changing background climate relative to climate change mitigation targets. Here we demonstrate that the GWP misvalues the impact of CH[subscript 4]-emitting technologies as mid-century approaches, and we propose a new class of metrics to evaluate technologies based on their time of use. The instantaneous climate impact (ICI) compares gases in an expected radiative forcing stabilization year, and the cumulative climate impact (CCI) compares their time-integrated radiative forcing up to a stabilization year. Using these dynamic metrics, we quantify the climate impacts of technologies and show that high-CH[subscript 4]-emitting energy sources become less advantageous over time. The impact of natural gas for transportation, with CH[subscript 4] leakage, exceeds that of gasoline within 1–2 decades for a commonly cited 3 W m[superscript −2] stabilization target. The impact of algae biodiesel overtakes that of corn ethanol within 2–3 decades, where algae co-products are used to produce biogas and corn co-products are used for animal feed. The proposed metrics capture the changing importance of CH[subscript 4] emissions as a climate threshold is approached, thereby addressing a major shortcoming of the GWP for technology evaluation.New England University Transportation Center (DOT Grant DTRT07-G-0001
Methane mitigation timelines to inform energy technology evaluation
No full textEnergy technologies emitting differing proportions of methane (CH[subscript 4]) and carbon dioxide (CO[subscript 2]) vary significantly in their relative climate impacts over time, due to the distinct atmospheric lifetimes and radiative efficiencies of the two gases. Standard technology comparisons using the global warming potential (GWP) with a fixed time horizon do not account for the timing of emissions in relation to climate policy goals. Here we develop a portfolio optimization model that incorporates changes in technology impacts based on the temporal proximity of emissions to a radiative forcing (RF) stabilization target. An optimal portfolio, maximizing allowed energy consumption while meeting the RF target, is obtained by year-wise minimization of the marginal RF impact in an intended stabilization year. The optimal portfolio calls for using certain higher-CH[subscript 4]-emitting technologies prior to an optimal switching year, followed by CH[subscript 4]-light technologies as the stabilization year approaches. We apply the model to evaluate transportation technology pairs and find that accounting for dynamic emissions impacts, in place of using the static GWP, can result in CH[subscript 4] mitigation timelines and technology transitions that allow for significantly greater energy consumption while meeting a climate policy target. The results can inform the forward-looking evaluation of energy technologies by engineers, private investors, and policy makers.MIT Energy InitiativeMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Charles E. Reed Faculty Initiative FundNew England University Transportation Center (DOT Grant DTRT12-G-UTC01)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship (Grant 1122374
'Giving honour to the Spirit' : a critical analysis and evaluation of the doctrine of pneumatological union in the Trinitarian theology of Jonathan Edwards in dialogue with Karl Barth
No full textThe extent to which the 'honour' of the Spirit influenced the theology of
Jonathan Edwards is a hitherto underdeveloped theme. Against a backdrop of
Patristic thought and in dialogue with the theology of Karl Barth, evaluation is
made of pneumatological union in Edwards' Trinitarian theology as this centres
on the nature and inter-relatedness of the 'three unions' that characterize his
theology: the union of the three Persons of the Trinity, the union of the saints
with God, and the union of the divine and human natures of Christ.
Edwards' seeks to honour the Spirit as the mutual love of the Father for the Son
within his Augustinian, Lockean model of the immanent Trinity, and as 'Person'
in the economy. The challenges of doing so within the limits of this
psychological model of the Trinity are evaluated in dialogue with the
Cappadocian Fathers and Barth.
In a manner patterned after union in the Trinity, Edwards gave prominence to the
concept of the pneumatological union of the saints with God in Christ, in
fulfilment of the self-glorifying purpose of God in creation and redemption.
Edwards' experiential theology of conversion, and his elevation of subjective
sanctification by the Spirit over objective justification in Christ, for assurance, is
contrasted with Barth's greater emphases on the Christological union of God
with humanity and objective justification in Christ. Barth's more contemplative
approach is contrasted with the overly introspective spirituality of Edwards.
Edwards' view of the role of the Spirit in the hypostatic union of God with
humanity in Christ, which is reflective of the other unions, is also evaluated in
light of Patristic, Reformed-Puritan and Barthian thought on the nature of the
humanity Christ assumed, and the doctrine of the vicarious humanity of Christ. A
more emphatic incarnational emphasis may have saved Edwards' Spirit-
honouring spirituality from an anthropocentricity which is ironical given that the
glory of God is his ontic doxological concern
Climate impact metrics for energy technology evaluation
No full textThesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-97).The climate change mitigation potential of energy technologies depends on how their lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions compare to global climate stabilization goals. Current methods for comparing technologies, which assess impacts over an arbitrary, fixed time horizon, do not acknowledge the critical link between technology choices and climate dynamics. In this thesis, I ask how we can use information about the temporal characteristics of greenhouse gases to design new metrics for comparing energy technologies. I propose two new metrics: the Cumulative Climate Impact (CCI) and Instantaneous Climate Impact (ICI). These metrics use limited information about the climate system, such as the year when stabilization occurs, to calculate tradeoffs between greenhouse gases, and hence the technologies that emit these gases. The CCI and ICI represent a middle ground between current metrics and commonly-proposed alternatives, in terms of their level of complexity and information requirements. I apply the CCI and ICI to evaluate the climate change mitigation potential of energy technologies in the transportation sector, with a focus on alternative fuels. I highlight key policy debates about the role of (a) natural gas as a "bridge" to a low carbon energy future and (b) third generation biofuels as a long-term energy solution. New metrics shed light on critical timing-related questions that current metrics gloss over. If natural gas is a bridge fuel, how long is this bridge? If algae biofuels are not commercially viable for the next twenty years, can they still provide a significant climate benefit? I simulate technology decisions using new metrics, and existing metrics like the Global Warming Potential (GWP), identifying the conditions where new metrics improve on existing methods as well as the conditions under which new metrics fail. I show that metrics of intermediate complexity, such as the CCI and ICI, provide a simple, reliable, and policy-relevant approach to technology evaluation and capture key features of the future climate system. I extend these insights to energy technologies in the electricity sector as well as a variety of environmental impact categories.by Morgan R. Edwards.S.M.in Technology and Polic
Greenhouse gas equivalency metrics for evaluating energy technologies
No full textThesis: Ph. D. in Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Engineering, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, 2017.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 127-137).This thesis addresses a long-standing question about how to compare energy technologies that emit different types of climate forcers during their life cycles. This problem is challenging because these forcers have dissimilar lifetimes in the atmosphere, ranging from days (black carbon) to decades (methane, CH 4) to centuries or more (carbon dioxide, CO2 ). Efforts to reduce the climate impacts of energy use may involve a tradeoff between these short-and long-lived emissions. Equivalency metrics, which express emissions of one forcer (e.g., CH4 ) in units of another (typically CO2), are widely-used tools for comparing the climate impacts of emissions. These metrics allow climate impacts to be expressed on a single scale, but they require assigning a relative value to short- versus long-lived climate forcing. The equivalency metric approach is used in a large variety of applications, from technology evaluation to emissions trading. These applications almost universally rely on a single metric, developed as a placeholder over twenty-five years ago. This metric, the global warming potential (GWP), compares gases based on their radiative forcing impacts over a fixed time horizon (usually 100 years). The design of the GWP, including critically the time horizon over which emissions are compared, is largely arbitrary, yet it has enormous implications for comparing the climate impacts of energy technologies and other emissions sources. Despite the practical and political importance of equivalency metrics, the scientific literature has not produced a consensus on how to design or choose these metrics. To address this gap in the literature, this thesis develops a new conceptual and quantitative modeling approach to link equivalency metric design to global climate policy goals. This procedure involves (a) formulating a set of goal-inspired equivalency metrics, (b) testing metrics by simulating the results when they are applied in real-world contexts, and (c) selecting metrics based on multiple performance criteria. We highlight two dimensions of metric performance: climate performance (i.e., whether metric-based decisions meet climate policy goals) and energy performance (i.e., whether these decisions support energy use, for example during a technology transition). No metric performs optimally across all criteria, and this approach allows us to quantify these performance tradeoffs. The central result of the thesis is that climate policy goals can be used to inspire equivalency metric design, and these goal-inspired metrics address key shortcomings of the GWP(100). Specifically, under a policy to limit global temperature change to 2°C (where radiative forcing levels stabilize around mid-century), a shorter time horizon is essential. We find that applying the GWP(100) in this policy context can lead to radiative forcing overshoots in excess of two thirds of the remaining budget. One set of goal-inspired metrics addresses this concern by reducing the time horizon over which emissions are compared as a radiative forcing limit is approached (Chapter 2). These metrics increase the impact value placed on short-lived CH4 (relative to long-lived CO2 ) over time. We find that this design reduces the risks of overshooting radiative forcing limits, despite inherent uncertainty in the timeline for reaching these limits (Chapter 3). Relative to other metrics that lead to similar peak radiative forcing outcomes, these goal-inspired metrics allow more energy use early on, which can help enable technology transitions (Chapter 4). Applying these goal-inspired metrics to evaluate natural gas suggests that the mitigation benefits of this high-CH 4-emitting fuel will decrease significantly in the coming years. For example, under a radiative forcing limit consistent with a 2°C temperature change policy, the climate impact of natural gas electricity increases from 50% that of coal to 80% by mid-century (Chapter 2). Similar results apply to transportation fuels with high CH4 (or black carbon) emissions (Chapter 2, Chapter 5). This result draws into question large investments in technologies and long-lived infrastructure with high life cycle CH4 emissions - and provides a quantitative basis for calculating timelines to reduce the CH4 intensity of these technologies or transition to lower-emitting technologies. A bridging strategy, where technologies with high CH4 emissions are followed by those with lower emissions, permits greater overall energy consumption while meeting climate policy targets (Chapter 5).by Morgan R. Edwards.Ph. D. in Engineering System
Dance is Second Nature: Movement for Movements—Dance Activism for Transformation, Environmental, and Eco-Dance Æffects
No full textSite-specific dance may be the intersection of dance education and outdoor education, and screendance may further interconnect them with 21st-century skills. The research has called the author to provide substance showing this in association with dance education, because this is dance activism, in support of—but not limited to—environmental justice. Indeed, environmental screendance may be the interweaving of those crosspoints braided with environmental and social sciences in addition to experiential education. As one who has much experience with dancing outdoors, especially having experienced living in rural areas, herein is substance supporting the expansion of the curriculum to gain both health and wealth in this style of learning while also learning sustainable education. If the interconnectedness of artistic (specifically, performance-based dance), scientific, historical, and technological subject matters can be more drawn upon, presented, and delivered in curriculum, then perhaps (re)connection, (re)discovery, reciprocity, and stewardship may be the æffects, bringing each and all another step closer to achieving much-needed transformation. This dancing author has created an Eco-Dance ART(if)ACT for individuals—or Self, for humanity—or People, and for Planet—Earth
Explorations of the Policy Drive to Foster a Research Culture within the University of the Highlands and Islands
No full textThis study focuses on the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) modelled on a federal, collegiate university based on a number of existing and geographically dispersed Further Education (FE) colleges and research institutions. The inclusion of FE colleges and their geographical dispersal distinguishes it from most mainstream institutions. The UHI was heralded by its advocates as a distinctively radical enterprise designed to meet the fast-moving challenges of the twenty-first century by embracing new technologies and overcoming geographical barriers. After attaining Higher Education (HE) status in 2001, the policy goal of fostering a research culture emerged as a prominent concern for the UHI. This study explores the policy drive to foster such a research culture, focusing on the period from 2003 to 2008.
The study was informed by a constructivist grounded theory methodological approach and the data gathering included twenty-six semi-structured interviews to ascertain how this policy drive was received within the UHI partners. The study found that a unified research culture was not perceived to have embedded throughout the partners, with the exception of one or two research institutions where it can be said to have pre-existed. Against this backdrop, the study identified emerging discourses encapsulating how the policy drive was perceived by a wide spectrum of different actors throughout the UHI. Two different types of performativity discourses proved to be central in shaping the policy aspiration, namely a ‘RAE performativity discourse’ and a ‘Further Education (FE) performativity discourse’. Both discourses can be seen to have influenced the trajectory of research expansionist policy within the UHI by setting up a normative space privileging certain identities, subjectivities and associated actions at the expense of others.
In highlighting both the structural and socio-cultural barriers to the policy of promoting research, the study aims to contribute to wider debates on institutional policies for building research capacity in a dual sector/hybrid institutional setting. In terms of offering direct benefits to the UHI, by analysing the different sort of assumptions and realities that shape the meaning of a research culture within the UHI, this study may help inform future policy making on research expansion within UHI partners. The study concludes by making a number of practical recommendations which the author believes will help move research from the periphery to a more central stage within the UHI partners
Editors' Page
No full textGo To >>Top A decade ago, two new editors took over the reins at Historical Records of Australian Science (HRAS) as the journal moved to online publication. Although there were no longer printed copies of the journal, the traditional practice of publishing was retained, in that following peer review papers accepted for publication and editing were held for release in one of the two issues that constituted the annual volume. Along the way, HRAS introduced something that was only possible with non-print publication and widely adopted by other journals: finished papers were published online-early, with definitive document identifiers (DOIs), and final pagination was added when the issue was published.Now HRAS, along with most of the journals published by CSIRO Publishing, is adopting another of these global changes, continuous publication. Under this system, at the point where a paper would have been published online-early, as described above, the definitive publication will take place. A reference to a paper published in the new system would look like this—Weigold, E., Petrovic, Z. L. and Buckman, S. J. (2025) Robert Woodhouse Crompton 1926–2022, Historical Records of Australian Science 36, HR24028. doi:10.1071/HR24028—and it would only have internal page numbers (1–8, in this case). Papers published in this way will appear on the HRAS website, and twice a year they will be collected in date order for an issue of the journal. This would normally take place in June and December. More details of the new publishing system are available at https://www.publish.csiro.au/HR/Continuouspublication. The papers already published online in 2024 and the start of 2025 have been reformatted for continuous publication, and they will be included in the first issue for 2025 (Volume 36 (1)). Smoothing out the transition, this will appear in April, and be followed by 36(2) in December. Book Reviews and the annual Bibliography of the History of Australian Science will continue to appear as they are accepted.Starting in 2021 CSIRO Publishing has signed Read and Publish agreements (https://www.publish.csiro.au/an/forauthors/ReadandPublish) with a number of institutions that make papers by their authors Open Access—that is, freely available without charge to author or reader with clear licences that allow for further sharing and reuse. There will be no change to this under a continuous publication model.We take this opportunity to thank Dr Sara Maroske for her leadership over the past decade. As an editor, sometimes an author, and always a strong advocate for HRAS, she has attracted authors to the journal, broadened its scope and interested new readers. Sara has resigned to concentrate on other aspects of her scholarly work, and Dr Ruth Morgan, Director of the Centre for Environmental History at the Australian National University has joined Ian as co-editor
The Contribution of Pharmacy to The Management of HIV Patients at Maitama District Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria
No full textThis thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) of the University of WolverhamptonHuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a worldwide problem, with more than 34 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in 2011. At the end of 2011, in Nigeria, an estimated 3.7% of the adult population were living with HIV/AIDS. HIV services in Nigeria are secondary-care led, involving multidisciplinary teams and access to free antiretroviral. However, evaluations of service provision from both patient and healthcare professional perspectives, especially, pharmacists in Nigeria have never been conducted, and are the aims of this research. This study involved grounded theory methodology, using In-depth semi-structured interviews with adults infected with HIV, pharmacists, and administrators involved in the management and care of those patients at Maitama District Hospital in Abuja. HIV pharmacists working for the NHS in the UK were interviewed for comparative purposes. Thirty-five patients were interviewed. Five concepts were identified that influenced how they accessed hospital services after diagnosis. These include faith in God and antiretroviral, social issues with emphasis on HIV stigma and discrimination, patient journeys at the hospital with delays and repeat visits, obstacles such as ARV unavailability and their expectations. Also, five concepts were identified from the pharmacists’ interviews which include clinical service, impressions of service provided, social issues the patients encountered, the obstacles faced with clinical service provided and expectations for improvement. Ten patients were shadowed on their clinic days to observe the patient journey articulated. Furthermore, the administrators interviewed re-affirmed the opinions of the patients and pharmacists about many patients attending HIV clinic, few staff attending to patients, medicines unavailability, especially ARV drugs, and lack of working space for staff. Delays, few pharmacists/many patients and shortage of ART as barriers to service provision ii emerged as dominant themes across the three groups of interviewees in Nigeria. Also, it has been found that there is a wide gap between HIV patients’ hospital management in the UK and Nigeria as regards availability of antiretroviral, staff strength, number of patients in attendance on clinic days and weekly clinic days. Pharmacy was found to have a substantial role in the management of HIV/AID patients but it appears from this study that service improvements, both human and material resources are needed. Twenty three recommendations, which are further synthesised into six potential areas, are made, which, if implemented, would dramatically improve the service provision for HIV/AIDS patients at Maitama District Hospital
Covid reflections: a reader
No full textThis is a collection of personal and professional reflective experiences shaped by the Covid crisis from across the UK public health community, curated and edited by Royal Society for Public Health colleagues Colonel David Bates and Richard Shircore (David also leads the context discussion).
This Reader consists of seven independent papers reflecting on the Covid Pandemic from March 2020 to October 2022. Its development has been prompted by the Hallet Enquiry (sic) into the crisis created by the event that continues to shape socioeconomic and political conditions in the UK and globally which continue to severely weaken human security. The team felt that although the strategic response to the pandemic was being considered in detail no strategy can be formulated without understanding how it impacts on the field workers, planning staffs and the public. This Reader seeks to redress this knowledge deficit. The Editors used their personal contacts and social media to request contributions starting in October 2023 and are very grateful for the frank and fulsome response of contributors. Apart from editing some sections, for clarity and focus, the Editors have not attempted to influence any of the content, hence each paper appears unique in the author’s original style including typography. This provides a strong ethnographic message that this is about individual understanding turned into intelligent discourse through personal reflection. Each author was invited to reflect on the issues following their professional or clinical experience of ‘Covid’ that impacted on their responsibilities and areas of influence in order to address the challenge of how pandemics and epidemics could or should be managed better. A common theme is that both prevention and management of pandemics are significantly enhanced by political and health policy adhering to the key elements of the Ottawa Charter which has health security at its core. The authors were therefore specifically requested to focus on their reflections with a view to gathering their qualitative opinions based on their expertise rather than crafting an academic paper for peer review with references. This collection may serve as the framework for a formal paper in due course, with the benefit of a ‘Reader’ keeping the Contributors free from Editorial direction.
Authors and contributions:
Colonel David Bates ARRC - Global Health Security in the Age of CoViD -19;
Professor John Ashton CBE - The Diary of a Plague;
Major (Retired) Laura Morgan RAMC - The Civil-Military Perspective;
Professor Maggie Rae CBE - Covid Reflections;
Richard Shircore MSc FRSPH - An Alternative to Lockdown? Try a Different Paradigm;
Iain Stainton, University of Cumbria Lecturer - Policing Covid;
Ann Wylie FRSPH - Revising Health promotion courses linked to reflections from Covid-19
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