Cultural circuits of climate change in U.K. broadsheet newspapers, 1985–2003

This article argues for a cultural perspective to be brought to bear on studies of climate change risk perception. Developing the “circuit of culture” model, the article maintains that the producers and consumers of media texts are jointly engaged in dynamic, meaning-making activities that are context-specific and that change over time. A critical discourse analysis of climate change based on a database of newspaper reports from three U.K. broadsheet papers over the period 1985–2003 is presented. This empirical study identifies three distinct circuits of climate change—1985–1990, 1991–1996, 1997–2003—which are characterized by different framings of risks associated with climate change. The article concludes that there is evidence of social learning as actors build on their experiences in relation to climate change science and policy making. Two important factors in shaping the U.K.’s broadsheet newspapers’ discourse on “dangerous” climate change emerge as the agency of top political figures and the dominant ideological standpoints in different newspapers.

The application of the equivalent annulus width concept in thermal diffusion separations

The equivalent annulus width concept is used to characterize a small commercial thermogravitational hermal diffusion column and its validity checked experimentally by separating batchwise in the column mixtures of n-heptanebenzene with different initial concentrations. The equation of Ruppell and Coull was used to analyse the data in the short separation times range and determine the equivalent annulus width. Good agreement was obtained between the experimental and predicted time-separation curves when using the equivalent annulus width value and on averaged value of the thermal diffusion constant. A new method is presented for the simultaneous determination of the equivalent annulus width and the thermal diffusion constant of a binary mixture from a single set of experimental data.