Aspects of dietary carbohydrate intake are not related to risk of colorectal polyps in the Tennessee Colorectal Polyp Study

Purpose: High digestible carbohydrate intakes can induce hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia and collectively have been implicated in colorectal tumor development. Our aim was to explore the association between aspects of dietary carbohydrate intake and risk of colorectal adenomas and hyperplastic polyps in a large case–control study.

Methods: Colorectal polyp cases (n = 1,315 adenomas only, n = 566 hyperplastic polyps only and n = 394 both) and controls (n = 3,184) undergoing colonoscopy were recruited between 2003 and 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Dietary intakes were estimated by a 108-item food frequency questionnaire. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was applied to determine odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for colorectal polyps according to dietary carbohydrate intakes, after adjustment for potential confounders.

Results: No significant associations were detected for risk of colorectal adenomas when comparing the highest versus lowest quartiles of intake for total sugars (OR 1.03; 95 % CI 0.84–1.26), starch (OR 1.01; 95 % CI 0.81–1.26), total or available carbohydrate intakes. Similar null associations were observed between dietary carbohydrate intakes and risk of hyperplastic polyps, or concurrent adenomas and hyperplastic polyps.

Conclusion: In this US population, digestible carbohydrate intakes were not associated with risk of colorectal polyps, suggesting that dietary carbohydrate does not have an etiological role in the early stages of colorectal carcinogenesis.

Latent and Explicit Authority in Hierarchical Organizations

We consider the problem of the exercise of authority within social production organizations, embedding the decision makers into a structure of formal authority relationships. We distinguish two types of behavior. First, we introduce an equilibrium notion implementing latent authority under which subordinates submit themselves to authority even though such authority is not en- forced explicitly. Second, we compare this with a non-cooperative equilibrium concept describing explicit exercise of authority. We show that for low enough enforcement costs both forms of authority will be exercised in equilibrium, but for higher enforcement costs latent authority will be exercised while explicit authority will not.

Authority, Nationality, and Minorities

Prominent normative theories for accommodating minority national groups appeal to the value of national cultures and/or the psychology of group recognition. This article aims to show that an argument from political authority provides a better justification. Building on Joseph Raz's theory of authority, the article argues that members of minority national groups are disadvantaged in relation to their majority counterparts under standard democratic institutions; such institutions do not provide minority national groups with comparable access to the conditions for legitimate political authority. Constitutional arrangements for accommodating minority national groups—such as territorial self-government or power-sharing—are justified insofar as they might offset this disadvantage.

Social Risk of Public Spending Cuts in Scotland: Local Authority Experiences

This paper relates to work supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which examines the way Scottish Local Authorities have approached budget cuts (Asenova, et. al., 2013). Starting with a discussion of notions of social risk, we discuss the heightened challenges faced by local authorities. We note that the literature on public sector innovation predict such pressures would cause local authorities to engage in short term decision making and adopt a static coping approach to risk mitigation which is likely to stifle innovation and obstruct the creation of more coherent and resilient localities. Although we find this to have happened in some areas, we discuss two cases where these challenges have promoted innovative and inclusive approaches to service re-design and delivery.

An aggregated fridge-freezer peak shaving and valley filling control strategy for enhanced grid operations

The need for fast response demand side participation (DSP) has never been greater due to increased wind power penetration. White domestic goods suppliers are currently developing a `smart' chip for a range of domestic appliances (e.g. refrigeration units, tumble dryers and storage heaters) to support the home as a DSP unit in future power systems. This paper presents an aggregated population-based model of a single compressor fridge-freezer. Two scenarios (i.e. energy efficiency class and size) for valley filling and peak shaving are examined to quantify and value DSP savings in 2020. The analysis shows potential peak reductions of 40 MW to 55 MW are achievable in the Single wholesale Electricity Market of Ireland (i.e. the test system), and valley demand increases of up to 30 MW. The study also shows the importance of the control strategy start time and the staggering of the devices to obtain the desired filling or shaving effect.

Unsettling modernity: Shifting values and changing housing styles in the Kathmandu Valley

Abstract

Culture has always been important for the character of the cities, as have the civic and public institutions that sustain a lifestyle and provide an identity. Substantial evidence of the unique historical, urban civilisation remains within the traditional settlements in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal; manifested in houses, palaces, temples, rest houses, open spaces, festivals, rituals, customs and cultural institutions. Indigenous knowledge and practices prescribed the arrangement of houses, roads and urban spaces giving the city a distinctive physical form, character and a unique oriental nativeness. In technical sense, these societies did not have written rules for guiding development. In recent decades, the urban culture of the city has been changing with the forces of urbanisation and globalisation and the demand for new buildings and spaces. New residential design is increasingly dominated by distinctive patterns of Western suburban ideal comprising detached or semi-detached homes and high rise tower blocks. This architectural iconoclasm can be construed as a rather crude response to the indigenous culture and built form. The paper attempts to dismantle the current tension between traditional and contemporary ‘culture’ (and hence society) and housing (or built form) in the Kathmandu Valley by engaging in a discussion that cuts across space, time and meaning of architecture as we know it.

A stacked Late Quaternary fluvio-periglacial sequence from the Axe valley, southern England with implications for landscape evolution and Palaeolithic archaeology

The current model of mid-latitude late Quaternary terrace sequences, is that they are uplift-driven but climatically controlled terrace staircases, relating to both regional-scale crustal and tectonic factors, and palaeohydrological variations forced by quasi-cyclic climatic conditions in the 100 K world (post Mid Pleistocene Transition). This model appears to hold for the majority of the river valleys draining into the English Channel which exhibit 8–15 terrace levels over approximately 60–100 m of altitudinal elevation. However, one valley, the Axe, has only one major morphological terrace and has long-been regarded as anomalous. This paper uses both conventional and novel stratigraphical methods (digital granulometry and terrestrial laser scanning) to show that this terrace is a stacked sedimentary sequence of 20–30 m thickness with a quasi-continuous (i.e. with hiatuses) pulsed, record of fluvial and periglacial sedimentation over at least the last 300–400 K yrs as determined principally by OSL dating of the upper two thirds of the sequence. Since uplift has been regional, there is no evidence of anomalous neotectonics, and climatic history must be comparable to the adjacent catchments (both of which have staircase sequences) a catchment-specific mechanism is required. The Axe is the only valley in North West Europe incised entirely into the near-horizontally bedded chert (crypto-crystalline quartz) and sand-rich Lower Cretaceous rocks creating a buried valley. Mapping of the valley slopes has identified many large landslide scars associated with past and present springs. It is proposed that these are thaw-slump scars and represent large hill-slope failures caused by Vauclausian water pressures and hydraulic fracturing of the chert during rapid permafrost melting. A simple 1D model of this thermokarstic process is used to explore this mechanism, and it is proposed that the resultant anomalously high input of chert and sand into the valley during terminations caused pulsed aggradation until the last termination. It is also proposed that interglacial and interstadial incision may have been prevented by the over-sized and interlocking nature of the sub-angular chert clasts until the Lateglacial when confinement of the river overcame this immobility threshold. One result of this hydrogeologically mediated valley evolution was to provide a sequence of proximal Palaeolithic archaeology over two MIS cycles. This study demonstrates that uplift tectonics and climate alone do not fully determine Quaternary valley evolution and that lithological and hydrogeological conditions are a fundamental cause of variation in terrestrial Quaternary records and landform evolution.

New lower Palaeolithic finds from the Axe valley Dorset

The Axe Valley has long been known for its Palaeolithic finds, particularly from the site at Broom. While research has continued at Broom, other sites have also been investigated in the valley as part of the English Heritage-managed and ALSFfunded project ?Palaeolithic Rivers of South West Britain? (PRoSWeB). This project was completed in March 2007. Since then, research focussing on the Quaternary geology and Palaeolithic archaeology of the southwest region has been continued at selected locations by Prof. Tony Brown (University of Southampton), Dr Laura Basell (University of Oxford) and Dr Phil Toms (University of Gloucestershire), with assistance from Dr Ramues Gallois and Dr Richard Scrivener (formerly British Geological Survey).