How difficult is it to recover from dangerous levels of global warming?

Climate models provide compelling evidence that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at present rates, then key global temperature thresholds (such as the European Union limit of two degrees of warming since pre-industrial times) are very likely to be crossed in the next few decades. However, there is relatively little attention paid to whether, should a dangerous temperature level be exceeded, it is feasible for the global temperature to then return to safer levels in a usefully short time. We focus on the timescales needed to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases and associated temperatures back below potentially dangerous thresholds, using a state-of-the-art general circulation model. This analysis is extended with a simple climate model to provide uncertainty bounds. We find that even for very large reductions in emissions, temperature reduction is likely to occur at a low rate. Policy-makers need to consider such very long recovery timescales implicit in the Earth system when formulating future emission pathways that have the potential to 'overshoot' particular atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and, more importantly, related temperature levels that might be considered dangerous.

Multiple routes to mammalian diversity

The radiation of the mammals provides a 165-million-year test case for evolutionary theories of how species occupy and then fill ecological niches. It is widely assumed that species often diverge rapidly early in their evolution, and that this is followed by a longer, drawn-out period of slower evolutionary fine-tuning as natural selection fits organisms into an increasingly occupied niche space1,2. But recent studies have hinted that the process may not be so simple3–5. Here we apply statistical methods that automatically detect temporal shifts in the rate of evolution through time to a comprehensive mammalian phylogeny6 and data set7 of body sizes of 3,185 extant species. Unexpectedly, the majority of mammal species, including two of the most speciose orders (Rodentia and Chiroptera), have no history of substantial and sustained increases in the rates of evolution. Instead, a subset of the mammals has experienced an explosive increase (between 10- and 52-fold) in the rate of evolution along the single branch leading to the common ancestor of their monophyletic group (for example Chiroptera), followed by a quick return to lower or background levels. The remaining species are a taxonomically diverse assemblage showing a significant, sustained increase or decrease in their rates of evolution. These results necessarily decouple morphological diversification from speciation and suggest that the processes that give rise to the morphological diversity of a class of animals are far more free to vary than previously considered. Niches do not seem to fill up, and diversity seems to arise whenever, wherever and at whatever rate it is advantageous.

Bridging the Faraoni and Selli oceanic anoxic events: late Hauterivian to early Aptian dysaerobic to anaerobic phases in the Tethys.

A detailed geochemical analysis was performed on the upper part of the Maiolica Formation in the Breggia (southern Switzerland) and Capriolo sections (northern Italy). The analysed sediments consist of well-bedded, partly siliceous, pelagic carbonate, which lodges numerous thin, dark and organic-rich layers. Stable-isotope, phosphorus, organic-carbon and a suite of redox-sensitive trace-element contents (RSTE: Mo, U, Co, V and As) were measured. The RSTE pattern and Corg:Ptot ratios indicate that most organic-rich layers were deposited under dysaerobic rather than anaerobic conditions and that latter conditions were likely restricted to short intervals in the latest Hauterivian, the early Barremian and the pre-Selli early Aptian. Correlations are both possible with organic-rich intervals in central Italy (the Gorgo a Cerbara section) and the Boreal Lower Saxony Basin, as well as with the facies and drowning pattern in the Helvetic segment of the northern Tethyan carbonate platform. Our data and correlations suggest that the latest Hauterivian witnessed the progressive installation of dysaerobic conditions in the Tethys, which went along with the onset in sediment condensation, phosphogenesis and platform drowning on the northern Tethyan margin, and which culminated in the Faraoni anoxic episode. This episode is followed by further episodes of dysaerobic conditions in the Tethys and the Lower Saxony Basin, which became more frequent and progressively stronger in the late early Barremian. Platform drowning persisted and did not halt before the latest early Barremian. The late Barremian witnessed diminishing frequencies and intensities in dysaerobic conditions, which went along with the progressive installation of the Urgonian carbonate platform. Near the Barremian-Aptian boundary, the increasing density in dysaerobic episodes in the Tethyan and Lower Saxony Basins is paralleled by a change towards heterozoan carbonate production on the northern Tethyan shelf. The following return to more oxygenated conditions is correlated with the second phase of Urgonian platform growth and the period immediately preceding and corresponding to the Selli anoxic episode is characterised by renewed platform drowning and the change to heterozoan carbonate production. Changes towards more humid climate conditions were the likely cause for the repetitive installation of dys- to anaerobic conditions in the Tethyan and Boreal basins and the accompanying changes in the evolution of the carbonate platform towards heterozoan carbonate-producing ecosystems and platform drowning.

Forgotten children: work-family reconciliation in the EU

At the core of this article is a discussion of how, why and with what implications, considerations of children’s needs are missing from the EU’s work-family reconciliation framework. Part I demonstrates how the EU has failed to properly identify, let alone acknowledge or promote, children’s interests in relation to work-family reconciliation. An examination of relevant legislation and case law shows how children are ‘missing’ from this policy area, which has huge implications for their day to day lives. Part II then considers the reasons behind, and consequences of, this reluctance to engage with children’s interests in reconciliation laws and shows how children’s well-being could be better incorporated into relevant policies and within the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice. This section highlights, for example, how the EU has been willing and able to promote children’s interests in other legal fields and suggests that changes in the Treaty, post Lisbon, offer a means to improve the current approach.

Using transport diagnostics to understand chemistry climate model ozone simulations

We use observations of N2O and mean age to identify realistic transport in models in order to explain their ozone predictions. The results are applied to 15 chemistry climate models (CCMs) participating in the 2010 World Meteorological Organization ozone assessment. Comparison of the observed and simulated N2O, mean age and their compact correlation identifies models with fast or slow circulations and reveals details of model ascent and tropical isolation. This process‐oriented diagnostic is more useful than mean age alone because it identifies models with compensating transport deficiencies that produce fortuitous agreement with mean age. The diagnosed model transport behavior is related to a model’s ability to produce realistic lower stratosphere (LS) O3 profiles. Models with the greatest tropical transport problems compare poorly with O3 observations. Models with the most realistic LS transport agree more closely with LS observations and each other. We incorporate the results of the chemistry evaluations in the Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC) CCMVal Report to explain the range of CCM predictions for the return‐to‐1980 dates for global (60°S–60°N) and Antarctic column ozone. Antarctic O3 return dates are generally correlated with vortex Cly levels, and vortex Cly is generally correlated with the model’s circulation, although model Cl chemistry and conservation problems also have a significant effect on return date. In both regions, models with good LS transport and chemistry produce a smaller range of predictions for the return‐to‐1980 ozone values. This study suggests that the current range of predicted return dates is unnecessarily broad due to identifiable model deficiencies.

A good enough approach to setting planning obligations

In this paper we propose an alternative model of, what is often called, land value capture in the planning system. Based on development viability models, negotiations and policy formation regarding the level of planning obligations have taken place at the local level with little clear guidance on technique, approach and method. It is argued that current approaches are regressive and fail to reflect how the ability of sites to generate planning gain can vary over time and between sites. The alternative approach suggested here attempts to rationalise rather than replace the existing practice of development viability appraisal. It is based upon the assumption that schemes with similar development values should produce similar levels of return to the landowner, developer and other stakeholders in the development as well as similar levels of planning obligations in all parts of the country. Given the high level of input uncertainty in viability modelling, a simple viability model is ‘good enough’ to quantify the maximum level of planning obligations for a given level of development value. We have argued that such an approach can deliver a more durable, equitable, simpler, consistent and cheaper method for policy formation regarding planning obligations.

A Guide to Office Clerical Time Standards

A Guide to Office Clerical Time Standards is an instructional performance piece based on a corporate manual from 1960. The pamphlet is focused on the time necessary for the accomplishment of minute labour procedures in the office, from the depressing and releasing of typewriter keys to the opening and closing of filing cabinet drawers. In the performance, seven costumed performers represent the different levels of management and employment while performing the actions described in the guide, accompanied by a live musical score. There has been much discussion of the changes to work in the west following the decline of post-Fordist service sector jobs. These increasingly emphasise the specificity of employees’ knowledge and cognitive skill. However, this greater flexibility and creativity at work has been accompanied by an opposite trajectory. The proletarisation of white collar work has given rise to more bureaucracy, target assessment and control for workers in previously looser creative professions, from academia to the arts. The midcentury office is the meeting point of these cultures, where the assembly line efficiency management of the factory meets the quantifying control of the knowledge economy. A Guide to Office Clerical Time Standards explores the survival of one regime into its successor following the lines of combined and uneven development that have turned the emancipatory promise of immaterial labour into the perma-temp hell of the cognitariat. The movement is accompanied by a score of guitar, bass and drums, the componenets of the rock ‘n’ roll music that rose from the car factories of the motor city and the cotton fields of the southern states to represent the same junction of expression and control.

Patient and public involvement in healthcare quality improvement: how organizations can help patients and professionals to collaborate

Citizens across the world are increasingly called upon to participate in healthcare improvement. It is often unclear how this can be made to work in practice. This 4- year ethnography of a UK healthcare improvement initiative showed that patients used elements of organizational culture as resources to help them collaborate with healthcare professionals. The four elements were: (1) organizational emphasis on nonhierarchical, multidisciplinary collaboration; (2) organizational staff ability to model desired behaviours of recognition and respect; (3) commitment to rapid action, including quick translation of research into practice; and (4) the constant data collection and reflection process facilitated by improvement methods.

Media damage following detergent sclerotherapy appears to be secondary to the induction of inflammation and apoptosis: an immunohistochemical study elucidating previous histological observations

Objective/Background: Traditionally, sclerotherapy has been thought to work by the cytotoxic effect of the sclerosant upon the endothelium alone. However, studies have shown that sclerotherapy is more successful in smaller veins than in larger veins. This could be explained by the penetration of the sclerosant, or its effect, into the media. This study aimed to investigate intimal and medial damage profiles after sclerosant treatment. Methods: Fresh human varicose veins were treated ex vivo with either 1% or 3% sodium tetradecyl sulphate (STS) for 1 or 10 minutes. The effect of the sclerosant on the vein wall was investigated by immunofluorescent labelling of transverse vein sections using markers for endothelium (CD31), smooth muscle (a-actin), apoptosis (p53) and inflammation (intercellular adhesion molecule-1 [ICAM-1]). Polidocanol (POL; 3%) treatment at 10 minutes was similarly investigated. Results: Endothelial cell death was concentration- and time-dependent for STS but incomplete for both sclerosants. Time, but not concentration, significantly affected cell death (p > .001). A 40% and 30% maximum reduction was observed for STS and POL, respectively. Destruction of 20e30% of smooth muscle cells was found up to 250 mm from the lumen after 3% STS treatment for 10 minutes. POL treatment for 10 minutes showed inferior destruction of medial cells. Following STS treatment and 24-hour tissue culture, p53 and ICAM-1 were upregulated to a depth of around 300 mm. This effect was not observed with POL. Conclusion: Inflammatory and apoptotic markers show the same distribution as medial cell death, implying that sclerotherapy with STS works by inducing apoptosis in the vein wall rather than having an effect restricted to the endothelium. Incomplete loss of endothelial cells and penetration of the sclerosant effect up to 250 mm into the media suggest that medial damage is crucial to the success of sclerotherapy and may explain why it is less effective in larger veins.

Operations research/management science tools for integrating people with disabilities into employment. A study on Valencia`s Sheltered Work Centres for Disabled

People with disabilities have a right to a full life in every sense and one of those fundamental rights is the possibility to work. In this paper, the importance of social employment integration of disabled people is highlighted as one of the stakeholders to be satisfied by companies in the new framework that corporate social responsibility is constructing. The objective of the paper is to revise the benefits of some well-known operations research/management science tools that, if applied correctly, have a double positive impact on work accessibility and improved productivity. The responses collected from managers of Valencia`s ShelteredWork Centres for Disabled by means of a structured questionnaire are used to analyse the level of implementation of these tools and their impact depending on the type of centre, the kind of disability and other structural variables.

En studie om rehabilitering - en skamgörande process

The purpose of this essay is using theories about labeling and social bonds to study whether a measure of rehabilitation for the psychically disabled contributes to a return to a normal status as not-labeled. Partly we examine whether the activities organized by the regulation-ruled authorities during the work of rehabilitation lead to shame or pride, and partly how these activities are organized regarding the processes that lead to the emotions pride or shame among the participants. Method: qualitative semi-structured face-to-face interviews with professional rehabilitation-actors at the Public Employment Office (PEO), the Social Insurance Office (SIO), the Social Service (SOS), the Psychiatry and the Division of Labour Market (AME).Conclusions: the Psychiatry clients are treated with respect, may participate, and communication is characterized by attunement, therefore strong social bonds can be built. On the contrary, among the other examined activities, we found many elements that arouse shame. Since these are more ruled by regulations, the result is engulfment and demands on conformity, because the compromise-possibilities are almost non-existent. Psychically disabled persons are met by prejudice, ignorance, disrespect and a non-solidarity-language. To get help, the individual has to accept a label in form of a diagnosis, and this labeling leads to a negative self-image. Furthermore the psychically disabled persons are falling between two chairs because of a weak cooperation between the rehabilitation-actors. Bimodal alienation and triangulation contributes to the difficulties in cooperation.Result: the social bonds are not strong enough to achieve a rehabilitation-effect. Even if the treatment from each administrator is important, we find the explanation-level primarily in laws, rules and government, because the structure rules the rehabilitation-measures, with shame as a consequence. Since we found elements of shame institutionalized in the way of working at PEO, SIO, SOS and AME, it means that social bonds can never reach a level good enough for achieving pride and normalization from a deviance or labeled identity.

Use Multilevel Graph Partitioning Scheme to solve traveling salesman problem

The traveling salesman problem is although looking very simple problem but it is an important combinatorial problem. In this thesis I have tried to find the shortest distance tour in which each city is visited exactly one time and return to the starting city. I have tried to solve traveling salesman problem using multilevel graph partitioning approach.Although traveling salesman problem itself very difficult as this problem is belong to the NP-Complete problems but I have tried my best to solve this problem using multilevel graph partitioning it also belong to the NP-Complete problems. I have solved this thesis by using the k-mean partitioning algorithm which divides the problem into multiple partitions and solving each partition separately and its solution is used to improve the overall tour by applying Lin Kernighan algorithm on it. Through all this I got optimal solution which proofs that solving traveling salesman problem through graph partition scheme is good for this NP-Problem and through this we can solved this intractable problem within few minutes.Keywords: Graph Partitioning Scheme, Traveling Salesman Problem.

The attractiveness of the work is affected when production of handcrafted log houses moves indoors

Viewed from a historical perspective, a shift has occurred within the forestry and wood sector towards indoor work. In Sweden, the production of handcrafted log houses has now also begun to move indoors. With a point of departure in development processes within the log house sector involving working indoors, education, work attractiveness, between 2001-2005, the aim of this study was to compare indoor work with outdoor work, based on log house builders' experience of working on handcrafted log houses. Methods used in the interactive development project involving apprentices, experienced log house builders and researchers, were participation with continuous documentation of experiences and opinions; questions; interviews; and measurement of the work environment. The Attractive Work Model has been used in order to analyse perceptions and values. The changes, 15 out of 22 areas, were perceived both negatively and positively. Therefore, it can not be said that working on traditional, handcrafted log houses becomes more attractive if it is moved indoors. The majority wanted to work both outdoors and indoors, while most of the others only wanted to work outdoors. The results indicate that there is scope for developing more attractive work indoors by utilising experiences from log house builders and closely related activities such as the forestry and wood sector. Changes made within one area of work attractiveness affect other areas. Further research is needed both with regard to comparisons between indoor and outdoor work and regarding the interaction between the areas that are identified in the Attractive Work Model.

Att bli, att vara och att ha varit - om ingångar i och utgångar ur Jehovas vittnen i Sverige

Summary To become, to be and to have been: about the  Jehovah’s Witnesses The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, in the following text referred to as the Jehovah’s Witnesses or “the organisation”, is a worldwide Christian organisation with about 6.7 million members. The organisation has many times, without any success so far, proclaimed Armageddon when they expect Jehovah to return to Earth. They interpret the Bible in their own, often very literal way, and require their members to live according to these interpretations. Among the consequences of this, members are forbidden to vote, to do military service or to receive blood transfusions. Apart from attending the three weekly meetings, members are expected to be active in missionary work, known as “publishing”. If a member fails to do a certain number of hours’ publishing, he or she risks being deprived of active membership status Sweden in general is considered to be a society where the population is not very religious. The formerly state-governed Lutheran church has lost its influence and the vast majority of ordinary Swedes do not visit church on other occasions than weddings, funerals or christenings. Expressing one’s own religious values has become somewhat of a private matter where publicity is seldom appreciated, which is contrary to the practice of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is one of the reasons why the Jehovah’s Witnesses are commonly perceived by average Swedes as a “suspicious” religious organisation. The aim and methods of the study This dissertation seeks to describe and investigate the entering and leaving of a highly structured and hierarchical religious community, exemplified in this case by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. What are the thoughts and aspirations of someone who is considering becoming a Jehovah’s Witness? What are the priorities and what experiences seem important when a person is going through such a process? And when this person has finally reached his or her goal of becoming a member, is it the same motivation that makes him or her stay in the organisation for longer periods of time, possibly for the rest of their lives, or does it change during the process of entering, or does this motivation change its character during the transition from entering to being a regular member? Why do some of the members change their attitude to the Jehovah’s Witnesses from rejoicing to bitterness? And how does this process of exit manifest itself? In what way is it different from the process of entry? The respondents in this study were chosen from both active members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Sweden and those who have left the organisation for personal reasons. Repeated interviews with ten active members of the organisation have been conducted in the course of the study and compared to equal numbers of former members. The interviews have been semi-structured to deal with questions of how a person has come into contact with the organisation; how they retrospectively experienced the process of entry; the reasons for becoming a member. Questions have also been asked about life in the organisation. The group of “exiters” have also been asked about the experience of leaving, why they wanted to leave, and how this process was started and carried out. In addition to this I have analysed a four-year diary describing the time inside and the process of leaving the organisation. This has given me an extra psychological insight into the inner experience of someone who has gone through the whole process. The analysis has been done by categorising the content of the transcribed interviews. An attempt to outline a model of an entry and exit process has been made, based on ideas and interpretations presented in the interviews. The analysis of the diary has involved thorough reading, resulting in a division of it into four different parts, where each part has been given a certain key-word, signifying the author’s emotional state when writing it. A great deal of the information about the Jehovah’s Witnesses has been collected through discussion boards on the Internet, informal talks with members and ex-members, interviews with representatives of the organisations during visits to its different offices (Bethels), such as St. Petersburg, Russia, and Brooklyn, New York, USA. The context Each organisation evolves in its own context with its own norms, roles and stories that would not survive outside it. With this as a starting point, there is a chapter dedicated to the description of the organisation’s history, structure and activities. It has been stated that the organisation’s treatment of its critical members and the strategies for recruiting new members have evolved over the years of its history. At the beginning there was an openness allowing members to be critical. As the structure of the organisation has become more rigid and formalised, the treatment of internal critics has become much less tolerated and exclusion has become a frequent option. As a rule many new members have been attracted to the organisation when (1) the day of Armageddon has been pronounced to be approaching; (2) the members of the organisation have been persecuted or threatened with persecution; and (3) the organisation has discovered a “new market”. The processes for entering and exiting How the entering processes manifest themselves depends on whether the person has been brought up in the organisation or not. A person converting as an adult has to pass six phases before being considered a Jehovah’s Witness by the organisation. These are:  Contact with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Studying the bible with members of the organisation, Questioning, Accepting, Being active as publisher (spreading the belief), Being baptised.  For a person brought up in the organisation, the process to full membership is much shorter:   Upbringing in the organisation, Taking a stand on the belief, Being baptised. The exit process contains of seven phases:   Different levels of doubts, Testing of doubts, Turning points, Different kinds of decisions, Different steps in executing the decisions, Floating, a period of emotional and cognitive consideration of membership and its experiences, Realtive neutrality.   The process in and the process out are both slow and are accompanied with anguish and doubts. When a person is going through the process in or out of the organisation he or she experiences criticism. This is when people around the adept question the decision to continue in the process. The result of the criticism depends on where in the process the person is. If he or she is at the beginning of the process, the criticism will probably make the person insecure and the process will slow down or stop. If the criticism is pronounced in a later phase, the process will probably speed up. The norms of the organisation affect the behaviour of the members. There are techniques for inclusion that both bind members to the organisation and shield them off from the surrounding society. Examples of techniques for inclusion are the “work situation” and “closed doors”. The work situation signifies that members who do as the organisation recommends – doing simple work – often end up in the same branch of industry as many other Jehovah’s Witnesses. This often means that the person has other witnesses as workmates. If the person is unemployed or moves to another town it is easy to find a new job through connections in the organisation. Doubts and exclusions can lead to problems since they entail a risk of losing one’s job. This can also result in problems getting a new job. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not supposed to talk to excluded members, which of course mean difficulties working together. “Closed doors” means that members who do as the organisation recommends – not pursuing higher education, not engaging in civil society, working with a manual or in other way simple job, putting much time into the organisation – will, after a long life in the organisation, have problems starting a new life outside the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The language used in the organisation shows the community among the members, thus the language is one of the most important symbols. A special way of thinking is created through the language. It binds members to the organisation and sometimes it can work as a way to get back into the normative world of the organisation. Randall Collins’s (1990, 2004) thoughts about “emotional energy” have enabled an understanding of the solidarity and unity in the organisation. This also gives an understanding of the way the members treat doubting and critical members. The members who want to exit have to open up the binding/screening off. A possible way to do that is through language, to become aware of the effect the language might have. Another way is to search for emotional energy in another situation. During the exit process, shame might be of some importance. When members become aware of the shame they feel, because they perceive they are “acting a belief”, the exit process might accelerate.

Effective measures to decrease air contaminants through risk and control visualization : a study of the effective use of QR codes to facilitate safety training

Woodworking industries still consists of wood dust problems. Young workers are especially vulnerable to safety risks. To reduce risks, it is important to change attitudes and increase knowledge about safety. Safety training have shown to establish positive attitudes towards safety among employees. The aim of current study is to analyze the effect of QR codes that link to Picture Mix EXposure (PIMEX) videos by analyzing attitudes to this safety training method and safety in student responses. Safety training videos were used in upper secondary school handicraft programs to demonstrate wood dust risks and methods to decrease exposure to wood dust. A preliminary study was conducted to investigate improvement of safety training in two schools in preparation for the main study that investigated a safety training method in three schools. In the preliminary study the PIMEX method was first used in which students were filmed while wood dust exposure was measured and subsequently displayed on a computer screen in real time. Before and after the filming, teachers, students, and researchers together analyzed wood dust risks and effective measures to reduce exposure to them. For the main study, QR codes linked to PIMEX videos were attached at wood processing machines. Subsequent interviews showed that this safety training method enables students in an early stage of their life to learn about risks and safety measures to control wood dust exposure. The new combination of methods can create awareness, change attitudes and motivation among students to work more frequently to reduce wood dust.