Suchergebnisse

This paper draws on climate justice principles developed in the context of international negotiations between national governments to assess the distribution of carbon reduction roles between different actors involved in residential energy use within the UK. In so doing, it aims to provide a new understanding of equity aspects of current residential policy and to highlight opportunities for more effective and equitable policy. The paper uses three criteria: rights and corresponding duties; mitigation responsibilities and capabilities. It applies them systematically to assess the roles of five key actors involved in residential energy use in the UK. The assessment finds a suboptimal distribution of actors' duties, responsibilities and capabilities and roles and discusses whether and how a more effective and fair allocation of outcomes, in terms of carbon reduction and fuel poverty, could be achieved. In particular, it raises questions about whether the right actors are being legally obliged or incentivised to deliver energy efficiency improvements, and suggests that particular actors – local authorities and community groups – are under-used and require greater government support with capability. The paper represents the first use of international climate justice frameworks to investigate residential energy policy within a country.

This paper draws on climate justice principles developed in the context of international negotiations between national governments to assess the distribution of carbon reduction roles between different actors involved in residential energy use within the UK. In so doing, it aims to provide a new understanding of equity aspects of current residential policy and to highlight opportunities for more effective and equitable policy. The paper uses three criteria: rights and corresponding duties; mitigation responsibilities and capabilities. It applies them systematically to assess the roles of five key actors involved in residential energy use in the UK. The assessment finds a suboptimal distribution of actors' duties, responsibilities and capabilities and roles and discusses whether and how a more effective and fair allocation of outcomes, in terms of carbon reduction and fuel poverty, could be achieved. In particular, it raises questions about whether the right actors are being legally obliged or incentivised to deliver energy efficiency improvements, and suggests that particular actors – local authorities and community groups – are under-used and require greater government support with capability. The paper represents the first use of international climate justice frameworks to investigate residential energy policy within a country.

Objectives: To evaluate attempts in the military to screen for vulnerability to psychological disorders from World War I to the present. Methods: An extensive literature review was conducted by hand-searching leading medical and psychological journals relating to World Wars I and II. Recent publications were surveyed electronically and UK archives investigated for British applications. Results: Despite the optimism shown in World War I and the concerted efforts of World War II, follow-up studies showed that screening programmes did not succeed in reducing the incidence of psychological casualties. Furthermore, they had a counter-productive effect on manpower, often rejecting men who would have made good soldiers. Continued experimentation with screening methods for psychiatric vulnerability failed to yield convincing results during the post-war period. Conclusions: Although well-measured variables, such as intelligence, have been shown to predict success in training and aptitude, no instrument has yet been identified which can accurately assess psychological vulnerability. Previous attempts have failed because of false-positives, false-negatives and reluctance in the target population because of stigma. Early findings suggest that psychological surveillance, surveillance, if not screening, may yield valuable results when applied to military populations exposed to stress.

During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, U.S. troops were at high risk of diarrheal disease due to Shigella spp., particularly Shigella sonnei. In order to better understand the serologic response to Shigella infection, 830 male U.S. combat troops were evaluated before and after the deployment to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG anti-Shigella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (antibody to S. sonnei form I and Shigella flexneri serotypes 1a, 2a, and 3a) in serum. Just before deployment, 10.3% of the subjects were seropositive for IgA and 18.3% were positive for IgG anti-Shigella LPS. IgA and IgG anti-LPS antibody levels in serum prior to deployment were significantly associated with nonwhite race and ethnicity, birth outside the United States, and antibody to hepatitis A virus and Helicobacter pylori. During the deployment, which lasted for a mean of 131 days, 60% of the subjects reported at least one episode of diarrhea and 15% reported an episode of diarrhea with feverishness; also, 5.5% of the subjects exhibited IgA seroconversion to Shigella LPS and 14.0% exhibited IgG seroconversion. A significant association between the development of diarrheal symptoms and either positive predeployment anti-LPS antibody or seroconversion was not found. These data indicate that in this population of U.S. Desert Storm troops who were at high risk of Shigella infection, there was no apparent relation between IgA or IgG anti-Shigella LPS in serum and diarrheal disease.

OBJECTIVES. The purpose of this study was to determine whether respiratory disease due to crowded living conditions and high levels of suspended and blowing sand had a major adverse impact on US military personnel during Operation Desert Shield. METHODS. A questionnaire survey was administered to 2598 combat troops stationed in Northeast Saudi Arabia for a mean of 102 days. Samples of surface sand from seven different locations were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. RESULTS. Among surveyed troops, 34.4% reported a sore throat, 43.1% complained of a cough, 15.4% complained of chronic rhinorrhea, and 1.8% were unable to perform their routine duties because of upper respiratory symptoms. Evaluation of sleeping accommodations indicated that complaints of a sore throat and cough were most closely associated with sleeping in air-conditioned buildings; in contrast, complaints of rhinorrhea were associated with exposure to the outdoor environment while living in tents. Sand samples consisted mostly of quartz, with just 0.21% by weight of respirable size (< 10 microns in diameter). CONCLUSIONS. These findings indicate that upper respiratory complaints were frequent among Operation Desert Shield troops and were related both to the troops' housing and to their exposure to the outside environment.

Objectives To discover whether post-combat syndromes have existed after modern wars mid what relation they bear to each other. Design Review of medical and military records of servicemen and cluster analysis of symptoms. Data sources Records for 1856 veterans randomly selected from war pension files awarded from 1872 and from the Medical Assessment Programme for Gulf war veterans. Main outcome measures Characteristic patterns of symptom clusters and their relation to dependent variables including war, diagnosis, predisposing physical illness, and exposure to combat; and servicemen's changing attributions for post-combat disorders. Results Three varieties of post-combat disorder were identified-a debility syndrome (associated with the 19th and early 20th centuries), somatic syndrome (related primarily to the first world war), and a neuropsychiatric syndrome (associated with the second world war and the Gulf conflict). The era in which the war occurred was overwhelmingly the best predictor of Cluster membership. Conclusions All modern wars have been associated with a syndrome characterised by unexplained medical symptoms. The form that these assume, the terms used to describe them, and die explanations offered by servicemen and doctors seem to be influenced by advances in medical science, changes in the nature of warfare, and underlying cultural forces.