Happiness and urban environmental quality.

Do levels of environmental quality (EQ) affect Londoners’ happiness? If so, how much do they? And what’s the (implicit) cost?

Current Developments and Problems of Electricity Regulation in the European Union and the United Kingdom

This paper deals current developments and the problems of regulation in European electricity in general and -in somewhat more detail-, England and Wales in particular.electricity

Work improves general happiness, but are you happy while you work?

By checking on people at random times of the day via an app, Alex Bryson and George MacKerron uncover the misery of wor

Technology and carbon mitigation in developing countries: Are cleaner coal technologies a viable option?

human development, climate change

Perfusion based microfluidic system for pharmacological profiling of neuronal networks

This work presents the integration of a semi-automated microfluidic platform that utilizes calcium imaging to enable the pharmacological characterization of functionally connected, but environmentally isolated neuronal networks. This approach allows, for the first time, to assess the cause-effect relationship of neuronal communication following drug application, thus allowing the pharmacological characterisation of novel drugs proposed to influence communication between neuronal networks

Learning to listen: institutional change and legitimation in UK radioactive waste policy

Over the course of 50 years, UK radioactive waste policy change has been coupled with institutional change, without much progress towards the ultimate goal of safe, long-term stewardship of wastes. We explain this history as a search for legitimacy against a shifting context of legitimation needs and deficits. Following Habermas, we argue that legitimation is derived from a process of justificatory discourse. In principle, there must be a reasonable exchange of arguments between diverse parties in society, based on common norms, for legitimacy to be achieved. We show that the work of legitimation in UK radioactive waste policy has moved from a focus on factual validity claims towards an increasing emphasis on deliberative processes. This reframing of legitimation needs explains institutional and policy changes in UK radioactive waste policy. The most recent phase of policy and institutional change, which placed public deliberation about long-term management and disposal options centre-stage, represents a new step towards bridging legitimation deficits. Plans to build new nuclear reactors in the UK based on a more closed 'streamlined' decision process risk reversing the legitimacy gains that have been achieved through growing openness on radioactive waste management