No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The study described in this thesis consists of two main parts. The first was a study of brief interventions for problem drinking. 998 general hospital in-patients, who were receiving treatment for conditions which were not primarily alcohol-related, were screened to identify potential problem drinkers. 24.5% reported levels of alcohol consumption which were in excess of the recommended "sensible limits" as suggested by the Health Education Authority (1989). 15% were regular consumers of alcohol who had not previously received treatment for an alcohol problem. The potential problem drinkers were assigned to one of four experimental groups. Patients in one group received a health education booklet about the effects of alcohol and how to reduce consumption to within recommended sensible limits. The second group were given this information verbally. The third group were given both the booklet and the verbal advice. The fourth group received no intervention. Follow-up data were collected one year later, at which time the mean level of alcohol consumption reported by the entire sample was significantly less than at entry to the study. This was also the case for the mean number of alcohol-related problems. These reductions were supported by reductions in the mean levels of ganima-glutamyl transferase and aspartate transferase but not in mean erythrocyte volume. No statistically significant treatment effects were found for any of the outcome variables. The second part of the study was a descriptive survey of nurses' practice of assessing patients' alcohol consumption. The nurses were also asked about their knowledge of factors which are necessary to enable them to give appropriate advice to problem drinkers. The results suggested that, although nurses acknowledged such a role, limitations in their knowledge prevented them from being effective in both detecting problem drinkers and in delivering health education.

An evaluation is made of the potential fuel and financial savings possible when a small, autonomous diesel system sized to meet the demands of an individual, domestic consumer is adapted to include: (1) combined heat and power (CUP) generation. (2) wind turbine generation. (3) direct load control. The potential of these three areas is investigated by means of time-step simulation modelling on a microcomputer. Models are used to evaluate performance and a Net Present Value analysis used to assess costs. A cost/benefit analysis then enables those areas, or combination of areas, that facilitate the greatest savings to be identified. The modelling work is supported by experience gained from the following: (1) field study of the Lundy Island wind/diesel system. (2) laboratory testing of a small diesel generator set. (3) study of a diesel based CUP unit. (4) study of a diesel based direct load control system. (5) statistical analysis of data obtained from the long-term monitoring of a large number of individual household's electricity consumption. Rather than consider the consumer's electrical demand in isolation, a more flexible approach is adopted, with consumer demand being regarded as the sum of primarily two components: a small, electricity demand for essential services and a large, reschedulable demand for heating/cooling. The results of the study indicate that: (1) operating a diesel set in a CUP mode is the best strategy for both financial and fuel savings. A simple retrofit enables overall conversion efficiencies to be increased from 25% to 60%, or greater, at little cost. (2) wind turbine generation in association with direct load control is a most effective combination. (3) A combination of both the above areas enables greatest overall financial savings, in favourable winds resulting in unit energy costs around 20% of those of diesel only operation.

No description available.

In the estate sale, actors (shoppers and estate sale workers) form notions ofpersonhood and pollution through objects such as half-used bottles of perfume, floral dishes, and family photographs. Actors use these objects to create the gender, personality, religion, hobbies, and occupation of the objects' former owners. The context of the estate sale contributes to these notions of personhood. Estate sales usually occur after a death, almost everything this person has owned is priced for sale, and the estate sale is held within the house of the deceased.This study draws on Mary Douglas' work on pollution as "matter out of place." In the estate sale, pollution takes on various forms (in association with death and illness, the body, the identity of their previous owner, and physical dirt) and degrees, which affect how "out of place" an object is, as well as how actors react to this object. These four forms of pollution are then linked back to the objects' previous owner due to actors' perceived lack of anonymity of this person. Suggestions are made as to how these forms of pollution extend and refine Douglas' continuum of purity and pollution, and how they link to notions of gendered personhood.

No description available.

This thesis is an anthropological study of consumption and self-construction on the Greek tourist island of Mykonos. The ethnographic material is collected from informants/agents of an, initially, heterogeneous cultural background and with a highly individualistic discourse, who, paradoxically, form a group. The identity of this new Mykonian group of exogenous 'locals' is self-created and draws on several 'local' myths. Therefore, the ethnography concentrates on the discursive making of these myths. The characteristic all these myths share is that they revolve around a common theme: symbolic 'otherness'. This discursive otherness, is initially reflected in the emerging myth of the cosmopolitan place in which it is performed, the place-myth of Mykonos. But symmetrically in our case, the myth of the place, counter-reflects the myth of its subjects. A series of invented 'heroes' gradually prospers in the mythical space of 'otherness': first the reckless, unorthodox locals; then the eccentric 'first visitors' followed by the alternative groups of the seventies, the subcultural groups of the eighties and the tribestyles of the nineties. The myth of this spatial 'otherness', apart from the peculiar groupings which it simultaneously attracts and creates, is also a propagator of self- myths. The thesis explores the construction of selves and communities through their consumption patterns, manipulation of aesthetics, invented rituals and a distinctive set of social practices, but primarily through their discursive otherness. The myth of the idiosyncratic space is echoed in the myth of their unclassified and fetishised selves. Nevertheless, the 'anarchic' property of the space is its only consistent pattern and, in turn, a source of communal identity. The discourse of locality that stems out of these 'mythologies' celebrates a highly subjective pattern of aesthetic 'otherness'. The bonding of all these myths lies precisely in their taste for 'difference'. The fetishisation of the self reflects upon the fetishisation of space; as much as, the fetishisation of space reflects upon the fetishisation of the self.

This paper focusses on the economic and socio-political preconditions and implications of low energy scenarios (LES) in the UK. It can be considered in two parts. The first section develops a generalised methodology for classifying and assessing alternative energy scenarios. Three scenario archetypes are identified: the conservation scenario; the renewable scenario; and the post-materialist scenario. The second part involves an examination of the various illustrative scenarios which have been advocated by the so-called low energy groups. In addition, since an assessment only has meaning if it allows for a comparison of a whole range of scenarios, a reference scenario (RES) has also been included. All these scenarios are subject to considerable uncertainties. These risks can be categorized as techno-economic, macro-economic, and socio-political uncertainties. LES in general are shown to have a greater techno-economic risk of failure than the RES since they incorporate a larger contribution from 'untried' energy supply and utilisation technologies. More importantly however, both the RES and LES would encounter the most serious obstacles in the socio-political spectrum. Since all LES embody a 'conservation scenario' they would be faced with a serious problem of providing an adequate incentive (whether carrot or whip) to ensure necessary take up of investments. This rests upon the assumption that individuals are myopic. A second fundamental socio-political risk concerns the acceptability of the energy supply facilities. In particular the expansion programmes for nuclear, synfuel and coal developments in the RES are not expected to be socially acceptable. On a less serious scale the 'renewable' LES would encounter obstacles in deploying wind, wave, solar and biomass technologies. With no evidence to suggest the development of post-materialist values the post-materialist scenarios must be considered the most implausible of all the scenarios.