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Our primary objective is evaluation of quality of process. This is addressed through semantic mapping of process. We note how this is complementary to the primacy of output results or products. We use goal-oriented discourse as a case study. We draw benefit from how social and political theorist, Jürgen Habermas, uses what was termed 'communicative action'. An orientation in Habermas's work, that we use, is analysis of communication or discourse. For this, we take Twitter social media. In our case study, we map the discourse semantically, using the correspondence analysis platform for such latent semantic analysis. This permits qualitative and quantitative analytics. Our case study is a set of eight carefully planned Twitter campaigns relating to environmental issues. The aim of these campaigns was to increase environmental awareness and behaviour. Each campaign was launched by an initiating tweet. Using the data gathered in these Twitter campaigns, we sought to map them, and hence to track the flow of the Twitter discourse. This mapping was achieved through semantic embedding. The semantic distance between an initiating act and the aggregate semantic outcome is used as a measure of process effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the barriers and drivers for energy efficiency investment decisions in the commercial property sector in an effort to find signs of a new lease of life in the sector. A review of both the academic and 'grey' literature shows that the primary barrier is the lack of a compelling business case, as buildings with improved energy efficiency do not command premium rents or capital values. The UK Government has introduced policy drivers aimed at influencing change by requiring the mandatory improvement of poor energy performing buildings and tougher building regulations on new property. Senior UK-based investment decision-makers are interviewed to understand 'real-life' perspectives on how energy efficiency drivers affect the market and their decisions. The interviews reveal that where the business case justifies, investors will take a beyond compliance approach, but otherwise, there is little appetite for such initiatives. The market is coping with the government's mandatory approach because the cost of compliance is manageable. However, the relatively low cost of energy within total business costs means that interest by landlords and tenants in reducing energy continues to be weak and this will present difficulties if policies are extended to capture more properties. Further research is recommended to see whether these conclusions are representative of the wider market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bromate (BrO), a by-product of ozonation of drinking water, induces nephrotoxicity in male rats at much lower doses than in female rats. This difference appears to be related to the development of α-2-globulin nephropathy in males. To determine sex-dependent changes in mRNA and protein expression in the renal cortex attributable to α-2-globulin nephropathy, we performed microarray and immunohistochemical analyses in proximal renal tubules of male and female F344 rats treated with KBrO for 28 days. Particular attention was paid to molecular biomarkers of renal tubular injury. Microarray analysis of male and female rats treated with BrO at low doses (125 mg/L KBrO) displayed marked sex-dependent changes in renal gene expression. The greatest differences were seen in genes encoding for cellular differentiation, apoptosis, ion transport, and cell proliferation. Differences by sex were especially prominent for the cell cycle checkpoint gene p21, the renal injury protein Kim-1, and the kidney injury and cancer biomarker protein osteopontin. Dose-related nephrotoxicity, assessed by hematoxylin and eosin staining, was greater in males compared to female rats, as was cellular proliferation, assessed by bromodeoxyuridine staining. The fraction of proximal renal cells with elevated 8-oxodeoxyguanosine (8-OH-dG) was only increased at the high dose and did not differ by sex. Dose-dependent increases in the expression of osteopontin were detected immunohistochemically only in male rats and were localized in proximal tubule cells. Similarly, BrO treatment increased clusterin and Kim-1 staining in the proximal tubules; however, staining for these proteins did not differ appreciably between males and females. These data demonstrate both qualitative and quantitative differences in the response of male versus female kidneys to BrO-treatment. These sex-dependent effects likely contribute to renal carcinogenesis of BrO in the male rat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problems arising from trihalomethanes formation resulting from the inadvertent reactivity of chlorine with organic compounds contained in water supplies suggest an alternative to chlorine may be desirable. Chlorine dioxide (ClO), which does not form trihalomethanes, is being considered as a very attractive alternative disinfectant. The study was conducted to examine the effect of ClO and its metabolites on the formation of chloroform,H-thymidine incorporation in organs, and hepatic microsomal enzyme activities in rats. Male rats were administered 0, 10, 100 mg/L ClO or 1, 10 mg/L of ClO or ClO daily for one year in the drinking water. Blood chloroform levels were significantly decreased in the ClO groups at 2, 10 and 12 months treatment. Chlorite and chlorate groups show similar decreases in blood chloroform concentration after one year. However, no significant chloroform values in liver, kidney, spleen, testes, and brain were observed in any treatment groups at the same time period. Chlorine dioxide (5 mg/L) inhibits the formation of chloroform by HOCl (5, 10, 20 mg/L) and sodium citrate (1 mM) and the degree of inhibition depends on the ratio of ClO/ HOCl. ClO and ClO administered in drinking water for three weeks inhibited the incorporation ofH-thymidine into nuclei of rat testes and small intestine. The incorporation in the liver was increased in both 10 and 100 mg/L ClO groups. Hepatic enzyme assays revealed that aniline hydroxylase activity was significantly increased in the 100 mg/L ClO group and hexobarbital sleep time studies showed slight decreases in the ClO treatment groups after one year treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of techno-economic energy policymaking and research have meant evidence from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)-including critical reflections on what changing a society's relation to energy (efficiency) even means-have been underutilised. In particular, (i) the SSH have too often been sidelined and/or narrowly pigeonholed by policymakers, funders, and other decision-makers when driving research agendas, and (ii) the setting of SSH-focused research agendas has not historically embedded inclusive and deliberative processes. The aim of this paper is to address these gaps through the production of a research agenda outlining future SSH research priorities for energy efficiency. A Horizon Scanning exercise was run, which sought to identify 100 priority SSH questions for energy efficiency research. This exercise included 152 researchers with prior SSH expertise on energy efficiency, who together spanned 62 (sub-)disciplines of SSH, 23 countries, and a full range of career stages. The resultant questions were inductively clustered into seven themes as follows: (1) Citizenship, engagement and knowledge exchange in relation to energy efficiency; (2) Energy efficiency in relation to equity, justice, poverty and vulnerability; (3) Energy efficiency in relation to everyday life and practices of energy consumption and production; (4) Framing, defining and measuring energy efficiency; (5) Governance, policy and political issues around energy efficiency; (6) Roles of economic systems, supply chains and financial mechanisms in improving energy efficiency; and (7) The interactions, unintended consequences and rebound effects of energy efficiency interventions. Given the consistent centrality of energy efficiency in policy programmes, this paper highlights that well-developed SSH approaches are ready to be mobilised to contribute to the development, and/or to understand the implications, of energy efficiency measures and governance solutions. Implicitly, it also emphasises the heterogeneity of SSH policy evidence that can be produced. The agenda will be of use for both (1) those new to the energy-SSH field (including policyworkers), for learnings on the capabilities and capacities of energy-SSH, and (2) established energy-SSH researchers, for insights on the collectively held futures of energy-SSH research., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2022.)