UCL open environmentPub Date : 2021-09-22eCollection Date: 2021-01-01DOI: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000024
Rudolph Scherreiks, Marcelle BouDagher-Fadel
{"title":"The closure of the Vardar Ocean (the western domain of the northern Neotethys) from the early Middle Jurassic to the Paleocene time, based on the surface geology of eastern Pelagonia and the Vardar zone, biostratigraphy, and seismic-tomographic images of the mantle below the Central Hellenides.","authors":"Rudolph Scherreiks, Marcelle BouDagher-Fadel","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000024","DOIUrl":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Seismic tomographic images of the mantle below the Hellenides indicate that the Vardar Ocean probably had a composite width of over 3000 km. From surface geology we know that this ocean was initially located between two passive margins: Pelagonian Adria in the west and Serbo-Macedonian-Eurasia in the east. Pelagonia was covered by a carbonate platform that accumulated, during Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous time, where highly diversified carbonate sedimentary environments evolved and reacted to the adjacent, converging Vardar Ocean plate. We conceive that on the east side of the Vardar Ocean, a Cretaceous carbonate platform evolved from the Aptian to the Maastrichtian time in the forearc basin of the Vardar supra-subduction volcanic arc complex. The closure of the Vardar Ocean occurred in one episode of ophiolite obduction and in two episodes of intra-oceanic subduction. <b>1.</b> During the Middle Jurassic time a 1200-km slab of west Vardar lithosphere subducted beneath the supra-subduction, 'Eohellenic', arc, while a 200-km-wide slab obducted onto Pelagonia between the Callovian and Valanginian times. <b>2.</b> During the Late Jurassic through to the Cretaceous time a 1700-km-wide slab subducted beneath the evolving east Vardar-zone arc-complex. Pelagonia, the trailing edge of the subducting east-Vardar Ocean slab, crashed and underthrust the Vardar arc complex during the Paleocene time and ultimately crashed with Serbo-Macedonia. Since the late Early Jurassic time, the Hellenides have moved about 3000 km toward the northeast while the Atlantic Ocean spread.</p>","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e024"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208346/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9896940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UCL open environmentPub Date : 2021-08-25eCollection Date: 2021-01-01DOI: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000022
Ayşe Lisa Allison, Esther Ambrose-Dempster, Maria Bawn, Miguel Casas Arredondo, Charnett Chau, Kimberley Chandler, Dragana Dobrijevic, Teresa Domenech Aparasi, Helen C Hailes, Paola Lettieri, Chao Liu, Francesca Medda, Susan Michie, Mark Miodownik, Beth Munro, Danielle Purkiss, John M Ward
{"title":"The impact and effectiveness of the general public wearing masks to reduce the spread of pandemics in the UK: a multidisciplinary comparison of single-use masks versus reusable face masks.","authors":"Ayşe Lisa Allison, Esther Ambrose-Dempster, Maria Bawn, Miguel Casas Arredondo, Charnett Chau, Kimberley Chandler, Dragana Dobrijevic, Teresa Domenech Aparasi, Helen C Hailes, Paola Lettieri, Chao Liu, Francesca Medda, Susan Michie, Mark Miodownik, Beth Munro, Danielle Purkiss, John M Ward","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000022","DOIUrl":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000022","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the UK government mandated the use of face masks in various public settings and recommended the use of reusable masks to combat shortages of medically graded single-use masks in healthcare. To assist decision-making on the choice of masks for future pandemics, where shortages may not be a contributing factor, the University College London (UCL) Plastic Waste Innovation Hub has carried out a multidisciplinary comparison between single-use and reusable masks based on their anatomy, standalone effectiveness, behavioural considerations, environmental impact and costs. Although current single-use masks have a higher standalone effectiveness against bacteria and viruses, studies show that reusable masks have adequate performance in slowing infection rates of respiratory viruses. Material flow analysis (MFA), life cycle assessment (LCA) and cost comparison show that reusable masks have a lower environmental and economic impact than single-use masks. If every person in the UK uses one single-use mask each day for a year, it will create a total of 124,000 tonnes of waste, 66,000 tonnes of which would be unrecyclable contaminated plastic waste (the masks), with the rest being the recyclable packaging typically used for transportation and distribution of masks. Using reusable masks creates >85% less waste, generates 3.5 times lower impact on climate change and incurs 3.7 times lower costs. Further behavioural research is necessary to understand the extent and current practices of mask use; and how these practices affect mask effectiveness in reducing infection rates. Wearing single-use masks may be preferred over reusable masks due to perceptions of increased hygiene and convenience. Understanding behaviour towards the regular machine-washing of reusable masks for their effective reuse is key to maximise their public health benefits and minimise environmental and economic costs.</p>","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e022"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208332/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9880509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Application of transparent microperforated panels to acrylic partitions for desktop use: A case study by prototyping.","authors":"Kimihiro Sakagami, Midori Kusaka, Takeshi Okuzono, Shigeyuki Kido, Daichi Yamaguchi","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000021","DOIUrl":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>There are various measures currently in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19); however, in some cases, these can have an adverse effect on the acoustic environment in buildings. For example, transparent acrylic partitions are often used in eating establishments, meeting rooms, offices, etc., to prevent droplet infection. However, acrylic partitions are acoustically reflective; therefore, reflected sounds may cause acoustic problems such as difficulties in conversation or the leakage of conversation. In this study, we performed a prototyping of transparent acrylic partitions to which a microperforated panel (MPP) was applied for sound absorption while maintaining transparency. The proposed partition is a triple-leaf acrylic partition with a single acrylic sheet without holes between two MPP sheets, as including a hole-free panel is important to prevent possible droplet penetration. The sound absorption characteristics were investigated by measuring the sound absorption in a reverberation room. As the original prototype showed sound absorption characteristics with a gentle peak and low values due to the openings on the periphery, it was modified by closing the openings on the top and sides. The sound absorption performance was improved to some extent when the top and sides were closed, although there remains the possibility of further improvement. For this study, only the sound absorption characteristics were examined in the prototype experiments. The effects during actual use will be the subject of future study.</p>","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e021"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208320/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9518331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UCL open environmentPub Date : 2021-06-30eCollection Date: 2021-01-01DOI: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000020
Steven King, Alberto Striolo
{"title":"An engineering model of the COVID-19 trajectory to predict the success of isolation initiatives.","authors":"Steven King, Alberto Striolo","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000020","DOIUrl":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Much media and societal attention is today focused on how to best control the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Every day brings us new data, and policy makers are implementing different strategies in different countries to manage the impact of COVID-19. To respond to the first 'wave' of infection, several countries, including the UK, opted for isolation/lockdown initiatives, with different degrees of rigour. Data showed that these initiatives have yielded the expected results in terms of containing the rapid trajectory of the virus. When this article was first prepared (April 2020), the affected societies were wondering when the isolation/lockdown initiatives should be lifted. While detailed epidemiological, economic as well as social studies would be required to answer this question completely, here we employ a simple engineering model. Albeit simple, the model is capable of reproducing the main features of the data reported in the literature concerning the COVID-19 trajectory in different countries, including the increase in cases in countries following the initially successful isolation/lockdown initiatives. Keeping in mind the simplicity of the model, we attempt to draw some conclusions, which seem to suggest that a decrease in the number of infected individuals after the initiation of isolation/lockdown initiatives does not necessarily guarantee that the virus trajectory is under control. Within the limit of this model, it would seem that rigid isolation/lockdown initiatives for the medium term would lead to achieving the desired control over the spread of the virus. This observation seems consistent with the 2020 summer months, during which the COVID-19 trajectory seemed to be almost under control across most European countries. Consistent with the results from our simple model, winter 2020 data show that the virus trajectory was again on the rise. Because the optimal solution will achieve control over the spread of the virus while minimising negative societal impacts due to isolation/lockdown, which include but are not limited to economic and mental health aspects, the engineering model presented here is not sufficient to provide the desired answer. However, the model seems to suggest that to keep the COVID-19 trajectory under control, a series of short-to-medium term isolation measures should be put in place until one or more of the following scenarios is achieved: a cure has been developed and has become accessible to the population at large; a vaccine has been developed, tested and distributed to large portions of the population; a sufficiently large portion of the population has developed resistance to the COVID-19 virus; or the virus itself has become less aggressive. It is somewhat remarkable that an engineering model, despite all its approximations, provides suggestions consistent with advanced epidemiological models developed by several experts in the field. The model proposed here is however not expected to be able to captu","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e020"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10171417/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9526498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UCL open environmentPub Date : 2021-05-27eCollection Date: 2021-01-01DOI: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000019
Bin Chi, Adam Dennett, Thomas Oléron-Evans, Robin Morphet
{"title":"A new attribute-linked residential property price dataset for England and Wales, 2011-2019.","authors":"Bin Chi, Adam Dennett, Thomas Oléron-Evans, Robin Morphet","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000019","DOIUrl":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Current research on residential house price variation in the UK is limited by the lack of an open and comprehensive house price database that contains both transaction price alongside dwelling attributes such as size. This research outlines one approach which addresses this deficiency in England and Wales through combining transaction information from the official open Land Registry Price Paid Data (LR-PPD) and property size information from the official open Domestic Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). A four-stage data linkage is created to generate a new linked dataset, representing 79% of the full market sales in the LR-PPD. This new linked dataset offers greater flexibility for the exploration of house price (£/m<sup>2</sup>) variation in England and Wales at different scales over postcode units between 2011 and 2019. Open access linkage codes will allow for future updates beyond 2019.</p>","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e019"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208353/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9525566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UCL open environmentPub Date : 2021-03-08eCollection Date: 2021-01-01DOI: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000015
Marcelle K BouDagher-Fadel, Geoffrey David Price
{"title":"The geographic, environmental and phylogenetic evolution of the Alveolinoidea from the Cretaceous to the present day.","authors":"Marcelle K BouDagher-Fadel, Geoffrey David Price","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000015","DOIUrl":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000015","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The superfamily Alveolinoidea is a member of the Order Miliolida, and comprises three main families, the Alveolinidae, the Fabulariidae and the Rhapydioninidae. They are examples of Larger benthic foraminifera (LBF), which are single-celled organisms with specific characteristic endoskeletons. Alveolinoids are found globally from the Cretaceous to the present day, and are important biostratigraphic index fossils in shallow-marine carbonates. They are often associated with hydrocarbon reservoirs, and exhibit provincialism with characteristic genera often confined to one of the American, Tethyan or Indo-Pacific provinces. Previously, the systematic study of the global interrelationship between the various alveolinoid lineages has not been possible because of the absence of biostratigraphic correlation between the geographically scattered assemblages, and the scarcity of described material from the Indo-Pacific province. Here we use the literature and new material from the Americas, the French Alps, Iran, Tibet, India and South East Asia, coupled with the use of the planktonic foraminiferal zonal (PZ) correlation scheme to propose a comprehensive, global, systematic analysis of the biostratigraphic, phylogenetic and paleogeographic evolution of the alveolinoids. The alveolinoids originated in the Cretaceous in the Tethyan province. During a global sea-level low stand, a westward migration of some alveolinoids species to the Americas occurred, a behaviour previously reported in contemporaneous orbitolinid LBF. After the Cretaceous/Palaeogene (K-P) event, which saw the extinction of all Cretaceous alveolinoids, rare new forms of alveolinoids evolved again, first in the Americas and later independently in Tethys. As was found in previous studies of rotalid LBF, sea-level low stands in the Paleocene also allowed some alveolinoid forms to migrate, but this time in an eastward direction from the Americas to Tethys, and from Tethys on to the Indo-Pacific province. Alveolinoids still exist today (<i>Borelis</i> and <i>Alveolinella</i>), the former of which is cosmopolitan, while the latter is restricted to the Indo-Pacific province. Throughout their phylogenetic history, alveolinoids characteristically exhibit convergent evolution, with the repeated re-occurrence of certain morphological features. Understanding this propensity to homoplasy is essential in understanding and constructing the phylogenetic relationships within the alveolinoid superfamily.</p>","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e015"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10171430/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9896943","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UCL open environmentPub Date : 2021-02-22eCollection Date: 2021-01-01DOI: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000014
Charlotte Lee, Monica Lakhanpaul, Bernardo Maza Stern, Kaushik Sarkar, Priti Parikh
{"title":"Associations between the household environment and stunted child growth in rural India: a cross-sectional analysis.","authors":"Charlotte Lee, Monica Lakhanpaul, Bernardo Maza Stern, Kaushik Sarkar, Priti Parikh","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000014","DOIUrl":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000014","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stunting is a major unresolved and growing health issue for India. There is a need for a broader interdisciplinary cross-sectoral approach in which disciplines such as the environment and health have to work together to co-develop integrated socio-culturally tailored interventions. However, there remains scant evidence for the development and application of such integrated, multifactorial child health interventions across India's most rural communities. In this paper we explore and demonstrate the linkages between environmental factors and stunting thereby highlighting the scope for interdisciplinary research. We examine the associations between household environmental characteristics and stunting in children under 5 years of age across rural Rajasthan, India. We used Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)-3 India (2005-2006) data from 1194 children living across 109,041 interviewed households. Multiple logistic regression analyses independently examined the association between (i) the primary source of drinking water, (ii) primary type of sanitation facilities, (iii) primary cooking fuel type, and (iv) agricultural land ownership and stunting adjusting for child age. The results suggest, after adjusting for child age, household access to (i) improved drinking water source was associated with 23% decreased odds [odds ratio (OR) = 0.77, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.5-1.00], (ii) improved sanitation facility was associated with 41% decreased odds (OR = 0.51, 95% CI 0.3-0.82), and (iii) agricultural land ownership was associated with 30% decreased odds of childhood stunting (OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.51-0.94]. The cooking fuel source was not associated with stunting. Our findings indicate that a shift is needed from nutrition-specific to contextually appropriate interdisciplinary solutions, which incorporate environmental improvements. This will not only improve living conditions in deprived communities but also help to tackle the challenge of childhood malnutrition across India's most vulnerable communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e014"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10171403/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9880511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessing SDG indicator 6.4.2 'level of water stress' at major basins level.","authors":"Riccardo Biancalani, Michela Marinelli","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper describes a method to disaggregate indicator 6.4.2 (level of water stress) by major river basins. The analysis was performed using the GlobWat soil water balance model and global geospatial data consistent with national statistics published in AQUASTAT, the FAO's global information system on water and agriculture. When a river basin spans across more than one country, the water stress calculated by country can be very different from that calculated by the river basin as the counting of the renewable freshwater resources from one country to another is highly dependent on the official agreement and treaties that regulate the flow of those resources between countries. This problem is solved hydrologically once the accounting of the water resources is done on the major river basin as a whole. The disaggregation by the river basin allows the identification of hotspots where actions should be prioritised and reveals that the area affected by a high or critical water stress spans across all continents with the exception of Oceania. It also offers the possibility of an analysis of freshwater withdrawals by sector, which may become crucial for the definition of water management policies in the context of the economic development of a country.</p>","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e026"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208326/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9526491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Basic considerations on the practical method for predicting sound insulation performance of a single-leaf window.","authors":"Yohei Tsukamoto, Kimihiro Sakagami, Takeshi Okuzono, Yoshihiro Tomikawa","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000018","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As a basic study of a practical method for predicting the sound insulation performance of windows, this report presents a study of the sound reduction index of windows with single glazing, below a critical frequency. First, the results calculated by an existing theory for a single plate for the sound reduction indices are compared with measured results of actual windows to assess the theory's applicability for evaluating the sound insulation performance of windows. Then, a regression analysis is employed to measure the results of a certain number of actual windows to explore a further development of a more practical prediction. The following findings were obtained: (1) Sound reduction indices of actual fixed windows are predictable using Sewell's transmission theory for a single plate. However, sound reduction indices of openable windows, especially those of sliding windows, are strongly affected by gaps in the window frame. Therefore, predicting sound reduction indices of all windows accurately is difficult if using only one theory. (2) The frequency slope of the window reduction index is much lower than that of the mass law. Regression analyses indicate that the frequency slope of the reduction index of all examined windows is 3.0 dB per octave, on average.</p>","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e018"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10208327/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9896942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ayşe Lisa Allison, Fabiana Lorencatto, Mark Miodownik, Susan Michie
{"title":"Influences on single-use and reusable cup use: a multidisciplinary mixed-methods approach to designing interventions reducing plastic waste.","authors":"Ayşe Lisa Allison, Fabiana Lorencatto, Mark Miodownik, Susan Michie","doi":"10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000025","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>An estimated 2.5-5 billion single-use coffee cups are disposed of annually in the UK, most of which consist of paper with a plastic lining. Due to the difficulty of recycling poly-coated material, most of these cups end up incinerated or put in landfills. As drinking (take-away) hot beverages is a behaviour, behaviour change interventions are necessary to reduce the environmental impacts of single-use coffee cup waste. Basing the design of interventions on a theoretical understanding of behaviour increases the transparency of the development process, the likelihood that the desired changes in behaviour will occur and the potential to synthesise findings across studies. The present paper presents a methodology for identifying influences on using single-use and reusable cups as a basis for designing intervention strategies. Two behaviour change frameworks: The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and the Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour (COMB) model of behaviour, were used to develop an online survey and follow-up interviews. Research findings can inform the selection of intervention strategies using a third framework, the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW). The application of the methodology is illustrated in relation to understanding barriers and enablers to single-use and reusable cup use across the setting of a London university campus. We have developed a detailed method for identifying behavioural influences relevant to pro-environmental behaviours, together with practical guidance for each step and a worked example. Benefits of this work include it providing guidance on developing study materials and collecting and analysing data. We offer this methodology to the intervention development and implementation community to assist in the application of behaviour change theory to interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":75271,"journal":{"name":"UCL open environment","volume":"3 ","pages":"e025"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10171405/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9525573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}