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I conduct a document analysis of two UK national newspapers in order to assess the technological expectations that were expressed about 5G mobile networks over the period 2011–2020. Six themes of expectations are identified in the corpus, namely scepticism over 5G, spectrum and infrastructure, 5G network performance capabilities, technological and industrial competition, 5G as an enabler, and the impacts of 5G. The corpus is dominated by expectations about the national security implications of allowing the Chinese company Huawei to play a role in the UK's 5G networks, and debates over this issue drive an increase in both coverage and expectations in general towards the end of the timeline. A number of strategies used to generate expectation credibility and legitimacy for 5G are identified, as are a number of key performative effects evident within the corpus. The findings reported here build on and contribute to existing work on mobile communications and technological expectations for ICTs, and offer two key conceptual insights – the identification of an 'expect the unimaginable' discourse, and the identification of subtle discursive strategies that contribute to the realisation of 5G by obscuring choice and preventing resistance rather than generating legitimacy. • Document analysis of expectations for 5G in two key UK newspapers, 2011–2020 • Identifies six key themes of expectations • The corpus is dominated by expectations about the security implications of allowing Huawei to play a role in the UK's 5G networks • Coverage of the policy debate over Huawei drives an increase in articles and expectations towards the end of the timeline • Identifies strategies used to generate expectation credibility and legitimacy for 5G, as well as key performative effects [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conduct an analysis of a UK-focused corpus of documents that represent key sites through which the promise of green 5G is produced, circulated and challenged. By the promise of green 5G we refer to an emerging, overarching, dominant expectation that 5G will produce environmental sustainability benefits of various kinds. We employ an analytical approach informed by the sociology of expectations and the concept of technoscientific promises to identify: the various types of expectations and promises upon which the promise of green 5G is built, the ways that the legitimacy and credibility of this promise are boosted, the negative expectations that challenge it, the different ways in which 5G is positioned in relation to the problem of expected traffic growth and how such problematisations direct attention to different solutions, and, finally, a number of other performative effects of the promise of green 5G. The promise of green 5G directs attention towards technological options that aim to render traffic growth sustainable through energy efficiency improvements and away from alternative approaches. This dominant expectation that traffic growth can be rendered sustainable through technological innovation suggests strong commitments to the environmental discourses of ecological modernisation and Promethean environmentalism within this technological community. • Positive expectations for green 5G concern both the impact of 5G on networks and on other areas of economic and social life • Positive expectations dominate our corpus, but they are contested by a significant minority of negative expectations • The promise of green 5G directs attention towards technologies that aim to render traffic growth sustainable • The promise of green 5G becomes necessary due to the dual commitment to technological progress and sustainable development • There are strong resonances with the environmental discourses of ecological modernisation and Promethean environmentalism [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Rational: The addictive nature of smoking is characterized by responses to cigarette stimuli that significantly impede smoking cessation efforts. Studies have shown that smokers are roused by appetitive smoking-related stimuli, and their consumption tends to be unaffected by the negative value of smoking. Purpose: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the goal of this study was two-fold: to examine the brain reactivity of chronic smokers when processing the negative value of smoking using aversive smoking-related cues; to further characterize this response by comparing the latter to the processing of aversive nonsmoking-related and appetitive smoking-related cues. Method: Thirty chronic smokers passively viewed aversive smoking-related, aversive nonsmoking-related, appetitive smoking-related and neutral images presented in a block design while being scanned. Results: Aversive smoking-related stimuli elicited significantly greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, inferior frontal gyrus and lateral orbitofrontal cortex than neutral stimuli. Aversive smoking-related stimuli elicited lower activation in the parahippocampal gyrus, insula and inferior frontal gyrus compared to the aversive nonsmoking-related condition, as well as lower activation in the posterior cingulate, precuneus and medial prefrontal cortices compared to appetitive smoking-related cues. Conclusion: The brain activation pattern observed suggests that chronic smokers experience an aversive response when processing aversive smoking-related stimuli, however we argue that the latter triggers a weaker negative emotional and driving response than the aversive non-smoking-related and appetitive smoking-related cues respectively. These fMRI results highlight potentially important processes underlying the insensitivity to the negative value of smoking, an important characteristic of addiction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The energy efficiency and consumption of mobile networks have received increasing attention from academics and industry in recent years. This has been provoked by rapid increases in mobile data traffic and projected further rapid increases over the next decade. As a result, dramatic improvements in the energy efficiency of mobile networks are required to ensure that future traffic levels are both environmentally and economically sustainable. In this context, a good deal of research has focused on technologies and strategies that can improve the energy efficiency of 5G and future mobile networks more broadly. However, existing reviews in the field of green or sustainable mobile communications on the topic of the energy use implications of 5G overlook a number of issues that broader literatures on the energy use impacts of ICTs suggest could be significant. Addressing this gap, we conduct a literature review to examine whole network level assessments of the operational energy use implications of 5G, the embodied energy use associated with 5G, and indirect effects associated with 5G-driven changes in user behaviour and patterns of consumption and production in other sectors of the economy. In general, we find that these issues and their energy use implications have received insufficient attention in publicly available studies on the energy use impacts of 5G. • We find that the literature on green 5G and future mobile networks is dominated by small-scale, single technology assessments. • We find a lack of up-to-date, publicly available whole network level assessments of the energy use implications of 5G. • We find that the embodied energy use and indirect energy use effects of 5G have been largely overlooked in this literature. • Insufficient attention has been paid to 5G-driven user behaviour changes and the prevention of rebound effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is currently heavily reliant on the burning of fossil-fuels to generate most of its electric power needs. Owing to the newly set 2050 vision in combating climate change, the UAE has set an objective to considerably reduce its carbon footprint associated with power generation facilities. This vision materialized in the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) project, marking the first peaceful civil nuclear power plant in the Arab world. Nuclear power generates radioactive waste. In the UAE, the government's policy is to institute a safe and permanent geological disposal facility (GDF) for the final disposal of higher activity radioactive wastes (HAW). Currently, the UAE does not have a comprehensive radioactive waste inventory database on which an effective management strategy can be built on. Having a comprehensive radioactive waste data collection system will enable the UAE to not only address international reporting commitments, but also provide a transparent record of radioactive waste, which might assist in providing further public assurances. Additionally, the database will provide essential data that will support strategy development, and early waste management planning. It is not possible for the UAE to have an effective radioactive waste management strategy without implementing a system that correctly and accurately defines, records and presents radioactive waste arisings from its nuclear energy program. This paper reviews the overall radioactive waste scene in the UAE and provides a suggestion with regards to a new radioactive waste inventory management system that is based on international best practices. • Natural uranium (NU) utilization on a heavy water moderated molten salt reactor (HWMSR) is studied. • The fuel utilization efficiency of NU on HWMSR can achieve 1%, higher than that of CANDU reactor and LWR. • Around 2662 kg U-233 can be produced over 20 years' operation by online refuelingthorium and extracting Pa-233. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disposal route for the UK's inventory of spent nuclear fuel has yet to be decided upon, however if the UK follows the approach taken by many nations, its spent nuclear fuel will be destined for geological disposal. This paper provides a simplified, approach to the calculation of radiological risk posed to members of the public, associated with the disposal of spent advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) nuclear fuel in a geological disposal facility (GDF) located in a hypothetical clay geological setting. Simulating the release of radionuclides at differing levels of complexity shall aid in the development of aspects of the design, construction, operation, decommissioning and post-closure phases of geological disposal and the development of a safety case for geological disposal. This paper presents a high-level, 1-D model built in GoldSim, to provide an initial indication of the radiological risks to the public, the nature of which would require further development into a complex total system model in order to facilitate risk evaluation supplementary to a safety case. The model was validated against benchmark calculations provided by Radioactive Waste Management Ltd. The base case calculations suggest that the predicted risks to the potential exposed groups are well below, approximately 2 orders, the recommended risk guidance level of 1 × 10−6 per year. A number of sensitivity studies were carried out to identify the importance of various factors that could influence the predicted risks. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the most influential sensitivities on the annual risk posed by geological disposal were the depth and rate at which spent nuclear fuel dissolved in contact with groundwater. The pathways available for groundwater flow to the biosphere were also noted to significantly alter the peak risk observed; crucially almost all sensitivities did not increase the peak risk to within 1 order of magnitude below the recommended risk guidance level. Validation for a second hypothetical high strength rock geological setting resulted in higher projected predicted risks to the potential exposed groups although risk levels remained below the recommended risk guidance level. This suggests a clay environment may have favourable characteristics for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel compared to a high strength rock alternative. [Display omitted] • Spent nuclear fuel, including AGR fuel, may yet be disposed of in the UK's GDF. • We present a simple model of radionuclide release from AGR fuel in a GDF in clay. • The annual radiological risk to potentially exposed groups were predicted. • Sensitivities were simulated to observe the impact of variables on peak risk. • Results indicate peak risk remains two levels below recommended guidance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective management of radioactive waste is a necessary prerequisite to the use of nuclear energy. The UK's policy for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive waste (HAW), and potentially spent nuclear fuel (SNF), is disposal in a deep underground geological disposal facility (GDF). A GDF will isolate HAW from mankind until the radioactivity has decayed to levels where any risk to future generations is acceptably low. It is likely, therefore, that a GDF will need to safely contain radioactive materials for hundreds of thousands of years. The necessary isolation will be provided by a combination of natural (geological) and engineered barriers. A multi-layered engineered barrier system will provide the defence-in-depth that is required to give the public confidence in the long-term performance of the GDF. This paper identifies the significant role each engineered barrier or "layer" plays in ensuring that long-lived radionuclides remain isolated from the biosphere and receptors within the vicinity of a GDF. Receptors include human and animal populations, and the natural environment. The paper also explores the characteristics and performance of a number of suitable candidate materials for use in the UK GDF engineered barriers. An indication of the lifetime of potential barriers under conditions pertinent to each of the UKs proposed geological settings is given. As the performance of the engineered barriers will be vital to the GDF post-closure safety case, several areas for further work are proposed. [Display omitted] • UK radioactive waste will be disposed of in a geological disposal facility (GDF). • Radionuclides may be contained for a period of up to 3 million years by a GDF. • The engineered barriers employed are highly dependent on the wasteform and geology. • Barriers may serve multiple roles e.g. backfill, redox control, pH buffering etc. • These roles are critical to ensuring radionuclide release is minimised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Conducts a mixed-methods frame analysis of the UK policy debate on shale gas development. • Identifies nine key frames and their associated storylines as being widely used in the UK policy debate. • Four frames are associated with the pro-shale development coalition, whilst five are used by the anti-shale development coalition. • Frame use is tracked over time, and the frames are compared to other national cases. • We find a relative lack of frame resonance which we argue can be explained by the 'impotence of storylines' in anticipatory political debate. How contested sources of energy such as shale gas are perceived in frontier countries considering their development is incredibly important to national and international climate policies. The UK shale development case is of particular interest currently as the Government attempts to position the UK as a pioneer of European, safe, sustainable shale gas development. We conduct a mixed-methods analysis of the UK policy debate on shale gas development involving 30 stakeholder interviews and 1557 political documents. This empirical focus extends the existing literature by identifying the use of frames in and through the institutions and practices of formal UK politics. We identify nine key frames and their associated storylines, analyse their use over time, and compare these findings with other national case studies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given most UK Governments within our timeframe have supported shale development, pro-shale development frames dominate in the policy debate; however, we also find a high level of anti-shale development frame use, suggesting a deep and ongoing framing contest in national formal political sites. We find in particular a more prominent focus on land-use issues and impacts on the landscape than other UK studies or other national contexts. Conceptually, the study puts forward an integrative approach to the related concepts of frames and storylines, as well as arguments concerning the impotence of storylines in anticipatory political debate and the polyvalence of framing strategies. Questions about governance are raised by the general lack of consensus over the framing of shale development within formal political sites, let alone amongst the broader public; and by the lack of a coherent response from the Government to criticisms of its approach. Finally, we reflect on the apparent lack of evidence for Hajer's 'communicative miracle' in our case, and speculate as to whether the lack of broad-based resonance of the 'bridge' storyline signals trouble for the positive-sum thinking of ecological modernisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]