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Acknowledgment This paper was supported by an award made by Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), award reference EP/L50533X/1 and British Telecom (BT) research ICase sponsorship. Acknowledgement and thanks is offered to colleagues at The University of Aberdeen and reviewers for their constructive feedback. ; Peer reviewed ; Postprint

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Farrington, J. W., Overton, E. B., & Passow, U. Biogeochemical processes affecting the fate of discharged Deepwater Horizon gas and oil new insights and remaining gaps in our understanding. Oceanography, 34(1), (2021): 76–97, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.118. ; Research funded under the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative provided new insights into the biogeochemical processes influencing the fate of petroleum chemicals entering the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) accident. This overview of that work is based on detailed recent reviews of aspects of the biogeochemistry as well as on activities supported by the US Natural Resource Damage Assessment. The main topics presented here are distribution of hydrocarbons in the water column; the role of photo-oxidation of petroleum compounds at the air-sea interface; the role of particulates in the fate of the DWH hydrocarbons, especially marine oil snow (MOS) and marine oil snow sedimentation and flocculent accumulation (MOSSFA); oil deposition and accumulation in sediments; and fate of oil on beaches and in marshes. A brief discussion of bioaccumulation is also included. Microbial degradation is addressed in a separate paper in this special issue of Oceanography. Important future research recommendations include: conduct a more robust assessment of the mass balance of various chemical groupings and even individual chemicals during specific time intervals; seek a better understanding of the roles of photo-oxidation products, MOS, and MOSSFA and their relationships to microbial degradation; and determine the fates of the insoluble highly degraded and viscous oil residues in the environment. ; We acknowledge the efforts of several hundred researchers within the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, the BP- and US government-funded DWH Natural Resource Damage Assessment efforts, the US National ...

Williams, F., Philip, L., Fairhurst, G., & Farrington, J. (2016). 'Digital by Default' and 'the hard to reach': exploring solutions to digital exclusion in remote rural areas. Local Economy, 31(7), 757-777. DOI:10.1177/0269094216670938. Copyright © 2016 SAGE. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. ; In the UK, the geography of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure required for Internet connectivity is such that high speed broadband and mobile phone networks are generally less available in rural areas compared with urban areas or, in other words, as remoteness and population sparsity increase so too does the likelihood of an area having no or very poor broadband connectivity. Against a policy backdrop of UK Government efforts to bring forward network infrastructure upgrades and to improve the accessibility of broadband services in locations where there is a weak commercial investment case, this paper considers the options for the 'final few' in the prevailing 'Digital by Default' public services context. The paper outlines the Rural Public Access WiFi Services project, a study focused upon enabling Internet connectivity for commercially 'hard to reach' rural areas in the UK. The Rural Public Access WiFi Services concept and the experiment are introduced before findings from a pilot deployment of a broadband service to households in a remote rural area, who may be classified as 'digitally excluded', are presented. The paper then reflects on our field experiment and the potential of the Rural Public Access WiFi Services model as a solution to overcoming some of the digital participation barriers manifest in the urban–rural divide. Early indications show that the Rural Public Access WiFi Services model has the potential to encourage participation in the Digital Economy and could aid the UK Government's Digital by Default agenda, although adoption of the model is not without its challenges.

This paper reports upon the development of a policy assessment tool designed to evaluate the outcomes of policies promoting increased accessibility to services in rural areas. Much public policy is now concerned with addressing issues (such as accessibility) that span traditional organisational responsibilities and boundaries and thus require 'joined-up' thinking. At the same time, public policy is also increasingly required to be 'evidence based'. As a consequence, it becomes necessary to develop appraisal and evaluation tools capable of assessing the achievements of joined-up policy interventions and their broader impacts on decision making and delivery across a diverse number of stakeholders. The Accessibility Policy Assessment Tool has been developed as a way of focusing more on the wider impacts of policy initiatives and is based upon a realist synthesis and multimethod approach to policy assessment. Through this focus, it has the potential to contribute to broader evaluation practice.

Open Access funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF

AbstractRural citizens protest about changes in their model of local health services provision, appealing to a concept of social justice for equivalence of accessibility to services. This article explores the areas where citizens perceive deficits in social justice regarding services and the extent to which their appeals might have support in law and government guidance. The article explores how asymmetric philosophies of resource allocation and interpretations of inclusion in decision‐making process may underlie protest and concludes that, while policy rhetoric ignores constraints on citizen roles and choices in service design, protest will continue, as it is a manifestation of rural citizens' frustration.

This report is the second in the Rural Scotland in Focus series and aimed to provide a fast-track to evidence, commentary on key themes, and an extensive compendium of resources. The 2012 report set out the economic, social and demographic characteristics of rural Scotland, how these were changing and the implications of these changes for policy and practice. Topics covered in the report include: - How have Scotland's rural population, economy and environment changed since the 2010 report? - Towns and rural Scotland: vibrant or vulnerable? - What is the role of the private sector in the resilience of rural Scotland? - The third sector and civil society in rural Scotland: present and future? - Next generation broadband in rural Scotland: mobilising, meeting and anticipating demand. - What are the implications for rural Scotland of a low carbon future The evidence and commentary was aimed at stimulating debate around securing thriving communities, a strong economy and a sustainable environment for rural Scotland, now and in the future. At the launch of the report - in Edinburgh on Monday May 28th 2012 the debate was kicked off with an 'SAC Rural Question Time' chaired by writer, broadcaster and commentator Lesley Riddoch and featuring five high profile panelists with expertise and influence in the rural sector. The panelists were: - Donald Macrae (Chief Economist Lloyds Banking Group Scotland) - Dr Joan Mitchell (Farmer, Chair of SNH's Scientific Advisory Committe and former Chair of the Southern Uplands Partnership) - Chris Savage (Estate Factor at Cassillis Estate, Ayrshire) - Professor Mark Shucksmith (Professor of Planning at Newcastle University and Chair of the Scottish Government's Committee of Inquiry into Crofting, 2007-08) - Andy Wightman (Independent writer and researcher)