2,518 research outputs found
The pioneering press of Poverty Bay: 1872-1914
This thesis explores the significance of the newspaper press in a settler society, in this case Poverty Bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It examines the circumstances of such a society's communications needs and problems, and its demographic structure. It also looks at the changing patterns of journalism in nineteenth century New Zealand and elsewhere and, importantly, printing's technological progress as it affected a provincial newspaper. Remoteness was a dominating feature of the Poverty Bay district and European settlement was slow to develop. The consequence was twofold: institutions, such as the church, the press and the school, were already well-established in New Zealand by the time this second frontier region began to attract much attention - in the case of the press this meant an interconnectedness from the outset, with ideas and staff emanating from established New Zealand circles - and communication difficulties caused by isolation. Poverty Bay's first newspaper, the Poverty Bay Standard, began in 1872, more than thirty years after New Zealand's first newspaper, the New Zealand Gazette. The 1870s saw a clamour of activity. This was reflected in the district's press, not only within its pages, but also with considerable competition and changing of ownership. Eventually one newspaper, the Poverty Bay Herald, succeeded where all others failed. The Poverty Bay Herald has remained in the hands of one family since experienced printer Allan Ramsay Muir became part-owner in 1884. Thus, the family and the community have been intertwined for one hundred and twenty years. Good provincial newspapers provide a cohesive element in their society or they do not succeed. The Poverty Bay Herald initially survived through luck and useful friends but it became a beacon for its community in that it reflected success and modernity. Many others attempted to dislodge it or share the stage, but the Poverty Bay Herald played, and still plays, a significant role as the former 'out district' stabilized and advanced
Critical review of the impacts of grazing intensity on soil organic carbon storage and other soil quality indicators in extensively managed grasslands
Acknowledgements This work contributes to the N-Circle project (grant number BB/N013484/1), and CINAg (BB/N013468/1) Virtual Joint Centres on Agricultural Nitrogen (funded by the Newton Fund via UK BBSRC/NERC), U-GRASS (grant number NE/M016900/1), the Belmont Forum/FACCE-JPI DEVIL project (grant number NE/M021327/1), Soils-R-GGREAT (grant number NE/P019455/1), ADVENT (grant number NE/M019713/1), SĂȘr Cymru LCEE-NRN project, Climate-Smart Grass and the Scottish Governmentâs Strategic Research Programme.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
UK policy statements on testosterone deficiency
To address widespread media and scientific concerns over the appropriate treatment of TDS with Testosterone Therapy (T Therapy), the Executive Committee of the British Society for Sexual Medicine developed eight consensus statements, based on current scientific evidence to address these controversial issues. These statements were in no-way designed to replace the published evidence-based guidelines on the subject developed by various professional organisations, but to provide specific answers to several current controversial issues. This review examined evidence from Medline, EMBASE and Cochrane searches on HG, T Therapy and cardiovascular safety from May 2005 to May 2015, which revealed 1714 articles, with 52 clinical trials and 32 placebo-controlled randomised controlled trials. The task force developed the following eight key statements
Implications of Variability Patterns observed in TeV Blazars on the Structure of the Inner Jet
The recent long look X-ray observations of TeV blazars have revealed many
important new features concerning their time variability. In this paper, we
suggest a physical interpretation for those features based on the framework of
the internal and external shock scenarios. We present a simplified model
applicable to TeV blazars, and investigate through simulations how each of the
model parameters would affect to the observed light curve or spectrum. In
particular, we show that the internal shock scenario naturally leads to all the
observed variability properties including the structure function, but for it to
be applicable, the fractional fluctuation of the initial bulk Lorentz factors
must be small, with sigma_gamma / gamma_average < 0.01. This implies very low
dynamical efficiency of the internal shock scenario. We also suggest that
several observational quantities -- such as the characteristic time scale, the
relative amplitude of flares as compared to the steady (``offset'') component,
and the slope of the structure function -- can be used to probe the inner jet.
The results are applied to the TeV blazar Mrk421, and this, within the context
of the model, leads to the determination of several physical parameters: the
ejection of a shell with average thickness of ~1E13 cm occurs on average every
10 minutes, and the shells collide ~1E17 cm away from the central source.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, to appear in Ap
Impacts of climate change on coastal habitats, relevant to the coastal and marine environment around the UK
Coastal habitats are at risk from both direct (temperature, rainfall), and indirect (sea-level rise, coastal erosion) impacts due to a changing climate. Beyond the environmental impacts and ensuing habitat loss, the changing climate will have a significant societal impact to coastal communities ranging from health to livelihoods, as well as the loss of important ecosystem services such as coastal defence â particularly relevant with predicted increase in storminess.
Vegetated coastal ecosystems sequester carbon â another âecosystem serviceâ that could be disrupted due to climate change. There has been considerable recent attention to the potential role these habitats could play in climate mitigation, and also in transferring carbon across the landâsea interface. To understand the relative importance of these habitats within the global carbon cycle, coastal habitats need to be accounted for in national greenhouse gas inventories, and a true multidisciplinary catchment-to-coast approach to research is required.
Management options exist that can reduce the immediate impacts of climate change, such as managed realignment and sediment recharge. Fixed landward coastal defences are becoming unsustainable and creating âcoastal squeezeâ, highlighting the need to work with natural processes to recreate more-natural shorelines where possible
Online self-compassion training to improve the wellbeing of youth with chronic medical conditions: protocol for a randomised control trial
Background
Chronic medical conditions (CMCs) affect up to 35% of children and adolescents. Youth with chronic medical conditions are at an increased risk of psychological distress and reduced health-related quality of life, and report rates of mental illness up to double that of their physically healthy peers. Accessible, evidence-based interventions for young people with chronic illness are urgently required to improve their mental health and daily functioning. Self-compassion involves taking a mindful, accepting approach to difficult experiences, being aware that one is not alone in oneâs suffering, and being kind and understanding with oneself during challenging times. Self-compassion shares strong associations with mental health outcomes among young people and preliminary work indicates that interventions that build self-compassion have the potential to substantially improve youth mental health. Self-compassion is also associated with better physical and mental health outcomes among individuals living with CMCs. While face-to-face self-compassion training is available, there are several barriers to access for youth with CMCs. Online self-compassion training potentially offers an accessible alternative for this high-risk group.
Methods
Self-Compassion Online (SCO) is a self-compassion program that has been tested with a non-clinical adult group. For the proposed trial, a reference group of youth (16â25âyears) with chronic illness reviewed the program and proposed adaptations to improve its suitability for youth with chronic illness. In alignment with the SPIRIT Checklist, this paper outlines the protocol for a CONSORT-compliant, single-blind randomised controlled trial to test the efficacy of the adapted program, relative to a waitlist control, for improving self-compassion, wellbeing, distress, emotion regulation, coping and quality of life among young Australians with CMCs. Mechanisms of action and feasibility of SCO will be analysed using quantitative data and participant interviews, respectively. Finally, cost-utility will be analysed using health-related quality of life data.
Discussion
The SCO program could provide a scalable solution for improving psychological outcomes and quality of life among youth with chronic illness. The proposed trial will be the first to determine its efficacy for improving these outcomes, relative to waitlist control.
Trial registration
The trial was registered on the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry on the 11th April 2019, ACTRN12619000572167
The Pulsar Wind Nebula Around PSR B1853+01 in the Supernova Remnant W44
We present radio observations of a region in the vicinity of the young pulsar
PSR B1853+01 in the supernova remnant W44. The pulsar is located at the apex of
an extended feature with cometary morphology. We argue on the basis of its
morphology and its spectral index and polarization properties that this is a
synchrotron nebula produced by the spin down energy of the pulsar. The geometry
and physical parameters of this pulsar-powered nebula and W44 are used to
derive three different measures of the pulsar's transverse velocity. A range of
estimates between 315 and 470 km/s are derived, resulting in a typical value of
375 km/s. The observed synchrotron spectrum from radio to X-ray wavelengths is
used to put constraints on the energetics of the nebula and to derive the
parameters of the pulsar wind.Comment: ApJ Let (in press
Electron Acceleration and Efficiency in Nonthermal Gamma-Ray Sources
In energetic nonthermal sources such as gamma-ray bursts, AGN or galactic jet
sources, etc., one expects both relativistic and transrelativistic shocks
acompanied by violent motions of moderately relativistic plasma. We present
general considerations indicating that these sites are electron and positron
accelerators leading to a modified power law spectrum. The electron (or
) energy index is very hard, or flatter up to a
comoving frame break energy , and becomes steeper above that. In
the example of gamma-ray bursts the Lorentz factor reaches for accelerated by the internal shock ensemble on
subhydrodynamical time scales. For pairs accelerated on hydrodynamical
timescales in the external shocks similarly hard spectra are obtained, and the
break Lorentz factor can be as high as \gamma_\star \siml 10^5. Radiation
from the nonthermal electrons produces photon spectra with shape and
characteristic energies in qualitative agreement with observed generic
gamma-ray burst and blazar spectra. The scenario described here provides a
plausible way to solve one of the crucial problems of nonthermal high energy
sources, namely the efficient transfer of energy from the proton flow to an
apropriate nonthermal lepton component.Comment: Ap.J. (Letters) in press, uuencoded latex file (uses AAS macro
aaspp4), 10 page
Simulation of nitrous oxide emissions at field scale using the SPACSYS model
AbstractNitrous oxide emitted to the atmosphere via the soil processes of nitrification and denitrification plays an important role in the greenhouse gas balance of the atmosphere and is involved in the destruction of stratospheric ozone. These processes are controlled by biological, physical and chemical factors such as growth and activity of microbes, nitrogen availability, soil temperature and water availability. A comprehensive understanding of these processes embodied in an appropriate model can help develop agricultural mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help with estimating emissions at landscape and regional scales. A detailed module to describe the denitrification and nitrification processes and nitrogenous gas emissions was incorporated into the SPACSYS model to replace an earlier module that used a simplified first-order equation to estimate denitrification and was unable to distinguish the emissions of individual nitrogenous gases. A dataset derived from a Scottish grassland experiment in silage production was used to validate soil moisture in the top 10cm soil, cut biomass, nitrogen offtake and N2O emissions. The comparison between the simulated and observed data suggested that the new module can provide a good representation of these processes and improve prediction of N2O emissions. The model provides an opportunity to estimate gaseous N emissions under a wide range of management scenarios in agriculture, and synthesises our understanding of the interaction and regulation of the processes
Mindfulness- Based Functional Therapy: a preliminary open trial of an integrated model of care for people with persistent low back pain
Objectives: This pilot study investigated the feasibility and clinical utility of implementing a novel, evidence-informed, interdisciplinary group interventionâMindfulness Based Functional Therapy (MBFT)âfor the management of persistent low back pain (LBP) in primary care. MBFT aimed to improve physical and psychological functioning in patients with persistent LBP. Design: A single-group repeated measures design was utilized to gather data about feasibility, effect sizes, clinically significant changes and patient satisfaction. Setting: A community sample of 16 adults (75% female), mean (SD) age 47.00 (9.12) years (range 26â65 years), with mean (SD) LBP duration of 8.00 (9.00) years participated, using a simulated primary care setting at Curtin University in Australia. Intervention: MBFT is an 8-week group intervention co-facilitated by psychology and physiotherapy disciplines. Content includes: mindfulness meditation training, cognitive-functional physiotherapeutic movement retraining, pain education, and group support.Main outcome measures: Several validated self-report measures were used to assess functional disability, emotional functioning, mindfulness, pain catastrophizing, health-related quality of life at baseline, post-intervention, and 6 months follow-up. Results: Adherence and satisfaction was high, with 85% of participants highly satisfied with MBFT. Clinical significance analysis and effect size estimates showed improvements in a number of variables, including pain catastrophizing, physical functioning, role limitations due to physical condition, and depression, although these may have occurred due to non-intervention effects. Conclusions: MBFT is feasible to implement in primary care. Preliminary findings suggest that a randomized controlled trial is warranted to investigate its efficacy in improving physical and emotional functioning in people with disabling persistent LBP
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