Stability and change in British public discourses about climate change between 1997 and 2010

Public understanding of climate change has been a topic of environmental social sciences research since the early 1990s. To date, temporal change in climate change understanding has been approached almost exclusively using quantitative, survey-based methodologies, which indicate that people's responses on a limited number of measures have indeed altered in response to changing circumstances. However, quantitative longitudinal evidence can be criticised for presenting an overly simplistic view of people's beliefs and values. The current study is the first to explore changes in public understanding over an extended time period using in-depth qualitative methods. The study utilises a novel longitudinal methodology to explore changes in discourses across six separate datasets collected over the period 1997-2010, comprising a total of 208 public participants from across Great Britain. We find for the first time that discourses regarding the relevance of climate change to everyday life, and concerning rationales for personal action have exhibited subtle but important shifts over this period. By contrast, other aspects of public understanding have exhibited considerable stability over time, particularly with respect to ethical principles concerning stewardship of nature, justice and fairness. We conclude by distinguishing between three scales of change in public understanding of climate change: relatively short-lived movements in attitudes as revealed by survey data and influenced by transitory phenomena; slower shifts in public discourses that track changing cultural contexts; and enduring ways of understanding climate change that are tied to longer-term ethical foundations

Solubilised bright blue-emitting iridium complexes for solution processed OLEDs

EZ-C acknowledges the University of St Andrews for financial support. IDWS and AKB acknowledge support from EPSRC (EP/J01771X). The authors would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for financial support for Adam Henwood: EPSRC DTG Grants: EP/J500549/1; EP/K503162/1; EP/L505097/1.Combining a sterically bulky, electron-deficient 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-4-(2,4,6- trimethylphenyl)pyridine (dFMesppy) cyclometalating C^N ligand with an electron rich, highly rigidified 1,1’-(α,α’-o-xylylene)-2,2’-biimidazole (o-xylbiim) N^N ligand gives an iridium complex, [Ir(dFMesppy)2(o-Xylbiim)](PF6), that achieves extraordinarily bright blue emission (ΦPL = 90%; λmax = 459 nm in MeCN) for a cationic iridium complex. This complex is compared with two reference complexes bearing 4,4’-di-tert-butyl-2,2’- bipyridine, and solution-processed organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been fabricated from these materials.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Questioning policy, youth participation and lifestyle sports

Young people have been identified as a key target group for whom participation in sport and physical activity could have important benefits to health and wellbeing and consequently have been the focus of several government policies to increase participation in the UK. Lifestyle sports represent one such strategy for encouraging and sustaining new engagements in sport and physical activity in youth groups, however, there is at present a lack of understanding of the use of these activities within policy contexts. This paper presents findings from a government initiative which sought to increase participation in sport for young people through provision of facilities for mountain biking in a forest in south-east England. Findings from qualitative research with 40 young people who participated in mountain biking at the case study location highlight the importance of non-traditional sports as a means to experience the natural environments through forms of consumption which are healthy, active and appeal to their identities. In addition, however, the paper raises questions over the accessibility of schemes for some individuals and social groups, and the ability to incorporate sports which are inherently participant-led into state-managed schemes. Lifestyle sports such as mountain biking involve distinct forms of participation which present a challenge for policy-makers who seek to create and maintain sustainable communities of youth participants

Conjugated, rigidified bibenzimidazole ancillary ligands for enhanced photoluminescence quantum yields of orange/red-emitting iridium(III) complexes

EZ-C acknowledges the University of St Andrews for financial support. We thank Umicore AG for the gift of materials. We would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for financial support for E.Z-C. (EP/M02105X/1) and for the studentship of A.H. (EP/J500549/1, EP/K503162/1, EP/L505097/1). We thank the EPSRC UK National Mass Spectrometry Facility at Swansea University for analytical services. We also would like to thank EaStCHEM and the School of Chemistry for supporting the computing facilities maintained by Dr. H. Früchtl.A series of six novel [Ir(C^N)2(N^N)](PF6) complexes (C^N is one of two cyclometalating ligands: 2-phenyl-4-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)pyridine, MesppyH, or 2- (napthalen-1-yl)-4-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)pyridine, MesnpyH; N^N denotes one of four neutral diamine ligands: 4,4’-di-tert-butyl-2,2’-bipyridine, dtbubpy, 1H,1’H-2,2’- bibenzimiazole, H2bibenz, 1,1’-(α,α’-o-xylylene)-2,2’-bibenzimidazole, o-Xylbibenz or 2,2’- biquinoline, biq) were synthesised and their structural, electrochemical and photophysical properties comprehensively characterised. The more conjugated MesnpyH ligands confer a red-shift in the emission compared to MesppyH but maintain high photoluminescence quantum yields due to the steric bulk of the mesityl groups. The H2bibenz and o-Xylbibenz ligands are shown to be electronically indistinct to dtbubpy but give complexes with higher quantum yields than analogous complexes bearing dtbubpy. In particular, the rigidity of the o-Xylbibenz ligand, combined with the steric bulk of the MesnpyH C^N ligands, give a red-emitting complex 4 (λPL = 586, 623 nm) with a very high photoluminescence quantum yield (ΦPL = 44%) for an emitter in that regime of the visible spectrum. These results suggest that employing these ligands is a viable strategy for designing more efficient orange-red emitters for use in a variety of photophysical applications.PostprintPeer reviewe

Impact of ultrasound on management for dyspnea presentations in a Rwandan emergency department

Background The complexity of diagnosis for critically ill dyspnea presentations in the emergency department remains a challenge. Accurate and rapid recognition of associated life-threatening conditions is paramount for timely treatment. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has been shown to impact the diagnosis of dyspnea presentations in resource-rich settings, and may be of greater diagnostic benefit in resource-limited settings. Methods We prospectively enrolled a convenience sample of 100 patients presenting with dyspnea in the Emergency Department at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (UTH-K) in Rwanda. After a traditional history and physical exam, the primary treating team listed their 3 main diagnoses and ranked their confidence accuracy in the leading diagnosis on a Likert scale (1–5). Multi-organ ultrasound scans performed by a separate physician sonographer assessed the heart, lungs, inferior vena cava, and evaluated for lower extremity deep vein thrombosis or features of disseminated tuberculosis. The sonographer reviewed the findings with the treating team, who then listed 3 diagnoses post-ultrasound and ranked their confidence accuracy in the leading diagnosis on a Likert scale (1–5). The hospital diagnosis at discharge was used as the standard in determining the accuracy of the pre- and post-ultrasound diagnoses. Results Of the 99 patients included in analysis, 57.6% (n = 57) were male, with a mean age of 45 years. Most of them had high-level acuity (54.5%), the dyspnea was of acute onset (45.5%) and they came from district hospitals (50.5%). The most frequent discharge diagnoses were acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) (26.3%) and pneumonia (21.2%). Ultrasound changed the leading diagnosis in 66% of cases. The diagnostic accuracy for ADHF increased from 53.8 to 100% (p = 0.0004), from 38 to 85.7% for pneumonia (p = 0.0015), from 14.2 to 85.7% for extrapulmonary tuberculosis (p = 0.0075), respectively, pre and post-ultrasound. The overall physician diagnostic accuracy increased from 34.7 to 88.8% pre and post- ultrasound. The clinician confidence in the leading diagnosis changed from a mean of 3.5 to a mean of 4.7 (Likert scale 0–5) (p < 0.001). Conclusions In dyspneic patients presenting to this Emergency Department, ultrasound frequently changed the leading diagnosis, significantly increased clinicians’ confidence in the leading diagnoses, and improved diagnostic accuracy

Using molecular and crowd‐sourcing methods to assess breeding ground diet of a migratory brood parasite of conservation concern

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this recordThe research data supporting this publication are openly available from Dryad at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.v6wwpzgsp and from NCBI Sequence Read Archive under BioProject number PRJNA606798Breeding ground food availability is critical to the survival and productivity of adult birds. The common cuckoo Cuculus canorus is a brood‐parasitic Afro‐Palearctic migrant bird exhibiting long‐term (breeding) population declines in many European countries. Variation in population trend between regions and habitats suggests breeding ground drivers such as adult food supply. However, cuckoo diet has not been studied in detail since before the most significant population declines in Europe began in the mid‐1980s. 20th century studies of cuckoo diet largely comprised field observations likely to carry bias towards larger prey taxa. Here we demonstrate the potential value of 1) using high‐throughput DNA sequencing of invertebrate prey in faeces to determine cuckoo diet with minimal bias towards large prey taxa, and 2) using crowd‐sourced digital photographs from across Britain to identify lepidopteran cuckoo prey taxa during recent years post‐decline (2005‐2016). DNA analysis found a high frequency of Lepidoptera, including moths of family Lasiocampidae, prominent within the past literature, but also grasshoppers (Orthoptera) and flies (Diptera) that may be overlooked by field observation methodologies. The range of larval lepidopteran prey identified from photographs largely agreed with those previously documented, with potential signs of reduced diversity, and identities of key adult prey taxa were supported by molecular results. Notably, many identified cuckoo prey taxa have shown severe declines due to agricultural intensification, suggesting this has driven spatial patterns of cuckoo loss. Landscape‐scale, lowland rewilding interventions provide opportunities to understand the scale of reversal of previous agricultural intensification that may be necessary to restore prey populations sufficiently to permit recolonization by cuckoos.Dartmoor National Park AuthorityNatural Environment Research Council (NERC)University of ExeterRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB

Characterizing the limited use of point-of-care ultrasound in Colombian emergency medicine residencies

Background: Emergency medicine (EM) is a growing specialty in Colombia with five residency programs in the country. EM leadership is interested in incorporating point-of-care (POC) ultrasound into a standardized national EM residency curriculum. This study is a nationwide survey of Colombian EM residents designed to explore the current state of POC ultrasound use within EM residencies and examine specific barriers preventing its expansion. Methods: We conducted a mix-methodology study of all available current EM residents in the five EM residencies in Colombia. The quantitative survey assessed previous ultrasound experience, current use of various applications, desire for further training, and perceived barriers to expanded use. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with current EM residents to gather additional qualitative insight into their practice patterns and perceived barriers to clinician-performed ultrasound. Results: Sixty-nine EM residents completed the quantitative survey, a response rate of 85% of all current EM residents in Colombia; 52% of resident respondents had previously used ultrasound during their training. Of these, 58% indicated that they had performed 40 scans. The most frequently used applications indicated by respondents were trauma, obstetrics, and procedures including vascular access. A quarter indicated they had previously received some ultrasound training, but almost all expressed an interest in learning more. Significant barriers included lack of trained teachers (indicated by 78% of respondents), absence of machines (57%), and limited time (41%). In FGDs, the barriers identified were inter-specialty conflicts over the control of ultrasonography, both institutionally and nationally, and program-specific curriculum decisions to include POC ultrasound. Conclusion: While currently limited in their access, EM residents in Colombia have a strong interest in integrating POC ultrasound into their training. Current barriers to expanded use include traditional barriers such as a lack of equipment seen in many developing countries, as well as inter-specialty conflicts typical of developed countries. Further collaboration is underway to help overcome these obstacles and integrate POC ultrasound into Colombian EM residency training