Assessing chronological changes in remnant native forest at catchment level : a case study on the Toolibin catchment area

The aim of this study were to construct a digital database of the historical patterns of land clearing (amount, spatial distribution); to reconstruct the historical vegetation of the Toolibin catchment, Western Australia, using mallet maps and reports of the period; to produce maps showing the rate of clearing for the periods 1960-70, 1970-80, 1980-96; and to analyse the relationships between soil types, topographic position and land clearing

Remnant Vegetation Inventory on the Southern Agricultural Areas of Western Australia.

Remnant vegetation mapping and its incorporation into a Geographical Information System (GIS) data base is the first stage in an overall documentation and promotion of conservation of remnant vegetation in Western Australia. The primary objective of this project being to determine the amount, distribution and regional location of native vegetation remaining on private land in the agricultural area of south-west Western Australia

Land-use and vegetation in Western Australia : project DAW27 : National Land and Water Resources Audit

This report details a project to compile detailed land-use data for Western Australia, on pre-European and present vegetation types, and aspects of disturbance of or threats to the present vegetation. Metadata on botanical surveys throughout the state were also compiled

Native vegetation in Western Australia : extent, type and status

This report describes a new vegetation extent and type dataset for Western Australia prepared through the National Land and Water Resources Audit. Summary tables and maps prepared from these data are presented describing vegetation in relation to natural resource boundaries commonly used for environmental reporting. This present vegetation extent dataset builds on previous vegetation mapping exercises in Western Australia

Explaining trends in alcohol-related harms in Scotland 1991–2011 (II): policy, social norms, the alcohol market, clinical changes and a synthesis

Objective: To provide a basis for evaluating post-2007 alcohol policy in Scotland, this paper tests the extent to which pre-2007 policy, the alcohol market, culture or clinical changes might explain differences in the magnitude and trends in alcohol-related mortality outcomes in Scotland compared to England & Wales (E&W). Study design: Rapid literature reviews, descriptive analysis of routine data and narrative synthesis. Methods: We assessed the impact of pre-2007 Scottish policy and policy in the comparison areas in relation to the literature on effective alcohol policy. Rapid literature reviews were conducted to assess cultural changes and the potential role of substitution effects between alcohol and illicit drugs. The availability of alcohol was assessed by examining the trends in the number of alcohol outlets over time. The impact of clinical changes was assessed in consultation with key informants. The impact of all the identified factors were then summarised and synthesised narratively. Results: The companion paper showed that part of the rise and fall in alcohol-related mortality in Scotland, and part of the differing trend to E&W, were predicted by a model linking income trends and alcohol-related mortality. Lagged effects from historical deindustrialisation and socio-economic changes exposures also remain plausible from the available data. This paper shows that policy differences or changes prior to 2007 are unlikely to have been important in explaining the trends. There is some evidence that aspects of alcohol culture in Scotland may be different (more concentrated and home drinking) but it seems unlikely that this has been an important driver of the trends or the differences with E&W other than through interaction with changing incomes and lagged socio-economic effects. Substitution effects with illicit drugs and clinical changes are unlikely to have substantially changed alcohol-related harms: however, the increase in alcohol availability across the UK is likely to partly explain the rise in alcohol-related mortality during the 1990s. Conclusions: Future policy should ensure that alcohol affordability and availability, as well as socio-economic inequality, are reduced, in order to maintain downward trends in alcohol-related mortality in Scotland

Informing investment to reduce inequalities: a modelling approach

Background: Reducing health inequalities is an important policy objective but there is limited quantitative information about the impact of specific interventions. Objectives: To provide estimates of the impact of a range of interventions on health and health inequalities. Materials and methods: Literature reviews were conducted to identify the best evidence linking interventions to mortality and hospital admissions. We examined interventions across the determinants of health: a ‘living wage’; changes to benefits, taxation and employment; active travel; tobacco taxation; smoking cessation, alcohol brief interventions, and weight management services. A model was developed to estimate mortality and years of life lost (YLL) in intervention and comparison populations over a 20-year time period following interventions delivered only in the first year. We estimated changes in inequalities using the relative index of inequality (RII). Results: Introduction of a ‘living wage’ generated the largest beneficial health impact, with modest reductions in health inequalities. Benefits increases had modest positive impacts on health and health inequalities. Income tax increases had negative impacts on population health but reduced inequalities, while council tax increases worsened both health and health inequalities. Active travel increases had minimally positive effects on population health but widened health inequalities. Increases in employment reduced inequalities only when targeted to the most deprived groups. Tobacco taxation had modestly positive impacts on health but little impact on health inequalities. Alcohol brief interventions had modestly positive impacts on health and health inequalities only when strongly socially targeted, while smoking cessation and weight-reduction programmes had minimal impacts on health and health inequalities even when socially targeted. Conclusions: Interventions have markedly different effects on mortality, hospitalisations and inequalities. The most effective (and likely cost-effective) interventions for reducing inequalities were regulatory and tax options. Interventions focused on individual agency were much less likely to impact on inequalities, even when targeted at the most deprived communities

Comparison of compression properties and swelling of beryllium irradiated at various temperatures

A beryllium cylinder irradiated in Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-II) for four years at 700 to 760 K to a neutron fluence of 8.13 x 10/sup 22/ n/cm/sup 2/ (total) or 1 x 10/sup 22/ n/cm/sup 2/ (E > 1 MeV) was cut into samples and tested. Yield strength and plastic strain was determined in compression tests at 300, 723, 823 K and after annealing at 1173 K for one hour. The immersion density and helium content were measured on samples. An equation for swelling was derived from the data by regression analysis. The microstructure showed agglomeration of helium in voids or bubbles at the grain boundaries

Gas retention in irradiated beryllium

Helium (an inert gas) with low solubility in beryllium is trapped in irradiated beryllium at low temperatures ( 1 MeV). In these samples the calculated helium generated was {approximately} 14,000 appm. They are described in terms of swelling, annealing, microstructure, and helium bubble behavior (size, density and mobility). A second sample was irradiated to {approximately}5 {times} 10{sup 22} n/cm{sup 2} (E > 1 MeV). In that one the calculated helium and tritium generated were {approximately}24,000 appm He and {approximately}3720 appm, and tritium content was examined in a dissolution experiment. Most of the tritium was released as gas to the glovebox indicating the generated tritium was retained in the helium bubbles. In a third set of experiments a specimen was examined by annealing at a succession of temperatures to more than 600{degree}C for tritium release. In the temperature range of 300--500{degree}C little release (0.01--0.4%) occurred, but there was a massive release at just over 600{degree}C. Theories of swelling appear to adequately describe bubble behavior with breakaway release occurring at high helium contents and at large bubble diameters. 8 refs., 6 figs

Hyperpolarised 13C MRI: a new horizon for non-invasive diagnosis of aggressive breast cancer

Hyperpolarised 13C MRI (HP-MRI) is a novel imaging technique that allows real-time analysis of metabolic pathways in vivo. 1 The technology to conduct HP-MRI in humans has recently become available and is starting to be clinically applied. As knowledge of molecular biology advances, it is increasingly apparent that cancer cell metabolism is related to disease outcomes, with lactate attracting specific attention. 2 Recent reviews of breast cancer screening programs have raised concerns and increased public awareness of over treatment. The scientific community needs to shift focus from improving cancer detection alone to pursuing novel methods of distinguishing aggressive breast cancers from those which will remain indolent. HP-MRI offers the opportunity to identify aggressive tumour phenotypes and help monitor/predict therapeutic response. Here we report one of the first cases of breast cancer imaged using HP-MRI alongside correlative conventional imaging, including breast MRI

GAMA/H-ATLAS: the local dust mass function and cosmic density as a function of galaxy type - a benchmark for models of galaxy evolution

We present the dust mass function (DMF) of 15,750 galaxies with redshift z < 0:1, drawn from the overlapping area of the GAMA and H-ATLAS surveys. The DMF is derived using the density corrected Vmax method, where we estimate Vmax using: (i) the normal photometric selection limit (pVmax) and (ii) a bivariate brightness distribution (BBD) technique, which accounts for two selection effects. We fit the data with a Schechter function, and find M* = (4:65 ± 0.18) × 10^7 h^2/70 Mo, α = (-1.22 ± 0:01), Φ*= (6.26 ± 0.28) × 10^-3 h^3/70 Mpc^-3 dex^-1. The resulting dust mass density parameter integrated down to 10^4 M☉ is Ωd = (1.11 ± 0.02) × 10^-6 which implies the mass fraction of baryons in dust is fmb = (2.40 ± 0.04) × 10^-5; cosmic variance adds an extra 7-17 per cent uncertainty to the quoted statistical errors. Our measurements have fewer galaxies with high dust mass than predicted by semi-analytic models. This is because the models include too much dust in high stellar mass galaxies. Conversely, our measurements find more galaxies with high dust mass than predicted by hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. This is likely to be from the long timescales for grain growth assumed in the models. We calculate DMFs split by galaxy type and find dust mass densities of Ωd = (0.88 ± 0.03) × 10^-6 and Ωd = (0.060 ± 0.005) × 10^-6 for late-types and early-types respectively. Comparing to the equivalent galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMF) we find that the DMF for late-types is well matched by the GMSF scaled by (8.07 ± 0.35) × 10^-4