Guidelines for depth data collection in rivers when applying interpolation techniques (kriging) for river restoration

International audienceRiver restoration appraisal requires the implementation of monitoring programmes that assess the river site before and after the restoration project. However, little work has yet been developed to design effective and efficient sampling strategies. Three main variables need to be considered when designing monitoring programmes: space, time and scale. The aim of this paper is to describe the methodology applied to analyse the variation of depth in space, scale and time so more comprehensive monitoring programmes can be developed. Geostatistical techniques were applied to study the spatial dimension (sampling strategy and density), spectral analysis was used to study the scale at which depth shows cyclic patterns, whilst descriptive statistics were used to assess the temporal variation. A brief set of guidelines have been summarised in the conclusion

Titanium and nitrogen interactions under laser additive manufacturing conditions

To understand how to make bulk titanium parts or coatings with desired levels of titanium nitrides, this paper investigates the dynamic interactions between titanium and nitrogen under representative laser-based additive manufacturing (AM) conditions. Under a set of gas environments containing different concentrations of nitrogen, the titanium and nitrogen reaction products—formed under typical Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) AM scanning conditions—are examined for compositions, phases, and microstructures. In-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (SXRD) test is performed to reveal the high temperature reaction steps between titanium and nitrogen

Towards a conceptual framework demonstrating the effectiveness of audiovisual patient descriptions (patient video cases): a review of the current literature

Background: Technological advances have enabled the widespread use of video cases via web-streaming and online download as an educational medium. The use of real subjects to demonstrate acute pathology should aid the education of health care professionals. However, the methodology by which this effect may be tested is not clear. Methods: We undertook a literature review of major databases, found relevant articles relevant to using patient video cases as educational interventions, extracted the methodologies used and assessed these methods for internal and construct validity. Results: A review of 2532 abstracts revealed 23 studies meeting the inclusion criteria and a final review of 18 of relevance. Medical students were the most commonly studied group (10 articles) with a spread of learner satisfaction, knowledge and behaviour tested. Only two of the studies fulfilled defined criteria on achieving internal and construct validity. The heterogeneity of articles meant it was not possible to perform any meta-analysis. Conclusions: Previous studies have not well classified which facet of training or educational outcome the study is aiming to explore and had poor internal and construct validity. Future research should aim to validate a particular outcome measure, preferably by reproducing previous work rather than adopting new methods. In particular cognitive processing enhancement, demonstrated in a number of the medical student studies, should be tested at a postgraduate level

Do assembly rules for bird communities operate in small, fragmented woodlands in an agricultural landscape?

The favoured state approach sensu Fox (1987) was used to investigate the existence of assembly rules for woodland bird communities in an agricultural landscape. When birds were classified according to gross breeding habitat requirements, year-round resident, .true. woodland species showed an excess of favoured states suggesting a possible assembly rule. There was weaker evidence for a similar assembly rule governed by foraging requirements. This pattern was shown for all woods together, and for most categories of woods, grouped according to size, shape or size and shape together. Summer migrants did not show such patterns, and their arrival appeared to mask any patterns established by year-round resident species. The statistical significance of the excess of favoured states was highest in 1990, when bird population densities were considerably higher than in 1991 and 1992. Interspecific competition appears to be a factor in structuring woodland bird communities within the area sampled. Some implications for the action of these assembly rules on the results of further habitat fragmentation are discussed

Social structures in the regular combat arms units of the British Army : a model

An original model is presented for describing, analysing, and predicting soldiers’ behaviour in current regular combat arms units in the British Army. It was derived, using social anthropological techniques, during participant observation by a serving British Army officer, and provides more coherent insights than other models of unit life. Its central principle, created for this study, is a plurality of >social structures’. These >social structures’ are separate bodies of ideas, rules and conventions of behaviour which inform groups of people or individuals how to organise and conduct themselves vis-à-vis each other. One >social structure’ operates at any single moment, according to context. Such an approach has not previously been applied to British Soldiers. The model’s top level (low resolution), comprises: the formal command structure, consisting in the unit organisation, the apparatus of rank and discipline, and the framework of official accountability; the informal structure, comprising the conventions of behaviour in the absence of formal constraints; the functional structure, concerning >soldierly’ activity, attitudes, and expectations; and the loyalty/identity structure, encompassing the conventions involved in embracing and expressing membership of the formal hierarchy of groups within and above the unit. Lower levels provide higher resolution, including a typology of informal relationships which encompasses different degrees of closeness and differences or equality in rank. The model’s rigour is established by testing its sensitivity at high resolution to the different conditions of life in historical British armies. The top level, however, and the typology of informal relationships, are found potentially to provide a unifying framework for historical analysis of unit life in the British Army throughout its history. The model’s ability to illuminate current issues in the Army is demonstrated by its application to leadership training for officer cadets and the integration of women into regular combat arms units.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Capabilities of lidar- and satellite data in assessing the drivers of avian diversity in a fragmented landscape

In modern landscapes, small habitat patches such as woodlands isolated in an agricultural matrix, can be important refuges for wildlife. However, their value as habitat may be compromised by their size and thus knowledge of how habitat structure influences habitat quality is vital to maximize species diversity. This study examined the factors driving avian diversity in four small woods in an agricultural landscape, and how accurately remote sensing (RS) metrics were able to quantify this. Linear mixed-effect models were used to combine annual breeding bird census data with data of habitat structure from satellite images and airborne lidar. The aims were firstly to examine the drivers of bird diversity, and secondly to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the compared RS datasets in quantifying them. The results showed that, at first, bird diversity increased significantly towards the edges, being driven in part by vegetation structure. The amount of understorey vegetation was the most significant driver of diversity, due to which lidar-based models outperformed satellite-based ones. In general, lidar metrics correlated strongly with bird diversity, but such relationships were not discovered with satellite image metrics. The results indicate that the drivers of diversity, especially in fragmented woodlands may be too fine-scaled to be studied without sufficient consideration of the structural component of vegetation, which was proven to be attainable from lidar data

Assessing the influence of the Responsibility to Protect on the UN Security Council during the Arab Spring

This article challenges those perspectives which assert first, that the Security Council’s engagement with the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) during the Arab Spring evidences a generally positive trend, and second, that the response to the Arab Spring, particularly Syria, highlights the need for veto restraint. With respect to the first point, the evidence presented in this article suggests that the manner in which R2P has been employed by the Security Council during this period evidences three key trends: first, a willingness to invoke R2P only in the context of Pillar I; second, a pronounced lack of consensus surrounding Pillar III; and third, the persistent prioritisation of national interests over humanitarian concerns. With respect to veto restraint, this article argues that there is no evidence that this idea will have any significant impact on decision-making at the Security Council; the Council’s response to the Arab Spring suggests that national interests continue to trump humanitarian need