Twinning, a promising dynamic process to strengthen the agency of midwives

Twinning collaborations, where two groups work together cross-culturally on joint goals, are common worldwide. This research offers one of the first systematic examinations of the twinning process, and brought with it a new definition: ‘Twinning is a cross-cultural, reciprocal process where two groups of people work together to achieve joint goals’. Experts were consulted to find out what makes twinning successful and 25 critical success factors were found, the majority of which focused on equity. It was also found that cultural differences between the groups can both hinder and facilitate professional growth, depending on personal preparedness to bridge cultural differences. When twins can build relationships of trust, they tend to succeed better at collaborating and learning from each other. Co-funded by midwives4mothers, the Foundation for Special Facilities for Maternal Care and the Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives (KNOV

Chemical-free biologically enhanced primary treatment of raw wastewater for improved capture carbon

Conventional wastewater treatment processes require extensive energy inputs for their operations. Biologically enhanced primary treatment (BEPT) is a promising technology to capture incoming organics that may be utilized to produce biogas and potentially hydrogen with further downstream processing. This study involved a biologically enhanced primary treatment (BEPT) of raw wastewater at bench and pilot-scale using activated sludge (AS) addition and dissolved air flotation (DAF) using raw wastewater at a municipal wastewater facility in Western Australia with average chemical oxygen demand of ~ 800 mg/L. The results of pilot-scale testing showed an improved removal performance for total chemical oxygen demand (COD-T), soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD-S), and total suspended solids (TSS) compared to conventional primary treatment (PT). Specifically, average COD-T, COD-S and TSS removals for BEPT were 33.3 %, 13.5 % and 45 %, respectively which was 10 %, 100 % and 6 % higher than PT. Moreover, the sludge produced from BEPT had a high solids content of 4.8 g/L, which might not need further thickening prior to anaerobic digestion. It is important to note that no chemicals were used during BEPT testing, which makes the process very cost-effective

Research Data Management at the University of Glasgow: An Update

No abstract available

High Quality, Low Cost Egg Incubator for BIC Church in Choma, Zambia

The Egg Incubator team is partnering with the Brethren in Christ Church located in Choma, Zambia to design a high-quality, low-cost chicken egg incubator to supply the pastors and church members with a means of food and income. The design will need to take into account the accessibility and cost of the tools and materials. The current prototype features separate heating and humidity systems, a control system to maintain a set temperature and humidity, and tilting egg racks. The heating system consists of two stovetop coils to produce heat and a fan to transfer it to the air. The humidifier utilizes an atomizer in a pan of water to create a mist that mixes with the hot air to create humidity. The control system uses a proportional integral derivative controller (PID) to keep the temperature at 37 ± 1 °C and the humidity at 60–70%. The egg racks are tilted by a motor that runs every 6 hours to prevent the embryos from sticking to the shell. With a fully functioning prototype, the team has begun to incubate 60 real fertilized eggs. During the 21-day incubation process, a final prototype iteration is being designed and will be built on-site in Zambia in May 2022. Funding for this work provided by The Collaboratory for Strategic Partnerships and Applied Research.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2022/1004/thumbnail.jp

Теплофизические свойства криопротекторов. II. Динамическая вязкость ряда криопротекторов, их растворов и смесей

Систематизированы данные разных литературных источников и выведены полиномиальные уравнения для расчета динамической вязкости воды, 21 чистого криопротектора и водных растворов трех криопротекторов различной концентрации в зависимости от температуры. Получены эмпирические зависимости для расчета динамической вязкости водных растворов NaCl и KCl, водных растворов 38 криопротекторов и 18 смесей некоторых криопротекторов от концентрации при разных температурах.Систематизовано дані різних літературних джерел і виведено поліноміальні рівняння для розрахунку динамічної в’язкості води, 21 чистого кріопротектора і водних розчинів трьох кріопротекторів різної концентрації в залежності від температури. Отримано емпіричні залежності для розрахунку динамічної в’язкості водних розчинів NaCl і KCl, водних розчинів 38 кріопротекторів і 18 сумішей деяких кріопротекторів від концентрації при різних температурах.The article represent summarized literature data and derivation of polynomial equations to calculate the dynamics viscosity of water, 21 pure cryoprotective agents and aqueous solutions of three cryoprotective agents in different concentrations depending on temperature. Empirical equations for various concentration and temperatures were obtained to calculate dynamic viscosity of aqueous solutions of NaCl and KCl, aqueous solutions of 38 cryoprotective agents and 18 mixtures of some cryoprotectants

The Continuous Plankton Recorder survey: how can long-term phytoplankton datasets contribute to the assessment of Good Environmental Status?

Phytoplankton are crucial to marine ecosystem functioning and are important indicators of environmental change. Phytoplankton data are also essential for informing management and policy, particularly in supporting the new generation of marine legislative drivers, which take a holistic ecosystem approach to management. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) seeks to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of European seas through the implementation of such a management approach. This is a regional scale directive which recognises the importance of plankton communities in marine ecosystems; plankton data at the appropriate spatial, temporal and taxonomic scales are therefore required for implementation. The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey is a multidecadal, North Atlantic–basin scale programme which routinely records approximately 300 phytoplankton taxa. Because of these attributes, the survey plays a key role in the implementation of the MSFD and the assessment of GES in the Northeast Atlantic region. This paper addresses the role of the CPR's phytoplankton time-series in delivering GES through the development and informing of MSFD indicators, the setting of targets against a background of climate change and the provision of supporting information used to interpret change in non-plankton indicators. We also discuss CPR data in the context of other phytoplankton data types that may contribute to GES, as well as explore future possibilities for the use of new and innovative applications of CPR phytoplankton datasets in delivering GES. Efforts must be made to preserve long-term time series, such as the CPR, which supply vital ecological information used to informed evidence-based environmental policy

Shorebirds affect ecosystem functioning on an intertidal mudflat

Ecosystem functioning and services have provided a rationale for conservation over the past decades. Intertidal muddy sediments, and the microphytobenthic biofilms that inhabit them, perform crucial ecosystem functions including erosion protection, nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. It has been suggested that predation on sediment macrofauna by shorebirds may impact biofilms, and shorebirds are known to consume biofilm, potentially causing significant top-down effects on mudflat ecosystem functioning. We carried out an exclusion experiment on the Colne Estuary, Essex, UK to examine whether shorebird presence significantly affects sediment erodibility measured with a Cohesive Strength Meter (CSM) and microphytobenthos biomass measured using PAM fluorescence (Fo) and chlorophyll a content. We also tested for treatment effects on sediment-water nutrient fluxes (nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phosphate and dissolved organic carbon (DOC)) during periods of both dark and light incubation. Excluding shorebirds caused statistically significant changes in regulating and provisioning ecosystem functions, including mudflat erodibility and nutrient fluxes. The presence of shorebirds lowered the sediment critical erosion threshold, reduced nitrate fluxes into the sediment under illumination, lowered nitrate efflux, and reduced phosphate uptake, compared to sediments where birds were excluded. There were no significant differences in macrofauna community composition within the sediment between treatments after 45 days of bird exclusion, suggesting a direct link between shorebird presence or absence and the significant differences in biofilm-related variables. This study introduces previously unknown effects of shorebird presence on ecosystem functions within this system and highlights an area of shorebird science that could aid joint conservation and human provisioning action