Asylum in Ireland - a public health perspective

This report has two elements, first a review of the literature on refugees and asylum seekrs, with particular to the legal and practical situation in Ireland, and secondly a report of a survey of refugees and asylum seekers carried out in part fulfillment of the requirments for the MPH. The survey had two elements, one a quantitaitve stuy carried out in Dublin and Ennis, and the second a series of focus groups

Duration and nature of the end-Cryogenian (Marinoan) glaciation

The end-Cryogenian glaciation (Marinoan) is portrayed commonly as the archetype of snowball Earth, yet its duration and character remain uncertain. Here we report U-Pb zircon ages for two ash beds from widely separated localities of the Marinoan-equivalent Ghaub Formation in Namibia: 639.29 ± 0.26 Ma and 635.21 ± 0.59 Ma. These findings verify, for the first time, the key prediction of the snowball Earth hypothesis for the Marinoan glaciation, i.e., longevity, with a duration of ≥4 m.y. They also show that the nonglacial interlude of Cryogenian time spanned 20 m.y. or less and that glacigenic erosion and sedimentation, and at least intermittent open-water conditions, occurred 4 m.y. prior to termination of the Marinoan glaciation

Factors in Debris Accumulation at Bridge Piers

Debris accumulation at bridge piers has been a significant problem at a number of bridge sites in Indiana, increasing risks of upstream flooding, scour, and stream instability. The current study aimed at identifying factors contributing to debris accumulation in order to formulate guidelines for the design of new bridges that would minimize their occurrence or impact. Three related approaches were taken: i) a systematic study of the available underwater bridge inspections reports, ii) a program of periodic visits and visual examination of bridge sites that were thought to be prone to debris accumulation, and iii) continued video monitoring of three bridge sites, and analysis of video images recorded during debris-transporting events. The available underwater bridge inspection reports spanned a period of 10 years and covered 370 structures. Heavy debris accumulation was observed at ¡Ö20% of these sites, with the heaviest accumulations being concentrated in southwestern Indiana. Almost all of the sites in south-central and southern Indiana experienced at least moderate debris accumulation at one time. Sites with estimated volume of debris accumulation greater than 1000 cubic yards (¡®mega¡¯ sites), sites where heavy debris accumulation was observed during more than one inspection (¡®chronic¡¯ sites), and sites with at most minor debris accumulation during more than one inspection (¡®lite¡¯ sites) were examined in greater detail with regards to their crosssectional geometry and the placement of the piers, and the specific location of debris accumulation. A program of periodic site inspections was undertaken that eventually covered 22 sites, including 4 ¡®mega¡¯ sites and 6 ¡®chronic¡¯ sites. The sites were visited at intervals of 3 ¨C 4 months over a 16-month period, and visually examined with regards to the occurrence and location of any debris accumulation, and other features, such as the presence of upstream bridges, that might be related to debris accumulation. These observations were combined with cross-section information from underwater bridge inspection reports to corroborate or refine the conclusions drawn from the broader study of underwater bridge inspection reports. Issues that could not be resolved from the bridge inspection reports, such as the behavior over time of debris accumulation, and the relationship to hydrologic events, were of particular interest in the periodic-site inspections. Although some sites suffered what might be classed as ¡®heavy¡¯ accumulation during the study period, no ¡®mega¡¯ accumulation occurred at any site, suggesting that average recurrence intervals for such events are more than 16 months, at least for larger rivers. Finally, video monitoring of debris-transporting events was conducted at three sites including one ¡®mega¡¯ site. This yielded the most detailed information regarding aspects that were visible above the water surface. This included including the variation of debris ¡®discharge¡¯ and amount of debris accumulated with time, typical debris trajectories, and even direct evidence of disaggregation of already accumulated debris. At two of the sites, extensive debris accumulations, possibly approaching ¡®mega¡¯ class at one site, were recorded. In contrast, little debris accumulation was noted at the third site in spite of quite heavy debris transport during at least one large flow event. For larger, longer-duration flow events, debris transport seemed to be concentrated towards the earlier rising part, such as the first 12 ¨C 18 hours, of the event. Little correlation between the lateral location within the stream where debris transport is high and the thalweg in the immediate vicinity of the bridge crossing was found. On the basis of the observations made during the study, recommended practices are suggested for designing bridges with the aim of minimizing debris accumulation

Filling in the Gaps in the 4.85 GHz Sky

We describe a 4.85 GHz survey of bright, flat-spectrum radio sources conducted with the Effelsberg 100 m telescope in an attempt to improve the completeness of existing surveys, such as CRATES. We report the results of these observations and of follow-up 8.4 GHz observations with the VLA of a subset of the sample. We comment on the connection to the WMAP point source catalog and on the survey's effectiveness at supplementing the CRATES sky coverage.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. Tables available in electronic form: http://astro.stanford.edu/gaps

Multi-donor × elite-based populations reveal QTL for low-lodging wheat

Low-lodging high-yielding wheat germplasm and SNP-tagged novel alleles for lodging were identified in a process that involved selecting donors through functional phenotyping for underlying traits with a designed phenotypic screen, and a crossing strategy involving multiple-donor × elite populations

Photons to food: genetic improvement of cereal crop photosynthesis

Photosynthesis has become a major trait of interest for cereal yield improvement as breeders appear to have reached the theoretical genetic limit for harvest index, the mass of grain as a proportion of crop biomass. Yield improvements afforded by the adoption of green revolution dwarfing genes to wheat and rice are becoming exhausted, and improvements in biomass and radiation use efficiency are now sought in these crops. Exploring genetic diversity in photosynthesis is now possible using high-throughput techniques, and low-cost genotyping facilitates discovery of the genetic architecture underlying this variation. Photosynthetic traits have been shown to be highly heritable, and significant variation is present for these traits in available germplasm. This offers hope that breeding for improved photosynthesis and radiation use efficiency in cereal crops is tractable and a useful shorter term adjunct to genetic and genome engineering to boost yield potential.the New South Wales Environmental Trust (2016/RD/0006), the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC

U–Pb zircon-rutile dating of the Llangynog Inlier, Wales: constraints on an Ediacaran shallow marine fossil assemblage from East Avalonia

The Llangynog Inlier of south Wales contains an assemblage of Ediacaran macrofossils from a shallow-marine environment, including discoidal morphs of Aspidella and rare examples of Hiemalora, Palaeopascichnus and Yelovichnus. These are taxa found in other sites in the Avalonian microcontinent (e.g. Charnwood Forest and eastern Newfoundland) and in the younger White Sea Ediacaran assemblages. As the Charnwood fossils reflect a deep-water environment, and no macrofossils have been found in the Ediacaran rocks of the Long Mynd, the fossils of the Llangynog Inlier represent a unique glimpse of shallow marine life in southern Britain (East Avalonia). However, the lack of absolute age constraints has hampered direct comparison with other assemblages. Here, we report in-situ zircon and rutile U–Pb dates from a rhyolitic ash-flow layer of the Coed Cochion Volcaniclastic Member, Llangynog Inlier, which constrains the age of the fossiliferous strata. A weighted mean single grain zircon ID-TIMS U–Pb age of 564.09 ± 0.70 Ma is interpreted as the rhyolite's crystallisation age. This age is consistent with in-situ LA-ICPMS zircon and rutile U–Pb dating. The Llangynog age temporally correlates these fossils to dated horizons within East Avalonia at the Beacon Hill Formation, Charnwood (565.22 ± 0.89 Ma), and the Stretton Shale Formation, Long Mynd (566.6 ± 2.9 Ma). Correlations to West Avalonia include the time-equivalent Fermeuse Formation, St John’s Group, eastern Newfoundland (564.13 ± 0.65 Ma). The data presented here establish the biota of the Llangynog Inlier as a lateral equivalent to the similarly shallow marine, tidally influenced ecosystem of the upper Fermeuse Formation. Intra-terrane depositional environmental variability also affects what is preserved in Avalonian fossil sites. Further, time-constrained geochemical data reinforce the Llangynog Inlier's classification within the Wrekin Terrane

Increasing dominance of large lianas in Amazonian forests

Ecological orthodoxy suggests that old-growth forests should be close to dynamic equilibrium, but this view has been challenged by recent findings that neotropical forests are accumulating carbon and biomass, possibly in response to the increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. However, it is unclear whether the recent increase in tree biomass has been accompanied by a shift in community composition. Such changes could reduce or enhance the carbon storage potential of old-growth forests in the long term. Here we show that non-fragmented Amazon forests are experiencing a concerted increase in the density, basal area and mean size of woody climbing plants (lianas). Over the last two decades of the twentieth century the dominance of large lianas relative to trees has increased by 1.7–4.6% a year. Lianas enhance tree mortality and suppress tree growth, so their rapid increase implies that the tropical terrestrial carbon sink may shut down sooner than current models suggest. Predictions of future tropical carbon fluxes will need to account for the changing composition and dynamics of supposedly undisturbed forests