New and significant avifaunal records from Batam and Bintan Islands, Riau Archipelago

Observations made during 2000-2003 and 2012, mainly in estuarine and other coastal habitats, increase the list of bird species known from Batam and Bintan islands by 15 (to 137) and two species (to 181) respectively. These records include five species new for the Riau Archipelago (Red-tailed Tropicbird Phaeton rubricauda, Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis, Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola, Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea and House Crow Corvus splendens). We also present additional records of species previously noted as uncommon or of restricted distribution in the region. Differences between the Riau Archipelago and nearby Singapore in the total number of known bird species (229 and 375 species, respectively) may be partly due to their relative isolation from mainland Southeast Asia, but the much greater survey effort on Singapore over many years must also be a significant factor. Additional, hitherto unpublished, observations by birdwatchers are sought to assess the relative importance of these explanations

Assessment of Electricity Decarbonization Scenarios for New Zealand and Great Britain using a Plant Dispatch and Electrical Energy Storage Modelling Framework

This paper proposes a methodology to assess the impact of alternative electricity generation and energy storage scenarios for meeting electricity demand on a national level. The method combines real and synthetic electricity generation and demand data to investigate different decarbonization strategies using solar and wind generation and electrical energy storage. This method is applied to provide relevant case studies for two geographically similar electricity systems in New Zealand and Great Britain. Newly available solar and wind data sets at hourly resolution are used within this method for these systems to assess the potential contribution of these technologies and as such, to refresh understanding of the impact of these technologies on decarbonization strategies against historical and future demand patterns. Although wind, solar and storage technologies are found to reduce the carbon emissions in both electricity systems, a key result is quantifying the impact this has on traditional generation as a backup resource. In New Zealand an investment in wind and solar equivalent to less than 15% of the wind/solar capacity in Great Britain is found to (i) reduce fossil fuel use to less than 2% of annual electricity generation requirements in the data assessed and (ii) remove the need for continuous operation of fossil fuel plants. Further, it is shown that existing hydro storage potential could be used to create near complete decarbonization of New Zealand electricity

Lockdown low vision assessment: an audit of 500 telephone-based modified low vision consultations

PURPOSE: Non‐urgent face‐to‐face outpatient ophthalmology appointments were suspended in the United Kingdom in March 2020, due to the COVID‐19 outbreak. In common with other centres, Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (London) offered modified telephone consultations to new and follow‐up patients in the low vision clinic. Here we assess the success of this telephone service. METHODS: Data were collected for 500 consecutive telephone low vision appointments. Successful completion of the assessment and clinical outcomes (low vision aids prescribed, onward referral) were recorded. RESULTS: Telephone assessments were completed for 364 people (72.8%). The most common reasons for non‐completion were either no answer to the telephone call (75 people, 15%), or the patient declining assessment (20 people, 4%). There was no association between age and the likelihood of an assessment being completed. 131 new low vision aids were dispensed, 77 internal referrals were made and 15 people were referred to outside services. More than 80% of the low vision aids prescribed were useful. CONCLUSIONS: Telephone low vision assessments were completed in about three‐quarters of cases. About one‐quarter of consultations resulted in new low vision aids being dispensed, which were generally found useful. Telephone low vision assessments can be used successfully in a large low vision clinic, but have many limitations when compared to face‐to‐face assessments

The impact of immobilisation and inflammation on the regulation of muscle mass and insulin resistance: different routes to similar end points

Loss of muscle mass and insulin sensitivity are common phenotypic traits of immobilisation and increased inflammatory burden. The suppression of muscle protein synthesis is the primary driver of muscle mass loss in human immobilisation, and includes blunting of post‐prandial increases in muscle protein synthesis. However, the mechanistic drivers of this suppression are unresolved. Immobilisation also induces limb insulin resistance in humans, which appears to be attributable to the reduction in muscle contraction per se. Again mechanistic insight is missing however, such that we do not know how muscle senses its “inactivity status” or whether the proposed drivers of muscle insulin resistance are simply arising as a consequence of immobilisation. An heightened inflammatory state is associated with major and rapid changes in muscle protein turnover and mass, and dampened insulin‐stimulated glucose disposal and oxidation in both rodents and humans. A limited amount of research has attempted to elucidate molecular regulators of muscle mass loss and insulin resistance during increased inflammatory burden, but rarely concurrently. Nevertheless, there is evidence that Akt (protein kinase B) signalling and FOXO transcription factors form part of a common signalling pathway in this scenario, such that molecular cross‐talk between atrophy and insulin signalling during heightened inflammation is believed to be possible (Fig. 1). To conclude, whilst muscle mass loss and insulin resistance are common end‐points of immobilisation and increased inflammatory burden, a lack of understanding of the mechanisms responsible for these traits exists such that a substantial gap in understanding of the pathophysiology in humans endures

Nedavna odkritja na predgrških najdiščih v Mali Aziji

In 1945 knowledge of the pre-hellenic archaeology of Anatolia was uneven. The eastern half of the central plateau was best known, from excavations at Bogazkoy (Hattusas), Alaca Hiiyuk, Alisar Hiiyuk and Kiiltepe (Kaneš). In Cilicia pre-hellenic sites had been investigated at Mersin and Tarsus. Troy was virtually isolated in the north-west. Research in the past fifteen years has had three main objects: to investigate the western regions; to throw light on the prehistory of central Anatolia and the course of the earlier Indo-European migrations into it (between c. 2300 and 1800 B. C .); and to reconstruct the later ethnic movements which destroyed the Anatolian Hittite state c. 1200 B. C. In the central region the most important excavations have been the Turkish at Kiiltepe (near Kayseri) and Karahiiyiik (near Konya) and the third German series at Bogazkoy (near Sun[1]gurlu). At Bogazkoy, the clearing of the citadel area on Biiyukkale continues. It now proves to have been occupied from the end of the 3rd millennium at least. So also was the »lower city«. A colony of Assyrian merchants was settled there in the late 19th or 18th century.1 Recent work at Kiiltepe shows that this site too was occupied from the middle of the Early Bronze Age. The Assyrian »karum« or trading-station there was the earliest and most important of the region. The palace of the contemporary mative rulers has now been investigated, on the main mound. A dagger has been found bearing the name of »Anittas«, a king mentioned in the earliest text from the later Hittite archivesat Bogazkoy.2 The earlier history of Hattusas and Kaneš has still to be correlated with the fuller evidence for general developments in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages obtained from Alaca Hiiyiik, Alisar Hiiyiik, Beycesultan and Karahiiyiik. It is still not clear which destruction levels reflect the immigration of the Indo-European ancestors of the Hittites. Recent work on pre-hellenic western Anatolia, mostly carried out by members of the Bri[1]tish Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, began with any extensive survey of sites, which defined several new pre-hellenic cultural regions. This was followed by excavation of the impressive mound near Beycesultan in the upper Menderes valley.3 The site was inhabited from Late Chalcolithis times, late in the 4th mil[1]lennium at least, to the lith century B. C. Its people developped a high culture re[1]lated to, but distinct from, those of Troy and central Anatolia. The excavators attribute the civilization of its most prosperous period, which they date c. 1900— 1750 B. C., in the Middle Bronze Age, to the Luwians, an Indo-European people related to the Hittites. They consider them to have immigrated c. 2300 B. C. Comparative linguistic evidence, however, does not suggest a gap of several centuries between the immigration of the proto-Luwians and that of the (Indo-European) proto[1]Hittites. The excavators note similarities between the M. B. A. architecture of Beyce[1]sultan and that of Middle Minoan Crete.4 The settlement was impoverished during the periods of greatest Hittite power, and can hardly have been the capital of »Arzawa«. It enjoyed a revival at the end of the 13th century. There is no evidence of important Mycenean influence. Since 1957 J. Mellaart has been excavating a site at Hacilar, near Burdur in southwestern Turkey, which has provided a sequence from Neolithic into Chalcolithic times, connecting with that of the earliest levels at Beycesultan.5 Excavation has still not proved the plausible theory that it was a Phrygian invasion from the north-west that destroyed the Hittite state. The earliest »Phrygian« wall at Bogazkby is reported to lie immediately above the ruins of the latest Hittite buildings. But the period of extensive »Phrygian« settle[1]ment seems to have come later (8th— 6th centuries); and the course of the assumed migration in the 13th and 12th centuries has not been traced.6 The American exca[1]vation at Gordion has not yet reached levels which might give relevant evidence, except in soundings.

Tablet computers versus optical aids to support education and learning in children and young people with low vision: protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial, CREATE (Children Reading with Electronic Assistance To Educate)

INTRODUCTION: Low vision and blindness adversely affect education and independence of children and young people. New 'assistive' technologies such as tablet computers can display text in enlarged font, read text out to the user, allow speech input and conversion into typed text, offer document and spreadsheet processing and give access to wide sources of information such as the internet. Research on these devices in low vision has been limited to case series. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will carry out a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess the feasibility of a full RCT of assistive technologies for children/young people with low vision. We will recruit 40 students age 10-18 years in India and the UK, whom we will randomise 1:1 into two parallel groups. The active intervention will be Apple iPads; the control arm will be the local standard low-vision aid care. Primary outcomes will be acceptance/usage, accessibility of the device and trial feasibility measures (time to recruit children, lost to follow-up). Exploratory outcomes will be validated measures of vision-related quality of life for children/young people as well as validated measures of reading and educational outcomes. In addition, we will carry out semistructured interviews with the participants and their teachers. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: NRES reference 15/NS/0068; dissemination is planned via healthcare and education sector conferences and publications, as well as via patient support organisations. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT02798848; IRAS ID 179658, UCL reference 15/0570

Projection of holograms from photorefractive OASLMs

Liquid crystals doped with fullerenes and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) act as good optical nonlinear materials. We have used these materials to build optically-addressed spatial light modulators (OASLMs). The devices comprise a single layer of doped liquid crystal acting as an active layer. Undoped LC devices with surfaces coated with fullerenes are also studied. Such OASLMs allow recording of phase holograms, and we record by imaging pre-calculated pre-recorded holograms. Writing is performed at normal incidence and reading at 45° oblique incidence. Both transmission and reflection modes of operation are used. Experimental results as well as comparison with commercially available OASLMs are presented