Improvements to stratospheric chemistry scheme in the UM-UKCA (v10.7) model: solar cycle and heterogeneous reactions

Improvements are made to two areas of the United Kingdom Chemistry and Aerosol (UKCA) module, which forms part of the Met Office Unified Model (UM) used for weather and climate applications. Firstly, a solar cycle is added to the photolysis scheme. The effect on total column ozone of this addition was found to be around 1–2% in mid-latitude and equatorial regions in phase with the solar cycle. Secondly, reactions occurring on the surfaces of polar stratospheric clouds and sulfate aerosol are updated and extended by modification of the uptake coefficients of five existing reactions and the addition of a further eight reactions involving bromine species. These modifications are shown to reduce the overabundance of modeled total-column ozone in the Arctic during October to February, southern mid-latitudes during August, and the Antarctic during September. Antarctic springtime ozone depletion is shown to be enhanced by 25 DU on average, which now causes the ozone hole to be somewhat too deep compared to observations. We show that this is in part due to a cold bias of the Antarctic polar vortex in the model

Premier League Academy soccer players’ experiences of competing in a tournament bio-banded for biological maturation

Individual differences in the growth and maturation have been shown to impact player performance and development in youth soccer. This study investigated Premier League academy players’ experiences of participating in a tournament bio-banded for biological maturation. Players (N = 66) from four professional soccer clubs aged 11 and 14 years and between 85–90% of adult stature participated in a tournament. Players competed in three 11 vs 11 games on a full size pitch with 25-min halves. Sixteen players participated in four 15-min focus groups and were asked to describe their experiences of participating in the bio-banded tournament in comparison to age group competition. All players described their experience as positive and recommended the Premier League integrate bio-banding into the existing games programme. In comparison to age-group competitions, early maturing players described the bio-banded games more physically challenging, and found that they had to adapt their style of play placing a greater emphasis on technique and tactics. Late maturing players considered the games to be less physically challenging, yet appreciated the having more opportunity to use, develop and demonstrate their technical, physical, and psychological competencies. Bio-banding strategies appear to contribute positively towards the holistic development of young soccer players

Description and evaluation of the UKCA stratosphere-troposphere chemistry scheme (StratTrop vn 1.0) implemented in UKESM1

Abstract. Here we present a description of the UKCA StratTrop chemical mechanism, which is used in the UKESM1 Earth system model for CMIP6. The StratTrop chemical mechanism is a merger of previously well-evaluated tropospheric and stratospheric mechanisms, and we provide results from a series of bespoke integrations to assess the overall performance of the model. We find that the StratTrop scheme performs well when compared to a wide array of observations. The analysis we present here focuses on key components of atmospheric composition, namely the performance of the model to simulate ozone in the stratosphere and troposphere and constituents that are important for ozone in these regions. We find that the results obtained for tropospheric ozone and its budget terms from the use of the StratTrop mechanism are sensitive to the host model; simulations with the same chemical mechanism run in an earlier version of the MetUM host model show a range of sensitivity to emissions that the current model does not fall within. Whilst the general model performance is suitable for use in the UKESM1 CMIP6 integrations, we note some shortcomings in the scheme that future targeted studies will address. NERC (NE/M00273X/1), NERC (NE/P016383/1), National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NERC) (via University of Leeds) (R8/H12/83/003

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

Police-initiated diversion for youth to prevent future delinquent behavior: a systematic review

BackgroundOverly punitive responses to youth misconduct may have the unintended consequence ofincreasing the likelihood of future delinquency; yet, overly lenient responses may fail to serveas a corrective for the misbehavior. Police diversion schemes are a collection of strategiespolice can apply as an alternative to court processing of youth. Police-initiated diversionschemes aim to reduce reoffending by steering youth away from deeper penetration into thecriminal justice system and by providing an alternative intervention that can help youthaddress psychosocial development or other needs that contribute to their problem behavior.ObjectivesThe objective of this review was to synthesize the evidence on the effectiveness of pre-courtinterventions involving police warning or counseling and release, and cautioning schemes inreducing delinquent behavior.Search methodsA combination of 26 databases and websites were searched. References of relevant reviewswere also scanned to identify studies. We also consulted with experts in the field. Searcheswere executed by two reviewers and conducted between August 2016 and January 2017.Selection criteriaOnly experimental and quasi-experimental designs were eligible for this review. All quasiexperimentaldesigns must have had a comparison group similar to the police diversionintervention group with respect to demographic characteristics and prior involvement indelinquent behavior (i.e., at similar risk for future delinquent behavior). Additionally, studiesmust have included youth participants between 12 and 17 years of age who either underwenttraditional system processing or were diverted from court processing through a police-leddiversion program. Studies were also eligible if delinquency-related outcomes, includingofficial and non-official (self-report or third-party reporting) measures of delinquency werereported.Data collection and analysisThis study used meta-analysis to synthesize results across studies. This method involvedsystematic coding of study features and conversion of study findings into effect sizesreflecting the direction and magnitude of any police-led diversion effect. There were 19independent evaluations across the 14 primary documents coded for this review. From this,we coded 67 effect sizes of delinquent behavior post diversion across 31 diversion-traditionalprocessing comparisons. We analyzed these comparisons using two approaches. The firstapproach selected a single effect size per comparison based on a decision rule and the secondused all 67 effect sizes, nesting these within comparison condition and evaluation design.ResultsThe general pattern of evidence is positive, suggesting that police-led diversion modestlyreduces future delinquent behavior of low-risk youth relative to traditional processing.Authors’ conclusionsThe findings from this systematic review support the use of police-led diversion for low-riskyouth with limited or no prior involvement with the juvenile justice system. Thus, policedepartments and policy-makers should consider diversionary programs as part of the mix ofsolutions for addressing youth crime

The relationship between non-elite sporting activity and calcaneal bone density in adolescents and young adults: a narrative systematic review

Introduction: osteoporotic fractures represent a major public health burden. The risk of fragility fractures in late adulthood is strongly impacted by peak bone mass acquisition by the third decade. Weight-bearing sporting activity may be beneficial to peak bone mass accrual, but previous studies have focused on elite sporting activity and have used dual energy X-ray absorptiometry as a measure of bone density. The authors performed a narrative systematic review of individual sports (performed non-competitively or at local level) and calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (cQUS) bone measures in young people.Methods: multiple databases were systematically searched up until the 31st of March 2019. The authors included studies of participants' mean age (11–35 years), reporting any level of recreational sporting activity and cQUS measures as well as excluding elite/professional sporting physical activity. Studies (title and abstract) were screened independently by two reviewers, and a third reviewer resolved any discrepancies. STROBE guidelines were used to check the reporting of observational studies. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale was used to assess the risk of bias of the studies included in the review. The systematic review was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO).Results: a search yielded 29,512 articles that considered relationships between bone density assessed by any technique and sporting activity. Duplicate and out of scope abstracts were removed. This left 424 papers that were screened by two reviewers; of these, six met the inclusion criteria, including assessment by cQUS. The authors identified papers where sports were considered, included soccer (football), swimming, cycling, gymnastics, dancing, badminton, basketball, fencing, wrestling, and judokas. Although study heterogeneity prohibited meta-analysis, all six included studies reported significant benefits of weight-bearing non-elite sports on cQUS outcomes.Conclusion: our study found beneficial effects of non-elite sports participation on cQUS in adolescence and young adulthood, although further work is now indicated

Mobile Surveying Systems for Company Data Aggregation and Interpretation

The 4943 engineering senior design team at the University of Arizona developed the QuiPST mobile surveying system that allows for the quick construction and administration of surveys for use by clients. The project was sponsored by Raytheon, which deemed the software useful for collecting and interpreting data to improve the efficiency of the company. QuiPST is a client-server system that allows surveys to be responded to via Android and iPhone mobile platforms, as well as through web browsing. Surveys are created, and responses archived on a web server created through the Django web-framework. Users can manually trigger and respond to surveys, or be pinged randomly at requested time intervals. The resultant data collected and interpreted from the QuiPST system helped Raytheon in its evaluation of different project management styles

Multi-material additive manufacture of multi-layer ceramic capacitors

This paper focuses on the development of an additive method for the manufacture of Multi-Layer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs) in order to reduce overall manufacture duration. A Spectrum z510 (z510) Inkjet 3D printer was modified mechanically to allow for the distribution of Barium Titanate (BaTiO3) Powder, a new control system was designed and a software interface produced. The cured ceramic layer had a surface porosity of 6.18%, the electrode layer has a conductivity of 0.2 S/mm. The investigation proved that the additive manufacture of MLCCs is possible; consequently further research should be completed to take the concept to market

A dataset on human perception of and response to wildfire smoke.

Wildfire smoke presents a growing threat in the Western U.S.; and human health, transportation, and economic systems in growing western communities suffer due to increasingly severe and widespread fires. While modelling wildfire activity and associated wildfire smoke distributions have substantially improved, understanding how people perceive and respond to emerging smoke hazards has received little attention. Understanding and incorporating human perceptions of threats from wildfire smoke is critical, as decision-makers need such information to mitigate smoke-related hazards. We surveyed 614 randomly selected people (in-person) across the Boise Metropolitan Area in Idaho and 1,623 Boise State University affiliates (online), collecting information about their level of outside activity during smoke event(s), knowledge about the source of air quality information and effective messaging preference, perception of wildfire smoke as a hazard, and smoke-related health experiences. This relatively large dataset provides a novel perspective of people's perception of smoke hazards, and provides crucial policy-relevant information to decision-makers. Dataset is available to the public and can be used to address a wide range of research questions

Status of the Alligator Snapping Turtle, \u3ci\u3eMacrochelys temminckii\u3c/i\u3e, in West Tennessee

Western alligator snapping turtles, Macrochelys temminckii, have experienced population declines throughout most of their distribution. The present study is the first to systematically sample aquatic habitats of western Tennessee to assess the status and distribution of this species within the state. At the 65 sites sampled, we captured 22 individual alligator snapping turtles from 4 sites, including 1 site where juveniles had been reintroduced more than a decade prior. We conclude that M. temminckii occurs at very low densities in western Tennessee, likely due to historical habitat modification (e.g., channelizing rivers or ditching)