The PlaceMarker Survey: A Place-Based Tool for Supporting the Monitoring and Appraisal of River-Related Projects and Natural Capital Assessments

The PlaceMarker Survey is an operational tool to support the delivery of the core aims of England’s Environment Agency (EA) in helping to increase resilience to climate change, manage flood risk, and create a better place for people and wildlife. It was developed in response to a recognised need by the EA’s National Environmental Assessment and Sustainability (NEAS) team for a broad-based survey undertaken in the field to get to know the site and prior to more specialist surveys. The key aim of the survey is to capture in a systematic and consistent way the character and condition of a place where river-related projects such as flood risk management and river restoration schemes are proposed to inform discussions around the design and planning of a project and provide the baseline for future place-based monitoring. The tool comprises: a Study Area Survey and one or more River Surveys, which provide measurements to generate metrics and information to support assessments of Habitat and Biodiversity, Landscape, Amenity, and Heritage. Data are stored, analysed, retrieved, shared, and displayed through a web-based information system. It is intended that a PlaceMarker Survey will be conducted on at least three occasions in the lifetime of a project or asset: pre-inception of a project to understand the broad environmental baseline and assist in the design of a scheme; immediately post-project to confirm the “as-built condition”; and post-recovery from the works to monitor the environmental response to interventions at the site. Tracking the assessments over time informs evaluations of environmental enhancements and supports decision-making around adaptive management

Investigating populations via penguins and their poo!

We describe an activity that introduces students to population modelling, enables them to use estimates obtained from a sample to infer back to the population, and understands how the findings are translatable via penguins and their poo

Physical and biological controls on fine sediment transport and storage in rivers

Excess fine sediment, comprising particles <2 mm in diameter, is a major cause of ecological degradation in rivers. The erosion of fine sediment from terrestrial or aquatic sources, its delivery to the river, and its storage and transport in the fluvial environment are controlled by a complex interplay of physical, biological and anthropogenic factors. Whilst the physical controls exerted on fine sediment dynamics are relatively well-documented, the role of biological processes and their interactions with hydraulic and physico-chemical phenomena has been largely overlooked. The activities of biota, from primary producers to predators, exert strong controls on fine sediment deposition, infiltration and resuspension. For example, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) associated with biofilms increase deposition and decrease resuspension. In lower energy rivers, aquatic macrophyte growth and senescence are intimately linked to sediment retention and loss, whereas riparian trees are dominant ecosystem engineers in high energy systems. Fish and invertebrates also have profound effects on fine sediment dynamics through activities that drive both particle deposition and erosion depending on species composition and abiotic conditions. The functional traits of species present will determine not only these biotic effects but also the responses of river ecosystems to excess fine sediment. We discuss which traits are involved and put them into context with spatial processes that occur throughout the river network. Whilst strides towards better understanding of the impacts of excess fine sediment have been made, further progress to identify the most effective management approaches is urgently required through close communication between authorities and scientists

Climate and human forcing of Alpine river flow

River flow in Alpine environments is likely to be highly sensitive to climate change because of the effects of warming upon snow and ice, and hence the intra-annual distribution of river runoff. It is also likely to be influenced strongly by human impacts both upon hydrology (e.g. flow abstraction) and river regulation. This paper compares the river flow and sediment flux of two Alpine drainage basins over the last 5 to 7 decades, one that is largely unimpacted by human activities, one strongly impacted by flow abstraction for hydroelectricity. The analysis shows that both river flow and sediment transport capacity are strongly dependent upon the effects of temperature and precipitation availability upon snow accumulation. As the latter tends to increase annual maximum flows, and given the non-linear form of most sediment transport laws, current warming trends may lead to increased sedimentation in Alpine rivers. However, extension to a system impacted upon by flow abstraction reveals the dominant effect that human activity can have upon river sedimentation but also how human response to sediment management has co-evolved with climate forcing to make disentangling the two very difficult

Interoceptive Ability Predicts Survival on a London Trading Floor.

Interoception is the sensing of physiological signals originating inside the body, such as hunger, pain and heart rate. People with greater sensitivity to interoceptive signals, as measured by, for example, tests of heart beat detection, perform better in laboratory studies of risky decision-making. However, there has been little field work to determine if interoceptive sensitivity contributes to success in real-world, high-stakes risk taking. Here, we report on a study in which we quantified heartbeat detection skills in a group of financial traders working on a London trading floor. We found that traders are better able to perceive their own heartbeats than matched controls from the non-trading population. Moreover, the interoceptive ability of traders predicted their relative profitability, and strikingly, how long they survived in the financial markets. Our results suggest that signals from the body - the gut feelings of financial lore - contribute to success in the markets.UK Economic and Social Research Council (Programme Grant), European Research Council (Grant ID: ERC AdG324150:CCFIB), Dr. Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation, National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, ARC DECRA Fellowship, Queensland Smart Future FundThis is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Nature Publishing Group via https://doi.org/10.1038/srep3298

The natural wood regime in rivers

International audienc

National inter-rater agreement of standardised simulated-patient-based assessments.

PURPOSE: The forthcoming UK Medical Licensing Assessment will require all medical schools in the UK to ensure that their students pass an appropriately designed Clinical and Professional Skills Assessment (CPSA) prior to graduation and registration with a licence to practice medicine. The requirements for the CPSA will be set by the General Medical Council, but individual medical schools will be responsible for implementing their own assessments. It is therefore important that assessors from different medical schools across the UK agree on what standard of performance constitutes a fail, pass or good grade. METHODS: We used an experimental video-based, single-blinded, randomised, internet-based design. We created videos of simulated student performances of a clinical examination at four scripted standards: clear fail (CF), borderline (BD), clear pass (CPX) and good (GD). Assessors from ten regions across the UK were randomly assigned to watch five videos in 12 different combinations and asked to give competence domain scores and an overall global grade for each simulated candidate. The inter-rater agreement as measured by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) based on a two-way random-effects model for absolute agreement was calculated for the total domain scores. RESULTS: 120 assessors enrolled in the study, with 98 eligible for analysis. The ICC was 0.93 (95% CI 0.81-0.99). The mean percentage agreement with the scripted global grade was 74.4% (range 40.8-96.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The inter-rater agreement amongst assessors across the UK when rating simulated candidates performing at scripted levels is excellent. The level of agreement for the overall global performance level for simulated candidates is also high. These findings suggest that assessors from across the UK viewing the same simulated performances show high levels of agreement of the standards expected of students at a 'clear fail,' 'borderline,' 'clear pass' and 'good' level.Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centr

Advances in the Imaging of Pituitary Tumors

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. In most patients with pituitary adenomas magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is essential to guide effective decision-making. T1- and T2-weighted sequences allow the majority of adenomas to be readily identified. Supplementary MR sequences (e.g. FLAIR; MR angiography) may also help inform surgery. However, in some patients MRI findings are ‘negative’ or equivocal (e.g. with failure to reliably identify a microadenoma or to distinguish postoperative change from residual/recurrent disease). Molecular imaging [e.g. 11C-methionine PET/CT coregistered with volumetric MRI (Met-PET/MRCR)] may allow accurate localisation of the site of de novo or persistent disease to guide definitive treatment (e.g. surgery or radiosurgery)