© Author(s) 2008. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences

Abstract. A major impediment to an understanding of the links between climate and landscape change, has been the relatively coarse resolution of landscape response measures (rates of weathering, sediment production, erosion and transport) relative to the higher resolution of the climatic signal (precipitation and temperature on hourly to annual time scales). A combination of high temporal and spatial resolution dendroclimatic and dendrogeomorphic approaches were used to study relationships between climatic variability and hillslope and valley floor dynamics in a small drainage basin in the Colorado Plateau of northeastern Arizona, USA Dendrogeomorphic and vegetation evidence from slopes and valley bottoms, including root exposure, bending of trunks, change in plant cover and burial and exhumation of valley bottom trees and shrubs, suggest that the currently observe

Isolation of Novel Trypanosomatid, Zelonia australiensis sp. nov. (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae) Provides Support for a Gondwanan Origin of Dixenous Parasitism in the Leishmaniinae

© 2017 Barratt et al. The genus Leishmania includes approximately 53 species, 20 of which cause human leishmaniais; a significant albeit neglected tropical disease. Leishmaniasis has afflicted humans for millennia, but how ancient is Leishmania and where did it arise? These questions have been hotly debated for decades and several theories have been proposed. One theory suggests Leishmania originated in the Palearctic, and dispersed to the New World via the Bering land bridge. Others propose that Leishmania evolved in the Neotropics. The Multiple Origins theory suggests that separation of certain Old World and New World species occurred due to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. Some suggest that the ancestor of the dixenous genera Leishmania, Endotrypanum and Porcisia evolved on Gondwana between 90 and 140 million years ago. In the present study a detailed molecular and morphological characterisation was performed on a novel Australian trypanosomatid following its isolation in Australia’s tropics from the native black fly, Simulium (Morops) dycei Colbo, 1976. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted and confirmed this parasite as a sibling to Zelonia costaricensis, a close relative of Leishmania previously isolated from a reduviid bug in Costa Rica. Consequently, this parasite was assigned the name Zelonia australiensis sp. nov. Assuming Z. costaricensis and Z. australiensis diverged when Australia and South America became completely separated, their divergence occurred between 36 and 41 million years ago at least. Using this vicariance event as a calibration point for a phylogenetic time tree, the common ancestor of the dixenous genera Leishmania, Endotrypanum and Porcisia appeared in Gondwana approximately 91 million years ago. Ultimately, this study contributes to our understanding of trypanosomatid diversity, and of Leishmania origins by providing support for a Gondwanan origin of dixenous parasitism in the Leishmaniinae

CV20016

This report provides the main results and findings of the nineteenth annual underwater television survey on the Aran, Galway Bay and Slyne head Nephrops grounds, ICES assessment area; Functional Unit 17. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV, CTD and other ecosystem data. In 2020 a total of 44 UWTV stations were successfully completed, 34 on the Aran Grounds, 5 on Galway Bay and 5 on Slyne Head patches. The mean burrow density observed in 2020, adjusted for edge effect, was medium at 0.29 burrows/m². The final krigged burrow abundance estimate for the Aran Grounds was 359 million burrows with a CV (Coefficient of Variance; relative standard error) of 4%. The final abundance estimate for Galway Bay was 27 million and for Slyne Head was 7 million, with CVs of 13% and 4% respectively. The total abundance estimates have fluctuated considerably over the time series. The 2020 combined abundance estimate (394 million burrows) is 20% lower than in 2019, and it is below the MSY Btrigger reference point (540 million burrows). Using the 2020 estimate of abundance and updated stock data implies catches between 443 and 508 tonnes in 2021 that correspond to the F ranges in the EU multi annual plan for Western Waters, assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2017–2019. Virgularia mirabilis was the only sea-pen species observed on the UWTV footage. Trawl marks were present at 7% of the Aran stations surveyed

District Health Managers' Perceptions of Supervision in Malawi and Tanzania.

Mid-level cadres are being used to address human resource shortages in many African contexts, but insufficient and ineffective human resource management is compromising their performance. Supervision plays a key role in performance and motivation, but is frequently characterised by periodic inspection and control, rather than support and feedback to improve performance. This paper explores the perceptions of district health management teams in Tanzania and Malawi on their role as supervisors and on the challenges to effective supervision at the district level. This qualitative study took place as part of a broader project, "Health Systems Strengthening for Equity: The Power and Potential of Mid-Level Providers". Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 district health management team personnel in Malawi and 37 council health team members in Tanzania. The interviews covered a range of human resource management issues, including supervision and performance assessment, staff job descriptions and roles, motivation and working conditions. Participants displayed varying attitudes to the nature and purpose of the supervision process. Much of the discourse in Malawi centred on inspection and control, while interviewees in Tanzania were more likely to articulate a paradigm characterised by support and improvement. In both countries, facility level performance metrics dominated. The lack of competency-based indicators or clear standards to assess individual health worker performance were considered problematic. Shortages of staff, at both district and facility level, were described as a major impediment to carrying out regular supervisory visits. Other challenges included conflicting and multiple responsibilities of district health team staff and financial constraints. Supervision is a central component of effective human resource management. Policy level attention is crucial to ensure a systematic, structured process that is based on common understandings of the role and purpose of supervision. This is particularly important in a context where the majority of staff are mid-level cadres for whom regulation and guidelines may not be as formalised or well-developed as for traditional cadres, such as registered nurses and medical doctors. Supervision needs to be adequately resourced and supported in order to improve performance and retention at the district level

CV20019

This report provides the main results of the eleventh underwater television survey of the various Nephrops patches in Functional Unit 19. The survey was multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV, multi-beam and other ecosystem data. In 2020 a total 42 UWTV stations were successfully completed. The mean density estimates varied considerably across the different patches. The 2020 raised abundance estimate was a 20% decrease from the 2019 estimate and at 320 million burrows is below the MSY Btrigger reference point (430 million). Using the 2020 estimate of abundance and updated stock data implies catch in 2021 that correspond to the F ranges in the EU multi annual plan for Western Waters are between 531 and 595 tonnes (assuming that discard rates and fishery selection patterns do not change from the average of 2017–2019). Two species of sea pen were observed; Virgularia mirabilis and Pennatula phosphorea which have been observed on previous surveys of FU19. Trawl marks were observed at 26% of the stations surveyed

The mechanism of twin thickening and the elastic strain state of TWIP steel nanotwins

A Twinning Induced Plasticity (TWIP) steel with a nominal composition of Fe-16.4Mn-0.9C-0.5Si-0.05Nb-0.05V was deformed to an engineering strain of 6\%. The strain around the deformation twins were mapped using the 4D-STEM technique. Strain mapping showed a large average elastic strain of approximately 6\% in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the twinning direction. However, the large average strain comprised of several hot spots of even larger strains of up to 12\%. These hot spots could be attributed to a high density of sessile Frank dislocations on the twin boundary and correspond to shear stresses of 1--1.5 GPa. The strain and therefore stress fields are significantly larger than other materials known to twin and are speculated to be responsible for the early thickness saturation of TWIP steel nanotwins. The ability to keep twins extremely thin helps improve grain fragmentation, \textit{i.e.} the dynamic Hall-Petch effect, and underpins the large elongations and strain hardening rates in TWIP steels

Impact of Raman amplification on a 2 Tb/s coherent WDM system

The impact of hybrid erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA)/Raman amplification on a spectrally efficient coherent-wavelength-division-multiplexed (CoWDM) optical communication system is experimentally studied and modeled. Simulations suggested that 23-dB Raman gain over an unrepeatered span of 124 km single-mode fiber would allow a decrease of the mean input power of ~6 dB for a fixed bit-error rate (BER). Experimentally we demonstrated 1.2-dB Q-factor improvement for a 2-Tb/s seven-band CoWDM with backward Raman amplification. The system delivered an optical signal-to-noise ratio of 35 dB at the output of the receiver preamplifier providing a worst-case BER of 2 × 10 -6 over 49 subcarriers at 42.8 Gbaud, leaving a system margin (in terms of Q -factor) of ~4 dB from the forward-error correction threshold

A Root-Cause Analysis of Mortality Following Major Pancreatectomy

Abstract Introduction Although mortality rates from pancreatectomy have decreased worldwide, death remains an infrequent but profound event at an individual practice level. Root-cause analysis is a retrospective method commonly employed to understand adverse events. We evaluate whether emerging mortality risk assessment tools sufficiently predict and account for actual clinical events that are often identified by root-cause analysis. Methods We assembled a Pancreatic Surgery Mortality Study Group comprised of 36 pancreatic surgeons from 15 institutions in 4 countries. Mortalities after pancreatectomy (30 and 90 days) were accrued from 2000 to 2010. For root-cause analysis, each surgeon "deconstructed" the clinical events preceding a death to determine cause. We next tested whether mortality risk assessment tools (ASA, POSSUM, Charlson, SOAR, and NSQIP) could predict those patients who would die (n=218) and compared their prognostic accuracy against a cohort of resections in which no patient died (n=1,177). Results Two hundred eighteen deaths (184 Whipple's resection, 18 distal pancreatectomies, and 16 total pancreatectomies) were identified from 11,559 pancreatectomies performed by surgeons whose experience averaged 14.5 years. Overall 30-and 90-day mortalities were 0.96% and 1.89%, respectively. Individual surgeon rates ranged from 0% to 4.7%. Only 5 patients died intraoperatively, while the other 213 succumbed at a median of 29 days. Mean patient age was 70 years old (38% were >75 years old). Malignancy was the indication in 90% of cases, mostly pancreatic cancer (57%). Median operative time was 365 min and estimated blood loss was 700 cc (range, 100-16,000 cc). Vascular repair or multivisceral resections were required for 19.7% and 15.1%, respectively. Seventy-seven percent had a variety of major complications before death. Eighty-seven percent required intensive care unit care, 55% were transfused, and 35% were reoperated upon. Fifty percent died during the index admission, while another 11% died after a readmission. Almost half (n=107) expired between 31 and 90 days. Only 11% had autopsies. Operation-related complications contributed to 40% of deaths, with pancreatic fistula being the most evident (14%). Technical errors (21%) and poor patient selection (15%) were cited by surgeons. Of deaths, 5.5% had associated cancer progression-all occurring between 31 and 90 days. Even after root-cause scrutiny, the ultimate cause of death could not be determined for a quarter of the patients-most often between 31 and 90 days. While assorted risk models predicted mortality with variable discrimination from nonmortalities, they consistently underestimated the actual mortality events we report. Conclusion Root-cause analysis suggests that risk prediction should include, if not emphasize, operative factors related to pancreatectomy. While risk models can distinguish between mortalities and nonmortalities in a collective fashion, they vastly miscalculate the actual chance of death on an individual basis. This study reveals the contributions of both comorbidities and aggressive surgical decisions to mortality