A1_5 Draining the Mediterranean

This paper investigates one possible method of draining the Mediterranean Sea via the use of a siphon system. We found with one pipe approximated to those used in the hoover dam it would take almost 10000 years, however when the dam is scaled up to cover the strait of Gibraltar the time is reduced to 35 years. Making it a feasible although unlikely engineering project

A1_4 Defenestration

This article investigates the frequent trope of space based fiction of getting rid of an enemy by ejecting them out the airlock or of a person being dragged out to space due to damage to the spacecraft’s hull. We find that the force exerted on the person isn't very large for a hole the size of a door, but it may be sufficient to eject the person if the hole was around 2m x 4m, and if the air is resupplied to the room at the rate that it is emitted

A1_1 Faster than a speeding bus

The film Speed portrays a bus making a large and seemingly unlikely jump between two sections of partially constructed freeway. This article investigates the feasibility of such a jump by determining what incline the road would need to be at for the bus to successfully make it across; finding that it would need to be at least 7.6 degrees, which is less than that shown in the film, however the energy of the impact would almost certainly damage the bus to the extent that it would no longer be capable of motion

A1_2 Breaking Bad Physics

In the TV series Breaking Bad the protagonist’s use an electromagnet in a truck causing the vehicle to tip over. This article investigates the likelihood of this occurring and finds that it's unlikely to happen

Undergraduates Writing Publishable Cases: The Trials, The Tribulations, And The Real-World Learning

If given the chance, undergraduates have the ability to write excellent case studies worthy of being published.  This essay describes the benefits, challenges, and process of undergraduate case writing.&nbsp

Applying an osteopathic intervention to improve mild to moderate mental health symptoms: a mixed-methods feasibility study protocol

Introduction: Mental health services are stretched in the UK and are in need of support. One approach that could improve mental health symptoms is osteopathy. Research suggests that osteopathy influences psychophysiological factors, which could lead to improvements in mental health. The first objective of this protocol is to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of four osteopathic interventions. A secondary aim is to evaluate the interventions’ effectiveness for improving psychophysiological and mental health outcomes. Methods and analysis: This study will be an explanatory mixed-methods design. Participants will be 30 adults who have mild to moderate mental health symptoms and not experiencing any issues with pain. The feasibility and acceptability of the interventions will be the primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes will be physiological measures including heart rate variability, interoceptive accuracy and blood pressure. Psychological outcomes, collected preintervention and postintervention, will also be measured by five standardised questionnaires, which include: (1) the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS); (2) the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Short-Form; (3) Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II; (4) the Self as Context Scale and (5) and the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness Version 2. Participants will be randomised to one of four intervention groups and receive a single intervention treatment session. These intervention groups are: (1) high-velocity and articulation techniques, (2) soft-tissue massage, (3) craniosacral techniques, and (4) a combination of these three approaches. Mixed design two (preintervention and postintervention) by the four interventions analysis of covariance models will be used to analyse the quantitative data for each quantitative measure. Participants will also be interviewed about their experiences of the study and interventions and a thematic analysis will be used to analyse this qualitative data. This will aid the assessment of the feasibility and acceptability of the study design. Ethics and dissemination: The protocol for this feasibility study has received ethical approval from the Department of Psychology Ethics Committee at Swansea University, ethical review reference number: 2022-5603-4810. Feasibility results from this protocol will be published in a peer review journal and presented at both national and international conferences. Discussion: This study will assess the feasibility and acceptability of conducting osteopathic interventions for improving mental health outcomes. The results from this will help to inform the development of a future randomised controlled trial. The study will also produce original data which could provide preliminary evidence of whether osteopathic approaches are of benefit to individual’s mental health in the form of effect sizes, even if they are pain-free. Trial registration number: NCT05674071

Towards climate resilient and environmentally sustainable health care facilities

The aim of building climate resilient and environmentally sustainable health care facilities is: (a) to enhance their capacity to protect and improve the health of their target communities in an unstable and changing climate; and (b) to empower them to optimize the use of resources and minimize the release of pollutants and waste into the environment. Such health care facilities contribute to high quality of care and accessibility of services and, by helping reduce facility costs, also ensure better affordability. They are an important component of universal health coverage. Action is needed in at least four areas which are fundamental requirements for providing safe and quality care: having adequate numbers of skilled human resources, with decent working conditions, empowered and informed to respond to these environmental challenges; sustainable and safe management of water, sanitation and health care waste; sustainable energy services; and appropriate infrastructure and technologies, including all the operations that allow for the efficient functioning of a health care facility. Importantly, this work contributes to promoting actions to ensure that health care facilities are constantly and increasingly strengthened and continue to be efficient and responsive to improve health and contribute to reducing inequities and vulnerability within their local settings. To this end, we propose a framework to respond to these challenges

Specificity of ARGONAUTE7-miR390 Interaction and Dual Functionality in TAS3 Trans-Acting siRNA Formation

SummaryTrans-acting siRNA form through a refined RNAi mechanism in plants. miRNA-guided cleavage triggers entry of precursor transcripts into an RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6 pathway, and sets the register for phased tasiRNA formation by DICER-LIKE4. Here, we show that miR390-ARGONAUTE7 complexes function in distinct cleavage or noncleavage modes at two target sites in TAS3a transcripts. The AGO7 cleavage, but not the noncleavage, function could be provided by AGO1, the dominant miRNA-associated AGO, but only when AGO1 was guided to a modified target site through an alternate miRNA. AGO7 was highly selective for interaction with miR390, and miR390 in turn was excluded from association with AGO1 due entirely to an incompatible 5′ adenosine. Analysis of AGO1, AGO2, and AGO7 revealed a potent 5′ nucleotide discrimination function for some, although not all, ARGONAUTEs. miR390 and AGO7, therefore, evolved as a highly specific miRNA guide/effector protein pair to function at two distinct tasiRNA biogenesis steps

Durrington Walls to West Amesbury by way of Stonehenge: a major transformation of the Holocene landscape

A new sequence of Holocene landscape change has been discovered through an investigation of sediment sequences, palaeosols, pollen and molluscan data discovered during the Stonehenge Riverside Project. The early post-glacial vegetational succession in the Avon valley at Durrington Walls was apparently slow and partial, with intermittent woodland modification and the opening-up of this landscape in the later Mesolithic and earlier Neolithic, though a strong element of pine lingered into the third millennium BC. There appears to have been a major hiatus around 2900 cal BC, coincident with the beginnings of demonstrable human activities at Durrington Walls, but slightly after activity started at Stonehenge. This was reflected in episodic increases in channel sedimentation and tree and shrub clearance, leading to a more open downland, with greater indications of anthropogenic activity, and an increasingly wet floodplain with sedges and alder along the river’s edge. Nonetheless, a localized woodland cover remained in the vicinity of DurringtonWalls throughout the third and second millennia BC, perhaps on the higher parts of the downs, while stable grassland, with rendzina soils, predominated on the downland slopes, and alder–hazel carr woodland and sedges continued to fringe the wet floodplain. This evidence is strongly indicative of a stable and managed landscape in Neolithic and Bronze Age times. It is not until c 800–500 cal BC that this landscape was completely cleared, except for the marshy-sedge fringe of the floodplain, and that colluvial sedimentation began in earnest associated with increased arable agriculture, a situation that continued through Roman and historic times

Meeting report : 1st international functional metagenomics workshop May 7–8, 2012, St. Jacobs, Ontario, Canada

This report summarizes the events of the 1st International Functional Metagenomics Workshop. The workshop was held on May 7 and 8 in St. Jacobs, Ontario, Canada and was focused on building a core international functional metagenomics community, exploring strategic research areas, and identifying opportunities for future collaboration and funding. The workshop was initiated by researchers at the University of Waterloo with support from the Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the University of Waterloo