The impacts of street lighting on bats

As human population grows and develops, more urban areas are expanding. Urbanisation has many impacts on the natural environment and one understudied pollutant is artificial light at night. The aims of this thesis were to examine the impacts of street lighting on bats and investigate the exposure of British bat species to artificial light at night and explored the mitigation option of part-night lighting. The current exposure of British bat species to artificial lighting was assessed using roost locations and population sizes from a long-term dataset (1997-2012) from the Bat Conservation Trust’s National Bat Monitoring Programme on seven bat species (Eptesicus serotinus, Myotis nattereri, Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P. pygmaeus, Plecotus auritus, Rhinolophus hipposideros and R. ferrumequinum). These data were combined with satellite imagery in roost sustenance zones and home ranges. Bat roosts were found in areas with brighter light levels than random locations for P. pipistrellus, P. pygmaeus and Plecotus auritus. Species that forage around streetlights (P. pipistrellus and P. pygmaeus) had significantly higher light levels in the landscape around their roosts than species which avoid street lit areas (R. hipposideros, M. nattereri and P. auritus). Colony size was negatively correlated with light levels. This study highlights that different species have different requirements in the landscapes around their roosts. To investigate landscapes effects of artificial light at night on the understudied light avoiding species R. ferrumequinum, eight maternity roosts were surveyed to explore the interaction between habitat features and street lighting. At each maternity roost, bat detectors were deployed at 25 paired street lit and dark locations. Street lighting had a significant negative effect on bat activity. Locations closest to the maternity roost had higher bat activity than those further away and road type had a significant effect on bat activity, with the highest bat activity recorded at minor roads compared with A and B roads. These results highlight the large negative impact street lighting can have on bat activity patterns and the need for mitigation. Several mitigation strategies have been suggested to combat the effects of artificial light at night but few have been tested. One of these suggestions is to restrict the hours of lighting through the night, often called part-night lighting. Part-night lighting has been implemented by many local authorities, often switching the lights off after midnight and switching them back on before dusk. To explore the effects of part night lighting on bats, the hourly patterns of activity for R. ferrumequinum were studied. Bat activity was bimodal, with a peak in the first few hours after sunset followed by a smaller peak before sunrise. To capture more than 50% of bat activity during the dark period of the night, street lights would be required to switch off before 11pm. To explore this further, a before-and-after study of part-night lighting was conducted at towns across Devon. Following the conversion from full-night lighting to part-night lighting, switching street lights off at 2 am, there was a significant reduction in P. pipistrellus and a significant increase for P. pygmaeus and Nyctalus noctule activity. Although part-night lighting is not often operational during peak activity periods for bat species, reducing the duration of lighting at night has impacts on activity patterns for several species. This thesis shows that artificial light at night has impacts on bats across the landscapes around their roosts. Artificial lighting has impacts for species in different ways, depending on whether they forage around street lights or avoid street lit areas. For species that avoid street lit areas such as R. ferrumequinum, street lighting can have very significant negative impacts on the availability of areas around their roosts. This highlights the need for conservation measures to reduce impacts of artificial lighting. Although mitigation schemes such as part-night lighting may help to minimize impacts of nighttime lighting, more tailored schemes for bats should devised to achieve greater conservation impacts.Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair

How to conduct research in an independent hospice: practical tips and advice

Independent hospices can – and should aim to – participate in palliative care research, say Paul Perkins, Rebecca Day, Julie Hapeshi, Lorraine Dixon and Rudo Nyakuhwa, who give tips and advice based on their experience at Sue Ryder

How to conduct research in an independent hospice: practical tips and advice

Independent hospices can – and should aim to – participate in palliative care research, say Paul Perkins, Rebecca Day, Julie Hapeshi, Lorraine Dixon and Rudo Nyakuhwa, who give tips and advice based on their experience at Sue Ryder

SCALE AND SOURCE OF GEOSPATIAL DATA FOR WILDFIRE RISK ASSESSMENTS: COMPARING NATIONAL DATA WITH LOCAL DATA IN THE DESCHUTES NATIONAL FOREST

Widespread use of geospatial data in environmental decision-making tools such as wildfire risk models has called attention to questions of availability, quality, and currency of input data layers. As wildfires are modeled with growing confidence and knowledge of how resources respond to fire is increasing, challenges must be addressed before geospatial data are acquired and used to represent resources of high value in wildfire risk assessments. Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Research Station and the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center of the USDA Forest Service employ a framework for assessing wildfire risk to a range of human and ecological resources important in wildland fire management. This framework links spatially explicit fire behavior with potential fire effects and has been demonstrated to be scalable from national to project levels. Spatially identified resource “values” data are a necessary component to defining wildfire risk, and these data serve as baseline information useful in monitoring wildfire risk to resources of high value, as requested by various federal oversight agencies. Resources such as wildland-urban interface, critical habitat for plant and animal species, recreation infrastructure, and restoration of fire-adapted landscapes are important considerations in examining wildfire risk. A comparison study of “relative risk to resources” mapped at the national extent versus at the Deschutes National Forest extent provides a platform by which to discuss national data challenges of: (1) acquiring spatially explicit values data; (2) managing uncertainty surrounding these data; and (3) how use of these data for national assessments may alter or bias results. Relative patterns of wildfire risk to resources are demonstrated by plotting likelihood of burning against average simulated flame lengths for all pixels coincident with mapped values. Recommendations for describing spatial data uncertainty vary according to data type and associated metadata accounting for known errors. This research demonstrates a novel approach to exploring data uncertainties by comparing data developed for wildfire risk assessments at two different spatial scales

The Fascial Manipulation Technique and Its Biomechanical Model: A Guide to the Human Fascial System

This paper examines the principal characteristics of an innovative biomechanical model for interpreting the human fascial system and discusses the mechanisms that underlie the model in reference to some current trends in musculoskeletal research. The model, developed specifically for manual therapists working with movement dysfunction and pain, is the fruit of thirty-five years of study and physiotherapy clinical practice. It presents a functional interpretation of the relationship between muscles, deep fascia, and its derivatives (epimysium, perimysium, and endomysium). This model guides the clinical reasoning process employed in the manual therapy method known as Fascial Manipulation. Reference is made throughout to recent anatomical dissections designed specifically to examine the connections between deep fascia and muscles, the histological aspects of deep fascia, and its biomechanical characteristics. This knowledge could contribute to clinician\u2019s understanding of the myofascial system and the role that deep fascia may play in musculoskeletal dysfunctions

The use of motivational interviewing in community nursing

While lifestyle-related conditions such as heart diseas, obesity and diabetes are on the rise, district nurse numbers are falling. At the same time, traditional methods for providing lifestyle advice on factors such as smoking, alcohol intake and exercise have proven to be ineffective. This article examines how a technique called motivational interviewing, which seeks to build a partnership with the client, can promote positive change by strengthening the person's own motivation to change

Devising an Online Resource to Help Undergraduate Science Students Critically Evaluate Research Articles

Critically evaluating research papers is an important vehicle for promoting acculturation into a scientific discipline. As science students progress through their undergraduate studies, their critical abilities are expected to become heightened, and research papers are read and cited in order to support a variety of assignments, such as essays, critical reviews and presentations, progressing to shaping laboratory research projects and dissertation-writing. This article describes the process of designing a modular online resource. The resource is aimed at familiarising students with the structural conventions and argumentative devices used in research papers and supporting them in deep-reading a research paper in life sciences or chemistry. The modules employ audio- and video-recorded extracts from interviews with a key author to provide a context for the origins, motivations and processes behind the writing of a specific paper, plus scaffolded questions to encourage critical evaluation of the paper. Notable features of the project were the employment of a multi-disciplinary team of staff and research postgraduates coupled with the developmental testing of the resource by undergraduates. Lessons learnt from the project are considered, including the resource’s integration within the curriculum and the challenges of writing such interactive resources for different disciplines

The role of faith-based organisations in poverty alleviation in South Africa: challenging Putnam's conception.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.The number of South Africans that fall beneath “a commonly accepted poverty line” has risen from 17 million in 1996 to 23.5 million in 2008 (CDE, 2008: 6). The escalating poverty levels and the critical shortage of state-driven poverty alleviation programmes have led to the expansion of a space in which civil society organisations are attempting to address South Africa's development deficit. Given the potential and actual influence of such organisations, specifically faith-based organisations (FBOs), in poverty alleviation programmes, coupled with recent debates on the dark side of associational life, this research examines FBOs in terms of Putnam's conception of bonding and bridging social capital. Examining one particular FBO, in which no evidence of bonding social capital or exclusion is found, the research questions Putnam's rather narrow perception. However, strict gate keeping exercises on the part of the FBO, a lack of empirical data and the presence of complex social realities prevent a comprehensive evaluation of the FBO. Unable to prove whether this FBO provides a suitable model for the government to implement or whether the FBO is an appropriate candidate for government to partner with in the fight against poverty, it is proposed that a more wide-scale investigation of the programme and its participants, be conducted

Has the experience of Hepatitis C diagnosis improved over the last decade? An analysis of Canadian women's experiences of diagnosis

Background In Canada, incidents of new hepatitis C virus infections are rising among women aged 15–29 years and now comprise 60% of new infections among this age group. A negative diagnosis experience continues to be a problem affecting women living with hepatitis C virus. With new effective treatments, nurses will have more involvement in hepatitis C virus care and diagnosis, which is a critical time to facilitate appropriate education and management. Purpose This study explored Canadian women’s experience of hepatitis C virus diagnosis in order to develop recommendations to improve care at the point of diagnosis. Methods Purposive sampling was used to recruit and interview 25 women. Using narrative inquiry, we examined Canadian women’s experience of hepatitis C virus diagnosis. Results Women’s diagnosis experiences were shaped by the context of diagnosis, factors prompting the testing, the testing provider, and information/education received. The context of diagnosis foreshadowed how prepared women were for their results, and the absence of accurate information magnified the psychological distress that can follow an hepatitis C virus diagnosis. Conclusion Our findings provide a compelling case for a proactive nursing response, which will improve women’s experiences of hepatitis C virus diagnosis and, in turn, enhance women’s access to hepatitis C virus care and other healthcare services