Flow rate and source reservoir identification from airborne chemical sampling of the uncontrolled Elgin platform gas release

An uncontrolled gas leak from 25 March to 16 May 2012 led to evacuation of the Total Elgin well head and neighbouring drilling and production platforms in the UK North Sea. Initially the atmospheric flow rate of leaking gas and condensate was very poorly known, hampering environmental assessment and well control efforts. Six flights by the UK FAAM chemically-instrumented BAe-146 research aircraft, were used to quantify the flow rate. Where appropriate, two different methods were used to calculate the flow rate: 1. Gaussian plume fitting in the vertical and 2. Direct integration of the plume. When both methods were used, they compared within 6 % of each other and within combined errors. Data from the first flight on 30 March 2012 showed the flow rate to be 1.3 ± 0.2 kg CH4 s−1, decreasing to less than half that by the second flight on 17 April 2012. δ13CCH4 in the gas was found to be −43 ‰, implying that the gas source was unlikely to be from the main high-pressure high-temperature Elgin gas field at 5.5 km depth, but more probably from the overlying Hod Formation at 4.2 km depth. This was deemed to be smaller and more manageable than the high-pressure Elgin field and hence the response strategy was considerably simpler. The first flight was conducted within 5 days of the blowout and allowed a flow rate estimate within 48 hours of sampling, with δ13CCH4 characterisation soon thereafter, demonstrating the potential for a rapid-response capability that is widely applicable to future atmospheric emissions of environmental concern. Knowledge of the Elgin flow rate helped inform subsequent decision making. This study shows that leak assessment using appropriately designed airborne plume sampling strategies is well suited for circumstances where direct access is difficult or potentially dangerous. Measurements such as this also permit unbiased regulatory assessment of potential impact, independent of the emitting party, on timescales that can inform industry decision-makers and assist rapid response-planning by government

Flow rate and source reservoir identification from airborne chemical sampling of the uncontrolled Elgin platform gas release

An uncontrolled gas leak from 25 March to 16 May 2012 led to evacuation of the Total Elgin well head and neighbouring drilling and production platforms in the UK North Sea. Initially the atmospheric flow rate of leaking gas and condensate was very poorly known, hampering environmental assessment and well control efforts. Six flights by the UK FAAM chemically-instrumented BAe-146 research aircraft, were used to quantify the flow rate. Where appropriate, two different methods were used to calculate the flow rate: 1. Gaussian plume fitting in the vertical and 2. Direct integration of the plume. When both methods were used, they compared within 6 % of each other and within combined errors. Data from the first flight on 30 March 2012 showed the flow rate to be 1.3 ± 0.2 kg CH4 s−1, decreasing to less than half that by the second flight on 17 April 2012. δ13CCH4 in the gas was found to be −43 ‰, implying that the gas source was unlikely to be from the main high-pressure high-temperature Elgin gas field at 5.5 km depth, but more probably from the overlying Hod Formation at 4.2 km depth. This was deemed to be smaller and more manageable than the high-pressure Elgin field and hence the response strategy was considerably simpler. The first flight was conducted within 5 days of the blowout and allowed a flow rate estimate within 48 hours of sampling, with δ13CCH4 characterisation soon thereafter, demonstrating the potential for a rapid-response capability that is widely applicable to future atmospheric emissions of environmental concern. Knowledge of the Elgin flow rate helped inform subsequent decision making. This study shows that leak assessment using appropriately designed airborne plume sampling strategies is well suited for circumstances where direct access is difficult or potentially dangerous. Measurements such as this also permit unbiased regulatory assessment of potential impact, independent of the emitting party, on timescales that can inform industry decision-makers and assist rapid response-planning by government

Factors shaping the timing of later entry into parenthood: narratives of choice and constraint

Objective: This study explores the choices and constraints affecting timing of parenthood among those who became parents in their mid-thirties and early forties and how their fertility decisions were both affected by and negotiated within the interplay of different temporal frameworks. Background: Recent decades have seen a trend towards postponement of parenthood in many countries. Explanations for this delay include structural factors, changing social norms and the influence of the social meanings of age. The study assesses the influence of these factors on perceptions of the ‘right’ time to become parents. Method: The study draws on qualitative interviews with 23 women and men who participated in the third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3) survey and had a first child when they were aged between 33 and 46. Results: Prerequisites for parenthood were seen as financial security, a suitable home and a steady relationship. Educational attainment and the achievement of personal and lifestyle goals affected the age at which parenthood was considered as were individual circumstances. Age was less influential than life stage as a criterion for readiness although, for women, chronological age was a decisive factor. Conclusions: Choice in shaping personal biographies was greater among participants than it would have been for previous generations but its consequences acted to constrain options regarding the timing of parenthood. Time taken to fulfil personal and professional ambitions, changing social norms regarding the appropriate age for parenthood as well as individual and structural factors resulted in less predictable life trajectories.</p

Sexual function in 16- to 21-year-olds in Britain

Purpose: Concern about young people's sexuality is focused on the need to prevent harmful outcomes such as sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancy. Although the benefit of a broader perspective is recognized, data on other aspects of sexuality, particularly sexual function, are scant. We sought to address this gap by measuring the population prevalence of sexual function problems, help seeking, and avoidance of sex in young people. Methods: A cross-sectional stratified probability sample survey (Natsal-3) of 15,162 women and men in Britain (response rate: 57.7%), using computer-assisted self-interviews. Data come from 1875 (71.9%) sexually active, and 517 sexually inactive (18.7%), participants aged 16–21 years. Measures were single items from a validated measure of sexual function (the Natsal-SF). Results: Among sexually active 16- to 21-year-old participants, 9.1% of men and 13.4% of women reported a distressing sexual problem lasting 3 months or more in the last year. Most common among men was reaching a climax too quickly (4.5%), and among women was difficulty in reaching climax (6.3%). Just over a third (35.5%) of men and 42.3% of women reporting a problem had sought help, but rarely from professional sources. Among those who had not had sex in the last year, just &gt;10% of young men and women said they had avoided sex because of sexual difficulties. Conclusions: Distressing sexual function problems are reported by a sizeable minority of sexually active young people. Education is required, and counseling should be available, to prevent lack of knowledge, anxiety, and shame progressing into lifelong sexual difficulties

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 16, No. 3

• Reminiscences of a Boyhood in Reading, 1883-1890 • Preserving York\u27s Architectural Heritage • Jordan Museum of the Twenty • Pennsylvania Broadsides: II • Memoirs of a Lutheran Minister, 1850-1881 • Notes and Documents: Nicknames from a Mennonite Family • The Crafts at Newport • Anglicizing the Pennsylvania Dutch, 1966 and 1875 • Nicknames: Folk-Cultural Questionnaire #3https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1027/thumbnail.jp

Heterosexual Practices Among Young People in Britain: Evidence From Three National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles.

PURPOSE: To describe time trends and current patterns in sexual practices with opposite-sex partners among men and women aged 16-24 years in Britain. METHODS: Complex survey analyses of cross-sectional probability survey data from three British National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), conducted approximately decennially 1990-2012, involving interviews with 45,199 people in total. RESULTS: Birth cohort analysis showed a decline in the median age at first sexual experience and first intercourse since the midtwentieth century and a narrowing of the interval between these events. Comparison of data from Natsals 1, 2, and 3 showed increases in the prevalence of ever experience of oral and anal sex among 16- to 24-year-olds, which were more marked among older respondents in this age group between Natsals 1 and 2, and among younger respondents between Natsals 2 and 3. Among the sexually active, vaginal and oral sex remained the most common combination of practices reported in the past year. The proportion reporting a past-year repertoire of vaginal, oral, and anal sex rose from approximately one in 10 in 1990-1991 to approximately one in four men and one in five women in 2010-2012. In the latest survey, heterosexual experience of practices was positively associated with bisexual attraction among women. CONCLUSIONS: Recent decades have seen an earlier age at initiation of partnered sexual experiences and increased diversity in heterosexual practices among young people. Keeping pace with trends in sexual practices is necessary to safeguard young people's health and to support them in increasing their sexual well-being

Weighted protein interaction network analysis of frontotemporal dementia

The genetic analysis of complex disorders has undoubtedly led to the identification of a wealth of associations between genes and specific traits. However, moving from genetics to biochemistry one gene at a time has, to date, rather proved inefficient and under-powered to comprehensively explain the molecular basis of phenotypes. Here we present a novel approach, weighted protein−protein interaction network analysis (W-PPI-NA), to highlight key functional players within relevant biological processes associated with a given trait. This is exemplified in the current study by applying W-PPI-NA to frontotemporal dementia (FTD): We first built the state of the art FTD protein network (FTD-PN) and then analyzed both its topological and functional features. The FTD-PN resulted from the sum of the individual interactomes built around FTD-spectrum genes, leading to a total of 4198 nodes. Twenty nine of 4198 nodes, called inter-interactome hubs (IIHs), represented those interactors able to bridge over 60% of the individual interactomes. Functional annotation analysis not only reiterated and reinforced previous findings from single genes and gene-coexpression analyses but also indicated a number of novel potential disease related mechanisms, including DNA damage response, gene expression regulation, and cell waste disposal and potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets including EP300. These processes and targets likely represent the functional core impacted in FTD, reflecting the underlying genetic architecture contributing to disease. The approach presented in this study can be applied to other complex traits for which risk-causative genes are known as it provides a promising tool for setting the foundations for collating genomics and wet laboratory data in a bidirectional manner. This is and will be critical to accelerate molecular target prioritization and drug discovery

What is sexual wellbeing and why does it matter for public health?

Sexual health has provided a guiding framework for addressing sexuality in public health for several decades. Although the WHO definition of sexual health is revolutionary in acknowledging positive sexuality, public health approaches remain focused on risk and adverse outcomes. The long-standing conflation of sexual health and sexual wellbeing has affected our ability to address everyday sexual issues. This Viewpoint provides a way forward to resolve this impasse. We propose sexual wellbeing as a distinct and revolutionary concept that can be operationalised as a seven-domain model. We situate sexual wellbeing alongside sexual health, sexual justice, and sexual pleasure as one of four pillars of public health enquiry. We argue that sexual wellbeing is imperative to public health as a marker of health equity, a meaningful population indicator of wellbeing, a means to capture population trends distinct from sexual health, and an opportunity to refocus the ethics, form, and practices of public health

The Lantern Vol. 1, No. 1, May 1933

• Remember: Translation of Rappelle-toi by Alfred de Musset • Lighting the Lantern • Footfalls • To a Lovely Lady • The Sons of Martha • Strategy • Lumine Lunae • Poetry in Retrospect • Nirvana • A Domestic Episode • At Night • Haman and Hitler • This is What He Said • Bookocracy • Four Loves • Cities and Personalitieshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1000/thumbnail.jp

Health status, sexual activity and satisfaction among older people in Britain: A mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: Men and women are increasingly likely to stay sexually active into later life, but research shows that sexual activity and satisfaction decrease with increasing age. Ill health and medical treatments may affect sexual activity but there is little research on why some older people with a health problem affecting their sexual activity are satisfied with their sex life, and others are not. METHODS: A mixed method study integrating data and analyses from the third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (n = 3343 aged 55-74 years) and from follow-up in-depth interviews with 23 survey participants who reported having a health condition or taking medication affecting their sex life. RESULTS: Overall, 26.9% of men and 17.1% of women aged 55-74 reported having a health condition that affected their sex life. Among this group, women were less likely than men to be sexually active in the previous 6 months (54.3% vs 62.0%) but just as likely to be satisfied with their sex life (41.9% vs 42.1%). In follow-up interviews, participants sometimes struggled to tease out the effects of ill health from those of advancing age. Where effects of ill health were identified, they tended to operate through the inclination and capacity to be sexually active, the practical possibilities for doing so and the limits placed on forms of sexual expression. In close relationships partners worked to establish compensatory mechanisms, but in less close relationships ill health provided an excuse to stop sex or deterred attempts to resolve difficulties. Most fundamentally, ill health may influence whether individuals have a partner with whom to have sex. CONCLUSION: The data show complex interactions between health, lifestyle and relationship factors that affect sexual activity/satisfaction. When dealing with sexual problems in older people, practitioners need to take account of individual lifestyle, needs and preferences