Analysis of Fluvial Suspended Sediment Load Contribution through Anthropocene History to the South Atlantic Bight Coastal Zone, U.S.A.

Discerning the effects of anthropogenic activities (i.e., reservoir construction, land use change), as opposed to those of natural processes (i.e., climate variability), on suspended sediment flux has become an increasingly difficult challenge. This contribution presents water and suspended sediment flux from five major watersheds that discharge into the southeastern U.S. Atlantic, a region that is currently considered sediment starved. Three periods of Anthropocenetime were defined and evaluated: (1) “pre-European conditions” (1680–1700), (2) “pre-dam conditions (1905-1925), and (3) post-dam conditions (1985-2005). Physical and hydrologic watershed data were used to run a climate-driven hydrological transport numerical model (HydroTrend) to estimate suspended sediment flux for each period. Results indicate that the suspended sediment contribution to the South Atlantic Bight coastal zone increased by up to 145% as a result of accelerated soil erosion conditions caused by the arrival of European settlers and has since declined by approximately 55%, primarily because of the construction of large resevoirs. This trend suggests a return to pre-European sediment yields, approximately 100 years after historic peak of soil erosion in the southeastern Piedmont. Our results indicate that variations in sediment yield between time periods are primarily caused by direct anthropogenic forcings, while climate changes over the periods considered have played an insignificant role

Social and economic aspects of monopoly and pluralism in television broadcasting : a South African marketing perspective

Since the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry in 1969 to consider the desirability or otherwise of introducing a television service in South Africa and the subsequent establishment of television in the Republic in 1976, no official policy statement has been announced on possible future television developments. This study's main contribution to knowledge is in attempting to provide a framework for such development, based on an evaluation of relevant television system experience. In addition, this dissertation attempts to measure public attitudes to television's performance, organisation and regulation after eight years of operation. To date, no published research exists on these aspects of television broadcasting in South Africa. In this dissertation, an historic and contemporary analysis of selected television systems, a social and economic justification for moving South Africa from its present monopoly broadcasting structure is presented. A synthesis of television experience with particular reference to Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States is evolved, suggesting how this transition to a plural system, permitting independent television broadcasting, might be achieved. The resulting proposal recommends that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) should remain the principal instrument of national broadcasting, but entry should be granted to a regional television service based on the major metropolitan centres. This independent service should have the capacity for national broadcasting of programmes through network arrangements. The alternative service would be formed by a partnership of state and private sector interests with the Afrikaans and English press groups having a significant role in the latter. The system calls for the utilisation of a domestic communications satellite for efficient distribution of both SABC and independent television channels

A 3D track finder for the Belle II CDC L1 trigger

Machine learning methods are integrated into the pipelined first level (L1) track trigger of the upgraded flavor physics experiment Belle II at KEK in Tsukuba, Japan. The novel triggering techniques cope with the severe background from events outside the small collision region provided by the new SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy electron-positron collider. Using the precise drift-time information of the central drift chamber which provides axial and stereo wire layers, a neural network L1 trigger estimates the 3D track parameters of tracks, based on input from the axial wire planes provided by a 2D track finder. An extension of this 2D Hough track finder to a 3D finder is proposed, where the single hit representations in the Hough plane are trained using Monte Carlo. This 3D finder improves the track finding efficiency by including the stereo sense wires as input. The estimated polar track angle allows a specialization of the subsequent neural networks to sectors in the polar angle

A systematic review of how homeopathy is represented in conventional and CAM peer reviewed journals

BACKGROUND: Growing popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the public sector is reflected in the scientific community by an increased number of research articles assessing its therapeutic effects. Some suggest that publication biases occur in mainstream medicine, and may also occur in CAM. Homeopathy is one of the most widespread and most controversial forms of CAM. The purpose of this study was to compare the representation of homeopathic clinical trials published in traditional science and CAM journals. METHODS: Literature searches were performed using Medline (PubMed), AMED and Embase computer databases. Search terms included "homeo-pathy, -path, and -pathic" and "clinical" and "trial". All articles published in English over the past 10 years were included. Our search yielded 251 articles overall, of which 46 systematically examined the efficacy of homeopathic treatment. We categorized the overall results of each paper as having either "positive" or "negative" outcomes depending upon the reported effects of homeopathy. We also examined and compared 15 meta-analyses and review articles on homeopathy to ensure our collection of clinical trials was reasonably comprehensive. These articles were found by inserting the term "review" instead of "clinical" and "trial". RESULTS: Forty-six peer-reviewed articles published in a total of 23 different journals were compared (26 in CAM journals and 20 in conventional journals). Of those in conventional journals, 69% reported negative findings compared to only 30% in CAM journals. Very few articles were found to be presented in a "negative" tone, and most were presented using "neutral" or unbiased language. CONCLUSION: A considerable difference exists between the number of clinical trials showing positive results published in CAM journals compared with traditional journals. We found only 30% of those articles published in CAM journals presented negative findings, whereas over twice that amount were published in traditional journals. These results suggest a publication bias against homeopathy exists in mainstream journals. Conversely, the same type of publication bias does not appear to exist between review and meta-analysis articles published in the two types of journals

Developing and testing accelerated partner therapy for partner notification for people with genital Chlamydia trachomatis diagnosed in primary care: a pilot randomised controlled trial

Background Accelerated partner therapy (APT) is a promising partner notification (PN) intervention in specialist sexual health clinic attenders. To address its applicability in primary care, we undertook a pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) of two APT models in community settings. Methods Three-arm pilot RCT of two adjunct APT interventions: APTHotline (telephone assessment of partner(s) plus standard PN) and APTPharmacy (community pharmacist assessment of partner(s) plus routine PN), versus standard PN alone (patient referral). Index patients were women diagnosed with genital chlamydia in 12 general practices and three community contraception and sexual health (CASH) services in London and south coast of England, randomised between 1 September 2011 and 31 July 2013. Results 199 women described 339 male partners, of whom 313 were reported by the index as contactable. The proportions of contactable partners considered treated within 6 weeks of index diagnosis were APTHotline 39/111 (35%), APTPharmacy 46/100 (46%), standard patient referral 46/102 (45%). Among treated partners, 8/39 (21%) in APTHotline arm were treated via hotline and 14/46 (30%) in APTPharmacy arm were treated via pharmacy. Conclusions The two novel primary care APT models were acceptable, feasible, compliant with regulations and capable of achieving acceptable outcomes within a pilot RCT but intervention uptake was low. Although addition of these interventions to standard PN did not result in a difference between arms, overall PN uptake was higher than previously reported in similar settings, probably as a result of introducing a formal evaluation. Recruitment to an individually randomised trial proved challenging and full evaluation will likely require service-level randomisation

Mindfulness-based interventions for people diagnosed with a current episode of an anxiety or depressive disorder: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Objective Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) can reduce risk of depressive relapse for people with a history of recurrent depression who are currently well. However, the cognitive, affective and motivational features of depression and anxiety might render MBIs ineffective for people experiencing current symptoms. This paper presents a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of MBIs where participants met diagnostic criteria for a current episode of an anxiety or depressive disorder. Method Post-intervention between-group Hedges g effect sizes were calculated using a random effects model. Moderator analyses of primary diagnosis, intervention type and control condition were conducted and publication bias was assessed. Results Twelve studies met inclusion criteria (n = 578). There were significant post-intervention between-group benefits of MBIs relative to control conditions on primary symptom severity (Hedges g = −0.59, 95% CI = −0.12 to −1.06). Effects were demonstrated for depressive symptom severity (Hedges g = −0.73, 95% CI = −0.09 to −1.36), but not for anxiety symptom severity (Hedges g = −0.55, 95% CI = 0.09 to −1.18), for RCTs with an inactive control (Hedges g = −1.03, 95% CI = −0.40 to −1.66), but not where there was an active control (Hedges g = 0.03, 95% CI = 0.54 to −0.48) and effects were found for MBCT (Hedges g = −0.39, 95% CI = −0.15 to −0.63) but not for MBSR (Hedges g = −0.75, 95% CI = 0.31 to −1.81). Conclusions This is the first meta-analysis of RCTs of MBIs where all studies included only participants who were diagnosed with a current episode of a depressive or anxiety disorder. Effects of MBIs on primary symptom severity were found for people with a current depressive disorder and it is recommended that MBIs might be considered as an intervention for this population

Acupuncture for chronic neck pain: a pilot for a randomised controlled trial

Background: Acupuncture is increasingly being used for many conditions including chronic neck pain. However the evidence remains inconclusive, indicating the need for further well-designed research. The aim of this study was to conduct a pilot randomised controlled parallel arm trial, to establish key features required for the design and implementation of a large-scale trial on acupuncture for chronic neck pain. Methods: Patients whose GPs had diagnosed neck pain were recruited from one general practice, and randomised to receive usual GP care only, or acupuncture ( up to 10 treatments over 3 months) as an adjunctive treatment to usual GP care. The primary outcome measure was the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPQ) at 3 months. The primary analysis was to determine the sample size for the full scale study. Results: Of the 227 patients with neck pain identified from the GP database, 28 (12.3%) consenting patients were eligible to participate in the pilot and 24 (10.5%) were recruited to the trial. Ten patients were randomised to acupuncture, receiving an average of eight treatments from one of four acupuncturists, and 14 were randomised to usual GP care alone. The sample size for the full scale trial was calculated from a clinically meaningful difference of 5% on the NPQ and, from this pilot, an adjusted standard deviation of 15.3%. Assuming 90% power at the 5% significance level, a sample size of 229 would be required in each arm in a large-scale trial when allowing for a loss to follow-up rate of 14%. In order to achieve this sample, one would need to identify patients from databases of GP practices with a total population of 230,000 patients, or approximately 15 GP practices roughly equal in size to the one involved in this study (i.e. 15,694 patients). Conclusion: This pilot study has allowed a number of recommendations to be made to facilitate the design of a large-scale trial, which in turn will help to clarify the existing evidence base on acupuncture for neck pain

Larval distribution of commercial fish species in waters around Ireland

In April 2000 a base line survey was conducted on the larval distribution of commercial fish species off the west, north and south coasts of Ireland. Ichthyoplankton samples and in situ CTD data were collected, whilst simultaneously capturing remote sensing images of chlorophyll and sea surface temperatures. The survey sampling area covered the Celtic Sea from the Irish south coast to 49 degree N, the western shelf including the Porcupine Bank and the northern shelf up to the Stanton Bank. The sample grid design was based on the international mackerel & horse mackerel egg survey with station spacings of 0.5 degree latitude and 0.5 degree longitude. Ichthyoplankton samples were collected with a Gulf III plankton sampler, which was deployed on oblique tows from the surface to within 5 metres of the bottom (200m max). A self-logging CTD sensor (Promonitor) was attached to the Gulf and recorded depth, temperature and salinity profiles for each deployment. Results from the Promonitor CTD showed that strong temperature and salinity gradients were encountered during the survey. Lowest temperatures coincided with lowest salinity in the North Channel of the Irish Sea while highest salinities and temperatures were found to the south west of Ireland.Thermal fronts were found in the eastern Celtic Sea and on the north west coast of Ireland.The AVHRR images showed a progressive increase in surface temperatures in the Celtic Sea and west of Ireland. Highest surface chlorophyll concentrations were associated with cooler less saline water in the Irish Sea and the coastal areas around Ireland. In the western Celtic Sea surface chlorophyll concentrations increased as the survey progressed to form a phytoplankton bloom towards the end of the survey. Larvae of interest showed distinct distribution patterns, with some species being confined to particular areas or spawning grounds while others were spread over the whole survey area. The survey identified two important larval hotspots: Cod larvae were concentrated in the eastern Celtic Sea, where other gadoid species such as haddock, whiting, pollack and saithe were also found in high numbers.This area is associated with the Celtic Sea front and shows increased primary productivity, which could present a favourable environment for successful larval survival. Stations in the southwest of Ireland sustained high concentrations of hake, megrim and mackerel larvae. The waters with high numbers of these three species stretched from shallow inshore stations to deeper ones along the continental shelf and were characterised by high temperatures and salinities. SeaWIFS satellite images suggest the formation of a phytoplankton bloom within this larval hotspot, which would provide the necessary resources for successful larval growth.Funder: Marine Institut

An exploration of parents’ preferences for foot care in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a possible role for the discrete choice experiment

Background: An increased awareness of patients’ and parents’ care preferences regarding foot care is desirable from a clinical perspective as such information may be utilised to optimise care delivery. The aim of this study was to examine parents’ preferences for, and valuations of foot care and foot-related outcomes in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).<p></p> Methods: A discrete choice experiment (DCE) incorporating willingness-to-pay (WTP) questions was conducted by surveying 42 parents of children with JIA who were enrolled in a randomised-controlled trial of multidisciplinary foot care at a single UK paediatric rheumatology outpatients department. Attributes explored were: levels of pain; mobility; ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL); waiting time; referral route; and footwear. The DCE was administered at trial baseline. DCE data were analysed using a multinomial-logit-regression model to estimate preferences and relative importance of attributes of foot care. A stated-preference WTP question was presented to estimate parents’ monetary valuation of health and service improvements.<p></p> Results: Every attribute in the DCE was statistically significant (p < 0.01) except that of cost (p = 0.118), suggesting that all attributes, except cost, have an impact on parents’ preferences for foot care for their child. The magnitudes of the coefficients indicate that the strength of preference for each attribute was (in descending order): improved ability to perform ADL, reductions in foot pain, improved mobility, improved ability to wear desired footwear, multidisciplinary foot care route, and reduced waiting time. Parents’ estimated mean annual WTP for a multidisciplinary foot care service was £1,119.05.<p></p> Conclusions: In terms of foot care service provision for children with JIA, parents appear to prefer improvements in health outcomes over non-health outcomes and service process attributes. Cost was relatively less important than other attributes suggesting that it does not appear to impact on parents’ preferences.<p></p&gt

Structures of five salt forms of disulfonated monoazo dyes

The structures of five s-block metal salt forms of three disulfonated monoazo dyes are presented. These are [Na2L1(OH2)4]n (I), [CaL1(OH2)4]n (II), [NaL2(OH2)2]n.2nH2O (III), [Mg(OH2)6][L2]2·8H2O (IV) and [BaL3(OH2)4]n.2nH2O (V) where L1 = azobenzene-3,3′-disulfonate, L2 = 4-aminodiazeniumylbenzene-3,4′-disulfonate and L3 = 4-amino-2-methyl-5-methoxyazobenzene-2′,4′-disulfonate. Structure (III) is that obtained on crystallizing the commercial dyestuff Acid Yellow 9 [74543–21-8]. The Mg species is a solvent-separated ion-pair structure and the others are all coordination polymers with bonds from metal to sulfonate groups. (I) is a three-dimensional coordination polymer, (V) is a two-dimensional coordination polymer and both (II) and (III) are one-dimensional coordination polymers. The coordination behaviour of the azo ligands and the water ligands, the dimensionality of the coordination polymers and the overall packing motifs of these five structures are contrasted to those of monosulfonate monoazo congers. It is found that (I) and (II) adopt similar structural types to those of monosulfonate species but that the other three structures do not