Developing measures for valuing changes in biodiversity : final report

This document reports the findings from the DEFRA funded research project 'Developing measures for valuing changes in biodiversity'. The aim of the research was to develop an appropriate framework that will enable cost-effective and robust valuations of the total economic value of changes to biodiversity in the UK countryside. The research involved a review of ecological and economic literature on the valuation of biodiversity changes. The information gathered from this review, along with the findings from a series of public focus groups and an expert review of valuation methodologies, were used to develop a suite of valuation instruments that were used to measure the economic value of different aspects of biodiversity. Contingent valuation and choice experiment studies were administered to households in Cambridgeshire and Northumberland, while valuation workshops were conducted in Northumberland only. The data from these studies were also used to test for benefits transfer

Effects of Multiple Job Holding on the Work-Life Balance

Multiple job holding is a significant feature of the contemporary New Zealand labour market, with at least one in ten people actively involved in the workforce holding more than one job at a time. Research into the effects of multiple job holding on the lives of workers in three sectors shows there can be considerable impact on their work-life balance. The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with male and female health professional, farmers, and cafe or restaurant workers. The research shows that multiple job holding is comparatively well established in the agriculture and health sectors, with multiple job holders expecting to remain as such for the longer term. While multiple job holding may be equally established in the cafe and restaurant sector, the multiple jobs holders do not generally expect to remain so for long so the multiple job holding appears more transitional. Multiple job holders, who typically work long hours, are motivated by a range of factors, with economic reasons dominating. However, personal factors and pulling together a portfolio of work are also important. Overall, workers interviewed in the three sectors tend to hold their jobs because they want to rather than because they have to. Nevertheless, multiple job holding affects lives outside work, particularly family activities, participation in leisure and exercise, and community involvement. These effects on work-life balance vary by sector

Garnet–monazite rare earth element relationships in sub-solidus metapelites: a case study from Bhutan

A key aim of modern metamorphic geochronology is to constrain precise and accurate rates and timescales of tectonic processes. One promising approach in amphibolite and granulite-facies rocks links the geochronological information recorded in zoned accessory phases such as monazite to the pressure–temperature information recorded in zoned major rock-forming minerals such as garnet. Both phases incorporate rare earth elements (REE) as they crystallize and their equilibrium partitioning behaviour potentially provides a useful way of linking time to temperature. We report REE data from sub-solidus amphibolite-facies metapelites from Bhutan, where overlapping ages, inclusion relationships and Gd/Lu ratios suggest that garnet and monazite co-crystallized. The garnet–monazite REE relationships in these samples show a steeper pattern across the heavy (H)REE than previously reported. The difference between our dataset and the previously reported data may be due to a temperature-dependence on the partition coefficients, disequilibrium in either dataset, differences in monazite chemistry or the presence or absence of a third phase that competed for the available REE during growth. We urge caution against using empirically-derived partition coefficients from natural samples as evidence for, or against, equilibrium of REE-bearing phases until monazite–garnet partitioning behaviour is better constrained

Remotely sensed dune celerity and sand flux measurements of the world's fastest barchans (Bodele, Chad)

Quantifying sand flux with field measurements is an expensive and time-consuming process. We here present an alternative approach using the COSI-Corr software package for Earth surface deformation detection. Using pairs of ASTER satellite images, we detected dune migration in the Bodélé depression of northern Chad over time intervals of one month to 6.5 years. The displacement map can be used to automatically distinguish dunes from interdunes, which is a crucial step towards calculating sand flux. We interpolated a surface between the interdune areas and subtracted it from a digital elevation model, thus obtaining dune heights and volumes. Multiplying height with celerity yields a pixel-by-pixel estimate of the sand flux. We applied this method to large diatomite dunes in the Bodélé, confirming that these are some of the world's fastest moving barchans. Plotting dune height against inverse celerity reveals sand flux at the dune crest of >200 m3/m/yr. Average dune sand flux values for the eastern and western Bodélé are 76 and 99 m3/m/yr, respectively. The contribution of the dunes to the total area-averaged sand flux is 24–29 m3/m/yr, which is ∼10% of the saltation flux determined by previously published field measurements

An Assessment of Five Turbulence Models in Predicting Turbulent Separation

ABSTRACT Four different turbulence models were employed to predict the flow over a wall-mounted Glauert-Goldschmied body. The models evaluated include: 1) two-layer , 2) shear stress transport, 3) low-Reynolds number , 4) Spalart-Allmaras, and 5) . Calculations were performed for both an uncontrolled case, and a controlled-flow case which used steady suction through a slot located at the 65% chord station. The flow conditions include a freestream Mach number of approximately 0.1, and a chord Reynolds number of just under 1 million. For each model, the numerical results over predicted the experimentally determined re-attachment length. An examination of streamwise velocity profiles at several stations downstream of the trailing edge revealed considerable variation in the predictions of the five turbulence models

Effects of Multiple Job Holding on the Work-Life Balance

Multiple job holding is a significant feature of the contemporary New Zealand labour market, with at least one in ten people actively involved in the workforce holding more than one job at a time. Research into the effects of multiple job holding on the lives of workers in three sectors shows there can be considerable impact on their work-life balance. The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with male and female health professional, farmers, and cafe or restaurant workers. The research shows that multiple job holding is comparatively well established in the agriculture and health sectors, with multiple job holders expecting to remain as such for the longer term. While multiple job holding may be equally established in the cafe and restaurant sector, the multiple jobs holders do not generally expect to remain so for long so the multiple job holding appears more transitional. Multiple job holders, who typically work long hours, are motivated by a range of factors, with economic reasons dominating. However, personal factors and pulling together a portfolio of work are also important. Overall, workers interviewed in the three sectors tend to hold their jobs because they want to rather than because they have to. Nevertheless, multiple job holding affects lives outside work, particularly family activities, participation in leisure and exercise, and community involvement. These effects on work-life balance vary by sector

Sit-to-Stand Symmetry

Asymmetric sit-to-stand (STS) and static standing mechanics may be related to fall risk and function after hip fracture. Even in those individuals who achieve an independent status in rising from STS, asymmetric movement strategies are frequently adopted. Previous research has revealed that the asymmetry is not fully explained by strength deficits alone. Stroke literature suggests that STS asymmetry is a function of perceptual deficits, such as sense of effort, however, this concept has not yet been explored following a hip fracture

Diffusion, phase behavior and gelation in a two-dimensional layer of colloids in osmotic equilibrium with a polymer reservoir

The addition of enough non-adsorbing polymer to an otherwise stable colloidal suspension gives rise to a variety of phase behavior and kinetic arrest due to the depletion attraction induced between the colloids by the polymers. We report a study of these phenomena in a two-dimensional layer of colloids. The three-dimensional phenomenology of crystal-fluid coexistence is reproduced, but gelation takes a novel form, in which the strands in the gel structure are locally crystalline. We compare our findings with a previous simulation and theory, and find substantial agreement

Evolution of the melt source during protracted crustal anatexis: An example from the Bhutan Himalaya

The chemical compositions of magmatic zircon growth zones provide powerful insight into evolving magma compositions due to their ability to record both time and the local chemical environment. In situ U-Pb and Hf isotope analyses of zircon rims from Oligocene–Miocene leucogranites of the Bhutan Himalaya reveal, for the first time, an evolution in melt composition between 32 and 12 Ma. The data indicate a uniform melt source from 32 Ma to 17 Ma, and the progressive addition of an older source component to the melt from at least ca. 17 Ma. Age-corrected εHf ratios decrease from between –10 and –15 down to values as low as –23 by 12 Ma. Complementary whole-rock Nd isotope data corroborate the Hf data, with a progressive decrease in εNd(t) from ca. 18 to 12 Ma. Published zircon and whole-rock Nd data from different lithotectonic units in the Himalaya suggest a chemical distinction between the younger Greater Himalayan Series (GHS) and the older Lesser Himalayan Series (LHS). The time-dependent isotopic evolution shown in the leucogranites demonstrates a progressive increase in melt contribution from older lithologies, suggestive of increasing LHS involvement in Himalayan melting over time. The time-resolved data are consistent with LHS material being progressively accreted to the base of the GHS from ca. 17 Ma, facilitated by deformation along the Main Central thrust. From 17 Ma, decompression, which had triggered anatexis in the GHS since the Paleogene, enabled melting in older sources from the accreted LHS, now forming the lowermost hanging wall of the thrust

Structural neuroanatomy of tinnitus and hyperacusis in semantic dementia

Introduction Tinnitus and hyperacusis are common symptoms of excessive auditory perception in the general population; however, their anatomical substrates and disease associations continue to be defined. Patients with semantic dementia (SemD) frequently repor