Operational Field Trial of a Retrofitted Fence to Mitigate Deer-Vehicle Collisions

Deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) are a safety hazard and a significant financial burden for motorists. Ungulate-proof fencing used in combination with safe crossing structures have proven to be effective at mitigating DVCs. Although a 2.4-m fence has been the standard for ungulate-proof fencing, a 1.2-m fence with a 0.6-m outrigger angled at 45o away from the road and strung with high tensile wire may be a more cost-effective barrier. This design has the additional benefit of working as a one-way barrier, allowing deer to escape the highway if they should become trapped within the fenced right-of-way (ROW). The objective of this study is to retrofit a 1.2-m highway ROW fence with the aforementioned outrigger design to determine cost effectiveness and fence efficacy. Using a before-and-after design this study will compare spatial movements of GPS-collared deer, animal use of safe crossing structures, and breeding season DVCs. Detailed records of fence construction and maintenance costs will also be recorded to determine financial feasibility of retrofitting other existing 1.2-m ROW fences with the outrigger design

Enumeration of sulphate-reducing bacteria for assessing potential for hydrogen sulphide production in urban drainage systems

Urban drainage structures have increasing demands which can lead to increasing hydrogen sulphide related problems forming in places where they have not previously been prevalent. This puts pressure on the methods currently used to monitor and diagnose these problems and more sophisticated methods may be needed for identifying the origin of the problems. Molecular microbiological techniques, such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction, offer a potential alternative for identifying and quantifying bacteria likely to be causing the production of hydrogen sulphide, information that when combined with an appropriate sampling programme, can then be used to identify the potentially most effective remediation technique. The application of these methods in urban drainage systems is however, not always simple, but good results can be achieved. In this study hydrogen sulphide producing bacteria were quantified in three small combined sewer overflow storage tanks. Bacterial counts were compared between wastewater, biofilms and sediments. Similar numbers were found in the wastewater and biofilms, with the numbers in the sediments being lower. If remediation methods for hydrogen sulphide is deemed necessary in the tanks, methods that target both the wastewater and the biofilms should therefore be considered

On the primordial scenario for abundance variations within globular clusters. The isochrone test

Self-enrichment processes occurring in the early stages of a globular cluster lifetime are generally invoked to explain the observed CNONaMgAl abundance anticorrelations within individual Galactic globulars.We have tested, with fully consistent stellar evolution calculations, if theoretical isochrones for stars born with the observed abundance anticorrelations satisfy the observational evidence that objects with different degrees of these anomalies lie on essentially identical sequences in the Color-Magnitude-Diagram (CMD). To this purpose, we have computed for the first time low-mass stellar models and isochrones with an initial metal mixture that includes the extreme values of the observed abundance anticorrelations, and varying initial He mass fractions. Comparisons with 'normal' alpha-enhanced isochrones and suitable Monte Carlo simulations that include photometric errors show that a significant broadening of the CMD sequences occurs only if the helium enhancement is extremely large (in this study, when Y=0.35) in the stars showing anomalous abundances. Stellar luminosity functions up to the Red Giant Branch tip are also very weakly affected, apart from - depending on the He content of the polluting material - the Red Giant Branch bump region. We also study the distribution of stars along the Zero Age Horizontal Branch, and derive general constraints on the relative location of objects with and without abundance anomalies along the observed horizontal branches of globular clusters.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Prevention of coronary heart disease in people with severe mental illnesses: a qualitative study of patient and professionals' preferences for care

BACKGROUND: People with severe mental illness (SMI) are at increased risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) and there is growing emphasis on the need to monitor their physical health. However, there is little consensus on how services for the primary prevention of CHD should be organised for this patient group. We explored the views of people with SMI and health professionals from primary care and community mental health teams (CMHTs) on how best to provide these services. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of patients with SMI (n = 31) and staff from primary care (n = 10) and community mental health teams (n = 25) in North Central London. Transcripts of the qualitative interviews were analysed using a 'framework' approach to identify the main themes in opinions regarding various service models. RESULTS: Cardiovascular risk factors in people with SMI were of concern to participants. However, there was some disagreement about the best way to deliver appropriate care. Although staff felt that primary care should take responsibility for risk factor screening and management, patients favoured CHD screening in their CMHT. Problems with both approaches were identified. These included a lack of familiarity in general practice with SMI and antipsychotic side effects and poor communication of physical health issues to the CMHT. Lack of knowledge regarding CHD risk factor screening and difficulties in interpreting screening results and implementing appropriate interventions exist in secondary care. CONCLUSION: Management of physical health care for people with SMI requires complex solutions that cross the primary-secondary care interface. The views expressed by our participants suggest that neither primary nor secondary care services on their own can provide a comprehensive service for all patients. The increased risk of CHD associated with SMI and antipsychotic medications requires flexible solutions with clear lines of responsibility for assessing, communicating and managing CHD risks

Investigating social deprivation and comorbid mental health diagnosis as predictors of treatment access among patients with an opioid use disorder using substance use services: a prospective cohort study

Background: Opioid use is a major public health concern across the globe. Opioid use and subsequent access to care is often shaped by co-occurring issues faced by people using opioids, such as deprivation, mental ill-health, and other forms of substance use. We investigated the role of social deprivation and comorbid mental health diagnoses in predicting re-engagement with substance use services or contact with crisis and inpatient services for individuals with opioid use disorder in secondary mental health care in inner-city London. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study which followed individuals diagnosed with a first episode of opioid use disorder who accessed substance use services between September 2015 and May 2020 for up to 12 months, using anonymised electronic health records. We employed negative binominal regression and Cox proportional survival analyses to assess associations between exposures and outcomes. Results: Comorbid mental health diagnoses were associated with higher contact rates with crisis/inpatient services among people with opioid use disorder: incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were 3.91 (1.74–9.14) for non-opioid substance use comorbidity, 8.92 (1.81–64.4) for a single comorbid mental health diagnosis, and 15.9 (5.89–47.5) for multiple comorbid mental health diagnoses. Social deprivation was not associated with contact rates with crisis/inpatient services within this sample. Similar patterns were found with time to first crisis/inpatient contact. Social deprivation and comorbid mental health diagnoses were not associated with re-engagement with substance use services. Conclusion: Comorbid substance and mental health difficulties amongst people with an opioid use disorder led to earlier and more frequent contact with crisis/inpatient mental health services during the first 12 months of follow up. Given the common co-occurrence of mental health and substance use disorders among those who use opioids, a better understanding of their wider needs (such as social, financial and other non-medical concerns) will ensure they are supported in their treatment journeys

Lattice study of ChPT beyond QCD

We describe initial results by the Lattice Strong Dynamics (LSD) collaboration of a study into the variation of chiral properties of chiral properties of SU(3) Yang-Mills gauge theory as the number of massless flavors changes from $N_f = 2$ to $N_f = 6$, with a focus on the use of chiral perturbation theory.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Presented at the 6th International Workshop on Chiral Dynamics, University of Bern, Switzerland, July 6-10 200

Seasonal variation in denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia process rates and corresponding key functional genes along an estuarine nitrate gradient

This research investigated spatial-temporal variation in benthic bacterial community structure, rates of denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) processes and abundances of corresponding genes and transcripts at three sites—the estuary-head, mid-estuary and the estuary mouth (EM) along the nitrate gradient of the Colne estuary over an annual cycle. Denitrification rates declined down the estuary, while DNRA rates were higher at the estuary head and middle than the EM. In four out of the six 2-monthly time-points, rates of DNRA were greater than denitrification at each site. Abundance of gene markers for nitrate-reduction (nitrate reductase narG and napA), denitrification (nitrite reductase nirS) and DNRA (DNRA nitrite reductase nrfA) declined along the estuary with significant relationships between denitrification and nirS abundance, and DNRA and nrfA abundance. Spatially, rates of denitrification, DNRA and corresponding functional gene abundances decreased along the estuary. However, temporal correlations between rate processes and functional gene and transcript abundances were not observed

Design of Lightweight Fills for Road Embankments on Boston\u27s Central Artery/Tunnel Project

The use of lightweight-fill materials for highway construction increased significantly worldwide during the 1990s. Predominant with this trend was the increased use of cellular geosynthetics (geofoams and geocombs), especially block-molded expanded polystyrene (EPS) geofoam, on highway and bridge embankments. EPS geofoam is increasingly recognized as an important tool for reducing overall cost of highways through accelerated construction . Thus, it was appropriate that lightweight-fill materials, mostly EPS, were the materials of choice on Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T) Project, commonly known as the Big Dig . EPS highway embankments have been constructed, as part of a cost-and schedule-initiative, replacing the original design concepts for eight transition highway structures on a recent CA/T construction contract. The use of EPS-block geofoam on the CA/T included the first-time implementation of newly developed NCHRP research and AASHTO based design guidelines, material/product specifications as well as formulating innovative solutions to several technical challenges. These challenges centered on relatively tall and slender EPS fills placed over soft soils subjected to periodic flooding and seismic loading within a crowded urban environment. This paper presents a detailed outline of the design process together with the impacts of the buoyancy conditions and seismic loading on the design of EPS highway embankments. Also included is a discussion of other lightweight-fill materials such as geocombs (considered but not used) and expanded-shale aggregate (used in limited quantities)

Toward TeV Conformality

We study the chiral condensate $$ for an SU(3) gauge theory with $N_f$ massless Dirac fermions in the fundamental representation when $N_f$ is increased from 2 to 6. For $N_f=2$, our lattice simulations of $<\bar{\psi} \psi >/F^3$, where $F$ is the Nambu-Goldstone-boson decay constant, agree with the measured QCD value. For $N_f = 6$, this ratio shows significant enhancement, presaging an even larger enhancement anticipated as $N_f$ increases further, toward the critical value for transition from confinement to infrared conformality.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. v2: revised version for PR

Dyons and S-Duality in N=4 Supersymmetric Gauge Theory

We analyze the spectrum of dyons in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SU(3) spontaneously broken down to U(1)xU(1). The Higgs fields select a natural basis of simple roots. Acting with S-duality on the W-boson states corresponding to simple roots leads to an orbit of BPS dyon states that are magnetically charged with respect to one of the U(1)'s. The corresponding monopole solutions can be obtained by embedding SU(2) monopoles into SU(3) and the S-duality predictions reduce to the SU(2) case. Acting with S-duality on the W-boson corresponding to a non-simple root leads to an infinite set of new S-duality predictions. The simplest of these corresponds to the existence of a harmonic form on the moduli space of SU(3) monopoles that have magnetic charge (1,1) with respect to the two U(1)'s. We argue that the moduli space is given by R^3x(R^1xM)/Z_2, where M is Euclidean Taub-NUT space, and that the latter admits the appropriate normalizable harmonic two form. We briefly discuss the generalizations to other gauge groups.Comment: 13 pages (Harvmac b), discrete identification corrected, reference adde