An unfinished journey? Reflections on a decade of responsible research and innovation

We reflect on a decade of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) as a discourse emerging from the European Commission (EC) 10 years ago. We discuss the foundations for RRI, its emergence during the Seventh Framework programme and its subsequent evolution during Horizon 2020. We discuss how an original vision for RRI became framed around five so-called ‘keys’: gender, open access, science communication, ethics and public engagement. We consider the prospects for RRI within the context of the EC’s Open Science agenda and Horizon Europe programme, before closing with some reflections on the contribution RRI has made to debates concerning the relationship between science, innovation and society over the last decade.</p

A simple model to quantify the potential trade-off between water level management for ecological benefit and flood risk

Throughout the world, historic drainage of wetlands has resulted in a reduction in the area of wet habitat and corresponding loss of wetland plant and animal species. In an attempt to reverse this trend, water level management in some drained areas is trying to replicate a more natural ‘undrained’ state. The resulting hydrological regime is likely to be more suitable to native wetland species; however the raised water levels also represent a potential reduction in flood water storage capacity. Quantifying this reduction is critical if the arguments for and against wetland restoration are to be discussed in a meaningful way. We present a simple model to quantify the hydrological storage capacity of a drainage ditch network under different water level management scenarios. The model was applied to the Somerset Levels and Moors, UK, comparing areas with and without raised water level management. The raised water level areas occupy 11% of the maximum theoretical storage but when put in the context of the recent severe flooding of winter 2013/2014 occupy only 0.6% of the total flood volume and represent an average increase in flood level of 7 mm. These results indicate that although the raised water level scheme does occupy an appreciable volume of the maximum possible ditch storage, in relation to a large flood event the volume is very small. It therefore seems unlikely that the severity of such large flood events would be significantly reduced if the current water level management for ecological benefit ceased

Verbal Dialogue versus Written Dialogue

Modern technology has moved on and completely changed the way that people can use the telephone or mobile to dialogue with information held on computers. Well developed “written speech analysis” does not work with “verbal speech”. The main purpose of our article is, firstly, to highlights the problems and, secondly, to shows the possible ways to solve these problems

Specific treatment and outcome of urethrorectal fistula associated with type 1 atresia ani in a juvenile male dog

A four-month-old, entire male, German wirehaired pointer presented with tenesmus due to type I atresia ani and with urination observed through this stenosed anal opening. A positive contrast retrograde urethrogram demonstrated a urethrorectal fistula and stricture of the penile urethra. Urine culture revealed heavy mixed bacterial growth, which was treated with appropriate antibiotics. Surgical correction of the congenital urethrorectal fistula was performed via a perineal approach with a 3.5 French catheter placed retrograde into the fistula to facilitate its dissection. The anal stenosis was addressed by surgical anoplasty and the urethral stricture via a scrotal urethrostomy. The dog recovered well with the owner reporting complete resolution of the clinical signs and urination via the urethrostomy site at six months postoperatively. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first reported case of congenital urethrorectal fistula associated with type 1 atresia ani in a male dog

Influence of Land Management on Soil Erosion, Connectivity and Sediment Delivery in Agricultural Catchments:Closing the Sediment Budget

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On Dynamical Models for Radio Galaxies

The tailed radio galaxies that have been called ``Type I'' are not a uniform set. To study their dynamics, we have used the Ledlow-Owen data set, which provides a new sample of 250 radio galaxies in nearby Abell clusters. These sources divide into two clear categories based on their radio morphology. Type A sources (``straight'') contain nearly straight jets which are embedded in outer radio lobe. Type B sources (``tailed'') have a well-collimated jet flow which undergoes a sudden transition, at an inner hot spot, to a less collimated flow which continues on and forms a radio tail. We have not found any separation of these classes in terms of radio power, radio flux size, galaxy power or external gas density. We propose the difference is due to the development, or not, of a disruptive flow instability, such as Kelvin-Helmholtz, and the saturation of the instability when it develops.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, to appear in 'Life Cycles of Radio Galaxies', ed. J. Biretta etal, New Astronomy Review