Where is my sink? Reconstruction of landscape development in 1 southwestern Africa since the Late Jurassic

Quantifying the rates and timing of landscape denudation provides a means to constrain sediment flux through time to offshore sedimentary basins. The Late Mesozoic evolution of drainage basins in southern Africa is poorly constrained despite the presence of several onshore and offshore sedimentary basins. A novel approach has been developed to calculate the volume of material eroded since the Late Jurassic at different time steps by constructing structural cross-sections and extrapolating thicknesses of eroded material. Using different assumptions, the calculated volumes of material eroded from southwestern Africa range from 2.52x10⁶ km³ (11.3 km of vertical thickness removed) to 8.87 x10⁵ km³ (4.0 km of vertical thickness removed). For the southward draining systems alone, the calculated removal of 7.81 x10⁵ – 2.60 x10⁵ km³ of material is far greater than the volumes of sediment recorded in offshore sedimentary basins (268 500 km³). Reconstruction of the drainage systems using geomorphic indicators and clast provenance of the Uitenhage Group, as well as extrapolated surface exposure ages, indicate the southern draining systems were active from the Late Jurassic with coeval activity in axial and transverse drainage systems. The calculated volumes are tied to published apatite fission track (AFT) dates to constrain the changes in exhumation rate through time (using multiple scenarios), which indicate a significant amount of Early Cretaceous exhumation (up to 1.26 x10⁶ km³, equivalent to 5.70km of vertical thickness). For the first time, this has permitted long-term landscape evolution to be used to support the interpretation that some of the ‘missing’ sediment was deposited in sedimentary basins on the Falkland Plateau as it moved past southern Africa during the Early Cretaceous. This implies that in this instance, the sinks are separated from their source areas by ~6000 km

Marketing a tourism industry in late stage decline: The case of the Isle of Man

Qualitative interviews in the Isle of Man uncovered local perceptions of a tourism industry in late stage decline. Social impacts of decline are pronounced including facilities loss, cultural changes and a heightening of perceived peripherality: which taken together undermine local identity. Tourists are welcomed as they help to affirm the pride residents have in their island in creating a more active atmosphere, provide social interaction opportunities and to combat negative stereotyping. Thus findings emphasise the diverse, unique and persistent benefits of tourism in the Isle of Man, despite its decline. Destination marketing recommendations are therefore made to better address the experiences and desires of communities experiencing decline

Palaeoecological assessment of freshwaters in SACs and ASSIs in Northern Ireland

This is the final report to the Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) in Northern Ireland on the ‘Palaeoecological investigation of the past biological structure and function in Freshwaters in SACs and ASSIs

Sedimentary macrofossil records reveal ecological change in English lakes: implications for conservation

Aquatic macrophytes play a key role in providing habitat, refuge and food for a range of biota in shallow lakes. However, many shallow lakes have experienced declines in macrophyte vegetation in recent decades, principally due to eutrophication. As changes in macrophyte composition and abundance can affect overall ecological structure and function of a lake, an assessment of the timing and nature of such changes is crucial to our understanding of the wider lake ecosystem. In the typical absence of historical plant records, the macro-remains of macrophytes preserved in lake sediments can be used to assess long-term changes in aquatic vegetation. We generated recent (150–200 years) plant macrofossil records for six English lakes subject to conservation protection to define past macrophyte communities, assess trajectories of ecological change and consider the implications of our findings for conservation targets and strategies. The data for all six lakes reveal a diverse submerged macrophyte community, with charophytes as a key component, in the early part of the sedimentary records. The stratigraphies indicate considerable change to the aquatic vegetation over the last two centuries with a general shift towards species more typically associated with eutrophic conditions. A common feature is the decline in abundance of low-growing charophytes and an increase in tall canopy-forming angiosperms such as fine-leaved Potamogeton species, Zannichellia palustris and Callitriche species. We hypothesise, based on findings from long-term datasets and palaeoecological records from enriched shallow lakes where plants are now absent, that the observed shifts provide a warning to managers that the lakes are on a pathway to complete macrophyte loss such that nutrient load reduction is urgently needed. It is the sound understanding of present-day plant ecology that affords such reliable interpretation of the fossil data which, in turn, provide valuable context for current conservation decisions

Identification, Motivation and Facilitation of Domestic Tourism in a Small Island

This paper presents a case concerning domestic tourism in the Isle of Man, British Isles; a small maritime nation with Norse heritage. Qualitative interviews find the existence of considerable domestic tourism activity conducted by island residents, including daytrips and overnight stays, and explore the motivational and facilitating factors which underpin this. Such behaviour is identified by residents as touristic and distinct from other leisure pursuits. Yet recognition of domestic tourism in small geographic spaces is currently almost entirely absent. This article attempts to highlight the issue and draw attention to attendant benefits of domestic tourism which include economic and social inputs. These may be relevant to a small island community, and in the case of the Isle of Man help to support an otherwise ailing tourism industry

Understanding the solution behavior of minor actinides in the presence of EDTA(4-), carbonate, and hydroxide ligands

Understanding the solution behavior of minor actinides in the presence of EDTA(4-), carbonate, and hydroxide ligand

Managing tourism decline: insights from the Isle of Man

Qualitative interviews conducted in the Isle of Man investigate local perceptions of a tourism industry in long-term decline: a development stage typically overlooked. Negative impacts of decline are revealed; including facilities loss, landscape erosion, and a heightened sense of peripherality. Together such impacts undermine local identity and attractiveness of place. Tourists are welcomed as they help to affirm the pride residents have in their island, create atmosphere, provide social interaction opportunities, stimulate positive emotions and combat negative stereotyping. Emphasised is the on-going importance of tourism impacts in a peripheral location. Practioner recommendations are therefore made calling attention to the need to more carefully manage the process of decline. Potential strategies for achieving this are signposted

A new terrestrial palaeoenvironmental record from the Bering Land Bridge and context for human dispersal

Palaeoenvironmental records from the now-submerged Bering Land Bridge (BLB) covering the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the present are needed to document changing environments and connections with the dispersal of humans into North America. Moreover, terrestrially based records of environmental changes are needed in close proximity to the re-establishment of circulation between Pacific and Atlantic Oceans following the end of the last glaciation to test palaeo-climate models for the high latitudes. We present the first terrestrial temperature and hydrologic reconstructions from the LGM to the present from the BLB’s south-central margin. We find that the timing of the earliest unequivocal human dispersals into Alaska, based on archaeological evidence, corresponds with a shift to warmer/wetter conditions on the BLB between 14 700 and 13 500 years ago associated with the early Bølling/Allerød interstadial (BA). These environmental changes could have provided the impetus for eastward human dispersal at that time, from Western or central Beringia after a protracted human population standstill. Our data indicate substantial climate-induced environmental changes on the BLB since the LGM, which would potentially have had significant influences on megafaunal and human biogeography in the region. © 2018 The Authors

A three-arm randomised phase II study of the MEK inhibitor selumetinib alone or in combination with paclitaxel in metastatic uveal melanoma

\ua9 2024 The AuthorsAims: The MAPK pathway is constitutively activated in uveal melanoma (UM). Selumetinib (AZD6244, ARRY-142886), a MEK inhibitor, has shown limited activity as monotherapy in metastatic UM. Pre-clinical studies support synergistic cytotoxic activity for MEK inhibitors combined with taxanes, and here we sought to assess the clinical efficacy of combining selumetinib and paclitaxel. Patients and methods: Seventy-seven patients with metastatic UM who had not received prior chemotherapy were randomised to selumetinib alone, or combined with paclitaxel with or without interruption in selumetinib two days before paclitaxel. The primary endpoint was progression free survival (PFS). After amendment, the combination arms were combined for analysis and the sample size adjusted to detect a hazard ratio (HR): 0.55, 80% power at 1-sided 5% significance level. Results: The median PFS in the combination arms was 4.8 months (95% CI: 3.8 - 5.6) compared with 3.4 months (2.0 - 3.9) in the selumetinib arm (HR 0.62 [90% CI 0.41 - 0.92], 1-sided p-value = 0.022). ORR was 14% and 4% in the combination and monotherapy arms respectively. Median OS was 9 months for the combination and was not significantly different from selumetinib alone (10 months) with HR of 0.98 [90% CI 0.58 - 1.66], 1-sided p-value = 0.469. Toxicity was in keeping with the known profiles of the agents involved. Conclusions: SelPac met its primary endpoint, demonstrating an improvement in PFS for combination selumetinib and paclitaxel. No improvement in OS was observed, and the modest improvement in PFS is not practice changing

Optimal Duration and Timing of Adjuvant Chemotherapy After Definitive Surgery for Ductal Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas: Ongoing Lessons From the ESPAC-3 Study

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