A Regional Model Study of High Latitude Tropospheric Ozone and its Precursors.

The Arctic has warmed disproportionately relative to mid-latitudes over recent decades. This warming is predominantly controlled by radiative forcing from well-mixed greenhouse gases, amplified by efficient Arctic climate feedbacks. However, warming from changes in short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), such as tropospheric ozone, have been shown to contribute substantially to Arctic warming, whilst also degrading air quality. Arctic SLCP abundances are controlled by long-range transport from mid-latitudes, and by local sources within the Arctic. At present, high latitude emissions of SLCPs and ozone precursors (e.g nitrogen dioxide [NO2]) are poorly quantified, with a paucity of in-situ observations. Using a regional chemistry transport model, this thesis aims to improve the understanding of processes controlling tropospheric ozone abundances and distributions in areas of limited in-situ observations at high latitudes. In western Siberia there is widespread negative bias in modelled tropospheric column NO2 when compared to satellite observations from May–August. Despite the large negative bias, the spatial correlations between model and observed NO2 columns suggest that the spatial pattern of NOx sources in the region is well represented. Scaling the two largest anthropogenic sectors (energy & transport) by a factor of 2 reduces column NO2 bias (fractional mean bias =−0.66 to −0.35). The findings in this thesis suggest that western Siberian ozone is more sensitive to anthropogenic emissions, particularly from the transport sector, and the contribution from fire emissions maximises in June and is largely confined to latitudes south of 60°N. Ozone dry deposition fluxes from the model simulations show that the dominant ozone dry deposition sink in the region is to forest vegetation, averaging 8.0 Tg of ozone per month. In Fairbanks, Alaska, modelled surface ozone is overestimated during springtime, with an interplay between ozone being vertically mixed down from ozone-rich air above and subsequent ozone loss to NO (O3 + NO = NO2) dominating ozone abundances, suppressing surface ozone. This also leads to significant overestimations in surface NO2. Sensitivity studies tested modelled ozone sensitivity to Fairbanks NOx emissions and model upper boundary conditions. Results suggest that upper troposphere ozone is sensitive to a 20% reduction in initial boundary condition ozone, which brings the values in-line with observations. Whilst a doubling of NOx emissions from within Fairbanks improves the model ozone bias at the surface, but still leads to model overestimation above the boundary layer

Indirect costs in the Australian for-purpose sector: Paying what it takes for Australian for-purpose organisations to create long-term impact

Indirect costs (or overhead) are a fraught topic in the not-for-profit world. Many people across philanthropy, government, the public and the media all expect them to be minimised, or not to pay for them at all. Yet they are essential to running a functioning, effective organisation. In the context of a struggling NFP sector, this is a crucial issue to ensure the long-term effectiveness of Australia’s charities. US research has shown that one of the key drivers of NFP vulnerability is insufficient funding of charity indirect costs. This is called the “non-profit starvation cycle”, in which funders having inaccurate expectations of how much overhead is needed to run a not-for-profit means that charities under report their costs to funders. This leads to a sector starved of the necessary core funding required to create resilient charities delivering long-term impact on complex social issues

Resolution of the clinical features of tyrosinemia following orthotopic liver transplantation for hepatoma

The clinical history before transplantation and subsequent clinical and biochemical course of 3 children and one adult with hereditary tyrosinemia treated by orthotopic hepatic transplantation is described. All four patients are now free of their previous dietary restrictions and appear to be cured of both their metabolic disease and their hepatic neoplasm. © 1986 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved

IPEM code of practice for high-energy photon therapy dosimetry based on the NPL absorbed dose calibration service

The 1990 code of practice (COP), produced by the IPSM (now the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, IPEM) and the UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL), gave instructions for determining absorbed dose to water for megavoltage photon (MV) radiotherapy beams (Lillicrap et al 1990). The simplicity and clarity of the 1990 COP led to widespread uptake and high levels of consistency in external dosimetry audits. An addendum was published in 2014 to include the non-conventional conditions in Tomotherapy units. However, the 1990 COP lacked detailed recommendations for calibration conditions, and the corresponding nomenclature, to account for modern treatment units with different reference fields, including small fields as described in IAEA TRS483 (International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 2017, Vienna). This updated COP recommends the irradiation geometries, the choice of ionisation chambers, appropriate correction factors and the derivation of absorbed dose to water calibration coefficients, for carrying out reference dosimetry measurements on MV external beam radiotherapy machines. It also includes worked examples of application to different conditions. The strengths of the 1990 COP are retained: recommending the NPL2611 chamber type as secondary standard; the use of tissue phantom ratio (TPR) as the beam quality specifier; and NPL-provided direct calibration coefficients for the user's chamber in a range of beam qualities similar to those in clinical use. In addition, the formalism is now extended to units that cannot achieve the standard reference field size of 10 cm × 10 cm, and recommendations are given for measuring dose in non-reference conditions. This COP is designed around the service that NPL provides and thus it does not require the range of different options presented in TRS483, such as generic correction factors for beam quality. This approach results in a significantly simpler, more concise and easier to follow protocol

Historical Tropical Forest Reliance amongst the Wanniyalaeto (Vedda) of Sri Lanka: an Isotopic Perspective.

Headland and Bailey (1991) argued in Human Ecology that tropical forests could not support long-term human foraging in the absence of agriculture. Part of their thesis was based on the fact that supposedly isolated 'forest' foragers, such as the Wanniyalaeto (or Vedda) peoples of Sri Lanka, could be demonstrated to be enmeshed within historical trade networks and rely on crops as part of their overall subsistence. Yet, in the same volume and in the years that followed scholars have presented ethnographic and archaeological evidence, including from Sri Lanka, that counter this proposition, demonstrating the occupation and exploitation of tropical rainforest environments back to 38,000 years ago (ka) in this part of the world. However, archaeological and ethnohistorical research has yet to quantify the overall reliance of human foragers on tropical forest resources through time. Here, we report stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from historical Wanniyalaeto individuals from Sri Lanka, in full collaboration with the present-day members of this group, that suggest that while a number of individuals made use of agricultural resources in the recent past, others subsisted primarily on tropical forest resources as late as the 1800s.Max Planck Society Natural Environmental Research Council Boise Fund, University of Oxford European Research Counci

Late-spring and summertime tropospheric ozone and NO2 in western Siberia and the Russian Arctic : regional model evaluation and sensitivities

We use a regional chemistry transport model (Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry, WRF-Chem) in conjunction with surface observations of tropospheric ozone and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite retrievals of tropospheric column NO2 to evaluate processes controlling the regional distribution of tropospheric ozone over western Siberia for late spring and summer in 2011. This region hosts a range of anthropogenic and natural ozone precursor sources, and it serves as a gateway for near-surface transport of Eurasian pollution to the Arctic. However, there is a severe lack of in situ observations to constrain tropospheric ozone sources and sinks in the region. We show widespread negative bias in WRF-Chem tropospheric column NO2 when compared to OMI satellite observations from May-August, which is reduced when using ECLIPSE (Evaluating the Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Short-Lived Pollutants) v5a emissions (fractional mean bias (FMB) = -0.82 to -0.73) compared with the EDGAR (Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research)-HTAP (Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution) v2.2 emissions data (FMB = -0.80 to -0.70). Despite the large negative bias, the spatial correlations between model and observed NO2 columns suggest that the spatial pattern of NOx sources in the region is well represented. Scaling trans-port and energy emissions in the ECLIPSE v5a inventory by a factor of 2 reduces column NO2 bias (FMB = -0.66 to -0.35), but with overestimates in some urban regions and little change to a persistent underestimate in background regions. Based on the scaled ECLIPSE v5a emissions, we assess the influence of the two dominant anthropogenic emission sectors (transport and energy) and vegetation fires on surface NOx and ozone over Siberia and the Russian Arctic. Our results suggest regional ozone is more sensitive to anthropogenic emissions, particularly from the transport sector, and the contribution from fire emissions maximises in June and is largely confined to latitudes south of 60 degrees N. Ozone dry deposition fluxes from the model simulations show that the dominant ozone dry deposition sink in the region is to forest vegetation, averaging 8.0 Tg of ozone per month, peaking at 10.3 Tg of ozone deposition during June. The impact of fires on ozone dry deposition within the domain is small compared to anthropogenic emissions and is negligible north of 60 degrees N. Overall, our results suggest that surface ozone in the region is controlled by an interplay between seasonality in atmospheric transport patterns, vegetation dry deposition, and a dominance of transport and energy sector emissions.Peer reviewe

Strength and Power Testing of Athletes: A Multicenter Study of Test-Retest Reliability

Author's accepted manuscriptAccepted author manuscript version reprinted, by permission, from International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance (IJSPP), 2022, 17 (7): 1103-1110, https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2021-0558. © Human Kinetics, Inc.Purpose:This study examined the test–retest reliability of common assessments for measuring strength and power of the lowerbody in high-performing athletes.Methods:A total of 100 participants, including both male (n=83) and female (n=17) athletes(21 [4] y, 182 [9] cm, and 78 [12] kg), were recruited for this study, using a multicenter approach. The participants underwentphysical testing 4 times. Thefirst 2 sessions (1 and 2) were separated by∼1 week, followed by a period of 2 to 6 months, whereasthe last 2 sessions (3 and 4) were again separated by∼1 week. The test protocol consisted of squat jumps, countermovementjumps, jump and reach, 30-m sprint, 1-repetition-maximum squat, sprint cycling, and a leg-press test.Results:The typical error(%) ranged from 1.3% to 8.5% for all assessments. The change in means ranged from−1.5% to 2.5% for all assessments, whereasthe interclass correlation coefficient ranged from .85 to .97. The smallest worthwhile change (0.2 of baseline SD) ranged from1.2% to 5.0%. The ratio between the typical error (%) and the smallest worthwhile change (%) ranged from 0.5 to 1.2. Whenobserving the reliability across testing centers, considerable differences in reliability were observed (typical error [%] ratio: 0.44–1.44).Conclusions:Most of the included assessments can be used with confidence by researchers and coaches to measurestrength and power in athletes. Our results highlight the importance of controlling testing reliability at each testing center and notrelying on data from others, despite having applied the same protocol.acceptedVersio