Facilitating Cross-Cultural Online Discussion Groups: Issues and Challenges

This action research identifies the issues and challenges experienced by facilitators who moderated cross-cultural group discussion activities in an online environment. This study found that in a cross-cultural online environment, the challenges of the facilitator expand beyond the currently identified range of problems for online discussion

Evidence for dissolution-reprecipitation of apatite and preferential LREE mobility in carbonatite-derived late-stage hydrothermal processes

The Tundulu and Kangankunde carbonatite complexes in the Chilwa Alkaline Province, Malawi, contain late-stage, apatite-rich lithologies termed quartz-apatite rocks. Apatite in these rocks can reach up to 90 modal% and displays a distinctive texture of turbid cores and euhedral rims. Previous studies of the paragenesis and rare earth element (REE) content of the apatite suggest that heavy REE (HREE)-enrichment occurred during the late-stages of crystallization. This is a highly unusual occurrence in intrusions that are otherwise light REE (LREE) enriched. In this contribution, the paragenesis and formation of the quartz-apatite rocks from each intrusion is investigated and re-evaluated, supported by new electron microprobe (EPMA) and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) data to better understand the mechanism of HREE enrichment. In contrast to the previous work at Tundulu, we recognize three separate stages of apatite formation, comprising an “original” euhedral apatite, “turbid” apatite, and “overgrowths” of euhedral late apatite. The crystallization of synchysite-(Ce) is interpreted to have occurred subsequent to all phases of apatite crystallization. The REE concentrations and distributions in the different minerals vary, but generally higher REE contents are found in later-stage apatite generations. These generations are also more LREE-enriched, relative to apatite that formed earlier. A similar pattern of increasing LREE-enrichment and increased REE concentrations toward later stages of the paragenetic sequence is observed at Kangankunde, where two generations of apatite are observed, the second showing higher REE concentrations, and relatively higher LREE contents. The changing REE distribution in the apatite, from early to late in the paragenetic sequence, is interpreted to be caused by a combination of dissolution-reprecipitation of the original apatite and the preferential transport of the LREE complexes by F- and Cl-bearing hydrothermal fluids. Successive pulses of these fluids transport the LREE out of the original apatite, preferentially re-precipitating it on the rim. Some LREE remained in solution, precipitating later in the paragenetic sequence, as synchysite-(Ce). The presence of F is supported by the F content of the apatites, and presence of REE-fluorcarbonates. Cl is not detected in the apatite structure, but the role of Cl is suggested from comparison with apatite dissolution experiments, where CaCl2 or NaCl cause the reprecipitation of apatite without associated monazite. This study implies that, despite the typically LREE enriched nature of carbonatites, significant degrees of hydrothermal alteration can lead to certain phases becoming residually enriched in the HREE. Although at Tundulu the LREE-bearing products are re-precipitated relatively close to the REE source, it is possible that extensive hydrothermal activity in other carbonatite complexes could lead to significant, late-stage fractionation of the REE and the formation of HREE minerals. Keywords: Apatite, carbonatite, rare earth elements, Chilwa Alkaline Province, Tundulu, Kangankunde, REE mobility, dissolution-reprecipitatio

Building Resilience in Flood Disaster Management in Northern Peru

This report provides a detailed account of the Newton Fund Peru Researcher Links Workshop held between 20th and 23rd August 2018 in Piura, Peru, entitled ‘Building Resilience in Flood Disaster Management in Northern Peru’. The report provides some background to the workshop, the aim and objectives, problem definition, as well as an account of the workshop process and key workshop findings and recommendations. The workshop was run jointly by Birmingham City University (BCU) in partnership with Instituto Geofísico del Perú (IGP) and was hosted by the Universidad de Piura (UDEP). The workshop was a response to the severe flooding experienced in Piura during the El Niño event of March 2017 which caused a number of fatalities, damaged over 100,000 homes and destroyed much local infrastructure including around 100 bridges. El Niño is a recurrent event and there is concern that its frequency and intensity may change in the future as a consequence of climate change. The four-day workshop adopted a structured facilitation approach to encourage participants to work together towards a common goal. Forty researchers and practitioners from the UK and Perú were challenged with working across disciplines to identify key cross-cutting themes and make recommendations for building resilience to future flood events. The activities included the identification of key themes facilitated by some key expert presentations, a full day of site visits to communities in the Piura and Catacaos area, meeting people who had been affected by the flooding events of 2017; and culminating in the development of key findings and recommendations which were presented on the final day. Six key and integrated themes emerged from the workshop activities as: i) Governance; ii) Risk Information; iii) Healthy Communities; iv) Infrastructure; v) Urban and regional planning; and vi) the River System. For each of these themes, the report provides an overview of the problem as well as some detailed suggestions and recommendations for addressing the difficulties and challenges identified. The key messages across these dimensions are: Governance: The importance of establishing participative planning in Chira-Piura Basins was identified for building collaboration and enabling integration. This can be done in three steps: (1) problem analysis and prioritization involving stakeholder mapping; (2) defining new governance arrangements that improve integration and communication; and (3) detailed action planning which creates collaborative implementation and monitoring. Risk Information: There is a clear need for the adoption of a risk model for the lowland basin of the Río Piura. An ideal risk model is comprised of data on hazard, exposure and vulnerability, with both outputs and inputs designed specifically to meet the needs and requirements of different stakeholders in the basin

Drought forecasting isn\u27t just about water- to get smart we need health and financial data too

The Millennium Drought taught Australians many lessons about living under extremely dry conditions – not just about how to conserve water, but also about human suffering. In a drought, farmers find it more difficult to make an income, leading to mental health problems and raising the rate of male suicides. In the city, the impact is felt through water restrictions and more expensive infrastructure. With very dry conditions returning to Tasmania, central Queensland and western Victoria, are we better prepared for the next big drought? This is an issue not just for Australia, but across the world, from California, to England, to the Levant region in the eastern Mediterranean, which from 1998-2012 experienced its worst drought in 900 years

Diagnostic performance and reliability of ultrasonography for fatty degeneration of the rotator cuff muscles

BACKGROUND: Diagnostic evaluation of rotator cuff muscle quality is important to determine indications for potential operative repair. Ultrasonography has developed into an accepted and useful tool for evaluating rotator cuff tendon tears; however, its use for evaluating rotator muscle quality has not been well established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the diagnostic performance and observer reliability of ultrasonography in grading fatty degeneration of the posterior and superior rotator cuff muscles. METHODS: The supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor muscles were prospectively evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography in eighty patients with shoulder pain. The degree of fatty degeneration on MRI was graded by four independent raters on the basis of the modified Goutallier grading system. Ultrasonographic evaluation of fatty degeneration was performed by one of three radiologists with use of a three-point scale. The two scoring systems were compared to determine the diagnostic performance of ultrasonography. The interobserver and intraobserver reliability of MRI grading by the four raters were determined. The interobserver reliability of ultrasonography among the three radiologists was determined in a separate group of thirty study subjects. The weighted Cohen kappa, percentage agreement, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated. RESULTS: The accuracy of ultrasonography for the detection of fatty degeneration, as assessed on the basis of the percentage agreement with MRI, was 92.5% for the supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles and 87.5% for the teres minor. The sensitivity was 84.6% for the supraspinatus, 95.6% for the infraspinatus, and 87.5% for the teres minor. The specificity was 96.3% for the supraspinatus, 91.2% for the infraspinatus, and 87.5% for the teres minor. The agreement between MRI and ultrasonography was substantial for the supraspinatus and infraspinatus (kappa = 0.78 and 0.71, respectively) and moderate for the teres minor (kappa = 0.47). The interobserver reliability for MRI was substantial for the supraspinatus and infraspinatus (kappa = 0.76 and 0.77, respectively) and moderate for the teres minor (kappa = 0.59). For ultrasonography, the interobserver reliability was substantial for all three muscles (kappa = 0.71 for the supraspinatus, 0.65 for the infraspinatus, and 0.72 for the teres minor). CONCLUSIONS: The diagnostic performance of ultrasonography in identifying and grading fatty degeneration of the rotator cuff muscles was comparable with that of MRI. Ultrasonography can be used as the primary diagnostic imaging modality for fatty changes in rotator cuff muscles. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Diagnostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence

Neonatal resuscitation in low-resource settings: what, who, and how to overcome challenges to scale up?

BACKGROUND: Each year approximately 10 million babies do not breathe immediately at birth, of which about 6 million require basic neonatal resuscitation. The major burden is in low-income settings, where health system capacity to provide neonatal resuscitation is inadequate. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the evidence for neonatal resuscitation content, training and competency, equipment and supplies, cost, and key program considerations, specifically for resource-constrained settings. RESULTS: Evidence from several observational studies shows that facility-based basic neonatal resuscitation may avert 30% of intrapartum-related neonatal deaths. Very few babies require advanced resuscitation (endotracheal intubation and drugs) and these newborns may not survive without ongoing ventilation; hence, advanced neonatal resuscitation is not a priority in settings without neonatal intensive care. Of the 60 million nonfacility births, most do not have access to resuscitation. Several trials have shown that a range of community health workers can perform neonatal resuscitation with an estimated effect of a 20% reduction in intrapartum-related neonatal deaths, based on expert opinion. Case studies illustrate key considerations for scale up. CONCLUSION: Basic resuscitation would substantially reduce intrapartum-related neonatal deaths. Where births occur in facilities, it is a priority to ensure that all birth attendants are competent in resuscitation. Strategies to address the gap for home births are urgently required. More data are required to determine the impact of neonatal resuscitation, particularly on long-term outcomes in low-income settings

Establishing Relationships between Drought Indices and Wildfire Danger Outputs: A Test Case for the California-Nevada Drought Early Warning System

Relationships between drought indices and fire danger outputs are examined to (1) incorporate fire risk information into the National Integrated Drought Information System California&ndash;Nevada Drought Early Warning System and (2) provide a baseline analysis for application of drought indices into a fire risk management framework. We analyzed four drought indices that incorporate precipitation and evaporative demand (E0) and three fire indices that reflect fuel moisture and potential fire intensity. Seasonally averaged fire danger outputs were most strongly correlated to multi-scalar drought indices that use E0 (the Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI)) at approximately annual time scales that reflect buildup of antecedent drought conditions. Results indicate that EDDI and SPEI can inform seasonal fire potential outlooks at the beginning of summer. An E0 decomposition case study of conditions prior to the Tubbs Fire in Northern California indicate high E0 (97th percentile) driven predominantly by low humidity signaled increased fire potential several days before the start of the fire. Initial use of EDDI by fire management groups during summer and fall 2018 highlights several value-added applications, including seasonal fire potential outlooks, funding fire severity level requests, and assessing set-up conditions prior to large, explosive fire cases.</p

Experiences in firmware development for a CubeSat instrument payload

Recent advancements in gamma-ray detector technology have brought new opportunities to study gamma-ray bursts and other high-energy phenomena. However, there is a lack of dissemination on the development methods, tools and techniques used in the production of instrument flight firmware. This is understandable as firmware for spacecraft payloads may be proprietary or exceptionally hardware specific and so is not always published. However, this leaves a gap in the knowledge for CubeSat teams, especially those consisting of university students who may be building a custom spacecraft payload with limited initial experience. The Gamma-Ray Module (GMOD) on-board EIRSAT-1, a 2U CubeSat in the 2nd European Space Agency Fly Your Satellite! programme, is one such instrument. GMOD features a 25x25x40mm Scionix CeBr3 scintillator, coupled to an array of 16 (4x4) JSeries OnSemiconductor MicroFJ-60035-TSV silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) with readout provided by the SIPHRA IDE3380 application specific integrated circuit. The instrument is supported by the Gamma-Ray Module motherboard which controls and configures the instrument, providing regulated voltage and current sources as well as generating time tagged event packets and a temporary on-board flash storage. At the core of this system is the Texas Instruments MSP430FR5994 microcontroller. A custom firmware was produced for the instrument by the EIRSAT-1 team over numerous cycles of testing and development to reliably perform the long duration tasks of readout, storage and transfer of time tagged event data to the EIRSAT-1 on-board computer. Recognising the value of sharing our experiences and pitfalls on firmware development with the wider CubeSat community, this paper will provide an introduction to GMOD, with focus primarily on the development approach of the firmware. The development, testing, version control, essential tools and an overview of how the resources provided by the device manufacturer were used will be examined, such that the lessons learned may be extended to other payloads from student-led mission