Robust low loss splicing of hollow core photonic bandgap fiber to itself

Robust, low loss (0.16dB) splicing of hollow core photonic band gap fiber to itself is presented. Modal content is negligibly affected by splicing, enabling penalty-free 40Gbit/s data transmission over > 200m of spliced PBGF

Is colony attendance by shearwaters influenced by bright moonlight or inclement weather?

If nocturnal colony attendance is associated with avoidance of predators, fewer nests would be visited by parent shearwaters on moonlit nights, or nests would be visited later, than on dark nights. Additionally, if shearwaters foraged at night on certain prey species, feeds delivered to nestlings would be larger on dark nights. We found that feed size and the probability of a nest visit were both greater on moonlit nights, while food delivery after midnight was not. A minimal risk of predation concurs with the disregard for moonlight shown by Flesh-footed Shearwaters, Puffinus carneipes, but does not explain their apparent preference for it. While nocturnal foraging is unlikely, it is not clear why feeds were significantly larger on moonlit nights, or why colony attendance by this species is strictly nocturnal. Weather may impact the ability of seabirds to forage at sea, although this is difficult to confirm. It was likely that nest attendance by parent shearwaters would be lower if certain variables negatively influenced foraging, but such influences may not manifest themselves immediately. Nest visits were examined in relation to local weather conditions at time-lag intervals of up to seven days. While no significant cross correlations were determined between burrow entry and two wind-velocity variables, a significant positive correlation was determined when the study site experienced pronounced unseasonal rainfall events

Performance Anxiety: Hysteria and the Actress in French Literature 1880-1910

My dissertation uses close readings of four texts dealing with the actress, spanning the naturalist novel (Zola’s Nana, 1880, and Edmond de Goncourt’s La Faustin, 1882), autobiography (Sarah Bernhardt’s Ma double vie, 1907) and autobiographical fiction (Colette’s La Vagabonde, 1910), in order to examine late nineteenth-century representations (and self-representations) of the actress in relation to the discourse of hysteria. I argue that in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century France, pathology and performance came together in the stereotype of the hysterical actress. In the wake of the French Revolution, and the subsequent political upheavals of the nineteenth century along with the emergence of a consumer capitalist society, $fin-de-si\grave{e}cle$ society was living a moment of particular anxiety. This anxiety found a focal point in the hystericised figure of $la com\acute{e}dienne$, who came to embody a threatening blurring of gender and class distinctions. Actresses were pathologised in a discursive gesture which sought to identify and contain the threat which they were seen to pose, and which seemed to offer an objective narrative which re-established boundaries and identities. The discourse of hysteria, however, was by no means as secure or monolithic as it might seem. I argue that the discourse of hysteria is underpinned by a fundamental performativity which has the potential to be profoundly subversive. By examining different modalities of response to the phenomenon of the hystericisation of the actress, I show how in both male and female-authored texts the discourse of pathology is undermined and reappropriated in a way which foreshadows twentieth-century feminist theories.Romance Languages and Literature

Exploring the Potential of Social Marketing to Encourage Sustainable Tourist Behaviour in South West England

In the South West of England tourism provides an extremely important form of economic revenue, with 92 million nights spent in the region, generating over £9 billion in visitor spending and 11% of the total workforce employed either directly or indirectly in the sector. However this additional seasonal influx of visitors inevitably places a strain on the natural environment, built resources, infrastructure and communities. In order to readdress the balance tourism as a sector needs to be more sustainable and the emphasis for change is now placed on the individual. Social marketing has been used successfully to encourage behaviour change in the health sector, and is beginning to be recognised for its potential in encouraging sustainable behaviour, but has never been specifically applied in a tourism context. Therefore this research evaluates the potential of applying a social marketing methodology to encourage sustainable behaviour amongst tourists in two case study areas in South West England. Social marketing focusses on changing behaviour by understanding individual perceptions of the barriers to and motivations for behaviour. A social methodology then works to segment individuals into groups that share similar attitudes and beliefs, those groups identified as most likely to respond, are targeted with an intervention to encourage behaviour change. This research identified the perceived and actual barriers to (cost, time, convenience), and motivations for sustainable tourist behaviour among participants from the case study areas and identified three distinct clusters of tourists, one of which was identified as suitable for targeting with a social marketing intervention. This research also revealed that even those most committed to range of sustainable behaviours in the home environment do not continue this behaviour when in the holiday environment. A further dimension was added to this research by exploring the use of an ecological footprint calculator (REAP for Tourism) to quantify the environmental impact of individual tourists and to explore whether pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour equate to lower environmental impact

FRICTIONLESS ONBOARDING FOR END-TO-END ENCRYPTED COLLABORATIVE SYSTEMS

Many current systems require a user account to access system features or allow a guest mode to skip account creation. In collaboration software that includes a guest mode, there are two features that are currently supported: (1) Joining a meeting via a guest mode, and (2) Guest mode for an entire application using an anonymous token, which is a token for a particular session only and needs another guest session on re-entry; the guest session is not persisted on retry. As a result, it is critical to solve the problem of onboarding allowing users to enter the system easily in a Try Now or Guest Mode that provides a full-feature rich experience that a user would get if the user had signed-up for an account. The problem is even more challenging for collaboration software that utilizes end-to-end encryption. This proposal provides techniques to leverage the existing Open Authorization (OAuth) flow by deferring email verification and password creation to reduce the time involved to join a guest session in an end-to-end collaborative system. By utilizing techniques of this proposal, a persistent guest session can be facilitated on a given client device and a clear path can be provided to upgrade to a full free and/or paid account

<i>TP53</i> Gene Status Affects Survival in Advanced Mycosis Fungoides

TP53 is frequently mutated in different types of neoplasms including leukemia and lymphomas. Mutations of TP53 have also been reported in mycosis fungoides (MF), the most common type of cutaneous lymphoma. However, little is known about the frequency, spectrum of mutations and their prognostic significance in MF. In this study we have optimized the protocol for Sanger sequencing of TP53 using DNA extracted from archival paraffin-embedded biopsies. Of 19 samples from patients with stage IIB MF or higher, 31% harboured mutations in TP53. Overall survival of the patients with mutated TP53 was significantly shorter than median survival in the age- and stage-matched patients treated in our Institution. Distribution of mutations was heterogenous in TP53 exons, however C>T transitions were common suggesting the causal role of ultraviolet radiation. We propose that TP53 mutation status would be useful for risk stratification of patients with advanced MF

A 15-year partnership between UK coastal scientists and the international beach lifeguard community

Drowning is a leading cause of unintentional fatalities around the world, yet on beaches is often preventable through public education campaigns and intervention activities from lifeguards. In 2006, the UK beach lifeguarding community approached the Coastal Processes Research Group (CPRG) at University of Plymouth, UK, with a need to better understand the key hazards on UK beaches and how to foresee and manage the associated risks. In some cases there simply was not sufficient scientifically-robust understanding of certain hazards (for example rip currents) available for lifeguard managers to make objective, data-driven decisions on how to manage them. This paper documents the resulting 15-year body of work, and reflects upon the education, outreach, and other research impacts that have been created, and lessons learned along the way. By furthering fundamental coastal processes understanding of such things as beach classification and rip current dynamics, as well as applying science to challenges such as predicting beach life-risk and times of peak bathing hazard, the ongoing collaboration between lifeguards and academics continues to inform beach safety management in a number of countries around the world. Initiating research with clear aims and objectives that are driven by, and developed in conjunction with, the end-user, as opposed to starting with outcomes prescribed to the end-user by academics, has been an important factor in the success (or failure) of these scientific ventures. CPRG's research activities in the field of beach safety has been scientifically rewarding and have achieved significant impacts. We attribute this to: (1) sustained level of high-quality research; (2) continued effort spent on building long-term relationships with end-users; (3) co-creation of dissemination material and tools; (4) acceptance that it takes time and effort to achieve research impact; and (5) critically evaluating and reflecting on the research impacts. Ultimately, the ongoing collaboration has contributed to a ‘continuing trend of decline in accidental fatalities around our coastlines’, and such collaborations in other parts of the world continue to play a vital role in reducing coastal drowning globally