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

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

Measuring the proportion of and reasons for asthma-related school absence in England

Asthma affects 300 million people across all age-groups and ethnicities and is the most common chronic condition affecting children1, 2. In the UK, the health care costs associated with asthma are estimated at £1.1 billion, however this amount typically excludes some societal costs (e.g. absence from work to care for children)3. The total number of days missed from school in England in the 2017/18 academic year was 59.1 million of which 54.7% were due to illness4 although the reasons for those illness-related absences are unknown. Given the high proportion of children with asthma and the fact that school absences are associated with low levels of achievement6, the primary aim of this study was to measure the proportion of asthma-related absences in school children and describe the factors reported by parents that predispose their children to these school absences. The secondary aim was to explore parents’ and school staff views on extending an app currently used for reporting school absences to one that might also provide tailored interventions

Hollow core fibres for high capacity data transmission

We review our progress in developing, characterizing and handling hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers with improved transmission properties, targeted at high-capacity, low-latency data transmission in the current telecoms window and at the potentially lower-loss 2µm wavelengths

First Demonstration of a Broadband 37-cell Hollow Core Photonic Bandgap Fiber and Its Application to High Capacity Mode Division Multiplexing

We report fabrication of the first low-loss, broadband 37-cell photonic bandgap fiber. Exploiting absence of surface modes and low cross-talk in the fiber we demonstrate mode division multiplexing over three modes with record transmission capacity

The impact of immediate breast reconstruction on the time to delivery of adjuvant therapy: the iBRA-2 study

Background: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is routinely offered to improve quality-of-life for women requiring mastectomy, but there are concerns that more complex surgery may delay adjuvant oncological treatments and compromise long-term outcomes. High-quality evidence is lacking. The iBRA-2 study aimed to investigate the impact of IBR on time to adjuvant therapy. Methods: Consecutive women undergoing mastectomy ± IBR for breast cancer July–December, 2016 were included. Patient demographics, operative, oncological and complication data were collected. Time from last definitive cancer surgery to first adjuvant treatment for patients undergoing mastectomy ± IBR were compared and risk factors associated with delays explored. Results: A total of 2540 patients were recruited from 76 centres; 1008 (39.7%) underwent IBR (implant-only [n = 675, 26.6%]; pedicled flaps [n = 105,4.1%] and free-flaps [n = 228, 8.9%]). Complications requiring re-admission or re-operation were significantly more common in patients undergoing IBR than those receiving mastectomy. Adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy was required by 1235 (48.6%) patients. No clinically significant differences were seen in time to adjuvant therapy between patient groups but major complications irrespective of surgery received were significantly associated with treatment delays. Conclusions: IBR does not result in clinically significant delays to adjuvant therapy, but post-operative complications are associated with treatment delays. Strategies to minimise complications, including careful patient selection, are required to improve outcomes for patients