British and Fennoscandian Ice-Sheet interactions during the quaternary

Northeastern England and the North Sea Basin is a critical location to examine the influence of glaciation in the northern Hemisphere during the Quaternary. This region was a zone of confluence between the British and Fennoscandian Ice Sheets, and harboured several dynamic ice lobes sourced from northern Scotland, the Cheviots, the Lake District and the Southern Uplands. The region thus has some of the most complex exposures of Middle to Late Pleistocene sediments in Britain, with both interglacial and glacial sediments deposited in terrestrial and marine settings, and being sourced from both the British Isles and northern continental Europe. The research undertaken involved a thorough reinvestigation of the Quaternary sediments of northeast England, making use of enhanced exposures in coastal sections following the cessation of colliery waste dumping, and in boreholes from the North Sea. It used detailed sedimentological, stratigraphical, chronostratigraphical, lithological, petrological, and geochemical techniques to investigate their depositional processes, age, provenance signatures, and regional correlatives to construct an independent model of the eastern margin of the British-Irish Ice Sheet (BUS) throughout the Quaternary, and its interaction in the North Sea Basin with the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (PIS). This region was a zone of confluence between ice lobes sourced from northern Scotland, the Cheviots, the Lake District and the Southern Uplands, and is ideally placed for investigating the geological record of the North Sea Lobe during the Late Devensian. In addition. County Durham has one of the most northerly exposures of Middle Pleistocene sediments in Britain, including a raised beach and a Scandinavian till. This project focussed on a variety of localities in northeastern England and in the North Sea Basin, including Whitburn Bay, Shippersea Bay, Hawthorn Hive, and Warren House Gill. At Whitburn Bay, the Blackhall and Horden glacigenic members are exposed in superposition and are Late Devensian in age. The lower Blackhall Member here is interpreted as a subglacial traction till with a high percentage of locally derived erratics. A boulder pavement at the top of the till points to a switch in ice-bed conditions and the production of a melt-out lag prior to the deposition of the upper, Horden Member. This second traction till contains erratics and heavy minerals derived from crystalline bedrock sources in the Cheviot Hills and northeast Scotland, including tremolite, andalusite, kyanite and rutile. Within the Horden Member are numerous sand, clay and gravel-filled channels incised into the diamicton, which are attributed to a low energy, distributed, subglacial canal drainage system. Coupled with the hydrofractures and the boulder pavement, this suggests that a partly decoupled, fast flowing ice stream deposited the Horden Member. The eastward, on-shore direction of ice movement indicates that the ice stream was confined in the North Sea Basin, possibly by the presence of Scandinavian ice. From Hawthorn Hive to Warren House Gill, the Blackhall and Horden members are separated by the Peterlee Sands and Gravels, ice-proximal outwash sediments. Beneath the glacial sequence, some 500 m to the south is the Easington Raised Bench. The partly calcreted interglacial beach lies directly on Magnesian Limestone bedrock at 33 m O.D., and consists of beds of unconsolidated, well-bedded, imbricated, well- rounded sands and gravels. It has been dated to MIS 7 by amino acid geochronology and OSL dating. The beach contains exotic gravel, including flint, and previous workers have reported Norwegian erratics. The only currently extant source for these is the Scandinavian Drift at Warren House Gill. Warren House Gill is a classic Middle Pleistocene site, and has a complex stratigraphy, consisting of a lower "Scandinavian Drift" with overlying estuarine sediments, and an upper "Main Cheviot Drift", which comprises two tills and glaciotectonised, interstratified sands and silts, traditionally interpreted as Devensian in age. The lowest grey Scandinavian Drift is a grey, laminated clay with dropstones. It contains marine bivalve fragments, foraminifera, and clasts of northeastern Scotland and Norwegian provenance, as well as Magnesian Limestone, chalk, flint, and Triassic red marl from the North Sea. Reworked palynomorphs include Eocene dinoflagellate cysts. This is interpreted as a Middle Pleistocene glaciomarine deposit, and is renamed the 'Ash Gill Member' of the Warren House Formation, with inputs from both Scottish and Scandinavian sources. It is dated to the Middle Pleistocene by AAR dates on the shell fauna, and by the relationship to the MIS 7 age raised beach. The overlying well sorted pink and red interbedded sands and silts contain carbonate nodules and rare clasls. These shallow subaqueous sediments were deposited through suspension settling and bottom current activity, and they may be reworked loess. They are named the 'Whitesides Member' and are the highest member in the Warren House Formation. The overlying "Cheviot Drift" consists of two ice-marginal traction tills (the Blackhall and Horden members), separated by interbedded glaciofluvial red silts and sands. The till lithologies are indicative of a northern British provenance, and are rich in limestone, coal, sandstone, greywacke and dolerile. The Blackhall Member was deposited by ice during MIS 4, during a period of maximum extent of the British and Fennoscandian ice sheets and contact in the central North Sea. The Horden Member was deposited in an ice- marginal landsystem by the Late Devensian North Sea Lobe, and is correlative with the Skipsea Member in Yorkshire and the Bolders Bank Formation offshore. The Swarte Bank, Coal Pit, Fisher and Bolders Bank formations from the North Sea Basin were also examined. These subglacial and glaciomarine sediments, ranging from MIS 12 to MIS 2 in age, were all found to show a similar provenance from the Grampians, Aberdeenshire and the Scottish Highlands, indicating repeat ice-flow pathways during the Quaternary. This research has significant implications for British Quaternary stratigraphy, as it indicates that Fennoscandian ice was a significant influence on the BIIS throughout the Quaternary, and that on multiple occasions, Fennoscandian ice directly impacted the coast of eastern England. During MIS 12, a marine embayment opened in northeast England between the British and Fennoscandian ice sheets. Ice rafted material derived from both Scottish and Norwegian sources was deposited in this marine embayment. The Ash Gill Member of the Warren House Formation is an isolated remnant of this ancient glaciomarine environment, and it is separated from the overlying Devensian sediments by a substantial unconformity. During the Early Devensian, ice sourced in Scotland flowed eastwards through the Tyne Gap, where it was joined by a minor component of Lake District ice. This was a stage of maximum configuration of the BIIS, with contact with the FIS offshore. During the Last Glacial Maximum, the North Sea Lobe was constrained by the FIS offshore, forcing the North Sea Lobe onshore. This project found no evidence of Lake District erratics in County Durham, but found detrital material in the subglacial tills from the coast of northeastern Scotland

An exploratory study investigating children's perceptions of dental behavioural management techniques

Background: Behaviour management techniques (BMTs) are utilised by dentists to aid children's dental anxiety (DA). Children's perceptions of these have been underexplored, and their feedback could help inform paediatric dentistry. Aim: To explore children's acceptability and perceptions of dental communication and BMTs and to compare these by age, gender, and DA. Design: A total of sixty-two 9- to 11-year-old school children participated in the study. Children's acceptability of BMTs was quantified using a newly developed Likert scale, alongside exploration of children's experiences and perceptions through interviews. anova and t-tests explored BMT acceptability ratings by age, gender, and DA. Thematic analysis was used to analyse interviews. Findings: Statistical analyses showed no effect of age, gender, or DA upon BMT acceptability. Children generally perceived the BMTs as acceptable or neutral; stop signals were the most acceptable, and voice control the least acceptable BMT. Beneficial experiences of distraction and positive reinforcement were common. Children described the positive nature of their dentist's communication and BMT utilisation. Conclusion: Dental anxiety did not affect children's perceptions of BMTs. Children were generally positive about dentist's communication and established BMTs. Children's coping styles may impact perceptions and effectiveness of BMTs and should be explored in future investigations

How co-production regulates

This article examines how and why regulatory influences tend to embed within the practices of co-production. Informed by empirical data derived from semi-structured interviews conducted with a sample of experts in co-production, the analysis seeks to illuminate some of the ‘soft’ and ‘interactive’ forms of regulatory work that are performed. In so doing, the discussion provides a ‘lightly’ critical reading of co-production and draws in Erving Goffman’s hitherto neglected use of the concept of regulation. Framed by this work, a distinction is drawn between the regulation of co-production and regulation by co-production. The analysis contributes to a growing literature on some of the subtle and sophisticated ways in which regulation is being conducted in contemporary societies and how these contribute to the governance of social order more generally

‘Assisted’ Facial Recognition and the Reinvention of Suspicion and Discretion in Digital Policing

Automated facial recognition (AFR) has emerged as one of the most controversial policing innovations of recent years. Drawing on empirical data collected during the United Kingdom’s two major police trials of AFR deployments—and building on insights from the sociology of policing, surveillance studies and science and technology studies—this article advances several arguments. Tracing a lineage from early sociologies of policing that accented the importance of police discretion and suspicion formation, the analysis illuminates how technological capability is conditioned by police discretion, but police discretion itself is also contingent on affordances brought by the operational and technical environment. These, in turn, frame and ‘legitimate’ subjects of a reinvented and digitally mediated ‘bureaucratic suspicion’

The association between Chlamydia trachomatis and pelvic inflammatory disease: findings from observational studies

Estimates of the cost-effectiveness of chlamydia control interventions are highly sensitive to the risk of progression from genital chlamydia infection to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). There is no consensus for the risk of PID following asymptomatic chlamydia infections detected through population-based testing. The aim of this thesis is to generate improved estimates of this risk of PID that can be used to parameterise mathematical models and inform chlamydia control policy. We have determined the risk of PID following a positive chlamydia test in three cohorts: a small historic prospective clinical cohort of sex workers (Praed Street Project (PSP)); a large population-based retrospective cohort from Manitoba, Canada established for this research; and a large nationally representative retrospective cohort from Denmark. The risk of PID was higher in women with a positive chlamydia test compared to women who tested negative (PSP: adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) 2.03 (95%CI 0.75-5.49); Manitoba: 1.55 (95%CI 1.43-1.70); Denmark: 1.42 (95%CI 1.32-1.53)). There was heterogeneity in this risk: 13-23% higher following a repeat infection; up to four-fold higher in younger women (Manitoba: AHR 4.55 (95%CI 3.59-5.78) in 12-15 compared to 30-40 years); two-fold higher following previous gonorrhoea (PSP: 2.28 (95%CI 1.14-4.56)). The increased risk following a positive test lasted considerably longer than the likely duration of infection and fewer than 10% of PID diagnoses within 12 months of a test could be attributed to a positive result. This suggests that there are other important causes of PID. Individual-based risks of progression that capture this heterogeneity may improve the accuracy of estimates from mathematical models and therefore their utility to policy makers. Further research is needed to fully characterise the aetiology of PID to inform the design of chlamydia control interventions. In the meantime, interventions should focus on young women and those at risk of repeat chlamydia infection.Open Acces

A Longitudinal Cohort Study to Explore the Relationship Between Depression, Anxiety and Academic Performance Among Emirati University Students

Background: Many university students experience depression and anxiety, both of which have been shown to affect cognitive function. However, the impact of these emotional difficulties on academic performance is unclear. This study aims to determine the prevalence of depression and anxiety in university students in United Arab Emirates (UAE). It further seeks to explore the relationship between emotional difficulties and students' academic performance. Methods : This longitudinal study recruited 404 students (aged 17-25 years) attending one UAE university (80.8% response rate). At baseline, participants completed a paper-based survey to assess socioeconomic factors and academic performance, including most recent grade point average (GPA) and attendance warnings. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scales were used to assess depressive and anxiety symptoms. At six-month follow-up, 134 participants (33.3%) provided details of their current GPA. Results : Over a third of students (34.2%; CIs 29.7%-38.9%) screened for possible major depressive disorder (MDD; PHQ-9 ≥10) but less than a quarter (22.3%; CIs 18.2%-26.3%) screened for possible generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; GAD-7 ≥10). The Possible MDD group had lower GPAs (p=0.003) at baseline and were less satisfied with their studies (p=0.015). The MDD group also had lower GPAs at follow-up (p=0.035). The Possible GAD group had lower GPAs at baseline (p=0.003) but did not differ at follow-up. Relationship between GAD group and GPA was moderated by gender with female students in the Possible GAD group having lower GPAs (p < 0.001) than females in the Non-GAD group. Higher levels of both depression and anxietysymptoms scores were associated with lower GPAs at baseline. PHQ-9 scores, but notGAD-7 scores, independently predicted lower GPA scores at follow-up (p=0.006). Conclusion: This study confirms previous findings that around a third of universitystudents are likely to be experiencing a depressive disorder at any one time. Furthermore, it provides important evidence regarding the negative impacts ofemotional difficulties on students’ academic performance. The results support the needto consider the mental health of students who are struggling academically and highlightthe importance of signposting those students to appropriate support, includingevidence-based therapies