Management factors affecting the use of pasture by table chickens in extensive production systems

Whether chickens will make proper use of pasture is a problem experienced by producers of free-range and organic chickens. The aims of this project are to identify husbandry techniques and aspects of system design that encourage good pasture use. Two studies have been conducted comprising a winter and a summer flock. The aim of the winter flock was to examine the effect of outdoor artificial shelter on pasture usage. This was done for female Ross 308 birds grown to day 56, and ISA 657 birds grown to day 81. In summer, ISA 657 birds were grown to day 81. Treatments were either standard or enriched brooding, with pasture only or enriched pasture. Standard brooding was in a controlled environment house until day 42. Enriched brooding was in naturally ventilated houses in which birds had sight of pasture from an early age and access from day 21. Enriched pasture included artificial shelter, with straw bales and a conifer “wigwam” used to provide natural shelter. Chickens may be encouraged to go outdoors by brooding in a less “controlled” environment than that used for intensive broilers, and by allowing access to pasture when young. However, mortality was higher. Conifer wigwams may offer a means for more even use of pasture and better distribution of droppings

The automatic detection of patterns in people's movements

Bibliography: leaves 102-105

MEMPHIS: a smartphone app using psychological approaches for women with chronic pelvic pain presenting to gynaecology clinics: a randomised feasibility trial

Objectives To evaluate the feasibility of a randomised trial of a modified, pre-existing, mindfulness meditation smartphone app for women with chronic pelvic pain. Primary and secondary outcome measures Outcomes included length of recruitment, follow-up rates, adherence to the app interventions, and clinical outcomes measured at baseline, two, three and 6 months. Results The target sample size was recruited in 145 days. Adherence to the app interventions was extremely low (mean app use 1.8 days mindfulness meditation group, 7.0 days active control). Fifty-seven (63%) women completed 6-month follow-up, and 75 (83%) women completed at least one postrandomisation follow-up. The 95% CIs for clinical outcomes were consistent with no benefit from the mindfulness meditation app; for example, mean differences in pain acceptance scores at 60 days (higher scores are better) were −2.3 (mindfulness meditation vs usual care, 95% CI: −6.6 to 2.0) and −4.0 (mindfulness meditation vs active control, 95% CI: −8.1 to 0.1). Conclusions Despite high recruitment and adequate follow-up rates, demonstrating feasibility, the extremely low adherence suggests a definitive randomised trial of the mindfulness meditation app used in this study is not warranted. Future research should focus on improving patient engagement.This research was supported by the UK National Institute of Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit programme (RfPB PB-PG- 1013-32025)

Texture and bubble size measurements for modelling concentrate grade in flotation froth systems

Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-244).Numerous, machine vision systems for froth flotation have been developed over the last ten years; however, there are many aspects of the systems, that still require further development before they become one of the standard instruments present on industrial flotation operations. This thesis aims to address these problems by developing improved measurement techniques and showing how these measurements can be used to model the concentrate grad e of the flotation cell being monitored in a manner which is, directly usable by plant personnel. This thesis, presents an improvement to the watershed algorithm for the measurement of bubble sixe distribution in flotation froths. Unlike the standard watershed algorithm, it is able to measure accurate bubble size distributions when both large and tiny bubbles are present in a flotation froth image. Flotation froths with “dynamic bubble size distribution s” are introduced and methods of reducing the high dimensional bubble size distribution data associated with them are discussed. A method of using characteristic histograms of frequently occurring bubble size distributions is introduced and shown to be an appropriate method to use. A number of standard texture measures are best suited to the classification of flotation froth images. Results show that the Fourier ring and texture spectrum based features, perform well whilst having a relatively small computational cost for classifying new images. Video footage from selected industrial operations has been used for the development of improved algorithms for the measurement of froth surface descriptors. Analyses of the relationship, between froth velocity, bubble size, froth class and concentrate grade are made. The results show that it possible to use a unified approach to model the concentrate grade, irrespective of the site on which the measurements are made. Results from three industrial case studies show that bubble size and texture measures can be used to identify froth classes. Furthermore the combination of froth classes and froth velocity information is shown to consistently account for the most variation in the data when the concentrate grade is modelled using a linear combination of these two measurements

Does intermittent pneumatic compression reduce the risk of post stroke deep vein thrombosis?:The CLOTS 3 trial: statistical analysis plan

BACKGROUND: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common and important complication of stroke. The CLOTS 3 trial aims to determine whether, compared with best medical care, best medical care plus intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) in immobile stroke patients reduces the risk of proximal deep vein thrombosis (DVT). METHODS/DESIGN: The CLOTS 3 trial is a multicenter, parallel group trial with centralized randomization (minimization) to ensure allocation concealment. The protocol has been published (Trials 2012, 13:26) and is available in full at: http://www.clotstrial.com. Between December 2008 and September 2012, 105 centers in the UK recruited 2,876 immobile stroke patients within the first 3 days of their hospital admission. Patients were allocated to best medical care or best medical care plus IPC. Ultrasonographers performed a compression Doppler ultrasound scan to detect DVT in each treatment group at 7 to 10 days and 25 to 30 days. The primary outcome cluster includes symptomatic or asymptomatic DVT in the popliteal or femoral veins detected on either scan. Patients will be followed up by postal or telephone questionnaire at 6 months from randomization to detect later symptomatic DVT and pulmonary embolism (PE), and to measure functional outcome (Oxford Handicap Scale) and quality of life (EQ-5D-3L). The ultrasonographers performing the scans are blinded to treatment allocation, whereas the patients and caregivers are not. The trial has more than 90% power to detect a 4% absolute difference (12% versus 8%) in risk of the primary outcome and includes a health economic analysis. Follow-up will be completed in April 2013 and the results reported in May 2013. In this update, we describe the statistical analysis plan. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN: ISRCTN9352999

Localism and the Big Society: the asset transfer of leisure centres and libraries – fighting closures or empowering communities?

This paper critically examines the ‘asset transfer’ of leisure services from the public to the voluntary sector. Asset transfer might be theorised as ‘austerity localism’, in which volunteers are obliged to fill the gaps left by retreating public provision, or as ‘progressive localism’, which represents new opportunities through the localism and Big Society agendas to develop more locally responsive, cooperative and mutualist visions. In this way, asset transfer might overcome the limitations of the United Kingdom policies in which ‘Big Government’ is replaced by civic society. Drawing on qualitative interviews with key personnel (volunteers, managers and local authority officers) at 12 leisure facilities, a grounded assessment of the nuanced balance between ‘austerity localism’ and ‘progressive localism’ is provided, including three observations. First, the main impetus for transfer was cuts in local authority budgets which stimulated the emergence of local groups of volunteers. Secondly, the transfers themselves required interaction between local government and the volunteer groups; however, the nature of the relationship and support given varied and support was limited by austerity measures. Thirdly, volunteers do not automatically fill a gap left by the state: without support transfer viability relies on the financial and social capital among volunteer groups, and this is unevenly distributed. These findings suggest that the capacity for a ‘progressive localism’ to emerge through asset transfer is limited. However, where transfer has occurred, there are some progressive benefits of volunteer empowerment and a more flexible service

Changes in aliphatic hydrocarbon tracer composition during the digestive process of the marine worm Nereis virens. Preliminary results

In the laboratory, marine worms were fed with a mixture of algae and several aliphatic hydrocarbons for 15 days. By comparing hydrocarbons in food and in faeces, it appeared that the worm's digestive process led to changes in the distribution of the n-alkanes mixture. These changes were different from those only due to physical processes in the experimental conditions, indicating that marine worm feeding could substantially affect the fate of hydrocarbons in the sedimentary marine ecosystem

Watching the pennies and the people – how volunteer led sport facilities have transformed services for local communities

Rationale/Purpose This paper shows how the transfer of public sport facilities to management led by volunteers has increased the responsiveness of services to local needs; while at the same time reducing running costs. It provides a contrast to previous research on transfer to large leisure trusts. Design/Methodology/approach It draws on interviews with key personnel at 8 sport facilities transferred to small-volunteer led community groups. Findings Running costs have been cut because of the greater attention to detail and flexibility of volunteer managed services. The service has become more sensitive and flexible to the needs of the local community because volunteers are their own marketing information system, rooted in that community. The positive outcomes are driven by needs to attain economic sustainability; and to renew volunteer effort by changing the public perception of the facility to an asset created by the community, rather than just as a public service consumed by it. Practical implications The paper shows the progressive potential of the small trusts in meeting local leisure needs, making a case to support this type of sport facility delivery. Research contribution These small leisure trusts retain advantages of the large leisure trusts, established in the 1990’s, but with further advantages derived from local production