Variations in the hospital management of self harm in adults in England: observational study

More than 140 000 people present to hospital after an episode of self harm each year in England and Wales. Improving the general hospital management of these people is a key area in preventing suicide. Although professional consensus has been reached on how self harm services should be organised and delivered, wide variations in care delivery have been reported in two regions in England. Using a nationally representative sample, we investigated the variation in services and delivery of care for self harm patients in hospitals in England

ECONOMICS OF SEQUESTERING CARBON IN THE U.S. AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases can be reduced by withdrawing carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it in soils and biomass. This report analyzes the performance of alternative incentive designs and payment levels if farmers were paid to adopt land uses and management practices that raise soil carbon levels. At payment levels below $10 per metric ton for permanently sequestered carbon, analysis suggests landowners would find it more cost effective to adopt changes in rotations and tillage practices. At higher payment levels, afforestation dominates sequestration activities, mostly through conversion of pastureland. Across payment levels, the economic potential to sequester carbon is much lower than the technical potential reported in soil science studies. The most cost-effective payment design adjusts payment levels to account both for the length of time farmers are willing to commit to sequestration activities and for net sequestration. A 50-percent cost-share for cropland conversion to forestry or grasslands would increase sequestration at low carbon payment levels but not at high payment levels.Carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas mitigation, afforestation, conservation tillage, no-till, incentive design, leakage, carbon stock, permanence, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Disseminated neoplasia in blue mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis, from the Black Sea, Romania

Disseminated neoplasia, also called leukemia or hemic neoplasia, has been detected in 15 species of marine bivalve mollusks worldwide. The disease is characterized by the presence of single anaplastic cells with enlarged nuclei and sometimes frequent mitosis, in hemolymph vessels and sinuses. The neoplastic cells gradually replace normal hemocytes leading to the increased mortality of animals. The neoplasia reaches epizootic prevalences in blue mussels, Mytilus trossulus, in some areas, whereas prevalences in Mytilus edulis are generally very low. Mytilus galloprovincialis was suggested to be resistant to the disease although very low prevalences were documented from Spain in the Atlantic Ocean and Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. A case of disseminated neoplasia was discovered in M. galloprovincialis from among 200 specimens studied from the coast of the Romanian Black Sea. Histological preparation revealed the presence of large anaplastic cells with lobed nuclei. This observation extends the geographic range of marine bivalve mollusks with disseminated neoplasia to include the Black Sea

Shifting landscapes: from coalface to quick sand? Teaching geography, earth and environmental sciences in UK higher education

In this paper we examine contemporary academic working lives, with particular reference to teaching-only and teaching-focused academics. We argue that intensification in the neoliberal university has significantly shifted the structure of academic careers, while cultural stories about those careers have not changed. We call for academics to re-examine our collective stories about standard academic career paths. Challenging the stories and making visible the ways that they create and multiply disadvantage is a crucial step in expanding the possibilities for academic identities and careers. The paper begins by describing teaching-focused academics within the context of the wider workforce. We then draw on narratives of those in these roles to illustrate the processes that (re)inscribe their marginalisation. We uncover the gendering of the teaching-focused academic labour market. We end the paper by suggesting interventions that all academics can take and support to address the issues we highlight

An Artificial Sweating System for Sweat Sensor Testing Applications

This research proposes a completely automated, computer-controlled fluid mixing and dispensing system, which is suitable for testing sweat sensing devices, as an alternative to requiring human trials during the development phase of a sweat sensor device. An arm mold was designed and implemented with dragon skin and pores to simulate sweating action. The relay controlled mixing tanks allow for the different concentration of fluid solutions at various rates of fluid dispensing through pores. The onboard single board computer controls a dozen electronic relays and it switches and presents an easy to use graphical user interface to allow end users to conduct the experiments with ease and not require further programming. With the recent advances in sweat sensors, this platform offers a unique way of testing sensing devices during development, allowing for researchers to focus on their design parameters one at a time before actual validation through human trials are conducted. The current device can provide sweat rates from 1 µL/min to 500 µL/min. Furthermore, concentrations of 10 mM up to 200 mM of salt concentrations were able to be repeatedly produced. In an ANOVA test with salt concentrations varying from 40–60 mM, a p-value of 0.365 shows that the concentration does not have any effect on the flow rate. Similarly, a p-value of 0.329 and 0.167 for different relative humidity and temperature shows that the system does not present a statistical difference. Lastly, when the interactions among all the factors were considered, a p-value of 0.416 clearly presents that the system performance is insensitive to different factors, thus validating the system reliability

Emerging reporting and verification needs under the Paris Agreement : how can the research community effectively contribute?

Acknowledgments This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme project VERIFY [grant agreement No 776810]. A special thanks must be given to Sebastian Wunderlich (UBA, Germany), for his support on data interpretation. We also thank Paul Ruyssenaars (RVIM, Netherlands), Marina Vitullo (ISPRA, Italy), Colas Robert and Céline Gueguen (CITEPA, France), Maria Purzner (EAA, Austria), Rasmus Astrup (NIBIO, Norway), Ann Marie Ryan (EMPA, Ireland) and Margreet Van Zanten for their support in the terminology analysis and fruitful exchange during the course of the VERIFY project.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Design and innovation in successful product competition

This paper presents results from a project entitled ‘MArket Demands that Reward Investment in Design’ (MADRID). Among other aims, MADRID seeks to identify the contribution of design and innovation to product competitiveness in different markets. The paper provides a conceptual analysis of the role of design and innovation in product competition. The concepts are employed to conduct an analysis of a sample of new and redesigned products using data from a previous study on the ‘Commercial Impacts of Design’ (CID). CID was a study of over 220 design and product development projects in British SMEs which had received government financial support for design. The key conclusions from this re-analysis of the CID data are: in commercially successful product development projects more attention had been paid than in the loss-making projects to genuine product improvements rather than just styling or costs; commercially successful product development projects involved a multi-dimensional approach to design with a focus on product performance, features and build quality and, where relevant, technical or design innovation. Loss-making projects tended to involve a narrow, often styling-oriented, approach to design with more attention paid to cost reduction than to performance, quality and innovation

The global carbon budget 1959-2011

Accurate assessments of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the climate policy process, and project future climate change. Present-day analysis requires the combination of a range of data, algorithms, statistics and model estimates and their interpretation by a broad scientific community. Here we describe datasets and a methodology developed by the global carbon cycle science community to quantify all major components of the global carbon budget, including their uncertainties. We discuss changes compared to previous estimates, consistency within and among components, and methodology and data limitations. CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production (EFF) are based on energy statistics, while emissions from Land-Use Change (ELUC), including deforestation, are based on combined evidence from land cover change data, fire activity in regions undergoing deforestation, and models. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its rate of growth (GATM) is computed from the concentration. The mean ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) is based on observations from the 1990s, while the annual anomalies and trends are estimated with ocean models. Finally, the global residual terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) is estimated by the difference of the other terms. For the last decade available (2002–2011), EFF was 8.3 ± 0.4 PgC yr−1, ELUC 1.0 ± 0.5 PgC yr−1, GATM 4.3 ± 0.1PgC yr−1, SOCEAN 2.5 ± 0.5 PgC yr−1, and SLAND 2.6 ± 0.8 PgC yr−1. For year 2011 alone, EFF was 9.5 ± 0.5 PgC yr−1, 3.0 percent above 2010, reflecting a continued trend in these emissions; ELUC was 0.9 ± 0.5 PgC yr−1, approximately constant throughout the decade; GATM was 3.6 ± 0.2 PgC yr−1, SOCEAN was 2.7 ± 0.5 PgC yr−1, and SLAND was 4.1 ± 0.9 PgC yr−1. GATM was low in 2011 compared to the 2002–2011 average because of a high uptake by the land probably in response to natural climate variability associated to La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 391.31 ± 0.13 ppm at the end of year 2011. We estimate that EFF will have increased by 2.6% (1.9–3.5%) in 2012 based on projections of gross world product and recent changes in the carbon intensity of the economy. All uncertainties are reported as ±1 sigma (68% confidence assuming Gaussian error distributions that the real value lies within the given interval), reflecting the current capacity to characterise the annual estimates of each component of the global carbon budget. This paper is intended to provide a baseline to keep track of annual carbon budgets in the future

Access to shops: The views of low-income shoppers

Concern is mounting as the retail stranglehold upon access to food grows. Research on the implications of restructuring retailing and health inequality has failed to involve low-income consumers in this debate. This paper reports on an exercise conducted for the UK Government's, Social Exclusion Unit's Policy Action Team on Access to Shops. The survey provides a useful baseline of the views of low-income groups in England. The choices that people on low income can make were found to be dominated by certain factors such as income and, most importantly, transport. Consumers reported varying levels of satisfaction with retail provision. The findings suggest gaps between what people have, what they want and what the planning process does and does not offer them. Better policy and processes are needed to include and represent the interests of low-income groups