‘I’m excluded – who’s gonna care?’ Multi-agency teams supporting the care of excluded children in educational settings – policy into practice, what works and what doesn’t? (Sharing our experience, Practitioner-led research 2008-2009; PLR0809/062)

The aim of the research was to discover who meets the needs of children at risk of exclusion, an interest sparked by meeting vulnerable children and listening to their stories. The research team wanted to discover whether strategies used do meet policy and best practice guidance. Are multi-agency teams successful? How do children feel about those who provide their care? Semi-structured interviews were used, as well as discussion groups, with the following professionals and young people: • one Further Education administrator • two Further Education programme co-ordinators • one primary school Pastoral Support team member • one primary school head teacher • two secondary school Pastoral Support team members • three social workers • one sports coach • one sports coach assistant • three foster carers • seven young people. In addition, we carried out a literature review to discover that when schools work in conjunction with a range of other professionals, in a manner which includes children and parents and makes the process comfortable and child-led, results are good. Children feel supported and are able to achieve. The research also identified that our agencies appear, at times, to misinterpret the guidance, or simply ignore it – allowing egos, personalities and inconsequential agendas to interfere with pastoral care. Examples of good practice to share with others have been identified, as have a few challenges, the avoidance of which might make the difference for some children. The research discovered that behaviour support personnel in schools appear to have a valuable role to play for vulnerable children, as do many others however; also, excitingly there are instances of good practice which may limit incidents of exclusion. This PLR project has provided opportunity to discover how outcomes for children can be improved by working together, also that one person alone can make all the difference

European nightjar and upland plantation woodland management

Plantation woodland is increasing in extent globally and as a proportion of global forest cover. Plantation woodland is not only an important element of the U.K. economy, but also is an important woodland habitat in the U.K., given the pre-historic and historic loss of woodland cover. Woodland policy aspirations in the U.K. are currently heavily focused on increasing woodland extent, coupled with maximising the ecosystem services delivered by these habitats, including the provision of renewable energy developments and increasing the provision of biodiversity services. Such broad management objectives often necessitate trade-offs, where management to deliver different desired outcomes conflict. This thesis focuses on the conservation management of European nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus and is intended to inform the development of evidence-based conservation interventions that can support nightjar and the moth species on which they feed, in plantation coniferous woodland and in particular in the Welsh Government Woodland Estate. Specifically, I use European nightjar life history parameters (e.g. nest success) and movement data, to explore nightjar ecology in areas of changing land use and management. In order to inform subsequent nest success analysis a comparison of the observed nesting success of tagged birds and untagged birds, whilst controlling for the potential confounding effects of weather, is used to explore and confirm the lack of observed tag effects on measures of nest success (e.g. fledging success) in nightjar breeding at Brechfa Forest Wind Farm (South Wales, UK). Moth diversity and biomass data from open habitats within forests across a gradient of ages, is then used to confirm the importance of native vegetation primary productivity and stand management in driving moth biomass and diversity. Moth biomass is then combined with GPS tag movement data to explore nightjar foraging behaviour within the forest matrix. This analysis confirms that nightjar movement is driven by spatial and temporal variation in the availability of moth biomass. Nest record data from sites across Wales is then used to explore the potential for wind farm construction disturbance effects on nest success (e.g. fledging success). Alongside this, I also examine the role of habitat management and foraging habitat availability. Overall, my results show that forest management can have significant effects on both nightjar nest success, movement and food (moth) availability. I also show that forest management has an important effect on the presence or absence of moths of conservation concern. These results also confirm that modifications to the spatial and temporal patterns of forest management can be used to support the conservation of both moths and nightjar, with likely cascading benefits for other aerial insectivores

Pyridazine-bridged cationic diiridium complexes as potential dual-mode bioimaging probes

A novel diiridium complex [(N^C^N)2Ir(bis-N^C)Ir(N^C^N)2Cl]PF6 (N^C^N = 2-[3-tert-butyl-5-(pyridin-2-yl)phenyl]pyridine; bis-N^C = 3,6-bis(4-tert-butylphenyl)pyridazine) was designed, synthesised and characterised. The key feature of the complex is the bridging pyridazine ligand which brings two cyclometallated Ir(III) metal centres close together so that Cl also acts as a bridging ligand leading to a cationic complex. The ionic nature of the complex offers a possibility of improving solubility in water. The complex displays broad emission in the red region (λem = 520–720 nm, τ = 1.89 μs, Φem = 62% in degassed acetonitrile). Cellular assays by multiphoton (λex = 800 nm) and confocal (λex = 405 nm) microscopy demonstrate that the complex enters cells and localises to the mitochondria, demonstrating cell permeability. Further, an appreciable yield of singlet oxygen generation (ΦΔ = 0.45, direct method, by 1O2 NIR emission in air equilibrated acetonitrile) suggests a possible future use in photodynamic therapy. However, the complex has relatively high dark toxicity (LD50 = 4.46 μM), which will likely hinder its clinical application. Despite this toxicity, the broad emission spectrum of the complex and high emission yield observed suggest a possible future use of this class of compound in emission bioimaging. The presence of two heavy atoms also increases the scattering of electrons, supporting potential future applications as a dual fluorescence and electron microscopy probe

The Mediterranean deep-water kelp Laminaria rodriguezii is an endangered species in the Adriatic Sea

Acknowledgments Thanks are due to Klaus Lüning for a gametophyte culture of L. abyssalis, and to Britta Schaffelke for a herbarium specimen of L. rodriguezii from the western Mediterranean. We are grateful to the Total Foundation (Paris) for funding this study within the framework of the project “Brown algal ecology and biodiversity in the eastern Mediterranean Sea”, and to the MASTS pooling initiative (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council and contributing institutions; grant reference HR09011), as well as Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports for supporting project “Benthic communities in the Adriatic Sea (Project ID: 0001005)”. Open access via Springer Compact AgreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Attitudes to parenting practices and child discipline

This qualitative research report outlines the findings of focus groups held to explore parents’ views about parenting practices and approaches to child discipline. Fourteen focus groups were conducted in eight local authority areas around Wales with mothers and fathers of children and young people aged between birth and 18 years. The purpose of this work was to inform the development of questions for use in future quantitative work and to fill gaps in current knowledge about Welsh specific attitudes around this issue

The effectiveness of deterrent measures to minimize disturbance impacts to breeding European nightjar at an upland wind farm site in South Wales, UK

The Pen y Cymoedd windfarm in South Wales, UK, is set in an upland area currently dominated by coniferous forestry with a varied age structure resulting from standard forestry management practices.The site supports an important population of European nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus. The activities associated with wind farm construction have the potential to damage and disturb nightjar nests during the breeding season whilst long term operation has the potential for collision mortality. To mitigate for potential impacts during construction, we implemented measures to allow nest avoidance including the identification and demarcation of active nest sites. Due to the difficulty in locating nightjar nests and the potential for false negative results, additional measures were deployed at 17 turbine locations to deter nightjars from establishing nesting territories. Deterrent measures involved regular removal of vegetation on the construction areas. We tested the effectiveness of the deterrent measures by comparing levels ofmale nightjar territorial display activity in treated and untreated locations over one breeding season.Territorial behaviour was recorded using standard nightjar presence-absence survey methods. We found no significant difference between levels of territorial display activity in treated and untreated areas. This suggests that the deterrent measures utilised at Pen y Cymoedd in 2016 were ineffective in deterring male nightjar display activity during windfarm construction

“Forests for life” or forests for carbon markets?The case of Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands

Climate change is widely recognised as one of the biggest threats to livelihoods, security and wellbeing in the Pacific. Carbon markets represent one of a number of global responses, with projects expanding across the Pacific in recent years. This paper focuses upon carbon offset activities in Solomon Islands, including sustainable forestry for carbon trading initiatives. As signatory to the Paris Agreement, Solomon Islands has expanded its activities to support preparedness for entry into global carbon markets, demonstrated via national-level carbonisation of forestry governance. In the context of a resource constrained state, non government organisations (NGOs) occupy a central role in Solomon Islands carbon forestry governance. This paper documents some of the national and international policy settings and policies driving expansion of carbon markets. It takes the case study of Choiseul Province to examine gender sensitive livelihood initiatives introduced by one local NGO, the Natural Resources Development Foundation (NRDF), as part of preparedness for entry into carbon market initiatives, referred to as REDD type projects. Findings demonstrate positive outcomes associated with livelihood projects – including for women – accrue regardless of participation in carbon markets. The paper argues that climate change mitigation strategies that take a gender sensitive approach, alongside centring local assets, visions and possibilities, as well as the maintenance of communally owned and managed forest resources, are well placed to deliver positive on-ground impacts in Choiseul Province. These findings provide insights for future policy and planning in the Pacific in an era of climate constraint

Interactions at the clay/polymer/water interface.

The thesis investigates the behaviour of aqueous montmorillonite suspensions and also the interactions between montmorillonite as a free standing film and in highly dispersed aqueous suspension with water soluble polymers used as additives in water based drilling fluids.FTIR microscopy and FTIR ATR spectroscopy have been employed to study in-situ dehydration of fully dispersed aqueous montmorillonite suspensions. The IR spectrum of the dispersed bentonite shows significant differences from that of a dry bentonite powder, which have been attributed to the hydration of the exchangeable cation. Drying, or concentrated salt solution causes the differences to disappear and this is attributed to the exchangeable cation settling back to its ditrigonal cavity in the silicate sheet of the mineral under these conditions.The adsorption of various molecular weights of neutral polyacrylamide (PAM) onto montmorillonite has been studied using FTIR transmission, ATR spectroscopy and XRD. Shifts seen in the NH[2] stretching and bending bands have been interpreted as being due to H-bonding with the outer co-ordination sphere of exchangeable cations. KCl has shown to have some influence on this system.Another neutral polymer used extensively in water based drilling fluids is polyalkylglycol (PAG). The adsorption of two molecular weights of this polymer from aqueous solutions of various concentrations have been monitored both in the presence and absence of KCl. The physical form of the montmorillonite (either as a free standing film or as a dispersed suspension), the concentration of the polymer solution, the polymer molecular weight and the presence of KCl all have significant effects on the adsorption of polymer.The stabilisation of montmorillonite films by PAG and PAG/KCl solutions has been monitored by ATR spectroscopy, and the dehydration of these films by polymer has been monitored using FTIR spectroscopy and XRD. The interaction of PAG is thought to be via hydrogen bonding with the innermost co-ordination sphere of the exchangeable cations which thus presents a hydrophobic surface to solvent molecules, preventing the film from collapse.Since all water based drilling fluids are multi-component systems, techniques previously used have been employed to study the competitive adsorption of the polyalkylglycol and polyacrylamide components. Preferential adsorption of the PAG is seen in these systems either due to the mass transport effects (PAG is considerably smaller than PAM) or due to PAG removing all but the inner cation hydration sphere, and presenting a hydrophobic surface for the PAM, and therefore preventing its adsorption

Using UAV‐mounted thermal cameras to detect the presence of nesting nightjar in upland clear‐fell: A case study in South Wales, UK

1. Confirming the presence and location of European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus nests is a significant fieldwork challenge in ecological monitoring. Nest sites can be located through direct observation or capture and radio tracking of breeding individuals; however, such work is time consuming, disturbing and costly.2. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) equipped with thermal sensors may enable rapid survey over large areas by detecting nest locations based on the contrast of relatively warm nests and the surrounding cooler ground. The application of this concept using UAV‐mounted thermal sensors was trialled in two upland clear‐fell forestry sites in South Wales, UK.3. Detection trials were undertaken at five known nightjar nest sites to assess optimal timing and flight height for surveys. Nest heat signatures were clear during dusk and dawn, but not during the daytime. Nests were identifiable at flight heights up to 25 m, but flight heights of 12–20 m were optimal for the numbers of pixels per nest.4. This approach was tested in a field trial of a 17‐ha forestry site where the presence and position of nesting nightjars were unknown. An automated transect at dusk and dawn at 15 m flight elevation identified two active nightjar nests and four male nightjar roost sites. Without image analysis automation, the process of manual inspection of 2607 images for ‘hotspots’ of the approximate size and shape of nightjar nests was laborious.5. The UAV approach took around 18 h including survey time, processing and ground verification, whilst a nightjar nest finding survey would take 35 h for the same area. The small size of nightjars and the low resolution of the thermal sensors requires low altitude flight in order to maximize detectability and pixel coverage. Low flight elevation requires more consideration of the risk of collision with trees or posts. Consequently, the approach would not be suitable for covering areas of highly variable terrain

Multimodal probes : superresolution and transmission electron microscopy imaging of mitochondria, and oxygen mapping of cells, using small-molecule Ir(III) luminescent complexes

We describe an Ir(III)-based small-molecule, multimodal probe for use in both light and electron microscopy. The direct correlation of data between light- and electron-microscopy-based imaging to investigate cellular processes at the ultrastructure level is a current challenge, requiring both dyes that must be brightly emissive for luminescence imaging and scatter electrons to give contrast for electron microscopy, at a single working concentration suitable for both methods. Here we describe the use of Ir(III) complexes as probes that provide excellent image contrast and quality for both luminescence and electron microscopy imaging, at the same working concentration. Significant contrast enhancement of cellular mitochondria was observed in transmission electron microscopy imaging, with and without the use of typical contrast agents. The specificity for cellular mitochondria was also confirmed with MitoTracker using confocal and 3D-structured illumination microscopy. These phosphorescent dyes are part of a very exclusive group of transition-metal complexes that enable imaging beyond the diffraction limit. Triplet excited-state phosphorescence was also utilized to probe the O2 concentration at the mitochondria in vitro, using lifetime mapping techniques