Civil engineering education of the future

This paper uses the latest Body of Knowledge (BOK2) specification from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as inspiration for a substantially project-based civil engineering curriculum. It demonstrates that a series of carefully chosen projects, combined with modules of learning materials, will meet the BOK2 guidelines. This approach also allows the productive use of online learning materials for new technical topics

Wall and Chamber Structure for finite-dimensional Algebras

We use τ-tilting theory to give a description of the wall and chamber structure of a finite dimensional algebra. We also study D-generic paths in the wall and chamber structure of an algebra A and show that every maximal green sequence in mod A is induced by a D-generic path.<br

Ring depressions in cattle horncores as indicators of traction use - a cautionary note

In this short communication we call attention to the discovery of a ring depression (a circumferential constriction) in the horncore of a feral bull. This discovery casts doubt on the attribution of similar lesions in archaeological deposits as conclusive evidence of 'cord impressions' resulting from yoking or reining cattle for traction. Drawing upon evidence of horncore depressions in other species, we suggest that they reflect metabolic problems following horn development; additional research is required to test this hypothesis

The gentrification of a post-industrial English rural village: Querying urban planetary perspectives

Recent years have seen the growth of planetary perspectives related to urbanisation and gentrification that have challenged the significance of differentiations of rural and urban space. This paper explores the arguments advanced in these perspectives, highlighting claims that they are based on a critique of methodological territorialism that has long been employed in rural and urban studies, as well as exhibiting an urbanormativity that was arguably absent from some earlier critiques of people such as Ray Pahl. This paper seeks to develop a study of rural gentrification that avoids urbanormativity and methodological territorialism. After reviewing debates related to academic and lay conceptions of the urban and rural, the paper highlights how territorial representations may warrant investigation even when social practices may be seen to routinely traverse boundaries of, for example, the rural. The relevance of these ideas to gentrification is then explored through an investigation of the gentrification of a village, which like many ‘urban’ settlements, has experienced both industrialisation and de-industrialisation. Drawing on the results of a ‘mixed-method questionnaire’ conducted in this village in Calderdale, England, the paper explores how the lives of residents are connected into more and less distant urban spaces through an analysis of migrational movements and employment relations, including commuting patterns. It is argued that, in line with arguments advanced within studies of planetary urbanisation/gentrification, there is considerable interconnection between the village and areas that have been classified as urban. However, it is also shown that neither this interconnection, nor the areas industrial past, means that symbolic and affective senses of rurality are insignificant to village residents, or to the practices of gentrification that have emerged. This did not mean that representations of rurality were unimpacted by industry and urban connectivity, with the paper detailing that whilst the village was widely seen as rural, it was also often seen as exhibiting significant unconformity from expectations of rurality. The paper ends by considering how senses of separation and connectivity to urban and industrial spaces link to different types of gentrifiers colonising the village

Environmental niche overlap between snow leopard and four prey species in Kazakhstan

The snow leopard Panthera uncia has declined due to habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and human persecution. Predator distribution is heavily dependent on prey species availability and distribution. With increasing pressures from farming practices encroaching into native species range and persecution of snow leopards in response to livestock depredation, it is vital to assess current predator and prey species distribution to highlight sensitive areas of overlap for protection. This study uses MaxEnt, a presence-only Species Distribution Model (SDM) to assess snow leopard and four prey species habitat suitability along the southern and eastern borders of Kazakhstan using environmental data. This area is considered an important corridor between snow leopard populations in the north and south of their range. Each of the five SDM's produced models of ‘good’ discriminating abilities. We then compared the potential niche overlap between snow leopard and four prey species using ENMTools to highlight areas of important niche overlap within the corridor. The results indicated a very high degree of overlap between snow leopard and Siberian ibex Capra sibirica and high degrees with red deer Cervus elaphus, argali Ovis ammon and urial Ovis orientalis. The snow leopard population in this region is also found to be using forested areas below 2500 m, much lower than recorded in other areas of their range. The results highlight areas needed for protection but also pose additional conservation questions regarding the importance of prey species to transitory individuals. © 2018 Elsevier B.V

Disordered eating behaviour in young adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Background: The combination of eating disorders and diabetes is associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to compare the prevalence of disordered eating behaviour (DEB) in young adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus to a sample of non-diabetic controls, and to examine the relationship of DEB to glycaemic control. Methods: The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) was administered to 51 individuals aged 18-30 years attending an outpatient diabetic clinic in a large university teaching hospital. Glycaemic control was assessed by the glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c). The control group comprised a consecutive sample of 236 male and female students aged 18-30 years attending a university primary health care service. Results: The mean global EDE-Q score for the diabetes group was 0.82 ± 1.1 (mean ± SD) and the mean for the control group was 1.4 ± 1.3 (mean ± SD). The diabetes group was significantly more likely to have a lower global EDE-Q score compared to the control group. There was no association between the global EDE-Q score of the diabetes group and HbA1c level. Conclusions: We did not find increased levels of disordered eating behavior (DEB) in young adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus compared to a non-diabetic control sample.</p

Pilot study examining the effects of hydraulic and elevator dredge harvesting of marine bivalves such as the common cockle (Cerastoderma edule L.) on intertidal communities

The Solway Firth straddles the border between England and Scotland and forms one of the largest continuous areas of intertidal habitat in Great Britain. Each year the Solway Firth is home to ~110,000 overwintering waterfowl and it has various designations as a Ramsar Site, a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Cockles are important to the Solway ecosystem, and the literature on cockle dredging indicate that such activities may be carried out without major environmental effects if it is conducted on relatively well sorted sands that receive a certain amount of wave/tidal disturbance and the area is not over-fished. However, to date, there is no comparative study on the effects of suction dredge impacts compared to elevator dredge impacts. This study describes the outcomes of a pilot study examining the effects of hydraulic and elevator dredge harvesting of marine bivalves such as the common cockle (Cerastoderma edule L.) on intertidal communities. The study was conducted in Southerness Bay in the Solway Estuary and the work carried out at the Centre for Wildlife Conservation, University of Cumbria. Statistical tests indicated there were many incidences where zero counts for individual species listings caused issues with analysis. To avoid such issues, it is recommended that a minimum of 22 samples per treatment per sampling period would be required to have a 90% chance of detecting real difference at α = 0.05. Statistically significant difference in species abundance between the “Control” and Control 2” samples indicate that future studies should encompass an assessment of substrate type classification and it’s benthic diversity, prior to the initial dredge sampling being conducted. Results suggest no significant difference in adult or juvenile cockle numbers due to the different treatment regimes applied in the study. Nor were there any significant difference between adult cockle numbers found for either dredge treatment, compared to control samples post-recovery period. Baltic tellin (Macoma balthica) demonstrated a significant increase in number after the treatments, possibly due to substrate agitation and niche availability. A trend towards suction dredge treatment leading to a greater increase in Baltic tellin numbers compared the elevator dredge treatment was observed. Evaluation of other benthic species was inconclusive and would be more significantly considered in a full-scale study encompassing recommendations generated here. The indicative patterns observed and reported from this study must be interpreted within this framework and not over-extended without further supporting data across a broader spectrum of understanding gained from the full-scale study. It only provides a snapshot of a single study site with two different treatments, targeted at a single species. A full-scale would incorporate a number of procedures and actions which would not only allow for greater statistical support of the data patterns observed, but would generate a more comprehensive dataset covering a number of different aspects of the effects of suction dredge and elevator dredge impacts on intertidal communities

A metasomatized lithospheric mantle control on the metallogenic signature of post-subduction magmatism

Ore deposits are loci on Earth where energy and mass flux are greatly enhanced and focussed, acting as magnifying lenses into metal transport, fractionation and concentration mechanisms through the lithosphere. Here we show that the metallogenic architecture of the lithosphere is illuminated by the geochemical signatures of metasomatised mantle rocks and post-subduction magmatic-hydrothermal mineral systems. Our data reveal that anomalously gold and tellurium rich magmatic sulfides in mantle-derived magmas emplaced in the lower crust share a common metallogenic signature with upper crustal porphyry-epithermal ore systems. We propose that a trans-lithospheric continuum exists whereby post-subduction magmas transporting metal-rich sulfide cargoes play a fundamental role in fluxing metals into the crust from metasomatised lithospheric mantle. Therefore, ore deposits are not merely associated with isolated zones where serendipitous happenstance has produced mineralisation. Rather, they are depositional points along the mantle-to-upper crust pathway of magmas and hydrothermal fluids, synthesising the concentrated metallogenic budget available

Deployable laboratory response to influenza pandemic: PCR assay field trials and comparison with reference methods

Background: The influenza A/H1N1/09 pandemic spread quickly during the Southern Hemisphere winter in 2009 and reached epidemic proportions within weeks of the official WHO alert. Vulnerable population groups included indigenous Australians and remote northern population centres visited by international travellers. At the height of the Australian epidemic a large number of troops converged on a training area in northern Australia for an international exercise, raising concerns about their potential exposure to the emerging influenza threat before, during and immediately after their arrival in the area. Influenza A/H1N1/09 became the dominant seasonal variant and returned to Australia during the Southern winter the following year. Methods: A duplex nucleic acid amplification assay was developed within weeks of the first WHO influenza pandemic alert, demonstrated in northwestern Australia shortly afterwards and deployed as part of the pathology support for a field hospital during a military exercise during the initial epidemic surge in June 2009. Results: The nucleic acid amplification assay was twice as sensitive as a point of care influenza immunoassay, as specific but a little less sensitive than the reference laboratory nucleic acid amplification assay. Repetition of the field assay with blinded clinical samples obtained during the 2010 winter influenza season demonstrated a 91.7% congruence with the reference laboratory method. Conclusions: Rapid in-house development of a deployable epidemic influenza assay allowed a flexible laboratory response, effective targeting of limited disease control resources in an austere military environment, and provided the public health laboratory service with a set of verification tools for resource-limited settings. The assay method was suitable for rapid deployment in time for the 2010 Northern winter

Integrating pharmacists into Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (IPAC project): Protocol for an interventional, non-randomised study to improve chronic disease outcomes

The IPAC project will determine if including a non-dispensing registered pharmacist as part of the primary health care (PHC) team within ACCHSs (the intervention) leads to improvements in the quality of the care received by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with chronic diseases. The IPAC project is a pragmatic, non-randomized, prospective, pre and post quasi-experimental study (Trial Registration Number andRegister: ACTRN12618002002268). The intervention is the integration of a registered pharmacist within the ACCHS primary healthcare teamfor a 15-month period. Up to 22 ACCHS sites will be recruited for the project across three jurisdictions: Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory to ensure a sampling frame that best informs external validity of the outcomes across varied services and patient populations