REFILL: low-cost fillers from quarry waste

Leahill Quarry is located on the coast of SW Ireland (near Adrigole, Co. Cork) in an Upper Devonian gritstone (fine-grained sandstone) sequence that is worked to produce high specification crushed rock aggregates (exported into UK and mainland Europe). The nature of the rock results in large quantities of fines being produced during processing. Leahill Quarry produces about 270,000 tonnes per annum of fines (0-2mm materials) and ‘filler’ (material passing 75m) after processing (washing). In an attempt to find new outlets for Leahill fines, Tarmac Fleming and BGS took part in a three year EC–supported industrial research project called REFILL, which included other UK and Greek partners and was managed overall by MIRO (Mineral Industry Research Organisation). Further details on the project are available by contacting MIRO through their website at: www.miro.co.uk. The REFILL project consisted of various tasks which involved both Tarmac Fleming and BGS. Tasks 1 to 3 involved a study of existing production practices and a programme of technical evaluation of the fines from Leahill and other quarries in Britain. This involved characterization of the mineralogical, physical and chemical properties of the residues. Task 4 was a large-scale continuous test at Leahill Quarry to determine the effectiveness of a novel fluidised bed plant in terms of its ability to extract ‘filler’ from the 0-2mm fines. Tasks 5 to 8 investigated the potential end uses that could incorporate Leahill filler and fines, including an assessment of the available resources of fines, the availability of fines acceptable for particular applications and a review of the market potential for end-uses including asphalt, concrete, artificial soils and non-plastic sub-base materials

Barriers to participation in education and training

This study explores the barriers and constraints young people currently face when deciding what to do at the end of their compulsory schooling in Year 11. The study conducted by the NFER, working in partnership with Triangle and QA Research, included a survey of 2029 young people who completed Year 11 in either 2008 or 2009 conducted between August and October 2009. This survey was supplemented by interviews with booster samples of 519 young people across specific sub-groups and 102 parent interviews

Measuring loss of heritage assets: monitoring Cumbrian heritage sites

University of Cumbria doctoral researcher Ellie Evans, affiliated with UoC's Cultural Landscapes theme, presented initial results of her research into the management of outdoor heritage sites in Cumbria, designing and testing a method at the following locations: Ambleside Roman Fort, Castlerigg Stone Circle, Kendal Castle, Long Meg & Her Daughters Stone Circle, Shap Abbey. Ellie’s data collection has included measuring changes at heritage sites using drone photography and photogrammetry, and monitoring visitor footfall and other factors to investigate the impacts of various management techniques, including positioning of signage and pathways

Underground mining of aggregates. Main report

This report examines the economic feasibility of underground mining for crushed rock aggregates in the UK, but particularly in the London, South East and East of England regions (the South East area of England). These regions import substantial volumes of crushed rock, primarily from the East Midlands and South West regions, requiring relatively long transport distances to market for this bulk commodity. A key part of the research was to determine whether or not aggregate could be produced and delivered to a local market from an underground aggregates operation at a cost comparable with that for production and transport of the commodity from traditional surface quarries located further afield. In essence the investigation asked – could the reduced transport costs compensate for the higher production costs underground so that underground crushed rock aggregates producers can compete with the established Leicestershire and Somerset surface quarries exporting to the South East? Work Programme The research effort involved establishing and verifying cost models for aggregates production, stone processing (sizing and sorting), haulage of product to market, environmental impact mitigation, health and safety, decommissioning and restoration. Another major element of the work was the re-examination of the BGS exploratory borehole and geophysical databases to identify potential areas of crushed rock aggregates resource at depth in the South East area of England. Land use pressure is typically higher in this area of England than elsewhere so another major part of the research was the identification of potential concurrent uses of land around the surface facilities of underground aggregates mines. The value, development costs for specific developments and determination of yields expected, from these uses were estimated. These were also used to investigate potential economic benefits associated with after uses of remediated surface land above potential underground aggregates mines and also for the new underground space that would be created. Key technical issues such as subsidence within relatively heavily populated areas of the South East area of England were also addressed. Economic Results The discounted cost of aggregate delivered at a discount rate of 10% was the metric used to appraise the options. This is the price of aggregate that leads to a zero net present value of project cash flows realised over the aggregates project life. The results show that the discounted costs of aggregate delivered to a local South East area of England market from an underground mine producing 3.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of crushed rock aggregates, are in the range of £13.03 per tonne to £13.93 per tonne for the top six prospect locations. These are greater than the corresponding cost for a “reference” quarry in Leicestershire producing 3.5 MTPA (£10.95 per tonne), but lower than a “reference” quarry in Leicestershire producing 1.25 MTPA (£16.48 per tonne). These figures indicate that underground crushed rock aggregate mines located within the South East area of England may be able to compete for a share in the overall market by replacing / displacing aggregate imported from the quarries in Leicestershire and Somerset producing around or less than 1.25 MTPA. The surprise in these figures is not really that the more remote surface quarry has a lower discounted cost of aggregate delivered, but that the values for the quarry and underground mine are so close. The capital intensity for the development of underground aggregates mines was found to be higher than that required for surface quarries of comparable scale, by a factor ranging from 1.33 to 1.65 and thus may represent a disincentive for aggregates operators. Carbon Emissions The total carbon emissions of the ‘reference’ 3.5 MTPA quarry in Leicestershire were estimated at 9.28 kg CO2/tonne aggregate delivered and this is to be compared with carbon emissions for the 150 metre deep underground mines serving the local market which were estimated at 9.31 kg CO2/tonne delivered for a Bletchley prospect using an adit to access the sub-surface and 14.25 kg CO2/tonne delivered for a prospect based on the Chitty bore hole using a shaft. Depth of the mine is a key factor in determination of the relative carbon emissions from each of the underground mining operations considered as electricity consumption for ventilation, pumping and winding is proportional to depth. Recommendations The current research generated seven principal recommendations which are discussed in detail in the concluding section of the report. These are: Appraise policy incentives for underground aggregates mining. Conduct an industry-wide consultation on findings from the current research. Obtain public and stakeholder opinion on new uses for underground space. Conduct research to reducing the energy intensity of mine services. Develop a deep level aggregates-specific drilling campaign. Investigate underground aggregates mines developed from existing surface quarries. Investigate underground aggregates as co-products of industrial minerals mining

Matches and Mismatches Between Seabird Distributions Estimated From At-Sea Surveys and Concurrent Individual-Level Tracking

Mapping the distribution of seabirds at sea is fundamental to understanding their ecology and making informed decisions on their conservation. Until recently, estimates of at-sea distributions were generally derived from boat-based visual surveys. Increasingly however, seabird tracking is seen as an alternative but each has potential biases. To compare distributions from the two methods, we carried out simultaneous boat-based surveys and GPS tracking in the Minch, western Scotland, in June 2015. Over 8 days, boat transect surveys covered 950 km, within a study area of ~6,700 km2 centered on the Shiant Islands, one of the main breeding centers of razorbills, and guillemots in the UK. Simultaneously, we GPS-tracked chick-rearing guillemots (n = 17) and razorbills (n = 31) from the Shiants. We modeled counts per unit area from boat surveys as smooth functions of latitude and longitude, mapping estimated densities. We then used kernel density estimation to map the utilization distributions of the GPS tracked birds. These two distribution estimates corresponded well for razorbills but were lower for guillemots. Both methods revealed areas of high use around the focal colony, but over the wider region, differences emerged that were likely attributable to the influences of neighboring colonies and the presence of non-breeding birds. The magnitude of differences was linked to the relative sizes of these populations, being larger in guillemots. Whilst boat surveys were necessarily restricted to the hours of daylight, GPS data were obtained equally during day and night. For guillemots, there was little effect of calculating separate night and day distributions from GPS records, but for razorbills the daytime distribution matched boat-based distributions better. When GPS-based distribution estimates were restricted to the exact times when boat surveys were carried out, similarity with boat survey distributions decreased, probably due to reduced sample sizes. Our results support the use of tracking data for defining seabird distributions around tracked birds' home colonies, but only when nearby colonies are neither large nor numerous. Distributions of animals around isolated colonies can be determined using GPS loggers but that of animals around aggregated colonies is best suited to at-sea surveys or multi-colony tracking

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of peer support for people with severe mental illness

BACKGROUND: Little is known about whether peer support improves outcomes for people with severe mental illness. METHOD: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted. Cochrane CENTRAL Register, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL were searched to July 2013 without restriction by publication status. Randomised trials of non-residential peer support interventions were included. Trial interventions were categorised and analysed separately as: mutual peer support, peer support services, or peer delivered mental health services. Meta-analyses were performed where possible, and studies were assessed for bias and the quality of evidence described. RESULTS: Eighteen trials including 5597 participants were included. These comprised four trials of mutual support programmes, eleven trials of peer support services, and three trials of peer-delivered services. There was substantial variation between trials in participants\u27 characteristics and programme content. Outcomes were incompletely reported; there was high risk of bias. From small numbers of studies in the analyses it was possible to conduct, there was little or no evidence that peer support was associated with positive effects on hospitalisation, overall symptoms or satisfaction with services. There was some evidence that peer support was associated with positive effects on measures of hope, recovery and empowerment at and beyond the end of the intervention, although this was not consistent within or across different types of peer support. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the promotion and uptake of peer support internationally, there is little evidence from current trials about the effects of peer support for people with severe mental illness. Although there are few positive findings, this review has important implications for policy and practice: current evidence does not support recommendations or mandatory requirements from policy makers for mental health services to provide peer support programmes. Further peer support programmes should be implemented within the context of high quality research projects wherever possible. Deficiencies in the conduct and reporting of existing trials exemplify difficulties in the evaluation of complex interventions

Controversy in mechanotransduction – the role of endothelial cell–cell junctions in fluid shear stress sensing

Fluid shear stress (FSS) from blood flow, sensed by the vascular endothelial cells (ECs) that line all blood vessels, regulates vascular development during embryogenesis, controls adult vascular physiology and determines the location of atherosclerotic plaque formation. Although a number of papers have reported a crucial role for cell–cell adhesions or adhesion receptors in these processes, a recent publication has challenged this paradigm, presenting evidence that ECs can very rapidly align in fluid flow as single cells without cell–cell contacts. To address this controversy, four independent laboratories assessed EC alignment in fluid flow across a range of EC cell types. These studies demonstrate a strict requirement for cell–cell contact in shear stress sensing over timescales consistent with previous literature and inconsistent with the newly published data

The efficacy of the “Talk-to-Me” suicide prevention and mental health education program for tertiary students: a crossover randomised control trial

Despite suicide ideation being one of the most frequently reported health issues impacting tertiary students, there is a paucity of research evaluating the efficacy of preventive interventions aimed at improving mental health outcomes for students studying at two tertiary institutes. The current study evaluated the efficacy of the “Talk-to-Me” Mass Open Online Course (MOOC) in improving tertiary students’ abilities to support the mental health of themselves and their peers via a randomised controlled trial design, comparing them to a waitlist control group. Overall, 129 tertiary students (M = 25.22 years, SD = 7.43; 80% female) undertaking a health science or education course at two Western Australian universities were randomly allocated to either “Talk-to-Me” (n = 66) or waitlist control (n = 63) groups. The participants’ responses to suicidal statements (primary outcome), knowledge of mental health, generalised self-efficacy, coping skills, and overall utility of the program (secondary outcomes) were collected at three timepoints (baseline 10-weeks and 24-weeks from baseline). Assessment time and group interaction were explored using a random-effects regression model, examining changes in the primary and secondary outcomes. Intention-to-treat analysis (N = 129) at 10-weeks demonstrated a significant improvement in generalised self-efficacy for “Talk-to-Me” compared to the control group (ES = 0.36, p = .04), with only the “Talk-to-Me” participants reporting increased knowledge in responding to suicidal ideation (primary outcome). This change was sustained for 24 weeks. Findings provide preliminary evidence suggesting that the “Talk-to-Me” MOOC can effectively improve tertiary students’ mental health and knowledge of how to support themselves and others in distress. ACTRN12619000630112, registered 18-03-2019, anzctr.org.au. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00787-022-02094-4

Understanding the utility of “Talk-to-Me” an online suicide prevention program for Australian university students

Background: Australian university students are at risk of experiencing poor mental health, being vulnerable to self-harm and suicidal ideation. Aim: “Talk-to-Me” is a suicide ideation prevention Massive open online course (MOOC) previously showing it can support Western Australian university students' knowledge of identifying and responding to suicide ideation in themselves and others. Methods: A multi-site one-group pre-test/post-test design with a 12-week follow-up explored the efficacy of “Talk-to-Me” for university students Australia-wide, evaluating the influence of COVID-19 and location. Overall, 217 students (55% female; mage = 24.93 years [18, 60]) enrolled in this study from 2020 to 2021. Participants' responses to suicidal statements, mental health literacy, generalized self-efficacy, help-seeking behavior, and overall utility of the program were collected at baseline, post-MOOC (10 weeks from baseline) and 12-week follow-up. The effect of time and location interaction was explored using a random-effects regression model. Results: Findings indicated significant improvement in participants' knowledge of positive mental health support strategies (ES = 0.42, p &lt; 0.001) and recognizing appropriate responses to suicidal statements (ES = 0.37, p &lt; 0.001) at 10-weeks, with further improvement at 12 weeks follow-up (ES = 0.47 and 0.46, p &lt; 0.001). Students reported higher generalized self-efficacy at the 12-week follow-up compared to baseline (ES = 0.19, p = 0.03) and an increased tendency to seek professional help for mental health issues (ES = 0.22, p = 0.02). Conclusion: These findings provide preliminary evidence of the efficacy of the “Talk-to-Me” program in supporting ‎university students across Australia to increase their suicide-related knowledge and skills, ‎general self-efficacy, and overall mental fitness.</p