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Defra Lowland Peat 2: Managing agricultural systems on lowland peat for decreased greenhouse gas emissions whilst maintaining agricultural productivity. Report to Defra for Project SP1218
Get PDFDescriptionThis report describes the results of the Defra "Lowland Peat 2" project, which ran from 2019 to 2023. This Project assessed the opportunities and challenges of managing lowland agricultural peat for reduced greenhouse gas emissions, providing evidence to support Departmental Net Zero ambitions, as well as help inform policy linked to the England Peat Action Plan (2021). Key findings include a detailed review of the opportunities and challenges for paludiculture (wetland-based agriculture) as a potential emissions mitigation measure; additional review scoping the societal impacts of lowland peat drainage, with a focus on the impacts of long-term subsidence; analyses from what is believed to be the largest network of flux towers on agricultural peatlands globally, suggesting that raising water levels could help to mitigate peat GHG emissions, and if correctly optimised may not lead to yield declines.The report also explores the role of "regenerative" farming measures in reducing peat GHGs.ObjectiveThe project assessed the opportunities and challenges of managing lowland agricultural peat for reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Primarily work in this area looks to support priorities of net zero, climate adaptation and mitigation, national food security, water security, and protection of biodiversity and habitats.. Following the earlier Lowland Peat 1 project (2014-2017) which generated fundamental data on GHG emissions from a range of contrasting lowland peat sites across England and Wales, the project focused primarily on developing and testing options to mitigate these emissions, whilst maintaining the agricultural productivity of lowland peatlands. The project coincided with a number of major peatland-related policy initiatives across the UK, including the Committee on Climate Change's 6th Carbon Budget and Net Zero Strategy, the England Peat Action Plan, and the Defra Lowland Agricultural Peat Task Force. Interim results from the project have fed into many of these initiatives, as well as to an update of emission factors for cropland and grassland on peat in the UK?s National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory
Combined single/dual fiber optical trapping for flexible particle manipulation
Get PDFFiber-based optical tweezers have attracted increasing attention as a more flexible tool over conventional lensbased optical tweezers for particle manipulation. Stable trapping can be realized by single fiber gradient force,or dual fiber counter-propagating scattering forces. Both trapping modes and systems are often separately built and researched. In this paper, we demonstrate a combined single/dual fiber optical trapping (SD-FOT) system which allows dual trapping modes (i.e., single fiber gradient mode and dual fiber scattering mode) to be realized simultaneously in a single setup. Two tapered single fibers were used, with each fiber first captures a single microsphere near its tip by focus-induced gradient force; The two fibers (with trapped particles) were then alignedand adjusted to allow additional particles to be trapped and manipulated in the middle by the dual-fiber scattering trapping scheme. At least three particles will be trapped and manipulated by the combined trapping system, and each of particle can be used for in-situ experimental activity and analysis. Meanwhile, theoretical modeling of the optical force was established to quantify both trapping processes, and the process of the particle movement in the experiment is in accordance with the simulated force field. The developed system offers new possibilities in comparative research of single and dual fiber trapped objects and will find important applications in microspherebased super-resolution imaging and others
Particleboards Bonded by an Imidazole-Based Adhesive System
Get PDFParticleboards with different combinations of the adhesive material imidazole, citric acid, and sorbitol were produced. Softwood sawdust from a Swedish sawmill was mixed with an aqueous solution of the chemicals and then dried to 0% moisture content prior to pressing. The boards were pressed to a target density of 700 kg m􀀀3 at either 200 C or 220 C for 10 min. The hygroscopic and mechanical properties of the boards were clearly better at 220 C than 200 C for all used chemical combinations. A combination of imidazole (14.4 wt%) and citric acid (11.3 wt%) led to the best results, where the thickness swelling after 24 h of water immersion was 6.3% and the internal bonding strength was 0.57 MPa. The modulus of rupture and modulus of elasticity were 3.3 MPa and 1.1 GPa, respectively. Cyclic accelerated weathering showed exceptional stability with a thickness change after boiling and drying of only 2.1% compared to the initial dry thickness. This study indicates that the presence of imidazole leads to greatly improved hygroscopic properties and good internal bonding strength when used in particleboards
Hard to Reach and Hidden: Improving the Identification of Young Dementia Carers
Get PDFYoung dementia carers (YDCs) rarely receive appropriate training and support. Their visibility and identification remain dangerously low, and, consequently, support initiatives being developed are failing to reach them. This study explored the success (or failure) of YDC identification pathways as well as the barriers and enablers to their implementation. An explorative qualitative approach was followed, drawing on the experiences of parents of YDCs, dementia researchers, professionals in the field of dementia/young carers, and young adult carers. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews (n = 17) and a participatory 2-h workshop to discuss and critique preliminary themes as well as explore strategies to increase the visibility and identification of YDCs.Five themes were identified: a “whole-family approach” (as a pathway to identification), “not a carer” (self/family identification), a postcode lottery (high variability of support services), tailored support that is “fit for purpose”, and the “power” of peer support. Recommendations on potential initiatives and actions that can help raise awareness and increase the identification success of YDCs are proposed. Our findings support the need for a broad and holistic approach to the identification of YDCs that runs alongside the development of support initiatives that are accessible and relatable. The support itself will play a role in improving subsequent identification or hindering it if not “fit for purpose
The Effect of Combination Aerobic and Resistance Home Exercise Training on Endothelial Function in Chronic Kidney Disease Stages 3-4: a Randomised Controlled Pilot Study
Get PDFThe implementation, use and impact of patient reported outcome measures in value-based healthcare programmes: A scoping review
Get PDFThe future of ocean renewable energy
Get PDFThe energy supply sector is the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. The ocean offers many options for reducing greenhouse gas, particularly through the development of renewable energy technologies. However, although the ocean holds vast amounts of energy, it is drastically underdeveloped. In this chapter, the nature and key aspects of these ocean renewable energy options are introduced, including wave and tidal energy, ocean current energy, and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC). Future opportunities in the development of ocean renewable energy are discussed, including innovative materials, novel methods for resource assessments, and co-location of multiple ocean renewable energy technologies
The impact of parent treatment preference and other factors on recruitment: lessons learned from a paediatric epilepsy randomised controlled trial
Get PDFIn paediatric epilepsy, the evidence of effectiveness of antiseizure treatment is inconclusive for some types of epilepsy. As with other paediatric clinical trials, researchers undertaking paediatric epilepsy clinical trials face a range of challenges that may compromise external validityMain bodyIn this paper, we critically reflect upon the factors which impacted recruitment to the pilot phase of a phase IV unblinded, randomised controlled 3×2 factorial trial examining the effectiveness of two antiseizure medications (ASMs) and a sleep behaviour intervention in children with Rolandic epilepsy. We consider the processes established to support recruitment, public and patient involvement and engagement (PPIE), site induction, our oversight of recruitment targets and figures, and the actions we took to help us understand why we failed to recruit sufficient children to continue to the substantive trial phase.The key lessons learned were about parent preference, children’s involvement and collaboration in decision-making, potential and alternative trial designs, and elicitation of stated preferences pre-trial design.Despite pre-funding PPIE during the trial design phase, we failed to anticipate the scale of parental treatment preference for or against antiseizure medication (ASMs) and consequent unwillingness to be randomised. Future studies should ensure more detailed and in-depth consultation to ascertain parent and/or patient preferences. More intense engagement with parents and children exploring their ideas about treatment preferences could, perhaps, have helped predict some recruitment issues. Infrequent seizures or screening children close to natural remission were possible explanations for non-consent. It is possible some clinicians were unintentionally unable to convey clinical equipoise influencing parental decision against participation. We wanted children to be involved in decisions about trial participation. However, despite having tailored written and video information to explain the trial to children we do not know whether these materials were viewed in each consent conversation or how much input children had towards parents’ decisions to participate. Novel methods such as parent/patient preference trials and/or discrete choice experiments may be the way forward.ConclusionThe importance of diligent consultation, the consideration of novel methods such as parent/patient preference trials and/or discrete choice experiments in studies examining the effectiveness of ASMs versus no-ASMs cannot be overemphasised even in the presence of widespread clinician equipoise
Core Community Persistence Despite Dynamic Spatiotemporal Responses in the Associated Bacterial Communities of Farmed Pacific Oysters
Get PDFA breakdown in host-bacteria relationships has been associated with the progression of a number of marine diseases and subsequent mortality events. For the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, summer mortality syndrome (SMS) is one of the biggest constraints to the growth of the sector and is set to expand into temperate systems as ocean temperatures rise. Currently, a lack of understanding of natural spatiotemporal dynamics of the host-bacteria relationship limits our ability to develop microbially based monitoring approaches. Here, we characterised the associated bacterial community of C. gigas, at two Irish oyster farms, unaffected by SMS, over the course of a year. We found C. gigas harboured spatiotemporally variable bacterial communities that were distinct from bacterioplankton in surrounding seawater. Whilst the majority of bacteria-oyster associations were transient and highly variable, we observed clear patterns of stability in the form of a small core consisting of six persistent amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). This core made up a disproportionately large contribution to sample abundance (34 ± 0.14%), despite representing only 0.034% of species richness across the study, and has been associated with healthy oysters in other systems. Overall, our study demonstrates the consistent features of oyster bacterial communities across spatial and temporal scales and provides an ecologically meaningful baseline to track environmental change
GC-MS Techniques Investigating Potential Biomarkers of Dying in the Last Weeks with Lung Cancer
Get PDFPredicting when a patient with advanced cancer is dying is a challenge and currently no prognostic test is available. We hypothesised that a dying process from cancer is associated with metabolic changes and specifically with changes in volatile organic compounds (VOCs). We analysed urine from patients with lung cancer in the last weeks of life by headspace gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Urine was acidified or alkalinised before analysis. VOC changes in the last weeks of life were identified using univariate, multivariate and linear regression analysis; 12 VOCs increased (11 from the acid dataset, 2 from the alkali dataset) and 25 VOCs decreased (23 from the acid dataset and 3 from the alkali dataset). A Cox Lasso prediction model using 8 VOCs predicted dying with an AUC of 0.77, 0.78 and 0.85 at 30, 20 and 10 days and stratified patients into a low (median 10 days), medium (median 50 days) or high risk of survival. Our data supports the hypothesis there are specific metabolic changes associated with the dying. The VOCs identified are potential biomarkers of dying in lung cancer and could be used as a tool to provide additional prognostic information to inform expert clinician judgement and subsequent decision making.</p