111 research outputs found
A Study of the Concurrent Validity between the Boxall Profile and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
No full textThe aim of the study is to establish the level of concurrent validity between the Boxall Profile, a diagnostic instrument used by teachers and teaching assistants in nurture groups, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, a widely used screening instrument in the fields of education, mental health and social work. 202 children and adolescents attending nurture groups in England, aged 3-14 years, participated in the study. . These consisted of142 boys and 60 girls and came from 25 schools in 8 LEAs. School staff completed the Boxall Profile and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for all pupils. . The results show a high degree of concordance between the two instruments, with both measures appearing to identify similar behavioural characteristics in the same children. Scores in specific domains of the Boxall Profile are shown to predict performance on particular sub-scales of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. These preliminary findings support the validity claims of the Boxall Profile, indicating that it is a reliable tool for both diagnostic and research purposes
A small scale monitoring study for a range of pharmaceuticals in the River Foss catchment and comparison to concentrations in the River Nag, India: report of researcher exchange March 2018
No full textThe India-UK Water Centre (IUKWC) promotes cooperation and collaboration between the complementary priorities of NERC-MoES water security research.
This report represents an overview of the activities and conclusions of a Junior Researcher Exchange undertaken at the University of York from 7th March 2018 - 27th March 2018 convened by Akanksha Singh Kachhawaha (CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, India) and Dr Alistair B.A. Boxall (University of York, UK). It outlines the aims of the
exchange, describes the programme and the activities developed to meet the objectives, and details the outputs generated, as well as the ongoing and future collaboration. Finally, it assesses the support received from the IUKWC through the Researcher Exchange Scheme. The present report is intended for India-UK Water Centre members and water security stakeholders
Assessing the exposure risk and impacts of pharmaceuticals in the environment on individuals and ecosystems
No full textCopyright @ 2013 The authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.The use of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals is increasing. Over the past decade, there has been a proliferation of research into potential environmental impacts of pharmaceuticals in the environment. A Royal Society-supported seminar brought together experts from diverse scientific fields to discuss the risks posed by pharmaceuticals to wildlife. Recent analytical advances have revealed that pharmaceuticals are entering habitats via water, sewage, manure and animal carcases, and dispersing through food chains. Pharmaceuticals are designed to alter physiology at low doses and so can be particularly potent contaminants. The near extinction of Asian vultures following exposure to diclofenac is the key example where exposure to a pharmaceutical caused a population-level impact on non-target wildlife. However, more subtle changes to behaviour and physiology are rarely studied and poorly understood. Grand challenges for the future include developing more realistic exposure assessments for wildlife, assessing the impacts of mixtures of pharmaceuticals in combination with other environmental stressors and estimating the risks from pharmaceutical manufacturing and usage in developing countries. We concluded that an integration of diverse approaches is required to predict 'unexpected' risks; specifically, ecologically relevant, often long-term and non-lethal, consequences of pharmaceuticals in the environment for wildlife and ecosystems
Assessing the ecotoxicity of pesticide transformation products.
No full textOnce released to the environment, pesticides may be degraded by abiotic and biotic processes. While parent compounds are assessed in detail in many regulatory schemes, the requirements for the assessment of transformation products are less well developed. This study was therefore performed to explore the relationships between the toxicity of transformation products and their parent compounds and to develop a pragmatic approach for use in the risk assessment of transformation products. Data were obtained on the properties and ecotoxicity of transformation products arising from a wide range of pesticides. Generally, transformation products were less toxic to fish, daphnids, and algae than their parent compound. In instances where a product was more toxic, the increase in toxicity could be explained by either (1) the presence of a pesticide toxicophore; (2) the fact that the product is the active part of a propesticide; (3) the product is accumulated to a greater extent than the parent compound; or (4) the product has a more potent mode of action than the parent. On the basis of the findings, an approach has been proposed to estimate the ecotoxicity of transformation products based on chemical structure and data on the toxicity of the parent compound. The assessments can be performed at an early stage in the risk assessment process to identify those substances that require further testing
The possibility of literature: the novel and the politics of form
No full textThe Possibility of Literature is an essential collection from one of the most powerful and distinctive voices in contemporary literary studies. Bringing together key compositions from the last twenty-five years, as well as several new pieces, the book demonstrates the changing fate of literary thinking over the first decades of the twenty-first century. Peter Boxall traces here the profound shifts in the global conditions that make literature possible as these have occurred in the historical passage from 9/11 to Covid 19. Exploring questions such as 'The Idea of Beauty', the nature of 'Mere Being', or the possibilities of Rereading, the author anatomises the myriad forces that shape the literary imagination. At the same time, he gives vivid critical expression to the imaginative possibilities of literature itself – those unique forms of communal life that literature makes possible in a dramatically changing world, and that lead us towards a new shared future.
Essays allow the reader to see the evolution of critical thinking through the first decades of the twenty-first century
Addresses a range of writers and topics, from Melville to Ishiguro, and from the uses of beauty to the effects of rereading
Across the range of the essays, the volume develops a new theory of literary possibility, elaborated through a series of close readings of individual writers and text
A New ecotoxicological model to simulate survival of aquatic invertebrates after exposure to fluctuating and sequential pulses of pesticides
No full textAquatic nontarget organisms are exposed to fluctuating concentrations or sequential pulses of contaminants, so we need to predict effects resulting from such patterns of exposure. We present a process-based model, the Threshold Damage Model (TDM), that links exposure with effects and demonstrate how to simulate the survival of the aquatic invertebrate Gammarus pulex. Based on survival experiments of up to 28 days duration with three patterns of repeated exposure pulses and fluctuating concentrations of two pesticides with contrasting modes of action (pentachlorophenol and chlorpyrifos) we evaluate the new model and compare it to two approaches based on time-weighted averages. Two models, the Threshold Damage Model and the time-weighted averages fitted to pulses, are able to simulate the observed survival (mean errors 15% or less, r2 between 0.77 and 0.96). The models are discussed with respect to their theoretical base, data needs, and potential for extrapolation to different scenarios. The Threshold Damage Model is particularly useful because its parameters can be used to calculate recovery times, toxicokinetics are separated from toxicodynamics, and parameter values reflect the mode of action
The sorption and transport of a sulphonamide antibiotic in soil systems
No full textVeterinary medicines are administered to animals to treat disease and protect their health. After administration, the substances can be metabolised and a mixture of the parent compound and metabolites may be excreted in the urine and faeces. For animals on pasture, the excreta will be released directly to soil whereas for intensively reared animals, the main route of entry will be through slurry and manure spreading. Whilst the behaviour of other classes of substance (e.g. pesticides and nutrients) that are applied to soil is well understood, limited information is available on the transport and fate of veterinary medicines applied to soils. Laboratory and field studies were, therefore, performed to investigate the sorption behaviour of the sulfonamide antibiotic, sulfachloropyridazine, in soil and to assess the potential for sulfachloropyridazine to move from soil to surface waters and groundwaters. Sorption coefficients (KD) for the compound in soil and soil/slurry mixtures were low (ranging from 0.9 to 1.8 l kg−1) and indicated that the substance would be highly mobile. Field studies on a clay field supported these observations and demonstrated that, after application, the compound was rapidly transported to surface waters, concentrations of up to 590 μg l−1 being observed in drainage waters. Leaching studies at a sandy site indicated that the substance had a low potential to leach to groundwaters, concentrations in the soil pore water being below or close to analytical detection limits. An assessment of currently available models for predicting concentrations of veterinary medicines entering surface waters indicated that for sulfachloropyridazine, the methods provide reasonable estimates, predicted concentrations being within a factor of two of the maximum measured concentrations. The approaches may not, however, be appropriate for use on highly hydrophobic substances or for predicting groundwater concentrations
Faecal residues of veterinary parasiticides: Non-target effects in the pasture environment
No full textResidues of veterinary parasiticides in dung of treated livestock have nontarget effects on dung-breeding insects and dung degradation. Here, we review the nature and extent of these effects, examine the potential risks associated with different classes of chemicals, and describe how greater awareness of these nontarget effects has resulted in regulatory changes in the registration of veterinary products
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