170,847 research outputs found
Citizen Science: Sally Shuttleworth and her Team Interviewed by Carolyn Burdett
No full textIn this podcast interview Carolyn Burdett joins Sally Shuttleworth, Gowan Dawson, Geoffrey Belknap, and Alison Moulds to discuss their project ‘Constructing Scientific Communities: Citizen Science in the 19th and 21st Centuries’. From Charles Darwin, nineteenth-century scientific periodicals, scientific communities, and amateur scientists to their twenty-first century virtual counterparts in digital platforms such as Zooniverse, the project illuminates the inclusive nature of science in action, and the strategies of public engagement to respond to the challenge of big data through intergenerational crowdsourcing projects extending from postgraduate research to child scientists
The management of grey squirrels populations in Europe: evolving best practices.
No full textLove them or hate them, grey squirrels in Britain and Ireland evoke a wide range of reactions and emotions in people. Some consider these 'alien' invaders the usurper of our native red squirrel, a forest pest or a nuisance to gardeners but others love them and watch and feed them in woodlands, parks and gardens. To many people, grey squirrels are one of the few endearing wildlife encounters they may have. This volume presents a comprehensive and unique collection of peer-reviewed papers by scientists, experts and managers on critical aspects of grey squirrel biology, their parasites and diseases and management
Soft wetting with (a)symmetric Shuttleworth effect
No full textThe wetting of soft polymer substrates brings in multiple complexities as
compared to the wetting on rigid substrates. The contact angle of the liquid is
no longer governed by Young's law, but is affected by the substrate's bulk and
surface deformations. On top of that, elastic interfaces exhibit a surface
energy that depends on how much they are stretched -- a feature known as the
Shuttleworth effect (or as surface-elasticity). Here we present two models by
which we explore the wetting of drops in the presence of a strong Shuttleworth
effect. The first model is macroscopic in character and consistently accounts
for large deformations via a neo-Hookean elasticity. The second model is based
on a mesoscopic description of wetting, using a reduced description of the
substrate's elasticity. While the second model is more empirical in terms of
the elasticity, it enables a gradient dynamics formulation for soft wetting
dynamics. We provide a detailed comparison between the equilibrium states
predicted by the two models, from which we deduce robust features of soft
wetting in the presence of a strong Shuttleworth effect. Specifically, we show
that the (a)symmetry of the Shuttleworth effect between the "dry" and "wet"
states governs horizontal deformations in the substrate. Our results are
discussed in the light of recent experiments on the wettability of stretched
substrates
Andrew Shuttleworth, 9, a fourth-grader at Riverton Elementary School, is taking
No full textAndrew Shuttleworth, 9, a fourth-grader at Riverton Elementary School, is taking Latin I and Earth Sciences at Portland High School. The boy\u27s father, William C. Shuttleworth, a psychologist and principal of PREP, the city\u27s alternative high school, says he doesn\u27t know Andrew\u27s IQ, but admits he has a great capacity for concentration. Andrew began talking at four months, and took up the piano at age four. Details
Soft wetting with (a)symmetric Shuttleworth effect
No full textThe wetting of soft polymer substrates brings in multiple complexities as compared to the wetting on rigid substrates. The contact angle of the liquid is no longer governed by Young's law, but is affected by the substrate's bulk and surface deformations. On top of that, elastic interfaces exhibit a surface energy that depends on how much they are stretched -- a feature known as the Shuttleworth effect (or as surface-elasticity). Here we present two models by which we explore the wetting of drops in the presence of a strong Shuttleworth effect. The first model is macroscopic in character and consistently accounts for large deformations via a neo-Hookean elasticity. The second model is based on a mesoscopic description of wetting, using a reduced description of the substrate's elasticity. While the second model is more empirical in terms of the elasticity, it enables a gradient dynamics formulation for soft wetting dynamics
Disease and causes of mortality in red squirrel populations
No full textThe major infectious disease threatening the red squirrel population in Europe is undoubtedly squirrelpox virus (SQPV) infection. However, red squirrels can be affected by a wide range of other infectious and non-infectious diseases, some of which have the potential to have a significant influence on red squirrel populations. The presence of a wide range of parasites, viruses, bacteria,
fungi and protozoa has been reported in a variety of studies on red squirrels, some of which have been associated with overt disease, and some for which the significance of infection is unclear. In addition to the impact of natural predation, competition with grey squirrels and other factors such as weather and food abundance on survival rates and population dynamics, red squirrels are subject to anthropogenic causes of premature or unnatural mortality, such as road traffic collisions, predation from pet cats and dogs, electrocution and rodenticide toxicity. Other non-infectious causes include starvation, extreme cold weather, failure to thrive after weaning, nutritional disease, neoplasia and stress after relocation. Ongoing surveillance into causes of mortality and investigations of the emergence of new or previously undescribed infectious diseases are a vital part of the conservation effort for this species
Exploring the implications of changing census output geographies for the measurement of residential segregation: the example of Northern Ireland 1991-2001
No full textOne problem in analysing social and demographic change through time using census data arises from differences between censuses in the size and shape of the geographical units used to output data. Failure to correct for changing output geographies may lead to unknown and possibly large biases when comparing different censuses. The paper addresses this issue using the example of residential segregation in Northern Ireland (NI). It has two main objectives. Firstly, by recompiling 2001 NI census data on 1991 census output geographies it assesses the sensitivity of indices of residential segregation to these changes in geographical units. Secondly, it suggests a method by which census analysts can assess how sensitive their results are to changing output geographies when they are unable to correct for these changes and must work with the data ‘as they are’. A subsidiary aim is to contribute to the evidence base on residential segregation in NI. The paper finds that indices of residential segregation are insensitive to changes in output geographies between 1991 and 2001. The reason suggested for this is that the units in each zonal geography are smaller than the spatial scale over which population counts are positively autocorrelated. The use of spatially-weighted segregation indices is advanced as a generalisable means of learning about the geographical patterning of population in different censuses. It is argued that these insights combined with knowledge of the size of geographical units used in each census can help researchers elsewhere judge how sensitive their results might be changing census output geographies through time
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Mitomycin C in highly myopic eyes - Author reply
No full textOphthalmology. 2005 Feb;112(2):208-18; discussion 219.
Mitomycin C modulation of corneal wound healing after photorefractive keratectomy in highly myopic eyes.
Gambato C, Ghirlando A, Moretto E, Busato F, Midena E.
SourceRefractive Surgery Service and Antimetabolite Therapy Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of topical mitomycin C in corneal wound healing (CWH) after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in highly myopic eyes.
DESIGN: Prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial.
PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients affected by high (>7 diopters) myopia.
METHODS: In each patient, one eye was randomly assigned to PRK with intraoperative topical 0.02% mitomycin C application, and the fellow eye was treated with a placebo. Postoperatively, mitomycin C-treated eyes received artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months), whereas the fellow eye was treated with fluorometholone sodium 2% and artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity, manifest refraction, and biomicroscopy. Contrast sensitivity was determined using the Pelli-Robson chart. Corneal confocal microscopy documented CWH.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 18 months (range, 12-36). No side effects or toxic effects were documented. At 12-month follow-up examination, UCVAs (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) were 0.4+/-0.48 and 0.5+/-0.53 (P = .03) in mitomycin C-treated eyes and corticosteroid-treated eyes, respectively. At 1 year, corneal haze developed in 20% of corticosteroid-treated eyes, versus 0% of mitomycin C-treated eyes. At 12, 24, and 36 months, corneal confocal microscopy showed activated keratocytes and extracellular matrix significantly more evident in untreated eyes (Ps = 0.004, 0.024, and 0.046, respectively).
CONCLUSION: Topical intraoperative application of 0.02% mitomycin C can reduce haze formation in highly myopic eyes undergoing PRK.
Comment in
Ophthalmology. 2006 Feb;113(2):357; author reply 357-8
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