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We describe the management of two linked severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreaks, predominantly amongst 18–35-year-olds, in a UK county in July-to-September 2021, following the lifting of national coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated social restrictions. One was associated with a nightclub and one with five air force bases. On week beginning 2nd August 2021, air force contact tracing teams detected 68 cases across five bases within one county; 21 (30.9%) were associated with a night-time economy venue, 13 (19.1%) with night-time economy venues in the county's main town and at least one case per base (n = 6, 8.8%) with a particular nightclub in this town, which itself had been associated with 302 cases in the previous week (coinciding with its reopening following a national lockdown). In response, Public Health England/United Kingdom Health Security Agency, air force and local authority teams collaboratively implemented communication strategies and enhanced access to SARS-CoV-2 testing and vaccination. Key challenges included attempting to encourage behaviours that reduce likelihood of transmission to a population who may have considered themselves at low risk from severe COVID-19. This report may inform future preparation for, and management of, easing of potential future pandemic-related social restrictions, and how an outbreak in this context may be addressed.

The impact of gamma radiation on a commercial off the shelf microcontroller board has been investigated. Three different tests have been performed to ascertain the radiation tolerance of the device from a nuclear decommissioning deployment perspective. The first test analyses the effect of radiation on the output voltage of the on-board voltage regulator during irradiation. The second test evaluated the effect of gamma radiation on the voltage characteristics of analogue and digital inputs and outputs. The final test analyses the functionality of the microcontroller when using an external, shielded voltage regulator instead of the on-board voltage regulator. The results suggest that a series of latch-ups occurs in the microcontroller during irradiation, causing increased current drain which can damage the voltage regulator if it does not have short-circuit protection. The analogue to digital conversion functionality appears to be more sensitive to gamma radiation than digital and analogue output functionality. Using an external, shielded voltage regulator can prove beneficial when used for certain applications. The collected data suggests that detaching the voltage regulator can extend the lifespan of the platform up to approximately 350 Gy.

International audience; Organic systems, integrated crop-livestock systems (ICL) and leys are posited as strategies to increase soil carbon (C) stocks. However, previous studies have: i) only considered one driver of change; ii) evaluated soil C content instead of stocks; iii) been limited to the 0.20 m depth; iv) used short-term leys; and v) rarely assessed the distribution of C among soil organic matter (SOM) fractions, which relates to C stabilisation. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of conventional vs. organic agricultural systems, grazing regimes (non-grazed vs. grazed) and different proportions of temporary grass-clover leys in crop rotations (ley time proportion-LTP) on soil C stocks and C distribution among SOM fractions down to 0.60 m soil depth. SOM fractions assessed were particulate organic matter (POM>53 μm), heavy fraction (HF>53 μm) and mineral-associated silt and clay fraction (SC

Quality assurance in oral solid dose (OSD) manufacturing is essential for therapeutic efficacy and patient safety. This study uses multivariate analysis (MVA) to correlate process and material inputs vs. dissolution behaviour to enhance process understanding and elucidate potential control improvements in a commercial tabletting line for an extended release (ER) OSD product. Partial least squares (PLS) regression and principal component analysis (PCA) are used to elucidate drivers for active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) dissolution variation from several batches produced at commercial scale. A PLS model is constructed to predict dissolution variation from granulator temperature variation for engineering teams to proactively flag potential quality risks. Variations in granulator temperatures, drug impurity content, and excipient size properties are highly correlated with the small levels of dissolution variation across all batches. The PLS model for dissolution variation showed good fit (R2 > 0.96) and will be corroborated with future tablet batches. Multivariate modelling was used to elucidate drivers for dissolution variation in an OSD tabletting line and to flag potential product quality issues. The mechanism by which impurity levels affect the considered API’s dissolution will be the subject of future study. The methodology used here can be applied to other processes given sufficient data to gain insight into product quality drivers.

A technique for the in-situ localization of radioactivity is described in which the influence of γ-radiation impinging on a high-Z collimator, by which the angular response of a scintillation detector is constrained in order to identify the corresponding angular position of the radiation source, is expressed mathematically by way of a normalized sinc transform. We test this approach by examining the utility of the sinc transform to express the angular responses derived from a slot-collimated cerium bromide detector, across a variety of energy regions. Individual spectra have been acquired as a function of angle to explore how the shape of the response of the collimator-detector arrangement changes for X-rays and γ rays. A 90% improvement in localization is observed when this is defined in terms of the area described by the variance between the known location and that indicated by the response of the collimated system. This approach has the potential to improve source location accuracy and to further optimize autonomous robot exploration routines used to characterize contaminated environments associated with nuclear legacies and radiological emergencies.