Search

This is the United Kingdom’s National Inventory Report (NIR) submitted in 2023 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It contains national greenhouse gas emission estimates for the period 1990-2021, and descriptions of the methods used to produce the estimates. This work forms part of the Science Research Programme of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

An expert workshop focusing on per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) was held in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia in September 2019 following the 8th International Contaminated Site Remediation Conference — CleanUp 2019. The workshop was organised by the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE) and was chaired by Professor Ravi Naidu, CEO and Managing Director of CRC CARE and Director of the Global Centre for Environmental Remediation at the University of Newcastle, NSW. The purpose of the workshop, which was attended by more than 50 experts in the field of contaminated land assessment and management, was to discuss the current state of play and research needs relating to PFAS contaminated sites. This paper provides a summary of the discussions and conclusions and lists actions and needs that the expert group identified as critical for pursuing successful PFAS management and remedy approaches. This paper is intended to capture the shared information, comments, and current thinking related to PFAS challenges and research needs as identified by the group of expert participants; the write up is not intended to be a complete dissertation on the science and work that has been carried out. With a fast-evolving subject and increased government and public attention on PFAS presence in the environment, the group was convened with the objective of providing value in contributing to solutions to the PFAS challenges that are faced both in Australia and internationally. The text contained herein provides references to observations and methods that the experts drew on in their discussions and in support of their commentary; documentation of the original references was not provided, and the reader should consult the scientific literature if further information and confirmation of observations is required. Following a brief on the background to PFAS challenges, the paper focusses on research gaps identified by experts wit

Sterkfontein is notable not only for its wealth of isolated bones but also for the fortuitous preservation of two partial skeletons, both attributed to Australopithecus africanus, Sts 14 and StW 431 from Member 4. This short chapter reviews the history of recovery and preservation of these skeletons. Sts 14 was the first partial skeleton of any australopith ever found, including 19 associated bones recovered in a single block of breccia in 1947. The skeleton was too fragile to be removed by mechanical preparation techniques, so was only removed from the block using acid preparation in the late 1960s. Additional rib fragments were only recently identified and accessioned with this skeleton. StW 431 was recovered in 1987, with four additional elements identified and published in 2003. Although this skeleton did not derive from a single block of breccia, their proximity within the sediments and similar preservation indicate that these bones are associated. Given the small size of Sts 14 and compared to the much larger size of StW 431, they are likely female and male individuals respectively. Subsequent chapters describe individual skeletal elements by anatomical region.

The hominin pelvis is a remarkable structure that plays a central role in many critical biological processes, most notably bipedal locomotion and parturition. Here we describe each pelvic element from Sterkfontein and reconstruct the pelvis of the partial skeletons of Sts 14 and StW 431. Based on preserved contours, if human sexing methods can be accurately applied to australopiths, it is likely that Sts 14 represents a female individual, with the larger size, narrower greater sciatic notch of Sts 65 and StW 431 and other morphologies suggesting that these individuals were male. Some degenerative defects of the StW 431 acetabulum also suggest this may have been an older adult. This chapter also presents complete pelvic reconstructions of all of these fragmentary hipbone fossils.

A crucial aspect of early-life experience that has received increasing research and policy attention is the development and promotion of social and emotional learning and related skills (Bierman & Motamedi, 2015; Jones & Kahn, 2017; Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Research shows that children learn better when they have better social-emotional skills (Jones & Kahn, 2017), and that academic and social-emotional development are linked (Rose et al., 2018; Rosewater & Meyers, 2016; Seidenfeld et al., 2014). One program that seeks to enhance both of these skills is Jumpstart. This nation-wide program targets at-risk preschool children for intervention by providing supplemental services in preschool classrooms in underserved neighborhoods with the goal of aiding in children’s successful transition between preschool and kindergarten (Jumpstart, 2015). Since 2018, Jumpstart has begun to implement a new Curriculum Revision Pilot to directly target children’s social-emotional skills, in addition to a continued focus on oral language outcomes (Jumpstart, 2015; Jumpstart, 2019). The present study used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of the redesigned curriculum on social-emotional and academic outcomes. The hypothesis was that children who received the Jumpstart program would show greater improvement over one school year in social-emotional and academic outcomes compared to children who did not receive the Jumpstart program. Direct assessment of academic and social-emotional skills, including executive functioning, impulse control, positive emotion, and emotion knowledge was conducted using a sample of 122 children from 11 urban classrooms (31% Black, 23% Hispanic). Results showed that while Jumpstart continued to positively influence children’s academic outcomes, there were no significant effects on social-emotional outcomes. The results suggest that a closer look at other factors, such as quality of implementation and classroom environment, are needed to fu

Aims/introduction: We compared the diagnostic performance and correlation between salivary, serum and capillary blood glucose of diabetes and non-diabetes patients. Early detection of diabetes mellitus (DM) contributes to the prevention of complications and management. Materials and methods: This case-control study was conducted among a total of 138 participants comprising 79 newly diagnosed diabetes patients (cases) and 59 non-diabetes patients (controls). Fasting salivary glucose (FSLG), fasting serum glucose (FSEG) levels and fasting capillary whole blood glucose (FCWBG) level were assayed for each participant. Results: The mean FSLG, FSEG and FCWBG levels were significantly higher among the cases compared to controls (p < 0.0001). There was a significant mean difference between the levels of FSLG vs. FSEG (p < 0.0001) and FSLG vs. FCWBG (p < 0.0001) but not levels of FSEG vs. FCWBG (p > 0.05) in both cases and controls. A positive correlation was observed between FSLG and FSEG (r = 0.89; p < 0.0001) and FCWBG (r = 0.87; p < 0.0001). At the cut-off value >6.8 mmol/l for FSEG, a sensitivity of 99%, specificity of 100.0% and area under the curve (AUC) of 98.8% was observed for predicting DM while a sensitivity of 80%, specificity of 95% and AUC of 91.0% was observed for FSLG at a cut-off value >0.5 mmol/l. At the cut-off value >6.9 mmol/l for FCWBG, a sensitivity of 100.0%, specificity of 100.0% and AUC of 100.0% was observed for predicting DM. Conclusion: Fasting salivary glucose (FSLG) levels increased with increasing blood glucose levels. However, it does not generate enough diagnostic and predictive accuracy compared to capillary whole blood glucose which less invasive. © 2019