This paper represents an interim report of the Burnswark Project that has utilised the techniques of battlefield archaeology to locate and accurately identify missiles across a substantial field of conflict in SW Scotland. The distribution, characteristics, dating and proposed historical context of these missiles are argued to support their use in a dramatic episode of ‘exemplary force’ by the Roman army. The magnitude of the event might be seen to be compatible with an emperor establishing his legitimacy as a military leader.

This Research Communication describes an investigation of the nutritional depletion of total mixed rations (TMR) by pest birds. We hypothesized that species-specific bird depredation of TMR can alter the nutritional composition of the ration and that these changes can negatively impact the performance of dairy cows. Blackbirds selected the high energy fraction of the TMR (i.e., flaked corn) and reduced starch, crude fat and total digestible nutrients during controlled feeding experiments. For Holsteins producing 37·1 kg of milk/d, dairy production modeling illustrated that total required net energy intake (NEI) was 35·8 Mcal/d. For the reference TMR unexposed to blackbirds and the blackbird-consumed TMR, NEI supplied was 41·2 and 37·8 Mcal/d, and the resulting energy balance was 5·4 and 2·0 Mcal/d, respectively. Thus, Holsteins fed the reference and blackbird-consumed TMR were estimated to gain one body condition score in 96 and 254 d, and experience daily weight change due to reserves of 1·1 and 0·4 kg/d, respectively. We discuss these results in context of an integrated pest management program for mitigating the depredation caused by pest birds at commercial dairies.

This paper explores the influence of institutions on indigenous entrepreneurship within the muttonbird economy of Ngāi Tahu (a New Zealand Māori tribe). It determines that colonisation removed the traditional Ngāi Tahu institution of executive authority which once regulated muttonbird exchange. Without this regulatory function whānau (family) birders compete against each other at their own expense and to the benefit of traders. As a consequence the birders are constrained in applying their birding knowledge and abilities to realise market opportunity. Furthermore, declining returns and harvesting pressure is in some cases reducing the financial and natural capital of whānau, whilst threats to continuing birding culture potentially undermines the socio-human capital contained within inherited traditions and the maintaining of kinship connections. It is argued that the development of a contemporary executive authority to regulate exchange and market product may reinvigorate entrepreneurial birding activities.

Seabird bycatch is widely regarded as the greatest threat globally to procellariiform seabirds. Although measures to reduce seabird–fishery interactions have been in existence for many years, uptake in fleets with high risk profiles remains variable. We recorded seabird bycatch and other interactions in the Namibian demersal longline fishery. Interaction rates were estimated for seasonal and spatial strata and scaled up to fishing effort data. Bycatch rates were 0.77 (95% CI 0.24–1.39) and 0.37 (95% CI 0.11–0.72) birds per 1,000 hooks in winter and summer, respectively. Scaling up to 2010, the most recent year for which complete data are available, suggests 20,567 (95% CI 6,328–37,935) birds were killed in this fishery that year. We compared bycatch rates to those from experimental fishing sets using mitigation measures (one or two bird-scaring lines and the replacement of standard concrete weights with 5 kg steel weights). All mitigation measures significantly reduced the bycatch rate. This study confirms the Namibian longline fishery has some of the highest known impacts on seabirds globally, but implementing simple measures could rapidly reduce those impacts. In November 2015 the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources introduced regulations requiring the use of bird-scaring lines, line weighting and night setting in this fishery. A collaborative approach between NGOs, industry and government was important in achieving wide understanding and acceptance of the proposed mitigation measures in the lead up to the introduction of new fishery regulations.

Synchrotron powder diffraction data from beamline 08B1-1 at the Canadian Light Source have been used to examine the structure of curcumin, a prime component of the Asian spice turmeric. Rigid body refinement, with the application of restraints on distances and angles, was performed with the Rietveld software package GSAS yielding monoclinic lattice parameters of a = 12.6967(1) Å, b = 7.198 52(3) Å, c = 19.9533(2) Å, and β = 95.1241(6)° (C21H20O6, Z = 4, and space group P2/n). The refinement was compared with a recent single-crystal structure and ab initio results obtained with density functional theory calculations.

The 2013 Infection Prevention and Control (IP&C) Guideline for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) was commissioned by the CF Foundation as an update of the 2003 Infection Control Guideline for CF. During the past decade, new knowledge and new challenges provided the following rationale to develop updated IP&C strategies for this unique population:

1. The need to integrate relevant recommendations from evidence-based guidelines published since 2003 into IP&C practices for CF . These included guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and key professional societies, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). During the past decade, new evidence has led to a renewed emphasis on source containment of potential pathogens and the role played by the contaminated healthcare environment in the transmission of infectious agents. Furthermore, an increased understanding of the importance of the application of implementation science, monitoring adherence, and feedback principles has been shown to increase the effectiveness of IP&C guideline recommendations.

2. Experience with emerging pathogens in the non-CF population has expanded our understanding of droplet transmission of respiratory pathogens and can inform IP&C strategies for CF . These pathogens include severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and the 2009 influenza A H1N1. Lessons learned about preventing transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and multidrug-resistant gram-negative pathogens in non-CF patient populations also can inform IP&C strategies for CF.

By reprocessing the NICMOS coronagraphic archive using improved PSF subtraction methods, we have obtained new images of 5 debris disks, all previously unseen using classical PSF subtractions. Three of the disks are edge on and two appear to be ring like, one of which is extremely asymmetric.

Their stellar hosts are nearby, young F and G type stars (40-90 pc, 12–30 Myr), including one that is a close analog to the young sun at roughly the age at which terrestrial planets were assembling. This is a 25% increase in the sample of debris disks seen in scattered light. Analysis and modeling of the disk geometries is in process. Given these systems' youth, proximity, and brightness (V = 7.2 to 8.5), these will be superb targets for investigating planet formation, and are perfect targets for studies with GPI, SPHERE and JWST.

The Archival Legacy Investigation of Circumstellar Environments (ALICE) project (AR-12652) is currently conducting a comprehensive and consistent reprocessing of HST-NICMOS coronagraphic survey data to search for point sources and disks using advanced PSF subtraction. The KLIP algorithm (Karhunen-Loève Image Projection) was developed for this project, and has proven very effective at processing the hundreds of selected archival images. This project has already been very successful with numerous detections of previously unseen point sources and several resolved debris disks that we are currently following up by multiple avenues. We give an overview of the project including preliminary scientific results with companion candidates and improved images of known disks