Multiple industries have hailed lightweighting promise to reduce the mass of their product at equivalent or improved performance. Lightweighting as a strategy encompasses lightweight end-product desired attributes and through-life processing decisions. Assessment of lightweighting gathers information for decision-making towards the optimization of these strategies. An exploratory study, using systems thinking is conducted, to identify requirements of lightweighting and its assessment in terms of holistically defining its impact on the sustainability of its background system, the Earth.

The vibrational modes of clay minerals in aqueous suspension are uniquely accessible to Raman spectroscopy, but this potentially powerful approach has not been applied heretofore to study clays in aqueous samples. In this paper, Raman spectra in the 100- to 4000-cm−1 region were obtained for kaolinite in aqueous suspension and in air-dry samples. Contact with water perturbed the low-wavenumber Raman spectrum (100 to 1000 cm−1) significantly with respect to relative band intensities and resulted in a pH dependence of the integrated intensity in the OH-stretching region. Comparison of the Raman and infrared (IR) spectra of air-dry kaolinite samples confirmed five Raman-active OH-stretching modes at 3621, 3652, 3668, 3688, and 3696 cm−1, in contrast to four IR-active modes at 3621, 3652, 3668, and 3695 cm−1. The Raman spectra of two kaolinites of different origin showed differences in band positions and intensities. These results suggest that Raman spectroscopy may provide a useful method to study clay mineral-water interactions, colloidal behavior in clay suspensions, and variations in clay mineral structure.

Due to the increased importance of bionanocomposites, protamine and papain proteins were adsorbed on Na+- and on Cs+-exchanged saponite from aqueous solution. Protein analysis of equilibrium solutions and thermogravimetric analyses of biocomposites were used to prepare adsorption isotherms. Based on the isotherm shape, and on the amounts of protein adsorbed and the amounts of Na+ and Cs+ released, the initial protein sorption apparently was due to ion exchange. Additional sorbed protein was weakly retained and could be removed by washing with water. From ion exchange, the average charge of the protamine adsorbed was estimated to be +13.1 to +13.5. Similar papain measurements could not be made due to partial decomposition. Quantitatively, protamine was adsorbed at levels up to 400 mg/g on Na+-saponite and 200 mg/g on Cs+-saponite. The maximum protamine adsorption was 650 to 700 mg/g for Na+-saponite and 350–400 mg/g for Cs+-saponite. Protamine was sorbed to edge surfaces and the basal spacing of the interlamellar region of saponite was 1.75 nm. Protamine displaced only 36% of the Cs+ in Cs+-saponite and expanded the interlamellar region by 36% for a basal spacing of 1.6 nm. Papain sorption to Na+-saponite occurred by a two-step process: (1) adsorption to saponite particle external surfaces followed, (2) by partial intercalation. Quantitatively, Papain was adsorbed up to 100 mg/g for Na+-and Cs+-saponite. Greater initial papain concentrations resulted in a 450 mg/g maximum for Na+-saponite, but no increase above 100 mg/g for Cs+-saponite. Papain apparently only sorbed to external Cs+-saponite surfaces that were estimated to be 33–40 m2/g. Step-wise thermal decomposition of the saponite-protein composites occurred between 300 and 800°C.

The emergence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in childhood poses a serious risk to a healthy adult life. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of NCDs among children and adolescents in slums and non-slums areas of four metropolitan cities of India, and in rural areas of the respective states The study further, investigated the effect of the place residence as slum vs. non-slum and other risk factors of the NCDs. Nationally representative data from the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) was used.. Estimates were based on children (5-9 years) and adolescents (10-19 years) for whom biomarkers predicting diabetes, high total cholesterol, high triglycerides and hypertension were determined. Weight, height and age data were used to calculate z-scores of the body mass index. Overweight and obesity was higher in urban areas than in rural areas among children and adolescents. Regional differences in the prevalence of diseases were observed; children in Delhi and Chennai had a higher likelihood of being diabetic while children in Kolkata were at a greater risk of high total cholesterol and high triglycerides. The risk of hypertension was strikingly high among non-slum children in Delhi. Children from slums were at a higher risk of diabetes compared to the children from non-slums, while children and adolecents from non-slums were at a greater risk of high triglycerides and hypertension respectively than their counterparts from slums. Male children and adolecents had a higher risk of diabetes and high cholesterol. Screening of children for early detection of NCDs should be integrated with the already existing child and adolescent development schemes in schools and the community can help in prevention and control of NCDs in childhood.

We performed an epidemiological investigation and genome sequencing of severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to define the source and scope of an outbreak in a cluster of hospitalized patients. Lack of appropriate respiratory hygiene led to SARS-CoV-2 transmission to patients and healthcare workers during a single hemodialysis session, highlighting the importance of infection prevention precautions.

Land divisions are ubiquitous features of the British countryside. Field boundaries, enclosures, pit alignments, and other forms of land division have been used to shape and delineate the landscape over thousands of years. While these divisions are critical for understanding economies and subsistence, the organization of tenure and property, social structure and identity, and their histories of use have remained unclear. Here, the authors present the first robust, Bayesian statistical chronology for land division over three millennia within a study region in England. Their innovative approach to investigating long-term change demonstrates the unexpected scale of later ‘prehistoric’ land demarcation, which may correspond to the beginnings of increasing social hierarchy.

In this paper, we describe the system design and capabilities of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope at the conclusion of its construction project and commencement of science operations. ASKAP is one of the first radio telescopes to deploy phased array feed (PAF) technology on a large scale, giving it an instantaneous field of view that covers $31\,\textrm{deg}^{2}$ at $800\,\textrm{MHz}$. As a two-dimensional array of 36$\times$12 m antennas, with baselines ranging from 22 m to 6 km, ASKAP also has excellent snapshot imaging capability and 10 arcsec resolution. This, combined with 288 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth and a unique third axis of rotation on each antenna, gives ASKAP the capability to create high dynamic range images of large sky areas very quickly. It is an excellent telescope for surveys between 700 and $1800\,\textrm{MHz}$ and is expected to facilitate great advances in our understanding of galaxy formation, cosmology, and radio transients while opening new parameter space for discovery of the unknown.

We describe an ultra-wide-bandwidth, low-frequency receiver recently installed on the Parkes radio telescope. The receiver system provides continuous frequency coverage from 704 to 4032 MHz. For much of the band ( ${\sim}60\%$ ), the system temperature is approximately 22 K and the receiver system remains in a linear regime even in the presence of strong mobile phone transmissions. We discuss the scientific and technical aspects of the new receiver, including its astronomical objectives, as well as the feed, receiver, digitiser, and signal processor design. We describe the pipeline routines that form the archive-ready data products and how those data files can be accessed from the archives. The system performance is quantified, including the system noise and linearity, beam shape, antenna efficiency, polarisation calibration, and timing stability.

Yukon Territory (YT) is a remote region in northern Canada with ongoing spread of tuberculosis (TB). To explore the utility of whole genome sequencing (WGS) for TB surveillance and monitoring in a setting with detailed contact tracing and interview data, we used a mixed-methods approach. Our analysis included all culture-confirmed cases in YT (2005–2014) and incorporated data from 24-locus Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units-Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR) genotyping, WGS and contact tracing. We compared field-based (contact investigation (CI) data + MIRU-VNTR) and genomic-based (WGS + MIRU-VNTR + basic case data) investigations to identify the most likely source of each person's TB and assessed the knowledge, attitudes and practices of programme personnel around genotyping and genomics using online, multiple-choice surveys (n = 4) and an in-person group interview (n = 5). Field- and genomics-based approaches agreed for 26 of 32 (81%) cases on likely location of TB acquisition. There was less agreement in the identification of specific source cases (13/22 or 59% of cases). Single-locus MIRU-VNTR variants and limited genetic diversity complicated the analysis. Qualitative data indicated that participants viewed genomic epidemiology as a useful tool to streamline investigations, particularly in differentiating latent TB reactivation from the recent transmission. Based on this, genomic data could be used to enhance CIs, focus resources, target interventions and aid in TB programme evaluation.

The library of William Boyce is one of the most interesting eighteenth-century collections of music to be sold at auction (by James Christie in April 1779). Though only four copies of the sale catalogue survive, that still in the firm's archives provides both the names of the buyers and prices fetched. Among the items sold were a good many manuscripts and rare printed books whose present whereabouts are known; several of these have lot labels still attached to the original bindings. The main purpose of this article is to make this material readily available not only to musicologists, but also to bibliographers and others concerned with the history of libraries. Prefaced by an introductory essay and a section on the buyers, its central core is a diplomatic transcript of the sale catalogue itself together with copious notes on the contents of each lot. An index of composers and of buyers is also provided.

This article discusses prospects and challenges related to the use of meta-regression models (MRMs) for ecosystem service benefit transfer, with an emphasis on validity criteria and post-estimation procedures given sparse attention in the ecosystem services literature. We illustrate these topics using a meta-analysis of willingness to pay for water quality changes that support aquatic ecosystem services and the application of this model to estimate water quality benefits under alternative riparian buffer restoration scenarios in New Hampshire's Great Bay Watershed. These illustrations highlight the advantages of MRM benefit transfers, together with the challenges and data needs encountered when quantifying ecosystem service values.

Few studies have used genomic epidemiology to understand tuberculosis (TB) transmission in rural and remote settings – regions often unique in history, geography and demographics. To improve our understanding of TB transmission dynamics in Yukon Territory (YT), a circumpolar Canadian territory, we conducted a retrospective analysis in which we combined epidemiological data collected through routine contact investigations with clinical and laboratory results. Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from all culture-confirmed TB cases in YT (2005–2014) were genotyped using 24-locus Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units-Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR) and compared to each other and to those from the neighbouring province of British Columbia (BC). Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of genotypically clustered isolates revealed three sustained transmission networks within YT, two of which also involved BC isolates. While each network had distinct characteristics, all had at least one individual acting as the probable source of three or more culture-positive cases. Overall, WGS revealed that TB transmission dynamics in YT are distinct from patterns of spread in other, more remote Northern Canadian regions, and that the combination of WGS and epidemiological data can provide actionable information to local public health teams.

SNP in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene is associated with risk of lower respiratory infections. The influence of genetic variation in the vitamin D pathway resulting in susceptibility to upper respiratory infections (URI) has not been investigated. We evaluated the influence of thirty-three SNP in eleven vitamin D pathway genes (DBP, DHCR7, RXRA, CYP2R1, CYP27B1, CYP24A1, CYP3A4, CYP27A1, LRP2, CUBN and VDR) resulting in URI risk in 725 adults in London, UK, using an additive model with adjustment for potential confounders and correction for multiple comparisons. Significant associations in this cohort were investigated in a validation cohort of 737 children in Manchester, UK. In all, three SNP in VDR (rs4334089, rs11568820 and rs7970314) and one SNP in CYP3A4 (rs2740574) were associated with risk of URI in the discovery cohort after adjusting for potential confounders and correcting for multiple comparisons (adjusted incidence rate ratio per additional minor allele ≥1·15, Pfor trend ≤0·030). This association was replicated for rs4334089 in the validation cohort (Pfor trend=0·048) but not for rs11568820, rs7970314 or rs2740574. Carriage of the minor allele of the rs4334089 SNP in VDR was associated with increased susceptibility to URI in children and adult cohorts in the United Kingdom.

Choice experiments addressing outcome uncertainty (OU) typically reframe continuous probability densities for each risky outcome into two discrete categories, each with a single probability of occurrence. The implications of this simplification for welfare estimation are unknown. This article evaluates the convergent validity of willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates from a more accurate multiple-outcome treatment of OU, compared to the two-outcome approach. Results for a case study of coastal flood adaptation in Connecticut, United States, suggest that higher-resolution OU treatments increase choice complexity but can provide additional information on risk preferences and WTP. This tradeoff highlights challenges facing the valuation of uncertain outcomes.