First Observations of Benthos and Seston from a Submersible in the Lower St. Lawrence Estuary

Six dives with the submersible PISCES IV have permitted a unique description of the benthic and pelagic environments of a large, deep Canadian estuary. The estuarine floor and continental slopes are divided into five depth-dependent benthic zones. In order of decreasing depth are the Bathyal Trough Zone, the lnfaunal Zone, the Ophiura Zone, the Ice Rafting Zone and the Wave Base Zone. The zonal boundaries are based on changes in the faunal community, sediment texture, current energy, level of bioturbation and suspended particulate loading. Biological resuspension appears important in the Bathyal Trough and lnfaunal Zones. Current resuspension dominates the Ophiura and Ice Rafting Zones with storm waves additionally reworking the Wave-Base sediments. Seston characteristics are strongly influenced by the source and dynamics of the host water mass. The Surface Layer, the entrained outflow from the St. Lawrence River, is the source of most suspended matter found beneath. Large particles, mostly organo-mineral aggregates, become even larger with depth and indicate a rapid downward transfer of suspended sediment. The upper Intermediate Layer is complicated by stratified zones of turbulence that temporarily reduce the floe size. With the absence of such fine water structure, the lower Intermediate Layer is characterized by long chains of marine "snow" joined by delicate filaments. The Bottom Layer, a zone of increased turbulence, had aggregates breaking up into a haze of fine particles.Six plongées à bord du submersible Pisces IV ont permis de décrire les milieux benthique et pélagique de l'estuaire, large et profond, du Saint-Laurent. Le fond de l'estuaire et les talus continentaux ont été divisés, selon la profondeur, en cinq zones benthiques. Ce sont, du fond vers la surface, la zone bathyale du chenal Laurentien, la zone endobenthique, la zone à Ophiura, la zone de dépôts glaciels et la zone sous l'influence des vagues. Ces zones ont été déterminées à partir des variations des populations macrobenthiques, de la texture des sédiments, de l'énergie des courants, du niveau de bioturbation et de la concentration des particules en suspension. La resuspension biologique semble être importante dans les zones bathyale et endobenthique, mais la resuspension par les courants domine dans les trois autres zones. Les sédiments de la zone sous l'influence des vagues peuvent aussi être remaniés par les vagues de tempêtes. Les caractéristiques du seston sont fortement influencées par la source et la dynamique des différentes masses d'eau. Une grande partie du matériel en suspension provient de la couche superficielle, entraîné par le courant du Saint-Laurent. Les grosses particules, surtout les agrégats organo-minéraux, sont de plus en plus grosses en profondeur, ce qui suppose une descente rapide du matériel en suspension vers le fond. Dans la couche intermédiaire supérieure, des zones de turbulence stratifiées réduisent temporairement la taille des agrégats. La partie inférieure de la couche intermédiaire ne contient pas de ces stratifications fines et est plutôt caractérisée par la présence de longues chaînes de particules rattachées par un filament délicat. Dans la couche de fond, l'accroissement de la turbulence transforme les agrégats en un brouillard de fines particules.Sechs Tauchmanôver mit dem U-Boot Pisces IV haben eine einzigartige Beschreibung der benthis-chen und pelagischen Umgebung einer grossen, tiefen, kanadischen Mùndung erlaubt. Der Aestuarboden und die Kon-tinentalhànge sind in fùnf tiefenbedingte benthische Zonen eingeteilt. Der Ordnung nach, in abnehmender Tiefe, liegen die bathyal Zone des Skt-Lorenz Kanals, die endobenthische Zone, die Ophiura Zone, die Eisstrandungs Zone und die Wellen-Einfluss-Zone. Die Zonengrenzen sind auf Verànderungen in der Faunenwelt, Sedimenttextur, Strômungsenergie, Niveau der Bioturbation und der Konzentration der Schwebstoffe gegrùndet. Biologische Resuspension ist in der bathyalen und endobentischen Zone wichtig, wàhrend die Resuspension durch die Strômung in der Ophiura und Eisstrandungszone ùberwiegt, mit zusàtzlicher Bearbeitung der Wellen-Basis-Elemente durch Sturmwellen. Seston Kennzeichen sind durch die Dynamik der Gastgewàsser stark beeinflusst. Ein grosser Teil der Schwebstoffe kommt aus der oberen Schicht und wird durch die Strômung des Skt Lorenz Stromes mitgeschleppt. Grosse Teile, meistens organischmineral Aggregate werden mit wachsender Tiefe noch grosser und zeigen ein schnelles Sinken der Schwebstoffe an. In der oberen Zwischenschicht verringern die stratifizierten Turbulen Zonen zeitweilig die Grosse der Aggregate. Der untere Teil der Zwischenschicht zeigt keine solche feinen Stratifikationen und kennzeichnet sich eher durch die Gegenwart von langen Ketten von Schwebstoffteilchen, die durch einen dùnnen Faden zusammenhalten. In der Grundschicht, einer Zone mit vermehrterTurbulenz, werden die Aggregate zu einem Nebel feiner Teilchen aufgebrochen

Trust, negotiation, and communication: young adults' experiences of primary care services.

BACKGROUND: Young adulthood is an important transitional period during which there is a higher risk of individuals engaging in behaviours which could have a lasting impact on their health. Research has shown that young adults are the lowest responders to surveys about healthcare experiences and are also the least satisfied with the care they receive. However, the factors contributing to this reduced satisfaction are not clear. The focus of our research was to explore the needs and experiences of young adults around healthcare services with an aim of finding out possible reasons for lower satisfaction. METHODS: Twenty young adults were interviewed at GP surgeries and at a local young adult advice agency, exploring their experiences and use of primary care services. Interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The use of primary care services varied amongst the young adult interviewees. Many interviewees reported positive experiences; those who did not linked their negative experiences to difficulties in negotiating their care with the health care system, and reported issues with trust, and communication difficulties. Most of the interviewees were unaware of the use of patient surveys to inform healthcare planning and delivery and were not inclined to take part, mainly because of the length of surveys and lack of interest in the topic area. CONCLUSIONS: In order to effectively address the health needs of young adults, young adults need to be educated about their rights as patients, and how to most efficiently use primary care services. GPs should be alert to effective means of approaching and handling the healthcare needs of young adults. A flexible, varied approach is needed to gathering high quality data from this group in order to provide services with information on the changes necessary for making primary care services more accessible for young adults

Investigating residual rhoticity in a non-rhotic accent

This paper reports on preliminary findings of a study conducted in the Black Country area of the west midlands of England. The small number of linguistic studies carried out in this region in the last 40 years have not found evidence of the continuing existence of variable rhoticity in the local speech variety. The Survey of English Dialects in the 1950s found low levels of rhoticity among speakers in the location closest to the Black Country, and I examine here similar findings from a detailed study of the variety, carried out between 2003-2006

Victim: a Study of the Place of British Cinema in Social and Legal Reform

During the 1960s, Britain underwent seismic cultural, social and legal change. This change was reflected in British cinema of the "Swinging 60s" and beyond, but I believe its origins are evident in the cinema of Britain after World War 2 and throughout the 1950s. This thesis examines the links between the cultural, social and legal changes of the 1950s and 60s, and certain British films of the era that relate to them. It focuses on one particular issue: homosexual law reform, and a number of relevant films, the key one being 'Victim' (1961, Dearden)

The sociolinguistic stratification of a connected speech process - The case of the T to R rule in the Black Country

This paper examines the connected speech process described by Wells (1982b) as the T to R rule in the West Midlands speech variety associated with the Black Country. The T to R rule is well known as a linguistic marker of local varieties of the middle and far north of England. Less well understood is its position in the phonological systems of Midlands varieties. Varieties of the Midlands of England are underresearched in comparison with varieties of the north, and what is known about the application of the T to R rule in this transitional dialect area is correspondingly nebulous. This paper focuses on the Black Country area, and examines the possible outputs in the contexts which give rise to /t/ becoming [?] in local varieties of the north. I examine the written and spoken evidence which suggests that the T to R rule does indeed operate in the Black Country variety. My analysis focuses on possible phonetic outcomes of the T to R rule across time. In my conclusion, I discuss briefly the possibility that, lying on a bundle of isoglosses separating north from south, the variety of the Black Country reflects this in that a T to [?] rule, rather than a T to R rule, is the dominant output of this connected speech process in the Black Country

Sloppy Models, Parameter Uncertainty, and the Role of Experimental Design

Computational models are increasingly used to understand and predict complex biological phenomena. These models contain many unknown parameters, at least some of which are difficult to measure directly, and instead are estimated by fitting to time-course data. Previous work has suggested that even with precise data sets, many parameters are unknowable by trajectory measurements. We examined this question in the context of a pathway model of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and neuronal growth factor (NGF) signaling. Computationally, we examined a palette of experimental perturbations that included different doses of EGF and NGF as well as single and multiple gene knockdowns and overexpressions. While no single experiment could accurately estimate all of the parameters, experimental design methodology identified a set of five complementary experiments that could. These results suggest optimism for the prospects for calibrating even large models, that the success of parameter estimation is intimately linked to the experimental perturbations used, and that experimental design methodology is important for parameter fitting of biological models and likely for the accuracy that can be expected from them.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (U54 CA112967)MIT-Portugal ProgramSingapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technolog

The Patient Feedback Response Framework – understanding why UK hospital staff find it difficult to make improvements based on patient feedback: A qualitative study

Patients are increasingly being asked for feedback about their healthcare experiences. However, healthcare staff often find it difficult to act on this feedback in order to make improvements to services. This paper draws upon notions of legitimacy and readiness to develop a conceptual framework (Patient Feedback Response Framework – PFRF) which outlines why staff may find it problematic to respond to patient feedback. A large qualitative study was conducted with 17 ward based teams between 2013 and 2014, across three hospital Trusts in the North of England. This was a process evaluation of a wider study where ward staff were encouraged to make action plans based on patient feedback. We focus on three methods here: i) examination of taped discussion between ward staff during action planning meetings ii) facilitators notes of these meetings iii) telephone interviews with staff focusing on whether action plans had been achieved six months later. Analysis employed an abductive approach. Through the development of the PFRF, we found that making changes based on patient feedback is a complex multi-tiered process and not something that ward staff can simply ‘do’. First, staff must exhibit normative legitimacy – the belief that listening to patients is a worthwhile exercise. Second, structural legitimacy has to be in place – ward teams need adequate autonomy, ownership and resource to enact change. Some ward teams are able to make improvements within their immediate control and environment. Third, for those staff who require interdepartmental co-operation or high level assistance to achieve change, organisational readiness must exist at the level of the hospital otherwise improvement will rarely be enacted. Case studies drawn from our empirical data demonstrate the above. It is only when appropriate levels of individual and organisational capacity to change exist, that patient feedback is likely to be acted upon to improve services

The role of patient experience surveys in quality assurance and improvement: a focus group study in English general practice.

BACKGROUND: Despite widespread adoption of patient feedback surveys in international health-care systems, including the English NHS, evidence of a demonstrable impact of surveys on service improvement is sparse. OBJECTIVE: To explore the views of primary care practice staff regarding the utility of patient experience surveys. DESIGN: Qualitative focus groups. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Staff from 14 English general practices. RESULTS: Whilst participants engaged with feedback from patient experience surveys, they routinely questioned its validity and reliability. Participants identified surveys as having a number of useful functions: for patients, as a potentially therapeutic way of getting their voice heard; for practice staff, as a way of identifying areas of improvement; and for GPs, as a source of evidence for professional development and appraisal. Areas of potential change stimulated by survey feedback included redesigning front-line services, managing patient expectations and managing the performance of GPs. Despite this, practice staff struggled to identify and action changes based on survey feedback alone. DISCUSSION: Whilst surveys may be used to endorse existing high-quality service delivery, their use in informing changes in service delivery is more challenging for practice staff. Drawing on the Utility Index framework, we identified concerns relating to reliability and validity, cost and feasibility acceptability and educational impact, which combine to limit the utility of patient survey feedback. CONCLUSIONS: Feedback from patient experience surveys has great potential. However, without a specific and renewed focus on how to translate feedback into action, this potential will remain incompletely realized.This work was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Programme Grants for Applied Research (NIHR PGfAR) Programme (RP-PG-0608-10050).This is the final version of the article. It was first available from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hex.1229

‘Pack up your blarting’: The language of the senses in Black Country dialect

This is an accepted manuscript of a chapter published by Palgrave Macmillan in Smell, Memory, and Literature in the Black Country edited by Sebastian Groes & R. M. Francis. For re-use please see the publisher's terms and conditions: https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/policies/accepted-manuscript-termsThis chapter examines literary and vernacular sources to consider how sensory experiences become encoded in dialect; looking at how words change meaning over time, how the dialect remains vital, and at the kinds of sensory experiences residents reported having. I explore the Aristotelian model of the senses, relating it to words which were present in my doctoral fieldwork and broaden the discussion of these words and their history. Using speech and writing by Black Country people, drawing on poetry, fiction and spoken data I critique the idea that the dialect is in any greater danger of becoming less vital than any other regional dialect of the UK. Using current linguistic research, I consider the future of the dialect, questioning what experiences speakers may wish to encode through language in a changing Black Country