Process-based modelling of decadal trends in growth, survival, and smolting of wild salmon (Salmo salar) parr in a Scottish upland stream

This paper reports a new model of the freshwater stages of an anadromous fish, at the core of which is a stochastic description of the size-at-age dynamics of a growing cohort. Emigration is assumed to require the individual to exceed a threshold size at a critical time of year, thus making the distributions of survival to, and age at, smolting emergent properties of the model. The model is applied to a long-term data set on juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the Girnock Burn, Scotland, to understand the role played by decadal temperature trends in generating changes in smolt production and age distribution. We conclude that changes in age at smolting are compatible with causation by shifts in the temperature regime. However, the large attenuation between a dramatic fall in spawner numbers and a relatively minor diminution in total smolt production does not result from the physiological effects of temperature but is rather a result of strongly density-dependent mortality between the deposition of ova and the appearance of catchable fry the following summer

Evaluation of the Scrub Practitioners' List of Intraoperative Non-Technical Skills (SPLINTS) system

Peer reviewedPostprin

Does the mode of delivery affect mathematics examination results?

At present most examinations are delivered on paper but there is a growing trend in many subjects to deliver some or part of these examinations by computer. It is therefore important to know whether there are any differences in the results obtained by candidates sitting examinations taken by computer compared with those obtained by candidates sitting conventional examinations using pen and paper. The purpose of this article is to describe the outcome of a pilot study designed to∗ investigate possible causes of any differences in results from the use of different modes of delivery in a mathematics examination. One outcome of this study was that the process of translating examination questions into a format required for use on the computer (but keeping this as a pen and paper test) can have a significant effect on examination results. However, the main conclusion is that changing the medium only has no effect on the results in mathematics examinations

Book review: Occupational therapy and physical dysfunction: enabling occupation, 6th ed.

When I did my training, the 4th edition of Occupational therapy and physical dysfunction was the set text with its emphasis on principles, skills and practice, but very much based on the ‘physical conditions’ that occupational therapists were likely to come across in hospitals or in the community. By contrast, the 6th edition of Occupational therapy and physical dysfunction, edited by a completely new team, is similar in name only. With its emphasis on enabling occupation, it examines a much wider world view for occupational therapists and is as relevant to those working in mental health as it is to physical occupational therapists and, in fact, challenges the dichotomy that persists in our profession

Issues of partial credit in mathematical assessment by computer

The CALM Project for Computer Aided Learning in Mathematics has operated at Heriot‐Watt University since 1985. From the beginning CALM has featured assessment in its programs (Beevers, Cherry, Foster and McGuire, 1991), and enabled both students and teachers to view progress in formative assessment The computer can play a role in at least four types of assessment: diagnostic, self‐test, continuous and grading assessment. The TLTP project Mathwise employs the computer in three of these roles. In 1994 CALM reported on an educational experiment in which the computer was used for the first time to grade, in part, the learning of a large class of service mathematics students (Beevers, McGuire, Stirling and Wild ,1995), using the Mathwise assessment template. At that time the main issues identified were those of ‘partial credit’ and communication between the student and the computer. These educational points were addressed in the next phase of the CALM Project in which the commercial testing program Interactive PastPapers was developed. The main aim of this paper is to describe how Interactive Past Papers has been able to incorporate some approaches to partial credit which has helped to alleviate student worries on these issues. Background information on other features in Interactive Past Papers is also included to provide context for the discussion

The lived experience of diabetes: conceptualisation using a metaphor

Introduction: It is important for healthcare professionals to understand the reality of living with diabetes in order to better engage and enable people to self-manage. The purpose of this research was thus a preliminary exploration of the lived experience of diabetes. Method: This qualitative study involved seven people with a diagnosis of type 1, type 2 or pre-diabetes. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews and analysed using a phenomenological approach including the use of metaphor. Findings were shared with participants using a felted metaphor of charting a course of health and wellbeing through a choppy sea. Findings: Themes explored within the elements of the metaphor included the boat (self-identity, control, balance, compliance and empowerment, emotions), the sea (physical and social environment, lifestyle, life events), the course (information gathering, change, self-action) and the boatyard (relationships with healthcare providers). Conclusion: For those with type 1, type 2 and pre-diabetes, the elements of charting a course of health and wellbeing through a choppy sea are very much focused on the person in their own context, impacted by their environment, life stage, occupations and attitudes to diabetes self-management, all of which fall within the remit of occupational therapy

Empirical analyses of the length, weight, and condition of adult Atlantic salmon on return to the Scottish coast between 1963 and 2006

Sea age, size, and condition of adult Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are prime determinants of individual, and hence population, productivity. To elucidate potential mechanisms, 151 000 records of salmon returning to six Scottish coastal sites over 44 years were analysedfor length, weight, and condition, by site, sex, sea age, and river age. After correcting for capture effort biases, all sites showed seasonal increases in length and weight for both 1 sea winter (1SW) and 2SW fish. However, whereas condition increased slightly with season for 2SW, it decreased notably for 1SW. Sites showed common decadal trends in length, weight, and condition. Within years, length and weight residuals from trends were coherent across sites, but residuals from condition trends were not. Rates of seasonal condition change also showed decadal trends, dramatically different between sea ages, but common across sites within sea-age groups. Longer salmon were disproportionately heavy in all seasons. 1SW condition was markedly lower in 2006. Detrended correlations withoceanic environmental variables were generally not significant, and always weak. A published correlation between the condition of 1SW salmon caught at a single site and sea surface temperatures in the Northeast Atlantic could not be substantiated for any of the six fisheries over the wider time-scales examined

Undergraduate work placements: an analysis of the effects on career progression

Combining work experience with degree-level study is seen as a key differentiator for securing employment upon graduation in a competitive employment market. The positive benefits of sandwich courses, where up to twelve months is spent working in industry, are widely acknowledged in academic literature though data analysis tends to focus on cohorts in single subject areas with course-based factors possibly influencing outcomes. This paper explores the benefits of work placements on a cross-cohort basis with an institutional level study empirically analysing over three academic years the outcomes for placement students in comparison to non-placement students. The study found that completing a sandwich work placement is associated with improved academic performance in the final year of study. Placement students are also more likely to secure appropriate graduate-level work and higher starting salaries upon completion of their degree in comparison to non-placement students

Geomagnetic Field Behavior at High Latitudes from a Paleomagnetic Record from Eltanin Core 27-21 in the Ross Sea Sector, Antarctica

We present a high-resolution paleomagnetic record from 682 discrete samples from Eltanin 27-21 (69.03°S 179.83°E), a 16-meter long piston core recovered in 1968 at a water depth of 3456 meters by the USNS Eltanin as part of Operation Deep Freeze. After removal of a low-coercivity overprint, most samples yield stable characteristic remanent magnetization directions. The downhole variation in the magnetic inclination provides a well-resolved magnetostratigraphy from the Brunhes Chron (0-0.78 Ma), through the Reunion Subchron (2.128-2.148 Ma), and into Chron C2r.2r. The sedimentation rates are sufficiently high that even short-term geomagnetic features, like the Cobb Mountain excursion, are resolved. The record from Eltanin 27-21 provides new insights into the behavior of the geomagnetic field at high latitudes, about which very little is currently known. Using the variability in the inclinations during stable polarity intervals, we estimate that the dispersion in the paleomagnetic pole position over the past ~2 Myr is 30.3°±4.3°, which is significantly greater than observed at low to mid latitude sites. The higher dispersion observed at Eltanin 27-21 is consistent with numerical modeling of the geodynamo. That modeling has shown that polar vortices can develop in the Earth’s core within the tangent cylinder, defined as the cylinder coaxial with the Earth’s rotation axis and tangent to the inner core/outer core boundary. The polar vortices produce vigorous fluid motion in the core, which creates greater geomagnetic field variability above the tangent cylinder at the surface of the Earth. The tangent cylinder intersects the Earth’s surface in the polar regions at 69.6° latitude, which is very close to the latitude of Eltanin 27-21