Lithofacies and biostratigraphical analysis has enabled the establishment of a stratigraphic event framework for Ludfordian and Pridoli strata in south Wales and the Welsh Borderland. In SW Wales, the Golden Grove Axis acted as a structural hinge separating the shallow marine storm-influenced Cae’r mynach Seaway from a pediment surface above which Ludfordian colluvium (Abercyfor Formation) was deposited. The Axis seeded four NW-derived river-influenced delta progrades of Leintwardinian to early Pridoli age (Tilestones Formation). A NE-sourced early Pridoli wave-influenced delta deposited the Downton Castle Sandstone Formation (DCSF), coeval to the youngest Tilestones prograde, with a lateral interface existing between Mynydd Epynt and the Clun Forest area. Except for the Malverns area, the DCSF is no longer recognized south of the Neath Disturbance. Early Pridoli forced regression promoted widespread subaerial exposure north of the Neath Disturbance, with incision into tracts close to the Welsh Borderland Fault System. The basinward-shift in facies belts resulted in marine erosion and deposition of a phosphatic ravinement pebble lag. The wave-influenced Clifford’s Mesne Sandstone Formation delta subsequently seeded on the Gorsley Axis with tidally influenced Rushall Formation accumulating in a back-barrier setting. The Pwll-Mawr Formation records the easterly advance of coeval coastal deposits on the western side of the remnant Cae’r mynach Seaway. Behind migrating delta coastlines, green muds accumulated on coastal plains (Temeside Mudstone Formation) with better drained red dryland alluvium (Moor Cliffs Formation) charting expansion of Old Red Sandstone lithofacies. Mid-Pridoli incision preserves the Pont ar Llechau Formation estuarine valley fill.

Much of our current understanding about novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) comes from hospitalised patients. However, the spectrum of mild and subclinical disease has implications for population-level screening and control. Forty-nine participants were recruited from a group of 99 adults repatriated from a cruise ship with a high incidence of COVID-19. Respiratory and rectal swabs were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Sera were tested for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and microneutralisation assay. Symptoms, viral shedding and antibody response were examined. Forty-five participants (92%) were considered cases based on either positive PCR or positive ELISA for immunoglobulin G. Forty-two percent of cases were asymptomatic. Only 15% of symptomatic cases reported fever. Serial respiratory and rectal swabs were positive for 10% and 5% of participants respectively about 3 weeks after median symptom onset. Cycle threshold values were high (range 31–45). Attempts to isolate live virus were unsuccessful. The presence of symptoms was not associated with demographics, comorbidities or antibody response. In closed settings, incidence of COVID-19 could be almost double that suggested by symptom-based screening. Serology may be useful in diagnosis of mild disease and in aiding public health investigations.

The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) is the first large-area survey to be conducted with the full 36-antenna Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. RACS will provide a shallow model of the ASKAP sky that will aid the calibration of future deep ASKAP surveys. RACS will cover the whole sky visible from the ASKAP site in Western Australia and will cover the full ASKAP band of 700–1800 MHz. The RACS images are generally deeper than the existing NRAO VLA Sky Survey and Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey radio surveys and have better spatial resolution. All RACS survey products will be public, including radio images (with $\sim$ 15 arcsec resolution) and catalogues of about three million source components with spectral index and polarisation information. In this paper, we present a description of the RACS survey and the first data release of 903 images covering the sky south of declination $+41^\circ$ made over a 288-MHz band centred at 887.5 MHz.

Dietary Zn has significant impacts on the growth and development of breeding rams. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of dietary Zn source and concentration on serum Zn concentration, growth performance, wool traits and reproductive performance in rams. Forty-four Targhee rams (14 months; 68 ± 18 kg BW) were used in an 84-day completely randomized design and were fed one of three pelleted dietary treatments: (1) a control without fortified Zn (CON; n = 15; ~1 × NRC); (2) a diet fortified with a Zn amino acid complex (ZnAA; n = 14; ~2 × NRC) and (3) a diet fortified with ZnSO4 (ZnSO4; n = 15; ~2 × NRC). Growth and wool characteristics measured throughout the course of the study were BW, average daily gain (ADG), dry matter intake (DMI), feed efficiency (G : F), longissimus dorsi muscle depth (LMD), back fat (BF), wool staple length (SL) and average fibre diameter (AFD). Blood was collected from each ram at four time periods to quantify serum Zn and testosterone concentrations. Semen was collected 1 to 2 days after the trial was completed. There were no differences in BW (P = 0.45), DMI (P = 0.18), LMD (P = 0.48), BF (P = 0.47) and AFD (P = 0.9) among treatment groups. ZnSO4 had greater (P ≤ 0.03) serum Zn concentrations compared with ZnAA and CON treatments. Rams consuming ZnAA had greater (P ≤ 0.03) ADG than ZnSO4 and CON. There tended to be differences among groups for G : F (P = 0.06), with ZnAA being numerically greater than ZnSO4 and CON. Wool staple length regrowth was greater (P < 0.001) in ZnSO4 and tended to be longer (P = 0.06) in ZnAA treatment group compared with CON. No differences were observed among treatments in scrotal circumference, testosterone, spermatozoa concentration within ram semen, % motility, % live sperm and % sperm abnormalities (P ≥ 0.23). Results indicated beneficial effects of feeding increased Zn concentrations to developing Targhee rams, although Zn source elicited differential responses in performance characteristics measured.

A theoretically based relationship for the Darcy–Weisbach friction factor $f$ for rough-bed open-channel flows is derived and discussed. The derivation procedure is based on the double averaging (in time and space) of the Navier–Stokes equation followed by repeated integration across the flow. The obtained relationship explicitly shows that the friction factor can be split into at least five additive components, due to: (i) viscous stress; (ii) turbulent stress; (iii) dispersive stress (which in turn can be subdivided into two parts, due to bed roughness and secondary currents); (iv) flow unsteadiness and non-uniformity; and (v) spatial heterogeneity of fluid stresses in a bed-parallel plane. These constitutive components account for the roughness geometry effect and highlight the significance of the turbulent and dispersive stresses in the near-bed region where their values are largest. To explore the potential of the proposed relationship, an extensive data set has been assembled by employing specially designed large-eddy simulations and laboratory experiments for a wide range of Reynolds numbers. Flows over self-affine rough boundaries, which are representative of natural and man-made surfaces, are considered. The data analysis focuses on the effects of roughness geometry (i.e. spectral slope in the bed elevation spectra), relative submergence of roughness elements and flow and roughness Reynolds numbers, all of which are found to be substantial. It is revealed that at sufficiently high Reynolds numbers the roughness-induced and secondary-currents-induced dispersive stresses may play significant roles in generating bed friction, complementing the dominant turbulent stress contribution.

Gut cell losses contribute to overall feed efficiency due to the energy requirement for cell replenishment. Intestinal epithelial cells are sloughed into the intestinal lumen as digesta passes through the gastrointestinal tract, where cells are degraded by endonucleases. This leads to fragmented DNA being present in faeces, which may be an indicator of gut cell loss. Therefore, measuring host faecal DNA content could have potential as a non-invasive marker of gut cell loss and result in a novel technique for the assessment of how different feed ingredients impact upon gut health. Faecal calprotectin (CALP) is a marker of intestinal inflammation. This was a pilot study designed to test a methodology for extracting and quantifying DNA from pig faeces, and to assess whether any differences in host faecal DNA and CALP could be detected. An additional aim was to determine whether any differences in the above measures were related to the pig performance response to dietary yeast-enriched protein concentrate (YPC). Newly weaned (∼26.5 days of age) Large White × Landrace × Pietrain piglets (8.37 kg ±1.10, n = 180) were assigned to one of four treatment groups (nine replicates of five pigs), differing in dietary YPC content: 0% (control), 2.5%, 5% and 7.5% (w/w). Pooled faecal samples were collected on days 14 and 28 of the 36-day trial. Deoxyribonucleic acid was extracted and quantitative PCR was used to assess DNA composition. Pig genomic DNA was detected using primers specific for the pig cytochrome b (CYTB) gene, and bacterial DNA was detected using universal 16S primers. A pig CALP ELISA was used to assess gut inflammation. Dietary YPC significantly reduced feed conversion ratio (FCR) from weaning to day 14 (P<0.001), but not from day 14 to day 28 (P = 0.220). Pig faecal CYTB DNA content was significantly (P = 0.008) reduced in YPC-treated pigs, with no effect of time, whereas total faecal bacterial DNA content was unaffected by diet or time (P>0.05). Faecal CALP levels were significantly higher at day 14 compared with day 28, but there was no effect of YPC inclusion and no relationship with FCR. In conclusion, YPC reduced faecal CYTB DNA content and this correlated positively with FCR, but was unrelated to gut inflammation, suggesting that it could be a non-invasive marker of gut cell loss. However, further validation experiments by an independent method are required to verify the origin of pig faecal CYTB DNA as being from sloughed intestinal epithelial cells.

Stable isotopic and petrographic data have been used to interpret conditions for the formation of authigenic kaolinite within Lower Palaeocene sands, Central North Sea. Two wells within the Witch Ground Graben were sampled (1975 m to 2795 m). Texturally early calcite concretions have isotopic compositions (δ18O = 18.3–21.6‰ SMOW) which indicate that they were precipitated in predominantly meteoric waters. The isotopic composition of later vermiform kaolinite (δ18O = 14.8–17.7‰ SMOW and δD = −53 to −71‰ SMOW) indicates that kaolinite precipitated at around 45–70°C, from a mixed meteoric-marine pore-water (δ18O = −5 to −3‰ SMOW). These modelled precipitation temperatures are consistent with the paragenetic sequence and consequently post-precipitation hydrogen isotope exchange between kaolinite and the pore-waters is presumed not to have occurred. It is inferred that the original depositional marine pore-waters were flushed out during the late Palaeocene (54.8 Ma) by a head of meteoric water from the East Shetland Platform. The Lower Palaeocene aquifer became closed to meteoric influx after marine transgression during the late Palaeocene (54.0 Ma). The remaining meteoric pore-waters in the sandstones became mixed with water from compacting marine muds surrounding the hydrostatically pressured sandstones.

Sandstones of the Palaeocene Montrose Group were deposited in a deepwater fan environment, and form a major oil reservoir in the North Sea. Calcite concretions occur commonly within thick-bedded and structureless sandstones. These concretions have been identified by sonic logs and well reports, and were cross-checked with available core data. Regionally, 101 wells have been examined and carbonate concretions form 0.6–7.2% of the core. Concretions are most abundant along the flank of the Fladen Ground Spur, the north Witch Ground Graben (WGG), the east south Viking Graben and East Central Graben (ECG). Concretions of the ECG formed at deep burial, with C from decarboxylation. Geochemical inheritance of Mn and Sr from Cretaceous chalk clasts may occur. Concretion growth may also have been influenced by vertical expulsion of fluids (leak-off) localized above salt tectonics. Isotopic and petrographic evidence indicates that much carbonate C in the WGG was derived from biodegradation of migrating oil in meteoric water at shallow depth. The locations of abundant carbonate with characteristic negative C isotope signatures can be used as shallow exploration guides to leak-off points located above deep overpressured structures.

The Parkes 64 m telescope has been used to survey a complete sample of nearby red giants (i.e. not members of close binaries or showing strong emission lines of CaII). The sample consisted of all 82 stars in the Bright Star Catalogue within 30 pc having spectral types G, K, M and luminosity classes I, II, III south of the celestial equator.

In this paper we discuss 80 MHz heliograph observations of the multiple source structure and polarization of a type IV solar radio outburst on 1970 November 16. At times during the event six sources were present. Three of these were highly circularly polarized in a L.H. sense and two in a R.H. sense. The sixth source was extended and had oppositely polarized edges. From the source behaviour we conclude that the radio emission came from two expanding and one stationary magnetic arch.

Young supernova remnants are poorly understood and few are known. Further examples may be present, but unrecognised, within existing catalogues of radio sources. G274.68–2.84 was recently suggested as one such candidate but our new radio map from the Australia Telescope indicates that it is not a supernova remnant. Rather, it appears to be extragalactic with a strong, variable, flat-spectrum nucleus, and a bright X-ray counterpart.