There is a relative lack of research, targeted models and tools to manage beaches in estuaries and bays (BEBs). Many estuaries and bays have been highly modified and urbanised, for example port developments and coastal revetments. This paper outlines the complications and opportunities for conserving and managing BEBs in modified estuaries. To do this, we focus on eight diverse case studies from North and South America, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia combined with the broader global literature. Our key findings are as follows: (1) BEBs are diverse and exist under a great variety of tide and wave conditions that differentiate them from open-coast beaches; (2) BEBs often lack statutory protection and many have already been sacrificed to development; (3) BEBs lack specific management tools and are often managed using tools developed for open-coast beaches; and (4) BEBs have the potential to become important in “nature-based” management solutions. We set the future research agenda for BEBs, which should include broadening research to include greater diversity of BEBs than in the past, standardising monitoring techniques, including the development of global databases using citizen science and developing specific management tools for BEBs. We must recognise BEBs as unique coastal features and develop the required fundamental knowledge and tools to effectively manage them, so they can continue providing their unique ecosystem services.

The finite element method (FEM) is widely used to simulate a variety of physics phenomena. Approaches that integrate FEM with neural networks (NNs) are typically leveraged as an alternative to conducting expensive FEM simulations in order to reduce the computational cost without significantly sacrificing accuracy. However, these methods can produce biased predictions that deviate from those obtained with FEM, since these hybrid FEM-NN approaches rely on approximations trained using physically relevant quantities. In this work, an uncertainty estimation framework is introduced that leverages ensembles of Bayesian neural networks to produce diverse sets of predictions using a hybrid FEM-NN approach that approximates internal forces on a deforming solid body. The uncertainty estimator developed herein reliably infers upper bounds of bias/variance in the predictions for a wide range of interpolation and extrapolation cases using a three-element FEM-NN model of a bar undergoing plastic deformation. This proposed framework offers a powerful tool for assessing the reliability of physics-based surrogate models by establishing uncertainty estimates for predictions spanning a wide range of possible load cases.

New palynological results from the Gafo Formation (southern sector of the Pulo do Lobo Domain, South Portuguese Zone) are integrated with recently studied sections and drillholes from the Portuguese and Spanish sectors. A total of 44 samples were studied, 27 of which were positive for palynomorph taxonomy. This research revealed well preserved palynological assemblages, including 73 spore species allocated to 28 genera, four acritarch genera, three prasinophyte algae genera plus common chitinozoan remains. Some additional forms were retained under open nomenclature. From this, the first complete age determination for the Gafo Formation in Portugal and Spain was achieved, indicating a middle Famennian (Grandispora gracilis–Grandispora famenensis, GF Biozone) to a late Famennian (Grandispora echinata, VH Biozone) age. A greywacke sample from the same Gafo Formation was dated by U–Pb zircon geochronology and a maximum depositional age of 369 ± 2.5 Ma was obtained. A correlation between these palynological and U–Pb zircon data and the palynoflora assemblages of previous authors was made, as well as with the ages of felsic volcanic rocks found intercalated in the Gafo Formation, confirming the complex stratigraphy of Pulo do Lobo Domain. The results are consistent with stratigraphic mapping and structural interpretations, allowing a middle–late Famennian age (GF and VH Biozone) to be assigned to the Gafo Formation sedimentary rocks. This work has also contributed to a reinterpretation of Gafo Formation depositional facies correlatives (e.g. the Santa Barbara Group in Spain) as being the same lithological unit.

Background: The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is a critical intervention in preventing the spread of transmission-based infections in healthcare settings. However, contamination of the skin and clothing of healthcare personnel (HCP) frequently occurs during the doffing of PPE. In fact, nearly 40% of HCP make errors while doffing their PPE, causing them to contaminate themselves. PPE monitors are staff that help to promote their colleagues’ safety by guiding them through the PPE donning and doffing processes. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the UNC Medical Center chose to incorporate PPE monitors as part of its comprehensive COVID-19 prevention strategy, using them in inpatient areas (including COVID-19 containment units and all other units with known or suspected SARS-CoV-2–positive patients), procedural areas, and outpatient clinics. Methods: Infection prevention and nursing developed a PPE monitoring team using redeployed staff from outpatient clinics and inpatient areas temporarily closed because of the pandemic. Employee training took place online and included fundamentals of disease transmission, hand hygiene basics, COVID-19 policies and signage, and videos on proper donning and doffing, including coaching tips. The monitors’ first shifts were supervised by experienced monitors to continue in-place training. Employees had competency sheets signed off by a supervisor. Results: The Medical Center’s nursing house supervisors took over management and deployment of the PPE monitoring team, and infection prevention staff continued to train new members. Eventually, as closed clinics and areas reopened and these PPE monitors returned to their regular positions, areas used their own staff to perform the role of PPE monitor. In the fall of 2020, a facility-wide survey was sent to all inpatient staff to assess their perceptions of the Medical Center’s efforts to protect them from acquiring COVID-19. It included a question asking how much staff agreed or disagreed that PPE monitors “play an important role in keeping our staff who care for COVID-19 patients safe.” Of the 626 staff who answered this question, 67.6% agreed or strongly agreed that PPE monitors played an important role in keeping staff safe. Thus far, there has been no direct transmission or clusters of COVID-19 involving HCP in COVID-19 containment units with PPE monitors. Conclusions: PPE monitors are an important part of a comprehensive COVID-19 prevention strategy. In early 2021, the UNC Medical Center posted and hired paid PPE monitor positions to continue this critical work in a sustainable way.

Funding: No

Disclosures: None

Healthcare workers (HCWs) not fulfilling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case definition underwent severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) screening. Risk of exposure, adherence to personal protective equipment (PPE), and symptoms were assessed. In total, 2,000 HCWs were screened: 5.5% were positive for SARS-CoV-2 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). There were no differences in PPE use between SARS-CoV-2–positive and –negative HCWs (adherence, >90%). Nursing and kitchen staff were independently associated with positive SARS-CoV-2 results.

The authors report, for the first time, the finding by magnetic resonance imaging of a neurofibroma at the craniocervical junction with upper cervical cord and lower brainstem compression causing complete apnea from birth. Subsequent subtotal resection of the neurofibroma resulted in the successful extubation of a previously ventilator-dependent patient. After a two month period of breathing spontaneously, the newborn developed an upper respiratory tract infection and was reintubated. The patient, unable to be weaned off of the respirator, was extubated and expired shortly thereafter, at the age of five months. The authors suggest that in newborns with unexplained apnea, MRI of the craniocervical junction is indicated. Certain patients may be discovered who have less compromised cervicomedullary function and are afflicted by less aggressive forms of neurofibromatosis type 1. These patients may benefit permanently from a surgical decompression.

We have completed a survey down to R = 15 mag of the stars within a circle of 4 arcmin radius around the nominal center of the remnant of SN 1006, one of the three historical Type Ia supernovae (the other two being SN 1572 and SN 1604), in search of a possible surviving binary companion of the white dwarf whose explosion gave rise to the supernova. The stellar parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity), as well as the radial velocities of all the stars, have been measured from spectra obtained with the UVES spectrograph at the VLT, and from the former and the available photometry, distances have been determined. Chemical abundances of the Fe-peak elements Cr, Mn, Co, and Ni have also been measured to check for possible contamination of the stellar surface by the supernova ejecta. The limiting magnitude of the survey would allow us to find stellar companions of the red-giant type, subgiant stars, and main–sequence stars down to F5–6. Unlike in SN 1572, where a subgiant of type G0–1 has been proposed as the companion of SN 1572, for SN 1006 we can discard the possibility that SN 1006 had a red giant or subgiant companion.

To harness the full spectrum of solar energy, optical reflections at the surface of a solar photovoltaic cell must be reduced as much as possible over the relevant solar spectral range and over a wide range of incident angles. The development of antireflection coatings embodying omni-directionality over a wide range of wavelengths is challenging. Recently, nanoporous films, fabricated by oblique-angle deposition and having tailored- and very low-refractive index properties, have been demonstrated. Tailorability of the refractive index and the ability to realize films with a very low-refractive index are properties critical in the performance of broadband, omnidirectional antireflection coatings. As such, nanoporous materials are ideally suited for developing near-perfect antireflection coatings. Here, we discuss multilayer antireflection coatings with near-perfect transmittance over the spectral range of 400−2000 nm and over widely varying angles of acceptance, 0−90°. The calculated solar optical-to-electrical efficiency enhancement that can be attained with nanoporous multilayer coatings over single-layer quarter-wave films is 18%, making these coatings highly attractive for solar cell applications.

The science of extra-solar planets is one of the most rapidly changing areas of astrophysics and since 1995 the number of planets known has increased by almost two orders of magnitude. A combination of ground-based surveys and dedicated space missions has resulted in 560-plus planets being detected, and over 1200 that await confirmation. NASA's Kepler mission has opened up the possibility of discovering Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around some of the 100,000 stars it is surveying during its 3 to 4-year lifetime. The new ESA's Gaia mission is expected to discover thousands of new planets around stars within 200 parsecs of the Sun. The key challenge now is moving on from discovery, important though that remains, to characterisation: what are these planets actually like, and why are they as they are?

In the past ten years, we have learned how to obtain the first spectra of exoplanets using transit transmission and emission spectroscopy. With the high stability of Spitzer, Hubble, and large ground-based telescopes the spectra of bright close-in massive planets can be obtained and species like water vapour, methane, carbon monoxide and dioxide have been detected. With transit science came the first tangible remote sensing of these planetary bodies and so one can start to extrapolate from what has been learnt from Solar System probes to what one might plan to learn about their faraway siblings. As we learn more about the atmospheres, surfaces and near-surfaces of these remote bodies, we will begin to build up a clearer picture of their construction, history and suitability for life.

The Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory, EChO, will be the first dedicated mission to investigate the physics and chemistry of Exoplanetary Atmospheres. By characterising spectroscopically more bodies in different environments we will take detailed planetology out of the Solar System and into the Galaxy as a whole.

EChO has now been selected by the European Space Agency to be assessed as one of four M3 mission candidates.

We have compiled a large number of optical spectra of cool stars taken with different high-resolution echelle spectrographs (R ≃ 40 000). Many of those are available as spectral libraries (Montes et al. 1997, 1998, 1999, <http://www.ucm.es/info/Astrof/invest/actividad/spectra.html)>.

Reactive MBE growth was used to synthesize ferromagnetic Cr-doped GaN and AlN thin films with Curie temperatures above 900K. 2% Cr-doped GaN and 7% Cr-doped AlN were found to have a saturation magnetization moment of 0.42 and 0.6 μB/Cr atom, indicating that ∼14% and ∼20% of the Cr, respectively, are magnetically active. Structural characterization using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) did not find evidence of a ferromagnetic secondary phase. Electrical characterization indicate that the resistivity of the Cr-doped GaN films depends exponentially on temperature as R=Roexp[(To/T)1/2], characteristic of variable range hopping. In contrast, Cr-doped AlN films are highly resistive. Local spin density functional calculations predict that Cr forms a deep level defect in both systems and the t2 level falls approximately at midgap. Our theoretical and experimental results indicate that ferromagnetism in Cr-doped GaN and AlN arises as a result of the double exchange mechanism within the partially filled Cr t2 band.

Attentional modulation of the startle reflex was studied in 16 unmedicated schizophrenia patients and 15 control individuals during the 18F-2-deoxyglucose uptake period for positron emission tomography. In a task involving attended, ignored, and novel tones that served as prepulses, control individuals showed greater prepulse inhibition (PPI) at 120 ms and greater prepulse facilitation at 4,500 ms during attended than during ignored prepulses; the amount of PPI and facilitation during novel prepulses was intermediate. In contrast, patients failed to show differential PPI at 120 ms and tended to show greater facilitation at 4,500 ms during novel prepulses. For control individuals, greater PPI was associated with higher relative metabolic activity rates in prefrontal (Brodmann Areas 8, 9, and 10 bilaterally) and lower in visual cortex. Patients showed this relationship only for Area 10 on the left. Patients also had low metabolism in superior, middle, and inferior prefrontal cortex. Consistent with animal models, our results demonstrate the importance of the functional integrity of prefrontal cortex to PPI modulation.

X-ray Microfluorescence (XRMF) analysis uses a finely collimated beam of X-rays to excite fluorescent radiation in a sample (Nichols & Ryon 1986). Characteristic fluorescent radiation emanating from the small interaction volume element is acquired using an energy dispersive detector placed in close proximity to the sample. The signal from the detector is processed using a computer-based multi-channel analyzer.

XRMF imaging is accomplished by translating the sample through the small X-ray beam in a step or continuous raster mode. As the sample is translated, a pixel by pixel X-ray intensity image is formed for each chemical element in the sample. The resulting digitized image information for each element is stored for subsequent processing and/or display. The images, in the form of elemental maps representing identical areas, may be displayed and color coded by element and/or intensity and then overlayed for spatial correlation.

The present study of parameters affecting the performance of an X-ray microfluorescence system has shown how such systems use X-ray beams with effective spot sizes less than 100 micrometers to bridge the gap in analytical capabilities between predominately surface micro analytical techniques such as SEM/EDX and bulk analytical methods such as standard XRF analysis. The combination of XRMF spectroscopy with digital imaging allows chemical information to be obtained and mapped from surface layers as well as from layers or structures beneath the sample surface. Simultaneously, it provides valuable high resolution chemical information in a readily interpreted visual form which displays the homogeneity within a given layer or structure. XRMF systems retain the advantages of minimal sample preparation, non-destructive analysis and high sensitivity inherent to XRF methods.