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 SPARC tokamak is a critical next step towards commercial fusion energy. SPARC is designed as a high-field ($B_0 = 12.2$ T), compact ($R_0 = 1.85$ m, $a = 0.57$ m), superconducting, D-T tokamak with the goal of producing fusion gain $Q>2$ from a magnetically confined fusion plasma for the first time. Currently under design, SPARC will continue the high-field path of the Alcator series of tokamaks, utilizing new magnets based on rare earth barium copper oxide high-temperature superconductors to achieve high performance in a compact device. The goal of $Q>2$ is achievable with conservative physics assumptions ($H_{98,y2} = 0.7$) and, with the nominal assumption of $H_{98,y2} = 1$, SPARC is projected to attain $Q \approx 11$ and $P_{\textrm {fusion}} \approx 140$ MW. SPARC will therefore constitute a unique platform for burning plasma physics research with high density ($\langle n_{e} \rangle \approx 3 \times 10^{20}\ \textrm {m}^{-3}$), high temperature ($\langle T_e \rangle \approx 7$ keV) and high power density ($P_{\textrm {fusion}}/V_{\textrm {plasma}} \approx 7\ \textrm {MW}\,\textrm {m}^{-3}$) relevant to fusion power plants. SPARC's place in the path to commercial fusion energy, its parameters and the current status of SPARC design work are presented. This work also describes the basis for global performance projections and summarizes some of the physics analysis that is presented in greater detail in the companion articles of this collection.

SPARC is being designed to operate with a normalized beta of $\beta _N=1.0$, a normalized density of $n_G=0.37$ and a safety factor of $q_{95}\approx 3.4$, providing a comfortable margin to their respective disruption limits. Further, a low beta poloidal $\beta _p=0.19$ at the safety factor $q=2$ surface reduces the drive for neoclassical tearing modes, which together with a frozen-in classically stable current profile might allow access to a robustly tearing-free operating space. Although the inherent stability is expected to reduce the frequency of disruptions, the disruption loading is comparable to and in some cases higher than that of ITER. The machine is being designed to withstand the predicted unmitigated axisymmetric halo current forces up to 50 MN and similarly large loads from eddy currents forced to flow poloidally in the vacuum vessel. Runaway electron (RE) simulations using GO+CODE show high flattop-to-RE current conversions in the absence of seed losses, although NIMROD modelling predicts losses of ${\sim }80$ %; self-consistent modelling is ongoing. A passive RE mitigation coil designed to drive stochastic RE losses is being considered and COMSOL modelling predicts peak normalized fields at the plasma of order $10^{-2}$ that rises linearly with a change in the plasma current. Massive material injection is planned to reduce the disruption loading. A data-driven approach to predict an oncoming disruption and trigger mitigation is discussed.

Brochuchus is a small crocodylid originally based on specimens from the early Miocene of Rusinga Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya. Here, we report occurrences of Brochuchus from several early and middle Miocene sites. Some are from the Lake Victoria region, and others are in the Lake Turkana Basin. Specimens from the middle Miocene Maboko locality form the basis of a new species, Brochuchus parvidens, which has comparatively smaller maxillary alveoli. Because of the smaller alveoli, the teeth appear to be more widely spaced in the new species. We also provide a revised diagnosis for Brochuchus and its type species, B. pigotti. A phylogenetic analysis supports a close relationship between Brochuchus and tube-snouted Euthecodon, but although relationships among crocodylids appear poorly resolved in the set of optimal trees, this is because Brochuchus and Euthecodon, along with early Miocene “Crocodylus” gariepensis from the early Miocene of Namibia, jointly adopt two distinct positions—either closely related to the living sharp-nosed crocodile (Mecistops) or to a group including the living dwarf crocodiles (Osteolaemus). Character support for a close relationship with Mecistops is problematic, and we suspect a closer relationship to Osteolaemus will be recovered with improved sampling, but the results here are ambiguous. In either case, Brochuchus is more closely related to living groups not currently found in East Africa. This material helps constrain the timing of crocodylian faunal turnover in the East African Rift Valley System, with endemic lineages largely being replaced by Crocodylus in the middle or late Miocene possibly in response to regional xerification and the replacement of continuous rainforest cover with open grasslands and savannas.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/e6f0b219-5f3e-44e5-bdb9-60a4fae8d126

Surveillance systems for varicella in Europe are highly heterogeneous or completely absent. We estimated the varicella incidence based on seroprevalence data, as these data are largely available and not biased by under-reporting or underascertainment. We conducted a systematic literature search for varicella serological data in Europe prior to introduction of universal varicella immunization. Age-specific serological data were pooled by country and serological profiles estimated using the catalytic model with piecewise constant force of infection. From the estimated profiles, we derived the annual incidence of varicella infection (/100·000) for six age groups (<5, 5–9, 10–14, 15–19, 20–39 and 40–65 years). In total, 43 studies from 16 countries were identified. By the age of 15 years, over 90% of the population has been infected by varicella in all countries except for Greece (86·6%) and Italy (85·3%). Substantial variability across countries exists in the age-specific annual incidence of varicella primary infection among the <5 years old (from 7052 to 16 122 per 100 000) and 5–9 years old (from 3292 to 11 798 per 100 000). The apparent validity and robustness of our estimates highlight the importance of serological data for the characterization of varicella epidemiology, even in the absence of sampling or assay standardization.

We describe the current, 9-spacecraft Interplanetary Network (IPN). The IPN detects about325 gamma-ray bursts per year, of which about 100 are not localized by any other missions.We give some examples of how the data, which are public, can be utilized.

An efficient synthetic route for the synthesis of carcerands derived from tetramethylchlorocavitands and its tetraesters derivative were synthesized. A large-scale preparation was achieved in good yield. These carcerands are in bridging unit between oxygen atoms, i.e. contains a 3,5 dihydroxybencyl alcohol units. 1H, and 13C NMR in solution, FTIR, UV-vis spectroscopy, MS-FAB+ spectrometry and elemental analysis confirmed the structure of this carcerands.

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.

During Easter 2009, almost 200 people resident in a small Swedish village fell ill with gastrointestinal symptoms. We conducted a retrospective cohort study and a molecular investigation in order to identify the source of the outbreak. Residents living in households connected to the public water network were at an increased risk of developing disease (relative risk 4·80, 95% confidence interval 1·68–13·73) compared to those with no connection to the public network. Norovirus genotype GI.3 was identified in stool samples from six patients and in a sample from the public water network. Contamination of one of the wells supplying the public water network was thought to be the source of the outbreak. This is a description of a norovirus outbreak linked to a municipal drinking-water supply in Sweden. Information from epidemiological and molecular investigations is of utmost importance to guide outbreak control measures and to prevent future outbreaks.

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.

A well known result is that many of the tests used in econometrics, such as the Rao score (RS) test, may not be robust to misspecified alternatives, that is, when the alternative model does not correspond to the underlying data generating process. Under this scenario, these tests spuriously reject the null hypothesis too often. We generalize this result to generalized method of moments–based (GMM-based) tests. We also extend the method proposed in Bera and Yoon (1993, Econometric Theory 9, 649–658) for constructing RS tests that are robust to local misspecification to GMM-based tests. Finally, a further generalization for general estimating and testing functions is developed. This framework encompasses both likelihood and GMM-based results.

Ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) with AlxGa1−xN/AlyGa1−yN multiple quantum well (MQW) active regions, doped in the barriers with different Si doping level, show a sharp near band-edge emission (UV luminescence). Besides the near band-edge emission, some samples also show parasitic emissions with a broad peak centered at about 520 nm (green luminescence). The EL intensities of the UV emission line and the green emission line are studied. The UV luminescence peak intensity increases superlinearly with the injection current, following a power law with an exponent of about 2.0. In contrast, the green luminescence peak intensity increases linearly with the injection current, with an exponent of about 1.0. A theoretical model is proposed to explain the relationship between the peak intensities and the injection current. The results obtained from the model are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. The model provides a method to evaluate the dominant recombination process by measuring the exponent of the power-law dependence.

Nanoparticle-loaded encapsulants provide unique optical and material properties for the enhancement of light extraction efficiency in light-emitting diodes (LEDs). We report on the uniform dispersion of TiO2 nanoparticles with average diameter of 40 nm in epoxy, and the demonstration of a refractive index (n)of 1.68 at 400 nm wavelength, higher than that of pure epoxy (n = 1.53). It is found that proper chemical surfactants and nanoparticle preparation are critical to eliminate agglomeration of nanoparticles. Theoretical analysis of optical scattering in nanoparticle-loaded encapsulation materials reveals that although the size and loading factor of nanoparticles greatly influence scattering, specular transparency of the encapsulant film occurs if the thicknesses of the films are kept below the optical scattering length. Furthermore, the encapsulants benefit from an optimized scattering coefficient as demonstrated by three-dimensional ray-tracing simulations showing light extraction efficiency enhancements greater than 50%.

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.

Low-temperature crystallization of a-Si is important for display and Silicon-On- Insulator (SOT) technologies. We present optical characterization (Raman scattering and photoluminescence) of H2 and O2 plasma enhanced crystallization of a-Si:H films. H2 plasma treatment is shown to be the most efficient, leading to larger grain sizes, and both H2 and O2 plasma lead to visible photoluminescence (PL). Recently, the PL of re-crystallized a-Si films has been explained in terms of quantum confinement [1]. The mean size of the crystallites in our re-crystallized films is determined by Raman scattering for different treatments parameters. No correlation between size and the photon energy of the visible emission is found. However, we can clearly distinguish between the PL from purely amorphous and re-crystallized a-Si:H films: Their PL temperature dependence and spectra are very different. The origin of the visible PL in re-crystallized thin Si films is discussed.

NiZr powders produced by mechanical alloying become active NO decomposition catalysts after an activation period in reaction conditions. Although the initially glassy structure exhibits a high activity, the NiZr powder becomes temporarily inactive. After about 10 hours in reaction conditions at 673 K, the powder again becomes active with a lower, but still substantial turnover frequency for NO decomposition. Oxygen produced by the reaction appears to be consumed by the catalyst during this second period of activity.