The First Large Absorption Survey in H i (FLASH) is a large-area radio survey for neutral hydrogen in and around galaxies in the intermediate redshift range 0.4 < z < 1.0, using the 21-cm H i absorption line as a probe of cold neutral gas. The survey uses the ASKAP radio telescope and will cover 24,000 deg2 of sky over the next five years. FLASH breaks new ground in two ways – it is the first large H i absorption survey to be carried out without any optical preselection of targets, and we use an automated Bayesian line-finding tool to search through large datasets and assign a statistical significance to potential line detections. Two Pilot Surveys, covering around 3000 deg2 of sky, were carried out in 2019-22 to test and verify the strategy for the full FLASH survey. The processed data products from these Pilot Surveys (spectral-line cubes, continuum images, and catalogues) are public and available online. In this paper, we describe the FLASH spectral-line and continuum data products and discuss the quality of the H i spectra and the completeness of our automated line search. Finally, we present a set of 30 new H i absorption lines that were robustly detected in the Pilot Surveys, almost doubling the number of known H i absorption systems at 0.4 < z < 1. The detected lines span a wide range in H i optical depth, including three lines with a peak optical depth τ > 1, and appear to be a mixture of intervening and associated systems. Interestingly, around two-thirds of the lines found in this untargeted sample are detected against sources with a peaked-spectrum radio continuum, which are only a minor (5-20%) fraction of the overall radio-source population. The detection rate for H i absorption lines in the Pilot Surveys (0.3 to 0.5 lines per 40 deg2 ASKAP field) is a factor of two below the expected value. One possible reason for this is the presence of a range of spectral-line artefacts in the Pilot Survey data that have now been mitigated and are not expected to recur in the full FLASH survey. A future paper in this series will discuss the host galaxies of the H i absorption systems identified here.

Geoarchaeological research as part of the AHRC funded Living with Monuments (LwM) project investigated the upper Kennet river system across the Avebury World Heritage landscape. The results demonstrate that in the early–mid-Holocene (c. 9500–1000 bc) there was very low erosion of disturbed soils into the floodplain, with floodplain deposits confined to a naturally forming bedload fluvial deposit aggrading in a shallow channel of inter-linked deeper pools. At the time of the Neolithic monument building in the 4th–early 3rd millennium bc, the river was wide and shallow with areas of presumed braid plain. Between c. 4000 and 1000 bc, a human induced signature of soil erosion became a minor component of fluvial sedimentation in the Kennet palaeo-channel but it was small scale and localised. This strongly suggests that there is little evidence of widespread woodland removal associated with Neolithic farming and monument building, despite the evidently large timber requirements for Neolithic sites like the West Kennet palisade enclosures. Consequently, there was relatively light human disturbance of the hinterland and valley slopes over the longue durée until the later Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, with a predominance of pasture over arable land. Rather than large Neolithic monument complexes being constructed within woodland clearings, representing ancestral and sacred spaces, the substantially much more open landscape provided a suitable landscape with areas of sarsen spreads potentially easily visible. During the period c. 3000–1000 bc, the sediment load within the channel slowly increased with alluvial deposition of increasingly humic silty clays across the valley floor. However, this only represents small-scale landscape disturbance. It is from the Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age when the anthropogenic signal of human driven alluviation becomes dominant and overtakes the bedload fluvial signal across the floodplain, with localised colluvial deposits on the floodplain margins. Subsequently, the alluvial archive describes more extensive human impact across this landscape, including the disturbance of loessic-rich soils in the catchment. The deposition of floodplain wide alluvium continues throughout the Roman, medieval, and post-medieval periods, correlating with the development of a low-flow, single channel, with alluvial sediments describing a decreasing energy in the depositional environment.

Endemic island species are of conservation interest as unique taxa, often with restricted populations, but many are data poor. The Mangaia kingfisher Todiramphus ruficollaris, known locally as the tanga‘eo, is endemic to the island of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, and categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The population size has not been estimated since 1996, despite concerns over habitat loss and competition with an invasive species, the common myna Acridotheres tristis. We provide new population estimates for both the tanga‘eo and the common myna, using the same methodology as previous estimates. During December 2018–February 2019 we surveyed with distance sampling along 73 line transects walked across the six habitat types on Mangaia. We estimate there are 4,106 tanga‘eo on Mangaia (95% CI 3,191–5,283), a dramatic 7–8 fold increase compared to the previous estimate of 393–764. We estimate there are 13,350 common myna (95% CI 10,998–16,206), a slight increase, although densities in the two most favoured habitats for myna have declined. There is no evidence that the common myna poses a threat to the viability of the tanga‘eo population, as the latter has increased despite a much larger population of common myna. Presumed declines in the tanga‘eo population in the past were probably a result of habitat loss as a result of the cultivation of pineapples Ananas comosus for export, an industry that collapsed in the 1980s. We recommend a review of the IUCN Red List status of the tanga‘eo.

The Children of the Twins Early Development Study (CoTEDS) is a new prospective children-of-twins study in the UK, designed to investigate intergenerational associations across child developmental stages. CoTEDS will enable research on genetic and environmental factors that underpin parent–child associations, with a focus on mental health and cognitive-related traits. Through CoTEDS, we will have a new lens to examine the roles that parents play in influencing child development, as well as the genetic and environmental factors that shape parenting behavior and experiences. Recruitment is ongoing from the sample of approximately 20,000 contactable adult twins who have been enrolled in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) since infancy. TEDS twins are invited to register all offspring to CoTEDS at birth, with 554 children registered as of May 2019. By recruiting the second generation of TEDS participants, CoTEDS will include information on adult twins and their offspring from infancy. Parent questionnaire-based data collection is now underway for 1- and 2-year-old CoTEDS infants, with further waves of data collection planned. Current data collection includes the following primary constructs: child mental health, temperament, language and cognitive development; parent mental health and social relationships; parenting behaviors and feelings; and other socioecological factors. Measurement tools have been selected with reference to existing genetically informative cohort studies to ensure overlap in phenotypes measured at corresponding stages of development. This built-in study overlap is intended to enable replication and triangulation of future analyses across samples and research designs. Here, we summarize study protocols and measurement procedures and describe future plans.

Implicit programming (IP) mechanisms infer values by type-directed resolution, making programs more compact and easier to read. Examples of IP mechanisms include Haskell’s type classes, Scala’s implicits, Agda’s instance arguments, Coq’s type classes and Rust’s traits. The design of IP mechanisms has led to heated debate: proponents of one school argue for the desirability of strong reasoning properties, while proponents of another school argue for the power and flexibility of local scoping or overlapping instances. The current state of affairs seems to indicate that the two goals are at odds with one another and cannot easily be reconciled. This paper presents COCHIS, the Calculus Of CoHerent ImplicitS, an improved variant of the implicit calculus that offers flexibility while preserving two key properties: coherence and stability of type substitutions. COCHIS supports polymorphism, local scoping, overlapping instances, first-class instances and higher-order rules, while remaining type-safe, coherent and stable under type substitution. We introduce a logical formulation of how to resolve implicits, which is simple but ambiguous and incoherent, and a second formulation, which is less simple but unambiguous, coherent and stable. Every resolution of the second formulation is also a resolution of the first, but not conversely. Parts of the second formulation bear a close resemblance to a standard technique for proof search called focusing. Moreover, key for its coherence is a rigorous enforcement of determinism.

Greenhouse experiments were conducted to elucidate the effects of water stress on photosynthetic parameters of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ‘Hutton′] and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medik. # ABUTH). Stomatal conductance of both species responded curvilinearly to reductions in leaf water potential. At leaf water potentials less negative than −2.5 MPa, stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, and transpiration rate were greater in velvetleaf than in soybean. Soybean photosynthetic rate was linearly related to stomatal conductance. Velvetleaf photosynthetic rate increased linearly with stomatal conductances up to 1.5 cm s–1; however, no increase in photosynthetic rate was observed at stomatal conductances greater than 1.5 cm s–1, indicating nonstomatal limitations to photosynthesis. As water stress intensified, stomatal conductance, photosynthetic rate, and transpiration of velvetleaf declined more rapidly than in soybean.

In a 2-yr field study conducted on a Weswood silt loam soil (Fluventic Ustochrepts), interspecific competition between soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr. ‘Hutton′] and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medik. # ABUTH) resulted in greater than 40 and 50% reductions in soybean and velvetleaf seed yield, respectively. Leaf area index, number of mainstem nodes, total number of leaves, and plant dry weight of monocultured and intercropped velvetleaf differed significantly as early as 4 weeks after emergence. Interspecific competition had litttle or no effect on soybean morphology before 8 weeks after emergence. Soil water extraction occurred to 1-m depths in a monoculture of velvetleaf (five plants/m2) in 1984 and 1985. Monocultured soybeans (32.5 plants/m2) extracted water from a 1.5-m or greater depth of the soil profile during the same years. Soil water extraction in the intercropped plots resembled that of the monocultured velvetleaf treatment until soybeans attained R6, when soil water was extracted to a 1.5-m depth. The potential for interspecific competition for water existed early in the season before late-season soybean root development. Relative water content and leaf water potential (Ψw1) did not differ (0.05) between monocultured and intercropped soybeans in 1984 or 1985. In 1985, Ψw1 differed between monocultured and intercropped velvetleaf during anthesis. Leaf water potential values in the youngest, fully expanded leaves were approximately 0.3 and 0.4 MPa lower during midmorning and midday hours, respectively, in intercropped and monocultured velvetleaf. Transpiration and stomatal conductance did not differ between monocultured and intercropped soybeans or velvetleaf at any time during 1984. Photosynthetic and transpiration rates, stomatal conductance, and Ψw1 were lower in intercropped than in monocultured velvetleaf during anthesis in 1985, suggesting interspecific competition for soil water. Soybean water relations were not affected in either year. The data suggest that soybean yield reductions in soybean-velvetleaf interspecific competition are attributable to resource limitations other than water in south-central Texas.

This paper presents recently collected swath bathymetry from the Firth of Lorn. 553 km2 of data were collected during 2012–2013 as part of the INIS Hydro (Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland Hydrographic Survey) programme.

The area proves to consist of bedrock-dominated seabed, divided into narrow, stratigraphically-constrained and glacially-over-deepened basins. The bedrock is composed of late Proterozoic Dalradian metasediments overlain unconformably by Old Red Sandstone (ORS) sediments and lavas of ?Silurian-age. The central region of the Firth of Lorn is dominated by a vertical cliff, up to 150 m high and extending for approximately 24 km. This feature, here termed the Insh Fault, may have originated as a Dalradian extensional fault, been reactivated as an ORS feature and now forms a fault-line scarp with resistant ORS rocks on the downthrown side, flanking the more deeply eroded metasediments exposed in the basin. Tertiary intrusives are common, in particular, swarms of Paleocene dolerite dykes exposed on the sediment-free bedrock surfaces, and can be traced for many kilometres.

Evidence for past glaciation is widespread, manifest in the extensive erosion of the bedrock platforms and the abundance of well-preserved moraines and over-deepened basins. The survey region includes the Corryvreckan Whirlpool and Great Race, beneath the tidal flows of which occur submarine dunes.

Renewed in-depth multi-disciplinary investigation of a large coastal mound settlement in Peru has extended the occupation back more than 7000 years to a first human exploitation ~13720 BP. Research by the authors has chronicled the prehistoric sequence from the activities of the first maritime foragers to the construction of the black mound and the introduction of horticulture and monumentality. The community of Huaca Prieta emerges as innovative, complex and ritualised, as yet with no antecedents.

This report summarises a workshop convened by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) on 14 October 2008 to discuss current FSA-funded research on carbohydrates and cardiovascular health. The objective of this workshop was to discuss the results of recent research and to identify any areas which could inform future FSA research calls. This workshop highlighted that the FSA is currently funding some of the largest, well-powered intervention trials investigating the type of fat and carbohydrate, whole grains and fruit and vegetables, on various CVD risk factors. Results of these trials will make a substantive contribution to the evidence on diet and cardiovascular risk.