South-eastern Scotland Research Articles

Intercomparison of in situ measurements of ambient NH3: instrument performance and application under field conditions

Abstract. Ammonia (NH3) in the atmosphere affects both the environment and human health. It is therefore increasingly recognised by policy makers as an important air pollutant that needs to be mitigated, though it still remains unregulated in many countries. In order to understand the effectiveness of abatement strategies, routine NH3 monitoring is required. Current reference protocols, first developed in the 1990s, use daily samplers with offline analysis; however, there have been a number of technologies developed since, which may be applicable for high time resolution routine monitoring of NH3 at ambient concentrations. The following study is a comprehensive field intercomparison held over an intensively managed grassland in southeastern Scotland using currently available methods that are reported to be suitable for routine monitoring of ambient NH3. In total, 13 instruments took part in the field study, including commercially available technologies, research prototype instruments, and legacy instruments. Assessments of the instruments' precision at low concentrations (< 10 ppb) and at elevated concentrations (maximum reported concentration of 282 ppb) were undertaken. At elevated concentrations, all instruments performed well and with precision (r2 > 0.75). At concentrations below 10 ppb, however, precision decreased, and instruments fell into two distinct groups, with duplicate instruments split across the two groups. It was found that duplicate instruments performed differently as a result of differences in instrument setup, inlet design, and operation of the instrument. New metrological standards were used to evaluate the accuracy in determining absolute concentrations in the field. A calibration-free CRDS optical gas standard (OGS, PTB, DE) served as an instrumental reference standard, and instrument operation was assessed against metrological calibration gases from (i) a permeation system (ReGaS1, METAS, CH) and (ii) primary standard gas mixtures (PSMs) prepared by gravimetry (NPL, UK). This study suggests that, although the OGS gives good performance with respect to sensitivity and linearity against the reference gas standards, this in itself is not enough for the OGS to be a field reference standard, because in field applications, a closed path spectrometer has limitations due to losses to surfaces in sampling NH3, which are not currently taken into account by the OGS. Overall, the instruments compared with the metrological standards performed well, but not every instrument could be compared to the reference gas standards due to incompatible inlet designs and limitations in the gas flow rates of the standards. This work provides evidence that, although NH3 instrumentation have greatly progressed in measurement precision, there is still further work required to quantify the accuracy of these systems under field conditions. It is the recommendation of this study that the use of instruments for routine monitoring of NH3 needs to be set out in standard operating protocols for inlet setup, calibration, and routine maintenance in order for datasets to be comparable.

A 4 year observation of gastrointestinal nematode egg counts, nemabiomes and the benzimidazole resistance genotypes of Teladorsagia circumcincta on a Scottish sheep farm

Anthelmintic resistance threatens the sustainability of sheep production globally. Advice regarding strategies to reduce the development of anthelmintic resistance incorporates the outcomes of modelling exercises. Further understanding of gastrointestinal nematode species diversity, and population dynamics and genetics (which may vary between species) is required to refine these models; and field studies combining faecal egg outputs, species composition and resistance genetics are needed to calibrate them. In this study, faecal samples were taken from ewes and lambs on a commercial farm in south-eastern Scotland at approximately 3 t-4 week intervals between spring and autumn over a period of 4 years. Faecal egg counts were performed on these samples, and L3 were collected from pooled coprocultures. Deep amplicon sequencing was used to determine both the species composition of these L3 and the proportions of benzimidazole-resistant single nucleotide polymorphisms in the isotype-1 β-tubulin locus of the predominant species, Teladorsagia circumcincta L3. Despite consistent management throughout the study, the results show variation in gastrointestinal nematode species composition with time and between age groups, that was potentially associated with weather conditions. The F200Y benzimidazole resistance mutation is close to genetic fixation in the T. circumcincta population on this farm. There was no evidence of variation in isotype-1 β-tubulin single nucleotide polymorphisms frequency between age groups, and no genetic evidence of reversion to benzimidazole susceptibility, despite targeted benzimidazole usage. This study highlights the need to include speciation when investigating gastrointestinal nematode epidemiology and anthelmintic resistance, and serves as an example of how genetic data may be analysed alongside species diversity and faecal egg counts, when markers for other anthelmintic classes are identified.

Multiple Modality in the Lallans Territory: Current Vernacular (Un)acceptability of the Syntax of Modal Combinations in South-Eastern Scotland

This paper has the purpose to provide a greater understanding of the current use of the syntax of Multiple Modals (MMs) also known as Modal Combinations in the Southern part of Scotland. A series of 8 clauses, each containing one particular combination, is proposed in order to determine the acceptability of these combinations or their potential replacement with alternative constructions. The type of sentence written, the current dialectal knowledge of the respondents, and their grammatical preferences will shed the first light on the level of stability of these vernacular constructions on the ancestral territory of MMs in which only very few field surveys have been conducted to date.

A new terrestrial millipede fauna of earliest Carboniferous (Tournaisian) age from southeastern Scotland helps fill ‘Romer's Gap'

ABSTRACTA diverse millipede (diplopod) fauna has been recovered from the earliest Carboniferous (Tournaisian) Ballagan Formation of the Scottish Borders, discovered by the late Stan Wood. The material is generally fragmentary; however, six different taxa are present based on seven specimens. Only one displays enough characters for formal description and is namedWoodesmus sheariRoss, Edgecombe & Clark gen. & sp. nov. The absence of paranota justifies the erection of Woodesmidae fam. nov. within the Archipolypoda. The diverse fauna supports the theory that an apparent lack of terrestrial animal fossils from ‘Romer's Gap' was due to a lack of collecting and suitable deposits, rather than to low oxygen levels as previously suggested.

The UK’s wet and stormy winter of 2013/2014

The <scp>UK</scp>’s wet and stormy winter of 2013/2014

Sheep helminth parasitic disease in south eastern Scotland arising as a possible consequence of climate change

The climate in the UK is changing, with a trend towards increased rainfall in the autumn and winter and warmer average temperatures throughout the year. There has also been a 4-week extension of the herbage growing season over the past 40 years. These changes may have implications for the epidemiology of sheep helminth parasites. Here, we describe production-limiting disease outbreaks caused by Haemonchus contortus, Nematodirus battus, Teladorsagia circumcincta and Fasciola hepatica in sheep flocks in south eastern Scotland. The occurrence and timing of these disease outbreaks could not have been predicted in this region highlighting changes in the epidemiology of helminth infections from the patterns historically described. These cases are used to introduce discussion regarding the potential effects of climate change on the epidemiology of helminth parasites and the implications for sheep farming in the UK.

Surgical management of inguinal hernia: retrospective cohort study in southeastern Scotland, 1985-2001

Inguinal hernia repair (IHR) is the most common general surgical procedure in the United Kingdom, with an estimated 80 000 cases a year. The past decade has seen an increase...

Micromorphological assessment of the effect of liming on faunal excrement in an upland grassland soil

We investigated the impacts of liming on faunal activity over a 2 year period as expressed in excrement in an upland grassland soil. Undisturbed samples for micromorphological analysis were collected in June 1999 and June 2001 from limed and control plots at a research farm in south-eastern Scotland. Thin sections prepared from these samples were analysed using point counting methods with data collated on a horizon basis. Attention focussed on features indicative of faunal activity, viz. excremental pedofeatures and void space. In both limed and control samples, there was a very close association between types of excremental pedofeatures and soil horizons. Excrement from earthworms was mainly found in the LF and H horizons, whilst excrement from enchytraeids was concentrated in the uppermost organo-mineral horizon (Ah). Undifferentiated or fused excrement was the most common, especially in a lower H horizon which also contained phytolith fragments. Over the 2 year period, there was a decline of undifferentiated excrement, and an increase in excrement of earthworm origin in the control plots. Overall it proved difficult to separate the influence of liming from background changes in faunal activity as occurred in the control plots. Despite the heavy application of lime to this upland soil, the effect on earthworm activity was limited to the uppermost organic horizon.

Uncomformity at Siccar Point, Southeastern Scotland

Uncomformity at Siccar Point, Southeastern Scotland

The nature and regional significance of structures in the Gala Group of the Southern Uplands terrane, Berwickshire coast, southeastern Scotland

Structures deforming Llandovery turbidites of the Gala Group in the Southern Uplands terrane are spectacularly exposed in the Berwickshire coastal section, southeastern Scotland. The upward-facing, upright to NW-vergent folds and associated structures appear to record a single regional phase of subhorizontal NW–SE contractional deformation, with a steeply dipping direction of bulk finite extension. These structures are markedly different from those developed in rocks correlated with the Upper Llandovery Hawick Group exposed some 5 km to the south in the Eyemouth–Burnmouth coastal section. Here a highly domainal system of sinistral transpressional strain occurs, with zones of steeply plunging curvilinear folds, clockwise cleavage transection and bedding-parallel sinistral detachment faults. The markedly different bulk strain patterns in the Berwickshire coastal sections are thought to reflect the regionally diachronous nature of transpressional deformation in the Southern Uplands terrane. There are striking similarities in the structures recognized in the Berwickshire coastal sections and those developed in stratigraphically equivalent units along strike in southwestern Scotland and Northern Ireland. This confirms the lateral structural continuity and correlation of tracts and tract boundaries along the entire length of the Southern Uplands terrane. The regional structure suggests that a phase of top-to-the-NW backthrusting and backfolding associated with the southern margin of the Gala Group outcrop marks the transition from orthogonal contraction to sinistral transpression in the Southern Upland thrust wedge during late Llandovery times.

A summary of river water quality data collected within the Land–Ocean Interaction Study: core data for eastern UK rivers draining to the North Sea

A numerical summary of the water quality of rivers draining into the North Sea from the eastern UK is presented using core information collected within the Land–Ocean Interaction Study (LOIS) and a companion study by the Institute of Hydrology. The analysis is based on weekly monitoring for periods from 1993 to 1999 for major, minor, nutrient, trace and other water quality determinand chemistry. The data cover rivers ranging from the rural Tweed in southeastern Scotland, to the urban and industrially impacted Wear and Humber rivers in the north and central England and two agriculturally impacted rivers in the south of England (Great Ouse and Thames). Within the analysis, monthly averaged concentrations are plotted to show the seasonality. The summary provides specific information on the water quality of UK rivers which is of use in developing European and global initiatives for assessing pollutant inputs to estuarine, coastal and open-sea environments.

Late Holocene human impact on the vegetation of southeastern Scotland: a pollen diagram from Dogden Moss, Berwickshire

This paper presents a pollen diagram from Dogden Moss in Berwickshire which provides the first detailed record of human impact on vegetation in southeastern Scotland between the Bronze Age and the present day. The radiocarbon-dated pollen profile correlates with archaeological and historical records and suggests that the first extensive clearance of woodland occurred in the Iron Age and that this was a massive event during which the landscape was almost totally cleared of forest. Following a period of more subdued vegetation change, a renewed clearance occurred in early historical times which was associated with Monastic settlement and agriculture. Landscape and agricultural improvements which took place during the eighteenth and nineteenth century A.D. also had a dramatic impact on woodland composition and extent.

A Note on, 'The Building of the Legionary Fortress of Inchtuthil'

Elizabeth A.M. Shirley has recently made a valuable attempt to estimate the amount of material and labour used in the construction of the fortress.107 It is probable that the Roman builders adopted an empirical approach to the design and construction of their buildings, and would quickly have learnt that weather conditions in the North of Britain were different from those in the Mediterranean provinces. Rook108 quotes evidence for a pitch of about 20 degrees for tegula and imbrex roofs in Italy. The pitch of any roof has to take into account the nature of its covering and the exposure rating; usually the more exposed the position and greater the rainfall the steeper the pitch. Roofs steeper than 35 degrees generally present sufficient exposure for there to be positive pressure on the exposed face and suction on the lee face. However, with slopes of less than 30 degrees the windward pitch can be subject to severe suction or negative pressure, and is not less prone to windward uplift as stated by Shirley.109 The other factors to be taken into account are wind speed parameters. These vary considerably over the country and can be 37 m/sec in the South-East of England, to 50 m/sec in South-Eastern Scotland.1 10 There is a little evidence for the pitches of tiled roofs in Roman Britain; the aisled roofs to the building at Meonstoke1 being c. 20 degrees, and the roof to the villa at Redlands Farm1 12 laid to 22.5 degrees, both sites being in sheltered positions in southern England. Evidence from the fourthto fifth-century basilica churches in North Syria,'113 which had tiled roofs, shows a consistent roof pitch of c. 30 degrees. This pitch was used, rather than the lower pitch of c. 15 degrees reflecting that of the Greek pediment which would have conformed with the strong Hellenistic traditions114 inherited by the province. The implication must be that the pitch of the roof was dictated by practical as well as probable cultural considerations. Brodribb has shown that few tegulae had nail-holes formed in their surfaces,115 the great majority having none. The tegulae, therefore, remained in position on a boarded surface by virtue of their own weight.I11

Age‐related effects of a nonbreeding event and a winter wreck on the survival of Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis

During 1993, about half the adult Shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis alive on the Isle of May, southeastern Scotland, failed to breed. The proportion not breeding was highest (66%) for individuals aged 14–21 years and lowest (12%) for those aged 3–6 years. In February 1994, a prolonged spell of onshore winds resulted in a wreck of these adults such that overwinter survival was reduced from the normal 88% to 14.7%. The age‐specific pattern of survival over this winter differed from previous years, with birds aged less than 7 years and more than 16 years surviving less well and middle‐aged individuals surviving better than expected. Whether an individual had bred or not in 1993 had little effect on the chances of survival of the youngest and oldest individuals, as most died. However, among Shags aged 12–15 years, those which had bred survived markedly less well than those which had not, indicating that there had been some cost involved to birds in breeding in 1993.

Colony Attendance Patterns and Recruitment in Immature Common Murres (Uria aalge)

The behavior of immature Common Murres (Uria aalge) two to seven years of age was studied at a colony in southeastern Scotland during two breeding seasons. Immatures tended to arrive progressively earlier in the season as they aged, and were seen at the colony more frequently. Timing of final departure from the colony did not vary between cohorts. Within a day, five-year-old birds spent longer at the colony in the early part of the breeding season compared to later. Immature Common Murres seen at the colony in previous breeding seasons arrived earlier, were seen more often, and were more likely to attempt to breed than birds of the same age that had not been seen before. Overall, recruits invested almost triple the amount of time in colony attendance in the prelaying period than nonrecruits of the same age. Among birds of the same age seen in both 1990 and 1991, those arriving earlier and seen more often in 1990 were more likely to attempt to breed in 1991. The great majority of birds attending clubs on intertidal rocks were two- or three-year-olds. Some two- and three-year-olds, and almost all older immatures, were found on ledges above the breeding area of the colony. Three-year-olds that showed a shift in the course of a season between attending at sea rocks and attending on or above the colony almost all shifted from sea rocks to on or above the colony. Older immatures visited fewer breeding subcolonies within a season compared to younger birds. However, most immatures attending areas/ledges on or above breeding ledges were sedentary, visiting only one subcolony. We recorded 69% of immatures in 1990 and 64% in 1991 primarily attending their natal subcolony. Also, 57% of birds breeding for the first time recruited to their natal subcolonies. These frequencies were greatly in excess of those expected if birds were dispersing randomly. Age did not affect the liklihood of attending the natal subcolony, but in one cohort immatures seen in previous season(s) were significantly more likely to attend their natal subcolony than birds not seen previously.

A cross-sectional study of glomerular function in 740 unselected lithium patients.

Creatinine clearance was estimated using a formulaic method from serum creatinine, age and sex in 740 unselected lithium-treated patients in southeastern Scotland. Psychiatric history and details of prescribing and monitoring of lithium treatment were obtained from existing case registers. Lithium treatment duration and glomerular filtration, controlling for the effects of age, were weakly related, but only in males. Cases who had been exposed to higher serum lithium concentrations had lower creatinine clearance than those maintained within therapeutic range. Of cases within the lowest quartile of renal function, proportionally more were supervised in general practice rather than at hospital clinics. Suggestions are made for the clinical practice of monitoring serum lithium concentrations and serum creatinine.

Late caledonian lamprophyre dyke swarms of South-Eastern Scotland

Cale-alkaline lamprophyre (minette) dykes in the eastern Southern Uplands of Scotland form part of a swarm nearly parallel to the inferred Iapetus Suture, stretching from the Ards Peninsula of Northern Ireland to St. Abbs Head in the east. The dykes are clustered close to several small granitoid bosses, but appear to be younger than the plutons and their associated porphyrite-porphyry dykes. Mica- (minette and kersantitic-minette) and hornblende-lamprophyres are present further west near Hawick where no intermediate-acid plutons or dykes occur. The lamprophyres have enrichments in LILE and LREE and relative depletions of HFS elements typical of subduction-related ultrapotassic magmas. These incompatible element enrichments are present in rocks with high Mg number and Ni and Cr contents, which combined with experimental constraints, their fine-grained nature and presence of chilled margins, imply a near-primary status for the least evolved varieties. High values of LREE, LILE, La/Nb, La/Yb, s Sr and low ɛ Nd imply derivation from a previously metasomatised source. The minettes were probably derived from a source containing garnet and phlogopite, and the hornblende varieties from a shallower source in the stability field of amphibole. The minettes of the eastern Southern Uplands have not provided a parental component to the 410 Ma. granitoids which were derived from a more depleted source. The similarity of the lamprophyres to those in the Lake District south of the Iapetus Suture is taken to indicate underthrusting of Lake District lithosphere beneath the Southern Uplands. Emplacement of lamprophyre dyke swarms is likely to be structurally controlled, and the presence of the main swarm in the Southern Uplands may indicate the sub-surface trace of the Iapetus Suture.

Subsistence strategies at a mesolithic camp site: Evidence from stable isotope analyses of shells

Hypotheses concerning shellfish-gathering strategies at the temporary Mesolithic camp of Morton in southeastern Scotland are developed, based on principles of time scheduling. The modelling gives prominence to the function of settlements in determining strategies appropriate to the situation. The hypotheses are tested on the data by means of stable isotope analysis of both 18 O 16 O ratios and 13 C 12 C ratios and by growth-line analysis of shell material.

Microcomputers in Occupational Therapy Departments: The Therapeutic Application

In response to the developments in technology relevant to occupational therapy and the provision by the Department of Trade and Industry of microcomputers for evaluation, it was decided that current use should be investigated in order to facilitate planning for student training. A localized study, centred in south-eastern Scotland, was carried out by Clephane Hume and Mora Reid in November last year, when the first DTI computers had been placed in Scotland. This report discusses the factors hindering development, and lists the present and potential applications of microcomputers as shown by the study. It concludes that the therapist of the future must be aware of the therapeutic potential of the microcomputer.

The pre-palaeozoic basement in south-eastern Scotland and the southern uplands fault

The pre-palaeozoic basement in south-eastern Scotland and the southern uplands fault