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In this article David Gee, the Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS), describes the recent two year ‘IALS Transformation Project’ that Charles Clore House at 17 Russell Square has undergone and the benefits for the Institute and its library that have resulted from the refurbishment work that has been carried out. He looks at the aims of the project, explains how a continuity of services and activities during the works has been assured and how the transformation of the building meets the needs of the postgraduate law students and legal researchers of today.

Groundwater variation can cause land-surface movement, which in turn can cause significant and recurrent harm to infrastructure and the water storage capacity of aquifers. The capital cities in the England (London) and India (Delhi) are witnessing an ever-increasing population that has resulted in excess pressure on groundwater resources. Thus, monitoring groundwater-induced land movement in both these cities is very important in terms of understanding the risk posed to assets. Here, Sentinel-1 C-band radar images and the persistent scatterer interferometric synthetic aperture radar (PSInSAR) methodology are used to study land movement for London and National Capital Territory (NCT)-Delhi from October 2016 to December 2020. The land movement velocities were found to vary between −24 and +24 mm/year for London and between −18 and +30 mm/year for NCT-Delhi. This land movement was compared with observed groundwater levels, and spatio-temporal variation of groundwater and land movement was studied in conjunction. It was broadly observed that the extraction of a large quantity of groundwater leads to land subsidence, whereas groundwater recharge leads to uplift. A mathematical model was used to quantify land subsidence/uplift which occurred due to groundwater depletion/rebound. This is the first study that compares C-band PSInSAR-derived land subsidence response to observed groundwater change for London and NCT-Delhi during this time-period. The results of this study could be helpful to examine the potential implications of ground-level movement on the resource management, safety, and economics of both these cities.

This is the latest report analysing the results of the annual Academic Law Library Survey that is jointly sponsored by the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) and the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL). It has been compiled and written by David Gee, Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, a part of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London.

This is the latest report analysing the results of the Society of Legal Scholars and BIALL Survey. It has been written by David Gee, Deputy Librarian at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Food packaging is of high societal value because it conserves and protects food, makes food transportable and conveys information to consumers. It is also relevant for marketing, which is of economic significance. Other types of food contact articles, such as storage containers, processing equipment and filling lines, are also important for food production and food supply. Food contact articles are made up of one or multiple different food contact materials and consist of food contact chemicals. However, food contact chemicals transfer from all types of food contact materials and articles into food and, consequently, are taken up by humans. Here we highlight topics of concern based on scientific findings showing that food contact materials and articles are a relevant exposure pathway for known hazardous substances as well as for a plethora of toxicologically uncharacterized chemicals, both intentionally and non-intentionally added. We describe areas of certainty, like the fact that chemicals migrate from food contact articles into food, and uncertainty, for example unidentified chemicals migrating into food. Current safety assessment of food contact chemicals is ineffective at protecting human health. In addition, society is striving for waste reduction with a focus on food packaging. As a result, solutions are being developed toward reuse, recycling or alternative (non-plastic) materials. However, the critical aspect of chemical safety is often ignored. Developing solutions for improving the safety of food contact chemicals and for tackling the circular economy must include current scientific knowledge. This cannot be done in isolation but must include all relevant experts and stakeholders. Therefore, we provide an overview of areas of concern and related activities that will improve the safety of food contact articles and support a circular economy. Our aim is to initiate a broader discussion involving scientists with relevant expertise but not currently working on food contact materials, and decision makers and influencers addressing single-use food packaging due to environmental concerns. Ultimately, we aim to support science-based decision making in the interest of improving public health. Notably, reducing exposure to hazardous food contact chemicals contributes to the prevention of associated chronic diseases in the human population.

Tropical peatland across Southeast Asia is drained extensively for production of pulpwood, palm oil and other food crops. Associated increases in peat decomposition have led to widespread subsidence, deterioration of peat condition and CO 2 emissions. However, quantification of subsidence and peat condition from these processes is challenging due to the scale and inaccessibility of dense tropical peat swamp forests. The development of satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has the potential to solve this problem. The Advanced Pixel System using Intermittent Baseline Subset (APSIS, formerly ISBAS) modelling technique provides improved coverage across almost all land surfaces irrespective of ground cover, enabling derivation of a time series of tropical peatland surface oscillations across whole catchments. This study aimed to establish the extent to which APSIS-InSAR can monitor seasonal patterns of tropical peat surface oscillations at North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest, Peninsular Malaysia. Results showed that C-band SAR could penetrate the forest canopy over tropical peat swamp forests intermittently and was applicable to a range of land covers. Therefore the APSIS technique has the potential for monitoring peat surface oscillations under tropical forest canopy using regularly acquired C-band Sentinel-1 InSAR data, enabling continuous monitoring of tropical peatland surface motion at a spatial resolution of 20 m.

Throughout the high Arctic, from northern Canada (Pearya) to eastern Greenland, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Taimyr and Severnaya Zemlya and, at lower Arctic latitudes, in the Urals and the Scandinavian Caledonides, there is evidence of the Grenville–Sveconorwegian Orogen. The latest orogenic phase (c. 950 Ma) is well exposed in the Arctic, but only minor Mesoproterozoic fragments of this orogen occur on land. However, detrital zircons in Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic successions provide unambiguous Mesoproterozoic to earliest Neoproterozoic (c. 950 Ma) signatures. This evidence strongly suggests that the Grenville–Sveconorwegian Orogen continues northwards from type areas in southeastern Canada and southwestern Scandinavia, via the North Atlantic margins to the high Arctic continental shelves. The widespread distribution of late Mesoproterozoic detrital zircons far to the north of the Grenville–Sveconorwegian type areas is usually explained in terms of long-distance transport (thousands of kilometres) of either sediments by river systems from source to sink, or of slices of lithosphere (terranes) moved on major transcurrent faults. Both of these interpretations involve much greater complexity than the hypothesis favoured here, the former involving recycling of the zircons from the strata of initial deposition into those of their final residence and the latter requiring a diversity of microcontinents. Neither explains either the fragmentary evidence for the presence of Grenville–Sveconorwegian terranes in the high Arctic, or the composition of the basement of the continental shelves. The presence of the Grenville–Sveconorwegian Orogen in the Arctic, mainly within the hinterland and margins of the Caledonides and Timanides, has profound implications not only for the reconstructions of the Rodinia supercontinent in early Neoproterozoic time, but also the origin of these Neoproterozoic and Palaeozoic mountain belts.

Catastrophic failure of a tailings dam at an iron ore mine complex in Brumadinho, Brazil, on 25th January 2019 released 11.7 million m 3 of tailings downstream. Although reportedly monitored using an array of geotechnical techniques, the collapse occurred without any apparent warning. It claimed more than 200 lives and caused considerable environmental damage. Here we present the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) technique on satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data to assess the course of events. We find that parts of the dam wall and tailings were experiencing deformation not consistent with consolidation settlement preceding the collapse. Furthermore, we show that the timing of the dam collapse would have been foreseeable based on this observed precursory deformation. We conclude that satellite-based monitoring techniques may help mitigate similar catastrophes in the future. Ground deformation and a sudden acceleration of movement in the final two months preceded the catastrophic collapse of the Brumadinho Tailings Dam in Brazil, according to advanced analyses of InSAR remote sensing data.

Underground coal mining activities and ground movement are directly correlated, and coal mining-induced ground movement can cause damage to property and resources, thus its monitoring is essential for the safety and economics of a city. Fangezhuang coal mine is one of the largest coalfields in operation in Tangshan, China. The enormous amount of coal extraction has resulted in significant ground movement over the years. These phenomena have produced severe damages to the local infrastructure. This paper uses the finite difference method (FDM) 3D model and the stacking interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) method to monitor the ground movement in Fangezhuang coalfield during 2016. The FDM 3D model used calibrated Fangezhuang geological parameters and the satellite InSAR analysis involved the use of ascending C-band Sentinel-1A interferometric wide (IW) data for 2016. The results show that the most prominent subsidence signal occurs in mining panel 2553N and the area between panel 2553N and fault F0 with subsidence up to 57 cm. The subsidence observed for the FDM 3D model and stacking InSAR to monitor land deformation under the influence of fault are in close agreement and were verified using a two-sample t -test. It was observed that the maximum subsidence point shifted towards the fault location from the centre of the mining panel. The tectonic fault F0 was found to be reactivated by the coal mining and controls the spatial extent of the observed ground movement. The impact of dominant geological faults on local subsidence boundaries is investigated in details. It is concluded that ground movement in the study area was mainly induced by mining activities, with its spatial pattern being controlled by geological faults. These results highlight that the two methods are capable of measuring mining induced ground movement in fault dominated areas. The study will improve the understanding of subsidence control, and aid in developing preventive measures in Fangezhuang coalfield with fault reactivation.

Permafrost thaw resulting from climate warming is threatening to release carbon from high latitude peatlands. The aim of this research was to determine subsidence rates linked to permafrost thaw in sub-Arctic peatlands in Sweden using historical orthophotographic (orthophotos), Unoccupied Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data. The orthophotos showed that the permafrost palsa on the study sites have been contracting in their areal extent, with the greatest rates of loss between 2002 and 2008. The surface motion estimated from differential digital elevation models from the UAV data showed high levels of subsidence (maximum of −25 cm between 2017 and 2020) around the edges of the raised palsa plateaus. The InSAR data analysis showed that raised palsa areas had the greatest subsidence rates, with maximum subsidence rates of 1.5 cm between 2017 and 2020; however, all wetland vegetation types showed subsidence. We suggest that the difference in spatial units associated with each sensor explains parts of the variation in the subsidence levels recorded. We conclude that InSAR was able to identify the areas most at risk of subsidence and that it can be used to investigate subsidence over large spatial extents, whereas UAV data can be used to better understand the dynamics of permafrost degradation at a local level. These findings underpin a monitoring approach for these peatlands.