Radiocarbon analysis of modern skeletal remains to determine year of birth and death: a case study

To aid in the development of a biological profile for human remains found in Collyhurst, Manchester, England we undertook 14C analysis of tooth enamel, tooth collagen and bone collagen on behalf of Greater Manchester Police. On the basis of the analyses of the teeth, we concluded that the person was born between 1950 and 1954 while on the basis of our analyses of cortical and trabecular bone we estimated the year of death to be between 1969 and 1974. This would make the maximum age range around 15 to 24 years. Analyses of the dentition and other skeletal parameters can eliminate the younger part of the range so an age of around 18 to 24 years at death would seem most likely. The δ13C and δ15N values for the bone collagen were higher than would be expected for someone subsisting on a purely terrestrial diet, implying some consumption of marine resources which could lead to reduced 14C activities. Taking any potential marine effect into account could reduce this age range to around 18 to 21 years

\u3ci\u3eDeepsouth\u3c/i\u3e Will Rise Again—The Argument in Favor of the Federal Circuit\u27s Holding in \u3ci\u3ePromega Corp. v. Life Technologies\u3c/i\u3e

Two recent holdings from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Promega Corp. v. Life Technologies Corp. have come under fire from members of the patent community. In Promega, the Federal Circuit held that i) 35 U.S.C. § 271(f)(1) does not require a third party to actively induce the combination of a patented invention, and ii) that a single component can be a substantial portion of the components of patented invention. In this Article, I argue that the Federal Circuit decided these issues correctly in light of the policy considerations that went into Congress\u27s enactment of 35 U.S.C. § 271(f) following the Supreme Court\u27s unpopular Deepsouth decision. I further argue that there is no requirement of knowledge of a patent to find inducement under § 271(f)(1), only knowledge of the infringing acts. Overturning these holdings would, in effect, have ushered in a return to the world immediately after the Deepsouth decision, before the implementation of 35 U.S.C. § 271(f)

Developing a service for patients with very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) within resources

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common life-limiting illness with significant burden for patient and carer. Despite this, access to supportive and specialist palliative care is inconsistent and implementation of published good practice recommendations may be challenging within current resources. The aim of this service development was to improve local service provision in Barnsley, within the currently available resources, for patients with very severe COPD, to improve patient identification and symptom management, increase advance care planning and the numbers of patients dying in their preferred place, and increase patient and carer support and satisfaction. To do this a working group was formed, the service problems identified and baseline data collected to identify the needs of people with very severe COPD. A multidisciplinary team meeting was piloted and assessed by community matron feedback, patient case studies and an after death analysis. These indicated a high level of satisfaction, with improvements in advance care planning, co-ordination of management and support for patients' preferred place of care at the end of life. In conclusion this is the first reported very severe COPD service development established in this way and within current resources. Preliminary data indicates the development of the multidisciplinary team meeting has been positive. The appointment of a coordinator will aid this development. Further evaluations particularly seeking patient views and estimations of cost savings will be performed

Advanced Conducting Project

An analysis of five pieces : A Longford Legend, Robert Sheldon Danzon No. 2, Arturo Marquez Luminescence, David Biedenbender October, Eric Whitacre The Sun will Rise Again, Philip Spark

El fotógrafo Charles Clifford: globos aerostáticos y caballos

British photographer Charles Clifford (1819-1863) appears for the first time in press advertisements in Madrid in 1850, not, surprisingly, as a photographer but as a balloonist who announces several balloon shows including one in which he states his intention to ascend on the back of a live horse hanging from the basket. Using British and Spanish newspapers as a bibliographical reference, this article studies the relationship between Clifford and ballooning, shedding some light on the motives behind his short-lived career as an aeronaut as well as this curious and original advertisement.El fotógrafo británico Charles Clifford (1819-1863) aparece por vez primera en anuncios de prensa en Madrid en 1850, y no, sorprendentemente, como fotógrafo sino como piloto aerostático que presenta diversos espectáculos de vuelo con globos, incluyendo uno en el cual declara su intención de ascender a lomos de un caballo vivo que cuelga, a su vez, de una cesta. Usando periódicos ingleses y españoles como fuente bibliográfica, este artículo estudia la relación entre Clifford y el  vuelo en globo, y pretende arrojar alguna luz de los motivos de su corta carrera como aeronauta así como sobre el curioso y original anuncio en la prensa

Knowledge Driven Approaches and Machine Learning Improve the Identification of Clinically Relevant Somatic Mutations in Cancer Genomics

For cancer genomics to fully expand its utility from research discovery to clinical adoption, somatic variant detection pipelines must be optimized and standardized to ensure identification of clinically relevant mutations and to reduce laborious and error-prone post-processing steps. To address the need for improved catalogues of clinically and biologically important somatic mutations, we developed DoCM, a Database of Curated Mutations in Cancer (http://docm.info), as described in Chapter 2. DoCM is an open source, openly licensed resource to enable the cancer research community to aggregate, store and track biologically and clinically important cancer variants. DoCM is currently comprised of 1,364 variants in 132 genes across 122 cancer subtypes, based on the curation of 876 publications. To demonstrate the utility of this resource, the mutations in DoCM were used to identify variants of established significance in cancer that were missed by standard variant discovery pipelines (Chapter 3). Sequencing data from 1,833 cases across four TCGA projects were reanalyzed and 1,228 putative variants that were missed in the original TCGA reports were identified. Validation sequencing data were produced from 93 of these cases to confirm the putative variant we detected with DoCM. Here, we demonstrated that at least one functionally important variant in DoCM was recovered in 41% of cases studied. A major bottleneck in the DoCM analysis in Chapter 3 was the filtering and manual review of somatic variants. Several steps in this post-processing phase of somatic variant calling have already been automated. However, false positive filtering and manual review of variant candidates remains as a major challenge, especially in high-throughput discovery projects or in clinical cancer diagnostics. In Chapter 4, an approach that systematized and standardized the post-processing of somatic variant calls using machine learning algorithms, trained on 41,000 manually reviewed variants from 20 cancer genome projects, is outlined. The approach accurately reproduced the manual review process on hold out test samples, and accurately predicted which variants would be confirmed by orthogonal validation sequencing data. When compared to traditional manual review, this approach increased identification of clinically actionable variants by 6.2%. These chapters outline studies that result in substantial improvements in the identification and interpretation of somatic variants, the use of which can standardize and streamline cancer genomics, enabling its use at high throughput as well as clinically

Stationary Fuel Cell System Composite Data Products: Data Through Quarter 4 of 2012

This presentation from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory includes stationary fuel cell system composite data products for data through the fourth quarter of 2012

The Paralysis Paradox and the Untapped Role of Science in Solving “Big” “Environmental Problems

Part I considers the daunting scope and extent of the environmental problem addressed by the article. The “problem” consists of an enormous number of abandoned mines and AMLs in the West, affecting numerous rivers and watersheds, where the cost of mine cleanup seems astronomical, and the source of the money to pay for the cleanup elusive. In Part I, probability theory is used to assess the true scope of the AML problem, by estimating the impacts and risks to people and their environment. Part II addresses the state of current law as it applies to abandoned hardrock mines. A review of this law reveals that (1) it does not serve to correct or even deter the continuation of the problem, and (2) it in fact makes it far more difficult for good Samaritans or government entities to begin cleanup operations. Part III explains the “paralysis paradox,” which to date has prevented effective responses to the problem. Part IV offers alternative methodologies for policymakers to embrace as more realistic—science-and-math-based solutions to the problem. In Part IV, the AML problem is made more manageable through use of systems methodology, game theory, and chaos theory. Part V concludes by recommending a much simpler science-based approach, consistent with the Occam’s Razor principle, which steers clear of the paralysis paradox. Counterintuitively, this simpler approach of doing less has a more realistic chance of eventually doing more to correct the complex problem of abandoned mines