Challenges encountered during acid resin transfer preparation of fossil fish from Monte Bolca, Italy

Copyright: Palaeontological Association May 2015. This is an open access article, available to all readers online, published under a creative commons licensing (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The file attached is the published version of the article

Cleaning Minerals: practical and ethical considerations

Mineral specimens have a dual nature, both as a scientific resource and an aesthetic pleasure. Combine this with a long history of sampling for study, and the developed nature of most specimens on the commercial market, and it is difficult to relate to the ethical principles of conservation when cleaning minerals.The attached document is the author’s final accepted/submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it

Conservation of James Sowerby’s Fungi Models

NatSCA supports open access publication as part of its mission is to promote and support natural science collections. NatSCA uses the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCAL) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ for all works we publish. Under CCAL authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles in NatSCA publications, so long as the original authors and source are cited. The attached version is the published pdf

Snagged setae: evaluating alternatives to cotton wool bungs for liquid-stored specimens

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections Copyright © 2018. All rights reserved. Article is available as open access. The attached file is the published pdf version

Conservation in a Barcode Age: A cross-discipline re-storage project for pyritic specimens

The dichotomy of conservation and access has long been recognised within the museum profession. The recent push for digitisation has added a new dimension to this argument: digital records can both increase potential access, due to increased awareness of the existence of objects, and decrease potential handling, since a more thorough awareness of an object creates a more informed decision regarding whether access is actually necessary. The use of barcodes and the creation of digital resources have therefore been incorporated into a re-storage project at the Natural History Museum, London to reduce duplication of work (and handling) by staff and to combat the reduction in access caused by the enclosure of objects within microenvironments, which in turn helps preserve specimens for future access. This project demonstrates how conservation and digitisation can successfully synthesise through the use of barcodes, when working with a cross-discipline team.This publication from ICOM-CC is "Open Access” and licensed by the respective authors. This license allows for unlimited distribution and reuse as long as appropriate credit is given to the original source

Giant Sequoia: an extraordinary case study involving Carbopol® gel

In 2016 a project was undertaken to stabilise and aestheticise the transverse section of giant sequoia on display at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London, UK. This iconic specimen, which now dominates the top floor of the central hall, was 1300 years old when felled and has been part of the exhibitions for 122 years. Measuring over 4.5 metres in diameter, it posed many challenges during remedial conservation. The largest involved removal of the discoloured waxy substance and opacified shellac-based varnish that had been applied in the early 1980s. Solvent tests revealed that the coating was soluble in Industrial Methylated Spirits (IMS) and that the gel worked most effectively at a 1 hour application time. At longer durations the varnish itself gelled and the waxy component was re-deposited. The waxy substance was effectively removed by wiping with alternate white spirit and IMS swabs.The attached file is the final accepted manuscript version of a presentation given at Gels in Conservation conference, London 16 - 18 October 2017. The link is to the video of the presentation and the published version is available in the printed proceedings. The photographs appear here by courtesy of the authors

The detection and X-ray evolution of galaxy groups at high redshift

We describe some of the first X-ray detections of groups of galaxies at high redshifts (z~0.4), based on the UK deep X-ray survey of McHardy et al (1998). Combined with other deep ROSAT X-ray surveys with nearly complete optical identifications, we investigate the X-ray evolution of these systems. We find no evidence for evolution of the X-ray luminosity function up to z=0.5 at the low luminosities of groups of galaxies and poor clusters (Lx>3e42 erg/s), although the small sample size precludes very accurate measurements. This result confirms and extends to lower luminosities current results based on surveys at brighter X-ray fluxes. The evolution of the X-ray luminosity function of these low luminosity systems is more sensitive to the thermal history of the intra-group medium (IGM) than to cosmological parameters. Energy injection into the IGM (from for example supernovae or AGN winds) is required to explain the X-ray properties of nearby groups. The observed lack of evolution suggests that the energy injection occured at redshifts z>0.5.Comment: 13 pages, MNRAS accepte

Galaxy colours in high redshift X-ray selected clusters - I: Blue galaxy fractions in eight clusters

We present initial results from a wide-field, multi-colour imaging project, designed to study galaxy evolution in X-ray selected clusters at intermediate (z~0.25) and high redshifts (z~0.5). In this paper we give blue galaxy fractions from eight X-ray selected clusters, drawn from a combined sample of three X-ray surveys. We find that all the clusters exhibit excess blue galaxy populations over the numbers observed in local systems, though a large scatter is present in the results. We find no significant correlation of blue fraction with redshift at z>0.2 although the large scatter could mask a positive trend. We also find no systematic trend of blue fraction with X-ray luminosity. We show that the blue fraction is a function of (a) radius within a cluster, (b) absolute magnitude and (c) the passbands used to measure the colour. We find that our blue fractions (f_b) from galaxy colours close to restframe (U-B), f_b~0.4, are systematically higher than those from restframe (B-V) colours, f_b~0.2. We conclude this effect is real, may offer a partial explanation of the widely differing levels of blue fraction found in previous studies and may have implications for biases in optical samples selected in different bands. While the increasing blue fraction with radius can be interpreted as evidence of cluster infall of field galaxies, the exact physical processes which these galaxies undergo is unclear. We estimate that, in the cores of the more massive clusters, galaxies should be experiencing ram--pressure stripping of galactic gas by the intra--cluster medium. The fact that our low X-ray luminosity systems show a similar blue fraction as the high luminosity systems, as well as a significant blue fraction gradient with radius, implies other physical effects are also important.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

2011 SOSORT guidelines: Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation treatment of idiopathic scoliosis during growth

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The International Scientific Society on Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT), that produced its first Guidelines in 2005, felt the need to revise them and increase their scientific quality. The aim is to offer to all professionals and their patients an evidence-based updated review of the actual evidence on conservative treatment of idiopathic scoliosis (CTIS).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>All types of professionals (specialty physicians, and allied health professionals) engaged in CTIS have been involved together with a methodologist and a patient representative. A review of all the relevant literature and of the existing Guidelines have been performed. Documents, recommendations, and practical approach flow charts have been developed according to a Delphi procedure. A methodological and practical review has been made, and a final Consensus Session was held during the 2011 Barcelona SOSORT Meeting.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The contents of the document are: methodology; generalities on idiopathic scoliosis; approach to CTIS in different patients, with practical flow-charts; literature review and recommendations on assessment, bracing, physiotherapy, Physiotherapeutic Specific Exercises (PSE) and other CTIS. Sixty-five recommendations have been given, divided in the following topics: Bracing (20 recommendations), PSE to prevent scoliosis progression during growth (8), PSE during brace treatment and surgical therapy (5), Other conservative treatments (3), Respiratory function and exercises (3), Sports activities (6), Assessment (20). No recommendations reached a Strength of Evidence level I; 2 were level II; 7 level III; and 20 level IV; through the Consensus procedure 26 reached level V and 10 level VI. The Strength of Recommendations was Grade A for 13, B for 49 and C for 3; none had grade D.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These Guidelines have been a big effort of SOSORT to paint the actual situation of CTIS, starting from the evidence, and filling all the gray areas using a scientific method. According to results, it is possible to understand the lack of research in general on CTIS. SOSORT invites researchers to join, and clinicians to develop good research strategies to allow in the future to support or refute these recommendations according to new and stronger evidence.</p

Great Britain: the intertidal and underwater archaeology of Britain’s submerged landscapes

The submerged landscapes around Great Britain are extensive and would have offered productive territory for hunting, gathering, exploitation of aquatic and marine resources, and—in the final stages of postglacial sea-level rise—opportunities for agriculture. They would also have provided land connections to continental Europe and opportunities for communication by sea travel along now-submerged palaeocoastlines and river estuaries. Most of the archaeological material has been discovered in intertidal or shallow water conditions, but there are also discoveries in deeper water, with dates ranging from earliest human presence nearly one million years ago up to the establishment of modern sea level. Some later material is present where coastlines have continued to sink in more recent millennia. Intertidal sites are especially well represented because of relatively large tidal ranges and shallow offshore gradients on many coastlines. These are often associated with remains of submerged forests, which are periodically exposed at low tide and then covered up again by movements of sand. Some of the most distinctive intertidal finds are the human and animal footprints preserved in intertidal sediments in many locations, especially at Goldcliff East. The earliest, at Happisburgh, are dated between 0.78 and 1 Ma. Fully submerged sites include the Mesolithic site of Bouldnor Cliff with its worked timbers, and the Middle Stone Age artefacts from offshore aggregate Area 240 along with well-preserved ice age fauna and environmental indicators. Pioneering work using oil industry seismic records has produced detailed reconstructions of the submerged landscape, and this is being followed up by new work involving targeted acoustic survey and coring of sediments