Diverse Evill Persons: Echoes in the Landscape, Echoes in the Archives

This is an account of a process, the working together of cross-disciplinary insights between an artist and a historian, to create a means by which members of the public might encounter the past on their own terms. In the summer of 2009, the historian [MB] and the conceptual artist [PB] decided to collaborate on a project based around events at Cannon Hall, Cawthorne in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1673-74. The events are located in the B family genealogy but carry in them echoes of deeper social and economic forces in the past, as well as relevance to modern debates about crime, welfare and justice. The aim of the project is to create an exhibition/installation within which members of the public can experience what it means to make sense of the past through the prism of the present. The project is intended to challenge normative approaches in museology and the interpretation of heritage objects, places and documents. The article explores the foundational processes and concepts

The feasibility of using Microsoft Kinect v2 sensors during radiotherapy delivery

Consumer-grade distance sensors, such as the Microsoft Kinect devices (v1 and v2), have been investigated for use as marker-free motion monitoring systems for radiotherapy. The radiotherapy delivery environment is challenging for such sensors because of the proximity to electromagnetic interference (EMI) from the pulse forming network which fires the magnetron and electron gun of a linear accelerator (linac) during radiation delivery, as well as the requirement to operate them from the control area. This work investigated whether using Kinect v2 sensors as motion monitors was feasible during radiation delivery. Three sensors were used each with a 12 m USB 3.0 active cable which replaced the supplied 3 m USB 3.0 cable. Distance output data from the Kinect v2 sensors was recorded under four conditions of linac operation: (i) powered up only, (ii) pulse forming network operating with no radiation, (iii) pulse repetition frequency varied between 6 Hz and 400 Hz, (iv) dose rate varied between 50 and 1450 monitor units (MU) per minute. A solid water block was used as an object and imaged when static, moved in a set of steps from 0.6 m to 2.0 m from the sensor and moving dynamically in two sinusoidal-like trajectories. Few additional image artifacts were observed and there was no impact on the tracking of the motion patterns (root mean squared accuracy of 1.4 and 1.1 mm, respectively). The sensors' distance accuracy varied by 2.0 to 3.8 mm (1.2 to 1.4 mm post distance calibration) across the range measured; the precision was 1 mm. There was minimal effect from the EMI on the distance calibration data: 0 mm or 1 mm reported distance change (2 mm maximum change at one position). Kinect v2 sensors operated with 12 m USB 3.0 active cables appear robust to the radiotherapy treatment environment

A Marine Incursion in the Lower Pennsylvanian Tynemouth Creek Formation, Canada:Implications for Paleogeography, Stratigraphy and Paleoecology

We document the occurrence of a marine bed, and its associated biota, in the Lower Pennsylvanian (Langsettian) Tynemouth Creek Formation of New Brunswick, and discuss its implications for paleogeography, stratigraphy, and paleoecology. This is only the second marine interval found in the entire Pennsylvanian fill of the Maritimes Basin of Canada, the other being recently found in the broadly same-age Joggins Formation of Nova Scotia. Evidence for the new marine transgression comprises an echinoderm-rich limestone that infills irregularities on a vertic paleosol surface within the distal facies of a syntectonic fluvial megafan formed under a seasonally dry tropical climate. Gray, platy ostracod-rich shales and wave-rippled sandstone beds that directly overlie the marine limestone contain trace fossils characteristic of the Mermia Ichnofacies, upright woody trees, and adpressed megafloras. This association represents bay-fills fringed by freshwater coastal forests dominated by pteridosperms, cordaites, and other enigmatic plants traditionally attributed to dryland/upland habitats. The fossil site demonstrates that marine transgressions extended farther into the interior of Pangea than has previously been documented, and may allow correlation of the Tynemouth Creek and Joggins Formations with broadly coeval European successions near the level of the Gastrioceras subcrenatum and G. listeri marine bands. It also helps explain the close similarity of faunas between the Maritimes Basin and other paleotropical basins, if transgressions facilitated migration of marine taxa into the continental interior

Evidence for coal forest refugia in the seasonally dry Pennsylvanian tropical lowlands of the Illinois Basin, USA

The Moscovian plant macroflora at Cottage Grove southeastern Illinois, USA, is a key example of Pennsylvanian (323–299 Million years ago) dryland vegetation. There is currently no palynological data from the same stratigraphic horizons as the plant macrofossils, leaves and other vegetative and reproductive structures, at this locality. Consequently, reconstructions of the standing vegetation at Cottage Grove from these sediments lack the complementary information and a more regional perspective that can be provided by sporomorphs (prepollen, pollen, megaspores and spores). In order to provide this, we have analysed the composition of fossil sporomorph assemblages in two rock samples taken from macrofossil-bearing inter-coal shale at Cottage Grove. Our palynological data differ considerably in composition and in the dominance-diversity profile from the macrofossil vegetation at this locality. Walchian conifers and pteridosperms are common elements in the macroflora, but are absent in the sporomorph assemblages. Reversely, the sporomorph assemblages at Cottage Grove comprise 17 spore taxa (∼16% and ∼63% of the total assemblages) that are known from the lycopsid orders Isoetales, Lepidodendrales and Selaginallales, while Cottage Grove’s macrofloral record fails to capture evidence of a considerable population of coal forest lycopsids. We interpret our results as evidence that the Pennsylvanian dryland glacial landscape at Cottage Grove included fragmented populations of wetland plants living in refugia

Discrete Analog of the Burgers Equation

We propose the set of coupled ordinary differential equations dn_j/dt=(n_{j-1})^2-(n_j)^2 as a discrete analog of the classic Burgers equation. We focus on traveling waves and triangular waves, and find that these special solutions of the discrete system capture major features of their continuous counterpart. In particular, the propagation velocity of a traveling wave and the shape of a triangular wave match the continuous behavior. However, there are some subtle differences. For traveling waves, the propagating front can be extremely sharp as it exhibits double exponential decay. For triangular waves, there is an unexpected logarithmic shift in the location of the front. We establish these results using asymptotic analysis, heuristic arguments, and direct numerical integration.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

The Future of Electric Furnaces in the Metal Industries of India

S INCE I know little or nothing about "Light metals", I feel that my first task is to find some excuse for occu-pying this rostrum. Perhaps the organisers of this Sym- posium felt that a general paper dealing with the future of electric furnaces in the metal industries of India would promote a profitable and constructive discussion and at the same time provide some useful food for thought. Even an outline of the development and use of electric furnaces in the iron and steel industry may inspire ideas for those engaged in other metal industries

The Relation of Pilot Plants to Full Scale Operation

The author's chief interest in pilot plants is as a means of practical instruction. At the Banaras Hindu University a number of pilot plants have been installed so as to impart some practical Idea of metallurgical processes to final year students. These pilot plants include a sintering plant, several small size cupolas, an LD converter, a basic lined side blown converter, indirect arc furnace & high frequency electric furnaces. The latest addition to this range of pilot plants is a small scalp Edwards vacuum melting unit. In addition to their use for instructional purposes, it is hoped, as candidates present themselves, that these plants will be more fully employed in post- graduate res-earch, which it is felt will be of considerable importance to the development of the iron & steel industry in India. Post-graduate research, which it is felt will be of consi-derable importance to the development of the iron and steel industry in India. Post-graduate work of this nature must play an important role in the provision of thoroughly trained personnel for the rapidly growing industry in India

The search for active learning: Lessons from a happy accident

This article suggests that the concept of ‘active learning’ has different meanings. These meanings are created in the dynamic and variable relationships between the uses of learning technologies and approaches to pedagogy. Institutions play a key role in mediating these relationships, privileging some meanings of ‘active learning’ over others. More dialogical forms of active learning call for changes in the mediating role of the institution. This article draws on a case study of the use of Electronic Voting Systems to teach social research methods