\u3cem\u3eThe Chronicles of Narnia\u3c/em\u3e, and How C.S. Lewis Created Christian Fantasy Fiction

C.S. Lewis was a pioneer in combining the ideas of fantasy and Christian literature, before the fantasy genre alone was even acknowledged. Christian fantasy fiction, as a fiction sub-genre, can be identified as a piece of fiction with fantastical mythology and themes, with the addition of imagery and values drawn from the Christian tradition. Christian fantasy fiction attempts to use the mystical plot elements from fantasy, with recognizable Christian ideals, and meld them in such a way that they actually reinforce each other. This thesis explains how C.S. Lewis used this new genre to allow readers of all ages to understand spiritually abstract ideas

Engineering the Cambrian explosion: the earliest bioturbators as ecosystem engineers

By applying modern biological criteria to trace fossil types and assessing burrow morphology, complexity, depth, potential burrow function and the likelihood of bioirrigation, we assign ecosystem engineering impact (EEI) values to the key ichnotaxa in the lowermost Cambrian (Fortunian). Surface traces such as Monomorphichnus have minimal impact on sediment properties and have very low EEI values; quasi-infaunal traces of organisms that were surficial modifiers or biodiffusors, such as Planolites, have moderate EEI values; and deeper infaunal, gallery biodiffusive or upward-conveying/downward-conveying traces, such as Teichichnus and Gyrolithes, have the highest EEI values. The key Cambrian ichnotaxon Treptichnus pedum has a moderate to high EEI value, depending on its functional interpretation. Most of the major functional groups of modern bioturbators are found to have evolved during the earliest Cambrian, including burrow types that are highly likely to have been bioirrigated. In fine-grained (or microbially bound) sedimentary environments, trace-makers of bioirrigated burrows would have had a particularly significant impact, generating advective fluid flow within the sediment for the first time, in marked contrast with the otherwise diffusive porewater systems of the Proterozoic. This innovation is likely to have created significant ecospace and engineered fundamentally new infaunal environments for macrobiotic and microbiotic organisms alike

Etherotopia or a country in the mind: bridging the gap between utopias and nirvanas

Joyce Hertzler concludes his History of Utopian Thought with the phrase ‘Utopia is not a social state it is a state of mind’. Other utopian scholars would argue that the truth is exactly the opposite, that utopia is a purely social matter. There seems to be a false dilemma here where one must choose between two, seemingly conflicting, schools of utopian thinking: social utopias and private ones. In John Carey’s words, ‘Whereas most utopias reform the world, some reform the self’. He says of the later that these ‘solitary utopians are Robinson Crusoes of the mind, inventing islands for themselves to inhabit’ and that they are very unlike ‘normal, public-spirited utopians’. In this essay Christos Callow Jr explores the potential of a utopia that reforms both world and self and proposes Etherotopia as its name.N/

A new view from La Cotte de St Brelade, Jersey

Did Neanderthal hunters drive mammoth herds over cliffs in mass kills? Excavations at La Cotte de St Brelade in the 1960s and 1970s uncovered heaps of mammoth bones, interpreted as evidence of intentional hunting drives. New study of this Middle Palaeolithic coastal site, however, indicates a very different landscape to the featureless coastal plain that was previously envisaged. Reconsideration of the bone heaps themselves further undermines the ‘mass kill’ hypothesis, suggesting that these were simply the final accumulations of bone at the site, undisturbed and preserved in situ when the return to a cold climate blanketed them in wind-blown loess

Fouling Release Nanostructured Coatings based on PDMS-polyurea Segmented Copolymers

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30466/description#descriptionThe bulk and surface characteristics of a series of coatings based on PDMS-polyurea segmented copolymers were correlated to their fouling release performance. Incorporation of polyurea segments to PDMS backbone gives rise to phase separation with the extensively hydrogen bonded hard domains creating an interconnected network that imparts mechanical rigidity. Increasing the compositional complexity of the system by including fluorinated or POSS-functionalized chain extenders or through nanoclay intercalation, confers further thermomechanical improvements. In analogy to the bulk morphology, the surface toporgraphy also reflects the compositional complexity of the materials, displaying a wide range of motifs. Investigations on settlement and subsequent removal of Ulva sporelings on those nanostructured surfaces indicate that the work required to remove the microorganisms is significantly lower compared to coatings based on standard PDMS homopolymer. All in all, the series of materials considered in this study demonstrate advanced fouling release properties, while exhibiting superior mechanical properties and thus, long term durability. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This publication is based on work supported by the Office of Naval Research. This publication is also based on work supported in part by Award No. KUS-C1-018-02, made by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). We acknowledge facility support through the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) and the Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC)

Drivers of precipitation stable oxygen isotope variability in an alpine setting, Snowy Mountains, Australia

Natural archives that preserve a stable isotopic signature are routinely used to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental conditions. Isotopic values of precipitation are known to be influenced by factors such as the amount and type of precipitation, moisture pathway, landscape and terrain factors, and processes associated with precipitation formation and deposition. This study investigates oxygen isotopic variability using real-time rain and snow precipitation data from a moderate altitude

Overview of Serological Techniques for Influenza Vaccine Evaluation: Past, Present and Future

Serological techniques commonly used to quantify influenza-specific antibodies include the Haemagglutination Inhibition (HI), Single Radial Haemolysis (SRH) and Virus Neutralization (VN) assays. HI and SRH are established and reproducible techniques, whereas VN is more demanding. Every new influenza vaccine needs to fulfil the strict criteria issued by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in order to be licensed. These criteria currently apply exclusively to SRH and HI assays and refer to two different target groups—healthy adults and the elderly, but other vaccine recipient age groups have not been considered (i.e., children). The purpose of this timely review is to highlight the current scenario on correlates of protection concerning influenza vaccines and underline the need to revise the criteria and assays currently in use. In addition to SRH and HI assays, the technical advantages provided by other techniques such as the VN assay, pseudotype-based neutralization assay, neuraminidase and cell-mediated immunity assays need to be considered and regulated via EMA criteria, considering the many significant advantages that they could offer for the development of effective vaccines

Late Neanderthal occupation in North-West Europe: rediscovery, investigation and dating of a last glacial sediment sequence at the site of La Cotte de Saint Brelade, Jersey

In 2011, a programme of field research was undertaken to effect the stabilization of an unstable section in the West Ravine at the key Neanderthal occupation site of La Cotte de St Brelade on the Channel Island of Jersey. As part of this essential remedial work the threatened section was analysed to characterize its archaeological and palaeoenvironmental potential as well provide optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates. The work determined, through two concordant OSL dating programmes, that the section formed part of an extensive sequence of sedimentation spanning >105 to <48 ka. Furthermore, reanalysis of the archive determined that the sediment sequence examined contained the stratigraphic equivalent of deposits lying below those that have previously produced Neanderthal fossils. Through our work, we can now constrain these younger sediments to being younger than 48 ka. The combined results suggest that this sequence now represents the recovery of an extensive dataset, thought lost to science through complete excavation, which holds the potential to throw light on the disappearance of Neanderthal populations from the Atlantic-edge outpost on the north-west frontier of their world

Surface modification of hydrophobic polymers for improvement of endothelial cell-surface interactions

The aim of this study is to improve the interaction of endothelial cells with polymers used in vascular prostheses. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE; Teflon) films were treated by means of nitrogen and oxygen plasmas. Depending on the plasma exposure time, modified PTFE surfaces showed water-contact angles of 15¿58° versus 96° for unmodified PTFE. Electron spectroscopy in chemical analysis (ESCA) measurements revealed incorporation of both nitrogenand oxygen-containing groups into the PTFE surfaces, dependent on the plasma composition and exposure time. In-vitro biological evaluation of unmodified and modified PTFE surfaces showed that human endothelial cells, seeded from 20% human serum-containing culture medium, adhered well on to modified PTFE surfaces, but not on to unmodified films. Adhesion of endothelial cells on to expanded PTFE graft material (Gore-Tex) was also stimulated by plasma treatment of this substrate. On plasma-treated expanded PTFE, the adhering endothelial cells formed a monolayer, which covered the textured surface. The latter observation is important in view of the hemocompatibility of vascular grafts seeded with endothelial cells before implantation