The effect of tidal flow directionality on tidal turbine performance characteristics

As marine turbine technology verges on the realm of economic viability the question of how long will these devices last is an important one. This paper looks at the axial bending moments experienced from CFD modelling of Cardiff University’s concept tidal turbine in a uniform profile for three different scenarios. The magnitude and direction in which the axial bending moment acts is an important feature in determining likely sources of wear in the drive train, such as bearings. By determining the source and magnitude of these bending moments, possibilities for reducing them and limiting their impact on devices can be made

The effect of tidal flow directionality on tidal turbine performance characteristics

As marine turbine technology verges on the realm of economic viability the question of how long will these devices last is an important one. This paper looks at the axial bending moments experienced from CFD modelling of Cardiff University’s concept tidal turbine in a uniform profile for three different scenarios. The magnitude and direction in which the axial bending moment acts is an important feature in determining likely sources of wear in the drive train, such as bearings. By determining the source and magnitude of these bending moments, possibilities for reducing them and limiting their impact on devices can be made

Lessons from Love-Locks: The archaeology of a contemporary assemblage

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Journal of Material Culture, November 2017, published by SAGE Publishing, All rights reserved.Loss of context is a challenge, if not the bane, of the ritual archaeologist’s craft. Those who research ritual frequently encounter difficulties in the interpretation of its often tantalisingly incomplete material record. Careful analysis of material remains may afford us glimpses into past ritual activity, but our often vast chronological separation from the ritual practitioners themselves prevent us from seeing the whole picture. The archaeologist engaging with structured deposits, for instance, is often forced to study ritual assemblages post-accumulation. Many nuances of its formation, therefore, may be lost in interpretation. This paper considers what insights an archaeologist could gain into the place, people, pace, and purpose of deposition by recording an accumulation of structured deposits during its formation, rather than after. To answer this, the paper will focus on a contemporary depositional practice: the love-lock. This custom involves the inscribing of names/initials onto a padlock, its attachment to a bridge or other public structure, and the deposition of the corresponding key into the water below; a ritual often enacted by a couple as a statement of their romantic commitment. Drawing on empirical data from a three-year diachronic site-specific investigation into a love-lock bridge in Manchester, UK, the author demonstrates the value of contemporary archaeology in engaging with the often enigmatic material culture of ritual accumulations.Peer reviewe

Two novel human cytomegalovirus NK cell evasion functions target MICA for lysosomal degradation

NKG2D plays a major role in controlling immune responses through the regulation of natural killer (NK) cells, αβ and γδ T-cell function. This activating receptor recognizes eight distinct ligands (the MHC Class I polypeptide-related sequences (MIC) A andB, and UL16-binding proteins (ULBP)1–6) induced by cellular stress to promote recognition cells perturbed by malignant transformation or microbial infection. Studies into human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) have aided both the identification and characterization of NKG2D ligands (NKG2DLs). HCMV immediate early (IE) gene up regulates NKGDLs, and we now describe the differential activation of ULBP2 and MICA/B by IE1 and IE2 respectively. Despite activation by IE functions, HCMV effectively suppressed cell surface expression of NKGDLs through both the early and late phases of infection. The immune evasion functions UL16, UL142, and microRNA(miR)-UL112 are known to target NKG2DLs. While infection with a UL16 deletion mutant caused the expected increase in MICB and ULBP2 cell surface expression, deletion of UL142 did not have a similar impact on its target, MICA. We therefore performed a systematic screen of the viral genome to search of addition functions that targeted MICA. US18 and US20 were identified as novel NK cell evasion functions capable of acting independently to promote MICA degradation by lysosomal degradation. The most dramatic effect on MICA expression was achieved when US18 and US20 acted in concert. US18 and US20 are the first members of the US12 gene family to have been assigned a function. The US12 family has 10 members encoded sequentially through US12–US21; a genetic arrangement, which is suggestive of an ‘accordion’ expansion of an ancestral gene in response to a selective pressure. This expansion must have be an ancient event as the whole family is conserved across simian cytomegaloviruses from old world monkeys. The evolutionary benefit bestowed by the combinatorial effect of US18 and US20 on MICA may have contributed to sustaining the US12 gene family

The Penny’s Dropped: Renegotiating the contemporary coin deposit

This is the Accepted Manuscript of the following article: Ceri Houlbrook, “The penny’s dropped: Renegotiating the contemporary coin deposit”, Journal of Material Culture, Vol. 20(2): 173-189, March 2015. The final published version is available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1359183515577120#articleCitationDownloadContainer © 2015, © SAGE Publications.This article examines the status of coins as contemporary deposits in the British Isles. With a focus on both historical and contemporary sites, from the Neolithic long barrow of Wayland’s Smithy, Oxfordshire, to the plethora of wishing-wells and coin-trees distributed across the British Isles, it demonstrates the popularity of coins as ritual deposits. The author considers how they are perceived and treated by site custodians, and concludes with a case study of an archaeological excavation, the 2013 Ardmaddy Wishing-Tree Project, which recovered a large amount of contemporary coin deposits. This article does not aim to locate itself within the debates of site custodianship and accessibility, nor does it propose to address the broader dilemmas of a site’s ritual continuity or resurgence. Instead, its aim is to encourage archaeologists to consider the contemporary deposit as an integral part of the ritual narrative of a site, rather than as disposable ‘ritual litter’.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Evaluating the application of Pareto navigation guided automated radiotherapy treatment planning to prostate cancer

Background and purpose Current automated planning methods do not allow for the intuitive exploration of clinical trade-offs during calibration. Recently a novel automated planning solution, which is calibrated using Pareto navigation principles, has been developed to address this issue. The purpose of this work was to clinically validate the solution for prostate cancer patients with and without elective nodal irradiation. Materials and methods For 40 randomly selected patients (20 prostate and seminal vesicles (PSV) and 20 prostate and pelvic nodes (PPN)) automatically generated volumetric modulated arc therapy plans (VMATAuto) were compared against plans created by expert dosimetrists under clinical conditions (VMATClinical) and no time pressures (VMATIdeal). Plans were compared through quantitative comparison of dosimetric parameters and blind review by an oncologist. Results Upon blind review 39/40 and 33/40 VMATAuto plans were considered preferable or equal to VMATClinical and VMATIdeal respectively, with all deemed clinically acceptable. Dosimetrically, VMATAuto, VMATClinical and VMATIdeal were similar, with observed differences generally of low clinical significance. Compared to VMATClinical, VMATAuto reduced hands-on planning time by 94% and 79% for PSV and PPN respectively. Total planning time was significantly reduced from 22.2 mins to 14.0 mins for PSV, with no significant reduction observed for PPN. Conclusions A novel automated planning solution has been evaluated, whose Pareto navigation based calibration enabled clinical decision-making on trade-off balancing to be intuitively incorporated into automated protocols. It was successfully applied to two sites of differing complexity and robustly generated high quality plans in an efficient manner

Health impact, and economic value, of meeting housing quality standards: a retrospective longitudinal data linkage study

Background Poor-quality housing adversely affects residents’ health but there is a paucity of high-quality evidence to support this. Objective This research investigated the health impact of bringing housing to a national quality standard. Design A natural experiment of improvements to housing quality analysed using repeated measures of health-care utilisation and economic outcomes at an individual person level. Setting Carmarthenshire, UK. Participants A total of 32,009 residents registered for a minimum of 60 days at 8558 social homes that received housing improvements between January 2005 and March 2015. Interventions Multiple internal and external housing improvements, including wall and loft insulation, windows and doors, heating system upgrades, new kitchens and bathrooms, garden path safety improvements and electrical system upgrades (adding power sockets, and extractor fans in kitchens and bathrooms). Main outcome measures Emergency hospital admissions for cardiorespiratory conditions and injuries. Primary health-care utilisation for respiratory and common mental health disorders, emergency department injury attendances and health-care utilisation costs. Data sources Carmarthenshire County Council home address and intervention records were anonymously linked within the Secure Anonymous Information Linkage databank to demographic information from the Welsh Demographic Service data set; hospital admission data from the Patient Episode Dataset for Wales; primary care contacts and prescribed medications from general practice data; emergency department attendances from the Emergency Department Data Set; and deaths from the Office for National Statistics mortality register. Methods The study used a longitudinal panel design to examine changes in standard of eight housing cointervention from intervention records, and linked to individuals registered at intervention homes. Health outcomes were obtained retrospectively for each individual in a dynamic cohort and were captured for up to 123 consecutive months. An additional local authority region could not be utilised as a comparator owing to different reporting pressures resulting in the recording of a different intervention. The exposure group for each cointervention was compared with an internal reference group of people living in homes that did not receive the cointervention during their tenancy. A multilevel modelling approach was used to account for repeated observations for individuals living in intervention homes. Counts of health outcomes were analysed using negative binomial regression models to determine the effect of each cointervention that reached housing quality standards during an individual’s period of tenancy, compared with those living in properties that did not. We adjusted for potential confounding factors and for background trends in the regional general population. A cost–consequences analysis was conducted as part of the health economic evaluation. Results Residents aged ≥ 60 years living in homes in which electrical systems were upgraded were associated with 39% fewer admissions than those living in homes in which they were not [incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.61, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53 to 0.72; p < 0.01]. Reduced admissions were also associated with windows and doors (IRR 0.71, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.81; p < 0.01), wall insulation (IRR 0.75, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.84; p < 0.01) and gardens and estates (IRR 0.73, 95% CI 0.64 to 0.83; p < 0.01) for those living in homes in which these cointervention were upgraded. There were no associations of change in emergency admissions with upgrading heating (IRR 0.91, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.01; p = 0.072), loft insulation (IRR 0.98, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.11; p = 0.695), kitchens (IRR 0.98, 95% CI 0.83 to 1.17; p = 0.843) or bathrooms (IRR 0.93, 95% CI 0.81 to 1.06; p = 0.287). Limitations There was no randomisation, there were incomplete data on the scale of the intervention for individual households and there were no estimates for the impact of the whole programme. Conclusions This complex interdisciplinary study found that hospital admissions could be avoided through improving housing quality standards

The effects of exercise-induced muscle damage on endurance performance

It is well documented that engaging in resistance exercise can lead to further improvements in endurance performance. Whilst, not fully understood, it is speculated that increased motor unit recruitment, improved muscle coordination and enhanced utilisation of stored elastic energy after resistance-based exercise improves exercise economy. Nevertheless, while prolonged exposure to resistance training improves endurance performance in the long-term, a consequence of such training when unaccustomed is the appearance of exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD). Exercise-induced muscle damage is well known to affect athletic performance requiring muscular strength and power; however, its effects on markers of endurance exercise are unclear. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of EIMD on endurance performance, with an emphasis on the physiological (oxygen uptake; , minute ventilation; ), metabolic (blood lactate; [La]), perceptual (rating of perceived exertion; RPE) and kinematic (stride length; SL, stride frequency; SF) responses during sub-maximal endurance exercise