Zilker Park cultural landscape report

textZilker Park is a large municipal park in Austin, Texas, and while currently an active recreational zone for the city, the parkland is full of historic and natural resources with a period of significance dating back at least 9,000 years. The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under two nominations from 1985 and 1997. These nominations document much of the early history of the park, including archaeological sites, historic buildings, objects, and structures. While these reports provide a descriptive history of the parkland, a further study was conducted to understand the park through its cultural and natural systems. This study, known as a cultural landscape report (CLR), examined the park through a defined set of landscape characteristics such as: topography and hydrology, circulation, land use, vegetation, buildings and structures, viewsheds, habitat, archaeological sites, and small scale features. This data was organized to match and compliment the already existing research found within the NRHP nominations, including periods and areas of significance, integrity evaluations, and property types. The CLR was also based on new archival and field research and the report culminated in a set of guiding principles and methodologies for future park management. Thus, the Zilker Park CLR is a site specific planning guide, designed to function as both a descriptive and prescriptive tool for best practices for historic landscape management and stewardship.Architectur

A Detailed Projection of the Irish Economy to 1970. ESRI Memorandum Series No. 35 1966(?)

The fundamental principle of the study is that better forecasts can be made of coefficients and flows in the economic system by direct methods than by mechanical projection. By direct methods we mean the enlistment of expert and technical advice for the compilation of specific estimates. In each sector of economic activity there exist sources of information, either published in the form of trade association memoranda, consultants' reports, technical journals, etc. or unpublished, in the notes of businessmen, which remain largely untapped. These sources can provide not only estimates of particular parameters, but also the background information essential to investigate the variance of any parameter

Upgrade of the X3 super-orbital expansion tube

Expansion tubes are important facilities for the study of high enthalpy hypersonic flows which avoid the non-equilibrium chemical and thermal effects associated with the flow stagnation intrinsic to reflected shock tunnels. X3 is one of the largest freepiston super-orbital expansion tube in the world with an overall length of approximately 69 m and is capable of generating reentry speed flows equivalent to those experienced during a hyperbolic re-entry trajectory. It was originally built with a twostage free-piston driver to achieve the high compression ratio of a large diameter compression tube without the high construction costs of designing the large diameter tube to be strong enough to resist peak driver pressure loads. However, this arrangement proved difficult in operation. This paper describes the upgrades to X3, in respect to its physical layout. The facility has been recommissioned to incorporate a single-piston driver, a steady expansion nozzle and a new test section. Major changes have been made to the free-piston driver with a re-designed piston and launcher and a new end cap tube which is 200 mm thick to contain driver pressures up to 80 MPa. The re-designed piston introduces an area change at the primary diaphragm, ensuring that the maximum increase in total pressure and temperature can be gained as the driver gas undergoes unsteady expansion from sonic to supersonic conditions. The compression process steadily increases up to Mach 1 at the throat then gains of up to an order of magnitude in total temperature and pressure can be realised as the unsteady expansion process takes over. The area change will also increase test times; with a throat at the primary diaphragm, the piston mechanics can be more readily tuned to minimise reflection of waves off the piston which would otherwise reduce the test time. A new Mach 10 steady expansion nozzle has been developed which has increased the core flow and the test time for appropriate conditions. The dump tank has been replaced with a larger tank and test section giving a larger volume with greater potential for instrumentation

Review of the quarter's economic trends [October 1981]

In the second quarter of 1981 the index of industrial production for the United Kingdom was 8% below its level for the corresponding period in 1980. This notwithstanding, there do appear to be signs that the bottom of the output trough may now have been reached. This brief section will seek to understand the latest UK and world economic data to determine current economic conditions and forecasts future trends

MAID : An effect size based model for microarray data integration across laboratories and platforms

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gene expression profiling has the potential to unravel molecular mechanisms behind gene regulation and identify gene targets for therapeutic interventions. As microarray technology matures, the number of microarray studies has increased, resulting in many different datasets available for any given disease. The increase in sensitivity and reliability of measurements of gene expression changes can be improved through a systematic integration of different microarray datasets that address the same or similar biological questions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Traditional effect size models can not be used to integrate array data that directly compare treatment to control samples expressed as log ratios of gene expressions. Here we extend the traditional effect size model to integrate as many array datasets as possible. The extended effect size model (MAID) can integrate any array datatype generated with either single or two channel arrays using either direct or indirect designs across different laboratories and platforms. The model uses two standardized indices, the standard effect size score for experiments with two groups of data, and a new standardized index that measures the difference in gene expression between treatment and control groups for one sample data with replicate arrays. The statistical significance of treatment effect across studies for each gene is determined by appropriate permutation methods depending on the type of data integrated. We apply our method to three different expression datasets from two different laboratories generated using three different array platforms and two different experimental designs. Our results indicate that the proposed integration model produces an increase in statistical power for identifying differentially expressed genes when integrating data across experiments and when compared to other integration models. We also show that genes found to be significant using our data integration method are of direct biological relevance to the three experiments integrated.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>High-throughput genomics data provide a rich and complex source of information that could play a key role in deciphering intricate molecular networks behind disease. Here we propose an extension of the traditional effect size model to allow the integration of as many array experiments as possible with the aim of increasing the statistical power for identifying differentially expressed genes.</p

The human male liver is predisposed to inflammation via enhanced myeloid responses to inflammatory triggers

BACKGROUND & AIM: Men have a higher prevalence of liver disease. Liver myeloid cells can regulate tissue inflammation, which drives progression of liver disease. We hypothesized that sex alters the responsiveness of liver myeloid cells, predisposing men to severe liver inflammation. METHODS: Luminex was done on plasma from Hepatitis B Virus infected patients undergoing nucleoside analogue cessation in 45 male and female patients. We collected immune cells from the sinusoids of uninfected livers of 53 male and female donors. Multiparametric flow cytometry was used to phenotype and characterize immune composition. Isolated monocytes were stimulated with TLR ligands to measure the inflammatory potential and the expression of regulators of TLR signaling. RESULTS: We confirmed that men experienced more frequent and severe liver damage upon Hepatitis B Virus reactivation, which was associated with inflammatory markers of myeloid activation. No differences were observed in the frequency or phenotype of sinusoidal myeloid cells between male and female livers. However, monocytes from male livers produced more inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in response to TLR stimulation than female monocytes. We investigated negative regulators of TLR signaling and found that TOLLIP was elevated in female liver-derived monocytes. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that enhanced responsiveness of myeloid cells from the male liver predisposes men to inflammation, which was associated with altered expression of negative regulators of TLR signaling

The impact of preexisting and post-transplant diabetes mellitus on outcomes following liver transplantation

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is said to adversely affect transplant outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of pre-existing and post-transplant DM on liver transplant (LT) recipients.Method: A single centre retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of LT recipients (1990–2015) was undertaken.Results: Of the 2,209 patients, 13% (n=298) had Pre-DM, 16% (n=362) developed PTDM, 5% (n=118) developed transient hyperglycemia (t-HG) post-LT, and 65% (n=1,431) never developed DM (no DM). Baseline clinical characteristics of patients with PTDM was similar to that of patients with pre-DM. Incidence of PTDM peaked during first-year (87%) and plateaued thereafter. On multivariate analysis (Bonferroni-corrected), non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and the use of Tacrolimus and Sirolimus use were independently associated with PTDM development. Both Pre-DM and PTDM patients had satisfactory and comparable glycaemic control throughout the follow-up period. Those who developed t-HG seems to have a unique characteristic compared to others. Overall, 9%, 5%, and 8% developed end-stage renal disease (ESRD), major cardiovascular event (mCVE), and de novo cancer, respectively. Both Pre-DM and PTDM did not adversely affect patient survival, re-LT, or de novo cancer. The risks of ESRD and mCVE were significantly higher in patients with Pre-DM followed by PTDM and no DM.Conclusions: In this largest non-registry study, patients with pre-DM and PTDM share similar baseline clinical characteristics. Pre-DM increases the risk of ESRD and mCVE; however, patient survival was comparable to those with PTDM and without diabetes. Understanding the impact of PTDM would need prolonged follow-up