Thin Gravel Deposits on Wave-Eroded Cliffs Near Barrow, Alaska

The beach southwest of Barrow, Alaska, is limited to a foreshore which is backed by wave-eroded cliffs of the Quaternary Gubick Formation. These cliffs, which have an approximate elevation of 20 to 35 feet above mean sea level, are covered with a thin layer of coarse sand and gravel. This gravel unit ranges in thickness from a few inches to an intermittent covering of gravel. The unit extends inland about 10 feet in some places to about 300 feet in others. A gravel deposit of these dimensions is of little or no importance to most scientific disciplines. However, its presence and method of formation are of extreme importance to the unravelling of the archaeological sequence along the coast of Northern Alaska. The gravel units were first observed during the archaeological excavation of an Eskimo site at Walakpa, which is approximately 12 miles southwest of Barrow. At this location there is a sequence of gravel units interspersed throughout the stratigraphic column of the site. These gravel units were formed at the surface after a period of Eskimo occupation and then covered by a subsequent period of occupation, thus they served as a basis for separating one period of occupation from another either older or younger occupation level. ... The presence and method of deposition of the sand and gravel units at the Walakpa site give further evidence that vertical sorting has not occurred. This in turn suggests that the artifacts found in an occupation level belong only to that occupation level; i.e., the tool assemblages found can be attributed to a single period of cultural deposition. The observations are of extreme importance to the unravelling of the archaeological sequence along the arctic coast of Alaska. Owing to the uncommon occurrence of this phenomenon the author has only pieced together the sequence of events necessary for the deposition of these gravel units. However, they have been observed by Silas Negovanna who is a native of the area (personal communication)

Humean Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science

Humeanism is often taken to be a prime example of metaphysics which has failed to be sufficient attention to contemporary science. I argue that these claims have been made too hastily: there are moves available to Humeans which bring the account closer to scientific practice while still preserving the spirit of the view. The thesis comprises two parts. In the first half, I deal with the Best System Account of laws, and consider how it ought to treat initial conditions. From there, I turn to the question of whether Humean laws can explain events. This has recently been a topic of renewed interest in the literature and I disentangle the various claims philosophers have made on behalf of Humeanism. From these, I identify three promising responses to the argument that Humean explanations are circular. In the second half of the thesis, I consider how the Humean approach to laws can be extended to cover symmetry principles when the latter are understood as laws of laws. In response to a problem concerning properties and language, I suggest that the account go language-relative. The result of this is a regularity-based approach that can incorporate both laws and their symmetries into a single unified framework. Finally, I draw upon some examples from biology to indicate how the account can deal with the special sciences

Our Economy is Evolving: Shouldn\u27t the Way We Measure It Evolve Too?

The Local Consumer Commerce Index is a measure of local economic activity parsed by a variety of consumer and merchant characteristics. By leveraging an administrative database of over 24 billion debit and credit card transactions made by over 64 million de-identified customers, this index from the JPMorgan Chase Institute addresses the lack of data series with sufficient spatiotemporal and demo/firmographic resolution to support tactical decision making in local economies. Each transaction carries the age and income of the consumer, the merchant size and type of product it sells, as well as the zip code of both. Using these characteristics we construct a measure of year-over-year spending growth by consumers at merchants located in 14 major metropolitan areas in the US. The index data are screened and weighted to represent population-wide spending levels. This unique lens on local economies is freely provided to the public in accordance with the Institute’s mission of advancing the public good. We have also extended this data asset beyond its use for reporting and economic monitoring. One extension has been our research that measures intra-city demand. By measuring the distance between where consumers live and the merchants at which they shop, we have lent nuance and granularity to policy discussions surrounding intra-city inequities in economic vitality. We hope to socialize the power of leveraging administrative data for the public good, in hopes that other administrative data-owners are encouraged to also furnish analyses based on their administrative data to help inform the public policy process

Wellbore Permeability Estimates from Vertical Interference Testing of Existing Wells

AbstractWellbore integrity is considered an important risk factor for leakage of CO2 and formation fluids out of geological CO2 storage sites. Quantifying the effective hydraulic parameters that control vertical migration of fluids along the wellbore involves data collection through numerous field and laboratory experiments. The vertical interference test (VIT) is a downhole test designed to measure hydraulic communication of the outside-of-casing wellbore barrier system over a selected well section. Results from these tests can be analyzed numerically to determine the average permeability of the section. Several field surveys of existing wells have resulted in 9 VIT datasets, of which three are presented here. The effective permeability estimates for the three tests span two orders of magnitude, from approximately 1 mD to more than 100 mD. When compared with companion sidewall core analyses of the cement matrix that have permeabilities in the microD range, the VIT data suggest that interfaces or defects in the cement sheath are responsible for flow. Initial analysis of the remaining 6 datasets suggests an even larger range in effective permeability values, as low as microD to more than 1 D, indicating that well permeability can be highly variable from well to well and that high values of permeability are possible. These data provide important insights into realistic wellbore integrity of typical wells in N. America, and help us constrain models for understanding and mitigating risk of leakage during CO2 storage operations

Analysis of DOE Spent Nuclear Fuels for Repository Disposal

Abstract -U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) consists of hundreds of different fuel types in various conditions . In order to analyze and model the DOE SNF for its suitability for repository disposal, several generalizations and simplifications were necessary. This paper describes the methodology used to arrive at a suitable DOE SNF surrogate and summarizes the proposed analysis of this DOE SNF surrogate for its appropriateness as a representative SNF. I. INTRODUCTION fuel parameters. These parameters were determined based on properties that affect three major areas of licensing During the last four decades, the U.S. Department of analysis: criticality, design basis events, and performance Energy (DOE) and its preceding agencies generated assessment. The parameters used to group the DOE SNFs approximately 250 varieties of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) are shown i

Our Economy is Evolving: Shouldn't the Way We Measure It Evolve Too?

The Local Consumer Commerce Index is a measure of local economic activity parsed by a variety of consumer and merchant characteristics. By leveraging an administrative database of over 24 billion debit and credit card transactions made by over 64 million de-identified customers, this index from the JPMorgan Chase Institute addresses the lack of data series with sufficient spatiotemporal and demo/firmographic resolution to support tactical decision making in local economies. Each transaction carries the age and income of the consumer, the merchant size and type of product it sells, as well as the zip code of both.  Using these characteristics we construct a measure of year-over-year spending growth by consumers at merchants located in 14 major metropolitan areas in the US. The index data are screened and weighted to represent population-wide spending levels. This unique lens on local economies is freely provided to the public in accordance with the Institute’s mission of advancing the public good. We have also extended this data asset beyond its use for reporting and economic monitoring. One extension has been our research that measures intra-city demand.  By measuring the distance between where consumers live and the merchants at which they shop, we have lent nuance and granularity to policy discussions surrounding intra-city inequities in economic vitality. We hope to socialize the power of leveraging administrative data for the public good, in hopes that other administrative data-owners are encouraged to also furnish analyses based on their administrative data to help inform the public policy process

Dietary fibre supplementation enhances radiotherapy tumour control and alleviates intestinal radiation toxicity.

Non-toxic approaches to enhance radiotherapy outcomes are beneficial, particularly in ageing populations. Based on preclinical findings showing that high-fibre diets sensitised bladder tumours to irradiation by modifying the gut microbiota, along with clinical evidence of prebiotics enhancing anti-cancer immunity, we hypothesised that dietary fibre and its gut microbiota modification can radiosensitise tumours via secretion of metabolites and/or immunomodulation. We investigated the efficacy of high-fibre diets combined with irradiation in immunoproficient C57BL/6 mice bearing bladder cancer flank allografts. Psyllium plus inulin significantly decreased tumour size and delayed tumour growth following irradiation compared to 0.2% cellulose and raised intratumoural CD8+ cells. Post-irradiation, tumour control positively correlated with Lachnospiraceae family abundance. Psyllium plus resistant starch radiosensitised the tumours, positively correlating with Bacteroides genus abundance and increased caecal isoferulic acid levels, associated with a favourable response in terms of tumour control. Psyllium plus inulin mitigated the acute radiation injury caused by 14 Gy. Psyllium plus inulin increased caecal acetate, butyrate and propionate levels, and psyllium alone and psyllium plus resistant starch increased acetate levels. Human gut microbiota profiles at the phylum level were generally more like mouse 0.2% cellulose profiles than high fibre profiles. These supplements may be useful in combination with radiotherapy in patients with pelvic malignancy

Dietary fibre supplementation enhances radiotherapy tumour control and alleviates intestinal radiation toxicity

Acknowledgements We thank Professor William Kim (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) for his generous gift of the UPPL1591 cell line. We thank Dr. Mark Hill (Department of Oncology, University of Oxford) for assistance with irradiation procedures, and Dr. Jia-Yu Ke and Dr. Vijay Indukuri (Research Diets, Inc.) for formulation of the mouse diets. We thank Dr. Graham Horgan (James Hutton Research Institute, Aberdeen) for statistical advice. We thank Grampian Biorepository at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for providing the faecal samples from cancer patients.Peer reviewe