Global and local: retail transformation and the department store in Britain and Japan, 1900-1940

Department stores are often seen as transformative of both retail and wider social practices. This article offers a comparative analysis of department stores in early twentieth-century Britain and Japan to assess the extent to which there were universal qualities defining the operation, practices, and experience of department stores and to explore the ways in which they might be seen as transforming retailing in the two countries. Despite similarities in their origin, organization, and service to customers, we highlight the greater diversity of British department stores and their incremental development. Japanese stores were a far more powerful force for change because they formed part of a concerted and conscious program of modernization

The anatomy of the NGC 5044 group - I. Group membership and dynamics

We use a combination of new AAOmega multi-object wide-field spectroscopic observations and literature data to define 111 spectroscopically confirmed members of the massive NGC 5044 group with M_B <= -13.5 mag, providing a three-fold increase in group members over previous analyses of this group. We find the group to have a dynamical mass of 9.2 x 10^13 solar masses, placing it on the border between rich groups and poor clusters. However, comparison to the L_x-sigma and L_x-mass relations shows it more closely follows cluster scaling relations. Using a combination of crossing time, X-ray contours and line-of-sight velocity profile we are able to preclude growth of the NGC 5044 group via major sub-group mergers within the last ~1 Gyr. While the majority of dynamical indicators for the group suggest it is virialised, we find evidence for a small, dynamically distinct sub-group at 1.4 Mpc from the group centre, suggesting that the NGC 5044 group is the dominant structure in its local environment, and is currently accreting smaller groups.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures, accepted by MNRAS. Updated to match proof versio

Creating and curating an archive: Bury St Edmunds and its Anglo-Saxon past

This contribution explores the mechanisms by which the Benedictine foundation of Bury St Edmunds sought to legitimise and preserve their spurious pre-Conquest privileges and holdings throughout the Middle Ages. The archive is extraordinary in terms of the large number of surviving registers and cartularies which contain copies of Anglo-Saxon charters, many of which are wholly or partly in Old English. The essay charts the changing use to which these ancient documents were put in response to threats to the foundation's continued enjoyment of its liberties. The focus throughout the essay is to demonstrate how pragmatic considerations at every stage affects the development of the archive and the ways in which these linguistically challenging texts were presented, re-presented, and represented during the Abbey’s history

Foraging in groups allows collective predator detection in a mammal species without alarm calls

Prey can use alarm calls to indicate the presence of a predator in social groups. However, how does it work in species that do not produce such signals? We investigated how detection of a threat occurred in groups of kangaroos. We showed that detectors, through their vigilant posture, provided information about the threat to other close group members and reactions proceeded sequentially like a domino effect. Collective detection thus appears not to be restricted to social species that exhibit conspicuous alarm signals.Although collective detection plays a key role in determining individual survival, few studies have carefully examined the collective process of detection. We investigated collective detection in the eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), a species that forages in temporary groups and rarely produces auditory alarm signals on detection. In experimental trials, we exposed one group member to a predation threat (a python, Morelia spilota) that its companions could only detect indirectly by observing the reaction of the detector. We videotaped these and control trials in which individuals were not exposed to the python and focal females simply used vigilance routinely. Our aims were to 1) examine whether collective detection occurred and, if so, 2) investigate the temporal pattern of the information transfer among individuals. The latencies between the focal females first scans and those of their 4 neighbors were shorter in the exposed than those in the control groups. The latencies between successive individuals scans were on average shorter in the exposed groups and at the beginning of the reaction chain, and interindividual distances acted to constrain information transfer. More individuals became vigilant in the exposed than in the control groups. Thus, detection of the snake by focal females provided information about a potential threat to other close group members and reactions to this initial detection proceeded sequentially like a domino effect. Collective detection thus is not restricted to social species that exhibit conspicuous alarm signals

3D Bioelectronics with a Remodellable Matrix for Long-Term Tissue Integration and Recording.

Bioelectronics hold the key for understanding and treating disease. However, achieving stable, long-term interfaces between electronics and the body remains a challenge. Implantation of a bioelectronic device typically initiates a foreign body response, which can limit long-term recording and stimulation efficacy. Techniques from regenerative medicine have shown a high propensity for promoting integration of implants with surrounding tissue, but these implants lack the capabilities for the sophisticated recording and actuation afforded by electronics. Combining these two fields can achieve the best of both worlds. Here, the construction of a hybrid implant system for creating long-term interfaces with tissue is shown. Implants are created by combining a microelectrode array with a bioresorbable and remodellable gel. These implants are shown to produce a minimal foreign body response when placed into musculature, allowing one to record long-term electromyographic signals with high spatial resolution. This device platform drives the possibility for a new generation of implantable electronics for long-term interfacing

3D Bioelectronics with a Remodellable Matrix for Long-term Tissue Integration and Recording.

Bioelectronics hold the key for understanding and treating disease. However, achieving stable, long-term interfaces between electronics and the body remains a challenge. Implantation of a bioelectronic device typically initiates a foreign body response, which can limit long-term recording and stimulation efficacy. Techniques from regenerative medicine have shown a high propensity for promoting integration of implants with surrounding tissue, but these implants lack the capabilities for the sophisticated recording and actuation afforded by electronics. Combining these two fields can achieve the best of both worlds. Here, we show the construction of a hybrid implant system for creating long-term interfaces with tissue. We create implants by combining a microelectrode array with a bioresorbable and remodellable gel. These implants are shown to produce a minimal foreign body response when placed into musculature, allowing us to record long-term electromyographic signals with high spatial resolution. This device platform drives the possibility for a new generation of implantable electronics for long-term interfacing. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

A communication-based spatial model of antipredator vigilance

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