Excavations and survey at Coats Hill, near Moffat, 1990-1

This report describes the results of the survey and sample excavations of small cairns, annular structures and other remains on Coats Hill, near Moffat. The difficulties of assessing the dates and functions of certain of the structures are discussed. The project formed part of the archaeological studies for the North Western Ethylene Pipeline (NWEP) Project for Shell Chemicals UK Ltd, which wholly funded the archaeological work and the publication of this report

Later prehistoric settlement sites of non-Mediterranean France with particular reference to Limousin

The thesis is divided into three parts:PART I consists of a background review. The particular difficulties of producing a synthetic overview in the light of a massive corpus of material available in local journals and a grossly under - exploited field record are stressed. The evidence for key artefact types, particularly for the terminal stages of the pre -Roman Iron Age, is reconsidered. The later prehistoric record from Limousin is summarised and set into its geographical context. An appendix draws attention to the metal resources of this area.PART II is made up of a gazetteer of sites and potential sites of Corraze, Creuse and Haute -Vienne. An evaluation of the published evidence, coupled with selective field research, is presented, arranged on a parish basis. Le Tane III is identified as the most widely represented Iron Age period on the sites of Limousin. Excavation evidence is however sparse. An appendix lists presumed medieval works.PART III attempts to set the evidence from Limousin, particularly in La Téne III, into context. Aspects of the physical record are considered, and the defensive architecture is selected for extensive treatment. Small rectilinear enclosures are discussed in the light of German evidence for cult usage; the increasing evidence for unenclosed settlement is reviewed. Models for the later Iron Age in Limousin are discussed. In an attempt to evaluate whether there is sufficient evidence to argue for a state -level entity in the civitas of the Lemovices at the time of the Gallic War, the historical record is exploited with particular emphasis on de Bello Gallico. Techniques culled from geography are also employed. The key area for comparison is Berry, which undergoes brief reconsideration. For Limousin, the results are inconclusive, and more general doubts are expressed on our ability at present to differentiate between states and other socio-political organisms in La Téne III in the Three Gauls

Muscle Glycogen Depletion and Replenishment: A Meta-Analytic Review

Muscle glycogen depletion and replenishment rates have been associated with sport performance, biomechanical movement and immune system alterations. PURPOSE: the purpose of this study is to determine, through a meta-analytic review, the mechanisms of muscle glycogen depletion and replenishment. METHODS: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis research design was utilized. Inclusion-exclusion criteria were the following: Glycogen depletion- replenishment studies; subjects in studies had no pathologies; human and animal studies were accepted; Studies with diet manipulation were accepted; articles accepted for coding were peer reviewed, original publications. Coded studies were summarized and statistically analyzed. Coded variables were presented as means and standard deviations (SD). Rates of muscle glycogen depletion and replenishment were analyzed through the Cohen’s d effect size (ES) calculation: = (M2 - M1) ⁄ SDpooled where SDpooled = √((SD12 + SD22) ⁄ 2). RESULTS: Eighteen (18) studies were coded allowing for a total sample size of n=149. Subject demographics were: age, 29.0 (2.9) y; height, 180.4 (5) cm; weight, 74.7 (3.6) kg; maximal oxygen consumption (MVO2), 61.2 (4) ml*kg-1*min.-1. Pre-Post depletion rate ES was 10.29, considered large. Pre-Post replenishment rate ES was 4.39, considered large. Mechanisms of muscle glycogen depletion in rank order from high to low were: high intensity intervals, endurance-run followed by sprints, low intensity cycling to exhaustion, 90 min. intermittent work, cycling for 2 hours at 60% MVO2, 30 min. run at 70% MVO2. Mechanisms of glycogen replenishment within a 24-hour period in rank order from high to low were: high carbohydrate (CHO) diet through two high kcal meals, high CHO with 7 low kcal meals, mixed diet (CHO, protein, fat) with two high kcal meals, and low CHO with two high kcal meals. CONCLUSION: High intensity work led to the greatest depletion rates. High CHO, with high kcal per meal showed the greatest replenishment rates. Consumption of kcal within the first two hours post exercise facilitated replenishment. Variations in simple vs. complex sugars eaten over a 24-hour period influenced total muscle glycogen replenishment. Lastly, high MVO2 significantly associated with glycogen replenishment

MEF2C regulates outflow tract alignment and transcriptional control of Tdgf1

Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defects in humans, and those that affect the proper alignment of the outflow tracts and septation of the ventricles are a highly significant cause of morbidity and mortality in infants. A late differentiating population of cardiac progenitors, referred to as the anterior second heart field (AHF), gives rise to the outflow tract and the majority of the right ventricle and provides an embryological context for understanding cardiac outflow tract alignment and membranous ventricular septal defects. However, the transcriptional pathways controlling AHF development and their roles in congenital heart defects remain incompletely elucidated. Here, we inactivated the gene encoding the transcription factor MEF2C in the AHF in mice. Loss of Mef2c function in the AHF results in a spectrum of outflow tract alignment defects ranging from overriding aorta to double-outlet right ventricle and dextro-transposition of the great arteries. We identify Tdgf1, which encodes a Nodal co-receptor (also known as Cripto), as a direct transcriptional target of MEF2C in the outflow tract via an AHFrestricted Tdgf1 enhancer. Importantly, both the MEF2C and TDGF1 genes are associated with congenital heart defects in humans. Thus, these studies establish a direct transcriptional pathway between the core cardiac transcription factor MEF2C and the human congenital heart disease gene TDGF1. Moreover, we found a range of outflow tract alignment defects resulting from a single genetic lesion, supporting the idea that AHF-derived outflow tract alignment defects may constitute an embryological spectrum rather than distinct anomalies

Should there be a future for Tablet PCs in schools?

Tablet PCs are a relatively new format of computer, which seem to offer features which may be beneficial to schools. The uptake of Tablet PCs by schools has been somewhat limited, not least due to their greater cost than laptops of a 'similar' specification. This paper explores the key question of the extent to which schools should be investing in Tablet PCs, if at all, in preference to other formats of fully functional PCs, drawing on evidence from a Becta funded evaluation of the use of Tablet PCs in schools in England conducted in 2004-2005. The Computer Practice Framework was used to develop a set of questions which helped structure a meta-analysis of the data from 12 case studies that formed part of this evaluation. The methodology used and some limitations of the evaluation are outlined, and the key findings are described. The paper concludes that Tablet PCs do appear to offer significant potential to schools, though this potential was not being fully realised in most of the case study schools. A number of specific circumstances in which Tablet PCs do appear to be the most cost effective option are also identified

MULTI-DIMENSIONAL DENOISING OF REAL-TIME OCT IMAGING DATA

ABSTRACT We present a novel scheme for blind suppression of noise from a sequence of optical coherence tomography (OCT) images, such as those collected on a real-time OCT imaging system. In contrast to virtually all existing approaches to OCT denoising, our technique is specifically aimed at collections of images and is able to exploit the correlations among those images. The proposed method approximates the optimal linear denoising operator for log-transformed data using a 2-D discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to decorrelate in space and the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), or an estimated transform, to decorrelate in time. Decorrelated coefficients are then denoised and converted back to the image domain to produce denoised OCT images. Real-time OCT data processed with this technique shows significant reduction in noise