This Excited Surface

This Excited Surface is a new artwork that interweaves desire with the mutable structure of the ionosphere. It is a sonic, site-specific work designed for camera obscuras. By inserting coloured gels into the lens of the obscura, the disc of the obscura became a deep yellow sun under the earth. The sound was created from the sun’s interaction with the ionopshere, one of the outer layers of the earth’s atmosphere - a short while after participants arrive in the space a narration about desire, touch and solar physics can be heard. There is also a haptic interface which uses live data from the surface of the disc of the camera obscura via movement and touch, this data is transformed into fragments of sound taken from the ionosphere combined with another human voice. The coalescing of site, narration and the sound world of This Excited Surface aims to site our bodies, our senses, both aural and haptic with that of human desires, within the phenomena of the ionosphere

Light attenuation characteristics of glacially-fed lakes

Transparency is a fundamental characteristic of aquatic ecosystems and is highly responsive to changes in climate and land use. The transparency of glacially-fed lakes may be a particularly sensitive sentinel characteristic of these changes. However, little is known about the relative contributions of glacial flour versus other factors affecting light attenuation in these lakes. We sampled 18 glacially-fed lakes in Chile, New Zealand, and the U.S. and Canadian Rocky Mountains to characterize how dissolved absorption, algal biomass (approximated by chlorophyll a), water, and glacial flour contributed to attenuation of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 400–700 nm). Variation in attenuation across lakes was related to turbidity, which we used as a proxy for the concentration of glacial flour. Turbidity-specific diffuse attenuation coefficients increased with decreasing wavelength and distance from glaciers. Regional differences in turbidity-specific diffuse attenuation coefficients were observed in short UVR wavelengths (305 and 320 nm) but not at longer UVR wavelengths (380 nm) or PAR. Dissolved absorption coefficients, which are closely correlated with diffuse attenuation coefficients in most non-glacially-fed lakes, represented only about one quarter of diffuse attenuation coefficients in study lakes here, whereas glacial flour contributed about two thirds across UVR and PAR. Understanding the optical characteristics of substances that regulate light attenuation in glacially-fed lakes will help elucidate the signals that these systems provide of broader environmental changes and forecast the effects of climate change on these aquatic ecosystems

Students academic expectations and experience during the first year of their undergraduate nursing programme

The thesis examines why first year nursing students leave their programme of study and the factors that influence whether they stay or leave. A descriptive, exploratory study design was undertaken using two survey instruments, the College Students Expectations Questionnaire and the College Student Experiences Questionnaire. Data about the expectations and experiences of one cohort of nursing students were collected at the beginning and compared with experiences the end of their first year of study. Additional data obtained from institutional records. There was a preponderance of first generation university students who entered the university through completion of an Access to Health Studies course. This group entertained similar high expectations of academic achievement to the school leavers. These expectations were not that was not matched by their experiences in the main. The most successful students being those in the 30 to 39 age group. Overall, students’ degree classifications did not match their expected performance. The findings show that most students who left the programme intended to return but did not do so. Identifying predictors of success for nursing students remains a key issue for the nursing profession. The findings indicate that although student attrition is multi-factorial, focussing on the predictors of success can overshadow the need to identify and support students who possess the potential for success if additional support is provided. The findings also underline the importance of helping students connect with their learning environment during the first year and to develop self efficacy skills early

Assessing availability and greenhouse gas emissions of lignocellulosic biomass feedstock supply – case study for a catchment in England

© 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Feedstocks from lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) include crop residues and dedicated per¬ennial biomass crops. The latter are often considered superior in terms of climate change mitigation potential. Uncertainty remains over their availability as feedstocks for biomass provision and the net greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) during crop production. Our objective was to assess the optimal land allocation to wheat and Miscanthus in a specific case study located in England, to increase bio¬mass availability, improve the carbon balance (and reduce the consequent GHG emissions), and mini¬mally constrain grain production losses from wheat. Using soil and climate variables for a catchment in east England, biomass yields and direct nitrogen emissions were simulated with validated process-based models. A ‘Field to up-stream factory gate’ life-cycle assessment was conducted to estimate indirect management-related GHG emissions. Results show that feedstock supply from wheat straw can be supplemented beneficially with LCB from Miscanthus grown on selected low-quality soils. In our study, 8% of the less productive arable land area was dedicated to Miscanthus, increasing total LCB provision by about 150%, with a 52% reduction in GHG emission per ton LCB delivered and only a minor effect on wheat grain production (−3%). In conclusion, even without considering the likely carbon sequestration in impoverished soils, agriculture should embrace the opportunities to provide the bioeconomy with LCB from dedicated, perennial crops.Peer reviewe

Resource use data by patient report or hospital records: Do they agree?

Background: Economic evaluations alongside clinical trials are becoming increasingly common. Cost data are often collected through the use of postal questionnaires; however, the accuracy of this method is uncertain. We compared postal questionnaires with hospital records for collecting data on physiotherapy service use. Methods: As part of a randomised trial of orthopaedic medicine compared with orthopaedic surgery we collected physiotherapy use data on a group of patients from retrospective postal questionnaires and from hospital records. Results: 315 patients were referred for physiotherapy. Hospital data on attendances was available for 30% (n = 96), compared with 48% (n = 150) of patients completing questionnaire data (95% Cl for difference = 10% to 24%); 19% (n = 59) had data available from both sources. The two methods produced an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.54 (95% Cl 0.31 to 0.70). However, the two methods produced significantly different estimates of resource use with patient self report recalling a mean of 1.3 extra visits (95% Cl 0.4 to 2.2) compared with hospital records. Conclusions: Using questionnaires in this study produced data on a greater number of patients compared with examination of hospital records. However, the two data sources did differ in the quantity of physiotherapy used and this should be taken into account in any analysi

Modelling and optimisation of the one-pot, multi-enzymatic synthesis of chiral amino-alcohols based on microscale kinetic parameter determination

Advances in synthetic biology are facilitating the de novo design of complex, multi-step enzymatic conversions for industrial organic synthesis. This work describes the integration of multi-step enzymatic pathway construction with enzyme kinetics and bioreactor modelling, in order to optimise the synthesis of chiral amino-alcohols using engineered Escherichia coli transketolases (TK) and the Chromobacterium violaceum transaminase (TAm). The specific target products were (2S,3S)-2-aminopentane-1,3-diol (APD) and (2S,3R)-2-amino-1,3,4-butanetriol (ABT). Kinetic models and parameters for each of the enzymatic steps were first obtained using automated microwell experiments. These identified the TK-catalysed conversions as being up to 25 times faster than the subsequent TAm conversions and inhibition of TAm by the amino-donor used, (S)-(−)-α-methylbenzylamine (MBA), as limiting the overall conversion yields. In order to better ‘match’ the relative rates of the two enzymes an E. coli expression system, based on two compatible plasmids, was constructed to produce both enzymes in a single host. By control of induction time and temperature it was possible to produce six times more recombinant TAm than TK to help balance the reaction rates. To overcome MBA inhibition and an unfavourable reaction equilibrium, fed-batch addition of the amino-donor was introduced as well as the use of isopropylamine as an alternate amino-donor. Adopting these strategies, and using the kinetic models to optimise feeding strategies, the one pot syntheses of APD and ABT were successfully scaled-up to preparative scales. Excellent agreement was found between the kinetic profiles and yields predicted and those achieved experimentally at the larger scale. In this case the integration of these multi-disciplinary approaches enabled us to achieve up to a 6 fold greater yield using concentrations an order of magnitude higher than in previous preparative scale batch bioconversions carried out sequentially

Novel associations of UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 2B gene variants with prostate cancer risk in a multiethnic study.

BACKGROUND: We have previously shown that a functional polymorphism of the UGT2B15 gene (rs1902023) was associated with increased risk of prostate cancer (PC). Novel functional polymorphisms of the UGT2B17 and UGT2B15 genes have been recently characterized by in vitro assays but have not been evaluated in epidemiologic studies. METHODS: Fifteen functional SNPs of the UGT2B17 and UGT2B15 genes, including cis-acting UGT2B gene SNPs, were genotyped in African American and Caucasian men (233 PC cases and 342 controls). Regression models were used to analyze the association between SNPs and PC risk. RESULTS: After adjusting for race, age and BMI, we found that six UGT2B15 SNPs (rs4148269, rs3100, rs9994887, rs13112099, rs7686914 and rs7696472) were associated with an increased risk of PC in log-additive models (p < 0.05). A SNP cis-acting on UGT2B17 and UGT2B15 expression (rs17147338) was also associated with increased risk of prostate cancer (OR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.00-2.70); while a stronger association among men with high Gleason sum was observed for SNPs rs4148269 and rs3100. CONCLUSIONS: Although small sample size limits inference, we report novel associations between UGT2B15 and UGT2B17 variants and PC risk. These associations with PC risk in men with high Gleason sum, more frequently found in African American men, support the relevance of genetic differences in the androgen metabolism pathway, which could explain, in part, the high incidence of PC among African American men. Larger studies are required