The clustering of galaxies on large scales

We investigate the local large-scale structure of the Universe, addressing various possible issues confronting the ACDM paradigm. Primarily, we investigate the clustering statistics of the newly-completed 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), the largest all sky galaxy survey to date.The 2MASS galaxy number counts over the ͌ 4000 deg(^2) APM survey area are found to be low compared to predictions but are in good agreement with previous optical results. Surprisingly, the number counts over almost the entire sky ([b] >20 ͌ 27000 deg(^2) ) are also deficient compared to our predictions. These results do not appear to be significantly affected by systematic errors. Assuming a ACDM cosmology, the observed deficiencies in the APM survey area and for [b] >20 represent ͌ 2.5σ and ͌ 4.0σ fluctuations in the local galaxy distribution respectively. These results are therefore potentially at odds with the form of clustering expected on large scales. We examine the form of galaxy clustering to Ṯ 1 scales. Such a result would indicate a much higher baryon density than the concordance value; in addition, CMB power spectrum fits and the associated cosmological constraints would also be compromised

Towards Atmospheric Characterisation of Exoplanets

This thesis provides a multi-pronged approach towards paving the way for future space and ground based exoplanet characterisation e↵orts as well as providing new analysis of the atmosphere of the exoplanet HD 179949 b. This is done, firstly, by outlining engineering trade studies conducted for the attitude and orbit control system (AOCS) and sun shield for the Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory (EChO) spacecraft (a proposed European Space Agency exoplanet space mission). These trade studies were conducted in collaboration with EADS Astrium. A cold gas system with the possibility of a hybrid system which would include the use of reaction wheels is recommend for the design of the AOCS. For the sun shield, a V-groove cone shield is concluded to provide the best thermal coverage while also providing stay light protection as well as being more mechanically symmetric than other options. Simulations are then conducted to determine the number of transiting planets future surveys should expect to find around stars within 50 parsecs of the sun. This is done by taking the known stars within 50 parsecs and adding a simulated planet population based on current models and observations to each star. Assumptions are made regarding observability of a planetary transit and a Monte Carlo simulation run to gain statistics on the number and type of planetary systems that can be expected to be found. The results of the simulation show a mean expected number of 27 detectable transiting planets within 50 parsecs. Next, using the Position and Proper Motion Extended-L (PPMXL) catalogue, optical and near-infrared colour cuts were used together with a reduced proper motion cut to find bright M dwarfs for future exoplanet transit studies. PPMXL’s low proper motion uncertainties allow this work to probe down to smaller proper motions than previous similar studies. Unique objects found with this method were combined with that of previous work to produce 8479 K < 9 M dwarfs. Low-resolution spectroscopy was obtained of a sample of the objects found using this selection method to gain statistics on their spectral type and physical properties. Results show a spectral-type range of K7-M4V. This catalogue is the most complete collection of K < 9 M dwarfs currently available and is made available here. High resolution spectroscopy and model spectra of planetary atmospheres is then used along with a spectral deconvolution technique to attempt to detect the Doppler shifted signal of the non-transiting planet HD 179949 b. The signal was not detected but new upper limits were set ruling out the presence of TiO down to a log10 ✏0 = -4.09 with 99.9 per cent confidence. Simulations conducted by this work imply a loss of sensitivity occurring possibly due to varying telluric interference or instrumental systematics

PVP2009-77013 THROUGH WALL CRACKING IN HIGH TEMPERATURE ROTARY COOLER

ABSTRACT After operating for a number of years, a high temperature rotary ore cooler suffered cracking. The cracks grew through the shell wall resulting in leakage of water from the water bath into the ore. Under the extreme temperature, the risk of water dissociation into hydrogen and subsequent explosion was of substantial concern and instigated the investigation in to the root cause of the cracking which was deduced to be driven by high thermally induced stresses. The root cause for the thermally induced stressing was found to be related to a design flaw that was not immediately obvious. The investigation outcome was a recommendation to change the design to eliminate the high localized stresses which were believed to be the driving force behind the corrosion fatigue crack propagation. This paper presents the investigation approach which included advanced thermal and stress analysis and reports on the general design principle that should be adopted to avoid thermal stress induced corrosion fatigue cracking under high temperature operation

COVID-19, 5G conspiracies and infrastructural futures

This article examines the emergence of conspiracy theories linking COVID-19 with 5G, with a focus on Australia, the United States and United Kingdom. The article is in two parts. The first details long-standing concerns around mobile technologies and infrastructures before showing how they translate to specific worries about 5G technology. The second shows how these fears have fuelled specific conspiracies connecting 5G with COVID-19, how they have animated protests and acts of vandalism that have occurred during the pandemic, and the ongoing engagement of conspiracists with official inquiries into 5G. Finally, we argue that a productive way to understand what is happening with 5G is to look beyond conspiracy theories to a larger set of concerns. We argue that the battle for control of 5G infrastructure can be productively understood in geopolitical terms, as forms of economic statecraft, which partly explains why governments are increasingly concerned about countering misinformation and disinformation around 5G

Advertising Practioners’ Educational Prerequisites: Differentiating The Needs Of Creatives From Non Creatives

Singapore‘s advertising industry is one of the clusters identified as an important growth area in the country‘s creative economy. The growth of the media industry, in particular the advertising industry has thus added urgency to call for higher institutions in Singapore to help nurture a pool of creative manpower by providing a well-rounded and comprehensive relevant education on advertising. An effective education policy is therefore a prime instrument in facilitating developments in this industry. A joint research initiative was conducted with the participation of a few advertising companies in Singapore. These included both creative agencies as well as media buying firms. The research served to examine the formal education needs of both creative and non-creative advertising professionals. From the study, we found that the education requirements for creative and non-creative education are similar, but not identical. Industry practitioners viewed that practical exposure are important for both groups of professionals. However, for creative education especially, this aspect took an additional importance as the most notable and common responses were the invitation of industry practitioners to conduct classes, undertaking real life projects and obtaining a global perspective via the engagement of renowned international advertising professionals or going for overseas internships. The study served as a springboard to a more exhaustive study in the advertising industry within Singapore as well as in comparison over a cross-section of countries, providing an insight into trends, different supporting factors and conditions for creativity in relation to the advertising industry

Falls and fall related injury in older people with chronic liver disease

Introduction Alongside an ageing population with an increasing prevalence of chronic liver disease (CLD) is an improved survival rate for younger people with CLD who are surviving into older age. Older people often have different, more complex health service needs for which geriatric services exist. However, the rapidly expanding older CLD population may have specific needs or outgrow specialty specific services. Falls are more common with increasing age in the general population and represent a substantial burden for individuals, families, society and the economy. People with CLD have multiple theoretical risk factors for falling, generating the hypothesis that falls and fall related injury will be common in older people with CLD. However, in order for services to adapt to the changing demographic evidence is required; firstly for an evidence-based management approach for falls intervention and prevention studies and secondly to support setting up of services. Methods In Phase 1, self-complete data collection tools were mailed to existing, comprehensive databases of extant cases with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), primary sclerosing cholangitis and post-liver transplant (post-LT). The same tools were completed by patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alcoholic liver disease in the clinic. The tools provided data to define falls and fall related injury prevalence in an older (>65 years) and a younger CLD cohort. An existing database of older, healthy community-dwelling adults was used as a control group. In Phase 2, multidisciplinary falls assessments were performed in a group of people with CLD to explore possible modifiable fall associations in order to inform future intervention/prevention studies. Finally, potential barriers to multifactorial intervention were explored. Results Falls are common in older people with CLD with almost 50% having had a fall in the previous year, significantly more so than age- and sex- matched community controls. Falling was unrelated to liver disease but was independently associated with orthostatic dizziness, lower limb strength and fear of falling. Falls were most common in older people with PBC (58%) and least common in ALD (18%). Fall prevalence post-LT is similar to other CLDs and significantly greater than in community controls; it is associated with orthostatic dizziness and the nadir blood pressure on standing up. Transplantation appears to have no effect on falling. Several barriers to intervention exist, confidence to exercise, understanding the benefits of physical activity, fatigue and FOF which was independently associated with levels of physical activity. Conclusion As falls are very common in older people with CLD and represent a substantial problem on an individual and societal level, current services will need to adapt. Several fall associations have been identified, each of which is modifiable and provides evidence for future intervention studies and services. In the general population orthostatic dizziness is amenable to conservative measures and lower limb strength and fear of falling can be improved through physiotherapy. If future studies revealed these to be effective intervention methods a multidisciplinary team consisting of a physician, nurse and physiotherapist would be required.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

An fMRI study of joint action–varying levels of cooperation correlates with activity in control networks

As social agents, humans continually interact with the people around them. Here, motor cooperation was investigated using a paradigm in which pairs of participants, one being scanned with fMRI, jointly controlled a visually presented object with joystick movements. The object oscillated dynamically along two dimensions, color and width of gratings, corresponding to the two cardinal directions of joystick movements. While the overall control of each participant on the object was kept constant, the amount of cooperation along the two dimensions varied along four levels, from no (each participant controlled one dimension exclusively) to full (each participant controlled half of each dimension) cooperation. Increasing cooperation correlated with BOLD signal in the left parietal operculum and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), while decreasing cooperation correlated with activity in the right inferior frontal and superior temporal gyri, the intraparietal sulci and inferior temporal gyri bilaterally, and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. As joint performance improved with the level of cooperation, we assessed the brain responses correlating with behavior, and found that activity in most of the areas associated with levels of cooperation also correlated with the joint performance. The only brain area found exclusively in the negative correlation with cooperation was in the dorso medial frontal cortex, involved in monitoring action outcome. Given the cluster location and condition-related signal change, we propose that this region monitored actions to extract the level of cooperation in order to optimize the joint response. Our results, therefore, indicate that, in the current experimental paradigm involving joint control of a visually presented object with joystick movements, the level of cooperation affected brain networks involved in action control, but not mentalizing

Inferring transcription factor complexes from ChIP-seq data

Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) allows researchers to determine the genome-wide binding locations of individual transcription factors (TFs) at high resolution. This information can be interrogated to study various aspects of TF behaviour, including the mechanisms that control TF binding. Physical interaction between TFs comprises one important aspect of TF binding in eukaryotes, mediating tissue-specific gene expression. We have developed an algorithm, spaced motif analysis (SpaMo), which is able to infer physical interactions between the given TF and TFs bound at neighbouring sites at the DNA interface. The algorithm predicts TF interactions in half of the ChIP-seq data sets we test, with the majority of these predictions supported by direct evidence from the literature or evidence of homodimerization. High resolution motif spacing information obtained by this method can facilitate an improved understanding of individual TF complex structures. SpaMo can assist researchers in extracting maximum information relating to binding mechanisms from their TF ChIP-seq data. SpaMo is available for download and interactive use as part of the MEME Suite (http://meme.nbcr.net)

NIR Color vs Launch Date: A 20-Year Analysis of Space Weathering Effects on the Boeing 376 Spacecraft

The Boeing HS376 spin stabilized spacecraft was a popular design that was launched continuously into geosynchronous orbit starting in 1980 with the last launch occurring in 2002. Over 50 of the HS376 buses were produced to fulfill a variety of different communication missions for countries all over the world. The design of the bus is easily approximated as a telescoping cylinder that is covered with solar cells and an Earth facing antenna that is despun at the top of the cylinder. The similarity in design and the number of spacecraft launched over a long period of time make the HS376 a prime target for studying the effects of solar weathering on solar panels as a function of time. A selection of primarily nonoperational HS376 spacecraft launched over a 20 year time period were observed using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope on Mauna Kea and multiband nearinfrared photometry produced. Each spacecraft was observed for an entire night cycling through ZYJHK filters and timevarying colors produced to compare nearinfrared color as a function of launch date. The resulting analysis shown here may help in the future to set launch date constraints on the parent object of unidentified debris objects or other unknown spacecraft

The impact of departmental academic skills provision on students' wellbeing

Student wellbeing in UK higher education is of serious concern, with high rates of stress and anxiety recorded among students (Pereira et al, 2019). This is compounded for international students who speak English as a second or third language. However, international students are an integral part of higher education in the United Kingdom. Strategies that are specifically designed for international students that support wellbeing are somewhat lacking across the sector (Shu et al, 2020). The aim of this initiative is to embed academic and communication skills into students’ programmes of study in the form of weekly 2-hour academic skills classes. This small-scale study is based on the experience of teaching MA Education students, 95% of whom are Chinese. Classes focus on developing students’ understanding of critical thinking and writing, supporting their academic reading and ensuring that they understand academic conventions in the UK such as referencing and academic writing structure. Classes also provide another layer of support and social interaction for students which we hope support student wellbeing. We surveyed 40 students about how the classes support their participation and interaction, alleviate anxiety and help to develop their sense of belonging. We followed this up with students interviewing each other on their experiences of academic skills development classes. Members of the teaching team observed the interviews and took notes. This paper will report on our findings and make recommendations for how to further improve support for international PGTs