44,672 research outputs found
A simple theory of dipole antennas
Simple and quantitatively accurate representation of current distribution in dipole antenna
Investigating intra-host and intra-herd sequence diversity of foot-and-mouth disease virus
Due to the poor-fidelity of the enzymes involved in RNA genome replication, foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus samples comprise of unique polymorphic populations. In this study, deep sequencing was utilised to characterise the diversity of FMD virus (FMDV) populations in 6 infected cattle present on a single farm during the series of outbreaks in the UK in 2007. A novel RTâPCR method was developed to amplify a 7.6 kb nucleotide fragment encompassing the polyprotein coding region of the FMDV genome. Illumina sequencing of each sample identified the fine polymorphic structures at each nucleotide position, from consensus level changes to variants present at a 0.24% frequency. These data were used to investigate population dynamics of FMDV at both herd and host levels, evaluate the impact of host on the viral swarm structure and to identify transmission links with viruses recovered from other farms in the same series of outbreaks. In 7 samples, from 6 different animals, a total of 5 consensus level variants were identified, in addition to 104 sub-consensus variants of which 22 were shared between 2 or more animals. Further analysis revealed differences in swarm structures from samples derived from the same animal suggesting the presence of distinct viral populations evolving independently at different lesion sites within the same infected animal
Revealing the Archetype: The Journey of a Trecento Madonna and Child at the National Museum of Scotland
The National Museums Scotland Madonna and
Child project sought to uncover and document
the history of a fine polychrome wood carving
attributed to The Master of the Gualino St
Catherine and to prepare it for display. A new
body of knowledge has been assembled by
the interdisciplinary team. The conservation
treatment was informed by this work and led
to further discoveries: the removal of overpaint
exposing a previously hidden underdrawing.
The ethics of the treatment decisions, including
the removal of the Christ Childâs 1960sâ fingers required team dialogue and was opened up for
the public to respond to in a series of blogs.
The discovery of a rich polychromy including
gold and glazed tin has led to further plans to
produce a 3-D colour reconstruction. The collaborations
developed during this project will
facilitate future joint ventures for polychrome
sculpture in Scottish collections
Doing it differently: Engaging interview participants with imaginative variation
Imaginative variation was identified by Husserl (1936/1970) as a phenomenological technique for the purpose of elucidating the manner in which phenomena appear to consciousness. Briefly, by engaging in the phenomenological reduction and using imaginative variation, phenomenologists are able to describe the experience of consciousness, having stepped outside of the natural attitude through the epochÄ. Imaginative variation is a stage aimed at explicating the structures of experience, and is best described as a mental experiment. Features of the experience are imaginatively altered in order to view the phenomenon under investigation from varying perspectives. Husserl argued that this process will reveal the essences of an experience, as only those aspects that are invariant to the experience of the phenomenon will not be able to change through the variation.
Often in qualitative research interviews, participants struggle to articulate or verbalise their experiences. The purpose of this article is to detail a radical and novel way of using imaginative variation with interview participants, by asking the participants to engage with imaginative variation, in order to produce a rich and insightful experiential account of a phenomenon. We will discuss how the first author successfully used imaginative variation in this way in her study of the erotic experience of bondage, discipline, dominance & submission, and sadism & masochism (BDSM), before considering the usefulness of this technique when applied to areas of study beyond sexuality
Development of a mechatronic sorting system for removing contaminants from wool
Automated visual inspection (AVI) systems have been
extended to many fields, such as agriculture and the food, plastic
and textile industries. Generally, most visual systems only inspect
product defects, and then analyze and grade them due to the lack
of any sorting function. This main reason rests with the difficulty of
using the image data in real time. However, it is increasingly important
to either sort good products from bad or grade products into
separate groups usingAVI systems. This article describes the development
of a mechatronic sorting system and its integration with a
vision system for automatically removing contaminants from wool
in real time. The integration is implemented by a personal computer,
which continuously processes live images under the Windows
2000 operating system. The developed real-time sorting approach
is also applicable to many other AVI systems
High Redshift Standard Candles: Predicted Cosmological Constraints
We investigate whether future measurements of high redshift standard candles
(HzSCs) will be a powerful probe of dark energy, when compared to other types
of planned dark energy measurements. Active galactic nuclei and gamma ray
bursts have both been proposed as potential HzSC candidates. Due to their high
luminosity, they can be used to probe unexplored regions in the expansion
history of the universe. Information from these regions can help constrain the
properties of dark energy, and in particular, whether it varies over time.
We consider both linear and piecewise parameterizations of the dark energy
equation of state, , and assess the optimal redshift distribution a
high-redshift standard-candle survey could take to constrain these models.
The more general the form of the dark energy equation of state being
tested, the more useful high-redshift standard candles become. For a linear
parameterization of , HzSCs give only small improvements over planned
supernova and baryon acoustic oscillation measurements; a wide redshift range
with many low redshift points is optimal to constrain this linear model.
However to constrain a general, and thus potentially more informative, form of
, having many HzSCs can significantly improve limits on the nature of
dark energy.Comment: Accepted MNRAS, 27 Pages, 15 figures, matches published versio
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