Ireland: Submerged Prehistoric Sites and Landscapes

Evidence of Ireland's drowned landscapes and settlements presently comprises 50 sites spread across the entire island. These comprise mainly intertidal find spots or small collections of flint artefacts. A handful of fully subtidal sites are known, generally from nearshore regions and consisting, with one exception, of isolated single finds. Evidence of organic remains is also sparse, with the exception of Mesolithic and Neolithic wooden fish traps buried in estuarine sediments under Dublin. The relatively small number of sites is probably due to lack of research as much as taphonomic issues, and thus the current evidence hints at the potential archaeological record which may be found underwater. Such evidence could contribute to knowledge of the coastal adaptations and seafaring abilities of Ireland's earliest inhabitants. Nonetheless, taphonomic considerations, specifically relating to Ireland's history of glaciation, sea-level change and also modern oceanographic conditions likely limit the preservation of submerged landscapes and their associated archaeology. Realistically, the Irish shelf is likely characterised by pockets of preservation, which makes detection and study of submerged landscapes difficult but not impossible. A range of potential routes of investigation are identifiable, including site-scale archaeological survey, landscape-scale seabed mapping, archival research and community engagement

Generalizations of the short pulse equation

We classify integrable scalar polynomial partial differential equations of second order generalizing the short pulse equation

Smoke toxicity of rainscreen façades

The toxic smoke production of four rainscreen façade systems were compared during large-scale fire performance testing on a reduced height BS 8414 test wall. Systems comprising 'non-combustible' aluminium composite material (ACM) with polyisocyanurate (PIR), phenolic foam (PF) and stone wool (SW) insulation, and polyethylene-filled ACM with PIR insulation were tested. Smoke toxicity was measured by sampling gases at two points - the exhaust duct of the main test room and an additional 'kitchen vent', which connects the rainscreen cavity to an occupied area. Although the toxicity of the smoke was similar for the three insulation products with non-combustible ACM, the toxicity of the smoke flowing from the burning cavity through the kitchen vent was greater by factors of 40 and 17 for PIR and PF insulation respectively, when compared to SW. Occupants sheltering in a room connected to the vent are predicted to collapse, and then inhale a lethal concentration of asphyxiant gases. This is the first report quantifying fire conditions within the cavity and assessing smoke toxicity within a rainscreen façade cavity. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An integrative approach for building personalized gene regulatory networks for precision medicine

Only a small fraction of patients respond to the drug prescribed to treat their disease, which means that most are at risk of unnecessary exposure to side effects through ineffective drugs. This inter-individual variation in drug response is driven by differences in gene interactions caused by each patient's genetic background, environmental exposures, and the proportions of specific cell types involved in disease. These gene interactions can now be captured by building gene regulatory networks, by taking advantage of RNA velocity (the time derivative of the gene expression state), the ability to study hundreds of thousands of cells simultaneously, and the falling price of single-cell sequencing. Here, we propose an integrative approach that leverages these recent advances in single-cell data with the sensitivity of bulk data to enable the reconstruction of personalized, cell-type- and context-specific gene regulatory networks. We expect this approach will allow the prioritization of key driver genes for specific diseases and will provide knowledge that opens new avenues towards improved personalized healthcare

Femmes d'Afrique : programme de formation sur le leadership; rapport de recherche - Libéria et Côte d'Ivoire, juin - octobre 2008

Version anglaise disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI: Women of Africa leadership development program : research report - Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire, June – October 200