The French Army and the Destruction of Roman Monuments in Algeria

Die antike Landschaft Algeriens – Überreste von Städten, Festungen, Villen – war einer radikalen Veränderung durch die französische Armee ausgesetzt, als diese 1830 in das Land einfiel und eine große Anzahl von Truppen, Hilfskräften und später Kolonisten mit sich brachte und zu versorgen hatte. Für die nun nötigen Bautätigkeiten wurden Materialien aus Römischen Ruinen neu genutzt. Das französische Offizierskorps und ebenso die Beamten hatten oft eine klassische Ausbildung genossen, weshalb ihre Berichte über Entdeckungen und Zerstörungen der Altertümer sehr umfangreich ausfallen. Dennoch erforderten die Bedürfnisse der Kriegstechnik und der kolonialen Siedlungstätigkeit – Straßen, Schienen, Krankenhäuser, Kasernen – die Zerstörung eines großen Teils des römischen Algeriens. Ohne den Guerilla-Krieg, welcher das Land über Dekaden verwüstete und eine anhaltende Nutzung von Festungen erforderte, wären vermutliche viele Überreste der Römer unversehrt geblieben

Syria's Monuments

Syria's Monuments: their Survival and Destruction examines the fate of the various monuments in Syria (including present-day Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine/Israel) from Late Antiquity to the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. It examines travellers’ accounts, mainly from the 17th to 19th centuries, which describe religious buildings and housing in numbers and quality unknown elsewhere. The book charts the reasons why monuments lived or died, varying from earthquakes and desertification to neglect and re-use, and sets the political and social context for the Empire’s transformation toward a modern state, provoked by Western trade and example. An epilogue assesses the impact of the recent civil war on the state of the monuments, and strategies for their resurrection, with plentiful references and web links

An investigation of development appraisal methods employed by valuers and appraisers in small and medium sized practices in Brazil

Purpose – Whilst the real estate development appraisal practices of large national and international real estate companies are well understood, relatively little is known about how development appraisals are conducted by indigenous appraisers and valuers in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how development appraisal is conducted in Brazil, compared to the UK, focusing primarily on the methods employed by small- and medium-sized real estate practices and their appraisers to appraise the viability of commercial real estate developments in the State of Sao Paulo. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a two phase Delphi Method to capture and analyse empirical data from small- and medium-sized real estate appraisers in Brazil. Using the long established and relatively transparent UK Residual Method of development appraisal as a template against which to compare Brazilian appraisal methods, guidance and practice. To understand how indigenous development appraisers operate the Brazilian development appraisal methods, the research was conducted in Portuguese by a bi-lingual real estate expert who was familiar with both UK and Brazilian practice. Findings – The research establishes that appraisers working for small- and medium -sized real estate practices in Brazil rarely use the Residual Method. Instead, they employ a range of methods, the choice of which is heavily influenced by the availability of comparable market data, with Direct Comparison of market data and the Capitalisation of Income being the methods of choice when sufficient comparable evidence is available. Appraisers rarely employ the Residual Method as the principal development appraisal technique, using instead the Comparative Method and Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis. Land prices are usually agreed or already known and developer’s profit is usually determined using DCF analysis and is highly sensitive to fluctuations in construction costs. Research limitations/implications – The research engaged with a small number of appraisers and valuers in small- and medium-sized practices in the State of Sao Paulo using a two-phase Delphi Method. The long established UK Residual Method of development appraisal was used as a template against which to compare practice in Sao Paulo State. There is potential therefore to replicate the research in other Brazilian States and transfer the methodology to other developing countries. Practical implications – In Brazil, when development land in urban areas is acquired on the basis of plot exchange, land is often sold at less than market value and the original landowner retains an equity stake in the development and shares in the development overage. The practice of “permuta física”, giving landowners the freehold of part of the development, or “permuta financeira”, whereby the landowner receives an enhanced land price, indexed against development value, is of potential relevance to the UK and other developed countries that need help in urban unlocking land markets

Tissue-selective expression of a conditionally-active ROCK2-estrogen receptor fusion protein

The serine/threonine kinases ROCK1 and ROCK2 are central mediators of actomyosin contractile force generation that act downstream of the RhoA small GTP-binding protein. As a result, they have key roles in regulating cell morphology and proliferation, and have been implicated in numerous pathological conditions and diseases including hypertension and cancer. Here we describe the generation of a gene-targeted mouse line that enables CRE-inducible expression of a conditionally-active fusion between the ROCK2 kinase domain and the hormone-binding domain of a mutated estrogen receptor (ROCK2:ER). This two-stage system of regulation allows for tissue-selective expression of the ROCK2:ER fusion protein, which then requires administration of estrogen analogues such as tamoxifen or 4-hydroxytamoxifen to elicit kinase activity. This conditional gain-of-function system was validated in multiple tissues by crossing with mice expressing CRE recombinase under the transcriptional control of cytokeratin14 (K14), murine mammary tumor virus (MMTV) or cytochrome P450 Cyp1A1 (Ah) promoters, driving appropriate expression in the epidermis, mammary or intestinal epithelia respectively. Given the interest in ROCK signaling in normal physiology and disease, this mouse line will facilitate research into the consequences of ROCK activation that could be used to complement conditional knockout models

Learning 21st century science in context with mobile technologies

The paper describes a project to support personal inquiry learning with handheld and desktop technology between formal and informal settings. It presents a trial of the technology and learning across a school classroom, sports hall, and library. The main aim of the study was to incorporate inquiry learning activities within an extended school science environment in order to investigate opportunities for technological mediations and to extract initial recommendations for the design of mobile technology to link inquiry learning across different contexts. A critical incident analysis was carried out to identify learning breakdowns and breakthroughs that led to design implications. The main findings are the opportunities that a combination of mobile and fixed technology bring to: manage the formation of groups, display live visualisations of student and teacher data on a shared screen to facilitate motivation and personal relevance, incorporate broader technical support, provide context-specific guidance on the sequence, reasons and aims of learning activities, offer opportunities to micro-sites for reflection and learning in the field, to explicitly support appropriation of data within inquiry and show the relation between specific activities and the general inquiry process

Putting the Yard and Garden to Bed

This fact sheet gives tips for getting the yard and garden ready for winter

The importance of values in evidence-based medicine

Abstract Background Evidence-based medicine (EBM) has always required integration of patient values with ‘best’ clinical evidence. It is widely recognized that scientific practices and discoveries, including those of EBM, are value-laden. But to date, the science of EBM has focused primarily on methods for reducing bias in the evidence, while the role of values in the different aspects of the EBM process has been almost completely ignored. Discussion In this paper, we address this gap by demonstrating how a consideration of values can enhance every aspect of EBM, including: prioritizing which tests and treatments to investigate, selecting research designs and methods, assessing effectiveness and efficiency, supporting patient choice and taking account of the limited time and resources available to busy clinicians. Since values are integral to the practice of EBM, it follows that the highest standards of EBM require values to be made explicit, systematically explored, and integrated into decision making. Summary Through ‘values based’ approaches, EBM’s connection to the humanitarian principles upon which it was founded will be strengthened

Chopping and Storing Quality Corn Silage

This publication explains proper harvesting and storage of corn silage as a quality forage

Harvesting Corn Silage by Plant Moisture

This publication discusses the appropriate moisture level for ensiling corn silage as a forage