A history of the Royal Academy schools from 1837 to 1878

This thesis follows on from my previous one. I have accepted the same brief, and have attempted to investigate very fully the history of, and conditions in, the Academy Schools for a further forty years. It is intended to be a reference book, and it is therefore set out in such a way that information can be readily attained. The three Presidencies are dealt with separately, and in each account there is a section on routine happenings - drawn from Minutes of Council, General Assembly, and other Academy records. (Perhaps I should explain that though I use a chronological basis here, and deal with each year in turn, I do not treat of events within the year in a purely chronological way. Within the year I have tried to keep to topics. Within the topic, naturally, I have kept to a chronological sequence). This section is followed by one covering other information for the Presidency period. In this I have made some attempt to 'put flesh on the bones' by including reminiscences, impressions, and anecdotes from contemporary sources when these bear upon the Schools or the students. Further, the happenings of the Academy and Schools are placed against the background of wider events. Much was taking place in education, for example, which clearly affected these South Kensington and the national Art Schools, so very active during the period, were a challenge or a stimulation, or both. In this I have tried to avoid the charge of being too diffuse: manifestly, however, one must not be too parochial. It is hoped that a correct balance is attained. Appendices, which are referred to in the text, give 'fringe information', and a very full index covers the text. Original spellings and punctuation are preserved in the extracts

Mass fatality management following the South Asian tsunami disaster: case studies in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

BACKGROUND: Following natural disasters, mismanagement of the dead has consequences for the psychological well-being of survivors. However, no technical guidelines currently exist for managing mass fatalities following large natural disasters. Existing methods of mass fatality management are not directly transferable as they are designed for transport accidents and acts of terrorism. Furthermore, no information is currently available about post-disaster management of the dead following previous large natural disasters. METHODS AND FINDINGS: After the tsunami disaster on 26 December 2004, we conducted three descriptive case studies to systematically document how the dead were managed in Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. We considered the following parameters: body recovery and storage, identification, disposal of human remains, and health risks from dead bodies. We used participant observations as members of post-tsunami response teams, conducted semi-structured interviews with key informants, and collected information from published and unpublished documents. Refrigeration for preserving human remains was not available soon enough after the disaster, necessitating the use of other methods such as dry ice or temporary burial. No country had sufficient forensic capacity to identify thousands of victims. Rapid decomposition made visual identification almost impossible after 24-48 h. In Thailand, most forensic identification was made using dental and fingerprint data. Few victims were identified from DNA. Lack of national or local mass fatality plans further limited the quality and timeliness of response, a problem which was exacerbated by the absence of practical field guidelines or an international agency providing technical support. CONCLUSIONS: Emergency response should not add to the distress of affected communities by inappropriately disposing of the victims. The rights of survivors to see their dead treated with dignity and respect requires practical guidelines and technical support. Mass fatality management following natural disasters needs to be informed by further field research and supported by a network of regional and international forensic institutes and agencies

Combination of Id2 Knockdown Whole Tumor Cells and Checkpoint Blockade: A Potent Vaccine Strategy in a Mouse Neuroblastoma Model.

Tumor vaccines have held much promise, but to date have demonstrated little clinical success. This lack of success is conceivably due to poor tumor antigen presentation combined with immuno-suppressive mechanisms exploited by the tumor itself. Knock down of Inhibitor of differentiation protein 2 (Id2-kd) in mouse neuroblastoma whole tumor cells rendered these cells immunogenic. Id2-kd neuroblastoma (Neuro2a) cells (Id2-kd N2a) failed to grow in most immune competent mice and these mice subsequently developed immunity against further wild-type Neuro2a tumor cell challenge. Id2-kd N2a cells grew aggressively in immune-compromised hosts, thereby establishing the immunogenicity of these cells. Therapeutic vaccination with Id2-kd N2a cells alone suppressed tumor growth even in established neuroblastoma tumors and when used in combination with immune checkpoint blockade eradicated large established tumors. Mechanistically, immune cell depletion studies demonstrated that while CD8+ T cells are critical for antitumor immunity, CD4+ T cells are also required to induce a sustained long-lasting helper effect. An increase in number of CD8+ T-cells and enhanced production of interferon gamma (IFNγ) was observed in tumor antigen stimulated splenocytes of vaccinated mice. More importantly, a massive influx of cytotoxic CD8+ T-cells infiltrated the shrinking tumor following combined immunotherapy. These findings show that down regulation of Id2 induced tumor cell immunity and in combination with checkpoint blockade produced a novel, potent, T-cell mediated tumor vaccine strateg

Ariel - Volume 5 Number 3

Editor J.D. Kanofsky Entertainment Editors Robert Breckenridge Gary Kaskey Overseas Editor Mike Sinason Staff Ken Jaffe Bob Sklaroff Janet Weish David Jacoby Circulation Editor Jay Amsterdam Humorist Jim McCan

Seiberg-Witten invariants and pseudo-holomorphic subvarieties for self-dual, harmonic 2-forms

A smooth, compact 4-manifold with a Riemannian metric and b^(2+) > 0 has a non-trivial, closed, self-dual 2-form. If the metric is generic, then the zero set of this form is a disjoint union of circles. On the complement of this zero set, the symplectic form and the metric define an almost complex structure; and the latter can be used to define pseudo-holomorphic submanifolds and subvarieties. The main theorem in this paper asserts that if the 4-manifold has a non zero Seiberg-Witten invariant, then the zero set of any given self-dual harmonic 2-form is the boundary of a pseudo-holomorphic subvariety in its complement.Comment: 44 pages. Published copy, also available at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTVol3/paper8.abs.htm

Study of the Social and Economic Effects of Keystone Reservoir on the Community of Mannford, Oklahoma

Civil Engineerin

Blended Wing Aerodynamic Research

In this study, a blended wing body (BWB) aircraft model was designed, and will be fabricated and tested with the objective of maximizing aerodynamic efficiency as well as determining if boundary layer ingestion from top surface mounted engines results in less drag. The purpose of this study is to prove that BWB aircraft designs are more efficient than traditional cylindrical fuselage and wing designs. Wind tunnel testing as well as computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis is expected to support this hypothesis. Both of these tasks are to be completed or are currently in progress. Drag reduction from boundary layer ingestion as well as a more aerodynamic body are the two focus points of this project. Showing that both of these factors are improved by using a BWB design (and thus result in less energy required to fly) is the goal of this study

The Seiberg-Witten invariants and 4-manifolds with essential tori

A formula is given for the Seiberg-Witten invariants of a 4-manifold that is cut along certain kinds of 3-dimensional tori. The formula involves a Seiberg-Witten invariant for each of the resulting pieces.Comment: Published by Geometry and Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTVol5/paper16.abs.htm