The value of urban trails, statuary and installations for Geoscience Education: uses and abuses from the north of England and further afield

The origins, uses and fates of a number of purpose built urban educational resources sited in the north of England are reviewed. These include walk on geological maps, building stone trails, a church gate and landscaping in a city park. A geological trail in the municipal cemetery of Rochdale dating from 1855 is a candidate for the oldest purpose made geological education trail in the world and the most recent educational resource was built in 2015. The destruction of a walk on geological map of England and Wales in 2004 shows that such valuable geoscience educational resources are in need of protection. A range of educational uses of these resources are suggested. Comparison is made with similar resources in London, both statuary and web based, and ways to ensure their preservation and continued educational use are suggested. This study shows that a geoscience education resource, if sited in the right place and looked after, can be an exciting and inspirational education resource in regular use for over half a century

Cave and karst development in the Craven Basin, UK

The Craven Basin, which was an area of crustal subsidence during much of the Carboniferous, contains carbonate strata that pre-date the deposition of the better known carbonates of the Askrigg Block to the north. Later basin-fill deposits consist mainly of clastic sedimentary rocks. However, interbedded carbonate horizons and Waulsortian mud-mounds are also present. Karst development has taken place locally on the exposed carbonate strata. including establishment of the only example of a sulphurous cave stream currently known in the British Isles. The caves so far examined in the area are described, alongside an account of their geological setting

Zircon LA-ICPMS geochronology of the Cornubian Batholith, SW England

AcceptedArticleAvailable U-Pb age data for the Cornubian Batholith of SW England is based almost entirely on monazite and xenotime, and very little zircon U-Pb age data has been published. As a result, no zircon inheritance data is available for the batholith, by which the nature of the unexposed basement of the Rhenohercynian Zone in SW England might be constrained. Zircon LA-ICPMS data for the Cornubian Batholith provides Concordia ages (Bodmin Moor granite: 316 ± 4 Ma, Carnmenellis granite: 313 ± 3 Ma, Dartmoor granite: ~ 310 Ma, St. Austell granite: 305 ± 5 Ma, and Land's End granite: 300 ± 5 Ma) that are consistently 20–30 Ma older than previously published emplacement ages for the batholith and unrealistic in terms of geologic relative age relationships with respect to the country rock. This discrepancy is likely as a consequence of minor pre-granitic Pb inheritance. Several of the batholith's granite plutons contain a component of late-Devonian inheritance that may record rift-related, lower crustal melting or arc-related magmatism associated with subduction of the Rheic Ocean. In addition, the older granites likely contain Mesoproterozoic inheritance, although the highly discordant nature of the Mesoproterozoic ages precludes their use in assigning an affinity to the Rhenohercynian basement in SW England.This project was supported by the Department of Geological Sciences at Ohio University and by NSERC (Canada) through Discovery grants to JBM. Thanks are also extended to the faculty and staff in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Portsmouth, the British Geological Survey, and the Department of Earth Systems Science at Morehead State University for the use of their facilities

The Banshee's Kiss: Conciliation, Class and Conflict and the All for Ireland League

Historians have frequently portrayed constitutional nationalism as being homogeneous - ‘the Home Rule movement’- after the reunification of the Irish parliamentary party in 1900. Yet there were elements of nationalist heterodoxy all over the country, but it was only in Cork where dissent took an organised form in the only formal breakaway from the Irish party when the All for Ireland League (A.F.I.L.) was launched in 1910. The AFIL took eight of the nine parliamentary seats in Cork and gained control of local government in the city and county the following year. Existing historical accounts do not adequately explain why support for the Home Rule movement collapsed in Cork, but also why the AFIL flourished there but failed, despite the aspiration of its name, to expand beyond its regional base. The AFIL is chiefly remembered for its visionary policy of conciliation with unionists following the Damascene conversion of its leader William O’Brien, transformed from the enemy of the landed classes to an apostle of a new kind of bi-confessional politics. This would, he claimed, end the ‘Banshee’s Kiss’, a cycle of conflict in which each new generation attempts to achieve Irish freedom. However, conciliation was a policy which was unpopular with both nationalists and unionists and O’Brien therefore needed to develop an electoral base by other means with more popular policies. He did this primarily by co-opting labour dissent: firstly, in Cork city because of divisions between skilled and unskilled workers; and secondly, harnessing discontent amongst elements of the rural working class which arose following the Wyndham land act of 1903, which excluded small farmers, evicted tenants and farm labourers from the new dispensation. The AFIL ran populist campaigns in which it presented itself as an alternative to the hegemonic grip of the Home Rule movement. However, as this study will demonstrate, there was little to choose on social and economic issues between the O’Brienites and the Home Rule movement and the only policy which fundamentally divided the two parties was conciliation. Disaffection in elements of the working class in Cork, which precipitated the rise of the AFIL, both pre-dated and outlasted its existence. This thesis will, therefore, explore these fault lines over a more extended period from the Parnell split in 1890-1891 to the party’s launch in 1910 and beyond its demise in 1918 to the revolutionary years when the underlying issue of working class dissent, which the AFIL had co-opted and obfuscated, manifested itself again. The AFIL’s record in both parliamentary and local government is considered during its most active period from 1910 to 1914, through the successive crises of the Parliament act, the Home Rule bill and the outbreak of war. The Easter Rising and the rise of Sinn Féin administered the coup de grâce to the AFIL (as it did to the Home Rule movement), and the narrow ground of compromise and conciliation was lost

Some initial thoughts on sediment dynamics in the active phreatic conduits of the Yorkshire Dales, UK

Observations by cave divers of the nature and contexts of clastic sedimentary deposits in Yorkshire Dales caves, especially those within water-filled phreatic conduits, are gradually being collected and interpreted. Insights into the age, history, relationships and dynamics of the clastic materials are emerging alongside more obvious basic data such as sediment grain size, clast lithology and possible clast provenance. Potentially these and other aspects have wider relevance to other karst issues, including studies of palaeo-hydrology and sequences of conduit development; they can also provide pointers to the whereabouts and possible significance of currently unknown cave passages

A uranium-series date from Wall End Cave, Silverdale, northwest England: its palaeoclimatic and archaeological significance

Uranium-series dating of a stalagmite floor from a relict cave in the Morecambe Bay karst indicates speleothem deposition occurred between 13,567 to 8539 years BP. Comparison with other cave archaeological sites where a stalagmite floor occurs in a similar stratigraphical position suggests the first human occupation of the region following the Last Glacial Maximum may have occurred in the early part of the Windermere/Late Glacial Interstadial

Sediment-filled cavities in the Morecambe Bay karst (UK): Examples from the Warton and Silverdale area

Various types of sediment-filled natural cavities are exposed in abandoned haematite and copper mines in Carboniferous limestones around Morecambe Bay, northwest England. They range in age from pre-mineralization through to Pleistocene though, because the date of the mineralization is disputed, it has been impossible to propose a confident chronology for many of them. Re-examination of two sites in the eastern part of the district, together with recently published results that point to a Mid Triassic age for the mineralization episode, now make it possible to propose a Neogene age for at least one example. Other, pre-mineralization, cavities and infill sediments probably date from the period of denudation that removed Carboniferous strata in this area prior to deposition of Permo-Triassic red beds. Some unconsolidated sediments are assigned on lithological evidence to being Pleistocene glacial deposits

Lack of effect of citalopram on magnetic resonance spectroscopy measures of glutamate and glutamine in frontal cortex of healthy volunteers

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a non-invasive imaging technique that can provide localised measures of brain chemistry in vivo. We previously found that healthy volunteers receiving the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, citalopram, daily for 1 week showed higher levels of a combined measure of glutamate and glutamine (Glx) in occipital cortex than those receiving placebo. The aim of this study was to assess if a similar effect could be detected in the frontal brain region. Twenty-three healthy volunteers randomised to receive either citalopram 20 mg or a placebo capsule daily for 7–10 days were studied and scanned using a 3T Varian INOVA system before and at the end of treatment. Standard short-TE (echo time) PRESS (Point-resolved spectroscopy) (TE = 26 ms) and PRESS-J spectra were acquired from a single 8-cm3 voxel in a frontal region incorporating anterior cingulate cortex. Glutamate and total Glx levels were quantified both relative to creatine and as absolute levels. Relative to placebo, citalopram produced no change in Glx or glutamate alone at the end of the study. Similarly, no effect was seen on other MRS measures studied: myo-inositol, choline, N-acetylaspartate and creatine. These data suggest that the effects of serotonin reuptake to modify cortical glutamatergic MRS measures may be regionally specific. This supports the potential for MRS in assessing neuroanatomically specific serotonin-glutamate interactions in the human brain

Integrating Multiple Sources of Knowledge for the Intelligent Detection of Anomalous Sensory Data in a Mobile Robot

For service robots to expand in everyday scenarios they must be able to identify and manage abnormal situations intelligently. In this paper we work at a basic sensor level, by dealing with raw data produced by diverse devices subjected to some negative circumstances such as adverse environmental conditions or difficult to perceive objects. We have implemented a probabilistic Bayesian inference process for deducing whether the sensors are working nominally or not, which abnormal situation occurs, and even to correct their data. Our inference system works by integrating in a rigorous and homogeneous mathematical framework multiple sources and modalities of knowledge: human expert, external information systems, application-specific and temporal. The results on a real service robot navigating in a structured mixed indoor-outdoor environment demonstrate good detection capabilities and set a promising basis for improving robustness and safety in many common service tasks.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Bifidobacterium longum 1714 as a translational psychobiotic: modulation of stress, electrophysiology and neurocognition in healthy volunteers

The emerging concept of psychobiotics—live microorganisms with a potential mental health benefit—represents a novel approach for the management of stress-related conditions. The majority of studies have focused on animal models. Recent preclinical studies have identified the B. longum 1714 strain as a putative psychobiotic with an impact on stress-related behaviors, physiology and cognitive performance. Whether such preclinical effects could be translated to healthy human volunteers remains unknown. We tested whether psychobiotic consumption could affect the stress response, cognition and brain activity patterns. In a within-participants design, healthy volunteers (N=22) completed cognitive assessments, resting electroencephalography and were exposed to a socially evaluated cold pressor test at baseline, post-placebo and post-psychobiotic. Increases in cortisol output and subjective anxiety in response to the socially evaluated cold pressor test were attenuated. Furthermore, daily reported stress was reduced by psychobiotic consumption. We also observed subtle improvements in hippocampus-dependent visuospatial memory performance, as well as enhanced frontal midline electroencephalographic mobility following psychobiotic consumption. These subtle but clear benefits are in line with the predicted impact from preclinical screening platforms. Our results indicate that consumption of B. longum 1714 is associated with reduced stress and improved memory. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the benefits of this putative psychobiotic in relevant stress-related conditions and to unravel the mechanisms underlying such effects