Glass in Late Antiquity in the Near East

© 2007 Brill The document attached has been archived with permission from the publisher. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.This paper seeks to explore some of the possible connections between three late antique strands of glass technology and application in the Near East: windows, lighting, and finally, recycling. Glass has long been acknowledged to have influenced two major innovations in the use of internal space within the Roman world: firstly, during the Principate, when window-panes were first applied to bath-houses to maintain humidity and temperatures, whilst casting light into dark interiors, and secondly, in the 4th c. A.D., when oil-lights made of glass were finally adopted as an effective medium for ceiling-lighting.http://www.brill.nl/default.aspx?partid=210&pid=2895

Factors influencing the downstream transport of sediment in the Lough Feeagh catchment, Burrishoole, Co. Mayo, Ireland

Research laboratories in the Burrishoole catchment have been the focus of salmonid research since 1955. One aspect of the research has been to monitor the number of salmon and sea trout migrating to sea as smolts and returning to the catchment as adults. In the early 1990s it became clear that the smolt output from the catchment had declined over the previous two decades. At about the same time the presence of fine particles of peat silt in the hatchery became increasingly apparent and led to a higher incidence of mortality of young fry. These observations and management difficulties led to a study of silt transport in the surface waters of the catchment, which is described in this article. The authors describe geology, soils, climate and hydrology of Burrishoole before examining the sediment deposition in Lough Feeagh

Digital Capability: How to Understand, Measure, Improve and Get Value from it

This executive briefing describes the need for organisations to improve their digital capability and proposes the development of a digital capability assessment process that will contribute to increased business value. Every organisation that has an Internet connection has an inherent digital capability. There is however a huge variation in the ways that organisations use this capability. Organisations that understand this opportunity and learn to measure and improve their own digital capability are likely to find themselves in a better position to compete in the digital economy. However, many organisations need help in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding at decision-making level of what digital capability is and how it can add value to their business. A dedicated process for measuring an organisation’s digital capability is therefore essential. However a reputable process that enables this to happen does not currently exist. As well as developing a process, there is also a need to convince organisations of the value of digital capability. Lack of awareness, unresponsive corporate culture and a generation gap at management level are among the reasons cited for the low adoption of digital technology in many organisations. A digital capability assessment process will help organisations of all types and sizes to get more value from the Internet. The immediate challenge is to complete the development of the process and begin delivering it to an engaged audience as soon as possible

Optophone design: optical-to-auditory vision substitution for the blind

An optophone is a device that turns light into sound for the benefit of blind people. The present project is intended to produce a general-purpose optophone to be worn on the head about the house and in the street, to give the wearer a detailed description in sound of the'scene he is facing. The device will therefore consist'of an'electronic camera, some signal-processing electronics, earphones`, and a battery. The two major problems are the derivation of (a) the most suitable mapping from images to sounds, and (b) an algorithm to perform the mapping in real'time on existing electronic components. This thesis concerns problem (a). Chapter 2 goes into the general scene-to-sound mapping problem in some detail'and presents the work of earlier investigators. Chapter 3 1- discusses the design of tests to evaluate the performance of candidate mappings. A theoretical performance test (TPT) is derived. Chapter 4 applies the TPT to the most obvious mapping, the cartesian piano transform. Chapter 5 applies the TPT to a mapping based on the cosine transform. Chapter 6 attempts to derive a mapping by principal component analysis, using the inaccuracies of human sight and hearing and the statistical properties of real scenes and sounds. Chapter 7 presents a complete scheme, implemented in software, for representing digitised colour scenes by audible digitised stereo sound. Chapter 8 tries to decide how'many numbers are required to specify a steady spectrum with no noticeable degradation. Chapter 9 looks'at a scheme designed to produce more natural-sounding sounds related to more meaningful portions of the scene. This scheme maps windows in the scene to steady spectral patterns of short duration, the location of the window being conveyed by simulated free-field listening. Chapter 10 gives detailed recommendations as to further work

Rifles and Rifling

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CE10006

Use the URI link below to search the Marine Institute Data Discovery Catalogue for datasets relevant to this report.Every three years the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) coordinates a series of mackerel and horse mackerel egg surveys covering the eastern Atlantic from Gibraltar to the north coast of Scotland between January and July. The aim of this survey programme is to assess the northeastern Atlantic mackerel and horse mackerel stock. The Marine Institute participates in this programme and covers stations in the Celtic Sea. Plankton samples were collected at 105 stations, and the eggs they contained were preserved in 4% buffered formaldehyde. Preliminary analysis shows that egg numbers were concentrated close to the shelf edge, around the 200m contour line. Four fishing hauls were made to collect mackerel and horse mackerel samples for fecundity analysis. Samples were collected to ensure maximum temporal and geographical spread

CE0703

Use the URI link below to search the Marine Institute Data Discovery Catalogue for datasets relevant to this report.Every three years the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) coordinates a series of mackerel and horse mackerel egg surveys covering the eastern Atlantic from Gibraltar to the north coast of Scotland between January and July. The aim of this survey programme is to assess the northeastern Atlantic mackerel and horse mackerel stock. The Marine Institute participates in this programme and covers stations in the Celtic Sea. Plankton samples were collected at 112 stations, and the eggs they contained were preserved in 4% buffered formaldehyde. Preliminary analysis shows that egg numbers were concentrated close to the shelf edge, around the 200m contour line. Eleven fishing hauls were made to collect mackerel and horse mackerel samples for fecundity analysis. Samples were collected to ensure maximum temporal and geographical spread. CTD’s were also carried out for the Oceanography section of the Marine Institute

CE18004

The third annual Irish Beam trawl Ecosystem (IBES) took place from 9-19th March 2018 on RV Celtic Explorer in the western Celtic sea. The main objective of IBES is to extend the geographic range of the CEFAS Q1 South-west Ecosystem Survey (Q1SWECOS), with the purpose of providing a swept-area biomass estimate for anglerfish (Lophius piscatorius and L. budegassa) in the Celtic Sea (ICES area VII). Secondary objectives are to collect data on the distribution and relative abundance of commercially exploited species as well as invertebrates and by-catch species, particularly vulnerable and indicator species. The survey also collects maturity and other biological information for commercial fish species in the western Celtic Sea. The IBES survey uses the same gear, methods and stratification as the Q1SWECOS. The IBES survey is formally coordinated by the ICES Working Group on Beam Trawl Survey

A Critical Survey and Experimental Study of Methods of Isolating Tubercle Bacilli From Sputum

This thesis contains the following chapters. Introduction. This chapter sketches briefly the reasons why methods of isolating tubercle bacilli from sputum should be re-examined. The reasons are: a) laboratory procedures play an important part in the diagnosis, treatment and control of tuberculosis; b) present methods of isolating tubercle bacilli from sputum are unsatisfactory - most methods are time-consuming, and many are dangerous to the operator; c) although much has been written about the efficiency of methods of isolating tubercle bacilli from sputum, little attention has been paid to other important criteria by which methods should be judged -simplicity and safety. 2. Literature. I have reviewed the literature concerning methods of isolating tubercle bacilli from sputum or other specimens obtained from patients suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. In addition I have assessed the simplicity and safety of laboratory procedures commonly used for the diagnosis, treatment and control of tuberculosis. The following conclusions are reached. a) Significant differences between methods of isolating tubercle bacilli from sputum can be demonstrated by comparing the results obtained by the methods from series of specimens of sputum likely to contain only small numbers of tubercle bacilli . b) Trials with, series of specimens of sputum establish only the relative efficiency of methods and therefore fail to indicate whether it is worthwhile to search for more efficient methods. c) The results of studies made by means of viable counting procedures do not always agree with the results of studies made with series of specimens of sputum. Information obtained by means of a viable counting procedure - a relatively artificial method - must therefore be supplemented by studies with series of specimens of sputum a procedure which is closely related to routine laboratory practice. d) Because they do not involve centrifugation, Saxholm's pancreatin-desogen method and Nassau's swab method are the most attractive of the recently described procedures for preparing sputum for the culture of tubercle bacilli. e) Microcultural methods yield earlier results than standard methods. They are unsuitable for routine application because they require additional laboratory space and greater numbers of skilled technicians. f) Laryngeal swab culture is the simplest method of isolating tubercle bacilli from patients who are unable to produce sputum. g) Methods of isolating tubercle bacilli from sputum and methods of determining the sensitivity of tubercle bacilli to antituberculous drugs expose the operator to the danger of infection with tubercle bacilli. This danger can be reduced in two ways: first, by a search for methods which, reduce the likelihood of liberating tubercle bacilli in the form of aerosols and second, by preventing the inhalation of aerosols containing tubercle bacilli. The second way of reducing the danger of laboratory infection depends mainly on the provision of ventilated safety-hoods for the manipulation of tuberculous material. Experiments. This chapter contains an account of my own experiments. The following points are established. a) Methods of isolating tubercle bacilli from sputum should be assessed by comparison with a standard method in series of specimens of sputum. For this purpose the most suitable standard method is the sodium hydroxide method. b) The selection of specimens of sputum is of vital importance in comparing methods of isolating tubercle bacilli from sputum. I evolved a critical procedure for assessing the efficiency of methods; 3 replicate specimens are examined from each of 40 to 50 patients whose sputum is likely to contain very few tubercle bacilli. This procedure can be applied with very small resources of technical assistance ana will snow clearly any important difference in the efficiency of two methods. c) Viable counting procedures are of little value in the assessment of methods of isolating tubercle bacilli from sputum. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)