Engaging schools in the science of low-energy buildings

This article explores the relationship between the previous UK government’s initiative to rebuild and renew secondary schools, and the requirement for improved education for sustainable development in the UK. The documented research utilized a number of mechanisms to engage with pupils in Leicester city schools to increase their awareness, knowledge and understanding of the science and engineering associated with the design and operation of low-energy school buildings. Workshops, discussions with energy and sustainable development experts and inspirational visits to existing low-energy buildings were employed to develop an appreciation for the importance of energy efficiency and best design practice. The results demonstrate an increase in pupils’ knowledge and understanding of low-energy school design and additionally a rise in those pupils who are interested in science and would consider it as a career op

Metrology for Bio Systems

The current paper addresses the advent of next generation bio system focussed Micro Nano Manufacturing Technologies (MNMT). These products and processes have placed significant new emphasis on specification and quality control systems, especially if these product and processes are to achieve economic scale up. Bio technology products and processes are a core element of MNMT and structured surfaces can be a key element in enabling bio system function. There examples of the application of such surfaces in bio systems for functions such as diverse as anti fouling and oseointegration. However a deficit exists in terms of metrology for bio structured surfaces and identifying suitable measurands and instrumentation remains a challenge for production engineers. Functional modelling would seem to point towards a better way of specifying metrology however for bio systems these are rare and often extensive function testing and clinical trials are used to inform the metrology selection. In the present paper the development of MNMT bio systems is discussed in the metrology context and several examples of developing metrology challenges. Four such bio related systems are discussed the solutions are outlined. The case studies cover traditional prosthetic implants, micro fluidic devices, cellular attachment and manufacture of cellular scaffolds

Functional characterisation of the maturation of the blood-brain barrier in larval zebrafish.

Zebrafish are becoming increasingly popular as an organism in which to model human disease and to study the effects of small molecules on complex physiological and pathological processes. Since larvae are no more than a few millimetres in length, and can live in volumes as small as 100 microliters, they are particularly amenable to high-throughput and high content compound screening in 96 well plate format. There is a growing literature providing evidence that many compounds show similar pharmacological effects in zebrafish as they do in mammals, and in particular humans. However, a major question regarding their utility for small molecule screening for neurological conditions is whether a molecule will reach its target site within the central nervous system. Studies have shown that Claudin-5 and ZO-1, tight-junction proteins which are essential for blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity in mammals, can be detected in some cerebral vessels in zebrafish from 3 days post-fertilisation (d.p.f.) onwards and this timing coincides with the retention of dyes, immunoreactive tracers and fluorescent markers within some but not all cerebral vessels. Whilst these findings demonstrate that features of a BBB are first present at 3 d.p.f., it is not clear how quickly the zebrafish BBB matures or how closely the barrier resembles that of mammals. Here, we have combined anatomical analysis by transmission electron microscopy, functional investigation using fluorescent markers and compound uptake using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry to demonstrate that maturation of the zebrafish BBB occurs between 3 d.p.f. and 10 d.p.f. and that this barrier shares both structural and functional similarities with that of mammals

Gravitational coset models

The algebra A D∈-∈3 +∈+∈+ dimensionally reduces to the E D-1 symmetry algebra of (12 - D)-dimensional supergravity. An infinite set of five-dimensional gravitational objects embedded in D-dimensions is constructed by identifying the null geodesic motion on cosets embedded in the generalised Kac-Moody algebra A D∈-∈3 +∈+∈+. By analogy with super-gravity these are bound states of dual gravitons. The metric interpolates continuously between exotic gravitational solutions generated by the action of an affine sub-group. We investigate mixed-symmetry fields in the brane sigma model, identify actions for the full interpolating bound state and investigate the dualisation of the bound state to a solution of the Einstein-Hilbert action via the Hodge dual on multiforms. We conclude that the Hodge dual is insufficient to reconstruct solutions to the Einstein-Hilbert action from mixed-symmetry tensors.</p

Chlamydia trachomatis and Chlamydophila abortus induce the expression of secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor in cells of the human female reproductive tract

C. trachomatis and C. abortus are related Gram-negative intracellular bacteria that cause reproductive failure due to infertility (C. trachomatis) or abortion (C. abortus). These organisms target epithelial cells in the reproductive tract and/or placenta, but the innate immune mechanisms that lead to protection or pathology and disease are poorly understood. SLPI is an innate immune molecule which protects mucosal surfaces from infection and injury. C. trachomatis and C. abortus were found to induce SLPI mRNA and peptide expression in HeLa (cervical epithelium) and JEG-3 cells (trophoblast) respectively. Both cell lines constitutively expressed SLPI and, although infection enhanced this expression, killed organisms did not. These data demonstrate that Chlamydia/Chlamydophila grow in cells that express SLPI, suggesting that SLPI does not exert antimicrobial effects against these organisms. However, SLPI has multiple functions, and we speculate that it may play a role in controlling tissue inflammation and pathology

Synthesising evidence to estimate pandemic (2009) A/H1N1 influenza severity in 2009-2011

Knowledge of the severity of an influenza outbreak is crucial for informing and monitoring appropriate public health responses, both during and after an epidemic. However, case-fatality, case-intensive care admission and case-hospitalisation risks are difficult to measure directly. Bayesian evidence synthesis methods have previously been employed to combine fragmented, under-ascertained and biased surveillance data coherently and consistently, to estimate case-severity risks in the first two waves of the 2009 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic experienced in England. We present in detail the complex probabilistic model underlying this evidence synthesis, and extend the analysis to also estimate severity in the third wave of the pandemic strain during the 2010/2011 influenza season. We adapt the model to account for changes in the surveillance data available over the three waves. We consider two approaches: (a) a two-stage approach using posterior distributions from the model for the first two waves to inform priors for the third wave model; and (b) a one-stage approach modelling all three waves simultaneously. Both approaches result in the same key conclusions: (1) that the age-distribution of the case-severity risks is "u"-shaped, with children and older adults having the highest severity; (2) that the age-distribution of the infection attack rate changes over waves, school-age children being most affected in the first two waves and the attack rate in adults over 25 increasing from the second to third waves; and (3) that when averaged over all age groups, case-severity appears to increase over the three waves. The extent to which the final conclusion is driven by the change in age-distribution of those infected over time is subject to discussion.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/14-AOAS775 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org