Late Holocene glaciers in western Scotland?

In this paper we use a numerical glacier-climate model, a detailed photogrammetric survey and lichenometry to reconstruct small palaeoglaciers on Ben Nevis and surrounding mountains in western Scotland. These glaciers would have been sustained under a climate where the mean annual air temperature was –1.0°C to –2.0°C compared to present-day values either with or without a decrease in precipitation amount of 10–30%. Historical meteorological data show that these air temperatures were reached on Ben Nevis in the latter part of the 19th century. Although we have no data on the age of these small glaciers, palaeoclimate reconstructions suggest that such conditions almost certainly existed several times during the Holocene in Scotland; the last time being the Little Ice Age of the 16th to 19th Centuries. We argue from this that small Scottish glaciers may have been able to develop in high sheltered cirques at many times during the Holocene and that the glacial history of Scotland therefore requires revision

In vitro neuroprotective activities of two distinct probiotic consortia

Neurodegeneration has been linked to changes in the gut microbiota and this study compares the neuroprotective capability of two bacterial consortia, known as Lab4 and Lab4b, using the established SH-SY5Y neuronal cell model. Firstly, varying total antioxidant capacities (TAC) were identified in the intact cells from each consortia and their secreted metabolites, referred to as conditioned media (CM). 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and Crystal Violet (CV) assays of cell viability revealed that Lab4 CM and Lab4b CM could induce similar levels of proliferation in SH-SY5Y cells and, despite divergent TAC, possessed a comparable ability to protect undifferentiated and retinoic acid-differentiated cells from the cytotoxic actions of rotenone and undifferentiated cells from the cytotoxic actions of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium iodide (MPP+). Lab4 CM and Lab4b CM also had the ability to attenuate rotenone-induced apoptosis and necrosis with Lab4b inducing the greater effect. Both consortia showed an analogous ability to attenuate intracellular reactive oxygen species accumulation in SH-SY5Y cells although the differential upregulation of genes encoding glutathione reductase and superoxide dismutase by Lab4 CM and Lab4b CM, respectively, implicates the involvement of consortia-specific antioxidative mechanisms of action. This study implicates Lab4 and Lab4b as potential neuroprotective agents and justifies their inclusion in further in vivo studies

Power transformers winding fault diagnosis by the on-load exciting current extended Park's vector approach

This paper presents the application of the on-load exciting current Extended Park's Vector Approach to diagnose incipient turn-to-turn winding faults in operating power transformers. Experimental and simulation test results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique, which is based on the spectral analysis of the AC component of the on-load exciting current Park's Vector modulus

Digital play and the actualisation of the consumer imagination

In this article, the authors consider emerging consumer practices in digital virtual spaces. Building on constructions of consumer behavior as both a sense-making activity and a resource for the construction of daydreams, as well as anthropological readings of performance, the authors speculate that many performances during digital play are products of consumer fantasy. The authors develop an interpretation of the relationship between the real and the virtual that is better equipped to understand the movement between consumer daydreams and those practices actualized in the material and now also in digital virtual reality. The authors argue that digital virtual performances present opportunities for liminoid transformations through inversions, speculations, and playfulness acted out in aesthetic dramas. To illustrate, the authors consider specific examples of the theatrical productions available to consumers in digital spaces, highlighting the consumer imagination that feeds them, the performances they produce, and the potential for transformation in consumer-players

Early pregnancy cardio metabolic risk factors and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome 10 years after the first pregnancy

Background We aimed to compare risk factors for CVD 10 years postpartum among women who had ≥ 1 compared to no cardio metabolic risk factor in early first pregnancy. Methods Women of the SCOPE (Screening fOr Pregnancy Endpoints) study from Adelaide, South Australia were invited to participate in a cardiovascular risk assessment 10 years after the delivery of the first child. Data from 141 women who completed all the assessments are included in the analyses. Result Compared to women who did not have any cardio metabolic risk factor at 15 ± 1 weeks’ gestation during the first pregnancy, those who had ≥ 1 risk factor were 5.5 times more likely to have metabolic syndrome 10 years postpartum (aOR = 5.5, 95% CI 1.8–17.3, p = 0.004). Women who had ≥ 1cardio metabolic risk factor during the first pregnancy were more likely to be obese (p = 0.001), have high total cholesterol levels (p <0.001) or have increased insulin resistance (p <0.001) 10 years later compared to women who had no risk factor during the first pregnancy. 63.5% of the women with no cardio metabolic risk factor compared to 39% of women who had ≥ 1 risk factor in first pregnancy, had neither a complicated first pregnancy nor was diagnosed with MetS 10 years postpartum (p = 0.023). Conclusion Cardio metabolic risk factors at the booking visit in the first pregnancy may be useful in identifying young women at risk of future CVD.Prabha H. Andraweera, Michelle D. Plummer, Amy Garrett, Shalem Leemaqz, Melanie R. Wittwer, Emily Aldridge, Maleesa M. Pathirana, Gus A. Dekker, Claire T. Roberts, Margaret A. Arstal

Indirect Dark Matter Detection from Dwarf Satellites: Joint Expectations from Astrophysics and Supersymmetry

We present a general methodology for determining the gamma-ray flux from annihilation of dark matter particles in Milky Way satellite galaxies, focusing on two promising satellites as examples: Segue 1 and Draco. We use the SuperBayeS code to explore the best-fitting regions of the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) parameter space, and an independent MCMC analysis of the dark matter halo properties of the satellites using published radial velocities. We present a formalism for determining the boost from halo substructure in these galaxies and show that its value depends strongly on the extrapolation of the concentration-mass (c(M)) relation for CDM subhalos down to the minimum possible mass. We show that the preferred region for this minimum halo mass within the CMSSM with neutralino dark matter is ~10^-9-10^-6 solar masses. For the boost model where the observed power-law c(M) relation is extrapolated down to the minimum halo mass we find average boosts of about 20, while the Bullock et al (2001) c(M) model results in boosts of order unity. We estimate that for the power-law c(M) boost model and photon energies greater than a GeV, the Fermi space-telescope has about 20% chance of detecting a dark matter annihilation signal from Draco with signal-to-noise greater than 3 after about 5 years of observation

A beryllium-10 chronology of late-glacial moraines in the upper Rakaia valley, Southern Alps, New Zealand supports Southern- Hemisphere warming during the Younger Dryas

Interhemispheric differences in the timing of pauses or reversals in the temperature rise at the end of the last ice age can help to clarify the mechanisms that influence glacial terminations. Our beryllium-10 (10Be) surface-exposure chronology for the moraines of the upper Rakaia valley of New Zealand's Southern Alps, combined with glaciological modeling, show that late-glacial temperature change in the atmosphere over the Southern Alps exhibited an Antarctic-like pattern. During the Antarctic Cold Reversal, the upper Rakaia glacier built two well-defined, closely-spaced moraines on Reischek knob at 13,900 ± 120 [1σ; ± 310 yrs when including a 2.1% production-rate (PR) uncertainty] and 13,140 ± 250 (±370) yrs ago, in positions consistent with mean annual temperature approximately 2 °C cooler than modern values. The formation of distinct, widely-spaced moraines at 12,140 ± 200 (±320) and 11,620 ± 160 (±290) yrs ago on Meins Knob, 2 km up-valley from the Reischek knob moraines, indicates that the glacier thinned by ∼250 m during Heinrich Stadial 0 (HS 0, coeval with the Younger Dryas 12,900 to 11,600 yrs ago). The glacier-inferred temperature rise in the upper Rakaia valley during HS 0 was about 1 °C. Because a similar pattern is documented by well-dated glacial geomorphologic records from the Andes of South America, the implication is that this late-glacial atmospheric climate signal extended from 79°S north to at least 36°S, and thus was a major feature of Southern Hemisphere paleoclimate during the last glacial termination

The governance of co-operatives and mutual associations: a paradox perspective

This paper presents a new theoretical framework for understanding the governance of co-operative and mutual organisations. The theoretical literature on the governance of co-operatives is relatively undeveloped in comparison with that on corporate governance. The paper briefly reviews some of the main theoretical perspectives on corporate governance and discusses how they can be usefully extended to throw light on the governance of co-operatives and mutuals. However, taken individually these different theories are rather one dimensional, only illuminating a particular aspect of the board's role. This has lead to calls for a new conceptual framework that can help integrate the insights of these different theories. The paper argues that a paradox perspective offers a promising way forward. Contrasting the different theoretical perspectives highlights some of the important paradoxes, ambiguities and tensions that boards face

The Physics of Star Cluster Formation and Evolution

© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00689-4.Star clusters form in dense, hierarchically collapsing gas clouds. Bulk kinetic energy is transformed to turbulence with stars forming from cores fed by filaments. In the most compact regions, stellar feedback is least effective in removing the gas and stars may form very efficiently. These are also the regions where, in high-mass clusters, ejecta from some kind of high-mass stars are effectively captured during the formation phase of some of the low mass stars and effectively channeled into the latter to form multiple populations. Star formation epochs in star clusters are generally set by gas flows that determine the abundance of gas in the cluster. We argue that there is likely only one star formation epoch after which clusters remain essentially clear of gas by cluster winds. Collisional dynamics is important in this phase leading to core collapse, expansion and eventual dispersion of every cluster. We review recent developments in the field with a focus on theoretical work.Peer reviewe