Cross section of the Berkshire massif at 42 N.: Profile of a basement reactivation zone

Guidebook for field trips in western Massachusetts, northern Connecticut and adjacent areas of New York: 67th annual meeting October 10, 11, and 12, 1975: Trip B-6; C-

A study of the effects of acid on the polymerisation of pyrrole, on the oxidative polymerisation of pyrrole and on polypyrrole

The polymer products arising from the hydrochloric acid treatment of aqueous pyrrole were shown to have spectroscopic data consistent with alternating pyrrole and pyrrolidine units with varying degrees of ring opening of the pyrrole units. The acid catalysed polymerisation of pyrrole offers a facile route to polymers with amine and carbonyl functional groups, which could be further derivatised. The products were polydisperse spheres; however the use of steric stabilisers induced monodisperse sphere formation and a concomitant ten fold decrease in size. Dilute nitric acid treatment of aqueous pyrrole gave polydisperse spheres (and ovoid shapes) in lower yield, plus a small proportion of curious particles which resembled pitted olives. The presence of acid in the reaction mixture of pyrrole and ferric ions was shown to have a relatively small effect on the conductivity of the resultant polypyrrole. The ability of polypyrrole to withstand harsh acidic conditions was assessed. Polypyrrole was shown to possess significant conductivity even after treatment with boiling concentrated hydrochloric acid

Letter: Faecal volatile organic metabolites, promising biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease and Letter: Faecal volatile organic metabolites as novel diagnostic biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease. Authors' reply

The aetiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains poorly understood. Recent evidence suggests an important role of gut microbial dysbiosis in IBD, and this may be associated with changes in faecal volatile organic metabolites (VOMs).To describe the changes in the faecal VOMs of patients with IBD and establish their diagnostic potential as non-invasive biomarkers.Faecal samples were obtained from 117 people with Crohn's disease (CD), 100 with ulcerative colitis (UC), and 109 healthy controls. Faecal VOMs were extracted using solid-phase micro-extraction and analysed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Data analysis was carried out using partial least squares-discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) to determine class membership based on distinct metabolomic profiles.The PLS-DA model showed clear separation of active CD from inactive disease and healthy controls (P < 0.001). Heptanal, 1-octen-3-ol, 2-piperidinone and 6-methyl-2-heptanone were up-regulated in the active CD group [variable important in projection (VIP) score 2.8, 2.7, 2.6 and 2.4, respectively], while methanethiol, 3-methyl-phenol, short-chain fatty acids and ester derivatives were found to be less abundant (VIP score of 3.5, 2.6, 1.5 and 1.2, respectively). The PLS-DA model also separated patients with small bowel CD from healthy controls and those with colonic CD from UC (P < 0.001). In contrast, less distinct separation was observed between active UC, inactive UC and healthy controls.Analysis of faecal volatile organic metabolites can provide an understanding of gut metabolomic changes in IBD. It has the potential to provide a non-invasive means of diagnosing IBD, and can differentiate between UC and CD

Structural and stratigraphic chronology of the Taconide and Acadian polydeformational belt of the Central Taconics of New York State and Massachusetts

Guidebook for field trips in western Massachusetts, northern Connecticut and adjacent areas of New York: 67th annual meeting October 10, 11, and 12, 1975: Trip A-

‘Ethnic group’, the state and the politics of representation

The assertion, even if only by implication, that ‘ethnic group’ categories represent ‘real’ tangible entities, indeed identities, is commonplace not only in the realms of political and policy discourse but also amongst contemporary social scientists. This paper, following Brubaker (2002), questions this position in a number of key respects: of these three issues will dominate the discussion that follows. First, there is an interrogation of the proposition that those to whom the categories/labels refer constitute sociologically meaningful ‘groups’ as distinct from (mere) human collectivities. Secondly, there is the question of how these categories emerge, i.e. exactly what series of events, negotiations and contestations lie behind their construction and social acceptance. Thirdly, and as a corollary to the latter point, we explore the process of reification that leads to these categories being seen to represent ‘real things in the world’ (ibid.)

A Matrix Approach to Numerical Solution of the DGLAP Evolution Equations

A matrix-based approach to numerical integration of the DGLAP evolution equations is presented. The method arises naturally on discretisation of the Bjorken x variable, a necessary procedure for numerical integration. Owing to peculiar properties of the matrices involved, the resulting equations take on a particularly simple form and may be solved in closed analytical form in the variable t=ln(alpha_0/alpha). Such an approach affords parametrisation via data x bins, rather than fixed functional forms. Thus, with the aid of the full correlation matrix, appraisal of the behaviour in different x regions is rendered more transparent and free of pollution from unphysical cross-correlations inherent to functional parametrisations. Computationally, the entire programme results in greater speed and stability; the matrix representation developed is extremely compact. Moreover, since the parameter dependence is linear, fitting is very stable and may be performed analytically in a single pass over the data values.Comment: 13 pages, no figures, typeset with revtex4 and uses packages: acromake, amssym

Peaks in the Hartle-Hawking Wave Function from Sums over Topologies

Recent developments in ``Einstein Dehn filling'' allow the construction of infinitely many Einstein manifolds that have different topologies but are geometrically close to each other. Using these results, we show that for many spatial topologies, the Hartle-Hawking wave function for a spacetime with a negative cosmological constant develops sharp peaks at certain calculable geometries. The peaks we find are all centered on spatial metrics of constant negative curvature, suggesting a new mechanism for obtaining local homogeneity in quantum cosmology.Comment: 16 pages,LaTeX, no figures; v2: some changes coming from revision of a math reference: wave function peaks sharp but not infinite; v3: added paragraph in intro on interpretation of wave functio

Investigation of the semiochemicals of confused flour beetle Tribolium confusum Jaquelin du Val and grain weevil Sitophilus granarius (L.) in stored wheat grain and flour

This investigation sets out to identify specific volatile compounds from both flour infested with the confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum and wheat grain infested with the grain weevil, Sitophilus granarius. These volatiles could help to aid the early detection of infestation by these pests. Volatiles by the infestation of these insect pests were entrained and analysed using Solid-Phase Micro-Extraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). Several volatile compounds were identified specific to T. confusum and S. granarius, including the known semiochemicals of T. confusum. The T. confusum larvae specifically emitted the volatiles 1-octen-3-one, benzeneacetaldehyde and decanal, whilst the adults specifically emitted the volatiles 2-methyl and 2- ethyl-1,3-benzenediols, the known semiochemicals 1-pentadecene, 2-methyl and 2-ethyl-1,4- benzoquinones and a series of yet to be fully identified unsaturated hydrocarbons. Both T. confusum adults and larvae emitted 2-methylbutanal and 2-butanone. Furthermore, four volatiles were identified unique to flour infested by T. confusum, 3-penten-2-one, 3-octanone, 2-octenal and 2-butyl-1-octanol. The S. granarius adults specifically emitted the volatiles 2-methylpropanoic acid and 3-methylbutanoic acid, whilst infested wheat grain produced the following volatile organic compounds, 2-methylfuran, 2- ethylfuran, 2-methyl-1-butanol, 2-ethyl-2-pentenal and 2,5-dimethylpyrazine. We believe these specific volatiles may act as semiochemicals for these insects and could aid in semiochemical monitoring for the early detection of infestation by these insects.Keywords: Tribolium confusum, Sitophilus granarius, GC-MS, SPME, Semiochemicals