Report on the Glasgow IR group (glair4) submission

This year's submission from the Glasgow IR group (glair4) is to the category B automatic ad hoc section. Due to pressures of time and unexpected complications, our intended application of a technique known as generalised imaging [Crestani 95] was not completed in time for the TREC deadline. Therefore, the submission is the output of an IR system running a simplistic retrieval strategy, similar to last year's submission though with some intended improvements. It would appear from comparison with other category B submissions that this strategy is relatively successful. The following sections of this report contain a description of the retrieval strategy used, a analysis of the results, and finally, a discussion of our intentions for TREC 6

Luminescence dating of wind-blown sands from the Broo Peninsula, Shetland

This report provides a temporal framework to support University of Stirling geo-archaeological investigations near Huesbreck, Broo Pennisula (Shetland), examining how the early modern population there, adapted to harsh climate conditions in the 18-19th centuries, when enhanced aeolian activity led to an influx of sand to the area, leading to adaption’s in farming practices, and abandonment of several sites. Five sediment samples were submitted to the luminescence laboratories at SUERC for dating. All samples were subjected to laboratory preparation of sand-sized quartz, and purity checked using scanning electron microscopy. Dose rates for the bulk sediment were evaluated using analyses of the uranium, thorium and potassium concentrations obtained by high resolution gamma spectrometry coupled with beta dose rate measurement using thick source beta counting, and in situ field gamma spectroscopy. Equivalent doses were determined by OSL from 32 aliquots of quartz per sample using the quartz single-aliquot-regenerative (SAR) procedure. The material exhibited good OSL sensitivity and produced acceptable SAR internal quality control performance. Radial plotting methods revealed good internal homogeneity in the dose distributions obtained for each sample. The chronology established for the sampled sands on the site spans from the mid 16th century (AD 1540 ± 40; SUTL2441) through to the early 19th century (AD 1810 ± 25), with the dates falling within three clusters - the waning stages of the Little Ice Age, the mid 18th century (AD 1730 ± 25 to 1760 ± 25) and the early 19th century (AD 1810 ± 25). In the wider region, periods of sand movement and deposition in the mid 18th century, and early to late 18th century, are documented in sediment statigraphies sectioned at the Old Scatness Broch, Scatness

The Impact of Central Government Policies on Local Authorities’ Transport Expenditure and Provision since 1979 – Summary Report

The past decade has witnessed an increasing degree of tension in relations between central and local government as successive governments have sought to assert greater control over local authoritiesq expenditure and activities as part of wider economic and political programmes. Most attention has focused on attempts to control local government expenditure in the context of macro- economic policies but in more recent years financial controls have been supplemented by legislative measures affecting the fundamental role and responsibilities of local authorities. Indeed, some commentators have argued that the measures introduced by the Conservative governments since 1979 represent a fundamental restructuring of central-local relations such as to constitute a threat to the future of local government. Within the broader context far-reaching changes have been made affecting the financing and provision of local transport services and facilities. Takentogether, these changes have fundamentally re-structured the basis upon which local authorities provide for the transport needs of their areas. Our research has focused essentially on the effects of this re-structuring with the primary objective of assessing the impact on local authoritiesq transport expenditure and outputs and on their approach to addressing local transport problems and needs. Of particular interest to our research are changes which have been made to the Transport Supplementary Grant (TSG) system. TSG was introduced in 1975/6 as a block grant to support both current and capital expenditure on roads and public transport thus supplementing Rate Support Grant (RSG) in respect of current expenditure and authoritiesq borrowing in respect of capital expenditure.' TSG was seen as providing the new county councils with the means to undertake their responsibilities for integrated and co-ordinated planning of public and private transport. However, following the election of the Conservative government in 1979 there was an increasing degree of conflict between central and local government over the nature of the outputs, and the expenditure consequences of, such integrated and co-ordinated planning, especially in London and the metropolitan areas. As part of a wider programme to bring local authoritiesq transport spending under control and more into line with the Government's transport policies and objectives, the TSG system was reformed in 1985/6, grant support being restricted to capital expenditure on roads deemed to be "of more than local importance". (Continues...

The Impact of Central Government Policies on Local Authorities’ Transport Expenditure and Provision: 4. The Maintenance of Local Roads

BACKGROUND This report presents results from the third stage of a research project, funded by the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund, the aim of which is to assess the impact of recent changes in central government policies and powers in relation to local government finance upon local authorities1 transport expenditure and outputs, and upon their ability to address effectively local transport problems and needs. This is the fourth in a series of Working Papers on this research. The first Working Paper (Sanderson, 1988a) reviewed relevant changes in central government policies and financial control mechanisms since 1979 and identified major research issues. The second Working Paper (Sanderson, 1988b) presented results from an analysis of trends over the period since 1979/80 in local authoritiesr transport expenditure relative to the Government's spending plans and provisions, attempting to identify impacts of central government policies and controls for more detailed examination. This more detailed examination has been undertaken on the basis of information providedby a sample of English local authorities. A third Working Paper (Sanderson, 1988~) presented an analysis of developments in respect of local road construction and improvement since 1985/86, when Transport Supplementary Grant (TSG) was restricted to supporting capital expenditure on roads of 'more than local importancer. That paper examined the operation of the TSG system in the context of wider systems for the control of local authorities1 capital spending. The present Working Paper examines local authorities1 recent record in respect of the maintenance of local roads in the context of changes in central government policies and financial control systems and constitutes the final piece of substantive research for this study

The troubles with using a logical model of IR on a large collection of documents

This is a paper of two halves. First, a description of a logical model of IR known as imaging will be presented. Unfortunately due to constraints of time and computing resource this model was not implemented in time for this round of TREC. Therefore this paper's second half describes the more conventional IR model and system used to generate the Glasgow IR result set (glair1)

The troubles with using a logical model of IR on a large collection of documents

This is a paper of two halves. First, a description of a logical model of IR known as imaging will be presented. Unfortunately due to constraints of time and computing resource this model was not implemented in time for this round of TREC. Therefore this paper’s second half describes the more conventional IR model and system used to generate the Glasgow IR result set (glair1)

The Difficult Case of Crystallization and Structure Solution for the ParC55 Breakage-Reunion Domain of Topoisomerase IV from Streptococcus pneumoniae

BACKGROUND: Streptococcus pneumoniae is the major cause of community-acquired pneumonia and is also associated with bronchitis, meningitis, otitis and sinusitis. The emergence and increasing prevalence of resistance to penicillin and other antibiotics has led to interest in other anti-pneumonococcal drugs such as quinolones that target the enzymes DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV. During crystallization and in the avenues to finding a method to determine phases for the structure of the ParC55 breakage-reunion domain of topoisomerase IV from Streptococcus pneumoniae, obstacles were faced at each stage of the process. These problems included: majority of the crystals being twinned, either non-diffracting or exhibiting a high mosaic spread. The crystals, which were grown under conditions that favoured diffraction, were difficult to flash-freeze without loosing diffraction. The initial structure solution by molecular replacement failed and the approach proved to be unviable due to the complexity of the problem. In the end the successful structure solution required an in-depth data analysis and a very detailed molecular replacement search. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Crystal anti-twinning agents have been tested and two different methods of flash freezing have been compared. The fragility of the crystals did not allow the usual method of transferring the crystals into the heavy atom solution. Consequently, it was necessary to co-crystallize in the presence of the heavy atom compound. The multiple isomorphous replacement approach was unsuccessful because the 7 cysteine mutants which were engineered could not be successfully derivatized. Ultimately, molecular replacement was used to solve the structure by sorting through a large number of solutions in space group P1 using CNS. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The main objective of this paper is to describe the obstacles which were faced and overcome in order to acquire data sets on such difficult crystals and determine phases for successful structure solution