A game demonstrating aspects of bumblebee natural history

The Bumblebee Game is an exciting outdoor game, which demonstrates aspects of bumblebee natural history including food chains, food webs and competition for food, predation by crab spiders, parasitism by Conopidae (Diptera) and brood parasitism by cuckoo bees. It has been played successfully with groups of 10-25 people. Although most suitable for 6-14 year olds, adults have had a lot of fun playing this game

Cosmogenic-neutron activation of TeO2 and implications for neutrinoless double- β decay experiments

Flux-averaged cross sections for cosmogenic-neutron activation of natural tellurium were measured using a neutron beam containing neutrons of kinetic energies up to ∼800 MeV and having an energy spectrum similar to that of cosmic-ray neutrons at sea level. Analysis of the radioisotopes produced reveals that Ag110m will be a dominant contributor to the cosmogenic-activation background in experiments searching for neutrinoless double-β decay of Te130, such as the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Plus (SNO+). An estimate of the cosmogenic-activation background in the CUORE experiment has been obtained using the results of this measurement and cross-section measurements of proton activation of tellurium. Additionally, the measured cross sections in this work are also compared with results from semiempirical cross-section calculations

Five layer narrow band position variable filters for sharp colours and ultra low emittance

A simplified approach to creating narrow visible and near IR transmission bands with thin films is outlined utilising just five layers on glass, three of which are thin silver. These films have very high reflection at most wavelengths except for a narrow anti-reflection band where reflectance can be very close to zero and transmittance is close to 70%. In addition these properties are combined with IR reflectance approaching 99% for a very small thermal signature. Spatial variation of narrow band colour is easily achieved and is demonstrated with production of a simple wedge filter covering the full visible spectrum. Measured CIE colour contours in transmittance and reflectance are presented and spectral data on experimental films is compared with ideal models. Potential sources of small departures from ideal models are examined to assess the scope for future improvements. © 2008 Springer-Verlag

A Subambient Open Roof Surface under the Mid-Summer Sun

A novel material open to warm air stays below ambient temperature under maximum solar intensities of mid-summer. It is found to be 11 °C cooler than a commercial white cool roof nearby. A combination of specially chosen polymers and a silver thin film yields values near 100% for both solar reflectance, and thermal emittance at infrared wavelengths from 7.9 to 13 μm

Is enhanced radiative cooling of solar cell modules worth pursuing?

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Recent suggestions that worthwhile additional cooling of 1.0-1.5 °C below what glass covers in solar cell modules already achieve, hence raised power output, will occur via enhanced thermal radiation to the sky with special nanostructures, is examined. Rigorous thermal models indicate these observations require a much lower hemispherical emittance (EH) for the benchmarks of silica and glass covers near 0.75. If the currently accepted value for EH of glass of 0.84 applied even EH=1.0 would provide inadequate extra cooling. An accurate angular emittance profile for glass does predict this lower EH. Complete models include solar heating, heating by atmospheric radiation, cooling by convection and side/base losses. Unfortunately any large lift in radiative output from raised EH at normal cell temperatures is mostly annulled by the accompanying fall in convective cooling. The link of EH to angular IR response points the way to novel coating approaches which may achieve the desired cooling gains. This has wider implications for buildings and other solar technologies. Direct power gains from accompanying anti-reflectance add value

Angular selectivity: Impact on optimised coatings for night sky radiative cooling

To achieve strong net thermal radiation emission from surfaces whose temperature is at or below ambient it is important to have high absorptance between 7.9 μm to 13 μm where the atmosphere is most transparent. Outside of this band the atmosphere behaves like a black body emitter and hence at these wavelengths net radiant heat loss is normally not possible at sub-ambient temperatures. It becomes possible using two types of angular electivity, which also improve emission between 7.9 μm to 13 μm. One is coating based, and one uses external heat mirrors. In the latter low emittance mirrors replace the higher emitting segments of the atmosphere. The coating's net gain is a result of its reflectance rise countering the atmosphere's drop in transparency as ray angles to the zenith approach the horizontal. These ideas are examined in the context of experimental data on coatings which rely on nanostructure to largely limit their spectral absorption to the atmosphere's transparent band. The angular selective coating becomes possible in two multilayer types (a) one nano-layer is strongly reflective (b) one layer has much higher index than the other. Type (a) materials as nanoparticles provide surface phonon resonance in the desired absorption band. © 2009 SPIE

Management of ureteric endometriosis associated with hydronephrosis: An Australian case series of 13 patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hydronephrosis is a rare but serious manifestation of ureteric endometriosis.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>One hundred and twenty-six women underwent ureterolysis for ureteric endometriosis betweeen and October 1996 and June 2009. Thirteen of the 126 women were identified as having ureteric obstruction at the time of their procedure and were included in the case series. The median age was 39.5 (30 - 63). Chronic pelvic pain was the most common presenting symptom (53.8%). The point of ureteric obstruction was noted to occur most commonly at a small segment of distal left ureter, where it is crossed by the uterine artery (54%). Seven of the 13 women (53.8%) were successfully managed with ureterolysis only. Three of the 13 women (21.3%) underwent ureterolysis and placement of a double J ureteric stent. Three of the 13 (21.3%) required a segmental ureteric resection. There was one incidence of inadvertent thermal ureteric injury which was managed with a ureteric stent. In all cases the hydronephrosis had resolved at six months follow up.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings support the growing body of literature supporting ureterolysis as the optimal treatment for ureteric endometriosis causing moderate to severe ureteric obstruction.</p

Elucidating novel dysfunctional pathways in Alzheimer's disease by integrating loci identified in genetic and epigenetic studies

PublishedReviewJournalThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is freely available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.© 2016 The Authors.Alzheimer's disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder. A large number of genome-wide association studies have been performed, which have been supplemented more recently by the first epigenome-wide association studies, leading to the identification of a number of novel loci altered in disease. Twin studies have shown monozygotic twin discordance for Alzheimer's disease (Gatz et al., 2006), leading to the conclusion that a combination of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms is likely to be involved in disease etiology (Lunnon & Mill, 2013). This review focuses on identifying overlapping pathways between published genome-wide association studies and epigenome-wide association studies, highlighting dysfunctional synaptic, lipid metabolism, plasma membrane/cytoskeleton, mitochondrial, and immune cell activation pathways. Identifying common pathways altered in genetic and epigenetic studies will aid our understanding of disease mechanisms and identify potential novel targets for pharmacological intervention.This work was funded by a grant from Bristol Research into Alzheimer's and Care of the Elderly and the Alzheimer's Society (grant AS-PG-14-038) to KL

L-Convex Polyominoes are Recognizable in Real Time by 2D Cellular Automata

A polyomino is said to be L-convex if any two of its cells are connected by a 4-connected inner path that changes direction at most once. The 2-dimensional language representing such polyominoes has been recently proved to be recognizable by tiling systems by S. Brocchi, A. Frosini, R. Pinzani and S. Rinaldi. In an attempt to compare recognition power of tiling systems and cellular automata, we have proved that this language can be recognized by 2-dimensional cellular automata working on the von Neumann neighborhood in real time. Although the construction uses a characterization of L-convex polyominoes that is similar to the one used for tiling systems, the real time constraint which has no equivalent in terms of tilings requires the use of techniques that are specific to cellular automata