Archaeological building investigation and evaluation : City Tower, Todd Street, Manchester

In July 2016, Salford Archaeology was commissioned by Unique Boutique Hotels (Manchester) Ltd to undertake an historic building investigation of the former Cathedral School on Todd Street, Manchester (centred on SJ 8406 9886). Following the demolition of the building in November 2016, Bowmer & Kirkland Ltd commissioned Salford Archaeology to carry out an archaeological evaluation on the land. Both elements of the project were required as part of a redevelopment scheme. The historic building investigation was commensurate with a Level I-type survey, and the evaluation comprised the excavation of a single trench, which aimed to establish the presence or absence of buried archaeological remains within the proposed development area. An archaeological desk-based assessment compiled in 2010 demonstrated that the study area had the potential for the survival of remains relating to 18th- and 19th-century buildings, including housing, public houses and a series of schools. The site’s proximity to the original medieval core of Manchester also raised the possibility for earlier medieval remains being present in uncellared areas of the site, particularly within a former central courtyard. The historic building investigation concluded that the remnants of the former Cathedral School had been subject to considerable remodelling and alterations during the later 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in the basement and ground floor, with a resultant loss of historic fabric. The investigation has enabled an appropriate record of the building to be completed prior to its demolition. The evaluation trench excavated across the study area revealed that basements had removed all remains at the south-east and north-west ends of the trench. Natural gravels were observed between these basements, but did not contain any features of archaeological significance. The natural gravels were tested by excavating a sondage to 4.2m, and were shown to be consistent throughout, becoming much more indurated at depth. The results obtained from the evaluation trenches have indicated that no remains of archaeological significance survive within the study area, and that no further archaeological work in advance of development is merited

Carbon partitioning and export in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana with altered capacity for sucrose synthesis grown at low temperature: a role for metabolite transporters

We investigated the role of metabolite transporters in cold acclimation by comparing the responses of wild-type (WT) Arabidopsis thaliana (Heynh.) with that of transgenic plants over-expressing sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPSox) or with that of antisense repression of cytosolic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPas). Plants were grown at 23 degrees C and then shifted to 5 degrees C. We compared the leaves shifted to 5 degrees C for 3 and 10 d with new leaves that developed at 5 degrees C with control leaves on plants at 23 degrees C. At 23 degrees C, ectopic expression of SPS resulted in 30% more carbon being fixed per day and an increase in sucrose export from source leaves. This increase in fixation and export was supported by increased expression of the plastidic triose-phosphate transporter AtTPT and, to a lesser extent, the high-affinity Suc transporter AtSUC1. The improved photosynthetic performance of the SPSox plants was maintained after they were shifted to 5 degrees C and this was associated with further increases in AtSUC1 expression but with a strong repression of AtTPT mRNA abundance. Similar responses were shown by WT plants during acclimation to low temperature and this response was attenuated in the low sucrose producing FBPas plants. These data suggest that a key element in recovering flux through carbohydrate metabolism in the cold is to control the partitioning of metabolites between the chloroplast and the cytosol, and Arabidopsis modulates the expression of AtTPT to maintain balanced carbon flow. Arabidopsis also up-regulates the expression of AtSUC1, and to lesser extent AtSUC2, as down-stream components facilitate sucrose transport in leaves that develop at low temperatures.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Improving range resolution with a frequency-hopping technique

Range resolution of a conventional pulsed Doppler radar is determined by the scattering volume defined by the transmitted pulse shape. To increase the resolution, the length of the pulse must be reduced. Reducing the pulse length also reduces the transmitted power and hense the signal to noise ratio unless the peak power capability of the transmitter is greatly increased. Improved range resolution may also be attained through the use of various pulse coding methods, but such methods are sometimes difficult to implement from a hardware standpoint. The frequency-hopping (F-H) technique described increases the range resolution of pulse Doppler MST (mesosphere stratosphere troposphere) radar without the need for extensive modifications to the radar transmitter. This technique consists of sending a repeated sequence of pulses, each pulse in the sequence being transmitted at a unique radio frequency that is under the control of a microcomputer. This technique is discussed along with other radar parameters

Hardware schemes for fast Fourier transform, part 7.4A

Real-time fast fourier transformer (FFT) processing of a MST radar data and cost-effective approaches to hardware FFT generation were studied. Previously devised hardware FFT configurations are described including the estimated number of chips used and the time required to perform a 1024-point FFT. The remaining entries in the table correspond to original designs, which presuppose the availability of a microcomputer and a modestly complicated hardware peripheral. These original designs, all of which implement a radix-4 FFT with twiddle factors, are assigned model numbers to make them easier to refer to

Reduction of JT8D powered aircraft noise by engine refanning

The technical feasibility is described of substantially reducing the noise levels of existing JT8D powered aircraft by retrofitting the existing fleet with quieter refan engines and new acoustically treated nacelles. No major technical problems exist that preclude the development and installation of refanned engines on aircraft currently powered by the JT8D engine. The refan concept is technically feasible and provides calculated noise reductions of from 7 to 8 EPNdb for the B727-200 aircraft and from 10 to 12 EPNdb for the DC-9-32 aircraft at the FAR Part 36 measuring stations. These noise levels are lower than both the FAR Part 36 noise standards and the noise levels of the wide-body DC-10-10. Corresponding reductions in the 90 EPNdb footprint area are estimated to vary from about 70 percent for the DC-9 to about 80 percent for the B727