Interpreting the changing Prehistoric landscape of the Western Yorkshire Wolds

In 2015, a BA Dissertation in Archaeology demonstrated that by combining the data provided by remote sensing, with the results of excavations, it was possible to unravel data sets of original aerial photographic and geophysical plots to construct a chronology of landscape development at Nunburnholme Wold.The core purpose of this thesis is to place Nunburnholme Wold into a wider geographical context; hence a larger area on the Western escarpment of the central Yorkshire Wolds has been examined in order to reconstruct the agricultural, societal and economic development, through analysis of the data provided by the cropmark coverage and other forms of remote sensing following the example provided by Halkon (2008).In order to chronologically construct landscape development through later prehistory, combined data sets were key. These included the plotting of features from the Stoertz (1997) mapping programme “Ancient Landscapes of the Yorkshire Wolds” (RCHM (E) 1997), and the use of satellite imagery from the computer software programme, Google Earth (© 2014 Google © 2014 Infoterra Ltd & Bluesky). Raster data was inputted into ArcGIS 10.3 and identified against geographical constraints such as geology, soils and watercourses in order to assess the influence on settlement patterns.The results have demonstrated a landscape which is rich in archaeological sites and was active during the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age. Settlement activity is noted to be concentrated across the drier and better drained soils of the uplands as opposed to the wetter, poor draining, and less workable alluvial valley floor soils. These results have proved consistent with Halkon’s (2008) thesis of the Foulness Valley c. 800 BC to c. AD 400. This study proposes that human activity in the study area had its origins in a focus as a ceremonial landscape, subsequently developing into an agricultural environment which permitted the fluid movement of people and stock across the area

Origins of NASA names

Names are selected for NASA spaceflight projects and programs from various sources. Some have their foundations in mythology and astrology or legend and folklore. Some have historic connotations; others are based on a description of their mission, often resulting in an acronym. Included are names of launch vehicles, spacecraft, manned spaceflight programs, sounding rockets, and NASA field installations. This study is limited to names of approved projects through 1974; it does not include names of numerous projects which have been or are being studied or projects that were canceled or postponed before reaching actual flight

Decision making and decision taking: GSS and complex adaptive systems theory

The paper reports on research to explore the anticipatory capabilities of individuals when faced with a decision scenario and when asked to take into account the anticipated responses of the recipient of the decision ? the decision taker. It reports on the effectiveness of Group Support Systems (GSS) technology in emerging imaginative and anticipatory data. The assumption is that the decision maker can involve the decision taker as an adaptive agent in the decision maker?s final (collapsed) decision choice. GSS proved to be easy for individuals to use and productive in output. The calibre of the imaginative and anticipatory stories suggested that the mechanistic appearance of computer-aided data collection did not have an adverse effect.Theoretically, there is a preponderance in decision theory of rational choice making but little to see in decision research about the drama of human interaction. Typically, literature focuses on decision formulation and often the decision taker role is somewhat taken for granted as being either compliant or non compliant. The idea in this research, stimulated by chaos and complex adaptive systems theory, is to bring the decision taker inside of the decision maker?s self organising and sense making processes. In particular, the suggested human capabilities of anticipation, imagination and personal schema building of ?if then? rules are being explored.Systems theory is an important element of the theoretical framework, particularly as Group Support Systems technology was used as the main data collection device. Given the nature of the research issue, an argument is presented suggesting that GSS and indeed much research in the systems area continues to be affected by antecedents of positivist science. Studying adaptivity in decision making/taking is largely a constructivist undertaking. However, there is also a sense of the real and rational. Complexity theory may provide a way to incorporate both perspectives in a similar way to physicists now talking about a qualitative science

The orbit rigidity matrix of a symmetric framework

A number of recent papers have studied when symmetry causes frameworks on a graph to become infinitesimally flexible, or stressed, and when it has no impact. A number of other recent papers have studied special classes of frameworks on generically rigid graphs which are finite mechanisms. Here we introduce a new tool, the orbit matrix, which connects these two areas and provides a matrix representation for fully symmetric infinitesimal flexes, and fully symmetric stresses of symmetric frameworks. The orbit matrix is a true analog of the standard rigidity matrix for general frameworks, and its analysis gives important insights into questions about the flexibility and rigidity of classes of symmetric frameworks, in all dimensions. With this narrower focus on fully symmetric infinitesimal motions, comes the power to predict symmetry-preserving finite mechanisms - giving a simplified analysis which covers a wide range of the known mechanisms, and generalizes the classes of known mechanisms. This initial exploration of the properties of the orbit matrix also opens up a number of new questions and possible extensions of the previous results, including transfer of symmetry based results from Euclidean space to spherical, hyperbolic, and some other metrics with shared symmetry groups and underlying projective geometry.Comment: 41 pages, 12 figure

The phenazine pyocyanin is a terminal signalling factor in the quorum sensing network of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Certain members of the fluorescent pseudomonads produce and secrete phenazines. These heterocyclic, redox-active compounds are toxic to competing organisms, and the cause of these antibiotic effects has been the focus of intense research efforts. It is largely unknown, however, how pseudomonads themselves respond to – and survive in the presence of – these compounds. Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa DNA microarrays and quantitative RT-PCR, we demonstrate that the phenazine pyocyanin elicits the upregulation of genes/operons that function in transport [such as the resistance-nodulation-cell division (RND) efflux pump MexGHI-OpmD] and possibly in redox control (such as PA2274, a putative flavin-dependant monooxygenase), and downregulates genes involved in ferric iron acquisition. Strikingly, mexGHI-opmD and PA2274 were previously shown to be regulated by the PA14 quorum sensing network that controls the production of virulence factors (including phenazines). Through mutational analysis, we show that pyocyanin is the physiological signal for the upregulation of these quorum sensing-controlled genes during stationary phase and that the response is mediated by the transcription factor SoxR. Our results implicate phenazines as signalling molecules in both P. aeruginosa PA14 and PAO1

Developmental dynamics of sex reprogramming by high incubation temperatures in a dragon lizard

BACKGROUND: In some vertebrate species, gene-environment interactions can determine sex, driving bipotential gonads to differentiate into either ovaries or testes. In the central bearded dragon (Pogona vitticeps), the genetic influence of sex chromosomes (ZZ/ZW) can be overridden by high incubation temperatures, causing ZZ male to female sex reversal. Previous research showed ovotestes, a rare gonadal phenotype with traits of both sexes, develop during sex reversal, leading to the hypothesis that sex reversal relies on high temperature feminisation to outcompete the male genetic cue. To test this, we conducted temperature switching experiments at key developmental stages, and analysed the effect on gonadal phenotypes using histology and transcriptomics. RESULTS: We found sexual fate is more strongly influenced by the ZZ genotype than temperature. Any exposure to low temperatures (28 °C) caused testes differentiation, whereas sex reversal required longer exposure to high temperatures. We revealed ovotestes exist along a spectrum of femaleness to male-ness at the transcriptional level. We found inter-individual variation in gene expression changes following temperature switches, suggesting both genetic sensitivity to, and the timing and duration of the temperature cue influences sex reversal. CONCLUSIONS: These findings bring new insights to the mechanisms underlying sex reversal, improving our understanding of thermosensitive sex systems in vertebrates. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-022-08544-2

An invitation to sequential Monte Carlo samplers

Sequential Monte Carlo samplers provide consistent approximations of sequences of probability distributions and of their normalizing constants, via particles obtained with a combination of importance weights and Markov transitions. This article presents this class of methods and a number of recent advances, with the goal of helping statisticians assess the applicability and usefulness of these methods for their purposes. Our presentation emphasizes the role of bridging distributions for computational and statistical purposes. Numerical experiments are provided on simple settings such as multivariate Normals, logistic regression and a basic susceptible-infected-recovered model, illustrating the impact of the dimension, the ability to perform inference sequentially and the estimation of normalizing constants.Comment: review article, 34 pages, 10 figure