Archaeological evaluation : New High School, Matthews Lane, Gorton, Manchester

In February 2017, Salford Archaeology was commissioned by Laing O’Rourke to undertake an archaeological evaluation on land located adjacent to Matthews Lane, Gorton, Manchester (centred on NGR SJ 87861 95024). The Site Area comprises an open space heath land currently undeveloped within the Gorton area of Manchester. The assessment aimed to identify, as far as possible, the nature, extent and significance of the archaeological resource, so as to enable informed recommendations to be made for the future treatment of any surviving remains. Trenches were located to investigate the remains of the late 19th century Yew Tree Farm and the possibility of remains associated with Nico Ditch. Trench 1 was excavated over the site of the farmhouse and was able to uncover limited evidence of structures. Trench 2 was located to investigate the southern farm outbuildings and possible deposits associated with Nico Ditch and uncovered remains of features relating to the farm only. A third was excavated over the site of the main barn but was abandoned due to the removal of archaeological deposits by later landfill. The evaluation was able to confirm that evidence of 19th century structures remains within 15m of the present site boundary but that all other deposits outside this area were removed by later landfill activity. Nevertheless those areas to have escaped the excavation of the clay pit do retain moderately well preserved evidence of earlier occupation

On being balanced in an unbalanced world

This paper examines the case of a procurement auction for a single project, in which the breakdown of the winning bid into its component items determines the value of payments subsequently made to bidder as the work progresses. Unbalanced bidding, or bid skewing, involves the uneven distribution of mark-up among the component items in such a way as to attempt to derive increased benefit to the unbalancer but without involving any change in the total bid. One form of unbalanced bidding for example, termed Front Loading (FL), is thought to be widespread in practice. This involves overpricing the work items that occur early in the project and underpricing the work items that occur later in the project in order to enhance the bidder's cash flow. Naturally, auctioners attempt to protect themselves from the effects of unbalancing—typically reserving the right to reject a bid that has been detected as unbalanced. As a result, models have been developed to both unbalance bids and detect unbalanced bids but virtually nothing is known of their use, success or otherwise. This is of particular concern for the detection methods as, without testing, there is no way of knowing the extent to which unbalanced bids are remaining undetected or balanced bids are being falsely detected as unbalanced. This paper reports on a simulation study aimed at demonstrating the likely effects of unbalanced bid detection models in a deterministic environment involving FL unbalancing in a Texas DOT detection setting, in which bids are deemed to be unbalanced if an item exceeds a maximum (or fails to reach a minimum) ‘cut-off’ value determined by the Texas method. A proportion of bids are automatically and maximally unbalanced over a long series of simulated contract projects and the profits and detection rates of both the balancers and unbalancers are compared. The results show that, as expected, the balanced bids are often incorrectly detected as unbalanced, with the rate of (mis)detection increasing with the proportion of FL bidders in the auction. It is also shown that, while the profit for balanced bidders remains the same irrespective of the number of FL bidders involved, the FL bidder's profit increases with the greater proportion of FL bidders present in the auction. Sensitivity tests show the results to be generally robust, with (mis)detection rates increasing further when there are fewer bidders in the auction and when more data are averaged to determine the baseline value, but being smaller or larger with increased cut-off values and increased cost and estimate variability depending on the number of FL bidders involved. The FL bidder's expected benefit from unbalancing, on the other hand, increases, when there are fewer bidders in the auction. It also increases when the cut-off rate and discount rate is increased, when there is less variability in the costs and their estimates, and when less data are used in setting the baseline values

The Effects of Social Stress on Voluntary Running Behavior in Female Mice

Regular physical activity (PA) positively impacts physical and mental health outcomes. However, there is a reciprocal relationship wherein stress significantly reduces healthy levels of routine PA. We showed previously that voluntary running behavior of male mice essentially ceases following exposure to a resident-intruder social stress. Here we examined female mice. Female mice were divided into four groups (n=8/group): sedentary/control, voluntary running/control, sedentary/stress, and voluntary running/stress. Running groups were given unlimited access to a running wheel in the home cage for 9 weeks with a nightly average of 6.86 ± 2.5 km. During the ninth week, stress groups were exposed to a single, 6-hour bout of a female-specific, resident-intruder social stress. Plasma corticosterone significantly increased following stress (34.56 ± 13 ng/ml basal to 330.5 ± 95 ng/ml immediately post-stress). Nightly running dropped significantly to 1.72 ± 0.9 km. Unlike male mice where running levels were slow to recover, voluntary running in these female mice returned to normal levels by the second night (5.01 ± 2.5 km). This study shows the sensitivity of habitual running behavior to stress exposure and suggests the utility of this mouse model in exploring the means by which stress negatively impacts routine PA

Challenges and opportunities to develop a smart city: A case study of Gold Coast, Australia

With the rapid growth of information and communication technologies, there is a growing interest in developing smart cities with a focus on the knowledge economy, use of sensors and mobile technologies to plan and manage cities. The proponents argue that these emerging technologies have potential application in efficiently managing the environment and infrastructure, promoting economic development and actively engaging the public, thus contributing to building safe, healthy, sustainable and resilient cities. However, are there other important elements in addition to technologies which can contribute to the creation of smart cities? What are some of the challenges and opportunities for developing a smart city? This paper aims to answer these questions by developing a conceptual framework for smart cities. The framework is then applied to the city of Gold Coast to identify challenges and opportunities for developing the city into a ‘smart city’. Gold Coast is a popular tourist city of about 600,000 populations in South East Queensland, Australia, at the southern end of the 240km long coastal conurbation that is centred by Brisbane. Recently, IBM has nominated Gold Coast as one of the three cities in Australia for its Smarter Cities Challenge Grant. The grant will provide the Gold Coast City Council with the opportunity to collaborate with a group of experts from IBM to develop strategies for enhancing its ICT arrangements for disaster response capabilities. Gold Coast, meanwhile, has potential to diversify its economy from being centred on tourism to a knowledge economy with focus on its educational institutions, investments in cultural precincts and high quality lifestyle amenities. These provide a unique opportunity for building Gold Coast as an important smart city in the region. As part of the research methodology, the paper will review relevant policies of the council. Finally, lessons will be drawn from the case study for other cities which seek to establish themselves as smart cities

Pig Tales: Forensic Taphonomy in Cozine Creek

The medicolegal community relies heavily upon determining the postmortem interval (PMI), the knowledge of how much time has elapsed since the person has died. Forensic taphonomy is the study of postmortem changes caused by outdoor environmental conditions that play a crucial role in decomposition rates. These include local temperatures, humidity, soil, plants, and insect and other scavenger activity. Minimal research exists examining the rate of surface decomposition in the Pacific Northwest climate. The purpose of this pilot study is to analyze the rate of decomposition in the microclimate of McMinnville, Oregon. A deceased juvenile pig (Sus scrofa) was placed in a secure cage in Cozine Creek on February 17, 2019. Data collection continues until May 2019 and includes daily observations, photographs, weather data, and insect collection for entomological assessment. Statistical analysis will be performed once all data is collected. Preliminary results suggest weather fluctuations and insect activity significantly influence decomposition rates. During the first four weeks, cold weather conditions did not favor decomposition: snow, low temperatures, and few insects. Once temperatures reached 13℃, a dramatic increase in insect activity and intensity was observed. Dermestid beetles, maggot masses, and blowflies were present, and within days a substantial increase in decomposition occurred