3.3. CSS for Success? Some Thoughts on Adapting the Browser-Based Archaeological Recording Kit (ARK) for Mobile Recording

The Archaeological Recording Kit (ARK) is an open-source system for flexible, web-based archaeological data management. As new advances in mobile technology have changed the way archaeologists think about data collection, ARK has evolved to meet the needs of on-site methodologies. This chapter outlines the history of ARK development and explores some possible trajectories for adaptation of the system to mobile workflows. Examples from the commercial sector, academic research, and public outreach demonstrate the efficiency of customizing the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) controlling ARK’s web interface to facilitate tablet recording. Increasing global access to mobile broadband networks will make web-based recording systems such as ARK more convenient in the coming years, but this must also be accompanied by a change in archaeological practice encouraging open, online data not only as an afterthought to publication but as an active part of the fieldwork process.https://dc.uwm.edu/arthist_mobilizingthepast/1015/thumbnail.jp

Pickering Emulsions for the Emulsion Stability and Skin Delivery of Flavonoids using different Oil Types

Introduction A Pickering emulsion (PE) is a particle stabilised emulsion. Due to the amphiphilic structure of some flavonoids, they can form good stable PE. The use of Pickering emulsions serve as a potential useful approach for improving the formulation solubility of flavonoids, as well as reducing skin irritancy for topical formulations by removing emulsifiers from cosmetic formulations. This research in this study is the first (to the authors knowledge) to investigate the skin release kinetics and permeation of the flavonoids incorporated into a Pickering emulsion. Changes to the barrier properties of porcine Stratum corneum (SC) in vivo were also evaluated by investigating lipid morphology changes of the stratum corneum post hoc after the application of the Pickering emulsion and skin permeation studies. Oil in water (O/W) Pickering emulsions were made with three flavonoids differing in structure and physiochemical properties; rutin, isoquercetin and quercetin, each with 20 % w/w of oil. Three types of oil were used to make the Pickering emulsions; paraffin (hydrocarbon oil), almond and coconut (vegetable). Pickering emulsion were made with a jet homogeniser. PEs were evaluated for emulsion structure. Skin permeation release kinetics were established using split thickness porcine skin (intact stratum corneum and epidermis) in a Franz diffusion set up over 24 hours using an infinite dose technique. They were benchmarked against comparison controls, using mixtures of oil and flavonoid (omitting high pressure homogenisation), which did not form PEs. Flavonoids permeating through the skin membrane were identified by Reverse-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC). Various mathematical models from literature were used to describe the release kinetics of the flavonoids based on the permeation data. The morphology of the lipid chain packing in the SC was evaluated using Fourier Transfer Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and subsequent analysis using a Gaussian curve fitting algorithm. iv Results Flavonoids were found to aggregate at the oil/water interface to form Pickering emulsions. From visual stability observations (low-high phase separation and creaming); rutin > isoquercetin > quercetin, and for oil types this order paraffin > almond ≥ coconut oil. High shear homogenisation is essential for Pickering emulsion formation, and PEs do not form spontaneously. Quercetin did not form a PE with coconut oil. FT-IR results indicated a change in lipid morphology from the CH2 symmetric stretching and the CH2 scissoring bandwidths. A greater disruption in the extracellular matrix lipid packing was observed from the flavonoid suspensions and oil mixtures more than the Pickering emulsions, indicating that when the flavonoids are coating the oil in a Pickering emulsion, it reduces oil exposure to the SC lipids. In addition, a change in lipid morphology was seen between flavonoids; with the effect being in the order rutin > isoquercetin > quercetin. For skin permeation assays, after 7 hours there was no difference between the amount of flavonoids released from the epidermis, regardless of flavonoid structure. At 24 hours there was significantly more rutin delivered from paraffin and almond oil suspension (control) than the corresponding Pickering Emulsion (P < 0.05) and significantly more isoquercetin was delivered from vegetable oils suspensions (control) than the corresponding Pickering Emulsion (P < 0.05). Quercetin from PEs was not released from the membrane, only from the suspension (control). When flavonoids are aggregated at the O/W interface in a PE it changes the release kinetics and SC/epidermal penetration due to flavonoids being held at the interface before emulsion collapse.From the % dose applied, flavonoids were delivered in the order isoquercetin > rutin for the PEs and quercetin > isoquercetin > rutin for non-emulsions. This follows the predicted permeability behaviour due to the physiochemical properties of those specific flavonoids

Characterisation of the Fpr2 null mouse

PhDA novel Fpr2-/- mouse colony was used to explore the biology of Fpr2, a GPCR related to the human FPR2/ALX receptor that recognises lipoxin A4 (LXA4) annexin A1 (AnxA1) and serum amyloid A (SAA). Southern blotting, PCR and radio-ligand binding confirmed receptor deletion in the mouse Fpr2-/- colony. A GFP target/reporter strategy was employed in generating this novel transgenic to monitor promoter activity in living cells. This study revealed a propensity of Fpr2 for granulocytes, as well as a distinct role in macrophage (Mφ) maturation. Characterisation of Fpr2-/- Mφ revealed selective ERK phosphorylation triggered by the AnxA1-derived peptide Ac2-26, W peptide and Compound 43 (C43). Despite this Fpr-dependent signalling cascade via ERK, it was not a functional prognostic for cell migration in vitro or in vivo. Formyl peptide (fMLP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) chemotactic action was attenuated in Fpr2-/- Mφ, as well as the pro-phagocytic effects of Ac2-26 and LXA4. There was no observable naïve phenotype associated with Fpr2 depletion. To investigate the patho-physiology of Fpr2, acute and chronic inflammatory models were investigated in vivo to dissect different aspects of the receptor during disease progression. Notably Fpr2-/- mice exhibited stimulus specific discrepancies in inflammatory response. An acute IL-1β-induced air pouch model 6 revealed predominantly anti-migratory pharmacology of Fpr2 ligands, with a notable exception of SAA, discovered to be anti-migratory in the absence of Fpr2. Analysis of the full time-course of the zymosan peritonitis pointed to a subtle role for Fpr2 in neutrophil and monocyte migration as well as Mφ maturation. Of interest, exudate levels of SAA were augmented in Fpr2-/- mice revealing complex regulatory receptor/ligand circuits active during on-going inflammatory reactions. Finally, Fpr2-/- mice displayed pronounced arthritic responses upon treatment with the K/BxN arthrogenic serum, in comparison to their wild type controls. We conclude that Fpr2 can serve varied regulatory functions during the host response to inflammatory insult

Rotational Mixing in Magellanic Clouds B Stars - Theory versus Observation

We have used VLT FLAMES data to constrain the uncertain physics of rotational mixing in stellar evolution models. We have simulated a population of single stars and find two groups of observed stars that cannot be explained: (1) a group of fast rotating stars which do not show evidence for rotational mixing and (2) a group of slow rotators with strong N enrichment. Binary effects and fossil magnetic fields may be considered to explain those two groups. We suggest that the element boron could be used to distinguish between rotational mixing and the binary scenario. Our single star population simulations quantify the expected amount of boron in fast and slow rotators and allow a comparison with measured nitrogen and boron abundances in B-stars.Comment: to appear in Comm. in Astroseismology - Contribution to the Proceedings of the 38th LIAC, 200

Fuzzy logic filtering of radar reflectivity to remove non-meteorological echoes using dual polarization radar moments

The ability of a fuzzy logic classifier to dynamically identify non-meteorological radar echoes is demonstrated using data from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science dual polarisation, Doppler, X-band mobile radar. Dynamic filtering of radar echoes is required due to the variable presence of spurious targets, which can include insects, ground clutter and background noise. The fuzzy logic classifier described here uses novel multi-vertex membership functions which allow a range of distributions to be incorporated into the final decision. These membership functions are derived using empirical observations, from a subset of the available radar data. The classifier incorporates a threshold of certainty (25 % of the total possible membership score) into the final fractional defuzzification to improve the reliability of the results. It is shown that the addition of linear texture fields, specifically the texture of the cross-correlation coefficient, differential phase shift and differential reflectivity, to the classifier along with standard dual polarisation radar moments enhances the ability of the fuzzy classifier to identify multiple features. Examples from the Convective Precipitation Experiment (COPE) show the ability of the filter to identify insects (18 August 2013) and ground clutter in the presence of precipitation (17 August 2013). Medium-duration rainfall accumulations across the whole of the COPE campaign show the benefit of applying the filter prior to making quantitative precipitation estimates. A second deployment at a second field site (Burn Airfield, 6 October 2014) shows the applicability of the method to multiple locations, with small echo features, including power lines and cooling towers, being successfully identified by the classifier without modification of the membership functions from the previous deployment. The fuzzy logic filter described can also be run in near real time, with a delay of less than 1 min, allowing its use on future field campaigns

A census of massive stars in NGC 346. Stellar parameters and rotational velocities

Spectroscopy for 247 stars towards the young cluster NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud has been combined with that for 116 targets from the VLT-FLAMES Survey of Massive Stars. Spectral classification yields a sample of 47 O-type and 287 B-type spectra, while radial-velocity variations and/or spectral multiplicity have been used to identify 45 candidate single-lined systems, 17 double-lined systems, and one triple-lined system. Atmospheric parameters (T$_eff$ and log$g$) and projected rotational velocities ($v_e$sin$i$) have been estimated using TLUSTY model atmospheres; independent estimates of $v_e$sin$i$ were also obtained using a Fourier Transform method. Luminosities have been inferred from stellar apparent magnitudes and used in conjunction with the T$_eff$ and $v_e$sin$i$ estimates to constrain stellar masses and ages using the BONNSAI package. We find that targets towards the inner region of NGC 346 have higher median masses and projected rotational velocities, together with smaller median ages than the rest of the sample. There appears to be a population of very young targets with ages of less than 2 Myr, which have presumably all formed within the cluster. The more massive targets are found to have lower $v_e$sin$i$ consistent with previous studies. No significant evidence is found for differences with metallicity in the stellar rotational velocities of early-type stars, although the targets in the SMC may rotate faster than those in young Galactic clusters. The rotational velocity distribution for single non-supergiant B-type stars is inferred and implies that a significant number have low rotational velocity ($\simeq$10\% with $v_e$<40 km/s), together with a peak in the probability distribution at $v_e \simeq$300 km/s. Larger projected rotational velocity estimates have been found for our Be-type sample and imply that most have rotational velocities between 200-450 km/s.Comment: Accepted by A&

Local pre-processing for node classification in networks : application in protein-protein interaction

Network modelling provides an increasingly popular conceptualisation in a wide range of domains, including the analysis of protein structure. Typical approaches to analysis model parameter values at nodes within the network. The spherical locality around a node provides a microenvironment that can be used to characterise an area of a network rather than a particular point within it. Microenvironments that centre on the nodes in a protein chain can be used to quantify parameters that are related to protein functionality. They also permit particular patterns of such parameters in node-centred microenvironments to be used to locate sites of particular interest. This paper evaluates an approach to index generation that seeks to rapidly construct microenvironment data. The results show that index generation performs best when the radius of microenvironments matches the granularity of the index. Results are presented to show that such microenvironments improve the utility of protein chain parameters in classifying the structural characteristics of nodes using both support vector machines and neural networks

A non-LTE abundance analysis of the post-AGB star ROA 5701

An analysis of high-resolution Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT)/ University College London Echelle Spectrograph (UCLES) optical spectra for the ultraviolet (UV)-bright star ROA 5701 in the globular cluster omega Cen (NGC 5139) is performed, using non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) model atmospheres to estimate stellar atmospheric parameters and chemical composition. Abundances are derived for C, N, O, Mg, Si and S, and compared with those found previously by Moehler et al. We find a general metal underabundance relative to young B-type stars, consistent with the average metallicity of the cluster. Our results indicate that ROA 5701 has not undergone a gas-dust separation scenario as previously suggested. However, its abundance pattern does imply that ROA 5701 has evolved off the AGB prior to the onset of the third dredge-up.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS (Online Early

Fe XI emission lines in a high resolution extreme ultraviolet spectrum obtained by SERTS

New calculations of radiative rates and electron impact excitation cross sections for Fe XI are used to derive emission line intensity ratios involving 3s^23p^4 - 3s^23p^33d transitions in the 180-223 A wavelength range. These ratios are subsequently compared with observations of a solar active region, obtained during the 1995 flight Solar EUV Research Telescope and Spectrograph (SERTS). The version of SERTS flown in 1995 incorporated a multilayer grating that enhanced the instrumental sensitivity for features in the 170 - 225 A wavelength range, observed in second-order between 340 and 450 A. This enhancement led to the detection of many emission lines not seen on previous SERTS flights, which were measured with the highest spectral resolution (0.03 A) ever achieved for spatially resolved active region spectra in this wavelength range. However, even at this high spectral resolution, several of the Fe XI lines are found to be blended, although the sources of the blends are identified in the majority of cases. The most useful Fe XI electron density diagnostic line intensity ratio is I(184.80 A)/I(188.21 A). This ratio involves lines close in wavelength and free from blends, and which varies by a factor of 11.7 between N_e = 10^9 and 10^11 cm^-3, yet shows little temperature sensitivity. An unknown line in the SERTS spectrum at 189.00 A is found to be due to Fe XI, the first time (to our knowledge) this feature has been identified in the solar spectrum. Similarly, there are new identifications of the Fe XI 192.88, 198.56 and 202.42 A features, although the latter two are blended with S VIII/Fe XII and Fe XIII, respectively.Comment: 21 pages, 9 gigures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa