Developing a Master Preservation Plan for Collections at the Museum of History and Art

The museum's staff requests a planning grant to engage representative city officials and a team of three consultants--a conservator, environmental management specialist, and historic preservation architect--to develop a Master Preservation Plan for Collections. The museum's collections are currently housed in a designated historic building constructed in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration. The preservation plan would focus on collaboratively developed strategies to balance collections needs and vulnerabilities with the performance capacity of the historic building envelope. Project staff would employ appropriate passive and active measures to mitigate risks to stored collections by determining reasonably achievable targets for collections environments. The plan would also propose solutions that would be energy and cost efficient; respect the historic fabric of the museum and a possible second 1950s-era building designated for future museum use; and make efficient use of available storage spaces

A global climatology of wind–wave interaction

Generally, ocean waves are thought to act as a drag on the surface wind so that momentum is transferred downwards, from the atmosphere into the waves. Recent observations have suggested that when long wavelength waves, characteristic of remotely generated swell, propagate faster than the surface wind momentum can also be transferred upwards. This upward momentum transfer acts to accelerate the near-surface wind, resulting in a low-level wave-driven wind jet. Previous studies have suggested that the sign reversal of the momentum flux is well predicted by the inverse wave age, the ratio of the surface wind speed to the speed of the waves at the peak of the spectrum. ECMWF ERA-40 data has been used here to calculate the global distribution of the inverse wave age to determine whether there are regions of the ocean that are usually in the wind-driven wave regime and others that are generally in the wave-driven wind regime. The wind-driven wave regime is found to occur most often in the mid-latitude storm tracks where wind speeds are generally high. The wave-driven wind regime is found to be prevalent in the tropics where wind speeds are generally light and swell can propagate from storms at higher latitudes. The inverse wave age is also a useful indicator of the degree of coupling between the local wind and wave fields. The climatologies presented emphasise the non-equilibrium that exists between the local wind and wave fields and highlight the importance of swell in the global oceans

The Viscosity and Thermal Conductivity Coefficients of Dilute Neon, Krypton, and Xenon

Viscosity and thermoconductivity coefficients of dilute neon, krypton, and xeno

Production of hydrogen by unmixed steam reforming of methane

Unmixed steam reforming is an alternative method of catalytic steam reforming that uses separate air and fuel–steam feeds, producing a reformate high in H2 content using a single reactor and a variety of fuels. It claims insensitivity to carbon formation and can operate autothermally. The high H2 content is achieved by in situ N2 separation from the air using an oxygen transfer material (OTM), and by CO2 capture using a solid sorbent. The OTM and CO2 sorbent are regenerated during the fuel–steam feed and the air feed, respectively, within the same reactor. This paper describes the steps taken to choose a suitable CO2-sorbent material for this process when using methane fuel with the help of microreactor tests, and the study of the carbonation efficiency and regeneration ability of the materials tested. Elemental balances from bench scale experiments using the best OTM in the absence of the CO2 sorbent allow identifying the sequence of the chemical reaction mechanism. The effect of reactor temperature between 600 and on the process outputs is investigated. Temperatures of 600 and under the fuel–steam feed were each found to offer a different set of desirable outputs. Two stages during the fuel–steam feed were characterised by a different set of global reactions, an initial stage where the OTM is reduced directly by methane, and indirectly by hydrogen produced by methane thermal decomposition, in the second stage, steam reforming takes over once sufficient OTM has been reduced. The implications of these stages on the process desirable outputs such as efficiency of reactants conversion, reformate gas quality, and transient effects are discussed

Med13 Degradation Defines a New Receptor-Mediated Autophagy Pathway Activated by Nutrient Deprivation

Cells are exposed to an enormous amount of diverse extracellular cues but have a limited arsenal of weapons for protecting and maintaining homeostasis. To overcome these restrictions, nature has engineered proteins that have multiple functions. The pleiotropy of using one protein to carry out a variety of functions allows cells to rapidly execute tailored responses to a diverse set of signals. The Cdk8 kinase module (CKM) is a conserved detachable unit of the Mediator complex predominantly known for its role in transcriptional regulation. The CKM is composed of four proteins, the scaffolding proteins Med13 and Med12, as well as the non-canonical cyclin, cyclin C, and its cognate kinase, Cdk8. Previously it has been shown that cyclin C is a multifunctional protein that performs transcriptional and stress-induced roles at the mitochondria. The localization, post-translational modifications, and different functional domains of cyclin C regulate these separate functions. Here we show that Med13 also has dual roles in regulating stress response following nutrient depletion. In physiological conditions, Med13 works within the CKM to negatively regulate the expression of autophagy genes (ATG). Following starvation, this repression is relieved by Snx4-assisted autophagy of Med13. Moreover, we identified Ksp1 to be the autophagic receptor protein for this novel autophagy pathway. Structural analysis by others showed that Med13 has an RNA binding region. Consistent with this, we showed that once in the cytosol, Med13 localizes to ribonucleoprotein granules known as processing bodies (P-bodies) which function in mRNA silencing, decay, and storage. In addition, we show that Med13, together with Ksp1 and Snx4, are required for the autophagic degradation of conserved P-body proteins following stress. These results illustrate the day and night jobs of Med13 in response to starvation stress. Lastly, we illustrate that the regulation of autophagy by the CKM is evolutionarily conserved. Here we show that cyclin C promotes autophagy and proteasome activity in the murine pancreatic cancer model. Collectively, these studies demonstrate the multifunctionality and conservation of the CKM in stress response

DNA extraction with Qiagen bio-robot EZ1 DNA investigator kit, forensicGEM Sex Crime/Universal kit and Qiagen QIAamp investigator kit: a comparison and optimization study of DNA percent recovery on body fluids for forensic applications

The first step in forensic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis process is extraction. The extraction process lyses cells and isolates the DNA from the rest of the cellular components. There are many different extraction methods that forensic laboratories can implement within their department, so it is important to determine which extraction method performs the best in regards to DNA recovery, cost, time and ease of use. The percent of DNA recovered can demonstrate how well the extraction mechanism works. Little research has been done to compare different extraction methods based on their percent DNA recovery alone. This project compares different extraction methods based on their percent DNA recovery. The three extraction methods that were investigated and compared were: the Qiagen BioRobot EZ1® DNA Investigator kit (EZ1 method) used on the Qiagen BioRobot EZ1®, the forensicGEM™ Sex Crime/Universal kit™ (ZyGEM/Acrosolv) method and the manual Qiagen QIAamp® Investigator kit. Two different percent recovery calculations were described in this study (method 1 and method 2) but only method 1 was used for analysis purposes. Only method 1 was used because it was determined to be the most reliable method for comparison. This demonstrates how important it is to calculate and report the percent recovery consistently because the results could differ depending on how the conclusions are reported. This project demonstrated that the ZyGEM/Acrosolv extraction method outperformed the other two methods when percent recovery was being investigated with two different biological fluids (semen and saliva). The percent recovery with sperm and epithelial cells (e-cells) with the ZyGEM/Acrosolv method was 109.4% and 103.9% respectively. With the EZ1 method, the sperm and e-cell DNA percent recovery was 92.3% and 55.7% respectively and the manual Qiagen had a 39.6% recovery with e-cell DNA and a 17.3% recovery with sperm cell DNA. A study was also performed to determine the optimum working conditions for the EZ1 method. An elution volume and incubation time study with the EZ1 method was performed and it was determined that the three elution volumes (50 µL, 100 µL and 200 µL) tested did not affect the percent recovery adversely. The different incubation times tested (3, 5 and 10 hours) did not affect the percent recovery of e-cells significantly, however, there was a downward trend in recovery as the incubation times increased. A digest volume study was also performed with the ZyGEM method which resulted in higher percent e-cell recoveries generated for the 100 µL digest volume when compared to 20 µL. All three extraction methods generated similar results in a refined dilution study which showed that when lower concentrations of DNA were extracted, the percent recovery was higher in comparison to higher concentrations of DNA being extracted. This aspect is very important as most forensic DNA samples are low in concentration which makes it important that these extraction methods are able to extract very low concentrations of DNA efficiently. The cost, ease of use and analysis time was also evaluated for all three methods and it was concluded that the ZyGEM/Acrosolv method was overall the best extraction method to use in a forensic DNA laboratory. This is due to the one-tube hands-off characteristic of the ZyGEM/Acrosolv method. Because of this feature, the ZyGEM/Acrosolv method is easier to use, faster and more reliable than the other extraction methods. It also has the least amount of analyst interaction so the samples should be more consistent. During this study, the ZyGEM/Acrosolv protocol had higher and more consistent percent recoveries with both sperm and e-cells but there was a downward trend in recovery as the amount of DNA increased. This downward trend was seen more prominently with ZyGEM/Acrosolv than with the EZ1 and manual Qiagen methods. Electropherograms were also produced with selected EZ1 and ZyGEM/Acrosolv samples and both methods produced accurate and reliable profiles but the EZ1 method had less variability in peak heights in comparison to ZyGEM/Acrosolv. Overall, both the ZyGEM/Acrosolv and the EZ1 extraction methods would be good procedures to use within a forensic DNA laboratory. The manual Qiagen extraction method generated very low percentage recoveries and had more variation when compared to the other two methods, therefore, it would not be recommended to use this method within a forensic laboratory today. The EZ1 BioRobot is currently used in many forensic laboratories and produces reliable results but this study proved that the ZyGEM/Acrosolv method is overall a better technique in all aspects tested in this study and should follow European laboratories and be implemented in laboratories within the United States

Successful pacing profiles of Olympic men and women 3000 m steeplechasers

The presence of barriers in the steeplechase increases energy cost and makes successful pacing more difficult. This was the first study to analyze pacing profiles of successful (qualifiers for the final / Top 8 finalists) and unsuccessful (non-qualifiers / non-Top 8 finalists) Olympic steeplechasers across heats and finals, and to analyze differences between race sections (e.g., water jump vs. home straight). Finishing and section splits were collected for 75 men and 84 women competing at the 2008 and 2016 Olympic Games. Competitors were divided into groups based on finishing position (in both rounds analyzed). After a quick opening 228 m (no barriers), men who qualified for the final or finished in the Top 8 in the final had even paces for the first half with successive increases in speed in the final three laps; unsuccessful pacing profiles were more even. Successful women had mostly even paces for the whole race, and less successful athletes slowed after Lap 2. Women started the race relatively faster than men, resulting in slower second half speeds. The best men completed most race sections at the same speed, but less successful men were slower during the water jump section, suggesting less technically proficiency. Similarly, women were slower during this section, possibly because its landing dimensions are the same as for men and have a greater effect on running speed. Coaches should note the different pacing profiles adopted by successful men and women steeplechasers, and the importance of technical hurdling skills at the water jump

How Do Banks Pick Safer Ventures? A Theory Relating the Importance of Risk Aversion and Collateral to Interest Margins and Credit Rationing

The paper augments the asymmetric information literature on bank lending to new ventures by focusing on the more neglected area of moral hazard; specifically the relationship between risk aversion, an entrepreneur?s wealth and the provision of collateral. The results highlight some interesting nuances which are not characteristic of the properties of models that have dominated the literature and which mainly focus on the problems of adverse selection. Contrary to models such as Evans and Jovanovic (1989) Blanchflower and Oswald (1998) our model shows that credit rationing does not necessarily have to be negatively related to an entrepreneur?s initial wealth. Our model shows that banks can use collateral as a means of affecting an entrepreneur?s risk aversion – the tactic being least effective for both very low and high wealth individuals. We show that this can cause banks to ration credit at both tails of the wealth distribution. Furthermore, we argue that credit rationing is likely to be less applicable to low wealth individuals, as a small increase in their initial wealth can have very dramatic effects on access to bank finance as it both increases the risk aversion of the borrower as well as the usual affect of raising the amount of the debt that is effectively securitized through borrower collateral. Thus, through this mechanism, low wealth individuals who can provide at least some collateral would have greater access to finance than previously supposed. The results also indicate why collateral to debt ratio need not be negatively related to interest rate margins