A Contract for the Advance Sale of Wine

Edition of a sale of wine in advance from Byzantine Egypt (P.Vindob. inv. G 40267). Notable features include the guarantee clause and the supply of jars by the seller, both of which are put in a wider context

Amphora Production in the Roman World: A View from the Papyri

Survey of the papyrological evidence for the various stages of the pottery production process in Graeco-Roman Egypt with a focus on wine amphorae. Where possible, evidence from excavations and ethnographical data are integrated into the discussion

A Road Description Language for the Leeds Driving Simulator Guide (V1.0)

A driving simulator has recently been developed at the University of Leeds. Part of this work has been to provide a method of creating a wide variety of road networks to meet the demands of different experiments. This paper describes a simple language that specifies road networks and their appearance, including the definition of road markings, sign posts and roadside objects. It is intended for use by prospective users of the simulator facility in order that they could either build networks themselves or know what information is required for simulator staff to build a network for them

Method for maintaining precise suction strip porosities

This invention relates to a masking method generally and, more particularly to a method of masking perforated titanium sheets having laminar control suction strips. As illustrated in the drawings, a nonaerodynamic surface of a perforated sheet has alternating suction strip areas and bonding land areas. Suction strip tapes overlie the bonding land areas during application of a masking material to an upper surface of the suction strip tapes. Prior to bonding the perforated sheet to a composite structure, the bonding land tapes are removed. The entire opposite aerodynamic surface is masked with tape before bonding. This invention provides a precise control of suction strip porosities by ensuring that no chemicals penetrate the suction strip areas during bonding

Increasing the impact of mathematics support on aiding student transition in higher education

The ever growing gap between secondary and university level mathematics is a major concern to higher education institutions. The increase in diversity of students’ background in mathematics, with entry qualifications ranging from the more traditional A-level programmes to BTEC or international qualifications is compounded where institutions attempt to widen participation. For example, work-based learners may have been out of education for prolonged periods, and consequently, are often unprepared for the marked shift in levels, and catering for all abilities is difficult in the normal lecture, tutorial format. Lack of sufficient mathematical knowledge not only affects students’ achievement on courses but also leads to disengagement and higher drop-out rates during the first two years of study. Many universities now offer a maths support service in an attempt to overcome these issues, but their success is varied. This paper presents a novel approach to maths support designed and adopted by the University of Lincoln, School of Engineering, to bridge this transition gap for students, offer continued support through assessment for learning (AFL) and Individual Learning Plans (ILP’s), and ultimately increase student achievement, engagement and retention. The paper then extends this proven approach and discusses recently implemented enhancements through the use of on-line diagnostic testing and a ‘student expert’ system to harness mathematical knowledge held by those gifted and talented students (often overlooked by higher education institutions) and to promote peer-to-peer mentoring. The paper shows that with the proven system in place, there is a marked increase in student retention compared with national benchmark data, and an increase in student engagement and achievement measured through student feedback and assessments. Although the on-line enhancements are in the early stages of implementation it is expected, based on these results, that further improvements will be shown

Bridging the gap: a novel approach to mathematics support

The ever growing gap between secondary and university level mathematics is now becoming a major concern to higher education institutions. The increase in diversity of students’ background in mathematics, from students who have studied the more traditional A-level programmes to students with BTEC or international qualifications and part-time students who have been out of education for long periods, means that they are often unprepared for the marked shift in levels and catering for all abilities is difficult in the normal lecture, tutorial format. Lack of sufficient mathematical knowledge not only affects students’ success on courses but also leads to disengagement and thus a high drop-out rate in the first 2 years of study. Many universities now offer a maths support service in an attempt to overcome this but their success is varied. This paper presents a novel approach to maths support designed and adopted by the University of Lincoln, School of Engineering, to bridge this transition gap for students, offer continued support through assessment for learning (AFL) and Individual Learning Plans (ILP’s) and ultimately increase student success, engagement and retention. The paper then extends this proven approach and discusses proposed enhancements through the use of on-line diagnostic testing and implementation of a ‘student expert’ system to harness mathematical knowledge held by those gifted and talented students often overlooked by higher education institutions and to promote peer-to-peer mentoring. The paper shows that with the current support system in place, there is a marked increase in student retention, compared with national benchmark data, and an increase in student engagement and success measured through student feedback and presented retention data

The Production and Consumption of Commercial Real Estate Market Forecasts

Whilst the vast majority of the research on property market forecasting has concentrated on statistical methods of forecasting future rents, this report investigates the process of property market forecast production with particular reference to the level and effect of judgemental intervention in this process. Expectations of future investment performance at the levels of individual asset, sector, region, country and asset class are crucial to stock selection and tactical and strategic asset allocation decisions.  Given their centrality to investment performance, we focus on the process by which forecasts of rents and yields are generated and expectations formed.  A review of the wider literature on forecasting suggests that there are strong grounds to expect that forecast outcomes are not the result of purely mechanical calculations.Real Estate, Forecast, Real Estate Markets, Commercial Real Estate

Nasal fibrosis: long-term follow up of four cases of eosinophilic angiocentric fibrosis

Eosinophilic angiocentric fibrosis is a rare, benign cause of submucosal thickening and fibrosis within the upper respiratory tract. It predominantly affects the nose although cases have been reported in the subglottis. We describe four cases of the disease centred around the nasal cavity, with widespread infiltration of the facial soft tissues and orbit in three of the four patients. Each underwent long term follow up. Multiple surgical resections were required with two of our patients and, to date, medical therapy has been of limited help. The disease process, with its clinical and characteristic histopathological findings, is described. We also discuss the management of the disease following a comprehensive review of, and comparison with, the few prior reported cases

Applied Sensor Fault Detection, Identification and Data Reconstruction

Sensor fault detection and identification (SFD/I) has attracted considerable attention in military applications, especially when safety- or mission-critical issues are of paramount importance. Here, two readily implementable approaches for SFD/I are proposed through hierarchical clustering and self-organizing map neural networks. The proposed methodologies are capable of detecting sensor faults from a large group of sensors measuring different physical quantities and achieve SFD/I in a single stage. Furthermore, it is possible to reconstruct the measurements expected from the faulted sensor and thereby facilitate improved unit availability. The efficacy of the proposed approaches is demonstrated through the use of measurements from experimental trials on a gas turbine. Ultimately, the underlying principles are readily transferable to other complex industrial and military systems

Real estate stock selection and attribute preferences

The majority of studies that explore property portfolio construction and management strategies utilise highly aggregated ex-post data, but stock selection is known to be a significant determinant of portfolio performance. Thus, here we look at stock selection, focusing on the choices faced by investors, necessitating the collection and analysis of primary data, carried out utilising conjoint analysis. This represents a new step in property research, with the data collection undertaken using a simulation exercise. This enables fund managers to make hypothetical purchase decisions, viewing properties comprising a realistic bundle of attributes and making complex contemporaneous trade-offs between attributes, subject to their stated market and economic forecasts and sector specialism. In total 51 fund managers were surveyed, producing 918 purchase decisions for analysis, with additional data collected regarding fund and personal characteristics. The results reveal that ‘fixed’ property characteristics (location and obsolescence) are dominant in the decision-making process, over and above ‘manageable’ tenant and lease characteristics which can be explicitly included within models of probabilities of income variation. This reveals investors are making ex-ante risk judgements and are considering post acquisition risk management strategies. The study also reveals that behavioural factors affect acquisition decisions