Apocalypse and recuperation: Blake and the maw of commerce

The paper is a "materialist" reading of Blake's illuminated works. It examines the copperplate method itself as the main theme of Blake's work, and also as a potentially practical means of conveying Blake's art to its intended audience. The question of audience must be at the center of any avowedly prophetic project. Did Blakean production actually facilitate reception? Are we the audience it sought? What forms of supplementary reproduction are necessary for modern discourse on Blake, and what are the effects of such mediation? To what extent does reproduction undermine. sublate, cancel or recuperate Blakean priorities even as it seeks to represent them? What do we actually read when we read a reproduction? The paper also thinks through the Blakean problem to a broader consideration of artistic projects operating marginally to the predominant cultural economy. and of their relation to criticism

Optical properties and bioavailability of dissolved organic matter along a flow-path continuum from soil pore waters to the Kolyma River mainstem, East Siberia

The Kolyma River in northeast Siberia is among the six largest Arctic rivers and drains a region underlain by vast deposits of Holocene-aged peat and Pleistocene-aged loess known as yedoma, most of which is currently stored in ice-rich permafrost throughout the region. These peat and yedoma deposits are important sources of dissolved organic matter (DOM) to inland waters that in turn play a significant role in the transport and ultimate remineralization of organic carbon to CO2 and CH4 along the terrestrial flow-path continuum. The turnover and fate of terrigenous DOM during offshore transport largely depends upon the composition and amount of carbon released to inland and coastal waters. Here, we measured the ultraviolet-visible optical properties of chromophoric DOM (CDOM) from a geographically extensive collection of waters spanning soil pore waters, streams, rivers, and the Kolyma River mainstem throughout a  ∼  250 km transect of the northern Kolyma River basin. During the period of study, CDOM absorption coefficients were found to be robust proxies for the concentration of DOM, whereas additional CDOM parameters such as spectral slopes (S) were found to be useful indicators of DOM quality along the flow path. In particular, the spectral slope ratio (SR) of CDOM demonstrated statistically significant differences between all four water types and tracked changes in the concentration of bioavailable DOC, suggesting that this parameter may be suitable for clearly discriminating shifts in organic matter characteristics among water types along the full flow-path continuum across this landscape. However, despite our observations of downstream shifts in DOM composition, we found a relatively constant proportion of DOC that was bioavailable ( ∼  3–6 % of total DOC) regardless of relative water residence time along the flow path. This may be a consequence of two potential scenarios allowing for continual processing of organic material within the system, namely (a) aquatic microorganisms are acclimating to a downstream shift in DOM composition and/or (b) photodegradation is continually generating labile DOM for continued microbial processing of DOM along the flow-path continuum. Without such processes, we would otherwise expect to see a declining fraction of bioavailable DOC downstream with increasing residence time of water in the system. With ongoing and future permafrost degradation, peat and yedoma deposits throughout the northeast Siberian region will become more hydrologically active, providing greater amounts of DOM to fluvial networks and ultimately to the Arctic Ocean. The ability to rapidly and comprehensively monitor shifts in the quantity and quality of DOM across the landscape is therefore critical for understanding potential future feedbacks within the Arctic carbon cycle

Technical Note: Comparison of storage strategies of sea surface microlayer samples

The sea surface microlayer (SML) is an important biogeochemical system whose physico-chemical analysis often necessitates some degree of sample storage. However, many SML components degrade with time so the development of optimal storage protocols is paramount. We here briefly review some commonly used treatment and storage protocols. Using freshwater and saline SML samples from a river estuary, we investigated temporal changes in surfactant activity (SA) and the absorbance and fluorescence of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) over four weeks, following selected sample treatment and storage protocols. Some variability in the effectiveness of individual protocols most likely reflects sample provenance. None of the various protocols examined performed any better than dark storage at 4 °C without pre-treatment. We therefore recommend storing samples refrigerated in the dark

Investigating the Correlation Between Inclination of Coronal Loops and Solar Flare Activity

The purpose of this research is to investigate changes in the coronal loop structures during the life cycle of a solar flare. Coronal loops are intricate and complicated magnetic features on the solar surface that are the source of large solar flares. Understanding the dynamics of these coronal loops provides better models for predicting solar flare activity. By obtaining the magnetogram, or magnetic field strength, along with the inclination of these coronal loops, the full structure of the coronal loop can be obtained. Therefore, we studied how the coronal loops inclination angle, as it emerges from the photosphere, changes in response to variations of the magnetic field strength. Research data were used from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument aboard the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). Helioviewer, an online application, was used as a visual database for active region selection. Numerical data were then collected for each active region through the Joint Science Operations Center (JSOC) online by Stanford. Python coding language was implemented in order to manipulate these large data sets and images for multiple different solar active regions. A baseline for the relationship between magnetogram strength and inclination angle of a coronal loop was obtained by investigation of multiple active regions where no solar flares were present. Then, two active regions with multiple large X-class solar flares were investigated for magnetogram strength and inclination angle over time. These differences in inclination for the solar flare active regions versus the baseline active region are still being investigated

Depression in primary care patients with coronary heart disease: baseline findings from the UPBEAT UK study

BACKGROUND: An association between depression and coronary heart disease is now accepted but there has been little primary care research on this topic. The UPBEAT-UK studies are centred on a cohort of primary patients with coronary heart disease assessed every six months for up to four years. The aim of this research was to determine the prevalence and associations of depression in this cohort at baseline. METHOD: Participants with coronary heart disease were recruited from general practice registers and assessed for cardiac symptoms, depression, quality of life and social problems. RESULTS: 803 people participated. 42% had a documented history of myocardial infarction, 54% a diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease or angina. 44% still experienced chest pain. 7% had an ICD-10 defined depressive disorder. Factors independently associated with this diagnosis were problems living alone (OR 5.49, 95% CI 2.11-13.30), problems carrying out usual activities (OR 3.71, 95% CI 1.93-7.14), experiencing chest pain (OR 3.27, 95% CI 1.58-6.76), other pains or discomfort (OR 3.39, 95% CI 1.42-8.10), younger age (OR 0.95 per year 95% CI 0.92-0.98). CONCLUSION: Problems living alone, chest pain and disability are important predictors of depression in this population

Geoids in General Relativity: Geoid Quasilocal Frames

We develop, in the context of general relativity, the notion of a geoid -- a surface of constant "gravitational potential". In particular, we show how this idea naturally emerges as a specific choice of a previously proposed, more general and operationally useful construction called a quasilocal frame -- that is, a choice of a two-parameter family of timelike worldlines comprising the worldtube boundary of the history of a finite spatial volume. We study the geometric properties of these geoid quasilocal frames, and construct solutions for them in some simple spacetimes. We then compare these results -- focusing on the computationally tractable scenario of a non-rotating body with a quadrupole perturbation -- against their counterparts in Newtonian gravity (the setting for current applications of the geoid), and we compute general-relativistic corrections to some measurable geometric quantities.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures; v2: reference added; v3: introduction clarified, reference adde

The British Occupation of Southern New York during the American Revolution and the Failure to Restore Civilian Government

A decade of political unrest over the question of parliamentary taxation resulted in the development of an alternate political structure of committees and congresses in the province of New York. By 1776, a revolutionary government led by the Provincial Congress controlled the province. Upon learning of the Declaration of Independence, the New York Provincial Congress declared independence from the British. Within months of this declaration, southern New York was occupied by British troops, and remained under British control for the duration of the Revolutionary War. The area was under martial law for the duration. Britain\u27s loss of the Saratoga Campaign brought French entry into the war, and a major strategic reassessment as the American colonies became to the British but one front--and not even the most important--in a world war with France (and later others). A peace commission led by the Earl of Carlisle was sent to America, spending time in Philadelphia and New York, but its proposals were met with contempt. Partially as a result of the failed mission, a new strategy was developed for fighting the war by the British. A major part of this new strategy was the restoration of civilian government to the province of New York. It was hoped that, among other things, this would showcase Britain\u27s desire to, rather than impose a tyranny, restore free government to the colonies. General James Robertson was chosen to be the new governor, arriving in 1780, but was unable to implement the strategy because of opposition by Sir Henry Clinton, the commander of Britain\u27s forces in America. The dissertation examines the developing break with Britain, the occupation, and the failure of the attempt to restore civilian government it. The dissertation examines the effect that various appalling, violent or questionable acts by British troops or officers had on the people of New York, and discusses briefly how British military actions and the occupation affected the developing independent New York government. It contrasts events in Georgia, where civilian government, complete with an assembly was created, with events in New York. Lastly, the dissertation examines the question of whether the restoration of civilian government was just too late in 1780 to have been an effective strategy to win back the loyalties of New Yorkers and Americans, even if civilian government had been restored