"Peace, toleration and decay: the ecclesiology of later Stuart dissent" by Martin Sutherland

Review of Martin Sutherland, Peace, Toleration and Decay: The Ecclesiology of Later Stuart Dissent (Carlisle: Paternoster, 2003)Publisher PD

Optimisation of the compound helicopter configuration

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DXN039688 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Null Reductions of M5-Branes

We perform a general reduction of an M5-brane on a spacetime that admits a null Killing vector, including couplings to background 4-form fluxes and possible twisting of the normal bundle. We give the non-abelian extension of this action and present its supersymmetry transformations. The result is a class of supersymmetric non-lorentzian gauge theories in 4+1 dimensions, which depend on the geometry of the six-dimensional spacetime. These can be used for DLCQ constructions of M5-branes reduced on various manifolds.Comment: 21 pages; more typos corrected and additional comment in the introduction, to appear in JHEP (hopefully

Mathematical Surface Matching of Maps of the Human Torso

This report concerns with the collection and processing of data acquired from three-dimensional (3D) surface scans of scoliosis patients' backs. Two main issues were addressed: the reproducibility of the results, and stringent time constraints. In particular, user influence should be removed from each step of the data processing, and results should be obtained within three minutes of acquiring the scan. The report begins with a description of the data collection, followed by a description of the data processing required to align two back surfaces. A section is devoted to calculating the cosmetic score, a measure of deformity of the back. The paper concludes with a few suggestions for improvements on data collection and use

The Federal Circuit: A Model for Reform?

Are our federal courts organized suitably to perform their mission of assuring coherent administration of our national law? Maybe not. The senior author of this Article, along with many others, argued to the contrary forty years ago. Now, experience with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit tends to confirm that an alternative structure of the federal judiciary could better serve the need for coherent national law, and without serious adverse consequences. Perhaps, therefore, it is now time for Congress to reconsider the matter. We here suggest the possibility that the United States replicate the structure of the appellate courts of the Federal Republic of Germany, which, like the Federal Circuit, are specialized to assure coherent and consistent interpretation of that nation’s laws. Advances in technology have greatly reduced the need for the traditional regionalization of the federal appellate process, so that the model supplied by the Federal Circuit may offer new hope that our national law could be administered with substantially greater coherence and efficiency than the present system of conflicted circuits allows

Stomach contents from invasive American bullfrogs Rana catesbeiana (= Lithobates catesbeianus) on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Invasive alien American bullfrog populations are commonly identified as a pernicious influence on the survival of native species due to their adaptability, proliferation and consequent ecological impacts through competition and predation. However, it has been difficult to determine conclusively their destructive influence due to the fragmentary and geographically dispersed nature of the historical database. An expanding meta-population of invasive American bullfrogs, Rana catesbeiana (= Lithobates catesbeianus), became established on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada in the mid- to late 1980s. An on-going bullfrog control program begun in 2006 offered a unique opportunity to examine the stomach contents removed from 5,075 adult and juvenile bullfrogs collected from 60 sites throughout the active season (April to October). Of 15 classes of organisms identified in the diet, insects were numerically dominant, particularly social wasps and odonates (damselflies and dragonflies). Seasonality and site-specific habitat characteristics influenced prey occurrence and abundance. Native vertebrates in the diet included fish, frogs, salamanders, snakes, lizards, turtles, birds, and mammals, including some of conservation concern. Certain predators of bullfrog tadpoles and juveniles are commonly preyed upon by adult bullfrogs, thereby suppressing their effectiveness as biological checks to bullfrog population growth. Prey species with antipredator defences, such as wasps and sticklebacks, were sometimes eaten in abundance. Many prey species have some type of anti-predator defence, such as wasp stingers or stickleback spines, but there was no indication of conditioned avoidance to any of these. Results from this study reinforce the conclusion that, as an invasive alien, the American bullfrog is an opportunistic and seemingly unspecialized predator that has a uniquely large and complex ecological footprint both above and below the water surface

A study of activation antigens involved in the pathological mechanisms and pathways of cutaneous malignant disease with particular emphasis on cutaneous T cell lymphoma and malignant melanoma

The investigation of dermatological conditions embraces the concept of a clinicopathological correlation. The studies into cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) and malignant melanoma (MM), presented here involved predominantly immunocytochemical procedures and relate to the investigations into AP-1 protein expression in CTCL and melanocyte activation antigens in MM. Results: Findings indicate that expression of AP-1 proteins differs not only according to type of CTCL but also according to stages of tumour progression. In MM activation antigen expression varies with tumour metastasis. Consideration of the role of techniques in terms of sensitivity and specificity form a pivitol component in the evaluation of tumour antigen expression

Identification and Characterization of the Corazonin Receptor and Possible Physiological Roles of the Corazonin-Signaling Pathway in Rhodnius prolixus.

Neuropeptides control many physiological and endocrinological processes in animals, acting as neuroactive chemicals within the central and peripheral nervous systems. Corazonin (CRZ) is one such neuropeptide that has a variety of physiological roles associated with control of heartbeat, ecdysis behavior initiation, and cuticle coloration. These physiological effects are mediated by the CRZ receptor (CRZR). In order to understand the role of the CRZ-signaling pathway in Rhodnius prolixus, the cDNA sequence encoding the Rhopr-CRZR was isolated and cloned revealing two splice variants (Rhopr-CRZR-α and β). Sequence analysis revealed characteristics of rhodopsin-like GPCRs. Rhopr-CRZR-α and β were dose-dependently activated by Rhopr-CRZ with EC50 values of 2.7 and 1 nM, respectively, when tested in a functional receptor assay using CHOKI-aeq cells. Neither receptors were activated by the evolutionarily-related peptides, Rhopr-AKH, or Rhopr-ACP. For 5th instars, qPCR revealed expression of Rhopr-CRZR transcript in the CNS, the dorsal vessel, abdominal dorsal epidermis, and prothoracic glands with associated fat body. Interestingly, transcript expression was also found in the female and male reproductive tissues. Rhopr-CRZR transcript was reduced after injection of dsCRZR into adult R. prolixus. In these insects, the basal heartbeat rate was reduced in vivo, and the increase in heartbeat frequency normally produced by CRZ on dorsal vessel in vitro was much reduced. No effect of dsCRZR injection was seen on ecdysis or coloration of the cuticle