DTI Economics Paper No. 2: A comparative study of the British and Italian Textile and Clothing Industries.

Commissioned by: Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing Industry Conference, Hucknell, Nottingham, February 2004 During the 1990s the Italian clothing and textiles industry grew while the British, French and German textile and clothing industries declined by 40%. In 2001 the Italian textiles & clothing sector was three times larger than the British, accounting for 11.7% of Italian manufacturing output but only 3.3% in Britain. In 2000 Italian fabric exports were 15 times that of the UK. The study was conducted in response to a recommendation by the Textiles and Clothing Strategy Group (TCSG), comprising UK industry, trade unions, Higher Education and the DTI. The purpose of the study was to account for these differences, assess relative merits against value for money and identify best practice in the Italian industry. The methodology comprised comparative analysis and case studies of British and Italian textile mills and tailoring manufacturers, based on my initial recommendations. We visited 5 textile mills in Yorkshire and 15 in Italy plus 3 factories in each country. I conducted a detailed comparative technical analysis of the construction of suit jackets against 13 devised criteria, a number of interviews,compared technologies, equipment and manufacturing methods across all factories, against 8 criteria, drawing on my specialist knowledge and experience as a menswear clothing technologist. The technical reports I compiled formed a section of the final report. Findings were presented to the Clothing Strategy Group and published by the DTI as their Economic Paper No 2 . I made further presentations to industry and academic groups including ASBCI, FCDE, The Textile Society, Savile Row Tailors Association, and LSE. Other outcomes were a publication in the Journal of the Textile Society Text, an article in Selvedge magazine and contributions to the Encyclopaedia of Clothing by Thomson Gale. As a result of this research further consultancy projects have been conducted with the Industry Forum and ASBCI

Validity of Photogrammetric Osteological Analysis for Sex Traits of Historic Crania

Validity of Photogrammetric Osteological Analysis for Sex Traits of Historic Crania Owen NJ1, Boston CV2, Aldridge SJ1, Johnstone R1, Loe L31Swansea University, 2Oxford University, 3Oxford Archaeology AimOsteology relies, in part, on the qualitative visual analysis of human remains. As such an opportunity may exist for some of the analysis process to be carried out on replica remains. Photogrammetry is a method of producing 3 dimensional images (3-D)1. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the usefulness of photogrammetry for the analysis of human crania from the Mary Rose collection. MethodHigh quality photogrammetric 3-D images were produced of crania (n=10). Four experienced osteologists each analysed real and corresponding virtual skulls using an abridged standard method. Neither analysed the same real and virtual skull. The results of the analyses were compared using qualitative statistical techniques.ResultsEight of the crania examined were estimated greater than 80% intermediate to male for both real and virtual crania. Two crania were 75% and 64% with large variation between real and virtual skulls and moderate variation between raters.Discussion The results indicate that photogrammetric images allow clear identification of sex traits in 80% of the current sample. However, when the traits are not clearly male the validity of photogrammetry reduces. The greatest variability in sex estimates across both real and virtual crania observations were seen in both the nuchal crest and the temporal ridge.1.Katz, D, and Friess, M. 3D From Standard Digital Photography of Human Crania-A Preliminary Assessment. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 154(1) 152-58, 201

Developing the Role of Proton Beam Therapy in Oesophageal Cancer

Oesophageal cancer continues to be associated with a poor prognosis. Proton beam therapy’s distinct physical characteristics widen the therapeutic ratio in oesophageal cancer and has the potential to improve outcomes. This thesis aims to examine how proton beam therapy may improve outcomes in oesophageal cancer and documents efforts to expand its role. In Chapter 2, a comprehensive systematic literature review demonstrates the paucity of high-quality evidence in this field. Following this, a series of radiotherapy planning studies investigates potential dosimetric advantages of proton beam therapy for distal oesophageal cases. In chapter 3, proton beam therapy is shown to reduce lung and heart dose compared to photon radiotherapy. Normal tissue complication probability modelling establishes that this may reduce the risk of treatment related pulmonary and cardiac toxicity. Chapter 4 demonstrates that spleen dose constraints may successfully be introduced in oesophageal cancer for proton and photon plans, potentially resulting in lower lymphopenia rates and greater immune sparing. Chapter 5 highlights the impact of different beam arrangements on dose to organs at risk and individual cardiac substructures. The latter half of the thesis highlights work underpinning the development of novel clinical trials of proton beam therapy in oesophageal cancer. Chapter 6 details the work of creating a radiotherapy delineation protocol by comparing two established protocols in a delineation comparison study, showing that geometric expansion of volumes results in more consistent target volumes compared to ‘free-hand’ delineation. In chapter 7, public and patient involvement work is shown to inform and refine the design of a two new trials of proton beam therapy in oesophageal cancer. A final chapter discusses and summarises the current areas of interest in this field, expanding on current trial development work and future directions

Playoff Uncertainty, Match Uncertainty and Attendance at Australian National Rugby League Matches

This paper develops a new simulation-based measure of playoff uncertainty and investigates its contribution to modelling match attendance compared to other variants of playoff uncertainty in the existing literature. A model of match attendance that incorporates match uncertainty, playoff uncertainty, past home-team performance and other relevant control variables is fitted to Australian National Rugby League data for seasons 2004-2008 using fixed effects estimation. The results suggest that playoff uncertainty and home-team success are more important determinants of match attendance than match uncertainty. Alternative measures of playoff uncertainty based on points behind the leader, although more ad hoc, also appear able to capture the effects of playoff uncertainty.playoff uncertainty, match uncertainty, sports league attendance, Australian National Rugby League, fixed effects estimation

Autism-associated SNPs in the clock genes _npas2_, _per1_ and the homeobox gene _en2_ alter DNA sequences that show characteristics of microRNA genes.

Intronic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the clock genes _npas2_ and _per1_ and the homeobox gene _en2_ are reported to be associated with autism. This bioinformatics analysis of the intronic regions which contain the autism-associated SNPs rs1861972 and rs1861973 in _en2_, rs1811399 in _npas2_, and rs885747 in _per1_, shows that these regions encode RNA transcripts with predicted structural characteristics of microRNAs. These microRNA-like structures are disrupted _in silico_ by the presence of the autism enriched alleles of rs1861972, rs1861973, rs1811399 and rs885747 specifically, as compared with the minor alleles of these SNPs. The predicted gene targets of these microRNA-like structures include genes reported to be implicated in autism (_gabrb3_, _shank3_) and genes causative of diseases co-morbid with autism (_mecp2_ and _rai1_). The inheritance of the AC haplotype of rs1861972 - rs1861973 in _en2_, the C allele of rs1811399 in _npas2_, and the C allele of rs1234747 in _per1_ may contribute to the causes of autism by affecting microRNA genes that are co-expressed along with the homeobox gene _en2_ and the circadian genes _npas2_ and _per1_

A search for 'creative' 'partnerships' : constructing pedagogies for artists and educators working together

This thesis examines what constitutes a 'creative' 'partnership' and whether theoretical frameworks and models can be articulated which produce 'creative partnerships'. The thesis derives from an ethnographic study of Fichte Nursery School and artists and educators working within Creative Partnerships programmes in Hull, based upon qualitative research and narrative enquiry.The thesis presents an historical perspective of creativity and cultural education in English schools and suggests that, as a result of performativity discourses within education, contemporary discourses of creativity are determined by social relationships based in Gesellschaft as opposed to Gemeinschaft, and are heavily prescribed by political agendas which strive for economic growth and thus become supersaturated with meaning and desire.A Deleuzian philosophy of creativity is proposed as a suitable philosophical basis for this research, as the concept of heterogenesis allows for the possibility of the development of an alternative discourse of creativity in which social relationships are more closely aligned to conditions of gemeinschaft.The thesis identifies discourses upon which pedagogies for artists and educators might be established and argues that pedagogies are ambiguous and contingent architextures which define learning spaces. The Nursery School is seen as an example of a complex, heterogenetic Deleuzian city and it is presented as the site for the empirical research. The thesis examines the manifestation of creativity in the school, the manifestation of creativity by artists in schools and the role of 'outsiders' in participating in creative relationships.Six structural features are presented which form the architexture of the pedagogies of artists and educators, conceived as six interconnected Zones: a Zone of Scrap, of Disguise, of Infectivity, of Intimacy, of Surprise and a Zone of Grace. A new methodological tool is proposed, to observe classroom practice: that of the Classroom Gaze. Implications for policy, practice and practitioners are discussed

Pathways for Nutrient Loss to Water; Slurry and Fertilizer Spreading

End of project reportThere are almost 150,000 farms in Ireland and these contribute substantial quantities of N and P to inland and coastal waters. Some of these nutrients are carried from wet soils by overland flow and by leaching from dry soils. Farm practice can reduce the loss from farms by judicious management of nutrients. Improvements are required to diminish export of nutrients without impairing operations on the farm. Literature regarding nutrient loss from agriculture was reviewed in this project and maps were prepared to predict best slurry spreading times around Ireland. Two further maps were prepared to show slurry storage requirement on farms

Stereoelectronic effects on the binding of neutral Lewis bases to CdSe nanocrystals

Using P-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, we monitor the competition between tri-nbutylphosphine (Bu3P) and various amine and phosphine ligands for the surface of chloride terminated CdSe nanocrystals. Distinct P-31 NMR signals for free and bound phosphine ligands allow the surface ligand coverage to be measured in phosphine solution. Ligands with a small steric profile achieve higher surface coverages (Bu3P = 0.5 nm(-2), Me2P-n-octyl = 2.0 nm(-2), NH2Bu = >3 nm(-2)) and have greater relative binding affinity for the nanocrystal (binding affinity: Me3P > Me2P -n-octyl similar to Me2P -n-octadecyl > Et3P > Bu3P). Among phosphines, only Bu 3 P and Me2P-n-octyl support a colloidal dispersion, allowing a relative surface binding affinity (K-rel) to be estimated in that case (K-rel = 3.1). The affinity of the amine ligands is measured by the extent to which they displace Bu3P from the nanocrystals (K-rel: H2NBu similar to N-n-butylimidazole > 4-ethylpyridine > Bu3P similar to HNBu2 > Me2NBu > Bu3N). The affinity for the CdSe surface is greatest among soft, basic donors and depends on the number of each ligand that bind. Sterically unencumbered ligands such as imidazole, pyridine, and n-alkylamines can therefore outcompete stronger donors such as alkylphosphines. The influence of repulsive interactions between ligands on the binding affinity is a consequence of the high atom density of binary semiconductor surfaces. The observed behavior is distinct from the self-assembly of straight-chain surfactants on gold and silver where the ligands are commensurate with the underlying lattice and attractive interactions between aliphatic chains strengthen the binding

Affordable Housing in Lhasa, China

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