Bowls, Bobbins and Bones: Resolving the human remains crisis in British archaeology, a response

In 2010 and 2011 a series of articles appeared in British Archaeology describing a crisis surrounding the archaeological investigation of human remains. Behind these articles was a campaign to change the licensing conditions issued by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for the excavation of human remains. The campaign was covered in local, national and international media and resulted in questions in parliament and letters from select committees addressed to the MoJ. It was chiefly orchestrated by three archaeologists, Mike Parker Pearson, Mike Pitts and Duncan Sayer, but hundreds of others offered their support and time, and many individuals and organisations wrote directly to the minister to explain their dissatisfaction with the situation as it existed. The political, professional and media pressure, alongside the advice of several individuals in a closed meeting organised by the MoJ, resulted in a 'more flexible' interpretation of the licensing conditions from 2011 and a rewriting of the application procedure for permission to excavate. In 'Resolving the Human Remains Crisis in British Archaeology' Mike Parker Pearson, Tim Schadla-Hall and Gabe Moshenska explain the background and the major events of the 2010-11 campaign and consider the situation within the context of two subtle but perceivable juxtapositions – law vs. practice and science vs. religion

Exploring potential 'extra-familial' child homicide assailants in the UK and estimating their homicide rate: perception of risk – the need for debate

High-profile child murders lead parents to fear for their children’s safety, but perception of risk is often at variance with reality. We explore the numbers of potential ‘Extra-familial’ child homicide assailants in the United Kingdom and estimate their actual murder rate to determine risk levels. A South of England study, equivalent to a 4 per cent sample of the UK population, of a decade of consecutive child homicides identified the characteristics of child homicide assailants, finding that the most frequent assailants--the ‘Intra-familial’--were very different from ‘Extra-familial’ assailants. ‘Extra-familial’ killers were all males, aged nineteen to forty-two, with convictions for Violent-Multi-Criminal-Child-Sex-Abuse (VMCCSA) offences and Multi-Criminal-Child-Sex-Abuse (MCCSA), whose victims were aged seven-plus years. Projecting these characteristics onto the male UK population enables us to estimate the numbers of potential UK ‘Extra-familial’ assailants, which are set against known UK child (five to fourteen) homicides (WHO, 2005). To account for any ‘hidden’ child homicides, deaths in the ‘undetermined’ violent death category, designated ‘Other External Cause’ (OEC), are calculated to provide a ‘maximum’ child homicide rate. There were potentially 912 VMCCSA and 886 MCCSA ‘Extra-familial’ offenders in the United Kingdom, who could be responsible for the WHO-reported UK three-year average of ‘Extra-family’ fifteen child homicide and seventeen OEC deaths per annum; a homicide rate of 12,061 per million (pm) for VMCCSA and 3,386 pm for MCSA, which is 1.21 and 0.34 per cent; however, the VMCCSA homicide rate was 403 times greater than the all children accident and cancer death rates. Though the vast majority of these potential assailants did not kill, comparatively, they are extremely dangerous. Practice and ethical issues are debated, which considers active outreach for the ‘treatable’ to possible ‘reviewable’ custodial sentences for the VMCCSA

The effect of lift on the wave-making resistance of multi-hull craft

A potential based panel method is presented to estimate the wave-making characteristics of multi-hull craft. In order to simulate the lifting potential flow around the sub-hulls, the method adopts mixed source/doublet distributions on the sub-hulls and their wake surface, while sources are distributed on the main hull and the free surface. In this way, the asymmetric flow characteristics of the sub-hull are properly simulated, i.e., a Kutta condition is satisfied at the trailing edge of the sub-hull. Comparison is made between the numerical and model experimental measurements, and a good correlation has been found. The wave-making characteristics and pressure distributions on the sub-hull predicted by the present method can differ from those based on a distribution of sources alone, especially the pressure distributions at the stern of the sub-hulls

Investigating transfer of learning in advanced quantum mechanics

Research suggests that students often have difficulty transferring their learning from one context to another. We examine upper-level undergraduate and graduate students' facility with questions about the interference pattern in the double-slit experiment (DSE) with single photons and polarizers of various orientations placed in front of one or both slits. Before answering these types of questions, students had worked through a tutorial on the Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) in which they learned about interference of single photons when polarizers of various orientations are placed in the two paths of the MZI. After working on the MZI tutorial, students were asked similar questions in the isomorphic context of the DSE. We discuss the extent to which they were able to transfer what they learned in the context of the MZI to analogous problems in the isomorphic context of the DSE.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Learning-based ship design optimization approach

With the development of computer applications in ship design, optimization, as a powerful approach, has been widely used in the design and analysis process. However, the running time, which often varies from several weeks to months in the current computing environment, has been a bottleneck problem for optimization applications, particularly in the structural design of ships. To speed up the optimization process and adjust the complex design environment, ship designers usually rely on their personal experience to assist the design work. However, traditional experience, which largely depends on the designer’s personal skills, often makes the design quality very sensitive to the experience and decreases the robustness of the final design. This paper proposes a new machine-learning-based ship design optimization approach, which uses machine learning as an effective tool to give direction to optimization and improves the adaptability of optimization to the dynamic design environment. The natural human learning process is introduced into the optimization procedure to improve the efficiency of the algorithm. Q-learning, as an approach of reinforcement learning, is utilized to realize the learning function in the optimization process. The multi-objective particle swarm optimization method, multiagent system, and CAE software are used to build an integrated optimization system. A bulk carrier structural design optimization was performed as a case study to evaluate the suitability of this method for real-world application

Length of Stay for Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Background: Hospitals seek to maximize efficiency in stabilizing and discharging post-operative patients. The post-operative length of stay (LOS) for laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgeries in the short stay unit of a community hospital in the Portland area varies significantly with an average LOS of 170 minutes. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to isolate factors associated with decreased post-operative LOS for laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgeries to identify procedural changes that would help meet the goal of an average 120 minutes LOS. Methods: EPIC charts of 41 patients who received a laparoscopic cholecystectomy since July 1st 2014 were reviewed for data on specific factors of perioperative care. A literature review was also conducted to gather information on evidence based standards of care. Results: Data showed no differences in post-operative LOS for laparoscopic cholecystectomy patients based on gender, use of a nerve block, or pre-operative Xanax administration. Patients with the shortest LOS, under 120 minutes, received an average of three different antiemetics. Evidence based literature recommends using a combination of antiemetics during surgery to prevent post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Discussion/Recommendation: PONV is a leading factor contributing to increased length of stay. The results of this study, along with evidence-based literature, suggests that a combination of at least three antiemetics during surgery can decrease PONV and thus decrease post-operative LOS for laparoscopic cholecystectomies

Distinct responses of soil respiration to experimental litter manipulation in temperate woodland and tropical forest

Global change is affecting primary productivity in forests worldwide, and this, in turn, will alter long‐term carbon (C) sequestration in wooded ecosystems. On one hand, increased primary productivity, for example, in response to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), can result in greater inputs of organic matter to the soil, which could increase C sequestration belowground. On other hand, many of the interactions between plants and microorganisms that determine soil C dynamics are poorly characterized, and additional inputs of plant material, such as leaf litter, can result in the mineralization of soil organic matter, and the release of soil C as CO2 during so‐called “priming effects”. Until now, very few studies made direct comparison of changes in soil C dynamics in response to altered plant inputs in different wooded ecosystems. We addressed this with a cross‐continental study with litter removal and addition treatments in a temperate woodland (Wytham Woods) and lowland tropical forest (Gigante forest) to compare the consequences of increased litterfall on soil respiration in two distinct wooded ecosystems. Mean soil respiration was almost twice as high at Gigante (5.0 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1) than at Wytham (2.7 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1) but surprisingly, litter manipulation treatments had a greater and more immediate effect on soil respiration at Wytham. We measured a 30% increase in soil respiration in response to litter addition treatments at Wytham, compared to a 10% increase at Gigante. Importantly, despite higher soil respiration rates at Gigante, priming effects were stronger and more consistent at Wytham. Our results suggest that in situ priming effects in wooded ecosystems track seasonality in litterfall and soil respiration but the amount of soil C released by priming is not proportional to rates of soil respiration. Instead, priming effects may be promoted by larger inputs of organic matter combined with slower turnover rates

A seakeeping analysis method for an air-lifted vessel

A seakeeping analysis in the frequency domain is presented to predict the motion response of an airlifted vessel (ALV) in waves. The ALV is supported by pressurised air in two separate cushion chambers; the pressure variation in the cushions has a significant effect on the motions of the vessel. The adiabatic gas law is used to couple cushion pressure and the free-surface elevation of water inside the chamber. Attention is focused on the waves generated by the pressure, and a method is presented to compute the corresponding free-surface elevation. New numerical schemes are proposed for calculating the threedimensional free-surface elevation for the four wave numbers. Numerical results of the free-surface elevation, escape area, escape volume and motion responses of the ALV are provided. & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved