Excavations at Iona Abbey 2017: Data Structure Report

Initial summary of 2017 excavations at Iona Abbey

Integrated transcriptional profiling and linkage analysis for disease gene identification in a rat model of metabolic syndrome

Development of the metabolic syndrome is detennined by a complex interaction of environmental and genetic factors and as with other complex human traits, disease gene identification is problematic due to a lack of statistical power and genetic heterogeneity in patients. Identifying genes' that underlie metabolic syndrome risk factors will allow better understanding and development of treatments which would decrease disease health burden. The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is a widely studied model of insulin resistance and hypertension and, as in humans, the hypertensive phenotype clusters with metabolic traits. SHR was crossed with nonnotensive Brown Norway rats to develop the BXHIHXB recombinant inbred (RI) strain panel. . In these studies this RI panel is being used to identify genomic regions influencing gene expression, tenned expression quantitative trait loci- (eQTL). Affymetrix microarray expression profiles from two tissues (fat and kidney) in the RI and parental strains were generated. Transcript abundance for each gene on the microarray was treated as a quantitative trait and these eQTL were defined as: cis-acting, and trans-acting. This work examines a subset of cis-acting eQTL (P<lO-4) to look for polymorphisms in the putative promoters of these genes. These polymorphisms may cause the differential expression detected in these strains and underlie the phenotypic variation seen. In silico comparative mapping was carried out to investigate the applicability of the detected rat cis-acting eQTL genes to human disease. This used human QTL for metabolic and cardiovascular phenotypes to identify rat cis-acting eQTL and their human orthologs as potential candidate genes. This analysis detected several genes with known involvement in human metabolic syndrome phenotypes and a large number of novel candidate genes that merit testing in human populations. The results demonstrate an integrated genome-wide expression profiling with linkage analysis approach and its use in identification of candidate genes which may underlie complex traits.Imperial Users onl

Feedback Synthesis for Controllable Underactuated Systems using Sequential Second Order Actions

This paper derives nonlinear feedback control synthesis for general control affine systems using second-order actions---the needle variations of optimal control---as the basis for choosing each control response to the current state. A second result of the paper is that the method provably exploits the nonlinear controllability of a system by virtue of an explicit dependence of the second-order needle variation on the Lie bracket between vector fields. As a result, each control decision necessarily decreases the objective when the system is nonlinearly controllable using first-order Lie brackets. Simulation results using a differential drive cart, an underactuated kinematic vehicle in three dimensions, and an underactuated dynamic model of an underwater vehicle demonstrate that the method finds control solutions when the first-order analysis is singular. Moreover, the simulated examples demonstrate superior convergence when compared to synthesis based on first-order needle variations. Lastly, the underactuated dynamic underwater vehicle model demonstrates the convergence even in the presence of a velocity field.Comment: 9 page

Comprehending the Evolving Leadership Role of the Consultant Designer in the New Product Development Process in Mature Product Categories

Seismic shifts in 21st century market conditions – globalisation, immediate digital communications, rapidly developing technologies, an ever more sophisticated, knowledgeable consumer – create a new landscape for organisations seeking to create products of greater value, which better meet evolving needs and desires. While the marketing-led approach, dominant in the past half-century, focused on persuasion, design, with its specialised tools, is suggested to be more adept and flexible than marketing at understanding and providing relevant value for today’s consumer. A literature review argues that, in history, design has endured periods of particular strength followed by decline. This thesis examines the proposition that design is moving into an era of ascendancy. The literature review considers notions of design and designers’ involvement in the new product development (NPD) process, and suggests that they are having a wider input of increasing significance in NPD. This acts as a base for developing understanding of the role of designers, and their interface with business. Evidence was gathered in a case study approach at four industrial design consultancies creating products for a range of international clients, mostly in mature consumer product categories. Recorded interviews, observation and case diaries were analysed using an interpretivist approach, and themes were built from this data. Greater responsibility – leadership – on the part of design was manifest in numerous ways in the work of the designer and consultancy design studio. The findings suggest an overall transition from a marketing-led NPD approach to one of ‘design leadership’. First, designers are taking greater responsibility in solving problems of greater weight and complexity than in previous generations. The role and remit of the designer has expanded to embrace some of the tasks traditionally associated with the marketer. Second, the nature of the relationship between designer and client is instrumental in determining how the designer is involved in NPD. A growing closeness means that designers are involved from the beginning, or even pre-project, and this allows greater input in realms beyond product function and aesthetics. Third, consultancies are reorienting their offering to one of involvement across the NPD project. Studios consult in the clients’ overall business strategy, and become coordinators – leaders – in the product’s realisation. There is a shift from designers following marketers’ suggestions to designers acting as consultants in the purest sense. Design leadership denotes an approach whereby designers marry the sensibilities of business with the experiential approach of design. The findings of the study are synthesised in a series of models that act as a guide for consultancies and clients as they navigate the shift to greater design leadership. These models have considerable implications for design in practice, as well as for policy and design education. Chiefly, they become a substantive tool to enhancing the designer’s empowerment in the business context, as they become involved in, and take decisions upon, a wider ranging breadth of activity of ever-increasing significance