A Damascene Conversion:Additional Accommodation Church of St George and St Thomas

Additional Accommodation Church of St George and St Thomas - Critical Appraisal ‘A Damascene Conversion’ by Shane O’Toole in The Sunday Times December 2008.

Reactions of nitrogen and oxygen surface groups in nanoporous carbons under inert and reducing atmospheres

The reactions of surface functional groups have an important role in controlling conversion of char nitrogen to NOx during coal combustion. This study involved an investigation of the thermal stability and reactions of nitrogen surface functional groups in nanoporous carbons. Four suites of carbons, which were used as models for coal chars, were prepared with a wide range of nitrogen and oxygen contents and types of functional groups. The porous structures of the carbons were characterized by gas adsorption methods while chemical analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray near edge structure spectroscopy were used to characterize the surface functional groups. Temperature programmed desorption and temperature programmed reduction methods were used to study the reactivity of the surface functional groups during heat treatment under inert and reducing conditions. Heat treatment studies show that the order of stability of the functional groups is quaternary nitrogen > pyridinic > pyrrolic > pyridine N-oxide. Pyridine N-oxide surface groups desorb NO and form N-2 via surface reactions at low temperature. Pyrrolic and pyridinic functional groups decompose and react with surface species to give NH3, HCN, and N-2 as desorption products, but most pyrrolic groups are preferentially converted to pyridinic and quaternary nitrogen. The main desorption product is N-2. Approximately 15-40 wt % of the original nitrogen was retained in the carbons mainly as quaternary nitrogen after heat treatment to 1673 K. The results are discussed in terms of decomposition ranges for surface functional groups and reaction mechanisms of surface species.

Sex, Politics and Religion: The Transformation of the Figure of the Fairy Queen from Thomas off Ersseldoune to ‘‘Thomas Rymer’’

Our earliest version of the Thomas Rymer story is the medieval romance Thomas off Ersseldoune (c.1430). There is a four hundred year lacuna before the ballad “Thomas Rymer”, our next surviving version, is recorded in the early 1800s. In the intervening time the narrative changed very little but the dynamic of the piece, radically. The romance transformed into the highly subversive ballad, “Thomas Rymer”. Central to this transformation is the reconceptualization of the romance's heroine. Referred to simply as the “lufly lady” and caught between her husband, the fay King, and a mere mortal, Thomas, she becomes in the ballad the powerful Queen of the Fairies. The ballad is structured around a series of revelations in which the enigmatic Queen assumes the roles of Eve and Mary, and finally Christ Himself. I will explore the implications of this extraordinary ballad. Moreover, I suggest that it is Queen Elizabeth herself who, ironically, enables the heroine's transformation. “Ironically” because it appears that it was Elizabeth's own restrictions, designed to suppress heretical, seditious or radical literature, which forced Thomas off Ersseldoune (and many other romances which employed religious imagery or figures) out of the written domain and into the oral tradition. And yet, it is Elizabeth who, in creating the image of herself as a female prince, as the Faerie Queen, inspires a new literary vocabulary designed to describe female executive power, without which it would have been impossible to imagine a figure such as the ballad's Queen of the Fairies.

"From Indomania to Indophobia":Thomas De Quincey's Providential Orientalism

Thomas De Quincey’s terrifying oriental nightmares, reported to sensational acclaim in his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821), have become a touchstone of romantic imperialism in recent studies of the literature of the period (Leask 1991; Barrell 1992 et al). De Quincey’s collocation of “all creatures, birds, beasts, reptiles, all trees and plants, usages and appearances, that are found in all tropical regions” in the hypnagogic hallucinations that characterized what he called “the pains of opium” seems to anticipate neatly Said’s theory of orientalism, whereby the orient was supplied by the west with “a mentality, a genealogy, an atmosphere,” the attitudinal basis as he argues for the continuing march of imperialism from the late eighteenth century. Yet, as Thomas Trautmann (1997) has pointed out, orientalist scholarship based in India and led by the influential Asiatic Society of Bengal in the late eighteenth century was extremely enthusiastic about Indian classical antiquity. The early orientalist scholarship posited ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious links between Europe and India, while recognizing the greater antiquity of Indian civilization. This favourable attitude (which Trautmann calls “Indomania”) was overtaken in the nineteenth century by disavowal of that scholarship and repugnance (which he calls “Indophobia”), influenced by utilitarian and evangelical attitudes to colonialism. De Quincey’s lifespan covers this crucial period of change. My paper examines his evangelical upbringing and interest in biblical and orientalist scholarship to suggest his anxious investment in these modes of thinking. I will suggest that the bizarre orientalist fusions of his dreams can be better understood in the context of changing attitudes to the imperialism during the period. An examination of his work provides a far more dynamic understanding of the processes of orientalism than the binary model suggested by Said. The transformation implied from imperial scholarship to governance, I will suggest, is not irrelevant to a world which continues to pull apart on various grounds of race and ethnicity, and reflects on our own role in the academy today.

Book review of Atlas of Anatomy by Patrick W. Tank and Thomas R. Gest:Book review of Atlas of Anatomy

Book review of Atlas of Anatomy by Patrick W. Tank and Thomas R. Gest

Genome-wide association meta-analysis of human longevity identifies a novel locus conferring survival beyond 90 years of age

The genetic contribution to the variation in human lifespan is approximately 25%.  Despite the large number of identified disease-susceptibility loci, it is not known which loci influence population mortality.  We performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis of 7729 long-lived individuals of European descent (≥ 85 years) and 16121 younger controls (< 65 years) followed by replication in an additional set of 13060 long-lived individuals and 61156 controls. In addition, we performed a subset analysis in cases ≥ 90 years. We observed genome-wide significant association with longevity, as reflected by survival to ages beyond 90 years, at a novel locus, rs2149954, on chromosome 5q33.3 (OR = 1.10, P =1.74 x 10-8). We also confirmed association of rs4420638 on chromosome 19q13.32 (OR = 0.72, P = 3.40 x 10-36), representing the TOMM40/APOE/APOC1 locus. In a prospective meta-analysis (n = 34103) the minor allele of rs2149954 (T) on chromosome 5q33.3 associates with increased survival (HR = 0.95, P = 0.003). This allele has previously been reported to associate with low blood pressure in middle age. Interestingly, the minor allele (T) associates with decreased cardiovascular mortality risk, independent of blood pressure. We report on the first GWAS-identified longevity locus on chromosome 5q33.3 influencing survival in the general European population. The minor allele of this locus associates with low blood pressure in middle age, although the contribution of this allele to survival may be less dependent on blood pressure. Hence, the pleiotropic mechanisms by which this intragenic variation contributes to lifespan regulation have to be elucidated.

Modelling the fate of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the North Sea system

The environmental fate of selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the North Sea system is modelled with a high resolution Fate and Transport Ocean Model (FANTOM) that uses hydrodynamic model output from the Hamburg Shelf Ocean Model (HAMSOM). Large amounts of POPs enter the North Sea from the surrounding highly populated, industrialised and agricultural countries. Major pathways to the North Sea are atmospheric deposition and river inputs, with additional contributions coming from bottom sediments and adjacent seas. The model domain covers the entire North Sea region, extending northward as far as the Shetland Islands, and includes adjacent basins such as the Skagerrak, Kattegat, and the westernmost part of the Baltic Sea. Model resolution (for both models) is 1.5’ latitude x 2.5’ longitude (approximately 3 km horizontal resolution) with 30 vertical levels. The POP model also has 20 sediment layers. Important model processes controlling the fate of POPs in the North Sea system are discussed. Results focus on Lindane gamma- HCH or gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane) and PCB 153.

Invading and expanding: range dynamics and ecological consequences of the greater white-toothed shrew (Crocidura russula) invasion in Ireland

Establishing how invasive species impact upon pre-existing species is a fundamental question in ecology and conservation biology. The greater white-toothed shrew (Crocidura russula) is an invasive species in Ireland that was first recorded in 2007 and which, according to initial data, may be limiting the abundance/distribution of the pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus), previously Ireland’s only shrew species. Because of these concerns, we undertook an intensive live-trapping survey (and used other data from live-trapping, sightings and bird of prey pellets/nest inspections collected between 2006 and 2013) to model the distribution and expansion of C. russula in Ireland and its impacts on Ireland’s small mammal community. The main distribution range of C. russula was found to be approximately 7,600 km2 in 2013, with established outlier populations suggesting that the species is dispersing with human assistance within the island. The species is expanding rapidly for a small mammal, with a radial expansion rate of 5.5 km/yr overall (2008–2013), and independent estimates from live-trapping in 2012–2013 showing rates of 2.4–14.1 km/yr, 0.5–7.1 km/yr and 0–5.6 km/yr depending on the landscape features present. S. minutus is negatively associated with C. russula. S. minutus is completely absent at sites where C. russula is established and is only present at sites at the edge of and beyond the invasion range of C. russula. The speed of this invasion and the homogenous nature of the Irish landscape may mean that S. minutus has not had sufficient time to adapt to the sudden appearance of C. russula. This may mean the continued decline/disappearance of S. minutus as C. russula spreads throughout the island.

The Complexity of Approximately Solving Influence Diagrams

Influence diagrams allow for intuitive and yet precise description of complex situations involving decision making under uncertainty. Unfortunately, most of the problems described by influence diagrams are hard to solve. In this paper we discuss the complexity of approximately solving influence diagrams. We do not assume no-forgetting or regularity, which makes the class of problems we address very broad. Remarkably, we show that when both the treewidth and the cardinality of the variables are bounded the problem admits a fully polynomial-time approximation scheme.

"'Nothing but a printer's devil ever drives me into finishing': the Genesis of Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies'

This chapter outlines the working methods of the prolific writer and lyricist Thomas Moore—which were characterized by the unfortunate combination of a perfectionist streak, a tendency to release material to the publishers while still in the creative mode, and a tendency to re-visit previously-published material. The Gibson-Massie Moore collection at Queen's University Belfast teaches us a great deal about Moore’s creative processes, and also records the nineteenth-century publishing industry’s response to one of its most prolific and popular creative artists. This chapter is illustrated by an online Exhibition, the 'Thomas Moore Project', Digital Collections, Special Collections, McClay library (see URL below).