Studies on the immunoglobulin E responses to Teladorsagia circumcincta in sheep: purification of a major high molecular weight allergen.

Studies on the immunoglobulin (Ig)E immune responses to the gastric nematode, Teladorsagia circumcincta, have demonstrated a major high molecular weight allergen (HMWTc). Cross reactive allergens of similar MW were demonstrated for Trichostrongylus colubriformis and Cooperia curticei, but not for Haemonchus contortus. Purification of HMWTc was achieved by gel-filtration chromatography, and nonreducing SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis revealed two closely associated bands with a molecular weight of approximately 140-150?kDa. Reduction showed four IgE reactive bands of 120, 50, 45 and 30?kDa, and deglycosylation abrogated the immunoreactivity of the 120 and 30?kDa bands. Ultrastructural immunolocalization by electron microscopy revealed that the IgE reactivity was confined to the cuticular surface of the infective (L3) larvae. ELISA studies to determine the IgE anti-HMWTc responses in lambs during their first grazing season, demonstrated significantly higher IgE antibody in lambs with low accumulative faecal egg count (FEC) compared to animals with high accumulative FEC. These studies provide evidence for a protective function of IgE antibody in Teladorsagia infections in lambs.

Modern humans in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, during Oxygen Isotope Stage 3: palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Great Cave of Niah

During recent reinvestigations in the Great Cave of Niah in Borneo, the ‘Hell Trench’ sedimentary sequence seen by earlier excavators was re-exposed. Early excavations here yielded the earliest anatomically-modern human remains in island Southeast Asia. Calibrated radiocarbon dates, pollen, algal microfossils, palynofacies, granulometry and geochemistry of the ‘Hell Trench’ sequence provide information about environmental and vegetational changes, elements of geomorphic history and information about human activity. The ‘Hell’ sediments were laid down episodically in an ephemeral stream or pool. The pollen suggests cyclically changing vegetation with forest habitats alternating with more open environments; indicating that phases with both temperatures and precipitation reduced compared with the present. These events can be correlated with global climate change sequences to produce a provisional dating framework. During some forest phases, high counts of Justicia, a plant which today colonises recently burnt forest areas, point to fire in the landscape. This may be evidence for biomass burning by humans, presumably to maintain forest-edge habitats. There is evidence from palynofacies for fire on the cave floor in the ‘Hell’ area. Since the area sampled is beyond the limit of plant growth, this is evidence for human activity. The first such evidence is during an episode with significant grassland indicators, suggesting that people may have reached the site during a climatic phase characterised by relatively open habitats ~50 ka. Thereafter, people were able to maintain a relatively consistent presence at Niah. The human use of the ‘Hell’ area seems to have intensified through time, probably because changes in the local hydrological regime made the area dryer and more suitable for human use.

Forensic analysis of architectural finishes using Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy, Part I: The resin bases

The ability of Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) microscopy to discriminate between resins used for the manufacture of architectural finishes was examined in a study of 39 samples taken from a commercial resin library. Both Raman and FT-IR were able to discriminate between different types of resin and both split the samples into several groups (six for FT-IR, six for Raman), each of which gave similar, but not identical, spectra. In addition, three resins gave unique Raman spectra (four in FTIR). However, approximately half the library comprised samples that were sufficiently similar that they fell into a single large group, whether classified using FT-IR or Raman, although the remaining samples fell into much smaller groups. Further sub-division of the FT-IR groups was not possible because the experimental uncertainty was of similar magnitude to the within-group variation. In contrast, Raman spectroscopy was able to further discriminate between resins that fell within the same groups because the differences in the relative band intensities of the resins, although small, were larger than the experimental uncertainty.

A three-position spectral line survey of Sagittarius B2 between 218 and 263 GHz. I. The observational data

We have surveyed the frequency band 218.30-263.55 GHz toward the core positions N and M and the quiescent cloud position NW in the Sgr B2 molecular cloud using the Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope. In total 1730, 660, and 110 lines were detected in N, M, and NW, respectively, and 42 different molecular species were identified. The number of unidentified lines are 337, 51, and eight. Toward the N source, spectral line emission constitutes 22% of the total detected flux in the observed band, and complex organic molecules are the main contributors. Toward M, 14% of the broadband flux is caused by lines, and SO2 is here the dominant source of emission. NW is relatively poor in spectral lines and continuum. In this paper we present the spectra together with tables of suggested line identifications.

Classical novae from the POINT-AGAPE microlensing survey of M31 - I. The nova catalogue

The POINT-AGAPE (Pixel-lensing Observations with the Isaac Newton Telescope-Andromeda Galaxy Amplified Pixels Experiment) survey is an optical search for gravitational microlensing events towards the Andromeda galaxy (M31). As well as microlensing, the survey is sensitive to many different classes of variable stars and transients. Here we describe the automated detection and selection pipeline used to identify M31 classical novae (CNe) and we present the resulting catalogue of 20 CN candidates observed over three seasons. CNe are observed both in the bulge region as well as over a wide area of the M31 disc. Nine of the CNe are caught during the final rise phase and all are well sampled in at least two colours. The excellent light-curve coverage has allowed us to detect and classify CNe over a wide range of speed class, from very fast to very slow. Among the light curves is a moderately fast CN exhibiting entry into a deep transition minimum, followed by its final decline. We have also observed in detail a very slow CN which faded by only 0.01 mag d(-1) over a 150-d period. We detect other interesting variable objects, including one of the longest period and most luminous Mira variables. The CN catalogue constitutes a uniquely well-sampled and objectively-selected data set with which to study the statistical properties of CNe in M31, such as the global nova rate, the reliability of novae as standard-candle distance indicators and the dependence of the nova population on stellar environment. The findings of this statistical study will be reported in a follow-up paper.

Theory of pixel lensing towards M31 - I. The density contribution and mass of MACHOs

POINT-AGAPE is an Angle-French collaboration which is employing the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) to conduct a pixel-lensing survey towards M31. Pixel lensing is a technique which permits the detection of microlensing against unresolved stellar fields. The survey aims to constrain the stellar population in M31, and also the distribution and nature of massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) in both M31 and the Galaxy.

Dynamics of the Indonesian seas circulation. Part I – The influence of bottom topography on temperature and salinity distributions

The influence of bottom topography on the distribution of temperature and salinity in the Indonesian seas region has been studied with a high-resolution model based on the Princeton Ocean Model. One of the distinctive properties of the model is an adequate reproduction of all major topographic features in the region by the model bottom relief. The three major routes of flow of Pacific water through the region have been identified. The western route follows the flow of North Pacific Water through the Sulawesi Sea, Makassar Strait, Flores Sea, and Banda Sea. This is the main branch of the Indonesian Throughflow. The eastern routes follow the flow of South Pacific water through the eastern Indonesian seas. This water enters the region either through the Halmahera Sea or by flowing to the north around Halmahera Island into the Morotai Basin and then into the Maluku Sea. A deep southward flow of South Pacific Water fills the Seram Sea below 1200 m through the Lifamatola Passage. As it enters the Seram Sea, this overflow turns eastward at depths greater than 2000 m, then upwells in the eastern part of the Seram Sea before returning westward at ~1500-2000 m. The flow continues westward across the Seram Sea, spreading to greater depths before entering the Banda Sea at the Buru-Mangole passage. It is this water that shapes the temperature and salinity of the deep Banda Sea. Topographic elevations break the Indonesian seas region down into separate basins. The difference in the distributions of potential temperature, ?, and salinity, S, in adjacent basins is primarily due to specific properties of advection of ? and S across a topographic rise. By and large, the topographic rise blocks deep flow between basins whereas water shallower than the depth of the rise is free to flow between basins. To understand this process, the structure of simulated fields of temperature and salinity has been analyzed. To identify a range of advected ? or S, special sections over the sills with isotherms or isohalines and isotachs of normal velocity have been considered. Following this approach the impact of various topographic rises on the distribution of ? and S has been identified. There are no substantial structural changes of potential temperature and salinity distributions between seasons, though values of some parameters of temperature and salinity distributions, e.g., magnitudes of maxima and minima, can change. It is shown that the main structure of the observed distributions of temperature and salinity is satisfactorily reproduced by the model throughout the entire domain.

Missing Links, Cultural Modernity and the Dead: Anatomically Modern Humans in the Great Cave of Niah (Sarawak, Borneo)

The Great Cave of Niah in Sarawak (northern Borneo) came into the gaze of Western Science through the work of Alfred Russell Wallace, who came to Sarawak in the 1850s to search for ‘missing links’ in his pioneering studies of evolution and the natural history of Island Southeast Asia and Australasia. The work of Tom and Barbara Harrisson in the 1950s and 1960s placed the Great Cave, and particularly their key find, the ‘Deep Skull’, at the nexus of the evolving archaeological framework for the region: for decades the skull, dated in 1958 by adjacent charcoal to c.40,000 BP, was the oldest fossil of an anatomically modern human anywhere in the world and thus critical to ideas about human evolution and dispersal. Although several authorities later questioned the provenance and antiquity of the Deep Skull, renewed investigations of the Harrisson excavations since 2000 have shown that it can be attributed securely to a specific location in the Pleistocene stratigraphy, with direct U-series dating on a piece of the skull indicating an age for it of c.37,500 BP and the first evidence for associated human activity at the site going back to c.50,000 BP. The new work also indicates that the skull is part of a cultural deposit, perhaps a precursor to the long tradition in Borneo of processing of the dead and secondary burial. These indicators of cultural complexity chime with the complexity of the subsistence behaviour of the early users of the caves discussed by Philip Piper and Ryan Rabett in chapter ten of this volume.

Law, Politics and Financial Development: The Great Reversal of the U.K. Corporate Debt Market

This article examines the role of creditor protection in the development of the U.K. corporate bond market. This market grew rapidly in the late nineteenth century, but in the twentieth century it experienced a reversal, albeit with a short-lived post-1945 renaissance. Such was the extent of the reversal that the market from the 1970s onwards was smaller than it had been in 1870. We find that law does not explain the variation in the size of this market over time. Alternatively, our evidence suggests that inflation and taxation policies were major drivers of this market in the post-1945 era. Copyright © The Economic History Association 2013

‘A dance for all the outcasts’: Class and Postcolonialism in Brendan Behan’s An Giall and The Hostage

As Susan Bassnett and Harish Trivedi argue, ‘translation does not happen in a vacuum, but in a continuum; it is not an isolated act, it is part of an ongoing process of intercultural transfer’. In understanding Brendan Behan's most celebrated and controversial translation, of his spare Irish language play An Giall (1958) to its riotous English counterpart The Hostage (1958), understanding the problematic ‘intercultural transfer’ between British and Irish life in the 1950s is crucial. Comparisons between both works reveal significant changes that illuminate Behan's relationship with both nations and provide a sometimes oblique metacommentary regarding his most pressing political and personal anxieties. Yet for all their differences, the plays also share a common desire to transcend the divisions forged by the colonial experience through critical understandings of life on either side of the Irish Sea. In this essay, I argue that Behan's act of transculturation reveals a great deal more reflexivity and depth than many of his critics would allow, developing an iconoclastic dialogue between British and Irish mid-century life.