Marine or estuarine radiocarbon reservoir corrections for mollusks? A case study from a medieval site in the south of England

Mollusk shells are frequently radiocarbon dated and provide reliable calibrated age ranges when the regional marine reservoir correction is well-established. For mollusks from an estuarine environment the reservoir correction may be significantly different than the regional marine reservoir correction due to the input of bedrock or soil derived carbonates. Some mollusk species such as oysters are tolerant of a significant range of salinities which makes it difficult to determine which reservoir correction is appropriate. A case study is presented of an anomalous radiocarbon age for an oyster shell paint dish found in the fabric of the ruined nave walls of St Mary's Church, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, England. Stable isotopes (delta O-18 and delta C-13) were used to establish the type of environment in which the oyster had lived. Paired marine and terrestrial samples from a nearby medieval site were radiocarbon dated to provide an appropriate reservoir correction.

Happy hour followed by hangover: financing the UK brewery industry, 1880-1913

In the last 15 years of the nineteenth century c.300 British brewers incorporated and floated securities on the stock market. Subsequently, in the 1900s, the industry suffered a long-lived hangover. In this paper, we establish the stylised facts of this transformation and estimate the gains enjoyed by brewery investors during the boom as well as the losses suffered by investors during the bust of the 1900s. However, not all brewery equity shares suffered alike. We find that post-1900 performance correlates positively with capital-market discipline and good corporate governance and negatively with family control, but does not correlate with indebtedness.

The Science of a Lost Medieval Graveyard: The Ballyhanna Research Project

he Science of Lost Medieval Gaelic Graveyard tells the story of the discovery in 2003 of a graveyard and the foundations of a small forgotten stone church at Ballyhanna, in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, as part of the N15 Bundoran–Ballyshannon Bypass archaeological works. This led to the excavation of one of the largest collections of medieval burials ever undertaken on this island. Over 1,200 individuals were excavated from the site at Ballyhanna during the winter of 2003–4, representing 1,000 years of burial through the entire Irish medieval period. The discovery led to the establishment of a cross-border research collaboration—the Ballyhanna Research Project—between Queen’s University Belfast and the Institute of Technology, Sligo, which has brought to life this lost Gaelic graveyard.

This book shows how cutting-edge scientific research may aid our understanding and interpretation of archaeology and reveal new insights into past societies. For example, the use of ancient DNA analysis represented the first biomolecular archaeological evaluation of a medieval population to date and provided evidence that cystic fibrosis was much less prevalent in the medieval period than today. The Science of Lost Medieval Gaelic Graveyard is about a community who lived in Gaelic Ireland, about their lifestyles, health and diet. It tells us of their deaths and of their burial traditions, and through examining all of these aspects, it reveals the ebb and flow of their lives.

The book is accompanied by a CD-ROM which includes supplementary information from the Ballyhanna Research Project and the original excavation and survey reports for all of the archaeological sites on the N15 Bundoran–Ballyshannon Bypass.

The Ultraviolet-Bright, Slowly Declining Transient PS1-11af as a Partial Tidal Disruption Event

We present the Pan-STARRS1 discovery of the long-lived and blue transient PS1-11af, which was also detected by Galaxy Evolution Explorer with coordinated observations in the near-ultraviolet (NUV) band. PS1-11af is associated with the nucleus of an early type galaxy at redshift z = 0.4046 that exhibits no evidence for star formation or active galactic nucleus activity. Four epochs of spectroscopy reveal a pair of transient broad absorption features in the UV on otherwise featureless spectra. Despite the superficial similarity of these features to P-Cygni absorptions of supernovae (SNe), we conclude that PS1-11af is not consistent with the properties of known types of SNe. Blackbody fits to the spectral energy distribution are inconsistent with the cooling, expanding ejecta of a SN, and the velocities of the absorption features are too high to represent material in homologous expansion near a SN photosphere. However, the constant blue colors and slow evolution of the luminosity are similar to previous optically selected tidal disruption events (TDEs). The shape of the optical light curve is consistent with models for TDEs, but the minimum accreted mass necessary to power the observed luminosity is only 0.002 M, which points to a partial disruption model. A full disruption model predicts higher bolometric luminosities, which would require most of the radiation to be emitted in a separate component at high energies where we lack observations. In addition, the observed temperature is lower than that predicted by pure accretion disk models for TDEs and requires reprocessing to a constant, lower temperature. Three deep non-detections in the radio with the Very Large Array over the first two years after the event set strict limits on the production of any relativistic outflow comparable to Swift J1644+57, even if off-axis.

The Sociology of Children, Childhood and Generation

Outlining sociology’s distinctive contribution to childhood studies and our understanding of contemporary children and childhood, The Sociology of Children provides a thought provoking and comprehensive account of the connections between the macro worlds of childhood and the micro worlds of children’s everyday lives.

Examining children’s involvement in areas such as the labour market, family life, education, play and leisure, the book provides an effective balance between understanding childhood as a structural phenomenon, and recognising children as meaning makers actively involved in constructing, co-constructing and reconstructing their everyday lives.

Through the concept of 'generagency' Madeleine Leonard offers a model for examining and illuminating how structure and agency are activated within interdependent relationships influenced by generational positioning. This framework provides a conceptual tool for thinking about the continuities, challenges and changes that impact on how childhood is lived and experienced.

The geoarchaeology of Paleolithic rivers of southwest Britain

In Britain, the majority of Lower and Middle Paleolithic archaeological finds come from river terrace deposits. The impressive “staircase” terrace sequences of southeast England, and research facilitated by aggregate extraction have provided a considerable body of knowledge about the terrace chronology and associated archaeology in that area. Such research has been essential in considering rates of uplift, climatic cycles, archaeological chronologies, and the landscapes in which hominins lived. It has also promoted the view that southeast England was a major hominin route into Britain. By contrast, the terrace deposits of the southwest have been little studied. The Palaeolithic Rivers of South West Britain (PRoSWEB) project employed a range of geoarchaeological methodologies to address similar questions at different scales, focusing on the rivers Exe, Axe, Otter, and the paleo-Doniford, all of which were located south of the maximum Pleistocene glacial limit (marine oxygen isotope stage [MIS] 4–2). Preliminary analysis of the fieldwork results suggests that although the evolution of these catchments is complex, most conform to a standard staircase-type model, with the exception of the Axe, and, to a lesser extent, the paleo-Doniford, which are anomalous. Although the terrace deposits are less extensive than in southeast Britain, differentiation between terraces does exist, and new dates show that some of these terraces are of great antiquity (MIS 10+). The project also reexamined the distribution of artifacts in the region and confirms the distributional bias to the river valleys, and particularly the rivers draining southward to the paleo–Channel River system. This distribution is consistent with a model of periodic occupation of the British peninsula along and up the major river valleys from the paleo–Channel River corridor. These data have a direct impact on our understanding of the paleolandscapes of the southwest region, and therefore our interpretations of the Paleolithic occupation of the edge of the continental landmass.

Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of 90Sr and Its Daughters

One of the main challenges faced by the nuclear industry is the long-term confinement of nuclear waste. Because it is inexpensive and easy to manufacture, cement is the material of choice to store large volumes of radioactive materials, in particular the low-level medium-lived fission products. It is therefore of utmost importance to assess the chemical and structural stability of cement containing radioactive species. Here, we use ab initio calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) to study the effects of ⁹⁰Sr insertion and decay in C-S-H (calcium-silicate-hydrate) in order to test the ability of cement to trap and hold this radioactive fission product and to investigate the consequences of its β-decay on the cement paste structure. We show that ⁹⁰Sr is stable when it substitutes the Ca²⁺ ions in C-S-H, and so is its daughter nucleus ⁹⁰Y after β-decay. Interestingly, ⁹⁰Zr, daughter of ⁹⁰Y and final product in the decay sequence, is found to be unstable compared to the bulk phase of the element at zero K but stable when compared to the solvated ion in water. Therefore, cement appears as a suitable waste form for ⁹⁰Sr storage.

Effect of major lifestyle risk factors, independent and jointly, on life expectancy with and without cardiovascular disease: results from the Consortium on Health and Ageing Network of Cohorts in Europe and the United States (CHANCES)

Seldom have studies taken account of changes in lifestyle habits in the elderly, or investigated their impact on disease-free life expectancy (LE) and LE with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Using data on subjects aged 50+ years from three European cohorts (RCPH, ESTHER and Tromsø), we used multi-state Markov models to calculate the independent and joint effects of smoking, physical activity, obesity and alcohol consumption on LE with and without CVD. Men and women aged 50 years who have a favourable lifestyle (overweight but not obese, light/moderate drinker, non-smoker and participates in vigorous physical activity) lived between 7.4 (in Tromsø men) and 15.7 (in ESTHER women) years longer than those with an unfavourable lifestyle (overweight but not obese, light/moderate drinker, smoker and does not participate in physical activity). The greater part of the extra life years was in terms of "disease-free" years, though a healthy lifestyle was also associated with extra years lived after a CVD event. There are sizeable benefits to LE without CVD and also for survival after CVD onset when people favour a lifestyle characterized by salutary behaviours. Remaining a non-smoker yielded the greatest extra years in overall LE, when compared to the effects of routinely taking physical activity, being overweight but not obese, and drinking in moderation. The majority of the overall LE benefit is in disease free years. Therefore, it is important for policy makers and the public to know that prevention through maintaining a favourable lifestyle is "never too late".

The reception of British literature under dictatorships in Hungary and Portugal

Esta tese tem como objectivo comparar aspectos da recepção da literatura britânica durante o Estado Novo em Portugal, e na Hungria durante a era comunista. Na primeira parte da dissertação fica contextualizada e analisada a alteração da posição da literatura britânica nos dois países, enquanto na segunda parte se comparam facetas da recepção da mesma, contrastando as traduções literárias publicadas em Portugal e na Hungria entre 1949 e 1974, altura em que ambos os países foram dirigidos simultaneamente por regimes autocratas. Este estudo faz-se, em parte, através da comparação de manuais escolares e seletas, a fim de examinar os diferentes métodos usados pelos dois regimes ditatoriais politicamente opostos na tentativa de moldarem os seus leitores. É dada especial atenção à literatura proibida e aos motivos para as atitudes restritivas diferenciadas em relação a certos escritores na era de Salazar e na Hungria durante o período de Bloco de Leste. A tese conclui que a abordagem divergente em relação às obras literárias britânicas, bem como à literatura em geral, é principalmente enraizada na ideologia de governação diametralmente oposta dos dois regimes ditatoriais. A crença idealista no poder educativo da literatura em estabelecer o socialismo na Hungria está em nítido contraste com a política de cultura obscurantista do Estado Novo. Mesmo quando o apoio à literatura britânica não era uma das principais prioridades da esfera cultural húngara, parece evidente que a literatura canónica britânica teve uma recepção mais favorável na Hungria comunista do que no Estado Novo.

Water use and conservation at the environmental protection area of Brilhante, Santa Catarina - Brazil

Dissertação mest., Gestão da Água e da Costa, Universidade do Algarve, 2008

Modeling the suitable habitat of a structural red gorgonian species in the Mediterranean/east Atlantic regions predicts a wider distribution than previously known

Dissertação de mestrado, Biologia Marinha, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Univerdade do Algarve, 2015

Using non-invasive techniques to examine black bear (Ursus americanus) abundance in the North Cascades Ecosystem, Washington State

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2013

Urban development modifies lake food webs in the Pacific Northwest

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2015

The rise and fall of Monica Felton, British town planner and peace activist, 1930s to 1950s

This article reflects growing academic interest in the careers and historical significance of professional women town planners, an interest clearly registered in Planning Perspectives and other publications. Unlike other women town planners, however, the career of Monica Felton remains largely obscure. It was certainly short-lived, beginning as it did on the London County Council in 1937 and ending spectacularly while she was Chairman of Stevenage Development Corporation in 1951. Felton became an outcast from both her profession and her country when she gave up on new town development to campaign against British and American involvement in the Korean War in 1951. This article emphasizes her distinctive contribution to the evolving roles of women in British town planning during the mid-twentieth century and shows how this contribution was obscured by her fall from grace.

The artist biopic: a historical analysis of narrative cinema, 1934-2010

The thesis provides an historical overview of the artist biopic that has emerged as a distinct sub-genre of the biopic as a whole, totalling some ninety films from Europe and America alone since the first talking artist biopic in 1934. Their making usually reflects a determination on the part of the director or star to see the artist as an alter-ego. Many of them were adaptations of successful literary works, which tempted financial backers by having a ready-made audience based on a pre-established reputation. The sub-genre’s development is explored via the grouping of films with associated themes and the use of case studies. These examples can then be used as models for exploring similar sets of data from other countries and time periods. The specific topics chosen for discussion include the representation of a single painter, for example, Vincent Van Gogh, to see how the treatment of an artist varies across several countries and over seventy years. British artist biopics are analysed as a case study in relation to the idea of them posing as a national stereotype. Topics within sex and gender studies are highlighted in analysis of the representation of the female artist and the queer artist as well as artists who have lived together as couples. A number of well-known gallery artists have become directors of artist biopics and their films are considered to see what particular insights a professional working artist can bring to the portrayal of artistic genius and creation. In the concluding part of the thesis it is argued that the artist biopic overall has survived the bad press which some individual productions have received and can even be said to have matured under the influence of directors producing a quality product for the art house, festival and avant-garde distribution circuits. As a genre it has proved extremely adaptable and has reflected the changing attitudes towards art and artists within the wider community. It has both encouraged renewed interest in the work of established national artists and also raised the profile of those relatively obscure such as Séraphine de Senlis and Pirosmani.