Age and palaeoenvironmental significance of an inter-tidal peat bed at Ballywoolen, Bann estuary, Co. Londonderry.

A recently exposed inter-tidal peat bed at Ballywoolen, Bann estuary, Co. Londonderry, has yielded new information about mid-Holocene coastal environmental change in the northeast of Ireland. Pollen analytical data and wood detritus demonstrate that peat accumulation occurred in a terrestrial environment that was free from marine influence. Radiocarbon dates suggest that the peat accumulated rapidly during a period of low relative sea level subsequent to the maximum of Holocene relative sea-level rise along the north coast of Northern Ireland. The absence of marine/brackish indicator taxa at the site suggests that the tidal range was somewhat less than that at present and/or that the channel of the river was located some distance east of its present alignment. The dates indicate that the low stand lasted for at least ~0.2 ka and possibly for ~1.1 ka. Stable, woodland-dominated landscapes are indicated at both this site and neighbouring ones around ~6.4-5.3 cal ka BP. There is no evidence for large-scale aeolian sand movement or human impact on the landscape during the period of peat accumulation.

The Effect of Volume Shape Factor on the Crystal Size Distribution of Fragments due to Attrition

The effect of volume shape factor on crystal size distribution (CSD) is usually ignored to simplify the analysis of population balance equation. In the present work, the CSD of fragments generated from a mechanically stirred crystallizer as the result of attrition mechanism has been reported when the volume shape factor conforms to normal distribution. The physical model of GAHN and MERSMANN which relates the attrition resistance of a crystalline substances to its mechanical properties has been employed. The simulation of fragment size distribution was performed by Monte Carlo (MC) technique. The results are compared with those reported by GAHN and MERSMANN.

Small volume laboratory on a chip measurements incorporating the quartz crystal microbalance to measure the viscosity-density product of room temperature ionic liquids

A microfluidic glass chip system incorporating a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to measure the square root of the viscosity-density product of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) is presented. The QCM covers a central recess on a glass chip, with a seal formed by tightly clamping from above outside the sensing region. The change in resonant frequency of the QCM allows for the determination of the square root viscosity-density product of RTILs to a limit of similar to 10 kg m(-2) s(-0.5). This method has reduced the sample size needed for characterization from 1.5 ml to only 30 mu l and allows the measurement to be made in an enclosed system.

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography-based radiotherapy target volume definition in non-small-cell lung cancer: delineation by radiation oncologists vs. joint outlining with a PET radiologist?

Purpose: F-18-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has benefits in target volume (TV) definition in radiotherapy treatment planning (RTP) for non small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, an optimal protocol for TV delineation has not been determined. We investigate volumetric and positional variation in gross tumor volume (GTV) delineation using a planning PET/CT among three radiation oncologists and a PET radiologist.

Conventional 3D staging PET/CT in CT simulation for lung cancer: impact of rigid and deformable target volume alignments for radiotherapy treatment planning

Objective: Positron emission tomography (PET)/CT scans can improve target definition in radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). As staging PET/CT scans are increasingly available, we evaluated different methods for co-registration of staging PET/CT data to radiotherapy simulation (RTP) scans.

Methods: 10 patients underwent staging PET/CT followed by RTP PET/CT. On both scans, gross tumour volumes (GTVs) were delineated using CT (GTVCT) and PET display settings. Four PET-based contours (manual delineation, two threshold methods and a source-to-background ratio method) were delineated. The CT component of the staging scan was co-registered using both rigid and deformable techniques to the CT component of RTP PET/CT. Subsequently rigid registration and deformation warps were used to transfer PET and CT contours from the staging scan to the RTP scan. Dice’s similarity coefficient (DSC) was used to assess the registration accuracy of staging-based GTVs following both registration methods with the GTVs delineated on the RTP PET/CT scan.

Results: When the GTVCT delineated on the staging scan after both rigid registration and deformation was compared with the GTVCT on the RTP scan, a significant improvement in overlap (registration) using deformation was observed (mean DSC 0.66 for rigid registration and 0.82 for deformable registration, p50.008). A similar comparison for PET contours revealed no significant improvement in overlap with the use of deformable registration.

Conclusions: No consistent improvements in similarity measures were observed when deformable registration was used for transferring PET-based contours from a staging PET/CT. This suggests that currently the use of rigid registration remains the most appropriate method for RTP in NSCLC.

Reproductive Patterns and Tidal Effects on Spat Settlement of Mytilus Edulis Populations in Dundrum Bay, Northern Ireland

The gametogenic and spat settlement patterns of two Mytihis edulis beds were studied in Dundrum Inner Bay, Northern Ireland. There was evidence of gonad development throughout the year with the main development period between November and March. Spawning was protracted, lasting from May to November. Slight inter-annual and inter-population differences in the riming of the phases were observed but the cycles at both beds were broadly similar to each other and to those of other British and Irish sites. Settlement occurred throughout the year and there was evidence of both primary and secondary spat settlement at both sites. Although the reproductive cycles were similar, distinct seasonal and inter-site differences in spatfall were apparent. At the Downshire Bridge bed, settlement peaked during summer and was dominated by spat in the 0•;5-1•0 mm size range. At Ballykinler, settlement levels were highest in the winter months and larger (>1 mm) spat dominated the samples. The orientation of spat collection pads also significantly affected numbers of the larger (>1 mm) spat. Collectors facing the flood tide attracted significantly more secondary settlers than ebb-facing collectors. This effect varied seasonally and was greater at the Ballykinler bed. It is suggested that hydrodynamic regimes may be an important factor in the differences in settlement patterns of M. edulis.

Epistolarum Familiarium Liber Unus in The Complete Works of John Milton: Volume XI (672pp.)

This edition of Milton’s Epistolarum Familiarium Liber Unus and of his Uncollected Letters, will appear as 672 pp. of The Complete Works of John Milton Volume XI, eds. Gordon Campbell and Edward Jones (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2016). A diplomatic Latin text and a new facing English translation are complemented by a detailed Introduction and commentary that situate Milton’s Latin letters in relation to the classical, pedagogical and essentially humanist contexts at the heart of their composition. Now the art of epistolography advocated and exemplified by Cicero and Quintilian and embraced by Renaissance pedagogical manuals is read through a humanist filter whereby, via the precedent (and very title) of Epistolae Familiares, the Miltonic Liber is shown to engage with a neo-Latin re-invention of the classical epistola that had come to birth in quattrocento Italy in the letters of Petrarch and his contemporaries. At the same time the Epistolae are seen as offering fresh insight into Milton’s views on education, philology, his relations with Italian literati, his blindness, the poetic dimension of his Latin prose, and especially his verbal ingenuity as the ‘words’ of Latin ‘Letters’ become a self-conscious showcasing of etymological punning on the ‘letters’ of Latin ‘words’. The edition also announces several new discoveries, most notably its uncovering and collation of a manuscript of Henry Oldenburg’s transcription (in his Liber Epistolaris held in Royal Society, London) of Milton’s Ep. Fam. 25 (to Richard Jones). Oldenburg’s transcription (from the original sent to his pupil Jones) is an important find, given the loss of all but two of the manuscripts of Milton’s original Latin letters included in the 1674 volume. The edition also presents new evidence in regard to Milton’s relationships with the Italian philologist Benedetto Buonmattei, the Greek humanist Leonard Philaras, the radical pastor Jean Labadie (and the French church of London), and the elusive Peter Heimbach.