A child’s burial in unconsecrated ground in early modern Dorchester

Re-examination of a child burial found during excavations in advance of the construction of new offices for Dorset County Council in the north-west quarter of Dorchester in 1937 indicates that it is of early modern, rather than of Roman date, as originally believed at the time of excavation. A possible context is explored for the burial of a child in unconsecrated ground in the 17th century.

Learners’ perceptions of being identified as very able: insights from Modern Foreign Languages and Physical Education

While learners’ attitudes to Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and to Physical Education (PE) in the UK have been widely investigated in previous research, an under-explored area is learners’ feelings about being highly able in these subjects. The present study explored this issue, among 78 learners (aged 12-13) from two schools in England, a Specialist Language College, and a Specialist Sports College. Learners completed a questionnaire exploring their feelings about the prospect of being identified as gifted/talented in these subjects, and their perceptions of the characteristics of highly able learners in MFL and PE. Questionnaires were chosen as the data collection method to encourage more open responses from these young learners than might have been elicited in an interview. While learners were enthusiastic about the idea of being highly able in both subjects, this enthusiasm was more muted for MFL. School specialism was related to learners’ enthusiasm only in the Sports College. Learners expressed fairly stereotypical views of the characteristics of the highly able in MFL and PE. The relevance of these findings for motivation and curriculum design within both subjects is discussed.

Incorporation of water vapour transfer in the JULES Land Surface Model: implications for key soil variables and land surface fluxes

This study focuses on the mechanisms underlying water and heat transfer in upper soil layers, and their effects on soil physical prognostic variables and the individual components of the energy balance. The skill of the JULES (Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) land surface model (LSM) to simulate key soil variables, such as soil moisture content and surface temperature, and fluxes such as evaporation, is investigated. The Richards equation for soil water transfer, as used in most LSMs, was updated by incorporating isothermal and thermal water vapour transfer. The model was tested for three sites representative of semi-arid and temperate arid climates: the Jornada site (New Mexico, USA), Griffith site (Australia) and Audubon site (Arizona, USA). Water vapour flux was found to contribute significantly to the water and heat transfer in the upper soil layers. This was mainly due to isothermal vapour diffusion; thermal vapour flux also played a role at the Jornada site just after rainfall events. Inclusion of water vapour flux had an effect on the diurnal evolution of evaporation, soil moisture content and surface temperature. The incorporation of additional processes, such as water vapour flux among others, into LSMs may improve the coupling between the upper soil layers and the atmosphere, which in turn could increase the reliability of weather and climate predictions.

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratio analysis of freshwater, brackish and marine fish from Belgian archaeological sites (1st and 2nd millennium AD)

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios were measured in 157 fish bone collagen samples from 15 different archaeological sites in Belgium which ranged in ages from the 3rd to the 18th c. AD. Due to diagenetic contamination of the burial environment, only 63 specimens produced results with suitable C:N ratios (2.9–3.6). The selected bones encompass a wide spectrum of freshwater, brackish, and marine taxa (N = 18), and this is reflected in the δ13C results (−28.2‰ to −12.9%). The freshwater fish have δ13C values that range from −28.2‰ to −20.2‰, while the marine fish cluster between −15.4‰ and −13.0‰. Eel, a catadromous species (mostly living in freshwater but migrating into the sea to spawn), plots between −24.1‰ and −17.7‰, and the anadromous fish (living in marine environments but migrating into freshwater to spawn) show a mix of freshwater and marine isotopic signatures. The δ15N results also have a large range (7.2‰ to 16.7‰) indicating that these fish were feeding at many different trophic levels in these diverse aquatic environments. The aim of this research is the isotopic characterization of archaeological fish species (ecology, trophic level, migration patterns) and to determine intra-species variation within and between fish populations differing in time and location. Due to the previous lack of archaeological fish isotope data from Northern Europe and Belgium in particular, these results serve as an important ecological backdrop for the future isotopic reconstruction of the diet of human populations dating from the historical period (1st and 2nd millennium AD), where there is zooarchaeological and historical evidence for an increased consumption of marine fish.

Measuring lexical diversity among L2 learners of French: an exploration of the validity of D, MTLD and HD-D as measures of language ability

In this study two new measures of lexical diversity are tested for the first time on French. The usefulness of these measures, MTLD (McCarthy and Jarvis (2010 and this volume) ) and HD-D (McCarthy and Jarvis 2007), in predicting different aspects of language proficiency is assessed and compared with D (Malvern and Richards 1997; Malvern, Richards, Chipere and Durán 2004) and Maas (1972) in analyses of stories told by two groups of learners (n=41) of two different proficiency levels and one group of native speakers of French (n=23). The importance of careful lemmatization in studies of lexical diversity which involve highly inflected languages is also demonstrated. The paper shows that the measures of lexical diversity under study are valid proxies for language ability in that they explain up to 62 percent of the variance in French C-test scores, and up to 33 percent of the variance in a measure of complexity. The paper also provides evidence that dependence on segment size continues to be a problem for the measures of lexical diversity discussed in this paper. The paper concludes that limiting the range of text lengths or even keeping text length constant is the safest option in analysing lexical diversity.

Estimation of the friction velocity in stably stratified boundary-layer flows over hills

A method is suggested for the calculation of the friction velocity for stable turbulent boundary-layer flow over hills. The method is tested using a continuous upstream mean velocity profile compatible with the propagation of gravity waves, and is incorporated into the linear model of Hunt, Leibovich and Richards with the modification proposed by Hunt, Richards and Brighton to include the effects of stability, and the reformulated solution of Weng for the near-surface region. Those theoretical results are compared with results from simulations using a non-hydrostatic microscale-mesoscale two-dimensional numerical model, and with field observations for different values of stability. These comparisons show a considerable improvement in the behaviour of the theoretical model when the friction velocity is calculated using the method proposed here, leading to a consistent variation of the boundary-layer structure with stability, and better agreement with observational and numerical data.

Knowledge and use of the lexicon in French as a second language

This special issue of JFLS focuses on what learners know about French words, on how they use that knowledge and on how it can be investigated and assessed. In many ways, it is a sequel to the special issue on the Acquisition of French as a Second Language edited by Myles and Towell that appeared in JFLS in 2004. While articles on the L2 acquisition of the French lexicon have appeared in a variety of journals, including JFLS, this special issue (SI) is the first volume which specifically focuses on lexical knowledge and use among learners of French as a second language. The issue is timely, because of the growing importance of vocabulary in the SLA research agenda, but also because research into vocabulary acquisition appears at the top of a list of areas in which teachers of Modern Foreign Languages are most interested.

An easily implemented agro-hydrological procedure with dynamic root simulation for water transfer in the crop-soil system: validation and application

Models for water transfer in the crop-soil system are key components of agro-hydrological models for irrigation, fertilizer and pesticide practices. Many of the hydrological models for water transfer in the crop-soil system are either too approximate due to oversimplified algorithms or employ complex numerical schemes. In this paper we developed a simple and sufficiently accurate algorithm which can be easily adopted in agro-hydrological models for the simulation of water dynamics. We used a dual crop coefficient approach proposed by the FAO for estimating potential evaporation and transpiration, and a dynamic model for calculating relative root length distribution on a daily basis. In a small time step of 0.001 d, we implemented algorithms separately for actual evaporation, root water uptake and soil water content redistribution by decoupling these processes. The Richards equation describing soil water movement was solved using an integration strategy over the soil layers instead of complex numerical schemes. This drastically simplified the procedures of modeling soil water and led to much shorter computer codes. The validity of the proposed model was tested against data from field experiments on two contrasting soils cropped with wheat. Good agreement was achieved between measurement and simulation of soil water content in various depths collected at intervals during crop growth. This indicates that the model is satisfactory in simulating water transfer in the crop-soil system, and therefore can reliably be adopted in agro-hydrological models. Finally we demonstrated how the developed model could be used to study the effect of changes in the environment such as lowering the groundwater table caused by the construction of a motorway on crop transpiration. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Developing a reliable strategy to infer the effective soil hydraulic properties from field evaporation experiments for agro-hydrological models

The Richards equation has been widely used for simulating soil water movement. However, the take-up of agro-hydrological models using the basic theory of soil water flow for optimizing irrigation, fertilizer and pesticide practices is still low. This is partly due to the difficulties in obtaining accurate values for soil hydraulic properties at a field scale. Here, we use an inverse technique to deduce the effective soil hydraulic properties, based on measuring the changes in the distribution of soil water with depth in a fallow field over a long period, subject to natural rainfall and evaporation using a robust micro Genetic Algorithm. A new optimized function was constructed from the soil water contents at different depths, and the soil water at field capacity. The deduced soil water retention curve was approximately parallel but higher than that derived from published pedo-tranfer functions for a given soil pressure head. The water contents calculated from the deduced soil hydraulic properties were in good agreement with the measured values. The reliability of the deduced soil hydraulic properties was tested in reproducing data measured from an independent experiment on the same soil cropped with leek. The calculation of root water uptake took account for both soil water potential and root density distribution. Results show that the predictions of soil water contents at various depths agree fairly well with the measurements, indicating that the inverse analysis is an effective and reliable approach to estimate soil hydraulic properties, and thus permits the simulation of soil water dynamics in both cropped and fallow soils in the field accurately. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Arrays of chiral nanotubes and a layered coordination polymer containing gallium-sulfide supertetrahedral clusters

We report here a unique chiral hybrid gallium sulfide, [NC2H8]2[Ga10S16(N2C12H12)(NC2H7)2] 1, consisting of helical chains of organically-functionalised supertetrahedral clusters which form quadruple-stranded helical nanotubes of ca. 3 nm diameter. This material therefore consists of discrete metal-organic nanotubes which, to the best of our knowledge, are extremely rare. Whilst solvothermal reactions involving 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)ethylene (DPE) resulted in the formation of such single-walled chiral nanotubes, the use of longer 4,4’-trimethylenedipyridine (TMP) ligands resulted in the synthesis of a two-dimensional hybrid gallium sulfide, [C5H6N]3[Ga10S16(OH)(N2C13H14)] 2 in which, for the first time, inorganic and organic linkages between supertetrahedral clusters coexist.

An investigation into the viability of LibraryThing for promotional and user engagement purposes in libraries

Structured abstract: Purpose: LibraryThing is a Web 2.0 tool allowing users to catalogue books using data drawn from sources such as Amazon and the Library of Congress and has facilities such as tagging and interest groups. This study evaluates whether LibraryThing is a valuable tool for libraries to use for promotional and user engagement purposes. Methodology: This study used a sequential mixed methods 3 phase design: (1) the identification of LibraryThing features for user engagement or promotional purposes, (2) exploratory semi-structured interviews (3) a questionnaire. Findings: Several uses of LibraryThing for promotional and user engagement purposes were identified. The most popular reason libraries used LibraryThing was to promote the library or library stock, with most respondents using it specifically to highlight collections of books. Monitoring of patron usage was low and many respondents had not received any feedback. LibraryThing was commonly reported as being easy to use, remotely accessible, and having low cost, whilst its main drawbacks were the 200 book limit for free accounts, and it being a third-party site. The majority of respondents felt LibraryThing was a useful tool for libraries. Practical implications: LibraryThing has most value as a promotional tool for libraries. Libraries should actively monitor patron usage of their LibraryThing account or request user feedback to ensure that LibraryThing provides a truly valuable service for their library. Orginality : There is little research on the value of LibraryThing for libraries, or librarians perceptions of LibraryThing as a Web 2.0 tool.

An oceanic origin for the increase of atmospheric radiocarbon during the Younger Dryas

Variations in carbon-14 to carbon-12 ratio in the atmosphere (Δ14Catm) provide a powerful diagnostic for elucidating the timing and nature of geophysical and anthropological change. The (Atlantic) marine archive suggests a rapid Δ14Catm increase of 50‰ at the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) cold reversal (12.9–11.7 kyr BP), which has not yet been satisfactorily explained in terms of magnitude or causal mechanism, as either a change in ocean ventilation or production rate. Using Earth-system model simulations and comparison of marine-based radiocarbon records from different ocean basins, we demonstrate that the YD Δ14Catm increase is smaller than suggested by the marine archive. This is due to changes in reservoir age, predominantly caused by reduced ocean ventilation.