Solar ultraviolet protection provided by human head hair

The solar erythemal UV irradiances through human hair and the protection from UV provided by human head hair have been investigated for a solar zenith angle (SZA) range of 17 to 51 degrees for the conditions of a head upright in full sun, a head upright in shade and a head in full sun tilted towards the sun. The two hair lengths investigated were 49.1+-7.1 mm for the short type and 109.5+-5.5 mm for the long type. For the head upright in full sun, the irradiances through the hair ranged from 0.75 to 1.4 SED/h for SZA less than 25 degrees and less than 0.6 SED/h in shade. The ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) ranged from approximately 5 to 17 in full sun, with the UPF increasing with higher SZA. The longer hair provided a lower UPF than the shorter hair and for the head oriented towards the sun, there was a marginally lower UPF than for the upright head. This research shows that the UV exposure limits to the scalp through hair can be exceeded within short timeframes and provides important information to assist employers to comply with Workplace Health and Safety legislation

Seasonal Minimum and Maximum Solar Ultraviolet Exposure Measurements of Classroom Teachers Residing in Tropical North Queensland, Australia

The risk of keratinocyte skin cancer, malignant melanoma and ultraviolet radiation (UVR)-induced eye disease is disproportionately higher in Australia and New Zealand compared to equivalent northern hemisphere latitudes. While many teachers are aware of the importance of reinforcing sun-safety messages to students, many may not be aware of the considerable personal exposure risk while performing outdoor duties in locations experiencing high to extreme ambient-UVR year-round. Personal erythemally-effective exposure of classroom teachers in tropical Townsville (19.3o S) was measured to establish seasonal extremes in exposure behavior. Mean daily personal exposure was higher in winter (91.2 J m 2, 0.91 Standard Erythema Dose (SED)) than summer (63.3 J m-2, 0.63 SED). The range of exposures represent personal exposures that approximate current national guidelines for Australian workers at the study latitude of approximately 1.2 SED (30 J m-2 effective to the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection). Similar proportions of teachers spent more than 1 hour outdoors per day in winter (28.6%) and summer (23.6%) as part of their teaching duties with seasonal differences having little effect on the time of exposure. Personal exposures for teachers peaked during both seasons near school meal-break times at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm respectively

Metagenomic analysis of silage

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Metagenomics is defined as the direct analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) purified from environmental samples and enables taxonomic identification of the microbial communities present within them. Two main metagenomic approaches exist; sequencing the 16S rRNA gene coding region, which exhibits sufficient variation between taxa for identification, and shotgun sequencing, in which genomes of the organisms that are present in the sample are analyzed and ascribed to "operational taxonomic units"; species, genera or families depending on the extent of sequencing coverage. In this study, shotgun sequencing was used to analyze the microbial community present in cattle silage and, coupled with a range of bioinformatics tools to quality check and filter the DNA sequence reads, perform taxonomic classification of the microbial populations present within the sampled silage, and achieve functional annotation of the sequences. These methods were employed to identify potentially harmful bacteria that existed within the silage, an indication of silage spoilage. If spoiled silage is not remediated, then upon ingestion it could be potentially fatal to the livestock.Authors would like to thank Andrew Bird for the silage samples and Audrey Farbos of the Exeter Sequencing Service for her assistance in preparing DNA sequencing libraries. Exeter Sequencing Service and Computational core facilities at the University of Exeter. Medical Research Council Clinical Infrastructure award (MR/M008924/1). Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund (WT097835MF), Wellcome Trust Multi User Equipment Award (WT101650MA) and BBSRC LOLA award (BB/K003240/1

Melanoma: What are the gaps in our knowledge?

Jonathan Rees outlines a number of puzzling gaps that remain in our knowledge of the etiology of non-acral melanomas

Second-Language Curriculum Models and Program Design: Recent Trends in North America

The advent of “communicative” second-language teaching has implications not only for classroom methodology but also for curriculum development. In North America, models for program design are exemplified by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines and the Canadian National Core French Study. The American model is based on pre-established descriptions of language proficiency for different levels of a sequential program. The Canadian model adopts a multidimensional approach emphasizing content more than terminal outcomes, and envisages the integration of language and a cultural component. Despite similar didactic principles, the two models differ as products of their respective educational value systems. L’enseignement de type “communicatif” d’une langue seconde a des incidences non seulement sur la méthodologie employée dans la salle de cours, mais aussi sur le développement curriculaire. En Amérique du Nord, les modèles en matière de conception de programmes sont illustrés par les American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines et le Canadian National Core French Study/Étude nationale sur les programmes de français de base. Le modèle américain repose sur des descriptions préétablies de compétence linguistique pour les différents niveaux d’un programme séquentiel. Le modèle canadien adopte une approche multidimensionnelle qui privilégie davantage le contenu que les résultats finals et envisage l’intégration de la langue et d’une composante culturelle. En dépit de principes didactiques semblables, les deux modèles diffèrent et sont en cela des produits de leurs systèmes respectifs de valeurs en matière d’éducation.

Second-Language Curriculum Models and Program Design: Recent Trends in North America

The advent of “communicative” second-language teaching has implications not only for classroom methodology but also for curriculum development. In North America, models for program design are exemplified by the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines and the Canadian National Core French Study. The American model is based on pre-established descriptions of language proficiency for different levels of a sequential program. The Canadian model adopts a multidimensional approach emphasizing content more than terminal outcomes, and envisages the integration of language and a cultural component. Despite similar didactic principles, the two models differ as products of their respective educational value systems. L’enseignement de type “communicatif” d’une langue seconde a des incidences non seulement sur la méthodologie employée dans la salle de cours, mais aussi sur le développement curriculaire. En Amérique du Nord, les modèles en matière de conception de programmes sont illustrés par les American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines et le Canadian National Core French Study/Étude nationale sur les programmes de français de base. Le modèle américain repose sur des descriptions préétablies de compétence linguistique pour les différents niveaux d’un programme séquentiel. Le modèle canadien adopte une approche multidimensionnelle qui privilégie davantage le contenu que les résultats finals et envisage l’intégration de la langue et d’une composante culturelle. En dépit de principes didactiques semblables, les deux modèles diffèrent et sont en cela des produits de leurs systèmes respectifs de valeurs en matière d’éducation.

Feeding the city: a comparative study of agricultural production in Bronze Age systems of Western Asia

The development of large urban societies in Western Asia during the Bronze Age has often been viewed as a pivotal transition in human history. As part of this narrative, however, agriculture and the nature of food production have frequently been relegated to the rural hinterland and divorced from daily life in the city. This research aims to explore the relationship between established early cities and the specific systems of agricultural production needed to sustain them, by assessing the nature of farming practice at two key Bronze Age sites. These two sites, Hattusha in Central Anatolia and Tell Brak in north-eastern Syria, were both major urban centres with large socially stratified populations and control of widespread hinterlands. Additionally, they provide data from two climatic and environmental zones, as well as two different cultural settings, providing the opportunity to investigate the nature of agriculture under a range of variable conditions. The archaeobotanical analysis of stored charred macro-remains assemblages from both sites has provided the opportunity to explore the relationship between crop choice, farming regime and urban society. Compositional, spatial and crop processing analysis has provided information regarding the origins of the material, as well as allowing the assessment of activities and depositional processes that may have formed the assemblages. Furthermore, the analysis of crop stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes combined with the functional ecology of arable weeds has allowed the identification of multiple crop management systems designed by each society. These results have revealed that both cities were reliant on low-input, low variance farming systems, but that within these systems a high level of agricultural variation was present. At Hattusha, correspondence analysis and crop stable isotope analysis have indicated that stored cereals were grown under a range of crop husbandry regimes. This included low-intensity systems characterized by low inputs of water and medium-low inputs of manure, and higher-intensity systems characterized by medium inputs of water and high inputs of manure. The existence of stored cereals grown under multiple regimes may suggest that the inhabitants of Hattusha were pooling resources from different areas within the wider rural hinterland. By contrast, crop stable isotope analysis and functional ecology analysis from Tell Brak have suggested that different species of cultivar were likely to have been grown in different areas of the landscape to maximise the potential arable yield of marginal environmental conditions. Overall, farming within both of these societies appears to have been a dynamic system that was adapted to overcome specific environmental and social challenges whilst also performing a key role in sustaining and supporting the urban population

Improving efficiency of pig feed manufacturing and application of additives

The project has demonstrated that processed feeds with similar ingredient mixtures differ widely between mills in throughput, energy use, pellet hardness and durability and nutritional quality for growing pigs. Preparation of grains before mixing, specific ingredients and additives used as well as the physical structure of the processing units all affect the cost of manufacture and physical and nutritional quality of the finished product

Gideon's Response and Jotham's Fable: Two Anti-Monarchial Texts in a Pro-Monarchial Book?

This dissertation seeks to interpret Gideon's response in Judg 8:23 and Jotham's fable in Judg 9:7-15 within the context of the book of Judges. The book of Judges has recently been seen as an apology for the Davidic monarchy. Studies that have advocated this perspective have focused on the prologue (Judg 1:1-3:6) and epilogue (Judg 17-21) where there appears to be a focus on the tribe of Judah and an explicitly pro-monarchial refrain. These studies have largely neglected Gideon's response and Jotham's fable, which have been described by some scholars as two of the most anti-monarchial texts in the entire Old Testament. This dissertation analyzes both the book of Judges as a whole and these two texts in particular, with the aim of establishing the notion that the book of Judges contains a coherent message concerning monarchy from start to finish. Chapter 1 establishes the methodology used in the present study. The methodology employed is a literary-exegetical and theological analysis of the text from a synchronic perspective. Chapter 2 surveys the history of interpretation of the book of Judges with a focus on Gideon's response and Jotham's fable. Chapter 3 places the composition of the book within its life-setting arguing that the book was likely composed during David's early reign. Chapter 4 looks at the ideology of monarchy within the entirety of the book of Judges. Chapter 5 provides a detailed literary analysis of the plot of the Gideon narrative and the characterization of Gideon. This is done to establish the Gideon is an unreliable character and that his response in 8:23 cannot be considered as a theological axiom that is to be trusted. Chapter 6 provides a detailed literary analysis of the plot of the Abimelech narrative along with a discussion of the characterization of both Jotham and Abimelech. This chapter argues that the purpose of Jotham's fable is to serve as a curse against Abimelech and the lords of Shechem and is not anti-monarchial in nature. Chapter 7 provides a summary of the contents of the dissertation with final reflecting thoughts