Looking forward to making predictions

As described in the preceding pages, since the BGS was established in 1835, the British population has coped with many challenges. These have ranged from finding resources to fuel the Industrial Revolution, understanding and combating water-borne diseases such as typhoid, the threat of invasion and aerial bombardment, through to modern-day environmental problems and climate change. To help deal with these problems, decisionmakers from governments and other organisations have required our help and advice

Seasonal variability of the warm Atlantic Water layer in the vicinity of the Greenland shelf break

The warmest water reaching the east and west coast of Greenland is found between 200?m and 600?m. Whilst important for melting Greenland's outlet glaciers, limited winter observations of this layer prohibit determination of its seasonality. To address this, temperature data from Argo profiling floats, a range of sources within the World Ocean Database and unprecedented coverage from marine-mammal borne sensors have been analysed for the period 2002-2011. A significant seasonal range in temperature (~1-2?°C) is found in the warm layer, in contrast to most of the surrounding ocean. The phase of the seasonal cycle exhibits considerable spatial variability, with the warmest water found near the eastern and southwestern shelf-break towards the end of the calendar year. High-resolution ocean model trajectory analysis suggest the timing of the arrival of the year's warmest water is a function of advection time from the subduction site in the Irminger Basin

Inhibition of αvβ5 Integrin Attenuates Vascular Permeability and Protects against Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a leading cause of AKI. This common clinical complication lacks effective therapies and can lead to the development of CKD. The αvβ5 integrin may have an important role in acute injury, including septic shock and acute lung injury. To examine its function in AKI, we utilized a specific function-blocking antibody to inhibit αvβ5 in a rat model of renal IRI. Pretreatment with this anti-αvβ5 antibody significantly reduced serum creatinine levels, diminished renal damage detected by histopathologic evaluation, and decreased levels of injury biomarkers. Notably, therapeutic treatment with the αvβ5 antibody 8 hours after IRI also provided protection from injury. Global gene expression profiling of post-ischemic kidneys showed that αvβ5 inhibition affected established injury markers and induced pathway alterations previously shown to be protective. Intravital imaging of post-ischemic kidneys revealed reduced vascular leak with αvβ5 antibody treatment. Immunostaining for αvβ5 in the kidney detected evident expression in perivascular cells, with negligible expression in the endothelium. Studies in a three-dimensional microfluidics system identified a pericyte-dependent role for αvβ5 in modulating vascular leak. Additional studies showed αvβ5 functions in the adhesion and migration of kidney pericytes in vitro Initial studies monitoring renal blood flow after IRI did not find significant effects with αvβ5 inhibition; however, future studies should explore the contribution of vasomotor effects. These studies identify a role for αvβ5 in modulating injury-induced renal vascular leak, possibly through effects on pericyte adhesion and migration, and reveal αvβ5 inhibition as a promising therapeutic strategy for AKI

Liturgy, imagination and poetic language : a study of David Jones's The Anathemata.

The thesis seeks to attempt an examination of David Jones's long poem The Anathemata primarily from a theologically informed standpoint. It sets out to understand, from the literary-critical point of view, the forces and influences that have come together in order to make the poem. At the same time, it is aware of and tries to explore the theological, liturgical and mythological material which provides Jones with both the background to and the content of his poem. It is argued that the form of poem, its linguistic content and the experience of reading it, are best understood in terms of pilgrimage and that such a metaphor is best suited to encompass both its huge scale and its attention to detail. From an overall examination of the available secondary literature, the thesis proceeds examine something of the experience of reading the poem, whether or not the poem can be conveniently understood as an epic and what Jones himself thought he was doing, at the same time his own theoretical stance is illuminated by reference to other contemporary thinkers. An extensive examination of the terms 'myth' and 'anamnesis' and the backgrounds and links between the two both in general and within the context of the poem precede chapters which explore the language of the poem both in terms of stylistic features and also in terms of the literary sources on which Jones draws and which make up the intertexual space within which the poem exists. These matters are further examined in a discussion of the most significant themes with which the poet works in the course of The Anathemata. Finally, some account is given of the formal shape of the poem before a 'commentary' or 'paraphrase' of the poem draws out, in context, the significant features

Assessing the Value of the OpenOrbiter Program\u27s Research Experience for Undergraduates

This article presents an assessment of the benefits gained by undergraduate students who participated in the OpenOrbiter Small Spacecraft Development Initiative. It provides an overview of the program and its learning objectives, as they apply to undergraduate students. It compares the learning impact between students who participated and those who assumed leadership roles. Qualitative assessment with regard to benefits is also discussed. The article extrapolates from these results to identify program elements that were particularly instrumental in delivering the positive benefits discussed. Finally, future work is discussed

Drivers of exceptionally cold North Atlantic Ocean temperatures and their link to the 2015 European heat wave

The North Atlantic and Europe experienced two extreme climate events in 2015: exceptionally cold ocean surface temperatures and a summer heat wave ranked in the top ten over the past 65 years. Here, we show that the cold ocean temperatures were the most extreme in the modern record over much of the mid-high latitude North-East Atlantic. Further, by considering surface heat loss, ocean heat content and wind driven upwelling we explain for the first time the genesis of this cold ocean anomaly. We find that it is primarily due to extreme ocean heat loss driven by atmospheric circulation changes in the preceding two winters combined with the re-emergence of cold ocean water masses. Furthermore, we reveal that a similar cold Atlantic anomaly was also present prior to the most extreme European heat waves since the 1980s indicating that it is a common factor in the development of these events. For the specific case of 2015, we show that the ocean anomaly is linked to a stationary position of the Jet Stream that favours the development of high surface temperatures over Central Europe during the heat wave. Our study calls for an urgent assessment of the impact of ocean drivers on major European summer temperature extremes in order to provide better advance warning measures of these high societal impact events

Non-locality and quasiclassical reality in Kent's formulation of relativistic quantum theory

We report Adrian Kent's proposed framework for a realist, one-world, Lorentz-invariant formulation of quantum theory. The idea is to postulate a �final boundary condition: in eft�ect, a late-time distribution of mass-energy recording how photons scattered off� macroscopic objects. Nature selects this fi�nal boundary condition with the orthodox late-time Born probability; and this defi�nes the probability space of events, to give a realist quantum theory. We emphasize two topics. First, we consider this formulation's verdicts about traditional locality conditions, such as Outcome Independence and Parameter Independence. Second, we discuss a possible amendment to Kent's proposal that, roughly speaking, allows for the emergence of a quasi-classical history even when mass-energy is shielded or delayed from appearing in the fi�nal boundary condition