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Comparison of preclinical PET scanners performance with varying axial fields-of-view
Get PDFIn preclinical Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging, understanding a PET system\u27s performance is crucial for comparing its results with other systems’. In multicentre studies, the performance of the participating systems is essential when planning the experiments [1,2]. In this study, a comprehensive performance evaluation of three PET systems was carried out.
The Mediso PET systems were installed in 2023, 2022, and 2014. The newest system is a three-ring system, with 150 mm axial field-of-view (FOV), while the others are two-ring systems. The reconstruction software has undergone multiple updates over time for each system. Other hardware specifications and the crystal matrix are consistent across the three systems. The NEMA NU-4 2008 assessments [3], and linearity measurements were performed.
The resolution was similar across the three systems, with filtered-back-projection (FBP) and with iterative reconstruction at the centre of the FOV. The absolute sensitivity within the 250-750 keV range was highest in the newest 3-ring system, while it was similar with the other 2-ring scanners. The mouse 250-750 keV NEC peak was considerably higher with the newest system. Image quality results are presented in Figure 1. The linearity of all systems was within acceptable limits in the 0.5-120 MBq range. All results of the newest system are preliminary, before publication.
The greatest differences arose from the extended FOV of the newest system. The impact of software advancements and system ageing is evident in our results, particularly in the image quality phantom.
Although the systems are similar, their performances vary significantly. When designing a study involving these systems, factors such as ageing, software version, and the length of the FOV must be considered.
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Open Prototyping: The cocreation toolkit
No full textOpen Prototyping is a design approach and process to imagine, navigate and shape co-creation projects.
It offers a way to bridge disciplinary viewpoints and connect to communities in the real world through experiential prototypes.
It enables teams to design, structure and evaluate collaborative R&D, and address urgent challenges through participatory experiments with data and technology.
You can use the toolkit it to develop new products and services, reflect on their impact, and co-shape the future of technology and society
Adaptations of the lithic production in the Sauveterroid level of Coveta de la Foia site (Vilafranca, Castelló)
Get PDFIn this paper, we analyse two different lithic adaptations of the Sauveterroid Mediterranean culture in the Valencian Country. On one hand, we have a standardized serial production of projectiles such as backed bladelets and backed micropoints. On the other hand, there is a non-predetermined and less standardized production of a large number of domestic lithic tools such as end-scrapers and retouched blades. The lithic production of this Sauveterroid group shows a double adaptation in relation with the environment: although these groups have enough sources of lithic raw material nearby, and thus they had no restrictions as to the size of the lithic tools, they decided to make a cultural and technical choice producing a large amount of little backed armatures. In addition, the production of domestic tools demonstrates a less technical investment. Technical schemes are mainly unipolar and semi-enveloping, with bipolar and orthogonal technical resources used to prevent knapping accidents caused by soft stone percussion. For non-standard and poorly standardized production, unipolar exploitation is preferred, while in standardized serial production bipolarity and semi-enveloping openings are used as a recurring technical resource. The site of Coveta de la Foia offers the opportunity to explore the relationship between two different lithic productions in one single occupation. Even with relatively close sources of raw materials, cultural pressure is more evident in the production of hunting weaponry as it tends to a process of microlitization tipical of the Mediterranean Epipalaeolithic (Roman 2015; Soto 2015). This type of technical adaptation shows how important cultural influence is in a community’s technical and social system, as it completely constraints the production of hunting weaponry. The Sauveterroid occupation of Coveta de la Foia is one of the oldest in the Iberian Peninsula with a dating of 12740-12680 cal. BP, offering one of the first examples of geometric microlithism in this geographical area
Rock Crystal Reduction at the Early Neolithic site of Dorstone Hill, Herefordshire, and its wider British and European con
Get PDFAssemblages of worked rock crystal (pure hyaline quartz) in British and Irish prehistoric contexts are scarce. As a result, the published record contains little in the way of detailed accounts of the technological process and reduction strategies for this material, in contrast to a number of sites in continental Europe. This paper presents the analysis of a new assemblage of rock crystal from Dorstone Hill, Herefordshire, dating to the Early Neolithic. This analysis focuses primarily on the methods of crystal reduction, and identifies a systematic approach to it that demonstrates that Neolithic knappers at this site had an inherent understanding of the specific material characteristics of rock crystal. However, comparison of the reduction strategy employed at Dorstone Hill with European materials demonstrates that rock crystal can be worked in a number of different ways, and that the sequence at Dorstone represents an approach that was not just dictated by the material properties. Furthermore, the absence of utilised pieces or formal tools made from rock crystal, leads us to suggest that the act of working the exotic material was significant, as opposed to its tool-making potential. We conclude by outlining future avenues for British and Irish rock crystal research, and reinforce the importance of technological analysis of rarer and lesser published material
The lithic assemblages from the Palaeolithic survey research in the Megalopolis Basin, Greece
Get PDFAn intensive, target-oriented surface survey conducted in the Megalopolis basin during 2012-2013 led to the discovery of several Palaeolithic sites and findspots with lithics and faunal remains, including Marathousa-1, a Lower Palaeolithic open-air elephant-butchering site, dated to ca. 400-500 ka BP. This study presents the results from the techno-typological analysis of 413 lithic artefacts collected as surface or stratified finds during the survey research. The aim of the work is to evaluate the diachronic occupation of the area in relation to the lithic technologies used, the typology of the artefacts, and the raw materials exploited. It was possible to provide a chrono-cultural attribution of 167 artefacts, ranging from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Holocene, with a significant component of the collection attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic. Several diagnostic retouched tools allow us to infer that the open-air sites were occupied comparatively more intensively during the Middle Palaeolithic period. We also provide a detailed account of the lithic assemblage from Kavia cave, a previously unstudied site identified during the survey. The high frequency of artefacts pertaining to the Upper Palaeolithic in Kavia is in line with previously identified settlement and mobility patterns of the Peloponnese, where the occupation of caves becomes more intensive from the Upper Palaeolithic onward, as attested at the sites of Klissoura, Kephalari, and Franchthi. The Upper Palaeolithic component from Kavia Cave adds new data to a meagre sample of known sites from this period. The results from the typological and technological analysis of the lithic assemblages collected during the survey in Megalopolis support the conclusions of the basin\u27s long-term and ongoing research, indicating a relatively continuous hominin presence during the Pleistocene
The Last of the Great Auks: Oral History and Ritual Killings at St Kilda
Get PDFThe story of the killing of the ‘last’ great auk (Pinguinus impennis) in Britain, apparently put to death as a witch at Stac an Armin in the St Kilda archipelago c. 1840, is well known. However, other accounts claim that an auk was killed on the main island, Hirta, having been condemned to death by the celebrated men’s ‘parliament’. The historical veracity of three differing stories, which recount discreditable deeds in a deeply Christian community, is evaluated; it seems that fewest difficulties are raised if two great auks were killed, one on Hirta and the other on Stac an Armin. It is argued that this kind of avicide was a ‘ritual’ killing, to be understood in its historical context. The auk-killing probably took place in the mid to late 1840s, after the St Kilda minister had departed in the wake of the Disruption of 1843 - a particularly unsettling time within this small island community. A possible sighting of a pair of great auks on Soay (St Kilda) in 1890 is also briefly discussed
Digital Developments in Scottish Studies
Get PDFBeyond the intricacies of audio recording equipment and the electric typewriter, technology hasn’t always been a big part of Scottish Studies. The past few decades, however, have witnessed the growing impact that digital technologies are having on our field. To get a sense of what lies ahead, this essay examines the efforts of three scholars involved in transforming access to source materials and reshaping the terms of scholarly enquir
Palmscaping Athens: Towards a new reading of the Greek landscape
Get PDFThe main aim of this paper is to investigate the role of plants in the formation of urban landscapes. With the conviction that ‘Nature’, or better plant elements, participate substantially in the shape of urban landscapes and social identities, a new reading of the contemporary Greek landscape is proposed, seeking the tools of this reading in the Palm tree.
Palms, in their majority, are considered as tropical trees, in the sense that they originate from tropical and subtropical regions. However, today Palms are found all around the world, which proves that they are great travellers.
The perpetual journey of plants has deeply reformed alimentary and agricultural practices all over the world. The introduction of new plants in the new ecosystems, changes their evolution, their inflorescence. At the same time, a new balance is to be found on a social level as well. Transplantation of plants in different cultural environments changes their content, their social role and they are called upon to play a new role there.
Since antiquity, Palms have been returning to the Greek territory, either as a seed, a fruit, a tree or a myth. The presence of the Palm tree seems to characterize the Greek landscape, especially since its re-introduction during the era of Palingenesis, the era when the new Modern Greek State was established. Palms have been introduced into the Greek landscape several times, each time in a different way, under different cultural and socio-economic conditions. It seems that the Palm tree in Greece can abolish, renew or enrich its conceptual content and manages to be an active element in the contemporary landscape. In some cases, it dominates the city, becoming not only part of the cityscape, but also part of its social identity and history
The Architecture of the Video Game Stray (2022): The Feline Quadruped Cyberpunk Player
Get PDFThe twenty-first century was marked by emerging ways of space- and place-making. The architecture of the virtual environments of video games is one of the alternative practices in which the discipline of architecture got involved. This essay looks at the architecture and spatial storytelling in the videogame Stray (2022). The relevance of studying Stray does not lie only in the game’s enigmatic interiors, rigorous space-oriented narrative, unique patchwork of neon-soaked, post-apocalyptic labyrinthine spaces, or the cyberpunk Kowloon-like ghettoised urban environment in which the game takes place; Stray is an unprecedented case study as its gameplay is narrated through a non-human perspective: through the point of view of a cat accompanied by a small flying robot called B 12. This essay provides a critical review of the game and attempts to dissect how the spatial storytelling of its post/non-human architecture is orchestrated. Spatial puzzle mechanics, the fluctuation of the game between urban, architectural, and interior scales, and the role that platforms and vertical design techniques play are the subjects of the article. The challenges of the interaction of a game character with four legs with spatial elements, video game placemaking, and spatial design of fetch quests are other topics that the essay will look into. The article is supported by comments from an unpublished interview with Viv (one of the developers of the game) and a series of detailed analytical drawings from the reconstruction of the game environments by the authors
Re-Envisioning Community Gardens: Exploring the value of community gardens in supporting young people’s development through informal education
No full textAfter feeling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, access to outdoor spaces as sites for learning, growth, and connection has grown in importance for young people’s learning through play, creativity, and risk-taking. In addition, government cuts to youth and community work alongside restrictions within formal education, demonstrates a greater need to protect and re-envision how we view spaces like community gardens as valuable learning grounds for young people to access outside schools. This article aims to demonstrate the importance of learning in the outdoor environment of community gardens. Drawing on data from both Youth Workers and young people, it will advocate for the significance of community gardens for the growth and progression of young people through positive education development using informal learning techniques. It concludes that informal education is vital for young people\u27s educational growth and development, particularly in outdoor settings like community gardens focusing on hands-on experiences and learning through play and the senses. After advocating for the importance of community gardens, it outlines how funding for youth and community sectors like community gardens could be increased and prioritised to maintain active sites outside of schools