21,293 research outputs found
Mapping Britain's underworld. BBC Radio 4, May 25th 2012
No full textFour million holes are dug every year in the UK. Five billion pounds are lost through the economic effects of disruption and traffic hold ups, while hitting a utility pipe or cable can prove fatal for those working on the road. Adam Hart-Davis reports on a major research project which is trying to solve the problems.He takes us underground from his ancient ice house at the bottom of his Devon garden to report on Mapping the Underworld, the £3.5m programme involving universities throughout Britain. The aim is to improve how we locate the increasingly confusing and complex array of pipes, cables and sewers beneath our streets, and assess their condition - as well as ultimately providing a better map of what is beneath our cities to improve planning both above and below ground.At the moment it's often difficult to know where such utilities are - an estimated one in four of all holes are dug in the wrong place. Maps may not be accurate because original records of where the pipes and cables are located often use reference points on the surface which have long since gone.Existing sensors may have problems finding what is underground because of soil or weather conditions, while modern materials such as plastic or fibre optics pose a challenge to existing technologies.Adam Hart-Davis tries out the prototype of a multi-sensor cart where four different sensors operate together to produce an all-in-one solution, so if one technology doesn't work well in certain conditions and with particular materials, another one will. It is not an easy undertaking for the research teams or, as it turns out, for Adam testing the multi-sensor cart
Orpheus - footage captured at Project: Trinity 19th November 2018 - Performance by Dr Phil Brissenden (Raph), Dr Adam Hart (Signal processing)
No full textOrpheus. Experimental piece involving live Raph (and vocal performance from Phil Brissenden and live signal processing, MAX/MSP programming by Adam Hart, and contemporary dancers from the University of Salfor
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
No full textAdam Smith's four-stage theory provides the framework for his writings on history. The fourth stage is the commercial epoch; the culmination of history in this stage is a key component in the conventional interpretation of Adam Smith as a prophet of commercialism. In two historical case studies Smith shows the capacity of commercial society to regenerate itself. This potent capacity suggests that commercial society is inevitable. At a certain point in time it also overcomes the major obstacles to its permanence. Smith's philosophy of history anticipates the end of history views of Kant and Hegel.Political Economy,
How Might Adam Smith Pay Professors Today?
No full textAdam Smith’s proposal for paying professors was intended to induce increased faculty knowledge. If students have imperfect information about what they learn, and universities can only imperfectly measure the input of faculty time in student learning, publications may be used to measure faculty knowledge. If professors’ ability to publish is positively related to their ability to produce student learning, which universities can imperfectly measure, publications may be necessary to attract more able professors. Since research signals faculty knowledge, schools that do not value publications per se could require higher publication standards and pay higher wages than schools that value only publications.
ADAM SMITH'S VIEW OF HISTORY: CONSISTENT OR PARADOXICAL?
No full textThe conventional interpretation of Adam Smith is that he is a prophet of commercialism. The liberal capitalist reading of Smith is consistent with the view that history culminates in commercial society. The first part of the article develops this optimistic interpretation of Smith's view of history. Smith implies that commercial society is the end of history because 1) it supplies the ends of nature that he identifies; 2) it is inevitable; and 3) it is permanent. The second part of the article shows that Smith has some dark moments in his writings where he seems to reject completely such teleological notions. In this more civic humanist mood he confesses that commercial society does not supply the ends of nature, nor is it inevitable, nor is it permanent. Both views exist in Smith and the commentator is forced to choose between passages in Smith's work in order to support a particular interpretation of the former's view of history.Political Economy,
The Deadly Balance: Predators and People in a Crowded World
No full textThe predators that can hunt, kill and eat us occupy a unique place in the human psyche. In this book, Adam Hart looks at our relationship with these animals from a conservation perspective. Whether it's lions in Africa, tigers in India or sharks in the world's oceans, we are fascinated by – and often terrified of – predators. Animals that can hunt, kill, and eat us occupy a unique place in the human psyche, and for good reason. Predation forms a big part of our evolutionary history, but in the modern world there are many people who live alongside animals that can, and sometimes do, make them prey. In The Deadly Balance, biologist Adam Hart explores the complex relationships we have with predators, and investigates what happens when humans become prey. From big cats to army ants, via snakes, bears, wolves, crocodiles, piranhas and more, Hart busts some myths and explores the science behind such encounters. Despite their fearsome and often wildly exaggerated reputations, these animals have far more to fear from us than we do from them. By probing the latest conservation science, Hart explores how we might both conserve the world's predators and live safely alongside them
A Minister of State (unidentified) of King Theebaw,Burma, ca. 1885 [picture]/
No full textTitle devised by cataloguer based on information in a book, 'Picturesque Burma: past & present' by Ernest Hart.; Part of the collection: Griffin collection of photographs, Burma, ca. 1880-1890.; Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4928004; Donated with no copyright restrictions by Lady Griffin, granddaughter of photographer.; Collection donated by Lady Griffin, nee Jean Whyte, granddaughter of A.R. Whyte
BERA 2019 Presentation - 'Creative Communities: A Bridge Between the Local School and the Symphony Orchestra'
No full textThis is the PowerPoint presentation given by Dr Adam Hart at the British Education Research Association conference in September 2019. The presentation won both the Early Career Research Award and Best Paper in the Arts Based Research Special Interest Group.</p
The effects of ageing on microglial phenotypes and the central nervous system response to systemic inflammation
No full textMicroglial cells are resident immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS) that participate in the CNS response to systemic inflammation by producing inflammatory mediators, which subsequently contribute to the behavioural and metabolic adaptations to systemic infections collectively termed sickness behaviour. Ageing leads to changes in microglial phenotype and a maladaptive, exaggerated CNS inflammatory and behavioural response to systemic infection has been described in aged rodents, which could have a negative impact on CNS health. However, most studies examining the effects of ageing on microglia have focused on a single region of the brain (the hippocampus) and have used a single model of infection, the bacterial mimetic lipopolysaccharide (LPS). This raises two important questions – are microglia in different parts of the brain equally effected by ageing, and do different models of systemic infections have different effects on sickness behaviour and on microglia? To address these questions we used immunohistochemistry, quantitative PCR and behavioural assays to investigate the effects of region on age related changes in microglial phenotype along a rostral to caudal axis and the CNS inflammatory and behavioural response elicited by LPS was compared to that elicited during a live infection with Salmonella typhimurium. We detected significant differences in the effects of ageing on microglia of different regions of the CNS, with microglia of white matter areas and the cerebellum demonstrating significantly greater changes in expression of activation markers than those of rostral grey matter areas. Co-ordination and balance was impaired in aged mice at baseline and some sickness behaviours were exaggerated in aged mice in response to LPS injection, whereas Salmonella typhimurium infection induced long-lasting reductions in exploratory activity of equal size in young and aged mice and, in aged mice, co-ordination and balance deficits and prolonged weight loss. A low grade, prolonged inflammatory response was detected in the hippocampus which was accompanied by increased expression of microglial activation markers throughout the young and aged CNS, particularly in the spinal cord, where increased axonal stress and changes in the organisation of the paranodal junction were also observed. These changes in cytokine levels and microglial phenotype were mostly of similar magnitude in young and aged mice, contrasting to the effects of LPS. These results highlight regional differences in the sensitivity of microglia to systemic infection and ageing and show extensive differences between the effects of the bacterial mimetic LPS and a live bacterial infection on microglia and on sickness behaviour in young and aged mice. They also have important implications for the study of ageing microglia regarding the selection of the infection models and in deciding which CNS regions to examine
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