Great Expectations: Museums and Regional Economic Development in England

This polemic addresses the political expectations of museums in England. Its starting point is the premise of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that museums make a significant contribution to regional economies, if not to the national economy. Political expediency requires museums to provide evidence for their economic worth. But it could be argued that estimates of museums' economic impact are devalued by being blatantly constructed for the purposes of advocacy. This paper explores various issues that inform the practice of associating museums with economic development. It considers whether the government's cultural policies and aspirations have served to misrepresent (if not exaggerate) the economic impact that museums currently exert, or are deemed capable of exerting. It closes by suggesting that there are some ambiguities in the commitment of the DCMS to the premise that museums are economically important, and by examining implications for the future.     

Identification of beneficial mass-included inerter-based vibration suppression configurations

Vibration suppression capabilities of linear passive vibration absorbers, such as traditional tuned mass damper (TMD), and recently proposed inerter-based vibration absorbers, have been studied for multiple mechanical systems. In particular, significant performance advantages have been obtained with a specific device making use of both inerter and mass elements, namely the tuned mass damper inerter (TMDI). However, there are still countless mass-included inerter-based configurations that have not been studied, which can potentially provide more preferred dynamic properties. In this paper, an immittance-function-layout (IFL) is introduced, which can cover a large range of topological connection possibilities with both mass and inerter elements. With the recently proposed structural immittance format, a systematic approach is established to identify the most beneficial IFL type mass-included inerter-based configurations with pre-determined number of each element type. Vibration suppression performance with single-IFL type device and two parallel-connected IFLs (i.e. dual-IFL) type devices are investigated in this paper. Three optimal configurations are identified for mitigating the maximum inter-storey drift of an example 3-storey building model subjected to base excitation. With this 3-storey building model, results show that, for the optimum single-IFL configuration, the performance improvement is 7.3% compared with the optimum TMDI, and with identified beneficial dual-IFL configurations, up to 34.9% performance advantages are obtained. Furthermore, consistent performance gains are shown under real-life earthquake inputs and with a 10-storey building model using identified absorber configurations.     

Beneficial Effect of Aqueous Garlic Extract on Inflammation and Oxidative Stress Status in the Kidneys of Type 1 Diabetic Rats

One of the most important complications of diabetes is nephropathy. This study investigates the effects of aqueous garlic extract on inflammation and oxidative stress status in the kidneys of diabetic rats. Male rats were divided into four groups- control rats, diabetic rats, garlic extract-treated diabetic rats, garlic extract-treated normal rats. The glucose, urea, uric acid, and creatinine levels were measured in sera using colorimetric methods. To determine the oxidative stress condition in the kidney tissues, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), malondialdehyde (MDA), and total oxidant status (TOS) were measured using colorimetric methods. Inflammation status was evaluated by the determination of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) gene and protein expression using qRT-PCR and ELISA respectively, while nitric oxide (NO) level in these tissues was measured using the Griess method. Histological examination of Kidneys was carried out by H&E staining. The levels of glucose, urea, and uric acid were found to increase in the serum of diabetic rats and decrease in that of diabetic rats after treatment with garlic. Measurement of MDA, TOS, and TAC revealed oxidative stress in diabetic rats, which improved after receiving the extract. The NO and TNF-α protein levels in diabetic rats were higher than those in control rats. After treatment with garlic, the levels of TNF-α protein and NO became close to the normal levels. Histological results confirmed certain other data as well. Garlic has antioxidant properties; therefore, it can reduce oxidative stress, which plays an important role in the development of diabetic nephropathy. Reduction in oxidative stress has beneficial effects on inflammation because it leads to a decrease in the level of TNF-α.     

关于电子文件作为合法证据的法律可采性

章通过回顾过去对缩微胶片，照片复制件和书面件（written document)法律地位的探讨，对最近有关电子件的性质及其法律语气价值的争论作了反思，作认为目前的法律思想遵循着这样一个厍趋势，即从信赖证人证词和“可靠的社会背景”发展到相信书面件的真实性和有效性。强调了件管理程序中确立电子件的法律地位具有重要意义。     

Factors associated with college attendance of high-school seniors

Demographic, locational, family background, economic, attitudinal and school-related variables are studied to determine factors which lead high-school seniors to go directly on to college. The data come from the 1979 and 1980 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth Labor Market Experience, and probit analysis is used. Some factors found to be significant imply possible changes in college enrollment patterns: delayed plans for marriage by females, population growth in the South and increasing education among the youths' fathers could portend higher rates of enrollment. While minority and poor youth were less likely to go directly from high school to college, it appears that factors associated with these variables, such as father's education and lower scores on the proxy ability measure, are causal. Finally, school characteristics appear to have a very limited influence on the probability of going directly from high school to college.