From planetary surfaces to crystals and their boundaries, maps are fundamental tools for developing geological knowledge. This book spans not only these scales but also the history of earth science – exploring techniques and applications. It celebrates geological mapping in developing knowledge of Earth and planetary evolution and processes.

Biomedical image segmentation plays an important role in Diabetic Retinopathy (DR)-related biomarker detection. DR is an ocular disease that affects the retina in people with diabetes and could lead to visual impairment if management measures are not taken in a timely manner. In DR screening programs, the presence and severity of DR are identified and classified based on various microvascular lesions detected by qualified ophthalmic screeners. Such a detection process is time-consuming and error-prone, given the small size of the microvascular lesions and the volume of images, especially with the increasing prevalence of diabetes. Automated image processing using deep learning methods is recognized as a promising approach to support diabetic retinopathy screening. In this paper, we propose a novel compound scaling encoder-decoder network architecture to improve the accuracy and running efficiency of microvascular lesion segmentation. In the encoder phase, we develop a lightweight encoder to speed up the training process, where the encoder network is scaled up in depth, width, and resolution dimensions. In the decoder phase, an attention mechanism is introduced to yield higher accuracy. Specifically, we employ Concurrent Spatial and Channel Squeeze and Channel Excitation (scSE) blocks to fully utilise both spatial and channel-wise information. Additionally, a compound loss function is incorporated with transfer learning to handle the problem of imbalanced data and further improve performance. To assess performance, our method is evaluated on two large-scale lesion segmentation datasets: DDR and FGADR datasets. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our method compared to other competent methods. Our codes are available at https://github.com/DeweiYi/CoSED-Net.

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research has evolved over recent years, yet it often remains an 'optional extra' and, in some cases, tokenistic. Discussions are often focused on processes and methods, and are yet to make PPI the norm; we argue that the conversation needs to change to one of 'value': a culture of common values and principles across all types of research. Taking a reflexive, personalised approach, we reflect on how our team's experiences as patients, healthcare professionals and academics have changed over time and shaped what we value, our involvement in research and the way we involve people in research. We illustrate, through our work together, the productive tensions we experience, our efforts to resolve these through analytic conversations and our ethic of responsibility to each other. Moving forward, embracing reflexivity and supporting relationships can help PPI to become integral to research; a value as opposed to a method.

Abstract The Antrim Lava Group of NE Ireland comprises a volcanic sequence dominated by basaltic lava flows. Including subsidiary sedimentary interlayers and some evolved lavas and intrusions, the overall sequence reaches a cumulative thickness of ∼800 m. The tempo of eruption of the Antrim Lava Group is poorly constrained but can be evaluated via weathering patterns and environmental reconstructions derived from lava-flow interbeds. In this contribution, we present palynology from a newly identified and well-developed 2.0–2.5 m thick sedimentary sequence (interbed) at Ross's Quarry, Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, that helps elucidate the contemporary development of environments in a setting subject to periodic basaltic volcanism. The interbed is subdivided into geologically distinct subunits of cross-bedded and parallel-bedded sandstones and sandy siltstones, all rich in visible organic remains such as rootlets and fragments of wood and bark. A total of 19 samples was collected from the sequence and subsequently analysed for palynological content. The palynomorph data point toward a diversity of inputs ranging from estuaries, chalky soils, dry soils, swamps, lakes, floodplains, sand bars, wet soils, established bogs and fenlands. In contrast to current understanding, the palynological data and their inferred environments collectively reveal the presence of flora that favour a temperate climate rather than the subtropical climate that has previously been inferred from the lateritic interbeds of the Antrim Lava Group. By combining the Ross's Quarry observations with palynological data from other quarry sites and boreholes in Antrim, we provide new insights into the climate, weathering systems and eruptive history of the Antrim Lava Group.

Abstract Offshore CO 2 sequestration in basaltic formations of the North Atlantic Igneous Province may allow permanent storage of large volumes of CO 2 through rapid carbonate mineralization. Characterizing the internal architecture of such reservoirs is key to assessing the storage potential. In this study, six photogrammetry models and three boreholes on the Faroe Islands have been used to characterize the internal lava sequence architectures as a direct analogue to potential offshore North Atlantic Igneous Province storage sites. The studied formations are dominated by c. 5 to 50 m thick simple and compound lava flows, with drill core observations documenting a transition from pāhoehoe moving towards ‘a’ā lava flow types interbedded with thin (<5 m thick) volcaniclastic rock units. The identification of flow margin breccias is potentially important as these units form excellent reservoirs in several other localities globally. Stacked, thick simple flows may present sealing units associated with dense flow interiors. Connected porous and permeable lava flow crusts present potential reservoirs; however, the degree of secondary mineralization and alteration can alter initially good reservoir units to impermeable barriers for fluid flow. Large-scale reservoir volumes may be present mainly within both vesicular, fractured pāhoehoe and brecciated flow margins of transitional simple lava flows.

ABSTRACT The study of European prehistory has often associated natural objects as menacing presences rooted in fears concerning, at a basic level, continued subsistence and combative conciliatory ritual practice. Nevertheless, in this time, ritual is imprinted upon entire landscapes with natural objects manipulated to construct ritual spaces. This article considers the nature and purpose of natural objects, specifically plant species, within prehistoric ritual practice in Scotland through consideration of the Traprain Law environs, East Lothian. Within prehistoric contexts, the Traprain Law environs are formed partly through the physical manifestations of ideology in a network of ritual sites. In this context, plants as natural objects are a community integral to ritual networks, whether through ritualized clearance, symbolic usage in cremation, votive offering, or deposition prior to site abandonment. There are many ways in which plant remains occupied space within ritual taskscapes in prehistoric Scotland.

Abstract The Browse Basin is one of Australia's major hydrocarbon provinces, where significant discoveries have been made in recent decades including the Ichthys and Prelude fields, which accounted for ∼15% of the cumulative Australian liquified natural gas (LNG) production in 2019–20. This rift basin hosts extensive Mesozoic intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks, having been identified from both well and seismic data, and which are recognized as one of the key challenges for exploration and production activities in this region. Their impact on petroleum exploration is demonstrated by the number of wells which encountered unpredicted or thicker than expected igneous rock units both within and adjacent to target sections. This study therefore aims to document the reasons of such unexpectedness, and to develop capability to predict the occurrence of igneous rock units prior to drilling in the Browse Basin and other rift settings that contain igneous rocks. Multiple case studies of uncommercial exploration wells are developed by integrating petrophysical and seismic reflection data, focusing in particular along the outboard part of the basin where igneous rocks are most prevalent. Our study highlights the importance of understanding petrophysical, spatial and chemical heterogeneities of igneous rocks in basins to explain their emplacement and distribution, and thereby predict their occurrence prior to exploration and development activities.

Gene loci of highly expressed genes provide ideal sites for transgene expression. Casein genes are highly expressed in mammals leading to the synthesis of substantial amounts of casein proteins in milk. The α-casein (CSN1S1) gene has assessed as a site of transgene expression in transgenic mice and a mammary gland cell line. A transgene encoding an antibody light chain gene (A1L) was inserted into the α-casein gene using sequential homologous and site-specific recombination. Expression of the inserted transgene is directed by the α-casein promoter, is responsive to lactogenic hormone activation, leads to the synthesis of a chimeric α-casein/A1L transgene mRNA, and secretion of the recombinant A1L protein into milk. Transgene expression is highly consistent in all transgenic lines, but lower than that of the α-casein gene (4%). Recombinant A1L protein accounted for 0.5% and 1.6% of total milk protein in heterozygous and homozygous transgenic mice, respectively. The absence of the α-casein protein in homozygous A1L transgenic mice leads to a reduction of total milk protein and delayed growth of the pups nursed by these mice. Overall, the data demonstrate that the insertion of a transgene into a highly expressed endogenous gene is insufficient to guarantee its abundant expression.

In recent years, researchers have made significant progress in handling dynamic multi-objective optimization problems (DMOPs), particularly for environmental changes with predictable characteristics. However, little attention has been paid to DMOPs with stochastic changes. It may be difficult for existing dynamic multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (DMOEAs) to effectively handle this kind of DMOPs because most DMOEAs assume that environmental changes follow regular patterns and consecutive environments are similar. This paper presents a Mahalanobis Distance-based approach (MDA) to deal with DMOPs with stochastic changes. Specifically, we make an all-sided assessment of search environments via Mahalanobis distance on saved information to learn the relationship between the new environment and historical ones. Afterward, a change response strategy applies the learning to the new environment to accelerate the convergence and maintain the diversity of the population. Besides, the change degree is considered for all decision variables to alleviate the impact of stochastic changes on the evolving population. MDA has been tested on stochastic DMOPs with 2 to 4 objectives. The results show that MDA performs significantly better than the other latest algorithms in this paper, suggesting that MDA is effective for DMOPs with stochastic changes.