The cortical collecting duct of the mammalian kidney plays a critical role in the regulation of body volume, sodium pH and osmolarity and is composed of two distinct cells types, principal cells and intercalated cells. Each cell type is detectable in the kidney by the localization of specific transport proteins such as Aqp2 and ENaC in principal cells and V-ATPase B1 and Cx30 in intercalated cells. mCCDcl1 cells have been widely used as a mouse principal cell line on the basis of their physiological characteristics. In this study, the mCCDcl1 parental cell line and three sub-lines cloned from isolated single cells (Ed1, Ed2, and Ed3) were grown on filters to assess their transepithelial resistance, transepithelial voltage, equivalent short circuit current and expression of the cell-specific markers Aqp2, ENaC, V-ATPaseB1 and Cx30. The parental mCCDcl1 cell line presented amiloride-sensitive electrogenic sodium transport indicative of principal cell function, however immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR showed that some cells expressed the intercalated cell-specific markers V-ATPase B1 and Cx30, including a subset of cells also positive for Aqp2 and ENaC. The three subclonal lines contained cells that were positive for both intercalated and principal cell-specific markers. The vertical transmission of both principal and intercalated cell characteristics via single cell cloning, reveals the plasticity of mCCDcl1 cells, and a direct lineage relationship between these two physiologically important cell types, and is consistent with mCCDcl1 cells being precursor cells. For observation of live mCCDcl1 in an environment closer to in vivo conditions, a model of collecting duct was designed and developed using 3D printing of porous polymers. mCCDcl1 were cultured successfully and demonstrated improved characteristics compared to classic culture such as improved lifespan, different morphology and increased protein expression, and retained their phenotypic plasticity.

We study the computational complexity of collecting items inside a grid map with obstacles, using an agent that always slides to the maximal extend, until it is stopped by an obstacle. An agent could be, for example, a robot or a vehicle, while obstacles could be walls or other immovable objects, and items could be packages that need to be picked up. This problem has very natural applications in robotics. The restricted type of motion of the agent naturally models movement on a frictionless surface, and movement of a robot with limited sensing capabilities and thus limited localization. For example, if a robot cannot determine the distance traveled once it starts moving, then it makes sense to keep moving until an obstacle is reached, even if the robot has a map of the environment. With today’s technology it is possible to create sophisticated robots but, since the complexity and the costs of such robots are high, it is sometimes better to use simple inexpensive robots that can still solve relatively complex tasks. In fact, simple robots are quite common and usually built using simple sensors that have limited capabilities, but that are easy to use and are considerably cheaper than more sophisticated ones. The computational complexity of numerous problems with movable objects has been extensively studied before. However, only a few of them have maximal sliding agents, and they usually do not have the goal of collecting items. We show that the problem of deciding if all the items can be collected by a maximal sliding agent can be solved efficiently when the agent is the only moving object in the map. However, we show that optimization problems such as determining the minimum number of moves required to collect all the items, and also variants in more complex environments are computationally intractable. Hence, for those problems it is better to focus on using heuristics than on finding optimal solutions.

No description available.

The shared language, attitudes, practices and patterns of those who participate in “collecting" in the lower mainland area of British Columbia are described. Recurring themes and patterns emerge in the analysis of data obtained through interviews with thirty collector-informants. The generalizability of collecting as a phenomenon which exists outside of what is being collected is established. Collectors' roles as curators and the serious and consuming aspects of collecting, including the cycles of collecting, affection and sentiment held toward collected objects, and the strategies and approaches to the process of collecting are discussed. Propositions set out by previous researchers Belk, Danet and Katriel are examined in light of the data. Implications for museum studies and museum education specifically, are considered.

No description available.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 33-34).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pittsburgh, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves lxiv-lxix).

For many, a museum visit may consist of gazing at objects locked away in glass a cabinet accompanied by signs forbidding touch, and complex and often confusing text panels. But what message does this present to the visiting public? How can the public connect with museums and their collections if objects are beyond their reach? Why is handling reserved for the museum elite and not the general public? The value of touch and object handling in museums is a growing area of research, but also one that is not yet fully understood. Despite our range of senses with which we experience the world around us, museums traditionally rely on the visual as the principle means of communicating information about the past. However museums are increasingly required to prove their worth and value in society by becoming more accessible, not just in terms of audience but by opening up their stored collections, and government agenda is pushing for culture to feature in the everyday lives of the public. This research pulls apart the hierarchical nature of touch in the museum, demonstrating the benefits of a “hands-on” approach to engaging with the past, investigating the problems and limitations associated with tactile experiences, and puts forward a toolkit for tactile access to collections. It suggests that handling museum collections, not only enhances our understanding of the past, but provides memorable and valuable experiences that will remain with an individual for life.

This inter-disciplinary examination assesses the European ceramics in the collections of the Dukes of Hamilton over a number of generations. The study is based principally on the evidence found in the Hamilton and other archives, comprising both textual and visual sources. The second element that forms the foundation for the research is the connoisseurship of ceramics, both extant and those known only through documents. Evidence has revealed that the Duchesses of Hamilton play a major role in this work. A significant number of Hamilton ceramics have been newly identified and located, while their attribution, acquisition and history within the collections have been assessed and clarified.

In the twentieth century, collecting became a core activity of local authority art galleries and museums in Britain. A key feature of these art collections was the representation of Twentieth Century British Art. The aim of this study is to examine, for the first time, this development as abroad cultural phenomenon, through the distinctive roles played by central government-funded, and independent national and provincial art collection schemes. The central government-funded art collection schemes are the V. & A Purchase Grant Fund, War Artists' Advisory Committee and the National Heritage Memorial Fund; and the national loan and exhibition schemes offered by the Tate Gallery and the Arts Council. Independent schemes are more numerous and varied. These were administered by the National Art Collections Fund (now the Art Fund), Contemporary Art Society, Scottish Modem Arts Association, Contemporary Art Society for Wales, Henry Moore Foundation and Gulbenkian Foundation. In addition, there were the independent national loan and exhibition schemes offered by the Museums Association, Peter Stuyvesant Foundation and Alistair McAlpine and provincial schemes based in Manchester (Charles Rutherston Loan Scheme), Cardiff (National Museum of Wales Loan Scheme), Liverpool ('John Moores' competition-exhibitions) and Bradford ('International Print Biennale' competition-exhibitions). Given the geographical coverage, historical scope and focus of this study, a substantial body of published and unpublished literature was consulted. The wide-range of sources examined included institutional histories, biographies and studies of Twentieth-Century British Art; permanent collection and exhibition catalogues; newspaper, journal and magazine articles, curatorial records and correspondence; institutional records and correspondence; archival material and reports; and . correspondence and interviews. This entailed the discovery of much new material and the collation of substantial random data held by the Contemporary Art Society and the Gulbenkian Foundation This research seeks to show that local authority collecting of Twentieth-Century British Art was part of a nation-wide cultural pattern determined by certain ideas, theories and policies. Within this context, Section 1 identifies and discusses the nature and purpose of public art galleries, muscums and their art collections from 1845-1945. This momentous period in the museum movement in Britain, it is argued, sustained and generated ideas, theories and policies which encompassed national institutional hierarchies and their models of collecting, high art aesthetic standards and scholarship linked connoisseurship; the organic structure of museums; and multifaceted education. It concludes that during this formative period, an enduring cultural framework was established, from which emerged key collecting impetuses which are art history, patronage and heritage. Sections 2 and 3 examine the roles played by central government-funded and independent schemes, as a response to these issues, which also engendered and reinforced the collecting of specific types of Twentieth Century British Art. Section'4 surveys the local authority collections, which participated in the schemes, and concludes that 1957-79 was a crucial period in post-war collecting, which was both facilitated by the emergence of a considerable and dynamic network of commercial art galleries, and enhanced by national and provincial measures to decentralize the arts. A principal conclusion is that the future of modem (twentieth-century) and contemporary (twenty-first- century) British art collecting, by local authority art galleries and museums, lies in its perception as part of a collective cultural enterprise, in which the intervention of collection schemes will, as in the past, play a fundamental role. Finally, there is also a strong argument for provincial institutions to feed into a national debate as to what is selected to represent both modem and contemporary British art practice in public collections in general.