Alliance & Leicester plc was a British bank and former building society, formed by the merger in 1985 of the Alliance Building Society and the Leicester Building Society. The business demutualised in the middle of 1997, when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange. It was listed in the FTSE 250 Index, and had been listed in the FTSE 100 Index from April 1997 until June 2008.After running into difficulty during the financial crisis, the bank was acquired by the Santander Group in October 2008, and transferred its business into Santander UK plc in May 2010.It was fully integrated and rebranded as Santander by the end of 2011. The bank's international subsidiary based in Douglas, Isle of Man, Alliance & Leicester International, continued to use the name Alliance & Leicester, until it was fully merged into Santander UK in May 2013..
Archaeological sites are increasingly threatened by human activities and natural processes, causing irreversible heritage loss. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry has advanced documentation and monitoring, yet many applications lack accuracy assessment or rely on a single data source. This study applies high-resolution, multi-temporal UAV-photogrammetry to nine archaeological sites in the Barranca Valleys, Peru-the first case study of this scale in the region. Surveys were scheduled to capture geomorphic responses to the forecasted 2023-2024 mega El Ni & ntilde;o, while also documenting pressures such as urbanization, agricultural expansion, and looting. By combining orthomosaics, digital elevation models, image cross-correlation, and horizontal displacement analysis-supported by explicit accuracy evaluation-this research provides a robust framework for assessing site degradation and highlights the added value of multi-source approaches for long-term monitoring.
The standard cosmological analysis with the Lycx forest relies on a continuum fitting procedure that suppresses information on large scales and distorts the three-dimensional correlation function on all scales. In this work, we present the first cosmological forecasts without continuum fitting distortion in the Lycx forest, focusing on the recovery of large-scale information. Using idealized synthetic data, we compare the constraining power of the full shape of the Lycx forest auto-correlation and its cross-correlation with quasars using the baseline continuum fitting analysis versus the true continuum. We find that knowledge of the true continuum enables a similar to 10% reduction in uncertainties on the Alcock-Paczy & nacute;ski (AP) parameter and the matter density, ohm m. We also explore the impact of large-scale information by extending the analysis up to separations of 240 h-1Mpc along and across the line of sight. The combination of these analysis choices can recover significant large-scale information, yielding up to a similar to 15% improvement in AP constraints. This improvement is analogous to extending the Lycx forest survey area by similar to 40%.
Abstract Motion planning and control for robotic manipulation of deformable linear objects (DLO) necessitates computationally efficient and sufficiently accurate estimation of the DLO shape. Ideally, such an estimation should be able to reconstruct the deformation field from the pose of the terminal ends of the DLO only, which is particularly relevant for dual-arm manipulation. Numerical shooting and collocation methods accurately solve the associated boundary value problem, but are not applicable in time critical conditions. In this paper, a highly efficient algorithm is introduced for shape reconstruction of DLO undergoing large deformations. The method yields an explicit analytic representation of the displacement field. DLO are modeled as Kirchhoff rod since shear and compression can be neglected for the majority of relevant objects. The method is derived from a 3rd-order approximation of the exact solution. Assuming homogenous material and constant cross section, the shape estimation problem is reduced to a purely kinematic problem, which does not need material parameters. The solution method shows an excellent accuracy while being highly efficient at the same time. The result is equally relevant for continuum robots.
The article presents Plutarch's complex views on the content of the myths that appear in some of the Chaeronean's writings. The exegete notices a variety of myths that forces different methods of their interpretation. On the one hand, he finds Plato's Theory of Ideas in myths, but on the other hand, he cites interpretations related to traditional piety. At the same time, he follows the interpretations of Egyptian sages, which lead one to see esoteric truths in myths. This is possible because Plutarch employs an allegorical interpretation of many myths, considering that there is no fundamental difference between the mentality of Egyptians and Greeks. Allegorical interpretations lead him to mystical anthropology and the Neoplatonic theory of the cosmos, although the writer is aware of possible abuses of the allegorical method. Thanks to the diversity of interpretations, Plutarch's theory of myths is a very good introduction to the philosophical views and culture of his time.
The aim of this article is to draw attention to the inclusion of Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski's epigrams among the works exemplifying the proper application of the principles underlying the art of writing epigrams in the treatise De epigrammate conscribendo by Nicolas Mercier, a professor at the College of Navarre. This aspect of the reception of Sarbiewski's work has not been recorded yet. The information about the author's use of the poetic treatise of Sarbiewski's works was given in a jocular way by J & oacute;zef Andrzej Za & lstrok;uski in the bibliography Ca & lstrok;a Polska za z & lstrok;oty [...], created by him in exile and left in manuscript form. This study presents Mercier's interpretations of Sarbiewski's epigrams, indicating intertextual overlaps in the way they are interpreted.
