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Does pay for performance affect socioeconomic inequalities in access?:Evidence from hospital specialised care in England
Get PDFThe Leverage of Terrorists on Democratic Regimes:Evidence from Natural Experiments in Sub-Saharan Africa
No full textThis paper quantifies the impact of terrorism on electoral support for incumbent parties in sub-Saharan Africa, using survey data collected during fieldwork that coincided with terrorist attacks. By comparing respondents surveyed immediately before a local attack with those in the same area surveyed shortly after, we observe a 5-6 percentage point decrease in incumbent support following attacks. This decline is more pronounced when attacks are proximate, target civilians, or incur higher casualties. The impact is strongest in states with weaker institutions, areas with extensive media coverage, and among politically engaged and educated citizens, though effective government response can mitigate this adverse effect. Further investigation reveals that the reduction in support stems primarily from a significant erosion of trust in the incumbent party, rather than shifts in counter-terrorism policy preferences. These findings underscore terrorism's considerable influence on democratic stability in affected regions
Belief, certainty and vagueness
No full textWhat is belief and how does it relate to certainty? This paper takes on some of the strongest arguments for views that identify belief with certainty, credence 1 or maximal confidence. It considers an influential version of the position on which the assignment of credences is context-dependent in crucial ways (especially Clarke [2013]), arguing that such a position is not viable. Examining these arguments and approaches in detail is shown to illuminate some key issues about credences and beliefs and the relation between them, as well as elucidating the role of representation in the understanding of beliefs. While rejecting the position that belief is certainty may seem to reopen the threat of arbitrariness and imprecision, I argue that it is essential to our understanding of beliefs to recognise that our belief-talk is vague. In the final section, I explore the nature and role of doxastic states that are borderline beliefs, which I call vague beliefs. Acknowledging the vagueness of the category of beliefs is necessary to reflect the rich and complex pattern of our doxastic states and commitments in the inevitable absence of certainty
Leveraging structural complexity to enable a lean supply base
No full textThe Zero Carbon Humber (ZCH) project, formed to create the UK’s largest decarbonised industrial cluster, requires a robust and lean supply base, which must meet the complex requirements for building a blue hydrogen production plant, including Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS). This study addresses the theoretical challenges of optimising supplier selection within a complex, dependency-prone network. The research examines the structural complexity of the supply base network, to assess dependency risks and inform decision makers of the ideal configuration of suppliers. Findings reveal areas of high dependency on certain suppliers for critical components, highlighting the need to expand the supply base. Furthermore, the study suggests that a carefully managed supplier network can balance lean efficiency with robustness, supporting the scalability required for the ZCH project’s long-term sustainability. The insights offer practical implications for policymakers and supply chain managers aiming to mitigate risks within complex industrial ecosystems
Position statement from the British Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy on insertional oncogenesis in gene‐engineered advanced cell therapy products for treatment of haematological disorders
Get PDFTime-resolved SAXS studies during the synthesis of hydrolytically degradable poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly(N,N′-dimethylacrylamide) diblock copolymer nanoparticles in aqueous media
Get PDFThe mechanism of nanoparticle formation during reverse sequence polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) is studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). More specifically, N,N′-dimethylacrylamide (DMAC) monomer is added to a trithiocarbonate-capped poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) precursor and initially polymerized in the bulk at 80 °C via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. SAXS indicates the unexpected formation of molten PCL droplets dispersed within DMAC monomer. After 5 min (14% DMAC conversion) at 80 °C, the reaction mixture is diluted with water, and the aqueous milieu is analyzed using a flow cell. A transient lamellar phase is formed immediately after water addition that subsequently transforms into nascent spherical nanoparticles. During the remaining DMAC polymerization, the overall nanoparticle diameter remains essentially constant with a concomitant reduction in the PCL core radius and the aggregation number. This suggests that individual PCL-PDMAC chains are in equilibrium with the nanoparticles. SAXS analysis indicates that the amorphous PCL cores have a mean diameter of 8.8 nm at 80 °C: X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirm that such nanoscale confinement prevents their crystallization on cooling to 20 °C. Finally, this formulation can be combined with crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA): UV-initiated DMAC polymerization at 15 °C produces rod-like PCL-PDMAC nanoparticles with semicrystalline PCL cores
Thermal response of hybrid steel-timber floor cross-sections exposed to standard fire: experimental and numerical investigations
Get PDFHybrid systems that combine steel beams with cross-laminated timber (CLT) floor slabs can be vulnerable to fire, given the combustible nature of timber. Specifically, when unprotected, heat from a fire can conduct through steel beams to the CLT panels, which in turn may experience loss of mechanical properties, and possible charring (and combustion) in the connection zone between the CLT panel and the steel beam. Accordingly, this paper aims to establish thermal profiles in hybrid steel-timber floor cross-sections exposed to fire through experimental and numerical investigations. Results from fire tests and numerical validation studies on hybrid cross-sections exposed to a standard fire are presented; a total of six experiments with unprotected, partially protected, and fully protected steel sections were conducted following an ISO 834-1 standard fire exposure. Furthermore, a two-dimensional numerical heat transfer model was developed using SAFIR software, to predict the evolution of temperatures in the hybrid cross-section. The results confirm that passive fire protection of the steelwork using intumescent coatings plays a key role in determining the extent of charring in the connection region between the CLT panel and the steel section. In addition, temperature predictions from the developed numerical model show reasonable agreement with the experimental measurements
High-performance curved sections in 3D printed continuous carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites using aligned fibre deposition
Get PDFThis paper presents high-performance curved sections in 3D printed continuous carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites using an aligned fibre deposition (AFD) method on a 6-axis robotic arm. 3D printed curved composite beams using both AFD and conventional methods are mechanically tested under four-point bending and scanned by X-ray computed microtomography (μCT) to characterise the fibre distribution and develop image-based finite element models. Compared to conventional printing method using a commercial nozzle, the proposed AFD method significantly improves the fibre alignment and reduces void content in the printed composites, and the curved beam strength is calculated as 204.2 N and 224.5 N for the cases of 7 mm and 15 mm radius of curvature, achieving an improvement of 34.0% and 45.3%, respectively. The modelling produces excellently matched stiffness with the experimental measurement, providing useful insights into the stress and strain distributions. The combination of experimental data and modelling results shows that the alignment of fibres in the curved composite beams plays a key role in improving mechanical performance and determining the final failure mode
Social and emotional cognition in Pleistocene hominin evolution:The role of biocultural processes
Get PDFPatterns and processes of social cognition underlie much of the behavioral and ecological flexibility and adaptive capacity that characterizes the primate order. The hominin lineage emerged from a branch of primates, hominoids, particularly reliant on the navigation of complex intra and inter-group social relations as a central dynamic of their niche. Over the past few decades much research on hominin evolution has resituated focus from explaining the uniqueness of the big-brain, hyper-social, cognitively distinct Homo sapiens, to a broader inquiry into the potential process, pathways, and dynamics of the evolution of a hominin niche, or niches, rooted in increasingly complex social cognition. In this essay we review key aspects of this current paradigm and argue for the expanded inclusion of the possibilities of socio-emotional cognition in a biocultural approach as advantageous in developing a more robust descriptive framework for theory and method in the study of human evolution. We combine several sources and examples to highlight specific theoretical approaches to assist in developing a common and more integrative framework for investigating social and emotional cognition as a key component of the biocultural niche in Pleistocene hominins
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