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When Does Speech Perform Regulable Action?:A Critique of Speech Act Theory’s Application to Free Speech Regulation
Get PDFThis paper examines the application of speech act theory to free speech regulation and criticises the idea that an understanding of speech which performs speech acts can be of use in identifying regulable speech. It traces the legal application of speech act theory from its initial uses to the more contemporary. In response, this paper seeks to demonstrate that this influential legal application reaches conclusions against the core insight of speech act theory – that all speech performs actions in the relevant, illocutionary and performative, sense. Consequently, an arbitrary method in regulating speech has taken firm hold in contemporary free speech theory, through which some speech is erroneously perceived to be more like a form of speech act than speech proper. I examine the lessons of speech act theory alongside this free speech literature to conclude that we should not ask whether an utterance is an act but instead what kind of act it is, with the goal of refocusing on normative questions pertaining to speech regulation
Inhaled Corticosteroids Alone and in Combination With Long-Acting beta(2) Receptor Agonists to Treat Reduced Lung Function in Preterm-Born Children A Randomized Clinical Trial:A Randomized Clinical Trial
Get PDFImportance Decreases in future lung function are a hallmark of preterm birth, but studies for management of decreased lung function are limited.Objective To determine whether 12 weeks of treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) alone or in combination with long-acting β2 agonists (LABA) improves spirometry and exercise capacity in school-aged preterm-born children who had percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (%FEV1) less than or equal to 85% compared with inhaled placebo treatment.Design, Setting, and Participants A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to evaluate ICS and ICS/LABA against placebo. Preterm-born children (age, 7-12 years; gestation ≤34 weeks at birth) who did not have clinically significant congenital, cardiopulmonary, or neurodevelopmental abnormalities underwent spirometry, exercise testing, and measurement of fractional exhaled nitric oxide before and after treatment. A total of 144 preterm-born children at the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff, UK, were identified and enrolled between July 1, 2017, and August 31, 2019.Interventions Each child was randomized to 1 of 3 cohorts: fluticasone propionate, 50 μg, with placebo; fluticasone propionate, 50 μg, with salmeterol, 25 μg; or placebo inhalers, all given as 2 puffs twice daily for 12 weeks. Children receiving preexisting ICS treatment underwent washout prior to randomization to ICS or ICS/LABA.Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was between-group differences assessed by adjusted pretreatment and posttreatment differences of %FEV1 using analysis of covariance. Intention-to-treat analysis was conducted.Results Of 144 preterm-born children who were identified with %FEV1 less than or equal to 85%, 53 were randomized. Treatment allocation was 20 children receiving ICS (including 5 with prerandomization ICS), 19 children receiving ICS/LABA (including 4 with prerandomization ICS), and 14 children receiving placebo. The mean (SD) age of children was 10.8 (1.2) years, and 29 of the randomized children (55%) were female. The posttreatment %FEV1 was adjusted for sex, gestation, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intrauterine growth restriction, pretreatment corticosteroid status, treatment group, and pretreatment values. Posttreatment adjusted means for %FEV1, using analysis of covariance, were 7.7% (95% CI, −0.27% to 15.72%; P = .16) higher in the ICS group and 14.1% (95% CI, 7.3% to 21.0%; P = .002) higher in the ICS/LABA group compared with the placebo group. Active treatment decreased the fractional exhaled nitric oxide and improved postexercise bronchodilator response but did not improve exercise capacity. One child developed cough when starting inhaler treatment; no other adverse events reported during the trial could be attributed to the inhaler treatment.Conclusions and Relevance The results of this randomized clinical trial suggest that combined ICS/LABA treatment is beneficial for prematurity-associated lung disease in children.Trial Registration EudraCT number: 2015-003712-2
Maternal adverse childhood experiences and their association with preterm birth: secondary analysis of data from universal health visiting
Get PDFAbstract: Background: Being born before full gestation can have short-term and life-long health implications, yet it remains difficult to determine the risk of preterm birth among expectant mothers. Across different health settings, increasing attention is given to the health and behavioural consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as child abuse or neglect, or exposure to harmful household environments (e.g. in which caregivers abuse alcohol), and the potential value of understanding these hidden harms when supporting individuals and families. A large international evidence base describes the association between childhood adversity and early years outcomes for mothers and children. However, the relationship between maternal ACEs and preterm birth has received far less attention. Methods: Secondary analysis was carried out on anonymised cross-sectional data from health visiting services in south and west Wales that had previously captured information on mothers’ ACEs during routine contacts. Demographic data and information on mothers’ health were extracted from the Healthy Child Wales Programme. Results: Half of all mothers sampled had experienced at least one ACE, with a history of ACEs more common among younger, white British mothers and those residing in deprived areas. Preterm birth was significantly independently associated with retrospective reports of childhood sexual abuse (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 3.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.19–12.32, p = 0.025), neglect (AOR = 7.60, 95%CI = 1.81–31.97, p = 0.006) and overall ACE exposure (AOR = 2.67, 95%CI = 1.14–6.23, p = 0.024), with one in ten mothers (10.0%) who experienced ≥4 ACEs having preterm birth. Sub-analyses revealed a more pronounced relationship among mothers with no known chronic health conditions, with those with ≥4 ACEs and no known chronic condition four times more likely to give birth preterm (AOR = 3.89, 95%CI = 1.40–10.80, p = 0.009). Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of the entire maternal experience. The experience of childhood adversity can have a lasting impact into and beyond the prenatal period, potentially increasing the risk of preterm birth, even among otherwise healthy women. Increasing our understanding of the potential perinatal outcomes associated with ACEs can help to inform how maternity services and partners offer trauma-sensitive support to mitigate some of the risks of early parturition, as well as target intergenerational cycles of adversity and poor health
Calm and Frenzy: marine obligate hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria sustain ocean wellness
Get PDFAccording to current estimates, the annual volume of crude oil entering the ocean due to both anthropogenic activities and naturally occurring seepages reaches approximately 8.3 million metric tons. Huge discharges from accidents have caused large-scale environmental disasters with extensive damage to the marine ecosystem. The natural clean-up of petroleum spills in marine environments is carried out primarily by naturally occurring obligate hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (OHCB). The natural hosts of OHCB include a range of marine primary producers, unicellular photosynthetic eukaryotes and cyanobacteria, which have been documented as both, suppliers of hydrocarbon-like compounds that fuel the ‘cryptic’ hydrocarbon cycle and as a source of isolation of new OHCB. A very new body of evidence suggests that OHCB are not only the active early stage colonizers of plastics and hence the important component of the ocean’s ‘plastisphere’ but also encode an array of enzymes experimentally proven to act on petrochemical and bio-based polymers
Deep learning for safety assessment of nuclear power reactors: Reliability, explainability, and research opportunities
Get PDFDeep learning algorithms provide plausible benefits for efficient prediction and analysis of nuclear reactor safety phenomena. However, research works that discuss the critical challenges with deep learning models from the reactor safety perspective are limited. This article presents the state-of-the-art in deep learning application in nuclear reactor safety analysis, and the inherent limitations in deep learning models. In addition, critical issues such as deep learning model explainability, sensitivity and uncertainty constraints, model reliability, and trustworthiness are discussed from the nuclear safety perspective, and robust solutions to the identified issues are also presented. As a major contribution, a deep feedforward neural network is developed as a surrogate model to predict turbulent eddy viscosity in Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulation. Further, the deep feedforward neural network performance is compared with the conventional Spalart Allmaras closure model in the RANS turbulence closure simulation. In addition, the Shapely Additive Explanation (SHAP) and the local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME) APIs are introduced to explain the deep feedforward neural network predictions. Finally, exciting research opportunities to optimize deep learning-based reactor safety analysis are presented
Effects of bottom trawling and hypoxia on benthic invertebrate communities
Get PDFMarine benthic habitats in continental shelf regions are increasingly impacted by hypoxia caused by the combination of eutrophication and climate warming. Many regions that have the potential for hypoxic conditions are being fished by mobile bottom-contacting fishing gears. The combined effects of trawling and hypoxia may be synergistic and disproportionally impact benthic fauna, or they may act antagonistically, leading to smaller trawl impacts in hypoxic areas. Yet, few studies have quantified how bottom trawling and hypoxia interact to affect benthic communities. Here we examine these combined effects on benthic community biomass and abundance, the number of large organisms, the longevity distribution of the community and the vertical position of fauna in the sediment in the southern Baltic Sea. We find large declines in benthic biomass and abundance that co-occur with declines in near-bed oxygen concentrations from 5.8 to 0.8 ml O2 l-1. Conversely, no relationships and weak positive relationships are found between bottom trawl disturbance and benthic community biomass and abundance. No interacting effects between hypoxia and trawling are detected. Our findings therefore highlight a low likelihood of synergistic impacts of bottom trawling and hypoxia on the benthic communities studied. These results suggest that management may prioritize benthic protection from fishing in regions that are not in a state of oxygen stres
Interpopulational variation and ontogenetic shift in the venom composition of Lataste's viper (Vipera latastei, Boscá 1878) from northern Portugal
Get PDFLataste's viper (Vipera latastei) is a venomous European viper endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, recognised as medically important by the World Health Organization. To date, no comprehensive characterisation of this species' venom has been reported. Here, we analysed the venoms of juvenile and adult specimens of V. latastei from two environmentally different populations from northern Portugal. Using bottom-up venomics, we produced six venom proteomes (three per population) from vipers belonging to both age classes (i.e., two juveniles and four adults), and RP-HPLC profiles of 54 venoms collected from wild specimens. Venoms from juveniles and adults differed in their chromatographic profiles and relative abundances of their toxins, suggesting the occurrence of ontogenetic changes in venom composition. Specifically, snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP) was the most abundant toxin family in juvenile venoms, while snake venom serine proteinases (SVSPs), phospholipases A2 (PLA2s), and C-type lectin-like (CTLs) proteins were the main toxins comprising adult venoms. The RP-HPLC venom profiles were found to vary significantly between the two sampled localities, indicating geographic variability. Furthermore, the presence/absence of certain peaks in the venom chromatographic profiles appeared to be significantly correlated also to factors like body size and sex of the vipers. Our findings show that V. latastei venom is a variable phenotype. The intraspecific differences we detected in its composition likely mirror changes in the feeding ecology of this species, taking place during different life stages and under different environmental pressures
The feasibility of a conceptual model, EXP-Hydro, to simulate streamflow as a potential for hydropower generation of seven catchments in Wales for the years of 2040-2080, benchmarked against Kling-Gupta Efficiency
Get PDFA Virological Perspective on the Use of Bacteriophages as Hydrological Tracers (A review paper)
Get PDFHydrological tracers, commonly used for characterizing water flow paths and sources, do not often meet all the requirements of an ideal tracer. Trans-disciplinary approaches are advocated as the way forward to enlarge the number of tracers available for investigating hydrological processes. Since the 19th century, hydrological tracers have been increasingly used, particularly in underground areas. The tracer toolbox at hand includes a large variety of options, including fluorescent dyes, isotopes, salts or bacteriophages, with each tracer offering specific qualities and complementarities. While their potential for hydrological studies has been studied in karstic environments since the 1960s, bacteriophages remain insufficiently understood. According to the selection methodology used in this review, more than thirty experiments have been listed, involving in total around seventeen different bacteriophages. These have facilitated the investigation of groundwater, surface water (i.e., river, lake and marine water), wetland and wastewater hydrological processes. The tracing experiments have also highlighted the possible interaction between bacteriophages and the surrounding environments. Bacteriophages have successfully helped researchers to understand the water flow within watersheds. Certain advantages, such as the sensitivity of detection, the ease of producing high concentrations of bacteriophages to be injected, their specificity for a host and their non-pathogenicity for human and animal cells, make bacteriophages appreciable tracer candidates for tracing experiments. However, the adsorption process or environmental factors such as temperature, pH and UV light considerably impact the fate of bacteriophages, thereby leading to an attenuation of the phage signal. Considering both the flaws and the qualities of bacteriophages, their use as hydrological tracers requires new insight and further discussions regarding experimental tracing conditions
The implications of vehicle collisions for the Endangered endemic Zanzibar red colobus Piliocolobus kirkii
Get PDFRoads affect wildlife in a variety of negative ways. Road ecology studies have mostly concentrated on areas in the northern hemisphere despite the potentially greater impact of roads on biodiversity in tropical habitats. Here, we examine 4 years (January 2016–December 2019) of opportunistic observations of mammalian roadkill along a road intersecting Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park, Unguja, Zanzibar. In particular, we assess the impact of collisions on the population of an endemic primate, the Endangered Zanzibar red colobus Piliocolobus kirkii. Primates accounted for the majority of roadkill in this dataset. Monthly rainfall was not associated with roadkill frequency for mammals generally, nor for the Zanzibar red colobus. No single age–sex class of colobus was found dead more often than expected given their occurrence in the local population. The overall effect of roadkill on colobus populations in habitats fragmented by roads is unknown given the lack of accurate, long-term life history data for this species. Our findings suggest that mortality from collisions with vehicles in some groups of colobus is within the range of mortality rates other primates experience under natural predation. Unlike natural predators, however, vehicles do not kill selectively, so their impact on populations may differ. Although a comparison with historical accounts suggests that the installation of speedbumps along the road near the Park's entrance has led to a significant decrease in colobus roadkill, further actions to mitigate the impact of the road could bring substantial conservation benefits