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Why owls fly while ostriches flounder : an empirical study of advice takers and non-advice takers
Get PDFFunding: ESRC grant number ES/W010259/1.On account of its continued focus in public policy, external advice for small firms - so-called “guided preparation”- has become a topic of perennial research interest for small business scholars for over 25 years. Despite this, evidence surrounding the efficacy of this form of entrepreneurial support is far from certain. Drawing on a major longitudinal dataset this paper examines the differences between SMEs who take advice and those who do not. Our findings are quite emphatic: small firms who take external advice (i.e. Owls), are in general better quality and more informed firms. By contrast SMEs who don’t seek advice (i.e. Ostriches) tend to be less innovative, less profitable, and more financially constrained than their advice seeking counterparts. The work has important implications for policy makers which suggest the need to encourage more pro-active SME advice takers, especially for innovative SME seeking recourse to strategic forms of advice.Peer reviewe
Seconder of the vote of thanks to Cork et al. and contribution to the discussion of ‘methods for estimating the exposure–response curve to inform the new safety standards for fine particulate matter’ by Cork et al.
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Quantifying radial migration in the Milky Way : inefficient over short time-scales but essential to the very outer disc beyond ∼15 kpc
Get PDFFunding: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2009993. SH was supported by an National Science Foundation Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship under award AST-1801940. DAGH acknowledges support from the State Research Agency (AEI) of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) under grant AYA2017-88254-P. DT acknowledges support from the Science, Technology and Facilities Council through the Consolidated Grant Cosmology and Astrophysics at Portsmouth, ST/S000550/1. JGF-T gratefully acknowledges the grant support provided by Proyecto Fondecyt Iniciación No. 11220340, and also from ANID Concurso de Fomento a la Vinculación Internacional para Instituciones de Investigación Regionales (Modalidad corta duración) Proyecto No. FOVI210020, and from the Joint Committee ESO-Government of Chile 2021 (ORP 023/2021).Stellar radial migration plays an important role in reshaping a galaxy’s structure and the radial distribution of stellar population properties. In this work, we revisit reported observational evidence for radial migration and quantify its strength using the age–[Fe/H] distribution of stars across the Milky Way with APOGEE data. We find a broken age–[Fe/H] relation in the Galactic disc at r > 6 kpc, with a more pronounced break at larger radii. To quantify the strength of radial migration, we assume stars born at each radius have a unique age and metallicity, and then decompose the metallicity distribution function (MDF) of mono-age young populations into different Gaussian components that originated from various birth radii at rbirth < 13 kpc. We find that, at ages of 2 and 3 Gyr, roughly half the stars were formed within 1 kpc of their present radius, and very few stars (<5 per cent) were formed more than 4 kpc away from their present radius. These results suggest limited short-distance radial migration and inefficient long-distance migration in the Milky Way during the last 3 Gyr. In the very outer disc beyond 15 kpc, the observed age–[Fe/H] distribution is consistent with the prediction of pure radial migration from smaller radii, suggesting a migration origin of the very outer disc. We also estimate intrinsic metallicity gradients at ages of 2 and 3 Gyr of −0.061 and −0.063 dex kpc−1, respectively.Peer reviewe
Design and experimental validation of a photocatalyst recommender based on a large language model
Get PDFFunding: M.K. and S.S. were supported by Allchemy, Inc. Analysis of results and writing of the paper by B.A.G. was supported by the Institute for Basic Science, Korea (project code IBS-R020-D1). The UK authors thank the Leverhulme Trust for support (RPG-2023–110), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for funding (EP/W007517/1, EP/W015137/1, EP/Z535291/1, and EP/W522259/1), the European Commission (PhotoReAct ITN: 956324), Syngenta and Johnson Matthey for support. F.M. M.A.B., and T.C. thank the EaSI-CAT CDT at the University of St Andrews for support in the form of a studentship.Utilizing an extensive library of literature on photocatalytic transformations, we disclose the development of a machine learning (ML) model for the recommendation of photocatalysts most suitable for reactions of interest. The model is trained on > 36 000 such literature examples and uses an architecture inspired by the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformer (BERT) large language model. Under cross-validation, it can suggest the “correct” photocatalysts with ∼90% accuracy. When experimentally tested on five out-of-box reactions, this algorithm consistently suggested photocatalysts that gave yields competitive to those chosen by human researchers and frequently suggested alternative photocatalysts that are potentially more appealing than the originally selected photocatalyst. Altogether, this platform serves as a valuable tool for researchers undertaking reaction optimization programs. The model is free to use at https://photocatals.grzybowskigroup.pl/predict/.Peer reviewe
Priority Monism in Anne Conway : mediation through the whole
Get PDFThere are passages of Conway’s Principles that treat all of creation as one integrated substance, but others that treat creation as constituted by indefinitely many substances. Recent work attempts to assuage the tension between these possibilities by arguing that Conway is a priority monist about creation, while other work has pushed back on this position, holding that Conway is better interpreted as a straightforward pluralist. In defense of the priority monist reading, this paper entertains a radical thesis: that Conway’s Christ is the most fundamental created substance of which all other created substances are proper parts. On this reading, Christ is identical to the whole of creation, despite Conway’s commitment to substantial distinction between Christ and creatures on the basis of their mutability. While creatures are mutable for better and worse, Christ is only mutable toward the good. Since the proposed view identifies Christ with the mereological totality of created beings, it holds that the world is perpetually increasing in goodness, though any of its parts may intermittently deteriorate.Peer reviewe
The SOPHIE search for northern extrasolar planets : XIX. A system including a cold sub-Neptune potentially transiting a V = 6.5 star HD 88986
Get PDFFunding: e received funding from the French Programme National de Physique Stellaire (PNPS) and the Programme National de Planétologie (PNP) of CNRS (INSU). N.H. acknowledges CNES postdoctoral funding fellowship. N.H. also acknowledges the financial support of the French embassy in Tehran as well as the Iran Ministry of Science Research and Technology. J.S.J. acknowledges support by FONDECYT grant 1201371 and from the ANID BASAL project FB210003. NASA supported DR under award number NNA16BD14C for NASA Academic Mission Services. A.C., X.D., and T.F. acknowledge support by the French National Research Agency in the framework of the Investissement d’ Avenir program (ANR-15-IDEX-02), through the funding of the « Origin of Life » project of the Grenoble-Alpes University. We acknowledge funding from the French ANR under contract number ANR18CE310019 (SPlaSH). This work was supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through national funds and by FEDER through COMPETE2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizacão by these grants: UID/FIS/04434/2019, UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020, PTDC/FIS-AST/32113/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032113, PTDC/FIS-AST/28953/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028953, PTDC/ FIS-AST/28987/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028987. N.C.S. further acknowledges funding by the European Union (ERC, FIERCE, 101052347). O.V. acknowledges funding from the ANR project “EXACT” (ANR-21-CE49-0008-01), from the Centre National d’ Études Spatiales (CNES), and from the CNRS/INSU Programme National de Planétologie (PNP). M.H. acknowledges support from ANID-Millennium Science Initiative-ICN12_009. S.D. is funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (grant number ST/V004735/1). This work has been carried out within the framework of the NCCR PlanetS supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under grants 51NF40_182901 and 51NF40_205606. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (project SPICE DUNE, grant agreement No 947634).Transiting planets with orbital periods longer than 40 d are extremely rare among the 5000+ planets discovered so far. The lack of discoveries of this population poses a challenge to research into planetary demographics, formation, and evolution. Here, we present the detection and characterization of HD 88986 b, a potentially transiting sub-Neptune, possessing the longest orbital period among known transiting small planets ( 25%). Additionally, we identified the presence of a massive companion in a wider orbit around HD 88986. To validate this discovery, we used a combination of more than 25 yr of extensive radial velocity (RV) measurements (441 SOPHIE data points, 31 ELODIE data points, and 34 HIRES data points), Gaia DR3 data, 21 yr of photometric observations with the automatic photoelectric telescope (APT), two sectors of TESS data, and a 7-day observation of CHEOPS. Our analysis reveals that HD 88986 b, based on two potential single transits on sector 21 and sector 48 which are both consistent with the predicted transit time from the RV model, is potentially transiting. The joint analysis of RV and photometric data show that HD 88986 b has a radius of 2.49 ± 0.18 R⊕, a mass of 17.2−3.8+4.0 M⊕, and it orbits every 146.05−0.40+0.43 d around a subgiant HD 88986 which is one of the closest and brightest exoplanet host stars (G2Vtype, R = 1.543 ± 0.065 R⊙, V = 6.47 ± 0.01 mag, distance = 33.37 ± 0.04 pc). The nature of the outer, massive companion is still to be confirmed; a joint analysis of RVs, HIPPARCOS, and Gaia astrometric data shows that with a 3σ confidence interval, its semi-major axis is between 16.7 and 38.8 au and its mass is between 68 and 284 MJup. HD 88986 b’s wide orbit suggests the planet did not undergo significant mass loss due to extreme-ultraviolet radiation from its host star. Therefore, it probably maintained its primordial composition, allowing us to probe its formation scenario. Furthermore, the cold nature of HD 88986 b (460 ± 8 K), thanks to its long orbital period, will open up exciting opportunities for future studies of cold atmosphere composition characterization. Moreover, the existence of a massive companion alongside HD 88986 b makes this system an interesting case study for understanding planetary formation and evolution.Peer reviewe
Adaptive multi-interventional trial platform to improve patient care for fibrotic interstitial lung diseases
Get PDFFunding: This study was funded by Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme (NIHR154383).Background Fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (fILDs) are a heterogeneous group of lung diseases associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite a large increase in the number of clinical trials in the last 10 years, current regulatory-approved management approaches are limited to two therapies that prevent the progression of fibrosis. The drug development pipeline is long and there is an urgent need to accelerate this process. This manuscript introduces the concept and design of an innovative research approach to drug development in fILD: a global Randomised Embedded Multifactorial Adaptive Platform in fILD (REMAP-ILD). Methods Description of the REMAP-ILD concept and design: the specific terminology, design characteristics (multifactorial, adaptive features, statistical approach), target population, interventions, outcomes, mission and values, and organisational structure. Results The target population will be adult patients with fILD, and the primary outcome will be a disease progression model incorporating forced vital capacity and mortality over 12 months. Responsive adaptive randomisation, prespecified thresholds for success and futility will be used to assess the effectiveness and safety of interventions. REMAP-ILD embraces the core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion for patients and researchers, and prioritises an open-science approach to data sharing and dissemination of results. Conclusion By using an innovative and efficient adaptive multi-interventional trial platform design, we aim to accelerate and improve care for patients with fILD. Through worldwide collaboration, novel analytical methodology and pragmatic trial delivery, REMAP-ILD aims to overcome major limitations associated with conventional randomised controlled trial approaches to rapidly improve the care of people living with fILD.Peer reviewe
Rising opportunities in catalytic dehydrogenative polymerization
Get PDFFunding: This research is funded by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (MR/W007460/1) and an EPSRC grant (EP/Y005449/1; selected by ERC funded by EPSRC).This article gives a perspective on various types of catalytic dehydrogenative polymerization reactions (including organic and main group polymers) while introducing “hydrogen-borrowing polymerization” and “acceptorless dehydrogenative polymerization” to this class. Limitations and future opportunities of each method have been discussed.Peer reviewe
Little Being in the Great Art Worlds : an anthropological study on self, creativity, aspiration and escape among young Chinese artists in London
Get PDFThis thesis delves into the life and art-practice experiences of young Chinese artists (also Chinese-speaking and Sino-phone artists) navigating the art scenes of London. Drawing from a year-long fieldwork study, it explores the nuanced interplay between being in and out, belonging and exclusion within the perceived art worlds. By examining the challenges faced by these artists in reconciling their cultural identities with the expectations of emerging in the art world, the research aims to elucidate the intricate dynamics of being creative and perceiving authenticity. In particular, it interrogates the notion that Chineseness cannot seamlessly merge with diasporic experiences in the realm of artistic perception and practice, uncovering the role and limitations of identity politics in shaping and sometimes constraining artistic expression. Through ethnographic participation and experimental narratives, for example, in forms of play and short fiction, this study engages in conversations on anthropology and literature, creative ethnographies, and the transformative power of artistic expression in transcending cultural boundaries
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