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Bridges and vertices in heteroboranes
Get PDFA number of (hetero)boranes are known in which a main group atom X ‘bridges’ a B—B connectivity in the open face, and in such species X has previously been described as simply a bridge or, alternatively, as a vertex in a larger cluster. In this study we describe an approach to distinguish between these options based on identifying the best fit of the experimental {Bx} cluster fragment with alternate exemplar {Bx} fragments derived from DFT-optimized [BnHn]2− models. In most of the examples studied atom X is found to be better regarded as a vertex, having ‘a ‘verticity’ of ca. 60–65%. Consideration of our results leads to the suggestion that the radial electron contribution from X to the overall skeletal electron count is more significant than the tangential contribution.Peer reviewe
Does remission of type 2 diabetes matter? A qualitative study of healthcare professionals' perspectives and views about supporting remission in primary care
Get PDFFunding: Chief Scientist Office.Background: Trials conducted in highly selected populations have shown that type 2 diabetes (T2D) remission is possible, but the feasibility and acceptability of supporting remission in routine clinical practice remain uncertain. Aim: We explored primary care professionals' perceptions and understandings of T2D remission and their views about supporting remission within routine clinical care. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 GPs and nine nurses working in Scottish general practices. Data were analysed thematically. Results: Most participants considered remission to be a motivational tool but were unsure that it actually altered clinical management, due to patients still requiring follow-up and their expectations that remission is often temporary because of the constant effort required to sustain remission in an obesogenic environment. These perceptions, together with participants' concerns about loss to follow-up of patients who were likely to relapse and/or were still at high cardiovascular risk, appeared to underpin a reluctance to code remission in medical records. Most participants did not consider remission support to be a clinical priority. Moreover, they described being sensitive to the pitfalls of only encouraging some patients to pursue remission, because if resources were directed towards apparently more motivated, affluent individuals, there was a risk that this could widen health inequalities. Conclusion: For integration of remission support into mainstream T2D care to be successful, primary care professionals may need to be persuaded that remission matters more than encouraging well-managed T2D. They would also benefit from clear guidance on follow-up and optimal support for people in remission.Peer reviewe
Establishing quality assurance for COVID-19 antigen tests in the Indo Pacific Region : a multi-site implementation study
Get PDFFunding: Support for this program was provided through funding from The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), the global alliance for diagnostics, in the context of their broader role in the ACT Accelerator.Background: Quality assurance programs (QAPs) are used to evaluate the analytical quality of a diagnostic test and provide feedback to improve quality processes in testing. Rapid diagnostic tests were used in both laboratory and non-laboratory settings to diagnose COVID-19, although varied in reported performance. We aimed to design and implement a QAP for antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) for COVID-19 in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Papua New Guinea. Methods: Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 material derived from cell culture of Wildtype, Delta, and Omicron isolates were used to manufacture 435 quality control (QC) panels (consisting of a single positive and negative sample) and 36 external quality assessment (EQA) panels for use across 15 sites in accordance with provided training and protocols. Results: In total, 369 QC results and 112 EQA results were submitted by electronic reporting or paper forms by two countries. 19·3 % (34/176) positive and 99·5 % (192/193) negative samples were correctly reported in the QC, and 37·5 % (30/80) positive and 97·5 % (39/40) negative samples were correctly reported in the EQA. Conclusion: This QAP demonstrates the importance of operator training and the design of QAP materials, which may have contributed to the high rate of false-negative interpretations in known COVID-19 positive samples. The implementation of this project, to our knowledge the first of its kind in the region and one of only a few globally, emphasised the importance of quality assurance principles, including non-laboratory community testing sites, to promote diagnostic quality for COVID-19 testing.Peer reviewe
Net zero and the peatland carbon frontier : contesting incentives for ecosystem restoration in Scotland's Western Isles
Get PDFPeatlands have gained global political attention in recent years thanks to their capacity to store large quantities of carbon when in a healthy condition. To reach its ambitious target, Net Zero by 2045, the Scottish Government pledged to restore 250,000 hectares of its peatlands by 2030. Mobilising private finance is considered key to achieving this target. This paper critically assesses the need for ‘green’ finance in peatland restoration, asking how the progression of the ‘carbon frontier’ – the commodification of nature’s services – into the Highlands and Islands is influencing the perception and management of, and relations with, peatlands, particularly on crofting land. Evidence was gathered during seven weeks of fieldwork in the Isle of Lewis, participation in a variety of stakeholder events, semi-structured interviews with representatives of key stakeholder groups, and through an extensive policy review. Conceptualising the carbon frontier along three interrelated dimensions, (i) carbon obsession, (ii) carbon rush, and (iii) carbon stewardship, we contribute to the critical global scholarship on revealing the multiple faultlines of the natural capital paradigm central to net-zero strategies.Peer reviewe
Exploring the non-linear dynamics between commercial real estate and systemic risk
Get PDFThe commercial real estate (CRE) market significantly influences financial stability, given its size, use as collateral, and cyclicality. This study explores macro-financial vulnerabilities arising from the CRE market, revealing that adverse developments in CRE capital values amplify systemic risk across financial sub-sectors, namely, banks, insurance companies and investment trusts, consistent with the collateral channel hypothesis. The CRE and financial markets relationship, however, displays nonlinearities. We introduce a UK CRE Misalignment index which integrates various market indicators to assess deviations from fundamental values in the CRE sector. We find that during market misalignments, the link between systemic risk and CRE growth weakens, suggesting that further property price increases in an overheated market could lead to a bubble and heightened systemic risk, in line with the deviation hypothesis. Finally, we employ a quantile regression model that captures another aspect of this non-linear relationship. We find that positive (negative) developments in the CRE market decrease (increase) the right tail of the historical systemic risk distribution, but CRE variation has a weak impact on the left tail and cannot effectively reduce systemic risk in periods of growth.Peer reviewe
An opinion regarding the grid layout as a goal and parameter
Get PDFThis opinion paper has the goal of offering two opinions as a guide for further and better research on the grid layout motivated by its coming back to planning research and practice. By analytical reasoning referencing relevant researches and real world examples, it gives from a town planner's perspective an account for both the popularity and resilience of the grid layout. The first opinion is that the grid layout (gridiron (orthogonal/rectangular)) is a default planning option in relation to the town and country layout or pattern of land apportionment. The second and more important, based on two case studies (one from colonial Hong Kong and another from the southern bank of the River Clyde, in Glasgow, Scotland), is that the conversion of an informal and customary layout into a formal grid land pattern and its subsequent modification is, in the word of Libecap et al. (2011), a major “institutional change” that involves high transaction costs measured in terms of time. Seven research issues are discussed.Peer reviewe
An acetate-yielding diet imprints an immune and anti-microbial programme against enteric infection
Get PDFFunding: We thank Ben Scherer from CSIRO for making the AIN93-G based diets and undertaking SCFA analyses, Dragana Stanley, Juan Pacheco, Sara Bordbar, Hoey Yein Goh, Caroline Ang Kim Lian and Medina Pell for technical assistance. We thank the Dorothy Loo and the Translational Research Institute’s Proteomic Core Facility for their assistance. EHW was supported by grants from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (2-2013-34, 2-SRA-2015-306-Q-R) and Children’s Hospital Foundation (WIS0202018). Part of this research was carried out at the Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, QLD 4102, Australia. The Translational Research Institute is supported by a grant from the Australian Government.Objectives. During gastrointestinal infection, dysbiosis can result in decreased production of microbially derived short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). In response to the presence of intestinal pathogens, we examined whether an engineered acetate- or butyrate-releasing diet can rectify the deficiency of SCFAs and lead to the resolution of enteric infection. Methods. We tested whether a high acetate- or butyrate-producing diet (HAMSA or HAMSB, respectively) condition Citrobacter rodentium infection in mice and assess its impact on host-microbiota interactions. We analysed the adaptive and innate immune responses, changes in gut microbiome function, epithelial barrier function and the molecular mechanism via metabolite sensing G protein-coupled receptor 43 (GPR43) and IL-22 expression. Results. HAMSA diet rectified the deficiency in acetate production and protected against enteric infection. Increased SCFAs affect the expression of pathogen virulence genes. HAMSA diet promoted compositional and functional changes in the gut microbiota during infection similar to healthy microbiota from non-infected mice. Bacterial changes were evidenced by the production of proteins involved in acetate utilisation, starch and sugar degradation, amino acid biosynthesis, carbohydrate transport and metabolism. HAMSA diet also induced changes in host proteins critical in glycolysis, wound healing such as GPX1 and epithelial architecture such as EZR1 and PFN1. Dietary acetate assisted in rapid epithelial repair, as shown by increased colonic Muc-2, Il-22, and anti-microbial peptides. We found that acetate increased numbers of colonic IL-22 producing TCRαβ+CD8αβ+ and TCRγδ+CD8αα+ intraepithelial lymphocytes expressing GPR43. Conclusion. HAMSA diet may be an effective therapeutic approach for fighting inflammation and enteric infections and offer a safe alternative that may impact on human health.Peer reviewe
Task design and rater effects in task-based language assessment
Get PDFTask-based language assessment represents a major component of task-based language teaching syllabi. Current perspectives emphasise the importance of tasks in the assessment process, suggesting that adherence to influential models of language production during task design yields predictable test outcomes. The current study contends that the significance of the rater has been overlooked, resulting in adverse consequences when employing current task-based frameworks. The article reviews literature on the rating process, with a focus on interactions between rater characteristics, rating scales, and rater effects. Drawing on the findings of the review, the author proposes a revised model of task-based language assessment that curbs the impact of task design on test scores. The revised model underscores the need to regard raters as active agents in the assessment process to enhance validity and fairness and makes recommendations about minimizing rater effects.Peer reviewe
The geopolitical ecology of conservation : discourse and power in counter wildlife trafficking programmes in Peru
Get PDFThe illegal wildlife trade (IWT) has risen as an emergent threat for conservation. Academia and governments have often ignored IWT in the Americas, but growing interest in counter wildlife trafficking (CWT) in Latin America has created space for non-state actors to influence agendas through CWT programmes. The dynamics and implications of such programmes elucidate the power international discourses and structures have in shaping relationships with nature and between actors in new ways. Extending the theory of geopolitical ecology through a novel engagement with decolonial and feminist approaches, my thesis follows the influence, maps the institutions, and explores how people engage with wild animals in markets to understand the geopolitical ecology of international conservation through CWT programmes in Peru. Data was collected through document and policy reviews, ethnography, and semi-structured interviews with government officers, CWT professionals, and people in three of the main wildlife markets in Peru. Empirically, I find that CWT discourses focused on crime and enforcement-first approaches shape and reshape CWT programmes implemented in Peru, from international conferences to street markets. Even though the Peruvian government maintains a strong discourse on “promoting the sustainable use of wild animals,” enforcement-first actions become a primary focus through the support of non-state actors and in combination with national conditions. In markets, place-based experiences of engaging with wild animals vary, but a strong experience of living in worlds with wild animals contrasts with law-enforcement focused action that aims to separate humans from animals. Policing for conservation in markets elicits conflicting perceptions, at once seen as important and unjust, contributing to mistrust towards the government. In unravelling the geopolitical ecology of conservation, I theorise large conservation non-state organisations as large geopolitical institutions, and CWT programmes as a form of cosmopolitical ordering. This brings new perspectives for considering the decolonisation of international conservation."This work was supported by the University of St Andrews School of Geography and Sustainable Development Postgraduate Scholarship [2020]; the Robertson Scholarship
[2020]; the University of St Andrews Postgraduate Research Fieldwork Bursary [2022]; and the Royal Geographical Society Postgraduate Research Awards [PRA 37.22 2022]."--Fundin
Creating and sustaining a platform for researchers and teachers to communicate : an example of TESOLgraphics
Get PDFThe never-ending gap between research and practice may be explained by two main reasons. First, both researchers and practitioners have limited time and space where they can engage with each other in their busy professional lives. Second, researchers and practitioners sometimes hold negative beliefs of each other's professions, potentially due to the inherent yet unnecessary social status differences. As an online collaborative platform, TESOLgraphics (tesolgraphics.com) aims to break through these obstacles and create an equitable research–practice relationship in which everyone's professional knowledge and experience are equally valued. In the hope of inviting more researchers and practitioners to TESOLgraphics as well as to any other initiatives with similar agenda, we report our experiences in the form of collaborative autoethnography. In this article, we discuss three aspects: (a) motivation for and contribution to TESOLgraphics; (b) the impact of TESOLgraphics on promoting a research-practice dialogue; and (c) hopes for a future research–practice relationship.Peer reviewe
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