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A study was conducted to compare the δ(O2/N2) scales used by four laboratories engaged in atmospheric δ(O2/N2) measurements. These laboratories are the Research Institute for Environmental Management Technology, Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (EMRI/AIST); the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES); Tohoku University (TU); and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). Therefore, five high-precision standard mixtures for the O2 molar fraction gravimetrically prepared by the National Metrology Institute of Japan, AIST (NMIJ/AIST) with a standard uncertainty of less than 5 per meg (0.001 ‰) were used as round-robin standard mixtures. EMRI/AIST, NIES, TU, and SIO reported the analyzed values of the standard mixtures on their own δ(O2/N2) scales, and the values were compared with the δ(O2/N2) values gravimetrically determined by NMIJ/AIST (the NMIJ/AIST scale). The δ(O2/N2) temporal drift in the five standard mixtures during the intercomparison experiment from May 2017 to March 2020 was corrected based on the δ(O2/N2) values analyzed before and after the laboratory measurements by EMRI/AIST. The scales are compared based on offsets in zero and span. The relative span offsets of EMRI/AIST, TU, NIES, and SIO scales against the NMIJ/AIST scale were -0.11%±0.10%, -0.10%±0.13%, 3.39 %±0.13 %, and 0.93 %±0.10 %, respectively. The largest offset corresponded to a 0.30 Pg yr−1 decrease and increase in global estimates for land biospheric and oceanic CO2 uptakes based on trends in atmospheric CO2 and δ(O2/N2). The deviations in the measured δ(O2/N2) values on the laboratory scales from the NMIJ/AIST scale are 65.8±2.2, 425.7±3.1, 404.5±3.0, and 596.4±2.4 per meg for EMRI/AIST, TU, NIES, and SIO, respectively. The difference between atmospheric δ(O2/N2) values observed at Hateruma Island (HAT; 24.05∘ N, 123.81∘ E), Japan, by EMRI/AIST and NIES were reduced from -329.3±6.9 to -6.6±6.8 per meg by converting their scales to the NMIJ/AIST scale.

Healthcare on both sides of the Atlantic is a highly charged political and economic subject. This work considers US media coverage of the UK's National Health Service (NHS), an under-researched area. We assess the framing of the NHS in editorials, opinion and feature articles during the time of the Obama administration to show how media can perform the role of lesson-drawing, a theory adopted from public policy research. The study also applies the notion of journalistic habitus in this context. Using these ideas, we address a hypothesis which holds that US coverage is framed around the flaws of the UK's NHS. The paper considers how intermedia editorial and news values operate, with commentators drawing a range of negative lessons in both the Democrat- and Republican-supporting press. We find that the NHS was often posited as a flawed international variant of the single-payer model, where newspapers employed an ahistoric explanation of failure and decline.

Tourism development is recognised as an essential tool in promoting economic growth; however, it may also contribute to environmental degradation. Increased pressure for reducing CO2 emissions poses new challenges to policy-makers who try to promote economic growth and environmental protection in tandem. Since 2010, 19 scenic areas in China have been declared as low-carbon tourism demonstration zones. It follows that investigating whether CO2 emissions originating in the tourism industry could, in fact, compromise sustainable development in China becomes an essential area of study. Whilst this is a key concern to society, there are only a limited number of studies that analyse the environmental impact of tourism and the validity of the tourism-led-growth hypothesis. This study considers both domestic and international tourism and explicitly tests the relationship among tourism development, economic growth and CO2 emissions in China, employing a panel vector autoregressive model and utilising regional data between 2006 and 2017. Results show that the development of either international or domestic tourism contributes to economic growth, however, at the expense of the environment.

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is an autoimmune small to medium vessel inflammatory vasculitis that can affect multiple organ systems, with predominantly pulmonary, renal and musculoskeletal manifestations. Rarely, there have been cases involving the genitourinary system, particularly causing urethritis and prostatitis. In some incidences, this may mimic prostate abscess or malignancy. We present a case of a 36-year-old man with refractory urinary retention secondary to prostate abscess due to GPA. This case necessitated transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) and supra-pubic catheterisation, later complicated by a peri-anal abscess and severe urethritis. A potential recto-urethral fistula was noted on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cystourethroscopy, which was managed conservatively with long-term catheter drainage until resolution. The patient ultimately displayed many severe clinical manifestations of a systemic vasculitis and this case report emphasises the importance of considering autoimmune vasculitis conditions as a differential diagnosis when managing inflammatory genitourinary conditions. This case report highlights the importance of obtaining sufficient tissue to make a timely diagnosis in order to initiate immunosuppressant therapy and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

A study was conducted to compare the δ(O2/N2) scales used by four laboratories engaged in atmospheric δ(O2/N2) measurements. These laboratories are the Research Institute for Environmental Management Technology, Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (EMRI/AIST), the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Tohoku University (TU), and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). Therefore, five high-precision standard mixtures for O2 molar fraction gravimetrically prepared by the National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ), AIST (NMIJ/AIST) with a standard uncertainty of less than 5 per meg were used as round-robin standard mixtures. EMRI/AIST, NIES, TU, and SIO reported the analysed values of the standard mixtures on their own δ(O2/N2) scales, and the values were compared with the δ(O2/N2) values gravimetrically determined by NMIJ/AIST (the NMIJ/AIST scale). The δ(O2/N2) temporal drift in the five standard mixtures during the inter-comparison experiment was corrected based on the δ(O2/N2) values analysed before and after the experiments by EMRI/AIST. The scales are compared based on offsets in zero and span. The span offsets from the NMIJ/AIST scale ranged from −0.17 % to 3.3 %, corresponding with the difference of 0.29 Pg yr−1 in the estimates for land biospheric and oceanic CO2 uptakes. The zero offsets from the NMIJ/AIST scale are −581.0 ± 2.2, −221.4 ± 3.1, −243.0 ± 3.0, and −50.7 ± 2.4 per meg for EMRI/AIST, TU, NIES, and SIO, respectively. The atmospheric δ(O2/N2) values observed at Hateruma Island (HAT; 24.05° N, 123.81° E), Japan, by EMRI/AIST and NIES became comparable by converting their scales to the NMIJ/AIST scale.

We report results from a series of diamond-anvil-cell synchrotron x-ray diffraction and large-volume-press experiments, and calculations, to investigate the phase diagram of commercial polycrystalline high-strength Ti-6Al-4V alloy in pressure–temperature space. Up to ∼30 GPa and 886 K, Ti-6Al-4V is found to be stable in the hexagonal-close-packed, or α phase. The effect of temperature on the volume expansion and compressibility of α–Ti-6Al-4V is modest. The martensitic α → ω (hexagonal) transition occurs at ∼30 GPa, with both phases coexisting until at ∼38–40 GPa the transition to the ω phase is completed. Between 300 K and 844 K the α → ω transition appears to be independent of temperature. ω–Ti-6Al-4V is stable to ∼91 GPa and 844 K, the highest combined pressure and temperature reached in these experiments. Pressure–volume–temperature equations-of-state for the α and ω phases of Ti-6Al-4V are generated and found to be similar to pure Ti. A pronounced hysteresis is observed in the ω–Ti-6Al-4V on decompression, with the hexagonal structure reverting back to the α phase at pressures below ∼9 GPa at room temperature, and at a higher pressure at elevated temperatures. Based on our data, we estimate the Ti-6Al-4V α–β–ω triple point to occur at ∼900 K and 30 GPa, in good agreement with our calculations.

This book challenges the myth that Congress—not the President—controls immigration law, dictating who may come to the United States, and who may stay, in a detailed and comprehensive legislative code. Drawing on a wide range of sources—rich historical materials, unique data on immigration enforcement, and insider accounts of the nation’s massive immigration bureaucracy—it reveals how the President has become our immigration policymaker-in-chief over the course of two centuries. From founding-era debates over the Alien and Sedition Acts, to Jimmy Carter’s intervention during the Mariel boatlift from Cuba, to the last two administrations’ reactions to Central American asylum seekers at the southern border, presidential crisis management has played an important role in this story. Far more foundational, however, has been the ordinary executive obligation to enforce the law. Over time, the power born of that duty has become the central vehicle for making immigration policy in the United States. In grappling with the implications of this power, the book also provides a blueprint for reform, one that accepts rather than laments the role the President plays in shaping the national community, while outlining strategies to curb the abuse of law enforcement authority in immigration and beyond.

The production of polyisobutylene with Lewis acid catalysts has been in widespread use for over 60 years, but no validated molecular-level understanding of the reaction mechanism exists. We have computed initiation and propagation reaction pathways for isobutylene polymerization under industrially relevant conditions with an AlCl3/H2O initiator from density functional theory calculations. The initiator/catalyst complex we identified is fundamentally different from the putative complex identified in the literature, which typically assumes that the AlCl3OH2 complex is the active catalyst. We found that the reaction pathway with the AlCl3OH2 complex is infeasible due to unreasonably high energy barriers. Our calculations indicate that a minimum of two AlCl3 groups and one H2O molecule is required to initiate the reaction and that the complex must produce a highly acidic proton. It is the extreme acidity of the complex that is crucial for successful initiation of the reaction. The active catalyst moiety we id...

A stereogenic center, placed at an exocyclic location next to a chiral carbon in a ring to which it is attached, is a ubiquitous structural motif seen in many bioactive natural products, including di- and triterpenes and steroids. Installation of these centers has been a long-standing problem in organic chemistry. Few classes of compounds illustrate this problem better than serrulatanes and amphilectanes, which carry multiple methyl-bearing exocyclic chiral centers. Nickel-catalyzed asymmetric hydrovinylation (AHV) of vinylarenes and 1,3-dienes such as 1-vinylcycloalkenes provides an exceptionally facile way of introducing these chiral centers. This Article documents our efforts to demonstrate the generality of AHV to access not only the natural products but also their various diastereoisomeric derivatives. Key to success here is the availability of highly tunable phosphoramidite Ni(II) complexes useful for overcoming the inherent selectivity of the chiral intermediates. The yields for hydrovinylation (HV) reactions are excellent, and selectivities are in the range of 92-99% for the desired isomers. Discovery of novel, configurationally fluxional, yet sterically less demanding 2,2'-biphenol-derived phosphoramidite Ni complexes (fully characterized by X-ray) turned out to be critical for success in several HV reactions. We also report a less spectacular yet equally important role of solvents in a metal-ammonia reduction for the installation of a key benzylic chiral center. Starting with simple oxygenated styrene derivatives, we iteratively install the various exocyclic chiral centers present in typical serrulatane [e.g., a (+)- p-benzoquinone natural product, elisabethadione, nor-elisabethadione, helioporin D, a known advanced intermediate for the synthesis of colombiasin and elisapterosin] and amphilectane [e.g., A-F, G-J, and K,L pseudopterosins] derivatives. A concise table showing various synthetic approaches to these molecules is included in the Supporting Information. Our attempts to synthesize a hitherto elusive target, elisabethin A, led to a stereoselective, biomimetic route to pseudopterosin A-F aglycones.

Aberrant phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and WNT signalling are emerging as key events in the multistep nature of prostate tumourigenesis and progression. Here, we report a compound prostate cancer murine model in which these signalling pathways cooperate to produce a more aggressive prostate cancer phenotype. Using Cre-LoxP technology and the probasin promoter, we combined the loss of Pten (Ptenfl/fl), to activate the PI3K signalling pathway, with either dominant stabilized β-catenin [Catnb+/lox(ex3)] or activated K-RAS (K-Ras+/V12) to aberrantly activate WNT and MAPK signalling, respectively. Synchronous activation of all three pathways (triple mutants) significantly reduced survival (median 96 days) as compared with double mutants [median: 140 days for Catnb+/lox(ex3)Ptenfl/fl; 182 days for Catnb+/lox(ex3)K-Ras+/V12; 238 days for Ptenfl/flK-Ras+/V12], and single mutants [median: 383 days for Catnb+/lox(ex3); 407 days for Ptenfl/fl], reflecting the accelerated tumourigenesis. Tumours followed a stepwise progression from mouse prostate intraepithelial neoplasia to invasive adenocarcinoma, similar to that seen in human disease. There was significantly elevated cellular proliferation, tumour growth and percentage of invasive adenocarcinoma in triple mutants as compared with double mutants and single mutants. Triple mutants showed not only activated AKT, extracellular-signal regulated kinase 1/2, and nuclear β-catenin, but also significantly elevated signalling through mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). In summary, we show that combined deregulation of the PI3K, MAPK and WNT signalling pathways drives rapid progression of prostate tumourigenesis, and that deregulation of all three pathways results in tumours showing aberrant mTORC1 signalling. As mTORC1 signalling is emerging as a key driver of androgen deprivation therapy resistance, our findings are important for understanding the biology of therapy-resistant prostate cancer and identifying potential approaches to overcome this.

Inertially Actuated Jumping Robots (IAJR) provide a promising new means of locomotion. The difficulty of IAJR is found in the hybrid nature of the ground contact/flying dynamics. Recent research studies in our Systems Lab have provided a family tree of inertially actuated locomotion systems. The proposed Tapping Robot is the most prompt member of this tree. In this paper, a feedback linearization controller is introduced to provide controllability given the 3-dimensional motion complexity. The research objective is to create a general controller that can regulate the locomotion of Inertially Actuated Jumping Robots. The expected results can specify a desired speed and/or jump height, and the controller ensures the desired values are achieved. The controller can achieve the greatest response for the Basketball Robot at a maximum jump height of 0.25 m, which is greater than the former performance with approximately 0.18 m. The design paradigm used on the Basketball Robot was extended to the Tapping Robot. The Tapping Robot achieved a stable average forward velocity of 0.0773 m/s in simulation and 0.157 m/s in experimental results, which is faster than the forward velocity of former robot, Pony III, with 0.045 m/s.

Passing ability is of great importance in the development of young football players. The Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT) was developed to assess short-distance passing ability under time pressure, in a controlled environment. While the test has strong discriminant validity and acceptable test–retest reliability, no information exists on its ability to predict passing performance during a game. The aim of the present study was to assess the criterion validity of the LSPT in elite youth football players. Twenty-four outfield male players from an U18 state-representative team performed the LSPT. Criterion measures of passing performance overall and in high-difficulty scenarios were provided by video analysis of the first eight subsequent games of a competitive season. Validity was quantified as Pearson’s correlations between the LSPT score (total and time-only) and the two criterion measures, adjusted for reliability of the criterion measures. The adjusted correlations ranged from 0.30 (90% c...

This paper explores the nature and impact of research misconduct in psychology by analyzing 160 articles that were retracted from prominent scholarly journals between 1998 and 2017. We compare findings with recent studies of retracted papers in economics, and business and management, to profile practices that are likely to be problematic in cognate social science disciplines. In psychology, the principal reason for retraction was data fabrication. Retractions took longer to make, and generally were from higher ranked and more prestigious journals, than in the two cognate disciplines. We recommend that journal editors should be more forthcoming in the reasons they provide for article retractions. We also recommend that the discipline of psychology gives a greater priority to the publication of replication studies; initiates a debate about how to respond to failed replications; adopts a more critical attitude to the importance of attaining statistical significance; discourages p-hacking and Hypothesizing After Results are Known (HARKing); assesses the long-term effects of pre-registering research; and supports stronger procedures to attest to the authenticity of data in research papers. Our contribution locates these issues in the context of a growing crisis of confidence in the value of social science research. We also challenge individual researchers to reassert the primacy of disinterested academic inquiry above pressures that can lead to an erosion of scholarly integrity.

This paper develops a framework for quantifying the cost of the lack of public goods spillovers from neighbouring municipalities for a geographically separated municipality. Parameter estimates from a spatial panel regression of local public expenditure in 205 municipalities in England, Scotland and Wales are used to identify the extra budget that a remote municipality would require in order to provide the same level of public goods as without separation. The approach is illustrated by applying it to the case of the Isle of Wight (UK) and to estimate its annual cost of foregone public goods spillover to be about one-quarter of the island’s actual annual local public spending.

Cannabis microbial testing presents unique challenges. Unlike food testing, cannabis testing has to consider various routes of administration beyond just oral administration. Cannabis flowers produce high concentrations of antimicrobial cannabinoids and terpenoids and thus represent a different matrix than traditional foods 1, 2. In 2018, it is estimated that 50% of cannabis is consumed via vaporizing or smoking oils and flowers while the other half is consumed in Marijuana Infused Products or MIPs. Transdermal patches, salves and suppositories all present unique microbial safety considerations. Since the most harmful cannabis microbes are endophytes (live in side the plant), culture based plating system fail to adequately survey the microbial risks. The pros and cons of DNA based methods and culture based methods are discussed.

To assess the convergent validity of the Borg CR100® scale to track internal training load (TL) in youth football players.A total of 19 youth football players (age = 15 [1] y, height = 175.9 [12.3] cm, and body mass = 69 [15.4] kg) were monitored for 27 sessions, including training and games. Internal TL was assessed via session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE) and 2 heart-rate-based methods (Banister training impulse and Edwards TL). The correlations between sRPE and heart-rate-based TL, the differences in individual player intercepts and slopes, and the differences between types of sessions (training vs games) were assessed using a general linear mixed model with magnitude-based inferences.Correlations between sRPE and Banister training impulse were very large at overall group level (r = .77; 90% confidence limits, .72-.80) and individual level (range .70-.95). Correlations between sRPE and Edwards TL were very large at overall group level (r = .84; 90% confidence limit, .82-.86) and large to very large at individual level (range .64-.93). A very likely small difference was found in the comparison between games and training sessions for the relationship between sRPE and Banister training impulse.The Borg CR100 scale is a valid method for monitoring TL in youth football players.

We draw on rational crime theory to help analyse 55 articles that have been retracted from 734 peer-reviewed journals in the field of economics. We highlight and discuss what these findings indicate regarding the nature and pattern of research malpractice in that discipline. Particular attention is given to exploring “no reason” retractions and the policy guidelines of publishers regarding retracted papers. We conclude that the frequent vagueness of retraction statements, and a reluctance to signal research malpractice, generally results in little damage to the reputation of caught, and known, offenders. Thus, a key deterrent to engaging in research malpractice is lacking. To reduce the incidence of research malpractice, we offer several recommendations for publishers and journal editors.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential for utilizing a unique resource, such as the Historic Portsmouth Harbor, in order to differentiate the local brand. Design/methodology/approach – The objective of the paper is to examine the role of unique local resources and attractions as a source of competitive advantage through destination branding. Findings – The main findings of the paper indicate that policy makers and destination managers should more proactively utilize the unique elements of the Historic Portsmouth Harbor “brand,” as opposed to the commonplace “waterfront city” brand. This could be achieved by staging events of international significance or through a bid for gaining world heritage status. In addition to that, the paper argues that in order for this branding initiative to have a higher impact, a prominent high profile individual should be appointed. This individual could act as a leader or “brand ambassador” in order to attract stakeholder interest and participation. Originality/value – The paper could be of value to destination managers and marketing organizations in a local, sub-regional and regional level.

Lower urinary tract symptoms in men are common, increase with age and can become bothersome, causing significant morbidity such as urinary retention or the need for surgery. This article outlines how to assess a man with lower urinary tract symptoms and when to refer to a specialist, and summarizes current treatment options.

This paper presents new evidence concerning the main argument of the English Premier League for collective arrangements in selling television broadcast rights. Matches that are broadcast live on television can be considered as a substitute for watching at the stadium. New panel-data show that broadcasting live has a small negative effect on gate revenue for the best performing clubs and a much larger effect for the worst performing clubs. However, the marginal cost is outweighed by the marginal revenue, concluding that restrictions on quantity stemming from collective arrangements are detrimental to the consumers, broadcasters, and clubs themselves.

Hydrocode calculations require knowledge of the variation of pressure of a material with density and temperature, which is given by the equation of state. An accurate model needs to account for discontinuities in energy, density and properties of a material across a phase boundary. When generating a multiphase equation of state the modeller attempts to balance the agreement between the available data for compression, expansion and phase boundary location. However, this can prove difficult because minor adjustments in the equation of state for a single phase can have a large impact on the overall phase diagram. This paper describes how combining statistical-mechanics-based condensed matter physics models with a stochastic analysis technique called particle swarm optimisation, yields multiphase equations of state which give good agreement with experiment over a wide range of pressure-temperature space. Aluminium and tin are used as test cases in the proof of principle described in this paper.

This paper uses detailed survey data to show no evidence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for household transport emissions. The evidence shows that richer households still do not choose to internalize the social cost of polluting by vehicle emissions.

Codimerization of ethylene and various functionalized vinylarenes, 1,3-dienes, or strained alkenes can be carried out in the presence of nickel, ruthenium, or cobalt complexes in very high yields and exceptional regio- and stereoselectivities. Nickel appears to provide the most active catalyst, even though more recent work indicates that the other metals may have unique advantages of their own. Many of these reactions proceed under exceedingly mild conditions (−50 °C to 25 °C, 1 atm of ethylene) to produce valuable intermediates including 3-arylbutenes and skipped 1,4-dienes with a chiral carbon at the benzylic or bis-allylic center. The 3-arylbutenes can be transformed into nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and fenoprofen in two steps. Cyclic and acyclic 1,3-dienes also undergo efficient addition of ethylene and terminal alkenes catalyzed by either Ni(II), Ru(II), or Co(II) complexes. The regio- and stereoselectivities of many of these reactions can be controlled by judicious choice of metals and ligands. In addition, the hydrovinylation reaction can be used to generate molecules with an all-carbon quaternary center. These discoveries open expeditious routes to several biologically relevant classes of compounds including bisabolanes, herbindoles, trikentrins, steroid- D -ring 20( S ) or 20( R )-derivatives, pyrrolidinoindolines, pseudopterosins, and various members of the serrulatane and amphilectane classes of compounds.

In this report we highlight the significant potential of ethylene as a reagent for the introduction of a vinyl group with excellent stereoselectivity at three different stages in the synthesis of a broad class of natural products, best exemplified by syntheses of pseudopterosins. The late-stage applications of the asymmetric hydrovinylation reaction further illustrate the compatibility of the catalyst with complex functional groups. We also show that, depending on the choice of the catalyst, it is possible to either enhance or even completely reverse the inherent diastereoselectivity in the reactions of advanced chiral intermediates. This should enable the synthesis of diastereomeric analogs of several classes of medicinally relevant compounds that are not readily accessible by the existing methods, which depend on ‘substrate control’ for the installation of many of the chiral centers, especially in molecules of this class.

The bottom line Sudden onset testicular pain with or without swelling, often referred to as the “acute scrotum,” is a common presentation in children and adolescents, and such patients are seen by urologists, paediatricians, general practitioners, emergency doctors, and general surgeons. Of the many causes of acute scrotum, testicular torsion is a medical emergency; it is the one diagnosis that must be made accurately and rapidly to prevent loss of testicular function. #### Sources and selection criteria We searched PubMed and Clinical Evidence online using the search terms “acute scrotum”, “testicular torsion”, “epididymo-orchitis”, and “torted testicular appendage”. Historically, the management of the acute scrotum has changed little, and much of the data reviewed were case series and best expert opinion from book chapters. In addition we consulted up to date national and international guidelines published by the European Association of Urology and the Royal College of General Practitioners. This review aims to cover the salient points in the history and clinical examination of acute scrotum to facilitate accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment of the most common presentations. In particular, it will guide clinicians in distinguishing testicular torsion from the other conditions that commonly mimic this surgical emergency in children and adolescents—epididymo-orchitis and torsion of the testicular appendage (cyst of Morgagni). The …