Trust, Competition, and Preventive Justice: Responding to Rule Violations in Sport

Meaningful sporting competition rests on athletes complying with rules that they can easily violate undetected. From match-fixing, where players attempt to lose by illegitimate means, to doping, where players attempt to win by illegitimate means, sport is replete with trust-based rules. How should sports authorities respond to the breach of such rules? I argue that trust-based rules pose a unique ethical challenge for sports authorities, and their violation requires a distinctive institutional response. Specifically, the principal response to such violations should be preventive rather than punitive. Sports authorities should mitigate the risk posed by violators of trust-based rules to the meaningfulness of future competition rather than punish violators for past wrongdoing. This paper develops a preventivejustice approach to the most routinely flouted, and widely discussed, variety of trust-based rule in sport – anti-doping rules. This argument illuminates the treatment of other types of trust-based rule in sport and trust-based rules in certain non-sporting rule-bound competitive contexts

Contaminant Removal Using Vibrating Surfaces: Nanoscale Insights and a Universal Scaling Law

The development of active self-cleaning surfaces, i.e., surfaces that remove nanoscale contaminants using external forces such as electric or magnetic fields, is critical to many engineering applications. The use of surface vibrations represents a promising alternative, but the underlying nanoscale physics, in the absence of an intermediate liquid medium, is poorly understood. We used molecular dynamics simulations to explore the use of ultra-high-frequency surface acoustic wave devices for contaminant removal. Our simulations reveal that there exists a critical vibrational energy threshold, determined by the amplitude and frequency of the surface vibrations, that must be surpassed to effectively dislodge contaminant particles. We derive a universal scaling law that links the characteristic size of particles to the optimal vibrational parameters required for their removal. This provides a theoretical framework to aid the development of advanced, scalable self-cleaning surfaces with applications ranging from semiconductors to large-scale industrial systems

Henderson-Hasselbalch Tutorial

The Acid-Base Balance Workshop is an interactive, browser-based teaching tool that guides users through Henderson-Hasselbalch-based acid-base calculations. It enables learners to calculate pH, bicarbonate (HCO₃⁻), or pCO₂ with step-by-step breakdowns, case examples, and embedded clinical relevance. Ideal for healthcare students, educators, and trainers seeking to make acid-base chemistry more intuitive and applied. Intended for educational use only

ESTIMET: Enhanced and Spatial-Temporal Improvement of MODIS EvapoTranspiration algorithm for all sky conditions in tropical biomes

We developed an ET model, namely the Enhanced and Spatial-Temporal Improvement of MODIS EvapoTranspiration (ESTIMET), for local-to-regional ET monitoring and applications in the tropics, based on the original MOD16 evapotranspiration (ET) algorithm. The main distinguishing features of ESTIMET are providing a near-real-time product with increased spatial (from 500 to 250 m) and temporal (from 8-day to daily) resolutions, minimising gaps in cloud cover and adjusting specific tropical characteristics of diverse vegetation and microclimate types. We compared the results of ESTIMET with the MOD16A2GF, PML_V2, and GLEAM 4.1a ET products, using eddy covariance (EC) data from 14 sites in Brazil, as well as the water balance-based annual ET in 25 Brazilian catchments. Overall, the ESTIMET estimates captured the daily seasonal variations of the EC data, especially in the Caatinga, Pantanal, and Cerrado biomes, with concordance correlation coefficients (ρc) ranging from 0.45 to 0.80 at eight sites located in these three biomes. The comparisons of the 8-day cumulative ET show that the ESTIMET algorithm exhibits a mean ρc of 0.63, greater than that of MOD16A2GF (ρc = 0.58), GLEAM 4.1a (ρc = 0.47), and PML_V2 (ρc = 0.45). Similarly, for the catchment water balance, ESTIMET exhibits a better representation of annual ET than other ET products in the three major South American biomes, i.e. the Amazon, Atlantic Forest, and Cerrado, which cover over 85 % of the Brazilian territory. Thus, ESTIMET improves remote sensing-based ET estimates in tropical biomes, operating at a finer spatiotemporal scale and latency (i.e. monthly) under all sky conditions

Comparability Evaluation of Three Benchtop Glucose Analyzers With the Recently Withdrawn YSI 2300 Stat Plus

Background: We compared the performance of three currently available laboratory benchtop glucose analyzers with the outgoing YSI 2300 Stat Plus. Methods: Plasma samples (100), across a wide glucose concentration range were analysed on the YSI 2500, Randox daytona+ (glucose oxidase) and EKF Biosen in a single laboratory and compared to the YSI 2300 Stat Plus. Results: All three analyzers showed good agreement with the YSI 2300 Stat Plus, and only a small bias (≤1% YSI 2500 and Randox daytona+, 4.6% EKF Biosen) was observed for each analyzer. None of the three comparator analyzers were affected by either proportional or constant bias, thus no significant differences between the YSI 2300 Stat Plus and the comparator methods were identified. Conclusions: The results from this study suggest all could be considered as suitable reference laboratory glucose analyzers and replacements for the recently withdrawn YSI 2300 Stat Plus

The interpretation, communication, and reporting of human rights

Pressure on companies to show greater awareness, transparency, and accountability for their human rights impacts has resulted in a plethora of public statements and policies from businesses on a range of human rights issues. This chapter first explores the body of research that has analysed these business disclosures, and summarises what they reveal about the understanding and recognition of human rights by companies. The chapter then turns its attention towards the limited, but insightful, research on how human rights are communicated and made sense of within companies, and asks to what extent internal processes reflect and/or shape what companies report externally. Throughout the chapter, recommendations for further research are provided and a number of important, unanswered questions are identified and discussed

The Influence of Dietary Supplements on Exercise-Induced Gut Damage and Gastrointestinal Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Endurance exercise, especially under heat stress, temporarily compromises the integrity of the intestinal barrier in healthy individuals. Consequently, there is growing interest in developing effective dietary strategies to alleviate exercise-induced gastrointestinal symptoms and gut damage. This meta-analysis investigated the effects of dietary supplements on mitigating these challenges. The search was performed in November 2024 following PRISMA guidelines, and 26 peer-reviewed studies were included across three meta-analyses: (1) gastrointestinal symptoms, (2) circulating intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (i-FABP), and (3) exercise performance. The moderating effect of variables was assessed via sub-group analysis and meta-regression. Overall, there was no pooled effect of supplement interventions on gastrointestinal symptoms (Hedges’ g = 0.42, 95% CI −0.17: 1.02, p = 0.15), and probiotics had a moderate significant effect for gastrointestinal symptoms (Hedges’ g = −0.62, 95% CI −1.01; 1.01, p = 0.05). There was a significant increase in i-FABP concentrations pre- to post exercise (∆106%; Hedges’ g = 1.01, 95% CI 0.63; 1.38, p = 0.01). There were no pooled or sub-group differences for exercise performance for any supplements (p = 0.53). Moderate-to-large heterogeneity was observed across studies (I2 ≥ 58.6%), and candidate moderators (exercise duration, modality, and environmental temperature) had no significant effect on any outcomes (p > 0.05). A significant increase in circulating i-FABP during exercise was observed. However, when examining the effects of different supplement categories, although significance was observed for a select few supplements, the changes in i-FABP, gastrointestinal symptoms, and exercise performance were outside of clinical relevance. Although probiotics showed a moderate significant effect for gastrointestinal symptoms, the conflicting findings across studies may have been due to inadequate control of confounding variables across studies. Further research is required to assess the alternative dietary supplements’ effects on gastrointestinal health and exercise performance, particularly under varied environmental conditions, where more rigorous control for cofounding factors is implemented

Environmental life cycle assessment of encapsulated rejuvenators from mining truck waste tires via pyrolysis for asphalt self-healing

The application of pyrolysis to convert waste tires into fuels and engineering additives for asphalt self-healing is being actively explored by both industry stakeholders and researchers. This study presents, for the first time, a comprehensive evaluation of the technical and environmental implications of producing encapsulated liquid pyro-rejuvenators for asphalt self-healing applications. The analyses include experimental data on the production, characterization, and upgrading of crude pyro-oils, complemented by plant simulations and scale-up considerations. The pyro-rejuvenator produced after pyrolysis of mining trucks waste tires at 470 °C and distilled between 160 and 200 °C, contains BTX (14.6%), o-cymene (10.9%) and limonene (58%), and <10 cP viscosity, which confirms its feasibility for application in asphalt self-healing. Integrated mass balances results in yields of 27 wt% (pyro-rejuvenator), 11 wt% heavy fuel, 10 wt% light fuel and 5 wt% pyro-gas. The rejuvenator was encapsulated with 97% efficiency within thermochemically stable 1.5 mm alginate-based capsules produced by the vibrating jet method. Environmental Life Cycle Assessment results indicate that water consumption and electricity use during the encapsulation process heavily impact environmental performance, accounting for over 50%, necessitating the exploration of energy integration strategies. Finally, this study demonstrates the feasibility of producing a new generation of asphalt rejuvenators from waste tires sourced from mining trucks

Crystal structure of cytochrome P450 NysL and the structural basis for stereo- and regio- selective oxidation of antifungal macrolides

NysL, a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase from the Gram-positive bacterium Streptomyces noursei, catalyzes the C10 hydroxylation of 10-deoxynystain to nystatin A1, a clinically important antifungal. In this study, we present the 2.0 Å resolution crystal structure of NysL bound to nystatin A1. The structure of this complex provides key insights into the structural elements that dictate the regio- and stereo-selective oxidation of large 20-44-membered macrolide substrates. The closely related AmphL operates on a similar 38-member macrolide but oxidizes C8 rather than C10. This difference requires that the substrate for AmphL penetrate further into the active site relative to NysL. The depth of substrate penetration is controlled by interactions between an area of the substrate binding pocket deemed the “back-wall” and the hemiketal ring of the macrolide substrate