‘Multi-directional management’: Exploring the challenges of performance in the World Class Programme environment

Driven by the ever-increasing intensity of Olympic competition and the ‘no compromise – no stone unturned’ requirements frequently addressed by HM Government and its main agency, UK Sport, a change in culture across Olympic team landscapes is a common occurrence. With a focus on process, this paper presents reflections from eight current or recently serving UK Olympic sport Performance Directors on their experiences of creating and disseminating their vision for their sport, a vital initial activity of the change initiative. To facilitate a broad overview of this construct, reflections are structured around the vision’s characteristics and foundations, how it is delivered to key stakeholder groups, how it is influenced by these groups, the qualities required to ensure its longevity and its limitations. Emerging from these perceptions, the creation and maintenance of a shared team vision was portrayed as a highly dynamic task requiring the active management of a number of key internal and external stakeholders. Furthermore, the application of ‘dark’ traits and context-specific expertise were considered critical attributes for the activity’s success. Finally, recent calls for research to elucidate the wider culture optimisation process are reinforced

Report of the x ray and gamma ray sensors panel

Overall five major areas of technology are recommended for development in order to meet the science requirements of the Astrotech 21 mission set. These are: detectors for high resolution gamma ray spectroscopy, cryogenic detectors for improved x ray spectral and spatial resolution, advanced x ray charge coupled devices (CCDs) for higher energy resolution and larger format, extension to higher energies, liquid and solid position sensitive detectors for improving stopping power in the energy range 5 to 500 keV and 0.2 to 2 MeV. Development plans designed to achieve the desired capabilities on the time scales required by the technology freeze dates have been recommended in each of these areas

Analysis of the Cost of Emergency Managers\u27 Meeting Load: A Hampton Road Case-Study

Preparation for a disaster is not something that can be done by a single organization thus there is a need for coordination between them. Meetings and joint exercises are one means of coordination used by the emergency management community. Meetings and exercises take time, including transportation of personnel and arrangements, and time is money. With limited budgets, emergency managers need to make hard decisions about how their time is allocated. This paper describes a cost model for meeting analysis and discusses a case study that looks at the holistic time spent on meetings and exercises, by personnel, for the Hampton Roads Region of Virginia. A novel way is used to display this expenditure, e.g., it is shown in terms of monetary cost instead of temporal cost. This analysis highlighted some unexpected results, i.e., the small number of personnel involved in multiple working group meetings and high level of travel costs between the HR and the state capital, Richmond. This cost model approach may provide emergency managers with better mechanisms to show their meetings costs to senior leadership

Factorization for generic jet production

Factorization is the central ingredient in any theoretical prediction for collider experiments. We introduce a factorization formalism that can be applied to any desired observable, like event shapes or jet observables, for any number of jets and a wide range of jet algorithms in leptonic or hadronic collisions. This is achieved by using soft-collinear effective theory to prove the formal factorization of a generic fully-differential cross section in terms of a hard coefficient, and generic jet and soft functions. In this formalism, whether a given observable factorizes in the usual sense, depends on whether it is inclusive enough, so the jet functions can be calculated perturbatively. The factorization formula for any such observable immediately follows from our general result, including the precise definition of the jet and soft functions appropriate for the observable in question. As examples of our formalism, we work out several results in two-jet production for both e+e- and pp collisions. For the latter, we also comment on how our formalism allows one to treat underlying events and beam remnants.Comment: 33 pages, v2: minor typos corrected, journal versio

\u3cem\u3eIn Vitro\u3c/em\u3e Determination of Potency of Small Molecule Inhibitors of Arp2/3 Complex

Actin is a key protein building block of actin microfilaments, which are constructed and deconstructed in response to cellular signaling pathways to regulate cellular processes such as motility, division, and endocytosis. Arp2/3 Complex is a 7-subunit protein complex that is in involved in cellular construction of branched actin networks, functioning by attaching to the side of a pre-existing actin filament and nucleating a daughter branch. Overexpression of Arp2/3 complex has been linked to the ability of certain metastatic cancers to proliferate. This work describes the synthesis and in vitro biochemical testing of several molecules predicted by computational docking to be inhibitors of Arp2/3 Complex, and therefore of potential interest in clinical applications. A bulk actin polymerization assay is used as the key method to determine the potency of inhibitor candidates. Structure-activity relationships derived from these results are also discussed

Quark Matter in Neutron Stars: An apercu

The existence of deconfined quark matter in the superdense interior of neutron stars is a key question that has drawn considerable attention over the past few decades. Quark matter can comprise an arbitrary fraction of the star, from 0 for a pure neutron star to 1 for a pure quark star, depending on the equation of state of matter at high density. From an astrophysical viewpoint, these two extreme cases are generally expected to manifest different observational signatures. An intermediate fraction implies a hybrid star, where the interior consists of mixed or homogeneous phases of quark and nuclear matter, depending on surface and Coulomb energy costs, as well as other finite size and screening effects. In this brief review article, we discuss what we can deduce about quark matter in neutron stars in light of recent exciting developments in neutron star observations. We state the theoretical ideas underlying the equation of state of dense quark matter, including color superconducting quark matter. We also highlight recent advances stemming from re-examination of an old paradigm for the surface structure of quark stars and discuss possible evolutionary scenarios from neutron stars to quark stars, with emphasis on astrophysical observations.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure. Invited review for Modern Physics Letters

An Unusual Effect in the Canon Per Tonos from J. S. Bach's Musical Offering

We propose that the phrase repetitions in the canon per tonos from J.S. Bach's Musical Offering are not recognized by listeners as being successively upward. We examine possible causes for this effect and suggest that it may be due to Bach's use of chromatic harmony. To test this hypothesis, we conducted an experiment in which one group of listeners was presented with Bach's canon, while another group was presented with a modified version of the canon in which the harmonies were altered in order to make the upward phrase repetitions more apparent. We found that subjects recognized the ascending pattern in the modified canon with greater ease than they recognized the ascending pattern in Bach's canon. We also consider briefly why Bach may have wished to cause such an effect

KELT-6b: A P ~ 7.9 Day Hot Saturn Transiting a Metal-poor Star with a Long-period Companion

We report the discovery of KELT-6b, a mildly inflated Saturn-mass planet transiting a metal-poor host. The initial transit signal was identified in KELT-North survey data, and the planetary nature of the occulter was established using a combination of follow-up photometry, high-resolution imaging, high-resolution spectroscopy, and precise radial velocity measurements. The fiducial model from a global analysis including constraints from isochrones indicates that the V = 10.38 host star (BD+31 2447) is a mildly evolved, late-F star with T_(eff_ = 6102 ± 43 K,_log g_* =4.07_(-0.07)^(+0.04), and [Fe/H] = –0.28 ± 0.04, with an inferred mass M_* = 1.09 ± 0.04 M_☉ and radius R_* =1.58_(-0.09)^(+0.16) ,R_☉. The planetary companion has mass M_P = 0.43 ± 0.05 M_(Jup), radius R_p =1.19_(-0.08)^(+0.13),R_(Jup), surface gravity g_p = 2.86_(-0.08)^(+0.06), and density P_p = 0.31_(-0.08)^(+0.07), cm^(-3). The planet is on an orbit with semimajor axis ɑ = 0.079 ± 0.001 AU and eccentricity e = 0.22_(-0.10)^(+0.12), which is roughly consistent with circular, and has ephemeris of T_c(BJD_(TDB)) = 2456347.79679 ± 0.00036 and P = 7.845631 ± 0.000046 days. Equally plausible fits that employ empirical constraints on the host-star parameters rather than isochrones yield a larger planet mass and radius by ~4}-7}. KELT-6b has surface gravity and incident flux similar to HD 209458b, but orbits a host that is more metal poor than HD 209458 by ~0.3 dex. Thus, the KELT-6 system offers an opportunity to perform a comparative measurement of two similar planets in similar environments around stars of very different metallicities. The precise radial velocity data also reveal an acceleration indicative of a longer-period third body in the system, although the companion is not detected in Keck adaptive optics images

Pelvic pain correlates with peritoneal macrophage abundance not endometriosis

Endometriosis is a chronic neuroinflammatory pain condition affecting ~180 million women worldwide. Surgical removal or hormonal suppression of endometriosis lesions only relieves pain symptoms in some women and symptomatic relapse following treatment is common. Identifying factors that contribute to pain is key to developing new therapies. We collected peritoneal fluid samples and clinical data from a cohort of women receiving diagnostic laparoscopy for suspected endometriosis (n = 52). Peritoneal fluid immune cells were analysed by flow cytometry and data compared with pain scores determined using the pain domain of the Endometriosis Health Profile Questionnaire (EHP-30) in order to investigate the association between peritoneal immune cells and pain symptoms. Pain scores were not different between women with or without endometriosis, nor did they differ according to disease stage; consistent with a poor association between disease presentation and pain symptoms. However, linear regression and correlation analysis demonstrated that peritoneal macrophage abundance correlated with the severity of pelvic pain. CD14(high) peritoneal macrophages negatively correlated with pain scores whereas CD14(low) peritoneal macrophages were positively correlated, independent of diagnostic outcome at laparoscopy. Stratification by pain subtype, rather than endometriosis diagnosis, resulted in the most robust correlation between pain and macrophage adundance. Pain score strongly correlated with CD14(high) (P = 0.007) and CD14(low) (P = 0.008) macrophages in patients with non-menstrual pain and also in patients who reported dysmennorhea (CD14(high) P = 0.021, CD14(low) P = 0.019) or dysparunia (CD14(high) P = 0.027, CD14(low) P = 0.031). These results provide new insight into the association between peritoneal macrophages and pelvic pain which may aid the identification of future therapeutic targets. LAY SUMMARY: Endometriosis is a common condition where cells similar to those that line the womb are found elsewhere in the body. It is associated with inflammation and pain in the pelvis and affects ~180 million women worldwide. Current treatments are not effective for all patients and we, therefore, need to understand what causes pain in order to develop new treatments. We investigated the types of immune cells present within the pelvis of women undergoing investigation for suspected endometriosis. Disease diagnosis and stage (I–IV) was recorded along with pain score determined by questionnaire. We characterised the immune cells present and compared them to disease stage and pain score. We found that pelvic pain was linked to the abundance of immune cells but, surprisingly, not to disease stage. These findings suggest that immune cells are closely associated with pain severity in endometriosis and may be good targets for future endometriosis treatments