Assembling an isomer grid: the isomorphous 4-, 3- and 2-fluoro-N'-(4-pyridyl)benzamides

The three title isomers, 4-, (I), 3-, (II), and 2-fluoro-N'-(4-pyridyl)benzamide, (III), all C₁₂H₉FN₂O, crystallize in the P21/c space group (No. 14) with similar unit-cell parameters and are isomorphous and isostructural at the primary hydrogen-bonding level. An intramolecular C-H...O=C interaction is present in all three isomers [C...O = 2.8681 (17)-2.884 (2) Å and C-H...O117-118°], with an additional N-H...F [N...F = 2.7544 (15) Å] interaction in (III). Intermolecular amide-pyridine N-H...N hydrogen bonds link molecules into one-dimensional zigzag chains [graph set C(6)] along the [010] direction as the primary hydrogen bond [N...N = 3.022 (2), 3.049 (2) and 3.0213 (17) Å]. These are augmented in (I) by C-H...π(arene) and cyclic C-F...π(arene) contacts about inversion centres, in (II) by C-F...F-C interactions [C...F = 3.037 (2) Å] and weaker C-H...π(arene)/C-H...F contacts, and in (III) by C-H...π(arene) and C=O...O=C interactions, linking the alternating chains into two-dimensional sheets. Typical amide N-H...O=C hydrogen bonds [as C(4) chains] are not present [N...O = 3.438 (2) Å in (I), 3.562 (2) Å in (II) and 3.7854 (16) Å in (III)]; the C=O group is effectively shielded and only participates in weaker interactions/contacts. This series is unusual as the three isomers are isomorphous (having similar unit-cell parameters, packing and alignment), but they differ in their interactions and contacts at the secondary level

Is -110 degrees C cold air cryotherapy effective in improving post-exercise recovery in sports people?

Whole body cryotherapy (WBC) involves repeatedly exposing an individual, dressed in minimal clothing, to extremely cold air (–100 to –130°C) for a short period. One specific claim that is often made is that WBC is effective in treating exercise-induced muscle soreness and damage. However, our results suggest that two bouts of WBC were ineffective in improving recovery from eccentric exercise when administered 24 hours after eccentric exercise

The Wokalup beef cattle selection experiment

The aim of the Department of Agriculture\u27s long-term beef cattle selection experiment at Wokalup is to examine the effects of selection for faster-growing cattle on biological traits that may influence the productivity of a commercial beef herd. Selection lines were established from Hereford and multibreed cattle in 1977. Twelve years of selection have produced an increase in growth rate to weaning of about 120 g per day in both lines. About 40 per cent of this increase is the result of permanent genetic improvement. We plan to compare these characteristics in cattle from the selection lines with cattle that have been grown from frozen embryos, stored since selection was first started

Evaluating the impact of higher education funding aimed to address student hardship: Survey findings

This report explores the findings of an evaluation conducted at Sheffield Hallam University to understand the impact of institutional financial support provided to students who are under-represented in higher education or who are facing hardship. This evaluation implemented the validated financial support evaluation toolkit, which is recommended by the Office for Students, as the framework for this data collection and analysis (McCaig et al., 2016). The survey tool, which was used in this current phase of the evaluation, contains closed and open-ended questions that explore what the funding has enabled its recipients to do and what might have not been possible otherwise. A total of 5,302 students received financial support from the University in 2020/21 and 347 of these responded to the survey, which is a response rate of 7%. The survey findings highlighted how respondents used other financial sources, aside from the hardship funding, to pay for their higher education, such as loans, overdrafts, earnings from work and money from friends or family. Without the financial support, its recipients reported that they would not only find it difficult to access the essential provisions of teaching and learning but also to be able to pay for basic living costs. Other key benefits reported by respondents were that the financial support enabled them to: concentrate on their university work, with the money helping many to pay for devices and IT equipment: continue with their studies; ease their anxieties and support their mental health. However, it is important to note that the low response rate limits the generalisations that can be made from the survey respondents to the wider population

Evaluation of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme

A team from Sheffield Hallam University was appointed in May 2017 to carry out an evaluation of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme (NTFS) between June and December 2017. This research has two pre-determined aims and two objectives. Aims 1. Evaluate the impact and current relevance of the NTFS across the sector, including in relation to those institutions that have not participated in the scheme. 2. Inform decisions on the future format of the scheme, including the approach to its financing. Objectives 1. To establish the extent to which the NTFS has achieved its aims across the higher education (HE) sector in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 2. To set out considerations and options for funders with regard to the format of the scheme, approach to delivery and its funding in the new regulatory regime

Filter-adapted spatiotemporal sampling for real-time rendering

Stochastic sampling techniques are ubiquitous in real-time rendering, where performance constraints force the use of low sample counts, leading to noisy intermediate results. To remove this noise, the post-processing step of temporal and spatial denoising is an integral part of the real-time graphics pipeline. The main insight presented in this paper is that we can optimize the samples used in stochastic sampling such that the post-processing error is minimized. The core of our method is an analytical loss function which measures post-filtering error for a class of integrands - multidimensional Heaviside functions. These integrands are an approximation of the discontinuous functions commonly found in rendering. Our analysis applies to arbitrary spatial and spatiotemporal filters, scalar and vector sample values, and uniform and non-uniform probability distributions. We show that the spectrum of Monte Carlo noise resulting from our sampling method is adapted to the shape of the filter, resulting in less noisy final images. We demonstrate improvements over state-of-the-art sampling methods in three representative rendering tasks: ambient occlusion, volumetric ray-marching, and color image dithering. Common use noise textures, and noise generation code is available at https://github.com/electronicarts/fastnoise.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figure