Trading off Time, Carbon, Active Travel, and Health: What do People Really Think about Traffic-reduction Measures?

An online survey polled a socio-demographically representative sample of approximately 2,000 UK residents concerning their attitudes to traffic restrictions that lead to longer car trips. Specifically, to what extent would respondents accept delays to everyday local car journeys if these were offset by reductions in NO2, greenhouse gas emissions or vehicular traffic, or by increases in active travel? Responses suggested high levels of acceptance of delay but this varied by nature of impact (less openness to increased active travel) and socio-demographic attribute (gender, educational attainment, car ownership, ethnicity, housing tenure, prior presence of local traffic restrictions). In particular, there were lower levels of delay acceptance amongst men, respondents without degree-level qualifications, and those in households with two or more cars. These findings are relevant to those communicating about traffic restrictions, in terms of which audiences they target and how they present impacts

Evaluation of elicitation methods to quantify Bayes linear models

The Bayes linear methodology allows decision makers to express their subjective beliefs and adjust these beliefs as observations are made. It is similar in spirit to probabilistic Bayesian approaches, but differs as it uses expectation as its primitive. While substantial work has been carried out in Bayes linear analysis, both in terms of theory development and application, there is little published material on the elicitation of structured expert judgement to quantify models. This paper investigates different methods that could be used by analysts when creating an elicitation process. The theoretical underpinnings of the elicitation methods developed are explored and an evaluation of their use is presented. This work was motivated by, and is a precursor to, an industrial application of Bayes linear modelling of the reliability of defence systems. An illustrative example demonstrates how the methods can be used in practice

Autoimmune hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis in a patient with FGF23 autoantibodies

Hyperphosphatemic familial tumoral calcinosis (HFTC)/hyperostosis-hyperphosphatemia syndrome (HHS) is an autosomal recessive disorder of ectopic calcification due to deficiency of or resistance to intact fibroblast growth factor 23 (iFGF23). Inactivating mutations in FGF23, N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 3 (GALNT3), or KLOTHO (KL) have been reported as causing HFTC/HHS. We present what we believe is the first identified case of autoimmune hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis in an 8-year-old boy. In addition to the classical clinical and biochemical features of hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis, the patient exhibited markedly elevated intact and C-terminal FGF23 levels, suggestive of FGF23 resistance. However, no mutations in FGF23, KL, or FGF receptor 1 (FGFR1) were identified. He subsequently developed type 1 diabetes mellitus, which raised the possibility of an autoimmune cause for hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis. Luciferase immunoprecipitation systems revealed markedly elevated FGF23 autoantibodies without detectable FGFR1 or Klotho autoantibodies. Using an in vitro FGF23 functional assay, we found that the FGF23 autoantibodies in the patient's plasma blocked downstream signaling via the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, this report describes the first case, to our knowledge, of autoimmune hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis with pathogenic autoantibodies targeting FGF23. Identification of this pathophysiology extends the etiologic spectrum of hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis and suggests that immunomodulatory therapy may be an effective treatment

Embedded-Cluster Calculations in a Numeric Atomic Orbital Density-Functional Theory Framework

We integrate the all-electron electronic structure code FHI-aims into the general ChemShell package for solid-state embedding (QM/MM) calculations. A major undertaking in this integration is the implementation of pseudopotential functionality into FHI-aims to describe cations at the QM/MM boundary through effective core potentials and therewith prevent spurious overpolarization of the electronic density. Based on numeric atomic orbital basis sets, FHI-aims offers particularly efficient access to exact exchange and second order perturbation theory, rendering the established QM/MM setup an ideal tool for hybrid and double-hybrid level DFT calculations of solid systems. We illustrate this capability by calculating the reduction potential of Fe in the Fe-substituted ZSM-5 zeolitic framework and the reaction energy profile for (photo-)catalytic water oxidation at TiO2(110).Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Normal values and test–retest variability of stimulated-echo diffusion tensor imaging and fat fraction measurements in the muscle

OBJECTIVES: To assess the test–retest variability of both diffusion parameters and fat fraction (FF) estimates in normal muscle, and to assess differences in normal values between muscles in the thigh. METHODS: 29 healthy volunteers (mean age 37 years, range 20–60 years, 17/29 males) completed the study. Magnetic resonance images of the mid-thigh were acquired using a stimulated echo acquisition mode-echoplanar imaging (STEAM-EPI) imaging sequence, to assess diffusion, and 2-point Dixon imaging, to assess FF. Imaging was repeated in 19 participants after a 30 min interval in order to assess test–retest variability of the measurements. RESULTS: Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for test–retest variability were 0.99 [95% confidence interval, (CI): 0.98, 1] for FF, 0.94 (95% CI: 0.84, 0.97) for mean diffusivity and 0.89 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.96) for fractional anisotropy (FA). FF was higher in the hamstrings than the quadriceps by a mean difference of 1.81% (95% CI:1.63, 2.00)%, p < 0.001. Mean diffusivity was significantly lower in the hamstrings than the quadriceps (0.26 (0.13, 0.39) x10- 3 mm2s−1, p < 0.001) whereas fractional anisotropy was significantly higher in the hamstrings relative to the quadriceps with a mean difference of 0.063 (0.05, 0.07), p < 0.001. CONCLUSIONS: This study has shown excellent test-retest, variability in MR-based FF and diffusion measurements and demonstrated significant differences in these measures between hamstrings and quadriceps in the healthy thigh. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Test–retest variability is excellent for STEAM-EPI diffusion and 2-point Dixon-based FF measurements in the healthy muscle. Inter- and intraobserver variability were excellent for region of interest placement for STEAM-EPI diffusion and 2-point Dixon-based FF measurements in the healthy muscle. There are significant differences in FF and diffusion measurements between the hamstrings and quadriceps in the normal muscle

Local structural studies of Ba1−x_{1-x}Kx_xFe2_2As2_2 using atomic pair distribution function analysis

Systematic local structural studies of Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$ system are undertaken at room temperature using atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. The local structure of the Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$ is found to be well described by the long-range structure extracted from the diffraction experiments, but with anisotropic atomic vibrations of the constituent atoms ($U_{11}$ = $U_{22} \ne U_{33}$). The crystal unit cell parameters, the FeAs$_4$ tetrahedral angle and the pnictogen height above the Fe-plane are seen to show systematic evolution with K doping, underlining the importance of the structural changes, in addition to the charge doping, in determining the properties of Ba$_{1-x}$K$_x$Fe$_2$As$_2$

Dynamics of k-core percolation

In many network applications nodes are stable provided they have at least k neighbors, and a network of k-stable nodes is called a k-core. The vulnerability to random attack is characterized by the size of culling avalanches which occur after a randomly chosen k-core node is removed. Simulations of lattices in two, three and four dimensions, as well as small world networks, indicate that power-law avalanches occur in first order k-core systems, while truncated avalanches are characteristic of second order cases.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Spectral line shape of resonant four-wave mixing induced by broad-bandwidth lasers

We present a theoretical and experimental study of the line shape of resonant four-wave mixing induced by broad-bandwidth laser radiation that revises the theory of Meacher, Smith, Ewart, and Cooper (MSEC) [Phys. Rev. A 46, 2718 (1992)]. We adopt the same method as MSEC but correct for an invalid integral used to average over the distribution of atomic velocities. The revised theory predicts a Voigt line shape composed of a homogeneous, Lorentzian component, defined by the collisional rate Γ, and an inhomogeneous, Doppler component, which is a squared Gaussian. The width of the inhomogeneous component is reduced by a factor of √2 compared to the simple Doppler width predicted by MSEC. In the limit of dominant Doppler broadening, the width of the homogeneous component is predicted to be 4Γ, whereas in the limit of dominant homogeneous broadening, the predicted width is 2Γ. An experimental measurement is reported of the line shape of the four-wave-mixing signal using a broad-bandwidth, "modeless", laser resonant with the Q1 (6) line of the A2 Σ - X2 Π(0,0) system of the hydroxyl radical. The measured widths of the Voigt components were found to be consistent with the predictions of the revised theory

Thermodynamically accessible titanium clusters TiN, N = 2-32

We have performed a genetic algorithm search on the tight-binding interatomic potential energy surface (PES) for small TiN (N = 2-32) clusters. The low energy candidate clusters were further refined using density functional theory (DFT) calculations with the PBEsol exchange-correlation functional and evaluated with the PBEsol0 hybrid functional. The resulting clusters were analysed in terms of their structural features, growth mechanism and surface area. The results suggest a growth mechanism that is based on forming coordination centres by interpenetrating icosahedra, icositetrahedra and Frank-Kasper polyhedra. We identify centres of coordination, which act as centres of bulk nucleation in medium sized clusters and determine the morphological features of the cluster