The civil service should be providing the key capacities which any prime minister needs to govern effectively

Josh Harris discusses a new report by the Institute for Government which looks at the role of the civil service in supporting the prime minister. He argues that effective government requires that civil service is provided with essential capacities that the prime minister can rely on to carry out the difficult task of leading the government

A Data-Driven Machine Learning Approach for Electron-Molecule Ionization Cross Sections

Despite their importance in a wide variety of applications, the estimation of ionization cross sections for large molecules continues to present challenges for both experiment and theory. Machine learning (ML) algorithms have been shown to be an effective mechanism for estimating cross section data for atomic targets and a select number of molecular targets. We present an efficient ML model for predicting ionization cross sections for a broad array of molecular targets. Our model is a 3-layer neural network that is trained using published experimental datasets. There is minimal input to the network, making it widely applicable. We show that with training on as few as 10 molecular datasets, the network is able to predict the experimental cross sections of additional molecules with an accuracy similar to experimental uncertainties in existing data. As the number of training molecular datasets increased, the network\u27s predictions became more accurate and, in the worst case, were within 30% of accepted experimental values. In many cases, predictions were within 10% of accepted values. Using a network trained on datasets for 25 different molecules, we present predictions for an additional 27 molecules, including alkanes, alkenes, molecules with ring structures, and DNA nucleotide bases

Kinematic and Kinetic Synergies of the Lower Extremities During the Pull in Olympic Weightlifting

The purpose of this study was to identify multijoint lower extremity kinematic and kinetic synergies in weightlifting and compare these synergies between joints and across different external loads. Subjects completed sets of the clean exercise at loads equal to 65, 75, and 85% of their estimated 1-RM. Functional data analysis was used to extract principal component functions (PCF\u27s) for hip, knee, and ankle joint angles and moments of force during the pull phase of the clean at all loads. The PCF scores were then compared between joints and across loads to determine how much of each PCF was present at each joint and how it differed across loads. The analyses extracted two kinematic and four kinetic PCF\u27s. The statistical comparisons indicated that all kinematic and two of the four kinetic PCF\u27s did not differ across load, but scaled according to joint function. The PCF\u27s captured a set of joint- and load-specific synergies that quantified biomechanical function of the lower extremity during Olympic weightlifting and revealed important technical characteristics that should be considered in sports training and future research

Adopting a Citizen Science approach to develop cost-effective methods that will deliver annual information for managing small-scale recreational fisheries: The Southwest Recreational Crabbing Project

Fishing for the blue swimmer crab, Portunus armatus, represents an iconic Western Australian recreational fishing experience. State-wide integrated surveys of boat-based recreational fishing conducted by the Department of Fisheries, Western Australia (DoF) in 2011/12 and 2013/14 reported that three times more blue swimmer crabs were caught than any other recreational species (Ryan etal., 2013; Ryan et al., 2015)

Weightlifting Performance is Related to Kinematic and Kinetic Patterns of the Hip and Knee Joints

The purpose of this study was to investigate correlations between biomechanical outcome measures and weightlifting performance. Joint kinematics and kinetics of the hip, knee, and ankle were calculated while ten subjects performed a clean at 85% of 1-RM. Kinematic and kinetic time-series patterns were extracted with principal components analysis. Discrete scores for each time-series pattern were calculated and used to determine how each pattern was related to body-mass normalized 1-RM. Two hip kinematic and two knee kinetic patterns were significantly correlated with relative 1-RM. The kinematic patterns captured hip and trunk motions during the first pull and hip joint motion during the movement transition between the first and second pull. The first kinetic pattern captured a peak in the knee extension moment during the second pull. The second kinetic pattern captured a spatiotemporal shift in the timing and amplitude of the peak knee extension moment. The kinematic results suggest that greater lift mass was associated with steady trunk position during the first pull and less hip extension motion during the second-knee bend transition. Further, the kinetic results suggest that greater lift mass was associated with a smaller knee extensor moments during the first pull, but greater knee extension moments during the second pull, as well as an earlier temporal transition between knee flexion-extension moments at the beginning of the second pull. Collectively, these results highlight the importance of controlled trunk and hip motions during the first pull and rapid employment of the knee extensor muscles during the second pull in relation to weightlifting performance

PinR mediates the generation of reversible population diversity in Streptococcus zooepidemicus

Opportunistic pathogens must adapt to and survive in a wide range of complex ecosystems. Streptococcus zooepidemicus is an opportunistic pathogen of horses and many other animals, including humans. The assembly of different surface architecture phenotypes from one genotype is likely to be crucial to the successful exploitation of such an opportunistic lifestyle. Construction of a series of mutants revealed that a serine recombinase, PinR, inverts 114 bp of the promoter of SZO_08560, which is bordered by GTAGACTTTA and TAAAGTCTAC inverted repeats. Inversion acts as a switch, controlling the transcription of this sortase-processed protein, which may enhance the attachment of S. zooepidemicus to equine trachea. The genome of a recently sequenced strain of S. zooepidemicus, 2329 (Sz2329), was found to contain a disruptive internal inversion of 7 kb of the FimIV pilus locus, which is bordered by TAGAAA and TTTCTA inverted repeats. This strain lacks pinR and this inversion may have become irreversible following the loss of this recombinase. Active inversion of FimIV was detected in three strains of S. zooepidemicus, 1770 (Sz1770), B260863 (SzB260863) and H050840501 (SzH050840501), all of which encoded pinR. A deletion mutant of Sz1770 that lacked pinR was no longer capable of inverting its internal region of FimIV. The data highlight redundancy in the PinR sequence recognition motif around a short TAGA consensus and suggest that PinR can reversibly influence the wider surface architecture of S. zooepidemicus, providing this organism with a bet-hedging solution to survival in fluctuating environments

Care Works: Come Home for Care

Essential to executing the mission and vision of an academic medical center (AMC) is attracting and retaining the highest quality employees. As demonstrated by VCU’s commitment to the Great Place Initiative, the University has recognized that employees in today’s highly competitive environment demand competitive salary and benefit packages. Research has shown that access to high quality, on-site healthcare services provides significant benefits to both employees and employers, such as increased productivity and reduced wellness costs[1]. Yet, a query of de-identified patient records indicated that only a small percentage of VCU employees (~18%) utilized the health services provided by VCU Health System in 2016. VCU’s peer-institutions, other distinguished AMCs, and industry employers have implemented a variety of programs such as concierge services, expedited appointments, on-campus clinics, and lower copays to remain competitive and responsive to their employees. In light of the depth of these programs, Team CareWorks completed a comparative review of health and wellness related employee-specific benefits to determine how VCU might enhance its benefits through initiatives such as on-site medical clinics, prioritized appointments, telehealth, and on-site pharmacies. Informed by the comparative analysis, Team CareWorks will provide recommendations that VCU can use to: capitalize on the integrated relationship with VCU Health to enrich the health and wellness of its outstanding assets (the employees); and provide enhanced benefits to employees by making VCU Health more easily accessible and more appealing as a Medical Home. [1]Berry, Leonard, Ann M. Mirabito, & William B. Baun. “What\u27s the Hard Return on Employee Wellness Programs?” (2010). Harvard Business Review, December 2010.. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=206487

The Future from Here: Theatre Freelancers and Planning for the Future during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The report details the emerging findings from our survey of theatre freelancers which ran from November 2020 until March 2021, and we would like to say a huge “thank you” to those who took part. We heard from 397 theatre freelancers, across all career stages and a variety of specialisms. We are only at the beginning of our analysis, and will continue to publish our emerging findings as we dig deeper into this data set, as well as integrate it with the data we are gathering through interviews and focus groups

Harvest

A poster presented by Samantha Coffey, Ellie Barber, Lucy Gipson, Jack Hoskins-Harris, Jackson Huff and Josh Groves for the class Business, Accounting, and Entrepreneurship.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/gsp_projects_2019/1015/thumbnail.jp