The talented Mr. Littlepage & The Spirit of ’76: An American character study

The curious life of Lewis Littlepage, an American-born courtier in late eighteenth century Europe, revealed the true nature of the United States’ exceptional identity and highlighted the negative effects of social refinement on its unique character. Initially imbued with republican values, Littlepage traveled to Europe in order to pursue a practical political education that would render him useful to the U.S. However, the Virginian’s experiences overseas transformed him into a man unable to control his ambitions, incapable of feeling loyalty to any nation or set of principles, and more dedicated to his personal comfort and luxury than to any sense of republican duty. This study, in order to reach its conclusions, compares Littlepage’s education to that advocated by Thomas Jefferson and examines the differences between the leadership style he eventually developed and the noble republican example modeled by George Washington. It utilizes primary evidence from the Curtis Carroll Davis Collection and the Holladay Family Papers to support its assertions. The uniqueness of the U.S., its exceptionalism, was ultimately a product of its citizens’ self-control. The earliest concern of the nation’s founders, the creators of the grand American experiment to prove that humans were capable of self-government, was how to produce citizens capable of controlling themselves and supporting a republican government. Answering this question, Thomas Jefferson and other Founders concluded that Americans needed a practical republican education and proper role models. The purpose of this training was to teach them how to pursue the common good by controlling their own ambitions, dedicating themselves to republican principles rather than to rulers, and persevering in the face of hardship. Littlepage’s polite education and the process of social refinement he underwent were in opposition to these republican values. Rather than teaching the Virginian to control his own ambitions, to subordinate his interests to the importance of upholding republican values, and to persevere in these endeavors, these processes taught him to proudly display his self-interested ambitions through ostentatious dress and elaborate shows of his useless knowledge. The result was to produce an image of a character that did not conform to America’s exceptional identity

Advanced Organic Chemistry laboratory curricula in Australian universities: Investigating the major topics and approaches to learning

A key goal of tertiary education is to prepare graduates with the training, skills, and knowledge necessary to thrive in the workforce. In chemistry, 50% of undergraduate students from Australia, New Zealand and the UK plan to pursue a career that uses chemistry (Ogunde et al., 2017). However, it has also been noted that there is a mismatch in the skills desired by industry when compared with what is taught to undergraduates (Martin et al., 2011; Yasin & Yueying, 2017). Laboratory work is an essential part of undergraduate programs with the objective of developing practical and interpersonal skills with ‘real world’ engagement in chemistry. It is therefore concerning to note the perception among industry stakeholders that the laboratory skills of high-achieving chemistry graduates do not meet the desired standard (Kirton et al., 2014). This project aims to investigate how we can better develop higher level undergraduate chemistry laboratory programs to improve training and competency with industrially relevant skills. This research will undertake an initial investigation into the current organic chemistry laboratory curricula of second- and third-year courses in Australian universities through content analysis of laboratory manuals and unit outlines. To extend our understanding, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with key external stakeholders, academics, and post-graduate teaching staff. This presentation will introduce the initial stages of this project and expand on our intentions to utilise these data to develop an intervention and set of recommendations for undergraduate laboratories. REFERENCES Kirton, S. B., Al-Ahmad, A., & Fergus, S. (2014). Using Structured Chemistry Examinations (SChemEs) as an assessment method to improve undergraduate students’ generic, practical, and laboratory-based skills. Journal of Chemical Education, 91(5), 648-654. Martin, C. B., Schmidt, M., & Soniat, M. (2011). A survey of the practices, procedures, and techniques in undergraduate organic chemistry teaching laboratories. Journal of Chemical Education, 88(12), 1630-1638. Ogunde, J. C., Overton, T. L., Thompson, C. D., Mewis, R., & Boniface, S. (2017). Beyond graduation: Motivations and career aspirations of undergraduate chemistry students. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 18(3), 457-471. Yasin, N. Y. B. M., & Yueying, O. (2017). Evaluating the relevance of the chemistry curriculum to the workplace: Keeping tertiary education relevant. Journal of Chemical Education, 94(10), 1443-1449

Wirewall a Follow Up: Labratory and Field Measurements of Wave Overtopping

At the Protections 2018 conference, the WireWall wave overtopping research project was introduced. WireWall uses recent advances in high frequency capacitance wire technology that can measure overtopping data. Wave overtopping has now been measured in the laboratory and in the field using the WireWall system. Here we provide an update on the validation of the system in flume tests and results from the first field measurement campaign. Before deployment in the field, an extensive set of tests were carried out in one of the 2D wave flumes at HR Wallingford. These tests simulated known wave conditions from a buoy near the field measurement site, and a representation of the sea wall at the site. The structure (shown in Figure 1) underwent extensive testing and was used to validate the WireWall rig. Using traditional methods of assessing wave overtopping in the flume, the WireWall measurements were directly validated against the known volumes collected in the overtopping tanks. The WireWall field system was deployed at Crosby, Liverpool during the winter of 2018/19, where waves regularly overtop the sea wall. Comparison between the WireWall measurements and the BayonetGPE predictions for one of the Crosby deployments shows good agreement, with the predictions and the WireWall measurements being within the uncertainties estimated for the BayonetGPE predictions

Wirewall a follow up: Laboratory and field measurements of wave overtopping

At the Protections 2018 conference, the WireWall wave overtopping research project was introduced. WireWall uses recent advances in high frequency capacitance wire technology that can measure overtopping data. Wave overtopping has now been measured in the laboratory and in the field using the WireWall system. Here we provide an update on the validation of the system in flume tests and results from the first field measurement campaign. Before deployment in the field, an extensive set of tests were carried out in one of the 2D wave flumes at HR Wallingford. These tests simulated known wave conditions from a buoy near the field measurement site, and a representation of the sea wall at the site. The structure (shown in Figure 1) underwent extensive testing and was used to validate the WireWall rig. Using traditional methods of assessing wave overtopping in the flume, the WireWall measurements were directly validated against the known volumes collected in the overtopping tanks. The WireWall field system was deployed at Crosby, Liverpool during the winter of 2018/19, where waves regularly overtop the sea wall. Comparison between the WireWall measurements and the BayonetGPE predictions for one of the Crosby deployments shows good agreement, with the predictions and the WireWall measurements being within the uncertainties estimated for the BayonetGPE predictions

Tumour-infiltrating regulatory T cell density before neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer does not predict treatment response

Neoadjuvant (preoperative) chemoradiotherapy (CRT) decreases the risk of rectal cancer recurrence and reduces tumour volume prior to surgery. However, response to CRT varies considerably between individuals and factors associated with response are poorly understood. Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) inhibit anti-tumour immunity and may limit any response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We have previously reported that a low density of Tregs in the tumour stroma following neoadjuvant CRT for rectal cancer is associated with improved tumour regression. Here we have examined the association between Treg density in pre-treatment diagnostic biopsy specimens and treatment response, in this same patient cohort. We aimed to determine whether pre-treatment tumour-infiltrating Treg density predicts subsequent response to neoadjuvant CRT. Foxp3+, CD8+ and CD3+ cell densities in biopsy samples from 106 patients were assessed by standard immunohistochemistry (IHC) and evaluated for their association with tumour regression grade and survival. We found no association between the density of any T cell subset pre-treatment and clinical outcome, indicating that tumour-infiltrating Treg density does not predict response to neoadjuvant CRT in rectal cancer. Taken together with the findings of the previous study, these data suggest that in the context of neoadjuvant CRT for rectal cancer, the impact of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy on anti-tumour immunity may be more important than the state of the pre-existing local immune response

Animal Research beyond the Laboratory:Report from a Workshop on Places Other than Licensed Establishments (POLEs) in the UK

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Research involving animals that occurs outside the laboratory raises an array of unique challenges. With regard to UK legislation, however, it receives only limited attention in terms of official guidelines, support, and statistics, which are unsurprisingly orientated towards the laboratory environment in which the majority of animal research takes place. In September 2019, four social scientists from the Animal Research Nexus program gathered together a group of 13 experts to discuss nonlaboratory research under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act (A(SP)A) of 1986 (mirroring European Union (EU) Directive 2010/63/EU), which is the primary mechanism for regulating animal research in the UK. Such nonlaboratory research under the A(SP)A often occurs at Places Other than Licensed Establishments (POLEs). The primary objective of the workshop was to assemble a diverse group with experience across a variety of POLEs (e.g., wildlife field sites, farms, fisheries, veterinary clinics, zoos) to explore the practical, ethical, and regulatory challenges of conducting research at POLEs. While consensus was not sought, nor reached on every point of discussion, we collectively identified five key areas that we propose require further discussion and attention. These relate to: (1) support and training; (2) ethical review; (3) cultures of care, particularly in nonregulated research outside of the laboratory; (4) the setting of boundaries; and (5) statistics and transparency. The workshop generated robust discussion and thereby highlighted the value of focusing on the unique challenges posed by POLEs, and the need for further opportunities for exchanging experiences and sharing best practice relating to research projects outside of the laboratory in the UK and elsewhere

RCSLenS: testing gravitational physics through the cross-correlation of weak lensing and large-scale structure

The unknown nature of ‘dark energy’ motivates continued cosmological tests of large-scale gravitational physics. We present a new consistency check based on the relative amplitude of non-relativistic galaxy peculiar motions, measured via redshift-space distortion, and the relativistic deflection of light by those same galaxies traced by galaxy–galaxy lensing. We take advantage of the latest generation of deep, overlapping imaging and spectroscopic data sets, combining the Red Cluster Sequence Lensing Survey, the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey, the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We quantify the results using the ‘gravitational slip’ statistic EG, which we estimate as 0.48 ± 0.10 at z = 0.32 and 0.30 ± 0.07 at z = 0.57, the latter constituting the highest redshift at which this quantity has been determined. These measurements are consistent with the predictions of General Relativity, for a perturbed Friedmann–Robertson–Walker metric in a Universe dominated by a cosmological constant, which are EG = 0.41 and 0.36 at these respective redshifts. The combination of redshift-space distortion and gravitational lensing data from current and future galaxy surveys will offer increasingly stringent tests of fundamental cosmology