Commentary

These remarks are adapted from part of the session at the 1990 NAEA conference in Kansas City that debated the proposition: “The Caucus on Social Theory is Neither Social nor Theoretical.” Webb subtitled his statement: As the imaginary wine bottles said to the vintner - we\u27re with you in theory but you can\u27t cork us

‘Civic conversations’ facilitated by social media can help to reshape the relationship between citizens and local government

Amidst heated contemporary policy debates about the shifting roles and responsibilities of local government and citizen-local state relations, it is timely to ask if social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter afford opportunities for new forms of interaction. Nick Ellison and Jo Orchard-Webb explore the idea of ‘civic conversations’ as a means of understanding the potential role that social media might play in re-shaping localized political/civic engagement between citizens and local authorities

Prebiotic Synthesis of Aspartate Using Life’s Metabolism as a Guide

A protometabolic approach to the origins of life assumes that the conserved biochemistry of metabolism has direct continuity with prebiotic chemistry. One of the most important amino acids in modern biology is aspartic acid, serving as a nodal metabolite for the synthesis of many other essential biomolecules. Aspartate’s prebiotic synthesis is complicated by the instability of its precursor, oxaloacetate. In this paper, we show that the use of the biologically relevant cofactor pyridoxamine, supported by metal ion catalysis, is sufficiently fast to offset oxaloacetate’s degradation. Cu2+-catalysed transamination of oxaloacetate by pyridoxamine achieves around a 5% yield within 1 h, and can operate across a broad range of pH, temperature, and pressure. In addition, the synthesis of the downstream product β-alanine may also take place in the same reaction system at very low yields, directly mimicking an archaeal synthesis route. Amino group transfer supported by pyridoxal is shown to take place from aspartate to alanine, but the reverse reaction (alanine to aspartate) shows a poor yield. Overall, our results show that the nodal metabolite aspartate and related amino acids can indeed be synthesised via protometabolic pathways that foreshadow modern metabolism in the presence of the simple cofactor pyridoxamine and metal ions

How Was Your Day? evaluating a conversational companion

The “How Was Your Day” (HWYD) Companion is an embodied conversational agent that can discuss work-related issues, entering free-form dialogues that lack any clearly defined tasks and goals. The development of this type of Companion technology requires new models of evaluation. Here, we describe a paradigm and methodology for evaluating the main aspects of such functionality in conjunction with overall system behaviour, with respect to three parameters: functional ability (i.e., does it do the ‘right’ thing), content (i.e., does it respond appropriately to the semantic context), and emotional behaviour (i.e., given the emotional input from the user, does it respond in an emotionally appropriate way). We demonstrate the functionality of our evaluation paradigm as a method for both grading current system performance, and targeting areas for particular performance review. We show correlation between, for example, ASR performance and overall system performance (as is expected in systems of this type) but beyond this, we show where individual utterances or responses, which are indicated as positive or negative, show an immediate response from the user, and demonstrate how our combination evaluation approach highlights issues (both positive and negative) in the Companion system’s interaction behaviou

The Grizzly, October 26, 1993

Colvin, Reynolds to Serve on Captains\u27 Council • Verdict Returned in Reginald Denny Trial • Ursinus Loses Friend and Supporter • Student Apathy Strikes Again • Ursinus Students to Perform in State Choral Festival • Gaijin-Eyes Exhibit to Open • Literary Society • Self-Realization in the Big Apple: Wiggly Blocks and The Piano • Bears Win Homecoming • Phillies Lose World Serieshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1322/thumbnail.jp

Rapid review on safeguarding to inform the Healthy Child Programme 5 to 19

This is the final version of the article. Available from PHE Publications via the DOI in this recordSummary of key points 1. The purpose of this rapid review is to update the evidence in relation to safeguarding guidance in the Healthy Child Programme for 5 to 19 year-olds. 2. It synthesises evidence about ‘what works’ in prevention and early intervention as regards child abuse and neglect, child sexual abuse and exploitation, intimate partner violence (IPV), female genital mutilation (FGM) and gang violence. 3. Focusing on the period 2006 to 2015, a total of 27 systematic reviews and 9 additional randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are included. 4. Key messages on identifying families in need of additional support, the effective implementation of interventions, and workforce skills and training are also included, as is evidence on the economic aspects of safeguarding