68 research outputs found
Who Owns Europe?... and why it matters for Progressives
First paragraph: Ownership matters. Owners of businesses set their strategic direction, purpose and the terms of employment. Owners of land decide what should be done with it and who can access it. Owners of property decide how it is deployed and who can enjoy its benefits. These decisions have a profound impact on the rest of European economy and society. Too often when we try to understand who owns the assets on which we all rely, the beneficial owners are obscured, and capital is controlled by owners whose interests are divergent from the citizenry at large. Politicians rarely consider questions of ownership when making policy, but the frameworks that they establish for market economies have a profound effect on the levels of corporate plurality in business, and ultimately the outcomes for citizens. Progressives must offer a thoughtful critique which ensures that the benefits of ownership are not concentrated in the hands of the few. Policy should facilitate a fair ownership opportunity for all. This project seeks to examine ownership across the EU, it considers how Europe’s businesses are owned and where the benefits of business flow. It looks closely at different types of ownership model, for example - the joint-stock company, the private business, the partnership model and the mutually-owned enterprise. At the same time, it is concerned with ownership more widely. Who owns the land on which our produce is grown, the apartment blocks in which we live and the institutions in which we store our earnings? We have examined whether some forms of ownership are more conducive to the public good and to what extent public goals can be discharged by a wider range of ownership types. Ownership in the public interest can be achieved, but it requires a consistent approach across EU member states, with policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks that support and protect ownership that is designed for a common purpose, rather than simply focussed on maximising private profit. This report makes a series of recommendations which seek to ensure strong economies which are purposeful and successful, but which also benefit the wider public good
Who Owns Europe?... and why it matters for Progressives
First paragraph: Ownership matters. Owners of businesses set their strategic direction, purpose and the terms of employment. Owners of land decide what should be done with it and who can access it. Owners of property decide how it is deployed and who can enjoy its benefits. These decisions have a profound impact on the rest of European economy and society. Too often when we try to understand who owns the assets on which we all rely, the beneficial owners are obscured, and capital is controlled by owners whose interests are divergent from the citizenry at large. Politicians rarely consider questions of ownership when making policy, but the frameworks that they establish for market economies have a profound effect on the levels of corporate plurality in business, and ultimately the outcomes for citizens. Progressives must offer a thoughtful critique which ensures that the benefits of ownership are not concentrated in the hands of the few. Policy should facilitate a fair ownership opportunity for all. This project seeks to examine ownership across the EU, it considers how Europe’s businesses are owned and where the benefits of business flow. It looks closely at different types of ownership model, for example - the joint-stock company, the private business, the partnership model and the mutually-owned enterprise. At the same time, it is concerned with ownership more widely. Who owns the land on which our produce is grown, the apartment blocks in which we live and the institutions in which we store our earnings? We have examined whether some forms of ownership are more conducive to the public good and to what extent public goals can be discharged by a wider range of ownership types. Ownership in the public interest can be achieved, but it requires a consistent approach across EU member states, with policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks that support and protect ownership that is designed for a common purpose, rather than simply focussed on maximising private profit. This report makes a series of recommendations which seek to ensure strong economies which are purposeful and successful, but which also benefit the wider public good
Inhaled Corticosteroids Alone and in Combination With Long-Acting beta(2) Receptor Agonists to Treat Reduced Lung Function in Preterm-Born Children A Randomized Clinical Trial:A Randomized Clinical Trial
IMPORTANCE: Decreases in future lung function are a hallmark of preterm birth, but studies for management of decreased lung function are limited. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether 12 weeks of treatment with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) alone or in combination with long-acting β(2) agonists (LABA) improves spirometry and exercise capacity in school-aged preterm-born children who had percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (%FEV(1)) less than or equal to 85% compared with inhaled placebo treatment. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to evaluate ICS and ICS/LABA against placebo. Preterm-born children (age, 7-12 years; gestation ≤34 weeks at birth) who did not have clinically significant congenital, cardiopulmonary, or neurodevelopmental abnormalities underwent spirometry, exercise testing, and measurement of fractional exhaled nitric oxide before and after treatment. A total of 144 preterm-born children at the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff, UK, were identified and enrolled between July 1, 2017, and August 31, 2019. INTERVENTIONS: Each child was randomized to 1 of 3 cohorts: fluticasone propionate, 50 μg, with placebo; fluticasone propionate, 50 μg, with salmeterol, 25 μg; or placebo inhalers, all given as 2 puffs twice daily for 12 weeks. Children receiving preexisting ICS treatment underwent washout prior to randomization to ICS or ICS/LABA. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was between-group differences assessed by adjusted pretreatment and posttreatment differences of %FEV(1) using analysis of covariance. Intention-to-treat analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Of 144 preterm-born children who were identified with %FEV(1) less than or equal to 85%, 53 were randomized. Treatment allocation was 20 children receiving ICS (including 5 with prerandomization ICS), 19 children receiving ICS/LABA (including 4 with prerandomization ICS), and 14 children receiving placebo. The mean (SD) age of children was 10.8 (1.2) years, and 29 of the randomized children (55%) were female. The posttreatment %FEV(1) was adjusted for sex, gestation, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intrauterine growth restriction, pretreatment corticosteroid status, treatment group, and pretreatment values. Posttreatment adjusted means for %FEV(1), using analysis of covariance, were 7.7% (95% CI, −0.27% to 15.72%; P = .16) higher in the ICS group and 14.1% (95% CI, 7.3% to 21.0%; P = .002) higher in the ICS/LABA group compared with the placebo group. Active treatment decreased the fractional exhaled nitric oxide and improved postexercise bronchodilator response but did not improve exercise capacity. One child developed cough when starting inhaler treatment; no other adverse events reported during the trial could be attributed to the inhaler treatment. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The results of this randomized clinical trial suggest that combined ICS/LABA treatment is beneficial for prematurity-associated lung disease in children. TRIAL REGISTRATION: EudraCT number: 2015-003712-2
Capturing Debriefing and Enhancing Reflection within Simulated Clinical Learning Environments
This article presents findings from an evaluation of a new A3-size learner notes sheet designed for use by healthcare students engaging in clinical simulation and clinical skills sessions. The notes sheet consists of an adapted form of the SBAR (situation, background, assessment, response) tool, whilst capturing post-simulation oral debriefing provided by a facilitator. Additionally, the Driscoll (2007)model is used to provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their engagement in clinical simulation. Two cohorts of students, who engaged in separate simulation sessions, completed the A3 sheet. The study featured 33 midwifery and 21 operating department practitioner (ODP) students undertaking a simulation. Documentary analysis was undertaken to identify the depth of reflective writing of both groups of students. Midwifery student participants reflected on their experiences of simulation at a slightly deeper level than their ODP counterparts. All students adhered to the structure of the notes sheet when receiving their briefing from the facilitator and when asked to write their reflective accounts. This study has sought to explore an under-researched area of clinical simulation: the extent to which healthcare students can utilise reflection when engaging with a clinical scenario within a simulated learning environment
Capturing Debriefing and Enhancing Reflection within Simulated Clinical Learning Environments
This article presents findings from an evaluation of a new A3-size learner notes sheet designed for use by healthcare students engaging in clinical simulation and clinical skills sessions. The notes sheet consists of an adapted form of the SBAR (situation,background, assessment, response) tool, whilst capturing post-simulation oral debriefing provided by a facilitator. Additionally, the Driscoll (2007) model is used to provide students with an opportunity to reflect on theirengagement in clinical simulation. Two cohorts of students, who engaged in separate simulation sessions, completed the A3 sheet. Thestudyfeatured 33 midwifery and 21 operating department practitioner (ODP) students undertaking a simulation. Documentary analysis was undertaken to identify the depth of reflective writing of both groups of students. Midwifery student participants reflected on their experiences of simulation at a slightly deeper level than their ODP counterparts. All students adhered to the structure of the notes sheet when receiving their briefing from the facilitator and when asked to write their reflective accounts. This study has sought to explore an under-researched area of clinical simulation: the extent to which healthcare students canutilise reflection when engaging with a clinical scenario within a simulated learning environment
Intergenerational family support for ‘Generation Rent’:The family home for socially disengaged young people
This paper critically discusses the concept of intergenerational family support in housing for young people. Recognizing increased difficulties faced by the younger generation in the housing market, this paper highlights that support from older family members is increasingly important. Nonetheless, it is critiqued that the role of the family home has been largely ignored in the current ‘generation rent’ discourse. By drawing on recent youth studies debates, this paper argues living in the family home could be an important form of support in housing, especially for marginalized youth. This paper presents insights from qualitative studies in Hong Kong and Scotland and analyses interview accounts of socially disengaged young people. It reflects how remaining at the family home could be interpreted as intergenerational support, and further elicits complexities in expectations, negotiations and emotions involved. This analysis offers new evidence and a more nuanced perspective of intergenerational family support in housing research
Mapping interactions between the RNA chaperone FinO and its RNA targets
Bacterial conjugation is regulated by two-component repression comprising the antisense RNA FinP, and its protein co-factor FinO. FinO mediates base-pairing of FinP to the 5′-untranslated region (UTR) of traJ mRNA, which leads to translational inhibition of the transcriptional activator TraJ and subsequent down regulation of conjugation genes. Yet, little is known about how FinO binds to its RNA targets or how this interaction facilitates FinP and traJ mRNA pairing. Here, we use solution methods to determine how FinO binds specifically to its minimal high affinity target, FinP stem–loop II (SLII), and its complement SLIIc from traJ mRNA. Ribonuclease footprinting reveals that FinO contacts the base of the stem and the 3′ single-stranded tails of these RNAs. The phosphorylation or oxidation of the 3′-nucleotide blocks FinO binding, suggesting FinO binds the 3′-hydroxyl of its RNA targets. The collective results allow the generation of an energy-minimized model of the FinO–SLII complex, consistent with small-angle X-ray scattering data. The repression complex model was constrained using previously reported cross-linking data and newly developed footprinting results. Together, these data lead us to propose a model of how FinO mediates FinP/traJ mRNA pairing to down regulate bacterial conjugation
Structural basis of cooperative DNA recognition by the plasmid conjugation factor, TraM
The conjugative transfer of F-like plasmids such as F, R1, R100 and pED208, between bacterial cells requires TraM, a plasmid-encoded DNA-binding protein. TraM tetramers bridge the origin of transfer (oriT) to a key component of the conjugative pore, the coupling protein TraD. Here we show that TraM recognizes a high-affinity DNA-binding site, sbmA, as a cooperative dimer of tetramers. The crystal structure of the TraM–sbmA complex from the plasmid pED208 shows that binding cooperativity is mediated by DNA kinking and unwinding, without any direct contact between tetramers. Sequence-specific DNA recognition is carried out by TraM’s N-terminal ribbon–helix–helix (RHH) domains, which bind DNA in a staggered arrangement. We demonstrate that both DNA-binding specificity, as well as selective interactions between TraM and the C-terminal tail of its cognate TraD mediate conjugation specificity within the F-like family of plasmids. The ability of TraM to cooperatively bind DNA without interaction between tetramers leaves the C-terminal TraM tetramerization domains free to make multiple interactions with TraD, driving recruitment of the plasmid to the conjugative pore
Open Data from the Third Observing Run of LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA, and GEO
Calibration of the LIGO strain data was performed with
a GstLAL-based calibration software pipeline (Viets et al.
2018). Calibration of the Virgo strain data was performed
with C-based software (Acernese et al. 2022b). Data quality
products and event-validation results were computed using the
DMT (https://labcit.ligo.caltech.edu/~jzweizig/DMT-Project.
html), DQR (https://docs.ligo.org/detchar/data-quality-report/),
DQSEGDB (Fisher et al. 2021), gwdetchar (Macloed et al.
2021a), hveto (Smith et al. 2011), iDQ (Essick et al. 2020), and
Omicron (Robinet et al. 2020) software packages and contribut-
ing software tools. Analyses relied upon the LALSuite software
library (LIGO Scientific Collaboration 2018). PESummary was
used to postprocess and collate parameter estimation results (Hoy
& Raymond 2021). For an exhaustive list of the software used
for searching the GW signals and characterizing their source,
see Abbott et al. (2021c). Plots were prepared with Matplotlib
(Hunter 2007), seaborn (Waskom 2021), GWSumm (Macleod
et al. 2021b), and GWpy (Macleod et al. 2021c). NumPy (Harris
et al. 2020) and SciPy (Virtanen et al. 2020) were used in the
preparation of the manuscript.
This material is based upon work supported by NSF’s LIGO
Laboratory which is a major facility fully funded by the
National Science Foundation. The authors also gratefully
acknowledge the support of the Science and Technology
Facilities Council (STFC) of the United Kingdom, the Max-
Planck-Society (MPS), and the State of Niedersachsen/
Germany for support of the construction of Advanced LIGO
and construction and operation of the GEO 600 detector.
Additional support for Advanced LIGO was provided by the
Australian Research Council. The authors gratefully acknowl-
edge the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN),
the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
(CNRS), and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific
Research (NWO) for the construction and operation of the
Virgo detector and the creation and support of the EGO
consortium. The authors also gratefully acknowledge research
support from these agencies as well as by the Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the Department of
Science and Technology, India, the Science & Engineering
Research Board (SERB), India, the Ministry of Human
Resource Development, India, the Spanish Agencia Estatal de
Investigación (AEI), the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e
Innovación and Ministerio de Universidades, the Conselleria de
Fons Europeus, Universitat i Cultura and the Direcció General
de Política Universitaria i Recerca del Govern de les Illes
Balears, the Conselleria d'Innovació, Universitats, Ciència i
Societat Digital de la Generalitat Valenciana and the CERCA
Programme Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain, the National
Science Centre of Poland and the European Union – European
Regional Development Fund; Foundation for Polish Science
(FNP), the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the
Russian Foundation for Basic Research, the Russian Science
Foundation, the European Commission, the European Social
Funds (ESF), the European Regional Development Funds
(ERDF), the Royal Society, the Scottish Funding Council, the
Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, the Hungarian Scientific
Research Fund (OTKA), the French Lyon Institute of Origins
(LIO), the Belgian Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-
FNRS), Actions de Recherche Concertées (ARC) and Fonds
Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek – Vlaanderen (FWO), Belgium,
the Paris Île-de-France Region, the National Research,
Development and Innovation Office Hungary (NKFIH), the
National Research Foundation of Korea, the Natural Science
and Engineering Research Council Canada, Canadian Founda-
tion for Innovation (CFI), the Brazilian Ministry of Science,
Technology, and Innovations, the International Center for
Theoretical Physics South American Institute for Fundamental
Research (ICTP-SAIFR), the Research Grants Council of Hong
Kong, the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(NSFC), the Leverhulme Trust, the Research Corporation, the
Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, the
United States Department of Energy, and the Kavli Foundation.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the NSF,
STFC, INFN, and CNRS for provision of computational
resources.
This work was supported by MEXT, JSPS Leading-edge
Research Infrastructure Program, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for
Specially Promoted Research 26000005, JSPS Grant-in-Aid
for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas 2905:
JP17H06358, JP17H06361 and JP17H06364, JSPS Core-to-
Core Program A, Advanced Research Networks, JSPS Grant-
in-Aid for Scientific Research (S) 17H06133 and 20H05639,
JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A)
20A203: JP20H05854, the joint research program of the
Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo,
National Research Foundation (NRF), Computing Infrastruc-
ture Project of Global Science experimental Data hub Center
(GSDC) at KISTI, Korea Astronomy and Space Science
Institute (KASI), and Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) in
Korea, Academia Sinica (AS), AS Grid Center (ASGC) and the
National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) in Taiwan
under grants including the Rising Star Program and Science
Vanguard Research Program, Advanced Technology Center
(ATC) of NAOJ, and Mechanical Engineering Center of KEK.Peer reviewe
Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo
Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level
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