Absorbate-Induced Piezochromism in a Porous Molecular Crystal

Atmospherically stable porous frameworks and materials are interesting for heterogeneous solid–gas applications. One motivation is the direct and selective uptake of pollutant/hazardous gases, where the material produces a measurable response in the presence of the analyte. In this report, we present a combined experimental and theoretical rationalization for the piezochromic response of a robust and porous molecular crystal built from an extensively fluorinated trispyrazole. The electronic response of the material is directly determined by analyte uptake, which provokes a subtle lattice contraction and an observable bathochromic shift in the optical absorption onset. Selectivity for fluorinated absorbates is demonstrated, and toluene is also found to crystallize within the pore. Furthermore, we demonstrate the application of electronic structure calculations to predict a physicochemical response, providing the foundations for the design of electronically tunable porous solids with the chemical properties required for development of novel gas-uptake media

Response of lightning NOx emissions and ozone production to climate change: Insights from the Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project

Results from an ensemble of models are used to investigate the response of lightning nitrogen oxide emissions to climate change and the consequent impacts on ozone production. Most models generate lightning using a parameterization based on cloud top height. With this approach and a present-day global emission of 5 TgN, we estimate a linear response with respect to changes in global surface temperature of +0.44 ± 0.05 TgN K−1. However, two models using alternative approaches give +0.14 and −0.55 TgN K−1 suggesting that the simulated response is highly dependent on lightning parameterization. Lightning NOx is found to have an ozone production efficiency of 6.5 ± 4.7 times that of surface NOx sources. This wide range of efficiencies across models is partly due to the assumed vertical distribution of the lightning source and partly to the treatment of nonmethane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) chemistry. Careful consideration of the vertical distribution of emissions is needed, given its large influence on ozone production

Acceptance Criteria for Critical Software Based on Testability Estimates and Test Results

Testability is defined as the probability that a program will fail a test, conditional on the program containing some fault. In this paper, we show that statements about the testability of a program can be more simply described in terms of assumptions on the probability distribution of the failure intensity of the program. We can thus state general acceptance conditions in clear mathematical terms using Bayesian inference. We develop two scenarios, one for software for which the reliability requirements are that the software must be completely fault-free, and another for requirements stated as an upper bound on the acceptable failure probability

Upper Limb Function but Not Proprioception is Impaired in Essential Tremor: A Between-Groups Study and Causal Mediation Analysis

Background: Essential tremor (ET) is characterized by abnormal oscillatory muscle activity and cerebellar involvement, factors that can lead to proprioceptive deficits, especially in active tasks. The present study aimed to quantify the severity of proprioceptive deficits in people with ET and estimate how these contribute to functional impairments. Methods: Upper limb sensory, proprioceptive and motor function was assessed in individuals with ET (n = 20) and healthy individuals (n = 22). Tomeasure proprioceptive ability, participants discriminated the width of grasped objects and the weight of objects lifted with the wrist extensors. Causal mediation analysis was used to estimate the extent that impairments in upper limb function in ET was mediated by proprioceptive ability. Results: Participants with ET had impaired upper limb function in all outcomes, and had greater postural and kinetic tremor. There were no differences between groups in proprioceptive discrimination of width (between-group mean difference [95% CI]: 0.32 mm [–0.23 to 0.87 mm]) or weight (–1.12 g [–7.31 to 5.07 g]). Causal mediation analysis showed the effect of ET on upper limb function was not mediated by proprioceptive ability. Conclusions: Upper limb function but not proprioception was impaired in ET. The effect of ET on motor function was not mediated by proprioception. These results indicate that the central nervous system of people with ET is able to accommodate mild to moderate tremor in active proprioceptive tasks that rely primarily on afferent signals from muscle spindles

Troubling "understanding mathematics-in-depth": Its role in the identity work of student-teachers in England

Copyright @ The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.comThis article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.In this paper, we focus on an initiative in England devised to prepare non-mathematics graduates to train as secondary mathematics teachers through a 6-month Mathematics Enhancement Course (MEC) to boost their subject knowledge. The course documentation focuses on the need to develop “understanding mathematics in-depth” in students in order for them to become successful mathematics teachers. We take a poststructural approach, so we are not interested in asking what such an understanding is, about the value of this approach or about the effectiveness of the MECs in developing this understanding in their participants. Instead we explore what positions this discourse of “understanding mathematics in-depth” makes available to MEC students. We do this by looking in detail at the “identity work” of two students, analysing how they use and are used by this discourse to position themselves as future mathematics teachers. In doing so, we show how even benign-looking social practices such as “understanding mathematics in-depth” are implicated in practices of inclusion and exclusion. We show this through detailed readings of interviews with two participants, one of whom fits with the dominant discourses in the MEC and the other who, despite passing the MEC, experiences tensions between her national identity work and MEC discourses. We argue that it is vital to explore “identity work” within teacher education contexts to ensure that becoming a successful mathematics teacher is equally available to all.King’s College Londo

Why is cheating wrong?

Since cheating is obviously wrong, arguments against it (it provides an unfair advantage, it hinders learning) need only be mentioned in passing. But the argument of unfair advantage absurdly takes education to be essentially a race of all against all; moreover, it ignores that many cases of unfair (dis)advantages are widely accepted. That cheating can hamper learning does not mean that punishing cheating will necessarily favor learning, so that this argument does not obviously justify sanctioning cheaters. -- Keywords: academic dishonesty, academic integrity, academic misconduct, education, ethics, homework, plagiarismComment: 8 pages; new (completely rewritten) version; in Studies in Philosophy and Education (2009

Queering identity : becoming queer in the work of Cassils

This chapter explores the work of genderqueer artist Cassils in order to address the question of what it is to be human from a queer perspective. The challenges from queer and postmodern scholarship to the “identity politics” so central to earlier activist and academic agendas have been well documented. Yet, notwithstanding these valid critiques, identity remains a powerful organizing concept in contemporary experience. These contradictory stances on identity serve as a prompt for thinking about what queer brings to our understandings of being human now and in the near future

Mapping the Spread of Malaria Drug Resistance

Tim Anderson discusses a new study of molecular variation in alleles at the dihydropteroate synthase locus, which underlies resistance to sulfadoxine, in over 5,000 parasites from 50 locations

Quantum oscillations of nitrogen atoms in uranium nitride

The vibrational excitations of crystalline solids corresponding to acoustic or optic one phonon modes appear as sharp features in measurements such as neutron spectroscopy. In contrast, many-phonon excitations generally produce a complicated, weak, and featureless response. Here we present time-of-flight neutron scattering measurements for the binary solid uranium nitride (UN), showing well-defined, equally-spaced, high energy vibrational modes in addition to the usual phonons. The spectrum is that of a single atom, isotropic quantum harmonic oscillator and characterizes independent motions of light nitrogen atoms, each found in an octahedral cage of heavy uranium atoms. This is an unexpected and beautiful experimental realization of one of the fundamental, exactly-solvable problems in quantum mechanics. There are also practical implications, as the oscillator modes must be accounted for in the design of generation IV nuclear reactors that plan to use UN as a fuel.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Nature Communications, supplementary information adde

A False Start in the Race Against Doping in Sport: Concerns With Cycling’s Biological Passport

Professional cycling has suffered from a number of doping scandals. The sport’s governing bodies have responded by implementing an aggressive new antidoping program known as the biological passport. Cycling’s biological passport marks a departure from traditional antidoping efforts, which have focused on directly detecting prohibited substances in a cyclist’s system. Instead, the biological passport tracks biological variables in a cyclist’s blood and urine over time, monitoring for fluctuations that are thought to indirectly reveal the effects of doping. Although this method of indirect detection is promising, it also raises serious legal and scientific concerns. Since its introduction, the cycling community has debated the reliability of indirect biological-passport evidence and the clarity, consistency, and transparency of its use in proving doping violations. Such uncertainty undermines the legitimacy of finding cyclists guilty of doping based on this indirect evidence alone. Antidoping authorities should address these important concerns before continuing to pursue doping sanctions against cyclists solely on the basis of their biological passports