Search

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are well known for their ability to adsorb various gases. The use of MOFs for the storage and release of biologically active gases, particularly nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO), has been a subject of interest. To elucidate the binding mechanisms and geometry of these gases, an in situ single crystal X-ray diffraction (scXRD) study using synchrotron radiation at Diamond Light Source has been performed on a set of MOFs that display promising gas adsorption properties. NO and CO, were introduced into dehydrated Ni-CPO-27 and the related Co-4,6-dihydroxyisophthalate (Co-4,6-dhip). Both MOFs show strong binding affinity towards CO and NO, however CO suffers more from competitive co-adsorption of water. Additionally, we show that morphology can play an important role in the ease of dehydration for these two systems.

The frameworks to measure salesperson performance have not advanced in parallel with the degree of transformation of professional selling. To address this issue, research in organizational performance advocates for the use of more comprehensive and integrated measurement frameworks, incorporating both objective and subjective measures. However, in sales research, this integrated approach is rare, with most studies using either objective or subjective measurement. Thus, in this article, we explore the combined use of objective and subjective measures of salesperson performance. We conduct a systematic review of sales performance and then investigate empirically, through a survey of 207 salespeople and 39 interviews with sales leaders, the specific role played by subjective measures of individual sales performance. A key finding of the study is the widespread use of diverse measures of performance in practice and the limited measurement approaches used in sales research. We contribute by articulating the differences in the conceptualization and operationalization of salesperson performance between industry practice and scholarly research. We propose a set of principles for selecting measures of performance in sales and present a framework that extends current conceptualizations of effectiveness and efficiency by incorporating a third dimension, competency, that also needs to be measured.

This article sets out to examine the politicising and depoliticising effects of the various stories that were deployed by the UK government in its response to the coronavirus crisis during its daily press briefings over a 2-month period between 16 March and 16 May 2020. In doing so, we identify four key narratives: (1) unprecedented government activism; (2) working to plan; (3) national security, wartime unity and sacrifice; and (4) scientific guidance. Through a quantitative and qualitative study of the deployment of these narratives, we attempt to further recent theoretical insights on depoliticisation by noting that the COVID-19 crisis produced a particular type of crisis moment in which the government was forced to respond in ‘real time’ to a set of circumstances which were rapidly changing. As such, this made it much more difficult to control the various stories they wanted to tell and therefore find a coherent ‘anchor’ for their politicising and depoliticising strategies. This led to some deft discursive footwork as the government sought to pass the ball of responsibility between various groups of actors in order to rapidly and continually shift the balance between avoiding blame and taking credit.

The current global wave of populism has fuelled a surge in scholarly interest but the links between populism and religion remain under-researched and most studies have centred on cases where religion remains socially and politically influential. This paper contributes to developing studies in this area by analysing the use of religious tropes and themes in a comparatively non-religious context, examining the populist discourse that was constructed to promote Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union (‘Brexit’). Drawing on neo-Durkheimian ideas about the endurance of the ‘sacred’ in social organisation, it identifies three core themes: (1) a framing of the EU as a ‘folk devil’ and an existential threat to the liberty and prosperity of the British nation, (2) a presentation of Brexit as a source of national rebirth and salvation, underpinned by an exceptionalist view of the British people who were said to possess a unique global destiny, and (3) a sacralisation of ‘the People’ into an homogenous mass whose Will was to be enacted at all costs in the aftermath of the referendum. The study shows how populists are able to draw on a religious repertoire to mobilise voters, even in contexts that are largely non-religious.

This article traces the emergence and development of claims that the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union delivered a mandate for a so-called no-deal Brexit. Utilising Lacanian ideas about group mobilisation combined with a detailed content analysis and evidence drawn from polling data, it shows that this no deal narrative should be viewed as a discursive project that was constructed by a section of Leave campaigners relatively late into the Brexit process amidst growing disillusionment with the direction that negotiations with the EU were taking. By emphasising the role of Brexit as an ‘empty signifier’, the article shows that Brexit was initially successful in mobilising and uniting a disparate, but often unconnected, range of discontent to its cause. However, over time the complexities of the Brexit process triggered a discursive ‘war of position’ as competing visions of Brexit attempted to vie for dominance amongst the Leave camp. It is within this context that the myth of no deal emerged as an attempt by an elite group of actors to re-mobilise support for their cause.

Oceania and South East Asia (OSEA) is a socioeconomically, culturally, and ethnically diverse region facing a rising epidemic of noncommunicable diseases, including chronic kidney disease (CKD). The second iteration of the International Society of Nephrology Global Kidney Health Atlas aimed to provide a comprehensive evaluation of kidney care in OSEA. Of the 30 countries/territories in OSEA, 15 participated in the survey, representing 98.5% of the region's population. The median prevalence of treated kidney failure in OSEA was 1352 per million population (interquartile range, 966-1673 per million population), higher than the global median of 787 per million population. Although the general availability, access, and quality of kidney replacement therapy (i.e., dialysis and transplantation) was high in OSEA, inequalities in accessibility and affordability of kidney replacement therapy across the region resulted in variability between countries. According to the survey results, in a third of the participating countries (mostly lower-income countries), less than half the patients with kidney failure were able to access dialysis, whereas it was readily available to all with minimal out-of-pocket costs in high-income countries; similar variability in access to transplantation was also recorded. Limitations in workforce and resources vary across the region and were disproportionately worse in lower-income countries. There was little advocacy for kidney disease, moderate use of registries, restricted CKD detection programs, and limited availability of routine CKD testing in some high-risk groups across the region. International collaborations, as seen in OSEA, are important initiatives to help close the gaps in CKD care provision across the region and should continue receiving support from the global nephrology community.

The role of populism in mobilising support for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union has been well noted. But a key feature of populist politics – the use of religious discourses – has been largely overlooked. This article addresses this gap by exploring the way in which the Leave campaign framed Brexit in quasi-religious and mythological terms. Three core themes are identified: (1) that the British ‘people’ had a unique role to play in global affairs; (2) that the sanctity of this special status was threatened by elites and migrants; (3) that the referendum gave voice to the sacred ‘will of the people’. These narratives were underpinned by a strategic discourse centring on claims that EU membership was exacerbating a crisis in health and social care. This myth was encapsulated by the so-called ‘Brexit bus’ campaign.

[Extract] An otherwise well 42-year-old male presented to the emergencydepartment by ambulance with an impalement injury to the rightside of the neck by a 5-cm diameter and 27-cm length tree branchfollowing a motor bike accident. Physical examination on arrivalrevealed a Glasgow Coma Scale of 15, peripheral capillary oxygensaturation 96% on room air, blood pressure 110/70 mmHg andheart rate of 110 sinus rhythm. Besides an evident anhidrosis on theright side of his face, there were no obvious signs of neurovascularcompromise.

An exploration of the main national political parties that have dominated the contemporary British political system.

Purpose Conventional staging methods are inadequate to identify patients with stage II colon cancer (CC) who are at high risk of recurrence after surgery with curative intent. ColDx is a gene expression, microarray-based assay shown to be independently prognostic for recurrence-free interval (RFI) and overall survival in CC. The objective of this study was to further validate ColDx using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded specimens collected as part of the Alliance phase III trial, C9581. Patients and Methods C9581 evaluated edrecolomab versus observation in patients with stage II CC and reported no survival benefit. Under an initial case-cohort sampling design, a randomly selected subcohort (RS) comprised 514 patients from 901 eligible patients with available tissue. Forty-nine additional patients with recurrence events were included in the analysis. Final analysis comprised 393 patients: 360 RS (58 events) and 33 non-RS events. Risk status was determined for each patient by ColDx. The Self-Prentice method was used to test the association between the resulting ColDx risk score and RFI adjusting for standard prognostic variables. Results Fifty-five percent of patients (216 of 393) were classified as high risk. After adjustment for prognostic variables that included mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency, ColDx high-risk patients exhibited significantly worse RFI (multivariable hazard ratio, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.3 to 3.5; P < .01). Age and MMR status were marginally significant. RFI at 5 years for patients classified as high risk was 82% (95% CI, 79% to 85%), compared with 91% (95% CI, 89% to 93%) for patients classified as low risk. Conclusion ColDx is associated with RFI in the C9581 subsample in the presence of other prognostic factors, including MMR deficiency. ColDx could be incorporated with the traditional clinical markers of risk to refine patient prognosis.

There are an estimated 14,000 randomized trials published in chronic kidney disease. The most frequently reported outcomes are biochemical endpoints, rather than clinical and patient-reported outcomes including cardiovascular disease, mortality, and quality of life. While many trials have focused on optimizing kidney health, the heterogeneity and uncertain relevance of outcomes reported across trials may limit their policy and practice impact. The international Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology (SONG) Initiative was formed to identify core outcomes that are critically important to patients and health professionals, to be reported consistently across trials. We convened a SONG Implementation Workshop to discuss the implementation of core outcomes. Eighty-two patients/caregivers and health professionals participated in plenary and breakout discussions. In this report, we summarize the findings of the workshop in two main themes: socializing the concept of core outcomes, and demonstrating feasibility and usability. We outline implementation strategies and pathways to be established through partnership with stakeholders, which may bolster acceptance and reporting of core outcomes in trials, and encourage their use by end-users such as guideline producers and policymakers to help improve patient-important outcomes. ispartof: pages:1053-1068 ispartof: Kidney Int vol:94 issue:6 pages:1053-1068 ispartof: location:United States status: published

This article highlights a growing clash between mainstream modernizing and populist anti-modernizing forces in the UK. Whilst scholarship on UK party politics has, for the past three decades, focussed on processes of party modernization, little attention has been paid to the countervailing processes of resistance towards modernization. This contrasts with comparative studies, which show that throughout much of Europe modernization processes have worked to produce populist backlashes from anti-modernizing forces seeking to reassert various types of traditional values and practices. Drawing on the comparative literature on modernization, our argument here is that a similar populist backlash against modernization is occurring across the political spectrum in the UK and has been a factor in: the rise of nationalism associated with UKIP and the SNP; the 2016 BREXIT vote and the efforts of both Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Conservative PM Theresa May to distance their parties from the legacies of their modernizing predecessors. Empirically, we show how this increasingly prevalent line of conflict is playing out in the UK, whilst theoretically we argue that a discourse theoretical approach can provide significant advantages over existing approaches for understanding the dynamic interplay between modernizing and anti-modernizing discourses.

This chapter examines how accountability is carried out in the UK Parliament through various questioning procedures which enable ministers and the government to explain and defend their decisions. Questioning the government provides an important means for Members of Parliament (MPs) and peers to hold the government, the prime minister, ministers, and departments to account. There are two main types of parliamentary questions: oral questions and written questions. Oral questions are both asked and answered on the Floor of the House of Commons or the House of Lords, whereas written questions are ‘often used to obtain detailed information about policies and statistics on the activities of government departments’. The chapter first explains these two types of parliamentary questions before discussing their purposes. It also considers debates over the issue of reforming parliamentary questions, and more specifcally Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs).

International audience; Fatigue is one of the most highly prioritized outcomes for patients and clinicians, but remains infrequently and inconsistently reported across trials in hemodialysis. We convened an international Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology-Hemodialysis (SONG-HD) consensus workshop with stakeholders to discuss the development and implementation of a core outcome measure for fatigue. 15 patients/caregivers and 42 health professionals (clinicians, researchers, policy makers, and industry representatives) from 9 countries participated in breakout discussions. Transcripts were analyzed thematically. 4 themes for a core outcome measure emerged. Drawing attention to a distinct and all-encompassing symptom was explicitly recognizing fatigue as a multifaceted symptom unique to hemodialysis. Emphasizing the pervasive impact of fatigue on life participation justified the focus on how fatigue severely impaired the patient's ability to do usual activities. Ensuring relevance and accuracy in measuring fatigue would facilitate shared decision making about treatment. Minimizing burden of administration meant avoiding the cognitive burden, additional time, and resources required to use the measure. A core outcome measure that is simple, is short, and includes a focus on the severity of the impact of fatigue on life participation may facilitate consistent and meaningful measurement of fatigue in all trials to inform decision making and care of patients receiving hemodialysis.

By way of an introduction to this special issue, our aim here is to bring together and interpret some of the main themes and issues to come out of the selection of articles presented below in order to make sense of the overall fate of David Cameron’s attempted modernisation of the Conservative Party. On the basis of the evidence highlighted by each of the contributors to this issue, we make a number of arguments. First, that Cameron’s early attempts to steer the party into the centre ground of British politics can be judged to have been reasonably effective. Second, that in 2007–2008, in the context of the emergence of economic difficulties leading to the financial crisis, the party found itself at a crossroads, and it chose to exit that crossroads with a turn, across a number of policy areas, back towards a more traditional Thatcherite or neo-liberal agenda. Third, we argue that the financial crisis and the political instability it generated is not enough on its own to explain this turn to the right. Rather, these events should be seen as having acted as a catalyst for the exposure of three main fault lines in the party’s modernisation strategy: (i) its lack of ideological coherence; (ii) its potential for serious performance deficits because of a lack of consistency in the political leadership displayed by Cameron; and (iii) its vulnerability to party management problems.

Premised on the assumption that depoliticisation is a crucial aspect of neo-liberal governmentality, this paper attempts to synergise these two, previously disparate, concepts. Borrowing from Foucault’s theorisation of governmentality and drawing from inclusive definitions of politics/ the political, this paper argues for a reformulation of our understanding of depoliticisation and politicisation. The paper contends that depoliticisation is best understood as a technique of governing which works to legitimise neo-liberalism as the dominant political rationality. As such, we argue that depoliticisation acts as a tool for masking the ‘rolling forward’ of the state and the proliferation of new forms of neo-liberal governmentality.

Higher calcium dialysate is recommended for quotidian nocturnal hemodialysis (NHD) (≥6 nights/week) to maintain bone health. It is unclear what the optimal calcium dialysate concentration should be for alternate night NHD. We aimed to determine the effect of low calcium (LC) versus high calcium (HC) dialysate on cardiovascular and bone parameters in this population.A randomized controlled trial where participants were randomized to LC (1.3 mmol/L, n = 24) or HC dialysate (1.6 or 1.75 mmol/L, n = 26). Primary outcome was change in mineral metabolism markers. Secondary outcomes included change in vascular calcification (VC) scores [CT abdominal aorta (AA) and superficial femoral arteries (SFA)), pulse wave velocity (PWV), bone mineral density (BMD) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) over 12 months.In the LC group, pre-dialysis ionised calcium decreased -0.12 mmol/L (-0.18-0.06, P = 0.0001) and PTH increased 16 pmol/L (3.5-28.5, p = 0.01) from baseline to 12 months with no significant change in the HC group. In both groups, there was no progression of VC in AA or SFA and no change in PWV, LVMI or BMD. At 12 months, calcimimetics were prescribed in a higher percentage in the LC vs. HC groups (45.5% vs. 10.5%) with a lower proportion of the HC group being prescribed calcitriol (31.5% vs. 72%).Although dialysate calcium prescription influenced biochemical parameters it was not associated with difference in progression of VC between HC and LC groups. An important finding was the potential impact of alternate night NHD in attenuating progression of VC and inducing stabilisation of LVMI and PWV.

Many oilfields operators across California and the world use steam as an injection fluid to recover high viscosity heavy oils. The steam injection process is done intermittently in cyclic steam injection and continuously in steam drive or Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage, SAGD, applications. The latent heat of vaporization of steam plays an important role in transferring heat to the oil, water, and reservoir rock and as a result reducing the oil viscosity making the oil trapped by viscosity, capillary and permeability effects, mobile. In cyclic steam injection, since the injection and production takes place in the same well, determining the optimum soak time at which flow back needs to be initiated is very critical, specifically in low permeability reservoirs such as California's diatomite having small well spacing and needing hundreds of short steam cycles. In this case, the overall success depends on ultimate oil recovery at the end of each flow back cycle. Additionally, knowing steam quality on the injection and on the production sides contributes to better heat management and better production practices, improving economics of the steam injection process. In this study, development and laboratory testing of a novel steam quality sensor, a tuning fork densitometer, are presented. This non-nuclear density sensor technology is adaptable to high temperature operation and has high sensitivity, making it ideally suited to measuring the small changes in density that occur due to varying steam quality. The application of this technology for cyclic steam injection, steam drive, and geothermal steam production are discussed. The sensor can be packaged for use down hole and at surface for continuous measurements of steam quality on injection as well as production applications.

Through mapping the provision of teaching gender and sexuality studies on politics/political science and international relations (IR) programmes, this article asserts that the top-ranked politics and IR departments in the UK offer very little provision of such teaching. We argue that this lack of gender and, more so, sexuality teaching is highly problematic for the discipline. Moreover, we suggest that the lack of such provision is not reflective of staff research interests, potentially not reflective of the market (i.e. students), works against the trend of mainstreaming gender, and is problematic in the wider sense in that gender and sexuality are rendered invisible or as trivial matters. Overall, then, this article contends that curricula in politics and IR departments work to perpetuate the idea that the ‘personal is not political’, thereby defining the parameters of the discipline in both a narrow and inaccurate way.

Purpose Current prognostic factors are poor at identifying patients at risk of disease recurrence after surgery for stage II colon cancer. Here we describe a DNA microarray–based prognostic assay using clinically relevant formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples. Patients and Methods A gene signature was developed from a balanced set of 73 patients with recurrent disease (high risk) and 142 patients with no recurrence (low risk) within 5 years of surgery. Results The 634–probe set signature identified high-risk patients with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.62 (P < .001) during cross validation of the training set. In an independent validation set of 144 samples, the signature identified high-risk patients with an HR of 2.53 (P < .001) for recurrence and an HR of 2.21 (P = .0084) for cancer-related death. Additionally, the signature was shown to perform independently from known prognostic factors (P < .001). Conclusion This gene signature represents a novel prognostic biomarker for patients with stage II colon cancer that can be applied to FFPE tumor samples.

This article represents an early and, largely speculative, attempt to make sense of Cameronism as a distinctive political project. Herein, we present three separate, but potentially overlapping, narratives that could be employed to locate the significance of Cameronism within broader trends in British and global party politics. In this respect, we view Cameronism as: a continuation of Thatcherism; a development in the unfolding of forms of neo-liberal governmentality, linked to the process of depoliticisation; and as a movement towards the cartelisation of political parties. We conclude the article by arguing that these three potential interpretations of Cameronism are compatible with one another and, taken in combination, can provide a starting point towards a more holistic understanding of the type of politics characteristic of David Cameron's leadership of the Conservative party.

The first 12 months of Gordon Brown's tenure as prime minister have witnessed an unprecedented collapse in his political fortunes. Examining the reasons for this decline, this paper sets out to achieve three reasonably modest ambitions. Firstly, the principal aim is to provide a detailed summary of Brown's record throughout his first year at the helm. Secondly, utilising evidence drawn from poll data and media commentaries during the period June 2007–June 2008, it argues that Brown's problems cannot be explained by the type of factors that normally help elucidate government unpopularity, such as economic instability, party disunity, voter weariness, or indeed, significant policy failure. Thirdly, the paper sets out to suggest, in a manner which is candidly reflective rather than theoretically rigorous, that Brown's unpopularity owes more to his failure to measure up on two key aspects of contemporary political leadership in Britain; namely, what we term here as the twin values of ‘Westminsterism’ and ‘modernality’. Whereas the former, stemming from the historically constructed confines of the Westminster Model, demands strong, decisive, and resolute decision making; the latter, which has its roots in the more recent discourse of party modernisation, demands the need for a media-savvy, ‘celebrity’ persona and a ceaseless drive for modernisation.

David Cameron's election as leader of the Conservative Party has already made a significant impact upon the electoral dynamics between the three major parties in Britain. Whilst the new leader has made serious attempts to redefine his party's policy and ideological stance on a number of issues, Cameron has also been hailed, particularly by key sections of the media, as a serious contender for No. 10. As such, Cameron's leadership of the Conservatives is likely to provoke a significant degree of academic speculation about his impact, both on the Conservative Party and the wider contemporary political context in Britain. In light of this, the purpose of this article is to attempt to address both of these questions. The article begins with a brief examination of Cameron's first few months as leader of the opposition and the impact this has had upon both Conservative Party policy and ideology. This is followed by a discussion of the likely impact Cameron's leadership may have upon the relationship between the two main parties through a critique of theories of ‘consensus’. The article attempts to anticipate a likely desire amongst academics to place Cameron's transformation of the Conservatives in the context of an ongoing party consensus between Labour and the Conservatives. Whilst this part of the article is, to some extent, speculative, I will argue that there are a number of precedents to suggest that the application of a consensus theory to explain the current relationship between Labour and the Conservatives is likely to be tempting to several authors. Overall, I attempt to argue that such a view only serves to hamper, rather than help our understanding of the contemporary political scene.

Population genetic diversity of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii (the Big Island) was estimated using DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene. In total, 932 flies representing 36 sampled sites across the four islands were sequenced for a 1,500-bp fragment of the gene named the C1500 marker. Genetic variation was low on the Hawaiian Islands with96% of flies having just two haplotypes: C1500-Haplotype 1 (63.2%) or C1500-Haplotype 2 (33.3%). The other 33 flies (3.5%) had haplotypes similar to the two dominant haplotypes. No population structure was detected among the islands or within islands. The two haplotypes were present at similar frequencies at each sample site, suggesting that flies on the various islands can be considered one population. Comparison of the Hawaiian data set to DNA sequences of 165 flies from outbreaks in California between 2006 and 2012 indicates that a single-source introduction pathway of Hawaiian origin cannot explain many of the flies in California. Hawaii, however, could not be excluded as a maternal source for 69 flies. There was no clear geographic association for Hawaiian or non-Hawaiian haplotypes in the Bay Area or Los Angeles Basin over time. This suggests that California experienced multiple, independent introductions from different sources.

The Statfjord field was the first, and one of the largest, fields developed so far with Statoil as operator. The field was discovered by Mobil in 1974 and Statoil took over operatorship in 1987. The field was developed with Statfjord A, B and C production platforms, which all have concrete gravity base structures incorporating storage cells. Statfjord A began production in 1979. The field will remain in production until 2025 and possibilities to further expand the lifetime are being looked into. One of the techniques that are being applied to rejuvenate some of the older wells is retrofit gas lift solutions. In this paper detailed information on an Inverted Gas Lift System (IGLS) applied to a well on the Statfjord A platform will be presented. The IGLS solution included a solution to retain downhole safety valve functionality in the well and required qualification of a new type of coiled tubing material. The following aspects of the project will be discussed in detail in this paper: Background and objectives.Method selection, planning and equipment qualificationOffshore operations for installation of the systemFollow up and results

Johnston argues that our original article on the field of British politics contained a major lacuna, namely, the omission of electoral studies. We argue that this critique is overly narrow and ignores the broader and more substantive issues that we sought to raise. In response, we re-emphasise the main arguments contained in our article concerning what we regard to be the key problems that currently affect the study of British politics.

In recent years the study of British politics has come under increasing pressure from a variety of developments within academia, most notably a growing trend towards analyses which take the international arena as the main focus of inquiry. This article argues that such changes have had a detrimental effect upon the status and cohesion of the study of British politics as a self-contained discipline, but that the recent decline of academic interest in ‘British politics’ has also been accelerated by the failure of British politics’ scholars themselves to overcome the historical problems associated with the Westminster model. As such, this article traces the evolution of British politics as a field of study, and highlights some of the main challenges that it presently faces. Primarily, these are based around a lack of disciplinary coherence, an insufficient integration between theoretical and empirical, as well as historical and contemporary analyses, and an inadequate conceptualisation of continuity and change.