COVID-19 had the potential to dramatically increase public support for welfare. It was a time of apparent increased solidarity, of apparently deserving claimants, and of increasingly widespread exposure to the benefits system. However, there are also reasons to expect the opposite effect: an increase in financial strain fostering austerity and self-interest, and thermostatic responses to increasing welfare generosity. In this paper, we investigate the effects of the pandemic on attitudes towards working-age unemployment benefits in the UK using a unique combination of data sources: (i) temporally fine-grained data on attitudinal change over the course of the pandemic; and (ii) a novel nationally representative survey contrasting attitudes towards pandemic-era and pre-pandemic claimants (including analysis of free-text responses). Our results show that the pandemic prompted little change in UK welfare attitudes. However, we also find that COVID-era unemployment claimants were perceived as substantially more deserving than those claiming prior to the pandemic. This contrast suggests a strong degree of ‘COVID exceptionalism’ – with COVID claimants seen as categorically different from conventional claimants, muting the effect of the pandemic on welfare attitudes overall.

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between attentional style profiles of cricketers as measured by Nideffer's (1977) Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) and a performance component, playing level. A method of scoring and comparing attentional style profiles was developed. Cricket players (N = 68) at three different skill levels served as subjects. Results revealed that higher level players exhibited a higher proportion of profiles predicted to be associated with superior performance in fast-ball games, and lower proportions of inappropriate profiles, than the lowest playing levels subjects. The present results provide support for the use of attentional profile scores as a predictor of sport performance.

This paper presents a preliminary comparison between the role of computer-aided design (CAD) and sketching in engineering through a case study of a senior design project and interviews with industry and academia. The design team consisted of four senior level mechanical engineering students each with less than 1 year of professional experience are observed while completing an industry sponsored mechanical engineering capstone design project across a 17 week semester. Factors investigated include what CAD tools are used, when in the design process they are implemented, the justification for their use from the students' perspectives, the actual knowledge gained from their use, the impact on the final designed artifact, and the contributions of any sketches generated. At each design step, comparisons are made between CAD and sketching. The students implemented CAD tools at the onset of the project, generally failing to realize gains in design efficiency or effectiveness in the early conceptual phases of the design process. As the design became more concrete, the team was able to recognize clear gains in both efficiency and effectiveness through the use of computer assisted design programs. This study is augmented by interviews with novice and experienced industry users and academic instructors to align the trends observed in the case study with industry practice and educational emphasis. A disconnect in the perceived capability of CAD tools was found between novice and experienced user groups. Opinions on the importance of sketching skills differed between novice educators and novice industry professionals, suggesting that there is a change of opinion as to the importance of sketching formed when recent graduates transition from academia to industry. The results suggest that there is a need to emphasize the importance of sketching and a deeper understanding as to the true utility of CAD tools at each stage of the design process.

Oilseed rape is a very undeveloped crop with regard to efficiency of production and the agronomic practice used to maximize its potential. The genetic potential to modify oilseed rape is limited by the narrow genetic base found within the breeding gene pool, resulting in limited novel variation available for exploitation. Novel variation is, however, present in wild diploid ancestors of oilseed rape and has been made available by developing synthetic Brassica napus. This is illustrated through the use of this material to develop an understanding of pod shattering which is one of the most agronomically important characteristics of the crop. Through a variety of approaches it is shown how progress has been made to understand this trait and how this understanding is being used to improve the crop such that efficiency of production will be enhanced.

The developments of two major components of a three terminal dual wavelength LED for excitation of multiple phosphors are described. Such a configuration will be novel Broadband Spectrally Dynamic Light Emitting Diode (BSDLED). First, work towards a functional tunnel junction in the GaN system is discussed. The developments of p+ and n+ GaN layers are specifically discussed in relation to their use in a buried current spreading contact layer. Second, the analysis of several phosphors and their application in a spectrally dynamic source is explored. The response to multiple wavelengths of the phosphors is analyzed to create a light source that can be tuned in “real time” to a wide range of correlated color temperatures.

Parasitic exploitation occurs within and between a wide variety of taxa in a plethora of diverse contexts. Theoretical and empirical analyses indicate that parasitic exploitation can generate substantial genetic and phenotypic polymorphism within species. Under some circumstances, parasitic exploitation may also be an important factor causing reproductive isolation and promoting speciation. Here we review research relevant to the relationship between parasitic exploitation, within species-polymorphism, and speciation in some of the major arenas in which such exploitation has been studied. This includes research on the vertebrate major histocompatibility loci, plant–pathogen interactions, the evolution of sexual reproduction, intragenomic conflict, sexual conflict, kin mimicry and social parasitism, tropical forest diversity and the evolution of language. We conclude by discussing some of the issues raised by comparing the effect of parasitic exploitation on polymorphism and speciation in different contexts.

Human ovarian carcinoma cells (MDAH 2774) were treated with sodium ascorbate (VC), menadione (VK3), or with a VC:VK3 combination for 1 h and then studied using light microscopy (LM) and scanning (SEM) and transmission electron (TEM) microscopy. Plasma membrane damage (blisters and blebs, hairy aspect) results from vitamin C (VC) treatment, while cytoskeletal damage and self-morsellation are caused by vitamin K3 (VK3) treatment. VC:VK3-treated cells exhibit exacerbated injuries characteristic of both VC and VK3 treatment as well as a significant decrease in cell diameters from 20–35 μm for control cells to 7–12 μm for VC:VK3 treatment. Moreover, after a 1-h exposure to the vitamin combination, autoschizis (43%), apoptosis (3%), and oncosis (1.9%) are observed at the percentages indicated. All cellular changes associated with autoschizis observed with SEM were confirmed by LM and TEM observations and are consistent with cell death by autoschizis: decrease in cell size, cytoplasmic self-excisions, degradation of the nucleus and nucleolus without formation of apoptotic bodies and, ultimately, karyorrhexis and karyolysis. These results also suggest that the vitamin combination may find clinical use in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

We present an analysis of the Chandra observations of two dwarf starburst, Wolf-Rayet galaxies (NGC 4449 and NGC 5253). We have identified at least three different classes of objects within the X-ray point source populations, and we have found the diffuse emission, resulting from the stellar winds and supernova explosions of massive stars, to have a complex morphology and to consist of several components. Comparison with the Hα emission suggests the presence of ~ kpc-scale wind-blown bubbles and ruptured superbubbles.

The relationship of size to MEP-2* genotype was investigated in 0+ juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the River North Esk, Scotland. Significant temperature-associated MEP-2* heterogeneity was observed among tributaries and, in the two tributaries studied, size and MEP-2* genotype were significantly associated. No size association, or heterogeneity among tributaries, was found for the other allozyme polymorphisms screened. The results suggest that the association between size and MEP-2* variation, noted by others, is likely to be widespread in wild populations, and potentially linked to habitat temperature.

Sea urchin embryos have served as a model system for the investigation of many concepts in developmental biology. Their gastrulation consists of two stages; primary invagination, where part of the epithelium invaginates into the blastocoel, and secondary invagination, where the archenteron elongates to completely traverse the blastocoel. Primary invagination involves proliferation of cells within the vegetal plate during primary invagination, but until recently, it was assumed that the larval gastrointestinal (GI) tract developed without further involution of epithelial cells. To investigate rigorously the contribution of epithelial cell involution during archenteron and GI tract development in the sea urchin, Lytechinus variegatus, we developed a new method for cell tracking based on two-photon excited photorelease of caged fluorophores. Single-cell embryos were injected with caged dye and two-photon excitation uncaging was employed to mark small groups of cells throughout gastrulation. Two-photon excitation allowed for noninvasive, three-dimensionally resolved uncaging inside living cells with minimal biological damage. Cellular involution into the archenteron was observed throughout primary and secondary invagination, and the larval intestine was formed by further involution of cells following secondary invagination, which is inconsistent with the traditional model of sea urchin gastrulation. Further, as two-photon excitation microscopy becomes accessible to many researchers, the novel techniques described here will be broadly applicable to development of other invertebrate and vertebrate embryos.