Intractable policy failure: the case of bovine TB and badgers

The failure to eliminate bovine TB from the English and Welsh cattle herd represents a long-term intractable policy failure. Cattle-to-cattle transmission of the disease has been underemphasised in the debate compared with transmission from badgers despite a contested evidence base. Archival evidence shows that mythical constructions of the badger have shaped the policy debate. Relevant evidence was incomplete and contested; alternative framings of the policy problem were polarised and difficult to reconcile; and this rendered normal techniques of stakeholder management through co-option and mediation of little assistance

Statellite monitoring of atmospheric aerosol in fine spatial resolution over Noetheast Asia

Advances Environmental Monitoring Research Center(ADEMRC)Gwangji Institute of Science and Technology(GIST)Institute of Environmental physics, University of Bremen環日本海環境戦略機構会議, 国際ワークショップ「環日本海域の大気環境計測:ネットワーク形成に向けて」, COE若手研究助成金等研究成果発表会 , 日時：2005年2月28日（月）～3月2日（水）, 場所：石川厚生年金会館, 主催：金沢大学21世紀COE「環日本海域の環境計測と長期変動予測」, 後援：石川県,金沢

Effects of Early Surgical Exploration in Suspected Barotraumatic Perilymph Fistulas

ObjectivesTreatment of traumatic perilymph fistula (PLF) remains controversial between surgical repair and conservative therapy. The aim of this study is to analyze the outcomes of early surgical exploration in suspected barotraumatic PLF.MethodsNine patients (10 cases) who developed sudden sensorineural hearing loss and dizziness following barotrauma and underwent surgical exploration with the clinical impression of PLF were enrolled. Types of antecedent trauma, operative findings, control of dizziness after surgery, postoperative hearing outcomes, and relations to the time interval between traumatic event and surgery were assessed retrospectively.ResultsAll patients had sudden or progressive hearing loss and dizziness following trauma. Types of barotrauma were classified by the origin of the trauma: 4 external (car accident, slap injury) and 6 internal traumas (lifting, nasal blowing, straining). Surgical exploration was performed whenever PLF was suspected with the time interval of 2 to 47 days after the trauma. The possible evidence of PLF was found during surgery in 9 cases: a fibrous web around the oval window (n=3), fluid collection in the round window (RW; n=6) and bulging of the RW pseudomembrane (n=1). In every patient, vestibular symptoms disappeared immediately after surgery. The hearing was improved with a mean gain of 27.0±14.9 dB. When the surgical exploration was performed as early as less than 10 days after the trauma, serviceable hearing (≤40 dB) was obtained in 4 out of 7 cases (57.1%).ConclusionSudden or progressive sensorineural hearing loss accompanied by dizziness following barotrauma should prompt consideration of PLF. Early surgical exploration is recommended to improve hearing and vestibular symptoms

SFRP4 drives invasion in gastric cancer and is an early predictor of recurrence.

OBJECTIVE: Gastric cancer patients generally have a poor outcome, particularly those with advanced-stage disease which is defined by the increased invasion of cancer locally and is associated with higher metastatic potential. This study aimed to identify genes that were functional in the most fundamental hallmark of cancer, namely invasion. We then wanted to assess their value as biomarkers of gastric cancer progression and recurrence. DESIGN: Data from a cohort of patients profiled on cDNA expression arrays was interrogated using K-means analysis. This genomic approach classified the data based on patterns of gene expression allowing the identification of the genes most correlated with the invasion of GC. We evaluated the functional role of a key protein from this analysis in invasion and as a biomarker of recurrence after curative resection. RESULTS: Expression of secreted frizzled-related protein 4 (SFRP4) was identified as directly proportional to gastric cancer invasion. This finding was validated in multiple, independent datasets and its functional role in invasion was also confirmed using invasion assays. A change in serum levels of SFRP4 after curative resection, when coupled with AJCC stage, can accurately predict the risk of disease recurrence after curative therapy in an assay we termed PredictR. CONCLUSIONS: This simple ELISA-based assay can help predict recurrence of disease after curative gastric cancer surgery irrespective of adjuvant therapy. The results require further evaluation in a prospective trial but would help in the rational prescription of cancer therapies and surveillance to prevent under or over treatment of patients after curative resection

Popular music and school music education: Chinese students' preferences and dilemmas in Shanghai, China

This empirical study investigates Chinese students’ popular music preferences in daily life and to what extent and in what ways they prefer learning popular music in school in Shanghai, China. Data were drawn from questionnaires completed by 1,730 secondary students (aged 12–17) and interviews with 60 students from 10 secondary schools, between September and October, 2011. Findings from these efforts were supplemented by and triangulated with data from interviews with 18 music teachers and school leaders. Findings revealed the cultural diversification and rational consumption of popular music by Chinese students in and out of school, as well as the cultural dilemmas those students confront due to their preferences for popular (Chinese and non-Chinese) and classical music in the school music curriculum. These findings can be interpreted as indicating that music and music education in formal or informal settings are complex cultural constructs that can be reinvented through the intertwined interplay of different actors concerned with the selection of music elements in a multileveled, multicultural world.postprin

Chemical Beam Epitaxy of Compound Semiconductors

Contains an introduction, reports on three research projects and a list of publications.3M Company Faculty Development GrantDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency Subcontract 216-25013Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Subcontract 542383Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-92-C-0001National Science Foundation Grant ECS 88-46919National Science Foundation Grant ECS 89-05909National Science Foundation Grant DMR 92-0295

Gas Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy of Compound Semiconductors

Contains an introduction and reports on six research projects.Advanced Research Projects Agency Subcontract 284-25041Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-92-C-0001National Center for Integrated Photonic Technology Contract 542-381National Science Foundation Grant DMR 92-02957National Science Foundation Contract DMR 92-02957National Science Foundation Grant DMR 90-2293

The Relationship between femininity and sustainability reporting

Most research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and stakeholder engagement with sustainable development has focused on the internal factors of corporations, leaving aside the characteristics of the institutional, cultural, and economic context of the country where corporations operate. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of femininity in the disclosure of sustainability information based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines at a developed country context. We use three measures of the CSR information disclosure by country: the GRI reports per million of inhabitants, the GRI reports application level, and the percentage of GRI reports with external assurance. The results of this study show that countries with higher femininity orientation provide a higher quantity of sustainability reports, but do not provide higher quality sustainability reports. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environmen

CUGBP2 directly interacts with U2 17S snRNP components and promotes U2 snRNA binding to cardiac troponin T pre-mRNA

CUGBP2 (ETR-3/NAPOR/BRUNOL3) promotes inclusion of cardiac troponin T (cTNT) exon 5 via binding between positions 21 and 74 of the downstream intron. The molecular mechanism by which CUGBP2 activates cTNT exon 5 inclusion is unknown. Our results suggest that CUGBP2 promotes exon inclusion by a novel mechanism in which CUGBP2 directly interacts with components of the activated U2 snRNP and enhances binding of U2 snRNP to the branch site located upstream of the exon. Using an in vitro splicing assay, we show that recombinant CUGBP2 enhances complex A formation of a cTNT pre-mRNA. Enhanced complex A assembly requires both the upstream and downstream introns consistent with dual requirements for the downstream CUGBP2-binding site and an upstream branch site for U2 snRNP binding. We also show that CUGBP2 enhances binding of U2 snRNA to the cTNT pre-mRNA consistent with enhanced complex A assembly. Purification of CUGBP2-interacting proteins using tandem affinity purification leads to the demonstration that the core 17S U2 snRNP components, SF3b145 and SF3b49 bind directly to CUGBP2. We conclude that CUGBP2 activates exon inclusion by forming direct interactions with components of the 17S snRNP complex and recruits and/or stabilizes binding of U2 snRNP

Gas Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy of Compound Semiconductors

Contains an introduction and reports on seven research projects.Advanced Research Projects Agency Subcontract 284-25041Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-92-C-0001Joint Services Electronics Program Grant DAAH-04-95-1-0038National Center for Integrated Photonic Technology Contract 542-381National Center for Integrated Photonic Technology Grant subcontract 652-693U.S. Army Research Office/ AASERT Contract DAAH04-93-G-0175National Science Foundation Grant DMR 92-02957National Science Foundation Grant DMR 92-02957National Science Foundation Grant DMR 90-22933MIT Lincoln Laboratory Contract BX-5411National Science Foundation DMR 94-0033