'Improper practices' in great war British cinemas

in Hammond, M and Williams, (Eds), British Silent Cinema and the Great War (2011), Palgrave Macmillan; reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan. This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available here: http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=493370Analysis of the environment in which films were viewed is essential in order to gain a fuller understanding of the British cinema experience during the Great War. The exhibition context is of particular importance during the war years, as cinema going throughout this period was far from idyllic; in fact, British cinemas were subject to police scrutiny and were a hub of sexual activity that the government strove to suppress. Many critics have located the reports of these activities as part of a wider ‘moral panic’ regarding the cinema and the films exhibited within it, predominantly orchestrated by religious pressure groups and self-styled ‘moral crusaders’. Lise Shapiro Sanders likens this movement to similar campaigns in the nineteenth century, arguing that, like music halls previously, cinemas were subjected to ‘censorship and ideological control in an endeavour to distribute middle-class codes of social practice to the “lower” classes’. Yet this approach has often been based on the findings of a report by the National Council for Public Morals, with little investigation of the actual data supplied to the committee. Even accounts that have used some of this evidence position it as a minor component, exaggerated out of all proportion in order to satisfy the personal objectives of the moral purity campaigners.While there was a concerted effort throughout the Great War to highlight the perceived social ills of the cinema, I have attempted to present a more balanced account, which details the problems faced by cinemas during this period and the measures sought to improve them

New Complexity Results and Algorithms for the Minimum Tollbooth Problem

The inefficiency of the Wardrop equilibrium of nonatomic routing games can be eliminated by placing tolls on the edges of a network so that the socially optimal flow is induced as an equilibrium flow. A solution where the minimum number of edges are tolled may be preferable over others due to its ease of implementation in real networks. In this paper we consider the minimum tollbooth (MINTB) problem, which seeks social optimum inducing tolls with minimum support. We prove for single commodity networks with linear latencies that the problem is NP-hard to approximate within a factor of $1.1377$ through a reduction from the minimum vertex cover problem. Insights from network design motivate us to formulate a new variation of the problem where, in addition to placing tolls, it is allowed to remove unused edges by the social optimum. We prove that this new problem remains NP-hard even for single commodity networks with linear latencies, using a reduction from the partition problem. On the positive side, we give the first exact polynomial solution to the MINTB problem in an important class of graphs---series-parallel graphs. Our algorithm solves MINTB by first tabulating the candidate solutions for subgraphs of the series-parallel network and then combining them optimally

Influence of optic-flow information beyond the velocity field on the active control of heading

Talk Session - Action and virtual environments: 11.2We examined both the sufficiency of the optic-flow velocity field and the influence of optic-flow information beyond the velocity field on the active control of heading. The display simulated a vehicle traveling on a circular path through a random-dot 3D cloud …postprin

Identification of a second proliferating cell nuclear antigen in the human malarial pathogen Plasmodium falciparum.

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen seems to exist as a single form in higher eukaryotic cells and plays multiple roles in nucleic acid metabolism. We have identified a second additional proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PfPCNA2) in Plasmodium falciparum on the basis of several lines of evidence. (1) PfPCNA2, consisting of 264 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular mass of 30.2kDa, shares only 29% identity and 53% similarity with PfPCNA1 at the amino acid level. (2) Southern blot analyses revealed that the hybridisation pattern of the Pfpcna2 gene is completely different from that of the Pfpcna1 gene. (3) Chromosomal localisation studies showed that Pfpcna2 is located on chromosome 12 while Pfpcna1 is located on chromosome 13. Northern blot analyses revealed two different transcripts of Pfpcna2, one expressed in both asexual and sexual erythrocytic stages, while the other existed only in the sexual stage, implying that PfPCNA2 may play multiple roles in DNA metabolism in different stages of the parasite. Recombinant protein of PfPCNA2, overexpressed in Escherichia coli, has been purified to near homogeneity and shown to form an oligomer, probably a trimer, as revealed by a size-exclusion chromatography and a native gel electrophoresis, suggesting that PfPCNA2, like its higher eukaryotic counterparts, may serve as a sliding platform which is capable of interaction with diverse proteins and regulation of their activities

Non-invasive prenatal testing for aneuploidy: a systematic review of Internet advertising to potential users by commercial companies and private health providers.

BACKGROUND: The development of non-invasive prenatal testing has increased accessibility of fetal testing. Companies are now advertising prenatal testing for aneuploidy via the Internet. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this systematic review of websites advertising non-invasive prenatal testing for aneuploidy was to explore the nature of the information being provided to potential users. METHODS: We systematically searched two Internet search engines for relevant websites using the following terms: 'prenatal test', 'antenatal test', 'non-invasive test', 'noninvasive test', 'cell-free fetal DNA', 'cffDNA', 'Down syndrome test' or 'trisomy test'. We examined the first 200 websites identified through each search. Relevant web-based text was examined, and key topics were identified, tabulated and counted. To analyse the text further, we used thematic analysis. MAIN RESULTS: Forty websites were identified. Whilst a number of sites provided balanced, accurate information, in the majority supporting evidence was not provided to underpin the information and there was inadequate information on the need for an invasive test to definitely diagnose aneuploidy. CONCLUSIONS: The information provided on many websites does not comply with professional recommendations. Guidelines are needed to ensure that companies offering prenatal testing via the Internet provide accurate and comprehensible information

The role of sonographic phenotyping in delivering an efficient non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) service for FGFR3-related skeletal dysplasias

Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic yield of noninvasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) for FGFR3‐related skeletal dysplasias and assess the accuracy of referrals based on sonographic findings to inform guidelines for referral. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed laboratory and referral records from 2012 to 2018 to ascertain all NIPD tests performed using our next generation sequencing panel to detect FGFR3 mutations. We calculated the diagnostic yield of the test overall and when sub‐divided according to the phenotypic features identified on ultrasound before testing. Pregnancy outcomes were ascertained wherever possible from referring centers. Results: Of 335 tests, 261 were referred because of sonographic findings, of which 80 (31.3%) had a mutation. The diagnostic yield when short limbs were the only abnormal sonographic feature reported was 17.9% (30/168), increasing to 48.9% (23/47) in the presence of one, and 82.6% (19/23) in the presence of two or more characteristic features in addition to short limbs. Conclusions: Accurate sonographic phenotyping can maximise the diagnostic yield of NIPD in fetuses suspected to have FGFR3‐related skeletal dysplasias. We suggest that clear guidelines for referral are necessary to increase benefits, decrease costs by preventing unnecessary NIPD, and potentially allow first‐line broader spectrum testing for fetuses where the aetiology may be more heterogeneous

Can non-interactive language input benefit young second-language learners?

To fully acquire a language, especially its phonology, children need linguistic input from native speakers early on. When interaction with native speakers is not always possible – e.g. for children learning a second language that is not the societal language – audios are commonly used as an affordable substitute. But does such non-interactive input work? Two experiments evaluated the usefulness of audio storybooks in acquiring a more native-like second-language accent. Young children, first- and second-graders in Hong Kong whose native language was Cantonese Chinese, were given take-home listening assignments in a second language, either English or Putonghua Chinese. Accent ratings of the children's story reading revealed measurable benefits of non-interactive input from native speakers. The benefits were far more robust for Putonghua than English. Implications for second-language accent acquisition are discussed.postprin

IFN-gamma is associated with risk of Schistosoma japonicum infection in China.

Before the start of the schistosomiasis transmission season, 129 villagers resident on a Schistosoma japonicum-endemic island in Poyang Lake, Jiangxi Province, 64 of whom were stool-positive for S. japonicum eggs by the Kato method and 65 negative, were treated with praziquantel. Forty-five days later the 93 subjects who presented for follow-up were all stool-negative. Blood samples were collected from all 93 individuals. S. japonicum soluble worm antigen (SWAP) and soluble egg antigen (SEA) stimulated IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-gamma production in whole-blood cultures were measured by ELISA. All the subjects were interviewed nine times during the subsequent transmission season to estimate the intensity of their contact with potentially infective snail habitats, and the subjects were all re-screened for S. japonicum by the Kato method at the end of the transmission season. Fourteen subjects were found to be infected at that time. There was some indication that the risk of infection might be associated with gender (with females being at higher risk) and with the intensity of water contact, and there was evidence that levels of SEA-induced IFN-gamma production were associated with reduced risk of infection