The Labour Government, the Treasury and the £6 pay policy of July 1975

The 1974-79 Labour Government was elected in a climate of opinion that was fiercely opposed to government intervention in the wage determination process, and was committed to the principles of free collective bargaining in its manifestoes. However, by December 1974 the Treasury was advocating a formal incomes policy, and by July 1975 the government had introduced a £6 flat rate pay norm. With reference to archival sources, the paper demonstrates that TUC and Labour Party opposition to incomes policy was reconciled with the Treasury's advocacy by limiting the Bank of England‟s intervention in the foreign exchange market when sterling came under pressure. This both helped to achieve the Treasury's objective of improving the competitiveness of British industry, and acted as a catalyst for the introduction of incomes policy because the slide could be attributed to a lack of market confidence in British counter-inflation policy

Land use change: implications for Australian Capital Territory Water use

Managing water resources to ensure environmental values are maintained, whilst allowing for continued economic development is a major challenge facing many areas including the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). This paper reports on a GIS based investigation of the implications of land use change on ACT water use. The paper describes a suite of tools that are collectively termed PLUCA (Platform for Land use Change Assessment). Areas with the potential for land use change were identified through land capability assessment and by investigation of the suitability of land for development of alternate industries. Spatial data including slope, aspect, a wetness index, climatic surfaces, geology and consideration of the minimum viable scale of industry were analysed in the study. A coarse land use class – water use relationship estimated for the ACT was used to determine the maximum potential water use resulting from land use change. Three scenarios, based on different levels of land use change were constructed to simulate high, medium and low levels of potential landuse change in the ACT. The estimated reduction in streamflow for the maximum development scenario, was around 6.8% of the average annual runoff from the ACT. This scenario represented modification of only 3.9% of the total land area. This study demonstrates the potential for the use of GIS in the optimisation of landuse from biophysical characteristics. The implications of such changes should they occur were calculated through investigation of the annual average reduction in streamflow. The study demonstrates the use of GIS techniques in quantifying interactions at appropriate scales for decision making. The development of improved decision support tools is also outlined. <br

Duplex strand joining reactions catalyzed by vaccinia virus DNA polymerase

Vaccinia virus DNA polymerase catalyzes duplex-by-duplex DNA joining reactions in vitro and many features of these recombination reactions are reprised in vivo. This can explain the intimate linkage between virus replication and genetic recombination. However, it is unclear why these apparently ordinary polymerases exhibit this unusual catalytic capacity. In this study, we have used different substrates to perform a detailed investigation of the mechanism of duplex-by-duplex recombination catalyzed by vaccinia DNA polymerase. When homologous, blunt-ended linear duplex substrates are incubated with vaccinia polymerase, in the presence of Mg(2+) and dNTPs, the appearance of joint molecules is preceded by the exposure of complementary single-stranded sequences by the proofreading exonuclease. These intermediates anneal to form a population of joint molecules containing hybrid regions flanked by nicks, 1–5 nt gaps, and/or short overhangs. The products are relatively resistant to exonuclease (and polymerase) activity and thus accumulate in joining reactions. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurements showed the enzyme has a relative binding affinity favoring blunt-ended duplexes over molecules bearing 3′-recessed gaps. Recombinant duplexes are the least favored ligands. These data suggest that a particular combination of otherwise ordinary enzymatic and DNA-binding properties, enable poxvirus DNA polymerases to promote duplex joining reactions

A survey of Edwardsiella ictaluri in wild catfish populations in Australia

This report contains the findings of the first survey of the exotic bacterium Edwardsiella ictaluri in wild freshwater fish populations in Australia. Edwardsiella ictaluri causes enteric septicaemia of catfish (ESC), which is a serious disease of farmed channel catfish in the USA. The bacterium has previously been detected in imported ornamental fish and in native catfish held in Australian aquarium facilities, but wild fish populations in Australia are considered free of the disease. The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, through the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, funded an active surveillance program to provide further evidence for this claim of disease freedom

Food geographies I: relational foodscapes and the busy-ness of being more-than-food

The study of foodscapes has spread throughout geography at the same time as food scholarship has spearheaded post-disciplinary research. This report argues that geographers have taken to post-disciplinarity to explore the ways that food is ‘more-than-food’ through analyses of the visceral nature of eating and politics and the vital (re)materializations of food’s cultural geographies. Visceral food geographies illuminate what I call the ‘contingent relationalities’ of food in the critical evaluation of the indeterminate, situated politics of ‘feeling food’ and those of the embodied collectivities of obesity. Questions remain, however, about how a visceral framework might be deployed for broader critiques within foodscapes and the study of human geography. The study of food’s vital materialisms opens up investigation into the practices of the ‘makings’ of meat, food waste and eating networks. Analysis of affect, embodiment and cultural practices is central to these theorizations and suggests consideration of the multiple materialisms of food, space and eating. There is, I contend, in the more radical, ‘post-relational’ approaches to food, the need for a note of caution. Exuberant claims for the ontological, vital agency of food should be tempered by, or at least run parallel to, critical questions of the real politik of political and practical agency in light of recent struggles over austerity, food poverty and food justice

Analysis of detector performance in a gigahertz clock rate quantum key distribution system

We present a detailed analysis of a gigahertz clock rate environmentally robust phase-encoded quantum key distribution (QKD) system utilizing several different single-photon detectors, including the first implementation of an experimental resonant cavity thin-junction silicon single-photon avalanche diode. The system operates at a wavelength of 850 nm using standard telecommunications optical fibre. A general-purpose theoretical model for the performance of QKD systems is presented with reference to these experimental results before predictions are made about realistic detector developments in this system. We discuss, with reference to the theoretical model, how detector operating parameters can be further optimized to maximize key exchange rates

Robotic milking technologies and renegotiating situated ethical relationships on UK dairy farms

Robotic or automatic milking systems (AMS) are novel technologies that take over the labor of dairy farming and reduce the need for human-animal interactions. Because robotic milking involves the replacement of 'conventional' twice-a-day milking managed by people with a system that supposedly allows cows the freedom to be milked automatically whenever they choose, some claim robotic milking has health and welfare benefits for cows, increases productivity, and has lifestyle advantages for dairy farmers. This paper examines how established ethical relations on dairy farms are unsettled by the intervention of a radically different technology such as AMS. The renegotiation of ethical relationships is thus an important dimension of how the actors involved are re-assembled around a new technology. The paper draws on in-depth research on UK dairy farms comparing those using conventional milking technologies with those using AMS. We explore the situated ethical relations that are negotiated in practice, focusing on the contingent and complex nature of human-animal-technology interactions. We show that ethical relations are situated and emergent, and that as the identities, roles, and subjectivities of humans and animals are unsettled through the intervention of a new technology, the ethical relations also shift. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Statin treatment and risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism: a nationwide cohort study

Statins may decrease the risk of primary venous thromboembolism (VTE), that is, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) but the effect of statins in preventing recurrent VTE is less clear. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the association between statin therapy and risk of recurrent VTE. A prospective cohort study. All hospitals in Denmark. All patients with a hospital diagnosis of VTE in Denmark during 1997-2009 associated with a warfarin or heparin prescription were identified. Adjusted HR of recurrent hospitalised VTE (ie, fatal or non-fatal DVT or PE) associated with use of statins. 44 330 patients with VTE were included in the study. Of these 3914 were receiving statin therapy at baseline. Patients receiving statins were older (68±11 compared to 62±18 years), had more comorbidity and used more medications. The incidence rate for recurrent VTE was 24.4 (95% CI 22.8 to 26.2) per 1000 person-years among statin users and 48.5 (95% CI 47.4 to 49.7) per 1000 person-years among non-statin users. Statin use was associated with a significantly lower risk of a recurrent VTE, adjusted HR 0.74 (95% CI 0.68 to 0.80), compared with no statin use. The association between statin use and risk of recurrent VTE was significantly affected by age. Among younger individuals (≤80 years), statin use was associated with lower risk of recurrent VTE, HR 0.70 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.76) whereas in older individuals (>80 years) statin use was significantly associated with higher risk of recurrent VTE, HR 1.28 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.60), p for interaction= <0.0001. Statin use was associated with a decreased risk of recurrent VT

Cancer and thrombosis: Managing the risks and approaches to thromboprophylaxis

Patients with cancer are at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) compared with patients without cancer. This results from both the prothrombotic effects of the cancer itself and iatrogenic factors, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, indwelling central venous devices and surgery, that further increase the risk of VTE. Although cancer-associated thrombosis remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality, it is often underdiagnosed and undertreated. However, evidence is accumulating to support the use of low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) in the secondary prevention of VTE in patients with cancer. Not only have LMWHs been shown to be at least as effective as coumarin derivatives in this setting, but they have a lower incidence of complications, including bleeding, and are not associated with the practical problems of warfarin therapy. Furthermore, a growing number of studies indicate that LMWHs may improve survival among patients with cancer due to a possible antitumor effect. Current evidence suggests that LMWHs should increasingly be considered for the long-term management of VTE in patients with cancer

Understanding the power of the prime minister : structure and agency in models of prime ministerial power

Understanding the power of the prime minister is important because of the centrality of the prime minister within the core executive of British government, but existing models of prime ministerial power are unsatisfactory for various reasons. This article makes an original contribution by providing an overview and critique of the dominant models of prime ministerial power, highlighting their largely positivist bent and the related problem of the prevalence of overly parsimonious conceptions of the structural contexts prime ministers face. The central argument the paper makes is that much of the existing literature on prime ministerial power is premised on flawed understandings of the relationship between structure and agency, that this leads to misunderstandings of the real scope of prime ministerial agency, as well as its determinants, and that this can be rectified by adopting a strategic-relational view of structure and agency