False Start Research Articles

SPRINT, or False Start, Toward a Lower Universal Treated Blood Pressure Target in Hypertension.

Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) is a parallel group antihypertensive efficacy study, with randomized allocation to 2 groups: intensive treatment (target clinic systolic blood pressure [BP], 120 mm Hg) and standard treatment (target 140 mm Hg systolic BP), and with blinded outcome adjudication.1 Patient selection aimed to assemble a test hypertension population enriched for existing cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and patients aged >75 years, but with exclusion of diabetics. For the total population tested, in the intensively treated group a reduction in a composite cardiovascular disease end point (the primary outcome), and in all-cause mortality was demonstrated, compared with standard treatment. SPRINT promises to transform the clinical practice of antihypertensive drug prescribing! In SPRINT, there is a convergence of BP target (here 120 mm Hg systolic) toward the epidemiology linking untreated BP to risk, where incremental cardiovascular risk emerges above a systolic pressure of 100 mm Hg.2 This has of late, subsequent to the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial3 been held to be not attainable; those …

‘Terra firma’: a myth in secondary accounts of the meeting between theFramandTerra Novaexpeditions, 4 February 1911

ABSTRACTIn this article the author isolates an anecdote from Roland Huntford's account of the Scott and Amundsen expeditions’ meeting on 4 February 1911 at Framheim, the Norwegian base in the Bay of Whales. In this anecdote, Lieutenant Victor Campbell allegedly told Roald Amundsen that a British motor sledge was ‘already onterra firma’, which consequently led Amundsen to worry that a British motor-sledge had already travelled across the Great Ice Barrier to reach the Beardmore Glacier. The author demonstrates the primary evidence that indicates that this anecdote is unrealistic: Amundsen's journal further indicates that he did not consider Scott's vehicles a threat. This ‘terra firma’ myth has skewed our modern understanding of events, ascribing to Amundsen an erroneous motivation (a supposed fear of the British motor sledges) to explain and excuse his too-early start for the south pole in September 1911, which was an error that nearly led to a Norwegian death (that of Lieutenant Kristian Prestrud). In reality, fear of Scott's motor sledges was not the reason for Amundsen's ‘false start’. This article concludes with a discussion on the hazards of attributing ‘hidden motivations’ to historical figures without citation of primary evidence, and recommends that Huntford include clearly-cited references and endnotes for the next edition of his joint biography of Scott and Amundsen, in keeping with modern standards of scholarship.

Crop-climate ensemble scenarios to improve risk assessment and resilience in the semi-arid regions of West Africa

Estimation of the response of rainfed crops to heat stress and water stress must ade- quately account for the uncertainty in climatic and non-climatic factors that affect impact assess- ments. The objective of this research was to narrow the range of values characterizing the limits within which estimates are expected to fall in the diagnostics of agroclimatic risks. Assessments were made by analyzing historical observations and evaluating the influence of heat stress and rainfall variability on crop water demand, biomass and grain yields of short-cycle cultivars of pearl millet and maize. We used a wide range of consistent and practical sets of crop model ensemble analyses (based on crop management practices such as plant density, fertilization levels, early/late sowing dates and soil types) and climate model ensembles from 2 climate change hypothesis (A1b and RCP8.5) over the West African Sudan-Sahel. Recent rainfall developments show that haz- ardous intra-seasonal rainfall distribution affects crop productivity, with increased frequency and intensity of daily rainfall, false start and early cessation of the rainy season and decreasing diurnal temperature range. In 2011�2050 perspectives, relative to the 1981�2010 baseline, a slight in - crease in temperature (i.e. +0.6 to +0.8°C) combined with a stationary to moderate decrease in precipitation leads to a 10 to 15% (8 to 15%) decrease in aboveground biomass production (grain yield). When the warming is moderate (i.e. +1.4 to 1.8°C), the decline in grain yield worsens (10 to 20%), despite a slight increase in rainfall projections. At these rates of loss in crop production, resilience can be reinforced. However, it will require that climate-smart crop management prac- tices be embedded in sub-seasonal and interannual monitoring and early warning systems.

Does it Matter Where We Begin? Or, On the Art of Preparation and Preluding

"In all things success depends on previous preparation, and without such previous preparation there is sure to be failure."(Confucian wisdom, The Doctrine of the Mean, trans. James Legge)[1] Does it matter where we begin? What could this question possibly be asking for? As an anxious question, it usually meets with a simple retort: we have to begin somewhere, so does it really matter where? Perhaps, however, I'm making a false start and should ask whether it matters not where, but how, when, or with what we begin--although, just by considering these alternatives, at least I've made a start. I already feel a bit like the white rabbit instructed by the King of Hearts to "begin at the beginning, and go on till the end is reached--and then stop." But Alice quickly enters my world to prevent me seeking too many adventures in Wonderland. Don't descend the path of puzzle and paradox, she warns me--just stick with the Confucian wisdom: that the most successful beginning presupposes a preparation from which it derives its sense as a beginning in the first place.[2] My address today regards the idea of preparation, the idea of getting ready as when one says "ready, steady, go." As others write of the sense of an ending, I join those who write of the sense of a beginning. But whereas others say that the beginning makes sense given what follows as the middle and end, I ask what the preparation contributes to making a beginning the best beginning it can be. Many insist that a beginning must make sense, for if it doesn't, there's little inclination to pursue matters further. The beginning must grab us, put us in the right mood. Yet if getting in the mood presupposes a preparation, shouldn't the preparation count as a part of the beginning, or even be reckoned as the real beginning itself?[3] My topic today is the preparation required of a public address, be it of a keynote address as here, or of a musical performance as delivered to an audience in a concert hall. If I may tease you straightaway with a real situation--consider what happens before we hear the first notes of Beethoven's Eroica, a third symphony whose own most decisive opening chords have been so much noted and revered that one might think it impossible that anything could come prior. Yet, before these opening chords, don't we hear a breath attending the gesture of the conductor's upbeat? Or the last coughs or rustles of candy papers from an audience that hasn't quite settled? Or the last beeps from the many electronic devices that are switched off, though always just a bit too late, giving rise to frustrated shushing sounds all around? And before the first chords, don't we hear a broad range of noises coming from a public finding their seats, flipping through their programs with small gasps of pleasure or fear when they're made fully aware of what they're about to hear? And aren't we offered what is sometimes quite a considerable din from the orchestra warming up, either by practicing their parts imminently to be performed or for a rehearsal the following day? And doesn't this noise become yet another noise when we hear the ensemble leader arriving to our applause to tune the instruments now in a more orderly way, so that when our last applause finally accompanies the conductor onto the podium, we are ready to hear the first chords in what suddenly becomes for us a perfect aesthetic silence?[4] I tried by my description not to suggest that there is too much rhyme, reason, or etiquette observed either by the public that constitutes the audience or by the ensemble that constitutes the performing body. I described the situation to convey an atmosphere less of preparation and more of a near-meaningless social din. I did this to bring attention to what was once much more the case--before the nineteenth century and those decisive Beethoven chords--when a practice of explicit preparation justified if not every noise of the occasion, then more than seem to be justified today. …

You can't do that! Hugo Münsterberg and misapplied psychology

This article examines a false start in the application of psychology to the law. While there had been expert testimony from physicians in criminal and civil cases in America since the nineteenth century, forensic psychology first emerged in the early twentieth century. Following European traditions of experimental psychology, Hugo Münsterberg applied the nascent science of memory research to the assessment of witness credibility. A brilliant and popular Harvard professor, Münsterberg touted his technique of word-association to determine truth. Forensic psychology's development was stalled by resistance from within legal authorities, including John Henry Wigmore, the leading expert on evidence. However, Münsterberg was a sensation in popular media. In this article, the authors examine early attempts to import experimental psychology into the courtroom and the arguments against them. Not only were Münsterberg's findings premature, they touched on a forbidden domain for witnesses: fact finding. While sincere, he learned that the determination of truth lay within the province of juries and judges, not psychologists. Thus, the application of psychology to the law was delayed. The authors review the lessons from Münsterberg's false start and comment on developments in the admissibility of scientific testimony.

The influence of ego depletion on sprint start performance in athletes without track and field experience.

We tested the assumption that ego depletion would affect the sprint start in a sample of N = 38 athletes without track and field experience in an experiment by applying a mixed between- (depletion vs. non-depletion) within- (T1: before manipulation of ego depletion vs. T2: after manipulation of ego depletion) subjects design. We assumed that ego depletion would increase the possibility for a false start, as regulating the impulse to initiate the sprinting movement too soon before the starting signal requires self-control. In line with our assumption, we found a significant interaction as there was only a significant increase in the number of false starts from T1 to T2 for the depletion group while this was not the case for the non-depletion group. We conclude that ego depletion has a detrimental influence on the sprint start in athletes without track and field experience.

연속적 차분 확장 기반 가역 DNA 워터마킹

Of recent interests on high capacity DNA storage, DNA watermarking for DNA copyright protection, and DNA steganography for DNA secret communication are augmented, the reversible DNA watermarking is much needed both to embed the watermark without changing the functionality of organism and to perfectly recover the host DNA sequence. In this paper, we address two ways of DE based reversible DNA watermarking using noncoding DNA sequence. The reversible DNA watermarking should consider the string structure of a DNA sequence, the organism functionality, the perfect recovery, and the high embedding capacity. We convert the string sequence of four characters in noncoding region to the decimal coded values and embed the watermark bit into coded values by two ways; DE based multiple bits embedding (DE-MBE) using pairs of neighbor coded values and consecutive DE-MBE (C-DE-MBE). Two ways process the comparison searching to prevent the false start codon that produces false coding region. Experimental results verified that our ways have more high embedding capacity than conventional methods and produce no false start codon and recover perfectly the host sequence without the reference sequence. Especially C-DE-MBE can embed more high two times than DE-MBE.

False start for the juncker recovery proposals

The ‘Juncker Plan’ of November 2014 proposes to define investment criteria for a European Fund for Strategic Investments. This displaces that such investments are within the statutory remit of the EIF – the European Investment Fund – which is part of the European Investment Bank Group and, like the EIB, can issue bonds that do not count on national debt. The BRICS are ready to invest in € bonds to promote European recovery since this is to mutual advantage in sustaining their trade. Rating agencies, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds want a European recovery. Nor are new investment criteria needed. They already were widely defined for the EIB Group by the 1994 Essen Council and in the 1997 Amsterdam Special Action Programme. A host of investment projects that already have planning approval can be jointly EIB-EIF financed and could achieve a Roosevelt style New Deal for Europe.http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/2183‑203X_41_2

Optical and Cognitive Illusions: The MIT Visualizing Cultures Controversy in Spring 2006

The “rise of China” narrative in the twenty-first century is replacing the long-standing “rise of Japan” story line of the twentieth century. This article examines the role of wars in redirecting public opinion and, in particular, the effect of the 1894–95 war in refracting Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) reforms since the 1860s into “failures” and contemporary Meiji (1868–1912) reforms into “successes.” To grasp this dramatic reversal, we need new interpretations of the 1894–95 Sino-Japanese War that will unravel the Japanese and global propaganda that engulfed the world press in this “Social Darwinian” era of scrambling empires out of which the “rise of Japan” and the “fall of China” narratives emerged. Challenging this standard narrative, the article uses Meiji woodblock prints of the war to demonstrate how “optical illusions” were constructed to support a Japanese master-narrative of Qing “backwardness,” which influenced not only Europeans and US citizens but also modern Chinese reformers and revolutionaries in their efforts to fashion a “new” China that would one day catch up with and surpass Japan. This 1895 reversal of narratives lies in the background of the 2006 MIT controversy, namely, the current “great reversal” occurring between Japan and China. The MIT controversy thus serves as an indicator of a sea change in the global perceptions of China and Japan in the present day. The current reversal that sparked the MIT controversy must be understood in light of a new historical context that has challenged a perennial Japan-centered perspective since 1895, namely, that the Japanese are the dominant power, culture, and people in East Asia. The rise of a China-centered narrative since the late 1990s has superseded the assumed preeminence of Japan in Asia, a preeminence that began in the aftermath of what the Japanese misrepresented as the so-called “First” Sino-Japanese War. Japanese accounts since 1895 have conveniently repressed Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 1592 invasion of Korea, for example, which touched off the actual first Sino-Japanese War and led to the unilateral withdrawal of Japan's troops from the Korean peninsula. Hideyoshi's defeat was displaced as a false start in Sino-Japanese relations after 1895.

The case for a marketing content hub

<p>Marketing technologies projects often get labelled as digital asset management (DAM) even when the project’s scope or business case make only a glancing reference to DAM. This can lead to a false start and in the worst case money and momentum lost. This paper investigates the larger context and challenges a lot of organisations are currently dealing with and how the real scope of their challenge is different from or wider than DAM. The main angles covered include the aggregation of marketing content to build a 360° interaction from the perspective of the marketer; creative project management and collaboration tools to empower marketing teams; and setting up a dialogue with the marketing community. The authors pitch the concept of a marketing content hub as the embodiment of this 360° interaction and define the blueprint of the matching business case. This business case for a marketing content hub takes the traditional one for a DAM system as a baseline, but adds elements that capture more of the strategic value that commonly remain unaccounted for. The opportunities for the marketing department to add value and become part of the solution are discussed as well as the arguments that can motivate the different stakeholders to embark on this endeavour.</p>

The effect of ego depletion on sprint start reaction time.

In the current study, we consider that optimal sprint start performance requires the self-control of responses. Therefore, start performance should depend on athletes' self-control strength. We assumed that momentary depletion of self-control strength (ego depletion) would either speed up or slow down the initiation of a sprint start, where an initiation that was sped up would carry the increased risk of a false start. Applying a mixed between- (depletion vs. nondepletion) and within- (before vs. after manipulation of depletion) subjects design, we tested the start reaction times of 37 sport students. We found that participants' start reaction times decelerated after finishing a depleting task, whereas it remained constant in the nondepletion condition. These results indicate that sprint start performance can be impaired by unrelated preceding actions that lower momentary self-control strength. We discuss practical implications in terms of optimizing sprint starts and related overall sprint performance.

False Start or Brave Beginning? The Society of Jews and Christians, 1924–1944

The Society of Jews and Christians drew on relationships formed before 1918 in urban social work, the suffrage campaign and pacifist organisations. Its career was much less smooth than that of its successor, the Council of Christians and Jews, because Liberal Judaism's founding role largely antagonised the Orthodox Jewish mainstream, and Christian affiliates sometimes failed to observe the agreement not to proselytise. This paper discusses the influence of the Revd James Parkes, and the exceptional circumstances of the rise of Nazism, in changing views on both sides, and also reflects on why historians may have ignored a pioneering initiative.

Interpreting the effects of burning on pre-incineration saw marks in bone.

This study examined the effects of fire on the features associated with saw marks in bone. Both class and individual characteristics were examined using stereomicroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Twenty-four semifleshed Sus scrofa L. tibiae were sawed into three sections with the middle section having deep and shallow false starts. Twelve saw blades of varying age and type were each used to cut two tibiae. In each case, the first tibia was burned in an outdoor open fire to the point of partial calcination. The second tibia, our control, was macerated using a heated enzyme solution. Controls and burned specimens were examined for the following characteristics: breakaway spur, tooth hop, false start, exit chipping, tooth imprint, breakaway notch, pull out striae, kerf flare, and blade drift. In general, there was parity in the observed characteristics in the burned samples using the SEM and the stereomicroscope. SEM observation, however, provided enhanced images, with the addition of observing individual tooth imprints, previously not visible. Therefore, this study recommends using an SEM for the examination of saw cuts in burnt bone.

New Start or False Start? The ICC and Electoral Violence in Kenya

ABSTRACTThis article investigates how far the International Criminal Court (ICC) trial of post‐election violence in Kenya represented a new start for Kenyan politics, for international criminal justice in Africa, and for the international response to democratic violence more broadly. For the first time an international criminal court investigated violence associated with the democratic process. The prosecution of instigators of violence was not only a demonstration of a far less patient international approach to a democratic process gone wrong; it also provided the internationally expected response to exceptional levels of violence in the face of domestic inaction. However, it is less clear whether the ICC case represents a new beginning for Kenya. It might be a new start for political accountability in the context of a weak domestic judiciary, but it cannot address the structural root causes of violence that require political reform rather than criminal prosecution.

Primary care research network progress in Scotland

Many developed industrialized countries perceive considerable value in developing practice based research networks. In this paper, the development of the Scottish Primary Care Research Network (SPCRN) from 1924–2013 is described. After a false start in the early twentieth century and some local developments 10–15 years ago, the Scottish Primary Care Research Network was finally built upon existing networks of teaching and training practices centred on research active departments of general practice and primary care. This meant that a climate already favourable to research existed and several of the necessary skills were available. Long-term funding commitment to the network by the National Health Service meant that the infrastructure could be developed in the knowledge that it would be likely to become incorporated into wider Scottish and UK systems. Two-thirds of Scottish practices regularly participate in research at a rate of 50–60 studies each year, which result in a range of publications that influence clinical decisions and health policy. As the success of the network grows, greater demands are placed upon it, and the capacity of practices to continue to engage in research may be tested.

Financial markets and online advertising: reevaluating the dotcom investment bubble

While the dotcom period is often dismissed as a false start in the history of the web's commercial development, it is better conceived of as highly generative of modern structures of online advertising. Soaring investment markets and the developing online advertising sector entered into a pattern of mutual reinforcement that began in 1995 and intensified until the bubble collapsed in 2000, transforming the character of the web in the process. This article sketches the contours of this generative capacity, focusing on the production of demand for online advertising services. Taking the approach of critical political economy [Pickard, V. (2013). Being critical: Contesting power within the misinformation society. Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 10(2–3), 306–311], this narrative is contextualized as an outgrowth of broader social trends, namely the increased importance and interconnection of marketing communications, media technologies, and finance within the changing capitalism of ‘the new gilded age’ [Gillespie, R. (2012). Gilders and gamblers: The culture of speculative capitalism in the United States. Communication, Culture & Critique, 5, 364].

Energy transition: Real issues, false starts?

Within a period of two years, the issue of energy transition has become a topical theme in France, in civil society and in academic circles. Although consensus appears to have been reached on the need to change our energy system based on the consumption of non-renewable energies with negative impacts on the environment, taking action appears more difficult, as shown by the recent demonstrations in Brittany which brought together entrepreneurs, employees and local elected representatives against the levy of an ecotax on the transport of goods by road. After recalling the stakes of energy transition (1.1), we shall attempt to show that it is perhaps the approach taken – an approach taken from the top and essentially technical – which explains in part, the difficulties of making energy transition effective, leading to the assumption of a “false start” (1.2).

Stateless Indigenous People(s)

According to the 2007 UN Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples, every indigenous individual has the right to a nationality. The present paper focuses on the right to a nationality as a ‘gateway’ to the recognition of a plurality of other rights. Doing so, two issues are given special attention: 1) the lack of adequate birth registration and the consequences of this ‘false start’ for other rights, such as, again, the right to a nationality. 2) The recognition of indigenous identity papers: while regularly Indigenous Peoples do not want to establish an independent sovereign State, many of them strive for the recognition of their own Indigenous identity papers. The paper discusses some of the advantages and consequences thereof.

Compensation Features for Task Fulfilment in Discussion

The introduction of the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) has sparked the urgency to train pre-university students to communicate effectively and spurred the interest of language researchers to develop speaking skills among students in Malaysia. New methods and strategies are attempted to overcome various communication problems, and ease communication especially in the discussion component of MUET. However, due to its spontaneity, speaking remains the most difficult skill to acquire. This paper presents findings of an ongoing research on compensation features for task fulfilment in discussions. It discusses instances of how compensation features, in particular corrections and alterations, are used in discussions. This paper highlights such features as used by pre-university students in discussions which involve self-correction/self-repair, false start, repetition and restructuring/rephrasing.

False start: Cotranslational protein ubiquitination and cytosolic protein quality control

Maintaining proteostasis is crucial to cells given the toxic potential of misfolded proteins and aggregates. To this end, cells rely on a number of quality control pathways that survey proteins both during, as well as after synthesis to prevent protein aggregation, promote protein folding, and to target terminally misfolded proteins for degradation. In eukaryotes, the ubiquitin proteasome system plays a critical role in protein quality control by selectively targeting proteins for degradation. Recent studies have added to our understanding of cytosolic protein quality control, particularly in the area of cotranslational protein ubiquitination, and suggest that overlap exists across co- and post-translational protein quality control networks. Here, we review recent advances made in the area of cytoplasmic protein quality control with an emphasis on the pathways involved in cotranslational degradation of eukaryotic cytosolic proteins. Protein homeostasis, or proteostasis, encompasses the systems required by the cell for the generation and maintenance of the correct levels, conformational state, distribution, and degradation of its proteome. One of the challenges faced by the cell in maintaining proteostasis is the presence of misfolded proteins. Cells therefore have a number of protein quality control pathways to aid in folding or mediate the degradation of misfolded proteins. The ubiquitin proteasome system in particular plays a critical role in protein quality control by selectively targeting proteins for degradation. Nascent polypeptides can be ubiquitinated cotranslationally, however to what extent and how this is used by the cell as a quality control mechanism has, until recently, remained relatively unclear. The picture now emerging is one of two quality control networks: one that recognizes nascent polypeptides on stalled ribosomes and another that targets actively translating polypeptides that misfold, failing to attain their native conformation. These studies underscore the important balance between cotranslational protein folding and degradation in the maintenance of protein homeostasis. In this review we summarize recent advances made in the area of cytoplasmic protein quality control with an emphasis on pathways involved in cotranslational degradation of eukaryotic cytosolic proteins. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Can Proteomics Fill the Gap Between Genomics and Phenotypes?