In the three years since the law on adult deceased organ donation consent in England changed to include an opt-out system, there has been no discernible change to donation rates. The lack of a positive impact on donation rates was predicted by many of those who took part in debates before and during the passage of the Bill through Parliament. This invites the question as to why England moved to an opt-out system for organ donation despite equivocal evidence of likely benefit and opposition from expert health professional organisations. To address this question qualitative analyses of Parliamentary debates on organ donation was undertaken. This revealed a shift from a dominant position, which gave primacy to the evidence of likely effects, towards a more normative position where a deemed consent option was viewed as the ‘correct thing to do’ and the limited and conflicting evidence viewed in a positive light. By 2017, following Wales's move to an opt-out system, together with continued lobbying for similar changes for England by professional and patient groups, alongside sustained public popularity for organ donation, the balance of opinion had shifted towards a system where deemed consent would become the default position for most English adults

We contribute to the argument for a “new” business history employing a quantitative approach. We illustrate opportunities for new perspectives from this approach using a novel microlevel longitudinal database comprising 131 variables for 1,419 cooperative creameries in Denmark for the period 1898–1945, which we also document and make available to the scholarly community. We present a number of applications of the data, including investigating regional productivity differences, expenditure on fire insurance, and survivorship and reporting biases.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The aims of this study are 2-fold: (1) to determine if maternal schistosomiasis affects maternal immunity to tetanus and/or transplacental transfer of antitetanus toxoid (TT) immunoglobulin G (IgG) from mother to infant and (2) determine the influence of maternal schistosomiasis on infant BCG vaccine immunogenicity. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The study will utilize blood samples from a historic cohort of 100 mother-infant pairs from Kisumu, Kenya, a schistosomiasis-endemic area. For the first aim, we will evaluate maternal schistosomal circulating anodic antigen, which has improved sensitivity and specificity to detect active schistosomiasis from serum, and antisoluble egg antigen IgG positivity compared with quantitative maternal anti-TT IgG at delivery and anti-TT IgG cord blood to maternal blood ratio (cord:maternal ratio). For the second aim, we will evaluate association between maternal schistosomiasis as detected by circulating anodic antigen and antisoluble egg antigen IgG at delivery and infant BCG-specific Th1-cytokine positive CD4+ cells at 10 weeks following BCG vaccination at birth. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We hypothesize that active maternal schistosomiasis will be associated with decreased maternal anti-TT IgG and reduced efficiency of transplacental transfer, as measured by infant cord blood to maternal blood ratio of anti-TT IgG. We also expect that maternal schistosomiasis will be associated with decreased infant immunogenicity to BCG vaccine. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This is a formative study on infant vaccine immunity using laboratory methodology not previously applied. Understanding infant immunity in the setting of maternal schistosomiasis will inform vaccination strategies and tailor vaccine development in schistosome-endemic areas such as Kenya, where neither TB nor neonatal tetanus have been eradicated. Additionally, our results will inform public health policies to consider integration of antischistosomal agents in antenatal care.

The deep subsurface of other planetary bodies is of special interest for robotic and human exploration. The subsurface provides access to planetary interior processes, thus yielding insights into planetary formation and evolution. On Mars, the subsurface might harbour the most habitable conditions. In the context of human exploration, the subsurface can provide refugia for habitation from extreme surface conditions. We describe the fifth Mine Analogue Research (MINAR 5) programme at 1 km depth in the Boulby Mine, UK in collaboration with Spaceward Bound NASA and the Kalam Centre, India, to test instruments and methods for the robotic and human exploration of deep environments on the Moon and Mars. The geological context in Permian evaporites provides an analogue to evaporitic materials on other planetary bodies such as Mars. A wide range of sample acquisition instruments (NASA drills, Small Planetary Impulse Tool (SPLIT) robotic hammer, universal sampling bags), analytical instruments (Raman spectroscopy, Close-Up Imager, Minion DNA sequencing technology, methane stable isotope analysis, biomolecule and metabolic life detection instruments) and environmental monitoring equipment (passive air particle sampler, particle detectors and environmental monitoring equipment) was deployed in an integrated campaign. Investigations included studying the geochemical signatures of chloride and sulphate evaporitic minerals, testing methods for life detection and planetary protection around human-tended operations, and investigations on the radiation environment of the deep subsurface. The MINAR analogue activity occurs in an active mine, showing how the development of space exploration technology can be used to contribute to addressing immediate Earth-based challenges. During the campaign, in collaboration with European Space Agency (ESA), MINAR was used for astronaut familiarization with future exploration tools and techniques. The campaign was used to develop primary and secondary school and primary to secondary transition curriculum materials on-site during the campaign which was focused on a classroom extra vehicular activity simulation.

Black widows and redbacks are binary systems consisting of a millisecond pulsar in a close binary with a companion having matter driven off of its surface by the pulsar wind. X-rays due to an intrabinary shock have been observed from many of these systems, as well as orbital variations in the optical emission from the companion due to heating and tidal distortion. We have been systematically studying these systems in radio, optical and X-rays. Here we will present an overview of X-ray and optical studies of these systems, including new XMM-Newton and NuStar data obtained from several of them, along with new optical photometry.

The discovery of a pulsar or pulsars orbiting near the Galactic Center (GC) could offer an unprecedented probe of strong-field gravity, the properties of our galaxy's supermassive black hole and insights into the paradoxical star formation history of the region. However, searching for pulsars near the GC is severely hampered by the large electron densities along our line of sight and the scattering-induced pulse broadening of the pulsar emission observed through it. As the broadened pulse length approaches the pulsar period, the periodicity in pulsar emission becomes nearly undetectable. Searches extended to higher frequencies, in an effort to reduce scattering, suffer from reduced intrinsic flux, higher system temperatures and increased atmospheric opacity. We are currently attempting to mitigate the challenges associated with searching for pulsars near the GC by employing new wide bandwidth receivers, upgraded IF distribution systems and novel digital spectrometers in a GC pulsar search campaign at the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, USA.

Our search will cover two frequency bands, from 12-15 GHz (Ku Band) and 18-26 GHz (K Band), during a total of approximately 30 hours of observations, with expected characteristic 10-sigma sensitivities between 5-10 micro-Jy. Our first observations are scheduled for mid-March 2012. Here we will present the status of our observations and initial results.

This paper introduces a highly reliable Cu interconnect technology at the 32 nm node with CuMn alloy seed. A CuMn alloy liner seed process combined with a non-gouging liner has been integrated into the minimum-pitch wiring level. Stress migration fails with CuMn seed at plate-below-via structures were shut down by a non-gouging liner process. Integration with gouging liner and non-gouging liner is compared, and results of interaction with CuMn seed are discussed in this paper.

Temple University led a six-university effort that built a comprehensive public policy database for Pennsylvania, modeled on the national Policy Agendas Project created by Frank Baumgartner and Bryan Jones (1993). The Pennsylvania database (www.temple.edu/papolicy) enables users to integrate data from all three branches of government and the news media organized into 20 major and 249 minor policy topics since 1979. This article discusses the value of these data, their potential uses in state policy research, and the lessons learned over the four years invested in building the database. Our hope is that interested readers might undertake similar projects in their states to create a standardized national network of state policy databases.

A tool has been developed that can be used to characterize or validate a BEOL interconnect technology. It connects various process assumptions directly to electrical parameters including resistance. The resistance of narrow copper lines is becoming a challenging parameter, not only in terms of controlling its value but also understanding the underlying mechanisms. The resistance was measured for 45nm-node interconnects and compared to the theory of electron scattering. This work will demonstrate how valuable it is to directly link the electrical models to the physical on-wafer dimensions and in turn to the process assumptions. For example, one can generate a tolerance pareto for physical and or electrical parameters that immediately identifies those process sectors that have the largest contribution to the overall tolerance. It also can be used to easily generate resistance versus capacitance plots which provide a good BEOL performance gauge. Several examples for 45nm BEOL will be given to demonstrate the value of these tools.

This study is a comparative analysis and meta-analysis of three randomized clinical trials. Children with spastic diplegia received either ‘selective’ dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) plus physiotherapy (SDR+PT) or PT without SDR (PT-only). Common outcome measures were used for spasticity (Ashworth scale) and function (Gross Motor Function Measure [GMFM]). Baseline and 9- to 12-month outcome data were pooled (n=90). At baseline, 82 children were under 8 years old and 65 had Gross Motor Function Classification System level II or III disability. Pooled Ashworth data analysis confirmed a reduction of spasticity with SDR+PT (mean change score difference –1.2; Wilcoxon p<0.001). Pooled GMFM data revealed greater functional improvement with SDR+PT (difference in change score +4.0, p=0.008). Multivariate analysis in the SDR+PT group revealed a direct relationship between percentage of dorsal root tissue transected and functional improvement. SDR+PT is efficacious in reducing spasticity in children with spastic diplegia and has a small positive effect on gross motor function.