Today Sistan is an impoverished region of the Afghan-Persian borderland, the condition of whose economy and populace appeared excessively forlorn to the few European travellers and officials who visited it or who worked there in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Thus the Indian Army officer, boundary delimitation commissioner, and consul C. E. Yate, writing of his experiences in the 1890s, stated, “What with their debts to the katkhudas who advanced the grain, the cultivators and people of Sistan generally were in a wretched state of poverty. I do not think I ever saw a more miserable-looking lot.“ Yet Sistan, until later medieval times at least, had enjoyed a much more glorious past.

“Sistan,” Middle Persian Sakastan “land of the Sakas,” whence Arabic Sijistan, is of course the more recent name in history for the Drangiana of the classical Greek geographers and historians.

The earliest historical references to the Persian Gulf appear to stem from the time of the Sumerian rulers of Mesopotamia in the third millennium B.C., when, for instance, the trade with Dilmun (on the western shores of the upper part of the Gulf) of Ur Nanše, King of Lagash (2494–2465 B.C.), is mentioned. The Gulf itself is specifically named in a historical text of Lugal Zagesi, King of Uruk (2340–2316 B.C.), where it is said that “then from the Lower Sea, by the Tigris and Euphrates, as far as the Upper Sea, [the god Enlil] provided him with clear routes”; and, in an inscription of Sargon of Akkad, it is said that Enlil gave him the Upper Sea and the Lower Sea.

In Hong Kong, universal varicella vaccination started in July 2014. Before this, children could receive varicella vaccine via the private market. We analysed the epidemiology of varicella and zoster before universal vaccination. We estimated varicella vaccination coverage through surveys in preschool children. We estimated the burden of varicella and zoster with varicella notifications from 1999/00 to 2013/14, Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) attendance and inpatient admissions to public hospitals from 2004/05 to 2013/14. We fitted a catalytic model to serological data on antibodies against varicella-zoster virus to estimate the force of infection. We found that varicella vaccination coverage gradually increased to about 50% before programme inception. In children younger than 5 years, the annual rate of varicella notifications, varicella admission and zoster A&E attendance generally declined. The annual notification, A&E attendance and hospitalisation rate of varicella and zoster generally increased for individuals between 10 and 59 years old. Varicella serology indicated an age shift during the study period towards a higher proportion of infections in slightly older individuals, but the change was most notable before vaccine licensure. In conclusion, we observed a shift in the burden of varicella to slightly older age groups with a corresponding increase in incidence but it cannot necessarily be attributed to private market vaccine coverage alone. Increasing varicella vaccination uptake in the private market might affect varicella transmission and epidemiology, but not to the level of interrupting transmission.

In field and greenhouse experiments, sicklepod (Cassia obtusifolia L. # CASOB) control with postemergence application of imazaquin {ammonium salt of 2-[4,5-dihydro-4-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)-5-oxo-1H-imidazol-2-yl]-3-quinolinecarboxylic acid} was similar with spray volumes of 50, 185, and 360 L/ha. Application of DPX-F6025 {ethyl ester of 2-[[[[(4-chloro-6-methoxypyrimidin-2-yl) amino] carbonyl] amino] sulfonyl] benzoate} in 50 L/ha resulted in greater control than application in 185 or 360 L/ha in the greenhouse, but no effect of spray volume was noted in field studies. In the greenhouse, control was 25 and 63% less with imazaquin applied to three- and five-leaf plants, respectively, compared to one-leaf plants; control was 40 and 62% less with DPX-F6025 applied to three- and five-leaf plants, respectively, compared to one-leaf plants. In the field, initial control was greater with imazaquin and DPX-F6025 applied to one-leaf plants than to three- or five-leaf plants. Following cultivation, control was similar regardless of plant size at time of application. In the field, postemergence applications of imazaquin and DPX-F6025 were equally phytotoxic following preplant-incorporated application of vernolate (S-propyl dipropylcarbamothioate) or preemergence application of alachlor [2-chloro-N-(2,6-diethylphenyl)-N-(methoxymethyl)acetamide]. A synergistic interaction was observed in the greenhouse with imazaquin applied postemergence to sicklepod grown in vernolate- or alachlor-treated soil and with DPX-F6025 applied to sicklepod grown in alachlor-treated soil. Antagonism was observed with DPX-F6025 applied postemergence to sicklepod grown in vernolate-treated soil.

Foliar absorption of imazaquin {ammonium salt of 2-[4,5-dihydro-4-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)-5-oxo-1H-imidazol-2-yl]-3-quinolinecarboxylic acid} following postemergence application was not necessary for control of sicklepod (Cassia obtusifolia L. # CASOB). Application of imazaquin to the soil resulted in control similar to application to the soil plus foliage. A 0.6-cm simulated rainfall 0.05 h after postemergence application of 140, 280, or 560 g ae/ha of imazaquin did not reduce sicklepod control. Foliar absorption was necessary for control with postemergence application of DPX-F6025 {ethyl ester of 2-[[[[(4-chloro-6-methoxypyrimidin-2-yl)amino]-carbonyl] amino] sulfonyl] benzoate}. Application of DPX-F6025 to the foliage resulted in control similar to application to the soil plus foliage. Sicklepod control resulting from postemergence application of 18 g ae/ha of DPX-F6025 was reduced when 0.6 cm of simulated rainfall was received 1 h after application but not when received 4 h after application. With application of 9 g/ha of DPX-F6025, simulated rainfall 24 h after application reduced control. Sicklepod control resulting from postemergence application of sublethal rates of imazaquin and DPX-F6025 was greater when plants were exposed to 3 or more days of 24/18 C day/night temperature than when grown at a continuous 32/24 C temperature. Exposure to low temperature for 3 days immediately before imazaquin application resulted in greater enhancement of control than did exposure for 3 days immediately after application. The reverse was found with DPX-F6025. Control obtained with both imazaquin and DPX-F6025 increased as the number of days of exposure to low temperature increased from 3 to 6. Enhancement of control with low temperature diminished as the herbicide application rate increased.

Stable carbon isotope chronologies using tree ring wood cellulose have proved useful for developing hypotheses on climate and environment change. However, within both the Southern Hemisphere and Africa there has been very little tree-ring-based isotope research. Here we report the first high-resolution (annual) 13C/12C chronology for both Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. The 77-yr stable carbon isotope chronology was developed from six Widdringtonia cedarbergensis trees from a site in the Cedarberg Mountains, Western Cape Province, South Africa. The results indicate that 13C/12C ratios are not different from 1900 to 1949. After 1949, however, values become significantly more negative to 1977. The isotopic record from the pooled trees at the Die Bos site does not correlate with rainfall. This correlation is not significant even when the Widdringtonia stable carbon isotope record is de-trended for the anthropogenic CO2 contribution. The Widdringtonia record does, however, correlate significantly with atmospheric 13C/12C CO2 values derived from ice core data, tree ring 13C/12C chronologies from the Northern Hemisphere, and recent Southern Hemisphere records.

This article examines marginalia as a form of radical writing practice in the period immediately after the First World War. It focuses specifically on a densely annotated copy of the second part of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt's My Diaries, which covers on 1900–1914 and was published in 1920. The annotator, John Arthur Fallows (1864–1935), was a former Church of England clergyman and Independent Labour Party politician, and the article asks what motivated him to leave such an explicit record of his engagement with the book in its margins. Blunt recast his original diary entries to show how the outbreak of the First World War had arisen from the prewar imperialist policies of the Entente. Fallows, meanwhile, used his copy of My Diaries to inscribe a permanent record of his responses to Blunt's writing, which were shaped by his own memories of prewar radical-left political action. The dual record of textual engagement that can be recovered from this copy of My Diaries provides insight into how two British radicals “read” the causes of the First World War in the period between the Armistice and the conclusion of the Paris Peace Accords.

An interchange ring, $(R,+,\bullet )$ , is an abelian group with a second binary operation defined so that the interchange law $(w+x)\bullet (y+z)=(w\bullet y)+(x\bullet z)$ holds. An interchange near ring is the same structure based on a group which may not be abelian. It is shown that each interchange (near) ring based on a group $G$ is formed from a pair of endomorphisms of $G$ whose images commute, and that all interchange (near) rings based on $G$ can be characterized in this manner. To obtain an associative interchange ring, the endomorphisms must be commuting idempotents in the endomorphism semigroup of $G$ . For $G$ a finite abelian group, we develop a group-theoretic analogue of the simultaneous diagonalization of idempotent linear operators and show that pairs of endomorphisms which yield associative interchange rings can be diagonalized and then put into a canonical form. A best possible upper bound of $4^{r}$ can be given for the number of distinct isomorphism classes of associative interchange rings based on a finite abelian group $A$ which is a direct sum of $r$ cyclic groups of prime power order. If $A$ is a direct sum of $r$ copies of the same cyclic group of prime power order, we show that there are exactly ${\textstyle \frac{1}{6}}(r+1)(r+2)(r+3)$ distinct isomorphism classes of associative interchange rings based on $A$ . Several examples are given and further comments are made about the general theory of interchange rings.

A magma $\left( M,\star\right)$ is a nonempty set with a binary operation. A double magma $\left( M,\star ,\bullet\right)$ is a nonempty set with two binary operations satisfying the interchange law $\left( w\star x \right)\bullet \left( y\star z \right)=\left( w\bullet y \right)\star \left( x\bullet z \right)$ . We call a double magma proper if the two operations are distinct, and commutative if the operations are commutative. A double semigroup, first introduced by Kock, is a double magma for which both operations are associative. Given a non-trivial group $G$ we define a system of two magma $\left( G,\star ,\bullet\right)$ using the commutator operations $x\star y=\left[ x,y \right]\left( ={{x}^{-1}}{{y}^{-1}}xy \right)$ and $x\bullet y=\left[ y,x \right]$ . We show that $\left( G,\star ,\bullet\right)$ is a double magma if and only if $G$ satisfies the commutator laws $\left[ x,y;x,z \right]=1$ and ${{\left[ w,x;y,z \right]}^{2}}=1$ . We note that the first law defines the class of 3-metabelian groups. If both these laws hold in $G$ , the double magma is proper if and only if there exist ${{x}_{0}},{{y}_{0}}\in G$ for which ${{\left[ {{x}_{0}},{{y}_{0}} \right]}^{2}}\ne 1$ . This double magma is a double semigroup if and only if $G$ is nilpotent of class two. We construct a specific example of a proper double semigroup based on the dihedral group of order 16. In addition, we comment on a similar construction for rings using Lie commutators.

Genetic factors are known to contribute to the development of schizophrenia and related psychoses. Cytogenetic abnormalities have been occasionally found in patients with psychotic disorders and, thus, have helped identify candidate gene contributors for these conditions. The individual described here first presented with mental retardation and anxiety disorder in his mid-childhood. In his early 20s, the patient started exhibiting various psychotic manifestations, including delusions and hallucinations. His psychotic symptoms were difficult to control with psychotropic medications. The family history was negative for psychiatric disorders. This patient was found to have a 6.2 megabase deletion of the terminal portion of the short arm of chromosome 12 that was characterized using fluorescence in situ hybridization and microarray comparative genomic hybridization analysis. The maternal chromosomes were normal, but the paternal chromosomes could not be tested. To date such a chromosomal abnormality has not been described in association with schizophrenia/psychosis. This case suggests that psychosis-associated gene(s) may be located in the terminal region of the short arm of chromosome 12.

We examine the criteria used to validate the use of nonhuman organisms in North-American alcohol addiction research from the 1950s to the present day. We argue that this field, where the similarities between behaviors in humans and non-humans are particularly difficult to assess, has addressed questions of model validity by transforming the situatedness of non-human organisms into an experimental tool. We demonstrate that model validity does not hinge on the standardization of one type of organism in isolation, as often the case with genetic model organisms. Rather, organisms are viewed as necessarily situated: they cannot be understood as a model for human behavior in isolation from their environmental conditions. Hence the environment itself is standardized as part of the modeling process; and model validity is assessed with reference to the environmental conditions under which organisms are studied.