With the rapid advancement of high throughput sequencing, large numbers of genetic markers can be readily and cheaply acquired, but most current software packages for genetic map construction cannot handle such dense input. Modern computer architectures and server farms represent untapped resources that can be used to enable higher marker densities to be processed in tractable time. Here we present a pipeline using a modified version of OneMap that parallelizes over bottleneck functions and achieves substantial speedups for producing a high density linkage map (N = 20,000). Using simulated data we show that the outcome is as accurate as the traditional pipeline. We further demonstrate that there is a direct relationship between the number of markers used and the level of deviation between true and estimated order, which in turn impacts the final size of a genetic map.


Organoid cultures have emerged as powerful model systems accelerating discoveries in cellular and cancer biology. These three-dimensional cultures are amenable to diverse techniques, including high-throughput genome and transcriptome sequencing, as well as genetic and biochemical perturbation, making these models well suited to answer a variety of questions. Recently, organoids have been generated from diverse human cancers, including breast, colon, pancreas, prostate, bladder, and liver cancers, and studies involving these models are expanding our knowledge of the etiology and characteristics of these malignancies. Co-cultures of cancer organoids with non-neoplastic stromal cells enable investigation of the tumor microenvironment. In addition, recent studies have established that organoids have a place in personalized medicine approaches. Here, we describe the application of organoid technology to cancer discovery and treatment.


Analytical methods for finding moments of random Vandermonde matrices with entries on the unit circle are developed. Vandermonde Matrices play an important role in signal processing and wireless applications such as direction of arrival estimation, precoding, and sparse sampling theory, just to name a few. Within this framework, we extend classical freeness results on random matrices with independent, identically distributed (i.i.d.) entries and show that Vandermonde structured matrices can be treated in the same vein with different tools. We focus on various types of matrices, such as Vandermonde matrices with and without uniform phase distributions, as well as generalized Vandermonde matrices. In each case, we provide explicit expressions of the moments of the associated Gram matrix, as well as more advanced models involving the Vandermonde matrix. Comparisons with classical i.i.d. random matrix theory are provided, and deconvolution results are discussed. We review some applications of the results to the fields of signal processing and wireless communications.


A checklist is given below of 1162 species of shore and epipelagic fishes belonging to 111 families that occur in the islands of Tonga, South Pacifie Ocean; 40 of these are epipelagic species. As might be expected, the fish fauna of Tonga is most similar to those of Samoa and Fiji; at least 658 species of the fishes found in Tonga are also known from Fiji and the islands of Samoa. Twelve species of shore fishes are presently known only from Tonga. Specimens of Tongan fishes are housed mainly in the fish collections of the National Museum ofNatural History, Washington D.C.; Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu; Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris; and the Australian Museum, Sydney. Native Tongan names offishes, when known, are presented afterspecies names.


This article treats, through the lens of marriage and nuptial practices, how lăutari (professional male Romani musicians who perform at Romanian weddings) and their families self-identify as Romanianized Roma. Lăutari assume hybrid forms of identity, drawing on both traditional Romani and mainstream Romanian culture as they perpetually create and recreate their own composite sense of "lǎutar space." Lăutari, like many Roma, preserve basic norms of traditional matrimony, and weddings provide an arena in which they express emblems of Romani culture. Yet lăutari also invoke their "elite" status vis-à-vis "other Gypsies" by refuting what they view as "backward" marital praxes. Moreover, they both appropriate certain Romanian nuptial traditions as well as sustain a basic distrust of Romanians as non-Roma. While lăutar culture has evolved significantly over the twentieth century, younger family members are carving out their own shifting forms of "lǎutar space" in unprecedented ways, often fueled by educational opportunities. This article examines how lăutar identity is nurtured through a dynamic merging of Romani and Romanian cultures and how marriage and wedding practices inform these intersections.


Phytophthora cinnamomi is a broad host range pathogen responsible for the degradation of many natural and cultivated ecosystems worldwide. For most biomes, numerous woody plant species are susceptible hosts and are killed after infection. Two unresolved phenomena with regards to the life-cycle of P. cinnamomi were addressed in this study. Firstly, an investigation was conducted to determine how this poorly saprophytic pathogen persists in the long-term in the absence of susceptible hosts. Secondly, it is not known how P. cinnamomi survives the long hot and dry summers of Mediterranean environments. Infested black gravel landscapes within the Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah) forest of South-West Western Australia were suitable areas to address both knowledge gaps.

Native annual and herbaceous perennial plant species common to severely infested black gravel sites were screened as possible hosts by controlled inoculation experiments and by sampling plants from the natural environment. Secondly, it was tested how long P. cinnamomi can survive on naturally infested black gravel sites in the absence of any living plant material. Vegetation was removed by herbicides, and pathogen survival monitored over 28 months.

Based on the sampling of plants from the natural environment and from controlled inoculation experiments, it was evident that the majority of annual and herbaceous perennial plant species screened were infected by P. cinnamomi but most were asymptomatic hosts. These species are clearly a reason why P. cinnamomi can survive indefinitely on infested sites in the absence of susceptible woody host species. Transmission electron microscopic examination demonstrated that haustoria were produced in some annual and herbaceous perennial species and indicated for the first time that P. cinnamomi can colonise plants as a biotroph, without becoming necrotrophic. This is the first time haustoria have been shown to be definitively produced by P. cinnamomi in continuously asymptomatic plants. Survival propagules, in the form of oospores, thick-walled chlamydospores and stromata were also observed in these naturally infected species. Mating tests showed that the oospores were selfed by the A2 mating type, and were produced in abundance with as many as 400 mm2 of plant tissue. Selfed oospores have not been observed previously in naturally infected plants. Thick-walled chlamydospores were also produced in abundance, and both propagules types were shown to survive the environmentally adverse summer months and germinate when conditions were conducive the following autumn. Finally, stromata were observed in the majority of asymptomatic hosts, and have never been observed previously for P. cinnamomi. These stromata were shown to provide the nutrients for the prolific oospores numbers observed.

28 months after vegetation was killed by the herbicide treatments no P. cinnamomi was recovered from the soil, indicating that the pathogen can be eradicated from a site, when no living host material is present.

This study has made major and significant contributions to our understanding of the life cycle of P. cinnamomi under natural conditions. The ability of the pathogen to grow as a necrotroph or endophytic biotroph indicates that the pathogen has evolved a range of growth modes allowing it to persist in an ecosystem regardless of whether susceptible hosts are present or not. It is likely, that similar studies in other natural ecosystems in Australia or elsewhere will provide similar results. The ability to eradicate the pathogen in a relatively short time period through the removal of host material provides many opportunities for the control of this pathogen in managed and natural ecosystems.


Introduction The Political Economy Paradigm The governments of most developing countries continue to express a desire to stimulate and guide the socioeconomic development of their nations. To achieve this goal of state promoted and directed development, governments have intervened in their economies either directly, by controlling public enterprises,(1) or indirectly, by regulating the private sector through the legal system. Believing that private investments will contribute to the desired expansion of national output, these governments have resorted to a variety of schemes to induce private-sector firms, both foreign and domestic, to become more involved in the economy.(2) The role of private investment in the economic growth and development of the host countries and the impact of investment regimes on capital in-flows are issues that remain unresolved in the literature on private direct investments in Africa.(3) Although a significant amount of empirical work has been done on the link between foreign direct investment (FDI)(4) and economic growth and development,(5) comparatively little attention has been paid to the effect that investment laws and regulations have on the amount of private capital actually invested.(6) Studies of the legal aspects of doing business in developing countries have primarily focused on the details of the legal regimes governing foreign direct investment.(7) This approach has increased our understanding of the legal and regulatory framework within which private investors operate, yet it has failed to illustrate whether - and if so, how - the legal regime for foreign private investments has increased the capital levels in the host-country's economy or has promoted other significant governmental objectives for the economy. Current legal writing on the regulatory environment for FDI in developing countries suffers from other deficiencies as well. In the first place, the studies on the legal aspects of doing business tend to be country-specific, and their general utility is thus somewhat limited.(8) Second, they offer little or no help toward developing a broad-gauged theory of FDI.(9) Given their emphasis on legal rules and regulations, rather than the social substructure underpinning the rules, these studies make no attempt to explore the interplay between such rules and other extraneous factors that also influence the flow of FDI. Finally, the legal environment of FDI traditionally has been studied and analyzed without consideration of the broader political economy context, ignoring the latter's influence on the former. Realistically, however, the law is inextricably interwoven with economics.(10) Therefore, the coexistence of law and the economy must be defined and described, rather than ignored because it lies outside the province of routine legal analysis. The flaws in FDI scholarship need not detract from the important fact that policymakers in developing countries are acutely aware of the need for substantial capital formation if they are to develop into modern, technically advanced industrial societies.(11) The availability of significant amounts of capital played a prominent role in the early stages of industrialization in Europe (especially in England); the United States and Canada; the primitive "socialist" development process (for example, in the former Soviet Union); and, through the Marshall Plan, in the reconstruction of a war-ravaged Europe and Japan(12) in the late 1940s. Clearly, capital accumulation also stands to play an equally significant role in the industrialization of Africa.(13) In Africa, as elsewhere, in addition to domestic capital accumulation, development would greatly benefit from both private and public external capital inflows.(14) Recognizing the potential benefits of FDI,(15) developing countries have enacted various kinds of investment legislation in the last two decades. The newer investment laws, together with related development legislation and assorted policy statements, have generally had as a basic objective the improvement of the environment for FDI. …


The nanoscience field often produces results more mystifying than any other discipline. It has been argued that changes in the plutonium dioxide (PuO2) particle size from bulk to nano can have a drastic effect on PuO2 properties. Here we report a full characterization of PuO2 nanoparticles (NPs) at the atomic level and probe their local and electronic structures by a variety of methods available at the synchrotron, including extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) at the Pu L3 edge, X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) in high energy resolution fluorescence detection (HERFD) mode at the Pu L3 and M4 edges, high energy X-ray scattering (HEXS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The particles were synthesized from precursors with different oxidation states of plutonium (III, IV, and V) under various environmentally and waste storage relevant conditions (pH 8 and pH > 10). Our experimental results analyzed with state-of-the-art theoretical approaches demonstrate that well dispersed, crystalline NPs with a size of ∼2.5 nm in diameter are always formed in spite of diverse chemical conditions. Identical crystal structures and the presence of only the Pu(iv) oxidation state in all NPs, reported here for the first time, indicate that the structure of PuO2 NPs is very similar to that of the bulk PuO2. All methods give complementary information and show that investigated fundamental properties of PuO2 NPs, rather than being exotic, are very similar to those of the bulk PuO2.


In China, the strategy for the national information infrastructure development is implementing a large-scale and unparalleled project for developing artificial intelligence and its application to solving critical problems. Threats and risks of the current stage left no choice to China. The best Soviet and Russian developments of centralized planning and modeling are actively used, advanced American experience in applying neuroinformation technologies to influence society is being adopted. In fact, a neuroinformational mega-matrix is being formed, which will allow the Chinese authorities to keep the seething mass of people and organizations within a controlled circuit. Configuring cognitive communications in the socio-technical system "person — infocommunication environment — the state" allows to develop a social credit model for forming behavior vectors in large groups of the population with culling disloyal in behaviour (implemented now) and disloyal in thinking (soon to be implemented) human units of the China-community.


The objective of this thesis is to clarify the complex notion of flexibility and to explore the impact of Interorganisational Information Systems (IOS) on the flexibility of organisations. Previous studies have shown that while the utilisation of IOS can contribute significantly to organisational flexibility, it does not provide equal benefits to all trading partners. Although flexibility is increasingly becoming more important for the survivability and competitiveness of organisations, its meaning is still ambiguous and a rigorous conceptualisation of the notion is lacking in the literature. Most researchers examining the impact of technology on organisational flexibility identify technological as well as organisational issues influencing flexibility, but fail to analyse flexibility as a dynamic concept embedded in the social context. Moreover, they mainly focus on the flexibility of the individual firm, paying less attention to flexibility as a property of the interaction between firms. This research proposes an interpretive approach and examines the notion of flexibility by including a thorough investigation of the organisational context within which it is embedded. Since IOS involve interaction between different organisations, issues of cooperation and relationships with trading partners are also considered. Therefore, the concept of flexibility is viewed from both an organisational and an interorganisational (business network) level, referring to the interaction of trading partners. A synthesized research framework, based on previous research and the theoretical perspectives of appreciative systems thinking and web models, enables us to perceive flexibility as a multidimensional and dynamic concept, embedded in and shaped by the organisational/interorganisational context. In the proposed framework, flexibility is presented not only as the ability of the organisation/business network to respond to environmental disturbances, but also as its capability to evolve and to change over time. A multiple case design in a grocery retail-supply chain in Greece, comprising three suppliers and four retailers, provides the empirical data to support the argument of this thesis. The analysis of the data relates differences in organisational contexts to variations in the flexibility achieved by the organisations. It shows that IOS can provide constraints even for the more competent organisations and illustrates how the interaction with trading partners may influence the flexibility achieved at an organisational level. It finally demonstrates the dynamic nature of flexibility, it describes the relation between its different dimensions and discusses their change and evolution, following and influencing the changes of the organisational and interorganisational contexts.


During the mid-1980s a major purse-seine fishery for small pelagic fishes, mainly jack mackerel (Trachurus declivis), developed off Tasmania. Catches exceeded 40,000 t in the late 1980s but were prone to large inter-annual fluctuations, due mainly to variation in the availability of surface schooling fish. By 2000 purse-seine fishing had effectively ceased, at which time industry commenced trialling mid-water trawling for small pelagics. Redbait (Emmelichthys nitidus), rather than jack mackerel, comprised the bulk of the trawl catch.

Since the late 1980s, the fishery has been managed using a combination of input and output controls, including a total allowable catch (TAC). The initial TAC was set at 42,000 t, based on the highest purse-seine annual catch. The TAC was decreased to 34,000 t (combined species TAC) for the 2002-03 and subsequent fishing seasons but without any scientific basis. At the same time the fishery had changed from a purse-seine fishery for jack mackerel to a mid-water trawl fishery primarily targeting redbait. Management of the fishery, which now forms part of the Commonwealth Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF), is currently under review but will be based on output controls (quotas).

The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate the suitability of the daily egg production method (DEPM) for redbait. The DEPM is a fishery-independent method currently used worldwide to provide spawning biomass estimates of small pelagic fishes that are serial or batch spawners, i.e. release batches of pelagic eggs into the water column throughout the spawning season. The method assumes that the biomass of a fish population can be estimated from the daily production of eggs over the spawning area, the weight and proportion of females that spawned on a given day, and the average fecundity of each reproductively active female. As such, there are several characteristics relating to the reproductive biology, spawning dynamics and development of eggs that are prerequisites for the method.

Redbait reproductive biology was examined from fish caught off eastern and south-western Tasmania. Redbait are batch spawners with asynchronous oocyte development and indeterminate fecundity, spawning over a discrete 2-3 month period during spring. Size at maturity varied markedly between eastern and south-western Tasmania, with south-west coast fish attaining 50% maturity at sizes nearly 100 mm larger than off the east coast. Correspondingly, ages at maturity also differed by region, with east coast redbait maturing at around 2 years of age compared to 4 years in the south-west. Examination of functional oocyte groupings and histology of post-ovulatory follicles indicated that females spawned once every three days, and that peak spawning occurred before midnight. The relationship between batch fecundity and ovary-free body weight was linear, with fecundity increasing at a rate of 186 oocytes per gram of weight.

Attributes of the reproductive biology and spawning dynamics of redbait indicated that the species was suitable for the application of the DEPM. Adult DEPM input parameters estimated for east coast redbait in 2005 and 2006 were, respectively: sex ratio (R) = 0.30, 0.44; female weight (W) = 71.7, 78.3 g; batch fecundity (F) = 10,894, 11,441; and spawning fraction (S) = 0.32, 0.32.

Reared eggs and field-collected material were employed to describe the development of the pelagic eggs and larvae of redbait. Hydrated oocytes from adults trawled from spawning grounds were fertilized and reared to the yolk-sac larval stage, and the data employed to build a temperature-dependent egg incubation model. Embryogenesis lasted 96, 84 and 54 hours at mean temperatures of 13.1, 14.4 and 16.5oC, respectively, and was divided into seven stages based on extent of epiboly until blastopore closure (stages I-III) and embryo growth (stages IV-VII). Morphological identification of eggs collected during ichthyoplankton surveys was validated using a molecular primer/ probe combination capable of isolating a 120 base-pair segment of the mtDNA d-loop gene region unique to redbait. The probe was tested using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of DNA, producing an 80-100% agreement across all egg stages. Variability of mean egg ages (y) by temperature (t) and stage (i) was best described by the deterministic stage-to-age model

y = 35.911 e-(0.155t + 0.262i) i (2.436).

The development of this incubation model to assign ages to staged field-caught eggs of redbait represented a significant achievement in terms of its application to estimate spawning biomass using the DEPM.

Spawning habitat of redbait was described from egg, larval and environmental data collected over shelf waters between north-eastern Bass Strait and the lower south-west coast of Tasmania in October 2005 and 2006. Egg data were further analysed to estimate the spawning areas off eastern Tasmania, while daily egg abundance-at-age data were employed to compute mean daily egg production (P0) and instantaneous mortality (Z) estimates. Eggs occurred along the entire area sampled in 2005 (15,650 km2; 38.8-43.5oS). By contrast, 96% of the eggs caught in the much larger area sampled in 2006 (21,351 km2) came from the shelf off eastern Tasmania (40.5-43.5oS) while very few occurred south of 43.5oS along the southern to south-west coasts (145.5-147.7oE). The distribution and abundance of redbait eggs and larvae indicated that spawning takes place mostly along a 5 nm corridor over the shelf break, in average mid-water temperatures of 13.5-14.0oC. This observation was supported by the significantly greater abundances of day-1 eggs at shelf break than at either shoreward or offshore stations. Estimated spawning areas (% of total survey area) were 13,220 km2 (84.5%) in 2005 and 8,695 km2 (40.7%) in 2006.

Mean P0 and Z were computed for two data scenarios by fitting a least squares non-linear regression model (NLS) and a generalised linear model (GLM), with the latter providing a better description of the data. Excluding eggs assigned ages ≤ 4 hours and ≥ 98% of incubation time, GLM-derived P0 (eggs/0.05m2 day-1) was estimated as 4.04 both in 2005 (CV 0.14) and 2006 (CV 0.19), with Z of 0.37 (CV 0.24) and 0.50 (CV 0.34) for 2005 and 2006, respectively. Total egg production per spawning area (eggs x 1012) was 1.26 in 2005 and 1.05 in 2006. Biomass estimates based on the preferred model (GLM with extreme egg cohorts excluded) were 86,990 t (CV 0.37) in 2005 and 50,782 t (CV 0.19) in 2006.

In conjunction with previous ichthyoplankton surveys, our data support the proposition of a discrete eastern spawning stock that splits around southern Tasmania and extends north into southern NSW. Given the geographical extent of this stock and the fact that the entire spawning area was not surveyed in this study, spawning biomass estimates are almost certainly conservative.

This study has conclusively established that redbait is a suitable species for the application of the DEPM, with the results providing a sound scientific basis on which to base harvest levels. Additional work is nevertheless required in various technical areas of biomass estimation. Potential improvements in terms of acquisition of egg and adult reproductive data to augment precision of the DEPM application, including testing of alternative model scenarios, are highlighted. More importantly, however, future surveys will need to cover the entire shelf distribution of redbait to ensure that spawning biomass estimates truly reflect current stock abundance.


Members of the WASP protein family are direct activators of the arp2/3 complex, thereby regulating the nucleation of branched actin assemblies within the cell. Each sub-class possesses a unique N-terminal domain architecture allowing a division of labour between its members, each coupling different signal transduction pathways to the nucleation of specific actin structures. WASH (WASP and SCAR homologue) is a newly identified member of the WASP protein family. Due to its disruption in \(Drosophila\) proving lethal (Linardopopoulou et al., 2007) little is know as to the functional role of WASH at the cellular level. Other than it is important in the development of multicellular organisms. Here we successfully disrupt WASH in the single celled amoebae \(Dictyostelium\) \(discoideum\) and discover a role for WASH in the endocytic pathway. WASH was shown to be essential for the trafficking of indigestible material through the endocytic pathway, with its disruption causing a complete bock in cellular defecation. This was shown to be due to a defect in lysosomal maturation into neutral post-lysosomes. Using fluorescently tagged fusion proteins we show that WASH recruitment coincides with removal of the Vacuolar H+ ATPase from lysosomal membranes, and suggests a possible role for WASH and actin in regulating the luminal pH of intracellular compartments.


Considering the importance yet paucity of help-seeking in e-learning, the present study investigated the motivational antecedents of help-seeking among online college students. We explored and compared the influences of achievement approach goals from the old and new achievement motivation models (Elliot & McGregor, 2001; Elliot, Murayama, & Pekrun, 2011) on online students' help-seeking through intrinsic/extrinsic motivation. Path analyses were used to test two models of help-seeking among college students from four online educational psychology classes (N = 93) based on the two models of achievement goals. Our results showed that the new 3 × 2 model was a better fit than the old 2 × 2 model, suggesting that the achievement approach goals of the new model differ from those of the old model conceptually as Elliot, Murayama, and Pekrun (2011) posited. Second, our results revealed both unexpected direct and indirect positive influence of performance- and other-approach goals on online students' help-seeking behaviour through extrinsic motivation. Third, while mastery-approach goals indirectly predicted help-seeking through intrinsic motivation, self- and task-approach predicted help-seeking in a dramatically different manner. Self-approach goals displayed indirect influence on help-seeking through intrinsic motivation similar to mastery-approach, yet task-approach displayed a negative direct influence on help-seeking. These results suggested the potential positive impact of self-approach and the detrimental influence of task-approach goals on help-seeking in e-learning environment. Conceptual issues and pedagogical implications for online instructions are discussed. https://doi.org/10.34105/j.kmel.2013.05.011


SUMMARY: Rehabilitation of building structures is a critical need facing numerous older urban areas. Many of these structures are supported on pile groups, which do not have adequate load capacity to support the demands expected after rehabilitation or superstructure replacement. Consequently, practical methods for strengthening existing foundations are of paramount concern. Recent studies have focused specifically on the use of grouted helical pier systems to strengthen pile group foundations, thereby substantiating their potential as a technique for load capacity enhancement (see companion paper by Laefer and Manke, 2006). However, these scaled studies were conducted at one-g level, resulting in soil confining stresses lower than those expected in the field. Thus, further verification through numerical modeling; full-scale experiments, or centrifuge testing is needed. This paper presents preliminary issues related to developing tools to support centrifuge testing of grouted helical pier systems. For this study, models for a 15- g centrifuge test were first explored at the one-g scale. With the small-scale model piers, a variety of grout types and pier installation methods were considered for the design and evaluation of the centrifuge tests. Based on the findings from this one-g testing, a preliminary centrifuge testing plan is presented.


In this study, the Savitzky-Golay filter was applied to smooth observed unnatural variations in the temporal profiles of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) time series from the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We computed two sets of land cover classifications based on the NDVI and EVI time series before and after applying the Savitzky-Golay filter. The resulting classification from the filtered versions of the vegetation indices showed a substantial improvement in accuracy when compared to the classifications from the unfiltered versions. The classification by the EVIsg had the highest K (0.72) for all classes compared to those of the EVI (0.67), NDVI (0.63), and NDVIsg (0.62). Therefore, we conclude that the EVIsg is best suited for land cover classification compared to the other data sets in this study.


Since the Zika outbreaks are unprecedented human threat in relation to congenital malformations and neurological/autoimmune complications as well as its high potential to spread in regions presenting the vectors, improvements in mosquito control is a top priority. Thus, Aedes aegypti laboratory strains will be fundamental to support studies in different research fields implicated on Zika-mosquito interactions which are the basis for the development of innovative control methods. In this sense, we determined the main infection aspects of the Brazilian Zika strain in reference Aedes aegypti laboratory mosquitoes. We orally exposed Rockefeller, Higgs and Rexville mosquitoes to a Brazilian ZIKV (ZIKVBR) and qRT-PCR was applied to determine the infection and dissemination rates, and viral levels in mosquito tissues as well as in the saliva. The ZIKVBR kinetics was monitored during the infection in Rockefeller mosquitoes. Rockefeller strain was the most susceptible at 7 days post-infection but all strains presented similar infection levels at 14 days post-infection. Although variations in the saliva detection rates were observed, we confirmed that ZIKVBR was present in saliva from Rockefeller, Higgs and Rexville females at detectable levels at 14 days post-infection. The ZIKVBR kinetics in Rockefeller mosquitoes showed that the virus could be detected in the heads at 4 days post-infection but was more consistently detected late in infection. The viral levels peaked at 11 days post-infection in the mosquito bodies, remaining stable until 14 days post-infection, in contrast to the heads, where the mean viral levels only peaked at 14 days post-infection. Our study presents the first evaluation on how Brazilian Zika virus behaves in reference Aedes aegypti strains and shed light on how the infection evolves over time. Vector competence and basic hallmarks of the ZIKVBR development were revealed in laboratory mosquitoes. This study provides additional information to accelerate studies focusing on ZIKV-mosquito interactions.


Little is known about appropriate methods to address medication intake behavior in individual patients and how content should be tailored to the needs of these patients. This dissertation aims to develop a theoretical and evidence-based tailored multimedia intervention to improve medication intake behavior. The studies discussed in this dissertation provide insight into specific barriers for not taking medication as prescribed and investigate how different types of media (i.e., eHealth, mHealth and interpersonal communication) can address these barriers and promote successful medication intake behavior in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.


Many commonly used tablet fillers are not suitable for direct compaction process due to insufficient properties, mainly of flowability and compactability. This work therefore aimed to use co-spray drying with HPMC as a platform to improve direct compaction properties of various tablet fillers. Starch, calcium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate (DCPD), and mannitol were chosen as a representative of three types of commonly used fillers (i.e. organic macromolecules, water-insoluble inorganic salts, and water-soluble small molecular carbohydrates), respectively. The five-level central composite design-response surface methodology was used (i) to investigate the effects of HPMC level and solid content of the feed on various powder, tableting, and tablet properties of composite excipients, and (ii) to optimize the composition. The results showed that the impacts of the two factors on various properties of composite excipients showed great similarity, despite of significantly different primary properties of the parent fillers, and the HPMC level was the main contributor to the majority of the impacts. An increase in HPMC level significantly improved tablet tensile strength and various tableting parameters. For all the three fillers, their optimized composite excipients provided by the established models showed excellent performances as predicted. The platform suggested is confirmed to be effective and promising.


Do contemporary families promote gender-differentiated or egalitarian attitudes and behavior surrounding mathematics? The current study examined mother-child interactions during mathematics homework as a microcosm of contemporary gender socialization. Results revealed individual differences in mothers' treatment of their fifth-grade sons and daughters during mathematics homework interactions, with effects moderated by mothers' gender-role attitudes and mathematics education. Traditional mothers, especially those with greater mathematics education, showed more gender differentiation than egalitarian mothers. Similar individual differences were seen in mothers' and children's attitudes toward mathematics. These findings illustrate the subtlety of gender socialization by showing that mothers' gender-role attitudes, children's gender-role identities, and mothers' education all play important roles in the gender differentiation of children's mathematics attitudes and behavior.


We present a system that employs a custom-built pan-tilt-zoom camera for laser pointer tracking in arbitrary real environments. Once placed in a room, it carries out a fully automatic self-registration, registrations of projectors, and sampling of surface parameters, such as geometry and reflectivity. After these steps, it can be used for tracking a laser spot on the surface as well as an LED marker in 3D space, using inter-playing fish-eye context and controllable detail cameras. The captured surface information can be used for masking out areas that are problematic for laser pointer tracking, and for guiding geometric and radiometric image correction techniques that enable a projector-based augmentation on arbitrary surfaces. We describe a distributed software framework that couples laser pointer tracking for interaction, projector-based AR as well as video see-through AR for visualizations, with the domain specific functionality of existing desktop tools for architectural planning, simulation and building surveying.


Learning control has become an appealing alternative to the derivation of control laws based on classic control theory. However, a major shortcoming of learning control is the lack of performance guarantees which prevents its application in many real-world scenarios. As a step towards widespread deployment of learning control, we provide stability analysis tools for controllers acting on dynamics represented by Gaussian processes (GPs). We consider differentiable Markovian control policies and system dynamics given as (i) the mean of a GP, and (ii) the full GP distribution. For both cases, we analyze finite and infinite time horizons. Furthermore, we study the effect of disturbances on the stability results. Empirical evaluations on simulated benchmark problems support our theoretical results.


We realize 80 percent of the environment by sight, and 70 percent experiences landscape area consists of plants. When planning experiences landscape area we used for a number of trees and shrubs shoots, stems, bark, leaves, flowers, fruits ornamental characteristics: colour, texture, shape or size. These measures through visual sense in the experience areas landscape can provide a unique look and mood. The aim of the article — review of the use of visualization possibilities in the landscape design of the experience areas. This study is done in systematic and comparative analysis methods. When you are planning experience landscape areas, so without some means of artistic expression environment visual sense seen through some trees and bushes characteristics, features - this colour, texture, shape, size. These measures experience areas landscape design may take very specific or purpose in the environment to identify the desired image and mood. Moreover, in the planning process we not only touch the drawings, but also provide visualizations to help realize our proposed ideas, to feel those experiences from the planning process, which seeks to convey the author. The green areas landscape design common understanding of the project is often hindered differently trained designer and client spatial thinking. Depending on the tools and goals divided into several possible ways of experiences in areas of landscape visualization projects. Visualization usually is created as an additional tool during the project, or as an additional part of the project, which would increase the attractiveness of the project and visualization. Everything depends on the purpose, selecting different tools and visualization performance quality. The most recent problems in the creating visualizations - tool selection, project complexity mismatch with a computer program opportunities and the tool used to create forms or content restriction. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.12.3.13019


Background Retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF) is a rare disease characterized by fibroinflammatory tissue in the periaortic or periiliac retroperitoneum, where it frequently encases ureters. There is emerging evidence that a subset of this disease is part of a spectrum of multisystemic autoimmune diseases collectively referred to as "immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4)-related disease". Methods We retrospectively analyzed 27 idiopathic RPF patients and identified a subset as IgG4-related RPF, which we categorized according to recently published comprehensive diagnostic criteria. We compared clinical and laboratory characteristics and response to treatment between the two groups. Results Of 27 total patients, 16 (59.3%) were diagnosed as having IgG4-related RPF, and these were predominantly male. They were also significantly older and more likely to have other organ involvement, hydronephrosis, and postrenal acute kidney injury (AKI) compared to those with idiopathic RPF. However, there was no difference in response rate to systemic steroid treatment. Conclusion IgG4-related RPF accounts for a substantial portion of RPF cases previously identified as "idiopathic RPF" in Korea. Clinical and laboratory characteristics of IgG4-related RPF are similar to those of idiopathic RPF except for a striking male predominance, older age, and higher incidence of postrenal AKI in IgG4-related RPF. More comprehensive, prospective studies are needed to clearly distinguish IgG4-related RPF from idiopathic RPF based on clinical manifestation and to further assess treatment response and long-term prognosis.


In sharp contrast to the recommendations of Modern Portfolio Theory, a vast majority of investors are not well diversified. The author attempts to provide a solution to this diversification paradox, by expanding the Markowitz framework of diversifying market risk to also include the concepts of personal risk and aspirational goals. The wealth allocation framework enables individual investors to construct appropriate portfolios using all their assets, such as their home, mortgage, market investments, and human capital. The investor may choose to accept a slightly lower average rate of return in exchange for downside protection and upside potential. The resulting portfolios are designed to meet individual investors' needs and preferences, as well as to protect individuals from personal, market, and aspirational risk factors. A major conclusion of this work is that, for the individual investor, risk allocation should precede asset allocation.


In the oil and gas application domain, there is a need for 3D volume annotations to sketch out uncertainty regions in seismic data sets. Together with geo-science experts, we identified actual requirements for efficient annotations of volumetric areas. As a result, we introduce the 3D Sketch Slice, a novel system for volumetric annotations. Based on a 3D-tracked pen tablet, the 3D Sketch Slice works as a prop for a subsurface volume slice. Using pen input, a user can precisely sketch 3D points on a 2D volume slice while directly controlling the 3D position and orientation of that slice within a seismic volume. The points selected define 3D sketches through 3D alpha shape representations. Furthermore, we define clutching and mapping functions and we present a novel visual feedback method for multi-user annotations. Finally, we performed an informal evaluation with expert users. Despite some ergonomic concerns, they confirmed an increase in perceived precision. In general, the requirements identified had been met and it was proposed to apply the 3D Sketch Slice methodology to other scenarios.


The employment impact of innovation in the heterogeneous universe of services was studied using data from the 2004-2009 Uruguayan service innovation surveys. The empirical evidence shows that the impact of product innovation on employment is positive, while process innovation appears to have no effect. The effect varies according to the skill level of the labor force, across sectors, and the type of innovation strategy pursued by firms. Process innovation activities tend to substitute low-skilled jobs with higher-skilled jobs, while product innovation allows for more gains in efficiency in the production of new products with unskilled labor and no gains with the skilled labor force. Producing technology in-house has in most cases no impact on employment, while the combined strategy of acquiring technology outside the firm and producing it in-house has strong positive effects. The results found for knowledge-intensive business services and small firms, with some exceptions, are similar to the ones found for whole sample.


Metformin is the widely prescribed first line oral antidiabetic drug used in diabetes mellatus, type 2 . The global sales turnover of metformin runs into millions of dollars. The Increased risk of  metformin (Met) users for developing  Alzheimer disease (AD)is reported first in a study conducted in 2011.  Since then, the subject has attracted the attention   of the researchers as well as the pharmaceutical industry, resulting in a number of studies, both clinical as well as experiments on animals. Confusing results poured in , ranging from confirmation of the risk of AD to protection  against developing AD , making the scenario, all the more intriguing . Added to the confusion, is the diversity of various studies as well as the parameters interpreting their results. Of the many clinical trials, some are retrospective cohort studies (Tseng Chin-Hsiao 2019) , case control  studies (Imfeld P, et al.) Randomised studies (Hsu CC, et al.),  double blind , cross over pilot studies. (Aaron Koenig et al.)  and some longitudinal studies (Ng TP, et al.) , besides studies doing  meta analysis . Of these studies most of the trials estimate the risk of development of dementia with metformin alone (Tseng Chin-Hsiao 2019) or in comparison with other OHAs (Hsu et al, Cheng et al.) .The other studies studied the effect of metformin on the cognition. (Moore EM, et al.). These trials have different out come measures, (like Hazard ratio, (HR) Odds(OR) ratio, relative risk (RR) etc.) which don't mean one and the same. So the multiplicity of the types of studies and different out- comes with different conclusions will be surely baffling to an average reader who tries to take cognisance of the involved issues. The article attempts to take stock of the overall developments in this regard. The author adopted a reader friendly approach which is discussed in the article, at the outset. Finally, it is  reiterated that future prospective studies only can resolve the conflict of opinion on the nexus between metformin and Alzheimer's disease.


Background: Latino adolescent girls are less physically active than the general adolescent population, which puts them at increased risk for obesity and chronic disease. The Physical Activity Partnership for Girls (PG) uses a community-based participatory research approach to assess community needs and priorities related to physical activity (PA) behaviors of middle school girls living in low-income, urban sectors of San Antonio, Texas. Input was sought from girls, parents, and youth-serving agencies serving the community to inform the development of an innovative PA intervention utilizing low-cost, mobile technology (texting) and social media that will be delivered through Girl Scout troops. Purpose: We will describe the results of two strategies used to elicit the perspectives of girls about their PA and technology use: 1) participatory photomapping (PPM), and 2) selfadministered survey. Methods: Girl Scouts facilitated the participation of 40 girls (11-14years) in PPM activities to guide girls in assessing their active living experience in the community. PPM integrates traditional photovoice strategy with geographic information systems technology, connecting qualitative data to specific locations on a map. In addition, girls (n=102) completed a selfadministered survey to assess access to and use of technology, including mobile phones, computer, television, internet, social networking, and PA. Results: The PPM process took place over 12 weeks and involved multiple photo walks, guided group discussions, and the development of an advocacy presentation for a community retreat. Of the 40 participants enrolled, 10 completed the process. The resulting photomap, presented to community stakeholders, revealed key themes about environmental barriers to PA for girls, including animal control, built environment, and safety concerns. Survey results indicated cell phone ownership and use varied by age: 76% of 14-year-olds owned a cell phone compared to 43% of 11-year-olds; 14-year-olds reported using cell phone 49 hours/week compared to 9 hours/week for 11-year-olds. Cell phone ownership was significantly associated with higher levels of PA (P≤0.05) and personal contentment (P=0.006). Conclusions: Use of cell phones and social networking


We consider the following freight train routing problem (FTRP). Given is a transportation network with fixed routes for passenger trains and a set of freight trains (requests), each defined by an origin and destination station pair. The objective is to calculate a feasible route for each freight train such that the sum of all expected delays and all running times is minimal. Previous research concentrated on microscopic train routings for junctions or inside major stations. Only recently approaches were developed to tackle larger corridors or even networks. We investigate the routing problem from a strategic perspective, calculating the routes in a macroscopic transportation network of Deutsche Bahn AG. In this context, macroscopic refers to an aggregation of complex and large real-world structures into fewer network elements. Moreover, the departure and arrival times of freight trains are approximated. The problem has a strategic character since it asks only for a coarse routing through the network without the precise timings. We provide a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) formulation for the FTRP, which is a multicommodity flow model on a time-expanded graph with additional routing constraints. The model's nonlinearities originate from an algebraic approximation of the delays of the trains on the arcs of the network by capacity restraint functions. The MINLP is reduced to a mixed-integer linear model (MILP) by piecewise linear approximation. The latter is solved by a state-of-the art MILP solver for various real-world test instances.


The life of a philosopher is foremost the life of thinking but it is also the life of imagination that dreams of and investigates possibilities that might not otherwise have been raised. The life of a Christian is the life of Faith, Hope and Charity, and so it both looks to things beyond this world and regards this world with compassion. The two can work together. Faith softens reason, and reason sharpens Faith. Imagination finds new ways to articulate in concrete circumstances what has belonged to long tra-ditions of thought. These essays cover a wide range of topics either by way of simple refection on life or in response to issues that arose around the time of their writing. The period of their writing was a varied one. Life looked so stable in the mid-nineties that we contemplated Australia be-coming a republic and sought Aboriginal reconciliation. It remained uncomplicated at the time of the Olympic Games in 2000 but became troubled by political events and by the terrorist attacks of 2001. The essays respond to the issues of this time. Four essays not published in the Weekly have been added to take note of more recent changes that have taken place in the Church and in our world.


A PREDICTOR ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK FOR SURFACE RADIATION BUDGET REPROCESSING USING DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS Patricia Quigley Old Dominion University, 2017 Director: Dr. Resit Unal Earth's Radiation Budget (ERB) is an accounting of all incoming energy from the sun and outgoing energy reflected and radiated to space by earth's surface and atmosphere. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) project produces and archives long-term datasets representative of this energy exchange system on a global scale. The data are comprised of the longwave and shortwave radiative components of the system and is algorithmically derived from satellite and atmospheric assimilation products, and acquired atmospheric data. It is stored as 3-hourly, daily, monthly/3-hourly, and monthly averages of 1°x1° grid cells. Input parameters used by the algorithms are a key source of variability in the resulting output data sets. Sensitivity studies have been conducted to estimate the effects this variability has on the output data sets using linear techniques. This entails varying one input parameter at a time while keeping all others constant or by increasing all input parameters by equal random percentages, in effect changing input values for every cell for every three hour period and for every day in each month. This equates to almost 11 million independent changes without ever taking into consideration the interactions or dependencies among the input parameters. A more comprehensive method is proposed here for the evaluating the shortwave algorithm to identify both the input parameters and parameter interactions that most significantly affect the output data. This research utilized designed experiments that systematically and simultaneously varied all of the input parameters of the shortwave algorithm. A D-Optimal design of experiments (DOE) was chosen to accommodate the 14 types of atmospheric properties computed by the algorithm and to reduce the number of trials required by a full factorial study from millions to 128. A modified version of the algorithm was made available for testing such that global calculations of the algorithm were tuned to accept information for a single temporal and spatial point and for one month of averaged data. The points were from each of four atmospherically distinct regions to include the Amazon Rainforest, Sahara Desert, Indian Ocean and Mt. Everest. The same design was used for all of the regions. Least squares multiple regression analysis of the results of the modified algorithm identified those parameters and parameter interactions that most significantly affected the output products. It was found that Cosine solar zenith angle was the strongest influence on the output data in all four regions. The interaction of Cosine Solar Zenith Angle and Cloud Fraction had the strongest influence on the output data in the Amazon, Sahara Desert and Mt. Everest Regions, while the interaction of Cloud Fraction and Cloudy Shortwave Radiance most significantly affected output data in the Indian Ocean region. Second order response models were built using the resulting regression coefficients. A Monte Carlo simulation of each model extended the probability distribution beyond the initial design trials to quantify variability in the modeled output data.


The aim of this research is to examine the market potential for wood plastic composite (WPC) products in the highway construction sector in place of non-renewable materials (e.g. virgin plastic and steel) and preservative-based products (treated wood). State-level transportation officials indicate that the majority of highway construction purchases are conducted by highway construction contractors. Results from a mail survey of highway contractors in eight western U.S. states indicate that a substantial volume of highway construction material may be suitable for substitution with WPCs. Overall, respondents were not familiar with WPC as a material, but compared it favorably with other materials commonly used in the sector. When making purchase decisions, respondents were most concerned with products meeting regulatory specifications, cost, availability, and trust in quality. Attributes related to sustainability, location of manufacture, and content of recycled material were viewed as less important.


This study investigated the self-efficacy of first-year Chemistry students at a South African university. The research involved a quantitative survey of 333 students using the College Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale (CCSS) developed by Uzuntiryaki and Capa Aydin (2009). Descriptive statistics on data for the CCSS scales suggested that students have positive beliefs in their capability to accomplish chemistry tasks. The students scored more strongly on the self-efficacy constructs of cognitive and psychomotor skills than on everyday application. There was a significant difference between students of different professional orientations for cognitive skills and everyday applications, with students enrolled for Chemical Engineering having the highest mean scores for these constructs. A multiple regression analysis was run in order to explore the relationship between chemistry self-efficacy and performance in a chemistry examination. The analysis indicated that cognitive skills significantly predicted chemistry performance, while psychomotor skills and everyday applications had no significant impact. The implications for research and instruction are discussed in terms of the relationship between chemistry self-efficacy and performance.


This Study investigates Chloride (Cl-) trends in the Upper South Fork of the New River associated with the transport of de-icing road salts into stream networks through the mechanism of surface water runoff. Collection of water samples over the course of one year provided Cl- concentration data both in association with major precipitation events and during base flow conditions for six sub-basins of the Upper South Fork of the New River Watershed. Correlation analysis examined the relationship between both annual and seasonal Cl- concentrations and land-use/ land cover characteristics for each sub-basin. The relationship between specific conductivity and Cl- enabled the extrapolation of Cl- from a six-year conductivity record provided by data loggers at each sub-basin outlet. Results show a strong correlation between impervious surfaces and Cl- concentrations. Results also show a strong seasonal signature in highly developed sub-basins where Cl- levels peak during the winter months in conjunction with road salt application. Finally, the six-year Cl- record, which shows concentrations in excess of toxicity thresholds with much higher frequency in the sub-basins with comparably higher impervious surface, highlights the importance of this research for on-going and future management-related discourse in the Upper South Fork of the New River.


Zora Neale Hurston's work has been the subject of numerous re-evaluations since it emerged into prominence. Among the features of Hurston's corpus that keep bringing critics back to it are its vacillation between hostility to identity politics and celebrations of black folk authenticity; its theorizations of black folk forms as either products of carefully distinguished local cultures or of transnational black aesthetics; and its ambivalent depiction of modernity and modernization. The multiplicity of positions on identity politics, globalization, and modernity that Hurston takes in her work has given rise to many competing critical versions of Hurston. A survey of recent criticism yields accounts of a purely literary genius who chafed in the confines of ethnography, a radically experimental anthropologist, a critic of identity politics, a misguided dupe of primitivist ideology, and a champion of black transnational cultural identity. (1) Each of these arguments addresses an important aspect of Hurston's cultural project. I maintain, however, that the larger scope of that project is lost in these accounts due to an incomplete theorization of the interimplication of discourses of identity, globalization, and modernity. In this essay I use Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) as a test case, and show how the text that is most identified with the literary Hurston participates in a critical interrogation of the discourse of modernity from the point of view of a subject on its margins. In so doing I show Hurston's novel to be a part of a larger project that includes the ethnographic works that Hurston published before and after it: Mules and Men (1935) and Tell My Horse (1938). My understanding of the connection among the discourses of modernity, globalization, and identity owes much to Malt Louise Pratt's global and relational analysis of modernity. Especially important to my project are Pratt's contention that the discourse of modernity is the identity discourse of Northern Europe and North America and its resulting corollaries that call our attention to "the diffusionist character of modernity" and "the centrism of the metropolitan discourse on modernity" (23, 28). The impulse to spread modernity across the globe might seem antithetical to the project of retaining ultimate authority over what and who counts as truly modern. Pratt shows, however, that these two characteristics of the discourse of modernity grant interpreters of culture located at the center "a huge capacity for absorbing or creating otherness, according to the argument he or she wants to make" (28). That is, the interpreter may pick and choose which aspects of a lived modernity on the periphery to recognize as symptoms of full participation in modernity and which to label signs of pre-modern survivals. I read Hurston's work as the result of a peripheral interpreter's unauthorized attempt to appropriate the discourse of modernity. The inconsistency and ambivalence of Hurston's work as a whole then becomes a series of negotiations with and contestations of this discourse. The end result of these struggles, in my view, is Hurston's creation of an alternative mode of modernism that, instead of dramatizing the perils or pleasures of a particular totalized modernity, creates a discursive space in which multiple claims to modernity compete with one another. In her ethnographic work on black folk culture in the southern US, Hurston challenges the monopoly of interpretive power that Northern Europeans and white North Americans hold on the category of modernity by positing black folk culture as a rival alternative modernity, not a partial, lacking, or failed modernity. This strategy reaches its limit, however, when Hurston's experiences of gender discrimination in the Caribbean show her that such an alternative modernity may replicate the structures of exclusion it rejected in the dominant model. It is the totality of this experience, I argue, that gives rise to Hurston's creation of an alternative modernist novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in which she simultaneously shows the destructive influence of class, gender, and ethnicity on black southern rural culture and expands the codes of that same culture to critique itself. …


This volume draws a map of British film culture in the 1970s and provides a wide-ranging history of the period. It examines the cross-cultural relationship between British cinema and other media, including popular music and television. The analysis covers mainstream and experimental film cultures, identifying their production contexts and the economic, legislative and censorship constraints on British cinema throughout the decade. The essays in Part I contextualise the study and illustrate the diversity of 1970s moving image culture. In Part II, Sue Harper and Justin Smith examine how gender relations and social space were addressed in film. They show how a shared visual manner and performance style characterises this fragmented cinema, and how irony and anxiety suffuse the whole film culture. This volume charts the shifting boundaries of permission in 1970s film culture and changes in audience taste.


Uncanny elements are often found in the art works, especially in fiction literature. In particular, uncanniness emphasizes the sense of strangeness or weirdness that comes from something seemingly familiar within an unexpected context; e.g. talking animals contained in a story. People have different levels of sensitivity to the sense. Novels with the fantasy genre have been linked with uncanniness. The preference toward the uncanniness might be associated with magical thinking. Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human character in objects or animals, as a dimension of the thinking, is hypothesized to be able to predict sensitivity to uncanniness. The attitude toward thrownness could also allegedly predict the sensitivity. A positive attitude might function as an escape from, or the compensatory fulfilment of, existential emptiness. Participants of this study were 162 university students (67 males, 95 females, M age = 20.80 years old; SD age = 1.733 years) of the study program School of Design and Literature at Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, Indonesia and the University of Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia, who were recruited through purposive sampling technique. The design of this study was correlational-predictive, and the data were obtained through the survey using psychological scales. Multiple linear regression analysis found that anthropomorphism has predictive power in the positive direction, while the attitude toward thrownness is not able to predict the sensitivity to uncanniness. This study has implication for art psychology and life science, about how to increase the enjoyment of readership regarding the factor raising appreciation toward a strange or fear perception experienced by a reader.


PURPOSE
To investigate the role of endogenous endothelin-1 (ET-1) expression and its interaction with the ETA receptor in the physiologic regulation of vascular tone as well as in the development of abnormal retinal hemodynamics in diabetes.

METHODS
Retinal blood flow, using digitized video fluorescein angiography recordings, was quantitated after intravitreous injections of ET-1; BQ-123, an ETA receptor antagonist; and phosporamindon, an endothelin converting enzyme inhibitor in the eyes of diabetic and nondiabetic rats. A total of 154 rats were used for these experiments. Message levels of preproendothelin-1 (preproET-1) were measured from the retina of diabetic and nondiabetic rats using competitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques.

RESULTS
Retinal blood flow was reduced (33%, P < 0.001) in diabetic rats compared to nondiabetic rats. BQ-123, an ETA receptor antagonist, but not saralasin, an angiotensin receptor antagonist, increased retinal blood flow in a dose-dependent manner in diabetic (EC50 of 8 x 10(-7) M) and in nondiabetic rats (EC50 of 8 x 10(-8) M). Besides being resistant to BQ-123, the maximal response in diabetic animals occurred 20 minutes later than in nondiabetic animals. Decreasing ET-1 levels by inhibiting endothelin-converting enzyme with phosphoramidon normalized retinal blood flow in diabetic rats. In nondiabetic rats, the intravitreous injection of exogenous ET-1 (10(-8) M) resulted in retinal blood flow decreases comparable to those measured in diabetic animals, and the subsequent injection of 10(-4) M BQ-123 produced retinal blood flow changes comparable to those measured in BQ-123 injected diabetic rats. Comparison of preproET-1 messenger RNA expression in the retina, brain and lung of control and diabetic rats using quantitative PCR and Northern blot analysis showed 2.0- and 1.7-fold increases in the retina and the brain, respectively, without changes in the lung.

CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that ET-1 is involved in the regulation of retinal blood flow in normal physiologic outcome, and an increase in the endogenous expression of ET-1 contributes to the reduction of retinal blood flow reported in the early stages of diabetes mellitus.


The challenges of transferring the theoretical requirements of an effective multi-agency partnership into everyday practices are often overlooked, particularly within safeguarding practices. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore practitioner perspectives of working within a multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) and those factors that encourage or hinder a multi-agency approach to safeguarding vulnerable individuals.,Semi-structured interviews with 23 practitioners from one MASH location in the North of England were conducted, with a thematic analysis being used to analyse findings.,The interviews with practitioners illustrated the complexity of establishing a multi-agency approach to safeguarding. It was inferred that whilst information sharing and trust between agencies had improved, the absence of a common governance structure, unified management system, formalisation of practices and procedures and shared pool of resources limited the degree to which MASH could be considered a multi-agency approach to safeguarding.,Establishing a multi-agency approach to safeguarding is complex and does not occur automatically. Rather, the transition to collaborative practices needs to be planned, with agreed practices and processes implemented from the beginning and reviewed regularly.,Few studies have investigated the implementation of MASH into safeguarding practices, with this paper providing a unique insight into practitioner opinions regarding the transition to multi-agency practices. Whilst there is a focus on MASH, the challenges to arise from the research may be reflective of other multi-agency partnerships, providing a foundation for best practice to emerge.


Voter turnout was unusually high in the 2004 U.S. presidential election. At first glance, that level of participation --largely spurred by war in Iraq and a burgeoning culture war at home --might look like vindication of democracy. If the recent past is any indication, however, too many Americans will soon return to apathy and inactivity. Clearly, all is not well in our civic life. Citizens are participating in public affairs too infrequently, too unequally, and in too few venues to develop and sustain a robust democracy. This important new book explores the problem of America's decreasing involvement in its own affairs. Democracy at Risk reveals the dangers of civic disengagement for the future of representative democracy. The authors, all eminent scholars, undertake three main tasks: documenting recent trends in civic engagement, exploring the influence that the design of political institutions and public policies have had on those trends, and recommending steps that will increase the amount and quality of civic engagement in America. The authors focus their attention on three key areas: the electoral process, including elections and the way people get involved; the impact of location, including demographic shifts and changing development patterns; and the critical role of nonprofit organizations and voluntary associations, including the philanthropy that help keep them going. This important project, initially sponsored by the American Political Science Association, tests the proposition that social science has useful insights on the state of our democratic life. Most importantly, it charts a course for reinvigorating civic participation in the world's oldest democracy. The authors: Stephen Macedo (Princeton University), Yvette Alex-Assensoh (Indiana University), Jeffrey M. Berry (Tufts), Michael Brintnall (American Political Science Association), David E. Campbell (Notre Dame), Luis Ricardo Fraga (Stanford), Archon Fung (Harvard), William A. Galston (University of Maryland), Christopher F. Karpowitz (Princeton), Margaret Levi (University of Washington), Meira Levinson (Radcliffe Institute), Keena Lipsitz (California-Berkeley), Richard G. Niemi (University of Rochester), Robert D. Putnam (Harvard), Wendy M. Rahn (University of Minnesota), Keith Reeves (Swarthmore), Rob Reich (Stanford), Robert R. Rodgers (Princeton), Todd Swanstrom (Saint Louis University), and Katherine Cramer Walsh (University of Wisconsin).


Given the importance of information processing capabilities in improving business performance, organisations are seeking solutions for leveraging the use of big data and analytics. An emerging application is to inform organisations of potential fraudulent behaviour, which results in reducing online fraud and its associated costs. This paper introduces a case study in which social fingerprinting is used as a big data profile-based fraud detection technique for e-commerce transactions. Through an analysis of semi-structured interviews, this research in progress identifies three information processing capabilities based on social fingerprinting that a business must develop to eliminate fraud. Further interviews and analysis are proposed in order to have a better understanding of how social fingerprinting can be used in e-commerce. By uncovering interrelationships of social fingerprinting as online fraud detection solution, this study will provide significant contribution to information processing and analytic theory and practice.


Literature on the feedback environment has purported that supportive environments fostered by supervisors lead to improvements in employee well-being and performance. However, little research has considered how the feedback environment affects workplace motivation or identified boundary conditions of the feedback environment to outcome relationship. The current study extends the literature by utilizing a predictive design to examine how the supervisor feedback environment affects dimensions of employee psychological empowerment (meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact) after 3 months in a sample of correctional facility employees. Further, we tested how an employee's feedback orientation, or propensity to seek and utilize feedback, attenuated or enhanced the relationship between supervisor feedback environment and empowerment. Results demonstrated that perceptions of the supervisor feedback environment differentially related to each dimension of empowerment, with the feedback environment being a positive predictor of impact and a marginally positive predictor of meaning. Moreover, when feedback orientation was high, the feedback environment exhibited a strong positive relationship with meaning, competence, and self-determination; when feedback orientation was low, relationships actually became weaker when predicting meaning and negative when predicting competence and self-determination. The results clarify the scope of impact of the supervisor feedback environment, offering theoretical and practical implications.


ABSTRACT This article analyses the ambiguous relation between right-wing populism and neoliberalism in Germany. It concentrates on the connections between and convergence of right-wing populism and ordoliberalism, a specific type of neoliberalism that was developed by the Freiburg School since the late 1920s and which the new right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) explicitly focuses on in its economic programme. In its attempt to analyse the affinity of the AfD to ordoliberalism, this study relies on Michel Foucault's account of ordoliberalism in his book The Birth of Biopolitics and his concept of governmentality. It was found that the AfD wants to bring ordoliberalism into service of an authoritarian project in Germany and beyond. This economic approach combines neoliberalism with authoritarian forms of government through the governmentalisation of the state. Ordoliberals prescribe a regulatory framework for the economy which is centred on the creation of a competitive order. It is meant to produce and justify social differences. Right-wing populists connect the economic differentiation system provided by ordoliberalism with the differentiation systems of nation, race, religion and culture. Thus, the neoliberal principle of competition is used not only to justify inequality among German citizens but also among European countries.


Two types of Enterococcus species were isolated from femoral head necrosis lesions of chickens. A total of 150 femoral articular tissues, of which 121 were from commercial broilers, 18 from broiler breeders, and 11 from layer breeders, were sampled. Out of 48 Enterococcus isolates of these clinical samples, 37 and 11 isolates were identified as Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium, respectively. Additionally, 42 (28%) Escherichia coli and 33 (22%) Staphylococcus aureus isolates were obtained either alone or together with 1 of the 2 Enterococcus species from the same clinical samples, while no bacteria were detected from the remaining 56 samples. None of the Enterococcus isolates showed gelatinase activity, while only 1 Enterococcus faecalis isolate was found to be positive for both aggregation substance and cytolysin production. Resistance rates to tetracycline, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, and ampicillin in Enterococcus faecalis were 94.6%, 43.2%, 37.8%, 17.8%, and 2.8%, respectively, while they were 81.8%, 45.5%, 18.2%, 9.8%, and 9.8% for the Enterococcus faecium isolates. All of the Enterococcus isolates were susceptible to both vancomycin and gentamicin. Resistance rate to 3 or more antibiotics was 18.9% and 18.1% for Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium isolates, respectively.


The mouse challenge test still remains the reference method for the potency determination of human and animal inactivated rabies vaccines, and it is still widely used throughout the world. This test suffers from many disadvantages — it is expensive and time consuming, uses a large number of mice, causes significant animal distress, and suffers from high variability. Recently, the European Pharmacopoeia has recognised the use of a serological potency assay (SPA) as an alternative method to the challenge test. This new test is based on the determination of rabies neutralising antibody titres in vaccinated mice, by using the modified Rapid Fluorescent Focus Inhibition Test (mRFFIT). With the objective of adopting this new method for the batch release of inactivated rabies vaccines, we evaluated its performance on a large collection of rabies vaccines currently assessed in our laboratory. The Fluorescent Antibody Virus Neutralisation test (FAVNt) was used in parallel with the mRFFIT, and the results were compared to the mouse challenge test. Our results demonstrate that the SPA is capable of estimating the potency of vaccines formulated with a potency margin well above the minimum of 1IU/dose. For low potency vaccines, this new method demonstrated some limitations, due to the recurrent invalidation of the assay. We have also demonstrated the superior sensitivity of the FAVNt when compared to the mRFFIT, and the importance of minimising the risk of detecting non-responders in vaccinated mice.


The nanoparticle hybrid systems are improved semiconductors. They are compared with their isolated counterparts. We report the preparation of MO2 (M = Ti, Ce, and Sn) and their synthesis. We report the controlledsize semiconductor oxide nanoparticles based on the impregnation and decomposition of transition-metal 2ethylhexanoate-based precursors in mesoporous hosts. The pore size of the host material plays significant role to control the size of the material synthesized within it. The mass gain after each cycle in the synthesis process determined the control of nanoparticle growth via a layerby-layer assembly. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy techniques were used to characterize SnO2, TiO2 and CeO2 nanocrystals. Raman spectroscopy measured nanocrystal size as characterization tool.


Escobar syndrome (ES) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by the presence of pterygia in cervical, antecubital and popliteal regions. Anaesthesiologist encounter notable challenges in this syndrome, especially airway management due to associated malformations like cleft lip/palate, micrognathia, syngnathia, ankyloglossia, neck contracture, cervical spine fusion, limited neck extension and craniofacial dysmorphism. In addition to difficult airway, anaesthesiologist may encounter other perioperative challenges. Here, we report a paediatric patient with ES, who required general anaesthesia for laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair and orchidopexy. Initial attempt with video laryngoscope failed due to inability to visualise epiglottis. Subsequent attempt with fibreoptic bronchoscope also failed due to rapid decrease in oxygen saturation. He was finally intubated with fibreoptic bronchoscope along with oxygen insufflation with a 3mm internal diameter polyvinylchloride endotracheal tube inserted nasally and connected to oxygen supply. Further perioperative challenges faced were intraoperative hyperthermia and postoperative pneumothorax with mediastinal shift. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case reporting pneumothorax with mediastinal shift as a postoperative complication and use of oxygen insufflation through nasal tube during fibreoptic intubation in paediatric patient with ES.


We present a method based on deformable meshes for the reconstruction of the cortical surfaces of the developing human brain at the neonatal period. It employs a brain segmentation for the reconstruction of an initial inner cortical surface mesh. Errors in the segmentation resulting from poor tissue contrast in neonatal MRI and partial volume effects are subsequently accounted for by a local edge-based refinement. We show that the obtained surface models define the cortical boundaries more accurately than the segmentation. The surface meshes are further guaranteed to not intersect and subdivide the brain volume into disjoint regions. The proposed method generates topologically correct surfaces which facilitate both a flattening and spherical mapping of the cortex.


As a case study, young people visiting youth clubs and similar meeting places in a local council in northern Sweden, was explored in terms of place, space and activities of the club or meeting places and discussed in the perspective of social and cultural transformation. To collect data over a 6-month period, several visits were carried out to the youth clubs and similar meeting places. During the visits, notes and photographs were taken of the physical environment of the clubs. As a theoretical framework, theories of citizenship were used. The following questions are of special interest: where are these meeting places located; what kind of visitors do they attract; what kind of activities do they offer; how do visitors use the space and what kind of citizenship do they support? The results of the study show first that these places are more attractive to boys than to girls. Second, youth clubs and similar meeting places offer many activities for both boys and girls, which are used in a traditional female or male context. Third, those who visit youth clubs and similar meeting places at their leisure time are offered the opportunity of taking an active role in their transition to citizenship.


Our work aims to study a very aromatic and medicinal plant known by the locals called Laurus nobilis (laurel). The extraction of essential oil of the plant was carried by a drive to steam. The yield is attractive even in terms of industrial exploitation. A number of physicochemical characteristics were determined on freshly extracted oils. The study of the degradation of these oils as a function of time showed a high instability when stored at room temperature and in the presence of light and rather good preservation of the low temperature and protected from light.


Adams, R.E., Rohe, W.M., Arcury, T.A. (2002). Implementing community-oriented policing: Organizational change and street officer attitudes. Crime & Delinquency, 48, 399-430. Community-oriented policing (COP) is generally defined as a style of policing that involves the officer patrolling and working consistently in one specific area in an effort to establish a partnership with residents and identify and resolve problems. One important aspect of any COP initiative, as demonstrated by a number of studies, involves the impact that it has on police officer attitudes, perceptions and behaviours. According to Adams, Rohe and Arcury, however, the vast majority of these studies on the impact of COP on officer attitudes and behaviours have been conducted in large cities. Although it may be argued that the basic principles of COP remain the same regardless of the size of the community, there is some evidence that implementation of the initiative should be altered for communities of differing sizes. As such, Adams et al. set forth to investigate the attitudinal and behavioural impact of implementing COP in small to midsize police. These locations provided an opportune sample due to the fact that they all wanted to implement a COP program. According to the authors of this study, any empirical investigation into the impact of COP on officer attitudes and behaviours must be informed by recognition of three key concepts that separate COP from traditional policing: shared responsibility, prevention, and officer discretion. The concept of shared responsibility revolves around the assumption that both the community and the police are responsible for the protection and well being of an area. As such, it is argued that problems should be solved through a collaborative effort between police officers, community members, and non-profit organizations. The concept of prevention dictates that COP officers attempt to identify and rectify local problems before they become serious crime issues. This includes pinpointing problems before they escalate into a crime and working on community improvement projects. Finally, the concept of officer discretion allows COP officers to consider more creative solutions to problems without necessarily making arrests. As such, officers are encouraged to use their judgment and discretion in order to solve a problem in the manner they deem most effective. In addition to the above, Adams et al. argue that the successful implementation of community-oriented policing requires two changes. The first is the reorganization of resources away from crime control and toward street patrols as well as increasing officer freedom and reinforcing problem-solving efforts. The second change involves the successful alteration of the traditional role of police officer from crime control to community participant. Research indicates that the successful implementation of these COP changes in larger cities produce favourable outcomes with regard to job satisfaction, motivation, improving relationships with coworkers and citizens, and raising expectations involving community participation in crime prevention. Based on the above findings for larger cities, Adams et al. attempted to answer a number of questions with regard to the impact of implementing a COP initiative in smaller communities. Specifically, these authors were interested in empirically identifying: (1) the organizational changes made by the police services when making the transition from traditional to communityoriented policing, (2) the impact that these changes had on the officers' behaviour, and (3) the effect of COP on officer attitudes. The authors sought to answer the above questions through the distribution of self-administered surveys to 285 non-supervisory officers from six small to midsize police services in North Carolina including Asheville, Greensboro, Lumberton, Whiteville, Morehead City, and Forsyth County. …


We present a system to analyze user interests by analyzing their online behaviors from large-scale usage logs. We surmise that user interests can be characterized by a large collection of features we call the behavioral genes that can be deduced from both their explicit and implicit online behaviors. It is the goal of this research to sequence the entire behavioral genome for online population, namely, to identify the pertinent behavioral genes and uncover their relationships in explaining and predicting user behaviors, so that high quality user profiles can be created and the online services can be better customized using these profiles. Within the scope of this paper, we demonstrate the work using the partial genome derived from web search logs. Our demo system is supported by an open access web service we are releasing and sharing with the research community. The main functions of the web service are: (1) calculating query similarities based on their lexical, temporal and semantic scores, (2) clustering a group of user queries into tasks with the same search and browse intent, and (3) inferring user topical interests by providing a probability distribution over a search taxonomy.


AGING WITH GRACE reveals the cutting-edge research that has transformed scientists' understanding of healthy aging and shows what everyone can do to help prevent Alzheimer's disease. One of the world's leading experts on Alzheimer's disease, David Snowdon is the director of the 'Nun Study', a long term research project involving 678 nuns. Ranging in the age from 75 to 106, these extraordinary women have allowed Snowdon access to their medical and personal records and they have agreed to donate their brains upon death. The Nun Study's findings are already helping scientists unlock the secrets to living a longer, healthier life. With one of the largest brain donor studies in the world, Dr Snowdon and his colleagues are at the forefront of some of the most fascinating and useful research on aging today. This remarkable book combines cutting-edge research on the brain with the poignant and inspiring stories of the aging nuns who are teaching scientists how we grow old. We meet nuns like Sister Clarissa, who at the age of 90 drives around the convent in a motorized cart she calls her 'Chevy' and knows as much about baseball as any die-hard fan a third her age, and 'The Magnificent Seven', centenarians from a single convent who remain active and healthy in advanced age. These bright, articulate and altruistic women have much to teach us about how faith, wisdom and spirituality can influence the length and quality of our lives. Snowdon takes us into the lab to see the race to decode this devastating disease and reveals what we can do to prevent it. Aging With Grace shows that old age does not have to mean an inevitable slide into illness and disability; rather, it can be a time of promise and productivity, intellectual vigour, and continuing freedom from disease.


Abstract Bluebellite, Cu6[I5+O3(OH)3](OH)7Cl and mojaveite, Cu6[Te6+O4(OH)2](OH)7Cl, are new secondary copper minerals from the Mojave Desert. The type locality for bluebellite is the D shaft, Blue Bell claims, near Baker, San Bernardino County, California, while cotype localities for mojaveite are the E pit at Blue Bell claims and also the Bird Nest drift, Otto Mountain, also near Baker. The two minerals are very similar in their properties. Bluebellite is associated particularly with murdochite, but also with calcite, fluorite, hemimorphite and rarely dioptase in a highly siliceous hornfels. It forms bright bluishgreen plates or flakes up to ~20 μm × 20 μm × 5 μm in size that are usually curved. The streak is pale bluish green and the lustre is adamantine, but often appears dull because of surface roughness. It is non-fluorescent. Bluebellite is very soft (Mohs hardness ~1), sectile, has perfect cleavage on {001} and an irregular fracture. The calculated density based on the empirical formula is 4.746 g cm-3. Bluebellite is uniaxial (-), with mean refractive index estimated as 1.96 from the Gladstone-Dale relationship. It is pleochroic O (bluish green) >> E (nearly colourless). Electron microprobe analyses gave the empirical formula Cu5.82I0.99Al0.02Si0.12O3.11(OH)9.80Cl1.09 based on 14 (O+Cl) a.p.f.u. The Raman spectrum shows strong iodate-related bands at 680, 611 and 254 cm-1. Bluebellite is trigonal, space group R3, with the unit-cell parameters: a = 8.3017(5), c = 13.259(1) Å, V = 791.4(1) Å3 and Z = 3. The eight strongest lines in the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern are [dobs/Å (I) (hkl)]: 4.427(99)(003), 2.664(35)(211), 2.516(100)(212̅), 2.213(9)(006), 2.103(29)(033,214), 1.899(47)(312,215̅), 1.566(48)(140,217) and 1.479(29)(045,143̅,324). Mojaveite occurs at the Blue Bell claims in direct association with cerussite, chlorargyrite, chrysocolla, hemimorphite, kettnerite, perite, quartz and wulfenite, while at the Bird Nest drift, it is associated with andradite, chrysocolla, cerussite, burckhardtite, galena, goethite, khinite, mcalpineite, thorneite, timroseite, paratimroseite, quartz and wulfenite. It has also been found at the Aga mine, Otto Mountain, with cerussite, chrysocolla, khinite, perite and quartz. Mojaveite occurs as irregular aggregates of greenish-blue plates flattened on {001} and often curved, which rarely show a hexagonal outline, and also occurs as compact balls, from sky blue to medium greenish blue in colour. Aggregates and balls are up to 0.5 mm in size. The streak of mojaveite is pale greenish blue, while the lustre may be adamantine, pearly or dull, and it is non-fluorescent. The Mohs hardness is ~1. It is sectile, with perfect cleavage on {001} and an irregular fracture. The calculated density is 4.886 g cm-3, based on the empirical formulae and unit-cell dimensions. Mojaveite is uniaxial (–), with mean refractive index estimated as 1.95 from the Gladstone-Dale relationship. It is pleochroic O (greenish blue) >> E (light greenish blue). The empirical formula for mojaveite, based on 14 (O+Cl) a.p.f.u., is Cu5.92Te1.00Pb0.08Bi0.01O4(OH)8.94Cl1.06. The most intense Raman bands occur at 694, 654 (poorly resolved), 624, 611 and 254 cm-1. Mojaveite is trigonal, space group R3, with the unit-cell parameters: a = 8.316(2), c = 13.202(6) Å and V = 790.7(1) Å3. The eight strongest lines in the powder XRD pattern are [dobs/Å (I) (hkl)]: 4.403(91)(003), 2.672(28)(211), 2.512(100)(212̅), 2.110(27)(033,214), 1.889(34)(312,215̅,223̅), 1.570(39)(404,140,217), 1.481(34)(045,143̅,324) and 1.338(14)(422). Diffraction data could not be refined, but stoichiometries and unit-cell parameters imply that bluebellite and mojaveite are very similar in crystal structure. Structure models that satisfy bondvalence requirements are presented that are based on stackings of brucite-like Cu6MX14 layers, where M = (I or Te) and X = (O, OH and Cl). Bluebellite and mojaveite provide a rare instance of isotypy between an iodate containing I5+ with a stereoactive lone electron pair and a tellurate containing Te6+ with no lone pair.


Manioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a staple food in the North and NE of Brazil and is the main crop and source of sustenance for many thousands of small-scale family farmers. It is native to Brazil and has been cultivated and adapted over thousands of years by indigenous peoples and small-scale farmers. Some 500 million people in the tropics of the Americas, Africa and the Far East currently rely on manioc as a staple crop for their daily energy needs. The study focuses both on farmers' in situ maintenance of agrobiodiversity and on their management of change across the whole sequence of the production both of the manioc crop and manioc foods, and of the distribution, exchange and consumption of the foods ('the Manioc Chain'). It further analyses the contrasting systems whereby manioc is classified and named by farmers and agronomists by reference to the manioc varieties cultivated in four case study sites. Much of the specialised literature on agrobiodiversity – along with global debates about food security and rural development – deals only with the specifically agricultural practice of growing food crops. This literature omits consideration of the other elements of the Manioc Chain and only rarely draws on the type of ethnographic and ethnobotanical literature that provides the historical and cultural framework for this research. Four case studies of manioc farming communities were conducted over a period of nine months – two in Pará and two in Bahia. The approach to this enquiry is farmer-centred and interdisciplinary. Empirical findings are based on interviews and visits with about 60 farmers, agricultural extension agents in the four sites and other agricultural professionals and numerous group and family discussions. The findings are complemented by a tabulation of the characteristics of around 214 varieties as a contribution to the ethnobotany of manioc. The findings demonstrate that the loss of genetic diversity in manioc tends to be in inverse proportion to the proximity of the community to large urban centres. There remain expert farmers who cultivate diversity for cultural and not just for economic reasons. The creativity of these farmers and of their families, as producers of manioc foods, arises within dynamic local food cultures. It is highly responsive to local market demand. Yet, even so, many aspects of the culture of these rural communities go unrecognised by professionals. A change of thinking will be necessary if the in situ conservation practised by many small farmers is to continue and not to be eroded. The economic preoccupations of agricultural professionals are rarely matched with any parallel interest in the on-farm conservation of agrobiodiversity. Farmers' understanding, perceptions and management of manioc diversity exist in a separate realm. There is a disparity of outlook. The professionals want to help the farmers to adopt modern practices and to grow high yield varieties. Yet farmers' motivations go wider than this. They manage many varieties of the crop for reasons that include minimising disease and pest infestations, ensuring soil quality, producing diverse manioc foods to satisfy different tastes and cultivating varieties that they find 'pretty' or unusual. The research analyses all stages of the Manioc Chain. This broad scope provides the conceptual basis for the finding that farmers adapt to externally induced change strategically by changing their practice in any one – or in a combination – of the several aspects of the Manioc Chain. In doing so, the farmers draw upon local knowledge which varies significantly between localities while also learning from external agents. The study concludes by arguing for a change in thinking of the professionals as to the framing of and the approach to the issue of retaining in situ, on-farm agrobiodiversity for the benefit of the farmers and for those whom they supply. Agrobiodiversity in manioc is a vital resource for future generations that once lost can never be replaced.


This paper attempts to project the future supply and demand up to the year 2025 for rice and wheat, the two main cereals cultivated and consumed in India. A review of studies that forecast the supply and demand of Indian agriculture commodities revealed three important limitations of such studies: (a) The forecasts are generally overestimated (in the ex post situation); (b) the methodology is not clearly outlined; (c) ex-ante validation of the forecast have not been carried out. This study presents forecasts based on models that are validated so that forecast performances can be assessed.