The insect state: Development, politics and capital in African desert locust control

The African Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) has presented a long (indeed deeply historical) problem for producers throughout northern and western Africa. Gestating in isolated settings in the Saharafor extended periods, populations of the insect periodically increase in density, change behavior and morphology, and take to the air in swarms that consume crops and pasture over hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, moving across dozens of countries, spanning the range of the Mediterranean to the Congo. This paper reviews analysis by an international multidisciplinary team of researchers to examine and explain the political and economic barriers to locust control in the region. The conclusions suggest that: (1) the bifurcated resolution and extent of the insect's ecology - from its isolated solitary condition to its continental scale gregarious condition - are mismatched to the institutional scalar capacities of the modern nation state; but that (2) governmental and international institutions have become adapted to the cycles of locust outbreaks, leveraging these to capture, control, and absorb development resources on a massive scale. (Texte intégral

Proceedings of the Fifth Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems: Professional Development Consortium

Collection of position statements of doctoral students and junior faculty in the Professional Development Consortium at the the Fifth Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, Tel Aviv - Yafo

RaspBot - Raspberry Pi-powered Robot controlled by a WebApp

This project aims at designing a robot prototype made from Lego, which contains a Raspberry Pi device, that will be remotely controlled through a web application to allow the robot to perform certain movements which would be sent from the client’s interaction. The process began by researching several different technologies that we used as our starting point for designing both prototypes (hardware and software). Concurrently, we focused investigation on the IoT and were inspired to make a robot prototype that would implement the basic concepts and, at the same time, merge it with the previously learnt knowledge acquired during our 3 year course in Information Technology

Security Theorems via Model Theory

A model-theoretic approach can establish security theorems for cryptographic protocols. Formulas expressing authentication and non-disclosure properties of protocols have a special form. They are quantified implications for all xs . (phi implies for some ys . psi). Models (interpretations) for these formulas are *skeletons*, partially ordered structures consisting of a number of local protocol behaviors. Realized skeletons contain enough local sessions to explain all the behavior, when combined with some possible adversary behaviors. We show two results. (1) If phi is the antecedent of a security goal, then there is a skeleton A_phi such that, for every skeleton B, phi is satisfied in B iff there is a homomorphism from A_phi to B. (2) A protocol enforces for all xs . (phi implies for some ys . psi) iff every realized homomorphic image of A_phi satisfies psi. Hence, to verify a security goal, one can use the Cryptographic Protocol Shapes Analyzer CPSA (TACAS, 2007) to identify minimal realized skeletons, or "shapes," that are homomorphic images of A_phi. If psi holds in each of these shapes, then the goal holds

Análisis de la factibilidad técnica y económica en el desarrollo productivo de la uva de mesa en el sector de “el azúcar” en la provincia de Santa Elena.

El presente trabajo se encuentra enfocado en el análisis de la factibilidad técnica y económica en el desarrollo productivo de la uva de mesa en el sector de “El Azúcar” de la provincia de Santa Elena. Dentro de este estudio, se muestra la evaluación del entorno técnico y económico del sector y verificar si es factible la puesta en marcha de proyecto. Para poder hacer un estudio preciso, fue necesario realizar un marco teórico, donde se desarrollaron diversos temas y definiciones relacionados con el proyecto, con el fin de entender adecuadamente cada tema y poder desarrollar eficazmente la propuesta. Esta parte, fue realizada a través de referencias bibliográficas y la interpretación de la autora. Por otro lado, se desarrolló un marco metodológico, donde se expresó la metodología de investigación y los métodos utilizados para desarrollarla. A través de estos datos, se pudo evaluar si se podría empezar a producir uva de mesa en el sector propuesto. Esto, conforme a la información brindada por los encuestados. Para concluir, se realizó la propuesta del proyecto, en donde se describió de manera específica los diferentes parámetros y pasos para su ejecución, con un análisis situacional y análisis de inversión correspondiente, culminando con las conclusiones y recomendaciones del proyecto.This paper is focused on the analysis of the technical and economic feasibility in the productive development of table grapes in the field of "Sugar" in the province of Santa Elena. In this study, evaluation of technical and economic environment of the sector is to validate the project and verify whether implementation is feasible. In order to make an accurate study, it was necessary to make a theoretical framework, where several related to the project, in order to properly understand each topic and to effectively develop the proposed topics and definitions were developed. This part was made through references and interpretation of the author. On the other hand, prices went develop a methodological framework where d research methodology and methods used to develop it will be expressed. Through these data, it could assess whether it could start producing table grapes in the proposed sector. This, according to the information provided by respondents. To conclude, the project proposal, where specifically described the different parameters and steps for its implementation, with a situational analysis and analysis of relevant investment culminating with the conclusions and recommendations of the project was carried out

The Role of Specific Retinoid Receptors in Sebocyte Growth and Differentiation in Culture11Presented in part at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, San Francisco, CA, May 1–4 (Pediat Res 45 (Part 2): 55A [Abst 313] 1999)

Retinoic acid derivatives (retinoids) exert their pleiotropic effects on cell development through specific nuclear receptors, the retinoic acid receptors and retinoid X receptors. Despite recent progress in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of retinoid activity, it is unknown which of the retinoid receptor pathways are involved in the specific processes of sebocyte growth and development. In this study, we investigated the roles of specific retinoid receptors in sebocyte growth and differentiation, by testing the effects of selective retinoic acid receptor and retinoid X receptor ligands at concentrations between 10−10 M and 10−6 M in a primary rat preputial cell monolayer culture system. Cell growth was determined by number of cells and colonies, and cell differentiation by analysis of lipid-forming colonies. All-trans retinoic acid and selective retinoic acid receptor agonists (CD271 = adapalene, an RAR-β,γ agonist; CD2043 = retinoic acid receptor pan-agonist; and CD336 = Am580, an RAR-α agonist) caused significant decreases in numbers of cells, colonies, and lipid-forming colonies, but with an exception at high doses of all-trans retinoic acid (10−6 M), with which only a small number of colonies grew but they became twice as differentiated as controls (42.2 ± 4.0% vs 22.6 ± 2.7%, mean ± SEM, lipid-forming colonies, p < 0.01). Furthermore, the RAR-β,γ antagonist CD2665 antagonized the suppressive effects of all-trans retinoic acid, adapalene, and CD2043 on both cell growth and differentiation. In contrast, the retinoid X receptor agonist CD2809 increased cell growth slightly and lipid-forming colonies dramatically in a clear dose-related manner to a maximum of 73.7% ± 6.7% at 10−6 M (p < 0.001). Our data suggest that retinoic acid receptors and retinoid X receptors differ in their roles in sebocyte growth and differentiation: (i) retinoic acid receptors, especially the β and/or γ subtypes, mediate both the antiproliferative and antidifferentiative effects of retinoids; (ii) retinoid X receptors mediate prominent differentiative and weak proliferative effects; (iii) the antiproliferative and antidifferentiative effects of all-trans retinoic acid are probably mediated by retinoic acid receptors, whereas its differentiative effect at high dose may be mediated by retinoid X receptors via all-trans retinoic acid metabolism to 9-cis retinoic acid, the natural ligand of retinoid X receptors