Paper Tigers, Fences-&-Fines or Co-Management? Community conservation agreements in Indonesia's Lore Lindu National Park

Protected areas may be established and maintained at the expense of local communities ('fences & fines'), although attempts to block local land use can be fruitless ('paper tigers'). Innovation in protected area policy has led to the involvement of communities in protected-area management ('co-management'). This paper aims to predict and study the emergence of such negotiated agreements to share the management of as well as the benefits from forest. First, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding roles of co-management interventions. Second, we bring to our derived hypotheses unique panel data collected from a co-management policy implemented in Lore Lindu National Park, Indonesia. The results broadly support our model predictions, although there is mixed evidence in some cases, possibly due to the fact that our relatively rough data proxies often correlate with several model parameters. --forest,protected area,park,community,property right,Indonesia

Artificial Intelligence Customer Support System

Customer service is an important aspect to maintain a loyal customer base and to improve profitability for business. Automated customer support systems including Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered chatting bots (Chatbots), have emerged as an alternative to human-based customer support to reduce the labor cost and improve efficiency. However, current Chatbots utilizing Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning are largely focused on processing open-end questions which could lead to inaccurate answers that resulted in poor customer experience. In this project, we are proposing an innovative AI customer support system with a model-based program to provide customers with very high accuracy responses. The model will be developed using the domain knowledge from business; that is, the commonly asked questions will be used to initiate model building; then the crowd-sourcing input data will be processed continuously to update FAQs. The system will be implemented in an online platform that allows users to interact with the program that constrain and guide them to obtain the right answers. Also, the program will deliver instant answers while predict consumer intents and behavior patterns. The deliverables of this project are an online platform and will be tested by several local industries, including food stores, clinics, automated vending, and restaurants, which have agreed to be pilot testers. The interdisciplinary team is from computer science and college of business. We anticipate the commercial adoption of the platform at the end of the project. The results will be disseminated at a national conference

Membrane lysis during biological membrane fusion: collateral damage by misregulated fusion machines

In the canonical model of membrane fusion, the integrity of the fusing membranes is never compromised, preserving the identity of fusing compartments. However, recent molecular simulations provided evidence for a pathway to fusion in which holes in the membrane evolve into a fusion pore. Additionally, two biological membrane fusion models—yeast cell mating and in vitro vacuole fusion—have shown that modifying the composition or altering the relative expression levels of membrane fusion complexes can result in membrane lysis. The convergence of these findings showing membrane integrity loss during biological membrane fusion suggests new mechanistic models for membrane fusion and the role of membrane fusion complexes

On the pitchfork bifurcation for the Chafee-Infante equation with additive noise

We investigate pitchfork bifurcations for a stochastic reaction diffusion equation perturbed by an infinite-dimensional Wiener process. It is well-known that the random attractor is a singleton, independently of the value of the bifurcation parameter; this phenomenon is often referred to as the "destruction" of the bifurcation by the noise. Analogous to the results of [Callaway et al., AIHP Probab. Stat., 53:1548-1574, 2017] for a 1D stochastic ODE, we show that some remnant of the bifurcation persists for this SPDE model in the form of a positive finite-time Lyapunov exponent. Additionally, we prove finite-time expansion of volume with increasing dimension as the bifurcation parameter crosses further eigenvalues of the Laplacian

The Golgi-resident protease Kex2 acts in conjunction with Prm1 to facilitate cell fusion during yeast mating

The molecular machines that mediate cell fusion are unknown. Previously, we identified a multispanning transmembrane protein, Prm1 (pheromone-regulated membrane protein 1), that acts during yeast mating (Heiman, M.G., and P. Walter. 2000. J. Cell Biol. 151:719–730). Without Prm1, a substantial fraction of mating pairs arrest with their plasma membranes tightly apposed yet unfused. In this study, we show that lack of the Golgi-resident protease Kex2 strongly enhances the cell fusion defect of Prm1-deficient mating pairs and causes a mild fusion defect in otherwise wild-type mating pairs. Lack of the Kex1 protease but not the Ste13 protease results in similar defects. Δkex2 and Δkex1 fusion defects were suppressed by osmotic support, a trait shared with mutants defective in cell wall remodeling. In contrast, other cell wall mutants do not enhance the Δprm1 fusion defect. Electron microscopy of Δkex2-derived mating pairs revealed novel extracellular blebs at presumptive sites of fusion. Kex2 and Kex1 may promote cell fusion by proteolytically processing substrates that act in parallel to Prm1 as an alternative fusion machine, as cell wall components, or both

Initial Sulfonylurea Use and Subsequent Insulin Therapy in Older Subjects with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

BACKGROUND: In type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), progressive loss of beta cell function over time requires treatment intensification and eventually initiation of insulin for many patients. Relative to metformin, a greater rate of decline in beta cell function over time has been observed with sulfonylurea treatment. The present study examined the association between initial monotherapy with metformin or sulfonylurea and subsequent initiation of insulin in older subjects with T2DM. METHODS: In a retrospective cohort study using the GE electronic medical record database, eligible subjects with T2DM included those ≥65 years who received their first prescription of sulfonylurea or metformin as initial monotherapy between January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2008. The follow-up period lasted to the end of 2009 or the subject’s latest data available. Insulin initiation was determined by prescription records. Logistic regression analysis evaluated the likelihood of insulin addition. A Cox regression model estimated time to initiation of insulin. Differences in baseline characteristics were controlled for using propensity score matching. RESULTS: Overall, 12,036 subjects were included in the analysis. Mean age was 75 years and 50% were male. Subjects who initiated with sulfonylurea had a significantly (P < 0.001) higher incidence of insulin addition (2.8% vs. 1.4%) compared to those initiated with metformin within 1 year of follow-up. The likelihood of initiating insulin was higher in subjects initiated with sulfonylurea than with metformin (adjusted odds ratio 1.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.40–2.38; P < 0.001). Sulfonylurea use was also significantly associated with a shorter time to insulin use compared to metformin (adjusted hazards ratio 2.10, 95% CI 1.83–2.39; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In a cohort of older subjects with T2DM initiating antihyperglycemic therapy, new users of sulfonylurea monotherapy were more likely to receive insulin therapy and received it earlier than those starting with metformin

Scrapie prevalence in sheep of susceptible genotype is declining in a population subject to breeding for resistance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Susceptibility of sheep to scrapie infection is known to be modulated by the PrP genotype of the animal. In the Netherlands an ambitious scrapie control programme was started in 1998, based on genetic selection of animals for breeding. From 2002 onwards EU regulations required intensive active scrapie surveillance as well as certain control measures in affected flocks.</p> <p>Here we analyze the data on genotype frequencies and scrapie prevalence in the Dutch sheep population obtained from both surveillance and affected flocks, to identify temporal trends. We also estimate the genotype-specific relative risks to become a detected scrapie case.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We find that the breeding programme has produced a steady increase in the level of genetic scrapie resistance in the Dutch sheep population. We also find that a significant decline in the prevalence of scrapie in tested animals has occurred a number of years after the start of the breeding programme. Most importantly, the estimated scrapie prevalence level per head of susceptible genotype is also declining significantly, indicating that selective breeding causes a population effect.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The Dutch scrapie control programme has produced a steady rise in genetic resistance levels in recent years. A recent decline in the scrapie prevalence per tested sheep of susceptible prion protein genotype indicates that selective breeding causes the desired population effect.</p

Oblate-prolate transition in odd-mass light mercury isotopes

Anomalous isotope shifts in the chain of light Hg isotopes are investigated by using the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method with the Skyrme SIII, SkI3 and SLy4 forces. The sharp increase in the mean-square radius of the odd mass $^{181-185}$Hg isotopes is well explained in terms of the transition from an oblate to a prolate shape in the ground state of these isotopes. We discuss the polarization energy of time-odd mean-field terms in relation to the blocked level by the odd neutron.Comment: 25 pages including 19 postscript figures; accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics

Disease burden of urinary tract infections among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in the U.S.

AbstractAimsType 2 diabetes is a reported risk factor for more frequent and severe urinary tract infections (UTI). We sought to quantify the annual healthcare cost burden of UTI in type 2 diabetic patients.MethodsAdult patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were identified in MarketScan administrative claims data. UTI occurrence and costs were assessed during a 1-year period. We examined UTI-related visit and antibiotic costs among patients diagnosed with UTI, comparing those with versus without a history of UTI in the previous year (prevalent vs. incident UTI cases). We estimated the total incremental cost of UTI by comparing all-cause healthcare costs in patients with versus without UTI, using propensity score-matched samples.ResultsWithin the year, 8.2% (6,014/73,151) of subjects had ≥1 UTI, of whom 33.8% had a history of UTI. UTI-related costs among prevalent versus incident cases were, respectively, $603 versus$447 (p=0.033) for outpatient services, $1,607 versus$1,819 (p=NS) for hospitalizations, and $61 versus$35 (p<0.0001) for antibiotics. UTI was associated with a total all-cause incremental cost of $7,045 (95% CI: 4,130, 13,051) per patient with UTI per year.ConclusionsUTI is common and may impose a substantial direct medical cost burden among patients with type 2 diabetes