The evolution of gregariousness in parasitoid wasps

Data are assembled on the clutch-size strategies adopted by extant species of parasitoid wasp. These data are used to reconstruct the history of clutch-size evolution in the group using a series of plausible evolutionary assumptions. Extant families are either entirely solitary, both solitary and gregarious, or else clutch size is unknown. Parsimony analysis suggests that the ancestors of most families were solitary, a result which is robust to different phylogenetic relationships and likely data inadequacies. This implies that solitariness was ubiquitous throughout the initial radiation of the group, and that transitions to gregariousness have subsequently occurred a minimum of 43 times in several, but not all lineages. Current data suggest that species-rich and small-bodied lineages are more likely to have evolved gregariousness, and contain more species with small gregarious brood sizes. I discuss the implications of these data for clutch-size theory

Intestinal epithelial cells: at the interface of the microbiota and mucosal immunity.

The intestinal epithelium forms a barrier between the microbiota and the rest of the body. In addition, beyond acting as a physical barrier, the function of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) in sensing and responding to microbial signals is increasingly appreciated and likely has numerous implications for the vast network of immune cells within and below the intestinal epithelium. IECs also respond to factors produced by immune cells, and these can regulate IEC barrier function, proliferation and differentiation, as well as influence the composition of the microbiota. The mechanisms involved in IEC-microbe-immune interactions, however, are not fully characterized. In this review, we explore the ability of IECs to direct intestinal homeostasis by orchestrating communication between intestinal microbes and mucosal innate and adaptive immune cells during physiological and inflammatory conditions. We focus primarily on the most recent findings and call attention to the numerous remaining unknowns regarding the complex crosstalk between IECs, the microbiota and intestinal immune cells

Videovoice diaries to understand the perspectives of community health volunteers in Ethiopia: insights from collaborative qualitative research

Background: Audio-visual diary to collect data on daily routines of study participants is relatively new in health systems research. The concept uses participatory research techniques to elicit participants' views, priorities and empower them to take action. Methods: We discuss a collaborative qualitative study conducted by university researchers, rural communities and health managers (Southwest Ethiopia). We used Videovoice to understand the role of community health volunteers as mediators of accessible and responsive Primary Health Care in Ethiopia. Footage is obtained from 30 Health Development Army leaders in 3 diverse districts, over 3–4 months. Following community engagement and training, participants received an encrypted phone with recording capability. They are supported by researchers through regular contacts, to establish trust, support, and reduce social desirability. A co-production workshop with participants and researchers to interpret the findings will be held. Results: Employing Videovoice diaries demonstrates that collaborations involving academic researchers, community members and volunteers (as lay researchers) and managers have considerable benefits as well as challenges. Videovoice shifts power to the participants: they determine what to capture, what is important and how to convey their views and activities. Data is enriched by participant-generated insights into the reasons behind their decisions. Intensive engagement, effective communication and trust are essential in understanding constraints and preferences of their role, and interpreting findings. A multi-disciplinary research team will enhance the analytical process. Discussion: Videovoice can be a useful tool in enabling lay researchers to describe their daily life, better understand their needs, and identify mechanisms for change. The approach can strengthen the immediacy of the research, capturing perceptions within context. Co-production will involve a significant shift in power and emergence of new directions

Education in the working-class home: modes of learning as revealed by nineteenth-century criminal records

The transmission of knowledge and skills within the working-class household greatly troubled social commentators and social policy experts during the first half of the nineteenth century. To prove theories which related criminality to failures in working-class up-bringing, experts and officials embarked upon an ambitious collection of data on incarcerated criminals at various penal institutions. One such institution was the County Gaol at Ipswich. The exceptionally detailed information that survives on families, literacy, education and apprenticeships of the men, women and children imprisoned there has the potential to transform our understanding of the nature of home schooling (broadly interpreted) amongst the working classes in nineteenth-century England. This article uses data sets from prison registers to chart both the incidence and ‘success’ of instruction in reading and writing within the domestic environment. In the process, it highlights the importance of schooling in working-class families, but also the potentially growing significance of the family in occupational training

5-Thia-5-Deazaflavin, a 1e − -Transferring Flavin Analog

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65939/1/j.1432-1033.1979.tb12952.x.pd

Agenda setting and framing of gender-based violence in Nepal: how it became a health issue.

: Gender-based violence (GBV) has been addressed as a policy issue in Nepal since the mid 1990s, yet it was only in 2010 that Nepal developed a legal and policy framework to combat GBV. This article draws on the concepts of agenda setting and framing to analyse the historical processes by which GBV became legitimized as a health policy issue in Nepal and explored factors that facilitated and constrained the opening and closing of windows of opportunity. The results presented are based on a document analysis of the policy and regulatory framework around GBV in Nepal. A content analysis was undertaken. Agenda setting for GBV policies in Nepal evolved over many years and was characterized by the interplay of political context factors, actors and multiple frames. The way the issue was depicted at different times and by different actors played a key role in the delay in bringing health onto the policy agenda. Women's groups and less powerful Ministries developed gender equity and development frames, but it was only when the more powerful human rights frame was promoted by the country's new Constitution and the Office of the Prime Minister that legislation on GBV was achieved and a domestic violence bill was adopted, followed by a National Plan of Action. This eventually enabled the health frame to converge around the development of implementation policies that incorporated health service responses. Our explicit incorporation of framing within the Kindgon model has illustrated how important it is for understanding the emergence of policy issues, and the subsequent debates about their resolution. The framing of a policy problem by certain policy actors, affects the development of each of the three policy streams, and may facilitate or constrain their convergence. The concept of framing therefore lends an additional depth of understanding to the Kindgon agenda setting model.<br/

Target Suitability and the Crime Drop

The initial focus of Felson’s routine activity perspective was the crime increases of the 1960s and 1970s that were largely a function of inadvertent changes in everyday life (Cohen & Felson, 1979). The rise in crime was an unintended side effect of developments in technology, transportation, and domestic life that were widely welcomed. More money, more consumer goods, more labour-saving devices, more transport, and more employment opportunities for women, for example, all brought benefits to citizens, but they also created more crime opportunities and hence sustained increases in crime

002 BP: VIDEOVOICE DIARIES TO UNDERSTAND THE PERSPECTIVES OF COMMUNITY HEALTH VOLUNTEERS IN ETHIOPIA: INSIGHTS FROM COLLABORATIVE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Background Audio-visual diary to collect data on daily routines of study participants is relatively new in health systems research. The concept uses participatory research techniques to elicit participants' views, priorities and empower them to take action. Methods We discuss a collaborative qualitative study conducted by university researchers, rural communities and health managers (Southwest Ethiopia). We used Videovoice to understand the role of community health volunteers as mediators of accessible and responsive Primary Health Care in Ethiopia. Footage is obtained from 30 Health Development Army leaders in 3 diverse districts, over 3–4 months. Following community engagement and training, participants received an encrypted phone with recording capability. They are supported by researchers through regular contacts, to establish trust, support, and reduce social desirability. A co-production workshop with participants and researchers to interpret the findings will be held. Results Employing Videovoice diaries demonstrates that collaborations involving academic researchers, community members and volunteers (as lay researchers) and managers have considerable benefits as well as challenges. Videovoice shifts power to the participants: they determine what to capture, what is important and how to convey their views and activities. Data is enriched by participant-generated insights into the reasons behind their decisions. Intensive engagement, effective communication and trust are essential in understanding constraints and preferences of their role, and interpreting findings. A multi-disciplinary research team will enhance the analytical process. Discussion Videovoice can be a useful tool in enabling lay researchers to describe their daily life, better understand their needs, and identify mechanisms for change. The approach can strengthen the immediacy of the research, capturing perceptions within context. Co-production will involve a significant shift in power and emergence of new directions

Applications of Direct Injection Soft Chemical Ionisation-Mass Spectrometry for the Detection of Pre-blast Smokeless Powder Organic Additives

Analysis of smokeless powders is of interest from forensics and security perspectives. This article reports the detection of smokeless powder organic additives (in their pre-detonation condition), namely the stabiliser diphenylamine and its derivatives 2-nitrodiphenylamine and 4-nitrodiphenylamine, and the additives (used both as stabilisers and plasticisers) methyl centralite and ethyl centralite, by means of swab sampling followed by thermal desorption and direct injection soft chemical ionisation-mass spectrometry. Investigations on the product ions resulting from the reactions of the reagent ions H3O+ and O2+ with additives as a function of reduced electric field are reported. The method was comprehensively evaluated in terms of linearity, sensitivity and precision. For H3O+, the limits of detection (LoD) are in the range of 41-88 pg of additive, for which the accuracy varied between 1.5 and 3.2%, precision varied between 3.7 and 7.3% and linearity showed R20.9991. For O2+, LoD are in the range of 72 to 1.4 ng, with an accuracy of between 2.8 and 4.9% and a precision between 4.5 and 8.6% and R20.9914. The validated methodology was applied to the analysis of commercial pre-blast gun powders from different manufacturers.(VLID)4826148Accepted versio

A participatory physical and psychosocial intervention for balancing the demands and resources among industrial workers (PIPPI): study protocol of a cluster-randomized controlled trial

Background: Need for recovery and work ability are strongly associated with high employee turnover, well-being and sickness absence. However, scientific knowledge on effective interventions to improve work ability and decrease need for recovery is scarce. Thus, the present study aims to describe the background, design and protocol of a cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce need for recovery and improve work ability among industrial workers. Methods/Design: A two-year cluster randomized controlled design will be utilized, in which controls will also receive the intervention in year two. More than 400 workers from three companies in Denmark will be aimed to be cluster randomized into intervention and control groups with at least 200 workers (at least 9 work teams) in each group. An organizational resources audit and subsequent action planning workshop will be carried out to map the existing resources and act upon initiatives not functioning as intended. Workshops will be conducted to train leaders and health and safety representatives in supporting and facilitating the intervention activities. Group and individual level participatory visual mapping sessions will be carried out allowing team members to discuss current physical and psychosocial work demands and resources, and develop action plans to minimize strain and if possible, optimize the resources. At all levels, the intervention will be integrated into the existing organization of work schedules. An extensive process and effect evaluation on need for recovery and work ability will be carried out via questionnaires, observations, interviews and organizational data assessed at several time points throughout the intervention period. Discussion: This study primarily aims to develop, implement and evaluate an intervention based on the abovementioned features which may improve the work environment, available resources and health of industrial workers, and hence their need for recovery and work ability