Sherpa Buddhists on a Regional Pilgrimage: The Case of Maritika Cave at Halase

Occasional Papers in Sociology and Anthropology - Volume 4, 199

Uniaxial, extensional flows in liquid bridges

In this paper, we discuss the possibility to generate homogeneous flows with a nearly constant strain rate. This is achieved by stretching an almost cylindrical liquid bridge under microgravity. One key issue is the adaptation of the disk diameters in order to have always ideal boundary conditions. We first study the stretching of two different fluids both, by numerical and experimental means. The numerical results are compared with these experimental data resulting in a very good agreement. The numerical method is then used to study the behavior of liquid bridges for quite a large range of the flow parameters Capillary number Ca and Weber number We and detect those regimes with most suitable flow conditions

Population genetic analysis of Chadian Guinea worms reveals that human and non-human hosts share common parasite populations

Following almost 10 years of no reported cases, Guinea worm disease (GWD or dracunculiasis) reemerged in Chad in 2010 with peculiar epidemiological patterns and unprecedented prevalence of infection among non-human hosts, particularly domestic dogs. Since 2014, animal infections with Guinea worms have also been observed in the other three countries with endemic transmission (Ethiopia, Mali, and South Sudan), causing concern and generating interest in the parasites’ true taxonomic identity and population genetics. We present the first extensive population genetic data for Guinea worm, investigating mitochondrial and microsatellite variation in adult female worms from both human and non-human hosts in the four endemic countries to elucidate the origins of Chad’s current outbreak and possible host-specific differences between parasites. Genetic diversity of Chadian Guinea worms was considerably higher than that of the other three countries, even after controlling for sample size through rarefaction, and demographic analyses are consistent with a large, stable parasite population. Genealogical analyses eliminate the other three countries as possible sources of parasite reintroduction into Chad, and sequence divergence and distribution of genetic variation provide no evidence that parasites in human and non-human hosts are separate species or maintain isolated transmission cycles. Both among and within countries, geographic origin appears to have more influence on parasite population structure than host species. Guinea worm infection in non-human hosts has been occasionally reported throughout the history of the disease, particularly when elimination programs appear to be reaching their end goals. However, no previous reports have evaluated molecular support of the parasite species identity. Our data confirm that Guinea worms collected from non-human hosts in the remaining endemic countries of Africa are Dracunculus medinensis and that the same population of worms infects both humans and dogs in Chad. Our genetic data and the epidemiological evidence suggest that transmission in the Chadian context is currently being maintained by canine hosts

The behaviour of political parties and MPs in the parliaments of the Weimar Republic

Copyright @ 2012 The Authors. This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below.Analysing the roll-call votes of the MPs of the Weimar Republic we find: (1) that party competition in the Weimar parliaments can be structured along two dimensions: an economic left–right and a pro-/anti-democratic. Remarkably, this is stable throughout the entire lifespan of the Republic and not just in the later years and despite the varying content of votes across the lifespan of the Republic, and (2) that nearly all parties were troubled by intra-party divisions, though, in particular, the national socialists and communists became homogeneous in the final years of the Republic.Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstan

Controlling the Bureaucracy of the Antipoverty Program

Rapid progress made in various areas of regenerative medicine in recent years occurred both at the cellular level, with the Nobel prize-winning discovery of reprogramming (generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells) and also at the biomaterial level. The use of four transcription factors, Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4 (called commonly "Yamanaka factors") for the conversion of differentiated cells, back to the pluripotent/embryonic stage, has opened virtually endless and ethically acceptable source of stem cells for medical use. Various types of stem cells are becoming increasingly popular as starting components for the development of replacement tissues, or artificial organs. Interestingly, many of the transcription factors, key to the maintenance of stemness phenotype in various cells, are also overexpressed in cancer (stem) cells, and some of them may find the use as prognostic factors. In this review, we describe various methods of iPS creation, followed by overview of factors known to interfere with the efficiency of reprogramming. Next, we discuss similarities between cancer stem cells and various stem cell types. Final paragraphs are dedicated to interaction of biomaterials with tissues, various adverse reactions generated as a result of such interactions, and measures available, that allow for mitigation of such negative effects