Economic valuation of forests and nature : a support tool for effective decision making

Included are several case studies, like: The Leuser ecosystem, Sumatra; The Borivili National Park, India; Tropical rain forests, Costa Rica; Mangrove forests, Philippines. This document has been prepared by: IAC and EC-LN

Transforming growth factor-beta receptor signalling is modulated by integrin-linked kinase

Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) modulates regeneration after injury through induction of fibroblast proliferation, migration, and differentiation into myofibroblasts. Induction of myofibroblast differentiation by TGF-β1 requires expression of integrin-linked kinase (ILK). I now show that ILK interacts with TGF-β receptor type II (TβRII) in primary dermal fibroblasts. Further, colocalization of ILK and TβRII can be observed at the cell membrane and in intracellular vesicles. The association of TβRII and ILK does not require TGF-β1 stimulation, kinase activity of TGF-β1 receptor type I or TβRII, and it does not involve interactions between ILK and focal adhesion-associated proteins. When this interaction is abolished by targeted inactivation of the Ilk gene, TβR signalling is diminished, as demonstrated by decreased phosphorylated SMAD2 levels in response to TGF-β1 treatment. This can be restored by exogenous expression of human ILK or by inhibition of TβRII degradatory pathway. Thus, ILK is essential for normal TβR signalling

Au-SN Flip-Chip Solder Bump for Microelectronic and Optoelectronic Applications

As an alternative to the time-consuming solder pre-forms and pastes currently used, a co-electroplating method of eutectic Au-Sn alloy was used in this study. Using a co-electroplating process, it was possible to plate the Au-Sn solder directly onto a wafer at or near the eutectic composition from a single solution. Two distinct phases, Au5Sn and AuSn, were deposited at a composition of 30at.%Sn. The Au-Sn flip-chip joints were formed at 300 and 400 degrees without using any flux. In the case where the samples were reflowed at 300 degrees, only an (Au,Ni)3Sn2 IMC layer formed at the interface between the Au-Sn solder and Ni UBM. On the other hand, two IMC layers, (Au,Ni)3Sn2 and (Au,Ni)3Sn, were found at the interfaces of the samples reflowed at 400 degrees. As the reflow time increased, the thickness of the (Au,Ni)3Sn2 and (Au,Ni)3Sn IMC layers formed at the interface increased and the eutectic lamellae in the bulk solder coarsened.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Assessing the Nature of Science Views of Singaporean Pre-Service Teachers

Despite the many developments in the teaching of science, an aspect that continues to be neglected appears to be the character and nature of science (NOS). This is becoming especially important in the light of recent developments in pedagogy, as, for example, more teachers adopt constructivist methodologies and computing technology enables simulations that may blur the lines between models and reality. From the literature, it is known that teachers\u27 modern NOS conceptions, though not a sufficient condition for transmission of modern NOS views, is necessary. In this study, pre-service teachers\u27 NOS conceptions are assessed with an adapted Views of the Nature of Science (VNOS) instrument, originally designed by Lederman, Abd-El-Khalick, Bell, and Schwartz (2002). The modified instrument is an eight-item, open ended questionnaire – designed to elicit descriptive responses to common NOS misconceptions. Responses were analysed into coded categories of ‘informed, ‘uninformed, and ‘ambiguous’. It was found that a significant proportion of teachers possessed uninformed views. Some implications for teaching and teacher education are presented in this paper for discussion

Effect of food experience on overall satisfaction: comparison between first-time and repeat visitors to Malaysia

The attractiveness of food as tourism product has partly derived from the gastronomic aspect. The ingredients, the preparations, the end products, and the eating circumstances are cultural, educational, and entertaining. However, there is little research empirically demonstrates if there is a difference between first-time and repeat visitors in terms of food experience at destination, or how the various food experience attributes influence visitors’ overall satisfaction while visiting a destination. Hence, this study was undertaken to address the gap. Data were collected via on-site survey questionnaire administrated to a random sample of visitors at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and various touristic areas around Kuala Lumpur. The results indicated significant differences between first-time and repeat visitors in terms of their food experience. In addition, multiple regression analysis revealed that traditional food preparation was an important factor to tourists’ overall satisfaction for both first-time and repeat visitors. In sum, the study is the first to examine the effect of food experience attributes on first time and repeat visitors separately

Ethyl Alcohol Extract of Hizikia fusiforme Induces Caspase-dependent Apoptosis in Human Leukemia U937 Cells by Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species

Purpose: Hizikia fusiforme is renowned for the possession of anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. In this study, the role of the ethyl alcohol extract of H. fusiforme (EAHF) in the induction of apoptosis in human leukemia U937 cells was investigated.Methods: Protein expression was investigated by Western blot analysis. Cell viability and apoptosis were analyzed by an MTT assay and flow cytometric analysis. Caspase activity was analyzed using a caspase-specific kit.Results: EAHF suppressed the proliferation of U937 cells in a dose-dependent manner. This effect was closely related to the induction of apoptosis via the downregulation of IAP family members such as IAP-1, IAP-2 and XIAP, as well as Bcl-2 proteins. The results also showed that caspases play an essential role in EAHF-induced apoptosis by generating of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, ROS scavenging by N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) and glutathione (GSH) decreased EAHF-induced apoptosis via the suppression of caspase activity. Although EAHF induced the phosphorylation of mitogenactivated protein kinases (MAPKs), treatment with MAPK inhibitors did not affect EAHF-induced apoptosis.Conclusion: These results suggest that EAHF induces apoptosis in U937 cells via ROS-dependent caspase activation.Keywords: Hizikia fusiforme, Apoptosis, Caspase, Reactive oxygen specie

Retrieving forest soil moisture from SMAP observations considering a microwave polarization difference index (MPDI) to τ-ω model

Estimating soil moisture from microwave brightness temperature is extremely challenging in densely vegetated areas. The soil moisture retrieved from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) measurements tends to be consistently overestimated, sometimes exceeding the saturation level of mineral soils. Therefore, the retrieved soil moisture cannot detect or monitor climate extremes, such as floods and droughts for forests, natural resource management, and climate change research. We hypothesize that the main issue is that the scattering albedo (ω) and the optical depth (τ) are parameterized solely with NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), neglecting the polarization characteristics from vegetation structure. This study proposes a weighting factor between scattering and optical thickness, a function of MPDI (Microwave Polarization Difference Index), and applies it to both parameters simultaneously to increase the scattering effect and decrease the attenuation effect in high MPDI. The validation results based on the Climate Reference Network revealed that considering MPDI is critical in reducing soil moisture overestimation errors and obtaining more accurate soil moisture over forested regions. This results in correlation improving from 0.36 to 0.44, a decrease in ubRMSE from 0.179 to 0.125 cm³cm-³, and bias lowering from 0.127 to 0.060 cm³cm-³ in comparison with the SMAP measurements over forested regions

Delivering Parenting Interventions through Health Services in the Caribbean

Integrating early childhood interventions with health and nutrition services has been recommended, however there is limited information on interventions that are effective and feasible for delivery through health services. In this trial we developed and evaluated a parenting program that could be integrated into primary health center visits

The Aharonov-Bohm effect for massless Dirac fermions and the spectral flow of Dirac type operators with classical boundary conditions

We compute, in topological terms, the spectral flow of an arbitrary family of self-adjoint Dirac type operators with classical (local) boundary conditions on a compact Riemannian manifold with boundary under the assumption that the initial and terminal operators of the family are conjugate by a bundle automorphism. This result is used to study conditions for the existence of nonzero spectral flow of a family of self-adjoint Dirac type operators with local boundary conditions in a two-dimensional domain with nontrivial topology. Possible physical realizations of nonzero spectral flow are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to Theoretical and Mathematical Physics. v2: A change has been made to the paragraph describing the previous work of M. Prokhorov

Ethics, space, and somatic sensibilities: comparing relationships between scientific researchers and their human and animal experimental subjects

Drawing on geographies of affect and nature-society relations, we propose a radical rethinking of how scientists, social scientists, and regulatory agencies conceptualise human and animal participants in scientif ic research. The scientific rationale for using animal bodies to simulate what could be done in human bodies emphasises shared somatic capacities that generate comparable responses to clinical interventions. At the same time, regulatory guidelines and care practices stress the differences between human and animal subjects. In this paper we consider the implications of this differentiation between human and animal bodies in ethical and welfare protocols and practices. We show how the bioethical debates around the use of human subjects tend to focus on issues of consent and language, while recent work in animal welfare reflects an increasing focus on the affectual dimensions of ethical practice. We argue that this attention to the more-than-representational dimensions of ethics and welfare might be equally important for human subjects. We assert that paying attention to these somatic sensibilities can offer insights into how experimental environments can both facilitate and restrict the development of more care-full and response-able relations between researchers and their experimental subjects. <br/