162 research outputs found
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Local Viewpoints on Conservation and Development at Malio, Andohahela National Park, Madagascar
Madagascar, home to a high degree of endemic species and has been subject to numerous programs and organizations intent on preserving its biodiversity, which is currently pressured largely by anthropogenic causes. Protected areas, including national parks, make up a central part of these conservation efforts, combining ecotourism and restricting access for locals. This study looked to see how local people and conservation efforts interact, and how villagers view the concept of conservation at one site of one of Madagascar’s National Parks (Malio, at Andohahela National Park). In looking at viewpoints and opinions about conservation, park management and related factors, locals revealed a varying depth of knowledge about conservation and the systems supporting the park’s function. While the feelings of villagers regarding the park varied as well, it was largely considered problematic and many villagers expressed frustrations with limitations of the park impacting livelihoods, problems with park management, inadequate compensation and an inability to express their own needs regarding park planning and management. This localized study reflected challenges of a larger problem, coordinating the needs for livelihoods and conservation of Madagascar’s biodiversity, complicated by differential actions of interacting systems and organizations, cultural undercurrents, as well as systemic problems
Selective expression of interleukin 10, interferon gamma, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in ovarian cancer biopsies.
Why Don't Prices Fall in a Recession? Financial Constraints, Investment, and Customer Relations
Early rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by a distinct and transient synovial fluid cytokine profile of T cell and stromal cell origin
Pathological processes involved in the initiation of rheumatoid synovitis remain unclear. We undertook the present study to identify immune and stromal processes that are present soon after the clinical onset of rheumatoid arthritis ( RA) by assessing a panel of T cell, macrophage, and stromal cell related cytokines and chemokines in the synovial fluid of patients with early synovitis. Synovial fluid was aspirated from inflamed joints of patients with inflammatory arthritis of duration 3 months or less, whose outcomes were subsequently determined by follow up. For comparison, synovial fluid was aspirated from patients with acute crystal arthritis, established RA and osteoarthritis. Rheumatoid factor activity was blocked in the synovial fluid samples, and a panel of 23 cytokines and chemokines measured using a multiplex based system. Patients with early inflammatory arthritis who subsequently developed RA had a distinct but transient synovial fluid cytokine profile. The levels of a range of T cell, macrophage and stromal cell related cytokines ( e. g. IL-2, IL-4, IL-13, IL-17, IL-15, basic fibroblast growth factor and epidermal growth factor) were significantly elevated in these patients within 3 months after symptom onset, as compared with early arthritis patients who did not develop RA. In addition, this profile was no longer present in established RA. In contrast, patients with non-rheumatoid persistent synovitis exhibited elevated levels of interferon-gamma at initiation. Early synovitis destined to develop into RA is thus characterized by a distinct and transient synovial fluid cytokine profile. The cytokines present in the early rheumatoid lesion suggest that this response is likely to influence the microenvironment required for persistent RA
The Sydney Declaration – Revisiting the essence of forensic science through its fundamental principles
Unlike other more established disciplines, a shared understanding and broad acceptance of the essence of forensic science, its purpose, and fundamental principles are still missing or mis-represented. This foundation has been overlooked, although recognised by many forensic science forefathers and seen as critical to this discipline's advancement. The Sydney Declaration attempts to revisit the essence of forensic science through its foundational basis, beyond organisations, technicalities or protocols. It comprises a definition of forensic science and seven fundamental principles that emphasise the pivotal role of the trace as a vestige, or remnant, of an investigated activity. The Sydney Declaration also discusses critical features framing the forensic scientist’s work, such as context, time asymmetry, the continuum of uncertainties, broad scientific knowledge, ethics, critical thinking, and logical reasoning. It is argued that the proposed principles should underpin the practice of forensic science and guide education and research directions. Ultimately, they will benefit forensic science as a whole to be more relevant, effective and reliable
Implementation and effects of user participation in playground management: a comparative study of two Swedish municipalities
This paper describes and analyses how customer orientation strategies, with the focus on user
participation, are implemented in playground management and their effects on managers’ attitudes and work with physical playgrounds. A comparative case study was conducted in two Swedish municipalities that involve users in different ways: through a manager-driven
participation process and through informal user-initiated dialogue. The empirical material consisted of qualitative interviews with professionals in the management organisations and studies of local playgrounds. Implementation of strategies for user participation and tactical management activities appeared to be of importance. The manager-driven participation strategy was associated with a particularly positive attitude among managers, but also difficulties such as maintaining continuous dialogue with users. The small differences found in playground provision between the two municipalities give reason to question the physical
effects of participation processes, and show the need for further research
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Gender differences in end-user debugging strategies
Little is known about the strategies end-user programmers use in debugging their programs, and even less is known about gender differences that may exist in these strategies. Without this type of information, end-user programming systems cannot know the "target" at which to aim, if they are to support male and female end-user programmers' debugging. In this paper, we present a study investigating this issue. We asked a group of end-user programmers to debug spreadsheets and to describe the strategies they used to carry out this task. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we analyzed the strategies reported, considered whether the strategies could be confirmed by observations of participants' behaviors, and looked for relation-ships among participants' strategy choices, gender, and debugging success. Our results indicate that males and females debug in quite different ways, that there are considerable opportunities for improving support for end-user debugging strategies for both genders, and that the types of features commonly found to aid debugging may be especially deficient in supporting strategies the females prefer to use in debugging.Keywords: debugging, end-user programming, Office Automation—Spreadsheets, Gender, strategy, Testing and Debugging, end-user software engineering, User/Machine Systems—Human factors, Information Interfaces and Presentation—User Interface
Peripheral blood gene expression patterns discriminate among chronic inflammatory diseases and healthy controls and identify novel targets
Lung exposure of titanium dioxide nanoparticles induces innate immune activation and long-lasting lymphocyte response in the Dark Agouti rat
Nanomaterial of titanium dioxide (TiO2) is manufactured in large-scale production plants, resulting in risks for accidental high exposures of humans. Inhalation of metal oxide nanoparticles in high doses may lead to both acute and long-standing adverse effects. By using the Dark Agouti (DA) rat, a strain disposed to develop chronic inflammation following exposure to immunoactivating adjuvants, we investigated local and systemic inflammatory responses after lung exposure of nanosized TiO2 particles up to 90 days after intratracheal instillation. TiO2 induced a transient response of proinflammatory and T-cell-activating cytokines (interleukin [IL]-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant [CINC]-1, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor [GM-CSF], and IL-2) in airways 1-2 days after exposure, accompanied byaninfluxofeosinophilsand neutrophils. Neutrophil numbers remained elevated for 30 days, whereas the eosinophils declined to baseline levels at Day 8, simultaneously with an increase of dendritic cells and natural killer (NK) cells. The innate immune activation was followed by a lymphocyte expansion that persisted throughout the 90-day study. Lymphocytes recruited to the lungs were predominantly CD4+ helper T-cells, but we also demonstrated presence of CD8+T-cells, B-cells, and CD25+T-cells. In serum, we detected both an early cytokine expression at Days 1-2 (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, CINC-1, IL-10, and interferon-gamma [IFN-γ] and a second response at Day 16 of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), indicating systemic late-phase effects in addition to the local response in airways. In summary, these data demonstrate a dynamic response to TiO2 nanoparticles in the lungs of DA rats, beginning with an innate immune activation of eosinophils, neutrophils, dendritic cells, and NK cells, followed by a long-lasting activation of lymphocytes involved in adaptive immunity. The results have implications for the assessment of risks for adverse and persistent immune stimulation following nanoparticle exposures in sensitive populations
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