Mobile applications for weather and climate information: their use and potential for smallholder farmers

Mobile phones are increasingly being used to provide smallholder farmers with agricultural and related information. There is currently great interest in their scope to communicate climate and weather information. Farmers consistently identify demand for weather information and whilst ICTs may be one way of delivering this at scale there are concerns that this should not be seen as a panacea. At a time when there have been a range of initiatives and projects that have been implemented this paper seeks to draw lessons and identify key considerations to inform the development of future mobile applications to provide climate services to smallholder farmers. A literature review, interviews with key informants and experts and 15 case study reviews were conducted. This focused principally on Sub Saharan Africa but included some examples from India. Despite numerous initiatives few have developed fully beyond the pilot stage and few have been evaluated. Some of the provision to date has been of questionable value to farmers. A key observation is that relatively little attention has been paid in design, to the needs for and use of both the information and technology by farmers, and few attempts made to differentiate provision according to gender and other demographic variables. Other factors contributing to success included communications approaches, which are interactive and/or involve trusted intermediaries who can add context to and help interpret more complex information. Providing weather information alongside other services as ‘bundles’ and in conjunction with complementary communications approaches appears to work well. An important challenge is how to meet farmers’ needs for location specific, timely and relevant information in economically sustainable ways. More widely there are challenges in achieving successful business models and potential conflicts between initiatives driven by mobile network operators and public goals. The study identified areas of considerable potential which include: the use of increasingly available mobile data connections to ensure locally relevant content is available to farmers in timely fashion (including both historical climate information and forecasts); development of participatory decision making tools to enable farmers to interpret information for their own contexts and consider implications and management options; use of visual applications and participatory video on mobile devices to enhance learning and advisory services for farmers; the potential for increased feedback between farmers and service providers as well as increased knowledge sharing between farmers provided by the use of social media

Iatrogenic CJD due to pituitary-derived growth hormone with genetically determined incubation times of up to 40 years

Patients with iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease due to administration of cadaver-sourced growth hormone during childhood are still being seen in the UK 30 years after cessation of this treatment. Of the 77 patients who have developed iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, 56 have been genotyped. There has been a marked change in genotype profile at polymorphic codon 129 of the prion protein gene (PRNP) from predominantly valine homozygous to a mixed picture of methionine homozygous and methionine-valine heterozygous over time. The incubation period of iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is significantly different between all three genotypes. This experience is a striking contrast with that in France and the USA, which may relate to contamination of different growth hormone batches with different strains of human prions. We describe the clinical, imaging, molecular and autopsy features in 22 of 24 patients who have developed iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the UK since 2003. Mean age at onset of symptoms was 42.7 years. Gait ataxia and lower limb dysaesthesiae were the most frequent presenting symptoms. All had cerebellar signs, and the majority had myoclonus and lower limb pyramidal signs, with relatively preserved cognitive function, when first seen. There was a progressive decline in neurological and cognitive function leading to death after 5-32 (mean 14) months. Despite incubation periods approaching 40 years, the clinical duration in methionine homozygote patients appeared to be shorter than that seen in heterozygote patients. MRI showed restricted diffusion in the basal ganglia, thalamus, hippocampus, frontal and the paracentral motor cortex and cerebellar vermis. The electroencephalogram was abnormal in 15 patients and cerebrospinal fluid 14-3-3 protein was positive in half the patients. Neuropathological examination was conducted in nine patients. All but one showed synaptic prion deposition with numerous kuru type plaques in the basal ganglia, anterior frontal and parietal cortex, thalamus, basal ganglia and cerebellum. The patient with the shortest clinical duration had an atypical synaptic deposition of abnormal prion protein and no kuru plaques. Taken together, these data provide a remarkable example of the interplay between the strain of the pathogen and host prion protein genotype. Based on extensive modelling of human prion transmission barriers in transgenic mice expressing human prion protein on a mouse prion protein null background, the temporal distribution of codon 129 genotypes within the cohort of patients with iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the UK suggests that there was a point source of infecting prion contamination of growth hormone derived from a patient with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease expressing prion protein valine 129

History of clinical transplantation

The emergence of transplantation has seen the development of increasingly potent immunosuppressive agents, progressively better methods of tissue and organ preservation, refinements in histocompatibility matching, and numerous innovations is surgical techniques. Such efforts in combination ultimately made it possible to successfully engraft all of the organs and bone marrow cells in humans. At a more fundamental level, however, the transplantation enterprise hinged on two seminal turning points. The first was the recognition by Billingham, Brent, and Medawar in 1953 that it was possible to induce chimerism-associated neonatal tolerance deliberately. This discovery escalated over the next 15 years to the first successful bone marrow transplantations in humans in 1968. The second turning point was the demonstration during the early 1960s that canine and human organ allografts could self-induce tolerance with the aid of immunosuppression. By the end of 1962, however, it had been incorrectly concluded that turning points one and two involved different immune mechanisms. The error was not corrected until well into the 1990s. In this historical account, the vast literature that sprang up during the intervening 30 years has been summarized. Although admirably documenting empiric progress in clinical transplantation, its failure to explain organ allograft acceptance predestined organ recipients to lifetime immunosuppression and precluded fundamental changes in the treatment policies. After it was discovered in 1992 that long-surviving organ transplant recipient had persistent microchimerism, it was possible to see the mechanistic commonality of organ and bone marrow transplantation. A clarifying central principle of immunology could then be synthesized with which to guide efforts to induce tolerance systematically to human tissues and perhaps ultimately to xenografts

Contrasting prefrontal cortex contributions to episodic memory dysfunction in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and alzheimer's disease

Recent evidence has questioned the integrity of episodic memory in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), where recall performance is impaired to the same extent as in Alzheimer's disease (AD). While these deficits appear to be mediated by divergent patterns of brain atrophy, there is evidence to suggest that certain prefrontal regions are implicated across both patient groups. In this study we sought to further elucidate the dorsolateral (DLPFC) and ventromedial (VMPFC) prefrontal contributions to episodic memory impairment in bvFTD and AD. Performance on episodic memory tasks and neuropsychological measures typically tapping into either DLPFC or VMPFC functions was assessed in 22 bvFTD, 32 AD patients and 35 age- and education-matched controls. Behaviourally, patient groups did not differ on measures of episodic memory recall or DLPFC-mediated executive functions. BvFTD patients were significantly more impaired on measures of VMPFC-mediated executive functions. Composite measures of the recall, DLPFC and VMPFC task scores were covaried against the T1 MRI scans of all participants to identify regions of atrophy correlating with performance on these tasks. Imaging analysis showed that impaired recall performance is associated with divergent patterns of PFC atrophy in bvFTD and AD. Whereas in bvFTD, PFC atrophy covariates for recall encompassed both DLPFC and VMPFC regions, only the DLPFC was implicated in AD. Our results suggest that episodic memory deficits in bvFTD and AD are underpinned by divergent prefrontal mechanisms. Moreover, we argue that these differences are not adequately captured by existing neuropsychological measures

Influence of phyllosilicate mineral assemblages, fabrics, and fluids on the behavior of the Punchbowl fault, southern California

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95206/1/jgrb13457.pd

The reaction in counter-action: how Meisner technique and active analysis complement each other

This article is an investigation into the difference between reaction and counter-action. The question arose during my experience of Active Analysis at the Stanislavski Acting Laboratory in California Riverside University. In the Meisner technique the emphasis lies on instinctive reaction, whereas in Stanislavski’s Active Analysis the action and counter-action are emphasised. Counter-action can be seen as the force working against the main action of the scene creating conflict. Having extensive knowledge of reaction, and experience of counter-action, it became important to understand the difference between the two concepts and the importance of both in actor training and application to text. Through research into Action-Perception theory, self-regulation and motivation, I attempt to dissect the fundamental discrepancies between the two principles. My findings show that reaction stems from impulse and instinct, whereas counter-action is rooted in motivation. When motivation and instinct are in conflict, self-regulation will attempt to supress the impulse and over-ride it with an alternative counter-action more suited to the overall motivation. As self-regulation is a limited resource, prolonged use will make this harder to control. Emotion control draws on the same limited resource as self-regulation. Suggesting that emotion regulation would be affected by a conflict in instinct and motivation. These conclusions have a strong impact on how emotions are manifested and produced in actors and warrant a re-evaluation of how actors reach emotional connection to the given circumstance, as well as how emotion is viewed and engaged with in actor training in general

Vigilance in a Cooperatively Breeding Primate

Collective vigilance is considered a major advantage of group living in animals. We investigated vigilance behavior in wild mustached tamarins (Saguinus mystax), small, arboreal, cooperatively breeding New World primates that form stable mixed-species groups with saddleback tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis). We aimed 1) to investigate whether vigilance patterns change according to individual activity and 2) to examine whether there is a social component of vigilance in their cooperative and nonaggressive society. We studied 11 factors that may influence vigilance and used this data to interpret the possible functions of vigilance. We observed 44 individuals in 3 mixed-species and 2 single-species groups of 2 populations that differed in population density and home range sizes. Vigilance changed greatly when individuals were engaged in different activities and individual vigilance was affected by different sets of factors depending on the activity. As vigilance decreased in proximity of conspecifics and heterospecifics when feeding, and in larger mixed-species groups when resting, we conclude that the predominant function of vigilance in mustached tamarins is predator related. However, the absence of the group size effect in very large single-species groups suggests that it may also function to maintain group cohesion. In the population with higher density and smaller home ranges individuals also increased their vigilance in home range overlap areas. We found no evidence that mustached tamarins monitor group mates to avoid food stealing or aggression. The effect of heterospecifics on individual vigilance suggests that collective vigilance might have been an important incentive in the evolution of tamarin mixed-species groups

Formation and physicochemical properties of crystalline and amorphous salts with different stoichiometries formed between ciprofloxacin and succinic acid

YesMulti-ionizable compounds, such as dicarboxylic acids, offer the possibility of forming salts of drugs with multiple stoichiometries. Attempts to crystallize ciprofloxacin, a poorly water-soluble, amphoteric molecule with succinic acid (S) resulted in isolation of ciprofloxacin hemisuccinate (1:1) trihydrate (CHS-I) and ciprofloxacin succinate (2:1) tetrahydrate (CS-I). Anhydrous ciprofloxacin hemisuccinate (CHS-II) and anhydrous ciprofloxacin succinate (CS-II) were also obtained. It was also possible to obtain stoichiometrically equivalent amorphous salt forms, CHS-III and CS-III, by spray drying and milling, respectively, of the drug and acid. Anhydrous CHS and CS had melting points at ∼215 and ∼228 °C, while the glass transition temperatures of CHS-III and CS-III were ∼101 and ∼79 °C, respectively. Dynamic solubility studies revealed the metastable nature of CS-I in aqueous media, resulting in a transformation of CS-I to a mix of CHS-I and ciprofloxacin 1:3.7 hydrate, consistent with the phase diagram. CS-III was observed to dissolve noncongruently leading to high and sustainable drug solution concentrations in water at 25 and 37 °C, with the ciprofloxacin concentration of 58.8 ± 1.18 mg/mL after 1 h of the experiment at 37 °C. This work shows that crystalline salts with multiple stoichiometries and amorphous salts have diverse pharmaceutically relevant properties, including molecular, solid state, and solubility characteristics.Solid State Pharmaceutical Cluster (SSPC), supported by Science Foundation Ireland under grant number 07/SRC/ B1158

Characterization and social correlates of fecal testosterone and cortisol excretion in wild male Saguinus mystax

Reproductive success in male primates can be influenced by testosterone (T) and cortisol (C). We examined them in wild Saguinus mystax via fecal hormone analysis. Firstly, we wanted to characterize male hormonal status over the course of the year. Further we tested the influence of the reproductive status of the breeding female, social instability, and intergroup encounter rates on T levels, comparing the results with predictions of the challenge hypothesis (Wingfield et al., 1990). We also tested for interindividual differences in hormonal levels, possibly related to social or breeding status. We collected data during a 12-mo study on 2 groups of moustached tamarins at the Estación Biológica Quebrada Blanco in northeastern Peru. We found fairly similar T and C levels over the course of the year for all males. Yet an elevation of T shortly after the birth of infants, during the phase of ovarian inactivity of the group’s breeding female, was evident. Hormonal levels were not significantly elevated during a phase of social instability, did not correlate with intergroup encounter rates, and did not differ between breeding and nonbreeding males. Our results confirm the challenge hypothesis (Wingfield et al., 1990). The data suggest that reproductive competition inmoustached tamarins is not based on endocrinological, but instead on behavioral mechanisms, possibly combined with sperm competition.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (HE 1870/10-1,2