Exploratory Study on Selected Philippine Agricultural Commodity Import Statistics vis-Ã -vis Export Statistics of the Exporting Countries

Using the import data compiled by the Philippines and comparing these with data as reported by the exporting countries, this study aims to determine the disparity of the statistics from the two sources on the quantity and value of selected agricultural commodities for the years 2000 to 2005. The products covered by this study consist of wholly or semi-milled rice, maize (corn), live poultry, domestic fowls, ducks, geese, frozen meat of bovine animals, apples, oranges, onions and shallots, and garlic. The differences in statistics on the bilateral transactions─in terms of FOB values, quantities, and derived unit prices─are examined by using percentage differences, the implicit minimal measurement error (IMME), and the Wilcoxon Matched-Pair Signed-Ranks (Wilcoxon-MPSR) test. Results show that considerable discrepancies between import and export statistics do exist. The discrepancy may reflect both legitimate conceptual differences between Philippine imports and exports statistics of the exporting countries, as well as errors in reporting. The discrepancy is further substantiated by the results of the Wilcoxon-MPSR test, which show that these differences are significant.

Epidermal sensors for monitoring skin physiology

Wearable sensors are revolutionizing personalised healthcare and have continuously progressed over the years in both research and commercialization. However, most efforts on wearable sensors have been focused on tracking movement, spatial position and continuous monitoring of vital signs such as heart rate or respiration rate. Recently, there is a demand to obtain biochemical information from the body using wearables. This demand stems from an individuals’ desire for improved personal health awareness as well as the drive for doctors to continuously obtain medical information for a patients’ disease management. Epidermal sensors are a sub-class of wearable sensors that can intimately integrate with skin and have the potential for monitoring physical changes as well as detecting biomarkers within skin that can be related to human health. The holy grail for these types of sensors is to achieve continuous real-time monitoring of the state of an individual and the development of these sensors are paving the way towards personalised healthcare. However, skin is highly anisotropic which makes it challenging to keep epidermal sensors in consistent contact with skin. It is important that these sensors remain in contact with skin in order to measure its electrical properties and acquire high fidelity signals. The key objective of this thesis is to develop thin conformable, stretchable epidermal sensors for tracking changes in skin physiology. The initial iteration of the screen printed epidermal sensor comprised of a flexible silver film. Impedance spectroscopy was used to understand the electrical signals generated on skin and it was used to measure relative changes due to varying water content. However, this iteration was more suited for single use. The next chapters explore different ink formulations and adherence methodologies to enhance the epidermal sensors adherence to skin. Impedance spectroscopy was used to characterise the electrical signals from these different epidermal sensor iterations, while tensile testing and on-body assessment was used to characterise its mechanical properties. The final chapter focused on investigating the use of phenyl boronic acid (PBA) functionalized hydrogels to modify the epidermal sensor with responsive hydrogel materials to enable chemical sensing of analytes relevant to skin physiology. Impedance spectroscopy was used to characterise and understand the electrical signals generated by the binding interaction of the PBA and analytes using the sensor. Overall, the work demonstrates the challenges of developing these epidermal sensors as well as presenting their potential for continuous monitoring of human skin in the future

Trade-offs Between Water Transport Capacity and Drought Resistance in Neotropical Canopy Liana and Tree Species

In tropical forest canopies, it is critical for upper shoots to efficiently provide water to leaves for physiological function while safely preventing loss of hydraulic conductivity due to cavitation during periods of soil water deficit or high evaporative demand. We compared hydraulic physiology of upper canopy trees and lianas in a seasonally dry tropical forest to test whether trade-offs between safety and efficiency of water transport shape differences in hydraulic function between these two major tropical woody growth forms. We found that lianas showed greater maximum stem-specific hydraulic conductivity than trees, but lost hydraulic conductivity at less negative water potentials than trees, resulting in a negative correlation and trade-off between safety and efficiency of water transport. Lianas also exhibited greater diurnal changes in leaf water potential than trees. The magnitude of diurnal water potential change was negatively correlated with sapwood capacitance, indicating that lianas are highly reliant on conducting capability to maintain leaf water status, whereas trees relied more on stored water in stems to maintain leaf water status. Leaf nitrogen concentration was related to maximum leaf-specific hydraulic conductivity only for lianas suggesting that greater water transport capacity is more tied to leaf processes in lianas compared to trees. Our results are consistent with a trade-off between safety and efficiency of water transport and may have implications for increasing liana abundance in neotropical forests

Differences in nitrate uptakeamong benthic algal assemblages in a mountain stream

We evaluated how benthic algal assemblages that vary in composition, richness, and other diversity metrics remove NO 3 -N from the water column of a mountain stream. Ecological theory and empirical studies suggest that ecosystem process rates should increase as richness increases because of niche separation or activity of dominant taxa. Accordingly, we predicted that algal assemblages with highest richness would show the highest rates of NO 3 -N uptake. To test this prediction, we transplanted 225 rocks representing 3 patch types (green, yellow, and brown) that differed macroscopically in algal composition from a lake outflow stream to a lake inflow stream where an experimental release of 15 N-NO 3 was ongoing. We measured 15 N uptake in each patch type during the stable isotope release. Benthic algal richness varied from 28 genera in the green patch type and 26 genera in the yellow patch type to 22 genera in the brown patch type. Without accounting for differences in chlorophyll a content, NO 3 -N uptake (2.1–3.3 3 10 4 /d) was highest in the green patch type, lowest (0.3–0.6 3 10 4 /d) in the yellow patch type, and intermediate (1.2–1.5 3 10 4 /d) in the brown patch type. NO 3 -N uptake normalized to chlorophyll a increased in concert with algal richness in the 3 patch types. This result supports the hypothesis that increased assemblage diversity leads to higher rates of community processes. Aside from diversity differences per se, lower rates of NO 3 -N uptake in the brown patch type might be the consequence of differences in functional characteristics of the taxa present. Approximately 29% of algal biovolume in the brown patch type consisted of taxa capable of N 2 -fixation, a result that suggests that algae in this patch type might be capable of meeting N needs via N 2 -fixation rather than via removal from the water column

Recent positive selection in genes of the mammalian epidermal differentiation complex locus

The epidermal differentiation complex (EDC) is the most rapidly evolving locus in the human genome compared to that of the chimpanzee. Yet the EDC genes that are undergoing positive selection across mammals and in humans are not known. We sought to identify the positively selected genetic variants and determine the evolutionary events of the EDC using mammalian-wide and clade-specific branch- and branch-site likelihood ratio tests and a genetic algorithm (GA) branch test. Significant non-synonymous substitutions were found in filaggrin, SPRR4, LELP1, and S100A2 genes across 14 mammals. By contrast, we identified recent positive selection in SPRR4 in primates. Additionally, the GA branch test discovered lineage-specific evolution for distinct EDC genes occurring in each of the nodes in the 14-mammal phylogenetic tree. Multiple instances of positive selection for FLG, TCHHL1, SPRR4, LELP1, and S100A2 were noted among the primate branch nodes. Branch-site likelihood ratio tests further revealed positive selection in specific sites in SPRR4, LELP1, filaggrin, and repetin across 14 mammals. However, in addition to continuous evolution of SPRR4, site-specific positive selection was also found in S100A11, KPRP, SPRR1A, S100A7L2, and S100A3 in primates and filaggrin, filaggrin2, and S100A8 in great apes. Very recent human positive selection was identified in the filaggrin2 L41 site that was present in Neanderthal. Together, our results identifying recent positive selection in distinct EDC genes reveal an underappreciated evolution of epidermal skin barrier function in primates and humans

The very fast evolution of Sakurai's object

V4334 Sgr (a.k.a. Sakurai's object) is the central star of an old planetary nebula that underwent a very late thermal pulse a few years before its discovery in 1996. We have been monitoring the evolution of the optical emission line spectrum since 2001. The goal is to improve the evolutionary models by constraining them with the temporal evolution of the central star temperature. In addition the high resolution spectral observations obtained by X-shooter and ALMA show the temporal evolution of the different morphological components.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures to appear in the Proceedings of the IAU Symp. 323: "Planetary nebulae: Multi-wavelength probes of stellar and galactic evolution". Eds. X.-W. Liu, L. Stanghellini and A. Karaka

Global compliance with hepatitis b vaccine birth dose and factors related to timely schedule. A literature review

Objectives: Identify global barriers for delivery of hepatitis B vaccine birth dose. Methods: A search for cross sectional studies published between January 2001 and December 2017 was conducted using the following Mesh terms: "Vaccination"[Mesh], "Mass Vaccination"[Mesh], "Hepatitis B"[Mesh], "Hepatitis B virus"[Mesh], "Hepatitis B Surface Antigens"[Mesh]. Databases consulted included: PUBMED, SCIELO, EMBASE and BIREME. To evaluate the quality of studies, we used an adapted version of the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale for cross sectional studies. Results: An initial list of 6,789 articles were generated by the combination of search terms. After reviewing titles and abstracts, they were reduced to 134 for full reading, and 22 studies were included in the barriers analysis. The region with more references was Western Pacific while eastern Mediterranean had the lowest. Being born outside of a health facility and weakness of outreach vaccination service seems to be the most important an cited factors related to underperformance of birth dose delivery. In developed countries, hospital policies on birth dose vaccination was the main factor associated to no vaccintion with the birth dose. Conclusions: New ways to deliver hepatitis B vaccines to neonates being born at home or outside health facilities should be envisaged and applied, if the goal of eliminating perinatal transmission of hepatitis B is to be achieved

Rural Hispanic Youths\u27 Perceptions of Positive Youth Development Experiences

An exploratory study examined rural Latino youths\u27 perceptions regarding positive youth development (PYD), particularly related to aspects such as the definition of PYD, potential benefits of PYD, and motivations for participating in PYD activities. A total of 28 self-identified Hispanic youths participated in focus groups. Findings suggest that participants identified key components of PYD (e.g., skills gained through participation) that are generally consistent with broader research on the topic. Youths\u27 motivations for participating in PYD programs included familial encouragement, availability of the programs, and the engaging/enjoyable nature of the programs. Potential implications for Extension professionals are discussed

Understanding Parental Ethnotheories and Practices About Healthy Eating: Exploring the Developmental Niche of Preschoolers

Purpose: To understand parental ethnotheories (i.e., belief systems) and practices about preschoolers’ healthy eating guided by the developmental niche framework. Design: Qualitative hermeneutic phenomenology. Setting: Home. Participants: Participants were 20 parents of preschool-age children ages 3 to 5 years, recruited from a quantitative investigation. A majority of the participants were white, female, married, well educated, and working full time. Methods: Participants who completed the quantitative survey were asked to provide their contact information if they were willing to be interviewed. From the pool of participants who expressed their willingness to participate in the interviews, 20 participants were selected using a random number generator. In-person semistructured interviews were conducted until data saturation (n ¼ 20). Thematic analysis was performed. Results: Three themes and 6 subthemes emerged: theme 1—parental ethnotheories about healthy eating included subthemes of knowledge about healthy eating, motivations to promote healthy child development through healthy eating, and sources of knowledge about healthy eating (e.g., doctors, social media, government guidelines, positive family-of-origin experiences); theme 2—parental ethnotheories that supported organization of children’s physical and social settings included structured mealtime routines and food socialization influences (e.g., grandparents, siblings, and childcare programs); and theme 3—parental ethnotheories that supported children’s learning about healthy eating included parent–child engagement, communication, and encouragement in food-related activities (e.g., meal preparation, visiting farmer’s market, grocery shopping, gardening, cooking, baking). Conclusion: Findings advance the literature on parental practices about healthy eating. Parental ethnotheories (e.g., beliefs, motivations, knowledge, and skills) matter. Developmental niche of preschoolers (i.e., physical and social settings, childrearing practices, and parental ethnotheories) constitutes an interactive system in which ethnotheories serve as guides to parental practices. Fostering nutrition education and parent–child engagement, communication, and encouragement in food-related activities are recommended to promote children’s healthy eating in daily routines