What unleashes innovations in the Legumes and Cereals farming Systems in the drylands: A gendered perspective

Agricultural and natural resource management innovations have often been introduced, promoted and adopted among local communities / farmers. However, how the innovation process is perceived by men and women, the relationships involved, the distribution of benefits and the differing capacities of women and men to take advantage of the new opportunities in agriculture are not always carefully thought-out. This study examined both community and individual men and women's experiences with agricultural innovations and practices and how these interactions support or hinder the achievement of agricultural innovations across various contexts. By providing robust empirical evidence on the relationship between gender norms, agency and agricultural innovation, the study revealed that sociocultural structures and household dynamics chiefly shapes how individuals negotiate for space, freedom, resources and the capacities needed to innovate

Electronic Structures of Quantum Dots and the Ultimate Resolution of Integers

The orbital angular momentum L as an integer can be ultimately factorized as a product of prime numbers. We show here a close relation between the resolution of L and the classification of quantum states of an N-electron 2-dimensional system. In this scheme, the states are in essence classified into different types according to the m(k)-accessibility, namely the ability to get access to symmetric geometric configurations. The m(k)-accessibility is an universal concept underlying all kinds of 2-dimensional systems with a center. Numerical calculations have been performed to reveal the electronic structures of the states of the dots with 9 and 19 electrons,respectively. This paper supports the Laughlin wave finction and the composite fermion model from the aspect of symmetry.Comment: Two figure

Exploration of cultural norms and practices influencing women’s participation in chickpea participatory varietal selection training activities: A case study of Ada’a and Ensaro districts, Ethiopia

In order to encourage gender equality in delivery of varietal knowledge to male and female farmers in Ada‟a and Ensaro districts of Ethiopia, chickpea breeders set a policy that each male farmer would bring along his wife to participatory varietal selection sessions. Women farmers did not attend planned trainings as expected. Using small-n approach, the „reasons‟ women in these communities did not take up the training opportunities were explored. Vignettes designed to depict the lives of a typical Ethiopian couple were used for exploring negotiations between husband and wife on „participation‟ decisions. Short radius of movement, labour burden, sex of extension agents, intimacy and harmony in the home emerge as key factors considered by women. We propose dialogue between men, women, the old and the young to initiate transformation of gender relations to cede „space for women‟, to build capacities to support chickpea production, and agriculture in Ethiopia

The ubiquitin proteasome system in neuropathology

The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) orchestrates the turnover of innumerable cellular proteins. In the process of ubiquitination the small protein ubiquitin is attached to a target protein by a peptide bond. The ubiquitinated target protein is subsequently shuttled to a protease complex known as the 26S proteasome and subjected to degradative proteolysis. The UPS facilitates the turnover of proteins in several settings. It targets oxidized, mutant or misfolded proteins for general proteolytic destruction, and allows for the tightly controlled and specific destruction of proteins involved in development and differentiation, cell cycle progression, circadian rhythms, apoptosis, and other biological processes. In neuropathology, alteration of the UPS, or mutations in UPS target proteins may result in signaling abnormalities leading to the initiation or progression of tumors such as astrocytomas, hemangioblastomas, craniopharyngiomas, pituitary adenomas, and medulloblastomas. Dysregulation of the UPS may also contribute to tumor progression by perturbation of DNA replication and mitotic control mechanisms, leading to genomic instability. In neurodegenerative diseases caused by the expression of mutant proteins, the cellular accumulation of these proteins may overload the UPS, indirectly contributing to the disease process, e.g., sporadic Parkinsonism and prion diseases. In other cases, mutation of UPS components may directly cause pathological accumulation of proteins, e.g., autosomal recessive Parkinsonism and spinocerebellar ataxias. Defects or dysfunction of the UPS may also underlie cognitive disorders such as Angelman syndrome, Rett syndrome and autism, and muscle and nerve diseases, e.g., inclusion body myopathy and giant axon neuropathy. This paper describes the basic biochemical mechanisms comprising the UPS and reviews both its theoretical and proven involvement in neuropathological diseases. The potential for the UPS as a target of pharmacological therapy is also discussed

Self-organization of the human embryo in the absence of maternal tissues.

Remodelling of the human embryo at implantation is indispensable for successful pregnancy. Yet it has remained mysterious because of the experimental hurdles that beset the study of this developmental phase. Here, we establish an in vitro system to culture human embryos through implantation stages in the absence of maternal tissues and reveal the key events of early human morphogenesis. These include segregation of the pluripotent embryonic and extra-embryonic lineages, and morphogenetic rearrangements leading to generation of a bilaminar disc, formation of a pro-amniotic cavity within the embryonic lineage, appearance of the prospective yolk sac, and trophoblast differentiation. Using human embryos and human pluripotent stem cells, we show that the reorganization of the embryonic lineage is mediated by cellular polarization leading to cavity formation. Together, our results indicate that the critical remodelling events at this stage of human development are embryo-autonomous, highlighting the remarkable and unanticipated self-organizing properties of human embryos.This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust grant to M.Z- G. Work in Dr. K.K.N lab was supported by The Francis Crick Institute, which receives its core funding from Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. Dr. M.N.S. was initially supported by a Ramon Areces Spanish Foundation Fellowship, and subsequently by an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. S.V was supported by a Post Doc Pool Grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Dr. GR was supported by a Newton Fellowship.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Nature Publishing Group

SCL—Segmentation–Classification combined Loss for surface defect detection

Deep learning for surface defect detection has recently received increased attention in relation to quality control of industrial products. In this paper, we present a combined loss function called Segmentation–Classification combined Loss (SCL). It exploits the binary information (normal/anomalous sample) implicit in the segmentation masks to reduce false positives and false negatives in surface defect detection tasks. We evaluate the method on images in three different domains: defects in electrical commutators, defects in a weakly labeled synthetic dataset, and defects of glass bottles. Our combined loss function outperforms the state of the art in the Kolektor (electrical commutators) dataset and significantly improves the classical Dice segmentation loss function in terms of both average precision, false positives, and false negatives. Moreover, the combined loss function introduced in this paper can be applied in a straightforward manner to any loss-based segmentation model. Finally, in this work we introduce and publish a new dataset for the still poorly explored task of surface defect detection of glass bottles

On the delayed approach to mediastinal lymphomas in the SARS-CoV2 era

COVID-19 outbreak dramatically affected the health system, not only by direct infection but also depleting health resources and limiting patients' access to medical advice. We presented the cases of four patients admitted to the Respiratory Department for mediastinal masses who, even complaining mass-related symptoms, delayed hospital admission being afraid of SARS-Cov2 infection. The final diagnosis of primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma was achieved by interventional pulmonology procedures including bronchoscopy, ultrasound and CT-guided biopsies. These semi-invasive techniques may speed up the diagnostic workout and, sometimes, spare thoracic surgery. The prognosis of this kind of non-Hodgkin lymphomas depends on an early and aggressive therapeutic approach. Considering that, the delayed healthcare utilization due to patients' concern to seek for medical advice in COVI D-19 era should not be underestimated