So you are going to marry a N.Z. farmer?

The New Zealand Kellogg Rural Leaders Programme develops emerging agribusiness leaders to help shape the future of New Zealand agribusiness and rural affairs. Lincoln University has been involved with this leaders programme since 1979 when it was launched with a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, USA.This investigation, of how self-concept labels influence the adaptation of overseasborn partners of New Zealand-born farmers into rural New Zealand, was designed to look at why some partners successful make the transition to rural New Zealand and farming, while others struggle. The hypothesis is that if immigrant partners can change the self-concept labels they use to identify themselves then they will be more able to successfully adapt to rural life. However the results are not conclusive enough to prove or disprove this. The investigation was conducted using a focus group of seven participants who were all born overseas and have immigrated to rural New Zealand to marry/cohabit with New Zealand born farmers. The results focus on the shifts in self-concept labels amongst the group. They also explore labels that remain the same both before and after adaptation for a number of the participants. There is also discussion on two predominant self-concept labels that were identified, "family orientated" and "strongly connected to heritage"

Internal friction investigation of phase transformation in nearly stoichiometric LaMnO3+δ

Rhombohedral LaMnO3+δ powders, prepared by two different soft chemistry routes (co-precipitation and hydrothermal synthesis), are sintered at 1400 °C for 2 h in air. Measurements of internal friction Q−1(T) and shear modulus G(T), at low frequencies from −180 to 700 °C under vacuum, evidence three structural transitions of nearly stoichiometric orthorhombic LaMnO3+δ. The first one, at 250 or 290 °C, depending on the processing followed, is associated to either a Jahn–Teller structural transition or a phase transformation from orthorhombic to pseudo-cubic. The second one at 610 or 630 °C is related to a phase transformation from pseudo-cubic or orthorhombic to rhombohedral. Below the Neel temperature, around −170 °C, a relaxation peak could be associated, for samples prepared according to both processing routes, to the motion of Weiss domains

Implantation of subcutaneous heart rate data loggers in southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina)

Unlike most phocid species (Phocidae), Mirounga leonina (southern elephant seals) experience a catastrophic moult where they not only replace their hair but also their epidermis when ashore for approximately 1 month. Few studies have investigated behavioural and physiological adaptations of southern elephant seals during the moult fast, a particularly energetically costly life cycle’s phase. Recording heart rate is a reliable technique for estimating energy expenditure in the field. For the first time, subcutaneous heart rate data loggers were successfully implanted during the moult in two free-ranging southern elephant seals over 3–6 days. No substantial postoperative complications were encountered and consistent heart rate data were obtained. This promising surgical technique opens new opportunities for monitoring heart rate in phocid seals

Identification of protein markers for extracellular vesicle (EV) subsets in cow’s milk

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), like exosomes, are small membrane vesicles involved in cell-to-cell communications that modulate numerous biological processes. We previously discovered a new EV subset in milk (sedimenting at 35,000 g; 35 K) that protected its cargo (RNAs and proteins) during simulated digestion and was more enriched in microRNAs than exosomes (sedimenting at 100 K). Here, we used LC-MS/MS to push further the comparison between these two pellets. Commonly used EV markers were not differentially enriched between the pellets, questioning their use with cow's milk EVs. Similarly, the majority of the quantified proteins were equally enriched between the two pellets. Nevertheless, 20 proteins were specific to 35 K, while 41 were specifically enriched in 100 K (p < 0.05), suggesting their potential use as specific markers. Loaded with these proteins, the EVs in these pellets might regulate translation, proliferation and cell survival for 35 K, and metabolism, extracellular matrix turnover and immunity for 100 K. This approach also brought new insights into milk EV-associated integrins and their possible role in specifically targeting recipient cell types. These findings may help better discriminate between milk EVs, improve our understanding of milk EV-associated protein function and their possible use as therapeutic tools for the management of immunity- and metabolism-associated disorders

An EM Approach for Time-Variant Poisson-Gaussian Model Parameter Estimation

International audienceThe problem of estimating the parameters of a Poisson-Gaussian model from experimental data has recently raised much interest in various applications, for instance in confocal fluorescence microscopy. In this context, a field of independent random variables is observed, which is varying both in time and space. Each variable is a sum of two components, one following a Poisson and the other a Gaussian distribution. In this paper, a general formulation is considered where the associated Poisson process is nonstationary in space and also exhibits an exponential decay in time, whereas the Gaussian component corresponds to a stationary white noise with arbitrary mean. To solve the considered parametric estimation problem, we follow an iterative Expectation-Maximization (EM) approach. The parameter update equations involve deriving finite approximation of infinite sums. Expressions for the maximum error incurred in the process are also given. Since the problem is non-convex, we pay attention to the EM initialization, using a moment-based method where recent optimization tools come into play. We carry out a performance analysis by computing the Cramer-Rao bounds on the estimated variables. The practical performance of the proposed estimation procedure is illustrated on both synthetic data and real fluorescence macroscopy image sequences. The algorithm is shown to provide reliable estimates of the mean/variance of the Gaussian noise and of the scale parameter of the Poisson component, as well as of its exponential decay rate. In particular, the mean estimate of the Poisson component can be interpreted as a good-quality denoised version of the data

Cytochrome b divergence between avian sister species is linked to generation length and body mass

It is increasingly realised that the molecular clock does not tick at a constant rate. Rather, mitochondrial mutation rates are influenced by factors such as generation length and body mass. This has implications for the use of genetic data in species delimitation. It could be that speciation, as recognised by avian taxonomists, is associated with a certain minimum genetic distance between sister taxa, in which case we would predict no difference in the cytochrome b divergence of sister taxa according to the species’ body size or generation time. Alternatively, if what taxonomists recognise as speciation has tended to be associated with the passage of a minimum amount of time since divergence, then there might be less genetic divergence between sister taxa with slower mutation rates, namely those that are heavier and/or with longer generation times. After excluding non-flying species, we analysed a database of over 600 avian sister species pairs, and found that species pairs with longer generation lengths (which tend to be the larger species) showed less cytochrome b divergence. This finding cautions against using any simple unitary criterion of genetic divergence to delimit species

Kepuasan Pasien Pengguna Kartu Jakarta Sehat di Unit Rawat Jalan Rumah Sakit

Peluncuran Kartu Jakarta Sehat (KJS) pada bulan November 2012 mengakibatkan jumlah kunjungan pasien yang melonjak drastis di fasilitas kesehatan, khususnya rumah sakit, baik itu rumah sakit pemerintah pusat, rumah sakit pemerintahdaerah maupun rumah sakit swasta yang berkomitmen dengan Pemerintah Daerah Jakarta. KJS memberikan kemudahan akses layanan kesehatan agar pasien dapat berobat secara gratis. Namun persoalan yang muncul kemudian adalah pasien harus mengantre lama di loket pendaftaran, ruang pemeriksaan, maupun ruang pengambilan obat. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan faktor sosial budaya, pribadi, dan psikologis dengan kepuasan pasien pengguna KJS pada 110 responden di Unit Rawat Jalan RSU UKI, dan telah dilaksanakan pada bulan Maret 2013. Rancangan penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kuantitatif dengan pendekatan potong lintang. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan kepuasan pasien KJS sebesar 40,9%. Akses ke rumah sakit, motivasi, informasi baik dan informasi tidak baik berhubungan signifikan dengan kepuasan pasien KJS, tetapi motivasi adalah hal yang paling dominan berhubungan. Selain itu, kepuasan pasien KJS juga berhubungan bermakna dengan pemanfaatan kembali layanan dan minat merekomendasikan layanan pada orang lain.Jakarta Health Card (JHC) was launched on November 2012, followed by sudden increase number of patient in any hospital accordingly. Jakarta Health Card ease the patient to afford health care without payment. We conducted study on the relation among socio-culture, demographic characteristics, and psychology factors toward patient satisfaction in using JHC. The study subjects were 110 outpatient of UKI Hospital, with study design descriptive quantitative with cross sectional approach. The result showed 40,9% of the patients were satisfied with the hospital service. Factors such as hospital access, motivation, good information and bad information were associated with patient satisfaction significantly, and motivation was the dominant factor. Besides, patient satisfaction also has significant correlation with revisiting/ reusing and recommendation of the hospital to other patients

Poisson-Gaussian noise parameter estimation in fluorescence microscopy imaging

International audienceIn this paper, we present a new fully automatic approach for noise parameter estimation in the context of fluorescence imaging systems. In particular, we address the problem of Poisson-Gaussian noise modeling in the nonstationary case. In microscopy practice, the nonstationarity is due to the photobleaching effect. The proposed method consists of an adequate moment based initialization followed by Expectation-Maximization iterations. This approach is shown to provide reliable estimates of the mean and the variance of the Gaussian noise and of the scale parameter of Poisson noise, as well as of the photobleaching rates. The algorithm performance is demonstrated on both synthetic and real fluorescence microscopy image sequences