The Capacity Building For Democratic Developmental ocal Governance

Desentralisasi dianggap sebagai pilar utama dalam promosi demokrasi di negara berkembang. Akan tetapi, perlu dicatat bahwa yang diharapkan oleh masyarakat bukan semata-mata proses yang demokratis, tetapi juga perdamaian dan peningkatan pendapatan ekonomi mereka. Apa yang perlu dilakukan oleh pemerintah pasca otoriter (atau pasca birokratik politik) di tingkat daerah adalah bukan hanya menciptakan pemerintahan yang demokratis tetapi juga yang developmentalis. Yang diperlukan pemerintah daerah bukan hanya sistem parlisipatoris yang melibatkan kaum bisnis dan masyarakat, tetapi juga suatu pemerintahan yang fungsional yang dapat mencapai tujuan pembangunan ekonomi dan sosial dengan semangat "kepuasan konsumen". Pembangunan kapasitas pemerintah bisa dilalukan dengan tiga lapis, bukan saja melalui perbaikan sumber Jaya manusia, tetapi juga pembentukan organisasi dan sistem yang inovatif. Datum konteks pemberantasan kemiskinan, kebijakan yang diperlukan meliputi pembangunan infrastruktur sosial, mikro-finansial dan juga pertumbuhan ekonomi untuk membuka lapangan kerja bagi kelompok miskin. Kata kunci: peningkatan kernampuan, pemerintah daerah, demokrasi dan pembanguna

A combined navigation strategy by a steering wheel and a mouse for a tank rescue robot

This paper applies our developed novice users oriented force feedback steering wheel interface and mouse interface to navigating a tank type rescue robot. By analyzing merits and limitation of operating each interface, we propose a combined navigation strategy by the two interfaces. The steering wheel interface consists of a force feedback steering control and a six monitors’ wall. Through this interface, users can navigate the tank robot like driving cars, while watching incoming videos. It provides a daily life operation method for novice users to navigate the tank rescue robot. The steering wheel interface is efficient in exploring open areas. For complex disaster fields, this interface requires users have skillful operation experiences, which take them more attention. The mouse-screen interface consists of a mouse and a camera’s view displayed in a computer screen. Through this interface, users can navigate the tank robot just by mouse clicking. Path planning and low-level controlling are realized by system automatically. The mouse-screen interface can realize exact navigation, especially needed in complex structures, without taking much attention. It gives users more time to care incoming information. The two interfaces can shift into each other at any time. The combined navigation strategy adopts merits of the two interfaces and compensates limitation of each of them. It provides an efficient operation method for novice users to navigate rescue robots.</p

A mechanical intelligence in assisting the navigation by a force feedback steering wheel for a snake rescue robot

We developed a snake rescue robot basing on the proposed mechanical intelligence. The mechanical intelligence is designed to avoid obstacles and to realize desired motions when the robot is navigated by a remote force feedback steering wheel interface. We use free joints to connect modules of the snake robot. Modules can freely turn according to their neighbors. An obstacle-avoiding wheel is mounted on the head of the snake robot. When the head encounters an obstacle, the wheel touches it first to transfer the sliding friction between the wheel and the obstacle into rolling friction, so that the head avoid the obstacle easily. A metal wire is used to link gears mounted on both sides of each module. When any part of the snake robot's body encounters an obstacle, the wire length of each side varies automatically to change the robot's body shape, so that the snake robot avoids the obstacle. The wire length of each side can also be adjusted by a motor. By adjusting the wire length of each side, the snake robot can move in the desired direction. The mechanical intelligence based snake rescue robot has light body, low cost and low computation cost. Experiment results show that the designed mechanical intelligence is effective in realizing desired robot motions together with the force feedback steering wheel interface.</p

A combined navigation strategy by a steering

This paper applies our developed novice users oriented force feedback steering wheel interface and mouse interface to navigating a tank type rescue robot. By analyzing merits and limitation of operating each interface, we propose a combined navigation strategy by the two interfaces. The steering wheel interface consists of a force feedback steering control and a six monitors’ wall. Through this interface, users can navigate the tank robot like driving cars, while watching incoming videos. It provides a daily life operation method for novice users to navigate the tank rescue robot. The steering wheel interface is efficient in exploring open areas. For complex disaster fields, this interface requires users have skillful operation experiences, which take them more attention. The mouse-screen interface consists of a mouse and a camera’s view displayed in a computer screen. Through this interface, users can navigate the tank robot just by mouse clicking. Path planning and low-level controlling are realized by system automatically. The mouse-screen interface can realize exact navigation, especially needed in complex structures, without taking much attention. It gives users more time to care incoming information. The two interfaces can shift into each other at any time. The combined navigation strategy adopts merits of the two interfaces and compensates limitation of each of them. It provides an efficient operation method for novice users to navigate rescue robots. </p

Protein phosphatase 4 catalytic subunit regulates Cdk1 activity and microtubule organization via NDEL1 dephosphorylation

Protein phosphatase 4 catalytic subunit (PP4c) is a PP2A-related protein serine/threonine phosphatase with important functions in a variety of cellular processes, including microtubule (MT) growth/organization, apoptosis, and tumor necrosis factor signaling. In this study, we report that NDEL1 is a substrate of PP4c, and PP4c selectively dephosphorylates NDEL1 at Cdk1 sites. We also demonstrate that PP4c negatively regulates Cdk1 activity at the centrosome. Targeted disruption of PP4c reveals disorganization of MTs and disorganized MT array. Loss of PP4c leads to an unscheduled activation of Cdk1 in interphase, which results in the abnormal phosphorylation of NDEL1. In addition, abnormal NDEL1 phosphorylation facilitates excessive recruitment of katanin p60 to the centrosome, suggesting that MT defects may be attributed to katanin p60 in excess. Inhibition of Cdk1, NDEL1, or katanin p60 rescues the defective MT organization caused by PP4 inhibition. Our work uncovers a unique regulatory mechanism of MT organization by PP4c through its targets Cdk1 and NDEL1 via regulation of katanin p60 distribution

An analysis of effects of heterozygosity in dairy cattle for bovine tuberculosis resistance

Publication history: Accepted - 23 November 2017; Published online - 24 January 2018Genetic selection of cattle more resistant to bovine tuberculosis (bTB) may offer a complementary control strategy. Hypothesising underlying non-additive genetic variation, we present an approach using genome-wide high density markers to identify genomic loci with dominance effects on bTB resistance and to test previously published regions with heterozygote advantage in bTB. Our data comprised 1151 Holstein–Friesian cows from Northern Ireland, confirmed bTB cases and controls, genotyped with the 700K Illumina BeadChip. Genome-wide markers were tested for associations between heterozygosity and bTB status using marker-based relationships. Results were tested for robustness against genetic structure, and the genotypic frequencies of a significant locus were tested for departures from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Genomic regions identified in our study and in previous publications were tested for dominance effects. Genotypic effects were estimated through ASReml mixed models. A SNP (rs43032684) on chromosome 6 was significant at the chromosome-wide level, explaining 1.7% of the phenotypic variance. In the controls, there were fewer heterozygotes for rs43032684 (P < 0.01) with the genotypic values suggesting that heterozygosity confers a heterozygote disadvantage. The region surrounding rs43032684 had a significant dominance effect (P < 0.01). SNP rs43032684 resides within a pseudogene with a parental gene involved in macrophage response to infection and within a copy-number-variation region previously associated with nematode resistance. No dominance effect was found for the region on chromosome 11, as indicated by a previous candidate region bTB study. These findings require further validation with large-scale data.We are grateful for the financial support from the University of Edinburgh and the Roslin Institute, through the Principal's Career Development Scholarship (ST), and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council institute strategic project ISP3: BB/P013759/1 (JAW). We would also like to thank BBSRC for their support through CEDFAS initiative grants BB/E018386/1 (RS); EJG; SCB; JAW also received support through CEDFAS grants: BB/E018335/1 and 2; Animal Health Research Club grant BB/L004054/1; Institute Strategic Programme Grants (ISP3 Innate Immunity & Endemic Disease, BB/J004227/1; ISP1 Analysis and Prediction in Complex Animal Systems, BB/J004235/1; and ISP2 Control of Infectious Diseases, BB/P013740/1)

Refinement of a 400-kb Critical Region Allows Genotypic Differentiation between Isolated Lissencephaly, Miller-Dieker Syndrome, and Other Phenotypes Secondary to Deletions of 17p13.3

Deletions of 17p13.3, including the LIS1 gene, result in the brain malformation lissencephaly, which is characterized by reduced gyration and cortical thickening; however, the phenotype can vary from isolated lissencephaly sequence (ILS) to Miller-Dieker syndrome (MDS). At the clinical level, these two phenotypes can be differentiated by the presence of significant dysmorphic facial features and a more severe grade of lissencephaly in MDS. Previous work has suggested that children with MDS have a larger deletion than those with ILS, but the precise boundaries of the MDS critical region and causative genes other than LIS1 have never been fully determined. We have completed a physical and transcriptional map of the 17p13.3 region from LIS1 to the telomere. Using fluorescence in situ hybridization, we have mapped the deletion size in 19 children with ILS, 11 children with MDS, and 4 children with 17p13.3 deletions not involving LIS1. We show that the critical region that differentiates ILS from MDS at the molecular level can be reduced to 400 kb. Using somatic cell hybrids from selected patients, we have identified eight genes that are consistently deleted in patients classified as having MDS. In addition, deletion of the genes CRK and 14-3-3ɛ delineates patients with the most severe lissencephaly grade. On the basis of recent functional data and the creation of a mouse model suggesting a role for 14-3-3ɛ in cortical development, we suggest that deletion of one or both of these genes in combination with deletion of LIS1 may contribute to the more severe form of lissencephaly seen only in patients with MDS