6,274 research outputs found
Agricultural Development and potential markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia - Report of a study tour
The study tour of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia was undertaken as part of the Government of Western Australia\u27a policy to broaden overseas markets for agricultural products. Preliminary examinations of these economies suggest that each represents a potentially large market given their large populations and levels of foreign reserves. Malaysia and Indonesia in particular have large reserves of petroleum, minerals and timber which provide their economies with the necessary foreign reserves to finance imports. Singapore relies on its strategic position as and entrepot port for its foreign reserves
Economics of vine growing
Heavy demands are made on capital and labour recources throughout the five year dvelopment phase of a vineyard.
Labour and capital requirements vary considerably, but the following gives a look at one example of the costs involved
Development of South East Asian Economies and Implications for Potential Agricultural Markets
This study was undertaken as part of a continuing programme to further develop trade in agricultural commodities between Asean nations (excluding Thailand) and Western Australia. This initiative, which has now been in operation for three years, is the first exercise of its type undertaken by a State Department in Australia. I am therefore grateful to the Department of Agriculture for the opportunity to participate in this activity and also particularly to staff within the Marketing and Economics Section for their encouragement. Co-operation given by private industry - producers, merchants, carriers and exporters has been essential in providing me with a greater understanding of their particular industry and for that I am greatly indebted - quite apart from valuable contacts they provided during my visit
Role of microRNAs in the age-associated decline of pancreatic beta cell function in rat islets
This is a freely-available open access publication. Please cite the published version which is available via the DOI link in this record.AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Ageing can lead to reduced insulin sensitivity and loss of pancreatic beta cell function, predisposing individuals to the development of diabetes. The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of microRNAs (miRNAs) to age-associated beta cell dysfunction. METHODS: The global mRNA and miRNA profiles of 3- and 12-month-old rat islets were collected by microarray. The functional impact of age-associated differences in miRNA expression was investigated by mimicking the observed changes in primary beta cells from young animals. RESULTS: Beta cells from 12-month-old rats retained normal insulin content and secretion, but failed to proliferate in response to mitotic stimuli. The islets of these animals displayed modifications at the level of several miRNAs, including upregulation of miR-34a, miR-124a and miR-383, and downregulation of miR-130b and miR-181a. Computational analysis of the transcriptomic modifications observed in the islets of 12-month-old rats revealed that the differentially expressed genes were enriched for miR-34a and miR-181a targets. Indeed, the induction of miR-34a and reduction of miR-181a in the islets of young animals mimicked the impaired beta cell proliferation observed in old animals. mRNA coding for alpha-type platelet-derived growth factor receptor, which is critical for compensatory beta cell mass expansion, is directly inhibited by miR34a and is likely to be at least partly responsible for the effects of this miRNA. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Changes in the level of specific miRNAs that occur during ageing affect the proliferative capacity of beta cells. This might reduce their ability to expand under conditions of increased insulin demand, favouring the development of type 2 diabetes.Swiss National Science FoundationFondation Francophone pour la Recherche sur le DiabèteWellcome Trust Senior Investigator AwardMRC Programme GrantRoyal Society Wolfson Research Merit AwardWellcome Trust project gran
Standard evaluation framework for weight management interventions
This document builds on the ‘Standard Evaluation Framework (SEF) for weight management interventions’,
published by NOO in April 2009.1 It takes the principles described in the original SEF and applies
them to dietary interventions. It contains a list of ‘essential’ and ‘desirable’ criteria for data required
for a comprehensive and robust evaluation. Essential criteria are the minimum data and information
recommended to perform a basic evaluation of an intervention that sets out to improve diet. Desirable
criteria are additional data that would improve the quality of an evaluation, and enhance understanding
about what has been achieved, and the processes that have taken place during the intervention.
A glossary of terms is available on page 35
Failure to learn from feedback underlies word learning difficulties in toddlers at risk for autism
Children’s assignment of novel words to nameless objects, over objects
whose names they know (mutual exclusivity; ME) has been described
as a driving force for vocabulary acquisition. Despite their ability to use
ME to fast-map words (Preissler & Carey, 2005), children with autism
show impaired language acquisition. We aimed to address this puzzle
by building on studies showing that correct referent selection using
ME does not lead to word learning unless ostensive feedback is
provided on the child’s object choice (Horst & Samuelson, 2008). We
found that although toddlers aged 2;0 at risk for autism can use ME to
choose the correct referent of a word, they do not benefit from feedback
for long-term retention of the word–object mapping. Further, their
difficulty using feedback is associated with their smaller receptive
vocabularies. We propose that difficulties learning from social feedback,
not lexical principles, limits vocabulary building during development
in children at risk for autism
Replica-Immunogold Technique Applied to Studies on Measles Virus Morphogenesis
The replica technique was applied to studies on the dynamic process of measles virus budding on infected HeLa cells. Virus structures were identified by labeling with anti-measles antibodies and protein A-gold. The combination of these two methods enabled us (1) to characterize the sequence of virus budding at the plasma membrane, (2) to localize virus structures on cytoskeletons of infected cells, and (3) to study the influence of Ca2+ ions on virus structures at the plasma membrane. Studies on platinum carbon surface replicas suggest that the process of virus budding is similar to the genesis of cellular microvilli. Replicas prepared from cytoskeletons of infected cells reveal a close association of budding virus with actin filaments composing the outer parts of the networks. Replicas of apical plasma membranes isolated from infected cells show the attachment of viral nucleocapsids to the protoplasmic membrane face of infected cells. These nucleocapsids are not present on membranes prepared from cells treated with calcium and the ionophore A23187. In addition viral cell surface antigens become randomly distributed on these cells. The data suggest that measles virus morphogenesis at the plasma membrane of cultured cells is dependent on the function of the cytoskeleton and may be influenced by Ca2+ ions
Plasma Membrane Antigens Detected by Replica Techniques
Methods are introduced for in situ preparation of cell cultures grown on glass coverslips using the replica technique. Special equipment and handling procedures enabled us to prepare large-sized and stable replicas suitable for ultrastructural and immunocytochemical analysis of the different faces of the plasma membrane (PM): the extraplasmic surface (ES), the complementary extraplasmic (EF) and protoplasmic (PF) fracture face, and the protoplasmic surface (PS). Colloidal gold markers in combination with protein A and monospecific/monoclonal antibodies were used to identify virus-specific antigens at the ES of infected cells. Stereo replicas show a coincident location of gold-labeled virus antigens at the ES and structures visible at the EF as well as at the PS. In addition, the association of these antigens with cytoskeletal elements is demonstrated
On Resilient Behaviors in Computational Systems and Environments
The present article introduces a reference framework for discussing
resilience of computational systems. Rather than a property that may or may not
be exhibited by a system, resilience is interpreted here as the emerging result
of a dynamic process. Said process represents the dynamic interplay between the
behaviors exercised by a system and those of the environment it is set to
operate in. As a result of this interpretation, coherent definitions of several
aspects of resilience can be derived and proposed, including elasticity, change
tolerance, and antifragility. Definitions are also provided for measures of the
risk of unresilience as well as for the optimal match of a given resilient
design with respect to the current environmental conditions. Finally, a
resilience strategy based on our model is exemplified through a simple
scenario.Comment: The final publication is available at Springer via
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40860-015-0002-6 The paper considerably extends
the results of two conference papers that are available at http://ow.ly/KWfkj
and http://ow.ly/KWfgO. Text and formalism in those papers has been used or
adapted in the herewith submitted pape
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