Exploring the utility of Bayesian Networks for modelling cultural ecosystem services: A canoeing case study.

Modelling cultural ecosystem services is challenging as they often involve subjective and intangible concepts. As a consequence they have been neglected in ecosystem service studies, something that needs remedying if environmental decision making is to be truly holistic. We suggest Bayesian Networks (BNs) have a number of qualities that may make them well-suited for dealing with cultural services. For example, they define relationships between variables probabilistically, enabling conceptual and physical variables to be linked, and therefore the numerical representation of stakeholder opinions. We assess whether BNs are a good method for modelling cultural services by building one collaboratively with canoeists to predict how the subjective concepts of fun and danger are impacted on by weir modification. The BN successfully captured the relationships between the variables, with model output being broadly consistent with verbal descriptions by the canoeists. There were however a number of discrepancies indicating imperfect knowledge capture. This is likely due to the structure of the network and the abstract and laborious nature of the probability elicitation stage. New techniques should be developed to increase the intuitiveness and efficiency of probability elicitation. The limitations we identified with BNs are avoided if their structure can be kept simple, and it is in such circumstances that BNs can offer a good method for modelling cultural ecosystem services

Does it help? Testing the usefulness of a tool to aid Integrated Catchment Management

AbstractIntegrated Catchment Management (ICM) advocates the consideration of multiple management objectives together in the decision making process rather than as unconnected separate issues. To deliver ICM, many integrated models are being created to be used as tools that predict how catchment interventions affect multiple management objectives. It is generally assumed that if applied, these tools will improve decision making. In this paper we discuss how this assumption can be tested, and then present preliminary work to do just that. A tool was created to predict how weir modifications such as fish passes affect multiple river ecosystem services in the Don Catchment, UK. These ecosystem services included eel productivity, conservation of an endangered and spread of an invasive crayfish, hydroelectricity generation and river quality for canoeing. In an experiment this tool was used to make hypothetical management decisions, and the quality of the decision making was compared to a control decision making process representative of current practice in the catchment. The experiment was designed to evaluate decision quality by gauging efficiency and moderateness of decisions made, and by measuring the confidence and knowledge gained by participating decision makers. Preliminary results indicate that users of the tool learnt less information about the environmental issue of weir impoundment compared to the more conventional approach. If this effect is common when decision support tools are used to support ICM, then it has implications for how they are designed and utilised in the future

Mummification in a Bitch: A case report

A pug aged 5 years was admitted in the Lyka pet clinic with difficulty in parturition. Breeding history of the dog was collected from the owner. X-ray was conducted which confirmed the presence of foetus. The bitch was manually handled to relieve the Dystocia following intravenous drip of N.S.S. and oxytocin. In the vent of unsuccessful attempt the bitch was surgically operated for C.S. and six fetuses of which four normal and two mummified were relieved. Routine post operative care were undertaken and the bitch recovered normally with out any complication. Photographic recording was also made during the recovery of mummified foetus

Maternal and newborn health behaviors in rural Uttar Pradesh: Findings from learning phase baseline survey 2013

The Uttar Pradesh Community Mobilization Project (2011–16) aims to develop and scale up evidence-based interventions to improve reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health and nutrition health behaviors by an average of 10 percentage points among marginalized populations in Uttar Pradesh, India. The goal is to reduce neonatal mortality by improving maternal and child health behaviors through developing and scaling up a package of family health interventions and strengthening the management of Behavior Change Communication using self-help groups as the platform. The project is being carried out in two phases—a learning phase covering 10 blocks and a scale-up phase covering 100 additional blocks. It is being implemented by a consortium led by the Public Health Foundation of India (and including the Population Council), and is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As part of the project’s monitoring, learning, and evaluation system, a baseline survey for ten learning phase blocks was planned to measure the project’s key maternal and newborn health indicators of currently married women aged 15–49 years who had delivered a baby during the last one year. This report contains findings from the 2013 Learning Phase Baseline Survey

Oral hypoglycemic drugs: An overview

The aim of this study was to evaluate safety and efficacy of oral hypoglycemic agents in obese Type-2 diabetic patients. The objectives are to compare fasting and postprandial blood sugar (PPBS) levels, to compare body mass index in all the groups and to identify glycosylated hemoglobin levels and adverse drug reaction in all the groups. Diabetes mellitus is one of the world’s major diseases. It currently affects an estimated143 million people worldwide and the number is growing rapidly. In the India, about 1-5% population suffer from diabetes or related complication. So there is need to cure this disease. Anti-diabetic drugs treat diabetes mellitus by lowering glucose levels in the blood. With the exceptions of insulin, exenatide, and pramlintide, all are administered orally and are thus also called oral hypoglycemic agents or oral anti hyperglycemic agents. There are different classes of anti-diabetic drugs, and their selection depends on the nature of the diabetes, age and situation of the person, as well as other factors. Diabetes mellitus type 1 is a disease caused by the lack of insulin. Insulin must be used in Type 1, which must be injected or inhaled. Diabetes mellitus type 2 is a disease of insulin resistance by cells. Treatments include agents which increase the amount of insulin secreted by the pancreas, agents which increase the sensitivity of target organs to insulin , and agents which decrease the rate at which glucose is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. Keywords: hypoglycemic, blood suger, insulin, diabetes mellitus, pancrea

Non-Vacuum Bianchi Types I and V in f(R) Gravity

In a recent paper \cite{1}, we have studied the vacuum solutions of Bianchi types I and V spacetimes in the framework of metric f(R) gravity. Here we extend this work to perfect fluid solutions. For this purpose, we take stiff matter to find energy density and pressure of the universe. In particular, we find two exact solutions in each case which correspond to two models of the universe. The first solution gives a singular model while the second solution provides a non-singular model. The physical behavior of these models has been discussed using some physical quantities. Also, the function of the Ricci scalar is evaluated.Comment: 15 pages, accepted for publication in Gen. Realtiv. Gravi

Weekly iron folic acid supplementation plays differential role in maintaining iron markers level in non-anaemic and anaemic primigravida: A randomized controlled study

AbstractAnaemia during pregnancy is most commonly observed and highly prevalent in South-East Asia. Various effective programmes have been laid down for its management, mainly daily supplementation of iron folic acid (IFA) tablets. Following the same, standard obstetrical practice has included the IFA supplementation without requiring the determination of iron deficiency. In this study, a total of 120 primigravida (N=60; non-anaemic (Hb>11g/dl) and N=60 anaemic (Hb=8–11g/dl)) were selected among those attending the Antenatal Clinic in Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, India. They were supplemented with daily and weekly IFA tablets till 6weeks postpartum. Corresponding changes in haemoglobin level on advance of pregnancy, side effects and compliance associated with daily and weekly IFA supplementation and its associations with iron status markers were studied. The inflammatory markers were also estimated. The statistical significance level (p<0.05) between the groups were assessed by applying unpaired t-test using SPSS (version 16.0). The obtained results publicized the salutary role of daily IFA supplementation in improving the haemoglobin level and iron status markers in anaemic pregnant women though the levels could not reach up to the non-anaemic haemoglobin levels. However, weekly IFA supplementation seems to be a better approach in non-anaemic pregnant women where almost comparable results were obtained in terms of haematological parameters, gestation length and birth weight.ConclusionWeekly IFA supplementation found to be as effective as daily supplementation in iron sufficient non-anaemic pregnant women whereas anaemic pregnant women should be prescribed daily IFA supplementation irrespective of iron replete/deplete state

Quantum Tunneling, Blackbody Spectrum and Non-Logarithmic Entropy Correction for Lovelock Black Holes

We show, using the tunneling method, that Lovelock black holes Hawking radiate with a perfect blackbody spectrum. This is a new result. Within the semiclassical (WKB) approximation the temperature of the spectrum is given by the semiclassical Hawking temperature. Beyond the semiclassical approximation the thermal nature of the spectrum does not change but the temperature undergoes some higher order corrections. This is true for both black hole (event) and cosmological horizons. Using the first law of thermodynamics the black hole entropy is calculated. Specifically the $D$-dimensional static, chargeless black hole solutions which are spherically symmetric and asymptotically flat, AdS or dS are considered. The interesting property of these black holes is that their semiclassical entropy does not obey the Bekenstein-Hawking area law. It is found that the leading correction to the semiclassical entropy for these black holes is not logarithmic and next to leading correction is also not inverse of horizon area. This is in contrast to the black holes in Einstein gravity. The modified result is due to the presence of Gauss-Bonnet term in the Lovelock Lagrangian. For the limit where the coupling constant of the Gauss-Bonnet term vanishes one recovers the known correctional terms as expected in Einstein gravity. Finally we relate the coefficient of the leading (non-logarithmic) correction with the trace anomaly of the stress tensor.Comment: minor modifications, two new references added, LaTeX, JHEP style, 34 pages, no figures, to appear in JHE

Effects of a nanoscopic filler on the structure and dynamics of a simulated polymer melt and the relationship to ultra-thin films

We perform molecular dynamics simulations of an idealized polymer melt surrounding a nanoscopic filler particle to probe the effects of a filler on the local melt structure and dynamics. We show that the glass transition temperature $T_g$ of the melt can be shifted to either higher or lower temperatures by appropriately tuning the interactions between polymer and filler. A gradual change of the polymer dynamics approaching the filler surface causes the change in the glass transition. We also find that while the bulk structure of the polymers changes little, the polymers close to the surface tend to be elongated and flattened, independent of the type of interaction we study. Consequently, the dynamics appear strongly influenced by the interactions, while the melt structure is only altered by the geometric constraints imposed by the presence of the filler. Our findings show a strong similarity to those obtained for ultra-thin polymer films (thickness $\lesssim 100$ nm) suggesting that both ultra-thin films and filled-polymer systems might be understood in the same context