Re-examination of the Effects of Food Abundance on Jaw Plasticity in Purple Sea Urchins

Morphological plasticity is a critical mechanism that animals use to cope with variations in resource availability. During periods of food scarcity, sea urchins demonstrate an increase in jaw length relative to test diameter. This trait is thought to be reversible and adaptive by yielding an increase in feeding efficiency. We directly test the hypotheses that (1) there are reversible shifts in jaw length to test diameter ratios with food abundance in individual urchins, and (2) these shifts alter feeding efficiency. Purple sea urchins, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, were collected and placed in either high or low food treatments for 3 months, after which treatments were switched for two additional months between February and September, 2015 in La Jolla, CA (32.8674°N, 117.2530°W). Measurements of jaw length to test diameter ratios were significantly higher in low compared to high food urchins, but this was due to test growth in the high food treatments. Ratios of low food urchins did not change following a switch to high food conditions, indicating that this trait is not reversible within the time frame of this study. Relatively longer jaws were also not correlated with increased feeding efficiency. We argue that jaw length plasticity is not adaptive and is simply a consequence of exposure to high food availability, as both jaw and test growth halt when food is scarce

Role of the state in formation of the knowledge economy Роль государства в формировании экономики знаний

The article analyses results of taking over the world of the model of information society, identifies urgency of consideration of information and knowledge as new critical resources of this model, objective necessity of adaptation of available theoretical and practical recommendations with respect to development of the knowledge economy to conditions of Ukraine, activation of participation of the state in this process. The article makes a conclusion that in the course of development of the knowledge economy the existing sectors (material, financial, information) should be provided with technologies capable of overcoming hazardous impact on natural environment and life of society. Technological modes of the domestic economy should be improved on the basis of the newest achievements of science and ensure synergy effect of their co-existence. The state bodies, which regulate development of new technological modes and knowledge economy, should take into account ambiguity of their impact on the life of society. Transition to new models of society provoke growth of load on the psyche of a human being. The state should control these processes, creating mechanisms of objective diagnostics and responsible impact on thoughts and behaviour of the population, especially that part of it, which is capable of developing and using its creative potential to the benefit of the nation.Проанализированы результаты овладения миром модели информационного общества, определена актуальность рассмотрения информации и знаний в качестве новых критических ресурсов этой модели, объективная необходимость адаптации имеющихся теоретических и практических рекомендаций относительно развития экономики знаний к условиям Украины, активизации участия государства в этом процессе. Сделан вывод, что с развитием экономики знаний существующие секторы (материальный, финансовый, информационный) следует обеспечивать технологиями, способными преодолевать вредное влияние на естественную среду и жизнь общества. Технологические уклады отечественной экономики следует совершенствовать на основе новейших достижений науки, обеспечивать синергетический эффект их сосуществования. Государственные органы, регулируя развитие новых технологических укладов и экономики знаний, должны учитывать неоднозначность их влияния на жизнь общества. Переход к новым моделям общества провоцирует рост нагрузки на психику человека. Государство должно контролировать эти процессы, создавая механизмы объективной диагностики и ответственного влияния на мысли и поведение населения, особенно той его части, которая способна развивать и использовать свой творческий потенциал в пользу нации

The Rainbow Effect: Exploring the Implications of Queer Representation in Film and Television on Social Change

In this thesis, I explore how specific films and television shows use the preexisting structure and mechanics of narrative film in order to create queer characters and stories that defy their otherness and stereotypes, thus creating a profound cinematic experience. Not only does the manipulation of these structures and mechanics heighten the realism and depth of the narrative at hand, it also enhances audience identification by allowing queer viewers to find themselves and straight viewers to understand the “other.” In this manner, the New New Queer Cinema and television have had lasting effects on the modern gay rights movement, changing perceptions and attitudes of society on an extremely personal level and making way for incredible strides in public policy changes

Rational development of protein formulations in solid and solution states

Development of protein formulations in the solid and solution state involves stability studies during long-term storage (2-3 years). A long-term study of a protein under conditions leading to its rapid physical and chemical degradation often results in excessive use of resources and severe time constraints. To minimize these problems, a thorough preformulation study of protein behavior under different conditions is necessary. An in depth understanding of the properties of proteins in both the solution and solid state may subsequently result in selection of conditions leading to adequate stability during storage. Preformulation studies of a protein in solution often involve a three step approach. In this method a protein is first characterized under a range of conditions (e.g. pH, temperature, etc.), and the data is then summarized in the form of an empirical phase diagram. This information is then used to design a high throughput screening approach to identify stabilizing compounds. This approach was employed for preformulation studies of vaccines against Clostridium difficile ( C. difficile)-associated disease. Such vaccines contain formaldehyde treated toxoids A and B in free or adjuvant bound form. Studies of C. difficile toxins and toxoids under a range of conditions revealed a stabilizing effect of formaldehyde crosslinking on the thermal stability of the toxoids. Furthermore, screening for stabilizing compounds resulted in the identification of conditions and specific compounds that lead to enhanced thermal stability of free and bound to adjuvant toxoids. Preformulation studies of proteins in the solid state usually involve characterization of an amorphous solid in general (e.g. moisture content, crystallinity, structural relaxation, etc.) and specific protein properties (e.g. extent of protein structure preservation). Unfortunately, these characteristics of the solid and protein cannot usually predict protein stability during storage. Therefore, a more in depth understanding of amorphous matrices is needed. To understand the role of interactions between protein and expient as well as the homogeneity of protein/excipient mixtures, a study of a model system containing human Growth Hormone (hGH) and sugars (sucrose and trehalose) was performed. This study revealed that the extent of protein/excipient interaction can be used to describe the degree of homogeneity of a lyophilized mixture which can be related to the cryo- and lyo-protecting properties of the excipients. Additionally, it was seen that the rate of structural relaxation is proportional to the rate of insoluble aggregate formation. These studies of proteins in solution and the solid state allowed for the identification of conditions for long term stability studies of C. difficile vaccines and contributed to our understanding of the role of interactions between protein and excipient in lyophilized solids

Demographic Faultlines and Team Cohesion on Team Performance

This research examines team faultlines and their potential impact on team performance. Faultlines are defined as hypothetical dividing lines that split a group or team into two or more subgroups based on one or more individual attributes (e.g., gender and ethnicity). Investigations explored the possibility that team cohesion (i.e., team members’ attraction and commitment to their team) would moderate the relationship between faultlines and team performance. Participants (n = 867) completed The Task and Social Cohesion Questionnaire during one of two academic years (2013-14; 2014-15). Faultline strength was calculated for each team using two approaches, Thatcher’s Fau and Meyer’s Average Silhouette. It was hypothesized that faultline strength would be significantly negatively correlated to team performance, and team cohesion would be significantly positively correlated to team performance. Pearson correlational analyses revealed that both faultline measures (Thatcher’s Fau (r = -.06); Meyer’s ASW (r = .002)), social cohesion (r = .06) and task cohesion (r = .10) were not significantly correlated to team performance. It was also hypothesized that cohesion would moderate the relation between faultline strength and team performance, such that faultlines would have a less negative effect at high levels of cohesion. Moderated hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that all interaction terms were nonsignificant, although the interaction term between Thatcher’s Fau and task cohesion was trending towards significance (ΔR2 = .016)

Content Analysis on Hispanic Populations Across Marriage and Family Therapy Journals

There is ambiguity on what kind of coverage of Hispanic populations in counseling journals is often used by couple/marriage and family therapists (C/MFTs) and researchers. The aims of this study are to identify how these journals consider Hispanic populations and what advice is provided when working with Hispanic populations. An explanatory sequential mixed method content analysis study was conducted. The first quantitative stage used descriptive statistics to analyze 17 journals’ articles between 2011-2020 regarding the type of research designs used, the frequency of articles that fit the inclusion criteria for the study, and the use of psychosocial terms (i.e., acculturation, discrimination, immigration, mental health, substance use, and family cohesion) in the articles’ components (i.e., title, abstract, and keywords). Statistics were used to determine the relationship strength between the psychosocial terms and journals and articles’ components. A random sample from the quantitative data was used to select articles for the quota sampling for qualitative thematic analysis, followed by mixed-method integration and interpretation. This study\u27s analysis of the included articles demonstrated that the most frequently used research design is quantitative. Almost five percent of all the articles published in 17 journals over ten years mentioned Hispanic or relative terms in the articles\u27 components. The articles\u27 components, on average, did not mention the psychosocial terms though the terms either had a moderate or strong relationship. The qualitative thematic analysis supported the majority of the psychosocial terms. Two psychosocial terms, substance use and family cohesion, had divergent findings. The qualitative thematic analysis and mixed-method results indicated the need for C/MFTs and researchers to increase knowledge of Hispanic cultural values and oppression and create more research on Hispanic populations. The results indicate a small number of articles on Hispanic populations published in journals that C/MFTs often use as a resource. The existing ones report on the importance of understanding Hispanic populations\u27 cultural values and the multiple stressors they experience, increasing knowledge on oppression, and producing more research on Hispanic populations

Targeting Efficiency: The Effects of Video Modeling and Feedback on Instructors’ Acquisition and Generalization of Behavior Analytic Skills

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a highly effective, evidence-based treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Low treatment integrity could greatly compromise the delivery of effective ABA interventions, but instructors who hold no formal training make up the larger portion of employees within the special education field. Designing efficient and effective training for these employees is important because schools have limited resources for caregiver training. This study used a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across three novice ABA instructors to evaluate the effects of a training protocol consisting of video and in-vivo modeling and feedback, a training algorithm, and multiple exemplars training on the acquisition of five ABA procedures (i.e., discrete trial teaching, multiple stimulus without replacement, echoic mand training, stimulus-stimulus pairing, and graphing percentage data). After the instructors mastered these skills the experimenter also evaluated if instructors’ showed generalized teaching skills when implementing novel ABA procedures. The results showed that the training protocol was effective in increasing instructors’ treatment integrity on all five procedures up to mastery criterion as well as producing some generalized teaching skills. The implications of these results are discussed in light of creating more efficient training protocols for ABA settings

Structural adjustment in Zimbabwe: its impact on women

The Government of Zimbabwe has neither fully implemented structural adjustment nor has it clearly stated its position regarding the use of structural adjustment in its management of the economy. However, Government has, while strongly criticizing the IMF/World Bank approach to structural adjustment, sought to effect structural adjustment in the economy and to apply its own brand as well as conventional IMF instruments of structural adjustment. The Government's brand of structural adjustment seeks to satisfy the stated objective of strengthening the productive sectors of the economy. This is done in the contradictory context of a programme for transition to socialism and standing recognition of the need for meaningful social spending. In applying structural adjustment, Government does not appear to consider in "package form" the impacts of structural adjustment on women nor does it consider any immediate compensatory cushioning. The removal of consumer, however, has been tied to minimum wage enactments.The activities of Government in general do seek to guarantee the security of women under a national macro-economic programme which seeks to generally elevate women into a position of equality and self-reliance in the economy. This programme, if successful, would make it unnecessary to treat women as a special and disadvantaged group needing cushioning from the impacts of structural adjustment. The programme has, so far, only made notable progress in expanding social, public, health and educational facilities for women. These facilities have a direct bearing on the economic advancement of women. The one area where Government's approach has failed is in effecting a transition by women to meaningful management or ownership positions in the productive sectors. Generally, the impact of structural adjustment on women is hard to determine. Only a few of the instruments analysed in this paper had a direct determinable bearing on women. These are, the removal of consumer subsidies, credit facilitation for agricultural production, tax adjustment and producer subsidies.,Canadian Agency for International Development

AKIBAT HUKUM TERHADAP PENJATUHAN PAILIT PADA PERSEROAN TERBATAS (PT)

Tujuan dilakukannya penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana akibat hukum terhadap penjatuhan pailit pada perseroan terbatas. Dengan menggunakan metode penelitian yuridis normative, maka penelitian ini dapat disimpulkan, bahwa: Kepailitan Badan Hukum Perseroan Terbatas adalah kepailitan dirinya sendiri bukan kepailitan para pengurusnya, walaupun kepailitan itu terjadi karena adanya kelalaian dari para pengurusnya. Pembubaran perseroan terbatas setelah putusan pailit dibacakan hanya dapat dimintakan penetapan pengadilan oleh kreditur dengan alasan perseroan tidak mampu membayar hutangnya setelah dinyatakan pailit atau harta kekayaan perseroan tidak cukup untuk melunasi seluruh hutangnya setelah pernyataan pailit dicabut. Hal mana juga ditegaskan di dalam penjelasan UUK dan PKPU bahwa asas di dalam Undang-undang ini di antaranya adalah asas kelangsungan usaha yang artinya bahwa kepailitan tidak demi hukum menjadikan perseroan bubar. Kata kunci: Penjatuhan pailit, perseroan terbatas

Use of emerging technologies in the commercial forestry industry: case studies for Botswana and Zimbabwe

There are significant commercial forestry activities in Botswana and in Zimbabwe. Operations in Botswana, unlike those in Zimbabwe, are limited to the felling and milling of indigenous timber. Zimbabwean operations include large- scale production, milling, and secondary conversion of timber. Technologies used in all these operations are basically traditional but generally satisfactory with respect to reliability and with respect to meeting market product specifications. In general, the industry in both countries takes a positive view to emerging technologies and attempts to keep abreast with developments in this area. The industry is, however, cautious about adopting these technologies. This caution derives mostly from the apparent satisfactory operations from the current technologies and from some fear of possible difficulties which may arise with respect to indigenizing these technologies once adopted. Besides these considerations, capacity exists for Zimbabwe particularly to engage some of these technologies. The most promising ones for Zimbabwe are in the area of secondary biobleaching for the expanding pulp and paper industry, timber drying kilns to enable effective control of timber delivery times, and information technology for operations management. ETs potential for Botswana is more limited. Prospects are greatest in timber waste conversion to charcoal and in localised power generation using timber wastes from field and sawmill operations. Any acquisition or development of these technologies will, however, be individual company effort without any significant assistance from government or from parent multinational companies