Honest advocacy for nature: presenting a persuasive narrative for conservation.

Conservation scientists are increasingly recognising the value of communicating policy-relevant knowledge to policy-makers. Whilst considerable progress has been made in offering practical advice for scientists seeking to engage more closely with decision-makers, researchers have provided few tangible examples to learn from. This paper uses an English case study, but draws out important high-level messages relevant to conservation scientists worldwide. The case study looks at how the Lawton Review presented knowledge persuasively about the suitability of England's ecological network to deal with future pressures. Through skilful framing of rigorous scientific knowledge it was able to make a significant impact on government policy. Impact was achieved through: (1) selecting politically salient frames through which to communicate; (2) using clear, accessible language, and; (3) conducting rigorous science using an authoritative team of experts. Although its publication coincided with a favourable policy window, the Lawton Review seized on this opportunity to communicate a rigorously argued, persuasive and practical conservation message; in other words, it performed 'honest advocacy'. Thus, whilst it remains important to conduct scientific research with technical rigour, conservation scientists could also benefit from identifying salient frames for conservation and communicating clearly.This work is taken from a PhD project in the Department of Geography funded by ESRC (grant number ES/I901957/1) and Homerton College (Charter Scholarship). Thomas Pryke is studying for a PhD in the Department of Geography funded jointly by ESRC and NERC (No: ES/J500033/1).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1163-1

The development of the Meaning in Life Index (MILI) and its relationship with personality and religious behaviours and beliefs among UK undergraduate students

The scales available for assessing meaning in life appear to be confounded with several related constructs, including purpose in life, satisfaction with life, and goal-directed behaviour. The Meaning in Life Index (MILI), a new instrument devised as a specific measure of meaning in life, was developed from responses to a pool of 22 items rated by a sample of 501 undergraduate students in Wales. The nine-item scale demonstrated sufficient face validity, internal consistency, and scale reliability to commend the instrument for future use. With respect to personality, the MILI scores were most strongly predicted by neuroticism (negatively), and less strongly by extraversion (positively) and psychoticism (negatively). With respect to several religious behavioural variables, those who attended church at least weekly returned significantly higher MILI scores than those who attended church less frequently. Intrinsic religiosity was the only orientation to be significantly associated with the MILI scale scores, although the magnitude of the association was smaller than anticipated. These results suggest that meaning in life is associated more strongly with individual differences in personality than with specific religious behaviours and attitudes. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of individual's personal values and attitudes that might underlie their experience of a meaning in life

The time to extinction for an SIS-household-epidemic model

We analyse a stochastic SIS epidemic amongst a finite population partitioned into households. Since the population is finite, the epidemic will eventually go extinct, i.e., have no more infectives in the population. We study the effects of population size and within household transmission upon the time to extinction. This is done through two approximations. The first approximation is suitable for all levels of within household transmission and is based upon an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process approximation for the diseases fluctuations about an endemic level relying on a large population. The second approximation is suitable for high levels of within household transmission and approximates the number of infectious households by a simple homogeneously mixing SIS model with the households replaced by individuals. The analysis, supported by a simulation study, shows that the mean time to extinction is minimized by moderate levels of within household transmission

Public release of optimization of metallization scheme for thin emitter wrap-through solar cells for higher efficiency, reduced precious metal costs, and reduced stress.

Back-contact crystalline-silicon photovoltaic solar cells and modules offer a number of advantages, including the elimination of grid shadowing losses, reduced cost through use of thinner silicon substrates, simpler module assembly, and improved aesthetics. While the existing edge tab method for interconnecting and stringing edge-connected back contact cells is acceptably straightforward and reliable, there are further gains to be exploited when you have both contact polarities on one side of the cell. In this work, we produce 'busbarless' emitter wrap-through solar cells that use 41% of the gridline silver (Ag) metallization mass compared to the edge tab design. Further, series resistance power losses are reduced by extraction of current from more places on the cell rear, leading to a fill factor improvement of about 6% (relative) on the module level. Series resistance and current-generation losses associated with large rear bondpads and busbars are eliminated. Use of thin silicon (Si) wafers is enabled because of the reduced Ag metallization mass and by interconnection with conductive adhesives leading to reduced bow. The busbarless cell design interconnected with conductive adhesives passes typical International Electrotechnical Commission damp heat and thermal cycling test

Sexuality and Affection among Elderly German Men and Women in Long-Term Relationships: Results of a Prospective Population-Based Study

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The study was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Families, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (AZ 314-1722-102/16; AZ 301-1720-295/2), the Ministry for Science, Research and Art Baden-Württemberg, and the University of Rostock (FORUN 989020; 889048)

Increased cerebral (R)-[11C]PK11195 uptake and glutamate release in a rat model of traumatic brain injury: a longitudinal pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of the present study was to investigate microglia activation over time following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to relate these findings to glutamate release.</p> <p>Procedures</p> <p>Sequential dynamic <it>(R)</it>-[¹¹C]PK11195 PET scans were performed in rats 24 hours before (baseline), and one and ten days after TBI using controlled cortical impact, or a sham procedure. Extracellular fluid (ECF) glutamate concentrations were measured using cerebral microdialysis. Brains were processed for histopathology and (immuno)-histochemistry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ten days after TBI, <it>(R)</it>-[¹¹C]PK11195 binding was significantly increased in TBI rats compared with both baseline values and sham controls (p < 0.05). ECF glutamate values were increased immediately after TBI (27.6 ± 14.0 μmol·L^-1) as compared with the sham procedure (6.4 ± 3.6 μmol·L^-1). Significant differences were found between TBI and sham for ED-1, OX-6, GFAP, Perl's, and Fluoro-Jade B.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Increased cerebral uptake of <it>(R)</it>-[¹¹C]PK11195 ten days after TBI points to prolonged and ongoing activation of microglia. This activation followed a significant acute posttraumatic increase in ECF glutamate levels.</p

Validating DOE's Office of Science "capability" computing needs.

A study was undertaken to validate the 'capability' computing needs of DOE's Office of Science. More than seventy members of the community provided information about algorithmic scaling laws, so that the impact of having access to Petascale capability computers could be assessed. We have concluded that the Office of Science community has described credible needs for Petascale capability computing

Expression of the bile acid receptor FXR in Barrett's esophagus and enhancement of apoptosis by guggulsterone in vitro

BACKGROUND: Barrett's esophagus, a risk factor for esophageal adenocarcinoma, is associated with reflux disease. The aim of this study was to assess the expression of bile acid receptors in the esophagus (normal, esophagitis, Barrett's esophagus and adenocarcinoma) and to investigate their possible function. RESULTS: the expression of the bile acid receptors FXR and VDR in esophageal biopsies from patients with a normal mucosa, esophagitis, Barrett's esophagus or adenocarcinoma (n = 6 per group) and in cell lines derived from Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma, was assessed by real time Q-PCR and immunohistochemistry. The effect of guggulsterone, an antagonist of bile acid receptors, on apoptosis of Barrett's esophagus-derived cells was assessed morphologically, by flow cytometry and by measuring caspase 3 activity. The expression of FXR was increased in esophagitis, Barrett's esophagus and adenocarcinoma compared to normal mucosa by a mean of 44, 84 and 16, respectively. Immunohistochemistry showed a weak expression in normal esophagus, a strong focal reactivity in Barrett's esophagus, and was negative in adenocarcinoma. VDR expression did not significantly differ between groups. In cell cultures, the expression of FXR was high in Barrett's esophagus-derived cells and almost undetectable in adenocarcinoma-derived cells, whereas VDR expression in these cell lines was not significantly different. In vitro treatment with guggulsterone was associated with a significant increase in the percentage of apoptotic cells and of the caspase 3 activity. CONCLUSION: the bile acid receptor FXR is significantly overexpressed in Barrett's esophagus compared to normal mucosa, esophagitis and esophageal adenocarcinoma. The induction of apoptosis by guggulsterone in a Barrett's esophagus-derived cell line suggests that FXR may contribute to the regulation of apoptosis