77 research outputs found
Bioregional planning in southeastern Tanzania : the Selous-Niassa corridor as a prism for transfrontier conservation areas
Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-247).This thesis uses the Selous-Niassa wildlife corridor as a lens through which the process of constructing bioregions can be understood and the effects of that process on society properly evaluated. It specifically investigates the corridor as a cog in the creation of a bioregion in southeastern Tanzania, namely, the Selous-Niassa transfrontier conservation area. The study was motivated by claims that the creation of bioregions across international borders places the protection and conservation of biodiversity at the appropriate scale, and that bioregions of this type are beneficial for nature conservation and society. Though the study appreciates the ecological rationales for trans-border conservation, its focus is on the social side of the process. The main social claims for bioregions in general, and transfrontier conservation in particular, are that the establishment of cross-border protected areas, including transfrontier conservation areas, leads to the removal of colonial borders which disrupt ecological systems and local communities
Evaluating the Underlying Gender Bias in Contextualized Word Embeddings
Gender bias is highly impacting natural language processing applications.
Word embeddings have clearly been proven both to keep and amplify gender biases
that are present in current data sources. Recently, contextualized word
embeddings have enhanced previous word embedding techniques by computing word
vector representations dependent on the sentence they appear in.
In this paper, we study the impact of this conceptual change in the word
embedding computation in relation with gender bias. Our analysis includes
different measures previously applied in the literature to standard word
embeddings. Our findings suggest that contextualized word embeddings are less
biased than standard ones even when the latter are debiased
Lack of protective effect of tiotropium vs induced dynamic hyperinflation in moderate COPD
SummaryStudy objectiveNovel evaluation of protective effect of tiotropium against induced dynamic hyperinflation (DH) during metronome paced hyperventilation (MPH) in moderate COPD.MethodsProspective, randomized, double-blind, placebo control, crossover study. Lung function measured pre/post MPH at 30 breaths/min for 20 s in 29 (18M) COPD patients (GOLD Stage 2) age 70 ± 9 yr (mean ± SD) before and after 30 days of 18 μg tiotropium bromide vs placebo. Lung CT scored for emphysema (ES).ResultsAt baseline post 180 μg aerosolized albuterol sulfate, FEV1: 1.8 ± 0.6 L (69 ± 6%pred) and ≥60% predicted in all, and 14 of 29 had FEV1 (L) ≥70% predicted with FEV1/FVC 58 ± 8%. After 29 days + 23 h post tiotropium (trough) there was significant decrease only in FRC/TLC% (p = 0.04); after 30 days + 2 h post tiotropium (peak) significant increase only in FEV1 (L) (p = 0.03) compared to placebo. Results post MPH induced DH at baseline and after 30 days and 2 h post placebo or tiotropium were similar with decrease in IC 0.44 ± 0.06 L (p < 0.001). Correlation between ES and increased FEV1 (L) at peak tiotropium: r = 0.19, p = 0.96 and decreased FRC/TLC% at trough tiotropium: r = −0.26, p = 0.36.ConclusionIn moderate COPD, tiotropium did not reduce MPH induced DH and reduction in IC. However, at peak tiotropium, there was significant bronchodilation in FEV1 (L) and at trough a decrease in FRC/TLC% compared to placebo despite varying emphysema
Convergence and divergence in the wildlife sector
Tanzania’s endowment of diverse biodiversity, wildlife resources and prime natural
attraction sites put the country at the center of many debates about conservation, human
welfare and development. As approaches for wildlife protection have evolved over time,
so has the need for redressing the gap between nature and people through different
kinds of partnerships. Based on are view of the existing literature, we examine the context
in which partnerships have emerged in the wildlife sector in Tanzania, the processes that
support acquisition and maintenance of legitimacy, as well as the sustainability outcomes
of these partnerships. Specifically, the paper examines the historical trajectory of these
partnerships and the influence that different actors have historically maintained hence
determining how the public and private sector engagements evolved over time. We draw
insights from the Selous game reserve with specific attention to the role of Wildlife
Management Areas (WMAs) as a converging point for many actors. The paper suggests
that partnerships for wildlife protection have increased in number and scope. However,
the assessment of their impacts has mainly focused on how much land has been secured
for the protection of wildlife. Livelihood impacts of these partnerships have been largely
assessed against the background of unequal terms of local community engagement with
private investors, recentralization, the rise of local elites, corruption and the limitations
that they place on local land use. We suggest that documenting how partnerships are
formed, their different configurations and impacts should be an important step towards
the analysis of the relations of power among different actors and with local communities,
as well as a nuanced understanding of their ecological and livelihood outcomes
A literature review
The rhetoric of a ‘win-win-win’ situation – which represents simultaneous achievement of
economic growth, environmental protection and social development – is central to the
emergence of community-based wildlife protection efforts that involve new partnerships
between actors such as local communities, businesses and government agencies. The
win-win rhetoric furthers the logic that the more partners, the more wins – yet the current
knowledge base lacks clear criteria for evaluating partnerships. This working paper uses
political ecology as a conceptual lens to propose such criteria. We suggest examining
partnerships not only based on their complexity, but also how they are formed and gain
legitimacy in different contexts and how various partnership configurations engender
particular kinds of ecological and socio-economic outcomes. Based on a review of the
literature about partnerships and their impacts, and drawing on insights from Tanzania’s
wildlife sector, we establish three groups of literature that emphasize the benefits of
partnerships: one focusing on landscape conservation, another on governance reforms
and the last on tourism related businesses. In these three groups of literature,
partnerships are claimed to improve the effectiveness of biodiversity governance by
securing land, facilitating local developments and by creating business links. Building on
critiques from political ecology we conclude by questioning this win-win-win rhetoric
arguing that partnerships only lead to wins for specific actors thereby indirectly
aggravating local power struggles. They do so by supporting rent seeking and the rise of
local elites while simultaneously concealing the marginalization of other actors and
thereby effectively contributing to the continued loss of local land rights
Economic growth, rural assets and prosperity: exploring the implications of a 20-year record of asset growth in Tanzania
Measures of poverty based on consumption suggest that recent economic growth in many African countries has not been inclusive, particularly in rural areas. We argue that measures of poverty using assets may provide a different picture. We present data based on recent re-surveys of Tanzanian households first visited in the early 1990s. These demonstrate a marked increase in prosperity from high levels of poverty. It does not, however, follow that these improvements derive from GDP growth. We consider the implications of this research for further explorations of the relationship between economic growth and agricultural policy in rural areas
The multiple meanings of prosperity and poverty : a cross-site comparison from Tanzania
Assets are important to local definitions of poverty and wealth in rural Africa. Yet their use in asset indices can miss locally valued change. We present data from 17 villages across Tanzania to explore differences in the meaning of wealth and poverty across the country. Despite limitations in our site selection we found considerable diversity that makes a single asset index difficult to compile. Current abbreviated asset indices risk counting assets that do not matter locally
Insights into the Evolution of Multicellularity from the Sea Lettuce Genome
We report here the 98.5 Mbp haploid genome (12,924 protein coding genes) of Ulva mutabilis, a ubiquitous and iconic representative of the Ulvophyceae or green seaweeds. Ulva’s rapid and abundant growth makes it a key contributor to coastal biogeochemical cycles; its role in marine sulfur cycles is particularly important because it produces high levels of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), the main precursor of volatile dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Rapid growth makes Ulva attractive biomass feedstock but also increasingly a driver of nuisance “green tides.” Ulvophytes are key to understanding the evolution of multicellularity in the green lineage, and Ulva morphogenesis is dependent on bacterial signals, making it an important species with which to study cross-kingdom communication. Our sequenced genome informs these aspects of ulvophyte cell biology, physiology, and ecology. Gene family expansions associated with multicellularity are distinct from those of freshwater algae. Candidate genes, including some that arose following horizontal gene transfer from chromalveolates, are present for the transport and metabolism of DMSP. The Ulva genome offers, therefore, new opportunities to understand coastal and marine ecosystems and the fundamental evolution of the green lineage
Trypanosoma brucei PUF9 Regulates mRNAs for Proteins Involved in Replicative Processes over the Cell Cycle
Many genes that are required at specific points in the cell cycle exhibit cell cycle–dependent expression. In the early-diverging model eukaryote and important human pathogen Trypanosoma brucei, regulation of gene expression in the cell cycle and other processes is almost entirely post-transcriptional. Here, we show that the T. brucei RNA-binding protein PUF9 stabilizes certain transcripts during S-phase. Target transcripts of PUF9—LIGKA, PNT1 and PNT2—were identified by affinity purification with TAP-tagged PUF9. RNAi against PUF9 caused an accumulation of cells in G2/M phase and unexpectedly destabilized the PUF9 target mRNAs, despite the fact that most known Puf-domain proteins promote degradation of their target mRNAs. The levels of the PUF9-regulated transcripts were cell cycle dependent, peaking in mid- to late- S-phase, and this effect was abolished when PUF9 was targeted by RNAi. The sequence UUGUACC was over-represented in the 3′ UTRs of PUF9 targets; a point mutation in this motif abolished PUF9-dependent stabilization of a reporter transcript carrying the PNT1 3′ UTR. LIGKA is involved in replication of the kinetoplast, and here we show that PNT1 is also kinetoplast-associated and its over-expression causes kinetoplast-related defects, while PNT2 is localized to the nucleus in G1 phase and redistributes to the mitotic spindle during mitosis. PUF9 targets may constitute a post-transcriptional regulon, encoding proteins involved in temporally coordinated replicative processes in early G2 phase
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