Land use/Land Cover Changes and Causes of Deforestation in the Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

The objective of this paper is to provide the non-existent data on land use/land cover changes in the Wilberforce Island for the purposes of determining the causes of deforestation and changes in the vegetation cover for a 13 – year period. Accordingly, 125 questionnaires were administered in five communities to determine the causes of deforestation. Satellite imageries for 2002 and 2015 were also acquired from Landsat 7 and 8 respectively and analysed with the Quantum Geography Information System (QGIS) software to obtain the various land use/land cover changes. The semi – Automatic Classification Plugin Version 4.9.1 of the QGIS was used for the land use/land cover classification with a supervised classification method. Each satellite imagery was classified into 8 categories using their reflectance values and the error matrix was used to show the level of accuracy of the classified imageries. Results from the study indicated that the major drivers of deforestation were logging, farming, building of houses and fuel wood fetching. Results from satellite imageries also showed that forest and sparse vegetation/grassland decreased from 73.34% and 10.32% to 51.34% and 8.08% between 2002 and 2015 respectively, while farmland and residential area increased from 10.71% and 0.44% to 30.575 and 1.72% for the same period respectively. It was concluded that land use/cover changes was due to deforestation to provide raw materials for wood industries, and space for agriculture and building of house for the increasing population in the area. The implications of deforestation for biodiversity and climate change have been highlighted. Keywords: Deforestation, land use/land cover changes, Wilberforce Islan

A review of the factors involved in older people's decision making with regard to influenza vaccination: a literature review

Aims and objectives. The aim of this paper was to develop an understanding of the factors involved in older people's decision making with regard to influenza vaccination to inform strategies to improve vaccine uptake and reduce morbidity and mortality. Background. Influenza is a major cause of morbidity and mortality world-wide. In the UK, it accounts for 3000–6000 deaths annually; 85% of these deaths are people aged 65 and over. Despite this, and the widespread and costly annual government campaigns, some older people at risk of influenza and the associated complications remain reluctant to take advantage of the offer of vaccination. Methods. A review of the English language literature referring to older people published between 1996 and 2005 was the method used. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were identified and applied. Results. The majority of the literature was quantitative in nature, investigating personal characteristics thought to be predictors of uptake, such as age, sex, co-morbidity, educational level, income and area of residence. However, there was little discussion of the possible reasons for the significance of these factors and conflict between findings was often evident, particularly between studies employing different methodologies. Other factors identified were prior experience, concerns about the vaccine, perceived risk and advice and information. Relevance to clinical practice. The wealth of demographic information available will be useful at a strategic level in targeting groups identified as being unlikely to accept vaccination. However, the promotion of person-centred ways of working that value the health beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and subjective experiences of older people is likely to be more successful during individual encounters designed to promote acceptance. Without more research in investigating these concepts, our understanding is inevitably limited

Pericardial Effusion Worm-Like Strands on Transthoracic Echocardiogram

Background: Fibrinous Pericardial Effusion is the accumulation of excess fluid in the pericardial fibroelastic sac. It can be a symptom of any pathological process that affects the pericardium from acute pericarditis to systemic disorders. This broad differential poses a diagnostic challenge in the setting of acute fluid accumulation. Case Presentation: A 50-year-old male with a past medical history of extensive intravenous drug use complicated by bacteremia and left ankle abscess formation presented to the Emergency Department complaining of mild-moderate chest pain for four days. Within the last month, he presented to the Emergency Department three times for similar symptoms; however, he eloped each time before receiving proper medical treatment. Chest x-ray revealed an enlarged cardiac silhouette, and follow-up computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrated a large transudative pericardial effusion, bilateral lower lobe consolidation, and retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy. Prior to pericardiocentesis, a transthoracic echocardiogram was performed that revealed intrapericardial adhesions with a larva-like appearance. His clinical course was complicated by a concurrent left ankle abscess managed by podiatry. He received a pericardial window procedure one week later. Blood cultures from both procedures were negative, and the etiology was determined to be idiopathic. Subsequently, the cardiothoracic surgery team signed the patient off to the primary medical team for further medical management. Discussion/Conclusions: This case illustrates that imaging results can create a disproportionately severe clinical picture. Additionally, even in the case of explained systemic disease, the idiopathic nature of this patient presentation complicates the post-pericardiocentesis management of this patient. The extent of intrapericardial adhesion density and clinically severe appearance is not indicative of a pericardial effusion’s etiology. Transthoracic echocardiogram alone does not have a significant role in the formulation of a differential diagnosis for the treatment of fibrinous pericardial effusion

Birth season and environmental influences on blood leucocyte and lymphocyte subpopulations in rural Gambian infants

BACKGROUND: In rural Gambia, birth season predicts infection-related adult mortality, providing evidence that seasonal factors in early life may programme immune development. This study tested whether lymphocyte subpopulations assessed by automated full blood count and flow cytometry in cord blood and at 8, 16 and 52 weeks in rural Gambian infants (N = 138) are affected by birth season (DRY = Jan-Jun, harvest season, few infections; WET = Jul-Dec, hungry season, many infections), birth size or micronutrient status. RESULTS: Geometric mean cord and postnatal counts were higher in births occurring in the WET season with both season of birth and season of sampling effects. Absolute CD3+, CD8+, and CD56+ counts, were higher in WET season births, but absolute CD4+ counts were unaffected and percentage CD4+ counts were therefore lower. CD19+ counts showed no association with birth season but were associated with concurrent plasma zinc status. There were no other associations between subpopulation counts and micronutrient or anthropometric status. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate a seasonal influence on cell counts with a disproportionate effect on CD8+ and CD56+ relative to CD4+ cells. This seasonal difference was seen in cord blood (indicating an effect in utero) and subsequent samples, and is not explained by nutritional status. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis than an early environmental exposure can programme human immune development

Coupling of Mouse Olfactory Bulb Projection Neurons to Fluctuating Odor Pulses

Odours are transported by turbulent air currents, creating complex temporal fluctuations in odour concentration that provide a potentially informative stimulus dimension. Recently, we have shown that mice are able to discriminate odour stimuli based on their temporal structure, indicating that information contained in the temporal structure of odour plumes can be extracted by the mouse olfactory system. Here, using in vivo extra- and intracellular electrophysiological recordings, we show that mitral and tufted cells (M/TCs) of the male C57BL/6 mouse olfactory bulb can encode the dominant temporal frequencies present in odour stimuli up to at least 20 Hz. A substantial population of cell-odour pairs showed significant coupling of their subthreshold membrane potential with the odour stimulus at both 2Hz (29/70) and the supra-sniff frequency 20Hz (24/70). Furthermore, M/TCs show differential coupling of their membrane potential to odour concentration fluctuations with tufted cells coupling more strongly for the 20Hz stimulation. Frequency coupling was always observed to be invariant to odour identity and M/TCs that coupled well to a mixture also coupled to at least one of the components of the mixture. Interestingly, pharmacological blocking of the inhibitory circuitry strongly modulated frequency coupling of cell-odour pairs at both 2Hz (10/15) and 20Hz (9/15). These results provide insight into how both cellular and circuit properties contribute to the encoding of temporal odour features in the mouse olfactory bulb.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTOdours in the natural environment have a strong temporal structure which can be extracted and used by mice in their behaviour. Here, using in vivo extra- and intracellular electrophysiological techniques, we show that the projection neurons in the olfactory bulb can encode and couple to the dominant frequency present in an odour stimulus. Furthermore, frequency coupling was observed to be differential between mitral and tufted cells, was odour-invariant but strongly modulated by local inhibitory circuits. In summary, this study provides insight into how both cellular and circuit properties modulate encoding of odour temporal features in the mouse olfactory bulb

Learning to Fix Build Errors with Graph2Diff Neural Networks

Professional software developers spend a significant amount of time fixing builds, but this has received little attention as a problem in automatic program repair. We present a new deep learning architecture, called Graph2Diff, for automatically localizing and fixing build errors. We represent source code, build configuration files, and compiler diagnostic messages as a graph, and then use a Graph Neural Network model to predict a diff. A diff specifies how to modify the code’s abstract syntax tree, represented in the neural network as a sequence of tokens and of pointers to code locations. Our network is an instance of a more general abstraction which we call Graph2Tocopo, which is potentially useful in any development tool for predicting source code changes. We evaluate the model on a dataset of over 500k real build errors and their resolutions from professional developers. Compared to the approach of DeepDelta [23], our approach tackles the harder task of predicting a more precise diff but still achieves over double the accuracy

Augmenting the 6-3-5 method with design information

This paper describes a comparative study between the 6-3-5 Method and the ICR Grid. The ICR Grid is an evolved variant of 6-3-5 intended to better integrate information into the concept generation process. Unlike a conventional 6-3-5 process where participants continually sketch concepts, using the ICR Grid (the name derived from its Inform, Create, Reflect activities and structured, grid-like output) participants are additionally required to undertake information search tasks, use specific information items for concept development, and reflect on the merit of concepts as the session progresses. The results indicate that although the quantity of concepts was lower, the use of information had a positive effect in a number of areas, principally the quality and variety of output. Although grounded in the area of product development, this research is applicable to any organisation undertaking idea generation and problem solving. As well as providing insights on the transference of information to concepts, it holds additional interest for studies on the composition and use of digital libraries

A survey of medical students to assess their exposure to and knowledge of renal transplantation

BACKGROUND: Within the field of renal transplantation there is a lack of qualified and trainee surgeons and a shortage of donated organs. Any steps to tackle these issues should, in part, be aimed at future doctors. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to final year students at a single medical school in the UK to assess their exposure to and knowledge of renal transplantation. RESULTS: Although 46% of responding students had examined a transplant recipient, only 14% had ever witnessed the surgery. Worryingly, 9% of students believed that xenotransplantation commonly occurs in the UK and 35% were unable to name a single drug that a recipient may need to take. CONCLUSIONS: This survey demonstrates a lack of exposure to, and knowledge of, the field of renal transplantation. Recommendations to address the problems with the recruitment of surgeons and donation of organs, by targeting medical students are made

Hazy with a chance of star spots: constraining the atmosphere of the young planet, K2-33b

Although all-sky surveys have led to the discovery of dozens of young planets, little is known about their atmospheres. Here, we present multi-wavelength transit data for the super Neptune-sized exoplanet, K2-33b -- the youngest (~10 Myr) transiting exoplanet to-date. We combined photometric observations of K2-33 covering a total of 33 transits spanning >2 years, taken from K2, MEarth, Hubble, and Spitzer. The transit photometry spanned from the optical to the near-infrared (0.6-4.5$\mu$m), enabling us to construct a transmission spectrum of the planet. We find that the optical transit depths are nearly a factor of two deeper than those from the near-infrared. This difference holds across multiple datasets taken over years, ruling out issues of data analysis and unconstrained systematics. Surface inhomogeneities on the young star can reproduce some of the difference, but required spot coverage fractions (>60%) are ruled out by the observed stellar spectrum(<20%). We find a better fit to the transmission spectrum using photochemical hazes, which were predicted to be strong in young, moderate-temperature, and large-radius planets like K2-33b. A tholin haze with CO as the dominant gaseous carbon carrier in the atmosphere can reasonably reproduce the data with small or no stellar surface inhomogeneities, consistent with the stellar spectrum. The HST data quality is insufficient for the detection of any molecular features. More observations would be required to fully characterize the hazes and spot properties and confirm the presence of CO suggested by current data.Comment: Accepted to AJ. 26 pages, 14 figures, 6 table