New media and civil society : a study of Native Customary Rights (NCR) Land and Community-based Organisations (CBOs) in Sarawak, Malaysia

Civil society generally refers to a sphere where individuals exercise their freedom and rights through voluntary, independent associations. Spurred by world political events, the discourse of civil society shifted to a democratising mission against the tyranny of the state. It was also during the 1980s in Malaysia, middle-class non-governmental organisations (NGOs) blossomed and advocated for human rights issues such as feminism, labour and environment. In the late 1990s, the Internet was hailed as the platform to widen the public sphere in the oppressive environment of media in Malaysia, especially its broadcasting industry. The following two decades witnessed how websites, blogs and social media became the staple platform to influence public opinion especially before general elections.This thesis explores the relationship between civil society and new media using the study of native customary rights (NCR) land community-based organisations (CBOs) in Sarawak, Malaysia. Sarawak, the largest state of the Bornean Island, formed the Federation of Malaysia with Sabah in 1963 bound by an agreement that secured their oil royalty and native status as Bumiputra (prince of the soil). Sarawak is rich with natural resources, flora, fauna and cultural heritage with over 27 ethnic groups residing on the land. However, over the years, Sarawak lost much of its assets due to illegal deforestation and native land grabbing. Since the 1970s, environmental groups and activists have fought hard to reinstate the definition of NCR against state-given provisional leases (PLs) awarded to logging and palm oil manufacturing companies.This research uses the analytical framework from Italian social theorist Antonio Gramsci’s notion of civil society to understand the potential of new media in expanding the NCR land advocacy in Sarawak. Gramsci sees civil society as an arena of struggles between ruling and ruled classes to achieve hegemony, referring to cultural domination by shaping consent. To Gramsci, this consensus has to be constantly maintained through superstructural institutions such as religion, education, media and tourism. Therefore, civil society is the complex sphere where the state exerts its authority without having to resort to military forces, unless the hegemony is broken. The current state of literature suggests that the contribution of new media to Malaysian political changes is more to do with instantaneous online activities and rarely related to ongoing organising processes. Academic research studies about native customary land in Sarawak are largely technical, focused on geological mapping and land laws. By taking on the Gramscian framework, this thesis rejects the liberal paradigm that defines civil society as an autonomous sphere that unanimously aims for the common good, participated in by rational individuals. There is more to explore beyond the celebratory claims of freedom brought about by NGOs and new media. Characterising civil society as a complex arena of conflicting interests and actors is a more realistic way to understand the CBOs’ empowerment efforts related to Sarawakian subalterns and their interests. Interviews with the CBOs personnel and web-based analysis of their online platforms showed deep-seated distrust not only toward the state and new communication technologies, but among NGOs, indigenous ethnic groups, and churches. The Gramscian civil society framework allows the research to synthesise the potentials of new media in the CBOs’ organising activities as separate yet interrelated entities against the background of the lower status of Sarawak indigenous people. The research further contributes insights into the sturdy trenches of civil society that protect the state – officially sanctioned media systems, education, religion and national identities. By way of conclusion, the research suggests that the CBOs should consolidate their advocacy and venture into the site of hegemony to establish and normalise their cultural image

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Estimating Dengue Transmission Intensity from Sero-Prevalence Surveys in Multiple Countries

BACKGROUND:Estimates of dengue transmission intensity remain ambiguous. Since the majority of infections are asymptomatic, surveillance systems substantially underestimate true rates of infection. With advances in the development of novel control measures, obtaining robust estimates of average dengue transmission intensity is key for assessing both the burden of disease from dengue and the likely impact of interventions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:The force of infection (λ) and corresponding basic reproduction numbers (R0) for dengue were estimated from non-serotype (IgG) and serotype-specific (PRNT) age-stratified seroprevalence surveys identified from the literature. The majority of R0 estimates ranged from 1-4. Assuming that two heterologous infections result in complete immunity produced up to two-fold higher estimates of R0 than when tertiary and quaternary infections were included. λ estimated from IgG data were comparable to the sum of serotype-specific forces of infection derived from PRNT data, particularly when inter-serotype interactions were allowed for. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Our analysis highlights the highly heterogeneous nature of dengue transmission. How underlying assumptions about serotype interactions and immunity affect the relationship between the force of infection and R0 will have implications for control planning. While PRNT data provides the maximum information, our study shows that even the much cheaper ELISA-based assays would provide comparable baseline estimates of overall transmission intensity which will be an important consideration in resource-constrained settings

Parasite fate and involvement of infected cells in the induction of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses to Toxoplasma gondii

During infection with the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii, the presentation of parasite-derived antigens to CD4+ and CD8+ T cells is essential for long-term resistance to this pathogen. Fundamental questions remain regarding the roles of phagocytosis and active invasion in the events that lead to the processing and presentation of parasite antigens. To understand the most proximal events in this process, an attenuated non-replicating strain of T. gondii (the cpsII strain) was combined with a cytometry-based approach to distinguish active invasion from phagocytic uptake. In vivo studies revealed that T. gondii disproportionately infected dendritic cells and macrophages, and that infected dendritic cells and macrophages displayed an activated phenotype characterized by enhanced levels of CD86 compared to cells that had phagocytosed the parasite, thus suggesting a role for these cells in priming naïve T cells. Indeed, dendritic cells were required for optimal CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, and the phagocytosis of heat-killed or invasion-blocked parasites was not sufficient to induce T cell responses. Rather, the selective transfer of cpsII-infected dendritic cells or macrophages (but not those that had phagocytosed the parasite) to naïve mice potently induced CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, and conferred protection against challenge with virulent T. gondii. Collectively, these results point toward a critical role for actively infected host cells in initiating T. gondii-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses

Factors associated with nursing home placement of all patients admitted for inpatient rehabilitation in Singapore community hospitals from 1996 to 2005: A disease stratified analysis

10.1371/journal.pone.0082697PLoS ONE812-POLN

A novel automated rodent tracker (ART), demonstrated in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background Generating quantitative metrics of rodent locomotion and general behaviours from video footage is important in behavioural neuroscience studies. However, there is not yet a free software system that can process large amounts of video data with minimal user interventions. New method Here we propose a new, automated rodent tracker (ART) that uses a simple rule-based system to quickly and robustly track rodent nose and body points, with minimal user input. Tracked points can then be used to identify behaviours, approximate body size and provide locomotion metrics, such as speed and distance. Results ART was demonstrated here on video recordings of a SOD1 mouse model, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, aged 30, 60, 90 and 120 days. Results showed a robust decline in locomotion speeds, as well as a reduction in object exploration and forward movement, with an increase in the time spent still. Body size approximations (centroid width), showed a significant decrease from P30. Comparison with existing method(s) ART performed to a very similar accuracy as manual tracking and Ethovision (a commercially available alternative), with average differences in coordinate points of 0.6 and 0.8 mm, respectively. However, it required much less user intervention than Ethovision (6 as opposed to 30 mouse clicks) and worked robustly over more videos. Conclusions ART provides an open-source option for behavioural analysis of rodents, performing to the same standards as commercially available software. It can be considered a validated, and accessible, alternative for researchers for whom non-invasive quantification of natural rodent behaviour is desirable

2D versus 3D human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cultures for neurodegenerative disease modelling

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Huntington's disease (HD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), affect millions of people every year and so far, there are no therapeutic cures available. Even though animal and histological models have been of great aid in understanding disease mechanisms and identifying possible therapeutic strategies, in order to find disease-modifying solutions there is still a critical need for systems that can provide more predictive and physiologically relevant results. One possible avenue is the development of patient-derived models, e.g. by reprogramming patient somatic cells into human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), which can then be differentiated into any cell type for modelling. These systems contain key genetic information from the donors, and therefore have enormous potential as tools in the investigation of pathological mechanisms underlying disease phenotype, and progression, as well as in drug testing platforms. hiPSCs have been widely cultured in 2D systems, but in order to mimic human brain complexity, 3D models have been proposed as a more advanced alternative. This review will focus on the use of patient-derived hiPSCs to model AD, PD, HD and ALS. In brief, we will cover the available stem cells, types of 2D and 3D culture systems, existing models for neurodegenerative diseases, obstacles to model these diseases in vitro, and current perspectives in the field

Linkage and association of myocilin (MYOC) polymorphisms with high myopia in a Chinese population

Author name used in this publication: Maurice K.H. Yap2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Measurements of integrated and differential cross sections for isolated photon pair production in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the production cross section for two isolated photons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s=8 TeV is presented. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb−1 recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement considers photons with pseudorapidities satisfying |ηγ|40GeV and EγT,2>30 GeV for the two leading photons ordered in transverse energy produced in the interaction. The background due to hadronic jets and electrons is subtracted using data-driven techniques. The fiducial cross sections are corrected for detector effects and measured differentially as a function of six kinematic observables. The measured cross section integrated within the fiducial volume is 16.8 ± 0.8  pb . The data are compared to fixed-order QCD calculations at next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order accuracy as well as next-to-leading-order computations including resummation of initial-state gluon radiation at next-to-next-to-leading logarithm or matched to a parton shower, with relative uncertainties varying from 5% to 20%