Gandhi and deep ecology : experiencing the nonhuman environment

The present study concentrates on the experience ofnature in the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi. This detailedenvironmental biography of Gandhi follows him from theearly years in India, through his years in England as ayoung man and on to South Africa where his beliefs abouthumanity's proper relationship with the nonhuman world wereshaped. There is also a detailed examination of hisdietary and nature-cure experiments which date from hisyears in England, 1888 - 1891, with a discussion of theoriginal works that he cites in his own writings. Dietinvolves a most intimate relationship with the nonhumanenvironment. Gandhi sought a diet which involved the leastunavoidable violence and which the poor could afford.Health for Gandhi was a state of total well-being - social,physical and spiritual.Gandhi established communities of workers dedicated toservice, first in South Africa at Phoenix Settlement andTolstoy Farm, and then in India at Sabarmati Ashram andSevagram. Here his respect for the integrity of otherliving beings was tested by experience. Rabid dogs, thethreat of venomous snakes to both livestock and humans, andthe nuisance of monkeys pilfering from the ashram's fruittrees and vegetables were situations that had to beresolved.Since its inception in 1972 the Deep Ecology movementhas been linked with the name of the Norwegianecophilosopher Arne Naess, who has also devoted many yearsto an analysis of Gandhi's philosophy. The experience ofnature and reflection on humanity's right relationship withthe nonhuman environment is brought up to the present-dayvia a consideration of some of the individuals andindigenous people that deep ecology acknowledges as part ofits background, such as Henry Thoreau, John Muir, MaryAustin, Aldo Leopold and Richard St. Barbe Baker

Optimal Investment in the Development of Oil and Gas Field

Let an oil and gas field consists of clusters in each of which an investor can launch at most one project. During the implementation of a particular project, all characteristics are known, including annual production volumes, necessary investment volumes, and profit. The total amount of investments that the investor spends on developing the field during the entire planning period we know. It is required to determine which projects to implement in each cluster so that, within the total amount of investments, the profit for the entire planning period is maximum. The problem under consideration is NP-hard. However, it is solved by dynamic programming with pseudopolynomial time complexity. Nevertheless, in practice, there are additional constraints that do not allow solving the problem with acceptable accuracy at a reasonable time. Such restrictions, in particular, are annual production volumes. In this paper, we considered only the upper constraints that are dictated by the pipeline capacity. For the investment optimization problem with such additional restrictions, we obtain qualitative results, propose an approximate algorithm, and investigate its properties. Based on the results of a numerical experiment, we conclude that the developed algorithm builds a solution close (in terms of the objective function) to the optimal one

Statistical Estimation Framework for State Awareness in Microgrids Based on IoT Data Streams

This paper presents an event-triggered statistical estimation strategy and a data collection architecture for situational awareness (SA) in microgrids. An estimation agent structure based on the event-triggered Kalman filter is proposed and implemented for state estimation layer of the SA using long range wide area network (LoRAWAN) protocol. A setup has been developed which provides enormous data collection capabilities from smart meters in order to realize an adequate level of SA in microgrids. Thingsboard Internet of things (IoT) platform is used for the SA visualization with a customized dashboard. It is shown that by using the developed estimation strategy, an adequate level of SA can be achieved with a minimum installation and communication cost to have an accurate average state estimation of the microgrid

Childhood adversity and midlife suicidal ideation.

BACKGROUND: Childhood adversity predicts adolescent suicidal ideation but there are few studies examining whether the risk of childhood adversity extends to suicidal ideation in midlife. We hypothesized that childhood adversity predicts midlife suicidal ideation and this is partially mediated by adolescent internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders and adult exposure to life events and interpersonal difficulties. METHOD: At 45 years, 9377 women and men from the UK 1958 British Birth Cohort Study participated in a clinical survey. Childhood adversity was prospectively assessed at the ages of 7, 11 and 16 years. Suicidal ideation at midlife was assessed by the depressive ideas subscale of the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule. Internalizing and externalizing disorders were measured by the Rutter scales at 16 years. Life events, periods of unemployment, partnership separations and alcohol dependence were measured through adulthood. RESULTS: Illness in the household, paternal absence, institutional care, parental divorce and retrospective reports of parental physical and sexual abuse predicted suicidal ideation at 45 years. Three or more childhood adversities were associated with suicidal ideation at 45 years [odds ratio (OR) 4.31, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.67-6.94]. Psychological distress at 16 years partially mediated the associations of physical abuse (OR 3.41, 95% CI 2.29-5.75), sexual abuse (OR 4.99, 95% CI 2.90-11.16) with suicidal ideation. Adult life events partially mediated the association of parental divorce (OR 6.34, 95% CI -7.16 to 36.75) and physical (OR 9.59, 95% CI 4.97-27.88) and sexual abuse (OR 6.59, 95% CI 2.40-38.36) with suicidal ideation at 45 years. CONCLUSIONS: Adversity in childhood predicts suicidal ideation in midlife, partially mediated by adolescent internalizing and externalizing disorders, adult life events and interpersonal difficulties. Understanding the pathways from adversity to suicidal ideation can inform suicide prevention and the targeting of preventive interventions

A phase 2 multicenter study of ublituximab, a novel glycoengineered anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, in patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis.

Background: Ublituximab, a novel monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeting a unique epitope on the CD20 antigen, is glycoengineered for enhanced B-cell targeting through antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Greater ADCC may allow lower doses and shorter infusion times versus other anti-CD20 mAbs. Objective: The objective was to determine optimal dose, infusion time, and activity of ublituximab in relapsing multiple sclerosis. Methods: This is a phase 2, placebo-controlled study. Patients received three ublituximab infusions (150 mg over 1-4 hours on day 1 and 450-600 mg over 1-3 hours on day 15 and week 24) in six dosing cohorts. The primary endpoint was B-cell depletion. Results: In all cohorts (N = 48), median B-cell depletion was >99% by week 4, maintained at weeks 24 and 48. Most common adverse events (AEs) were infusion-related reactions (all grade 1-2), with no apparent increased incidence at shorter infusion times. There were no AE-related discontinuations. At weeks 24 and 48, no T1 gadolinium-enhancing lesions (p = 0.003) and a 10.6% decrease in T2 lesion volume (p = 0.002) were detected. The annualized relapse rate was 0.07; 93% remained relapse free on study. Overall, 74% of patients had no evidence of disease activity (NEDA). Conclusion: Ublituximab was safely infused as rapid as 1 hour, producing robust B-cell depletion and profound reductions in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) activity and relapses

Repeated exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage and health selection as life course pathways to mid-life depressive and anxiety disorders

The biomedical examination was funded by Medical Research Council [G0000934], awarded under the Health of the Public initiative. Charlotte Clark is supported by an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Fellowship. Bryan Rodgers is supported by Research Fellowships Nos 148948 and 366758 and by Program Grant No. 179805 from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. Research at the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust benefits from R&D funding received from the NHS Executive

Earthquake Triggering at Alaskan Volcanoes Following the 3 November 2002 Denali Fault Earthquake

The 3 November 2002 MW 7.9 Denali fault earthquake provided an excellent opportunity to investigate triggered earthquakes at Alaskan volcanoes. The Alaska Volcano Observatory operates short-period seismic networks on 24 historically active volcanoes in Alaska, 247–2159 km distant from the mainshock epicenter. We searched for evidence of triggered seismicity by examining the unfiltered waveforms for all stations in each volcano network for ~1 hr after the MW 7.9 arrival time at each network and for significant increases in located earthquakes in the hours after the mainshock. We found compelling evidence for triggering only at the Katmai volcanic cluster (KVC, 720–755 km southwest of the epicenter), where small earthquakes with distinct P and S arrivals appeared within the mainshock coda at one station and a small increase in located earthquakes occurred for several hours after the mainshock. Peak dynamic stresses of ~0.1 MPa at Augustine Volcano (560 km southwest of the epicenter) are significantly lower than those recorded in Yellowstone and Utah (3000 km southeast of the epicenter), suggesting that strong directivity effects were at least partly responsible for the lack of triggering at Alaskan volcanoes. We describe other incidents of earthquake-induced triggering in the KVC, and outline a qualitative magnitude/distance-dependent triggering threshold. We argue that triggering results from the perturbation of magmatic-hydrothermal systems in the KVC and suggest that the comparative lack of triggering at other Alaskan volcanoes could be a result of differences in the nature of magmatic-hydrothermal systems

Perceptions of HIV cure research among people living with HIV in Australia

Participation in HIV cure-related clinical trials that involve antiretroviral treatment (ART) interruption may pose substantial individual risks for people living with HIV (PLHIV) without any therapeutic benefit. As such, it is important that the views of PLHIV are considered in the design of HIV cure research trials. Examining the lived experience of PLHIV provides unique and valuable perspectives on the risks and benefits of HIV cure research. In this study, we interviewed 20 PLHIV in Australia about their knowledge and attitudes toward clinical HIV cure research and explored their views regarding participation in HIV cure clinical trials, including those that involve ART interruption. Data were analysed thematically, using both inductive and deductive coding techniques, to identity themes related to perceptions of HIV cure research and PLHIV’s assessment of the possible risks and benefits of trial participation. Study findings revealed interviewees were willing to consider participation in HIV cure research for social reasons, most notably the opportunity to help others. Concerns raised about ART interruption related to the social and emotional impact of viral rebound, including fear of onward HIV transmission and anxiety about losing control. These findings reveal the ways in which PLHIV perspectives deepen our understanding of HIV cure research, moving beyond a purely clinical assessment of risks and benefits in order to consider the social context

Clades of huge phages from across Earth's ecosystems.

Bacteriophages typically have small genomes1 and depend on their bacterial hosts for replication2. Here we sequenced DNA from diverse ecosystems and found hundreds of phage genomes with lengths of more than 200 kilobases (kb), including a genome of 735 kb, which is-to our knowledge-the largest phage genome to be described to date. Thirty-five genomes were manually curated to completion (circular and no gaps). Expanded genetic repertoires include diverse and previously undescribed CRISPR-Cas systems, transfer RNAs (tRNAs), tRNA synthetases, tRNA-modification enzymes, translation-initiation and elongation factors, and ribosomal proteins. The CRISPR-Cas systems of phages have the capacity to silence host transcription factors and translational genes, potentially as part of a larger interaction network that intercepts translation to redirect biosynthesis to phage-encoded functions. In addition, some phages may repurpose bacterial CRISPR-Cas systems to eliminate competing phages. We phylogenetically define the major clades of huge phages from human and other animal microbiomes, as well as from oceans, lakes, sediments, soils and the built environment. We conclude that the large gene inventories of huge phages reflect a conserved biological strategy, and that the phages are distributed across a broad bacterial host range and across Earth's ecosystems