Building relationships: how zoos and other partners can contribute to the conservation of wild orangutans

With both species of orangutan now listed as critically endangered, orangutan conservation needs some critical rethinking. Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, and hunting are continuing to push their populations towards further decline. Conservation efforts focusing on rehabilitation and habitat protection are in place but are insufficient unless we move towards a landscape approach that will aim at protecting and connecting areas rather than isolated patches of forest. Conservationists need to engage with communities and industry to really protect the species at a landscape level. This paper explores the current efforts in orangutan conservation on the ground and from the zoo community and new areas emerging to contribute to these new approaches needed to positively impact orangutan populations on the ground

First-principles modeling of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons reduction

Density functional theory modelling of the reduction of realistic nanographene molecules (C42H18, C48H18 and C60H24) by molecular hydrogen evidences for the presence of limits in the hydrogenation process. These limits caused the contentions between three-fold symmetry of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules and two-fold symmetry of adsorbed hydrogen pairs. Increase of the binding energy between nanographenes during reduction is also discussed as possible cause of the experimentally observed limited hydrogenation of studied nanographenes.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, accepted to J. Phys. Chem.

Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica

We present Bedmap2, a new suite of gridded products describing surface elevation, ice-thickness and the seafloor and subglacial bed elevation of the Antarctic south of 60° S. We derived these products using data from a variety of sources, including many substantial surveys completed since the original Bedmap compilation (Bedmap1) in 2001. In particular, the Bedmap2 ice thickness grid is made from 25 million measurements, over two orders of magnitude more than were used in Bedmap1. In most parts of Antarctica the subglacial landscape is visible in much greater detail than was previously available and the improved data-coverage has in many areas revealed the full scale of mountain ranges, valleys, basins and troughs, only fragments of which were previously indicated in local surveys. The derived statistics for Bedmap2 show that the volume of ice contained in the Antarctic ice sheet (27 million km3) and its potential contribution to sea-level rise (58 m) are similar to those of Bedmap1, but the mean thickness of the ice sheet is 4.6% greater, the mean depth of the bed beneath the grounded ice sheet is 72 m lower and the area of ice sheet grounded on bed below sea level is increased by 10%. The Bedmap2 compilation highlights several areas beneath the ice sheet where the bed elevation is substantially lower than the deepest bed indicated by Bedmap1. These products, along with grids of data coverage and uncertainty, provide new opportunities for detailed modelling of the past and future evolution of the Antarctic ice sheets

Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica

We present Bedmap2, a new suite of gridded products describing surface elevation, ice-thickness and the seafloor and subglacial bed elevation of the Antarctic south of 60 S. We derived these products using data from a variety of sources, including many substantial surveys completed since the original Bedmap compilation (Bedmap1) in 2001. In particular, the Bedmap2 ice thickness grid is made from 25 million measurements, over two orders of magnitude more than were used in Bedmap1. In most parts of Antarctica the subglacial landscape is visible in much greater detail than was previously available and the improved datacoverage has in many areas revealed the full scale of mountain ranges, valleys, basins and troughs, only fragments of which were previously indicated in local surveys. The derived statistics for Bedmap2 show that the volume of ice contained in the Antarctic ice sheet (27 million km3) and its potential contribution to sea-level rise (58 m) are similar to those of Bedmap1, but the mean thickness of the ice sheet is 4.6% greater, the mean depth of the bed beneath the grounded ice sheet is 72m lower and the area of ice sheet grounded on bed below sea level is increased by 10 %. The Bedmap2 compilation highlights several areas beneath the ice sheet where the bed elevation is substantially lower than the deepest bed indicated by Bedmap1. These products, along with grids of data coverage and uncertainty, provide new opportunities for detailed modelling of the past and future evolution of the Antarctic ice sheets

Friends with Benefits: Social Coupons as a Strategy to Enhance Customers’ Social Empowerment

Businesses often seek to leverage customers’ social networks to acquire new customers and stimulate word-of-mouth recommendations. While customers make brand recommendations for various reasons (e.g., incentives, reputation enhancement), they are also motivated by a desire for social empowerment—to feel an impact on others. In several multi-method studies, we show that facilitating sharing of social coupons (i.e., coupon sets that include one for self-use and one to be shared) is a unique marketing strategy that facilitates social empowerment. Firms benefit from social coupons because customers who share spend more and report greater purchase intentions than those who do not. Furthermore, we demonstrate that social coupons are most effective when the sharer’s brand relationship is new versus established. For customers with an established relationship, sharing with a receiver who also has an established relationship maximizes potential impact. Together, these studies connect social empowerment to relationship marketing and provide guidance to managers targeting social coupons

Translocation t(1;11)(p32;q23) with MLL-EPS15 fusion gene formation in acute leukemias: a review and 6 new case reports. Approaches to minimal residual disease monitoring

We performed clinical and laboratory characterization of patients with rare translocation t(1;11)(p32;q23) leading to MLL-EPS15 fusion gene formation. Study cohort consisted of 33 primary acute leukemia (AL) cases including 6 newly diagnosed and 27 patients previously described in literature. Among study group patients t(1;11)(p32;q23) was found most frequently in infant AL cases (median age 8 months). In acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) male/female ratio was 1:3, in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) it was 1:1. Additional cytogenetic aberrations in 38 % of patients were revealed. The most frequent breakpoint position in EPS15 gene was intron 1. Four different types of MLLEPS15 fusion gene transcripts were detected. Primers-probe-plasmid combination for MLL-EPS15 fusion gene transcript monitoring by realtime quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) was developed and successfully applied. In 3 patients RQ-PCR was done on genomic DNA for absolute quantification of MLL-EPS15 fusion gene. High qualitative concordance rate (92 %) was noted between minimal residual disease data obtained in cDNA and genomic DNA for MLL-EPS15 fusion detection.</p

Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica

We present Bedmap2, a new suite of gridded products describing surface elevation, ice-thickness and the seafloor and subglacial bed elevation of the Antarctic south of 60° S. We derived these products using data from a variety of sources, including many substantial surveys completed since the original Bedmap compilation (Bedmap1) in 2001. In particular, the Bedmap2 ice thickness grid is made from 25 million measurements, over two orders of magnitude more than were used in Bedmap1. In most parts of Antarctica the subglacial landscape is visible in much greater detail than was previously available and the improved data-coverage has in many areas revealed the full scale of mountain ranges, valleys, basins and troughs, only fragments of which were previously indicated in local surveys. The derived statistics for Bedmap2 show that the volume of ice contained in the Antarctic ice sheet (27 million km3) and its potential contribution to sea-level rise (58 m) are similar to those of Bedmap1, but the mean thickness of the ice sheet is 4.6% greater, the mean depth of the bed beneath the grounded ice sheet is 72 m lower and the area of ice sheet grounded on bed below sea level is increased by 10%. The Bedmap2 compilation highlights several areas beneath the ice sheet where the bed elevation is substantially lower than the deepest bed indicated by Bedmap1. These products, along with grids of data coverage and uncertainty, provide new opportunities for detailed modelling of the past and future evolution of the Antarctic ice sheets

Building relationships: how zoos and other partners can contribute to the conservation of wild orangutans <i>Pongo</i> spp

With three species of orangutan now listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, orangutan conservation needs some critical rethinking. Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, and hunting are continuing to push orangutan populations towards further decline. Conservation efforts focusing on rehabilitation and habitat protection are in place but are insufficient unless we move towards a landscape approach that will aim at protecting and connecting areas rather than retaining isolated patches of forest. Conservationists need to engage with communities and industry to protect the species at a truly landscape level. This paper explores the current efforts in orangutan conservation on the ground and from the zoo community, and describes new areas emerging to contribute to these new approaches needed to impact positively wild orangutan populations