Increased use of intertidal resources benefits breeding success in a generalist gull species

Determining how resource use impacts on a species’ demography is important, especially in habitats which are being altered by anthropogenic land-use change. If changes result in species consuming resources of reduced quality their demographic traits may be adversely affected. Generalist species are useful when investigating changes in resource availability as they can switch to alternatives if their preferred food becomes unavailable. For species that can forage on marine and terrestrial resources, it is often not known whether a switch from marine to terrestrial resources will have negative consequences. The herring gull, Larus argentatus, is one widespread generalist that opportunistically forages within marine and terrestrial habitats that are increasingly altered by humans. We determined marine and terrestrial resource use of gulls from eight colonies over two years across south-west Scotland and Northern Ireland using pellets and stable isotope analysis of chick feathers, which gave comparable results. Herring gulls in the study region used very little marine offshore resources but birds from colonies located in areas with sheltered coastlines, which provide abundant and diverse marine food from the intertidal zone, foraged more on marine intertidal resources. In contrast, colonies closer to built-up areas used more terrestrial resources. Herring gulls raised larger broods in colonies where they consumed a higher proportion of marine resource. Therefore, where generalist species, such as gulls, switch to an alternative resources that is available to them within their foraging range this may come at a cost of lower breeding success

Legacy pollutants are declining in Great Skuas (Stercorarius skua) but remain higher in Faroe Islands than in Scotland

To monitor environmental pollutants in Faroese biota, samples from a top predator were analysed and put into a spatial and temporal context. Analysis of 20 Great Skua eggs sampled in 2012 from the Faroe Islands showed >70 % lower concentrations of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) than in samples analysed in 1977. The 2012 Faroese eggs showed higher concentrations than for eggs in Shetland from about the same period (2008). Eggshells were analysed for sub-lethal effects but there were no detectable effects of legacy POP levels on eggshell colour or thickness. A temporal decline in legacy POPs would indicate a reduction in the general pollutant levels present in the environment as has been shown in other areas of the North Atlantic, but there are significant geographic differences in POPs levels likely due to differences in diet resulting in significantly different exposures on a relatively limited spatial scale

ER-Mitochondria Crosstalk during Cerebral Ischemia: Molecular Chaperones and ER-Mitochondrial Calcium Transfer

It is commonly believed that sustained elevations in the mitochondrial matrix Ca2+ concentration are a major feature of the intracellular cascade of lethal events during cerebral ischemia. The physical association between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria, known as the mitochondria-associated ER membrane (MAM), enables highly efficient transmission of Ca2+ from the ER to mitochondria under both physiological and pathological conditions. Molecular chaperones are well known for their protective effects during cerebral ischemia. It has been demonstrated recently that many molecular chaperones coexist with MAM and regulate the MAM and thus Ca2+ concentration inside mitochondria. Here, we review recent research on cerebral ischemia and MAM, with a focus on molecular chaperones and ER-mitochondrial calcium transfer

Hubungan Kampus D1 Universitas Mercubuana dengan Keberagaman Activity Support di Sekitarnya (Lokasi Activity Support : Ruas Jalan Ganceng)

Kawasan kampus D1 Universitas Mercubuana terletak di jalan raya Kranggan yang sedang berkembang permukimannya. Dan pada Kenyataannya activity support terus berkembang di sekitar kampus ini. Apakah pertumbuhan activity support ada karena keberadaan kampus ataukah karena Perumahan-Perumahan baru di sekitarnya? Ini merupakan permasalahan yang diangkat pada penelitian ini. Metode yang digunakan untuk mengupasnya adalah kualitatif deskriptif. Dan hasil survey yang didapat ternyata memang menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar konsumen yang dituju oleh activity support- activity support ini adalah para mahasiswa kampus D1 Universitas Mercubuana. Penelitian ini mengambil responden yang berada di jalan Ganceng yang terletak di samping kampus, dan disarankan bagi peneliti lain untuk melakukan penelitian serupa yang mengambil responden dari lokasi lain

Preferensi Masyarakat Terhadap Kondisi Fisik Taman Honda Tebet

Taman kota ibarat oase di padang pasir beton di perkotaan, sehingga keberadaannya membuat warga kota hidup lebih manusiawi. Namun begitu kondisi fisik taman yang seperti apakah yang membuat warga memilih suatu taman kota untuk dikunjungi? untuk menjawabnya maka dilakukan penelitian ini, maka diambillah teori preferensi untuk mengupasnya. Sehingga penelitian ini bertujuan meneliti kecenderungan masyarakat memilih Taman Honda Tebet jika dilihat dari preferensinya. Metode yang digunakan adalah Post Positivistik Rasionalistik, karena kesimpulan yang dihasilkan oleh penelitian di Honda Tebet ini, diharapkan dapat melengkapi teori sebelumnya. Dan dari penelitian ini dihasilkan kesimpulan bahwa kondisi fisik taman Tebet sebagai RTH public, Playground maupun Tempat Rekreasi terbukti secara signifikan berkaitan atau berpengaruh terhadap masing-masing aspek preferensi yaitu koherensi, kompleksitas, misteri dan keterbacaan

Scattering by many small inhomogeneities and applications

Many-body quantum-mechanical scattering problem is solved asymptotically when the size of the scatterers (inhomogeneities) tends to zero and their number tends to infinity. A method is given for calculation of the number of small inhomogeneities per unit volume and their intensities such that embedding of these inhomogeneities in a bounded region results in creating a new system, described by a desired potential. The governing equation for this system is a non-relativistic Schr\"odinger equation described by a desired potential. Similar ideas were developed by the author for acoustic and electromagnetic (EM) wave scattering problems

Endotoxin-activated microglia injure brain derived endothelial cells via NF-κB, JAK-STAT and JNK stress kinase pathways

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We previously showed that microglia damage blood brain barrier (BBB) components following ischemic brain insults, but the underlying mechanism(s) is/are not well known. Recent work has established the contribution of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) activation to several brain pathologies including ischemia, neurodegeneration and sepsis. The present study established the requirement of microglia for lipopolysaccharide (LPS) mediated endothelial cell death, and explored pathways involved in this toxicity. LPS is a classic TLR4 agonist, and is used here to model aspects of brain conditions where TLR4 stimulation occurs.</p> <p>Methods/Results</p> <p>In monocultures, LPS induced death in microglia, but not brain derived endothelial cells (EC). However, LPS increased EC death when cocultured with microglia. LPS led to nitric oxide (NO) and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) induction in microglia, but not in EC. Inhibiting microglial activation by blocking iNOS and other generators of NO or blocking reactive oxygen species (ROS) also prevented injury in these cocultures. To assess the signaling pathway(s) involved, inhibitors of several downstream TLR-4 activated pathways were studied. Inhibitors of NF-κB, JAK-STAT and JNK/SAPK decreased microglial activation and prevented cell death, although the effect of blocking JNK/SAPK was rather modest. Inhibitors of PI3K, ERK, and p38 MAPK had no effect.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We show that <it>LPS-activated microglia promote BBB disruption </it>through injury to endothelial cells, and the specific blockade of JAK-STAT, NF-κB may prove to be especially useful anti-inflammatory strategies to confer cerebrovascular protection.</p

Pengaruh Kualitas Pelayanan dan Kemampuan Manajerial Pengurus terhadap Kepuasan Anggota Koperasi Pegawai Republik Indonesia (Kpri) Universitas Riau

The purpose of the research is to find out the influence of service quality and managerial ability of the administrator to the customer satisfaction of Koperasi Pegawai Republik Indonesia University of Riau. This research is a quantitative research, with amount of population is 1.949 members and amount sample is 94 members. The method that used to gathering data is quisioner. Analysis data method uses descriptive analysis, multiple linier regression and classical assumption test. The result of the research shows there is influence of service quality and managerial ability of the administator to the customer satisfaction with significance value of 0,001. Partially, service quality has influence to the customer satisfaction with significance value of 0,038 and managerial ability has influence to the customer satisfaction with significance of 0,003. With good service quality and good managerial ability, so that will increase customer satisfaction

Consumer credit in comparative perspective

We review the literature in sociology and related fields on the fast global growth of consumer credit and debt and the possible explanations for this expansion. We describe the ways people interact with the strongly segmented consumer credit system around the world—more specifically, the way they access credit and the way they are held accountable for their debt. We then report on research on two areas in which consumer credit is consequential: its effects on social relations and on physical and mental health. Throughout the article, we point out national variations and discuss explanations for these differences. We conclude with a brief discussion of the future tasks and challenges of comparative research on consumer credit.Accepted manuscrip