Five key attributes can increase marine protected areas performance for small-scale fisheries management

Marine protected areas (MPAs) have largely proven to be effective tools for conserving marine ecosystem, while socio-economic benefits generated by MPAs to fisheries are still under debate. Many MPAs embed a no-take zone, aiming to preserve natural populations and ecosystems, within a buffer zone where potentially sustainable activities are allowed. Small-scale fisheries (SSF) within buffer zones can be highly beneficial by promoting local socio-economies. However, guidelines to successfully manage SSFs within MPAs, ensuring both conservation and fisheries goals, and reaching a win-win scenario, are largely unavailable. From the peer-reviewed literature, grey-literature and interviews, we assembled a unique database of ecological, social and economic attributes of SSF in 25 Mediterranean MPAs. Using random forest with Boruta algorithm we identified a set of attributes determining successful SSFs management within MPAs. We show that fish stocks are healthier, fishermen incomes are higher and the social acceptance of management practices is fostered if five attributes are present (i.e. high MPA enforcement, presence of a management plan, fishermen engagement in MPA management, fishermen representative in the MPA board, and promotion of sustainable fishing). These findings are pivotal to Mediterranean coastal communities so they can achieve conservation goals while allowing for profitable exploitation of fisheries resources

Chemical structure-guided design of dynapyrazoles, potent cell-permeable dynein inhibitors with a unique mode of action

Cytoplasmic dyneins are motor proteins in the AAA+ superfamily that transport cellular cargos toward microtubule minus-ends. Recently, ciliobrevins were reported as selective cell-permeable inhibitors of cytoplasmic dyneins. As is often true for first-in-class inhibitors, the use of ciliobrevins has in part been limited by low potency. Moreover, suboptimal chemical properties, such as the potential to isomerize, have hindered efforts to improve ciliobrevins. Here, we characterized the structure of ciliobrevins and designed conformationally constrained isosteres. These studies identified dynapyrazoles, inhibitors more potent than ciliobrevins. At single-digit micromolar concentrations dynapyrazoles block intraflagellar transport in the cilium and lysosome motility in the cytoplasm, processes that depend on cytoplasmic dyneins. Further, we find that while ciliobrevins inhibit both dynein's microtubule-stimulated and basal ATPase activity, dynapyrazoles strongly block only microtubule-stimulated activity. Together, our studies suggest that chemical-structure-based analyses can lead to inhibitors with improved properties and distinct modes of inhibition

Cerebral vein thrombosis in patients with Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms : an European Leukemia Net study

To investigate the characteristics and clinical course of cerebral vein thrombosis (CVT) in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) we compared 48 patients with MPN and CVT (group MPN-CVT) to 87 with MPN and other venous thrombosis (group MPN-VT) and 178 with MPN and no thrombosis (group MPN-NoT) matched by sex, age at diagnosis of MPN (\ub15 years) and type of MPN. The study population was identified among 5,500 patients with MPN, from January 1982 to June 2013. Thrombophilia abnormalities were significantly more prevalent in the MPN-CVT and MPN-VT than in MPN-NoT group (P = 0.015), as well as the JAK2 V617F mutation in patients with essential thrombocythemia (P = 0.059). Compared to MPN-VT, MPN-CVT patients had a higher rate of recurrent thrombosis (42% vs. 25%, P = 0.049) despite a shorter median follow-up period (6.1 vs. 10.3 years, P = 0.019), a higher long-term antithrombotic (94% vs. 84%, P = 0.099) and a similar cytoreductive treatment (79% vs. 70%, P = 0.311). The incidence of recurrent thrombosis was double in MPN-CVT than in MPN-VT group (8.8% and 4.2% patient-years, P = 0.022), and CVT and unprovoked event were the only predictive variables in a multivariate model including also sex, blood count, thrombophilia, cytoreductive, and antithrombotic treatment (HR 1.97, 95%CI 1.05-3.72 and 2.09, 1.09-4.00, respectively). \ua9 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Energy model for diesel hydraulic cane haul locomotives

Wilmar Sugar Australia operates eight sugar mills in North Queensland where cane is primarily transported from field to mill by diesel hydraulic locomotive. In a bid to reduce carbon emissions and take advantage of the electricity produced in the mills through cogeneration, Wilmar set out to study the potential of hybrid locomotives, to serve as direct replacements for the current diesel hydraulic fleet. An investigation was performed as the first step in the development of hybrid locomotives and this paper is a summary of the thesis. In this study, a model was developed which can be used to determine the energy consumed by the current diesel hydraulic locomotives. With this understanding of the energy requirements for the current locomotives, sizing can be performed for the electric motors, batteries and diesel generator to ensure that hybrid locomotives with equivalent performance are designed. The model developed in this investigation predicts the energy requirement through first principles force analysis. Rolling resistance relations for the current train components have been suggested after re-analysis of data collected by McWhinney and Santarossa in 2003 and fresh relations have emerged. GIS track data provided by Wilmar internal sources at 50 m intervals have been used in the model to determine the tractive force, drawbar force, and braking force at 50 m intervals along the track, as well as cumulative energy graphs for the track. It has been shown that the internal Wilmar track curvature data show an outdated description of the Dalbeg track and should be audited and updated

Men’s comments on elite women athletes: cultural narratives around gender and sport on Instagram

A documented disparity exists in media coverage of men and women athletes. Women receive less coverage and much of it focuses on stereotypes instead of athletic performance, undermining women’s sport and status. Social media, like Instagram, are user-generated and more interactive than traditional media and provide a space for alternative narratives. This study explored if, and how, conversations on Instagram about women athletes differed from traditional media coverage. A thematic analysis was conducted on comments left by men on Instagram posts by eight women athletes featured in the popular “Body Issue” of ESPN: The Magazine. Men’s comments were analyzed in order to facilitate comparisons to traditional media outlets (typically operated and authored by men) and illuminate the dominant cultural discourse. Comments (n = 1,540) on 22 posts were manually collected and coded by a team of researchers. Online comments responded to images primarily through the lenses of gender or athlete, similar to traditional media, and sexism was present in online interactions in ways that were similar to offline spaces. The discussion highlighted how racist, sexist, ableist, and heterosexist narratives play out in online discourse about women athletes, underscoring the need for intersectional theorizing in this area

Fluxionality of gold nanoparticles investigated by Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics

The structure and electronic properties of gold nanoparticles (Au 12, Au 13, Au 14, Au 15, Au 20, Au 34, and Au 55) have been investigated using Born-Oppenheimer ab initio molecular dynamic simulations of 50 to 80 ps in order to have an insight in the recently proposed fluxional character of nanosized gold. The dynamic changes in shape, symmetry, and atomic coordination of atoms within clusters, occurring in the time scale of picoseconds, which are characteristic of fluxionality, have been investigated for all the above systems at 300 K. Except for Au 20, all systems have been found to have fluxional properties. The extent and the type of fluxional behavior changed according to the number of atoms constituting the particle. At 300 K Au 12 and Au 13 rapidly generate several different topologies which cyclically interconvert. Au 14 shows a rotation of 8 external gold atoms around a core of six atoms. Au 15 is more rigid, but interestingly shows the interconversion between enantiomeric structures within the time scale of the simulation. Au 20 shows a high stability of the pyramidal topology and is the only one of the investigated systems not to show fluxionality within the assigned temperature and time scale. Au 34 and Au 55 show fluxionality of the outer shell and within the sampled time scale are able to change coordination of the outer shell atoms and thus open and close surface holes. For all the particles in study the structures forming the local minima were isolated and separately optimized, and the electronic properties of the thus obtained structures were analyzed