Within and Between Group Variation of Individual Strategies in Common Pool Resources: Evidence from Field Experiments

With data from framed common pool resource experiments conducted with artisanal fishing communities in Colombia, we estimate a hierarchical linear model to investigate within-group and between-group variation in individual harvest strategies across several institutions. Our results suggest that communication serves to effectively coordinate individual strategies within groups, but that these coordinated strategies vary considerably across groups. In contrast, weakly enforced regulatory restrictions on individual harvests (as well as unregulated open access) produce significant variation in the individual strategies within groups, but these strategies are roughly replicated across groups so that there is little between-group variation.common pool resources, field experiments, communication, regulation, hierarchical linear models

Centralized and Decentralized Management of Local Common Pool Resources in the Developing World: Experimental Evidence from Fishing Communities in Colombia

This paper uses experimental data to test for a complementary relationship between formal regulations imposed on a community to conserve a local natural resource and nonbinding verbal agreements to do the same. Our experiments were conducted in the field in three regions of Colombia. Each group of five subjects played 10 rounds of an open access common pool resource game, and 10 additional rounds under one of five institutions— communication alone, two external regulations that differed by the level of enforcement, and communication combined with each of the two regulations. Our results suggest that the hypothesis of a complementary relationship between communication and external regulation is supported for some combinations of regions and regulations, but cannot be supported in general. We therefore conclude that the determination of whether formal regulations and informal communication are complementary must be made on a community-by-community basis.common pool resources, experiments, institutions, communication, regulation

Processing Data from Social Dilemma Experiments: A Bayesian Comparison of Parametric Estimators

Observed choices in Social Dilemma Games usually take the form of bounded integers. We propose a doubly-truncated count data framework to process such data. We compare this framework to past approaches based on ordered outcomes and truncated continuous densities using Bayesian estimation and model selection techniques. We find that all three frameworks (i) support the presence of unobserved heterogeneity in individual decision-making, and (ii) agree on the ranking of regulatory treatment effects. The count data framework exhibits superior efficiency and produces more informative predictive distributions for outcomes of interest. The continuous framework fails to allocate adequate probability mass to boundary outcomes, which are often of pivotal importance in these games.Social dilemma games; Hierarchical modeling; Bayesian simulation; Common property resource

Coherent control of injection currents in high-quality films of Bi2Se3

Films of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 are grown by molecular beam epitaxy with in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction. The films are shown to be high-quality by X-ray reflectivity and diffraction and atomic-force microscopy. Quantum interference control of photocurrents is observed by excitation with harmonically related pulses and detected by terahertz radiation. The injection current obeys the expected excitation irradiance dependence, showing linear dependence on the fundamental pulse irradiance and square-root irradiance dependence of the frequency-doubled optical pulses. The injection current also follows a sinusoidal relative-phase dependence between the two excitation pulses. These results confirm the third-order nonlinear optical origins of the coherently controlled injection current. Experiments are compared to a tight-binding band structure to illustrate the possible optical transitions that occur in creating the injection current.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure, journal articl

Communications-equipment distribution planning using search techniques.

http://archive.org/details/communicationseq00veleN

Fully automated high-throughput process development for the novel purification of rotavirus vaccines

Downstream processing of biopharmaceuticals, such as immunoglobulins, recombinant proteins and protein-based vaccines, traditionally requires multiple purification steps that can introduce cost and time-related limitations. To avoid these, alternative purification strategies are sought involving novel and efficient processes. Mixed-mode chromatography based unit operations can achieve these by making use of their multimodal functionality. This adheres to the goal of the Ultra-low cost Transferable Automated Platform for Vaccine Manufacture (ULTRA) project and its ultimate aim to deliver vaccines with a cost of goods less than 15 cents per dose. Herein, we show the application of mixed mode chromatography for the purification of a P2-VP8 (PATH) rotavirus antigen vaccine expressed in Pichia pastoris (MIT, MA, USA; J. Christopher Love). A high-throughput workflow was adopted for the development of the purification step which employed microscale chromatography with miniature columns. This was implemented on an automated liquid handling station (Tecan Evo 200). The performed scouting studies focused on combinations of different binding and elution conditions along with multiple resins and selectively accessing the ion exchange and hydrophobic integration mechanisms of the resins. Therefore, a wide range of conditions were assessed with walk-away automation. Conditions leading to high yields and purities were then scaled-up for verification purposes. This provided further evidence for the good scalability properties of the miniature chromatography column technique. The results from this study demonstrate that mixed mode chromatography can potentially lead to the establishment of a highly desirable, one-step purification of rotavirus vaccine upon further optimisation. Hence, downstream processing in rotavirus vaccine production can be de-bottlenecked with systematic process development activities leading to significantly improved whole process efficiencies. The utility of this method is that it has generated reproducible and scalable data with reduced sample requirements to just a few millilitres very early on in the development process. More broadly, this high-throughput methodology will enable the early purification screening of multiple vaccine candidates and enable their selection for further development based on ease of processing

Schistosoma mansoni eggs modulate the timing of granuloma formation to facilitate parasite maturation and release

Schistosome eggs provoke formation of granulomas around them. For the host, the granulomatous response can be both protective and pathological. Granulomas are also postulated to facilitate parasite egg extrusion through the gut lumen, a necessary step for transmission. Using zebrafish larvae, we find that mature Schistosoma mansoni eggs recruit macrophages, which form granulomas within days. Inert egg-sized beads also rapidly induce granulomas through a foreign body response. Strikingly, immature S. mansoni eggs do not recruit macrophages. We distinguish mature and immature eggs via size analysis and find that only mature S. mansoni eggs are shed into the feces of infected mice. Importantly, analysis of egg sizes from previously reported data shows that humans also shed mature eggs only. Our findings support the model that the immunologically inert eggshell inhibits granuloma formation long enough for the parasite to mature. Then parasite antigens secreted through the eggshell trigger granulomas, facilitating egg extrusion

Non-AIDS-related comorbidities in people living with HIV-1 aged 50 years and older: The AGING POSITIVE study.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the profile of non-AIDS-related comorbidities (NARC) in the older HIV-1-infected population and to explore the factors associated with multiple NARC. METHODS: This was a multicentre, cross-sectional study including HIV-1-infected patients aged ≥50 years, who were virologically suppressed and had been on a stable antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen for at least 6 months. A multiple regression model explored the association between demographic and clinical variables and the number of NARC. RESULTS: Overall, 401 patients were enrolled. The mean age of the patients was 59.3 years and 72.6% were male. The mean duration of HIV-1 infection was 12.0 years and the median exposure to ART was 10.0 years. The mean number of NARC was 2.1, and 34.7% of patients had three or more NARC. Hypercholesterolemia was the most frequent NARC (60.8%), followed by arterial hypertension (39.7%) and chronic depression/anxiety (23.9%). Arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus were the most frequently treated NARC (95.6% and 92.6% of cases, respectively). The linear regression analysis showed a positive relationship between age and NARC (B=0.032, 95% confidence interval 0.015-0.049; p=0.0003) and between the duration of HIV-1 infection and NARC (B=0.039, 95% confidence interval 0.017-0.059; p=0.0005). CONCLUSIONS: A high prevalence of NARC was found, the most common being metabolic, cardiovascular, and psychological conditions. NARC rates were similar to those reported for the general population, suggesting a larger societal problem beyond HIV infection. A multidisciplinary approach is essential to reduce the burden of complex multi-morbid conditions in the HIV-1-infected population.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Factor V Leiden and prothrombin G20210A among Chilean patients with venous and arterial thrombosis

Iván Palomo. Departamento de Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunohematología, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud. Universidad de Talca, Talca, Chile. Casilla 747,Talca, Chile.Factor V Leiden and G20210A mutation of prothrombin gene are two important genetic polymorphisms associated with an increased risk for thrombosis. Aim: To establish the prevalence of factor V Leiden and prothrombin G20210A mutation in the Chilean population and their association to venous and arterial thromboembolism. Material and methods: A case-control study was conducted where 149 patients with thrombosis (87 with arterial and 62 with venous thrombosis) confirmed by CAT-scan, electrocardiogram and cardiac enzymes or Doppler depending on the case, and 160 healthy blood donors were genetically analyzed for the presence of both polymorphisms. Results: Factor V Leiden mutation was found in 5.4% of patients and in 1.3% of healthy controls (p=0.04). Heterozygosity for G20210A prothrombin mutation was found in 5.4% of patients and in 2.5% of the control group (p=NS). When arterial and venous thrombosis were considered as separate entities, 4.6% of patients with arterial thrombosis and 6.5% with venous thrombosis presented factor V Leiden (p=NS). Likewise, 8.1% of patients with venous thrombosis and 3.5% of patients with arterial thrombosis had G20210A prothrombin mutation (p=NS). Conclusions: In non selected consecutive Chilean patients with arterial and venous thrombosis the frequency of factor V Leiden and prothrombin G20210A is less than we could expect from their prevalence in the general populatio

A global transcriptional network connecting noncoding mutations to changes in tumor gene expression.

Although cancer genomes are replete with noncoding mutations, the effects of these mutations remain poorly characterized. Here we perform an integrative analysis of 930 tumor whole genomes and matched transcriptomes, identifying a network of 193 noncoding loci in which mutations disrupt target gene expression. These 'somatic eQTLs' (expression quantitative trait loci) are frequently mutated in specific cancer tissues, and the majority can be validated in an independent cohort of 3,382 tumors. Among these, we find that the effects of noncoding mutations on DAAM1, MTG2 and HYI transcription are recapitulated in multiple cancer cell lines and that increasing DAAM1 expression leads to invasive cell migration. Collectively, the noncoding loci converge on a set of core pathways, permitting a classification of tumors into pathway-based subtypes. The somatic eQTL network is disrupted in 88% of tumors, suggesting widespread impact of noncoding mutations in cancer