Evaluation of the contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to food security in developing countries

Fish contain important nutrients such as essential fatty acids, iron, zinc, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin C. Production of freshwater fish depends on the strategic application of various management techniques. The demand for fish products has increased beyond the natural supply, resulting in a high pressure on fisheries. Development of aquaculture is necessary for a rapid growth in fish production. A number of constraints hamper the development of aquaculture. Introduction of polyculture technologies in some countries is a way of maximizing production from different levels of the food chain. The roles of women in making fish products available to consumers is frequently over-looked by policy makers. Gender equity in policy-making and management of fisheries and in capacity building is an important issue. Fish production from inland waters and coastal areas can be increased by adopting cage and pen culture systems. Input subsidies and loans to resource poor farmers can boost fish production

Discovery From Non-Parties (Third-Party Discovery) in International Arbitration

International arbitration rules and many arbitration laws usually provide procedures that permit tribunals to order parties to disclose documents and other materials to the other parties.1 More complex are the rules that determine opportunities to obtain discovery from persons that are not party to the arbitration (third-party discovery). This article will review third-party discovery under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and the provisions of the US Code s.1782 that authorise US courts to act in aid of actions before foreign tribunals. Section 1782 has unique interest at this time because it figured prominently in the EU antitrust investigation of Intel that was initiated on request from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Early in that investigation, AMD filed a s.1782 request in the US District Court to obtain evidence from US sources for submission to the DG-Competition of the European Commission (EC). This request ultimately led to the Supreme Court’s decision in Intel Corp v Advanced Micro Devices Inc2 which appeared to significantly expand the scope of s.1782. Ironically, after AMD won on key legal issues in the Supreme Court, the District Court on remand exercised its discretion and denied the request for judicial assistance. This paper first describes the FAA non-party discovery rules and the split among the federal appellate courts concerning the authority of arbitrators to order prehearing discovery from non-parties. Next, it provides an analysis of the meaning of the terms “interested party” and “tribunal”—terms that were controversially interpreted by the Supreme Court in Intel and are essential to the application of s.1782. Finally, it discusses the “discretionary” factors used by the federal courts in deciding whether to grant a s.1782 request even when the statutory criteria are met. The opportunity to exercise this discretion seems to rebut the argument that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of s.1782 gives participants before foreign tribunals more discovery rights in the United States than are available to the parties in arbitrations covered by the FAA

Improved 3D thinning algorithms for skeleton extraction

In this study, we focused on developing a novel 3D Thinning algorithm to extract one-voxel wide skeleton from various 3D objects aiming at preserving the topological information. The 3D Thinning algorithm was testified on computer-generated and real 3D reconstructed image sets acquired from TEMT and compared with other existing 3D Thinning algorithms. It is found that the algorithm has conserved medial axes and simultaneously topologies very well, demonstrating many advantages over the existing technologies. They are versatile, rigorous, efficient and rotation invariant.<br /

Characterization of membranes with X-ray ultramicroscopy

Non-invasive characterization and observation of synthetic membranes is an important practice to monitor the performance of membrane process. Primarily there are two techniques&mdash;optical and non-optical for this purpose. Among them, X-ray computed tomography, as a non-optical technique, has been extensively used for the measurement of fibre distribution and air pockets trapped in the modules. However, the micro resolution of most commercial systems has limited its application which can hardly be used for the sub-micro characterization of membrane processes. A novel micro and nano characterization method is introduced in the current work by exploring an innovative development of the X-ray ultramicroscope (XuM) and micro-tomographic techniques. The XuM, based on using a scanning electron microscope as host, provides a new approach to X-ray projection microscopy. It has demonstrated the ability to characterize very small features in objects, down to of order 100 nm, including the use for dry, wet and even liquid samples. It can also distinguish objects with very subtle difference in density.<br /

Negaton and Positon solutions of the soliton equation with self-consistent sources

The KdV equation with self-consistent sources (KdVES) is used as a model to illustrate the method. A generalized binary Darboux transformation (GBDT) with an arbitrary time-dependent function for the KdVES as well as the formula for $N$-times repeated GBDT are presented. This GBDT provides non-auto-B\"{a}cklund transformation between two KdV equations with different degrees of sources and enable us to construct more general solutions with $N$ arbitrary $t$-dependent functions. By taking the special $t$-function, we obtain multisoliton, multipositon, multinegaton, multisoliton-positon, multinegaton-positon and multisoliton-negaton solutions of KdVES. Some properties of these solutions are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, no figues, to be published in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Einstein Probe - a small mission to monitor and explore the dynamic X-ray Universe

Einstein Probe is a small mission dedicated to time-domain high-energy astrophysics. Its primary goals are to discover high-energy transients and to monitor variable objects in the $0.5-4~$keV X-rays, at higher sensitivity by one order of magnitude than those of the ones currently in orbit. Its wide-field imaging capability, featuring a large instantaneous field-of-view ($60^\circ \times60^\circ$, $\sim1.1$sr), is achieved by using established technology of micro-pore (MPO) lobster-eye optics, thereby offering unprecedentedly high sensitivity and large Grasp. To complement this powerful monitoring ability, it also carries a narrow-field, sensitive follow-up X-ray telescope based on the same MPO technology to perform follow-up observations of newly-discovered transients. Public transient alerts will be downlinked rapidly, so as to trigger multi-wavelength follow-up observations from the world-wide community. Over three of its 97-minute orbits almost the entire night sky will be sampled, with cadences ranging from 5 to 25 times per day. The scientific objectives of the mission are: to discover otherwise quiescent black holes over all astrophysical mass scales by detecting their rare X-ray transient flares, particularly tidal disruption of stars by massive black holes at galactic centers; to detect and precisely locate the electromagnetic sources of gravitational-wave transients; to carry out systematic surveys of X-ray transients and characterize the variability of X-ray sources. Einstein Probe has been selected as a candidate mission of priority (no further selection needed) in the Space Science Programme of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, aiming for launch around 2020.Comment: accepted to publish in PoS, Proceedings of "Swift: 10 Years of Discovery" (Proceedings of Science; ed. by P. Caraveo, P. D'Avanzo, N. Gehrels and G. Tagliaferri). Minor changes in text, references update

Increased liver stiffness promotes hepatitis B progression by impairing innate immunity in CCl4-induced fibrotic HBV\u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e transgenic mice

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection develops as an acute or chronic liver disease, which progresses from steatosis, hepatitis, and fibrosis to end-stage liver diseases such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). An increased stromal stiffness accompanies fibrosis in chronic liver diseases and is considered a strong predictor for disease progression. The goal of this study was to establish the mechanisms by which enhanced liver stiffness regulates HBV infectivity in the fibrotic liver tissue. Methods: For in vitro studies, HBV-transfected HepG2.2.15 cells were cultured on polydimethylsiloxane gels coated by polyelectrolyte multilayer films of 2 kPa (soft) or 24 kPa (stiff) rigidity mimicking the stiffness of the healthy or fibrotic liver. For in vivo studies, hepatic fibrosis was induced in C57Bl/6 parental and HBV+ transgenic (HBVTg) mice by injecting CCl4 twice a week for 6 weeks. Results: We found higher levels of HBV markers in stiff gel-attached hepatocytes accompanied by up-regulated OPN content in cell supernatants as well as suppression of anti-viral interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). This indicates that pre-requisite “fibrotic” stiffness increases osteopontin (OPN) content and releases and suppresses anti-viral innate immunity, causing a subsequent rise in HBV markers expression in hepatocytes. In vitro results were corroborated by data from HBVTg mice administered CCl4 (HBVTg CCl4). These mice showed higher HBV RNA, DNA, HBV core antigen (HBcAg), and HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) levels after liver fibrosis induction as judged by a rise in Col1a1, SMA, MMPs, and TIMPs mRNAs and by increased liver stiffness. Importantly, CCl4-induced the pro-fibrotic activation of liver cells, and liver stiffness was higher in HBVTg mice compared with control mice. Elevation of HBV markers and OPN levels corresponded to decreased ISG activation in HBVTg CCl4 mice vs HBVTg control mice. Conclusion: Based on our data, we conclude that liver stiffness enhances OPN levels to limit anti-viral ISG activation in hepatocytes and promote an increase in HBV infectivity, thereby contributing to end-stage liver disease progression

8-Methyl-5-methyl­ene-2-oxotricyclo[5.3.1.13,9]dodecan-endo-8-ol

The title compound, C14H20O2, crystallizes with homochiral chains of mol­ecules hydrogen bonded together along the b axis. Adjacent chains in the ab plane contain mol­ecules of the same chirality, leading to a chiral segregation of the mol­ecules into layers

Rapid Screening of Complex DNA Samples by Single-Molecule Amplification and Sequencing

Microbial cloning makes Sanger sequencing of complex DNA samples possible but is labor intensive. We present a simple, rapid and robust method that enables laboratories without special equipment to perform single-molecule amplicon sequencing, although in a low-throughput manner, from sub-picogram quantities of DNA. The method can also be used for quick quality control of next-generation sequencing libraries, as was demonstrated for a metagenomic sample