A hybrid sampler for Poisson-Kingman mixture models

This paper concerns the introduction of a new Markov Chain Monte Carlo scheme for posterior sampling in Bayesian nonparametric mixture models with priors that belong to the general Poisson-Kingman class. We present a novel compact way of representing the infinite dimensional component of the model such that while explicitly representing this infinite component it has less memory and storage requirements than previous MCMC schemes. We describe comparative simulation results demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed MCMC algorithm against existing marginal and conditional MCMC samplers

INTEGRATION OF HUMMINGBIRD RESEARCH INTO PUBLIC SCHOOL SCIENCE

Hummingbirds are beautiful, acrobatic and mysterious synanthropes in urban ecosystems, providing important benefits to humans such as pollination, insectivory, and biophilia. However, environmental factors that affect behaviors that lead to such services are largely unknown, and could be altered by urbanization and climate change. Though their extremely high metabolism can make detailed observations of hummingbird behavior difficult, simple and low-cost methodologies, such as remote monitoring equipment deployed at feeders and nests, allow students at all levels of education to closely observe hummingbirds directly from their school sites. The Center for Urban Resilience (CURes) and the Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) have partnered, to implement CURes urban ecology curricula Urban EcoLab in various Los Angeles area schools and classrooms. With support from the Daniel and Susan Gottlieb Foundation, internet protocol (IP) cameras have been installed as a key element in the curriculum that will allow participation in world wide hummingbird research in the classroom. Beyond enriching the understanding of how animals thrive in urban environments, we propose to develop a model that will facilitate the investigation of complex scientific questions through collaboration with citizen science and integration of the Urban EcoLab curricula into primary and secondary-level public school curricula.https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cures_posters/1022/thumbnail.jp

What is success? Gaps and trade-offs in assessing the performance of traditional social forestry systems in Indonesia

Despite the growing interest in social forestry, how much do we understand the social, economic and environmental outcomes and the conditions that enable SF to perform? In this article, we use a content analysis of literature on existing traditional SF practiced throughout Indonesia. It examines the outcomes of these systems and the conditions that enabled or hindered these outcomes to understand possible causal relations and changing dynamics between these conditions and SF performance. We discuss the gaps in how SF is assessed and understood in the literature to understand the important aspects of traditional SF that are not captured or that are lost when the diverse traditional systems are converted into other land uses. It aims to understand the potential trade-offs in the State’s push for formalizing SF if these aspects continue to be ignored.Peer reviewe

Does pre-operative urodynamics lead to better outcomes in management of urinary incontinence in women? : A linked systematic review and meta-analysis

Acknowledgments We would like to thank the University of Aberdeen statisticians for their support throughout and all RCT authors who have addressed our enquiries. Source of funding K.Y.L received an Innes Will Endowed Scholarship through the University of Aberdeen Development Trust for medical research. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript for publication. M.A.F is the chief investigator and A.M. is a co-investigator on the ongoing National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)-funded FUTURE Study evaluating the clinical and cost effectiveness of urodynamics in women with refractory overactive bladder symptoms (https://w3.abdn.ac.uk/hsru/FUTURE/Public/Public/index). They are also part of the team applying for further relevant NIHR funding. Professor Abdel-Fattah and Dr. Mostafa have no potential conflicts of interest for this study. For the full declaration by Professor Abdel-Fattah please see this weblink https://www.abdn.ac.uk/iahs/research/obsgynae/profiles/m.abdelfattah. K.Y.L and M.S. report no conflict of interest.Peer reviewedPostprin

Lamin A/C and emerin regulate MKL1/SRF activity by modulating actin dynamics

Laminopathies, caused by mutations in the LMNA gene encoding the nuclear envelope proteins lamins A and C, represent a diverse group of diseases that include Emery-Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy (EDMD), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, and Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS).1 The majority of LMNA mutations affect skeletal and cardiac muscle by mechanisms that remain incompletely understood. Loss of structural function and disturbed interaction of mutant lamins with (tissue-specific) transcription factors have been proposed to explain the tissue-specific phenotypes.1 We report here that lamin A/C-deficient (Lmna−/−) and Lmna N195K mutant cells have impaired nuclear translocation and downstream signaling of the mechanosensitive transcription factor megakaryoblastic leukaemia 1 (MKL1), a myocardin family member that is pivotal in cardiac development and function.2 Disturbed nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling of MKL1 was caused by altered actin dynamics in Lmna−/− and N195K mutant cells. Ectopic expression of the nuclear envelope protein emerin, which is mislocalized in Lmna mutant cells and also linked to EDMD and DCM, restored MKL1 nuclear translocation and rescued actin dynamics in mutant cells. These findings present a novel mechanism that could provide insight into the disease etiology for the cardiac phenotype in many laminopathies, whereby lamins A/C and emerin regulate gene expression through modulation of nuclear and cytoskeletal actin polymerization

Roles of Tumor Suppressor Signaling on Reprogramming and Stemness Transition in Somatic Cells

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The making of resource frontier spaces in the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia: A critical analysis of narratives, actors and drivers in the scientific literature

Forest frontiers are rapidly changing to sites of commodity agriculture throughout the tropics, with far-reaching transformations in landscapes and livelihoods. Many of the dynamics that drive frontier commodification are well-rehearsed since colonial times. Policies to deregulate markets, privatize or formalize land tenure and open borders to trade have stimulated resource exploitation. The accompanying territorial interventions such as new enclosures, reconfigured property regimes and claims are purposefully employed to create space and labor, and have radically reconfigured the relationships of millions of people to land and rule. Narratives of what is an opportunity for whom, who should benefit from these spaces, and what is a problem in need of a solution have shaped policies and development choices in frontiers over time. Science plays a critical role, by putting forward particular knowledge and understandings, contributing to problematisations and promoting or legitimating certain solutions. In this paper, we review how science has portrayed forest frontiers in the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia. We analyse storylines put forward in the scientific literature and find three dominant narratives that intersect and reinforce each other to legitimate colonial exploitation of forest and land resources, and the enactment of colonial forest and land codes that have laid a deep-seated path in post-colonial policies. The narratives focus on imaginings of frontier regions as spaces that are “idle” or “empty”, and where possibilities for extraction, conservation and development appear unlimited; the problematization of smallholder and shifting cultivation farming as practices in need of change; and the legitimation of capitalist and market-based rationales as solutions. We find these narratives to be largely similar across both the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia and persistent in contemporary policies and global development strategies. This analysis allows for a deeper understanding of how commodification of frontiers came about, and what role science can play for a more just development.Peer reviewe

Atomistic and ab initio prediction and optimization of thermoelectric and photovoltaic properties

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-130).The accurate prediction of physical properties in the vast spaces of nanoscale structures and chemical compounds is made increasingly possible through the use of atomistic and ab initio computation. In this thesis we investigate lattice thermal conductivities KL and electronic band gaps E,, which are relevant to thermoelectric and photovoltaic applications, respectively, and develop or modify computational tools for predicting and optimizing these properties. For lattice thermal conductivity, we study SiGe nanostructures, which are technologically important for thermoelectric applications. From computing aL for various SiGe nanostructures, we establish that the Kubo-Green approach using classical molecular dynamics (MD) gives additional quantitative predictions not available from phenomenological models, such as the existences of a minimum value of KL as the nanostructure size is varied and of configurational dependence of KL. We carry out the minimizatin of KL in the space of atomic configurations in SiGe alloy nanowires and demonstrate the feasibility of using the cluster expansion technique to parameterize KL. We find that the use of coarse graining and a meta cluster expansion approach is effective, in conjunction with a genetic algorithm, to find configurations which drastically lower KL. The low values of KL obtained, close to the bulk amorphous limit, are due to the absence of long-range order, and such absence allows a local cluster expansion approach to optimize KL. We examine ab initio bandgap prediction for semiconductor compounds, and address the large errors of Kohn-Sham band gaps in density functional theory (DFT).(cont.) We apply corrections using the self-energy approach in the GW approximation, which includes non-local screened exchange and correlation, and find that the G₀W₀ approximation significantly reduces prediction errors compared to Kohn-Sham band gaps, though at much higher computational cost. We propose a new method involving total energies in DFT to predict the fundamental gap, by use of the properties of the screening or exchange-correlation hole in an electron gas. With this method, we are able to efficiently predict band gaps that are in agreement with experimental values.by Maria Kai Yee Chan.Ph.D

Social Forestry - why and for whom? : A comparison of policies in Vietnam and Indonesia

Community forestry or social forestry (henceforth referred collectively as SF) programs have become new modes of forest management empowering local managers and hence, allowing integration of diverse local practices and support of local livelihoods. Implementation of these initiatives, however, face multiple challenges. State-prescribed community programs, for example, will remain isolated efforts if changes in the overall economic and social governance frameworks, including the devolution of rights to local users is lacking. Financial sustainability of these measures remains often uncertain and equity issues inherent to groups and communities formed for SF, can be exacerbated. In this article, we pose the question: Whose interests do SF policies serve? The effectiveness of SF would depend on the motivations and aims for a decentralization of forest governance to the community. In order to understand the underlying motivations behind the governments’ push for SF, we examine national policies in Vietnam and Indonesia, changes in their policies over time and the shift in discourses influencing how SF has evolved. Vietnam and Indonesia are at different sides of the spectrum in democratic ambitions and forest abundance, and present an intriguing comparison in the recent regional push towards SF in Southeast Asia. We discuss the different interpretations of SF in these two countries and how SF programs are implemented. Our results show that governments, influenced by global discourse, are attempting to regulate SF through formal definitions and regulations. Communities on the other hand, might resist by adopting, adapting or rejecting formal schemes. In this tension, SF, in general adopted to serve the interest of local people, in practice SF has not fulfilled its promise.Peer reviewe