Forest related interventions and the stakeholders of forests in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan

The forests of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan are vanishing at a high rate in spite of more than two decades of donor led interventions and extensive forest governance systems led by the state. Failure of most of the forest related projects and policies in meeting their intended objectives calls for searching out the underlying causes of the ineffectiveness of such interventions. Many development researchers have stressed the importance of stakeholder analysis. A holistic analysis of stakeholders, conflicts and power relations is an essential step to ensure the sustainability of development interventions and active participation of local actors. A wide range of actors can influence or be influenced by any forest related intervention in the NWFP. This paper, therefore, presents an exploratory analysis of the stakeholders' characteristics, power relations and conflicts in the context of interventions in the forestry sector of the NWFP. Various groups of stakeholders, for example, local communities, civil society organizations, religious and traditional institutions, state agencies, global actors, etc., are trying to operate within the contested political arena of the NWFP. This paper shows that on the one hand, the state as well as donor led interventions do not really engage in a meaningful dialogue with local stakeholders and institutions, and on the other hand, these entities themselves are not in a position to initiate a change in the local resource use. Thus, a way forward is seen in fostering a dialogue among key stakeholders

Phylogenetic diversity of insecticolous fusaria inferred from multilocus DNA sequence data and their molecular identification via FUSARIUM-ID and Fusarium MLST

We constructed several multilocus DNA sequence datasets to assess the phylogenetic diversity of insecticolous fusaria, especially focusing on those housed at the Agricultural Research Service Collection of Entomopathogenic Fungi (ARSEF), and to aid molecular identifications of unknowns via the FUSARIUM-ID and Fusarium MLST online databases and analysis packages. Analyses of a 190-taxon, two-locus dataset, which included 159 isolates from insects, indicated that: (i) insect-associated fusaria were nested within 10 species complexes spanning the phylogenetic breadth of Fusarium, (ii) novel, putatively unnamed insecticolous species were nested within 8/10 species complexes and (iii) Latin binomials could be applied with confidence to only 18/58 phylogenetically distinct fusaria associated with pest insects. Phylogenetic analyses of an 82-taxon, three-locus dataset nearly fully resolved evolutionary relationships among the 10 clades containing insecticolous fusaria. Multilocus typing of isolates within four species complexes identified surprisingly high genetic diversity in that 63/65 of the fusaria typed represented newly discovered haplotypes. The DNA sequence data, together with corrected ABI sequence chromatograms and alignments, have been uploaded to the following websites dedicated to identifying fusaria: FUSARIUM-ID (http://isolate.fusariumdb.org) a

Magnetic and electronic properties of M-Ba-Cu-O (M: Y, Er, Eu)

Various high-Tc superconductors of the La-(Ba,Sr)-Cu-O and the M-Ba-Cu-O systems with M = Y, Er, and Eu have been prepared by the solid-state reaction method. Single-phase samples with no additional diffraction peaks as verified by x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements have been obtained. Measurements of the electrical resistivity and of the magnetization showed sharp superconducting transitions with a width of 1 K. The measurements of the magnetic susceptibility have been extended above room temperature up to 770 K. There is clear evidence for the formation of a magnetic moment in all M-Ba-Cu-O samples. Monochromated x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (MXPS) valence band and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) core level spectra have been measured on various samples at room temperature and at liquid nitrogen temperatur

Treatment of Advanced Emphysema with Emphysematous Lung Sealant (AeriSeal (R))

Background: This report summarizes initial tests of an emphysematous lung synthetic polymer sealant (ELS) designed to reduce lung volume in patients with advanced emphysema. Objectives: The primary study objective was to define a therapeutic strategy to optimize treatment safety and effectiveness. Methods: ELS therapy was administered bronchoscopically to 25 patients with heterogeneous emphysema in an open-label, noncontrolled study at 6 centers in Germany. Treatment was performed initially at 2-4 subsegments. After 12 weeks, patients were eligible for repeat therapy to a total of 6 sites. Safety and efficacy were assessed after 6 months. Responses were evaluated in terms of changes from baseline in lung physiology, functional capacity, and health-related quality of life. Follow-up is available for 21 of 25 patients. Results: Treatment was well tolerated. There were no treatment-related deaths (i.e. within 90 days of treatment), and an acceptable short-and long-term safety profile. Physiological and clinical benefits were observed at 24 weeks. Efficacy responses were better among Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stage III patients {[}n = 14; change in residual volume/total lung capacity (Delta RV/TLC) = -7.4 +/- 10.3%; Delta forced expiratory volume in 1 s (Delta FEV(1)) = +15.9 +/- 22.6%; change in forced vital capacity (Delta FVC) = +24.1 +/- 22.7%; change in carbon monoxide lung diffusion capacity (Delta DLCO) = +19.3 +/- 34.8%; change in 6-min walk test (Delta 6MWD) = +28.7 +/- 59.6 m; change in Medical Research Council Dyspnea (Delta MRCD) score = -1.0 +/- 1.04 units; change in St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (Delta SGRQ) score = -9.9 +/- 15.3 units] than for GOLD stage IV patients (n = 7; Delta RV/TLC = -0.5 +/- 6.4%; Delta FEV 1 = +2.3 +/- 12.3%; Delta FVC = +2.6 +/- 21.1%; Delta DLCO = -2.8 +/- 17.2%; Delta 6MWD = +28.3 +/- 58.4 m; Delta MRCD = 0.3 +/- 0.81 units; Delta SGRQ = -6.7 +/- 7.0 units). Conclusions: ELS therapy shows promise for treating patients with advanced heterogeneous emphysema. Additional studies to assess responses in a larger cohort with a longer follow-up are warranted. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

The “minimal boundary curve for endothermy” as a predictor of heterothermy in mammals and birds: a review

According to the concept of the “minimal boundary curve for endothermy”, mammals and birds with a basal metabolic rate (BMR) that falls below the curve are obligate heterotherms and must enter torpor. We examined the reliability of the boundary curve (on a double log plot transformed to a line) for predicting torpor as a function of body mass and BMR for birds and several groups of mammals. The boundary line correctly predicted heterothermy in 87.5% of marsupials (n = 64), 94% of bats (n = 85) and 82.3% of rodents (n = 157). Our analysis shows that the boundary line is not a reliable predictor for use of torpor. A discriminate analysis using body mass and BMR had a similar predictive power as the boundary line. However, there are sufficient exceptions to both methods of analysis to suggest that the relationship between body mass, BMR and heterothermy is not a causal one. Some homeothermic birds (e.g. silvereyes) and rodents (e.g. hopping mice) fall below the boundary line, and there are many examples of heterothermic species that fall above the boundary line. For marsupials and bats, but not for rodents, there was a highly significant phylogenetic pattern for heterothermy, suggesting that taxonomic affiliation is the biggest determinant of heterothermy for these mammalian groups. For rodents, heterothermic species had lower BMRs than homeothermic species. Low BMR and use of torpor both contribute to reducing energy expenditure and both physiological traits appear to be a response to the same selective pressure of fluctuating food supply, increasing fitness in endothermic species that are constrained by limited energy availability. Both the minimal boundary line and discriminate analysis were of little value for predicting the use of daily torpor or hibernation in heterotherms, presumably as both daily torpor and hibernation are precisely controlled processes, not an inability to thermoregulate

Torpor in marsupials: Recent advances

We report new findings about torpor in marsupials with regard to three energy demanding processes: (i) development and growth, (ii) reproduction, and (iii) rewarming. Young marsupials use torpor extensively after they develop endothermy, and torpor is generally deeper and longer than in the same individuals when they reach adult size. Adult marsupials also employ torpor during pregnancy and/or lactation to reduce energy expenditure and perhaps to store fat for later use. Moreover, to enhance the energy-conserving potential of torpor, desert marsupials bask during arousal to minimize energy costs of rewarming. We show that the functions of torpor extend beyond merely reducing energy expenditure during food shortages and that torpor can save substantial amounts of energy even during the rewarming process

Phoenix from the Ashes: Fire, Torpor, and the Evolution of Mammalian Endothermy

The evolution of endothermy in mammals and birds has been widely debated. Endothermy is characterized by high endogenous heat production via combustion of metabolic fuels. This differs from ectothermy in most living organisms, which generally do not produce substantial amounts of internal heat for thermoregulation (Tattersall et al., 2012; Withers et al., 2016). Endogenous heat production is energetically very costly. In comparison to ectothermic terrestrial vertebrates, namely the amphibians and reptiles, the minimum metabolic rate (MR) of normothermic or homeothermic (high constant body temperature, Tb) animals at rest is about 4–8-fold higher in the endotherms. This difference is even more pronounced at low ambient temperatures (Ta) at which the Tb of ectotherms follows Ta, and the MR decreases to even lower levels. In contrast, the Tb of homeothermic endotherms remains high and constant over a wide range of Ta. Therefore, to compensate for increased heat loss at low Ta, MR of especially small mammals and birds must increase substantially and can be 100-fold or more of that in ectotherms (Bartholomew, 1982). Of course this high MR requires a substantial uptake of food and in endotherms much of this chemical energy is simply converted into heat for thermoregulation rather than growth or reproduction as in ectotherms

Optimal use of time dependent probability density data to extract potential energy surfaces

A novel algorithm was recently presented to utilize emerging time dependent probability density data to extract molecular potential energy surfaces. This paper builds on the previous work and seeks to enhance the capabilities of the extraction algorithm: An improved method of removing the generally ill-posed nature of the inverse problem is introduced via an extended Tikhonov regularization and methods for choosing the optimal regularization parameters are discussed. Several ways to incorporate multiple data sets are investigated, including the means to optimally combine data from many experiments exploring different portions of the potential. Results are presented on the stability of the inversion procedure, including the optimal combination scheme, under the influence of data noise. The method is applied to the simulated inversion of a double well system.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX with REVTeX and Graphicx-Package; submitted to PhysRevA; several descriptions and explanations extended in Sec. I