Salt, Seasons and Sampans: Riverine Trade and Trqansport in Central Thailand

Introduction Since Sir John Bowring first recorded these impressions of the central plain of Thailand in the middle of the last, century, time has unalterably changed the context of his account, though not entirely its accuracy. The ‘feracious jungle’ which covered much of the lower central plain in Bowring\u27s time began to disappear under the plow of the Thai peasant farmer in the latter decades of the last century. By 1900 the landscape had been almost entirely converted to an intensive system of irrigated wet-padi production for export. The establishrnent and growth of this commercial agricultural economy has resulted in this region becoming the most productive, developed, and densely settled area of the country. The rapidly growing Bangkok Metropolitan Area, scarcely a shadow of itself in Bowring’s time, dominates this commercial agricultural and industrializing landscape. However, the pivotal role of the ‘Meinam’ or Chaophraya river and other natural and manmade waterways in this region has been diminished only recently. Over this complex network flows padi, rice, maize, consumer staples, exotic fruits and vegetables, and an almost unending variety of goods and produce destined for Bangkok and other locations within the region. Since early in the 19th century this inland waterway network has occupied a central position in the economic, communications, and social interaction of the country. Boats of all shapes\u27 sizes, and functions have plied these waterways to carry agricultural produce to Bangkok for export, to distribute food staples to the population, and to serve as the major communications and transport medium for the region. Not until the immediate postwar period did an expanding highway network, urbanization, and dramatic shifts in government investments in land transport network. Here we may turn to the flows of commodities in space and time, patterns of directional movement in commodity shipment and distribution, the changing composition of trade and commodity shipment on the waterways, and the links which may tie these patterns to settlements, productive activities, and other locational or areal phenomena. By seeking to compare and identify patterns, distributions, and connectivities in both space and time we can gain a fuller understanding of the dynamics of this system. Four broad areas of pattern, distribution, and process are of immediate interest to us here. First, we explore some of the characteristics of the inland waterway network related to its early development, its use for trade and commodity flows, and constraints these characteristics impose on these activities. Secondly, we turn to the composition of local trade. Here our concern is with low-bulk, short-haul movements of consumer staples rather than the shipment of high bulk, long-haul movements of agricultural commodities, construction aggregates, and timber. Specific attention will be focused on six commodity categories typical of the loca1 trade process; wood-forest products, consumer staples, fruit, vegetables, fertilizers, and miscellaneous cargoes. Our exclusion of the high bulk agricultural commodities (padi, rice, maize), construction aggregates (sand, stone, cement), and certain classes of forest products is based on the assumption that these commodities are seldom associated with the process of local trade. A third area of interest concerns the types of participants in the local trade system. That is, who is involved in local trade activities, what do their activities indicate about the structure of trade and its links to the local economy, and how do their activities fluctuate seasonally and spatially. Finally, we seek to incorporate the various patterns and processes of local trade into a general model of riverine trade dynamics. The background for this study lies in an extended period of research in Thailand begun in 1966 by a team composed of personnel from the Department of Geography, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and Thai colleagues from the Applied Scientific Research Corporation of Thailand located in Bangkok. The task defined in this project was to complete a comprehensive survey of transport systems in Thailand. This included studies of the water, rail, and road transport industries which were completed in late 1969. The data base for this study comes from three primary sources: (1) a series of four census-surveys of trade and vessel movement on the inland waterways completed during 1966-1968 (2) over 500 interviews with owner-operators of vessels operating on the inland waterways; and (3) lock-passage records collected during the same period at all navigation-irrigation locks within the central plain. This aggregate data base was intended to provide the essential information upon which an analysis of the structure, organization, and operations of inland water transportation could be made. It is evident from the foregoing comments that the data to be considered here is not current, and may in some respects be seen as a historical rather than contemporary record. To our knowledge this information represents the only compreshensive survey of inland water transport and trade to have been completed in Thailand.l While over ten years have passed since these materials were collected, there are few substantive reasons which would lead us to question the contemporary accuracy of the broader patterns outlined here. There has most certainly been some continued erosion of the economic contributions of local trade, loss of commodities to the more competitive road transport system, and even changes in the volumes of commodity flows. However, we persist in our belief that the broad structural outlines of local trade, the activities of local traders, and the general patterns of commodity flows seasonally and spatially remain as representative today as they were almost fifteen years ago. We of courser assume full responsibility for any errors or misinterpretations which may exist in this study. (1)The only other study completed on inland water transport in Thailand is a survey done by the Harbour Department in 1964. Its primary concern was with measuring commodity flows to and from Bangkok by vessel type and commodity. Much of this data is directly or indirectly incorporated in the study presented here. (see, Thailand, Harbour Department, Survey of Inland Waterway Transportation, Central Rivers Basin, 1964. Bangkok: The National Economic Development Board and The National Statistical Office (1966?

Southeast Asian Refugees in Western Massachusetts: Seen but Not Heard

The United States has a long and valued tradition of receiving people from other lands as a result of social and political turmoil. This policy has been reaffirmed frequently in the last quarter century with the arrival of refugees from such geographically diverse locations as Eastern Europe, Cuba, Southeast Asia, and Central America. Perhaps, Southeast Asians have experienced greater national and personal tragedy than any other group of refugees arriving in this country in recent memory. It is specifically this population and their resettlement and adjustment to life in Western Massachusetts which is the subject of this report. These issues are discussed in six separate sections. The introduction provides a general background for Southeast Asian refugee resettlement and the goals and methods of the IRNA project; Section II presents a brief outline of refugee resettlement at the national, state and local levels with more specific details on the geographic and demographic aspects of this population in Western Massachusetts. An assessment of refugee adjustment and needs is profiled in Section III followed by evaluations of these general issues from the perspective of service providers and community-level refugee resettlement organizations in Section IV. Policy and Program Implications and concluding remarks are provided in the final section

Host-parasite associations of the Cratogeomys fumosus species group and their chewing lice, Geomydoecus

Chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Trichodectidae) and the pocket gophers (Rodentia: Geomyidae) that they inhabit have shared an intimate historical association that has made them a textbook study for cophylogeny. Herein, we examine the chewing lice found on pocket gophers of the Cratogeomys fumosus species group using DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene to determine relationships among lice for comparison to published host phylogeny. Although matrix approaches indicate a correlation between host and parasite genetic distances, cophylogenetic reconstruction methods fail to detect a pattern of widespread cophylogeny. In conclusion, this study provides an exception to the rule of host-parasite cophylogeny that could be the result of the young age of the relationships considered herein and the complex history of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Los piojos masticadores (Phthiraptera: Trichodectidae) y las tuzas (Rodentia: Geomyidae) que habitan, han compartido una asociación histórica íntima que los ha convertido en un estudio de libro de texto para la cofilogenia. En el presente estudio, examinamos los piojos masticadores que se encuentran en las tuzas del grupo de especies de Cratogeomys fumosus utilizando los datos de secuencias de ADN del gen mitocondrial Citocromo C Oxidasa subunidad I para determinar las relaciones entre los piojos en comparación con la filogenia publicada del hospedero. Si bien los enfoques matriciales indican una correlación entre las distancias genéticas del hospedero y el parásito, los métodos de reconstrucción cofilogenéticos no detectan un patrón de cofilogenia generalizada. En conclusión, este estudio, proporciona una excepción a la regla de cofilogenia parásito-hospedero que podría ser el resultado de la corta edad de las relaciones consideradas en este documento y la compleja historia del Cinturón Volcánico Trans-Mexicano

Temporal and spatial dynamics of competitive parapatry in chewing lice

We synthesize observations from 1979 to 2016 of a contact zone involving two subspecies of pocket gophers (Thomomys bottae connectens and T. b. opulentus) and their respective chewing lice (Geomydoecus aurei and G. centralis) along the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico, U.S.A., to test predictions about the dynamics of the zone. Historically, the natural flood cycle of the Rio Grande prevented contact between the two subspecies of pocket gophers. Flood control measures completed in the 1930s permitted contact, thus establishing the hybrid zone between the pocket gophers and the contact zone between their lice (without hybridization). Since that time, the pocket gopher hybrid zone has stabilized, whereas the northern chewing louse species has replaced the southern louse species at a consistent rate of similar to 150 m/year. The 0.2-0.8 width of the replacement zone has remained constant, reflecting the constant rate of chewing louse species turnover on a single gopher and within a local pocket gopher population. In contrast, the full width of the replacement zone (northernmost G. centralis to southernmost G. aurei) has increased annually. By employing a variety of metrics of the species replacement zone, we are better able to understand the dynamics of interactions between and among the chewing lice and their pocket gopher hosts. This research provides an opportunity to observe active species replacement and resulting distributional shifts in a parasitic organism in its natural setting

River Road Through Laos: Reflections of the Mekong

The world\u27s major rivers have long held a fascination for man as adventurer ,scholar, and political opportunist. The Mekong River which links the Yunnan highlands and the South China Sea is in many respects the premier river system in mainland Southeast Asia. Much of its early history and association with human activity still remains obscure. As recently as 1860 1itt1e was sti11 known of its course and sources, and what little knowledge did exist was colored by cartographic imagination

DHX36 prevents the accumulation of translationally inactive mRNAs with G4-structures in untranslated regions

Translation efficiency can be affected by mRNA stability and secondary structures, including G-quadruplex structures (G4s). The highly conserved DEAH-box helicase DHX36/RHAU resolves G4s on DNA and RNA in vitro, however a systems-wide analysis of DHX36 targets and function is lacking. We map globally DHX36 binding to RNA in human cell lines and find it preferentially interacting with G-rich and G4-forming sequences on more than 4500 mRNAs. While DHX36 knockout (KO) results in a significant increase in target mRNA abundance, ribosome occupancy and protein output from these targets decrease, suggesting that they were rendered translationally incompetent. Considering that DHX36 targets, harboring G4s, preferentially localize in stress granules, and that DHX36 KO results in increased SG formation and protein kinase R (PKR/EIF2AK2) phosphorylation, we speculate that DHX36 is involved in resolution of rG4 induced cellular stress

Proceedings of Abstracts Engineering and Computer Science Research Conference 2019

© 2019 The Author(s). This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For further details please see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Note: Keynote: Fluorescence visualisation to evaluate effectiveness of personal protective equipment for infection control is © 2019 Crown copyright and so is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Under this licence users are permitted to copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information; adapt the Information; exploit the Information commercially and non-commercially for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application. Where you do any of the above you must acknowledge the source of the Information in your product or application by including or linking to any attribution statement specified by the Information Provider(s) and, where possible, provide a link to this licence: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/This book is the record of abstracts submitted and accepted for presentation at the Inaugural Engineering and Computer Science Research Conference held 17th April 2019 at the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK. This conference is a local event aiming at bringing together the research students, staff and eminent external guests to celebrate Engineering and Computer Science Research at the University of Hertfordshire. The ECS Research Conference aims to showcase the broad landscape of research taking place in the School of Engineering and Computer Science. The 2019 conference was articulated around three topical cross-disciplinary themes: Make and Preserve the Future; Connect the People and Cities; and Protect and Care

How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers

Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a “total approach to rehabilitation”, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970’s, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program

Process-Oriented Evaluation of Climate and Weather Forecasting Models

Realistic climate and weather prediction models are necessary to produce confidence in projections of future climate over many decades and predictions for days to seasons. These models must be physically justified and validated for multiple weather and climate processes. A key opportunity to accelerate model improvement is greater incorporation of process-oriented diagnostics (PODs) into standard packages that can be applied during the model development process, allowing the application of diagnostics to be repeatable across multiple model versions and used as a benchmark for model improvement. A POD characterizes a specific physical process or emergent behavior that is related to the ability to simulate an observed phenomenon. This paper describes the outcomes of activities by the Model Diagnostics Task Force (MDTF) under the NOAA Climate Program Office (CPO) Modeling, Analysis, Predictions and Projections (MAPP) program to promote development of PODs and their application to climate and weather prediction models. MDTF and modeling center perspectives on the need for expanded process-oriented diagnosis of models are presented. Multiple PODs developed by the MDTF are summarized, and an open-source software framework developed by the MDTF to aid application of PODs to centers’ model development is presented in the context of other relevant community activities. The paper closes by discussing paths forward for the MDTF effort and for community process-oriented diagnosis

Application of affymetrix array and massively parallel signature sequencing for identification of genes involved in prostate cancer progression

BACKGROUND: Affymetrix GeneChip Array and Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing (MPSS) are two high throughput methodologies used to profile transcriptomes. Each method has certain strengths and weaknesses; however, no comparison has been made between the data derived from Affymetrix arrays and MPSS. In this study, two lineage-related prostate cancer cell lines, LNCaP and C4-2, were used for transcriptome analysis with the aim of identifying genes associated with prostate cancer progression. METHODS: Affymetrix GeneChip array and MPSS analyses were performed. Data was analyzed with GeneSpring 6.2 and in-house perl scripts. Expression array results were verified with RT-PCR. RESULTS: Comparison of the data revealed that both technologies detected genes the other did not. In LNCaP, 3,180 genes were only detected by Affymetrix and 1,169 genes were only detected by MPSS. Similarly, in C4-2, 4,121 genes were only detected by Affymetrix and 1,014 genes were only detected by MPSS. Analysis of the combined transcriptomes identified 66 genes unique to LNCaP cells and 33 genes unique to C4-2 cells. Expression analysis of these genes in prostate cancer specimens showed CA1 to be highly expressed in bone metastasis but not expressed in primary tumor and EPHA7 to be expressed in normal prostate and primary tumor but not bone metastasis. CONCLUSION: Our data indicates that transcriptome profiling with a single methodology will not fully assess the expression of all genes in a cell line. A combination of transcription profiling technologies such as DNA array and MPSS provides a more robust means to assess the expression profile of an RNA sample. Finally, genes that were differentially expressed in cell lines were also differentially expressed in primary prostate cancer and its metastases