77,602 research outputs found
Choice Experiments in Enviromental Impact Assessment: The Toro 3 Hydroelectric Project and the Recreo Verde Tourist Center in Costa Rica
No full textChoice experiments, a stated preference valuation method, are proposed as a tool to assign monetary values to environmental externalities during the ex-ante stages of environmental impact assessment. This case study looks at the impacts of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity’s Toro 3 hydroelectric project and its affects on the Recreo Verde tourism center in San Carlos, Costa Rica. Compared to other valuation methods (e.g., travel cost and contingent valuation), choice experiments can create hypothetical but realistic scenarios for consumers and generate restoration alternatives for the affected good. Although they have limitations that must be taken into account in environmental impact assessments, incorporating economic parameters—especially resource constraints and tradeoffs—can substantially enrich the assessment process.stated-preference, economic valuation, choice experiments, hydropower, tourism, Costa Rica
Postnatal weight change is influenced by mother-newborn pair leptin levels
No full textWe investigated serum leptin levels in 103 mother-newborn-pairs; Cord leptin was significantly higher than mother's leptin (5.7 ± 5.5 vs. 22.1 ± 19.9 ng/ml; p <0.001). Cord leptin was significantly higher in females than males (6.9 ± 6.3 vs. 3.9 ± 3.6 ng/ml respectively; p <0.001), and correlated with maternal leptin (r = 0.24; p = 0.001), gestational age (r = 0.54; p <0.001), and birth weight (r = 0.56; p <0.001). Neonatal leptin at the 4(th) day significantly correlated with percent weight loss in the first four days of life. These observations shed light on the origin of cord leptin and on the role of leptin in postnatal weight loss. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc
Bermudagrass and Zoysiagrass experimental plots established 7 weeks earlier Toro Research Center, Minnesota, 1953
No full textView of mostly dirt plot with some bermudagrass growth -- zoysia also established 7 weeks earlier. At the Toro Research Center in Minnesota, 1953.Photographer uncertain"Bermuda-Zoysia Nursery Estab. 15 Jun 53 Note growth bermuda T. R. C. 8-6-53 Eval. of warm season test of equip. on these grasses Jim Watson"Image taken on Kodachrome.Semicool humi
Defying the law, negotiating change The Futanke’s opposition to the national ban on FGM in Senegal
No full textThis thesis is concerned with the politics of the preservation and ‘abandonment’ of female circumcision in Fouta Toro, Senegal. The focal point of analysis is the overt opposition to the law criminalising female genital cutting in 1999, and development projects raising awareness about excision in human rights and reproductive health education programmes. As an ethnography of the politics around bodily practices in the light of governmental and non-governmental intervention, the thesis looks at how different interest groups justify their position towards excision. This is a timely enquiry, given the Senegalese government’s ‘acceleration programme of the complete abandonment of excision by 2015’ and some Futanke leaders’ non-compliance with, and opposition to this intervention.
After providing details about ‘the ban’ on ‘female genital mutilation’ in Senegal and a critical reflection on the events that are seen to have led to the call for this ban, I carefully disentangle what ‘the opposition to the law’ is and who disagrees with ‘the abandonment’ of the practice in Fouta Toro. The central part of the thesis is guided by an analysis of how excision is embedded in constructions of personhood, sociality and ethnic identity, and how the body is imagined and located in this process. I show how conceptions of ethnic purity and pride are formulated in terms of fear about a ‘loss of culture’ and ‘foreign invasion’ which nourishes discourses of opposition to the law and non-governmental intervention. Others use ‘human rights’ associated with non-governmental organisations and the state as a vehicle to express their views against excision and those who oppose its criminalisation. I examine how idioms like ‘the state’, ‘human rights’ and ‘Futanke way of life’ feature in discourses around the ban of excision in Fouta Toro, and how respectability and honour are maintained through competing representations of the female body as a site of morality. Some claim the female body – a reproducer of cultural identities – with reference to duties through kin obligations, others with reference to ‘human rights’ and ‘the state’.
Based on 15 months’ ethnographic fieldwork in Fouta Toro and nine years working in and researching the impact of development in Senegal, this dissertation contributes to scholarship on Fouta Toro and indicates how governmental and non-governmental intervention stirs up the caste-related power structures of a society led by the Tooroɓɓe since the Islamic revolution in the 18th century. It shows how the female body is located as a site of morality, key to the reproduction of cultural identities
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Effects of specific bile acids on c-fos messenger RNA levels in human colon carcinoma Caco-2 cells
No full textBile acids may play a role in the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation by activating the signalling pathways that control cell proliferation, among other cell systems. We investigated the action of different bile acids, particularly chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) and ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), on steady-state and transcriptional regulation of the protooncogene c-fos, involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation, in colon carcinoma Caco-2 cells. Specific bile acids had a stimulatory effect of on the expression of c-fos mRNA. This proved to be concentration- and time-dependent and may be partly due to an increase in the rate of transcription of the corresponding gene rather than to any change in the stability of mRNA. In Caco-2 cells exposed to 250 μM CDCA for 1 h a maximal increase of c-fos mRNA (~2.5-fold induction over the control) was observed; deoxycholic acid (DCA; 250 μM) and lithocholic acid (LCA; 250 μM) were less effective (~2-fold induction over the control). UDCA and cholic acid (CA) did not modify c-fos gene expression in this cell line. Finally, we investigated the role of protein kinase C (PKC) in transcriptional regulation of the c-fos gene by bile acids. Although induction of c-fos by 12-O-tetradecanoyl 13-acetate (10 nM), a potent PKC activator, was completely antagonised by bis-indolyl-maleimide I (1 μM); only about 40% of the bile acid-mediated rise in c-fos mRNA was blocked. Thus it appears that PKC, as well as other signalling pathways, is involved in CDCA-, DCA- and LCA-induced c-fos gene expression. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V
Measurement of the ratio of prompt χ c to J / ψ production in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV
No full textThe prompt production of charmonium χ c and J / ψ states is studied in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The χ c and J / ψ mesons are identified through their decays χ c → J / ψ γ and J / ψ → μ + μ - using 36 pb - 1 of data collected by the LHCb detector in 2010. The ratio of the prompt production cross-sections for χ c and J / ψ, σ (χ c → J / ψ γ) / σ (J / ψ), is determined as a function of the J / ψ transverse momentum in the range 2 < p T J / ψ < 15 GeV / c. The results are in excellent agreement with next-to-leading order non-relativistic expectations and show a significant discrepancy compared with the colour singlet model prediction at leading order, especially in the low p T J / ψ region
Colletes guanta Rojas & Toro 1993
No full textColletes guanta Rojas & Toro, 1993 (Figs. 33A–C) Colletes guanta Rojas & Toro, 1993: 84; Toro 1999: 29; Moure et al. 2007: 682; Montalva & Ruz 2010: 22; Ascher & Pickering 2017. Holotype ♀ (examined). {AMNH}. Diagnosis. The following combination of characters is sufficient to separate C. guanta from all other Colletes species found in Chile: clypeal mid-longitudinal area carinate, mesoscutal pubescence pale-yellow, hind tibia darkbrown, and metasomal terga metallic blue. Colletes guanta is most similar to C. quelu, however, the females (males of both species remain unknown) of these species can be distinguished by the comparatively longer malar area, 1.8x as long as basal depth of mandible, in C. guanta (malar area 1.5x as long as basal depth of mandible in C. quelu); comparatively shorter F1, ~1.2x as long as its apical width, in C. guanta (F1 ~1.4x as long as its apical width in C. quelu); and hind tibia dark-brown in C. guanta (hind tibia pale-orange in C. quelu). Redescription. FEMALE (Figs. 33A, 33C, 33E): Dimensions (mm): Approximate body length 7.4–7.6; head width 3.0–3.1; head length 2.3; intertegular distance 2.1–2.2; forewing length 6.0–6.1. Colouration: Black except metallic blue on metasomal terga (discs also with greenish hues); marginal zones metallic purplish. Dark-brown on tegula, vein R of forewing, legs (except pale-brown on tarsomeres 2–5), metasomal sterna (discs of S2–S5 with metallic dark-blue hues). Pale-brown on wing veins, stigma, tibial spurs, distal half of tarsal claws. Pale-yellow on proximal half of tarsal claws, marginal zones of metasomal sterna. Reddish-brown marked on distal half of mandible. Structure: Labrum medially flat and without ridges. Clypeal mid-longitudinal area with a strong carina on lower 3/4; adjacent area declivous. Malar area 1.8x as long as basal depth of mandible (45:25). F1 ~1.2x as long as its apical width (34:28). UID:LID (67:66). Genal area flat behind upper summit of compound eyes in lateral view. Dorsolateral angle of pronotum rounded. Horizontal surface of metapostnotum ~0.6x as long as metanotum (21:36); metapostnotal pits poorly-delimited; posterior transverse carina sinuous and interrupted medially. Posteromedial surface of front coxa bearing very short spine (0.3x MOD). Posterior hind tibial spur ciliate. Hind basitarsus ~3.5x longer than broad (53:15). Posterolateral area of S6 flat and lacking carina; marginal zone depressed. Pubescence: Pale-yellow, plumose, erect, moderately long on lateral slopes of clypeus and supraclypeal area, interantennal, frontal and genal areas (except long near proboscidial fossa), pronotal lobe, mesoscutum, scutellum, metanotum, posteroventral surface of front trochanter and femur, ventral surface of mid and hind trochanters, ventral margin of mid femur, S1; such hairs long on upper margin of lateral surface of propodeum, T1. Paraocular area with pale-yellow and black hairs intermixed. Pale-yellow, erect, moderately short setae on mandible; such hairs long on posterior surface of tibiae (except very long on hind tibia). Fulvous, suberect, short setae on dorsal surface front and mid tibiae; such setae pale-yellow, thick on ventral surface of mid and hind tarsi (thickest towards distal margin). Pale-yellow, suberect, very long hairs, which are branched only apically on anterior surface of hind femur and tibia. T2–T5 and S3–S6 covered with pale-yellow, erect, short setae (except moderately short on T5 and lateral areas of T3–T4); T2 also with plumose hairs. S2 with pale-yellow, erect, moderately short hairs, which are branched only apically. Surface sculpture: Clypeus longitudinally striate on lower 1/4 and near mid-longitudinal carina; smooth and shiny elsewhere. Malar area with sparse, moderately fine punctures medially; interspaces smooth. Supraclypeal area rugulose below; smooth above. Paraocular area punctures crowded and moderately fine below; dense and fine above (sparsest at antennal socket level); interspaces smooth throughout. Frontal area densely and moderately finely punctate; interspaces rugulose. Vertexal area sparsely and minutely punctate near eye (interspaces smooth); densely and finely punctate medially (interspaces imbricate); rugose near ocellus. Mesoscutum and scutellum moderately finely punctate; moderately densely punctate on former (except sparsely punctate on mid-posterior area), densely punctate on latter; interspaces smooth (except rugulose on scutellar posterior 1/4). Metanotum densely and finely punctate; interspaces rugulose. Mesepisternum moderately sparsely and moderately finely punctate; interspaces imbricate. Metepisternum rugulose above and below; obliquely striate medially. Lateral surface of propodeum imbricate. Upper area of vertical surface of metapostnotum rugose medially. Metasomal terga finely punctate; T1 sparsely punctate; T2–T5 densely punctate; interspaces imbricate throughout. Metasomal sterna finely and moderately sparsely punctate (except moderately finely punctate on S6 mid-longitudinally). MALE: Unknown. Material studied. Primary type specimen: Holotype ♀—“HOLO; TIPO”. “CHILE Coquimbo; Baños del Toro; 14 I ’56 3,350m.; (Wagenknecht)”. “ Colletes; guanta n.sp; Toro & Rojas 93”. “AMNH_IZC 000324329”. {AMNH}. Additional specimen: CHILE — Region IV: Baños del Toro, (-29.837, -70.026), 3350m, i/1988, [R.Solar], 1♀, {AMNH}. Range. Chile (Region IV). See also Fig. 3B. Biogeographic distribution. Andean region: Central Chilean sub-region (Coquimban province). Central Chilean species found at altitudes above 3300m a.s.l. DNA barcode. Unavailable. Floral hosts. Unknown. Comments. Extremely rare species known only from its type locality (Baños del Toro, Region IV). The male remains unknown.Published as part of Ferrari, Rafael R., 2017, Taxonomic revision of the species of Colletes Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Colletidae: Colletinae) found in Chile, pp. 1-137 in Zootaxa 4364 (1) on pages 67-70, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4364.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/111600
Art casting in portuguese 19th century industrial foundries: A multi-analytical study of an emblematic copper-based alloy monument
No full textThe outdoor sculpture of the first Portuguese king, D. Afonso Henriques (c. 1109–1185 AD), placed in Guimarães (North Portugal), is one of the most emblematic national sculptures. Created in 1887 by António Soares dos Reis, it possesses a remarkable symbolic value in the presumed birthplace of the king. In addition to the artistic and heritage importance of the monument, it is one of the few sculptures cast by a Portuguese industrial foundry in the 19th century. This study obtained data on the sculpture’s elemental composition and corrosion products, gathering important historical and technical information. For this purpose, a multi-analytical approach consisting of X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS) was carried out to characterise the bulk metal and corrosion layers. The data revealed a ternary alloy of Cu, Sn and Zn, with Pb, Fe, As, Bi and Mn as minor elements. The alloy matches that of other sculptures cast in that period. In terms of corrosion, it is characterised by the presence of oxides. These results represent the first step for applying an appropriate conservation strategy for bronze sculptures with similar characteristics
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