The challenge of applying Geographic Information Systems to Sustainable Mountain Development

In recent years, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have increasingly been used in a wide array of application contexts for development cooperation in lowlands and mountain areas. When used for planning, implementation, and monitoring, GIS is a versatile and highly efficient tool, particularly in mountain areas characterized by great spatial diversity and inaccessibility. However, the establishment and application of GIS in mountain regions generally presents considerable technical challenges. Moreover, it is necessary to address specific institutional and organizational issues regarding implementation.

Activating enhancer binding protein 2 epsilon (AP-2ε)-deficient mice exhibit increased matrix metalloproteinase 13 expression and progressive osteoarthritis development.

INTRODUCTION The transcription factor activating enhancer binding protein 2 epsilon (AP-2ε) was recently shown to be expressed during chondrogenesis as well as in articular chondrocytes of humans and mice. Furthermore, expression of AP-2ε was found to be upregulated in affected cartilage of patients with osteoarthritis (OA). Despite these findings, adult mice deficient for AP-2ε (Tfap2e(-/-)) do not exhibit an obviously abnormal cartilaginous phenotype. We therefore analyzed embryogenesis of Tfap2e(-/-) mice to elucidate potential transient abnormalities that provide information on the influence of AP-2ε on skeletal development. In a second part, we aimed to define potential influences of AP-2ε on articular cartilage function and gene expression, as well as on OA progression, in adult mice. METHODS Murine embryonic development was accessed via in situ hybridization, measurement of skeletal parameters and micromass differentiation of mesenchymal cells. To reveal discrepancies in articular cartilage of adult wild-type (WT) and Tfap2e(-/-) mice, light and electron microscopy, in vitro culture of cartilage explants, and quantification of gene expression via real-time PCR were performed. OA was induced via surgical destabilization of the medial meniscus in both genotypes, and disease progression was monitored on histological and molecular levels. RESULTS Only minor differences between WT and embryos deficient for AP-2ε were observed, suggesting that redundancy mechanisms effectively compensate for the loss of AP-2ε during skeletal development. Surprisingly, though, we found matrix metalloproteinase 13 (Mmp13), a major mediator of cartilage destruction, to be significantly upregulated in articular cartilage of adult Tfap2e(-/-) mice. This finding was further confirmed by increased Mmp13 activity and extracellular matrix degradation in Tfap2e(-/-) cartilage explants. OA progression was significantly enhanced in the Tfap2e(-/-) mice, which provided evidence for in vivo relevance. This finding is most likely attributable to the increased basal Mmp13 expression level in Tfap2e(-/-) articular chondrocytes that results in a significantly higher total Mmp13 expression rate during OA as compared with the WT. CONCLUSIONS We reveal a novel role of AP-2ε in the regulation of gene expression in articular chondrocytes, as well as in OA development, through modulation of Mmp13 expression and activity.

Phonological Development in Hearing Children of Deaf Parents

Phonological development in hearing children of deaf parents Dr. Diane Lillo-Martin 5/9/2010 The researcher wishes to determine the significance of a unique linguistic environment on the effects of phonological development. The research examines whether 3 hearing children of deaf parents, hereafter referred to as CODAs, have inconsistencies, as compared to children in a typical linguistic environment, in their syllable structure, phonological processes or phonemic inventories. More specifically, the research asks whether their speech is more consistent with children of typical environments or more similar to children with phonological delays or disorders or articulation disorders. After the examination of these three components to a child's phonological development, it can be concluded that the linguistic environment of CODA children does not negatively hinder their phonological language development.

La producción de leche orgánica en la región Puno : Una alternativa de desarrollo sostenible

El consumo de productos orgánicos viene creciendo en todo el mundo y la leche orgánica no es la excepción. En Puno, por sus características geográficas, culturales e históricas, la producción agropecuaria aún mantiene tecnologías de producción ancestrales, buscando el equilibrio con el medio ambiente, con un uso mínimo de fertilizantes y pesticidas, con lo que se muestra un enfoque en la sostenibilidad y una tendencia a producir orgánicamente. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar mediante una simulación la viabilidad económica y el riesgo de producir leche orgánica como una alternativa de desarrollo sostenible. Se consideró la producción por encima de los 3.000 metros de altura, área de 6,5 has, una vaca (criolla) por hectárea produciendo 10 litros de leche/día. Los indicadores económicos resultaron positivos: el VAN fue S/. 2.916,38, TIR 24, VAE S/. 866,33, ratio B/C S/. 1,48 (se aclaro en la metodología) y el período de recuperación de la inversión resultó de 5,88 años, evidenciando que la producción de leche orgánica es económicamente viable pero con riesgo elevado: la simulación de Monte Carlo mostró que existe 71,43 de probabilidad de no resultar viable

La producción de leche orgánica en la región Puno : Una alternativa de desarrollo sostenible

El consumo de productos orgánicos viene creciendo en todo el mundo y la leche orgánica no es la excepción. En Puno, por sus características geográficas, culturales e históricas, la producción agropecuaria aún mantiene tecnologías de producción ancestrales, buscando el equilibrio con el medio ambiente, con un uso mínimo de fertilizantes y pesticidas, con lo que se muestra un enfoque en la sostenibilidad y una tendencia a producir orgánicamente. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar mediante una simulación la viabilidad económica y el riesgo de producir leche orgánica como una alternativa de desarrollo sostenible. Se consideró la producción por encima de los 3.000 metros de altura, área de 6,5 has, una vaca (criolla) por hectárea produciendo 10 litros de leche/día. Los indicadores económicos resultaron positivos: el VAN fue S/. 2.916,38, TIR 24, VAE S/. 866,33, ratio B/C S/. 1,48 (se aclaro en la metodología) y el período de recuperación de la inversión resultó de 5,88 años, evidenciando que la producción de leche orgánica es económicamente viable pero con riesgo elevado: la simulación de Monte Carlo mostró que existe 71,43 de probabilidad de no resultar viable

La producción de leche orgánica en la región Puno : Una alternativa de desarrollo sostenible

El consumo de productos orgánicos viene creciendo en todo el mundo y la leche orgánica no es la excepción. En Puno, por sus características geográficas, culturales e históricas, la producción agropecuaria aún mantiene tecnologías de producción ancestrales, buscando el equilibrio con el medio ambiente, con un uso mínimo de fertilizantes y pesticidas, con lo que se muestra un enfoque en la sostenibilidad y una tendencia a producir orgánicamente. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar mediante una simulación la viabilidad económica y el riesgo de producir leche orgánica como una alternativa de desarrollo sostenible. Se consideró la producción por encima de los 3.000 metros de altura, área de 6,5 has, una vaca (criolla) por hectárea produciendo 10 litros de leche/día. Los indicadores económicos resultaron positivos: el VAN fue S/. 2.916,38, TIR 24, VAE S/. 866,33, ratio B/C S/. 1,48 (se aclaro en la metodología) y el período de recuperación de la inversión resultó de 5,88 años, evidenciando que la producción de leche orgánica es económicamente viable pero con riesgo elevado: la simulación de Monte Carlo mostró que existe 71,43 de probabilidad de no resultar viable

On Labor Complementarity, Cultural Frictions and Strategic Immigration Policies

In this paper we consider a model with two industrialized countries that face a flow of immigration from the "rest of the world." The countries differ in three characteristics: the labor complementarity between the "native" population and immigrants, the population size, and the magnitude of the cultural friction between the natives and immigrants. We consider a non-cooperative game between two countries' when their strategic instrument is the choice of an immigration quota and the world immigrant wages introduce the spill-over effect between two countries. We first show that the quota game admits unique pure strategies Nash equilibrium. We then compare the equilibrium choices of two countries and show that even though the larger country attracts more immigrants, it chooses lower quota than its smaller counterpart. It also turns out that higher degree of labor complementarity between natives and immigrants and a lower degree of cultural friction between two groups yield higher immigration quota. We also examine the welfare implications of countries choices' and argue that coordinated and harmonized immigration policies may improve the welfare of both countries.

Migration, labor and business in the worlding cities of the Arabian Peninsula

This short essay, built on a foundation of more than a decade of fieldwork in the hydrocarbon-rich societies of the Arabian peninsula, distills a set of overarching threads woven through much of that time and work. Those threads include a discussion of the social heterogeneity of the Gulf State citizenries, the central role of development and urban development in these emergent economies, the multifaceted impact of migrants and migration upon these host societies, and the role of foreign 'imagineers' in the portrayal of Gulf societies, Gulf values, and Gulf social norms.

Optimization of the irrigation time and irrigation frequency by using Hydrus-2D and a capacitance FDR sensor

The evolution of water content on a sandy soil during the sprinkler irrigation campaign, in the summer of 2010, of a field of sugar beet crop located at Valladolid (Spain) is assessed by a capacitive FDR (Frequency Domain Reflectometry) EnviroScan. This field is one of the experimental sites of the Spanish research center for the sugar beet development (AIMCRA). The objective of the work focus on monitoring the soil water content evolution of consecutive irrigations during the second two weeks of July (from the 12th to the 28th). These measurements will be used to simulate water movement by means of Hydrus-2D. The water probe logged water content readings (m3/m3) at 10, 20, 40 and 60 cm depth every 30 minutes. The probe was placed between two rows in one of the typical 12 x 15 m sprinkler irrigation framework. Furthermore, a texture analysis at the soil profile was also conducted. The irrigation frequency in this farm was set by the own personal farmer 0 s criteria that aiming to minimizing electricity pumping costs, used to irrigate at night and during the weekend i.e. longer irrigation frequency than expected. However, the high evapotranspiration rates and the weekly sugar beet water consumption—up to 50mm/week—clearly determined the need for lower this frequency. Moreover, farmer used to irrigate for six or five hours whilst results from the EnviroScan probe showed the soil profile reaching saturation point after the first three hours. It must be noted that AIMCRA provides to his members with a SMS service regarding weekly sugar beet water requirement; from the use of different meteorological stations and evapotranspiration pans, farmers have an idea of the weekly irrigation needs. Nevertheless, it is the farmer 0 s decision to decide how to irrigate. Thus, in order to minimize water stress and pumping costs, a suitable irrigation time and irrigation frequency was modeled with Hydrus-2D. Results for the period above mentioned showed values of water content ranging from 35 and 30 (m3/m3) for the first 10 and 20cm profile depth (two hours after irrigation) to the minimum 14 and 13 (m3/m3) ( two hours before irrigation). For the 40 and 60 cm profile depth, water content moves steadily across the dates: The greater the root activity the greater the water content variation. According to the results in the EnviroScan probe and the modeling in Hydrus-2D, shorter frequencies and irrigation times are suggested.

Systems and technologies for objective evaluation of technical skills in laparoscopic surgery

Minimally invasive surgery is a highly demanding surgical approach regarding technical requirements for the surgeon, who must be trained in order to perform a safe surgical intervention. Traditional surgical education in minimally invasive surgery is commonly based on subjective criteria to quantify and evaluate surgical abilities, which could be potentially unsafe for the patient. Authors, surgeons and associations are increasingly demanding the development of more objective assessment tools that can accredit surgeons as technically competent. This paper describes the state of the art in objective assessment methods of surgical skills. It gives an overview on assessment systems based on structured checklists and rating scales, surgical simulators, and instrument motion analysis. As a future work, an objective and automatic assessment method of surgical skills should be standardized as a means towards proficiency-based curricula for training in laparoscopic surgery and its certification.

Are team personality and climate related to satisfaction and software quality? Aggregating results from a twice replicated experiment

Research into software engineering teams focuses on human and social team factors. Social psychology deals with the study of team formation and has found that personality factors and group processes such as team climate are related to team effectiveness. However, there are only a handful of empirical studies dealing with personality and team climate and their relationship to software development team effectiveness. Objective We present aggregate results of a twice replicated quasi-experiment that evaluates the relationships between personality, team climate, product quality and satisfaction in software development teams. Method Our experimental study measures the personalities of team members based on the Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) and team climate factors (participative safety, support for innovation, team vision and task orientation) preferences and perceptions. We aggregate the results of the three studies through a meta-analysis of correlations. The study was conducted with students. Results The aggregation of results from the baseline experiment and two replications corroborates the following findings. There is a positive relationship between all four climate factors and satisfaction in software development teams. Teams whose members score highest for the agreeableness personality factor have the highest satisfaction levels. The results unveil a significant positive correlation between the extraversion personality factor and software product quality. High participative safety and task orientation climate perceptions are significantly related to quality. Conclusions First, more efficient software development teams can be formed heeding personality factors like agreeableness and extraversion. Second, the team climate generated in software development teams should be monitored for team member satisfaction. Finally, aspects like people feeling safe giving their opinions or encouraging team members to work hard at their job can have an impact on software quality. Software project managers can take advantage of these factors to promote developer satisfaction and improve the resulting product.