"Social Stuff" and institutional micro-processes: Alcohol use by students in Australian university residential colleges

The literature on alcohol consumption among university and residential college students in Australia and comparable countries shows a high incidence of heavy and/or frequent drinking. In this article, we report the findings from a study on alcohol consumption among undergraduate university students living in residential colleges in Australia. The aim of the study was to examine residents’ alcohol use as part of a broader set of institutional practices in higher education that are constructed as central to the student experience. The data were collected through in-depth semistructured interviews with 29 students from seven residential colleges. We found that inclusion of alcohol in many students’ social and extracurricular activities while residing in college is associated with heavy and/or frequent drinking. We suggest that the use of alcohol among students is shaped by the colleges’ institutional micro-processes, leading to a tension between college managements’ aim to foster alcohol citizenship and students’ liberty to engage in frequent and/or heavy drinking.

Environmental technologies, intellectual property and climate change (2013) edited by Abbe Brown

Abbe Brown from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, is one of the leading international researchers on intellectual property and climate change. She is an intellectual dynamo. Her work brings together a mastery of intellectual property, with a strong interest in innovation theory and practice, and an engagement with public policy issues surrounding human rights, competition policy, and access to knowledge. Abbe Brown has shown a particular aptitude for tackling big ideas and wicked global problems, with intelligence, gusto, insight, and formidable wisdom.

Past-day recall of sedentary time: Validity of a self-reported measure of sedentary time in a university population

Background Sedentary behaviour is associated with several deleterious health consequences. Although device-based measures of sedentary time are available, they are costly and do not provide a measure of domain specific sedentary time. High quality self-report measures are necessary to accurately capture domain specific sedentary time, and to provide an alternative to devices when cost is an issue. In this study, the Past-day Adults’ Sedentary Time (PAST) questionnaire, previously shown to have acceptable validity and reliability in a sample of breast cancer survivors, was modified for a university sample and validity of the modified questionnaire was examined compared with activPAL. Methods Participants (n = 58, age = 18–55 years, 48% female, 66% students) were recruited from the University of Queensland (students and staff). They answered the PAST questionnaire, which asked about time spent sitting or lying down for work, study, travel, television viewing, leisure-time computer use, reading, eating, socialising and other purposes, during the previous day. Time reported for these questions was summed to provide a measure of total sedentary time. Participants also wore an activPAL device for the full day prior to completing the questionnaire and recorded their wake and sleep times in an activity log. Total waking sedentary time derived from the activPAL was used as the criterion measure. Correlation (Pearson's r) and agreement (Bland–Altman plots) between PAST and activPAL sedentary time were examined. Results Participants were sedentary (activPAL-determined) for approximately 66% of waking hours. The correlation between PAST and activPAL sedentary time for the whole sample was r = 0.50 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.28–0.67]; and higher for non-students (r = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.26–0.84) than students (r = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.16–0.68). Bland–Altman plots revealed that the mean difference between the two measures was 19 min although limits of agreement were wide (95% limits of agreement −4.1 to 4.7 h). Discussion The PAST questionnaire provides an acceptable measure of sedentary time in this population, which included students and adults with high workplace sitting. These findings support earlier research that questionnaires employing past-day recall of sedentary time provide a viable alternative to existing sedentary behaviour questionnaires.

Habitat use and population dynamics of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Scandinavia

Large carnivore populations are currently recovering from past extirpation efforts and expanding back into their original habitats. At the same time human activities have resulted in very few wilderness areas left with suitable habitats and size large enough to maintain populations of large carnivores without human contact. Consequently the long-term future of large carnivores depends on their successful integration into landscapes where humans live. Thus, understanding their behaviour and interaction with surrounding habitats is of utmost importance in the development of management strategies for large carnivores. This applies also to brown bears (Ursus arctos) that were almost exterminated from Scandinavia and Finland at the turn of the century, but are now expanding their range with the current population estimates being approximately 2600 bears in Scandinavia and 840 in Finland. This thesis focuses on the large-scale habitat use and population dynamics of brown bears in Scandinavia with the objective to develop modelling approaches that support the management of bear populations. Habitat analysis shows that bear home ranges occur mainly in forested areas with a low level of human influence relative to surrounding areas. Habitat modelling based on these findings allows identification and quantification of the potentially suitable areas for bears in Scandinavia. Additionally, this thesis presents novel improvements to home range estimation that enable realistic estimates of the effective area required for the bears to establish a home range. This is achieved through fitting to the radio-tracking data to establish the amount of temporal autocorrelation and the proportion of time spent in different habitat types. Together these form a basis for the landscape-level management of the expanding population. Successful management of bears requires also assessment of the consequences of harvest on the population viability. An individual-based simulation model, accounting for the sexually selected infanticide, was used to investigate the possibility of increasing the harvest using different hunting strategies, such as trophy harvest of males. The results indicated that the population can sustain twice the current harvest rate. However, harvest should be changed gradually while carefully monitoring the population growth as some effects of increased harvest may manifest themselves only after a time-delay. The results and methodological improvements in this thesis can be applied to the Finnish bear population and to other large carnivores. They provide grounds for the further development of spatially-realistic management-oriented models of brow bear dynamics that can make projections of the future distribution of bears while accounting for the development of human activities.

Molecular Characterization of Viruses Causing the Cassava Brown Streak Disease Epidemic in Eastern Africa

Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) was described for the first time in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) about seven decades ago. Tanganyika (now Tanzania) about seven decades ago. It was endemic in the lowland areas of East Africa and inland parts of Malawi and caused by Cassava brown streak virus (CBSV; genus Ipomovirus; Potyviridae). However, in 1990s CBSD was observed at high altitude areas in Uganda. The causes for spread to new locations were not known.The present work was thus initiated to generate information on genetic variability, clarify the taxonomy of the virus or viruses associated with CBSD in Eastern Africa as well as to understand the evolutionary forces acting on their genes. It also sought to develop a molecular based diagnostic tool for detection of CBSD-associated virus isolates. Comparison of the CP-encoding sequences of CBSD-associated virus isolates collected from Uganda and north-western Tanzania in 2007 and the partial sequences available in Genbank revealed occurrence of two genetically distinct groups of isolates. Two isolates were selected to represent the two groups. The complete genomes of isolates MLB3 (TZ:Mlb3:07) and Kor6 (TZ:Kor6:08) obtained from North-Western (Kagera) and North-Eastern (Tanga) Tanzania, respectively, were sequenced. The genomes were 9069 and 8995 nucleotides (nt), respectively. They translated into polyproteins that were predicted to yield ten mature proteins after cleavage. Nine proteins were typical in the family Potyviridae, namely P1, P3, 6K1, CI, 6K2, VPg, NIa-Pro, NIb and CP, but the viruses did not contain HC-Pro. Interestingly, genomes of both isolates contained a Maf/HAM1-like sequence (HAM1h; 678 nucleotides, 25 kDa) recombined between the NIb and CP domains in the 3’-proximal part of the genomes. HAM1h was also identified in Euphorbia ringspot virus (EuRSV) whose sequence was in GenBank. The HAM1 gene is widely spread in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) it is known to be a nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) pyrophosphatase. Novel information was obtained on the structural variation at the N-termini of polyproteins of viruses in the genus Ipomovirus. Cucumber vein yellowing virus (CVYV) and Squash vein yellowing virus (SqVYV) contain a duplicated P1 (P1a and P1b) but lack the HC-Pro. On the other hand, Sweet potato mild mottle virus (SPMMV), has a single but large P1 and has HC-Pro. Both virus isolates (TZ:Mlb3:07 & TZ:Kor6:08) characterized in this study contained a single P1 and lacked the HC-Pro which indicates unique evolution in the family Potyviridae. Comparison of 12 complete genomes of CBSD-associated viruses which included two genomes characterized in this study, revealed genetic identity of 69.0–70.3% (nt) and amino acid (aa) identities of 73.6–74.4% at polyprotein level. Comparison was also made among 68 complete CP sequences, which indicated 69.0-70.3 and 73.6-74.4 % identity at nt and aa levels, respectively. The genetic variation was large enough for dermacation of CBSD-associated virus isolates into two distinct species. The name CBSV was retained for isolates that were related to CBSV isolates available in database whereas the new virus described for the first time in this study was named Ugandan cassava brown streak virus (UCBSV) by the International Committee on Virus Taxonomy (ICTV). The isolates TZ:Mlb3:07 and TZ:Kor6:08 belong to UCBSV and CBSV, respectively. The isolates of CBSV and UCBSV were 79.3-95.5% and 86.3-99.3 % identitical at nt level, respectively, suggesting more variation amongst CBSV isolates. The main sources of variation in plant viruses are mutations and recombination. Signals for recombination events were detected in 50% of isolates of each virus. Recombination events were detected in coding and non-coding (3’-UTR) sequences except in the 5’UTR and P3. There was no evidence for recombination between isolates of CBSV and UCBSV. The non-synonomous (dN) to synonomous (dS) nucleotide substitution ratio (ω) for the HAM1h and CP domains of both viruses were ≤ 0.184 suggesting that most sites of these proteins were evolving under strong purifying selection. However, there were individual amino acid sites that were submitted to adaptive evolution. For instance, adaptive evolution was detected in the HAM1h of UCBSV (n=15) where 12 aa sites were under positive selection (P< 0.05) but not in CBSV (n=12). The CP of CBSV (n=23) contained 12 aa sites (p<0.01) while only 5 aa sites in the CP gene of UCBSV were predicted to be submitted to positive selection pressure (p<0.01). The advantages offered by the aa sites under positive selection could not be established but occurrence of such sites in the terminal ends of UCBSV-HAMIh, for example, was interpreted as a requirement for proteolysis during polyprotein processing. Two different primer pairs that simultaneously detect UCBSV and CBSV isolates were developed in this study. They were used successfully to study distribution of CBSV, UCBSV and their mixed infections in Tanzania and Uganda. It was established that the two viruses co-infect cassava and that incidences of co-infection could be as high as 50% around Lake Victoria on the Tanzanian side. Furthermore, it was revealed for the first time that both UCBSV and CBSV were widely distributed in Eastern Africa. The primer pair was also used to confirm infection in a close relative of cassava, Manihot glaziovii (Müller Arg.) with CBSV. DNA barcoding of M. glaziovii was done by sequencing the matK gene. Two out of seven M. glaziovii from the coastal areas of Korogwe and Kibaha in north eastern Tanzania were shown to be infected by CBSV but not UCBSV isolates. Detection in M. glaziovii has an implication in control and management of CBSD as it is likely to serve as virus reservoir. This study has contributed to the understanding of evolution of CBSV and UCBSV, which cause CBSD epidemic in Eastern Africa. The detection tools developed in this work will be useful in plant breeding, verification of the phytosanitary status of materials in regional and international movement of germplasm, and in all diagnostic activities related to management of CBSD. Whereas there are still many issues to be resolved such as the function and biological significance of HAM1h and its origin, this work has laid a foundation upon which the studies on these aspects can be based.

Genetic diversity study of Caspian brown trout (Salmo trutta caspius Kessler, 1877) population in five rivers in the southern part of Caspian Sea, Iran

For study the genetic diversity of Caspian brown trout population in five rivers in the southern part of Caspian Sea in Iran 182 number generators in the fall and winter of 1390 were collected in Chalus, Sardab Rud, Cheshmeh Kileh, Kargan Rud and Astara rivers. Then about 3-5 g of soft and fresh tissue from the bottom fin fish removed and were fixed in ethanol 96°. Genomic DNA was extracted by using ammonium acetate, then quantity and quality of the extracted DNA were determined by using spectrophotometry and horizontal electrophoresis in 1% agarose gel. The polymerase chain reaction was performed by using 16 SSR primers and sequencing primers (D-Loop) and the quality of PCR products amplified by SSR method were performed by using horizontal electrophoresis in 2% agarose gel. Alleles and their sizes were determined by using vertical electrophoresis in 6% polyacrylamide gel and silver nitrate staining method. Gel images were recorded by gel documentarian, the bands were scored by using Photo- Capt software and statistical analysis was performed by using Gene Alex and Pop Gene software. Also the PCR sequencing products after quality assessment by usinghorizontal electrophoresis in 1.5% agarose gel were purified and sent to South Korea Bioneer Corporation for sequencing. Sequencing was performed by chain termination method and the statistical analysis was performed by using Bio- Edit, Mega, Arlequin and DNA SP software. The SSR method, 5 pairs of primers produced polymorphic bands and the average real and effective number of alleles were calculated 5.60±1.83 and 3.87±1.46 in the Cheshmeh Kileh river and 7.60±1.75 and 5.48±1.32 in the Karganrud river and the mean observed and expected heterozygosity were calculated 0.44 ±0.15 and 0.52 ±0.16 in the Cheshmeh Kileh river and 0.50 ±0.11 and 0.70±0.13 in the Karganrud river. Analysis of Molecular Variance results showed that significant differences in genetic diversity between and within populations and between and within individuals in the studied rivers (P<0.01). The sequencing method identified 35 different haplotype, the highest number of polymorphic position (251) and haplotype (14) were observed in the Chalus river. The highest mean observed number of alleles (2.24±0.48) was calculated in the Sardabrud river, the highest mean observed heterozygosity (1.00±0.03) was calculated in the Chalus river and the highest mean nucleotide diversity (0.13±0.07) was observed in the Sardabrud river and mean haplotype diversity was obtained (1) in three studied rivers. The overall results show that there are no same population of this fish in the studied rivers and Karganrud and Chalus rivers in the SSR and sequencing methods had the highest levels of genetic diversity.

Study of density, distribution and yield on benthic fauna and brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) feeding in Laar reservoirs

Lar lake, with the international UTM specification of 39S 579680 3976567 & 39S 589930 3976184 is Situated in Lar national Park with an aerial distance of 55 Km of Tehran along Haraz road. The present research is carried out as part of a comprehensives Plan for assessment of bioresearches of Lar lake & the rivers flowing into it. This research includes examination of there benthic Samplings performed in Lar lake and each of the related rivers including Delichaee, Ab-e-sefid , Alarm & Lar (Kamardasht).Tubifex and Chironomus genus were found to have the highest frequencies of occurrence in the lake with %77.117 & %21.823 respectively followed by Chironomidae and Simulidae from the Diptera order which accounted for %72.328 and %13.812 occurrences in four rivers examined in the Study. The benthic biomass at various examined Sites and the average wet weight of the benthic biomass in station No one in the lake Was 17.397g and the figure for the examined site in Alarm was 20.242 g which were the highest level among Other examination stations the index for the abundance of species in Alarm river was greater than the rest of the examined rivers with 12.57. A sum of 354 Pieces of brown trouts was caught in the course of sampling which were closely investigated in terms of their digestive tract Content. It was identified that Daphniidae and Chironomus constituted the bulk of eaten items from the lake with %17.985 and %63.973 respectively. Meanwhile, Chironomidae and Simuladae were the most frequently eanten benthos by the fish with %81.47 and %7.93 respectively.The index for the relative length of gut was recorded at 0.49± 0.08 which is well indicative of the carnivorous diet of the fish.The index for the feeding intensity amounted to 138  83 showing that the one year old fish were of more feeding intensity.The coefficient of condition (K) was estimated at 1.02  0.142 for all the caught fish. The average wet weight of the benthos was 10.348 g per square meter which if extended to 700ha surface area of the lake, the total macrobenthic production in the lake would amount to 72730Kg of wet weight or 6510 Kg of dry weight. Since the Secondary Production of macrobenthos have always been double that of their biomass, it is reasonable to assume that the Secondary Production of macrobenthos amount to 145640 Kg by their wet weight and Since the energy transfer in the food chain of the lake from benthos to fish is 10 percent, the fish production Capacity Coming from benthic resources of the lake (Lar) would be 14.5 MT, half of which (7000-8000MT) could annually be harvested. Further more, the actual fish Production Capacity might exceed the projected level Since Daphnia, Rotifers and Ostracoda which belong to Zooplanktons, play a part in the natural diet of trout. Meanwhile, rivers Play a major role in fish nutrition and the annual fish production in Delichaee river is about 4481.8Kg while the figures for Ab-e-sefid, Alerm and Lar rivers are 2370.7 4848.7 and 2586.2 Kg respectively, that further increase fish Production in the area and every year half of these resources can be exploitable from the river & the lake.Nevertheless, due to ecological & biological importance of rivers and the probability of environmental Pollution, devastation of natural fish habitats & their nursery grounds, Sport fishing is not recommended at all.

Physiological and biochemical study of over-ripened oocyte in the cultivated Caspian brown trout (Salmo trutta caspius) and determination of egg quality markers

To determine the best time for egg stripping after ovulation and over-ripened oocyte in the Caspian brown trout (Salmo trutta caspius), the eggs were retained in the parental abdominal cavity for 40 days post-ovulation (DPO) at 7±0.6°C. Eggs were stripped every 10-day interval in 4 treatment and were fertilized with a pool of semen obtained from 8 males. Also, the physiology and biochemistry of the eggs and ovarian fluids were studied. Results showed that the level of eyed eggs and hatched alevins declined with over-ripening time: that is, the expected amounts (90.65 ± 6.28% for eyeing and 86.33 ± 6.82% for hatching) in newly ovulated eggs (0–10 DPO) decreased to 0.67 ± 1.34% and 0.49 ± 0.98%, respectively, in over-ripened eggs (30–40 DPO). However, larval abnormalities remained constant for 30-days after ovulation. During the course of oocyte over-ripening, the pH of the ovarian fluid significantly decreased and the concentration of glucose, protein, calcium, iron, and aspartate aminotransferase activity significantly increased. Moreover, the concentration of protein, triglycerides, and aspartate aminotransferase activity in the eggs also changed. In the newly ovulated egg, the yolk consisted of homogenous tissue and its perivitelline space diameter had no considerable differences. With over-ripening, the yolk became heterogeneous, while chorion diameter and micropyle did not change. The perivitelline space diameter varied among different areas. The present study demonstrated that the best time to take Caspian brown trout eggs after ovulation at 7± 0.6°C was up to 10 DPO. Among the studied parameters of the egg and ovarian fluid, egg quality was related to both ovarian fluid parameters (e.g., pH, protein, aspartate aminotransferase, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, calcium, iron) and egg parameters (e.g., cholesterol, triglycerides, iron, aspartate aminotransferase). Thus, these parameters can be used as a egg quality markers in this species.

The study of molecular variation in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) and brown trout (Salmo trutta L.)

Polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci were used here in three studies, one on Salmo salar and two on S. trutta. In the case of S. salar, the survival of native fish and non-natives from a nearby catchment, and their hybrids, were compared in a freshwater common garden experiment and subsequently in ocean ranching, with parental assignment utilising microsatellites. Overall survival of non-natives was 35% of natives. This differential survival was mainly in the oceanic phase. These results imply a genetic basis and suggest local adaptation can occur in salmonids across relatively small geographic distances which may have important implications for the management of salmon populations. In the first case study with S trutta, the species was investigated throughout its spread as an invasive in Newfoundland, eastern Canada. Genetic investigation confirmed historical records that the majority of introductions were from a Scottish hatchery and provided a clear example of the structure of two expanding waves of spread along coasts, probably by natural straying of anadromous individuals, to the north and south of the point of human introduction. This study showed a clearer example of the genetic anatomy of an invasion than in previous studies with brown trout, and may have implications for the management of invasive species in general. Finally, the genetics of anadromous S. trutta from the Waterville catchment in south western Ireland were studied. Two significantly different population groupings, from tributaries in geographically distinct locations entering the largest lake in the catchment, were identified. These results were then used to assign very large rod caught sea trout individuals (so called “specimen” sea trout) back to region of origin, in a Genetic Stock Identification exercise. This suggested that the majority of these large sea trout originated from one of the two tributary groups. These results are relevant for the understanding of sea trout population dynamics and for the future management of this and other sea trout producing catchments. This thesis has demonstrated new insights into the population structuring of salmonids both between and within catchments. While these chapters look at the existence and scale of genetic variation from different angles, it might be concluded that the overarching message from this thesis should be to highlight the importance of maintaining genetic diversity in salmonid populations as vital for their long-term productivity and resilience.