On the presence of hepatic stellate cells in portal spaces

Previous studies in mice with hypervitaminosis A have demonstrated that fat-storing cells (hepatic stellate cells-HSCs) participate in schistosomal granuloma fibrogenesis. The origin of such cells in portal areas, away from the Disse spaces, was herein investigated. HSCs were identified in frozen sections of the liver by means of Sudan III staining. They appeared as red-stained cells disposed along the sinusoids of normal mice, but were never found within portal spaces. However, in the chronically inflamed portal spaces of Capillaria hepatica-infected mice, Sudan III-positive cells were frequently present among leukocytes and fibroblast-like cells. Thus, there are no resident HSCs in portal spaces, but their presence there in chronic inflammatory processes indicates that they are able to migrate from peri-sinusoidal areas in order to reach the portal areas.

Smoke Free Spaces: Progress in reducing exposure to second-hand smoke in Northern Ireland incorporating the five year review of smoke-free legislation

This report provides an overview of progress in reducing Second Hand Smoke (SHS) exposure in Northern Ireland that incorporates the five year review of smoke-free legislation, but also extends to a consideration of SHS exposure in non-work environments.  The report considers aspects of inequalities in SHS exposure in particular according to social disadvantage and with a focus on vulnerable subgroups of the population.

Analogs of Cuntz algebras on Lp-spaces

Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt.

New stakeholders, spaces and instruments of analysis in the context of energy relationships: Case studies from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan

The disintegration of the USSR brought the emergence of a new geo-energy space in Central Asia. This space arose in the context of a global energy transition, which began in the late 1970s. Therefore, this new space in a changing energy world requires both new conceptual frameworks of analysis and the creation of new analytical tools. Taking into account this fact, our paper attempts to apply the theoretical framework of the Global Commodity Chain (GCC) to the case of natural resources in Central Asia. The aim of the paper is to check if there could be any Central Asia’s geo-energy space, assuming that this space would exist if natural resources were managed with regional criteria. The paper is divided into four sections. First an introduction that describes the new global energy context within natural resources of Central Asia would be integrated. Secondly, the paper justifies why the GCC methodology is suitable for the study of the value chains of energy products. Thirdly, we build up three cases studies (oil and uranium from Kazakhstan and gas from Turkmenistan) which reveal a high degree of uncertainty over the direction these chains will take. Finally, we present the conclusions of this study that state that the most plausible scenario would be the integration of energy resources of these countries in GCC where the core of the decision-making process will be far away from the region of Central Asia. Key words: Energy transition, geo-energy space, Global Commodity Chains, Central Asia

On optimal learning schedules and the marginal value of cumulative cultural evolution.

The age-dependent choice between expressing individual learning (IL) or social learning (SL) affects cumulative cultural evolution. A learning schedule in which SL precedes IL is supportive of cumulative culture because the amount of nongenetically encoded adaptive information acquired by previous generations can be absorbed by an individual and augmented. Devoting time and energy to learning, however, reduces the resources available for other life-history components. Learning schedules and life history thus coevolve. Here, we analyze a model where individuals may have up to three distinct life stages: "infants" using IL or oblique SL, "juveniles" implementing IL or horizontal SL, and adults obtaining material resources with learned information. We study the dynamic allocation of IL and SL within life stages and how this coevolves with the length of the learning stages. Although no learning may be evolutionary stable, we find conditions where cumulative cultural evolution can be selected for. In that case, the evolutionary stable learning schedule causes individuals to use oblique SL during infancy and a mixture between IL and horizontal SL when juvenile. We also find that the selected pattern of oblique SL increases the amount of information in the population, but horizontal SL does not do so.

Kuranishi type Moduli Spaces for proper CR submersions fibering over the circle

Kuranishi's fundamental result (1962) associates to any compact complex manifold X&sub&0&/sub& a finite-dimensional analytic space which has to be thought of as a local moduli space of complex structures close to X&sub&0&/sub&. In this paper, we give an analogous statement for Levi-flat CR manifolds fibering properly over the circle by describing explicitely an infinite-dimensional Kuranishi type local moduli space of Levi-flat CR structures. We interpret this result in terms of Kodaira-Spencer deformation theory making clear the likenesses as well as the differences with the classical case. The article ends with applications and examples.

Holomorphic maps between moduli spaces

We prove that every non-constant holomorphic map&em&M&/em&&sub&g,p&/sub&→ &em&M&/em&&sub& g',p'&/sub& between moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces is a forgetful map, provided that g ≥ 6 and g' ≤ 2g-2.

La Gestió policial als esdeveniments públics en espais urbans a l'Àfrica: situació actual i perspectives = Policing public events in urban spaces in Africa : an analysis of the current situation and a perspective on follow-up action

L’informe que es presenta en aquest llibre és el resultat d’un nou acord de col·laboració entre el Programa de les Nacions Unides per als Assentaments Humans (ONU-Habitat) i l’Institut de Seguretat Pública de Catalunya, impulsat amb l’objectiu de millorar la seguretat en esdeveniments públics en els espais urbans a l’Àfrica. La fase pilot es va dur a terme el 2010, durant els dos seminaris de formació realitzats a Mollet del Vallès (Barcelona) com a part de la Plataforma Policia per al Desenvolupament Urbà (PPUD). En aquest informe es descriuen els orígens i l’estat de la iniciativa i resumeix els resultats. També s’inclouen algunes recomanacions per a millorar la seguretat d’esdeveniments públics. Font d'informació: http://www.onuhabitat.org.

Fine-scale genetic structure and marginal processes in an expanding population of Biscutella laevigata L. (Brassicaceae).

Evolutionary processes acting at the expanding margins of a species' range are still poorly understood. Genetic drift is considered prevalent in marginal populations, and the maintenance of genetic diversity during recolonization might seem puzzling. To investigate such processes, a fine-scale investigation of 219 individuals was performed within a population of Biscutella laevigata (Brassicaceae), located at the leading edge of its range. The survey used amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). As commonly reported across the whole species distribution range, individual density and genetic diversity decreased along the local axis of recolonization of this expanding population, highlighting the enduring effect of the historical colonization on present-day diversity. The self-incompatibility system of the plant may have prevented local inbreeding in newly found patches and sustained genetic diversity by ensuring gene flow from established populations. Within the more continuously populated region, spatial analysis of genetic structure revealed restricted gene flow among individuals. The distribution of genotypes formed a mosaic of relatively homogenous patches within the continuous population. This pattern could be explained by a history of expansion by long-distance dispersal followed by fine-scale diffusion (that is, a stratified dispersal combination). The secondary contact among expanding patches apparently led to admixture among differentiated genotypes where they met (that is, a reshuffling effect). This type of dynamics could explain the maintenance of genetic diversity during recolonization.

Accessible Parking Spaces Guidelines, 2001

The Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) and Chapter 321L of the Iowa Code.

An integrated genomic and expression analysis of 7q deletion in splenic marginal zone lymphoma.

Splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL) is an indolent B-cell lymphoproliferative disorder characterised by 7q32 deletion, but the target genes of this deletion remain unknown. In order to elucidate the genetic target of this deletion, we performed an integrative analysis of the genetic, epigenetic, transcriptomic and miRNomic data. High resolution array comparative genomic hybridization of 56 cases of SMZL delineated a minimally deleted region (2.8 Mb) at 7q32, but showed no evidence of any cryptic homozygous deletion or recurrent breakpoint in this region. Integrated transcriptomic analysis confirmed significant under-expression of a number of genes in this region in cases of SMZL with deletion, several of which showed hypermethylation. In addition, a cluster of 8 miRNA in this region showed under-expression in cases with the deletion, and three (miR-182/96/183) were also significantly under-expressed (P<0.05) in SMZL relative to other lymphomas. Genomic sequencing of these miRNA and IRF5, a strong candidate gene, did not show any evidence of somatic mutation in SMZL. These observations provide valuable guidance for further characterisation of 7q deletion.

Revitalização da Marginal do Mindelo

As relações das cidades com suas frentes de água (waterfront) têm-se tornado tema de grande actualidade do urbanismo contemporâneo. A revitalização de zonas, urbano-portuárias subutilizados é parte desse movimento e elemento paradigmático das políticas urbanísticas mais avançadas das cidades portuárias modernas. Reflectir sobre esses processos buscando parale-los para o contexto da cidade do Mindelo é a base principal desta dissertação. Desta forma, esta dissertação tem como tema de desenvolvimento “os espaços públicos e a revitalização da antiga área portuária e da faixa da marginal”.