Rural Youth and Youth Culture in North China

This article describes how economic reforms have transformed the local world of village life in North China, specifically the emergence of a rural youth culture that reflects urban values and styles. This culture has both challenged and enriched rural China's tradition and its more recent communal structure, a change that reshapes the relations amongst family members of different age cohorts as well as between peasants and cadres. it is argued that this transformation in the Chinese countryside holds opportunities to improve living conditions and unmake the constraints of tradition and the modern nation-state on life chances and everyday experience. The sheer number of rural youth in China suggests that the future impact of this transformation on social realities could be enormous.     

Identification of mutations in two families with sporadic hemophilia A

Summary Direct sequencing of segments of the factor VIII gene in 30 hemophiliacs with sporadic disease (32+ kb of sequence in total) revealed two missense transitions: glutamate 1704 to lysine (E¹⁷⁰⁴K) in a patient with severe hemophilia A and proline 2300 to serine (P²³⁰⁰S) in a patient with mild hemophilia. Both transitions are likely to be causative mutations because the amino acids affected were evolutionarily conserved. Haplotype and sequence analysis of the mother and grandparents of patient HA12 (E¹⁷⁰⁴K) indicate that the mutation arose in the grandfather who was 27 years old when his daughter was conceived. The origin of mutation in patient HA39 (P²³⁰⁰S) could not be determined. As mutations that cause mild disease can be found in seemingly unrelated families, 96 unrelated hemophiliacs were screened rapidly for the P²³⁰⁰S mutation with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of specific alleles (PASA). None of these patients had the mutation. PASA was also used to conveniently assess a polymorphic site in intron 7. The polymorphism is estimated to be informative in 13% of Korean females and in 23% of Western European females.     

Use and non-use values as motivational construct dimensions for farm animal welfare: impacts on the economic outcome for the farm

This study explored how farmers’ motivation in terms of use values and/or non-use values to work with farm animal welfare are associated with the economic outcome for the farm. Use values in farm animal welfare refer to economic value derived from productivity and profitability considerations. Non-use values in farm animal welfare refer to economic value derived from good animal welfare, irrespective of the use the farmer derives from the animal, currently or in the future. The analysis was based on detailed information about the income statements of a sample of Swedish dairy farmers, obtained from the Swedish Farm Economic Survey, complemented with survey information about their perceived use and non-use values in farm animal welfare. The findings suggest that farm economic outcome is significantly associated with motivation in terms of use values, but not so much with motivation in terms of non-use values. This is interesting from a policy point of view, because it indicates that farmers with different approaches to farm animal welfare may experience different economic outcomes for their farms. Findings can, for instance, be used to strengthen farmers’ engagement in various private quality assurance standards, which generally focus on values of non-use type, by pointing to that realisation of such values will not impair the economic outcome of the farms. Moreover, findings also suggest that farmers’ economic incentives for engagement in such standards may need to be further strengthened in order to become more attractive, as findings point to that a focus on non-use values generally is not associated with more favourable economic outcomes.     

On the link between economic and environmental performance of Swiss dairy farms of the alpine area

Purpose

Promoting the economic and environmental performance of Swiss farms is a major objective of Swiss agricultural policy. In the present paper, we investigate the relationship between the economic and global environmental performance of the Swiss dairy farms in the alpine area.

Methods

The analysis relies on a sample of 56 dairy farms from the Farm Accountancy Data Network, for which highly precise and comprehensive Life Cycle Assessments have been carried out. The work income per family work unit is used as indicator of the economic performance of a farm. The so-called global environmental performance of a farm is, for its part, measured by means of an eco-efficiency indicator for each environmental impact considered (demand for non-renewable energy resources, eutrophication potential, aquatic ecotoxicity potential, human toxicity potential and land use) and of an aggregate eco-efficiency indicator assessed using a Data Envelopment Analysis-based approach. The relationship between economic and global environmental performance is assessed by means of non-parametric Spearman??s rank correlation analysis.

Results

The results of the analysis reveal the existence of a positive relationship between economic and global environmental performance. This positive relationship exists for all environmental issues considered and thus also for the aggregate eco-efficiency indicator. Its strength, however, substantially varies from one issue to another.

Conclusions

This study provides the evidence that there is no trade-off between economic and global environmental farm performance. When they improve their economic performance, farms also tend to improve their global environmental performance and vice versa. This finding is of central relevance for policy-makers as it should contribute to improving the acceptance among farmers of the environmental objectives of Swiss agricultural policy in terms of an increase in environmental resource use productivity. In this sense this work provides valuable insights into the sustainable performance of the Swiss dairy sector in the alpine area.     

Costs of Inaction on Maternal Mortality: Qualitative Evidence of the Impacts of Maternal Deaths on Living Children in Tanzania

Background

Little is known about the interconnectedness of maternal deaths and impacts on children, beyond infants, or the mechanisms through which this interconnectedness is established. A study was conducted in rural Tanzania to provide qualitative insight regarding how maternal mortality affects index as well as other living children and to identify shared structural and social factors that foster high levels of maternal mortality and child vulnerabilities.

Methods and Findings

Adult family members of women who died due to maternal causes (N = 45) and key stakeholders (N = 35) participated in in-depth interviews. Twelve focus group discussions were also conducted (N = 83) among community leaders in three rural regions of Tanzania. Findings highlight the widespread impact of a woman’s death on her children’s health, education, and economic status, and, by inference, the roles that women play within their families in rural Tanzanian communities.

Conclusions

The full costs of failing to address preventable maternal mortality include intergenerational impacts on the nutritional status, health, and education of children, as well as the economic capacity of families. When setting priorities in a resource-poor, high maternal mortality country, such as Tanzania, the far-reaching effects that reducing maternal deaths can have on families and communities, as well as women’s own lives, should be considered.     

One-bond carbon-proton coupling constants: Angular dependence in β-linked oligosaccharides

Summary The angular dependence of¹J_C,H in model compounds related to -linked oligosaccharides has been established by FPT INDO quantum chemical calculations. Values calculated for models of (1 1)-, (1 2)-, (1 3)- and (1 4)-linked disaccharides were compared, and the effect of the orientation of HO-2 elucidated. The angular dependence of¹J_C,H on the torsional angles ^H and ^H and the solvent dielectric constant (s) was characterized in the form:¹J_C,H = A cos2+B cos + C sin2 + D since + E + Fe. The¹J_C,H values, measured by DEPT methods for C-1-H-1 and C-X-H-X in cellobiose, cyclic trisaccharide and hexopyranoses were used to adjust the calculated angular dependences. Based on the occurrence of the conformers for agarobiose, neoagarobiose, mannobiose and methyl -xylobioside, the thermodynamically averaged <¹J_C,H > values were calculated. The results obtained (<¹J_C-1,H-1 > 162.4, <¹J_{C-4, H-4} > 147.6 Hz for methyl -xylobioside; <¹J_C-1,H-1 > 162.4 and <¹J_C-4,H-4] > 147.6 Hz for mannobiose; <¹J_C-1,H-1 > 162.8 Hz for neo agarobiose and <¹J_C-1,H-1 > 163.2 Hz for agarobiose) agree well with the experimental values of 162.7, 147.5, 160.4, 147.2, 160.9 and 165.7 Hz, respectively.     

Model of neural visual system with self-organizing cells

This paper describes a model of a neural visual system of a higher animal, in which the capability of pattern recognition develops adaptively. To produce the adaptability, we adopted self-organizing cells, and with them modeled feature-detecting cells which were discovered by Hubel and Wiesel and whose plasticity was found by Blakemore and Cooper. Combining the self-organizing cells and the learning principle of a Perceptron-type system, we constructed a model of the whole visual system. The model is also equipped with an eye movement control mechanism for gazing, which reduces the number of selforganizing cells required for pattern recognition, thus contributing to their quick self-organization. Computer simulation and an experiment using a hardware simulator showed that self-organizing cells quickly become sensitive to the features often seen and that the resulted system can classify patterns with a rather small number of feature-detecting cells.     

Application of recombinant DNA technology to plant protection: molecular approaches to engineering virus resistance in crop plants

Developments in plant tissue culture, plant transformation and regeneration, and improvements in techniques to isolate and manipulate viral genes have led to the exploitation of the concept of cross protection: turning the virus onto itself and controlling it with its own genes. By introducing and expressing genes of viral origin in crop plants, scientists have engineered resistance to several plant viruses. Some of the approaches, used singly or in combination, include expression of viral-coat protein, untranslatable sense or antisense RNA, satellite RNA, virusspecific neutralizing antibody genes, plant viral replicase, protease or movement proteins and defective, interfering RNA. All of these approaches have resulted in manifestation of virus resistance to varying degrees in several commercially important crop plants. This review summarizes the recent advances in engineering virus resistance using the above approaches, and lists specific examples of their use in cultivated crop plants of economic importance.H.R. Pappu and C.L. Niblett are with the Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida. Gainesville, FL 32611-0680, USA; R.F. Lee is with the Citrus Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Lake Alfred, FL 33850, USA. Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Series No. R-04558.     

Lateral hydrodynamic effects of rotating filaments

On the basis of the filament rotation model that was elaborated for interpretations in cell motility, the lateral hydrodynamic effects of rotating filaments have been investigated by large-scale model experiments. Helices were rotated by small electric motors in a medium of high viscosity (honey or polyethyleneglycol). The observed effects, hitherto not investigated in detail by hydrodynamics, show some features that were attributed to the indefinable formative power or vital force of the past. The main effects generated by the rotating filaments are (1) flows and flow patterns with impact zones where flows collide, (2) regions of excessive pressure and negative pressure (corner effect) along a wall, (3) grooves and smoothly shaped ridges on a free fluid surface, and (4) rolling motions of freely hanging filaments. All effects and flow patterns depend on the appropriate distribution of rotating and counterrotating filaments. Each change of the rotational direction means a dramatic alteration. The application of the observed effects explains largely the function of the microtubule/microfilament hoops or helices during the cytokinesis of a plant cell. Interpretations or simulations are described for events as the formation of secondary wall thickenings, the orientation of their microfibrils, the motion of the preprophase band microtubules, the formation of the phragmosome, the migration, stationary position and shape of the preprophase nucleus, the girdle-, septum- and H-piece formation of cell walls in algae and some events of morphogenesis inMicrasterias. Further interpretations are related to the lateral flows and to invaginations of free cell membranes, to lateral filament motions, to the right-left problem, to the selfintertwining of filaments, to the rotation of a cell body by its flagellum, to the repulsion of chromatids during meiosis and to the tetragonal and hexagonal arrangement of filaments.Dedicated to Prof. DrLothar Geitler on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of his birthday.     

Different regeneration potential of mesophyll protoplasts from cultivated and a wild species of tomato

Mesophyll protoplasts were isolated from leaves of three cultivars of Lycopersicon esculentum (L.) Mill., namely Hilda 72, Rutgers and Rentita, and from the wild tomato species Lycopersicon peruvianum (L.) Mill. Protoplasts from L. peruvianum divided and grew actively in a liquid medium according to Zapata et al. (1977), whereas protoplasts from the tomato cultivars Hilda 72 and Rutgers showed comparable rates for cell division only, when the content of major elements in this medium was reduced to one half of the original concentration and when mannitol as osmoticum was replaced by glucose. In Rentita protoplasts no cell division could be observed in about 15 different modifications of the five basic culture media tested. The morphogenetic potential of these tomato cells was assessed by comparing the root and shoot formation of protoplasts and of leaf explants. L. peruvianum exhibited the highest potential. Calli derived from protoplasts regenerated roots on Murastrige-Skoog agar containing 1 M benzylaminopurine (BAP) plus 10 M indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and 0.1 M BAP plus 1 M IAA. Shoot formation occurred in the combinations of 10 M BAP with 0.1, 1.0, and 10 M IAA. Plantlets regenerated from the L. peruvianum calli could be grown in soil. No shoots or roots were regenerated from calli of Hilda 72 and Rutgers protoplasts in all combinations of BAP and IAA tested in the range from 0.1 M to 100 M, thus indicating the rather low morphogenetic potential of these protoplasts as compared to protoplasts from L. peruvianum leaves.Abbreviations BAP benzylaminopurine - IAA indole-acetic acid - TMV tobacco mosaic virus     

The sensitivity of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas to tumor necrosis factor-α

Sensitivities to recombinant human tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) and chemotherapeutic agents (cisplatin, peplomycin, methotrexate) were evaluated in 20 tumor cells of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas, using a dye uptake method. Also, numbers of TNF receptors of these tumor cells were measured by Scatchard plot analysis. There was no relationship between the number of TNF- receptors and the sensitivity to TNF-. Furthermore, there was no correlation between the sensitivity to TNF- and that to chemotherapeutic drugs, nor between the sensitivity to TNF- and the clinical response to chemotherapy including of cisplatin and peplomycin. The sensitivity to TNF- was higher in poorly differentiated carcinomas than in well differentiated ones.Abbreviations BSA Bovine serum albumin - CDDP Cisplatin - 5-Fu 5-fluorouracil - IC50 Inhibition concentration 50 - MTX Methotrexate - PLM Peplomycin - TNF- Tumor necrosis factor-     

Fluorescence microscopic distinction between elastin and collagen

Summary Distinction between elastin and collagen in arteriosclerotic lesions is difficult because immature and incompletely cross-linked collagen bind so-called elastica stains; furthermore, abnormal collagen can lack cross-striation and thus resemble elastin in electron microscopy. However, collagen and elastin differ significantly in their content of basic amino acids and hence in their affinity for heteropolyacids. This chemical difference was utilized for the development of a fluorescence microscopic method for distinction between collagen and elastin.Paraffin sections of human autopsy material were treated with a 1% aqueous solution of phosphomolybdic acid (PMA) for five minutes, rinsed in distilled water, dehydrated and mounted. Other series were treated with the PMA-molybdenum blue reaction and with various special stains.Only elastic membranes of aorta, the elastica interna and externa of sizable arteries, and true elastic fibers remained strongly fluorescent; the autofluorescence of collagen, reticulum fibers, basement membranes, pseudo-elastic fibers, and elastic membranes in small arteries was quenched. In other series PMA abolished the fluorescence of basic fluorochromes.Correlation of fluorescence and direct light microscopic observations with chemical and electron microscopic data showed that the PMA-fluorescence method permits distinction between elastin and various types of collagen.     

Nicotiana chloroplast genome

Summary Using the existing restriction map and probes from wheat and pea ct-DNA, seven protein genes have been localized in the chloroplast genome of N. tabacum. On the clock-like map, the location of each gene is indicated by its time zone: the 15.2 kD polypeptide of the cytochrome b/f complex at 315, cytochrome f at 430, LS of RuBPCase at 450, both and subunits of ATP synthase at or near 500, proton-translocating subunit of ATP synthase at 820, subunit of ATP synthase at 840 and the 32 kD protein at 930. The genome organization of Nicotiana chloroplast DNA is similar to spinach.     

Characterization of Na,K-ATPase genes in Atlantic salmon (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Salmo salar</Emphasis>) and comparative genomic organization with rainbow trout (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oncorhynchus mykiss</Emphasis>)

A combination of molecular and in silico approaches was employed to assemble a survey of Na, K-ATPase genes contained in the ancestrally tetraploid genome of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Molecular characterization of genomic clones coding for the subunit revealed two single genes (1a and 2) and two pairs of presumably homeologous genes (1b/i-ii and 1c/i-ii). Each of the six genes showed high sequence similarity to isoforms previously isolated from rainbow trout and extensive structural differences relative to putative orthologs in the human genome. In silico analysis of expressed sequence tag (EST) collections indicated that at least five (1a, 1b, 1c, 2, and 3) and four (1a, 1b, 2, and 3b) subunit isoforms are expressed in Atlantic salmon. Meiotic linkage analysis further showed that Na, K-ATPase genes are dispersed throughout the salmon genome, with the exception of two multigene clusters on linkage groups AS-22 and AS-28. Duplicate gene copies for the isoform 1b were assigned to linkage groups with multiple homeologous anchors (AS-22 and AS-23), while 2 duplicates suggested a new homeologous affinity between AS-05 and AS-28. In addition, the comparison of linkage arrangements with rainbow trout also showed that the genomic organization of Na, K-ATPase genes is consistent with the evolutionary conservation of syntenic chromosome regions between these species.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at .     

On the concept of attractor for community-dynamical processes I: the case of unstructured populations

We introduce a notion of attractor adapted to dynamical processes as they are studied in community-ecological models and their computer simulations. This attractor concept is modeled after that of Ruelle as presented in [11] and [12]. It incorporates the fact that in an immigration-free community populations can go extinct at low values of their densities.Mathematics Subject Classification (2000):37b20, 37c50, 37c70     

Quantifying heritable variation in fitness-related traits of wild,farmed and hybrid Atlantic salmon families in a wild river environment

Farmed fish are typically genetically different from wild conspecifics. Escapees from fish farms may contribute one-way gene flow from farm to wild gene pools, which can depress population productivity, dilute local adaptations and disrupt coadapted gene complexes. Here, we reanalyse data from two experiments (McGinnity et al., 1997, 2003) where performance of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) progeny originating from experimental crosses between farm and wild parents (in three different cohorts) were measured in a natural stream under common garden conditions. Previous published analyses focussed on group-level differences but did not account for pedigree structure, as we do here using modern mixed-effect models. Offspring with one or two farm parents exhibited poorer survival in their first and second year of life compared with those with two wild parents and these group-level inferences were robust to excluding outlier families. Variation in performance among farm, hybrid and wild families was generally similar in magnitude. Farm offspring were generally larger at all life stages examined than wild offspring, but the differences were moderate (5–20%) and similar in magnitude in the wild versus hatchery environments. Quantitative genetic analyses conducted using a Bayesian framework revealed moderate heritability in juvenile fork length and mass and positive genetic correlations (>0.85) between these morphological traits. Our study confirms (using more rigorous statistical techniques) previous studies showing that offspring of wild fish invariably have higher fitness and contributes fresh insights into family-level variation in performance of farm, wild and hybrid Atlantic salmon families in the wild. It also adds to a small, but growing, number of studies that estimate key evolutionary parameters in wild salmonid populations. Such information is vital in modelling the impacts of introgression by escaped farm salmon.     

Opting out of the city: lifestyle migrations,alternative education,and the pursuit of happiness among Chinese middle-class families

This article responds to calls among anthropologists to attend to the aspirational qualities of life pursuits by respecting idealized life visions and acknowledging the suggestiveness of living otherwise. It follows a cohort of formerly urban middle-class Chinese families that have chosen to ‘opt out’ of their successful city lives to pursue alternative lifestyles and education for their children in China's rural southwest. Drawing on literatures about voluntary lifestyle migrations and alternative parenting and education, I show how these families construct meaningful social worlds through class histories, family ideals, and presentist temporalities that deviate from Western class formation and neoliberal constructions of self defined by individualistic identity pursuits. Through analysing a configuration of self and sociality that emphasizes the family and routes parental self-aspirations through children, the article deepens our understanding of child-centredness as a key feature of Chinese lifestyle migrations. It shows how quests for ‘the good life’ take shape through diverse sociohistorical and familial contexts with their own temporal orientations and life politics.     

Studies in energetics and population dynamics of the water scorpion,Nepa rubra L. (Insecta: Hemiptera)

Summary There is little information on the energy turnover of carnivorous water insects. This study concerns the energy flow through an imaginal population of the water scorpion, Nepra rubra, a water bug common in the lake Neusiedler See in eastern Austria.Population dynamics, production and respiration were determined from 1972 to 1975 under conditions as natural as possible. The cumulative sum of production energy is small, comprising 179.3 J for and 223.8 J for , with an additional 241.6 J for reproduction. Food reserves, particularly fat accumulated in the fat body during prediapause, are utilized in winter and extensively by females during breeding the next spring. The largest fat content indicated for was 4.64 mg and 9.64 mg for (crude lipoids).The respiration rate is high even in winter. It is assumed that at this time oxygen is utilized exclusively for the oxydation of fats. Cumulative respiration energy for the adult stage was 2000.2 J for males and 3221.4 J for females. Total annual energy flow through a population of adults was about 663 kJ/100 m² of which 596 kJ (=89%) were applied to respiration and 67 kJ (=11%) to production.Supported by the Kommission zur Erforschung des Neusiedler Sees of the Austrian Academy of Sciences     

A deletion mutation in the βA1/A3 crystallin gene (CRYBA1/A3) is associated with autosomal dominant congenital nuclear cataract in a Chinese family

Congenital cataracts are an important cause of blindness worldwide. In a family of Chinese descent, a dominant congenital nuclear cataract locus was mapped to chromosome 17q11.1-12. The maximum LOD score, 2.49, at recombination fraction 0, was obtained for marker D17S1294. The results of both linkage and haplotype analyses defined a disease-gene to an 11.78-cM region harboring the gene coding for A1/A3 crystallin (CRYBA1/A3). Mutation analysis of the CRYBA1/A3 gene identified a 3-bp deletion in exon 4, which cosegregated with the disease risk in this family and was not observed in 100 normal chromosomes. This mutation resulted in the deletion of a highly conserved glycine at codon 91 (G91) and could be associated with an incorrect folding of A1/A3 crystallin. It highlights the physiological importance of crystallin and supports the role of CRYBA1/A3 in human cataracts formation.Y. Qi and H. Jia contributed equally to this work     

Aqueous two-phase partition coefficients for Escherichia coli β-galactosidase fusions

The partition of native Escherichia coli -galactosidase and of two different fusion proteins comprised mainly of -galactosidase from E. coli was studied in aqueous two-phase systems composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and dextran. These fusions contain an amino-terminal segment from the E. coli outer membrane protein F (OmpF) and a linker peptide. Differences in the partition pattern could be observed for the three enzymes despite their similarity. Decreased polymer concentrations in the phase system increased the partition coefficient for all three -galactosidases.