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In this article we analyze the equity and distribution of financial incentives in Ecuador's Programa Socio Bosque (PSB). PSB aims to conserve native ecosystems on privately owned lands while reducing rural poverty. Based on the analysis of 1,563 conservation contracts, representing nearly 900,000ha of land in Ecuador and more than 90,000 beneficiaries, we scrutinize the regional distribution of be
Despite a large and multifaceted effort to understand the vast landscape of phenotypic data, their current form inhibits productive data analysis. The lack of a community-wide, consensus-based, human- and machine-interpretable language for describing phenotypes and their genomic and environmental contexts is perhaps the most pressing scientific bottleneck to integration across many key fields in b
We report the characterization of three novel human papillomavirus (HPV) types of the genus Gammapapillomavirus. HPV175 and HPV180 were isolated from a condyloma. HPV178 was isolated from healthy skin adjacent to an actinic keratosis.
Simultaneous two-species imaging using single-shot planar laser-induced fluorescence have been performed to record high quality image pairs of CH/OH, CH/CH2O and OH/CH2O to visualize the flame front structures in swirl-stabilized lean premixed methane/air flames. The results show that the investigated flames exhibit various flame front structures distinctly in space, which covers: (1) the corrugat
Recent studies have identified mutations in the complement regulatory gene factor I (CFI) that predispose to atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS). CFI is a two-chain serine protease in which the light chain carries the catalytic domain while the heavy chain's function is unclear. It downregulates the alternative and classical complement pathways by cleaving the alpha' chains of C3b and C4b in
The use of business excellence models (BEM) has become popular in the last two decades, and several companies have learned how to use them and gained from such models. More companies, we assume, have experienced problems when using such models because of various weaknesses such as too-sophisticated assessment criteria, excessive paperwork, cumbersome procedures and a lack of focus, which have limi
Background: The relative contribution to gastric cancer (GC) risk of variants in genes that determine the inflammatory response remains mostly unknown and results from genotyping studies are inconsistent. Patients and methods: A nested case-control study within the prospective European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort was carried out, including 248 gastric adenocarcinomas
The formation of aluminides during the heating of Nb-Al powder mixtures with different initial compositions (25, 33.3 and 75 at.% Al) has been studied using a differential scanning calorimeter. The effect of parameters like particle size, compaction and heating rate on the onset temperature of reaction has been determined. The results show that an increase in heating rate leads to an increase in o
The Hollow Rock Shelter site in Western Cape Province, South Africa, was excavated in 1993 and 2008. This study presents new results from a technological analysis of Still Bay points and bifacial flakes from the site. The results show that Still Bay points from the site are standardized tools. The points in the assemblage consist of a complex mixture of whole and fragmented points in all phases of
Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication is a challenging but fast growing technology that has potential to enhance traffic safety and efficiency. It can also provide environmental benefits in terms of reduced fuel consumption. The effectiveness and reliability of these applications highly depends on the quality of the V2V communication link, which rely upon the properties of the propagation channel
We present multi-epoch high-resolution optical spectroscopy, UV/radio/X-ray imaging, and archival Hubble and Spitzer observations of an intermediate luminosity optical transient recently discovered in the nearby galaxy NGC 300. We find that the transient (NGC 300 OT2008-1) has a peak absolute magnitude of M-bol approximate to -11.8 mag, intermediate between novae and supernovae, and similar to the
This paper investigates how Full-Scale Converter (FSC) wind turbines can contribute to voltage support in weak grids. A novel voltage support strategy is proposed, which optimizes the voltage support during the fault. This strategy is compared to the voltage support required by two grid codes, the Danish and the German E.ON ones. The influence of a number of parameters, as the network X/R ratio, t
ABSTRACT: Genomic regions with altered gene expression are a characteristic feature of cancer cells. We present a novel method for identifying such regions in gene expression maps. This method is based on total variation (TV) minimization, a classical signal restoration technique. In systematic evaluations, we show that our method combines top-notch detection performance with an ability to delinea
We show that the dynamical screening of the Coulomb interaction among Cu-d electrons in high-Tc cuprates is strong and that a proper treatment of this effect is essential for a consistent description of the electronic structure. In particular, we find that ab initio calculations for undoped La2CuO4 in the paramagnetic phase yield an insulator only if the frequency dependence of the Coulomb interac
Structured follow-up after revascularisation for chronic critical limb ischaemia (CLI) aims at sustained treatment success and continued best patient care. Thereby, efforts need to address three fundamental domains: (A) best medical therapy, both to protect the arterial reconstruction locally and to reduce atherosclerotic burden systemically; (B) surveillance of the arterial reconstruction; and (C
INTRODUCTION Stroke is a serious neurological disease which may lead to death and severe disability [1, 2]. There are two major types of stroke: ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Both are associated with disruption of blood flow to a part of the brain with rapid depletion of cellular energy and oxygen, resulting in ionic disturbances and eventually neuronal cell death [3]. The pathologic process t
In this paper, we present a new approach to conservative bounding of displaced Bézier patches. These surfaces are expected to be a common use case for tessellation in interactive and real-time rendering. Our algorithm combines efficient normal bounding techniques, min-max mipmap hierarchies and oriented bounding boxes. This results in substantially faster convergence for the bounding volumes of di
