• Sutton Avila posted an update 5 hours, 44 minutes ago

    In Portugal, studies of transformations since the mid-1950s in colonial social research have focused on the colonial school in Lisbon or other bodies directly under the supervision of the metropolitan administration. Nonmetropolitan initiatives have been neglected and the social-scientific undertakings of the Centro de Estudos da Guiné Portuguesa (CEGP), in particular, have been only marginally dealt with. buy Laduviglusib This article maps CEGP’s creation in Bissau, in 1945, and its social-scientific activity not only to establish its precedence but also to highlight local colonial enterprise and to specify its imprint upon developments in the metropole. It addresses CEGP’s immediate context and main actors, institutional setting, research activities, publications, and other scientific outlets, to then put forward some concluding remarks regarding the epistemic reach of overseas governmental measures and the practical effects, in metropolitan colonial policies and scientific research, of peripheral imperial bureaucratic knowledge.Recent decades have seen increased research interest in the processes and mechanisms related to insect gall richness and host plants. The data set provided here includes 968 records of interactions between galling insects and host plants for the Cerrado biome. The data set comprises 505 species of 222 genera and 67 families of host plants. The botanical families most represented in the data set are Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae, Malpighiaceae, and Melastomataceae, which account for ~48.5% of all records and 52% of the total number of species. The gall-inducing insects listed in the data set include 48 species of Cecidomyiidae and one species of Tephritidae. This data set is the first to compile inventories of plant-galling insect communities and information about the diversity and distribution of insect galls and their host plants in the Cerrado. The data set reveals knowledge gaps and opportunities for future research on patterns of diversity and distribution, and provides a basis for generating and testing new ecological hypotheses. Please cite this data paper when using the current data in publications and let us know how the data are used in the publications. There are no copyright restrictions.

    ‘Hass’ avocado consumption is increasing due to its organoleptic properties, so it is necessary to develop new technologies to guarantee export quality. Avocado fruits do not ripen on the tree, and the visual classification of its maturity is not accurate. The most commonly used fruit maturity indicator is the percentage of dry matter (DM). The aim of this research was to investigate a non-destructive method with hyperspectral images to predict the percentage of DM of fruits across the spectral range of 400-1000 nm.

    No correlation between fruit weight and color with the percentage of DM was found in the study area. Cross-validation efficiency of different data sources, including the spectrum extraction zone (the center, a line from the peduncle to the base, and the whole fruit) and the average of one or two fruit faces, was compared. Four linear regression models were compared. Data of the whole fruit and average of both sides per fruit using a support vector machine regression were selected for the prediction test. Following the cross-validation concept, five sets of calibration and test data were selected and optimized for calibration. The best test prediction set comprised an R

    = 0.9, a root-mean-square error of 2.6 g kg

    DM, a Pearson correlation of 0.95, and a ratio of prediction to deviation of 3.2.

    The results of the study indicate that hyperspectral images allow classifying export fruits and making harvesting decisions. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

    The results of the study indicate that hyperspectral images allow classifying export fruits and making harvesting decisions. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.Ocular dominance plasticity (ODP) is a type of cortical plasticity operating in visual cortex of mammals that are endowed with binocular vision based on the competition-driven disparity. Earlier, a molecular mechanism was proposed that catecholamines play an important role in the maintenance of ODP in kittens. Having survived the initial test, the hypothesis was further advanced to identify noradrenaline (NA) as a key factor that regulates ODP in the immature cortex. Later, the ODP-promoting effect of NA is extended to the adult with age-related limitations. Following the enhanced NA availability, the chain events downstream lead to the β-adrenoreceptor-induced cAMP accumulation, which in turn activates the protein kinase A. Eventually, the protein kinase translocates to the cell nucleus to activate cAMP responsive element binding protein (CREB). CREB is a cellular transcription factor that controls the transcription of various genes, underpinning neuronal plasticity and long-term memory. In the advent of molecular genetics in that various types of new tools have become available with relative ease, ODP research has lightly adopted in the rodent model the original concepts and methodologies. Here, after briefly tracing the strategic maturation of our quest, the review moves to the later development of the field, with the emphasis placed around the following issues (a) Are we testing ODP per se? (b) What does monocular deprivation deprive of the immature cortex? (c) The critical importance of binocular competition, (d) What is the adult plasticity? (e) Excitation-Inhibition balance in local circuits, and (f) Species differences in the animal models.The distal papilla around tooth-bound implant-supported restorations in maxillary central incisor sites tends to exhibit an atrophied aspect after tissue maturation following the delivery of the final prosthesis. This article provides an explanation to this phenomenon, as well as a set of therapeutic considerations to minimize its occurrence and optimize the outcomes of tooth replacement therapy with dental implants in this specific anatomic location.

    Dental care is mostly excluded from healthcare coverage in China. This study examines disparities in dental care and in the costs of such care, according to insurance type and socio-economic status, among Chinese older adults.

    The data were obtained from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A final sample of 5,230 respondents was included, with a mean age of 72years. Edentulousness, any dental visit and per-patient dental care expenditure were used as outcome variables. Both unweighted and weighted logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association of socio-economic status (education, insurance type and income) associated with edentulousness and use of dental care.

    We found that 28% of Chinese older adults have no remaining teeth and that only 19% had used dental care in the past year. The uninsured and those with rural resident insurance had edentulousness rates of 31%, while the edentulousness rate in those with urban employee insurance was 19%. About 13% of the uninsured study respondents and 15% of those with rural resident insurance had used dental care compared with 30% of those with urban employee insurance.