The complexity and consequences of the policy implementation dealing with sustainable ideas

This article portrays a case study in Yogyakarta, Indonesia which looks into the dynamic relationship between communities and the effectiveness of the implementation of community-based forest management (CBFM) policies and its programme, and particularly on how local institutions deal with the shifting dynamics of these policies. As there is currently an absence of research in this area, this research therefore focuses on how the local community implements policy, builds relationships with other stakeholders, and strengthens local community institutions.

CBFM has been implemented in Yogyakarta since 1995 and during that time, the central government has been changing the policy for five times. At this point, this article argues that CBFM should rely on local institutions and deal with the shifting dynamics of policies. The terms of institutions can be considered to include formal institutions, such as Constitution, government laws, charters, decrees and statutes, and informal institutions, such as code of conducts, customs, local knowledge and social expectations. Furthermore, in selected communities, it is clear that the local communities can apply their informal institutions as an important component and value of traditional systems and significantly involved in forest management sustainability and establish the formal institutions simultaneously.     

Photodegradation of Bisphenol A with ZnO and TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>: Influence of Metal Ions and Fenton Process

In this study, photocatalytic degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) was investigated using two types of catalysts (TiO₂ and ZnO) with various metal ion concentrations and amounts of added H₂O_2. A kinetic test was performed to observe the changes of BPA over time under UV irradiation in a photocatalytic reactor. Experimental results demonstrated that degradation efficiency of ZnO was higher than that of TiO₂. The degradation rate increased as catalyst dosage increased until reaching optimum dosage, after which degradation rate decreased. The addition of H₂O₂ improved the degradation efficiency of BPA, with the degradation efficiency increasing with the amount of H₂O₂. All metal ions, including Fe²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Cu²⁺, inhibited the degradation of BPA by ZnO at natural pH, whereas Fe²⁺ and Ni²⁺ enhanced degradation efficiency of BPA at acidic pH. Comparison of BPA degradation with H₂O₂ only, ZnO/H₂O₂, Fe²⁺/H₂O₂, and ZnO/Fe²⁺/H₂O₂ revealed that Fe²⁺/H₂O₂ was more efficient than other processes at lower pH (pH?=?3.44), whereas ZnO/H₂O₂ the most efficient at higher pH (pH?=?6.44). These results indicate that ZnO/H₂O₂ process was observed to be the most efficient of all processes. Degradation efficiency of BPA by ZnO was also influenced by additional parameters, including H₂O₂ concentration, metal ions, and solution pH.     

Endosulfan Plant Uptake Suppression Effect on Char Amendment in Oriental Radish

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) immobilization in farm land is an important issue to solve the residue in crop, and char has been considered for the remediation. In here, three commercially available chars like powdered oak char (POC), granulated oak char (GOC), and rice husk char (RHC) including powdered activated carbon (PAC) were investigated for their potential to adsorb and immobilize endosulfan in the soil. The maximum adsorption capacities (mg g^?1) of the applied chars as POC, GOC, and RHC were 714.8, 322.6, and 181.8, respectively, and the capacity of POC was similar with PAC (713.8). In addition, the pore volume (0.138 cm³ g^?1) and the surface area (270.3 m² g^?1) of POC were over 3-fold higher than GOC and RHC. The bioconcentration factor (BCF) reducing effect of α-, β-endosulfan, and endosulfan sulfate in oriental radish (Raphanus sativus var. sativus) was investigated by amendment of three commercially available chars to the contaminated soils. The BCF of total endosulfan was 0.025 in the radish root. POC treatments effectively suppressed the endosulfan uptake (BCF 0.002). However, GOC and RHC showed little BCF reducing effect of endosulfan in radish.     

Detection and counting of immature green citrus fruit based on the Local Binary Patterns (LBP) feature using illumination-normalized images

Early detection and counting of immature green citrus fruit using computer vision can help growers produce a predictive yield map which could be used to adjust management practices during the fruit maturing stages. However, such detecting and counting is difficult because of varying illumination, random occlusion and color similarity with leaves. An immature fruit detection algorithm was developed with the aim of identifying and counting fruit in a citrus grove under varying illumination environments and random occlusions using images acquired by a regular red–green–blue (RGB) color camera. Acquired citrus images included front-lighting and back-lighting illumination conditions. The Retinex image enhancement algorithm and the two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform were used for image illumination normalization. Color-based K-means clustering and circular hough transform (CHT) were applied in order to detect potential fruit regions. A Local Binary Patterns feature-based Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost) classifier was built for removing false positives. A sub-window was used to scan the difference image between the illumination-normalized image and the resulting image from CHT detection in order to detect small areas and partially occluded fruit. An overall accuracy of 85.6% was achieved for the validation set which showed promising potential for the proposed method.     

Identification of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae causing bacterial leaf blight of Miscanthus sinensis

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - In the late summer of 2015, severe leaf blight occurred on Miscanthus sinensis grown on natural riverside lands of the Han River in Seoul, South Korea....     

Echocardiographic Features of Giant Right Atrial Diverticulum in a Dog

A 12‐year‐old spayed female miniature Poodle presented for coughing, respiratory distress, and anorexia. After thoracentesis for pleural effusion, radiography revealed an enlarged cardiac silhouette with a bulge in the area of the body of the right atrium. Echocardiography revealed an anechoic chamber‐like cavity lateral to the right atrium that communicated with the right atrium through a 13 mm defect in the right atrial free wall. Contrast echocardiography and color flow Doppler were used to prove that the cavity communicated with the right atrium. The cavity was diagnosed as a giant right atrial diverticulum.     

Effects of a blend of garlic oil,nitrate and fumarate on in vitro ruminal fermentation and microbial population

Although garlic oil and nitrate can effectively suppress ruminal methane (CH₄) production in vitro, the application of these compounds is associated with suppressed total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration. On the other hand, the effectiveness of fumarate as a ruminal CH₄ mitigating agent is variable but its application increases total VFA concentration. We therefore hypothesized that the different characteristics of the compounds can compensate for the shortcomings of the other. The objective of this study was to develop an optimal blend of garlic oil, nitrate and fumarate that can suppress in vitro ruminal CH₄ without affecting total VFA concentration. Three ruminal in vitro fermentation experiments were carried out. The first one, a one factor at a time experiment was employed to investigate the effective concentration of each of the compounds on CH₄ and VFA production by ruminal bacteria. We then applied the fractional factorial design and response surface methodology in the second experiment to determine optimal concentrations of the compounds in the blend. The optimal blending of garlic oil, fumarate and nitrate was determined to be 50 mg/l, 15 mm and 20 mm , respectively. This simulated optimal blend was verified in a 48 h in vitro batch fermentation experiment. The blend achieved the intended goal of suppressing CH₄ whilst maintaining total VFA concentration. The blend and nitrate suppressed archaea populations (p < 0.001) but did not affect the total microbial population (p = 0.945). The observed results could be explained by additive effects of the agents making up the blend. Supplementing a high concentrate diet with the blend can significantly decrease ruminal CH₄ and maintain total VFAin vitro. These findings however, need to be verified in vivo using the optimized ratio of combining the three methane inhibitors as a guide.     

The location of projection neurons to the biceps brachii muscle in the telencephalon of the pigeon

Few studies regarding the anatomical distribution of motor neurons innervating muscles of the arm have been demonstrated in avian brains. The purpose of this study was to finely determine the localization of cerebral neurons innervating the biceps brachii muscle in the pigeon. The cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) was employed as a retrograde tracer to determine the location of neurons controlling the biceps brachii muscle in the telencephalon following intramuscular injection in male pigeons (n = 7), which were killed 14 days after intramuscular injection with CTB. We found that CTB‐labelled neurons were located contralaterally in the hyperpallium apicale of the rostral telencephalon and that most of the CTB‐labelled neurons were pyramidal in shape. This study shows that CTB is easily taken up by nerve terminals which innervate the biceps brachii muscle of the pigeon and that cerebral motor neurons controlling the biceps brachii muscle are located in the hyperpallium apicale.     

Evaluation of interthalamic adhesion size as an indicator of brain atrophy in dogs with and without cognitive dysfunction

Interthalamic adhesion thickness has been previously described as a parameter for quantifying canine brain atrophy and hypothesized to correlate with brain height or ventricular size. However, studies testing this hypothesis are lacking. This retrospective cross‐sectional study aimed to compare interthalamic adhesion thickness, interthalamic adhesion thickness/brain height ratio, and interthalamic adhesion thickness/brain height ratio/lateral ventricle to brain height ratio values in dogs with and without cognitive dysfunction. Medical records for dogs meeting the following inclusion criteria were retrieved from two hospitals: available brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) studies, no cerebral parenchymal lesions, and no prior neurological treatment. For each included dog, values of interthalamic adhesion thickness, interthalamic adhesion thickness/brain height ratio, and interthalamic adhesion thickness/brain height ratio/lateral ventricle to brain height ratio were measured by one observer from transverse CT or MRI images and a consensus was reached. A total of 113 dogs met inclusion criteria. Dogs were divided into three groups based on the following criteria: Young group (no cognitive dysfunction, <9‐year‐old, n = 43), Aging group (no cognitive dysfunction, ≥9‐year‐old, n = 61), and Dementia group (n = 9). All three parameters were significantly lower in the dementia group than in the Young and Aging groups. In the Young and Aging groups, there was significant negative correlation of all three parameters with age and positive correlation of interthalamic adhesion thickness and interthalamic adhesion thickness/brain height ratio/lateral ventricle to brain height ratio with body weight, while there was no correlation of interthalamic adhesion thickness/brain height ratio with body weight (P < 0.05). There were no differences in all three parameters according to skull type or gender. Findings from the current study supported the use of interthalamic adhesion thickness, interthalamic adhesion thickness/brain height ratio, and interthalamic adhesion thickness/brain height ratio/lateral ventricle to brain height ratio for quantifying brain atrophy in dogs with cognitive dysfunction.     

Fbxw7β, E3 ubiquitin ligase,negative regulation of primary myoblast differentiation,proliferation and migration

Satellite cells attached to skeletal muscle fibers play a crucial role in skeletal muscle regeneration. During regeneration, the satellite cells proliferate, migrate to the damaged region, and fuse to each other. Although it is important to determine the cellular mechanisms controlling myoblast behavior, their regulators are not well understood. In this study, we evaluated the roles of Fbxw7 in primary myoblasts and determined its potential as a therapeutic target for muscle disease. We originally found that Fbxw7β, one of the E3 ubiquitin ligase Fbxw7 subtypes, negatively regulates differentiation, proliferation and migration of myoblasts and satellite cells on muscle fiber. However, these phenomena were not observed in myoblasts expressing a dominant‐negative, F‐box deleted Fbxw7β, mutant. Our results suggest that myoblast differentiation potential and muscle regeneration can be regulated by Fbxw7β.