We provide examples of infinitesimally Hilbertian, rectifiable, Ahlfors regular metric measure spaces having pmGH-tangents that are not infinitesimally Hilbertian.

Livestock production has increased in many emerging economies, but productivity is often substantially impaired by infectious diseases. The first step towards improved livestock health and productivity is to map the presence of livestock diseases. The objective of this review was to summarize studies conducted on such diseases in an emerging economy, Vietnam, and thereby identifying knowledge gaps that may inform the design of surveillance and control programs. Few studies were found to evaluate the distribution of infectious livestock diseases other than avian influenza. Also, many regions with dense livestock populations had received little attention in terms of disease investigation. A large proportion of the studies dealt with zoonoses and food-borne infections which might be due to funding agencies priorities. On the contrary, studies targeting infections that affect livestock and their productivity were few. We think that this limitation in scientific reports on infectious diseases that only affect livestock productivity is a common phenomenon in low and lower middle income countries. More science-based data on such diseases would help policymakers to prioritize which livestock diseases should be subject to animal health programs aimed to support rural livelihoods and economic development.

This article responds to King and Persily’s (2019) proposal for a new model of industry–academic partnership using an independent third party to mediate between firms and academics. We believe this is a reasonable proposal for highly sensitive individual-level data, but it may not be appropriate for all types of data. We explore alternative options to their proposal, including Administrative Data Research Facilities, Data Collaboratives at GovLab, and Tech Data for Social Good Initiative at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. We believe social scientists should continue to explore, evaluate, and scale a variety of industry–academic data-sharing models.

The current study aimed to evaluate breeding effect on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), its components and some agronomic traits and disease resistance in barley by using extensive germplasm covering 72 landraces and 123 cultivars released since 1910. Trials were established in southern Finland with a modified strip-plot experimental design. Prior to sowing, blocks were placement fertilized with compound nitrogen : phosphorus : potassium (NPK) fertilizer (N-P-K: 20–3–8) at the rate of 35 and 70 kg N/ha and unfertilized plots were placed at the other end of the fertilization block. The germplasm collection was genotyped with 1536 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and phenotyped during a 2-year field experiment in 2011/12. Independent of row type, a positive breeding effect was evident in NUE and for other plant N traits, except that grain N slightly decreased. Breeding has improved NUE by 0·08 kg/year (26% over the century). Nitrogen utilization and N uptake efficiencies were also improved by breeding as were straw length, lodging tolerance, grain yield and yield components, without any sign of levelling-off. Bred cultivars were more resistant to leaf-damaging diseases, especially to net blotch. The SNP data indicated no reduction in overall genetic diversity. However, genetic diversity differed along the barley chromosomes showing either reduced or increased diversity in certain regions when landraces were compared with modern varieties.

This paper discusses the survey evidence from the Orientalizing and Archaic settlement and funerary sites at Nepi (ancient Nepet), one of the first Latin colonies outside Latium adiectum. The comparison of its pre-Roman, pre-colonial developments to the Roman patterns from the Nepi Survey Project and the trends from other Latin colonies in southern Etruria allows the examination of the local effects of Roman colonialism. The evidence shows that Nepi seemed to develop as an independent city state in the Orientalizing period, peaked in the Archaic period and weakened before the capture of Veii in 396 bc, making it easier to defeat. Rural settlement all but disappeared afterwards with similar hiatus apparent at the sister colony at Sutri as well. In the third century bc the first few villas near the town appeared as a sign of the establishment of a Roman settlement pattern. The extensive ‘rural colonization’ at Nepi, similarly to Sutri and Cosa, started only in the second century bc when all southern Etruria had entered a colonial phase and could develop alongside Rome. Thus, Latin colonization disrupted earlier patterns and the colonies appear to have been originally outposts set up to secure new territory.

Background: Calmodulin-dependent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (CaMPDE) has been extensively studied and characterized in normal mammalian tissues; however very little is known about this enzyme in human brain tumors. It has been established that high levels of this enzyme exist in non-central nervous system tumors, PDE inhibitors or cAMP analogues have been used to treat them. This study has examined the levels of CaMPDE in glioblastoma multiforme from six patients and has compared these to the levels of CaMPDE in four patients with normal cerebral tissue. In addition, an enzyme immune assay method (EIA) was developed in this study for the detection of CaMPDE in human cerebral tissue. This method is proposed to be used as an adjunct to the spectrophotometric method presently utilized. This would be beneficial in cases where small tissue samples, for example in stereotactic biopsy, are available. Methods: The CaMPDE activity and corresponding levels of expression in cerebral tissue from temporal lobectomies and both surgical extraction or stereotactic biopsy in patients with primary tumors were determined by spectophotometric and EIA, respectively. The EIA was developed from the production of a polyclonal antibody against bovine brain 60 kDa CaMPDE isozyme. Cross reactivity of the antibody with human was confirmed using transblot and immunohistochemistry. Results: Utilising the EIA, there was found to be significant reduction in both catalytic activity (p < 0.001) and in quantitative protein expression (p < 0.001) in glioblastoma multiforme from patients when compared to normal cerebral cortex. Immunoblotting experiments and immunohistochemistry demonstrated that CaMPDE in glioblastoma multiforme failed to react with a polyclonal antibody raised against bovine brain 60 kDa CaMPDE isozyme, whereas the enzyme from normal tissue reacted with antibody. Conclusions: Contrary to other studies on non-CNS tumors, the catalytic activity and the protein expression of CaMPDE is reduced in glioblastoma multiforme. The EIA method is a more sensitive in detecting CaMPDE than in the spectrophotometric method, especially when a small amount of tissue is available. Immunohistochemistry and the EIA may be useful in the future to use as markers for other types of brain tumors and not for glioblastoma multiforme as demonstrated.

This article discusses the evidence for the concentration and centralization of late prehistoric settlement in central Italy, using the territory of Nepi as an example of settlement aggregation in southern Etruria. This example helps to explain the regional developments leading to urbanization and state formation in Etruria from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. The article also publishes new sites with late prehistoric ceramic material from the Neolithic or Epineolithic to the Iron Age in the territory of Nepi found during the Nepi Survey Project. This new evidence is discussed together with previously published material, and presented as further evidence that the developments leading to the occupation of naturally defended sites in the Final Bronze Age had their origins in the Middle Bronze Age. Similarly, the analysis, aided by agricultural and GIS modelling, suggests that the hiatus in the settlement and its dislocation after an apparent break between the Final Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age may have been caused by population pressure. After the settlement aggregated in one centre at Nepi, there are signs of further expansion in the Iron Age.

Rates of commercial certified seed (CCS) use are low, but comprehensive upgrading of farm-saved seed (FSS) is also often neglected in northern Europe, represented in the present paper by Finland. In general, available growth resources are particularly underutilized in the northern and eastern parts of Europe, in contrast with the prime agricultural areas of western Europe. The present paper demonstrates the potential of increasing CCS use, and/or upgrading FSS, to boost yields at regional and national level. The assessment indicated that a substantial increase in CCS use in Finland, to correspond with that of Sweden and Denmark, is a basic, readily available and easily applicable means of sustainably intensifying northern European barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) production. Yield benefits averaged 440 kg/ha, corresponding to a 13% increase at national scale. Cultivar change contributed to about one-third of the benefit. At the national scale, an additional 20 000 tonnes of nitrogen (c. 8% increase) would be removed with the yields that would considerably exceed 2000 Gg annually compared with the present c. 1900 Gg total production of barley. Higher use of CCS represents a win–win situation for farmers, plant breeding companies and industry.