Spatial equity and cultural participation: how access influences attendance at museums and galleries in London

This paper addresses how neighbourhoods operate as opportunity structures for cultural participation, and therefore how unequal access to cultural facilities might influence levels of participation and profiles of participants. The neighbourhood effects literature identifies how where people live shapes their lives, including their participation in various activities, but this has not been applied to cultural participation. Sociological theory explores the importance of social stratification of cultural consumption, but has largely ignored the role of place. In this paper sociological explanations of cultural participation are extended to incorporate the influence of access to cultural infrastructure. An innovative accessibility index for museums and galleries in London, using online searches to weight their attraction, is linked to the Taking Part Survey, and used to predict attendance. Alongside social stratification, significant neighbourhood characteristics are identified, including, importantly, access to museums and galleries. Improved access has a strong positive relationship with attendance, which varies according to qualifications and ethnic group: those with degrees are most likely to attend, but the relationship with access also operates for those with fewer qualifications, who according to traditional explanations have little disposition to attend. The implications of the substantial spatial inequity in investment in museums and galleries are discussed.PostprintPeer reviewe

Initial B Cell Activation Induces Metabolic Reprogramming and Mitochondrial Remodeling.

B lymphocytes provide adaptive immunity by generating antigen-specific antibodies and supporting the activation of T cells. Little is known about how global metabolism supports naive B cell activation to enable an effective immune response. By coupling RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data with glucose isotopomer tracing, we show that stimulated B cells increase programs for oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and nucleotide biosynthesis, but not glycolysis. Isotopomer tracing uncovered increases in TCA cycle intermediates with almost no contribution from glucose. Instead, glucose mainly supported the biosynthesis of ribonucleotides. Glucose restriction did not affect B cell functions, yet the inhibition of OXPHOS or glutamine restriction markedly impaired B cell growth and differentiation. Increased OXPHOS prompted studies of mitochondrial dynamics, which revealed extensive mitochondria remodeling during activation. Our results show how B cell metabolism adapts with stimulation and reveals unexpected details for carbon utilization and mitochondrial dynamics at the start of a humoral immune response

Influence of salinity upon growth rate and tolerance of Barbus sharpeyi

Studies show that there are some freshwater fishes which can survive in brackish and saline waters. Although it is not long that study on the tolerance of fishes against various salinities and effect of salinity on growth rate has been caught up in scientific fields and that only a few fishes have been subjected to such studies, promising results encouraged us to carry out similar experiments on Barbus sharpeyi from cyprinidae Freshwater Barbus sharpeyi transferred to brackish water with different salinity degrees in three stages as follows : 1) Direct transfer from freshwater to waters of 2, 4, 6, ... , 16, 18 ppt salinity 2) Stepwise transfer to waters of 1, 2 3,...., 17, 18 ppt salinity for tolerance studies 3) Stepwise transfer to waters with two degrees difference in salinity, for growth rate studies. In this phase freshwater was taken as control. Statistical analysis Computer analysis of acquired data was carried out using t-student and ANOVA statistic, Analyses were significant at p<0.05

ISAR imaging Based on the Empirical Mode Decomposition Time-Frequency Representation

International audienceThis work proposes an adaptation of the Empirical Mode Decomposition Time-Frequency Distribution (EMD-TFD) to non-analytic complex-valued signals. Then, the modified version of EMD-TFD is used in the formation of Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) image. This new method, referred to as NSBEMD-TFD, is obtained by extending the Non uniformly Sampled Bivariate Empirical Mode Decomposition (NSBEMD) to design a filter in the ambiguity domain and to clean the Time-Frequency Distribution (TFD) of signal. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme of ISAR formation is illustrated on synthetic and real signals. The results of our proposed methods are compared to other Time-Frequency Representation (TFR) such as Spectrogram, Wigner-Ville Distribution (WVD), Smoothed Pseudo Wigner-Ville Distribution (SPWVD) or others methods based on EMD

Ca2+, NAD(P)H and membrane potential changes in pancreatic beta-cells by methyl succinate: comparison with glucose

The present study was undertaken to determine the main metabolic secretory signals generated by the mitochondrial substrate MeS (methyl succinate) compared with glucose in mouse and rat islets and to understand the differences. Glycolysis and mitochondrial metabolism both have key roles in the stimulation of insulin secretion by glucose. Both fuels elicited comparable oscillatory patterns of Ca2+ and changes in plasma and mitochondrial membrane potential in rat islet cells and clonal pancreatic beta-cells (INS-1). Saturation of the Ca2+ signal occurred between 5 and 6 mM MeS, while secretion reached its maximum at 15 mM, suggesting operation of a K(ATP)-channel-independent pathway. Additional responses to MeS and glucose included elevated NAD(P)H autofluorescence in INS-1 cells and islets and increases in assayed NADH and NADPH and the ATP/ADP ratio. Increased NADPH and ATP/ADP ratios occurred more rapidly with MeS, although similar levels were reached after 5 min of exposure to each fuel, whereas NADH increased more with MeS than with glucose. Reversal of MeS-induced cell depolarization by Methylene Blue completely inhibited MeS-stimulated secretion, whereas basal secretion and KCl-induced changes in these parameters were not affected. MeS had no effect on secretion or signals in the mouse islets, in contrast with glucose, possibly due to a lack of malic enzyme. The data are consistent with the common intermediates being pyruvate, cytosolic NADPH or both, and suggest that cytosolic NADPH production could account for the more rapid onset of MeS-induced secretion compared with glucose stimulatio

Can more K-selected species be better invaders? A case study of fruit flies in La Réunion

Invasive species are often said to be r-selected. However, invaders must sometimes compete with related resident species. In this case invaders should present combinations of life-history traits that give them higher competitive ability than residents, even at the expense of lower colonization ability. We test this prediction by comparing life-history traits among four fruit fly species, one endemic and three successive invaders, in La Réunion Island. Recent invaders tend to produce fewer, but larger, juveniles, delay the onset but increase the duration of reproduction, survive longer, and senesce more slowly than earlier ones. These traits are associated with higher ranks in a competitive hierarchy established in a previous study. However, the endemic species, now nearly extinct in the island, is inferior to the other three with respect to both competition and colonization traits, violating the trade-off assumption. Our results overall suggest that the key traits for invasion in this system were those that favoured competition rather than colonization. (Résumé d'auteur

Vergleich bodenbiologischer Eigenschaften ökologischer und konventioneller Praxisflächen: Integration der Forschung in reguläre Lehrveranstaltungen

Organic agriculture (OA) soils have often been shown to have a higher soil microbial biomass (SMB), microbial activity (MA) and a higher soil organic matter (SOM) content than conventional soils. The objectives of this study were to assess the soil fertility of an organically and a conventionally managed field and to ascertain whether BSc students of the study program “Sustainable Agriculture” could assist in regular soil biological field measurements to monitor the effect of farming systems on soil health. Soil samples from both sites were analysed for SOM, pH, water holding capacity, SMB and MA. The results confirmed previous findings of a higher MA, a larger SMB and a higher SOM content under OA. In contrast to other results, the microbial quotient was low whereas the metabolic quotient was high in both soils, indicating low substrate availability and stress. The variability of the data produced by the students was within the range typical of soil biological measurements, showing that BSc students can already be involved in soil biological research

Hemiptera of Mauritius

Imperial Users onl

Public Purpose Finance: The Government\u27s Role as Lender

This Article explores the workings of Public Purpose Finance, and its role within the U.S. political economy. “Public Purpose Finance” (PPF) refers to the broad range of institutions through which the government extends credit to private borrowers in sectors like housing, education, agriculture and small business. At a total of $10 trillion, PPF roughly equals the entire U.S. corporate bond market, and is around one half of the U.S. Gross national debt (2018 figures). The Article begins by surveying and quantifying the scope of PPF. It then demonstrates that PPF enjoys a considerable degree of insulation from the federal budgetary process. The heart of the Article is an attempt to explain the political logic behind the off-budget treatment that PPF enjoys. In a nutshell, while ordinary budget spending is ultimately funded through taxes levied across the tax base, government lending is funded through loan repayment by the borrowers themselves (A model formalizing these claims is available in the Appendix). This off-budget treatment makes PPF a powerful tool for upward mobility, but it also creates a democratic deficit, and has long been a driver of racial inequality. A key theme of the Article is the need to maintain the off-budget treatment, while developing alternative modes of political participation. Government lending, like the budget, should become a key tool for society to formulate its economic agenda

Semaglutide vs Liraglutide for Weight Loss in Adults with Obesity

Introduction: Obesity is a growing chronic condition worldwide with limited effective and safe treatment options. Semaglutide and liraglutide are two GLP-1a medications with encouraging outcomes for the treatment of obesity. The purpose of this paper is to compare semaglutide to liraglutide for weight loss and obesity Methods: Pubmed was searched for randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, and meta- analyses from 2019 to 2024 to assess efficacy of semaglutide and liraglutide. Five articles were selected for clinical review. Results: In 4 out of the 5 studies there was a greater reduction in weight in patients receiving semaglutide compared to liraglutide. Statistically significant improvements in HbA1c were noted in patients taking semaglutide. Most common adverse effects were gastrointestinal issues, which were noted with both semaglutide and liraglutide treatments. Discussion: Studies suggest that semaglutide may be more effective in promoting weight loss as compared to liraglutide. Further research is needed to determine long-term effects of semaglutide for weight loss