Genetic variation describes naturally occurring genetic differences among individuals of the same species and permits flexibility and survival of a population in the face of changing environmental circumstances, diseases and pests. Genomic variation develops from a combination of evolutionary influences, among them, mutation process and demographic history. Understanding in greater detail the basis of the tremendous phenotypic variability in East African Highland bananas subgroup that are apparently clonal variants of a single original seedling is essential for developing improved breeding strategies for this subgroup. While genetic diversity studies have included cultivars from this subgroup, intra- population structure and phylogenetic relationships per se are still unknown. In addition, none of these studies have attempted to study the evolutionary history and epigenetic polymorphism in this subgroup.In this thesis, I have used EAHB cultivars to assess the genetic variation, population structure and evolutionary history. I focus on the role of DNA methylation as an epigenetic mark that contributes to phenotypic diversity and determine inheritance of DNA methylation patterns in sexual and vegetative propagation models. The results show that despite being phenotypically distinct, these cultivars are strikingly genetically similar with a narrow genetic base. While DNA methylation polymorphisms are common amongst EAHB cultivars, MSAP does not detect any obvious relationship between DNA methylation variation and phenotypic variation in East African Highland bananas.This study demonstrates that the EAHB subgroup has low mutation rates, show past population expansion but may have suffered a genetic bottleneck that may have led to the low genetic diversity. Extensive linkage disequilibrium and balancing selection were observed. Finally, I discovered that EAHB cultivars and Zebrina (wild AA cultivar) underwent a speciation event 928 thousand years and their most recent common ancestor dates back 2980 thousand years ago.
This inspection report sets out the findings of a monitoring inspection, the purpose of which was to inform a registration renewal decision. This monitoring inspection was announced and took place over 2 day(s). The inspection took place over the following dates and times From: To: 28 May 2014 08:40 28 May 2014 18:30 29 May 2014 07:30 29 May 2014 16:30
This inspection report sets out the findings of a monitoring inspection, the purpose of which was to inform a registration renewal decision. This monitoring inspection was announced and took place over 2 day(s). The inspection took place over the following dates and times From: To: 20 April 2015 10:30 20 April 2015 18:00 21 April 2015 08:30 21 April 2015 19:30
This inspection report sets out the findings of a monitoring inspection, the purpose of which was to inform a registration renewal decision. This monitoring inspection was announced and took place over 2 day(s). The inspection took place over the following dates and times From: To: 10 February 2015 09:30 10 February 2015 18:00 11 February 2015 09:30 11 February 2015 19:00
to reveal the hidden nature of privilege and disadvantage in the education context. The first theoretical paper considers what it is that social psychology, a discipline so self-evidently interested in social context can offer to understanding class given its salience as a social category of consequence. Drawing on social identity approach the analysis considers the characteristics of class that make it difficult to conceptualise, measure and challenge. Paying particular attention to the political dimensions of class, contemporary theoretical developments and methodologies within psychology are used to highlight how class is rendered implicit rather than explicit in everyday life. The second empirical paper suggests banal meritocratic and individualist ideologies construct class group boundaries as permeable, status relations as stable, and inequality as legitimate. This may prevent explicit identification with class. This is problematic for the social identity approach which emphasises the importance of self-categorisation and identification. People tend to distance themselves from explicit collective class categories and contemporary class cultures have become individualised and implicit. Two related studies are presented exploring adolescents self-categorisations and identification with class groups. The first cross-sectional qualitative study of (N=32) adolescents demonstrates that despite the lack of explicit identification and a language to talk about class, adolescents define themselves and others, as distinct classed groups. The second quantitative study (N=190) found adolescents had difficulty naming their social class and the strength of this identification was significantly weaker than gender or national identification but was not absent. In the third empirical paper we seek to understand cultural and group level factors that contribute to the social class educational achievement gap and under-representation of working classed students in higher education settings. The first qualitative study of (N=32) adolescents reports on 5 focus group interviews completed in middle class and designated disadvantaged schools. Young people in disadvantaged schools evidence awareness of barriers to higher education and an interdependent model of personal agency. In contrast middle class participants see agency in educational settings as individualised and ultimately independent. Building on this study a second quantitative study of (N=199) adolescents all attending disadvantaged schools shows community identification and an interdependent model of agency are however associated with young people’s positive feelings about school. It is argued that social identities do not, necessarily, require explicit knowledge of belonging in order to be important processes to study. We demonstrate class issues are localised by, often, parochial self and other definitions. This obscures the structural factors which perpetuate inequality and render advantage and disadvantage invisible. Finally, discussion centers on the value of a group level approach that orients to the cultural fit and compatibility of educational settings for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Book Chapter forthcoming in Engineering Education and Practice in Context, Vol. 2 to be published by Springer in 2015.
Currencies are information infrastructures at least because they classify goods (through pricing), communicate prices across markets and establish, maintain and transform social and power relations. Possibly, information goods have always existed. New waves of information technologies (alphabet, paper, printing press, TV, computers) have emphasized those goods' peculiarities: Walter Benjamin wrote about "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" already in 1936 BUT the distinction between information and support has never been so evident since Napster.
A design history is a narrative involving a multitude of social groups, interpretive flexibility, and eventual stabilization of shared understanding. Design history surfaces the practices that help shape and define engagements and can increase not only our theoretical understanding of what design is, but also our capacity to realize this understanding in practice. We use a design history perspective to examine how corporate technology initiatives establish and support open source communities and the crafting of relevant design practices that enable their advancement. We foster an evolving expression of design research that treats artifacts not as stable objects to be singularly evaluated, but as evolving systems contingent on historical trajectories.
Amyloid-reactive IgGs isolated from pooled blood of normal individuals (pAbs) have demonstrated clinical utility for amyloid diseases by in vivo targeting and clearing amyloidogenic proteins and peptides. We now report the following three novel findings on pAb conformer's binding to amyloidogenic aggregates: 1) pAb aggregates have greater activity than monomers (HMW species > dimers > monomers), 2) pAbs interactions with amyloidogenic aggregates at least partially involves unconventional (non-CDR) interactions of F(ab) regions, and 3) pAb's activity can be easily modulated by trace aggregates generated during sample processing. Specifically, we show that HMW aggregates and dimeric pAbs present in commercial preparations of pAbs, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), had up to ~200- and ~7-fold stronger binding to aggregates of Aβ and transthyretin (TTR) than the monomeric antibody. Notably, HMW aggregates were primarily responsible for the enhanced anti-amyloid activities of Aβ- and Cibacron blue-isolated IVIg IgGs. Human pAb conformer's binding to amyloidogenic aggregates was retained in normal human sera, and mimicked by murine pAbs isolated from normal pooled plasmas. An unconventional (non-CDR) component to pAb's activity was indicated from control human mAbs, generated against non-amyloid targets, binding to aggregated Aβ and TTR. Similar to pAbs, HMW and dimeric mAb conformers bound stronger than their monomeric forms to amyloidogenic aggregates. However, mAbs had lower maximum binding signals, indicating that pAbs were required to saturate a diverse collection of binding sites. Taken together, our findings strongly support further investigations on the physiological function and clinical utility of the inherent anti-amyloid activities of monomeric but not aggregated IgGs.
Tissue hypoxia is a common microenvironmental feature during inflammation associated with bacterial infection. Hypoxia has recently been shown to play an important role in both innate and adaptive host immunity through the regulation of transcription factors, including hypoxia-inducible factor and nuclear factor-κB, in both infiltrating immunocytes and inflamed resident cells. Recent studies have suggested that, by regulating these important immune effector pathways in host tissues, hypoxia can significantly alter the process of bacterial infection and subsequent disease progression. Although hypoxia is often beneficial in terms of reducing the development of infection, its net effect depends on a number of factors, including the nature of the pathogen and the characteristics of the infection encountered. In this minireview, we will discuss the impact of local tissue hypoxia and the resulting activation of hypoxia-sensitive pathways on bacterial infection by a range of pathogens. Furthermore, we will review how this knowledge may be used to develop new approaches to anti-infective therapeutics.
