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Darfur farming and pastoralist livelihoods are both adaptations to the environmental variability that characterises the region. This article describes this adaptation and the longer‐term transformation of these specialised livelihoods from the perspective of local communities. Over several decades farmers and herders have experienced a continuous stream of climate, conflict and other shocks, which, combined with wider processes of change, have transformed livelihoods and undermined livelihood institutions. Their well‐rehearsed specialist strategies are now combined with new strategies to cope. These responses help people get by in the short term but risk antagonising not only their specialist strategies but also those of others. A combination of factors has undermined the former integration between farming and pastoralism and their livelihood institutions. Efforts to build resilience in similar contexts must take a long‐term view of livelihood adaptation as a specialisation, and consider the implications of new strategies for the continuity and integration of livelihood specialisations.

Animal models of stroke are used extensively to study the mechanisms involved in the acute and chronic phases of recovery following stroke. A translatable animal model that closely mimics the mechanisms of a human stroke is essential in understanding recovery processes as well as developing therapies that improve functional outcomes. We describe a photo-thrombosis stroke model that is capable of targeting a single distal pial branch of the middle cerebral artery with minimal damage to the surrounding parenchyma in awake head-fixed mice. Mice are implanted with chronic cranial windows above one hemisphere of the brain that allow optical access to study recovery mechanisms for over a month following occlusion. Additionally, we study the effect of laser spot size used for occlusion and demonstrate that a spot size with small axial and lateral resolution has the advantage of minimizing unwanted photodamage while still monitoring macroscopic changes to cerebral blood flow during photothrombosis. We show that temporally guiding illumination using real-time feedback of blood flow dynamics also minimized unwanted photodamage to the vascular network. Finally, through quantifiable behavior deficits and chronic imaging we show that this model can be used to study recovery mechanisms or the effects of therapeutics longitudinally. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License.

Paper and paperboard are the most widely used packaging materials for both food and non-food products. Because they are composed of highly porous cellulose networks, they readily absorb moisture in high humidity environments or when in contact with liquid or high moisture foods. Therefore they are often coated with hydrophobic coating materials such as polyethylene (PE) to improve their water-resistant properties. One of the major uses of such hydrophobic material coated paperboard is a disposable single-use paper cup with or without a lid. Today, the paper-based materials are coated with a thin layer of a petroleum derived plastic, mostly polyethylene, which has provided the cups and other packaging solutions with the required barrier property and water resistance. Hence, the ongoing challenge is to coat the paper with a biobased, hydrophobic polymeric material which must be repulpable or otherwise biodegradable in most of the environments considered. Many interesting developments are already known for the manufacturing of cellulose-based products, such as microfibrillated celluloses (MFC's) or modified celluloses, usable in the paper packaging industry. Paper and paperboard in combination with Green-Polyethylene, MFC's and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA's) seems to be the most promising solution for the packaging industry in the near future and the development of the thermoplastic modified celluloses for the next future. Regarding environmental considerations, PHA is a promising solution for the paper packaging industry but the problem of material recycling has to be solved and a solution comparable with the recyclability of PE-coated paper packaging products should be obtained. This review consists of a critical analysis of published results of 1-way food packaging and discusses more in detail what will be necessary for the development of 1-way food packaging based solely on wood derived products and biodegradable polymers.

One of the biggest challenges in the biotech industry is to secure sufficient funding to support product or technology development. Partnering with companies that have cash and expertise – which, for the most part are larger biotech or pharmaceutical industries – may for many small biotech companies be more appealing than dealing with the financial community – venture capitalists and the like. The risk to the small biotech, however, is enormous because the partner may decide to return the rights to the product. This event usually leaves the product in limbo and the technology used to develop it tainted because of uncertainty regarding the real reasons for the return and the assumption in the world at large that there is something wrong with the product/technology. Thus, the licensor is left in the dark and is faced with 'what's next?' Here our company's strategy to overcome the terminated licence disaster or alternatively to take advantage of the terminated licence opportunity is described.

Background: The cerebellum is of potential interest for understanding adaptive responses in motor control in patients with multiple sclerosis because of the high intrinsic synaptic plasticity of this brain region. Objective: To assess the relative roles of interactions between the neocortex and the cerebellum using measures of functional connectivity. Methods: A role for altered neocortical–cerebellar functional connectivity in adaptive responses to injury from multiple sclerosis was tested using 1.5 T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during figure writing with the dominant right hand in patients with predominantly early relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Results: Patients (n = 14) showed a more bihemispheric pattern of activation in motor cortex than healthy controls (n = 11). Correlations between task related signal changes in neocortical and cerebellar regions of interest were used as a measure of functional connectivity. Healthy controls showed strong functional connectivity between the left motor cortex and the right cerebellar dentate nucleus. Significant connectivity between the left primary motor cortex and the right dentate was not found in patients. However, patients had significant connectivity between the left premotor neocortex and the ipsilateral (left) cerebellar cortex (crus I), which was not found in healthy controls. Conclusions: Changes in apparent cerebellar–neocortical functional connectivity may mediate potentially adaptive changes in brain motor control in patients with multiple sclerosis. Similar changes in the cerebellum and premotor cortex have been reported in the healthy brain during motor learning, suggesting that common mechanisms may contribute to normal motor learning and motor recovery after injury from multiple sclerosis.