bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Point Mutation in Chloroquine Resistance-Associated Genes (Pfcrt and Pfmdr-1) in Imported Cases of Malaria in Qatar
Authors: Sultan Ali A , Bansal Devendra , Khan Fahmi Y , Al Samawi Musaed , Bharti Praveen Kumar , Mohapatra Pradyumna Kumar , Mahanta Jagdeesh , Sehgal Rakesh , Singh Neeru
Published: July 2019

Background

Imported malaria has been a great challenge for public health in the State of Qatar due to the large number of immigrant workers come from the Indian subcontinent and Sub-Saharan Africa. Antimalarial drug resistance has emerged as one of the greatest challenges facing malaria control today. Chloroquine (CQ) resistance in Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) is associated with genetic polymorphisms in Pf CQR-transporter (Pfcrt) and Pf multi-drug resistance (Pfmdr-1). Monitoring parasite haplotypes that predict susceptibility to major anti-malarials can guide treatment policies. CQ is used in State of Qatar mainly for treatment of uncomplicated Pf infection and incidence of CQ resistant Pf in Qatar is yet unknown. Thus, present study is conducted to determine the polymorphic regions of CQ drug resistance genes (Pfmdr1-codon86 and Pfcrt-codon76) in imported malaria cases in the State of Qatar.

Method

During September 2013 to September 2015, a total of 325 (79 Pf and 246 P. vivax) microscopically positive uncomplicated malaria samples were collected from Emergency Room, Al-Khor General Hospital and Hamad General Hospital, HMC, Qatar and confirmed by molecular assay. Nested-PCR and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) were used to detect alleles of pfcrt gene (K76T) and pfmdr1 gene (N86Y).

Result

Out of 79 uncomplicated malaria cases, the majority of patients were from East and West Africa followed by Indian Sub-continent and Central Africa. Molecular genotyping at codon 86 of the pfmdr1 gene showed that 60.7% harboured wild/susceptible allele (N86), 26.6% mutant/resistant (Y86) and 11.4% had mixed alleles (N86Y). However, the prevalence of Pfcrt mutant allele (T76), wild type (K76) and mixed alleles (T76K) was 72.1%, 22.8% and 5% respectively.

Conclusion

Molecular surveillance strategy based on imported malaria cases can be used to detect and track drug-resistant malaria. The data presented here might be helpful for enrichment of molecular surveillance of antimalarial resistance and will be useful for developing and updating antimalarial guidance for non-immune imported cases in State of Qatar.
Seasonal Variation in Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection in a Desert Climate: A Report from Qatar
Authors: Hendaus Mohamed A. , Alhammadi Ahmed H. , Khalifa Mohamed S. , Chandra Prem , Pitkaranta Anne
Published: July 2019

Background

Respiratory viruses have a predictable seasonality, which varies regionally. The reason for such seasonality is not well known yet, but atmospheric factors such as high humidity and temperature may assist virus survival in small particle droplets or aerosols, and on infected surfaces.

Objective

The goal of the study was to determine the seasonal variation in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in a desert climate.

Methods

A retrospective and cross sectional study was performed at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), the only tertiary and academic medical center in the State of Qatar. The study included infants and young children ages 0 to 24 months that were admitted to our pediatric ward with diagnosis of acute bronchiolitis from the period of January 2010 to December 2012. The following information were collected: gestational age, gender, respiratory virus real time polymerase chain reaction (RVRT-PCR) conducted on nasopharyngeal secretions, and hospital length of stay (LOS).

Results

835 infants and young children met the study criteria with mean age at diagnosis of 3.61 ± 3.56 months ranging from 0.33 to 24 months. RVRT-PCR was performed on 769 (92.0%) of the participants. RSV was positive in 352 (45.7%) children admitted with clinical bronchiolitis. In addition, no viruses were identified in 142 (18.4%), and respiratory viruses other RSV were found in 275 (35.7F%) of children. Our investigation shows that there has been a steady and periodic seasonal variation in the RSV rate over the study period. A seasonal trend for the RSV (detected by RVRT-PCR) rate was evident (Fig. 1), showing annual peaks in the months of October, November, December, and January, with a significant test for seasonality (test statistics [T] =  3.15, P = 0.009).

Conclusions

In countries with desert hot weather, bronchiolitis might affect infants and children throughout the year. Our results suggest that the combination of uninterrupted RSV seasonality can provide factual guidance for healthcare planning and application of RSV prevention scheme, such as extending the palivizumab vaccine series.

Figure 1: Sequence chart for RSV rate of infection during various months in children admitted with acute clinical bronchiolitis
Heme Oxygenase (HO)-1 Induction Prevents Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Mediated Endothelial Cell Death and Dysfunction
Authors: Agouni Abdelali , Maamoun Hatem , Zachariah Matshediso , Green Fiona
Published: July 2019

Diabetes is intimately associated with cardiovascular complications. Much evidence highlighted the complex interplay between Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress and oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of diabetes. Hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1) induction was shown to protect against oxidative stress in diabetes; however the underlying molecular mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated. We aim in this project to test the hypothesis that HO-1 induction will protect against high glucose-mediated ER stress and oxidative stress in endothelial cells and will enhance cell survival.

Endothelial cells were cultured in physiological or high concentrations of glucose in the presence of cobalt protoporphyrin 1X (CoPP, HO-1 inducer), 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA, chemical chaperone to inhibit ER stress) or vehicle. Then, ER stress response was assessed (PCR, western blot). The productions of ROS (flow cytometer) and NO (Griess assay) were analysed. Also, apoptosis and caspase 3/7 activity were assessed. High glucose treatment in cells increased protein and mRNA expression of several ER stress response markers (BIP, CHOP, ATF4) and enhanced ROS production in addition to reducing NO release. Interestingly, the pre-treatment of cells with PBA or CoPP significantly reduced high glucose-mediated ER stress and oxidative stress in cells. Also, cells incubated with high glucose had enhanced apoptosis, increased protein expression of cleaved PARP and caspase-7 in addition to enhanced caspases 3/7 activity while cells pre-treated with either PBA or CoPP were totally protected. The mRNA expression of inflammatory cytokine IL-6 was enhanced in cells incubated with high glucose while those pre-treated with PBA or CoPP were prevented.

These results highlight the importance of oxidative stress both in initiating or maintaining ER stress response and in mediating ER stress-induced damage and cell death in endothelial cells. This work also underscores the therapeutic potential of HO-1 induction against hyperglycaemia-mediated endothelial dysfunction.
Antifolate Drug Resistance: Novel Mutations and Therapeutic Efficacy Study from Arunachal Pradesh, NE India
Authors: Mohapatra Pradyumna K , Sarma Nilanju P , Bansal Devendra , Bharti Praveen K , Singh Neeru , Sehgal Rakesh , Sultan Ali A , Mahanta Jagdeesh
Published: July 2019

Malaria is a major public health concern in north east India with the preponderance of drug resistance strains. Till recently partner drug for Artemisinin Combination Therapy was Sulphadoxine Pyrimethamine. The antifolate drug resistance has been associated with the mutations at dihydropteroate synthase (dhps) and dihydrofolatereductase (dhfr) gene. The study was aimed to investigate the antifolate drug resistance at molecular level and therapeutic efficacy in 35 patients. Three novel point mutations were found in dhps gene with 10 haplotypes along with the already reported mutations. A single haplotype having quadruple mutation was found in dhfr gene. The study reports higher degree of antifolate drug resistance as evidenced by the presence of multiple point mutations in dhps and dhfr genes. The therapeutic efficacy revealed one early treatment failure and three late clinical failure. The findings of the study recommends to stop the use of SP as partner drug in malaria treatment for NE India.

Keywords

Plasmodium falciparum, North East India, Drug resistance, therapeutic efficacy
Comparative Expression Profile of Organic Cation Transporters in Diabetes and Cancer: Effects of Metformin
Authors: Upadhyay Rohit , Triggle Christopher R , Ding Hong
Published: July 2019

Background and Aim

Organic cation transporters have critical role for absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination of many endogenous small organic cations as well as a wide array of drugs. These transporters act as uptake transporters (OCT1, OCT2, OCT3 and PMAT) or efflux transporters (MATE1 and MATE2) for cationic drugs including Metformin. PMAT, OCT1 and OCT3 are expressed in Intestine and may be involved in Intestinal transport of metformin. OCT1, OCT3 and MATE1 expression in liver may facilitate hepatic uptake of metformin. In Kidney OCT1, OCT2 and PMAT may act as influx transporter while MATE1 and MATE2 may act as efflux transporters. Metformin is the first line of drug for diabetes and may have beneficial effects in cancer treatment. Expression profile of metformin transporters may have crucial role in pharmacokinetics of the drug. At present there is very limited data for the expression of these transporters in different cell lines and db/db mice. No in-vitro data is present for comparative expression of these transporters in primary endothelial cells vs. cancerous cells and effect of high glucose/metformin treatment on the expression of drug transporters is still unknown. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the expression levels of OCT1, OCT2, OCT3, MATE1, MATE2 and PMAT in normal/cancerous cell lines as well as mice organs (intestine, liver and kidney) under normo/hyper-glycemic condition and low/high dosage of metformin treatment.

Material and methods

Different cancerous/non-cancerous cell lines (HUVECs, MCF7, PA1, Huh7, HEK293T and MMECs) were cultured in normal/high glucose mediums and treated with low/high dosage of metformin for 7 days. Cells in early passages (P3 to P6) were used and experiments were replicated five times. Mice samples (liver, kidney and small intestine) were collected from wild type (C57BL/6J) and db/db mice after treatment with metformin for 6–8 weeks. Total RNA and proteins were isolated from cell line/mice organ samples and gene/protein expressions were estimated by using real-time PCR and western blotting. Gene expressions were leveled by the endogenous controls (beta-actin and GAPDH) and comparative CT values were estimated. Relative gene expressions were calculated through 2-(ΔΔCT) method. Western blot analysis was done after normalizing densitometry data of transporter proteins with endogenous control protein (β-actin or GAPDH).

Results

We detected expression of all selected metformin transporters in endothelial cells and in majority of cancer cell lines. Comparative gene expressions of metformin transporters in all of the selected cell lines were estimated. The levels of OCT1/OCT2 expressions between non-cancerous/cancerous cell lines were significantly modulated (P
A Hexokinase II Derived-Cell Penetrating Peptide Targets the Mitochondria and Triggers Apoptosis in Cancer Cells
Authors: Magzoub Mazin
Published: July 2019

Most cancers are characterized by a high rate of glycolysis and overexpression of mitochondrial-bound isoforms of hexokinase, an enzyme that phosphorylates glucose in an ATP-dependent manner and this commences the first committed step in glucose metabolism. Type II hexokinase (HK II) plays a paramount role in metabolic reprogramming in tumors and its association with the voltage dependent anion channel (VDAC), a major channel for transport of metabolites and ions across the mitochondrial membrane, inhibits apoptosis in cancer cells and is therefore an important therapeutic target. A peptide corresponding to the mitochondrial membrane-binding N-terminal domain of HK II (pHK II) can potentially compete with the endogenous protein for binding to mitochondria and trigger apoptosis. In vitro studies in HeLa cells showed that coupling of pHK II to a short penetration accelerating sequence (Pas: FFLIPKG) enhances the peptide's intracellular delivery and cytosolic release, followed by localization to the mitochondria. Cell viability assays revealed that pHK II-pas was considerably more effective in inhibiting cell growth compared to pHK II alone. Moreover, pHK II-pas displayed an enhanced ability to deplete cellular ATP levels and induce apoptosis. Mitochondrial function analysis showed that exposure to pHK II-pas peptide resulted in a significant decrease in glycolytic capacity and glycolytic reserve, as well as basal oxygen consumption rate (OCR), spare respiratory capacity, and ATP turnover. Importantly, these effects were correlated with HK II release from mitochondria. Thus, the mode of action of pHK II-pas involves release of the HK II protein from the mitochondrial membrane resulting in loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, decreased cellular ATP levels and finally apoptosis. Our results underline the potential of the pHK II-pas cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) as an innovative and effective anti-tumor therapeutic strategy.
Favoring Inhibitory Synaptic Drive Mediated by Gabaa Receptors in the Basolateral Nucleus of the Amygdala Efficiently Reduces Pain Symptoms in Neuropathic Mice
Authors: Nisrine Kamoun
Published: July 2019

Pain is an emotion and neuropathic pain symptoms are modulated by supraspinal structures such as the amygdala. If the central nucleus of the amygdala is often named as the “nociceptive amygdala”, little is known on the role of the basolateral amygdala. Here, we monitored the mechanical nociceptive thresholds of in a mouse model of neuropathic pain and infused modulators of the glutamate/GABAergic transmission in the BLA via chronically-implanted can nulas. First, we found that NMDA-type glutamate receptor antagonist (MK-801) exerted a potent anti-allodynic effect whereas a transient allodynia was induced after perfusion of bicuculline, a GABAA receptor antagonist. Potentiating GABAA receptor function using diazepam (DZP) or etifoxine (EFX, a nonbenzodiazepine anxiolytic) fully but transiently alleviated mechanical allodynia. Interestingly, the anti-allodynic effect of EFX disappeared in animals incapable of producing 3alpha-steroids. DZP had a similar effect but of shorter duration. As indicated by patch-clamp recordings of BLA neurons, these effects were mediated by a potentiation of GABAA R-mediated synaptic transmission. Together with a presynaptic elevation of miniature IPSC frequency, the duration and amplitude of GABAA mIPSCs was also increased (postsynaptic effect). The analgesic contribution of endogenous neurosteroid seemed to be exclusively postsynaptic. This study highlights the importance of BLA and of the local inhibitory/excitatory neuronal network activity while setting the mechanical nociceptive threshold. Furthermore, it appears that promoting inhibition in this specific nucleus could fully alleviate pain symptoms. Therefore BLA could be a novel interesting target to develop pharmacological or non pharmacological therapies.
Criminalizing Domestic Violence in Qatar: A Case Study of Student Activism
Authors: Qureshi Tazeen , Al Rumaihi Shabeb , Al Thani Hessa , Al Ahbaby Fatma , Ashimi Suad , Rajah Shaikha Mansoor , Karimi Mujtaba Taimoor , Hamdi Yousef Zakaria , Al Sulaiti Jawaher
Published: July 2019

Globally, gender based violence effects one out of every three women. Recently, the alarming rise in reported cases of domestic violence in Qatar has led to a national call to find an effective way to deal with the issue. This paper documents the efforts of a group of Qatar University students to do just that: draft legislation to criminalize domestic violence. The research project involves eight Qatar University male and female undergraduate students from five different countries (Bahrain, Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria and Qatar), and three faculty members from different countries (Palestine, Egypt and Saudi Arabia).

In order to determine the status of current societal and legal protection provided to victims of domestic violence, interviews were conducted with law enforcement authorities, judges, religious scholars/leaders, medical professionals and victims of domestic violence themselves. After analyzing the interviews, along with the official documentation provided by institutions (such as hospitals, police departments, and shelters) systematic weaknesses and legal loopholes were identified. A benchmarking of legislation in the Arab and Muslim world was then conducted in order to come up with a conceptual framework for a comprehensive protection system for female victims of domestic violence in Qatar.
A Survey on Sentiment Analysis and Visualization
Authors: Boumaiza Ameni Dhaoui
Published: July 2019

Online Social Networks become the medium for a plethora of applications such as targeted advertising and recommendation services, collaborative filtering, behavior modeling and pre- diction, analysis and identification of aggressive behavior, bullying and stalking, cultural trend monitoring, epidemic studies, crowd mood reading and tracking, revelation of terrorist net- works, even political deliberation. They mainly aim to promote human interaction on the Web, assist community creation, and facilitate the sharing of ideas, opinions and content. Social Networking Analysis Research has lately focused on major Online Social Networks like Face-book, Twitter and Digg [Chelmis and Prasanna, 2011]. However, research in Social Networks [Erétéo et al., 2008] has extracted underlying and often hidden social structures [Newman, 2010] from email communications [Tyler et al., 2003], structural link analysis of web blogs and personal home pages [Adamic and Adar, 2003] or recently explicit FOAF networks [Ding et al., 2005], structural link analysis of bookmarks, tags or resources in general [Mika, 2007], co-occurrence of names [Kautz et al., 1997] [Mika, 2007], and co-authorship in scientific publications references [Wasserman and Faust, 1994], and co-appearance in movies or music productions [Yin et al., 2010]. Interactive visualizations is employed by visual analytics in order to integrate users' knowledge and inference capability into numerical/algorithmic data analysis processes. It is an active research field that has applications in many sectors, such as security, finance, and business. The growing popularity of visual analytics in recent years creates the need for a broad survey that reviews and assesses the recent developments in the field. This paper reviews the state of the art of sentiment visualization field. The growing popularity of sentiment visualization systems in recent years is an active research area. In this paper, we will present a survey that reviews and assesses the recent visualization techniques and systems in the field. This report classifies and reviews the recent approaches in visual analysis. The motivations in conducting this survey are twofold. First, we aim to review the most recent research trends and developments of sentiment visualization techniques and systems and provide a precise review of the field. Second, this survey aims to provide a critical assessment of the research which can help enhance the understanding of the field.
Flight Scheduling in the Airspace
Authors: Msakni Mohamed Kais , Kharbeche Mohamed , Al-Salem Mohammed , Hammuda Abdelmagid
Published: July 2019

This paper addresses an important problem in the aircraft traffic management caused by the rapid growth of air traffic. The air route traffic control center has to deal with different plans of airlines in which they specify a requested entry time of their aircraft to the airspace. Each flight has to be assigned to a track and a level in order to ensure the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety standards. When two flights are assigned to the same track and level, a minimum separation time has to be ensured. If this condition could not be satisfied, one of the flight will be delayed. This solution is undesirable for many reasons such as missing the connecting flight, decrease in the passengers' satisfaction, etc.

The problem of track-level scheduling can be defined as follows. Given a set of flights, each flight has to be assigned to one track and one level. To ensure the separation time between two flights assigned to the same track and level, it is possible to delay the requested departure time of a flight. The objective is to minimize the overall flight delay.

To deal with this problem, we propose a mixed integer programming formulation to find a flight plan that minimizes the objective function, while ensuring the FAA safety standards. In particular, this model considers an aircraft-dependent separation time: the separation time depends on the type of the aircraft assigned to the same track and level. However, some problems are too large to be solved in a reasonable time with the proposed model using a commercial solver. In this study, we developed a scatter search (SS) to deal with larger instances. SS is an evolutionary heuristic and the feature to be a problem-independent structure. This metaheuristic has been efficiently applied to a variety of optimization problems. Initially, SS starts with a set of solutions (reference set) that is constantly updated through two procedures (solution generation and combination) in the aim to produce high-quality solutions.

In order to assess the quality of the exact method and the scatter search, we carried out an experimental study on a set of instances that are generated from a real case data. This includes small (80 to 120 flights), medium (200 to 220 flights), and large (400 to 420 flights) instances. The mathematical model has been solved using CPLEX 12.6 and the scatter search has been coded using C language under Microsoft Visual Studio v12 environment. The tests were conducted under a Windows 7 machine with an Intel Core i7 and 8 GB of RAM. The model was tested on each instance with 1 hour time limit. The results show that no instances have been solved to optimality. For small instances, the model and the scatter search provide comparable results; however, for medium and large instances, scatter search gives the best results.

This conference was made possible by the UREP award [UREP 13 - 025 - 2 - 010] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation).
Translating Conversational Implicature from English into Arabic
Authors: Al-Shawi Muna A.
Published: July 2019

Conversational implicature is known as an additional meaning indirectly implicated by saying another thing. In this sense, the aim of this thesis is to discuss the problems of translating conversational implicature from English into Arabic. It is concerned with the conversations between characters selected from three English literary works, two novels Lord of the Flies and Nineteen Eighty-Four both of which are written in prose for analysis along with their Arabic translations. In order to determine how to resolve the problems of translating conversational implicature from English in to Arabic, two theoretical frameworks are implemented for the descriptive analysis of the selected texts. The first is the Skopos approach that concentrates on the purpose of the translation which in turn determines the methods and strategies of translation that are employed to form a functional translation of the target text. The second is Grice's Implicature that implicitly agrees on the “purpose or direction” of those conversations in which each participant (speaker and listener) cooperates to achieve the purpose of the conversation. These two theories, along with their rules, provide appropriate standards by which to measure the accuracy of such translations from English language into Arabic. The study's descriptive analyses reveal that the translators encountered problems and obstacles during the translation of those texts into Arabic for several reasons, including linguistic, social and cultural. To overcome these problems, the translators followed different approaches and techniques to achieve consistent coherent Arabic text, equivalent to that of the original. Most of the source texts are translated into Arabic adequately enough on the whole in spite of breaches to the rules and maxims of translation. In conclusion, the study reveals that both the Skopos and Grice theories are successful and applicable at varying levels, in translating conversational implicature from English into Arabic. Nevertheless, Grice's approach is more successful in translating the conversational imlicatures within the framework of this study. Accordingly, this study answers all the designed questions.
In-depth Analysis of Pedestrian Safety in the State of Qatar
Authors: Kharbeche Mohamed , Al Allaf Hana , Al-Khalifa Khalifa , Tarlochan Faris
Published: July 2019

Pedestrian safety is of a serious concern as it includes children and the aged population. From the Global status report on road safety in 2015 by World Health Organization (WHO), it can be seen that pedestrian fatalities in the word is a serious issue and represents 31% of the total deaths. In the State of Qatar, the number of pedestrian fatalities and injuries in road accidents is decreasing over time due to the tremendous efforts done by the state. However, the overall share of the problem did not change significantly over the past ten years. Since pedestrians' movement is quite unpredictable, this makes them the most vulnerable road users. In Qatar, pedestrians held to 23.8% of the total deaths by road users in 2013.

To tackle this problem, the development of a detailed data analysis is crucial and a major approach followed in attempting to solve existing pedestrian issues in the road system, in terms of evaluating the current pedestrian safety issues in the country. More specifically, we focus on the analysis of pedestrian fatalities, in an attempt to include the most critical situations of them all. The total number of pedestrian fatal accidents occurred between years 2011 and 2013 were 163 accidents. For the purpose of this research, 51 pedestrian accident sites were investigated, which included 53 fatal pedestrian accidents (Some accidents took place on the same road section). The goal of this field investigation is to come up with several possible reasons for the accidents taking place.

After that, understanding the pedestrian laws is another important step where we discuss the existing 18 articles concerning the safety of pedestrians, and handling pedestrians safety either directly or indirectly.

Finally, recommendations are presented in terms of the availability of pedestrian facilities in the roads under the study, where the fatal accidents took place. The importance of these facilities primarily is to protect citizens and residents from run-over pedestrian accidents and risks of crossing the street. The ranges of fatalities in each location vary from one to ten casualties. Besides each location, the total number of pedestrian deaths which occurred between years 2011–2013 is listed to show its severity. For each location, many recommendations were provided regarding crosswalks, speed humps/bumps, street lights, pedestrian footbridges, pedestrian fences and parking pots. In addition, reasons behind pedestrians not using the facilities are analyzed.

This project was carried out by Qatar Road Safety Studies Center for the benefit of the General Traffic Police Department and under the sponsorship of ExxonMobil Qatar.
Translating Organizational Change: A Case Study of Transformation in Libyan Banking Sector
Authors: Alzawawi Bashir Salem
Published: July 2019

In 2013, The Central Bank of Libya declared that all Libyan banking institutions must become ‘sharia compliant’ by 2015. Thus, Central Bank of Libya (2013) has formally introduce the Islamic banking and finance model to be compulsory for the first time. Indeed, many Libyan banking institutions especially public banks will go through different complex organizational change processes in order to be able to act the rules of the Islamic banking organizations. Therefore, it is expected that, the processes of building up such organizing procedures will not take any definitive patterns, either implicitly or explicitly as shown in much of organizational change literature. Furthermore, it is difficult to imagine how different actors work out how to develop and achieve transforming banking practices into a model that is consistent with the principles of sharia and its practical applications. Yet, this organizational phenomenon has attracted our attention and it becomes increasingly difficult to neglect further exploration and understanding of the manner in which such organizational change processes are constructed and translated within the context of this country. To achieve the above objective this study follows two influential theoretical concepts of organizational change. Change as fluxing reality (Tsoukas and Chia, 2002) embodied in process philosophy and a “translation” model (Czarniawska and Joerges, 1996). The latter is also referred to as “processual, networked” approach (Nicolini, 2010). Therefore, this study will adapt the two theoretical perceptions to explore and account for the translation of a broad organizational/societal programme into local forms of actions. Whilst, the former presents a contemporary ontological understanding on how social phenomenon such as organizations and change should be constructed and therefore understood (Collins, 2002, 2004), the latter will allow us to follow processual networked patterns of organizing in an attempt to understand different social and complex organizational aspects of constructing change processes. In doing so, this study will draw on three case studies from the banking sector in Libya and based on a qualitative, inductive approach it seeks to explore the complex dynamics of organizational change processes within the Libyan banking context. In particular, the study seeks to contribute to organization theory in three main areas (A) exploring the very nature of organizational change processes and how change is constructed and translated. (b) To illustrate how actors enable and/constrain the translation process itself and with what consequences. (c) To contribute to the sociology of translation by mapping out what actors do to translate the concept of Islamic banking and finance into everyday practices.
Further evidence of the importance of St. Helena as habitat for whale sharks
Authors: Clingham Elizabeth , Webb Harry D. , de la Parra Venegas Rafael , Schreiber Christian , Reid Jeffrey , Pierce Simon , Hueter Robert , Hindle Katie , Henry LeeAnn , Beard Annalea , Dove Alistair D.M.
Published: July 2019

Background Remote oceanic islands may play important roles in the life history of whale sharks; they have been hypothesized to be the site of mating or pupping in this species. One such island is St. Helena in the South Atlantic, which was recently discovered to play host to a seasonal population of adult male and female whale sharks. Approach Two collaborative expeditions have been conducted to St. Helena since the 3rd International Whale Shark Conference. The goals of these were: to document whale shark abundance and population composition, to characterise behaviour and habitat use around the island, and to determine regional scale movement patterns using satellite telemetry. Results The whale shark population observed at St. Helena consisted of an approximately equal mix of mature males and females. The animals were 8.5–11 m in length, i.e. larger than the sub-adults seen in most coastal aggregation sites, but smaller than the large female animals seen regularly in the Galapagos. Two reliable eyewitness accounts of mating behaviour have been recorded at St. Helena, but we have not directly observed this behaviour during the expeditions. An acoustic array was deployed around the island in January 2016 to determine local habitat use patterns, but data are not expected to be available from this effort until the end of 2016. Conclusions Preliminary satellite telemetry results suggest that St. Helena whale sharks travel to the west coast of Africa, not to the east coast of South America. We propose that regional movement patterns are similar to those observed in the eastern Pacific, with animals apparently feeding in coastal upwelling zones, and travelling to remote oceanic islands to fulfill aspects of the reproductive cycle. Environmental regulations have recently come into effect that completely protect the whale shark in waters surrounding St. Helena.
Population structure of a Red Sea whale shark aggregation
Authors: Cochran Jesse E. M. , Hardenstine Royale S. , Braun Camrin D. , Skomal Gregory B. , Thorrold Simon R. , Berumen Michael L.
Published: July 2019

Background The Red Sea has received little study when compared to other areas. This holds true for sharks in general and for whale sharks in particular. The discovery of a seasonal aggregation off the Saudi Arabian coast has made the targeted study of Red Sea whale sharks more feasible. Assessing the size and structure of this aggregation is a first step toward understanding the basin-scale population within the Red Sea and how that population fits into the wider Indian Ocean. Approach Photo-ID records were collected from 2010 through 2015. These were analyzed and fit to several population models. The most parsimonious model was then used to describe the aggregation. Demographic data, including the size and sex of individual sharks was collected and compared to reports from other aggregations. Size was visually estimated to the nearest half-meter and sex was determined by the presence or absence of claspers between the pelvic fins. Results From 2010 to 2015, 305 encounters with whale sharks were recorded within the aggregation. From these, 267 suitable photos were used to identify 136 individuals. Sharks were divided evenly between the sexes and the distribution of sightings showed no evidence of sexual segregation. All individuals were immature based on size estimates and, in males, juvenile clasper morphology. An open population model was found to best represent the data and estimated a daily abundance between 15 and 34 whale sharks during the aggregation season, with local residence times ranging from 4 to 44 days. Residence times away from Shib Habil ranged from 15 to 156 days with a permanent emigration/mortality rate between 0.07 and 0.58 individuals per year. Conclusions These results are broadly similar to those from other aggregations of R. typus, although the observed sexual parity and integration found at this site are unique for the species and need further study.
A Whale Shark Virtual Reality Underwater Environment
Authors: Karkar AbdelGhani , Halabi Osama , Jaam Jihad
Published: July 2019

Background Virtual Reality (VR) can provide an immersive experience and enables users to live in different worlds. The technology becomes affordable with the recent development in VR technology and the release of many consumers VR Head Mounted Display (HMD). VR provides a unique and efficient way of exploration and learning. The available VR systems, so far, provides seated experience where the user uses gamepad or joystick to navigate and interact. In this work, we are proposing a walking VR immersive experience where the user will be able to walk naturally and interact in the virtual world. This achieved by using cameras to track user movements. As a result, the participant will be able to lively experience the underwater live and be able to have an enjoyable learning space. Approach Recently, we developed a bilingual animal domain knowledge base (ontology) where information are stored in a hierarchical structure based on the classifications of the animals (e.g., mammal, aquatic, etc.). The knowledge base defines the relationship between the classifications (concepts). Each concept can have different properties which describe all viable facts that can be associated with. Each property can have specific settings (e.g., multiplicity, restriction, etc.). For instance, the animal cannot have two different blood types (i.e., this can be restricted using multiplicity). In this work, we propose a VR whale shark educational system that presents whale sharks and diverse kind of aquatic animals. The system extracts informative facts from the knowledge base and attaches them to the generated 3D models. The VR simulation provides the ability to walk in the world by tracking the movements of the user using cameras. The result is fully immersive VR-based simulation. The aim of the proposed system is to improve the educational skills about whale sharks and underwater environment which includes comprehension, realization, and deduction. Results Previous mobile based educational system have been developed and showed significant improvements for learners. The features of the proposed educational system include: 1) presentation of illustrations for natural text, 2) knowledge extraction from an animal domain knowledge base, 3) getting illustrations (i.e., 2D and 3D images) from a multimedia repository; and 4) querying online search engine to get new images. Our ongoing system development includes the development of a VR system for Whale shark and underwater environment. Conclusions The study presents a virtual reality educational system for whale sharks and underwater environment. An animal domain knowledge base will be used to extract semantic information about aquatic animals. The proposed system provides immersive VR with ability to walk and navigate.
Managing the impacts of tourism on the Ningaloo whale shark aggregation – asking the right people the right questions
Authors: Rob Dani , Barnes Peter
Published: July 2019

Background The Department of Parks and Wildlife manages the whale shark tourism industry within the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area, Western Australia. Guided by the Wildlife Management Program no. 57, Whale shark management with particular reference to Ningaloo Marine Park, the Department licences and monitors the activity of 15 commercial tour operators. A key strategy in the Management Program is to continue to research and monitor the impacts of whale shark interaction tourism on whale sharks in Ningaloo Marine Park, providing an on-going challenge. Approach This presentation will discuss the utility of the various approaches taken by both the Department and researcher activity licensed by the Department. These include the use of electronic monitoring systems on board the commercial tour operators' vessels which document encounter duration, photo identification of whale sharks, aerial behavioural monitoring and archival, acoustic and satellite tagging. Results As a management agency, the Department has identified a number of questions as outlined in the Management Program that aim to determine the level of impact on whale sharks. Potential impacts on whale sharks can arise from a number of anthropogenic sources including tourist vessels, recreational vessels and research activity. Finding the appropriate methodology to answer these questions is the key. Encounter duration is useful for determining short-term intra-season impacts. Photo identification catalogues combined with satellite tagging have been useful for determining longer-term inter-season return rates. Acoustic tagging will reveal patterns of residency while archival tagging has the potential to allow detailed behavioural studies. Photo identification also allows the analysis of scarring and potential impact on survival of the whale sharks visiting Ningaloo Marine Park and where possible can attribute scars to anthropogenic sources. Aerial monitoring of whale shark behaviour allows us to study whale shark swimming behaviours and direction in the presence and absence of vessels and swimmers. Conclusions Understanding and managing the impacts on whale sharks is a complex, challenging task. A single method cannot determine disturbance level on whale sharks. Determining which approach is appropriate to the given question and drawing upon the expertise of others to make informed management decisions is paramount and we will continue to take a multidisciplinary approach.
Caught in the net: A small, resident group of whale sharks feeding among fishing boats
Authors: Rohner Christoph A. , Pierce Simon J. , Prebble Clare E.M. , Igulu Mathias , Kuguru Baraka , Cagua E. Fernando , Cochran Jesse E.M. , Berumen Michael L. , Paulsen Jens , Rubens Jason
Published: July 2019

Background Off Mafia Island, Tanzania, whale sharks are seen in a small bay that also boasts one of the country's largest coastal fisheries. We set out to determine the population structure of whale sharks here, examine their feeding behaviour and residency, and investigate the interaction between the sharks and fishers. Approach We conducted 261 boat-based surveys at Mafia Island between Oct 2012 and Dec 2015, recording all whale shark sightings as well as counting the numbers of tourist and fishing boats in the survey area during each trip. We estimated shark size visually and with laser photogrammetry and recorded sex, scars and behaviour of each shark. To examine residency, we deployed 67 acoustic tags on whale sharks and 19 receiver stations within the bay, and analysed recapture probability (both visual- and acoustic-based) with generalised additive mixing models. To investigate feeding plankton biomass and community structure, we collected 20 plankton samples when whale sharks were feeding and 202 background samples for comparison. We interviewed fishers and they recorded their fishing locations using a GPS. Results We identified 129 different whale sharks at Mafia Island, 54% of which were resighted in two or more years. Tagged sharks were acoustically detected throughout the year even though sightings were largely limited to Oct-Mar. Sharks ranged in total length from 2.5–9.7 m, were mostly male (87%), and were usually seen feeding (75%) at or near the surface. Dense patches (25 mg m–3) of large sergestids Lucifer hanseni prompted feeding, while background plankton tows were dominated by small copepods (2.5 mg m–3). Small and medium-sized planktivorous fishes also fed on the same patches of sergestids, often together with whale sharks. These smaller species were the main target of the local fishers. Fishing boats operated in the survey area on 90% of the time, but also made catches further afield. Fishers reported a conflict between whale sharks and their fishing operations on 36% of the time, although sharks were usually released from the nets without injury. A mean of 2.6 tourist boats per day searched the same survey area for whale sharks. Conclusions This small, resident group of whale sharks is routinely exposed to tourists, boat traffic and high fishing pressure. Whale sharks are commonly encircled in fishing nets and released, but scars indicate that they do occasionally get injured during this process. Mortalities are rare, based on interviews with fishers and long-term observers. Whale sharks at Mafia Island are unusually resident and face clear local threats. No defined management measures are currently in place, but we present some potential strategies for mitigating threats to whale sharks here.
Whale shark genetics: Where are we now and where should we be going?
Authors: Schmidt Jennifer V.
Published: July 2019

Background Classic ecological approaches can reveal only glimpses of the behavioral spectrum of a longlived migratory species. Genetic analysis has the potential to inform the migratory behavior and reproductive habits of animals that are difficult or impossible to observe in the wild. Although studied primarily as juveniles at seasonal feeding aggregations, whale sharks are believed to be capable of extensive migrations. The frequency and magnitude of these movements is unknown, as is the degree to which they mediate gene flow between populations. Recent studies have asked whether the sharks observed at different aggregation sites show evidence of genetic structure, or whether they constitute a single breeding population. We published a preliminary study in 2009, based on microsatellite analysis of animals from numerous globally distributed aggregation sites, with a finding of minimal genetic differentiation. Approach Our genetic study is ongoing, and now encompasses hundreds of whale sharks representing all major aggregations worldwide. Other groups have also performed genetic analyses of whale shark population structure, focusing on both regional and global scales. Particularly for studies using microsatellite markers, direct comparisons across laboratories and platforms are not possible. Synthesizing the overall conclusions from aggregate genetic studies, however, provides additional power to understand species behaviors. Results Initial analysis of broadly distributed whale sharks found only low levels of genetic differentiation across geographically distinct populations. While sharks from the Western Atlantic Ocean showed slightly greater differentiation from Pacific/Indian Ocean animals than these populations did from each other, this result was not statistically significant. An expanded data set has now provided stronger analytical resolution between populations, revealing subtle yet statistically significant levels of genetic differentiation of Atlantic sharks. Conclusions Our previous analysis suggested gene flow between whale shark populations at a level sufficient to normalize genetic differentiation. Combined with satellite tracking and other data, these results confirmed that whale sharks can and do migrate between oceans. An expanded study, however, along with data published by other groups, now indicates reduced mixing between Western Atlantic and Indian/Pacific sharks. A significant body of evidence therefore indicates that whale sharks do not have strong population structure, nor do they represent a single panmictic population. Rather they occupy a more biologically realistic intermediate, with varying degrees of isolation by distance and by ecological features. Future genetic characterization should focus on the addition of yet unstudied whale shark populations, on building a robust mitochondrial haplotype dataset with broad applicability, and on technical standardization that could allow comparisons between microsatellite data sets across laboratories and platforms.