Among the tested seeding methods, a forced fluid flow-based technique resulted in an enhanced cell infiltration throughout the scaffolds compared with static seeding. The current study provides an excellent set of tools for the development of scaffolds and for the design of 3D cell culture experiments.Sudden oak death has devastated tree populations across California. However, management might still slow disease spread at local scales. We demonstrate how to unambiguously characterize effective, local management strategies using a detailed, spatially explicit simulation model of spread in a single forest stand. This pre-existing, parameterized simulation is approximated here by a carefully calibrated, non-spatial model, explicitly constructed to be sufficiently simple to allow optimal control theory (OCT) to be applied. By lifting management strategies from the approximate model to the detailed simulation, effective time-dependent controls can be identified. These protect tanoak-a culturally and ecologically important species-while conserving forest biodiversity within a limited budget. We also consider model predictive control, in which both the approximating model and optimal control are repeatedly updated as the epidemic progresses. This allows management which is robust to both parameter uncertainty and systematic differences between simulation and approximate models. Including the costs of disease surveillance then introduces an optimal intensity of surveillance. Our study demonstrates that successful control of sudden oak death is likely to rely on adaptive strategies updated via ongoing surveillance. More broadly, it illustrates how OCT can inform effective real-world management, even when underpinning disease spread models are highly complex.Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness and is characterized by the death of retinal ganglion cells, which carry vision information from the retina to the brain. Although it is well accepted that biomechanics is an important part of the glaucomatous disease process, the mechanisms by which biomechanical insult, usually due to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), leads to retinal ganglion cell death are not understood. Rat models of glaucoma afford an opportunity for learning more about these mechanisms, but the biomechanics of the rat optic nerve head (ONH), a primary region of damage in glaucoma, are only just beginning to be characterized. In a previous study, we built finite-element models with individual-specific rat ONH geometries. Here, we developed a parametrized model of the rat ONH and used it to perform a sensitivity study to determine the influence that six geometric parameters and 13 tissue material properties have on rat optic nerve biomechanical strains due to IOP elevation. Strain magnitudes and patterns in the parametrized model generally matched those from individual-specific models, suggesting that the parametrized model sufficiently approximated rat ONH anatomy. Similar to previous studies in human eyes, we found that scleral properties were highly influential the six parameters with highest influence on optic nerve strains were optic nerve stiffness, IOP, scleral thickness, the degree of alignment of scleral collagen fibres, scleral ground substance stiffness and the scleral collagen fibre uncrimping coefficient. We conclude that a parametrized modelling strategy is an efficient approach that allows insight into rat ONH biomechanics. Further, scleral properties are important influences on rat ONH biomechanics, and additional efforts should be made to better characterize rat scleral collagen fibre organization.Here, we use 30 long-term, high-resolution palaeoecological records from Mexico, Central and South America to address two hypotheses regarding possible drivers of resilience in tropical forests as measured in terms of recovery rates from previous disturbances. First, we hypothesize that faster recovery rates are associated with regions of higher biodiversity, as suggested by the insurance hypothesis. And second, that resilience is due to intrinsic abiotic factors that are location specific, thus regions presently displaying resilience in terms of persistence to current climatic disturbances should also show higher recovery rates in the past. To test these hypotheses, we applied a threshold approach to identify past disturbances to forests within each sequence. We then compared the recovery rates to these events with pollen richness before the event. We also compared recovery rates of each site with a measure of present resilience in the region as demonstrated by measuring global vegetation persistence to climatic perturbations using satellite imagery. Preliminary results indeed show a positive relationship between pre-disturbance taxonomic richness and faster recovery rates. However, there is less evidence to support the concept that resilience is intrinsic to a region; patterns of resilience apparent in ecosystems presently are not necessarily conservative through time.While non-human primate studies have long been conducted in laboratories, and more recently at zoological parks, sanctuaries are increasingly considered a viable setting for research. AZD4573 order Accredited sanctuaries in non-range countries house thousands of primates formerly used as subjects of medical research, trained performers or personal pets. In range countries, however, sanctuaries typically house orphaned primates confiscated from illegal poaching and the bushmeat and pet trafficking trades. Although the primary mission of these sanctuaries is to rescue and rehabilitate residents, many of these organizations are increasingly willing to participate in non-invasive research. Notably, from a scientific standpoint, most sanctuaries provide potential advantages over traditional settings, such as large, naturalistic physical and social environments which may result in more relevant models of primates' free-ranging wild counterparts than other captive settings. As a result, an impressive scope of research in the fields of primate behaviour, cognition, veterinary science, genetics and physiology have been studied in sanctuaries. In this review, we examine the range and form of research that has been conducted at accredited sanctuaries around the world. We also describe the potential challenges of sanctuary-based work and the considerations that external researchers may face when deciding to collaborate with primate sanctuaries on their research projects.