J Vac Sci Technol B 2004, 22:3233.CrossRef selleck 12. Yang LJ, Yao TJ, Tai YC: The marching

velocity of the capillary meniscus in a micro channel. J Micromech Microeng 2004, 14:220.CrossRef 13. Abdelgawad M, Wu C, Chien W, Geddie WR, Jewett MAS, Sun Y: A fast and simple method to fabricate circular micro channels in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Lab Chip 2011, 11:545.CrossRef 14. Kang H, Lee J, Park J, Lee HH: An PRIMA-1MET molecular weight improved method of preparing composite poly (dimethylsiloxane) mould. Nanotechnol 2006, 17:197.CrossRef 15. Zhang M, Dobriyal P, Chen J, Russell TP: Wetting transition in cylindrical alumina nanopores with polymer melts. Nano Lett 2006, 6:1075.CrossRef 16. Ye X, Liu H, Ding Y, Li H, Lu B: Research on the cast molding process for high quality PDMS molds. Microelectron Eng 2009, 86:310.CrossRef 17. Olah A, Hillborg H, Vancso GJ: Hydrophobic recovery of Selleckchem IWR-1 UV/ozone treated poly (dimethylsiloxane): adhesion studies by contact mechanics and mechanism of surface modification. Appl Surf Sci 2005, 239:410–423.CrossRef 18. Efimenko K, Wallace WE, Genzer J: Surface modification of sylgard-184 poly (dimethyl siloxane) networks by ultraviolet and ultraviolet/ozone treatment. J Coll Interf Sci 2002, 254:306–315.CrossRef Competing interests Both authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions

CC carried out the experiments and drafted the manuscript. BC guided the study and revised the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Background Nanowire-based solar cells hold promise for next generation photovoltaics. In particular, silicon micro/nanowires have attracted considerable interest due to their potential advantages, including light trapping effects to enhance broadband optical absorption [1, 2] and the possibility to engineer radial p-n junctions using a core-shell structure, which in turn increases the

carrier collection [3–14]. In a radial p-n junction – a promising approach – crystalline silicon (c-Si) micro/nanowires are used Etofibrate as core and high-temperature diffused layers or low-temperature deposited silicon layers form the shell. These core-shell micro/nanowire array structures are expected to reduce the requirements on the quality and the quantity of Si needed for the fabrication of solar cell. Thus far, several methods have been established for the controlled growth of silicon nanowires (SiNWs). For instance, highly parallel SiNWs of desired lengths and diameters ranging from a few tens of nanometers to a few hundreds of nanometers could conventionally be obtained by aqueous electroless chemical etching of single crystalline silicon wafers [15–20]. Similarly, hydrogenated amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) can be deposited by the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method. According to this report, an efficiency of 7.

Among the various peptides, lipopeptides are well known to inhibit the growth of fungi and bacteria including opportunistic pathogens. Consequently, naturally produced antimicrobial lipopeptides have been receiving increased attention due to their anti-infective nature with wide antimicrobial spectrum. Besides the activity of natural peptides, any chemical modifications in structure of these lipopeptide are shown to improve their spectrum and activity. To this effect, daptomycin, an anionic lipopeptide has already been used for therapeutic applications [26]. While antimicrobial lipopeptides are produced by different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria,

only lipopeptides produced by species of Pseudomonas and Bacillus have been studied in detail [13, 14, Selleck NU7026 27–29]. In the present study several antimicrobial substances producing bacterial strains were isolated from a fecal contaminated soil sample and characterization of these substances revealed them as antimicrobial lipopeptides. The phenotypic features like Gram-negative staining, catalase positive, oxidase negative, facultative anaerobic growth and citrate utilization observed for all strains learn more suggested that they belong to the Enterobacteriaceae family, usually observed in fecal matter. The 16S rRNA gene sequence blast analysis and subsequent

phylogentic analysis assigned all strains to different species of the genera Citrobacter and Enterobacter. Interestingly, though strains S-5 and S-9 displayed high identity with E. hormaechei and E. mori respectively in 16S rRNA gene sequence, they only formed an out group to the cluster comprised of different Enterobacter and Citrobacter species (Figure 2). However, the overall topology of neighbour-joining tree revealed the phylogenetic complexity and discrepancies

in 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains Luminespib in vitro belonging to the family Enterobacteriaceae. It was also supported by the unusual inclusion of different species belonging to Unoprostone genera Citrobacter and Enterobacter in the same cluster suggesting the need to revisit the family Enterobacteriaceae. The antimicrobial lipopeptides typically contain a cyclic or linear oligopeptide linked with a β-hydroxy fatty acid tail of varied lengths [28]. Inhibition spectra of these lipopeptides are influenced by the composition of oligopeptide as well as fatty acid component [30, 31]. Antimicrobial lipopeptides are largely produced by Gram-positive bacteria like Bacillus sp. and are classified into different families based on the composition of oligopeptides and antibacterial or antifungal activities [32]. Among the Gram-negative bacteria, Pseudomonas is the only genus reported to produce antimicrobial lipopeptides such as massetolide, viscosin [33], syringomycin [34], arthrofactin [35], pseudodesmins [36], orfamide [16] and putisolvin [37]. In addition to these lipopeptides, species like P. fluorescens was reported to produce different massetolide analogues [33].

JAMA 296(9):1086–1093CrossRef Friedman SM, Sommersall LA, Gardam M, Arenovich T (2006) Suboptimal reporting of notifiable diseases in Canadian emergency departments: a survey of emergency physician knowledge, practices, and perceived barriers. Can Commun Dis Rep 32(17):187–198 Galizzi M, Miesmaa P, and Slatin C (2006) Occupational

injuries, workers’ reporting and firms policies in the health care industry: the challenges and rewards of combining qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. Paper submitted for the Conference on the Analysis of Firms and Employees (CAFÉ) in Nuremberg, Germany, 29–30 Sept. http://​doku.​iab.​de/​veranstaltungen/​2006/​CAFE_​2006_​G2_​Galizzi.​pdf Gebhardt WA, Maes S (2001) Integrating social-psychological frameworks for health behavior research. Am J Health Behav 25(6):528–536 Hazell L, Shakir SA (2006) selleck chemicals llc Under-reporting of adverse drug reactions: p38 protein kinase a systematic review. Drug Saf 29(5):385–396CrossRef Karjalainen A, Niederlaender E (2004) Occupational diseases in Europe in 2001, Statistics in focus 2004; Population and social conditions 2004 Kauppinen T, Riihimaki H, Kurppa K, Karjalainen A, Palo L, Jolanki R et al (2004) Occupational diseases in Finland in 2002. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki Lenderink AF (2005) Kop in de Wind, Tien jaar werken aan beroepsziekten, NCvB Amsterdam McGettigan

P, Golden J, Conroy RM, Arthur N, Feely J (1997) Reporting of adverse drug reactions by hospital doctors and the response to intervention. Br J Clin Pharmacol 44(1):98–100CrossRef Nordman H, Karjalainen A, Keskinen H (1999) Incidence of occupational asthma: a comparison by reporting systems. Am J Ind Med Suppl 1:130–133CrossRef Orriols R, Costa R, Albanell M, Alberti C, Castejon J, Monso E et al (2006) Reported occupational respiratory diseases in Catalonia. Occup Environ Med 63(4):255–260CrossRef

O-methylated flavonoid Poonai N, van Diepen S, Bharatha A, Manduch M, Deklaj T, Tarlo SM (2005) Barriers to diagnosis of occupational asthma in Ontario. Can J Public Health 963:230–233 Pransky G, Selleckchem GDC-0994 Snyder T, Dembe A, Himmelstein J (1999) Under-reporting of work-related disorders in the workplace: a case study and review of the literature. Ergonomics 42(1):171–182CrossRef Prochaska JO, Diclemente CC (1984) Self change processes, self efficacy and decisional balance across five stages of smoking cessation. Prog Clin Biol Res 156:131–140 Quinlan KB, McCaul KD (2000) Matched and mismatched interventions with young adult smokers: testing a stage theory. Health Psychol 19(2):165–171CrossRef Rosenman KD, Gardiner JC, Wang J, Biddle J, Hogan A, Reilly M, Roberts K, Welch E (2000) Why most workers with occupational repetitive trauma do not file for workers’ compensation. J Occup Environ Med 42.

Brazil first launched her nanotechnology program in 2005 with a budget of about US$31 million with 10 research networks involving about 300 PhD researchers [27]. Their focus has been on nanoparticles, nanophotonics, nanobiotechnology, CNTs, nanocosmetics, and simulation and modeling of nanostructures. Brazil has a strong selleck inhibitor collaboration link in her plan 2007 to 2013 with Bioactive Compound Library high throughput European Union, South Africa, and India, which has strengthened

their nanotechnology capabilities. TERI [28] reported that active Nanoscience and Technology Initiative (NSTI) started in India when its government launched her 5-year plan 2007 to 2012 with a budget estimate of US$254 million (approximately Re1,000 crore). The plan was aimed at developing centers SN-38 ic50 of excellence (COEs) targeting laboratories, infrastructure, and human resource development. They have strong collaboration with foreign stakeholders. Many of her states are participating actively in nanotechnology

programs such as Karnataka, Trivandrum and Tamilnadu engaging in biotechnology and health-related activities, respectively. The India Department of Science and Technology (DST) is the agency responsible for both basic and applied research in nanotechnology, with their areas of focus include nanotubes, nanowire, DNA chips, and nanostructured alloys/systems, among others. Molapisi [29] reported that South Africa is at the forefront and had strategically started her nanotechnology activities with a budget of US$2.7 million in 2005 and has spent a total sum of about US$77.5 million (2005 to 2012). South Africa nanotechnology is powered by her DST focusing on human capital development through students on researcher support program, establishment of nanoscience centers, equipment acquisition Methamphetamine program, and establishment of nanotechnology platform and two nanotechnology innovation centers that will encourage patent and prototype products [26]. South Africa has a strong collaboration with foreign partners especially Brazil and India.

Today, South Africa has gone into applied research stage focusing on nanocatalyst, nanofilters, nanowires, nanotubes, and quantum dots [28]. Malaysia started her nanotechnology campaign in 2001 and categorized it as a strategic plan under her IRPA (8MP) 2001 to 2005. A more robust plan was made for a 15-year period from 2005 to 2020 with more than 150 local researchers focusing on nanotechnology for advance materials and biotechnology to encourage the development of new companies and new products [30]. Wiwut [31] reported that in Thailand, the National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) was approved in 2003 with National Science and Technology Development Agency under Ministry of Science and Technology supervising with a mandate to promote industrial clusters in nanotechnology through human resource capitals and robust infrastructural development.

The peak height is not shown in the work of Carter et al. [32], but the value from another work [31] (1.7 × 1021 e/cm3) is a factor of 0.44 smaller than the peak we observe here. This may be due, to some extent, to the larger width of the SZP model this website leading to an associated lowering of

the peak density. Conclusions In this article, we have studied the valley splitting of the monolayer δ-doped Si:P, using a Nutlin-3a manufacturer density functional theory model with a plane-wave basis to establish firm grounds for comparison with less computationally intensive localised-basis ab initio methods. We found that the description of these systems (by density functional theory, using SZP basis functions) overestimates the valley splitting by over 50%. We show that

DZP basis sets are complete enough to deliver values within 10% of the plane-wave values and, due to their localised nature, are capable of calculating the properties of models twice as large as is tractable with plane-wave methods. These DZP models are converged with respect to size well before their tractable limit, which approaches that of SZP models. Valley splittings are important in interpreting transport spectroscopy experiment data, where they relate to families of resonances, and in benchmarking other theoretical techniques more capable of actual device modelling. It is therefore pleasing to have an ab initio description Crenolanib price of this effect which is fully converged with respect to basis completeness as well as the usual size effects and k-point mesh density. We have also studied the band structures with all three methods, finding that the DZP correctly determines the ∆-band minima away from the Γ point, where the SZP method does not. We show that these minima occur in the Σ direction for the type of cell considered, not the δ direction as has been previously reported. Having established the DZP methodology as sufficient to describe the physics of these systems, we then calculated the electronic density of states and the electronic width of the δ-layer. We found that previous SZP descriptions of these layers underestimate Paclitaxel price the width

of the layers by almost 15%. We have shown that the properties of interest of δ-doped Si:P are well converged for 40-layer supercells using a DZP description of the electronic density. We recommend the use of this amount of surrounding silicon, and technique, in any future DFT studies of these and similar systems – especially if inter-layer interactions are to be minimised. Appendix 1 Subtleties of bandstructure Regardless of the type of calculation being undertaken, a band structure diagram is inherently linked to the type (shape and size) of cell being used to represent the system under consideration. For each of the 14 Bravais lattices available for three-dimensional supercells, a particular Brillouin zone (BZ) with its own set of high-symmetry points exists in reciprocal space [54].

888 8.08 235 B CP1 2.217 5.62 130   CP2 2.666 6.44 198   CP3 2.817 MEK162 manufacturer 6.51 207 Samples A and B are both with GF120918 mw GaAs-like and InSb-like alternate IFs and even number of InAs and GaSb MLs. At successive IFs, if In-Sb bonds lie in the (110) plane, while In-As bonds lie in the (1 0) plane. Linearly polarized light propagates along the (001) direction. When the polarized direction is parallel to [110] and [1 0] directions, it feels different chemical bonds at IFs. As a result, the optical properties

along the [110] and [1 0] directions are different. In the RDS spectra, InSb features were not observed clearly in room temperature, since the features of E 0, E 1, and E 1+Δ 1CPs are very broadening with few ML [24]. This effect is identified as the spread of carrier wave function of the ultra-thin IF to surrounding layers. Figure 6a shows the Δ E c and Δ E v of unstrained GaAs, InAs, InSb, and GaSb system at Γ point [25, 26]. E 1and E 1+Δ 1take place Tariquidar nmr along the Λ directions of the Brillouin zone

where the valence and conduction bands are nearly parallel. The energy gap of L and Λ are nearly equal. We have inferred the band alignment of L point in Figure 6b. The reflectance peaks of L transitions are not observed, since these transitions are too weak or hidden in the Λ transition structures [22]. In Figure 6b, the Λ 1conduction band offset between InAs and GaSb is 0.234 eV, and the Λ 3valence band offset is 0.544 eV. The staggered band alignment of bulk materials imply that in every InAs/GaSb SL, there is a InAs-like conduction band minimum and GaSb-like valence

band maximum. The Λ 3valence band of InSb is much higher than GaSb, and the Λ 1conduction band is much higher than InAs. The Λ 3valence band splits into Λ (4,5)and Λ 6since the spin-orbital interaction. The red lines show the Λ 6energy positions. The Λ 6band of InSb is higher than Λ (4,5)band of InAs. As the thickness of InSb layers is increasing Arachidonate 15-lipoxygenase from 0.43 to 1.29 ML, compared to sample A, the effect of quantum well structures is enhanced. More holes are localized in InSb layers. However, there is no such effect for the GaAs layer. The IPOA intensities of CP1, CP2, and the shoulder-like CP about InSb are increased. While the IPOA intensities of CP3 are decreased and the transition energy position of CP2 are anomalous, blue shift may attribute to the coupling of these states. Figure 6 Band alignments of InAs, GaAs, GaSb and InSb binary system. (a) At Γ point of Brillouin zone. (b) At L point of Brillouin zone. The red lines are the spin-orbital splitting energies at L point. Conclusions The IPOA of InAs/GaSb SLs with InAs-like and GaSb-like alternate IFs were observed by RDS. The main mechanism can attribute to the symmetry reduction to C 2v . The increasing of InSb IFs’ thickness release the mismatch between the SL layer and substrate. The red shift of CP energies was observed.

[20]. The membranes were blocked with 5% bovine serum albumin (BSA) in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) overnight and treated with 1: 500 dilutions of different primary antibodies, followed by washing with 0.05% Tween-20/PBS for 3 times and incubation with 1: 500 dilution of HRP labeled secondary antibody for selleck chemicals llc further 3 h. Then the membrane was washed again and stained with ECL reagent. β-actin was used as loading control and stained with 1: 800 dilution of primary antibody

and 1: 500 dilution of HRP-labeled secondary screening assay antibody. Protein bands were quantified with densitometric analysis. Expression of each protein was calculated by the ratio of the intensity of this protein to that of β-actin. Assay of cell adhesion to Fn Cell adhesion experiment was carried out according to the methods described by Busk et al [21]. In brief, the wells of culture plate were coated with 0.1 ml of different concentrations of Fn. In addition,

1 mg/ml poly-L-lysine and 1% BSA were coated for 2 wells each as maximal and minimal adhesion controls respectively. The plate was incubated at 37°C for 1 h, and blocked by 1% BSA at 37°C for 0.5 h after washing. Cells (1 × 105) were added to each coated well and incubated for 2 h at 37°C, followed by staining with crystal violet after two washing, then the absorbance (Abs) at 595 nm was Belnacasan datasheet measured. Cell adhesion to the coated wells was calculated following a formula described in previous study [15]. The data were expressed as the mean of triplicate wells. Immunofluorescence Staining of Actin Filaments Glass coverslips were coated with fibronectin as described above. Cells were plated onto the coverslips in 35-mm dishes and cultured for 24 h. Then they were fixed with 3.7% paraformaldehyde

in PBS for 10 min and permeabilized with 0.5% Triton X-100 and 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS for 5 min. Actin filaments were stained with FITC-labeled phalloidin. Wound-induced Migration Assays Wound-induced migration assay was performed as described elsewhere Temsirolimus [22]. Cells (2 × 105 cells/well) were plated onto 12-well plastic plates coated with Fn (10 μg/ml) and cultured for 24 h. Then, subconfluent monolayers of the cells were scraped with a plastic pipette tip and washed with Hanks’ solution twice, and the medium was replaced with serum-free RPMI-1640. The distance between migrating cell fronts was measured at 0 and 6 h after scraping. Detection of integrin subunits on cell surface by flow cytometry Detection of cell surface integrin subunits was performed according to the method reported by Zhou et al [23]. Cells were dispersed in 2 mM EDTA in PBS and washed twice in PBS. Then 1 μ106 cells were incubated with monoclonal antibodies against α5 or β1 integrin subunits at a dilution of 1:100 in blocking buffer (1% BSA in PBS) for 45 min at 4°C.

Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2004, 316: 411–415.PubMedCrossRef check details 44. Hagen T, Vidal-Puig A: Characterisation of the phosphorylation of beta-catenin at the GSK-3 priming site Ser45. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2002,

294: 324–328.PubMedCrossRef 45. Stetler-Stevenson WG: Metalloproteinases and cancer invasion. Semin Cancer Biol 1990, 1: 99–106.PubMed 46. Gaisina IN, Gallier F, Ougolkov AV, Kim KH, Kurome T, Guo S, Holzle D, Luchini DN, Blond SY, Billadeau DD, Kozikowski AP: From a natural product lead to the identification of potent and selective benzofuran-3-yl-(indol-3-yl) maleimides as glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta inhibitors that suppress proliferation and survival of pancreatic cancer cells. J Med Chem 2009, 52: 1853–1863.PubMedCrossRef PR-171 Competing interests SB431542 solubility dmso SKK is named as an inventor on a patent for APF and a patent application that includes synthetic as -APF. Authors’ contributions HMS carried out major experiments for these studies. KRK

and COZ performed some of the qRT-PCR, and LG and COZ performed some of the Western blots, for this paper. SKK supervised the research and interpretation of the data. HMS and SKK also prepared the manuscript, which was reviewed by the other authors prior to submission.”
“Background Bupleurum radix, the dried root of Bupleurum falcatum, is one of the oldest and widely used crude drugs in traditional Chinese medicine. The major pharmaceutical ingredients in this plant are triterpene saponins, which

include saikosaponin-a, -d, and -c. Among these compounds, saikosaponin-a (SSa) and saikosaponin-d (SSd) are the major Cediranib (AZD2171) active pharmacological components, which exert analgesic, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-viral, and hepatoprotective activities [1–4]. It is noteworthy that both SSa and SSd have been reported to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in hepatoma cells, pancreatic cancer cells, breast cancer cells, and lung cancer cells [5–9], which makes them potential anti-cancer agents. Involvement of p53, nuclear factor kappaB and Fas/Fas ligand has been proposed for inhibition on cell growth and induction of apoptosis in human hepatoma cells by saikosaponin d [7]. However, the molecular mechanisms by which saikosaponins exert their anti-cancer effect are far from been elucidated. Cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum, DDP) is among the most effective and widely used chemotherapeutic agents employed for treatment of solid tumors. It is a platinum-based compound that forms intra- and inter-strand adducts with DNA, thus is a potent inducer of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in most cancer cell types[10]. However, a major limitation of cisplatin chemotherapy is that many tumors either are inherently resistant or acquire resistance to the drug after an initial response.

Methods A metal/HfO2/Au NCs/SiO2/Si (A1) structure was fabricated. P-type Si with a doping level of 8.33 × 1017 cm−3 was used as a substrate. A 3-nm-thick thermal SiO2 oxide was fabricated using a rapid thermal annealing

(RTA) device after pre-gate cleaning. An Au film with a thickness of approximately 1 nm was sputtered using SCD005 (Balzers Union, Balzers, Liechtenstein) with a sputtering time of 2 s. The Semaxanib ic50 sample was then annealed in N2 ambient using the RTA device. Annealing was performed at 600°C for 10 s Selleckchem CB-839 to form Au NCs. A 30-nm HfO2 film deposited by the electron beam (E-beam) evaporation system with a base pressure of 3.6 × 10−6 Torr served as the blocking layer. After depositing the TaN/Al metal gate electrode with thicknesses of 50/300 nm and the Cr/Au bottom electrode with thicknesses of 20/200 nm through magnetron Screening Library mouse sputtering, the capacitive structure of the NC memory device was finally completed. Metal/HfO2/SiO2/Si (A2), metal/SiO2/Au NCs/SiO2/Si (A3), and metal/HfO2 (PDA)/Au NCs/SiO2/Si (A4) were fabricated using the same process, with the exception of a 20-nm SiO2 film deposition using the E-beam for sample A3 and the annealing of HfO2 after deposition at 400°C for 10 min in the O2 ambient for sample A4. XPS with a 1,486.6-eV Al Kα source was used to obtain composition information about the as-deposited and annealed HfO2 film.

The electrical characteristics of the NC memory devices were measured in the parallel mode using a Keithley 4200 semiconductor characterization system (Cleveland, OH, USA) and a Keithley 590 C-V analyzer at room temperature. Results and discussion Figure 1 shows the cross-sectional high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) micrograph of the A1 device. The Au NCs formed on the 3-nm thermal SiO2 are covered with a 30-nm HfO2 layer. The NC density is approximately 8 × 1011 cm−2, wherein the size is mainly distributed from 6 to 8 nm. The charging

properties are described from the C-V measurements at 1 MHz with a step of 0.1 V/s for A1 (Figure 2a). Double C-V sweeps are Edoxaban performed with voltage sweeps from inversion to accumulation, i.e., from positive to negative bias and back to inversion to give prominence to the charge trapping in the Au NCs. Electron and hole trapping in the NCs are enabled by the positive and negative biases, respectively. The positive flat band voltage shifts (ΔV) correspond to an increase in electron trapping, whereas the negative ΔV corresponds to the increase in hole trapping given the increasing sweep voltage range. Figure 2a shows that the negative ΔV is about 1.05 V, whereas the positive ΔV is close to 0, which indicates that no additional electrons can be trapped with the increase in the sweep range. The inset plot in Figure 2a shows the C-V curves of sample A2.

There is also an official forestry department in Port Sudan that regulates the use of forest resources in the Beja territory. Cutting down live trees is banned by the forestry department, but our informants comment on its lack of efficiency SB202190 manufacturer in protecting AZD3965 acacias in the Sudanese RSH. The effectiveness of tribal law in safeguarding many important aspects of traditional desert livelihoods has, however, been well documented (e.g. Kennett 1925; Al-Krenawi and Graham 1999; Stewart 2006). Our sources concur that from early times, tribal control has successfully protected trees from destruction, and in most of the area still does. Without these laws there would be

more opportunities for abuse, including the overcutting of living trees that would threaten the viability of the tree populations and thereby the pastoral livelihood. People protect acacias for many more reasons than fear of tribal law. Our fieldwork has revealed numerous ways in which acacias are culturally valued.

Some trees even become important “personalities” on the cultural landscape, earning extra protection. A. tortilis can live for several centuries (Andersen and Krzywinski 2007a 961; Goslar et al. 2013), and as long as people perpetuate PLX-4720 oral traditions they pass along tree biographies. In some cases a man explicitly identifies a tree with himself: for example four generations ago a man named Ruwa‘iy of the Ma‘aza Ashhab clan pointed to his favorite acacia and said, “If anyone cuts it I will cut him!” This “autographed

tree” was henceforth Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase known as Sayaalit Ruwa‘iy and had special status until its death in the 1990s. The place it occupied is still identified as a landmark in Ma‘aza conversation and wayfinding (Hobbs 2014). Personalization of trees is characteristic of Ababda and Beja cultural landscapes as well. An Ababda man of the Saliim clan recited some of his peoples’ acacia “nicknames,” including Abu Jamal or “Father of the Camel” for the acacia under which a camel died and Abu Kakar or “Father of the Viper” in the shade of which snakes were encountered. The Hadandowa have a tree called Ohaj Tawaay after a revered spiritual leader named Ohaj, and their “Omda’s Tree” is named for one of their tribal leaders. Some of the most important cultural components of the nomads’ lives are kinship, faith, and dualities of permissible/forbidden and honorable/shameful. Aspects of these are prominent in establishing the acacia among the Hadandawa, Amar Ar, Bishaari, Ababda and Ma‘aza as a “cultural keystone species,” defined by Garibaldi and Turner (2004) as “culturally salient species that shape in a major way the cultural identity of a people, as reflected in the fundamental roles these species have in diet, materials, medicine, and/or spiritual practices.” Acacias feature prominently in important stages and places of the pastoralist’s life. In most Islamic cultures there is segregation of space by gender, with public space being male and private space female.