595 research outputs found
Talent identification and relative age effects in English male rugby union pathways: From entry to expertise
A common practice in youth rugby union is to group players based on (bi)annual age with fixed cut-off dates. The overrepresentation of players born at the start of the cut-off date and the underrepresentation of players born toward the end of the cut-off date are termed relative age effects (RAEs). The aim of this study was to examine RAEs during entry into professional and international rugby union pathways in England, as well as comparing them to their respective senior cohort: U15 Regional Academy Player (n = 1,114) vs. Senior Professional Player (n = 281) and U16â23 England Academy Player (n = 849) vs. Senior International Player (n = 48). Chi-square (Ï2) analysis compared birth quarter (BQ) distributions against expected distributions. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals compared the likelihood of a BQ being selected. Findings revealed a significant overrepresentation of relatively older players compared with their relatively younger peers within both youth cohorts (P < 0.001; BQ1 = 42.5% vs. BQ4 = 9.6%; BQ1 = 36.5% vs. BQ4 = 15.2%). In comparison, there was no significant difference in the BQ distributions within both senior cohorts. Further, BQ4s were 3.86 and 3.9 times more likely to achieve senior professional and international levels than BQ1s and BQ2s, respectively. It is suggested that relatively younger players may have a greater likelihood of achieving expertise following entry into a rugby union talent pathway due to benefitting from more competitive play against relatively older counterparts during their development (e.g., reversal effects; the underdog hypothesis). Moreover, possible solutions (e.g., age and anthropometric banding; playing-up and playing-down) are discussed to encourage practitioners and policy makers to create the most appropriate learning environment for every player
Whither Capitalism? Financial externalities and crisis
As with global warming, so with financial crises â externalities have a lot to answer for. We
look at three of them. First the financial accelerator due to âfire salesâ of collateral assets -- a
form of pecuniary externality that leads to liquidity being undervalued. Second the ârisk-
shiftingâ behaviour of highly-levered financial institutions who keep the upside of risky
investment while passing the downside to others thanks to limited liability. Finally, the
network externality where the structure of the financial industry helps propagate shocks
around the system unless this is checked by some form of circuit breaker, or âring-fenceâ.
The contrast between crisis-induced Great Recession and its aftermath of slow growth in the
West and the rapid - and (so far) sustained - growth in the East suggests that successful
economic progress may depend on how well these externalities are managed
Projected Changes to Wintertime AirâSea Turbulent Heat Fluxes Over the Subpolar North Atlantic Ocean
In wintertime over the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean (SPNA), the strongest surface sensible and latent heat fluxes typically occur just downstream of the sea-ice edge. The recent retreat in Arctic wintertime sea ice is changing the distribution of these turbulent heat fluxes, with consequences for the formation of the dense waters that feed into the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Projections of turbulent heat flux over the SPNA are investigated using output from the HadGEM3-GC3.1 climate model, produced as part of the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Inter-Comparison Project. Comparison of two model resolutions (MM: 60 km atmosphereâ1/4° ocean and HH: 25 kmâ1/12°) shows that the HH configuration more accurately simulates historic sea ice and turbulent heat flux distributions. The MM configuration tends to produce too much sea ice in the SPNA, affecting the turbulent heat flux distribution; however, it displays improved performance during winters with less sea ice, increasing confidence in future projections when less sea ice is predicted. Future projections are presented for low (SSP1-2.6) and high (SSP5-8.5) emissions pathways. The simulations agree in predicting that, with climate change, the SPNA will see reductions in wintertime sea ice and air-sea turbulent fluxes later in the 21st century, particularly in the Labrador and Irminger Seas and the interior of the Nordic Seas, and a notable reduction in their decadal variability. These effects are more severe under the SSP5-8.5 pathway. The implications for SPNA ocean circulation are discussed
Rapid evolution of virulence and drug resistance in the emerging zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus suis
Background: Streptococcus suis is a zoonotic pathogen that infects pigs and can occasionally cause serious infections in
humans. S. suis infections occur sporadically in human Europe and North America, but a recent major outbreak has been
described in China with high levels of mortality. The mechanisms of S. suis pathogenesis in humans and pigs are poorly
understood.
Methodology/Principal Findings: The sequencing of whole genomes of S. suis isolates provides opportunities to
investigate the genetic basis of infection. Here we describe whole genome sequences of three S. suis strains from the same
lineage: one from European pigs, and two from human cases from China and Vietnam. Comparative genomic analysis was
used to investigate the variability of these strains. S. suis is phylogenetically distinct from other Streptococcus species for
which genome sequences are currently available. Accordingly, ,40% of the ,2 Mb genome is unique in comparison to
other Streptococcus species. Finer genomic comparisons within the species showed a high level of sequence conservation;
virtually all of the genome is common to the S. suis strains. The only exceptions are three ,90 kb regions, present in the two
isolates from humans, composed of integrative conjugative elements and transposons. Carried in these regions are coding
sequences associated with drug resistance. In addition, small-scale sequence variation has generated pseudogenes in
putative virulence and colonization factors.
Conclusions/Significance: The genomic inventories of genetically related S. suis strains, isolated from distinct hosts and
diseases, exhibit high levels of conservation. However, the genomes provide evidence that horizontal gene transfer has
contributed to the evolution of drug resistance
Geomorphology of the Rees Valley, Otago, New Zealand
We present a 1:33,333 geomorphological map of the Rees Valley, Otago, New Zealand. The Rees River drains an area of ~405 km2 and feeds into the head of Lake Wakatipu. This area has been affected by a range of geomorphological processes including tectonic activity, glacial erosion and deposition, mass movement, fluvial action, and base (lake) level change. Mapping was achieved by a combination of interpretation from SPOT 5 HRG satellite imagery and ground-truthing. The map presents the current distribution of landforms and sediments associated with the wide variety of contemporary and past geomorphological processes. It represents the most detailed and finest resolution geomorphological map of this region to date, and hence a number of features have been mapped and described for the first time. The map will assist on-going studies in the Rees catchment that seek to understand fluvial sediment transport and associated flood hazards, the dynamics of former glaciers, base level change associated with a drop in the level of Lake Wakatipu, and mass movement hazards. © 2013 Simon J. Cook
Discovery of a peculiar Cepheid-like star towards the northern edge of the Small Magellanic Cloud
For seven years, the EROS-2 project obtained a mass of photometric data on
variable stars. We present a peculiar Cepheid-like star, in the direction of
the Small Magellanic Cloud, which demonstrates unusual photometric behaviour
over a short time interval. We report on data of the photometry acquired by the
MARLY telescope and spectroscopy from the EFOSC instrument for this star,
called EROS2 J005135-714459(sm0060n13842), which resembles the unusual Cepheid
HR 7308. The light curve of our target is analysed using the Analysis of
Variance method to determine a pulsational period of 5.5675 days. A fit of
time-dependent Fourier coefficients is performed and a search for proper motion
is conducted. The light curve exhibits a previously unobserved and spectacular
change in both mean magnitude and amplitude, which has no clear theoretical
explanation. Our analysis of the spectrum implies a radial velocity of 104 km
s and a metallicity of -0.40.2 dex. In the direction of right
ascension, we measure a proper motion of 17.46.0 mas yr using EROS
astrometry, which is compatible with data from the NOMAD catalogue. The nature
of EROS2 J005135-714459(sm0060n13842) remains unclear. For this star, we may
have detected a non-zero proper motion for this star, which would imply that it
is a foreground object. Its radial velocity, pulsational characteristics, and
photometric data, however, suggest that it is instead a Cepheid-like object
located in the SMC. In such a case, it would present a challenge to
conventional Cepheid models.Comment: Correction of typos in the abstrac
Foreign direct investment and institutional reform : evidence and an application to Portugal
We examine the role of geographic, economic, and institutional factors in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Europe, using a cross-section of inward bilateral investments. We estimate and assess the expected benefits, the required reform efforts, and the efficiency of reform options corresponding to a con- vergence of Portuguese institutions to EU standards. We conclude that improving home institutions is likely to have a quantitatively very significant role in attracting FDI. Geographical and market size factors also play a role. Reforms promoting the independence of financial institutions and a leaner bureaucracy, lowering political risk and corruption, and improving the investment code may significantly affect the amount of bilateral inward FDI that is targeted to Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
An evaluation of surface meteorology and fluxes over the Iceland and Greenland Seas in ERA5 reanalysis: The impact of sea ice distribution
The Iceland and Greenland Seas are a crucial region for the climate system, being the headwaters of the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Investigating the atmosphereâoceanâice processes in this region often necessitates the use of meteorological reanalysesâa representation of the atmospheric state based on the assimilation of observations into a numerical weather prediction system. Knowing the quality of reanalysis products is vital for their proper use. Here we evaluate the surfaceâlayer meteorology and surface turbulent fluxes in winter and spring for the latest reanalysis from the European Centre for MediumâRange Weather Forecasts, i.e., ERA5. In situ observations from a meteorological buoy, a research vessel, and a research aircraft during the IcelandâGreenland Seas Project provide unparalleled coverage of this climatically important region. The observations are independent of ERA5. They allow a comprehensive evaluation of the surface meteorology and fluxes of these subpolar seas and, for the first time, a specific focus on the marginal ice zone. Over the iceâfree ocean, ERA5 generally compares well to the observations of surfaceâlayer meteorology and turbulent fluxes. However, over the marginal ice zone, the correspondence is noticeably less accurate: for example, the rootâmeanâsquare errors are significantly higher for surface temperature, wind speed, and surface sensible heat flux. The primary reason for the difference in reanalysis quality is an overly smooth seaâice distribution in the surface boundary conditions used in ERA5. Particularly over the marginal ice zone, unrepresented variability and uncertainties in how to parameterize surface exchange compromise the quality of the reanalyses. A parallel evaluation of higherâresolution forecast fields from the Met Office's Unified Model corroborates these findings
Tracking and coordinating an international curation effort for the CCDS Project
The Consensus Coding Sequence (CCDS) collaboration involves curators at multiple centers with a goal of producing a conservative set of high quality, protein-coding region annotations for the human and mouse reference genome assemblies. The CCDS data set reflects a âgold standardâ definition of best supported protein annotations, and corresponding genes, which pass a standard series of quality assurance checks and are supported by manual curation. This data set supports use of genome annotation information by human and mouse researchers for effective experimental design, analysis and interpretation. The CCDS project consists of analysis of automated whole-genome annotation builds to identify identical CDS annotations, quality assurance testing and manual curation support. Identical CDS annotations are tracked with a CCDS identifier (ID) and any future change to the annotated CDS structure must be agreed upon by the collaborating members. CCDS curation guidelines were developed to address some aspects of curation in order to improve initial annotation consistency and to reduce time spent in discussing proposed annotation updates. Here, we present the current status of the CCDS database and details on our procedures to track and coordinate our efforts. We also present the relevant background and reasoning behind the curation standards that we have developed for CCDS database treatment of transcripts that are nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) candidates, for transcripts containing upstream open reading frames, for identifying the most likely translation start codons and for the annotation of readthrough transcripts. Examples are provided to illustrate the application of these guidelines
On the Use of Gene Ontology Annotations to Assess Functional Similarity among Orthologs and Paralogs: A Short Report
A recent paper (Nehrt et al., PLoS Comput. Biol. 7:e1002073, 2011) has proposed a metric for the âfunctional similarityâ between two genes that uses only the Gene Ontology (GO) annotations directly derived from published experimental results. Applying this metric, the authors concluded that paralogous genes within the mouse genome or the human genome are more functionally similar on average than orthologous genes between these genomes, an unexpected result with broad implications if true. We suggest, based on both theoretical and empirical considerations, that this proposed metric should not be interpreted as a functional similarity, and therefore cannot be used to support any conclusions about the âortholog conjectureâ (or, more properly, the âortholog functional conservation hypothesisâ). First, we reexamine the case studies presented by Nehrt et al. as examples of orthologs with divergent functions, and come to a very different conclusion: they actually exemplify how GO annotations for orthologous genes provide complementary information about conserved biological functions. We then show that there is a global ascertainment bias in the experiment-based GO annotations for human and mouse genes: particular types of experiments tend to be performed in different model organisms. We conclude that the reported statistical differences in annotations between pairs of orthologous genes do not reflect differences in biological function, but rather complementarity in experimental approaches. Our results underscore two general considerations for researchers proposing novel types of analysis based on the GO: 1) that GO annotations are often incomplete, potentially in a biased manner, and subject to an âopen world assumptionâ (absence of an annotation does not imply absence of a function), and 2) that conclusions drawn from a novel, large-scale GO analysis should whenever possible be supported by careful, in-depth examination of examples, to help ensure the conclusions have a justifiable biological basis
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