The Great Commandment, Tao, and the Survival of Humanity

But why should the species be preserved? ... Stepping outside the Tao, they have stepped into the void. At present humans appear wildly successful in evolutionary terms: with a mass comparable to other primates we have an abundance comparable to insects. But this success is entangled with a paradox: evolutionary success is tradition- ally seen as based on fierce competition, yet our current success is unsustainable without unprecedented levels of cooperation. A partial resolution of this paradox comes from realizing that cooperation is a fundamental principle of biology, and indeed from our earliest primate ancestors, our biological origins lie in the emergence of the most complex and long-lived cooperative behaviors among extended families. Without these levels of cooperation the success of humankind would have been impossible. It is also significant that a number of major world religions attach great importance to widely-directed love, compassion, and respect for Creation, and that religion has historically been a substantial factor in widespread cooperation. So, we must now find out – quickly – whether the biological gift of a habit of cooperativeness, aided and abetted by religious or other underpinnings, will also be sufficient to save us as a species from the future consequences of our current success

Social Interaction among Late Archaic and Incipient Agricultural Groups in the North American Southwest

This study proposes that the transition to agriculture in the North American Southwest caused changes in social group relationships, especially in terms of cooperation and competition over land use. The research will provide new insights into the interaction of Late Archaic (1200-800 B.C.) and incipient agricultural (800 B.C.-A.D. 200) groups by analyzing the differences and similarities of projectile point attributes from the Tucson Basin, Black Mesa, and the Hueco Bolson of the North American Southwest. The expectations of this study are that it will show that mobility and subsistence strategies permitted Late Archaic groups to be more cooperative and in less competition for resources, and therefore they would have similar projectile point morphology due to group interactions. In contrast, the later incipient agricultural groups across the North American Southwest who relied more on agriculture would have had smaller territories and would have been in competition with each other for suitable farmlands. Therefore, projectile point design styles between each region should show statistically significant differences in their attributes. Evidence from the research indicates that groups from the Tucson Basin, Black Mesa, and the Hueco Bolson had complex and dynamic social interaction resulting from acculturation during the Late Archaic and incipient agricultural periods

Dynamics of value-tracking in financial markets

The effciency of a modern economy depends on value-tracking: that market prices of key assets broadly track some underlying value. This can be expected if a suffcient weight of market participants are valuation- based traders, buying and selling an asset when its price is, respectively, below and above their well-informed private valuations. Such tracking will never be perfect, and we propose a natural unit of tracking error, the 'deciblack' . We then use a simple discrete-time model to show how large tracking errors can arise if enough market participants are not valuation-based traders, regardless of how much information the valuation-based traders have. Similarly to Lux [17] and others who study subtly different models, we find a threshold above which value-tracking breaks down without any changes in the underlying value of the asset. We propose an estimator of the tracking error and establish its statistical properties. Because financial markets are increasingly dominated by non-valuation-based traders, assessing how much valuation-based investing is required for reasonable value tracking is of urgent practical interest

Can microclimate offer refuge to an upland bird species under climate change?

Context: Climate change is a severe threat to biodiversity. Areas with a high variety of microclimates may provide opportunities for species to persist in a changing climate. Objectives: Test the extent to which microclimate is an important determinant of the distribution of a widespread upland passerine, the meadow pipit Anthus pratensis, and whether microclimate becomes an increasingly important determinant of distribution towards the warm edge of the species’ range. Methods: We used models of the occurrence of meadow pipits based on data from an extensive survey to identify macroclimate and topographic associations, the latter as proxies of microclimate. We assessed magnitude and direction of the effects of microclimate and whether the magnitude of microclimate effects increases as macroclimate suitability declines. Results: The probability of meadow pipit occurrence is significantly correlated with macroclimate and microclimate. Microclimate accounts for about a third of the variation in occupancy probability and has a stronger effect than macroclimate at all three spatial scales considered. Elevation and topographical wetness index are positively correlated with meadow pipit occurrence, while insolation is negatively correlated. Elevation and macroclimate suitability show a positive interaction, while insolation and macroclimate suitability show a negative interaction. Conclusions: Microclimate substantially influences the distribution of the meadow pipit. For high latitude and upland species such as this, suitable areas on cool slopes could form the focus for conservation protection, as these areas are likely to become increasingly utilised and may remain the only locations occupied in otherwise unsuitable climate

Genomic analysis of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli colonising adults in Blantyre, Malawi reveals previously undescribed diversity

Escherichia coli is one of the most prevalent Gram-negative species associated with drug resistant infections. Strains that produce extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) or carbapenemases are both particularly problematic and disproportionately impact resource limited healthcare settings where last-line antimicrobials may not be available. A large number of E. coli genomes are now available and have allowed insights into pathogenesis and epidemiology of ESBL E. coli but genomes from sub-Saharan Africa (sSA) are significantly underrepresented. To reduce this gap, we investigated ESBL-producing E. coli colonising adults in Blantyre, Malawi to assess bacterial diversity and AMR determinants and to place these isolates in the context of the wider population structure. We performed short-read whole-genome sequencing of 473 colonising ESBL E. coli isolated from human stool and contextualised the genomes with a previously curated multi-country collection of 10 146 E. coli genomes and sequence type (ST)-specific collections for our three most commonly identified STs. These were the globally successful ST131, ST410 and ST167, and the dominant ESBL genes were blaCTX-M, mirroring global trends. However, 37 % of Malawian isolates did not cluster with any isolates in the curated multicountry collection and phylogenies were consistent with locally spreading monophyletic clades, including within the globally distributed, carbapenemase-associated B4/H24RxC ST410 lineage. A single ST2083 isolate in this collection harboured a carbapenemase gene. Long read sequencing demonstrated the presence of a globally distributed ST410-associated carbapenemase carrying plasmid in this isolate, which was absent from the ST410 strains in our collection. We conclude there is a risk that carbapenem resistance in E. coli could proliferate rapidly in Malawi under increasing selection pressure, and that both ongoing antimicrobial stewardship and genomic surveillance are critical as local carbapenem use increases

Effects of a programme of vigorous physical activity during secondary school physical education on academic performance, fitness, cognition, mental health and the brain of adolescents (Fit to Study): Study protocol for a cluster randomised trial

Background. Early adolescence is a period of dynamic neurobiological change. Converging lines of research suggest that regular physical activity (PA) and improved aerobic fitness have the potential to stimulate positive brain changes, improve cognitive function and boost academic attainment in this age group, but high-quality studies are needed to substantiate these findings. The primary aim of the Fit to Study trial is to investigate whether short infusions of vigorous PA (VPA) delivered during secondary school physical education (PE) can improve attainment in maths, as described in a protocol published by NatCen Social Research. The present protocol concerns the trial’s secondary outcome measures, which are variables thought to moderate or mediate the relationship between PA and attainment, including the effect of the intervention on cardiorespiratory fitness, cognitive performance, mental health and brain structure and function. Method. The Fit to Study project is a cluster-randomised controlled trial that includes Year 8 pupils (aged 12–13) from secondary state schools in South/Mid-England. Schools were randomised into an intervention condition in which PE teachers delivered an additional 10 min of VPA per PE lesson for one academic year, or a ‘PE as usual’ control condition. Intervention and control groups were stratified according to whether schools were single-sex or co-educational. Assessments take place at baseline (end of Year 7, aged 11–12) and after 12 months (Year 8). Secondary outcomes are cardiorespiratory fitness, objective PA during PE, cognitive performance and mental health. The study also includes exploratory measures of daytime sleepiness, attitudes towards daily PA and PE enjoyment. A sub-set of pupils from a sub-set of schools will also take part in a brain imaging sub-study, which is embedded in the trial. Discussion. The Fit to Study trial could advance our understanding of the complex relationships between PA and aerobic fitness, the brain, cognitive performance, mental health and academic attainment during adolescence. Further, it will add to our understanding of whether school PE is an effective setting to increase VPA and fitness, which could inform future PA interventions and education policy