A sufficient condition for starlikeness of order α

We obtain a sufficient condition for starlikeness of order α, |f′(z)−λ(f(z)/z)+λ−1|<M=Mn(λ,α), where λ∈[0,1], α∈[0,1] and the function f(z)=z+an+1zn+1+⋯ is analytic in the unit disc U

Hosts and Hostilities: Base Politics in Italy and Japan

One of the characteristics Japan and Italy share in the post-war period is the presence of a vast network of American bases on their respective sovereign territories. The aim of these bases varied since they were set up. During the early postwar period the bases contributed to keeping Washington’s former enemies under control. During the Cold War, they were essential elements of what the literature refers to as double containment policy. After the Cold War they become fundamental elements of the American so-called ‘command of the commons’. Even if the purpose of the US bases has been someway similar, ‘base politics’ have had a very different impact on Italian and Japanese domestic and foreign policies. In Japan, the opposition has been constant and intense, while in Italy US military presence was in essence welcome. In this chapter, I will highlight how dynamics related to local, domestic and international politics determined these different approaches to the presence of US military bases in Italy and Japa

Climate and human influences on global biomass burning over the past two millennia

Large, well-documented wildfires have recently generated worldwide attention, and raised concerns about the impacts of humans and climate change on wildfire regimes. However, comparatively little is known about the patterns and driving forces of global fire activity before the twentieth century. Here we compile sedimentary charcoal records spanning six continents to document trends in both natural and anthropogenic biomass burning for the past two millennia. We find that global biomass burning declined from AD 1 to 1750, before rising sharply between 1750 and 1870. Global burning then declined abruptly after 1870. The early decline in biomass burning occurred in concert with a global cooling trend and despite a rise in the human population. We suggest the subsequent rise was linked to increasing human influences, such as population growth and land-use changes. Our compilation suggests that the final decline occurred despite increasing air temperatures and population. We attribute this reduction in the amount of biomass burned over the past 150 years to the global expansion of intensive grazing, agriculture and fire management

The Importance of Lateral Connections in the Parietal Cortex for Generating Motor Plans

<div><p>Substantial evidence has highlighted the significant role of associative brain areas, such as the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in transforming multimodal sensory information into motor plans. However, little is known about how different sensory information, which can have different delays or be absent, combines to produce a motor plan, such as executing a reaching movement. To address these issues, we constructed four biologically plausible network architectures to simulate PPC: 1) feedforward from sensory input to the PPC to a motor output area, 2) feedforward with the addition of an efference copy from the motor area, 3) feedforward with the addition of lateral or recurrent connectivity across PPC neurons, and 4) feedforward plus efference copy, and lateral connections. Using an evolutionary strategy, the connectivity of these network architectures was evolved to execute visually guided movements, where the target stimulus provided visual input for the entirety of each trial. The models were then tested on a memory guided motor task, where the visual target disappeared after a short duration. Sensory input to the neural networks had sensory delays consistent with results from monkey studies. We found that lateral connections within the PPC resulted in smoother movements and were necessary for accurate movements in the absence of visual input. The addition of lateral connections resulted in velocity profiles consistent with those observed in human and non-human primate visually guided studies of reaching, and allowed for smooth, rapid, and accurate movements under all conditions. In contrast, Feedforward or Feedback architectures were insufficient to overcome these challenges. Our results suggest that intrinsic lateral connections are critical for executing accurate, smooth motor plans.</p></div