Sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica) hiding time depends on individual and state.

The decisions animals make to adjust their antipredator behavior to rapidly changing conditions have been well studied. Inducible defenses in plants are an antipredator behavior that acts on a longer time scale, but sensitive plants, Mimosa pudica, have a much more rapid antipredator response; they temporarily close their leaves when touched. The time they remain closed is defined as hiding time. We studied hiding time in sensitive plants and found that individual plants differed significantly in their hiding times. We then showed that the effect of individual explained substantial variation in hiding time on a short time scale. Finally, on a longer time scale, individuality persisted but the amount of variation attributed to individual decreased. We hypothesized that variation in plant condition might explain this change. We therefore manipulated sunlight availability and quantified hiding time. When deprived of light for 6 h, sensitive plants significantly shortened their hiding times. But when only half a plant was deprived of light, hiding times on the deprived half and light exposed half were not significantly different. This suggests that overall condition best explains variation in sensitive plant antipredator behavior. Just like in animals, sensitive plant antipredator behavior is condition dependent, and, just like in animals, a substantial amount of the remaining variation is explained by individual differences between plants. Thus, models designed to predict plasticity in animal behavior may be successfully applied to understand behavior in other organisms, including plants

Scientific Standards and the Regulation of Genetically Modified Insects

Experimental releases of genetically modified (GM) insects are reportedly being evaluated in various countries, including Brazil, the Cayman Islands (United Kingdom), France, Guatemala, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States of America, and Vietnam. GM mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) have already been released for field trials into inhabited areas in the Cayman Islands (2009–?), Malaysia (2010–2011), and Brazil (2011–2012). Here, we assess the regulatory process in the first three countries permitting releases (Malaysia, US, and the Cayman Islands) in terms of pre-release transparency and scientific quality. We find that, despite 14 US government–funded field trials over the last 9 years (on a moth pest of cotton), there has been no scientific publication of experimental data, and in only two instances have permit applications been published. The world's first environmental impact statement (EIS) on GM insects, produced by US authorities in 2008, is found to be scientifically deficient on the basis that (1) most consideration of environmental risk is too generic to be scientifically meaningful; (2) it relies on unpublished data to establish central scientific points; and (3) of the approximately 170 scientific publications cited, the endorsement of the majority of novel transgenic approaches is based on just two laboratory studies in only one of the four species covered by the document. We find that it is not possible to determine from documents publically available prior to the start of releases if obvious hazards of the particular GM mosquitoes released in Malaysia, the Cayman Islands, and Brazil received expert examination. Simple regulatory measures are proposed that would build public confidence and stimulate the independent experimental studies that environmental risk assessments require. Finally, a checklist is provided to assist the general public, journalists, and lawmakers in determining, from documents issued by regulators prior to the start of releases, whether permit approval is likely to have a scientifically high quality basi

Comment on `On the Quantum Theory of Molecules' [J. Chem.Phys. {\bf 137}, 22A544 (2012)]

In our previous paper [J. Chem.Phys. {\bf 137}, 22A544 (2012)] we argued that the Born-Oppenheimer approximation could not be based on an exact transformation of the molecular Schr\"{o}dinger equation. In this Comment we suggest that the fundamental reason for the approximate nature of the Born-Oppenheimer model is the lack of a complete set of functions for the electronic space, and the need to describe the continuous spectrum using spectral projection.Comment: 2 page

Visioning The Nation: Classical Images As Allegory During The French Revolution

In the latter half of the Eighteenth Century, France experienced a seismic shift in the nature of political culture. The king gave way to the nation at the center of political life as the location of sovereignty transferred to the people. While the French Revolution changed the structure of France\u27s government, it also changed the allegorical representations of the nation. At the Revolution\u27s onset, the monarchy embodied both the state and nation as equated ideas. During the Revolutionary Decade and through the reign of Napoleon different governments experienced the need to reorient these symbols away from the person of the king to the national community. Following the king\u27s execution, the Committee government invented connections to the ancient past in order to build legitimacy for their rule in addition to extricating the monarchy\u27s symbols from political life. During the rule of Napoleon, he used classical symbols to associate himself with Roman Emperors to embody the nation in his person. Through an examination of the different types of classical symbols that each government illustrates the different ways that attempted to symbolically document this important shift in the location of sovereignty away from the body of the king to the nation

An unusual case of peripartum cardiomyopathy manifesting with multiple thrombo-embolic phenomena

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare form of heart failure with a reported incidence of 1 per 3000 to 1 per 4000 live births and a fatality rate of 20%–50%. Onset is usually between the last month of pregnancy and up to 5 months postpartum in previously healthy women. Although viral, autoimmune and idiopathic factors may be contributory, its etiology remains unknown. PPCM initially presents with signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure and rarely with thrombo-embolic complications. We report an unusual case of PPCM in a previously healthy postpartum woman who presented with an acute abdomen due to unrecognized thromboemboli of the abdominal organs. This case illustrates that abdominal pain in PPCM may not always result from hepatic congestion as previously reported, but may occur as a result of thromboemboli to abdominal organs. Further research is needed to determine the true incidence of thromboemboli in PPCM

What makes an operational Farm Soil Carbon Code? Insights from a global comparison of existing soil carbon codes using a structured analytical framework

Soils have the potential to sequester and store significant amounts of carbon, contributing towards climate change mitigation. Soil carbon markets are now emerging to pay farmers for changes in land use or management that absorb carbon from the atmosphere, governed by codes that ensure additionality, permanence and non-leakage whilst protecting against unintentional reversals. This paper represents the first global comparative analysis of agricultural soil carbon codes, providing new insights into the wide range of approaches currently used to govern these emerging markets internationally. To do this, the paper first develops an analytical framework for the systematic comparison of codes, which could be applied to the analysis of codes in other land uses and habitats. This framework was then used to identify commonalities and differences in methods, projects, administration and commercialisation and associated code documents for 12 publicly available codes from the UK, France, Australia, USA and international bodies. Codes used a range of mechanisms to manage: additionality (including legal, adoption, financial viability and investment tests); uncertainty and risks around soil carbon sequestration (including minimum permanence periods, carbon buffers, contractual arrangements and/or insurance policies); leakage (including restriction of eligible practices and monitoring to subtract leakage from verified sequestration); baselines (including multi-year and variable buffers based on empirical data or models); measurement, reporting and verification methods (stipulating time intervals, methods, data sources and assessments of uncertainty); auditing; resale of carbon units; stakeholder engagement; and approaches to ensure market integrity (such as buyer checks). The paper concludes by discussing existing MRV methods and codes that could be adapted for use in the UK and evaluates the need for an over-arching standard for soil carbon codes in the UK, to which existing codes and other schemes already generating soil carbon credits could be assessed and benchmarked