Threshold logic implementation of a modular computer system design

Threshold logic implementation for LSI design of modular computer syste

Links from mantle to microbe at the Lau Integrated Study Site : insights from a back-arc spreading center

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 25, no. 1 (2012): 62–77, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2012.04.The Lau Integrated Study Site (ISS) has provided unique opportunities for study of ridge processes because of its back-arc setting in the southwestern Pacific. Its location allows study of a biogeographical province distinct from those of eastern Pacific and mid-Atlantic ridges, and crustal compositions along the ridge lie outside the range of mid-ocean ridge crustal compositions. The Lau ISS is located above a subduction zone, at an oblique angle. The underlying mantle receives water and other elements derived from the downgoing lithospheric slab, with an increase in slab influence from north to south. Water lowers the mantle melting temperature and leads to greater melt production where the water flux is greater, and to distinctive regional-scale gradients along the ridge. There are deeper faulted axial valleys with basaltic volcanism in the north and inflated axial highs with andesites in the south. Differences in igneous rock composition and release of magmatic volatiles affect compositions of vent fluids and deposits. Differences in vent fluid compositions and small-scale diffuse-flow regimes correlate with regional-scale patterns in microbial and megafaunal distributions. The interdisciplinary research effort at the Lau ISS has successfully identified linkages between subsurface processes and deep-sea biological communities, from mantle to microbe to megafauna.Support was provided by National Science Foundation grants OCE-1038135 to MKT, OCE-0732369 and OCE-0240985 to CRF, OCE-0732369 and OCE-0838107 to PRG, OCE-0242618 to CHL, OCE-0242902 and OCE-0752256 to PJM, OCE-0728391 and OCE-0937404 to A-LR, and a GRFP to RB

A four‐component classification of uncertainties in biological invasions: implications for management

Although uncertainty is an integral part of any science, it raises doubts in public perception about scientific evidence, is exploited by denialists, and therefore potentially hinders the implementation of management actions. As a relatively young field of study, invasion science contains many uncertainties. This may explain why, despite international policies aimed at mitigating biological invasions, the implementation of national- and regional-scale measures to prevent or control alien species has done little to slow the increase in extent of invasions and the magnitude of impacts. Uncertainty is therefore a critical aspect of invasion science that should be addressed to enable the field to progress further. To improve how uncertainties in invasion science are captured and characterized, we propose a framework, which is also applicable to other applied research fields such as climate and conservation science, divided into four components: the need (1) to clearly circumscribe the phenomenon, (2) to measure and provide evidence for the phenomenon (i.e., confirmation), (3) to understand the mechanisms that cause the phenomenon, and (4) to understand the mechanisms through which the phenomenon results in consequences. We link these issues to three major types of uncertainty: linguistic, psychological, and epistemic. The application of this framework shows that the four components tend to be characterized by different types of uncertainty in invasion science.We explain how these uncertainties can be detrimental to the implementation of management measures and propose ways to reduce them. Since biological invasions are increasingly tightly embedded in complex socio-ecological systems, many problems associated with these uncertainties have convoluted solutions. They demand the consensus of many stakeholders to define and frame the dimensions of the phenomenon, and to decide on appropriate actions. While many of the uncertainties cannot be eliminated completely, we believe that using this framework to explicitly identify and communicate them will help to improve collaboration between researchers and managers, increase scientific, political, and public support for invasion research, and provide a stronger foundation for sustainable management strategies

Metatranscriptomics reveal differences in in situ energy and nitrogen metabolism among hydrothermal vent snail symbionts

Despite the ubiquity of chemoautotrophic symbioses at hydrothermal vents, our understanding of the influence of environmental chemistry on symbiont metabolism is limited. Transcriptomic analyses are useful for linking physiological poise to environmental conditions, but recovering samples from the deep sea is challenging, as the long recovery times can change expression profiles before preservation. Here, we present a novel, in situ RNA sampling and preservation device, which we used to compare the symbiont metatranscriptomes associated with Alviniconcha, a genus of vent snail, in which specific host–symbiont combinations are predictably distributed across a regional geochemical gradient. Metatranscriptomes of these symbionts reveal key differences in energy and nitrogen metabolism relating to both environmental chemistry (that is, the relative expression of genes) and symbiont phylogeny (that is, the specific pathways employed). Unexpectedly, dramatic differences in expression of transposases and flagellar genes suggest that different symbiont types may also have distinct life histories. These data further our understanding of these symbionts' metabolic capabilities and their expression in situ, and suggest an important role for symbionts in mediating their hosts' interaction with regional-scale differences in geochemistry

Clinical supervision for clinical psychology students in Uganda: an initial qualitative exploration

Background Burn out in clinical psychologists working in low income countries has been reported. Clinical supervisory structures do not yet exist in Uganda. A way to decrease levels of burn out and increase quality of care for people with mental illness is through clinical supervision. The aim of this study was to explore the initial experiences of supervision for clinical psychology students in Uganda to ascertain whether or not clinical supervision is culturally appropriate, and what aspects of supervision had been helpful and unhelpful. Methods A qualitative design with thematic analysis was utilized. A focus group was held with 12 second year clinical psychology students to ask their experiences of receiving supervision. Results Data analysis created five themes. Firstly, the negative emotions that resulted from the training processed were discussed, and how supervision helped and did not help the students to manage these. Secondly, the students voiced that supervision helped them to learn through observational experiences, co-therapist roles and parallel processes within the supervisory relationship. Thirdly, supervision had taught the clinical psychology students their role as a clinical psychology student, how to act within the Ugandan mental health system and skills to conduct therapy. Fourthly, suggestions for the future of supervision were given, with the students requesting for it to start earlier in the training, for supervisors who can meet with the students on a regular basis to be selected and for the training the students receive at university to match the skills required on their placements, with a request for more practical techniques rather than theory. The final theme related to left over miscellaneous data, such as the students agreeing with each other. Conclusions The students stated that supervision was helpful overall, implying that clinical supervision is culturally appropriate for clinical psychology students in Uganda. Suggestions for future supervision were given. In order to decrease high levels of staff burn out in the mental health systems in Uganda, supervisory structures with an emphasis on self care need to be established

Israel and a sports boycott: Antisemitic? Anti-Zionist?

The paper identifies and summarises the debates that surround the place of Israel in international sport and assesses how that place is increasingly being contested. The long-standing conflict between Israel and Palestine has begun to manifest in the world of sport with the paper sketching the debates of those calling for, and those opposed to, sport sanctions/boycott of Israel until the ‘Palestinian Question’ is resolved. Five related tasks are addressed: first, to summarise the call for sanctions/boycott emanating from the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions movement. Second, to explore how this call is establishing itself in the world of sport. The responses of those opposed to any form of sanction/boycott are then considered. The confusion that surrounds the term antisemitism is addressed and the relationship between (anti-) Zionism and antisemitism unpacked. The discussion concludes with an assessment of the claim made by the Israeli state, and its supporters, that any action against the country’s participation in international sport would be an act of antisemitism. Offering a timely, integrated summary of the heated debates that surround the Israel/Palestine conflict, the paper contributes to a wider discussion on the relationship between sport and politics

Assessment of atrial regional and global electromechanical function by tissue velocity echocardiography: a feasibility study on healthy individuals

BACKGROUND: The appropriate evaluation of atrial electrical function is only possible by means of invasive electrophysiology techniques, which are expensive and therefore not suitable for widespread use. Mechanical atrial function is mainly determined from atrial volumes and volume-derived indices that are load-dependent, time-consuming and difficult to reproduce because they are observer-dependent. AIMS: To assess the feasibility of tissue velocity echocardiography (TVE) to evaluate atrial electromechanical function in young, healthy volunteers. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We studied 37 healthy individuals: 28 men and nine women with a mean age of 29 years (range 20–47). Standard two-dimensional (2-D) and Doppler echocardiograms with superimposed TVE images were performed. Standard echocardiographic images were digitized during three consecutive cardiac cycles in cine-loop format for off-line analysis. Several indices of regional atrial electrical and mechanical function were derived from both 2-D and TVE modalities. RESULTS: Some TVE-derived variables indirectly reflected the atrial electrical activation that follows the known activation process as revealed by invasive electrophysiology. Regionally, the atrium shows an upward movement of its walls at the region near the atrio-ventricular ring with a reduction of this movement towards the upper levels of the atrial walls. The atrial mechanical function as assessed by several TVE-derived indices was quite similar in all left atrium (LA) walls. However, all such indices were higher in the right (RA) than the LA. There were no correlations between the 2-D- and TVE-derived variables expressing atrial mechanical function. Values of measurement error and repeatability were good for atrial mechanical function, but only acceptable for atrial electrical function. CONCLUSION: TVE may provide a simple, easy to obtain, reproducible, repeatable and potentially clinically useful tool for quantifying atrial electromechanical function

Climate and colonialism

Recent years have seen a growth in scholarship on the intertwined histories of climate, science and European imperialism. Scholarship has focused both on how the material realities of climate shaped colonial enterprises, and on how ideas about climate informed imperial ideologies. Historians have shown how European expansion was justified by its protagonists with theories of racial superiority, which were often closely tied to ideas of climatic determinism. Meanwhile, the colonial spaces established by European powers offered novel ‘laboratories’ where ideas about acclimatisation and climatic improvement could be tested on the ground. While historical scholarship has focused on how powerful ideas of climate informed imperial projects, emerging scholarship in environmental history, history of science and historical geography focuses instead on the material and cognitive practices by which the climates of colonial spaces were made known and dealt with in fields such as forestry, agriculture and human health. These heretofore rather disparate areas of historical research carry great contemporary relevance of studies of how climates and their changes have been understood, debated and adapted to in the past