Coastal oceanography and sedimentology in New Zealand, 1967-91.

This paper reviews research that has taken place on physical oceanography and sedimentology on New Zealand's estuaries and the inner shelf since c. 1967. It includes estuarine sedimentation, tidal inlets, beach morphodynamics, nearshore and inner shelf sedimentation, tides and coastal currents, numerical modelling, short-period waves, tsunamis, and storm surges. An extensive reference list covering both published and unpublished material is included. Formal teaching and research programmes dealing with coastal landforms and the processes that shape them were only introduced to New Zealand universities in 1964; the history of the New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research parallels and chronicles the development of physical coastal science in New Zealand, most of which has been accomplished in last 25 years

The rise of linear borders in world politics

This article argues that the dominance of precise, linear borders as an ideal in the demarcation of territory is an outcome of a relatively recent and ongoing historical process, and that this process has had important effects on international politics since circa 1900. Existing accounts of the origins of territorial sovereignty are in wide disagreement largely because they fail to specify the relationship between territory and borders, often conflating the two concepts. I outline a history of the linearization of borders which is separate from that of territorial sovereignty, having a very different timeline and featuring different actors, and offer an explanation for the dominance of this universalizing system of managing and demarcating space, based on the concept of rationalization. Finally I describe two broad ways in which linearizing borders has affected international politics, by making space divisible in new ways, and underpinning hierarchies by altering the distribution of geographical knowledge resources

Effects of vitamin E supplementation on renal non-enzymatic antioxidants in young rats submitted to exhaustive exercise stress

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Exercise stress was shown to increase oxidative stress in rats. It lacks reports of increased protection afforded by dietary antioxidant supplements against ROS production during exercise stress. We evaluated the effects of vitamin E supplementation on renal non-enzymatic antioxidants in young rats submitted to exhaustive exercise stress.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Wistar rats were divided into three groups: 1) control group; 2) exercise stress group and; 3) exercise stress + Vitamin E group. Rats from the group 3 were treated with gavage administration of 1 mL of Vitamin E (5 mg/kg) for seven consecutive days. Animals from groups 2 and 3 were submitted to a bout of swimming exhaustive exercise stress. Kidney samples were analyzed for Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances to (TBARS) by malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and vitamin-E levels.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The group treated with vitamin E and submitted to exercise stress presented the lowest levels of renal MDA (1: 0.16+0.02 mmmol/mgprot vs. 2: 0.34+0.07 mmmol/mgprot vs. 3: 0.1+0.01 mmmol/mgprot; p < 0.0001), the highest levels of renal GSH (1: 23+4 μmol/gprot vs. 2: 23+2 μmol/gprot vs. 3: 58+9 μmol/gprot; p < 0.0001) and the highest levels of renal vitamin E (1: 24+6 μM/gtissue vs. 2: 28+2 μM/gtissue vs. 3: 43+4 μM/gtissue; p < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Vitamin E supplementation improved non-enzymatic antioxidant activity in young rats submitted to exhaustive exercise stress.</p

Disorders of sex development : insights from targeted gene sequencing of a large international patient cohort

Background: Disorders of sex development (DSD) are congenital conditions in which chromosomal, gonadal, or phenotypic sex is atypical. Clinical management of DSD is often difficult and currently only 13% of patients receive an accurate clinical genetic diagnosis. To address this we have developed a massively parallel sequencing targeted DSD gene panel which allows us to sequence all 64 known diagnostic DSD genes and candidate genes simultaneously. Results: We analyzed DNA from the largest reported international cohort of patients with DSD (278 patients with 46, XY DSD and 48 with 46, XX DSD). Our targeted gene panel compares favorably with other sequencing platforms. We found a total of 28 diagnostic genes that are implicated in DSD, highlighting the genetic spectrum of this disorder. Sequencing revealed 93 previously unreported DSD gene variants. Overall, we identified a likely genetic diagnosis in 43% of patients with 46, XY DSD. In patients with 46, XY disorders of androgen synthesis and action the genetic diagnosis rate reached 60%. Surprisingly, little difference in diagnostic rate was observed between singletons and trios. In many cases our findings are informative as to the likely cause of the DSD, which will facilitate clinical management. Conclusions: Our massively parallel sequencing targeted DSD gene panel represents an economical means of improving the genetic diagnostic capability for patients affected by DSD. Implementation of this panel in a large cohort of patients has expanded our understanding of the underlying genetic etiology of DSD. The inclusion of research candidate genes also provides an invaluable resource for future identification of novel genes

Negative nominal interest rates: history and current proposals

Given the renewed interest in negative interest rates as a means for overcoming the zero bound on nominal interest rates, this article reviews the history of negative nominal interest rates and gives a brief survey over the current proposals that received popular attention in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007/08. It is demonstrated that taxing money proposals have a long intellectual history and that instead of being the conjecture of a monetary crank, they are a serious policy proposal. In a second step the article points out that, besides the more popular debate on a Gesell tax as a means to remove the zero bound on nominal interest rates, there is a class of neoclassical search-models that advocates a negative tax on money as efficiency enhancing. This strand of the literature has so far been largely ignored by the policy debate on negative interest rates

Towards a History of Mass Violence in the Etat Indépendant du Congo, 1885-1908

The present article provides an up-to-date scholarly introduction to mass violence in the Etat Indépendant du Congo (Congo Free State, EIC). Its aims are twofold: to offer a point of access to the extensive literature and historical debates on the subject, and to make the case for exchanging the currently prevalent top-down narrative, with its excessive focus on King Leopold's character and motives, for one which considers the EIC's culture of violence as a multicausal, broadly based and deeply engrained social phenomenon. The argument is divided into five sections. Following a general outline of the EIC's violent system of administration, I discuss its social and demographic impact (and the controversy which surrounds it) to bring out the need for more regionally focused and context sensitive studies. The dispute surrounding demographics demonstrates that what is fundamentally at stake is the place the EIC's extreme violence should occupy in the history of European ‘modernity’. Since approaches which hinge on Leopoldian exceptionalism are particularly unhelpful in clarifying this issue, I pause to reflect on how such approaches came to dominate the distinct historiographical traditions which emerged in Belgium and abroad before moving on to a more detailed exploration of a selection of causes underlying the EIC's violent nature. While state actors remain in the limelight, I shift the focus from the state as a singular, normative agent, towards the existence of an extremely violent society in which various individuals and social groups within and outside of the state apparatus committed violent acts for multiple reasons. As this argument is pitched at a high level of abstraction, I conclude with a discussion of available source material with which it can be further refined and updated

Silver Russel syndrome in an aboriginal patient from Australia

Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS OMIM 180860) is a rare, albeit well-recognized disorder characterized by severe intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation. It remains a clinical diagnosis with a molecular cause identifiable in approximately 60%–70% of patients. We report a 4-year-old Australian Aboriginal girl who was born at 32 weeks gestation with features strongly suggestive of SRS, after extensive investigation she was referred to our undiagnosed disease program (UDP). Genomic sequencing was performed which identified a heterozygous splice site variant in IGF2 which is predicted to be pathogenic by in-silico studies, paternal allelic origin, de novo status, and RNA studies on fibroblasts. We compare clinical findings with reported patients to add to the knowledge base on IGF2 variants and to promote the engagement of other Australian Aboriginal families in genomic medicine

Global Wave Hindcasts Using the Observation-Based Source Terms: Description and Validation

Global wave hindcasts are developed using the third generation spectral wave model WAVEWATCH III with the observation-based source terms (ST6) and a hybrid rectilinear-curvilinear, irregular-regular-irregular grid system (approximately at urn:x-wiley:19422466:media:jame21415:jame21415-math-0001). Three distinct global hindcasts are produced: (a) a long-term hindcast (1979–2019) forced by the ERA5 conventional winds urn:x-wiley:19422466:media:jame21415:jame21415-math-0002 and (b) two short-term hindcasts (2011–2019) driven by the NCEP climate forecast system (CFS)v2 urn:x-wiley:19422466:media:jame21415:jame21415-math-0003 and the ERA5 neutral winds urn:x-wiley:19422466:media:jame21415:jame21415-math-0004, respectively. The input field for ice is sourced from the Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (OSI SAF) sea-ice concentration climate data records. These wave simulations, together with the driving wind forcing, are validated against extensive in-situ observations and satellite altimeter records. The performance of the ST6 wave hindcasts shows promising results across multiple wave parameters, including the conventional wave characteristics (e.g., wave height urn:x-wiley:19422466:media:jame21415:jame21415-math-0005 and wave period) and high-order spectral moments (e.g., the surface Stokes drift and mean square slope). The ERA5-based simulations generally present lower random errors, but the CFS-based run represents extreme sea states (e.g., urn:x-wiley:19422466:media:jame21415:jame21415-math-0006 m) considerably better. Novel wave parameters available in our hindcasts, namely the dominant wave breaking probability, wave-induced mixed layer depth, freak wave indexes and wave-spreading factor, are further described and briefly discussed. Inter-comparisons of urn:x-wiley:19422466:media:jame21415:jame21415-math-0007 from the long-term (41 years) wave hindcast, buoy measurements and two different calibrated altimeter data sets highlight the inconsistency in these altimeter records arising from different calibration methodology. Significant errors in the low-frequency bins (period urn:x-wiley:19422466:media:jame21415:jame21415-math-0008 s) for both wave energy and directionality call for further model development

Characteristics of dispersal in the eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki

The demographic and genetic characteristics of dispersing Gambusia holbrooki were examined relative to changes in stream flow velocity, flow direction, and rapid saltwater inundation. Dispersal of all G. holbrooki sex classes decreased as flow velocity increased, dispersal for a given flow velocity being greater in female, than male and juvenile fish respectively. Juveniles and males dispersed at low (9 mm s⁻¹) but not high (109 mm s⁻¹) flow. Females dispersed at both flow rates. Dispersing adults were not larger than non-dispersing adults of the same sex. Direction of dispersal was sex and size dependent, but independent of flow velocity. Larger females (>22 mm) moved preferentially downstream, while smaller females (17–22 mm) remained stationary or moved in the upstream direction. Males dispersed equally in both directions. No relationship was found between dispersal characteristics and the presence of high salt concentrations. Movement patterns at high flow were independent of glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI-2*) alleles carried by dispersing individuals. Significant non-random dispersal of sex or size cohorts, and the interaction of dispersal with flow velocity have significant implications for the maintenance of genetic diversity in stream ecosystems, particularly where localized selection or genetic drift may alter the genetic constitution of specific sex or size cohorts. The applicability of these results to field populations is discussed