A tale of two capitalisms: preliminary spatial and historical comparisons of homicide rates in Western Europe and the USA

This article examines comparative homicide rates in the United States and Western Europe in an era of increasingly globalized neoliberal economics. The main finding of this preliminary analysis is that historical and spatial correlations between distinct forms of political economy and homicide rates are consistent enough to suggest that social democratic regimes are more successful at fostering the socio-cultural conditions necessary for reduced homicide rates. Thus Western Europe and all continents and nations should approach the importation of American neo-liberal economic policies with extreme caution. The article concludes by suggesting that the indirect but crucial causal connection between political economy and homicide rates, prematurely pushed into the background of criminological thought during the ‘cultural turn’, should be returned to the foreground

plo1(+) regulates gene transcription at the M-G(1) interval during the fission yeast mitotic cell cycle

The regulation of gene expression plays an important part in cell cycle controls. We describe the molecular machinery that co-ordinates gene transcription at the M–G<sub>1</sub> interval during the fission yeast mitotic cell cycle. A sequence is identified in the <i>cdc15</i><sup>+</sup> promoter that we call a PCB (pombe cell cycle box), which confers M–G<sub>1</sub> -specific transcription. Sequences similar to the PCB are present in the promoters of seven other genes, <i>spo12</i><sup>+</sup>, <i>cdc19</i><sup>+</sup>, <i>fin1</i><sup>+</sup>, <i>sid2</i><sup>+</sup>, <i>ppb1</i><sup>+</sup>, <i>mid1</i><sup>+</sup><i>/dmf1</i><sup>+</sup> and <i>plo1</i><sup>+</sup>, which we find to be transcribed at M–G<sub>1</sub>. A transcription factor complex is identified that binds to the PCB sequence, which we name PBF, for PCB-binding factor. Finally, we show that PBF binding activity and consequent gene transcription are regulated by the Plo1p protein kinase, thus invoking a potential auto-feedback loop mechanism that regulates mitotic gene transcription and passage through septation and cytokinesis

Accuracy of resource selection functions across spatial scales

International audienceResource selection functions (RSFs) can be used to map suitable habitat of a species based on predicted probability of use. The spatial scale may affect accuracy of such predictions. To provide guidance as to which spatial extent or grain is appropriate and most accurate for animals, we used the concept of hierarchical selection orders to dictate extent and grain. We conducted a meta-analysis from 123 RSF studies of 886 species to identify differences in prediction success that might be expected for five selection orders. Many studies do not constrain spatial extent to the grain of the next broader selection order in the hierarchy, mixing scaling effects. Thus, we also compared accuracy of single- vs. multiple-grain RSFs developed at the unconstrained extent of an entire study area. Results suggested that the geographical range of a species was the easiest to predict of the selection orders. At smaller scales within the geographical range, use of a site was easier to predict when environmental variables were measured at a grain equivalent to the home-range size or a microhabitat feature required for reproduction or resting. Selection of patches within home ranges and locations of populations was often more difficult to predict. Multiple-grain RSFs were more predictive than single-grain RSFs when the entire study area was considered available. Models with variables measured at both small and large (> 100 ha) grains were usually most predictive, even for many species with small home ranges. Multiple-grain models may be particularly important for species with moderate dispersal abilities in habitat fragments surrounded by an unsuitable matrix. We recommend studies should no longer address only one grain to map animal species distributions