Climate and plant community diversity in space and time.

Climate strongly shapes plant diversity over large spatial scales, with relatively warm and wet (benign, productive) regions supporting greater numbers of species. Unresolved aspects of this relationship include what causes it, whether it permeates to community diversity at smaller spatial scales, whether it is accompanied by patterns in functional and phylogenetic diversity as some hypotheses predict, and whether it is paralleled by climate-driven changes in diversity over time. Here, studies of Californian plants are reviewed and new analyses are conducted to synthesize climate-diversity relationships in space and time. Across spatial scales and organizational levels, plant diversity is maximized in more productive (wetter) climates, and these consistent spatial relationships are mirrored in losses of taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity over time during a recent climatic drying trend. These results support the tolerance and climatic niche conservatism hypotheses for climate-diversity relationships, and suggest there is some predictability to future changes in diversity in water-limited climates

A role for Gle1, a regulator of DEAD-box RNA helicases, at centrosomes and basal bodies.

Control of organellar assembly and function is critical to eukaryotic homeostasis and survival. Gle1 is a highly conserved regulator of RNA-dependent DEAD-box ATPase proteins, with critical roles in both mRNA export and translation. In addition to its well-defined interaction with nuclear pore complexes, here we find that Gle1 is enriched at the centrosome and basal body. Gle1 assembles into the toroid-shaped pericentriolar material around the mother centriole. Reduced Gle1 levels are correlated with decreased pericentrin localization at the centrosome and microtubule organization defects. Of importance, these alterations in centrosome integrity do not result from loss of mRNA export. Examination of the Kupffer's vesicle in Gle1-depleted zebrafish revealed compromised ciliary beating and developmental defects. We propose that Gle1 assembly into the pericentriolar material positions the DEAD-box protein regulator to function in localized mRNA metabolism required for proper centrosome function

City as lens: (re)imagining youth in Glasgow and Hong Kong

In recent years, a paradox has emerged in the study of youth. On the one hand, in the context of the processes of globalization, neoliberalism and precarity, the patterning of leisure and work for young people is becoming increasingly convergent across time and space. On the other hand, it is clear that young people’s habits and dispositions remain deeply tied to local places, with global processes filtered and refracted through specific cultural contexts. Against this backdrop, drawing on an Economic and Social Research Council/Research Grants Council (ESRC/RGC)-funded study of contemporary youth in Glasgow and Hong Kong, this article seeks to explore the role of the city as a mediating lens between global forces and local impacts. Utilizing both historical and contemporary data, the article argues that despite parallels in the impact of global forces on the structure of everyday life and work, young people’s leisure habits remain rooted in the fates and fortunes of their respective cities

Direction-Projection-Permutation for High Dimensional Hypothesis Tests

Motivated by the prevalence of high dimensional low sample size datasets in modern statistical applications, we propose a general nonparametric framework, Direction-Projection-Permutation (DiProPerm), for testing high dimensional hypotheses. The method is aimed at rigorous testing of whether lower dimensional visual differences are statistically significant. Theoretical analysis under the non-classical asymptotic regime of dimension going to infinity for fixed sample size reveals that certain natural variations of DiProPerm can have very different behaviors. An empirical power study both confirms the theoretical results and suggests DiProPerm is a powerful test in many settings. Finally DiProPerm is applied to a high dimensional gene expression dataset

The augmented convention offering: the impact of destination and product images on attendees' perceived benefits

In order to benefit from the significant dual spending of meetings, incentives, conventions/conferences, exhibitions/events (MICE) attendees, destination marketers have attempted to identify key success criteria that enable increased convention and exhibition participation. Given the significant growth of the MICE industry in Asia, this study examines the role of destination and product images on Chinese attendees' perceptions of the benefits acquired through convention and exhibition participation in the regions of Macau and Hong Kong. Data were collected using an intercept survey and a systematic random sampling procedure. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test a model that integrates two strands of literature from the fields of marketing and international business: Product–Country Image (PCI) and the Augmented Service Offering (ASO). Results show that a favorable overall destination image positively impacts the image of the MICE product of the destination, which, in turn, leads to a greater perception of personal and professional benefit acquisition. Based on these findings, the authors propose the Augmented MICE Offering as a theoretical framework that can serve as a foundation for more comprehensive inquiry into the decision-making process of the MICE attendee and postattendance behavioral impacts. The study also provides important positioning and communication implications for MICE destinations

Late radiation morbidity: incidence in a south-east Scottish cohort and investigation into abnormalities in DNA double-strand break repair and damage response

Late normal tissue injury is dose -limiting for radiation therapy of cancer. The molecular mechanisms of this injury are unknown. However, almost all radiosensitive animals and cell lines are deficient in some aspect of DNA repair. We have derived EBV- transformed cell lines from five patients with late radiation injury to determine whether there was any evidence of reduced activity or expression of the enzymes active in non -homologous recombination, the major mammalian repair pathway for DNA double -strand breaks which cause radiation -induced cell death. Two of these cell lines exhibit post- radiation viability intermediate between normal controls and a cell line from an individual with ataxia -telangiectasia. DNA -dependent protein kinase activity in vitro was reduced 8-10 - fold in these two cell lines compared to normal controls. The primary tumours from one of these patients, and a post- radiation cervix biopsy form the second, exhibited no immunoreactivity with a polyclonal antibody against the catalytic subunit of the DNA - dependent protein kinase (DNA -PKcs). Immunoblotting showed normal levels of Ku70, Ku80 and XRCC4, and the presence of DNA -PKcs, in both cell lines. This suggests that the DNA -dependent protein kinase might be an important factor in determining the predisposition of radiotherapy patients to late radiation injury

A Study on Exchange Rate Exposure of Chinese Banks

For banks to adjust to the changing financial environment, it is essential to understand how the foreign exchange market impacts them. The purpose of this master thesis is to evaluate the effect of exchange rates movement on fourteen listed Chinese banks’ equity returns, by using the Arbitrage Pricing Theory Model. In particular, this paper analyses the three foreign currencies holding the largest trading position with China, namely the Euro, US Dollar, and Japanese Yen. This empirical study finds that Chinese banks are on average most sensitive to RMB exchange-rate movements with regards to Japanese yen. It is also found that foreign exchange exposure has some relation to bank size, with foreign exchange risk being most prominent for medium size banks, than for larger banks. This study tests the foreign exchange rate risk faced by Hong Kong banks, and finds that Hong Kong banks display a much larger exposure than Chinese banks face. In all, this study determines that foreign exchange rates do have an effect on the Chinese banking sector