Data-Driven System Dynamics Model for Simulating Water Quantity and Quality in Peri-Urban Streams

Holistic water quality models to support decision-making in lowland catchments with competing stakeholder perspectives are still limited. To address this gap, an integrated system dynamics model for water quantity and quality (including stream temperature, dissolved oxygen, and macronutrients) was developed. Adaptable plug-n-play modules handle the complexity (sources, pathways) related to both urban and agricultural/natural land-use features. The model was applied in a data-rich catchment to uncover key insights into the dynamics governing water quality in a peri-urban stream. Performance indicators demonstrate the model successfully captured key water quantity/quality variations and interactions (with, e.g., Nash-Sutcliff Efficiency ranging from very good to satisfactory). Model simulation and sensitivity results could then highlight the influence of stream temperature variations and enhanced heterotrophic respiration in summer, causing low dissolved oxygen levels and potentially affecting ecological quality. Probabilistic uncertainty results combined with a rich dataset show high potential for ammonium uptake in the macrophyte-dominated reach. The results further suggest phosphorus remobilization from streambed sediment could become an important diffuse nutrient source should other sources (e.g., urban effluents) be mitigated. These findings are especially important for the design of green transition solutions, where single-objective management strategies may negatively impact aquatic ecosystems

Diversity and evolution of coral fluorescent proteins

GFP-like fluorescent proteins (FPs) are the key color determinants in reef-building corals (class Anthozoa, order Scleractinia) and are of considerable interest as potential genetically encoded fluorescent labels. Here we report 40 additional members of the GFP family from corals. There are three major paralogous lineages of coral FPs. One of them is retained in all sampled coral families and is responsible for the non-fluorescent purple-blue color, while each of the other two evolved a full complement of typical coral fluorescent colors (cyan, green, and red) and underwent sorting between coral groups. Among the newly cloned proteins are a “chromo-red” color type from Echinopora forskaliana (family Faviidae) and pink chromoprotein from Stylophora pistillata (Pocilloporidae), both evolving independently from the rest of coral chromoproteins. There are several cyan FPs that possess a novel kind of excitation spectrum indicating a neutral chromophore ground state, for which the residue E167 is responsible (numeration according to GFP from A. victoria). The chromoprotein from Acropora millepora is an unusual blue instead of purple, which is due to two mutations: S64C and S183T. We applied a novel probabilistic sampling approach to recreate the common ancestor of all coral FPs as well as the more derived common ancestor of three main fluorescent colors of the Faviina suborder. Both proteins were green such as found elsewhere outside class Anthozoa. Interestingly, a substantial fraction of the all-coral ancestral protein had a chromohore apparently locked in a non-fluorescent neutral state, which may reflect the transitional stage that enabled rapid color diversification early in the history of coral FPs. Our results highlight the extent of convergent or parallel evolution of the color diversity in corals, provide the foundation for experimental studies of evolutionary processes that led to color diversification, and enable a comparative analysis of structural determinants of different colors.<br/

Gabriel Tarde e as ciências sociais francesas: afinidades eletivas

Este artigo investiga os fatores que contribuíram para a ascensão intelectual de Tarde nos anos 1890, tendo-se em conta o fato de que o autor não tinha as credenciais acadêmicas necessárias para a carreira universitária. Procuro mostrar que Tarde conquistou prestígio junto a instâncias do poder intelectual e político contrárias à crescente autonomia da universidade e das ciências sociais. Os grupos pertencentes ao pólo pedagógico e ao pólo técnico-profissional ainda eram hegemônicos nos anos 1890, mas passaram a disputar com Durkheim a definição legítima das novas disciplinas. Como parte de uma estratégia estamental, esses grupos elegeram a psicologia social de Tarde como instrumento de combate, autor que correspondeu às expectativas e acumulou capital social nas mais diversas instâncias intelectuais e políticas, sendo por isso amplamente recompensado.<br>This article investigates the factors that contributed to the intellectual ascension of Tarde during the 1890's. Taking into account the fact that the author lacked the necessary academic credentials for a university career, I seek to show that Tarde obtained prestige among circles of intellectual and political power that were contrary to the growing autonomy of the university and the social sciences. Groups affiliated to the pedagogic pole and the technical-professional pole were still hegemonic in the 1890's, but they began to contend with Durkheim for the legitimate definition of the new disciplines. As part of a strategy of maintaining hierarchy, these groups elected the social psychology of Tarde as an instrument for combat. The author lived up to expectations and accumulated social capital in diverse intellectual and political fields, being thereby amply rewarded