From Antipolitics to Post-Neoliberalism: A Conversation with James Ferguson

Humanity co-editors Nils Gilman and Miriam Ticktin spoke with James Ferguson on May 31, 2013, at Stanford University

UNDERSTANDING THE SCALAR MESON qqˉq\bar q NONET

It is shown that one can fit the available data on the a0(980), f0(980), f0(1300) and K*0(1430) mesons as a distorted 0++ qq bar nonet using very few (5-6) parameters and an improved version of the unitarized quark model. This includes all light two-pseudoscalar thresholds, constraints from Adler zeroes, flavour symmetric couplings, unitarity and physically acceptable analyticity. The parameters include a bare uu bar or dd bar mass, an over-all coupling constant, a cutoff and a strange quark mass of 100 MeV, which is in accord with expectations from the quark model. It is found that in particular for the a0(980) and f0(980) the KK bar component in the wave function is large, i.e., for a large fraction of the time the qq bar state is transformed into a virtual KK bar pair. This KK bar component, together with a similar component of eta' pi for the a0(980) , and eta eta, eta eta' and eta' eta' components for the f0(980), causes the substantial shift to a lower mass than what is naively expected from the qq bar component alone. Mass, width and mixing parameters, including sheet and pole positions, of the four resonances are given, with a detailed pedagogical discussion of their meaning.Comment: 35 pages in plain latex (ZPC in press), 10 figures obtainable from the author ([email protected]) with regular mail or as a large PS fil

G-Protein Coupled Receptor Signaling Architecture of Mammalian Immune Cells

A series of recent studies on large-scale networks of signaling and metabolic systems revealed that a certain network structure often called “bow-tie network” are observed. In signaling systems, bow-tie network takes a form with diverse and redundant inputs and outputs connected via a small numbers of core molecules. While arguments have been made that such network architecture enhances robustness and evolvability of biological systems, its functional role at a cellular level remains obscure. A hypothesis was proposed that such a network function as a stimuli-reaction classifier where dynamics of core molecules dictate downstream transcriptional activities, hence physiological responses against stimuli. In this study, we examined whether such hypothesis can be verified using experimental data from Alliance for Cellular Signaling (AfCS) that comprehensively measured GPCR related ligands response for B-cell and macrophage. In a GPCR signaling system, cAMP and Ca2+ act as core molecules. Stimuli-response for 32 ligands to B-Cells and 23 ligands to macrophages has been measured. We found that ligands with correlated changes of cAMP and Ca2+ tend to cluster closely together within the hyperspaces of both cell types and they induced genes involved in the same cellular processes. It was found that ligands inducing cAMP synthesis activate genes involved in cell growth and proliferation; cAMP and Ca2+ molecules that increased together form a feedback loop and induce immune cells to migrate and adhere together. In contrast, ligands without a core molecules response are scattered throughout the hyperspace and do not share clusters. G-protein coupling receptors together with immune response specific receptors were found in cAMP and Ca2+ activated clusters. Analyses have been done on the original software applicable for discovering ‘bow-tie’ network architectures within the complex network of intracellular signaling where ab initio clustering has been implemented as well. Groups of potential transcription factors for each specific group of genes were found to be partly conserved across B-Cell and macrophage. A series of findings support the hypothesis

Conservation conflicts:Behavioural threats, frames, and intervention recommendations

Conservation conflicts are widespread and are damaging for biodiversity, livelihoods and human well-being. Conflict management often occurs through interventions targeting human behaviour. Conservation interventions are thought to be made more effective if underpinned by evidence and a Theory of Change – a logical argument outlining the steps required to achieve goals. However, for conservation conflicts, the evidence and logic supporting different types of interventions has received little attention. Using conflict-related keywords, we reviewed trends in behavioural intervention recommendations across conflict contexts globally, as published in peer-reviewed literature. We developed typologies for conflict behaviours, intervention recommendations, and conflict frames and identified associations between them and other geographical variables using Pearson's Chi-squared tests of independence. Analysing 100 recent articles, we found that technical interventions (recommended in 38% of articles) are significantly associated with conflicts involving wildlife control and the human-wildlife conflict frame. Enforcement-based interventions (54% of articles) are significantly associated with conflicts over illegal resource use, while stakeholder-based interventions (37% of articles) are associated with the human-human conflict frame and very highly developed countries. Only 10% of articles offered “strong” evidence from the published scientific literature justifying recommendations, and only 15% outlined Theories of Change. We suggest that intervention recommendations are likely influenced by authors' perceptions of the social basis of conflicts, and possibly also by disciplinary silos

Antibiotic research and development: business as usual?

This article contends that poor economic incentives are an important reason for the lack of new drugs and explains how the DRIVE-AB intends to change the landscape by harnessing the expertise, motivation and diversity of its partner

BERKELEY'S NEW APPROACH TO GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT: EARLY & CURRENT EFFORTS TO BECOME MORE INTERNATIONAL

This essay discusses past and current thinking about the globalization of higher education (from a U.S. point of view in particular) and a new model we are attempting to develop at the University of California, Berkeley. This essay begins with a brief narrative of the historical evolution of efforts to internationalize education, from the seventeenth century to the present day, before providing a schematic outline of efforts to create new models for the global university. From its earliest beginnings in the U.S. and elsewhere, higher education embodied important global dimensions. Since then, the globalization of higher education has accelerated rapidly over the last quarter century, motivated by a quest for additional revenues (especially in the case of Anglophone universities), a desire for greater international relevance and hence prestige (for all universities, but especially in the case of European and Asian universities), and a desire to provide a foundation for a knowledge economy (especially in the case of Asian universities