Eocene–early Oligocene climate and vegetation change in southern China: Evidence from the Maoming Basin

Although the Eocene-Oligocene climate transition marks a critical point in the development of the ‘icehouse’ global climate of the present little is known about this important change in the terrestrial realm at low latitudes. Our palynological study of the Shangcun Formation shows it to be early Oligocene in age: palyno-assemblages in the lower part of the formation indicate a cool interval dominated by conifer pollen in the earliest Oligocene followed by a warmer regime in the second half of the early Oligocene. To quantify middle Eocene to late early Oligocene climate conditions at low (~ 20°N) palaeolatitudes in southern Asia several thousand leaf fossil specimens from the Maoming Basin, southern China, were subjected to a multivariate (CLAMP) analysis of leaf form. For terrestrial palaeoclimate comparisons to be valid the palaeoaltitude at which the proxy data are obtained must be known. We find that leaves preserved in the Youganwo (middle Eocene), Huangniuling (late Eocene) and Shangcun (early Oligocene) formations were likely to have been deposited well above sea level at different palaeoelevations. In the Youganwo Formation fine-grained sediments were deposited at an altitude of ~ 1.5 km, after which the basin dropped to ~ 0.5 km by the time the upper Huangniuling sediments were deposited. The basin floor then rose again by 0.5 km reaching an altitude of approximately 1 km in which the Shangcun Formation fine-grained sediments were accumulated. Within the context of these elevation changes the prevailing climates experienced by the Youganwo, Lower Huangniuling, Upper Huangniuling and Shangcun fossil floras were humid subtropical with hot summers and warm winters, but witnessed a progressive increase in rainfall seasonality. By the early Oligocene rainfall seasonality was similar to that of the modern monsoonal climate of Guangdong Province, southern China. All floras show leaf physiognomic spectra most similar to those growing under the influence of the modern Indonesia-Australia Monsoon, but with no evidence of any adaptation to today's South or East Asia Monsoon regimes. The Upper Huangniuling Flora, rich in dipterocarp plant megafossils, grew in the warmest conditions with the highest cold month mean temperature and at the lowest altitude

The Dynamic Formation of Prominence Condensations

We present simulations of a model for the formation of a prominence condensation in a coronal loop. The key idea behind the model is that the spatial localization of loop heating near the chromosphere leads to a catastrophic cooling in the corona (Antiochos & Klimchuk 1991). Using a new adaptive grid code, we simulate the complete growth of a condensation, and find that after approx. 5,000 s it reaches a quasi-steady state. We show that the size and the growth time of the condensation are in good agreement with data, and discuss the implications of the model for coronal heating and SOHO/TRACE observations.Comment: Astrophysical Journal latex file, 20 pages, 7 b-w figures (gif files

Semi-classical Laguerre polynomials and a third order discrete integrable equation

A semi-discrete Lax pair formed from the differential system and recurrence relation for semi-classical orthogonal polynomials, leads to a discrete integrable equation for a specific semi-classical orthogonal polynomial weight. The main example we use is a semi-classical Laguerre weight to derive a third order difference equation with a corresponding Lax pair.Comment: 11 page

How primary care can contribute to good mental health in adults.

The need for support for good mental health is enormous. General support for good mental health is needed for 100% of the population, and at all stages of life, from early childhood to end of life. Focused support is needed for the 17.6% of adults who have a mental disorder at any time, including those who also have a mental health problem amongst the 30% who report having a long-term condition of some kind. All sectors of society and all parts of the NHS need to play their part. Primary care cannot do this on its own. This paper describes how primary care practitioners can help stimulate such a grand alliance for health, by operating at four different levels - as individual practitioners, as organisations, as geographic clusters of organisations and as policy-makers

Hyaluronan Synthase Elevation in Metastatic Prostate Carcinoma Cells Correlates with Hyaluronan Surface Retention, a Prerequisite for Rapid Adhesion to Bone Marrow Endothelial Cells

Bone marrow is the primary site of metastasis in patients with advanced stage prostate cancer. Prostate carcinoma cells metastasizing to bone must initially adhere to endothelial cells in the bone marrow sinusoids. In this report, we have modeled that interaction in vitro using two bone marrow endothelial cell (BMEC) lines and four prostate adenocarcinoma cell lines to investigate the adhesion mechanism. Highly metastatic PC3 and PC3M-LN4 cells were found to adhere rapidly and specifically (70-90%) to BMEC-1 and trHBMEC bone marrow endothelial cells, but not to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (15-25%). Specific adhesion to BMEC-1 and trHBMEC was dependent upon the presence of a hyaluronan (HA) pericellular matrix assembled on the prostate carcinoma cells. DU145 and LNCaP cells were only weakly adherent and retained no cell surface HA. Maximal BMEC adhesion and RA encapsulation were associated with high levels of HA synthesis by the prostate carcinoma cells. Up-regulation of HA synthase isoforms Has2 and Has3 relative to levels expressed by normal prostate corresponded to elevated HA synthesis and avid BMEC adhesion. These results support a model in which tumor cells with up-regulated HA synthase expression assemble a cell surface hyaluronan matrix that promotes adhesion to bone marrow endothelial cells. This interaction could contribute to preferential bone metastasis by prostate carcinoma cells

Preparing to work: dramaturgy, cynicism and normative ‘remote’ control in the socialization of graduate recruits in management consulting

online) This paper examines the socialization of graduate recruits into a knowledge intensive labour process and organizational culture. Theoretically the paper draws upon the idea of ‘preparing for work’ to position this early socialization as a crucial moment in the production of subjectivities suited (and booted) for the labour process of management consulting. Empirically the paper reports on a two-day induction session for new graduate recruits joining a global management consultancy and their responses to this training. Particular attention is given to the use of role-play and a dramaturgical workshop used in part of the training process. The paper argues that the utilization of dramaturgy in training is consistent with the overall approach to control developed in the firm in response to the fact that the labour process of consulting is often conducted on client sites, away from any direct supervisory gaze. As such, the consultants were subjected to a form of cultural control that was designed to function independently of direct supervision. This control did not operate directly upon the new employees professed values, however, but at one step removed so that a ‘cynical distance’ from the content of the organization’s culture was accepted so long as a professional ‘ethic of behaviour’ was established. By focusing on an ‘ethic of behaviour’ these young professionals were encouraged to internalize a self-control akin to that of an actor, rather than internalizing the corporate values entirely

Characterization of plexinA and two distinct semaphorin1a transcripts in the developing and adult cricket Gryllus bimaculatus

Guidance cues act during development to guide growth cones to their proper targets in both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Experiments in many species indicate that guidance molecules also play important roles after development, though less is understood about their functions in the adult. The Semaphorin family of guidance cues, signaling through Plexin receptors, influences the development of both axons and dendrites in invertebrates. Semaphorin functions have been extensively explored in Drosophila melanogaster and some other Dipteran species, but little is known about their function in hemimetabolous insects. Here, we characterize sema1a and plexA in the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus. In fact, we found two distinct predicted Sema1a proteins in this species, Sema1a.1 and Sema1a.2, which shared only 48% identity at the amino acid level. We include a phylogenetic analysis that predicted that many other insect species, both holometabolous and hemimetabolous, express two Sema1a proteins as well. Finally, we used in situ hybridization to show that sema1a.1 and sema1a.2 expression patterns were spatially distinct in the embryo, and both roughly overlap with plexA. All three transcripts were also expressed in the adult brain, mainly in the mushroom bodies, though sema1a.2 was expressed most robustly. sema1a.2 was also expressed strongly in the adult thoracic ganglia while sema1a.1 was only weakly expressed and plexA was undetectable

The Politics of Commerce : The Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, 1886-1914

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The staircase method: integrals for periodic reductions of integrable lattice equations

We show, in full generality, that the staircase method provides integrals for mappings, and correspondences, obtained as traveling wave reductions of (systems of) integrable partial difference equations. We apply the staircase method to a variety of equations, including the Korteweg-De Vries equation, the five-point Bruschi-Calogero-Droghei equation, the QD-algorithm, and the Boussinesq system. We show that, in all these cases, if the staircase method provides r integrals for an n-dimensional mapping, with 2r<n, then one can introduce q<= 2r variables, which reduce the dimension of the mapping from n to q. These dimension-reducing variables are obtained as joint invariants of k-symmetries of the mappings. Our results support the idea that often the staircase method provides sufficiently many integrals for the periodic reductions of integrable lattice equations to be completely integrable. We also study reductions on other quad-graphs than the regular 2D lattice, and we prove linear growth of the multi-valuedness of iterates of high-dimensional correspondences obtained as reductions of the QD-algorithm.Comment: 40 pages, 23 Figure

Noise storm continua: power estimates for electron acceleration

We use a generic stochastic acceleration formalism to examine the power $L_{\rm in}$ (${\rm erg s^{-1}}$) input to nonthermal electrons that cause noise storm continuum emission. The analytical approach includes the derivation of the Green's function for a general second-order Fermi process, and its application to obtain the particular solution for the nonthermal electron distribution resulting from the acceleration of a Maxwellian source in the corona. We compare $L_{\rm in}$ with the power $L_{\rm out}$ observed in noise storm radiation. Using typical values for the various parameters, we find that $L_{\rm in} \sim 10^{23-26}$ ${\rm erg s^{-1}}$, yielding an efficiency estimate $\eta \equiv L_{\rm out}/L_{\rm in}$ in the range 10^{-10} \lsim \eta \lsim 10^{-6} for this nonthermal acceleration/radiation process. These results reflect the efficiency of the overall process, starting from electron acceleration and culminating in the observed noise storm emission.Comment: Accepted for publication in Solar Physic