Life and art of George Jameson

The aims of this thesis have been to separate the real George Jamesone from the mass of picturesque but largely imaginary detail which has slowly attached itself to his name since his death: to compile a Catalogue of his works: and to trace the precedents and development of his art. In the Introduction the growth of Jamesone's reputation is followed from its beginnings in the laudatory verses of his contemporaries in Aberdeen, down to the pretentious and senti¬ mental view of him that John Bulloch presents in the late 19th century. While Jamesone does have a historically interesting role to play in the development of a native tradition of British painting, his own unpretentious merits have been inflated by writers ranging through Walpole, the Earl of Buchan, Sir William Musgrave, Allan Cunningham and culminating in Bulloch. Although the legend waned to some extent thereafter, much of the traditional matter was repeated by J.M. Gray in the Dictionary of National Biography, and by Sir James Caw. No one, with the probable exception of David Laing, apparently bothered to look at contemp¬ orary records. Chapter II traces Jamesone's life in detail, solely on the basis of records, from his first known appearance in a written record in 1607; his date of birth can however be calculated to have been in the latter half of 1589 or first half of 1590. An attempt is made to see him in his social and historical context, tracing him through his apprenticeship with a decora¬ tive painter in Edinburgh, his establishment as a portrait painter in Aberdeen in 162G, and the gradual widening of his horizons. His personal prosperity and family life are also followed in some detail. After 1633, when he helped prepare the reception of Charles I in Edinburgh, he carried on many of his activities from that city. The patronage he received from Sir Colin Campbell looms large in his later years, at which time he had Michael Wright as an apprentice. Jamesone's life is seen to end with a falling off in both the quality and quantity of his work. Chapter III is a discussion of Jamesone's painting on the basis of the facts established in Chapter II, and on the Catalogue of his paintings. The work of two immigrant portrait painters in the period immediately prior to Jamesone, Adrian Vanson and Arnold Bronckorst, is examined, as well as the work of the decorative painters of Edinburgh and Aberdeen, to one of whom, John Anderson, Jamesone was apprenticed. Other isolated examples of portraiture of the period are discussed. During the early years of Jamesone's career it is felt that, besides the possible influence of Cornelius Johnson and Daniel Mytens, he was influenced rather more by a painter of Scottish sitters, active between 1622 and 1628 and perhaps based in London. This artist's work is disentangled from Jamesone's and an attempt made to define his oeuvre; his identity is also discussed. Jamesone's masterpieces of the 20s, the portraits of the Countess Marischal and Montrose are examined in detail in an attempt to define the unique qualities of Jamesone's best paintings. His tendency to often drop far below his best is also discussed. The work of an almost decorative type that he did for the Council of Edinburgh in 1622 is contrasted with the quite sophisticated portraiture of his most active years, 1626 and 1627. The possible motives behind his self-portraits of these years, and the extent to which he influenced, or was influenced by, Michael Wright, are looked at; as are likely reasons for the ineptitude of his two known portraits of the last year of his life, 1644. The first part of the thesis concludes with a series of all those known contemporary documents in which Jamesone's name appears. These documents are drawn on throughout the work. The Documents section also includes all those known references to Jamesons's wife, Isobel Tosche, his daughters Mary and Marjory, and his master, John Anderson. The second part of the thesis is a Catalogue of Jamesone's paintings arranged in chronological order, as far as this is possible. The basis, aims and methods of the Catalogue are described in the introduction to it. It has an Appendix of the works of the painter active between 1622 and 1628 mentioned above. The third part of the thesis is a series of plates illustrating Jamesone's work; and also a series of comparative illustrations, largely of items discussed in Chapter III

Observations on metamorphosing tadpoles of Hyalinobatrachium orientale (Anura: Centrolenidae)

Observações sobre girinos de Hyalinobatrachium orientale (Anura: Centrolenidae) em metamorfose. A metamorfose, processo em que os anfíbios anuros reabsorvem suas caudas e remodelam suas partes bucais e órgãos internos, é um estágio vulnerável de sua história de vida. Durante a transformação de larvas em adultos, os girinos não estão bem adaptados à vida aquática nem à vida terrestre ativa. Estudos anteriores examinaram a duração da metamorfose em diversas espécies com relação ao tamanho do girino, habitat e outros fatores; entretanto, a duração da metamorfose em relação ao local onde esta ocorre não foi relatada pantrolenídeos. Em Hyalinobatrachium orientale, a metamorfose ocorre nas superfícies superiores das folhas das plantas de sub-bosque baixo e dura de 3,5 a 4,0 dias, um pouco mais do que o esperado para um girino desse tamanho de corpo. Os indivíduos recém-metamorfoseados parecem mudar seus poleiros de folha para folha aleatoriamente. Não há diferenças significativas na temperatura ou umidade relativa das superfícies superior e inferior das folhas no sub-bosque da floresta; assim, o uso das superfícies superiores das folhas pode fornecer-lhes umidade da vegetação do estrato superior após as chuvas e protegê-los de predadores terrestres.Observations on metamorphosing tadpoles of Hyalinobatrachium orientale (Anura: Centrolenidae). Metamorphosis, when anuran amphibians resorb their tails and remodel their mouthparts and internal organs, is a vulnerable stage in the frog’s life history. As larvae metamorphose from tadpoles to adult frogs, they are neither suited to aquatic life nor ready for active terrestrial life. Previous studies have examined the duration of metamorphosis in a range of species, with respect to tadpole size, habitat, and other factors; however, the duration of metamorphosis relative to where it takes place has not been reported in centrolenids. In Hyalinobatrachium orientale, metamorphosis takes place on the upper surfaces of the leaves of low understory plants and lasts 3.5–4.0 days, a little longer than expected for the tadpole of this body size. Metamorphs seem to shift their perches from leaf to leaf randomly. There are no significant differences in the temperature or relative humidity of the upper and lower surfaces of leaves in the forest understory; thus, the presence of the metamorphs on the upper surfaces of leaves may provide moisture from the upper story vegetation after rain and protect them from terrestrial predators

Synthetic mean-field interactions in photonic lattices

Photonic lattices are usually considered to be limited by their lack of methods to include interactions. We address this issue by introducing mean-field interactions through optical components which are external to the photonic lattice. The proposed technique to realise mean-field interacting photonic lattices relies on a Suzuki-Trotter decomposition of the unitary evolution for the full Hamiltonian. The technique realises the dynamics in an analogous way to that of a step-wise numerical implementation of quantum dynamics, in the spirit of digital quantum simulation. It is a very versatile technique which allows for the emulation of interactions that do not only depend on inter-particle separations or do not decay with particle separation. We detail the proposed experimental scheme and consider two examples of interacting phenomena, self-trapping and the decay of Bloch oscillations, that are observable with the proposed technique

Introduction of a modified obstetric early warning system ­(­MOEWS­)­ at an Ethiopian referral hospital : a feasibility assessment

Acknowledgments The authors wish to acknowledge Johnson & Johnson and THET for funding this project and the staff and management of Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital for their support throughout the project. Funding: This project was supported by THET Strengthening Surgical Capacity grant SSC 4.1 funded by Johnson & Johnson.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Synthetic mean-field interactions in photonic lattices

Photonic lattices are usually considered to be limited by their lack of methods to include interactions. We address this issue by introducing mean-field interactions through optical components which are external to the photonic lattice. The proposed technique to realise mean-field interacting photonic lattices relies on a Suzuki-Trotter decomposition of the unitary evolution for the full Hamiltonian. The technique realises the dynamics in an analogous way to that of a step-wise numerical implementation of quantum dynamics, in the spirit of digital quantum simulation. It is a very versatile technique which allows for the emulation of interactions that do not only depend on inter-particle separations or do not decay with particle separation. We detail the proposed experimental scheme and consider two examples of interacting phenomena, self-trapping and the decay of Bloch oscillations, that are observable with the proposed technique.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, comments welcom

Ecological and genetic effects of introduced species on their native competitors

Species introductions to new habitats can cause a decline in the population size of competing native species and consequently also in their genetic diversity. We are interested in why these adverse effects are weak in some cases whereas in others the native species declines to the point of extinction. While the introduction rate and the growth rate of the introduced species in the new environment clearly have a positive relationship with invasion success and impact, the influence of competition is poorly understood. Here, we investigate how the intensity of interspecific competition influences the persistence time of a native species in the face of repeated and ongoing introductions of the nonnative species. We analyze two stochastic models: a model for the population dynamics of both species and a model that additionally includes the population genetics of the native species at a locus involved in its adaptation to a changing environment. Counterintuitively, both models predict that the persistence time of the native species is lowest for an intermediate intensity of competition. This phenomenon results from the opposing effects of competition at different stages of the invasion process: With increasing competition intensity more introduction events are needed until a new species can establish, but increasing competition also speeds up the exclusion of the native species by an established nonnative competitor. By comparing the ecological and the eco-genetic model, we detect and quantify a synergistic feedback between ecological and genetic effects.Comment: version accepted at Theoretical Population Biolog

Molecular interactions of Escherichia coli ExoIX and identification of its associated 3′–5′ exonuclease activity

The flap endonucleases (FENs) participate in a wide range of processes involving the structure-specific cleavage of branched nucleic acids. They are also able to hydrolyse DNA and RNA substrates from the 5′-end, liberating mono-, di- and polynucleotides terminating with a 5′ phosphate. Exonuclease IX is a paralogue of the small fragment of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I, a FEN with which it shares 66% similarity. Here we show that both glutathione-S-transferase-tagged and native recombinant ExoIX are able to interact with the E. coli single-stranded DNA binding protein, SSB. Immobilized ExoIX was able to recover SSB from E. coli lysates both in the presence and absence of DNA. In vitro cross-linking studies carried out in the absence of DNA showed that the SSB tetramer appears to bind up to two molecules of ExoIX. Furthermore, we found that a 3′–5′ exodeoxyribonuclease activity previously associated with ExoIX can be separated from it by extensive liquid chromatography. The associated 3′–5′ exodeoxyribonuclease activity was excised from a 2D gel and identified as exonuclease III using matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization mass spectrometry