Populating Prosop, A Social Networking Tool for the Past: Two Workshops

This Level II Digital Humanities Start-up application seeks funding for two workshops that will populate and refine Prosop, a social networking tool for the past. Prosop offers an open-source, customizable database in which historians and genealogists can record demographic information about individuals famous and unknown: names, dates, professions, locations, relations, and the like. Researchers can then use this data to plot groups of individuals that they study in time, space, and society and to discover connections between their historical networks and those of other scholars. Each Populating Prosop workshop will bring together twelve to fifteen historians of the Mediterranean representing diverse languages and periods. Participants will be chosen (in part) for the size and complexity of the prosopographic databases they can offer. The workshops will generate the large, highly heterogeneous dataset needed to develop a truly universal demographic history tool

What Ottoman Nationality Was and Was Not

Will Hanley’s analysis of the 1909 revision of the 1869 Ottoman Nationality Law takes up one of the central themes that occupied the Office of Legal Counsel: the slippery relationship between the legal definitions of nationality, subjecthood, and citizenship. As Hanley argues, recent scholarship on the 1869 Ottoman Nationality Law has consistently sought its origins in the Tanzimat edicts of 1839 and 1856. He contends that interest in the question of Ottoman citizenship has led to a misreading of the word tebaa, and that the Tanzimat edicts referred to subjects, not citizens. This “citizenship misreading” has obscured the 1869 law’s original connection to the Capitulations and an 1863 decree designed to restrict the proliferation of foreign protégés. This law presented foreign protégés with a choice: They could either naturalize as foreign subjects or submit to Ottoman territorial jurisdiction to maintain their status as subjects of the sultan. The unintended consequence was that many of them chose to naturalize with a foreign state, while remaining in residence and continuing to benefit from the rights of Ottomans. Thus, while the number of protégés dropped, the number of naturalized foreigners increased precipitously. This development prompted firmer legislation, which took the shape of the 1869 law. Set against this backdrop, Hanley puts forward the provocative conclusion that neither the 1863 protégé legislation nor the 1869 nationality law were intended to form a citizenry. Rather, he argues that both were primarily aimed at safeguarding the empire’s sovereignty over its residents against the threat of European extraterritoriality. Hanley then analyzes a 1909 proposal for the revision of the 1869 law in order to chart the evolution of Ottoman readings of nationality and naturalization from the Tanzimat through the CUP period

International Lawyers without Public International Law: The Case of Late Ottoman Egypt

This essay is part of a pioneering special issue on Ottoman international law, and analyses the work of several Egyptian and Ottoman lawyers focused on the understudied field of private international law. It argues for greater attention to the history of private international law by examining lawyers and functionaries in Ottoman and post-Ottoman Egypt, an especially productive site for the resolution of disputes about domicile and nationality, not to mention trade and investment. I pays particular attention to 'Abd al-Hamid Abu Haif, an Egyptian jurist who prepared a pioneering Arabic-language study of private international law. Close examination of the writings of Abu Haif (as well as those of Gabriel Noradounghian and other late Ottoman lawyers) demonstrates that Ottoman legal history is fertile ground for analyzing the questions of individual status and affiliation that lie at the heart of the (notoriously convoluted) field of conflict of laws

User fees across ecosystem boundaries : are SCUBA divers willing to pay for terrestrial biodiversity conservation?

We acknowledge extensive field support provided by Bonaire NGO, Echo, during data collection, and the generosity of Great Adventures, Bonaire, Wannadive, Bonaire, Dive Friends, Bonaire, and Divi Dive, Bonaire in allowing us to conduct surveys at their locations. This work was funded by the University of St Andrews, School of Geography and Geosciences.While ecological links between ecosystems have been long recognised, management rarely crosses ecosystem boundaries. Coral reefs are susceptible to damage through terrestrial run-off, and failing to account for this within management threatens reef protection. In order to quantify the extent to that coral reef users are willing to support management actions to improve ecosystem quality, we conducted a choice experiment with SCUBA divers on the island of Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. Specifically, we estimated their willingness to pay to reduce terrestrial overgrazing as a means to improve reef health. Willingness to pay was estimated using the multinomial, random parameter and latent class logit models. Willingness to pay for improvements to reef quality was positive for the majority of respondents. Estimates from the latent class model determined willingness to pay for reef improvements of between $31.17 -$413.18/year, dependent on class membership. This represents a significant source of funding for terrestrial conservation, and illustrates the potential for user fees to be applied across ecosystem boundaries. We argue that such across-ecosystem-boundary funding mechanisms are an important avenue for future investigation in many connected systems.PostprintPeer reviewe

Animal models in cartilage research

Coral reefs are in decline worldwide. While coral reef managers are limited in their ability to tackle global challenges, such as ocean warming, managing local threats can increase the resilience of coral reefs to these global threats. One such local threat is high sediment inputs to coastal waters due to terrestrial over-grazing. Increases in terrestrial sediment input into coral reefs are associated with increased coral mortality, reduced growth rates, and changes in species composition, as well as alterations to fish communities. We used general linear models to investigate the link between vegetation ground cover and tree biomass index, within a dry-forest ecosystem, to coral cover, fish communities and visibility in the case study site of Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands. We found a positive relationship between ground cover and coral cover below 10 m depth, and a negative relationship between tree biomass index and coral cover below 10 m. Greater ground cover is associated to sediment anchored through root systems, and higher surface complexity, slowing water flow, which would otherwise transport sediment. The negative relationship between tree biomass index and coral cover is unexpected, and may be a result of the deep roots associated with dry-forest trees, due to limited availability of water, which therefore do not anchor surface sediment, or contribute to surface complexity. Our analysis provides evidence that coral reef managers could improve reef health through engaging in terrestrial ecosystem protection, for example by taking steps to reduce grazing pressures, or in restoring degraded forest ecosystems

Convective initiation and storm life‐cycles in convection‐permitting simulations of the Met Office Unified Model over South Africa

Convective initiation is a challenge for convection‐permitting models due to its sensitivity to sub‐km processes. We evaluate the representation of convective storms and their initiation over South Africa during four summer months in Met Office Unified Model simulations at 1.5‐km horizontal grid length. Storm size distributions from the model compare well against radar observations, but rainfall in the model is predominantly produced by large storms (50 km in diameter or larger) in the evening, whereas radar observations show most rainfall occurs throughout the afternoon, from storms 10‐50 km in diameter. In all months, modelled maximum number of storm initiations occurs at least 2 hours prior to the radar‐observed maximum. However, the diurnal cycle of rainfall compares well between model and observations, suggesting the numerous storm initiations in the simulations do not produce much rainfall. Modelled storms are generally less intense than in the radar observations, especially in early summer. In February, when tropical influences dominate, the simulated storms are of similar intensity to observed storms. Simulated storms tend to reach their peak intensity in the first 15 minutes after initiation, then gradually become less intense as they grow. In radar observations, storms reach their peak intensity 15‐30 minutes into their life cycle, stay intense as they grow larger, then gradually weaken after they have reached their maximum diameter. Two November case studies of severe convection are analysed in detail. Higher resolution grid length initiates convection slightly earlier (300 m cf. 1.5 km) with the same science settings. Two 1.5‐km simulations that apply more sub‐grid mixing have delayed convective initiation. Analysis of soundings indicates little difference in convective indices, suggesting that differences in convection may be attributed to choices in sub‐grid mixing parameters

Plant immunity in plant-aphid interactions

Aphids are economically important pests that cause extensive feeding damage and transmit viruses. While some species have a broad host range and cause damage to a variety of crops, others are restricted to only closely related plant species. While probing and feeding aphids secrete saliva, containing effectors, into their hosts to manipulate host cell processes and promote infestation. Aphid effector discovery studies pointed out parallels between infection and infestation strategies of plant pathogens and aphids. Interestingly, resistance to some aphid species is known to involve plant resistance proteins with a typical NB-LRR domain structure. Whether these resistance proteins indeed recognize aphid effectors to trigger ETI remains to be elucidated. In addition, it was recently shown that unknown aphid derived elicitors can initiate ROS (reactive oxygen species) production and callose deposition and that these responses were dependent on BAK1 (BRASSINOSTERIOD INSENSITIVE 1-ASSOCIATED RECEPTOR KINASE 1) which is a key component of the plant immune system. In addition, BAK-1 contributes to nonhost resistance to aphids pointing to another parallel between plant-pathogen and –aphid interactions. Understanding the role of plant immunity and non-host resistance to aphids is essential to generate durable and sustainable aphid control strategies. Although insect behavior plays a role in host selection and non-host resistance, an important observation is that aphids interact with nonhost plants by probing the leaf surface, but are unable to feed or establish colonization. Therefore, we hypothesize that aphids interact with nonhost plants at the molecular level, but are potentially not successful in suppressing plant defenses and/or releasing nutrients

Rare missense variants in Tropomyosin-4 (TPM4) are associated with platelet dysfunction, cytoskeletal defects, and excessive bleeding

Background: A significant challenge is faced for the genetic diagnosis of inherited platelet disorders in which candidate genetic variants can be found in more than 100 bleeding, thrombotic, and platelet disorder genes, especially within families in which there are both normal and low platelet counts. Genetic variants of unknown clinical significance (VUS) are found in a significant proportion of such patients in which functional studies are required to prove pathogenicity. Objective: To identify the genetic cause in patients with a suspected platelet disorder and subsequently perform a detailed functional analysis of the candidate genetic variants found. Methods: Genetic and functional studies were undertaken in three patients in two unrelated families with a suspected platelet disorder and excessive bleeding. A targeted gene panel of previously known bleeding and platelet genes was used to identify plausible genetic variants. Deep platelet phenotyping was performed using platelet spreading analysis, transmission electron microscopy, immunofluorescence, and platelet function testing using lumiaggregometry and flow cytometry. Results: We report rare conserved missense variants (p.R182C and p.A183V) in TPM4 encoding tromomyosin-4 in 3 patients. Deep platelet phenotyping studies revealed similar platelet function defects across the 3 patients including reduced platelet secretion, and aggregation and spreading defects suggesting that TPM4 missense variants impact platelet function and show a disordered pattern of tropomyosin staining. Conclusions: Genetic and functional TPM4 defects are reported making TPM4 a diagnostic grade tier 1 gene and highlights the importance of including TPM4 in diagnostic genetic screening for patients with significant bleeding and undiagnosed platelet disorders, particularly for those with a normal platelet count

A ‘Third Culture’ in Economics? An Essay on Smith, Confucius and the Rise of China

China's rise drives a growing impact of China on economics. So far, this mainly works via the force of example, but there is also an emerging role of Chinese thinking in economics. This paper raises the question how far Chinese perspectives can affect certain foundational principles in economics, such as the assumptions on individualism and self-interest allegedly originating in Adam Smith. I embark on sketching a 'third culture' in economics, employing a notion from cross-cultural communication theory, which starts out from the observation that the Chinese model was already influential during the European enlightenment, especially on physiocracy, suggesting a particular conceptualization of the relation between good government and a liberal market economy. I relate this observation with the current revisionist view on China's economic history which has revealed the strong role of markets in the context of informal institutions, and thereby explains the strong performance of the Chinese economy in pre-industrial times. I sketch the cultural legacy of this pattern for traditional Chinese conceptions of social interaction and behavior, which are still strong in rural society until today. These different strands of argument are woven together in a comparison between Confucian thinking and Adam Smith, especially with regard to the 'Theory of Moral Sentiments', which ends up in identifying a number of conceptual family resemblances between the two. I conclude with sketching a 'third culture' in economics in which moral aspects of economic action loom large, as well as contextualized thinking in economic policies