Biblical Citations as a Stylistic Standard in Johnson’s and Webster’s Dictionaries

Noah Webster’s primary source for the first edition of the 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language (ADEL) was Samuel Johnson’s 1799 eighth edition of the Dictionary of the English Language (DEL). Scholars have made much of the debt that Webster owes to Johnson for entries in the 1828 ADEL. Stylistic analyses have typically focused on the definitions included in the two dictionaries. Far less attention has been paid to the illustrative quotations employed by both authors to exemplify usage. This article focuses on Biblical citations in the letter S used by both Johnson and Webster as examples of usage. All citations (both secular and Biblical) under the letter S were examined to determine the relative importance of the Bible to the style and content of the dictionaries. Results indicate that though Johnson included more Biblical citations than Webster did, Biblical citations made up a larger proportion of Webster’s total citations than they did for Johnson.In addition to ascertaining frequency of Biblical citations, all Biblical citations shared by both dictionaries were also identified. Results of this analysis confirmed Webster’s debt to Johnson, as a great number of Webster’s Biblical citations may be found in Johnson’s dictionary. A study of the religious convictions of Johnson and Webster is integral to understanding both authors’ motivations in constructing their dictionaries. Though both were pious men, Johnson’s focus on the Bible was as a great literary work, whereas Webster’s focus on the Bible was as a tool for the religious and moral betterment of his readers.Les sources primaries utilisées par Noah Webster pour la première édition de son American Dictionary of the English Language (ADEL) publié en 1828 étaient la huitième édition du Dictionary of the English Language (DEL) de Samuel Johnson, publié en 1799. La dette de Webster envers Johnson concernant les entrées d’ADEL en 1828 a été mentionnée à plusieurs reprises par les chercheurs. Les analyses stylistiques se sont essentiellement portées sur les définitions dans les deux dictionnaires. Mais il a rarement été fait mention des citations utilisées par les deux auteurs comme exemples ou illustrations. Cet article porte sur les citations pour les mots commençant par la lettre S, utilisées aussi bien par Johnson que Webster à titre d’exemples. Nous avons étudié toutes les citations (aussi bien bibliques que non bibliques) utilisées pour les mots commençant par la lettre S afin de déterminer l’importance relative de la Bible sur le style et le contenu des dictionnaires. Les résultats indiquent que bien que Johnson ait utilisé plus de citations de la Bible que Webster, les citations bibliques forment une proportion plus importante des citations totales de Webster.Toutes les citations bibliques communes aux deux dictionnaires ont non seulement été identifiées, mais nous avons également établi leur fréquence d’usage. Les résultats de cette analyse ont confirmé la dette de Webster envers Johnson, puisqu’un grand nombre de citations bibliques utilisées par Webster se trouvent dans le dictionnaire de Johnson. La prise en compte des convictions religieuses de Johnson et de Webster fait partie intégrante de la compréhension des motivations des deux auteurs en ce qui concerne leurs choix lexicographiques. Bien que les deux fussent croyants, Johnson voyait la Bible comme une œuvre littéraire remarquable, alors que Webster la voyait comme un moyen d’élévation religieuse et morale de ses lecteurs

The MSDIN family in amanitin-producing mushrooms and evolution of the prolyl oligopeptidase genes

The biosynthetic pathway for amanitins and related cyclic peptides in deadly Amanita (Amanitace ae) mushrooms represents the first known ribosomal cyclic peptide pathway in the Fungi. Amanitins are found outside of the genus in distantly related agarics Galerina (Strophariaceae) and Lepiota (Agaricaceae). A long-standing question in the field persists: why is this pathway present in these phylogenetically disjunct agarics? Two deadly mushrooms, A. pallidorosea and A. subjunquillea, were deep sequenced, and sequences of biosynthetic genes encoding MSDINs (cyclic peptide presursor) and prolyl oligopeptidases (POPA and POPB) were obtained. The two Amanita species yielded 20 and 18 MSDINs, respectively. In addition, two MSDIN sequences were cloned from L. brunneoincarnata basidiomes. The toxin MSDIN genes encoding amatoxins or phallotoxins from the three genera were compared, and a phylogenetic tree constructed. Prolyl oligopeptidase B (POPB), a key enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway, was used in phylogenetic reconstruction to infer the evolutionary history of the genes. Phylogenenies of POPB and POPA based on both coding and amino acid sequences showed very different results: while POPA genes clearly reflected the phylogeny of the host species, POPB did not; strikingly, it formed a well supported monophyletic clade, despite that the species belong to different genera in disjunct families. POPA, a known house-keeping gene, was shown to be restricted in a branch containing on Amanita species and the phylogeny resembled that of those Amanita species. Phylogenetic analyses of MSDIN and POPB genes showed tight coordination and disjunct disdistribution. A POPB gene tree was compared with a corresponding species tree, and distances and substitution rates were compared. The results suggested POPB genes have significant smaller distances and substitution rates were compared. The result suggested POPB genes have significant smaller distances and rates than the house-keeping rpb2, discounting massive gene loss. Under this assumption, the consistently cluster Galerina and Amantia POPB genes, while Lepiota POPB is distant. Our result suggests that horizontal gene transfer (HGT), at least between Amanita and Galerian, was invovled in the acquisition of POPB genes, which may shed light on the evolution of the a-amanitin biosynthetic pathway

Effects of fungicide application timing and cultivar resistance on Fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol in winter wheat

Fusarium graminearum causes Fusarium head blight (FHB) in wheat. FHB reduces yield and quality and contaminates grain with the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON). Effective management strategies are needed. The objectives of this research were to 1) Determine the effect of fungicide application timing at anthesis (the standard timing) and 6 and 12 days later on FHB and DON in the winter wheat cultivars Overley (susceptible) and Overland (moderately resistant) and 2) Compare the effects of a triazole and a strobilurin fungicide on FHB and DON in Overley and Overland. In 2015 two field trials (irrigated and rain-fed) were conducted in Nebraska, USA. The triazole Prosaro (prothioconazole + tebuconazole) and the strobilurin Headline (pyraclostrobin) were applied with a CO2-powered backpack sprayer at anthesis and 6 and 12 days later. A split plot design in randomized complete blocks with 4 replications was used. Main plots were cultivars and subplots were fungicide treatments. FHB index and DON were significantly (P \u3c 0.05) lower in Overland than in Overley. The window of fungicide application to control FHB and DON was widened from anthesis to 6 days later without loss of efficacy. Headline was less effective than Prosaro in controlling FHB and DON. Moderate resistance combined with a triazole fungicide most effectively reduced FHB and DON. The results indicate a wider fungicide application window and the effectiveness of combining resistance with a triazole fungicide

Hepatitis A vaccine for immunosuppressed patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a prospective, open-label, multi-centre study

Peer reviewe

Commensurate and Incommensurate Vortex States in Superconductors with Periodic Pinning Arrays

As a function of applied field, we find a rich variety of ordered and partially-ordered vortex lattice configurations in systems with square or triangular arrays of pinning sites. We present formulas that predict the matching fields at which commensurate vortex configurations occur and the vortex lattice orientation with respect to the pinning lattice. Our results are in excellent agreement with recent imaging experiments on square pinning arrays [K. Harada et al., Science 274, 1167 (1996)].Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Accepted to Physical Review

Spatio-temporal dynamics and plastic flow of vortices in superconductors with periodic arrays of pinning sites

We present simulations of flux-gradient-driven superconducting rigid vortices interacting with square and triangular arrays of columnar pinning sites in an increasing external magnetic field. These simulations allow us to quantitatively relate spatio-temporal microscopic information of the vortex lattice with typically measured macroscopic quantities, such as the magnetization $M(H)$. The flux lattice does not become completely commensurate with the pinning sites throughout the sample at the magnetization matching peaks, but forms a commensurate lattice in a region close to the edge of the sample. Matching fields related to unstable vortex configurations do not produce peaks in $M(H)$. We observe a variety of evolving complex flux profiles, including flat terraces or plateaus separated by winding current-carrying strings and, near the peaks in $M(H)$, plateaus only in certain regions, which move through the sample as the field increases

Critical Currents and Vortex States at Fractional Matching Fields in Superconductors with Periodic Pinning

We study vortex states and dynamics in 2D superconductors with periodic pinning at fractional sub-matching fields using numerical simulations. For square pinning arrays we show that ordered states form at 1/1, 1/2, and 1/4 filling fractions while only partially ordered states form at other filling fractions, such as 1/3 and 1/5, in agreement with recent imaging experiments. For triangular pinning arrays we observe matching effects at filling fractions of 1/1, 6/7, 2/3, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, and 1/7. For both square and triangular pinning arrays we also find that, for certian sub-matching fillings, vortex configurations depend on pinning strength. For weak pinning, ordering in which a portion of the vortices are positioned between pinning sites can occur. Depinning of the vortices at the matching fields, where the vortices are ordered, is elastic while at the incommensurate fields the motion is plastic. At the incommensurate fields, as the applied driving force is increased, there can be a transition to elastic flow where the vortices move along the pinning sites in 1D channels and a reordering transition to a triangular or distorted triangular lattice. We also discuss the current-voltage curves and how they relate to the vortex ordering at commensurate and incommensurate fields.Comment: 14 figure

The interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic bounded noises in genetic networks

After being considered as a nuisance to be filtered out, it became recently clear that biochemical noise plays a complex role, often fully functional, for a genetic network. The influence of intrinsic and extrinsic noises on genetic networks has intensively been investigated in last ten years, though contributions on the co-presence of both are sparse. Extrinsic noise is usually modeled as an unbounded white or colored gaussian stochastic process, even though realistic stochastic perturbations are clearly bounded. In this paper we consider Gillespie-like stochastic models of nonlinear networks, i.e. the intrinsic noise, where the model jump rates are affected by colored bounded extrinsic noises synthesized by a suitable biochemical state-dependent Langevin system. These systems are described by a master equation, and a simulation algorithm to analyze them is derived. This new modeling paradigm should enlarge the class of systems amenable at modeling. We investigated the influence of both amplitude and autocorrelation time of a extrinsic Sine-Wiener noise on: $(i)$ the Michaelis-Menten approximation of noisy enzymatic reactions, which we show to be applicable also in co-presence of both intrinsic and extrinsic noise, $(ii)$ a model of enzymatic futile cycle and $(iii)$ a genetic toggle switch. In $(ii)$ and $(iii)$ we show that the presence of a bounded extrinsic noise induces qualitative modifications in the probability densities of the involved chemicals, where new modes emerge, thus suggesting the possibile functional role of bounded noises

Melting and transverse depinning of driven vortex lattices in the periodic pinning of Josephson junction arrays

We study the non-equilibrium dynamical regimes of a moving vortex lattice in the periodic pinning of a Josephson junction array (JJA) for {\it finite temperatures} in the case of a fractional or submatching field. We obtain a phase diagram for the current driven JJA as a function of the driving current I and temperature T. We find that when the vortex lattice is driven by a current, the depinning transition at $T_p(I)$ and the melting transition at $T_M(I)$ become separated even for a field for which they coincide in equilibrium. We also distinguish between the depinning of the vortex lattice in the direction of the current drive, and the {\it transverse depinning} in the direction perpendicular to the drive. The transverse depinning corresponds to the onset of transverse resistance in a moving vortex lattice at a given temperature $T_{tr}$. For driving currents above the critical current we find that the moving vortex lattice has first a transverse depinning transition at low T, and later a melting transition at a higher temperature, $T_{M}>T_{tr}$.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figure