6,305 research outputs found
Virtual money, practices and moral orders in Second Life
No full textVirtual monies present a limit case in debates about money's moral and political entanglements between sociologists, anthropologists, and economists. Digitized virtual monies seem ephemeral, almost ideal typical examples of money as a pure medium of exchange. This paper begins with the premise that virtual monies are as value-laden and morally entangled as any other form of money. This assertion is demonstrated by exploring how one type of virtual money, the Linden dollar (L$), and some of its associated practices are bound up with research participants' moral categories and judgments in the virtual world of Second Life (SL). Participants' accounts of virtual money practices are linked to moral attributes, sometimes in stark ‘good’ or ‘bad’ dichotomies, but also in more nuanced terms. These framings reproduce classifications of people and practices along a continuum with virtuousness at one end and maliciousness or harm at the other, passing through various states of possible moral dubiousness. For respondents, these two judgments go together; people are what they do with money. As a result, respondents decide what ‘people like that’ deserve. Evaluating someone's money practices means assessing the person. Participants' accounts of Linden dollar practices overlap with explanations of what SL is and how residents should live there. In SL, money is a form of material culture through which appropriate ways of being in the world are debated and reproduced
Influence of hosts on the ecology of arboviral transmission: Potential mechanisms influencing dengue, Murray Valley encephalitis, and Ross River virus in Australia
No full textEcological interactions are fundamental to the transmission of infectious disease. Arboviruses are particularly elegant examples, where rich arrays of mechanisms influence transmission between vectors and hosts. Research on host contributions to the ecology of arboviral diseases has been undertaken within multiple subdisciplines, but significant gaps in knowledge remain and multidisciplinary approaches are needed. Through our multidisciplinary review of the literature we have identified five broad areas where hosts may influence the ecology of arboviral transmission: host immunity; cross-protective immunity and antibody-dependent enhancement; host abundance; host diversity; and pathogen spillover and dispersal. Herein we discuss the known and theoretical roles of hosts within these topics and then apply this knowledge to three epidemiologically important mosquito-borne arboviruses that occur in Australia: dengue virus (DENV), Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV), and Ross River virus (RRV). We argue that the underlying mechanisms by which hosts influence arboviral activity are numerous and attempts to delineate these mechanisms further are needed. Investigations that focus on hosts of vector-borne diseases are likely to be rewarding, particularly where the ecology of vectors is relatively well understood. From an applied perspective, enhanced knowledge of host influences upon vector-borne disease transmission is likely to enable better management of disease burden. Finally, we suggest a framework that may be useful to identify and determine host contributions to the ecology of arboviruses
Factors affecting translation of realia in classical literary masterpieces: access to the previous translations, the SL natives, and the SL experts
No full textLiterary works of each nation have their roots in that nation’s culture. Because of the uniqueness of all cultures, various kinds of realia can be found in the literature of almost all nations. Persian literature is not an exception. The study aimed to discover the impact of accessibility to the SL natives, the SL experts, and the previous translations on the quality of rendering realia embedded in the classical Persian literary-text. The corpus included the translation of realia in Sa’di’s The Gulistan by Rehatsek (1888), Eastwick (1880), Anderson (1861), and Ross (1823). The findings revealed that a mixture of three factors (consulting previous translations, as well as consulting an expert SL native speaker) would provide a great help for translators. Although the results did not confirm that the mere accessibility to the SL natives would tremendously boost the quality of rendering realia, further research is required to investigate the issue by focusing on various classical literary texts, including those of other language pairs.Literary works of each nation have their roots in that nation’s culture. Because of the uniqueness of all cultures, various kinds of realia can be found in the literature of almost all nations. Persian literature is not an exception. The study aimed to discover the impact of accessibility to the SL natives, the SL experts, and the previous translations on the quality of rendering realia embedded in the classical Persian literary-text. The corpus included the translation of realia in Sa’di’s The Gulistan by Rehatsek (1888), Eastwick (1880), Anderson (1861), and Ross (1823). The findings revealed that a mixture of three factors (consulting previous translations, as well as consulting an expert SL native speaker) would provide a great help for translators. Although the results did not confirm that the mere accessibility to the SL natives would tremendously boost the quality of rendering realia, further research is required to investigate the issue by focusing on various classical literary texts, including those of other language pairs
CR1 Knops blood group alleles are not associated with severe malaria in the Gambia
No full textThe Knops blood group antigen erythrocyte polymorphisms have been associated with reduced falciparum malaria-based in vitro rosette formation (putative malaria virulence factor). Having previously identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human complement receptor 1 (CR1/CD35) gene underlying the Knops antithetical antigens Sl1/Sl2 and McC(a)/McC(b), we have now performed genotype comparisons to test associations between these two molecular variants and severe malaria in West African children living in the Gambia. While SNPs associated with Sl:2 and McC(b+) were equally distributed among malaria-infected children with severe malaria and control children not infected with malaria parasites, high allele frequencies for Sl 2 (0.800, 1,365/1,706) and McC(b) (0.385, 658/1706) were observed. Further, when compared to the Sl 1/McC(a) allele observed in all populations, the African Sl 2/McC(b) allele appears to have evolved as a result of positive selection (modified Nei-Gojobori test Ka-Ks/s.e.=1.77, P-valu
FIGURE 1 in First records of the rare eelpout Lycenchelys xanthoptera Anderson, 1991 (Teleostei, Zoarcidae) in the Ross Sea, Antarctica
No full textFIGURE 1. Lycenchelys xanthoptera, Iselin Bank, Ross Sea, Antarctica. (a) Colour image of NMNZ P.038579, 268 mm SL, male: 4 years after preservation, C. Struthers NMNZ; (b) Line drawing of NMNZ P.038575, 269 mm SL, male, drawing, Michelle Freeborn NMNZ.Published as part of Struthers, Carl D. & Møller, Peter R., 2009, First records of the rare eelpout Lycenchelys xanthoptera Anderson, 1991 (Teleostei, Zoarcidae) in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, pp. 65-68 in Zootaxa 2196 (1) on page 66, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2196.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/532139
Quantum and its irreducible representations
No full textWe define for real a unital -algebra
quantizing the universal enveloping
-algebra of . The -algebra
is realized as a -subalgebra of the
Drinfeld double of and its dual Hopf -algebra
, generated by the equatorial Podle\'s sphere coideal
-subalgebra of and
its associated orthogonal coideal -subalgebra . We then classify all the irreducible
-representations of .Comment: 22 pages; author accepted manuscrip
On the sheaf-theoretic SL(2, C) Casson–Lin invariant
No full textWe prove that the (τ-weighted, sheaf-theoretic) SL(2, C) Casson–Lin invariant introduced by Manolescu and the first author is generically independent of the parameter τ and additive under connected sums of knots in integral homology 3-spheres. This addresses two questions asked by Manolescu and the first author. Our arguments involve a mix of topology and algebraic geometry, and rely crucially on the fact that the SL(2, C) Casson–Lin invariant admits an alternative interpretation via the theory of Behrend functions.</p
Candidatus Rhetoricae (or Novus Candidatus).
No full textThis little book is a find whatever it finally turns out to be! For now it seems to be a Jesuit collegium text in rhetoric following the Progymnasmata of Aphthonius. If one works from the back of the book, there is an apparently independent 48-page work, Angelus Pacis by Nicolas Caussini (Latinized name), S.J. The rest of the book seems to be a commentary on or presentation of Aphthonius' Progymnasmata in 3 parts covering 435 pages, followed by a T of C and an AI, which is often one page off. Pars II is titled Rhetoricae Praecepta, Pars III De Panegyrico seu Laudatione. Pars I seems to be Apparatus ad Fabulam et Narrationem. Fable is handled on 15-31. After the famous Greek definition of Theion done into Latin ( sermo falsus veritatem effingens ), the author distinguishes rational (human) and moral (animal) fables, with mixed fables including both. He holds (19) that the sense of the fable generally needs to be expressed; otherwise people often miss the point of a fable. His Latin for promythium is praefabulatio, for epimythium affabulatio. Apologus and parabola are identical for him with fabula. After describing the qualities and uses of fables, the author presents some nine fables that exemplify various levels of style, twice telling the same stories on two levels (WL and FC). The last example is of the florid style: The Silkworm and the Spider takes four pages to tell! I found this book sitting in a box of disparate, unmarked, old books. It pays to look!This is a hardbound book (hard cover)Language note: Bilingual: Greek/LatinElzevers
Searches for New Physics effects in b →sl-sl+ transitions
No full textThe dissertation aims at presenting the current situation in the measurements of electroweak
penguin diagrams dominated decays: b → sl−l+1 . These decays have been a smoking gun
for hunting for New Physics effects over many years, but in the last three years the research
on these phenomena has intensified due to new measurements. Enormous progress has
been made both on the theoretical and the experimental sides to understand the measured
deviations from the current Standard Model predictions, referred to in what follows as
“anomalies”. The author of this dissertation has been one of the main authors of the angular analysis
of B0→ K∗ 0µ+µ− decay in the LHCb experiment, which has been widely regarded as one
of the most important results of the flavour physics sector in recent years. He has proposed
a method called “the method of moments” to measure the angular terms of this decay,
which he has later successfully applied in the measurement itself. Moreover, he has been
the driving force behind the two other important analyses in LHCb: the measurement of
the angular distribution and branching ratio of the B0→ K∗ 0 (1430)µ+µ− decay, where again the method of moments has been used to obtain the angular coefficients, and the search for the light scalar particle that can be produced in the b → s transitions and that decays to a dimuon pair. In this case no signal has been observed and the upper limits on the branching fraction have been set, later to be used for constraining the inflaton model.
The dissertation is organized as follows: the brief introduction is followed by, the second
chapter devoted to a theoretical description of rare B decays, where the effective field
theory formalism is introduced. Furthermore, the author discusses the current theoretical
problems in calculating the Standard Model predictions for the b → sl−l+ processes. Last but not least, the optimised angular observables that are less dependent on the form
factors uncertainness are derived. The third chapter describes the experimental apparatus
used in the b → sl−l+ measurements. Special focus is put on the sub-detectors that play
an important role in the studies of b → sl−l+ transitions. Chapters 4, 5, 6 are devoted to
describing the data analyses performed by the author in the LHCb experiment. In Chapter 7
the global analysis of electroweak penguin decays is presented. This kind of global analysis
has become extremely popular in the past few years as it helps to constrain and pin down those New Physics models that are likely to be responsible for the observed anomalies. The
author of this monograph is involved in one of the biggest collaborations performing New
Physics fits, where he is the convenor of the Flavour Working group. Furthermore, the
author presents his own study on separating the long distance effects in the B0→ K∗ 0µ+µ−decay. This is the state of the art way of determining those contributions. The chapter ends with a description of possible New Physics models that can explain the observed discrepancies
Bellottia robusta Nielsen, Ross & Cohen, 2009, new species
No full text<i>Bellottia robusta</i>, new species <p>(Figs.1–4)</p> <p> <i>Bellottia apoda</i>: McEachran & Fechhelm (2005: 18) <i>Bellotia</i> sp.: Cordes <i>et al.</i> (2008: 783)</p> <p> <b>Material examined</b> (12 specimens, SL 43–82): Holotype: USNM 394117, SL 62, male, Gulf of Mexico, Green Canyon 234, 27°45’N, 91°13’W, st. JSL- 4712, 535 m, coll. C. Fisher, 10 July 2004.</p> <p>Paratypes: TCWC 10956.01, SL 64, female, Gulf of Mexico, 27°46.96’N, 91°30.46’W, st: BH AT 1, 98 GOM JSL 4035, 540– 580 m, coll. Tracy Ward, 7 Aug.1998. - TCWC 10957.01, SL 53, female, Gulf of Mexico, 27°44.7’N, 91°13.3’W, st: GC AT 1, 98 GOM JSL 4033, 540 m, coll. Tracy Ward, 7 Aug. 1998. – USNM 394118, SL 34, male,Gulf of Mexico, Green Canyon 232, 27°44.49’N, 91°19.07’W, st. JSL- 4437, 569 m, coll. C. Fisher, 24 June 2002. – USNM 394119, SL 35, male, Gulf of Mexico, Green Canyon 234, 27°44.78’N, 91°13.30’W, st. JSL- 4569, 538 m, coll. C. Fisher, 26 Aug. 2003. – USNM 394120, SL 49, male, Gulf of Mexico, Garden Banks 543, 27°27.32’N, 93°11.29’W, st. JSL- 4582, 546 m, coll. S. Hourdez, 3 Sep. 2003. – USNM 394121, SL 82, female, and ZMUC P771652, female, Gulf of Mexico, same data as for holotype. – USNM 394122, SL 77, female, and ZMUC P771653, SL 72, male, Gulf of Mexico, Green Canyon 234, 27°45.80'N, 91°13.30’W, st. JSL- 4713, 532 m, coll. C. Fisher, 10 July 2004. – USNM 394123, SL 50, male, Gulf of Mexico, Green Canyon 234, 27°44.76’N, 91°13.46’W, st. JSL- 4720, 506 m, coll. K. Zelnio, 13 July 2004. – USNM 394124, SL 51, male, Gulf of Mexico, Green Canyon 234, 27°44.76’N, 91°13.46’W, st. JSL- 4721, 506 m, coll. C. Fisher, 14 July 2004.</p> <p> <b>Condition of material</b>. In most specimens the body is much curled up and the mouth wide open making precise measurements difficult to obtain.</p> <p> <b>Diagnosis.</b> <i>Bellottia robusta</i> differs from its congeners by the following combination of characters: depth at origin of anal fin 17.5–23.0 % SL, small teeth blunt or pointed, four spines on hind margin and one on crest of preopercle, distinct spine on cleithrum above base of pectoral fin, anterior gill arch with 5–6 long rakers, predorsal 44.0–49.5 % SL and precaudal vertebrae 12.</p> <p> <b>Similarity.</b> <i>Bellottia robusta</i> is most similar to <i>B. cryptica</i>, in e. g. presence of a spine on cleithrum and in fin ray and total vertebral counts, but differs by the heavier body (17.5–23.0 <i>vs</i> 17.0 % SL at origin of anal fin), origin of anal fin below dorsal fin ray 10–15 <i>vs</i> 8, precaudal vertebrae 12 <i>vs</i> 10 and spine on preopercular crest <i>vs</i> no spine in <i>B. cryptica</i>. It differs from <i>B. apoda</i> by the deeper (17.0–23.0 <i>vs</i> 13.0–16.0 % SL) and darker body, more caudal fin rays (7 <i>vs</i> 6), poorly developed fangs (<i>vs</i> distinct, retrorse fangs), more long rakers on anterior gill arch (5–6 <i>vs</i> 3–4) and longer predorsal (44.0–49.5 <i>vs</i> 35.5–40.0 % SL). From <i>B. galatheae</i> it differs e. g. by the higher number of rays in dorsal (85–83 <i>vs</i> 70–72), caudal (7 <i>vs</i> 6), anal (75–88 <i>vs</i> 61) and pectoral (23–25 <i>vs</i> 19–20) fins. From <i>B. armiger</i> it differs by having more precaudal vertebrae (12 <i>vs</i> 10), more caudal fin rays (7 <i>vs</i> 6) and a larger predorsal length (44.0–49.5 <i>vs</i> 41.5 % SL).</p> <p> <b>Description.</b> The principal meristic and morphometric characters are shown in Table 1. The description is based mainly on the holotype. Differences of paratypes are given in brackets and in Table 1.</p> <p> <i>B. robusta B. cryptica B. apoda</i></p> <p>Gulf of Mexico West. Atl. East. Atl. + Med. HT HT+11 paratypes Holotype n=16 including LT Body robust, highest near base of pectoral fin, completely covered with oval, ca. 1.5 mm, cycloid scales. Anterior segment of lateral line extending close to dorsal margin of body and from above anus along midline of body. Head profile convex, cheek and gill-cover scaled, while rest of head naked. Mouth slightly oblique with posterior margin of maxillary vertically expanded ending well behind eye. Anterior nostril closer to upper lip than to posterior nostril, both with low rim. Small opercular spine strong and pointed, almost completely covered by skin, and not reaching posterior margin of opercle (a few specimens with spine reaching just beyond hind margin of opercle). Ventral margin of preopercle with four distinct spines and one spine on preopercular crest (Fig. 3) (spine often covered by skin; one specimen with two spines on crest). Origin of dorsal fin above tip of pectoral fin, anal fin origin just behind midpoint of fish (some specimens with preanal up to 59 % SL). Pectoral fin placed on mid-body level with peduncle higher than long. A distinct spine on cleithrum just above base of pectoral fin (one specimen with spine ending in a blunt tip). Anterior gill arch with 2–3 (2–4) plate-like rakers on upper branch, one long raker in the angle between the two branches and lower branch with 4–5 long rakers, followed by seven (6–9) plate-like rakers. Longest gill filament slightly shorter than longest raker. Two minute pseudobranchial filaments.</p> <p>Head pores: Because of thin, often torn skin, pores are difficult to observe. A few, large pores, with three (2–3) in a vertical row behind eye, three below eye and four pores on mandible. Small whitish papillae spread over head.</p> <p>Dentition: Most teeth are small and blunt. Head of vomer slightly curved with one tooth row of ca. ten small, blunt teeth. Posterior half of palatines edentate, and anterior half with one row of small, blunt teeth. Dentaries with posterior fifth edentate and dentigerous part with one tooth row increasing to 2–3 rows at symphysis; outer row with retrorse fangs. Premaxillaries with posterior third edentate and dentigerous part with one tooth row increasing to 4–5 rows at symphysis; outer row with larger, pointed teeth (three specimens with larger, pointed teeth on all dentigerous bones).</p> <p>Axial skeleton (based on radiographs): Tips of neural and haemal spines thin and pointed. Anterior neural spine one third the length of second spine. Neural spines 3–7 (2–7) slightly depressed. Bases of neural spines 4–7 (4–8) enlarged. Parapophyses present on vertebrae 8–12 (7–12) and pleural ribs on 4–10 (3–11). Epipleural ribs indistinct.</p> <p>Otolith (Fig. 2): The 3.5 mm elongate sagittal otolith (from a 64 mm SL paratype, TCWC 10956.01) is twice as long as high and twice as high as thick. Dorsal and ventral rim roundish, vaguely pointed posteriorly. Sulcus undivided, 1/3–1/4 the length of the otolith. No osteal channel.</p> <p> <b>Coloration:</b> Fig. 1 shows the holotype after four years of preservation. The body is brownish with light vertical fins. The abdomen, operculum and eye-surroundings dark blue and the rest of the head colored like the body. The body of some of the smaller paratypes is dark brown.</p> <p> <b>Biology.</b> This species appears to be very closely associated with complex habitat, provided by tubeworms or deep-sea corals (e.g., <i>Lophelia pertusa</i>). Rocky substrata are also likely habitats for <i>B. robusta</i>, even though it has not yet been collected there. This species is well concealed within crevices provided by these habitats, and specimens were not observed prior to collection. Because of its cryptic nature there are no more data on the biology or ecology of this species. A 53 mm specimen (TCWC 10957.01) contained eggs up to 0.7 mm in diameter; embryos were not observed.</p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> The specific name, <i>robusta</i>, refers to the short, deep body.</p> <p> <b>Distribution</b> (Fig.4). Known from nine localities in a restricted area of the northern Gulf of Mexico all caught by JSL at depths of 506– 580 m.</p>Published as part of <i>Nielsen, Jørgen G., Ross, Steve W. & Cohen, Daniel M., 2009, Atlantic occurrence of the genus Bellottia (Teleostei, Bythitidae) with two new species from the Western North Atlantic, pp. 45-57 in Zootaxa 2018</i> on pages 47-51, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/186025">10.5281/zenodo.186025</a>
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