Search

Bicontinuous membranes in cell organelles epitomize nature’s ability to create complex functional nanostructures. Like their synthetic counterparts, these membranes are characterized by continuous membrane sheets draped onto topologically complex saddle-shaped surfaces with a periodic network-like structure. Their structure sizes, (around 50–500 nm), and fluid nature make transmission electron microscopy (TEM) the analysis method of choice to decipher their nanostructural features. Here we present a tool, Surface Projection Image Recognition Environment (SPIRE), to identify bicontinuous structures from TEM sections through interactive identification by comparison to mathematical “nodal surface” models. The prolamellar body (PLB) of plant etioplasts is a bicontinuous membrane structure with a key physiological role in chloroplast biogenesis. However, the determination of its spatial structural features has been held back by the lack of tools enabling the identification and quantitative analysis of symmetric membrane conformations. Using our SPIRE tool, we achieved a robust identification of the bicontinuous diamond surface as the dominant PLB geometry in angiosperm etioplasts in contrast to earlier long-standing assertions in the literature. Our data also provide insights into membrane storage capacities of PLBs with different volume proportions and hint at the limited role of a plastid ribosome localization directly inside the PLB grid for its proper functioning. This represents an important step in understanding their as yet elusive structure–function relationship., The SPIRE tool facilitates recognition of bicontinuous phases on transmission electron micrographs, which enables in-depth spatial prolamellar body structure analysis from 2D micrographs.

Strata of the Solvik Formation in the central Oslo region (upper Hirnantian to upper Aeronian) are rich in atrypides that elucidate the evolution of this group. A few athyridide brachiopods are also present. Eleven taxa of smooth spire-bearers are described taxonomically using fossils and peels. Among these occur one new genus,Eisaella, and five new species:Eisaella uniplicata,Thulatrypa huangi,T.vikenensis, ?Becscia pentagona, andShelvothyris bivittata. Atrypides make up 30% (24 genera) of the total brachiopod genera in the Solvik Formation, more than one third of the known global atrypide fauna during that interval. Most are members of the family Lissatrypidae, illustrating the evolution of this group from upper Hirnantian and lower Silurian strata. These show close affinity to each other attesting to ongoing radiation. The new genusEisaellais a likely ancestor ofLissatrypa, whileMeifodiadisplays a gradual evolution through the formation. Atrypides were most diverse at the base and top of the Solvik Formation due to heterogony in environments and water depth, but were less diverse in the comparatively constant environmental setting of the late Rhuddanian time. The basal assemblages with few atrypides from shallow facies may be compared to the shallow Cathay Fauna of China. Most of the abundant Norwegian atrypide fauna is found in deeper water with few comparable faunas known globally. The Oslo region may have served as a center for the evolution and spread of atrypides immediately following the end-Ordovician glacial drawdown in sea level.UUID:http://zoobank.org/508dba95-5501-403d-9a4d-deeb324847c9

Two species of Nassarius Dumeril, 1805 from the South China Sea are described and illustrated. The specimens are in the Nassariidae collection of the Marine Biological Museum of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao. Nassarius concavus sp. nov., from the sandy bottom at a depth of 180 m, resembles Nassarius glabrus Zhang and Zhang, 2014 in general shell morphology, but differs from the latter in having a smaller, more slender adult shell without axial ribs on the upper teleoconch whorls. Nassarius nanshaensis sp. nov., from the Nansha Islands at a depth of 56–147 m, is similar to Nassarius maxiutongi Zhang, Zhang and Li, 2019 in the shell sculpture, but differs in having a more slender shell with a higher spire, and fewer cusps on the rachidian tooth (9–11 vs. 13–17).

In the study, we compare the shell shape morphometrics in four species of neritid gastropods (Nerita fulgurans, Nerita tessellata, Nerita peloronta and Nerita versicolor), collected in Accra Beach (Barbados Island). We tested the hypothesis that the morphometric ratios can be used as a tool in the taxonomic determination among these four species of neritids. For this we determine the morphometric ratios from the external (length, height, width) and internal (shell aperture length, shell aperture width) measures. A principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine which ratios were significant, and subsequently the proposed hypothesis was tested using the Kruskal–Wallis test. The morphometric ratios AW/H and AL/L were decisive in distinguishing the four species of neritids studied. In this study, the hypothesis of the efficacy of the use of shell morphometric ratios as an instrument in taxonomic studies was corroborated for the four species. Due to its low cost, this methodology can be applied in the recognition of species that have lost their external characteristics such as operculum, spire or colour and also in the identification of fossil specimens.

In a one-year study, a new record of the freshwater thiarid snail, Tarebia granifera, was collected in huge amounts from the River Nile in Qena province, Upper Egypt. Tarebia granifera is a highly invasive species that has spread throughout the tropical world and can displace native gastropods as well as cause damage to water systems by clogging pipes and machinery. The shell is extremely variable in size, shape, and sculpture: obtusely to elongate conical, elevated spire up to 8 – 13 whorls, the ultimate whorl large; coarsely sculptured by elevated ridges in a vertical and spiral direction, causing a pattern of strong and blunt nodules. It was noticed that the apex is always eroded and the umbilicus is closed. Aperture is almost vertical, oval, pointed above, and rounded below. The operculum is corneous, opaque, dark reddish-brown. The type of operculum of the investigated snail is paucispiral with the nucleus placed in the far bottom right corner. Growth lines are coarse and irregular. The soft parts show the typical parts of the gastropod body, which are; the head, foot, and visceral mass. The head and foot of the active snail can be seen protruding out of the shell. The pallial organs are typically like thiarid in both form and position. The mantle is the most important and specialized organ of the Gastropoda, for it not only bears the glands that secrete the shell but it also serves as a base to which the ctenidium, ospharadium, and several excretory and reproductive outlets are attached. The mantle of the present species is a thin, fleshy, cone-shaped cap and hangs over the body. It is appressed closely to the interior of the last half of the last whorl and thus creates an open cavity into which water may enter freely to bathe the gills. The anterior border bears a series of 4– 5 large, projecting, fleshy papillae; the farthest to the left being the largest. The four papillae, the farthest to the left, are bulbous at their basal attachment to the mantle and are pointed at their distal ends, which may be seen projecting well beyond the edge of the shell. While, to the right, there are 6 to 8 progressively smaller papillae that are not bulbous at their base and act as the accessory respiratory systems and as chemoreceptors.

Morphometry is one of the methods that can be useful in establishing taxon identity. Morphometrics of Pomacea spp in paddy fields of Peninsular Malaysia has not been studied, hence, poorly understood. Morphometric measurement were carried out on shell and operculum characters for six populations of Pomacea spp from paddy fields of peninsula Malaysia to assess ecotype disparity for those characters among the different populations. Results revealed that significant disparity with respect to the assessed characters exists among the populations from different rice ecologies sampled. The highest value for shell length, body whorl height, spire height, aperture length, Aperture width, operculum length and Operculum width were recorded in the Tanjung Karang (Selongor) sampling locality. While the least value for most of these morphometric character were recorded from Tanjung Piandang locality (Perak). It could be concluded that the morphometric characters measured vary independently among the populations measured and is predicted among others factors to be governed by intensity of paddy cultivations rather than geographical gradients. The implications of this finding especially with respect to their management as pest of paddy were discussed.

We use scanning electron microscopy imaging to examine the shell microstructure of fossil and living species in five families of caenogastropods (Strombidae, Volutidae, Olividae, Pseudolividae, and Ancillariidae) to determine whether parallel or convergent evolution is responsible for the development of a unique caenogastropod trait, the extreme parietal callus (EPC). The EPC is defined as a substantial thickening of both the spire callus and the callus on the ventral shell surface such that it covers 50% or more of the surface. Caenogastropods as a whole construct the EPC convergently, using a variety of low-density, poorly organized microstructures that are otherwise uncommon in caenogastropod non-callus shell construction. Within clades, however, we see evidence for parallelism in decreased regulation in both the shell and callus microstructure. Low-density and poorly ordered microstructure—such as used for the EPC—uses less organic scaffolding and is less energetically expensive than normal shell microstructure. This suggests the EPC functions to rapidly and inexpensively increase shell thickness and overall body size. Tests of functional ecology suggest that the EPC might function both to defend against crushing predation through increased body size and dissipation of forces while aiding in shell orientation of highly mobile gastropods. These interpretations hinge on the current phylogenetic placement of caenogastropod families, emphasizing the essential contribution of phylogeny when interpreting homoplasy.

This paper presents a new Altivasum found off Jurien Bay, Western Australia at 60 m. This new species expands our understanding of the distribution, and in particular extends the northern range of Altivasum, in the South-west Marine Region. Altivasum pauladellaboscae n. sp. is more rhomboidal than A. hedleyi Maxwell and Dekkers, 2019, which is elongated, and has the formation of tubular spines on the shoulder of axial fold on the later whorls of the spire; these spines are not formed in A. pauladellaboscae n sp. Altivasum pauladellaboscae n sp. differs from A. profundum Dekkers and Maxwell, 2018 in having acute shoulder nodules. The South Australian, A. flindersi Verco, 1914 lacks the fibriated subsutural band found in A. pauladellaboscae n. sp. Altivasum clarksoni Maxwell and Dekkers, 2019 is geographically isolated and morphologically distinct, being more elongated and fibriated. This paper brings the number of described Altivasum species to five

The residents of Dublin, Ireland have developed a robust commemorative infrastructure throughout the city since the early eighteenth century. A prominent site in this landscape is at the centre of ...

A conversation with British novelist and comic book writer Simon ‘Si’ Spurrier (John Constantine: Hellblazer, The Dreaming, The Spire, Cry Havoc, Angelic, Coda, 2000AD, Judge Dredd, X-Men Legacy, S...

Summary This essay argues that the work of ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs) centres on three modes of articulation; namely, intersubjective, practical and material articulations. However, much research in diplomatic studies has yet to come to terms with the specific ways in which these modes of articulation coalesce to produce a distinctive foreign policy. I suggest that a field theory account of MFAs offers a reliable set of tools that enables us to understand how a foreign policy takes shape, the dynamics that sustain it and the circumstances under which it is likely to change. Because a field’s existence is often derived from its relational consequences, the essay clarifies the link between a field and its effects, using the concept of ‘affordance’. In this sense, theorising MFAs connects a philosophy of action — which focuses on the field theory’s concepts — and a philosophy of science — which emphasises relations within and between different modes of articulation.

International audience; Social trust is at the center of democratic societies but it varies considerably between individuals and societies, which deeply affects a range of prosocial behaviours. Socioeconomic status has been identified as an important predictor of such variability. Although this association has mostly been reported for measures of socioeconomic status taken in adulthood, recent studies have found unique effects of harsh conditions experienced during childhood on social trust assessed decades later. Here, we report a series of three studies that provide further support for the long-lasting association between early childhood conditions and social trust. The first study revealed that higher childhood socioeconomic status was associated with greater social trust in a diverse sample of French participants (N=915), even after adjusting for current socioeconomic status. The second study replicated this result using data from the European Values Study, an independent large-scale survey of 46 European countries (N=66,281). Finally, the last study found a similar association between socioeconomic status and willingness to invest in a trust game (N=60 in original study, N=75 in replication study).

We offer a series of reflective insights about the state and direction of studies related to the politics of regulation. Notably we argue that the field is characterized by persisting divisions between Americanists and Europeanists. Largely focused on the actions taken by political principals, the former regularly report a substantial politicization of regulatory behavior. Reflecting on recent developments in US politics however, we show that political influence could be overestimated in the United States. Symmetrically, this same influence could be underestimated by Europeanists, who for now have largely focused on regulators and agencies. This is notably suggested by a discussion of recent development in European politics, as revealed by contributions systematically measuring agency politicization in Western European democracies. On this basis, we identify some promising research questions and agendas for future studies on the politics of regulation.

Los depósitos marinos del Mioceno temprano en Tierra del Fuego albergan un grupo de gasterópodos struthiolaridos que se destacan por su alta variabilidad morfológica. Desde finales del siglo 19 se interpretó que esta variabilidad reflejaba (1) un grupo de especies altamente diversificado en rápida evolución o (2) una única especie plástica caracterizada por una amplia variabilidad intraespecífica. El estudio morfológico de más de 100 ejemplares del género Perissodonta Martens recolectados en las formaciones fueguinas Carmen silva, Viamonte e Irigoyen indica que parámetros significativos, como la forma del caparazón, la longitud de la espira y el número de ornamentaciones espirales y axiales (líneas espirales finas, cordones, tubérculos) varían continuamente dentro de una amplia gama de valores, favoreciendo una única especie plástica. Los especímenes topotipo de Perissodonta ameghinoi (Ihering), recolectados de la Formación Monte León del Mioceno temprano en la Patagonia, muestran una plasticidad de caracteres similar. Además, material de topotipo reciente de Perissodonta georgiana strebel de las Islas Georgias del sur, una especie considerada sinónimo muy cercano o junior del genotipo de la especie P. mirabilis (smith), indica un grado similar de plasticidad. En consecuencia, los struthiolaridos fueguinos asignados previamente a Perissodonta ameghinoi; P. fueguina (Ihering) o P. densestriata (Ihering) se refieren en este trabajo a P. ameghinoi, un gasterópodo struthiolarido restringido al Mioceno temprano en Tierra del Fuego y Patagonia. The early Miocene marine deposits in Tierra del Fuego bear a group of struthiolariid gastropods that stand out for their high morphological variability. since the end of the 19th century this variability was interpreted as reflecting (1) a highly diversified rapidly evolving group of species or (2) a single, plastic species characterized by ample intraspecific variability. The morphological study of more than 100 specimens of the Fuegian struthiolariid genus Perissodonta Martens collected in the Carmen silva, Viamonte, and Irigoyen formations indicate that significant parameters, such as shell shape, spire length and number of spiral and axial sculptures (cords, threads, tubercles) vary continuously within an ample range of values, favoring a single, plastic species. Topotype specimens of Perissodonta ameghinoi (Ihering), collected from the early Miocene Monte León Formation in Patagonia, show similar plasticity of characters. Furthermore, recent topotype material of Perissodonta georgiana strebel from Islas Georgias del sur, a species considered very close or junior synonym of the genotype species P. mirabilis (smith), indicates a similar degree of plasticity. Accordingly, the Fuegian struthiolariids previously assigned to Perissodonta ameghinoi; P. fueguina (Ihering); or P. densestriata (Ihering) are here referred to P. ameghinoi, a struthiolariid gastropod restricted to the early Miocene in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. Fil: Lopez Cabrera O., Maria Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina Fil: Olivero, Eduardo Bernardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tierra del Fuego; Argentina

Does development affect food practices? The nutrition transition model correlates positively meat consumption levels with gross domestic product per capita, except in India. In this article, I analyze food diets in this country since the 1980s by mapping out households’ practices in animal product consumption depending on their social positions. Applying multiple factor analysis on the Consumer Expenditures data of the National Sample Survey Office, I produce a relational model of food diet segmentation to overcome the dead ends of the nutrition transition model. Two structural dimensions are highlighted. The first one differentiates beef and nonbeef meat diets and relates to the symbolic capital of caste and religion. The second one opposes diets including animal products and without, depending on the amount of economic capital. The concept of temporal homology is introduced to show that the social structure remains stable over time. This denotes the importance of sociocultural norms in food practices rather than their weakening due to “modernization” and shows how these norms are key to understand food transitions beyond linear expectations drawn from economic development.

Strombus turturella is a type of gastropods that live in the shallow coastal area of the Dompak Island. A research aims to understand the morphometrical, meristical characteristics and growth patterns of S. turturella from the Dompak Island was conducted in June-July 2018. The number of snail sampled was 400, with 46.98-83.07 TL mm and 13-46 grams BW. There were six morphological characteristics measured, there were total length, shell length, aperture length, shell width, shell depth and lip thickness, and there was one meristical characteristic count, namely the number of spire. Results shown that there are 5 morphometrical characteristic differences in males and females. Total length of male is longer than that of the female. While other characteristics, such as the shell length and aperture of the females were longer, the shell was wider, deeper and the lip was thicker than those of the males. The number of spire was 4-9 in males and 4-8 in females. The lenghweight relationship shown that the growth of males and females is allometric negative (b=0.503).

The study of eukaryotic extremophiles is relatively novel, and, therefore, documentation of the structure and function of micro-organisms in continental hydrothermal systems globally is limited. In...

Tambareauella new genus with its type species Operculina (Nummulitoides) azilensis Tambareau (1966) is described and photographed from an outcrop of the Late Ypresian of Le Mas-d'Azil, southwestern France. Tambareauella is characterized by a small to medium test, involute coiling in the early ontogenetic stage (1st whorl) to complanate evolute in the last two whorls, lax spire outwards, flattened discoidal test with inflated polar region and rounded periphery, concentrated granules at the center of the test in the form of a boss, straight septa becoming curved at the top and of anastomosing nature, raised spiral suture, rhomboid chambers two or three times higher than long especially in the last two whorls and rather thick marginal cord. Tambareauella new genus belongs to the family Nummulitidae, and this new genus compares well with its allied taxa. The new taxon is found associated with forms of the Nummulites/Alveolina levis zone of Late Ypresian age (SBZ 9- SBZ 10 of Serra-Kiel et al., 1998). Another species Tambareauella russeiesensis n. sp. is recorded from the Late Ypresian Esna Shale, Wadi Naoz stratigraphic section, Gebel Umm Russeies, El Galala El Bahariya, Eastern Desert, Egypt.

In this article, I conduct a contextual analysis of transhumanist conceptions of posthuman futures. Focusing on cryonics, nanotechnology, and artificial superintelligence technological projects through a study of primarily American sources from the 1960s onward, I identify three distinct conceptualizations of the posthuman future: Promethean, spontaneous, and scalar. I argue that transhumanists envision posthumanity as resulting from a transition that involves both continuity and radical change. Although these three posthuman futures appear to share an interest in predicting a superior “cosmic” realization of human destiny, they involve distinct “liberal” conceptions of historical agency. These include the unlimited individual liberty of the technologized self, the knowledge‐ordering properties of the market, and the rational aggregation of individual interests over the long term. I locate these heterogeneous and partly conflicting conceptions of historical agency in the context of the postwar crisis and remaking of liberalism's future. I argue that transhumanist ideas about the transition toward a more‐than‐human or beyond‐human future are best understood as manifesting a wide range of attempts at thinking about horizons of unprecedented change within the terms of postwar liberal projects. Ultimately, transhumanist futures shed light on the multiplicity of political temporalities that are required for thinking and writing stories about unprecedented futures.

The private hospital group Spire Healthcare has pleaded guilty to breaching the duty of candour in failing to give four patients prompt explanations about their inadequate treatment by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon. The guilty plea came in the first case to be brought by the Care Quality Commission against a private healthcare provider for breaching the duty of candour. Spire was fined £5000 and ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge and £14 984.36 costs at Leeds magistrates court. The procedures were performed by Mike Walsh, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who worked at Spire Leeds Hospital until his practising privileges were …

Bicontinuous membranes in cell organelles epitomise nature’s ability to create complex functional nanostructures. Like their synthetic counterparts, these membranes are characterised by continuous membrane sheets draped onto topologically complex saddle-shaped surfaces with a periodic network-like structure. In cell organelles, their structure sizes around 50–500 nm and fluid nature make Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) the analysis method of choice to decipher nanostructural features. Here we present a tool to identify bicontinuous structures from TEM sections by comparison to mathematical “nodal surface” models, including the hexagonal lonsdaleite geometry. Our approach, following pioneering work by Deng and Mieczkowski (1998), creates synthetic TEM images of known bicontinuous geometries for interactive structure identification. We apply the method to the inner membrane network in plant cell chloroplast precursors and achieve a robust identification of the bicontinuous diamond surface as the dominant geometry in several plant species. This represents an important step in understanding their as yet elusive structure-function relationship.

In recent decades, accelerating processes of globalization and an increase in economic inequality in most of the world's countries have raised the question of the emergence of a new bourgeoisie integrated at the global level, sometimes described as a global super-bourgeoisie. This group would be distinguished by its unequaled level of wealth and global interconnectedness, its transnational ubiquity and concentration in the planet's major global cities, its specific culture, consumption habits, sites of sociability and shared references, and even by class consciousness and capacity to act collectively. This article successively discusses how the social sciences have examined these various dimensions of the question and begun to provide systematic empirical answers.

Australia was barely 30 years old itself when prominent voices came to the fore demanding some form of arts centre in Melbourne to extend the established museum and gallery provision. It is typical of Australia that the vision was bold and ambitious. Melbourne’s Arts Centre was spearheaded by newspaper magnate Sir Keith Murdoch and the composer Margaret Sutherland. The rectangular National Gallery of Victoria was completed first in 1967. The design and construction of its next-door neighbour, the Cultural Centre, was another story. The triangular design was created by a tall copper spire. A music auditorium, lecture theatre, fly tower and small experimental theatre would lie beneath the spire, underground and grouped around a central foyer. The auditorium was the yolk, the foyer the white and the dressings rooms and services protecting the egg from environmental intrusion was the shell.

Background Although the apple snail Pila globosa is used as indicator species for human consumption locally and as fish feed, research on it in general is very scanty. It is used in food industry, in aquaculture as fish bait and used as food in many regions of India and many other countries, but research on it has been started in the 1970s. Only 40 articles are available on this organism in PubMed indicating an urgent need of basic research on it especially work on its spatiotemporal morphometry Therefore, sampling of P. globosa was done from different parts of India in different seasons (summer, winter and rainy), and different morphometric studies were performed on this organism to draw baseline information. Analysis was conducted to study morphometry, the relationship between shell length and the weight and relative condition factor of Indian apple snail Pila globosa collected from five zones (east, west, north, south and centre) of India during 2018–2019 year. Results The shell length (SL) (46.5 ± 13.33), shell width (SW) (40.22±11.5 mm), spire length (SPL) (2.99±0.15 mm), base length (BL) (12.53±2.94 mm), aperture length (AL) (21.95±4.36 mm), aperture width (AW) (2.74±0.47 mm) and shell weight (WT) (31.08±13.76 g) were observed to be varied among the individual sampled across India. Different relationships for SL/SW (Log SW=0.9889 Log SL + 0.9444), SL/SPL (Log SPL = 0.1452 Log SL+0.3815), SL/BL (Log BL=0.7789 Log SL+0.5814), SL/AL (Log AL= 0.6518 Log SL+0.9111) and SL/AW (Log AW=0.4475 Log SL+0.1422) were observed by considering shell length as basic index. The relationship between shell length and shell weight was found to be Log WT=2.0263 Log SL+0.1098. The relative condition factor revealed uninterrupted and good environmental condition observed for apple snails. A negative allometric growth pattern was observed from the length–weight relationship. Conclusion The environments of apple snail in India are not contaminated, and the results can be used as baseline data in aquaculture for model analysis and can be used as a reference for drawing relationship among different morphometric indices of P. globosa in India, as there is no such information available on it. The data can also be used for mass scale production of P. globosa for consumption by human and use in aquatic industries as fish feed.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) offers novel observations over the cryosphere with the use of reflected navigation signals (eg. GPS or Galileo) as signals of opportunity. This technique has the potential for higher resolution measurements over sea ice than routinely acquired by passive microwave systems with a footprint of around 5 km2 and is much lower in power consumption, mass and therefore cost. Here we present sea ice classification and altimetry as observed at grazing angles by Spire’s Radio Occultation (RO) Satellite constellation, repurposed for GNSS-R.The Spire RO constellation of 37 operational satellites (and growing) is relied upon to support critical numerical weather prediction and has been collecting GNSS signals as they refract through the atmosphere. The reprogramming of these satellites to receive signals reflected at grazing angle allows these signals to instead inform on Earth surface characteristics. From smooth surfaces, these signals are phase coherent at L-Band frequencies (~19 - 24 cm wavelength) and allow the detection of the roughness of the sea ice in addition to the height of the surface to several centimetres of precision. Three months of these operational sea ice detection and classification products are presented from Spring of 2020; with ice extent in agreement with external passive and active sources to around 98% in the Antarctic and 94% in the Arctic, and ice age classification (First Year/Multi-Year) agreeing in the Arctic to around 70%. First results are shown for the potential to detect other ice characteristics such as the Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone extent and floe size / type.

This article will concentrate on the rules and regulations—mostly local, but also global—that make Colombian coffee the product it is. Although described as a result of unique geographical conditions, sophisticated state policy, and successful institutional building, Colombian coffee is more the result of access to property, tax privileges, mapping permissions about where to plant, conservative family values, and subsidized credits.

This study analysed the shell morphology, morphometric relationships and relative growth in three topshell species (Phorcus lineatus, Phorcus sauciatus and Steromphala umbilicalis) collected in the Algarve coast (southern Portugal). A total of 1382 individuals were sampled (465 P. lineatus, 447 P. sauciatus and 470 S. umbilicalis) and all species comprised individuals with broad size and weight ranges. Morphometric relationships were established between linear (shell height, width, spire height, aperture height, aperture width) and ponderal (total weight) variables, whose relative growth (isometry vs. allometry) was analysed to assess variation throughout the species ontogeny. All morphometric relationships were highly significant (P < 0.001) and displayed invariably high correlation coefficients (r = 0.828 to 0.977), presenting mostly negative allometries (77.8%), distantly followed by positive allometries (16.7%) and by isometric growth (5.5%). In addition, four morphometric indices (sphericity, conicity, aperture roundness and density) were calculated to further describe and discern variation in shell shape in these topshell species. Moreover, this study provides a useful compilation and comparison of morphometric relationships, indices and relative growth features, thus improving the knowledge currently available on these subjects for P. lineatus, P. sauciatus and S. umbilicalis. IPMA-2019-042-BI info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

At the core of the interdisciplinary field of happiness, studies are twelve principles that provide a deeper understanding of the Wholebeing approach and the five SPIRE elements. In this chapter I explain why it is important to have principles—be it for creating an academic program or for experiencing and fostering Wholebeing—and then briefly introduce each of them.

Costapex baldwinae, new species, is described from deep reef habitats of the southern and eastern Caribbean Sea, including Curacao, Dominica and Guadeloupe, where it occurs at bathyal depths on sunken wood. It is assigned to the genus Costapex based on phylogenetic analyses using partial sequences of COI, 12S and 16S mitochondrial genes that reveal it to be the sister species of two Indo-Pacific members of this genus. This new species most closely resembles Costapex martinorum (Cernohorsky, 1986) from the Philippines, but differs in being smaller, and in having a slightly lower spire and more prominently beaded spiral sculpture. Of the Caribbean species of costellariids, it is somewhat similar to Nodicostellaria laterculata (Sowerby II, 1874), which occurs in shallower water and has a white or tan rather than dark brown shell, and also a taller spire, more prominent axial sculpture, and a more rounded aperture. It differs from Vexillum styria (Dall, 1889), with which it co-occurs, in having a broader shell with a lower spire, prosocline rather than opisthocline axial ribs, and more prominent, strongly beaded spiral cords. Costapex baldwinae differs from both these taxa in having rachidian teeth with three cusps rather than five cusps (N. laterculata) or seven cusps (V. styria). The genus Costapex was previously known only from Indo-Pacific species. The discovery of this new species represents a significant expansion of the range of this genus into the Caribbean Sea.

This article seeks to analyze recent developments in overseas media in the Chinese language in France. To do so it underlines the links between these media, created for and by Chinese migrants, and the trajectory of an entrepreneurial diaspora within the host country. The vast bulk of data is drawn from a qualitative study of several media organizations of the Chinese diaspora in France. In particular, a comparative study of two media, Ouzhou shibao and Huarenjie, has enabled an examination of a twofold interrelated phenomenon. On the one hand, the changes in commercial strategy to respond to the evolution of the Chinese diaspora in France, and, on the other, the relations between the Paris-based Chinese ethnic media and the authorities of the country of origin. It is argued that these media contribute to building social and political capital for the Chinese diasporic entrepreneurs in France.

In contrast with some of its Gulf neighbors, Bahrain cannot develop a more socially embedded military institution that would be the engine of an inclusive nation-building process. This is because of the peculiar nature of its state–society relations, which are plagued by mutual distrust between the ruling Al Khalifa family, who hail from the country’s Sunni minority, and a great part of the Shia majoritarian population. As a result, the security apparatus, and the army in particular, recruits almost exclusively from the ruling family, its Sunni tribal allies, and foreigners. Totally insulated from the Shia society, the militaries never participated, nor will ever participate, in mass politics, which have been mostly driven by Shia-dominated protests. The noncompromise option taken by the incumbents following the mass protest of 2011 has entailed a shift toward a hard form of authoritarianism in which the security apparatus has emerged as a key actor of political control. The regime is increasingly militarized as the Al Khalifa militaries have acquired a growing weight in the politics of dynastic factionalism, with the militaries now being in crucial positions to influence not only the kingdom’s policies but also the internal balances within the ruling dynasty.

Cultural capital theory provides a structural explanation for the persistence of educational inequalities in affluent western societies. According to Bourdieu and Passeron, upper classes manage to impose their cultural conventions as superior and more legitimate cultural expressions, which are then transmitted and valued by educational institutions, thus generating a structural advantage for upper‐class children, who enjoy a higher cultural proximity between the family and the school environment. Qualitative and quantitative research has only partially supported this explanation and has opened the way to several reformulations of the original theory.

The development of Brazil’s Offshore fields has been performed using flexible pipes because this pipe technology offers significantly increased flexibility, enabling the movement of pipes between wells and reducing lead time to bring a well onstream as compared to rigid pipe solutions. In addition, the decision of where exactly to drill development wells can be delayed, thus making the drilling campaigns easier, cheaper and faster [1]. With the increased activity in Pre-Salt, some challenges to flexible pipes were uncovered and needed to be addressed, notably oil composition and corrosive agents, e.g. H2S, and, specifically for the case of this paper, CO2. At high pressures, such as found in pre-Salt fields, these contaminants create new Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) failure modes and several mitigation measures have been adopted to overcome them, focused either on the installed fleet or on the next generation of pipes to be delivered. SCC is a condition that induces failure in the pipes’ metallic layers, but it needs three elements to occur: water, tensile stress exceeding a critical level and a susceptible material. If one of these three elements is suppressed, the phenomena does not to happen. This paper will cover and present a technology developed to detect the annulus water condition — dry or flooded — and thereby allow a correct integrity management strategy to be adopted. The technology is based on an embedded sensing system together with topside equipment to read the status. The use of such a system is important for the next generation of flexible pipes as it will allow better management of the fleet, with the required measurements performed from the production unit without the need of any support vessel and hence at a reduced cost.

The League of Red Cross Societies (LRCS) – known as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) since 1991 – has received little historical attention despite representing the world’s largest volunteer network and being an integral part of the Red Cross Movement. Formed in the aftermath of the First World War by the national Red Cross Societies of the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan, the LRCS aspired to lead in the promotion of global public health and welfare during peacetime. Through the lens of assemblage thinking and the five assemblage elements of exteriority, capacity to evolve, internal machinery, open systems, and desire, the paper seeks to understand the longevity and resilient humanitarianism of the LRCS. In doing so, the paper provides a new conceptualisation of the LRCS that helps to explain how it survived in the rapidly changing and increasingly contested international humanitarian environment of the twentieth century.

In Turkey in the 1960s and 1970s there was a strong convergence between leftism and the socio-religious identity of Aeviness. The term Alevi encompasses a number of different groups that are united by their heterodox and syncretic practices of worship, some of which share traits with Shi'ite Islam and Muslim mysticism, but many of which are hard to link to Islamic practices. Starting from the 1960s, many left-wing activists, radical or not, including their leaders, were Alevis. There is a further symbolical and discursive dimension to this convergence, however...

In 1665 Athanasius Kircher included a short paragraph in his Mundus Subterraneus about a flamy spire and the collapse and disappearance of a high mountain following a ‘horrible earthquake’ on Timor in 1638. Although Timor has been known to have no volcanoes for at least the last one hundred years, Kircher’s story has been repeated for 350 years, generally without acknowledgement, and often with the addition of embellishments and/or errors. This report traces the various accounts and the ways in which the story has morphed, particularly in the early 19th century, when the emphasis in Kircher’s story changes from a ‘flamy spire’, a ‘horrible earthquake’, and the collapse of the volcano into a continuing Stromboli-like eruption with no mention of an earthquake. Strangely, the fiction that the flamy spire could be seen from a distance of 300 miles is maintained and other embellishments added up to the present day.

The scholar who attends international conferences and reads regular publications on diplomatic studies and foreign policy analysis is confronted with one indisputable observation: If plenty of new academic research on contemporary diplomatic practices has emerged, few of those studies paradoxically focus on the comparative role of ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs). Thus, providing academic material to students on MFAs requires using chapters published in general textbooks; monographs based on single-country case studies; practitioners’ accounts, which can be rather descriptive; and, finally, research published more than fifteen years ago. The goal of this special issue is to fill this gap in the literature by devoting a complete journal issue to the contemporary role of MFAs in diplomacy. The special issue is built on three components: original research articles, theoretical accounts and practitioners’ accounts. Making a distinction between the three types of contributions is a clear choice to clarify who is speaking from where.

Spire Global operates the world’s largest and rapidly growing constellation of CubeSats performing GNSS based science and Earth observation. Currently, the Spire constellation, with many satellites in polar orbits, performs a variety of GNSS science, including radio occultation (GNSS-RO), ionosphere and space weather measurements, and precise orbit determination. These satellites have been primarily tasked to perform GNSS-RO to produce accurate profiles of atmospheric temperature, pressure, and water vapor and to collect millions of daily ionospheric total electron content measurements. Previous work showed that grazing angle reflections of GNSS signals off of ocean and sea ice surfaces serendipitously collected during radio occultation measurements had the potential to perform precision altimetry (< 10 cm) over sea ice surfaces.In 2019, Spire reprogrammed its STRATOS GNSS science receiver to collect grazing angle reflection observations on Spire's large constellation of orbiting GNSS-RO satellites. To accomplish this, the open-loop tracking used in GNSS-RO collection was modified to perform open-loop prediction and tracking of grazing angle reflections between 5-30 deg elevation. Initial results confirm coherency of reflections over most sea ice surfaces and some open ocean surfaces. Full altimetric processing has been performed and is being productionized, confirming sub-10 cm precision over sea ice where reflections were coherent, with some initial measurements showing altimetric height precision less than 2 cm RMS relative a mean sea surface (e.g., DTU18). Due to the large number of current and planned GNSS-RO satellites as Spire's constellation scales to over 100 operating GNSS-RO satellites, this technique has excellent potential to complement other sensors such as ICESat-2 and Cryosat-2.A larger production period has now begun on multiple Spire satellites that will result in much larger quantities of diverse cryospheric measurements (sea ice as well as ice sheets will be sampled). We will present further results of this new and potentially revolutionary technique to use existing orbiting GNSS-RO satellite constellations to perform precision sea ice altimetry.

A detailed description of the assemblage of Miogypsina (Lepidosemicyclina) bifida Rutten from the sub-surface Mumbai Offshore is presented by carrying out biometric studies on nineteen equatorial sections. The mean V is 47.2 and the mean DI 212μm. The mean DII is 272.35μm and the mean e 341.76μm. The larger spire has notational value in the range 4.1/2 to 7.1/2 and the smaller spire 1.1/2 to 3.1/2. The species is recorded to be occurring below M. (L.) excentrica Tan Sin Hok. In terms of the planktonic zonation, it pertains to the planktonic Zone N6 (Burdigalian). This is the first detailed study of M.(L.) bifida Rutten from India. The foraminifer, M.(L.) bifida Rutten, recorded from the L-III, a major producing reservoir of Mumbai High field is found in association with Lepidocyclina sp., Sphaerogypsina sp., Operculina sp., Amphistegina sp., Elphidium sp. and Cibicides sp. along with Bryozoa. The assemblage, recorded from limestone, indicates a shallow inner neritic paleoenvironment (bathymetry 15-20 meters) of deposition.

The Australian Graves Detachment, a unit over 11 hundred men, was formed in March 1919 on the Western Front. Its mission was to exhume and re-bury the war dead in a small area of Northern France where the Australian Imperial Force had fought. While war memorialization and grief are significant fields of research in First World War studies, much remains to be written with regard to the processes of burying the millions of dead. Little, for example, has been written about the men who undertook the daunting tasks of exhuming and burying. This article seeks to contribute to this emerging area of inquiry by exploring how discipline was enforced at the Australian Graves Detachment through a range of strategies such as negotiation and care for both the men’s physical and mental wellbeing. It argues that at a time where inflexible military discipline and justice were difficult to enforce, such non-coercive forms of control proved more effective for disciplining the men than formal military sanctions. This article first examines the nature of the work undertaken by the Australian Graves Detachment. Second, it turns to the disciplinary issues which arose from the ranks. Third, the article analyses the strategies put in place by the Commanding Officer of the Detachment to maintain discipline within the unit. In particular, the article highlights how entertainment played a key role in maintaining discipline and morale within the detachment, providing the men with a wide variety of amusing activities that kept them under their officers’ watch and control. Sports, games, theatre, movies, the camera club, afternoon teas and other forms of entertainment insured that men had as little idle time as possible. Entertainment became the cornerstone of the Commanding Officer’s attempts to limit misconduct, and to ensure that the unit would complete its mission.

Onions Strung on the Spire, or What You Can See in the Polish Translation of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities

Two new species of Xanthochorus Fischer 1884 (X. disalvoi sp. nov. and X. mogolloni sp. nov.) and two new species of Urosalpinx Stimpson 1865 (U. devriesi sp. nov. and U. lancellottii sp. nov.) are described from central Chile. Xanthochorus disalvoi sp. nov. is compared with X. cassidiformis (Blainville, 1832) and X. buxeus (Broderip, 1833). It differs from X. cassidiformis in having a comparatively smaller and narrower shell, a longer siphonal canal, a narrower aperture and narrower axial ribs, while broader or even absent in X. cassidiformis. It differs from X. buxeus in having a lower spire, a broader, less elongate shell with a lower spire, a comparatively longer siphonal canal a narrower aperture and a different spiral sculpture morphology. Xanthochorus mogolloni sp. nov. is also compared with X. buxeus, it differs mainly in having narrower primary and secondary cords, a longer siphonal canal and a lower spire. Urosalpinx devriesi sp. nov. is compared with Urosalpinx cala (Pilsbry, 1897). U...

The private hospital group Spire Healthcare, where the jailed surgeon Ian Paterson performed many of his operations, has recalled patients of a third surgeon over concerns that he may have carried out unnecessary or inadequate procedures. The decision to recall patients of orthopaedic surgeon Michael Walsh follows the revelation last month that Spire was reviewing the care of 217 patients who had shoulder operations performed by another orthopaedic surgeon, Habib Rahman.1 Walsh’s patients, of whom Spire said “fewer than 50” had been recalled, underwent shoulder procedures at a Spire hospital in Leeds. Walsh also operated at a Leeds hospital run by another private company, Nuffield Health. Paterson and Rahman operated at Spire hospitals in the West Midlands. Spire suspended Walsh in …