The role of parasite-driven selection in shaping landscape genomic structure in red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica)

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Acknowledgements This study was funded by a BBSRC studentship (MAW) and NERC grants NE/H00775X/1 and NE/D000602/1 (SBP). The authors are grateful to Mario Röder and Keliya Bai for fieldwork assistance, and all estate owners, factors and keepers for access to field sites, most particularly MJ Taylor and Mike Nisbet (Airlie), Neil Brown (Allargue), RR Gledson and David Scrimgeour (Delnadamph), Andrew Salvesen and John Hay (Dinnet), Stuart Young and Derek Calder (Edinglassie), Kirsty Donald and David Busfield (Glen Dye), Neil Hogbin and Ab Taylor (Glen Muick), Alistair Mitchell (Glenlivet), Simon Blackett, Jim Davidson and Liam Donald (Invercauld), Richard Cooke and Fred Taylor† (Invermark), Shaila Rao and Christopher Murphy (Mar Lodge), and Ralph Peters and Philip Astor (Tillypronie). Data accessibility • Genotype data (DataDryad: doi:10.5061/dryad.4t7jk) • Metadata (information on sampling sites, phenotypes and medication regimen) (DataDryad: doi:10.5061/dryad.4t7jk)

Shaping the New Future of Paratransit : An Agenda for Research and Practice

The TRB-sponsored International Paratransit Conference, “Shaping the New Future of Paratransit”, held in Monterey, CA in the United States (US) in October 2014 represented the first coming together of the international paratransit community in conference format since 1997. The conference itself drew a worldwide attendance from a cross-section of operators, technology providers, policymakers and researchers. The presentations from the conference were organised around a number of themes which, when brought together, represented a substantial manifesto for the flexible and demand responsive transport community. This paper looks at a number of these themes with an analysis to highlight the key points and common strands of worldwide experience.

In-cavity pulse shaping by spectral sculpturing in mode-locked fibre lasers

We review our recent progress on the realisation of pulse shaping in passively-mode-locked fibre lasers by inclusion of an amplitude and/or phase spectral filter into the laser cavity. We numerically show that depending on the amplitude transfer function of the in-cavity filter, various advanced temporal waveforms can be generated, including parabolic, flattop and triangular pulses. An application of this approach using a flattop spectral filter is shown to achieve the direct generation of high-quality sinc-shaped optical Nyquist pulses with a widely tunable bandwidth from the laser oscillator. We also present the operation of an ultrafast fibre laser in which conventional, dispersion-managed and dissipative soliton mode-locking regimes can be selectively and reliably targeted by adaptively changing the dispersion profile and bandwidth programmed on an in-cavity programmable filter.

Shaping Religious and Cultural Aspiration: Engraved Sutras in Southwestern Shandong Province from the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577 CE), China

This dissertation explores how the Buddhist texts carved on the cliffs of mountains served their patrons’ religious and cultural goals. During the Northern Qi period (550-577 CE), these carved Buddhist sutra texts and Buddha names were prevalent, and were carved directly onto the surfaces of numerous mountains in southwestern Shandong Province. The special focus of this study is on the Buddhist engravings at Mt. Hongding in Dongping, and at Mt. Tie in Zoucheng. Created in approximately 553-564 CE, the carvings at Mt. Hongding stand as the terminus a quo of the history of Buddhist sutras carved into the rocks of the Shandong mountains. The Buddhist carvings at Mt. Hongding served monastic goals. The monk patrons, Seng’an Daoyi, Fahong, and others created the carvings as an integral part of their Buddhist meditation practices. The carvings at Mt. Tie paint a very different picture. At Mt. Tie, a colossal Buddhist sculpture-style carving was created in 579 CE. Sponsored by several Han Chinese patrons, the carving was designed in the form of a gigantic Chinese traditional stele. This study suggests that several Han Chinese local elites proudly displayed their Han Chinese linage by using the gigantic stele form of Buddhist text carving as a means to proclaim Han Chinese cultural and artistic magnificence. To achieve these non-religious goals, they appropriated rhetorical devices often used by the Han elite, such as the stele form, written statements about the excellence of the calligraphy used, and discourse on calligraphy connoisseurship.

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of CaMKI During Structural Plasticity of Single Dendritic Spines

Multifunctional calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinases (CaMKs) are key regulators of spine structural plasticity and long-term potentiation (LTP) in neurons. CaMKs have promiscuous and overlapping substrate recognition motifs, and are distinguished in their regulatory role based on differences in the spatiotemporal dynamics of activity. While the function and activity of CaMKII in synaptic plasticity has been extensively studied, that of CaMKI, another major class of CaMK required for LTP, still remain elusive.

Here, we develop a Förster’s Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) based sensor to measure the spatiotemporal activity dynamics of CaMK1. We monitored CaMKI activity using 2-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging, while inducing LTP in single dendritic spines of rat (Rattus Norvegicus, strain Sprague Dawley) hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons using 2-photon glutamate uncaging. Using RNA-interference and pharmacological means, we also characterize the role of CaMKI during spine structural plasticity.

We found that CaMKI was rapidly and transiently activated with a rise time of ~0.3 s and decay time of ~1 s in response to each uncaging pulse. Activity of CaMKI spread out of the spine. Phosphorylation of CaMKI by CaMKK was required for this spreading and for the initial phase of structural LTP. Combined with previous data showing that CaMKII is restricted to the stimulated spine and required for long-term maintenance of structural LTP, these results suggest that CaMK diversity allows the same incoming signal – calcium – to independently regulate distinct phases of LTP by activating different CaMKs with distinct spatiotemporal dynamics.

The Didache and Traditioned Innovation: Shaping Christian Community in the First Century and the Twenty-First Century

Church leaders, both lay and clergy, shape Christian community. Among their central tasks are: building communal identity, nurturing Christian practices, and developing faithful structures. When it comes to understanding the approach of the earliest Christian communities to these tasks, the Didache might well be the most important text most twenty-first century church leaders have never read. The Didache innovated on tradition, shaping the second generation of Christians to meet the crises and challenges of a changing world.

Most likely composed in the second half of the first century, the Didache served as a training manual for gentile converts to Christianity, preparing them for life in Christian community. This brief document, roughly one third the length of Mark’s gospel, developed within early Jewish-Christian communities. It soon found wide usage throughout the Mediterranean region, and its influence endured throughout the patristic and into the medieval period.

The Didache outlines emerging Christian practices that were rooted in both Jewish tradition and early Jesus material, yet were reaching forward in innovative ways. The Didache adopts historical teachings and practices and then adapts them for an evolving context. In this respect, the writers of the Didache, as well as the community shaped by its message, exemplify the pattern of thinking described by Greg Jones as “traditioned innovation.”

The Didache invites reflection on the shape and content of Christian community and Christian leadership in the twenty-first century. As churches and church leaders engage a rapidly changing world, the Didache is an unlikely and yet important conversation partner from two millennia ago. A quick read through its pages – a task accomplished in less than half an hour – brings the reader face to face with a brand of Christianity both very familiar and strikingly dissimilar to modern Christianity. Such dissonance challenges current assumptions about the church and creates a space in which to re-imagine our situation in light of this ancient Christian tradition. The Didache provides a window through which we might re-examine current conceptualizations of Christian life, liturgy, and leadership.

This thesis begins with an exploration of the form and function of the Didache and an examination of a number of important background issues for the informed study of the Didache. The central chapters of this thesis exegete and explore select passages in each of the three primary sections of the Didache – the Two Ways (Didache 1-6), the liturgical section (Didache 7-10), and the church order (Didache 11-15). In each instance, the composers of the Didache reach back into a cherished and life-giving aspect of the community’s heritage and shape it anew into a fresh and faithful approach to living the Christian life in a drastically different context.

The thesis concludes with three suggestions of how the Didache may provide a resource for the way the Church in the present thinks about training disciples, shaping community, and developing leadership structures. These conversation starters offer beginning points for a richer, fuller discussion of traditioned innovation in our current church context. The Didache provides a source of wisdom from our spiritual forebears that modern Christian leaders would do well not to ignore. With a look through the first century window of the Didache, twenty-first century Christians can discover fresh insights for shaping Christian community in the present.

On processing GPS tracking data of spatiotemporal car movements : a case study

The advancement of GPS technology has made it possible to use GPS devices as orientation and navigation tools, but also as tools to track spatiotemporal information. GPS tracking data can be broadly applied in location-based services, such as spatial distribution of the economy, transportation routing and planning, traffic management and environmental control. Therefore, knowledge of how to process the data from a standard GPS device is crucial for further use. Previous studies have considered various issues of the data processing at the time. This paper, however, aims to outline a general procedure for processing GPS tracking data. The procedure is illustrated step-by-step by the processing of real-world GPS data of car movements in Borlänge in the centre of Sweden.

Creative communities: shaping process through performance and play

This paper studies the use of play as a method to unlock creativity and innovation within a community of practice (a group of individuals who share a common interest and who see value in interaction to enhance their understanding). An analysis of communities of practice and the value of play informs evaluation of two case studies exploring the development of communities of practice, one within the discipline of videogames and one which bridges performing arts and videogames. The case studies provide qualitative data from which the potential of play as a method to inspire creativity and support the development of a potential community of practice is recognised. Establishing trust, disruption of process through play and reflection are key steps proposed in a ‘context provider’s framework’ for individuals or organisations to utilise in the design of activities to support creative process and innovation within a potential community of practice.

Spatiotemporal control over the co-conformational switching in pH-responsive flavylium-based multistate pseudorotaxanes

A multistate molecular dyad containing flavylium and viologen units was synthesized and the pH dependent thermodynamics of the network completely characterized by a variety of spectroscopic techniques such as NMR, UV-vis and stopped-flow. The flavylium cation is only stable at acidic pH values. Above pH ≈ 5 the hydration of the flavylium leads to the formation of the hemiketal followed by ring-opening tautomerization to give the cis-chalcone. Finally, this last species isomerizes to give the trans-chalcone. For the present system only the flavylium cation and the trans-chalcone species could be detected as being thermodynamically stable. The hemiketal and the cis-chalcone are kinetic intermediates with negligible concentrations at the equilibrium. All stable species of the network were found to form 1 : 1 and 2 : 1 host : guest complexes with cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) with association constants in the ranges 10(5)-10(8) M(-1) and 10(3)-10(4) M(-1), respectively. The 1 : 1 complexes were particularly interesting to devise pH responsive bistable pseudorotaxanes: at basic pH values (≈12) the flavylium cation interconverts into the deprotonated trans-chalcone in a few minutes and under these conditions the CB7 wheel was found to be located around the viologen unit. A decrease in pH to values around 1 regenerates the flavylium cation in seconds and the macrocycle is translocated to the middle of the axle. On the other hand, if the pH is decreased to 6, the deprotonated trans-chalcone is neutralized to give a metastable species that evolves to the thermodynamically stable flavylium cation in ca. 20 hours. By taking advantage of the pH-dependent kinetics of the trans-chalcone/flavylium interconversion, spatiotemporal control of the molecular organization in pseudorotaxane systems can be achieved.

Social relations and dynamics shaping the implementation of the voluntary guidelines on small-scale fisheries (SSF guidelines) in South Africa

Integral to achieving the SSF Guidelines goal of targeting the most vulnerable and marginalized persons and eliminating discrimination is the need to have adequate understanding of the power relations and intersectionalities that shape access to and control over marine and other resources according to gender, age, race, ethnicity, labour and migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in each national contexts. This monograph identifies and explores the key social relations and dynamics in the SSF fisheries sector in South Africa impacting the implementation of the SSF Guidelines. The monograph will be useful for researchers, scientists, fishworker organizations, environmentalists and anyone interested in the protection of marine biodiversity and the promotion of sustainable fisheries management.

Shaping surface acoustic waves for cardiac tissue engineering

The heart is a non-regenerating organ that gradually suffers a loss of cardiac cells and functionality. Given the scarcity of organ donors and complications in existing medical implantation solutions, it is desired to engineer a three-dimensional architecture to successfully control the cardiac cells in vitro and yield true myocardial structures similar to native heart. This thesis investigates the synthesis of a biocompatible gelatin methacrylate hydrogel to promote growth of cardiac cells using biotechnology methodology: surface acoustic waves, to create cell sheets. Firstly, the synthesis of a photo-crosslinkable gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel was investigated with different degree of methacrylation concentration. The porous matrix of the hydrogel should be biocompatible, allow cell-cell interaction and promote cell adhesion for growth through the porous network of matrix. The rheological properties, such as polymer concentration, ultraviolet exposure time, viscosity, elasticity and swelling characteristics of the hydrogel were investigated. In tissue engineering hydrogels have been used for embedding cells to mimic native microenvironments while controlling the mechanical properties. Gelatin methacrylate hydrogels have the advantage of allowing such control of mechanical properties in addition to easy compatibility with Lab-on-a-chip methodologies. Secondly in this thesis, standing surface acoustic waves were used to control the degree of movement of cells in the hydrogel and produce three-dimensional engineered scaffolds to investigate in-vitro studies of cardiac muscle electrophysiology and cardiac tissue engineering therapies for myocardial infarction. The acoustic waves were characterized on a piezoelectric substrate, lithium niobate that was micro-fabricated with slanted-finger interdigitated transducers for to generate waves at multiple wavelengths. This characterization successfully created three-dimensional micro-patterning of cells in the constructs through means of one- and two-dimensional non-invasive forces. The micro-patterning was controlled by tuning different input frequencies that allowed manipulation of the cells spatially without any pre- treatment of cells, hydrogel or substrate. This resulted in a synchronous heartbeat being produced in the hydrogel construct. To complement these mechanical forces, work in dielectrophoresis was conducted centred on a method to pattern micro-particles. Although manipulation of particles were shown, difficulties were encountered concerning the close proximity of particles and hydrogel to the microfabricated electrode arrays, dependence on conductivity of hydrogel and difficult manoeuvrability of scaffold from the surface of electrodes precluded measurements on cardiac cells. In addition, COMSOL Multiphysics software was used to investigate the mechanical and electrical forces theoretically acting on the cells. Thirdly, in this thesis the cardiac electrophysiology was investigated using immunostaining techniques to visualize the growth of sarcomeres and gap junctions that promote cell-cell interaction and excitation-contraction of heart muscles. The physiological response of beating of co-cultured cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts was observed in a synchronous and simultaneous manner closely mimicking the native cardiac impulses. Further investigations were carried out by mechanically stimulating the cells in the three-dimensional hydrogel using standing surface acoustic waves and comparing with traditional two-dimensional flat surface coated with fibronectin. The electrophysiological responses of the cells under the effect of the mechanical stimulations yielded a higher magnitude of contractility, action potential and calcium transient.

Spatiotemporal neuromodulation therapies engaging muscle synergies improve motor control after spinal cord injury.

Electrical neuromodulation of lumbar segments improves motor control after spinal cord injury in animal models and humans. However, the physiological principles underlying the effect of this intervention remain poorly understood, which has limited the therapeutic approach to continuous stimulation applied to restricted spinal cord locations. Here we developed stimulation protocols that reproduce the natural dynamics of motoneuron activation during locomotion. For this, we computed the spatiotemporal activation pattern of muscle synergies during locomotion in healthy rats. Computer simulations identified optimal electrode locations to target each synergy through the recruitment of proprioceptive feedback circuits. This framework steered the design of spatially selective spinal implants and real-time control software that modulate extensor and flexor synergies with precise temporal resolution. Spatiotemporal neuromodulation therapies improved gait quality, weight-bearing capacity, endurance and skilled locomotion in several rodent models of spinal cord injury. These new concepts are directly translatable to strategies to improve motor control in humans.

On the stability and spatiotemporal variance distribution of salinity in the upper ocean

Despite recent advances in ocean observing arrays and satellite sensors, there remains great uncertainty in the large-scale spatial variations of upper ocean salinity on the interannual to decadal timescales. Consonant with both broad-scale surface warming and the amplification of the global hydrological cycle, observed global multidecadal salinity changes typically have focussed on the linear response to anthropogenic forcing but not on salinity variations due to changes in the static stability and or variability due to the intrinsic ocean or internal climate processes. Here, we examine the static stability and spatiotemporal variability of upper ocean salinity across a hierarchy of models and reanalyses. In particular, we partition the variance into time bands via application of singular spectral analysis, considering sea surface salinity (SSS), the Brunt Väisälä frequency (N2), and the ocean salinity stratification in terms of the stabilizing effect due to the haline part of N2 over the upper 500m. We identify regions of significant coherent SSS variability, either intrinsic to the ocean or in response to the interannually varying atmosphere. Based on consistency across models (CMIP5 and forced experiments) and reanalyses, we identify the stabilizing role of salinity in the tropics—typically associated with heavy precipitation and barrier layer formation, and the role of salinity in destabilizing upper ocean stratification in the subtropical regions where large-scale density compensation typically occurs.