Evolutionary patchwork of an insecticidal toxin shared between plant-associated pseudomonads and the insect pathogens Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus.

BACKGROUND: Root-colonizing fluorescent pseudomonads are known for their excellent abilities to protect plants against soil-borne fungal pathogens. Some of these bacteria produce an insecticidal toxin (Fit) suggesting that they may exploit insect hosts as a secondary niche. However, the ecological relevance of insect toxicity and the mechanisms driving the evolution of toxin production remain puzzling. RESULTS: Screening a large collection of plant-associated pseudomonads for insecticidal activity and presence of the Fit toxin revealed that Fit is highly indicative of insecticidal activity and predicts that Pseudomonas protegens and P. chlororaphis are exclusive Fit producers. A comparative evolutionary analysis of Fit toxin-producing Pseudomonas including the insect-pathogenic bacteria Photorhabdus and Xenorhadus, which produce the Fit related Mcf toxin, showed that fit genes are part of a dynamic genomic region with substantial presence/absence polymorphism and local variation in GC base composition. The patchy distribution and phylogenetic incongruence of fit genes indicate that the Fit cluster evolved via horizontal transfer, followed by functional integration of vertically transmitted genes, generating a unique Pseudomonas-specific insect toxin cluster. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that multiple independent evolutionary events led to formation of at least three versions of the Mcf/Fit toxin highlighting the dynamic nature of insect toxin evolution.

Climate impact research: beyond patchwork

Despite significant progress in climate impacts research, the narratives that science can presently piece together of a 2-, 3-, 4-, or 5-degree warmer world remain fragmentary. Here we briefly review past undertakings to comprehensively characterize and quantify climate impacts based on multi-model approaches. We then report on the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP), a community-driven effort to systematically compare impacts models across sectors and scales, and to quantify the uncertainties along the chain from greenhouse gas emissions and climate input data to the modelling of climate impacts themselves. We show how ISI-MIP and similar efforts can substantially advance the science relevant to impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, and we outline the steps that need to be taken in order to make the most of available modelling tools. We discuss pertinent limitations of these methods and how they could be tackled. We argue that it is time to consolidate the current patchwork of impacts knowledge through integrated cross-sectoral assessments, and that the climate impacts community is now in a favourable position to do so.

Panama patchwork: poems,

"Seventh thousand."

Panama patchwork; poems,

Mode of access: Internet.

Panama patchwork /

Mode of access: Internet.

The patchwork girl of Oz,

A boy, a patchwork girl, and a glass cat go on a mission to find the ingredients for a charm which will transform some people turned to marble.

Panama patchwork. Poems.

Mode of access: Internet.

Partingtonian patchwork. : Blifkins the martyr: the domestic trials of a model husband. The modern syntax: Dr. Spooner's experiences in search of the delectable. Partington papers: Strippings of the warm milk of human kindness. New and old dips from an unambitious inkstand. Humourous, eccentric, rhythmical. /

On t-p verso: Stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry... -- "Lubricatory" (i.e., preface): p.5-6; "Contents": p.7-10

The patchwork time.

Mode of access: Internet.

Sectarianism in Scotland: A ‘West of Scotland’ Problem, a Patchwork or a Cobweb?

Drawing on research carried out for the Scottish Government in 2014, this article explores how people experience sectarianism in Scotland today. For some, sectarianism is manifestly part of their everyday experience, but for others it is almost invisible in their social world. The article sets out a metaphor of sectarianism experienced like a cobweb in Scotland; running strongly down the generations and across masculine culture particularly, but experienced quite differently by different people depending on their social relationships. Using the examples of song and marching, the article suggests that sectarian prejudice should be conceived of as much as a cultural phenomenon as in social and legal terms. A multidisciplinary and intergenerational approach to tackling sectarian prejudice would help emphasise its cultural and relational construction. Much can also be learned from examining the broader research on prejudice worldwide, rather than treating Scottish sectarianism as if it is a unique and inexplicable quality of the national character.

A primeira Conferência Internacional do Espaço Matemático em Língua Portuguesa

Entre os dias 28 e 31 do passado mês de outubro, decorreu na Universidade de Coimbra a primeira Conferência Internacional do Espaço Matemático em Língua Portuguesa (CiEMeLP 2015), que reuniu matemáticos de praticamente todos os países de língua oficial portuguesa (...) Foi muito gratificante participar neste encontro e partilhar muitas das problemáticas ligadas ao ensino e à divulgação da matemática com colegas de países como Brasil, Cabo Verde, Moçambique e Timor Leste. Foi interessante constatar que aquilo que nos une é muito superior ao que nos separa. De facto, destaca-se um grande consenso em torno de alguns aspetos essenciais ligados ao ensino da matemática. Participei neste encontro com duas comunicações. A primeira, intitulada “Pisando arte e matemática em Lisboa”, resultou de um trabalho conjunto com Jorge Nuno Silva, Carlos Pereira dos Santos e Alda Carvalho e teve como objetivo apresentar o baralho de cartas da Associação Ludus dedicado às simetrias das calçadas da cidade de Lisboa. (...) A segunda comunicação, “Cruzar fronteiras entre a matemática e a cultura: à descoberta de simetrias na calçada e no artesanato”, resultou de uma parceria com Andreia Hall, da Universidade de Aveiro. Os autores cruzam o trabalho que têm vindo a desenvolver nos últimos anos, nomeadamente o levantamento dos padrões em Calçada Portuguesa, no Arquipélago dos Açores (sites.uac.pt/rteixeira/simetrias/), com a exploração de simetrias em Patchwork e Cerâmica, no âmbito de um leque de cursos de formação para professores realizados em Aveiro. (...)

Fragmento: esboços para uma configuração do conceito literatura e cinema

O fragmento não é um género literário mas uma prática: o princípio da descontinuidade associado ao fragmento assume-se como uma forma de pensamento oposta à linearidade, baseada nos princípios da identidade, continuidade, ordem e simplificação.

What Price Salvation? The Exchange of Salvation goods between India and the West

Does Weber's notion of salvation goods, along with the connected one of the religious market, apply to the modern history of yoga? The case study chosen here (the yoga of Pattabhi Jois) clearly shows that these notions highlight many aspects of the expansion of yoga into a global market product. However, the notion of salvation goods resists the new hermeneutical situation of encounter and has to be adapted to the present situation of religious "patchwork". The notion of religious market lacks depth to describe the various understandings and appropriations of yoga in precise historical situations. Other aspects of the current global status of yoga may be highlighted by applying the concept of pilgrimage. La notion de bien de salut que nous lègue Max Weber et la notion de marché religieux qui en découle peuvent-elles s'appliquer à l'histoire moderne du yoga? L'étude de cas que nous consacrons au yoga de Pattabhi Jois montre que ces notions éclairent bien certains aspects de l'expansion du yoga en tant que produit d'un marché globalisé. Cependant la notion de bien de salut résiste à une réflexion de type herméneutique sur les processus de rencontres et doit être adaptée à la situation contemporaine, ou` les religions se présentent comme des ensembles composites. La notion de marché religieux ne permet pas d'expliquer les diverses compréhensions et appropriations du yoga dans des situations historiques précises. D'autres aspects de la situation du yoga sont mieux explicités si on prend le concept de pèlerinage comme point de référence.