Some pioneers of the applications of fractional calculus

In the last decades fractional calculus (FC) became an area of intensive research and development. This paper goes back and recalls important pioneers that started to apply FC to scientific and engineering problems during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Those we present are, in alphabetical order: Niels Abel, Kenneth and Robert Cole, Andrew Gemant, Andrey N. Gerasimov, Oliver Heaviside, Paul Lévy, Rashid Sh. Nigmatullin, Yuri N. Rabotnov, George Scott Blair.

Scott A. Shane : winner of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research

Scott A. Shane is the 2009 winner of the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research. In this article we discuss and analyze Shane’s most important contributions to the field of entrepreneurship. His contribution is extraordinarily broad in scope, which makes it difficult to pinpoint one or a few specifics that we associate with Shane’s scholarship. Instead, they can be summarized in the following three points. First, he has influenced what we view as central aspects of entrepreneurship. Shane has been a leading figure in redirecting the focus on entrepreneurship research itself. Second, he has influenced how we view entrepreneurship. Shane’s research is arguably theory driven and it applies and develops theoretical lenses that greatly improve our understanding of entrepreneurship. Third, he has contributed to how we conduct entrepreneurship research. Shane has been a forerunner in examining relevant units of analysis that are difficult to sample; research designs and databases specifically designed for studying entrepreneurial processes; and sophisticated analytical methods. This has contributed to advancing the methodological rigor of the field. Summing them up, the contributions are very impressive indeed.

The Blair Witch Project : a marketing case study

The Blair Witch Project was a low budget movie made by student filmmakers that become an international box office hit in 1999. Blair Witch was a landmark in movie marketing and distribution because it was the first time that any movie had successfully leveraged the Internet as a marketing platform to reach a wide audience. The marketing team employed a range of innovative strategies and tactics to stimulate audience demand. This case study describes and analyses the success of the marketing launch of The Blair Witch Project.It also provides an Instructors booklet comprising seven questions and answers related to the marketing success of the movie.

The Blair Witch Project : Forming strong attitudes, beliefs and consumer intentions from a myth

This brief consumer marketing case study was published in a consumer marketing text book.

Review of Collaboration and Interdisciplinarity in the Republic of Letters : Essays in Honour of Richard G. Maber, edited by Paul Scott.

This volume brings together a number of essays that seek to explore the nature of early modern scholarship, ostensibly with special regard to the themes of interdisciplinarity and collaboration. As one might expect, the essays thus cover a gamut of topics – political manoeuvring, philosophical debates, gift-giving and dramatic performance – and each study is important and useful in its own right. As a whole, however, this collection serves more as a starting point for an exploration of its themes, than as an authoritative overview of the subject at hand.

Sovereignty, song and 'The Sapphires' (Wayne Blair 2012)

With its foregrounding of the political issue of the denial of Aboriginal Australian sovereignty by British invaders in its big budget, mainstream narrative, 'The Sapphires' (Wayne Blair 2012) is shown to be another example of a "fourth formation" (Starrs 2012) in Moore and Muecke's 1985 model. Blair's feel-good movie features an all-Aboriginal Australian troupe of singers, The Sapphires, who undertake a journey of self-discovery whereby they learn the importance of choosing the protest songs of black Soul over the white coloniser's "whining" Country and Western songs and this is historically contextualised with a discussion of Aboriginal Australians and popular radio. Furthermore, this paper argues the iconic 'Welcome to Country' is twice subverted to reinforce this theme, firstly in the Cummeragunja pub and secondly in war-torn Vietnam. Finally, the prediction is made that a "fifth formation", in which seeking recognition of Aboriginal Australian sovereignty is no longer the goal because it has become the ongoing reality, will soon be the project of Australian film-makers as they celebrate this long overdue societal shift.

The conservation status of the world’s reptiles

Effective and targeted conservation action requires detailed information about species, their distribution, systematics and ecology as well as the distribution of threat processes which affect them. Knowledge of reptilian diversity remains surprisingly disparate, and innovative means of gaining rapid insight into the status of reptiles are needed in order to highlight urgent conservation cases and inform environmental policy with appropriate biodiversity information in a timely manner. We present the first ever global analysis of extinction risk in reptiles, based on a random representative sample of 1500 species (16% of all currently known species). To our knowledge, our results provide the first analysis of the global conservation status and distribution patterns of reptiles and the threats affecting them, highlighting conservation priorities and knowledge gaps which need to be addressed urgently to ensure the continued survival of the world’s reptiles. Nearly one in five reptilian species are threatened with extinction, with another one in five species classed as Data Deficient. The proportion of threatened reptile species is highest in freshwater environments, tropical regions and on oceanic islands, while data deficiency was highest in tropical areas, such as Central Africa and Southeast Asia, and among fossorial reptiles. Our results emphasise the need for research attention to be focussed on tropical areas which are experiencing the most dramatic rates of habitat loss, on fossorial reptiles for which there is a chronic lack of data, and on certain taxa such as snakes for which extinction risk may currently be underestimated due to lack of population information. Conservation actions specifically need to mitigate the effects of human-induced habitat loss and harvesting, which are the predominant threats to reptiles.

Directional dominance on stature and cognition in diverse human populations

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders1, and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness2. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power3, 4. Here we use runs of homozygosity to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts, and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in one second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment (P < 1 × 10−300, 2.1 × 10−6, 2.5 × 10−10 and 1.8 × 10−10, respectively). In each case, increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months’ less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing evidence that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples5, 6, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection7, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been.

Expected Performance of the ATLAS Experiment - Detector, Trigger and Physics

A detailed study is presented of the expected performance of the ATLAS detector. The reconstruction of tracks, leptons, photons, missing energy and jets is investigated, together with the performance of b-tagging and the trigger. The physics potential for a variety of interesting physics processes, within the Standard Model and beyond, is examined. The study comprises a series of notes based on simulations of the detector and physics processes, with particular emphasis given to the data expected from the first years of operation of the LHC at CERN.

Comportamiento de tres cultivares clonales de quequisque (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Scott) en la Comunidad de la Poma, Masaya, postrera 99-00

El objetivo del presente estudio fue el determinar el rendimiento y adaptabilidad de tres cultivares clonales de quequisque Masaya (MY), Nueva Guinea (NG) y Apalí (AP), en la comunidad de La Poma, Masaya establecidas en época de postrera. El ensayo se estableció siguiendo arreglo del diseño de bloque completos al azar, unifactorial, con tres tratamientos y tres bloques. La parcela experimental estuvo conformada de 4 surcos de 13 m y l m de separación entre ellos, para un área de 52 m2 En cada surco se establecieron 22 plantas y una separación de 0. 6 m entre las mismas, para un total de 88 plantas por parcela, 264 por bloque y 792 totales en el ensayo. La parcela útil la conformaron los 2 surcos centrales sin incluir las primeras 5 plantas, para un total de 20 plantas evaluadas. El área del bloque fue de 156 m y el área total del ensayo de 468 m . Las variables evaluadas fueron: las morfológicas (altura de planta en cm, número de hojas, grosor del seudotallo en cm2, área foliar en cm2 y número de hijos), los componentes del rendimiento (peso promedio por cormelo en g, peso promedio de cormelos por planta en g, dimensión de cormelo en cm2 y número de cormelos); los eventos morfológicos (velocidad de brotación y ahijamiento, momento de cosecha), incidencia de enfermedades virales, fungosas y bacterianas y el efecto del DMV sobre el rendimiento. El análisis de varianza realizado a las variables morfológicas indica que: los 3 genotipos presentaron valores estadísticamente similares en las variables altura de planta, grosor del seudotallo, número de hojas y área foliar al menos en las 6 primeras evaluaciones, únicamente en variable número de hijos el clon NG obtuvo resultados estadísticamente superiores a los otros dones en estudio. El ANDEVA de los datos de los componentes del rendimiento señala que no hubo diferencias estadísticas entre los cultivares en cuanto a peso de los cormelos por planta: NG (75.26 qq/mz), AP (53,67 qq/mz) y MY (64.98 qq/mz)y dimensiones del cormelo; sin embargo, el número de cormelos por planta las plantas NG reportaron valores promedios superiores estadísticamente a los reportados por el clon MY (2.94) y AP (3. 28). El peso promedio de los cormos fue superior estadísticamente en el don MY (79.16 g) con relación a los reportados por NG (58.35g) y AP (79. 16 g). Se realizó un primer test de ELISA a las muestras de hojas de plantas que presentaban los síntomas, se encontró un 96 % de incidencia del DMV en las muestras . Considerando el total de plantas por cultivar en el ensayo, la mayor incidencia la presentó el clon NG con 47 %. Tres conteos visuales posteriores indican que los valores de plantas que presentan los síntomas. varían en cada fecha de evaluación encontrándose el cv. Apalí con los mayores valores de infección. Los conteos visuales de los síntomas de la bacteria Xanthomona campestris (Pammel) Dowson registran los mayores valores al cultivar AP con valores de 6 %, seguido del cultivar NG con 3.33% y MY con 1.66% a los 150 dds y un leve incremento a los 210 dds de 8. 33% para el AP y 5 % para los cultivares NG y MY. Los conteos visuales de los síntomas de Collectrotichum Kloesporioides (Penz) indican que los valores de reportados a los 150 dds redujeron a los 210 dds en todos los genotipos. En el caso del cultivar NG de 13.33 % en la primera fecha a 5% en la segunda, de 10 a 3.33% en el cultivar AP, y de 13.33 a 6.66% en el caso del clon MY.

The identification of British adult specimens of Sigara lateralis (Leach), Sigara concinna (Fieber), Callicorixa praeusta (Fieber) and Callicorixa wollastoni (Douglas & Scott) (Hemiptera Heteroptera: Corixidae)

The aim of this communication is to briefly review nomenclature in the genus Callicorixa, describe the variation in the dark markings on the posterior legs of all four species, describe alternative diagnostic features, and provide a key to identification based on these alternative features. Attention is also drawn to a small error in FBA Scientific Publication 50 (Adults of the British aquatic Hemiptera Heteroptera: a key with ecological notes).

Ictiólogos de la Argentina: María Isabel Hylton Scott

This series will include all those people who, by means of their contributions, great and small, played a part in the consolidation of ichthyology in Argentina. The general plan of this work consists of individual factsheets containing a list of works by each author, along with reference bibliography and, whenever possible, personal pictures and additional material. The datasheets will be published primarily in chronological order, although this is subject to change by the availability of materials for successive editions. This work represents another approach for the recovery and revalorization of those who set the foundations of Argentine ichthyology while in diverse historical circumstances. I expect this to be the beginning of a major work that achieves the description of such a significant part of the history of natural sciences in Argentina.

Estudio morfológico y taxonómico de los ampulláridos de la República Argentina: Maria Isabel Hylton Scott. [tomado de la Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Ciencias Zoologicas, Tomo III, nº 5, 1957.]

Corría 1968. Yo era un estudiante enamorado de las ampularias, y alguien me regaló una separata del trabajo de María Isabel Hylton Scott titulado “Estudio morfológico y taxonómico de los ampulláridos de la República Argentina”. Hoy soy un profesor e investigador jubilado, … enamorado de las ampularias ¿Qué pasó en el medio? Por diversas circunstancias de mi vida comencé mi carrera estudiando roedores. Pero como canta un tango, “siempre se vuelve al primer amor” y dos décadas después (hacia 1990) conseguí algo de financiación para estudiar uno de estos extraordinarios animales: Pomacea canaliculata. Esto fue para mí un nuevo comienzo: poco a poco fui dejando mis estudios en ratones silvestres, y formando un grupo dedicado a esta ampularia ¡Fue un cambio de phylum! Pecado difícilmente perdonable en un ambiente científico cada vez más competitivo, pero que me llenó de satisfacción, por lo que me felicito de haberlo cometido. Desde entonces he dirigido a siete doctorandos en distintos aspectos de la morfología y la ecofisiología de este animal (Albrecht, 1998; Vega, 2005; Gamarra-Luques, 2007; Koch, 2008; Giraud-Billoud, 2009; Cueto, 2011; Giraud-Billoud, 2011), y sus tesis tienen al menos dos cosas en común: P. canaliculata casi siempre en el título, y el trabajo de Hylton Scott (1957) siempre citado en la bibliografía. Ella, “la doctora”, la “decana de los zoólogos argentinos” (como escribió Cazzaniga, 1991) fue para nosotros, atrevidos que no la conocimos personalmente, a quien llamábamos por sobrenombre “Doña Marisa”, y lo seguimos haciendo. Lo sigo haciendo yo, porque aunque jubilado “en los papeles”, sigo trabajando detrás de sus pasos. Hoy tengo un doctorando (C. Rodríguez) trabajando en P. canaliculata , el octavo de mis tesistas en esta especie, y deseo que no sea el último. Una revisión de la biología de ampuláridos actualmente en prensa en Malacologia (Hayes et al., 2015) cita repetidas veces el trabajo que hoy reedita ProBiota. Los autores provienen de un amplio “mundo”, porque “el mundo” de los ampuláridos se ha extendido antropocóricamente a lo que hoy es Estados Unidos, Europa, China y Japón. Esto no lo podría haber soñado Doña Marisa cuando comenzó sus pacientes estudios de la embriología de P. canaliculata hace ochenta años (Hylton Scott, 1934). Y si algún cientómetra quisiera calcular la vida media de sus citas, se encontraría con algo sorprendente: que la curva temporal de éstas no va decayendo ¡sino creciendo! Hoy no puedo imaginarme a mí mismo, como investigador, si no me hubiera topado con esa separata de cien páginas, escritas en un castellano elegante y hoy amarillentas, a las que guardo como un tesoro (porque las que usamos son sus fotocopias). Por eso, al acercarse los 25 años de la muerte de esta gran cordobesa (y platense por adopción) le propuse a mi amigo Hugo L. López esta reedición, que el aceptó con entusiasmo. Y también le propuse a mi alumno G. I. Prieto, excelente dibujante, que le diera nueva vida a una vieja foto de Doña Marisa que fue publicada por Cazzaniga (1992). Los que conocieron a “la doctora” personalmente, podrán decir si Prieto logró revivir su penetrante mirada. Creo que sí. Alfredo Castro-Vazquez