On the 11.755 insect taxa named by Charles P. Alexander

Zoosymposia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-15
Author(s):  
PJOTR OOSTERBROEK

Charles P. Alexander is the author of 11.755 insect taxa, the large majority of which are in the four families of craneflies (Diptera, Tipuloidea). After a short biography, an overview is presented of the number of taxa in relation to biogeographical regions, families, synonyms, etc. in craneflies (11.556 names) as well as in nine other families of Diptera (198 names) and one in Plecoptera. For craneflies, the Alexander taxa cover about 70% of all species names and some 46% of the genera and subgenera of the world.

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam MCFARLAND ◽  
Katarzyna HAMER

Raphael Lemkin is hardly known to a Polish audiences. One of the most honored Poles of theXX century, forever revered in the history of human rights, nominated six times for the Nobel PeacePrize, Lemkin sacrificed his entire life to make a real change in the world: the creation of the term“genocide” and making it a crime under international law. How long was his struggle to establishwhat we now take as obvious, what we now take for granted?This paper offers his short biography, showing his long road from realizing that the killing oneperson was considered a murder but that under international law in 1930s the killing a million wasnot. Through coining the term “genocide” in 1944, he helped make genocide a criminal charge atthe Nuremburg war crimes trials of Nazi leaders in late 1945, although there the crime of genocidedid not cover killing whole tribes when committed on inhabitants of the same country nor when notduring war. He next lobbied the new United Nations to adopt a resolution that genocide is a crimeunder international law, which it adopted on 11 December, 1946. Although not a U.N. delegate – hewas “Totally Unofficial,” the title of his autobiography – Lemkin then led the U.N. in creating theConvention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted 9 December, 1948.Until his death in 1958, Lemkin lobbied tirelessly to get other U.N. states to ratify the Convention.His legacy is that, as of 2015, 147 U.N. states have done so, 46 still on hold. His tomb inscriptionreads simply, “Dr. Raphael Lemkin (1900–1959), Father of the Genocide Convention”. Without himthe world as we know it, would not be possible.


2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1720) ◽  
pp. 2866-2873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiri Hulcr ◽  
Robert R. Dunn

Invasive symbioses between wood-boring insects and fungi are emerging as a new and currently uncontrollable threat to forest ecosystems, as well as fruit and timber industries throughout the world. The bark and ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae) constitute the large majority of these pests, and are accompanied by a diverse community of fungal symbionts. Increasingly, some invasive symbioses are shifting from non-pathogenic saprotrophy in native ranges to a prolific tree-killing in invaded ranges, and are causing significant damage. In this paper, we review the current understanding of invasive insect–fungus symbioses. We then ask why some symbioses that evolved as non-pathogenic saprotrophs, turn into major tree-killers in non-native regions. We argue that a purely pathology-centred view of the guild is not sufficient for explaining the lethal encounters between exotic symbionts and naive trees. Instead, we propose several testable hypotheses that, if correct, lead to the conclusion that the sudden emergence of pathogenicity is a new evolutionary phenomenon with global biogeographical dynamics. To date, evidence suggests that virulence of the symbioses in invaded ranges is often triggered when several factors coincide: (i) invasion into territories with naive trees, (ii) the ability of the fungus to either overcome resistance of the naive host or trigger a suicidal over-reaction, and (iii) an ‘olfactory mismatch’ in the insect whereby a subset of live trees is perceived as dead and suitable for colonization. We suggest that individual cases of tree mortality caused by invasive insect–fungus symbionts should no longer be studied separately, but in a global, biogeographically and phylogenetically explicit comparative framework.


2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-434
Author(s):  
Jan Winiecki

A look at the Western debate about West’s problems reveals what the present writer regards in a large measure as an irritating superficiality. Nowhere is it better visible than in the mainstream discussions about the euro zone and its problems, where most debaters glide over the fundamentals of Europe’s long-term problems and concentrate on the superficial and short-term issues. The discussions on how to “save” the euro zone strangely forget the defects in its creation, glide over the lessons to be drawn from policies pursued during the past decade, and defend the virtue of maintaining its present membership. But the problems of Europe run much deeper than the survival or collapse of the monetary union. Even if we assume that the problems of confidence the member states have in each other’s behaviour are restored and the rest of the world regains confidence in the institutions of the monetary union, the fundamental problems will remain unsolved. A clue to the real long-term problems may be found in the answer to a rather simple question. It runs as follows: “Why is the large majority of European countries indebted to such an extent that any further increase in debt to GDP ratio generates panic reactions among potential lenders?”


Author(s):  
Trevor Bedford ◽  
Alexander L. Greninger ◽  
Pavitra Roychoudhury ◽  
Lea M. Starita ◽  
Michael Famulare ◽  
...  

AbstractFollowing its emergence in Wuhan, China, in late November or early December 2019, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has rapidly spread throughout the world. Genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains allows for the reconstruction of transmission history connecting these infections. Here, we analyze 346 SARS-CoV-2 genomes from samples collected between 20 February and 15 March 2020 from infected patients in Washington State, USA. We found that the large majority of SARS-CoV-2 infections sampled during this time frame appeared to have derived from a single introduction event into the state in late January or early February 2020 and subsequent local spread, indicating cryptic spread of COVID-19 before active community surveillance was implemented. We estimate a common ancestor of this outbreak clade as occurring between 18 January and 9 February 2020. From genomic data, we estimate an exponential doubling between 2.4 and 5.1 days. These results highlight the need for large-scale community surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 and the power of pathogen genomics to inform epidemiological understanding.


Al-Qalam ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 319
Author(s):  
Idham Idham

<p><em>Since long time ago, Indonesia contributes to one of the largest Muslim scholar graduates in the world, these scholars are not only recognized in their countries, but are recognized throughout the world. They are Nuruddin Ar Raniri (Aceh), Sheikh Nawawi al Bantani (Banten), Khalil Bangkalan (Madura), Sheikh Muhammad Arsyad al Banjari (South Kalimantan), Sheikh Yusuf al Makassari (South Sulawesi), Sheikh Ahmad Khatib al Minangkabawi and Muhammad Jamil Jambek (West Sumatra), Sheikh Mahfudz Tremas (Java), following Hadhratus Sheikh KH. Hasyim Asy'ari (founder of  Nahdatul  Ulama),  KH. Ahmad  Dahlan (founder of  Muhammadiyah),  Prof.  Dr.  Hasbi  ash- Shidiqqey (initiator of Indonesian jurisprudence), Prof. Buya Hamka, and so on. The number of scholars in Indonesia will never be exhausted to be studied, because scholars always grow and develop in the community. Some of the scholars have written their biographies, but many of them have not yet been written. The absence of written sources (reading) about the scholar makes the public not familiar with it. So the purpose of writing this short biography is to find out a short biography of one of the scholars, namely Dr. Muhammad Nawawi Yahya Abudrrazak Al Majene, from Mandar, West Sulawesi. Nawawi Yahya is known by the local people by the name of Puang Masser, because most of his life was spent in Egypt in the context of studying. From the undergraduate program until the doctoral program was completed in Egypt. Nawawi Yahya or Puang Masser managed to write a dissertation entitled "Az Zakah wa an Nadzum al Ijtima'iyah al Mu'ashirah", Zakat  and  the  Order of the  Contemporary Society. What's interesting  about the dissertation is its thickness reaches 3,593 pages, which is divided into six chapters. The work has now been published by the Research Center for Literature and the Religious Khazanah of the Indonesian Ministry of Religion's Research and Development Agency. This study used interviews, observations, and documentation in collecting data as well as qualitative research in general.</em></p><p> </p>


Crustaceana ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Orlando Lam-Gordillo ◽  
Pedro-Luis Ardisson

Abstract The study of species distributions is fundamental for environmental research, conservation planning, and resource management. However, it is not always possible to obtain access to these data, making it difficult to reach the goal of quantifying biodiversity. The distribution of many crustacean groups is poorly studied; such is the case of the superfamily Raninoidea (frog crabs). In order to reduce this information gap, herein we mapped and described the world distribution of members of this superfamily by performing a data visualization analysis. We carried out an extensive review of species records and distribution data from different databases, collections, and unpublished data. Furthermore, we conducted a species richness analysis and an agglomerative cluster analysis to identify biogeographic regions. Both analyses were carried out using the software Biodiverse (v. 2.0). Results showed that Raninoidea is composed of 46 species across a pantropical distribution. For this study, the globe was divided into 30 pre-established biogeographical regions, ranging from the Indo-Pacific seas & Indian Ocean (IPSIO) region, represented by 19 species and a maximum richness of eight species, to the Southern Ocean (SO) region, represented by only one species. Some species are distributed across regions while some are found exclusively in a single region. Due to issues with accuracy and sufficiency of raw data, we also calculated the Chao 1 and ACE indices, which suggest that other species have yet to be recorded.


Sociobiology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Reginaldo Constantino

Cumulative species description curves since 1758 are given for all termites of the world and for each biogeographical region (Australian, Ethiopian, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oriental, Palearctic, and Papuan). A cumulative description curve is also given for world genera. Estimation by maximum likelihood using the Michaelis-Menten model suggests a maximum of 5366 ± 175 species (p < 2.2E-16) and 704 ± 77 genera (p < 4.387E-13). Model fitting was poor for most individual biogeographical regions, with the exception of the Ethiopian region (estimate = 1295 ± 57 species, p < 2.2E-16). World War I and World War II had marked negative impacts on termite description rates. Data from China was treated separately due to the atypical rate of description of new termites in that country during the last two decades of the 20th century.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 931-951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shotaro Hamamoto

As in many parts of the world, an anti-investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) discourse has been propagated also in Japan. In the Japanese Diet (Japan’s parliament), ISDS is criticized as infringing State sovereignty; as being incompatible with the Japanese Constitution; as unduly restricting regulatory space and government procurement; as being biased in favor of the United States; and as being acceptable only in relation to developing States. These criticisms are difficult to sustain and in fact ineffective as investment treaties continue to be approved by the Diet by unanimity or by a large majority. An analysis of the rhetoric of these criticisms and of actual voting records suggest that investor-State arbitration itself is not an independent political issue in Japan, but used as a pretext to manifest an anti-American sentiment or to criticize the incumbent government.


Author(s):  
Louis Mendy

Death Penalty has been practiced since human beings decided to constitute nations and live in countries. It was institutionalized to get rid of people who were supposed to be harmful to societies. However, proponents of Capital Punishment do not seem to understand that people may be executed because of their evil acts, but their death will never wipe evil out of their societies. Since the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by a very large majority of countries in the world, the legality and legitimacy of Death Penalty have been constantly questioned by human rights defenders. Even the three major and revealed religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam recognize that life is a sacred right from God. For the people who are against Death Penalty, Capital Punishment is akin to a premeditated voluntary homicide by a government. Even if Death Penalty is considered as a deterrent in many societies, it has never been proven that it can stop people from committing murders. The abolition of Death Penalty is nowadays a moral duty for all governments. Even a moratorium is proposed to countries which have not abolished it yet. The tendency today is the total abolition of Capital Punishment in the world and its restoration by countries that have already abolished it is something unheard of, retrograde and senseless.


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