scholarly journals A Dark Green Religious Analysis of the Life and Work of Wangari Maathai (1940 - 2011)

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louisa Johanna Du Toit
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Nobel Peace Prize ◽  
Critical View ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Moral Superiority ◽  
Dark Green ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Wangari Maathai

Dark Green Religion (DGR), is an umbrella term formulated by Bron Taylor, to describe nature revering movements that do not fit into the category of organized religion. These movements use religious-like emotions to express their convictions and display a sincere commitment towards the environment. A central focus of DGR is a deep-felt kinship with all living organisms on Earth (arising from a Darwinian understanding that all forms of life have developed from a common ancestor), accompanied by feelings of humility coupled with a critical view of human moral superiority. This article presents a Dark Green Religious analysis of the life and work of Wangari Maathai (1940-2011). She was the first woman in East Africa to receive a doctorate, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work with the Green Belt Movement (GBM). In the DGR analysis, it is illustrated that the principles of belonging, interconnectedness and sacredness are revealed through Maathai’s written legacy. Evidence is also presented that she could be viewed as an example of Naturalistic Gaianism, one of the four types of DGR. In conclusion, a link between ecofeminism and DGR is proposed by highlighting the shared concepts between the two phenomena.

Natural history of ABC systems: not only transporters

2011 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 19-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elie Dassa
Keyword(s):  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Abc Proteins ◽  
Hypothetical Scenario ◽  
History Of ◽  
Phylogenetic Perspective ◽  
Living Organisms

In recent years, our understanding of the functioning of ABC (ATP-binding cassette) systems has been boosted by the combination of biochemical and structural approaches. However, the origin and the distribution of ABC proteins among living organisms are difficult to understand in a phylogenetic perspective, because it is hard to discriminate orthology and paralogy, due to the existence of horizontal gene transfer. In this chapter, I present an update of the classification of ABC systems and discuss a hypothetical scenario of their evolution. The hypothetical presence of ABC ATPases in the last common ancestor of modern organisms is discussed, as well as the additional possibility that ABC systems might have been transmitted to eukaryotes, after the two endosymbiosis events that led to the constitution of eukaryotic organelles. I update the functional information of selected ABC systems and introduce new families of ABC proteins that have been included recently into this vast superfamily, thanks to the availability of high-resolution three-dimensional structures.

Henry Bence-Jones, M. D. , F. R. S. (1813-1873)

1973 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-56 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Diagnosis And Treatment ◽  
Animal Tissues ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Scientific Principles ◽  
Chemical Knowledge ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
To Receive

Many leading nineteenth-century physicians recognized the need to reduce the empirical element in medicine and to base both diagnosis and treatment more firmly upon scientific principles. In an age when chemistry was a rapidly developing science it seemed that animal chemistry, dealing with the materials and functions of living organisms, might well offer the best solution to the problem. Thus the development of the subject for medical purposes became one of the main objectives of animal chemists, although from hindsight it is clear that neither the techniques nor the chemical knowledge available were at all adequate for solving the complex problems involved. Yet chemists like Fourcroy and Berzelius tried to understand the chemistry of life and their results seemed to support the widely held view that a knowledge of the composition of animal tissues, together with an understanding of the natural functions in health, would aid medical diagnosis and treatment by exposing the faults present in disease. In early nineteenth-century England there was a lively interest in this subject (I) and some physicians became very successful in applying chemical principles to medicine, but despite the evident value of animal chemistry the novelty of the subject caused medical schools to be reluctant to introduce it into their curricula. Medical students continued to receive instruction in the classics but the physical sciences were frequently neglected.

scholarly journals The evolutionary traceability of proteins

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arpit Jain ◽  
Arndt von Haeseler ◽  
Ingo Ebersberger
Keyword(s):  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Orthologous Genes ◽  
Functional Protein ◽  
Last Universal Common Ancestor ◽  
Gene Set ◽  
Full Diversity ◽  
Universal Common Ancestor ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Catalytic Functions ◽  
Ancient Gene

AbstractOrthologs document the evolution of genes and metabolic capacities encoded in extant and ancient genomes. Orthologous genes that are detected across the full diversity of contemporary life allow reconstructing the gene set of LUCA, the last universal common ancestor. These genes presumably represent the functional repertoire common to – and necessary for – all living organisms. Design of artificial life has the potential to test this. Recently, a minimal gene (MG) set for a self-replicating cell was determined experimentally, and a surprisingly high number of genes have unknown functions and are not represented in LUCA. However, as similarity between orthologs decays with time, it becomes insufficient to infer common ancestry, leaving ancient gene set reconstructions incomplete and distorted to an unknown extent. Here we introduce the evolutionary traceability, together with the software protTrace, that quantifies, for each protein, the evolutionary distance beyond which the sensitivity of the ortholog search becomes limiting. We show that the LUCA set comprises only high-traceable proteins most of which have catalytic functions. We further show that proteins in the MG set lacking orthologs outside bacteria mostly have low traceability, leaving open whether their eukaryotic orthologs have just been overlooked. On the example of REC8, a protein essential for chromosome cohesion, we demonstrate how a traceability-informed adjustment of the search sensitivity identifies hitherto missed orthologs in the fast-evolving microsporidia. Taken together, the evolutionary traceability helps to differentiate between true absence and non-detection of orthologs, and thus improves our understanding about the evolutionary conservation of functional protein networks.

Maathai, Wangari M.

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunny Sinha
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
Nobel Peace Prize ◽  
Green Belt ◽  
Green Belt Movement ◽  
To Receive

Wangari Muta Maathai (1940–2011) was an environmentalist and human rights activist, internationally recognized as the founder of Green Belt Movement in Kenya. She was also the first black woman and first environmentalist to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.

ALBERT LUTHULI'S PRIVATE STRUGGLE: HOW AN ICON OF PEACE CAME TO ACCEPT SABOTAGE IN SOUTH AFRICA

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT TRENT VINSON ◽  
BENEDICT CARTON
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Nobel Peace Prize ◽  
The Press ◽  
National Congress ◽  
To Receive

AbstractIn December 1961, Albert Luthuli, leader of the African National Congress (ANC), arrived in Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Journalists in Norway noted how apartheid crackdowns failed to poison the new laureate's ‘courteous’ commitment to nonviolence. The press never reported Luthuli's acceptance that saboteurs in an armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe (MK or Spear of the Nation), would now fight for freedom. Analyzing recently available evidence, this article challenges a prevailing claim that Luthuli always promoted peace regardless of state authorities who nearly beat him to death and massacred protesting women, children, and men. We uncover his evolving views of justifiable violence, which guided secret ANC decisions to pursue ‘some kind of violence’ months before his Nobel celebration. These views not only expand knowledge of ‘struggle history’, but also alter understandings of Luthuli's aim to emancipate South Africa from a system of white supremacy that he likened to ‘slavery’.

Taxonomic status and paleoecology of Rusingoryx atopocranion (Mammalia, Artiodactyla), an extinct Pleistocene bovid from Rusinga Island, Kenya

2011 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 697-707 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tyler Faith ◽  
Jonah N. Choiniere ◽  
Christian A. Tryon ◽  
Daniel J. Peppe ◽  
David L. Fox
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Dietary Habits ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Taxonomic Status ◽  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Initial Description ◽  
Arid Grasslands ◽  
Rusinga Island ◽  
Analysis Point

AbstractRusingoryx atopocranion is a poorly known extinct alcelaphine bovid, documented in Pleistocene deposits associated with Middle Stone Age artifacts on Rusinga Island, Kenya. Following its initial description, Rusingoryx was subsumed into Megalotragus, which includes the extinct giant wildebeests, on the basis of its cranial architecture. Renewed investigations of the Pleistocene deposits on Rusinga Island recovered a large sample of Rusingoryx specimens that provide new taxonomic and paleoecological insight. This study (1) reviews the morphological and phylogenetic evidence concerning the taxonomic status of Rusingoryx and (2) evaluates its paleoecology and dietary habits. The morphology and phylogenetic data indicate that Rusingoryx is distinct from Megalotragus; they likely shared a common ancestor in the late Pliocene. Ecomorphology and mesowear analysis point to a specialized grazing adaptation, and its association with arid-adapted ungulates suggests a preference for arid grasslands. The confirmation of Rusingoryx as a valid taxonomic entity, together with the presence of other extinct taxa (including Megalotragus) on Rusinga Island, suggests an increasingly complex pattern of ungulate biogeography and extinctions in the late Quaternary of East Africa. Rusingoryx appears to have been part of an arid-adapted faunal community that potentially persisted in East Africa until the onset of the Holocene.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Sam50 translocase of Excavate organisms supports evolution of divergent organelles from a common endosymbiotic event

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Kay ◽  
Karen Lawler ◽  
Ian D. Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Trichomonas Vaginalis ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Membrane Insertion ◽  
Metabolic Processes ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Complete Genomes ◽  
Endosymbiotic Event ◽  
Group A ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Host Nucleus

As free-living organisms the ancestors of mitochondria and plastids encoded complete genomes, proteomes and metabolomes. As these symbionts became organelles all these aspects were reduced – genomes have degenerated with the host nucleus now encoding the most of the remaining endosymbiont proteome, while the metabolic processes of the symbiont have been streamlined to the functions of the emerging organelle. By contrast, the topology of the endosymbiont membrane has been preserved, necessitating the development of complex pathways for membrane insertion and translocation. In this study, we examine the characteristics of the endosymbiont-derived β-barrel insertase Sam501 in the excavate super-group. A candidate is further characterized in Trichomonas vaginalis, an unusual eukaryote possessing degenerate hydrogen-producing mitochondria called hydrogenosomes. This information supports a mitochondriate eukaryotic common ancestor with a similarly evolved β-barrel insertase, which has continued to be conserved in degenerate mitochondria.

scholarly journals East African origins for Madagascan chickens as indicated by mitochondrial DNA

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 160787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Herrera ◽  
Vicki A. Thomson ◽  
Jessica J. Wadley ◽  
Philip J. Piper ◽  
Sri Sulandari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
East Africa ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
East African ◽  
Mitochondrial Dna Control Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Indian Ocean

The colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking people during AD 50–500 represents the most westerly point of the greatest diaspora in prehistory. A range of economically important plants and animals may have accompanied the Austronesians. Domestic chickens ( Gallus gallus ) are found in Madagascar, but it is unclear how they arrived there. Did they accompany the initial Austronesian-speaking populations that reached Madagascar via the Indian Ocean or were they late arrivals with Arabian and African sea-farers? To address this question, we investigated the mitochondrial DNA control region diversity of modern chickens sampled from around the Indian Ocean rim (Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Madagascar). In contrast to the linguistic and human genetic evidence indicating dual African and Southeast Asian ancestry of the Malagasy people, we find that chickens in Madagascar only share a common ancestor with East Africa, which together are genetically closer to South Asian chickens than to those in Southeast Asia. This suggests that the earliest expansion of Austronesian-speaking people across the Indian Ocean did not successfully introduce chickens to Madagascar. Our results further demonstrate the complexity of the translocation history of introduced domesticates in Madagascar.

Guignardia musae. [Descriptions of Fungi and Bacteria].

1975 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Punithalingam
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Yellowish Green ◽  
Black Spots ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Dark Green

Abstract A description is provided for Guignardia musae. Information is included on the disease caused by the organism, its transmission, geographical distribution, and hosts. HOSTS: On Musa cavendishii, M. paradisiaca and M. sapientum. DISEASE: Freckle of banana (Musa). Symptoms on the fingers may appear 2-4 weeks after the bunch has shot but are most noticeable at harvest. On the fruit are red brown, superficial spots usually circular, up to 2 mm diam., with dark green watersoaked halos. Spots may coalesce and dense aggregations of them may form streaks or circular areas. At harvest freckle may completely cover the fingers; the presence of pycnidia renders the surface rough to the touch. The proximal hand is often the most severely affected. On leaves the dark brown or black spots may be small (<1 mm diam.) or larger (up to 4 mm diam.). In the former case freckled areas have a sooty appearance, and streaks or circular areas may form. In the latter case the spots may have fawn or greyish centres with yellowish-green halos. Coalescence of spots occurs and freckle is usually restricted to the older leaves. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Widespread in south and east Asia and the Pacific islands; also in east Africa, but the infections caused have not been found in central or south America (53, 797). TRANSMISSION: Conidia water-dispersed.

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