The Hologenome of Haliclona fulva (Porifera, Demospongiae) Reveals an Abundant and Diverse Viral Community

Viruses are among the most abundant biological entities in the ocean, largely responsible of modulating nutrients fluxes and influencing microbial composition and functioning. In marine invertebrate holobionts like sponges and their associated microbiomes, little is known about virome composition. Here, we characterized the Haliclona fulva hologenome, an encrusting low-microbial abundance sponge found across the Western Mediterranean Sea (35–40 m of depth) producer of a large metabolic repertoire of bioactive compounds and harboring a distinct and stable associated microbiome. Assembled contigs from shotgun metagenome sequences obtained from H. fulva specimens were comprehensively analyzed regarding taxonomic and functional content revealing its remarkable and abundant viral community dominated by single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) virus. Viral families consistently detected in contigs are Circoviridae, Phycodnaviridae, Poxviridae, Herelleviridae, Mimiviridae, Microviridae, and notably the first reported encounter of Nanoviridae and Genomoviridae in Porifera, expanding their known host range. The relative abundance of inferred bacteriophages/prophages was low, suggesting that the prokaryotic community in this sponge has a limited host range and susceptibility. H. fulva showed a distinct viral composition supporting the general proposition of specific and coevolving viromes in marine holobionts.

Theoretical Approaches to the Fragility of States: Proposal for a Comprehensive Model from Political Legitimacy in Statehood Construct

In the academic agenda and in international organizations, the strength or fragility of states is a relevant thematic, especially in light of geopolitical changes and security issues in recent decades. While the concept of state refers to the methods of control that a government employs to manage a given territory, which refers to regimes and forms of government, the fragility of states, as well as concerns of the international community motivated by incapacities, generates a loss of legitimacy internal politics, leading to possible regional collapses and instabilities, the capacity for action is then seen as linked to political legitimacy, which is nourished by the confidence conferred on the internal and external levels. In this context, this work seeks to articulate some theoretical propositions in an attempt to broaden the view on the phenomenon of statehood and its relations with political legitimacy, such propositions are then guiding to a comprehensive model at the end of the article. In this sense, this essay presents as a general proposition: Political Legitimacy, constituent of Statehood, in its relations with regimes and forms of government, and with the trust attributed to political actions, is an intervening factor in Fragility manifest in the States.

The Impossible Trinity of Deception, Sex and Consent

During the last couple of centuries, the English law dealing with sexual conduct has made a decisive shift towards a ‘consent-based model’ of rape law. But strikingly, deceptive sexual relationships (DSR) have been untouched by this development as lately reaffirmed by the Court of Appeal in R v Jason Lawrence. If rape is defined as sex without consent, then DSR ought to be no exception, because the general proposition of law is that consent induced by deception is no consent at all. In making a case for the criminalisation of DSR, this article (1) arrays the lack of uniformity in court’s jurisprudence on DSR and (2) brings along the sexual autonomy theory to support its case.

On illustrating Carnot’s general proposition by means of reversible Stirling engines

Carnot’s general proposition, also referred to as one of Carnot’s principles, states that the work producing potential of heat—harvested by reversible heat engines—is independent of the working fluid and of engine internal details, being only a function of the temperatures of the reservoirs with which the engine exchanges heat. This concept, usually presented in introductory thermodynamics courses to ME students in the context of the second law of thermodynamics before entropy is introduced, is customarily proven by contradiction, i.e., by a violation of the second law, using second law concepts and abstractions such as ‘thermal reservoirs’ and ‘reversible engines’, without concrete examples, even though Carnot’s proposition mentions concrete things such as working fluids and engine internal details. This work proposes to document the usage of different reversible Stirling engine models that take the engine arrangement down to engine constructive parameters, crankshaft angles, and the like, as well as fluid properties into account towards illustrating the validity of Carnot’s general proposition without using entropy.

Descriptive Indexicals, Deferred Reference, and Anaphora

The objectives of this paper are twofold. The first is to present a differentiation between two kinds of deferred uses of indexicals: those in which indexical utterances express singular propositions (I term them deferred reference proper) and those where they express general propositions (called descriptive uses of indexicals). The second objective is the analysis of the descriptive uses of indexicals. In contrast to Nunberg, who treats descriptive uses as a special case of deferred reference in which a property contributes to the proposition expressed, I argue that examples in which a general proposition is indeed expressed by an indexical cannot be treated by assuming that the property is a deferred referent of the pronoun. I propose an analysis of descriptive uses of indexicals by means of a pragmatic mechanism of ‘descriptive anaphora’, which attempts to explain the special kind of contribution of the property retrieved from the context to the proposition that is characteristic of the descriptive interpretation.

The IMC mixes that trucking managers use

Purpose This paper aims to test the proposition that integrated marketing communications (IMC) practice is lagging in the trucking industry. It stems from the more general proposition extant in the literature that business to business (B2B) IMC practice lags business to consumer IMC practice. Design/methodology/approach In total, 109 trucking managers attending the American Trucking Association Annual Management Conference are asked which communications tools they use and for which strategic purposes. The new product adoption model (NPAM) provides a means of measuring efficient IMC practice. Findings Joint space perceptual maps generated by correspondence analysis reveal the association between trucking managers’ IMC mixes and the stages of the NPAM. Inspection shows that trucking managers deploy a relatively large number of traditional and digital tools to support all stages of the NPAM, indicating a sophisticated level of IMC knowledge and practice, contrary to the proposition that IMC practice is lagging in the trucking industry. Originality/value This contrary result suggests that IMC practice proceeds at different rates across B2B industries and must be examined on a per-industry basis. In combination with Garber and Dotson’s (2002) trucking IMC study, this study provides a second data point from which the evolution of IMC practice in the trucking industry can be tracked into the future. Additionally, this paper demonstrates the efficacy of the NPAM as a means of measuring the efficiency of IMC mixes, as well as for monitoring and training. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

On Illustrating Carnot’s General Proposition by Means of Reversible Stirling Engines

Carnot’s general proposition, also referred to as one of Carnot’s principles, states that the work producing potential of heat—harvested by reversible heat engines—is independent on the working fluid and on engine internal details, being only a function of the temperatures of the reservoirs with which the engine exchanges heat. This concept, usually presented to ME students in the context of the second law of thermodynamics, is usually proven by contradiction, using second law concepts and abstractions, without concrete examples, even though Carnot’s proposition mentions concrete things such as working fluids and engine internal details. This work proposes to document the usage of reversible Stirling engine models that take the engine arrangement and fluid properties into account towards illustrating the validity of Carnot’s general proposition.

Biowatch Shield, Costs Liability for Abuse of Process and Crossfire Litigation ‒ Biowatch Trust v Registrar Genetic Resources 2009 (6) SA 232 (CC)

While costs are traditionally dealt with at the tail end of proceedings and invariably in the concluding segment of a court’s judgment, they nevertheless continue to be consequential. This is especially so in respect of how access to constitutional justice is pursued and levered. The outlines of the progressive costs awards jurisprudence in constitutional and public interest litigation are encapsulated in Biowatch Trust v Registrar Genetic Resources (2009 (6) SA 232 (CC) (Biowatch)). Biowatch established the general proposition that in litigation between the State and private parties seeking to assert a fundamental right, the State should ordinarily pay costs if it loses. The Biowatch shield seeks to mitigate the “chilling effects” cost orders could have on parties seeking to assert their constitutional rights – even where unsuccessful. The threat of hefty costs orders may chill constitutional assertiveness. It may deter parties from challenging questionable practices of the State. This is particularly so in a society characterised by disparities in resources and inequality of opportunities. The vindication of fundamental rights is inseparably linked to the transformative process the Constitution envisages. It is now established that the general rule in constitutional litigation is that an unsuccessful litigant in proceedings against the State ought not to be ordered to pay costs. On the other hand, the Biowatch principle also permits exceptions and does not go so far as to immunise all constitutional litigation from the risk of an adverse costs order. A worthy cause or worthy motive cannot immunise a litigant from an adverse costs order for abuse of process or engaging in frivolous or vexatious proceedings.The case note addresses the application of the Biowatch principle in respect of cost orders where a public interest litigant has conducted the proceedings in an abusive, vexatious or frivolous manner, as well as in crossfire litigation. The first-tier question that arises is: can a court impose adverse costs awards on a constitutional litigant where a suit is unmeritorious or there is impropriety in the manner in which the litigation has been undertaken? There is also the delicate issue of costs awards in crossfire disputes. In pith and substance, crossfire disputes involve litigation between a private party and the State, provoked by the latter’s failure to perform its regulatory role but adversely affecting the interests of other private parties. In effect, the knotty question is: can adverse costs orders be made against interveners or parties who become involved in proceedings?

More Grandma Identities

We prove some trigonometric identities as consequences of a general proposition.

Prior Record and the Risk of Recidivism

It is generally assumed that prior convictions provide a useful proxy for the offender’s risk of committing further crimes, and as a general proposition that assumption is well supported by research. But as this chapter shows, there is much less research on how well particular prior record formulas predict recidivism risk. This chapter identifies the elements of guidelines criminal history scores that appear to be designed to measure risk, reviews the limited research assessing the accuracy of criminal history scores and score components as predictors of subsequent offending, and examines the closeness of fit between predicted increases in risk, as the criminal history score rises, and the increments in sentence severity that are prescribed by grid-based guidelines systems. The chapter also argues against the use of rigid prior record enhancement formulas, and in favor of giving judges power to adjust sentences to take into account case-specific variations in recidivism risk.