PR_23_EA_ICOP Nonlinear Optics Using Coupled Resonators in Silicon Photonics (ICOP-15)

Extended abstract of an invited presentation at the ICOP Workshop on Silicon Photonics, 19 February 2015 at Kolkata India. This workshop was part of the Golden Jubilee Conference of the Optical Society of India.

Book Reviewing Old Beginnings: Marjorie Watts' P.E.N. The Early Years 1921-1926

This review of a 1971 book is meant to invite readers to reflect on the role P.E.N. International—a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote literature and intellectual co-operation among writers—might have given the increasing challenges in our contemporary society. Describing the beginnings of the organization, the book marked P.E.N.’s Golden Jubilee. Therefore, I felt it appropriate to discuss some of the issues it addressed—that is, socializing vs. political activism—as this year, P.E.N. International turned 100.

Peering into the Abyss with Evolutionary Telescopes: How protein structure-telescopes can look further back in time (and why sequence-telescopes cannot)

This year marks the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Protein Data Bank (PDB), which catalogs three-dimensional (3D) shapes of organic macromolecules and showcases a structural view of biology. In celebrating this occasion, much has been written about the transformative impact of PDB on a broad range of fields of scientific inquiry and how structural biology transformed the study of the fundamental processes of life. Yet, the transforming influence of PDB on one field of inquiry of broad interest—the reconstruction of the distant evolutionary past—has gone almost unnoticed. Here, I review recent advances to highlight how insights and tools of structural biology are bearing on the data required for the empirical resolution of vigorously debated and apparently contradicting theories in evolutionary biology.

50 years of the International Association of Bryologists

The International Association of Bryologists (IAB) has been close to my heart during half of a century. Following the establishment of the IAB at the International Botanical Congress in Seattle in 1969, I served as its first secretary-treasurer for eighteen years and helped setting it up. Now, a half-century later, it is a joy and great satisfaction to see a vigorous and healthy IAB continuing on the path of promoting communication and collaboration among the world’s bryologists. It is a pleasure therefore to write a few lines on the history of the organization for this special Golden Jubilee issue of Bryophyte Diversity and Evolution. In doing so, I lean heavily on my account of the early history of the Association (https://bryology.org/history-of-iab/) and my talk on the history of international collaboration at the IAB congress in Madrid (Gradstein 2000).

Evaluating the Effects of Holidays on Road Crash Injuries in the United Kingdom

Background: Research suggests that drivers tend to engage in risk-taking behaviours on public holidays. Studies that examined the association between holidays (or other special days) and fatal injuries are inconsistent. This study used UK STATS19 data to investigate the associations of nine public holidays on road crash casualties. Methods: This retrospective study assessed UK STATS19 crash data for 1990–2017. All casualties from two vehicle crashes were initially considered; subsequently, casualties with missing data were excluded. Multiple logistic regression was estimated to explore the associations of potential risk factors with the likelihood of killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties and to calculate adjusted odds ratios (AORs). Results: In total, 3,751,998 casualties from traffic accidents in the United Kingdom during 1990–2017 were included in the final data set; among these, 410,299 (10.9%) were KSI casualties, and 3,341,699 (89.1%) were slight injuries. Crashes on public holidays were 16% (AOR = 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.13–1.19) more likely to involve KSI casualties than were crashes on non-holidays. With other factors controlled for, crashes during the Queen’s 2002 Golden Jubilee and on New Year’s Day were 48% (AOR = 1.48; 95% CI = 1.06–2.07) and 36% (AOR = 1.36; 1.26–1.48) more likely to lead to KSIs, respectively. Conclusions: The proportion of crashes resulting in KSI casualties on public holidays was higher than that on non-holidays. Furthermore, crashes during the Queen’s 2002 Golden Jubilee had the highest risk of KSI casualties followed by New Year’s Day.