An integrated view of innate immune mechanisms in C. elegans

The simple notion ‘infection causes an immune response' is being progressively refined as it becomes clear that immune mechanisms cannot be understood in isolation, but need to be considered in a more global context with other cellular and physiological processes. In part, this reflects the deployment by pathogens of virulence factors that target diverse cellular processes, such as translation or mitochondrial respiration, often with great molecular specificity. It also reflects molecular cross-talk between a broad range of host signalling pathways. Studies with the model animal C. elegans have uncovered a range of examples wherein innate immune responses are intimately connected with different homeostatic mechanisms, and can influence reproduction, ageing and neurodegeneration, as well as various other aspects of its biology. Here we provide a short overview of a number of such connections, highlighting recent discoveries that further the construction of a fully integrated view of innate immunity.

Entrepreneurial environment attractiveness: a cross-country longitudinal cluster analysis

Purpose The purpose of this work is to explore what determines a country’s entrepreneurial environment attractiveness, by understanding how countries compare regarding their business environment and entrepreneurial opportunities and whether such aspects have changed over time. Design/methodology/approach Through a longitudinal country-level cluster analysis of business environments (years 2001 and 2016), this study captures changes in classification of both emerging and developed market economies throughout an attractiveness spectrum, from least to most attractive environments. Findings Interesting findings involve the difference in trajectories of emerging economies, such as India compared to the stagnation of Brazil, Argentina and South Korea in the 15-year period. The paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the attractiveness of the entrepreneurial environment beyond the simple notion of most and least economically developed countries by providing a framework for dynamic cross-country analysis of entrepreneurial environmental attractiveness that can be further explored, tested and expanded. Research limitations/implications Main limitations relate to the non-exhaustive sample of countries and variables. Contributions are both academic and managerial: helping to fill important research gaps in international entrepreneurship, namely, environmental conditions, cross-country comparisons (Coombs et al., 2009) and the understanding of elements of the investment climate (Stern, 2002); and assisting managers, entrepreneurs and policymakers understand what defines a country’s entrepreneurial environment attractiveness to better evaluate potential locations for investment. Originality/value The originality of the paper lies in using cluster analysis in a longitudinal study of country attractiveness, as well as in advancing the debate of country attractiveness, by adding a temporal dimension (from factors that are less structural to more conjunctural) and a comparative dimension in a new cross-country comparison framework of analysis.

“In my head, I have a cleaning lady:” Symbol form and symbolic intention in the everyday use of money

Money is a symbol. Beginning with this simple notion, we have completed a qualitative study of how money exists in people’s everyday lives and how it is used symbolically. A review of the financial, economic, psychological, and semiotic literature shows that even though money is written and talked about exhaustively, little symbol theory appears in economic writing, and we rarely found money mentioned in semiotic texts. We used a qualitative, phenomenological approach to identify critical thematic elements and underlying structures of participants’ experience. We also incorporated an accepted symbol-structure template in our analysis of the functions, emotions, actions, and reactions in the transactions our participants described. Participants refer to money both as wealth in the abstract and as concrete amounts about to be used. Our analysis of money in the abstract describes a structure of experience involving belonging, privacy and secrecy, unequal distribution, quantitative uncertainty, reflections of life history, and values. Our analysis of money in the concrete reveals a symbolic intention and a variety of “Others” engaged in the symbolic action.

Numerical Investigation on the Swimming of Gyrotactic Microorganisms in Nanofluids through Porous Medium over a Stretched Surface

In this article, the effects of swimming gyrotactic microorganisms for magnetohydrodynamics nanofluid using Darcy law are investigated. The numerical results of nonlinear coupled mathematical model are obtained by means of Successive Local Linearization Method. This technique is based on a simple notion of the decoupling systems of equations utilizing the linearization of the unknown functions sequentially according to the order of classifying the system of governing equations. The linearized equations, that developed a sequence of linear differential equations along with variable coefficients, were solved by employing the Chebyshev spectral collocation method. The convergence speed of the SLLM technique can be willingly upgraded by successive applying over relaxation method. The comparison of current study with available published literature has been made for the validation of obtained results. It is found that the reported numerical method is in perfect accord with the said similar methods. The results are displayed through tables and graphs.

Conclusion

This volume is guided by the goal of productive pluralism—the simple notion that even though ethnographic approaches may be partially incompatible with one another, the field as a whole benefits from diverse contributions to understanding social life. Beyond a mutual tolerance that leaves ethnographers in their silos, such a pluralism supports sustained scholarly dialog to clarify points of disagreement as well as illuminate opportunities for collaborative problem-solving. To this end, this volume has included works from prominent scholars representing various traditions to articulate what, why, and how they engage in ethnographic comparison. This concluding chapter contextualizes the contributions of the authors, pointing to both divergences and (perhaps) surprising synergies in the ways they approach ethnography. The chapter begins by considering the basic questions of how and why the contributors perform comparison. Having summarized the approaches, the authors discuss specific comparisons of research processes, research products, and the criteria used for evaluating both. The chapter concludes by suggesting how these synergies open the possibility for a chance to address further concerns in comparative methodology.

Lying, Misleading, and Dishonesty

An important moral category—dishonest speech—has been overlooked in theoretical ethics despite its importance in legal, political, and everyday social exchanges. Discussion in this area has instead been fixated on a binary debate over the contrast between lying and ‘merely misleading’ (that is, attempting to deceive someone without uttering a literal falsehood). Some see lying as a distinctive wrong; others see it as morally equivalent to deliberately omitting relevant truths, falsely insinuating, or any other species of attempted verbal deception. Parties to this debate have missed the relevance to their disagreement of the notion of communicative dishonesty. Communicative dishonesty need not take the form of a lie, yet its wrongness does not reduce to the wrongness of seeking to deceive. This paper therefore proposes a major shift of attention away from the lying/misleading debate and towards the topic of communicative dishonesty (or ‘dishonesty’ for short). Dishonesty is not a simple notion to define, however. It presupposes a difficult distinction between what is and is not expressed in a given utterance. This differs from the more familiar distinction between what is and is not said, the distinction at the heart of the lying/misleading debate. This paper uses an idea central to speech act theory to characterize dishonesty in terms of the utterer’s communicative intentions, and applies the resulting definition to a variety of contexts.

Cartography. A book and a MOOC

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Cartographic education is seemingly in limbo. Courses are closing, professionally trained cartographers are dwindling in numbers and mapping is often not much more than a self-service activity. And all this against a backdrop of the massive increase in map use, the democratization of mapping and a plethora of online materials to aid the novice map-maker. We see many more maps and there’s no doubt that amongst the few gems we see many more very poorly designed maps. But what of the expertise? And what of core competencies in cartography? In a world that now uses Google and Wikipedia as the go-to sage, what of the cartographic textbook? And what of core training? In this presentation I assert that the death of cartographic expertise needs to be staunched. I’ll discuss two new mechanisms to approach the problem. First, a new book designed to re-imagine the dissemination of cartographic knowledge; a cartographic text book with a difference. Secondly, a Massive Open Online Course that, to date, has been taught to over 80,000 registrants worldwide.</p><p> In planning the book, over a number of years, it became obvious that there was a massive unmet need for a new book about thinking about cartography. A book that veers markedly from a traditional textbook yet delivers core concepts and cartographic principles in a new and engaging way. A book whose content is not tied to chapters but is immediately accessible through a unique structure and which keeps the often mystical cartographic vocabulary to a minimum. A book that supports new map-makers in a visually compelling way yet is mature enough to support practiced cartographers as a go-to companion. “Cartography.” is that book. Published in July 2018, this major new publication is designed to engage with a modern audience keen to learn how to make better maps (Figure 1). In this presentation I will explore the need for a new book and demonstrate the void that it fills in cartographic education. I’ll explain its structure as one that mirrors the map-making process - which is never one that linearly considers projections, colour, typography and so on - but one which supports the interplay of the many simultaneous decisions made in the map-making process. I’ll go into detail about the book’s design, format and content and link it clearly to modern praxis and learning environments.</p><p> Running at 550 pages with contributions from over 20 acknowledged cartographic experts and over 300 maps and illustrations, it is bold in scope and the intent is to make this a one-stop-shop for cartography, delivering the essentials in a way that makes sense to those who have never studied cartography but which will enable them to take advantage of the many ideas and approaches that define the discipline of cartography; and for those experienced cartographers that seek a companion in their everyday work. I will explain how the book differs from what has gone before and how it supports cartographic education and practice going forward.</p><p> Turning attention to other learning realms, I will also discuss the book’s companion, a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). To date the course has run three times to over 80,000 people. It’s free and spans a 6 week period during which time students get access to videos, software, data and exercises, quizzes and access to cartographic experts via a discussion forum. Each week requires around 3&amp;ndash;4&amp;thinsp;hrs of work per week. The idea is simply to expose people to some fundamental cartographic ideas as an antidote to the simple notion that ‘anyone can make a map’. While that is true, the ability to think about the map and better understand how to make decisions to make the map better are crucial. While not the first MOOC or online course in cartography, this was developed to be a bit larger in scope than those that have gone before. Figure 2 also demonstrates the international reach of the global classroom and how it has captured the imagination.</p><p> It’s important to note that this is not a talk designed to sell anything other than the idea that we need to rethink cartographic education going forward and for cartographers to reassert their relevance as key players. The two initiatives I present her are one attempt at contributing to repositioning cartographic expertise. Going beyond the cartographic field into data visualisation, visual journalism and democratised mapping is crucial to ensure that people make maps of worth. To do that, we, as a cartographic community must find new and engaging ways, beyond our traditional approaches, to help them see that our ideas resonate and we can add value to their work.</p>

Logicality as Necessary Instantiation

We propose to define logicality of a simple notion as necessary instantiation. (And then logicality of a complex notion as logicality of all simple notions occurring in it.)

Thoreau’s Epic Ambitions: “A Walk To Wachusett” and the Persistence of the Classics in an Age of Science

The piece is the earliest example in Thoreau of a prose genre now known as the excursion, which combines a brief autobiographical account of an experience of nature with broader philosophical meditations on the natural world. Moreover, in “A Walk to Wachusett,” Thoreau also uses quotations from and allusions to Virgil's own earliest extant poems (the eclogues) to recreate in prose the tension found throughout Virgil's poetry between the themes of the pastoral and those of epic. Thoreau also thereby allies his own literary career to the progression first followed by Virgil, from pastoral to georgic to epic, known as the cursus honorum. This renders problematic any simple notion that he became a scientist later in his career. Rather, his interests in natural science merged with his original goal of writing epic poetry, in his treatment of Pliny the Elder's Natural History.