Mean Divergence Research Articles

‘We do not want to assimilate!’: Rethinking the role of group boundaries in peace initiatives between Muslims and Jews in Israel and in the West Bank

ABSTRACTThis article considers the cultural meaning of religious and community boundaries when attempting to mediate the Jewish-Palestinian conflict. Here we compare two sites, one religious, the other secular, of peace-building encounters between Palestinians and Jews in Israel and in the West Bank. Through extensive ethnographic work, the study draws attention to the divergent meanings of community boundaries in liberal and non-liberal cosmologies. Whereas secular liberals view religious boundaries as barriers to the autonomous individual’s free choice, itself considered necessary for co-existence, for these Jewish and Muslim religious groups, those same boundaries safeguard a peaceful and respectful shared space. Our ethnographic insights call for a broader discussion of the meaning and use of social and symbolic boundaries beyond the liberal vision for social and moral order. Such a discussion is theoretically timely and politically pressing in view of the challenge of living together with difference in the global reality of deep diversity.

Functional diversity of tree cavities for secondary cavity-nesting birds in logged subtropical Piedmont forests of the Andes

Studies about functional ecology have increased in the last years and they are currently an important element for the understanding of ecosystem processes. The aim of this study was to compare different functional traits of cavity trees for secondary cavity-nesting birds, between unlogged (control forest) and conventionally logged sites in subtropical piedmont forests of NW Argentina. Between 10 and 20 plots per site were established and were grouped according to the treatments (control forest and logged forest) for statistical analyses. We measured and defined the following cavity tree traits potentially important for cavity-nesting birds: diameter at breast height (DBH), cavity height, cavity entrance size and cavity internal depth. Besides, abundance and taxonomic richness of cavity tree species were calculated, as well as functional indices: Functional Richness (FRic, amount of functional niche volume filled by cavity tree species in the community), Functional Evenness (FEve, measures the regularity of the distribution of cavity tree species abundances and dissimilarities in functional space), Functional Divergence (FDiv, quantifies how cavity tree species diverge in their abundance-weighted, distances in functional space) and Community-Weighted Mean (CWM, mean of trait values present in the community weighted by the relative abundance of species bearing each value). The main results showed that logged sites (relative to control sites) had: (1) lower abundance and taxonomic richness of cavity trees; (2) lower functional richness; (3) higher functional evenness, which may be due to the uniformity in distribution of the traits of the cavity tree species in space; (4) lower ‘Community-Weighted Mean’ of cavity size, possibly due to the fact that larger cavities need larger tree species and they are the most extracted in logged sites. Understanding how the functional traits of cavity trees are affected may help decision makers to implement sustainable policies for conservation of secondary-cavity user birds, and consequently, of the ecological services they provide.

Relationship between Crime and Economic Conditions in Sindh: A Time Series Approach from 1984-2015

Using the time series data from 1984 to 2015, this study attempts to explore Sindh economic situation and the relationship between criminal activities. Three Variables are used for economic conditions, such as crime rate, dropout ratio and unemployment. We check their relationship with the reported crime. Enhanced Dicky Fuller test for unit root process indicates that all variables are stationary at the first level. For long-term relationships, Johanson-Cointegration technology has been applied. The results of the statistical process show that dropout ratio and unemployment are closely related to crime.VCM has been applied to check the short-run relationship between the variables. VCM results suggested that the model we estimate is divergent. Divergent model mean that there is no adjustment from long-run to short-run between variables as they are going away, if we increase the lag length, the model can become divergent but due to crime data unavailability it was difficult to increase the observations and the lags as well. Study gives evidence that economic conditions have significant impact on crimes and increasing dropout which is Positive related with crime in Sindh. It is also shown that the crime is influenced by economic condition. Government is capable to reduce that threat through effective target policies and legislation. The empirical results of this study will enhance understanding of the role of public sector policy formation in promoting national productive capacity by uplifting the positive effect of the Sindh economy.

COI Gene: A Reliable Tool for Tracing the Phylogeny in Sphingid Moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae

In the current study, a partial sequence of 536 bp (approx) of COI gene for seven species belonging to family Sphingidae were analysed. The study was conducted on a collection of moths from northern India, mainly in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The sequences have been added to the database at GenBank NCBI. The analysis showed mean K2P divergence of 0.59% at intraspecific level, 6.3% at interspecific and 12.2% at intergeneric level. The analysis showed a hierarchal increase in K2P mean divergence across different taxonomic levels giving an intraspecific range of 0.0% to 3.6%, interspecific range of 5.8% to 9.3% and intergeneric range of 8.6% to 13.8%.

Variability Studies on Yield, Drought Tolerant and Mechanical Harvestable Traits in Genotypes of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

In the current study, a partial sequence of 536 bp (approx) of COI gene for seven species belonging to family Sphingidae were analysed. The study was conducted on a collection of moths from northern India, mainly in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The sequences have been added to the database at GenBank NCBI. The analysis showed mean K2P divergence of 0.59% at intraspecific level, 6.3% at interspecific and 12.2% at intergeneric level. The analysis showed a hierarchal increase in K2P mean divergence across different taxonomic levels giving an intraspecific range of 0.0% to 3.6%, interspecific range of 5.8% to 9.3% and intergeneric range of 8.6% to 13.8%.

Identification of genetic variability and diversity in selected wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm under three different dates of sowing

Genetic diversity offers crucial platform for improving the plant characteristics. Its exploitation is necessary to tackle the environmental fluctuations and for the effective exploitation of genetic resources in breeding programmes. Although wheat is one of the most thoroughly studied crops in terms of genetic diversity but its yield potential can further be enhanced by studying and identifying the suitable gemplasm and utilizing them in crosses. In this study twenty genotypes of wheat germplasm were undertaken for identification of genetic variability and diversity for adaptation in NEPZ in three different dates of sowing. Observations were recorded on thirteen traits. All genotypes were evaluated for genetic variability and diversity by using Analysis of variance and D2 –Statistics. Analysis of variance revealed a significant difference among the genotypes for all the traits under study except for Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. The highest estimates of genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) were observed for no. of fertile spikes per plant (13.85) yield per plot (33.16) respectively. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for days to heading (0.67, 13.08) followed by plant height and biomass. Based on D2-Statistics, 20 genotypes were grouped into seven clusters following Tocher method in which cluster I has maximum number of genotypes. The highest inter-cluster distance was found between cluster II and IV (21.19) followed by IV and VII (17.09). This suggests that genotypes included in these clusters possess wide genetic diversity. Highest cluster mean was found for biomass (692.50) followed by yield per plot and days to heading. On the basis of divergence and cluster mean it may be concluded that maximum heterosis and better transgressive segregants could be obtained in crosses among genotypes of cluster II, IV and VII in breeding programme for varietal improvement in wheat.

Visual and verbal intersections in picture books – multimodal assessment for middle years students

ABSTRACTWhile literacy research in the area of multimodality includes a range of communication modes, the combination of the visual and verbal modes is arguably the most common multimodal text form used in classroom contexts from posters, charts and information texts to picture books and graphic novels. Assessment of students’ understanding of visual and verbal modes as well as their combined meanings is a growing area of literacy research. Using data drawn from a larger case study, this article focusses on 11 middle years students (Grade 6) as they read then discussed a range of features from the award-winning picture book The Watertower by Gary Crew and Steve Woolman. This picture book includes visual and verbal intersections, where the meanings of each mode may be equivalent to each other, augment each other or at times apparently offer divergent or contradictory meanings. With a focus on assessing students’ multimodal knowledge, comprehension and visual metalanguage, the study utilized assessment strategies which included discussion, questioning and a visual text making activity. The findings are discussed in terms of the suggested guidance for planning effective multimodal assessment strategies in the classroom.

Stereoacuity, Fusional Vergence Amplitudes, and Refractive Errors Prior to Treatment in Patients with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Objectives:To evaluate stereoacuity, fusional vergence amplitudes, and refractive errors in patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).Materials and Methods:Twenty-three patients who were newly diagnosed as having ADHD and had not started medication, and 48 children without ADHD were included. Retrospective data analysis of comprehensive eye examination, stereoacuity, and fusional vergence amplitudes of the patients were performed.Results:The mean age at ADHD diagnosis was 10.68±2.34 (7-16) years in the ADHD group (14 male, 9 female) and 12.23±2.16 (7-15) years in the control group (25 male, 23 female) patients (p=0.605). The mean stereoacuity was 142.14±152.65 (15-480) sec/arc in patients with ADHD and 46.3±44.11 (15-240) sec/arc in the control group (p<0.001). For ADHD patients, the mean convergence and divergence amplitudes at distance were 19.87±8.40 (6 to 38) prism diopter (PD) and -9.09±-4.34 (-4 to -25) PD, and 37.30±12.81 (14 to 70) PD and -13.13±-3.45 (-4 to -20) PD at near, respectively. The mean cycloplegic spherical equivalent was 1.06±1.13 (-1 to 4.63) diopter in ADHD patients, with 6 patients having significant refractive errors (hyperopia in 4 patients, astigmatism in 2 patients). There were no significant differences between groups in terms of spherical equivalents (p=0.358) or convergence and divergence amplitudes at distance (p=0.289 and p=0.492, respectively) or near (p=0.452 and p=0.127, respectively).Conclusion:Fusional vergence amplitudes did not present significant difference, while the mean value of stereoacuity was significantly lower in newly diagnosed ADHD patients prior to treatment.

&lt;strong&gt;Hidden but not enough: DNA barcodes reveal two new species in &lt;em&gt;Hygrobates fluviatilis &lt;/em&gt;complex from Iran (Acariformes, Hydrachnidia, Hygrobatidae)&lt;/strong&gt;

Water mites of the Hygrobates fluviatilis complex are common in Palaearctic inhabiting mainly running and slowly flowing waters. In this study, we examined the specimens collected in a stream in Golestan Province of Iran which is currently the easternmost distribution limit of the latter species complex. We used a fragment of the mtDNA COI gene and the D2 region of 28S rDNA to test the genetic structure. Molecular analyses revealed presence of two new well-supported species with a mean genetic divergence of 12.80% and 14.66% COI, respectively, from their closest relatives. Phylogenetic analysis based on COI and nuclear DNA data placed H. grabowskii sp. nov. as the sister species of H. persicus, and H. ulii sp. nov. as the sister species of H. turcicus. Discriminant statistical analysis revealed that the two newly discovered species could be separated on the basis of morphometric characters, but robust morphological differences were not found. Yet we were able to show that diversity in water mites is underestimated and that species delimitation requires an integrative approach.

PC-FACS

PC-FACS

When the paediatric intensive care unit becomes home: A hermeneutic-phenomenological study.

Family-centred care is the dominant model for providing nursing care in paediatrics. Unit layout has been shown to impact nurses' ability to provide family-centred care. Little is known about the meanings and experiences of paediatric intensive care unit nurses concerning the care they provide to families within their unique physical setting. This study examined paediatric intensive care unit nurses' lived experience of caring for families following a major hospital transformation project, which included the construction of a new unit and quality improvement changes. A hermeneutic-phenomenological design was selected to study a paediatric intensive care unit in a large Canadian paediatric teaching hospital. Data were collected over a 6-month period through individual interviews, photographs, participant observation, and document review. The sample consisted of 15 paediatric intensive care unit nurses who experienced the unit both pre- and post-transformation. Data were analysed in an ongoing fashion using the method described by Benner to identify common and divergent meanings. Despite pride in offering a family-friendly environment, nurses' practice prejudiced a family focus in favour of patient-centred care. Nurses in this study negotiated physical and practice spaces with families by interpreting that nurses do not belong in the home-like patient room and exhibiting gatekeeping comportments. Although similar nurse comportments have been identified in prior works, no previous studies have identified these as forming a pattern of negotiating spaces with families. This study provides insights into the lived experience of paediatric intensive care unit nurses in relation to family care, which can stimulate reflections at an organizational level about creating environments where nurses and families can both feel at home.

Small-Scale Dispersion in the Presence of Langmuir Circulation

AbstractWe present an analysis of ocean surface dispersion characteristics, on 1–100-m scales, obtained by optically tracking a release of bamboo plates for 2 h in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Under sustained 5–6 m s−1 winds, energetic Langmuir cells are clearly delineated in the spatially dense plate observations. Within 10 min of release, the plates collect in windrows with 15-m spacing aligned with the wind. Windrow spacing grows, through windrow merger, to 40 m after 20 min and then expands at a slower rate to 50 m. The presence of Langmuir cells produces strong horizontal anisotropy and scale dependence in all surface dispersion statistics computed from the plate observations. Relative dispersion in the crosswind direction initially dominates but eventually saturates, while downwind dispersion exhibits continual growth consistent with contributions from both turbulent fluctuations and organized mean shear. Longitudinal velocity differences in the crosswind direction indicate mean convergence at scales below the Langmuir cell diameter and mean divergence at larger scales. Although the second-order structure function measured by contemporaneous GPS-tracked surface drifters drogued at ~0.5 m shows persistent r2/3 power law scaling down to 100–200-m separation scales, the second-order structure function for the very near surface plates observations has considerably higher energy and significantly shallower slope at scales below 100 m. This is consistent with contemporaneous data from undrogued surface drifters and previously published model results indicating shallowing spectra in the presence of direct wind-wave forcing mechanisms.

The Buffer Zone of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation

Abstract The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is a descending pattern of winds in the stratosphere that vanishes near the top of the tropical tropopause layer, even though the vertically propagating waves that drive the QBO are thought to originate in the troposphere several kilometers below. The region where there is low QBO power despite sufficient vertically propagating wave activity to drive a QBO is known as the buffer zone. Classical one-dimensional models of the QBO are ill suited to represent buffer zone dynamics because they enforce the attenuation of the QBO via a zero-wind lower boundary condition. The formation of the buffer zone is investigated by analyzing momentum budgets in the reanalyses MERRA-2 and ERA-Interim. The buffer zone must be formed by weak wave-driven acceleration and/or cancellation of the wave-driven acceleration. This paper shows that in MERRA-2 weak wave-driven acceleration is insufficient to form the buffer zone, so cancellation of the wave-driven acceleration must play a role. The cancellation results from damping of angular momentum anomalies, primarily due to horizontal mean and horizontal eddy momentum flux divergence, with secondary contributions from the Coriolis torque and vertical mean momentum flux divergence. The importance of the damping terms highlights the role of the buffer zone as the mediator of angular momentum exchange between the QBO domain and the far field. Some far-field angular momentum anomalies reach the solid Earth, leading to the well-documented lagged correlation between the QBO and the length of day.

Exploring the Multiple Meanings of Adaptive Management: A Case Study of the Lachlan Catchment in the Murray–Darling Basin

Managing rivers and sharing their benefits is largely dependent on stakeholder values and knowledge, expressed through policy, governance and institutions. Adaptive management is essentially a social learning process, which can provide a tool to navigate the 'wickedness' of contemporary social-ecological challenges. This research applied an interpretive, qualitative approach to examine government intentions for adaptive management, as expressed in water policy documents, and practitioner experiences of learning through adaptive management in a case study of water management in the Lachlan catchment, Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Data were created from content analysis of government water policy documents and interviews with key water managing and policy stakeholders. Interview participants attached divergent meanings to the concept of adaptive management. Five different 'styles' of adaptive management were found to coexist in the Lachlan catchment, which were associated with different levels of learning. While some learning was ad hoc, there was also promising evidence of more active adaptive management of environmental flows, which was resulting in higher-level learning. The findings highlight a disconnect between how adaptive management is understood in the academic literature, by practitioners, and how it is portrayed in Australian water policy, which is restricting opportunities for higher-level learning. Transformative learning was found to occur in response to crisis, rather than being linked to an intentional learning process.

Processes governing the amplification of ensemble spread in a medium‐range forecast with large forecast uncertainty

This study provides a process‐based perspective on the amplification of forecast uncertainty and forecast errors in ensemble forecasts. A case from the North Atlantic Waveguide and Downstream Impact Experiment that exhibits large forecast uncertainty is analysed. Two aspects of the ensemble behaviour are considered: (a) the mean divergence of the ensemble members, indicating the general amplification of forecast uncertainty, and (b) the divergence of the best and worst members, indicating extremes in possible error‐growth scenarios. To analyse the amplification of forecast uncertainty, a tendency equation for the ensemble variance of potential vorticity (PV) is derived and partitioned into the contributions from individual processes. The amplification of PV variance is, on average for the midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, dominated by near‐tropopause dynamics. Locally, however, other processes can dominate the variance amplification, for example, in the region where tropical storm Karl interacts with the Rossby‐wave pattern during extratropical transition. In this region, the variance amplification is dominated by upper‐tropospheric divergence and tropospheric–deep interaction and is thereby mostly related to (moist baroclinic) cyclone development. The differences between the error growth in the best and worst ensemble members can, to a large part, be attributed to differences in the representation of cut‐off evolution around 3 days, which subsequently amplifies substantially in the highly nonlinear region of the Rossby‐wave pattern until 5 days. In terms of the processes, the differences in error growth are dominated by differences in the error growth by near‐tropopause dynamics. The approach presented provides flow‐dependent insight into the dynamics of forecast uncertainty and forecast errors and helps to understand better the different contributions of specific weather systems to the medium‐range amplification of ensemble spread.

Performance of ancestry-informative SNP and microhaplotype markers

The use of microhaplotypes (MHs) for ancestry inference has added to an increasing number of ancestry-informative markers (AIMs) for forensic application that includes autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions/deletions (indels). This study compares bi-allelic and tri-allelic SNPs as well as MH markers for their ability to differentiate African, European, South Asian, East Asian, and American population groups from the 1000 Genomes Phase 3 database. A range of well-established metrics were applied to rank each marker according to the population differentiation potential they measured. These comprised: absolute allele frequency differences (δ); Rosenberg’s informativeness for (ancestry) assignment (In); the fixation index (FST); and the effective number of alleles (Ae). A panel consisting of all three marker types resulted in the lowest mean divergence per population per individual (MDPI = 2.16%) when selected by In. However, when marker types were not mixed, MHs were the highest performing markers by most metrics (MDPI < 4%) for differentiation between the five continental populations.

Estrogen Receptor β2 Oversees Germ Cell Maintenance and Gonadal Sex Differentiation in Medaka, Oryzias latipes

SummaryIn vertebrates, estrogen receptors are essential for estrogen-associated early gonadal sex development. Our previous studies revealed sexual dimorphic expression of estrogen receptor β2 (ERβ2) during embryogenesis of medaka, and here we investigated the functional importance of ERβ2 in female gonad development and maintenance using a transgenerational ERβ2-knockdown (ERβ2-KD) line and ERβ2-null mutants. We found that ERβ2 reduction favored male-biased gene transcription, suppressed female-responsive gene expression, and affected SDF1a and CXCR4b co-assisted chemotactic primordial germ cell (PGC) migration. Co-overexpression of SDF1a and CXXR4b restored the ERβ2-KD/KO associated PGC mismigration. Further analysis confirmed that curtailment of ERβ2 increased intracellular Ca2+ concentration, disrupted intra- and extracellular calcium homeostasis, and instigated autophagic germ cell degradation and germ cell loss, which in some cases ultimately affected the XX female sexual development. This study is expected improve our understanding of germ cell maintenance and sex spectrum, and hence open new avenues for reproductive disorder management.

One page, two stories: intersemiotic dissonance in a comic adaptation of Journey to the West

ABSTRACT This study highlights intersemiotic dissonance between two constituents of a multimodal page from a social semiotic perspective. The data under analysis is Tsai Chih-chung’s comic adaptation of the Chinese classic Journey to the West. Each page of Tsai’s comic book is divided into two halves: verbal narrative and comic strip. Instead of working mutually with each other to arrive at a unified meaning, the words and the comic strip often diverge. This divergence in meaning is defined as intersemiotic dissonance. Focusing on the ideational metafunction, the article analyses how the verbal narrative and comic strip each presents a different story, mainly through dissonance in the participants, processes and the projected speeches. The reason why there is such dissonance is also explained with a consideration of the field of context, that is, Tsai’s work as a social activity of adaptation. The verbal narrative serves as a sign of fidelity to the original, and the comic strip extends and subverts the original. It is in the dissonance between the two constituents that a deeper meaning is realized.

Uncovering historical semantic connections with the help of image schemata

Abstract Standard etymological dictionaries agree that Modern English some, same and their Old English cognate sam- ‘half’ descend from the same etymon. However, while explaining their phonological development from the same proto-form is unproblematic, their divergent meanings make the reconstruction of their semantic evolution more challenging. The paper examines the historical semantic connection between these three morphemes from a cognitive perspective and attempts to provide an explanation of how they are conceptually linked to each other. Based on a cognitive semantic analysis of the meanings of these forms, we propose that all three concepts are understood on the basis of and embedded in one and the same image schematic domain – comprised by the general unity/multiplicity schema – and derive from entailments of its subschemata. Such an image schematic account of the conceptual connections between these meanings provides an explanation for the various paths of semantic development from the original etymon leading to the established later meanings. This approach will also facilitate the semantic reconstruction of the ancestral Proto-Indo-European form and help identify the exact cognate relationships between some, same and sam-.

Treatability Statements in Serious Illness: The Gap Between What is Said and What is Heard.

Empirical work has shown that patients and physicians have markedly divergent understandings of treatability statements (e.g., "This is a treatable condition," "We have treatments for your loved one") in the context of serious illness. Patients often understand treatability statements as conveying good news for prognosis and quality of life. In contrast, physicians often do not intend treatability statements to convey improvement in prognosis or quality of life, but merely that a treatment is available. Similarly, patients often understand treatability statements as conveying encouragement to hope and pursue further treatment, though this may not be intended by physicians. This radical divergence in understandings may lead to severe miscommunication. This paper seeks to better understand this divergence through linguistic theory-in particular, H.P. Grice's notion of conversational implicature. This theoretical approach reveals three levels of meaning of treatability statements: (1) the literal meaning, (2) the physician's intended meaning, and (3) the patient's received meaning. The divergence between the physician's intended meaning and the patient's received meaning can be understood to arise from the lack of shared experience between physicians and patients, and the differing assumptions that each party makes about conversations. This divergence in meaning raises new and largely unidentified challenges to informed consent and shared decision making in the context of serious illness, which indicates a need for further empirical research in this area.