Bostonia. Volume 12

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Tile Number and Space-Efficient Knot Mosaics

In this paper we introduce the concept of a space-efficient knot mosaic. That is, we seek to determine how to create knot mosaics using the least number of non-blank tiles necessary to depict the knot. This least number is called the tile number of the knot. We determine strict bounds for the tile number of a knot in terms of the mosaic number of the knot. In particular, if $t$ is the tile number of a prime knot with mosaic number $m$, then $5m-8 \leq t \leq m^2-4$ if $m$ is even and $5m-8 \leq t \leq m^2-8$ if $m$ is odd. We also determine the tile number of several knots and provide space-efficient knot mosaics for each of them.Comment: The original version of this article was split into two articles during refereein

Climate Change and invasibility of the Antarctic benthos

Benthic communities living in shallow-shelf habitats in Antarctica (<100-m depth) are archaic in their structure and function. Modern predators, including fast-moving, durophagous (skeleton-crushing) bony fish, sharks, and crabs, are rare or absent; slow-moving invertebrates are the top predators; and epifaunal suspension feeders dominate many soft substratum communities. Cooling temperatures beginning in the late Eocene excluded durophagous predators, ultimately resulting in the endemic living fauna and its unique food-web structure. Although the Southern Ocean is oceanographically isolated, the barriers to biological invasion are primarily physiological rather than geographic. Cold temperatures impose limits to performance that exclude modern predators. Global warming is now removing those physiological barriers, and crabs are reinvading Antarctica. As sea temperatures continue to rise, the invasion of durophagous predators will modernize the shelf benthos and erode the indigenous character of marine life in Antarctica

Was Adam Smith an individualist?

Smith is generally regarded as an individualist without qualification. This article argues that his predominantly individualist policy prescription is rooted in a more complex philosophy. He sees nature, including human nature, as a vast machine supervised by God and designed to maximize human happiness. Human weaknesses, as well as strengths, display the wisdom of God and play their part in this scheme. While Smith pays lip-service to justice, it is really social order that preoccupies him, and, within that, the defence of property. Individuals are valued as bearers of property. As persons, individuals are deceived by nature into acting in a socially beneficial way. In different ways Smith systematically denies the autonomy of the individual with respect to the whole of which he or she is part. For Smith, individual liberty is not the end, but the means, of sustaining social order and property

Impacts of local human activities on the Antarctic environment

We review the scientific literature, especially from the past decade, on the impacts of human activities on the Antarctic environment. A range of impacts has been identified at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Chemical contamination and sewage disposal on the continent have been found to be long-lived. Contemporary sewage management practices at many coastal stations are insufficient to prevent local contamination but no introduction of non-indigenous organisms through this route has yet been demonstrated. Human activities, particularly construction and transport, have led to disturbances of flora and fauna. A small number of non-indigenous plant and animal species has become established, mostly on the northern Antarctic Peninsula and southern archipelagos of the Scotia Arc. There is little indication of recovery of overexploited fish stocks, and ramifications of fishing activity oil bycatch species and the ecosystem could also be far-reaching. The Antarctic Treaty System and its instruments, in particular the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and the Environmental Protocol, provide a framework within which management of human activities take place. In the face of the continuing expansion of human activities in Antarctica, a more effective implementation of a wide range of measures is essential, in order to ensure comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment, including its intrinsic, wilderness and scientific values which remains a fundamental principle of the Antarctic Treaty System. These measures include effective environmental impact assessments, long-term monitoring, mitigation measures for non-indigenous species, ecosystem-based management of living resources, and increased regulation of National Antarctic Programmes and tourism activities

Shared patterns of species turnover between seaweeds and seed plants break down at increasing distances from the sea

We tested for correlations in the degree of spatial similarity between algal and terrestrial plants communities along 5500 km of temperate Australian coastline and whether the strength of correlation weakens with increasing distance from the coast. We identified strong correlations between macroalgal and terrestrial plant communities within the first 100 km from shore, where the strength of these marine–terrestrial correlations indeed weakens with increasing distance inland. As such, our results suggest that marine-driven community homogenization processes decompose with increasing distance from the shore toward inland. We speculate that the proximity to the marine environment produces lower levels of community turnover on land, and this effect decreases progressively farther inland. Our analysis suggests underlying ecological and evolutionary processes that give rise to continental-scale biogeographic influence from sea to land.Carlos F. D. Gurgel, Thomas Wernberg, Mads S. Thomsen, Bayden D. Russell, Paul Adam, Jonathan M. Waters & Sean D. Connel

Quantitative trait loci associated with kernel weight and test weight in durum wheat

Tese de doutoramento em História, em Altos Estudos, apresentada à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de CoimbraEntre 1943 e 1986, as relações diplomáticas luso-italianas caracterizaram-se por uma progressiva aproximação. Finda a II Guerra Mundial, a Itália, membro do Eixo até 1943, assinava, em 1947, o Tratado de Paz como país vencido. Em Portugal, os governantes portugueses temiam que a vitória dos Aliados levasse ao fim do Estado Novo, um regime antidemocrático e autoritário com características fascizantes. As incertezas e as expectativas internas e externas eram, pois, vividas em Lisboa e em Roma com nervosismo até ao final dos anos 40, quando os instrumentos principais das relações internacionais no Ocidente – como a ONU, a OECE, a NATO e a CECA – ficam delineados, permitindo aos dois países integrarem-se numa esfera de interacção comum e no âmbito da qual as relações luso-italianas ficavam reforçadas. Contudo, se a Itália garantia o seu lugar nos projectos de cooperação europeia, Portugal direccionava-se para o Ultramar. Também aqui as relações luso-italianas poderiam encontrar um ponto de reforço se ao anticolonialismo professado pelo Governo de Roma não se opusesse o acérrimo colonialismo do Governo de Lisboa, com a desconfiança do Governo português a acentuar-se com o início das guerras coloniais, a partir de 1961. Condenado na ONU, pressionado na NATO, Portugal buscava o apoio da Itália, cedido apenas dentro dos limites da solidariedade devida a um aliado no quadro da Aliança Atlântica. Caído o Estado Novo em Abril de 1974, Roma e Lisboa encetavam um período de maior identificação em termos de princípios políticos e de objectivos, com a primeira a ceder os seus préstimos para garantir o sucesso da transição democrática e para acelerar o processo da negociação da independência das colónias. Ao fazê-lo, pretendia não só solidificar as relações diplomáticas com Lisboa, mas também com os novos países surgidos do Ultramar, considerados altamente rentáveis para investir e alargar a presença da Itália na África. A Democracia de Abril veio também permitir o estreitamento das relações luso-italianas no campo multilateral, com a Itália a ter um papel de destaque no processo de adesão de Portugal à CEE não só ao impor um número de reformas a executar a nível comunitário para optimizar o funcionamento institucional e salvaguardar a economia italiana, produtora de produtos similares à portuguesa e com necessidades símiles em termos de financiamentos europeus, mas também ao acelerar a conclusão das negociações, em 1985.Between 1943 and 1986, a growing closeness characterizes the Portuguese – Italian diplomatic relations. After the World War II, while the Portuguese leaders feared the ruin of the Estado Novo, an antidemocratic and authoritarian regime with fascist characteristics, the Italian Government signed, in 1947, the Peace Treaty as a defeated ally of the Nazi Germany. The uncertainties and the expectations were, therefore, nervously felt in Lisbon and Rome till the end of the 40´s, when the two countries join the OEEC and the OTAN and assure their acceptance by the western partners. At the same time, the diplomatic relations between them were strengthened. However, while the Italians focused on the development of the European communities, the Portuguese focused on their Colonial Empire. By this time, the anti-colonialism of the Italian government, as opposed to the colonialism of the Portuguese government, created some difficulties in the relations between the two. The situation got worse with the beginning of the Portuguese colonial wars, in 1961. Condemned by the UN and pressured by the NATO, Portugal searched for Italy's support, which was given only sparingly. Simultaneously, the African nationalists and the political opposition to the Estado Novo enlarged their support base in Italy, mainly in the political sectors of the left, which had negative consequences in the relations between Lisbon and Rome. With the revolution of April 25th 1974, the Estado Novo disappeared without resistance. With the new democratic and anti-colonialist regime, the relations between Rome and Lisbon entered a new phase of greater cooperation. The Italian Government helped the new government with the democratic transition, the decolonization and the negotiation of the Portuguese entrance into the European Economic Community. By doing so, Italy attempted not only to strengthen the diplomatic relations with Portugal and with the new African countries, very appealing to the Italian capital, but also to fortify the role and influence of her own and that of the southern Europe in the European communities

Analysis of QTL for high grain protein content in Canadian durum wheat

Non-Peer ReviewedDurum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. var. durum) varieties with high grain protein concentration (GPC) produce pasta products with greater cooking firmness and increased tolerance to overcooking. However, the large environmental effect on expression of GPC and the negative correlation between GPC and grain yield slow breeding progress of durum wheat varieties with elevated GPC. Identification of molecular markers associated with high GPC would aid durum wheat breeders to select for this important trait earlier. The objectives of this study were to identify molecular markers associated with quantitative trait loci (QTL) for elevated GPC in durum wheat. A preliminary genetic map was constructed by screening polymorphic microsatellite markers on a set of 95 double haploid lines derived from the cross Strongfield (high GPC) X DT695 (low GPC). QTL analysis using single marker regression was performed on GPC data collected at Swift Current and Regina in 2002 and Swift Current, Regina and Saskatoon in 2003. To date, we have identified two QTL for GPC flanked by Xgwm448 and Xgwm558 on chromosome 2AS, and on chromosome 2BL at wmc332. No QTL for high GPC could be detected on chromosome 6BS, the location of a high GPC gene isolated previously from durum, wheat suggesting that Strongfield contains novel QTL for high GPC not previously reported in the literature. The molecular markers flanking the QTL identified in this study can be used by durum wheat breeders to enhance selection of high GPC in durum wheat

Equatorial currents and transports in the upper central Indian Ocean: Annual cycle and interannual variability

The zonal circulation south of Sri Lanka is an important link for the exchange of water between the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. Results from a first array of three moorings along 80 degrees 30'E north of 4 degrees 10'N from January .1991 to March 1992 were used to investigate the Monsoon Current regime [Schott et al., 1994]. Measurements from a second array of six current meter moorings are presented here. This array was deployed along 80 degrees 30'E between 45'S and 5 degrees N from July 1993 to September 1994 to investigate the annual cycle and interannual variability of the equatorial currents at this longitude. Both sets of moorings contribute to the Indian Ocean current meter array ICM8 of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment. The semiannual equatorial jet (EJ) was showing a large seasonal asymmetry, reaching a monthly mean eastward transport of 35 Sv (1 Sv = 1 x 10(6) m(3) s(-1)) in November 1993, but just 5 Sv in May 1994. The Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) had a maximum transport of 17 Sv in March to April 1994. Unexpectedly, compared to previous observations and model studies, the EUC was reappearing again in August 1994 at more than 10 Sv transport and was still flowing when the moorings were recovered. In addition, monthly mean ship drifts near the equator are evaluated to support the interpretation of the moored observations. Interannual variability of the EJ in our measurements and ship drift data appears to be related to the variability of the zonal winds and Southern Oscillation Index. The output of a global numerical model (Parallel Ocean Climate Model) driven by the winds for 1993/1994 is used to connect our observations to the larger scale. The model reproduces the EJ asymmetry and shows the existence of the EUC and its reappearance during summer 1994