Sample records for marine biology letters

  1. Marine biology

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Thurman, H.V.; Webber, H.H.

    1984-01-01

    This book discusses both taxonomic and ecological topics on marine biology. Full coverage of marine organisms of all five kingdoms is provided, along with interesting and thorough discussion of all major marine habitats. Organization into six major parts allows flexibility. It also provides insight into important topics such as disposal of nuclear waste at sea, the idea that life began on the ocean floor, and how whales, krill, and people interact. A full-color photo chapter reviews questions, and exercises. The contents are: an overview marine biology: fundamental concepts/investigating life in the ocean; the physical ocean, the ocean floor, the naturemore » of water, the nature and motion of ocean water; general ecology, conditions for life in the sea, biological productivity and energy transfer; marine organisms; monera, protista, mycota and metaphyta; the smaller marine animals, the large animals marine habitats, the intertidal zone/benthos of the continental shelf, the photic zone, the deep ocean, the ocean under stress, marine pollution, appendix a: the metric system and conversion factors/ appendix b: prefixes and suffixes/ appendix c: taxonomic classification of common marine organisms, and glossary, and index.« less

  2. Marine molecular biology: an emerging field of biological sciences.

    PubMed

    Thakur, Narsinh L; Jain, Roopesh; Natalio, Filipe; Hamer, Bojan; Thakur, Archana N; Müller, Werner E G

    2008-01-01

    An appreciation of the potential applications of molecular biology is of growing importance in many areas of life sciences, including marine biology. During the past two decades, the development of sophisticated molecular technologies and instruments for biomedical research has resulted in significant advances in the biological sciences. However, the value of molecular techniques for addressing problems in marine biology has only recently begun to be cherished. It has been proven that the exploitation of molecular biological techniques will allow difficult research questions about marine organisms and ocean processes to be addressed. Marine molecular biology is a discipline, which strives to define and solve the problems regarding the sustainable exploration of marine life for human health and welfare, through the cooperation between scientists working in marine biology, molecular biology, microbiology and chemistry disciplines. Several success stories of the applications of molecular techniques in the field of marine biology are guiding further research in this area. In this review different molecular techniques are discussed, which have application in marine microbiology, marine invertebrate biology, marine ecology, marine natural products, material sciences, fisheries, conservation and bio-invasion etc. In summary, if marine biologists and molecular biologists continue to work towards strong partnership during the next decade and recognize intellectual and technological advantages and benefits of such partnership, an exciting new frontier of marine molecular biology will emerge in the future.

  3. 78 FR 19288 - Letters of Authorization To Take Marine Mammals

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-29

    .... ACTION: Notice of Issuance. SUMMARY: In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, as... of title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) and is effective through August 3, 2016. The... following companies in the Beaufort Sea and adjacent northern coast of Alaska: Beaufort Sea Letters of...

  4. Marine Biology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dewees, Christopher M.; Hooper, Jon K.

    1976-01-01

    A variety of informational material for a course in marine biology or oceanology at the secondary level is presented. Among the topics discussed are: food webs and pyramids, planktonic blooms, marine life, plankton nets, food chains, phytoplankton, zooplankton, larval plankton and filter feeders. (BT)

  5. From marine ecology to biological oceanography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mills, Eric L.

    1995-03-01

    Looking back from the 1990s it seems natural to view the work done in the Biologische Anstalt Helgoland by Friedrich Heincke and his colleagues, beginning in 1892, as marine ecology or marine biology, and that done in Kiel, under Victor Hensen and Karl Brandt, as biological oceanography. But historical analysis shows this view to be untenable. Biological oceanography, as a research category and a profession, does not appear until at least the 1950's. In the German tradition of marine research, “Ozeanographie”, originating in 19th century physical geography, did not include the biological sciences. The categories “Meereskunde” and “Meeresforschung” covered all aspects of marine research in Germany from the 1890's to the present day. “Meeresbiologie” like that of Brandt, Heincke, and other German marine scientists, fitted comfortably into these. But in North America no such satisfactory professional or definitional structure existed before the late 1950's. G. A. Riley, one of the first biological oceanographers, fought against descriptive, nonquantitative American ecology. In 1951 he described biological oceanography as the “ecology of marine populations”, linking it with quantitative population ecology in the U.S.A. By the end of the 1960's the U.S. National Science Foundation had recognized biological oceanography as a research area supported separately from marine biology. There was no need for the category “biological oceanography” in German marine science because its subject matter lay under the umbrella of “Meereskunde” or “Meeresforschung”. But in North America, biological oceanography — a fundamental fusion of physics and chemistry with marine biology — was created to give this marine science a status higher than that of the conceptually overloaded ecological sciences. The sociologists Durkheim and Mauss claimed in 1903 that, “the classification of things reproduces the classification of men”; similarly, in science, the

  6. Marine Biology and Human Affairs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Russell, F. S.

    1976-01-01

    Marine biology has become an important area for study throughout the world. The author of this article discusses some of the important discoveries and fields of research in marine biology that are useful for mankind. Topics include food from the sea, fish farming, pesticides, pollution, and conservation. (MA)

  7. University Marine Biological Station Millport Annual Report

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1987-07-31

    courses cover a variety of topics including marine biology, ecology, behaviour, marine microbiology, advanced studies on selected marine invertebrates ... marine invertebrates and on a more detailed kinetic study of phenoloxidase, prophenoloxidase and protease activities in tunicate coelomic fluid (C...DOTIC FILE COV () NUNIVERSITY OF LONDON and UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW VO"- DTIC SELECTE University Marine Biological Station Millport DIThZUYTNSTAEEiT

  8. Training Program in Marine Molecular Biology

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1989-09-01

    marine biology, to the techniques of modern cell and molecular biology. Marine biology has been slow to apply these techniques for a number of...Beckman Instruments and Pharmacia--LKB. These two companies are due a major vote of thanks for their cooperation and generosity. Many individuals from...the two companies were involved, but particular thanks go to Tim Stebbins (Beckman), Mike Cammarata and Julie Perinne (Pharmacia--LKB) for their major

  9. 50 CFR 216.258 - Renewal of Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Conducting Precision Strike Weapon Missions in the Gulf of Mexico § 216.258 Renewal of Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of Authorization...

  10. From Darwin to the Census of Marine Life: Marine Biology as Big Science

    PubMed Central

    Vermeulen, Niki

    2013-01-01

    With the development of the Human Genome Project, a heated debate emerged on biology becoming ‘big science’. However, biology already has a long tradition of collaboration, as natural historians were part of the first collective scientific efforts: exploring the variety of life on earth. Such mappings of life still continue today, and if field biology is gradually becoming an important subject of studies into big science, research into life in the world's oceans is not taken into account yet. This paper therefore explores marine biology as big science, presenting the historical development of marine research towards the international ‘Census of Marine Life’ (CoML) making an inventory of life in the world's oceans. Discussing various aspects of collaboration – including size, internationalisation, research practice, technological developments, application, and public communication – I will ask if CoML still resembles traditional collaborations to collect life. While showing both continuity and change, I will argue that marine biology is a form of natural history: a specific way of working together in biology that has transformed substantially in interaction with recent developments in the life sciences and society. As a result, the paper does not only give an overview of transformations towards large scale research in marine biology, but also shines a new light on big biology, suggesting new ways to deepen the understanding of collaboration in the life sciences by distinguishing between different ‘collective ways of knowing’. PMID:23342119

  11. From darwin to the census of marine life: marine biology as big science.

    PubMed

    Vermeulen, Niki

    2013-01-01

    With the development of the Human Genome Project, a heated debate emerged on biology becoming 'big science'. However, biology already has a long tradition of collaboration, as natural historians were part of the first collective scientific efforts: exploring the variety of life on earth. Such mappings of life still continue today, and if field biology is gradually becoming an important subject of studies into big science, research into life in the world's oceans is not taken into account yet. This paper therefore explores marine biology as big science, presenting the historical development of marine research towards the international 'Census of Marine Life' (CoML) making an inventory of life in the world's oceans. Discussing various aspects of collaboration--including size, internationalisation, research practice, technological developments, application, and public communication--I will ask if CoML still resembles traditional collaborations to collect life. While showing both continuity and change, I will argue that marine biology is a form of natural history: a specific way of working together in biology that has transformed substantially in interaction with recent developments in the life sciences and society. As a result, the paper does not only give an overview of transformations towards large scale research in marine biology, but also shines a new light on big biology, suggesting new ways to deepen the understanding of collaboration in the life sciences by distinguishing between different 'collective ways of knowing'.

  12. Letter-Sound Knowledge: Exploring Gender Differences in Children When They Start School Regarding Knowledge of Large Letters, Small Letters, Sound Large Letters, and Sound Small Letters

    PubMed Central

    Sigmundsson, Hermundur; Eriksen, Adrian D.; Ofteland, Greta Storm; Haga, Monika

    2017-01-01

    This study explored whether there is a gender difference in letter-sound knowledge when children start at school. 485 children aged 5–6 years completed assessment of letter-sound knowledge, i.e., large letters; sound of large letters; small letters; sound of small letters. The findings indicate a significant difference between girls and boys in all four factors tested in this study in favor of the girls. There are still no clear explanations to the basis of a presumed gender difference in letter-sound knowledge. That the findings have origin in neuro-biological factors cannot be excluded, however, the fact that girls probably have been exposed to more language experience/stimulation compared to boys, lends support to explanations derived from environmental aspects. PMID:28951726

  13. Marine natural flavonoids: chemistry and biological activities.

    PubMed

    Martins, Beatriz T; Correia da Silva, Marta; Pinto, Madalena; Cidade, Honorina; Kijjoa, Anake

    2018-05-04

    As more than 70% of the world's surface is covered by oceans, marine organisms offer a rich and unlimited resource of structurally diverse bioactive compounds. These organisms have developed unique properties and bioactive compounds that are, in majority of them, unparalleled by their terrestrial counterparts due to the different surrounding ecological systems. Marine flavonoids have been extensively studied in the last decades due to a growing interest concerning their promising biological/pharmacological activities. The most common classes of marine flavonoids are flavones and flavonols, which are mostly isolated from marine plants. Although most of flavonoids are hydroxylated and methoxylated, some marine flavonoids possess an unusual substitution pattern, not commonly found in terrestrial organisms, namely the presence of sulphate, chlorine, and amino groups. This review presents, for the first time in a systematic way, the structure, natural occurrence, and biological activities of marine flavonoids.

  14. 50 CFR 216.127 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking Of Marine Mammals Incidental To Space Vehicle And Test Flight Activities § 216.127 Letters...

  15. 50 CFR 216.127 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking Of Marine Mammals Incidental To Space Vehicle And Test Flight Activities § 216.127 Letters...

  16. 50 CFR 216.127 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking Of Marine Mammals Incidental To Space Vehicle And Test Flight Activities § 216.127 Letters...

  17. 50 CFR 216.127 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking Of Marine Mammals Incidental To Space Vehicle And Test Flight Activities § 216.127 Letters...

  18. 50 CFR 216.219 - Renewal and modifications of Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Explosive Severance.... Gulf of Mexico § 216.219 Renewal and modifications of Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of...

  19. 50 CFR 216.188 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Letters of Authorization. 216.188 Section 216.188 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC... Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA sonar) Sonar § 216.188 Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of...

  20. 50 CFR 216.188 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Letters of Authorization. 216.188 Section 216.188 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC... Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA sonar) Sonar § 216.188 Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of...

  1. 50 CFR 216.257 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... MAMMALS Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Conducting Precision Strike Weapon Missions in the Gulf of Mexico § 216.257 Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of Authorization, unless suspended or revoked...

  2. 50 CFR 216.277 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... MAMMALS Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to U.S. Navy Training in the Southern California Range Complex (SOCAL Range Complex) § 216.277 Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of Authorization, unless suspended... and renewal of the Letter of Authorization will be based on a determination that the total number of...

  3. 50 CFR 218.7 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... MAMMALS Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to U.S. Navy Training in the Virginia Capes Range Complex (VACAPES Range Complex) § 218.7 Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of Authorization, unless suspended... and renewal of the Letter of Authorization will be based on a determination that the total number of...

  4. 50 CFR 218.16 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... MAMMALS Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to U.S. Navy Training in the Jacksonville Range Complex (JAX Range Complex) § 218.16 Letters of Authorization. (a) A Letter of Authorization, unless suspended or... and renewal of the Letter of Authorization will be based on a determination that the total number of...

  5. 50 CFR 216.218 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Explosive Severance Activities Conducted During Offshore Structure Removal Operations on the Outer Continental Shelf in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico § 216.218 Letters of...

  6. 50 CFR 218.107 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... MAMMALS Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; U.S. Navy's Mariana Islands Training Range Complex (MIRC... renewal of the Letter of Authorization shall be based on a determination that the total number of marine...

  7. 33 CFR 143.210 - Letter of compliance.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ...) OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF ACTIVITIES DESIGN AND EQUIPMENT Mobile Offshore Drilling Units § 143.210 Letter of compliance. (a) The Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection, determines whether a mobile offshore... of a foreign mobile offshore drilling unit requiring a letter of compliance examination must pay the...

  8. Assessment of Vocal Adaptations for Noise Compensation in Marine Mammals

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-09-30

    article was published online in the journal Biology Letters in July 2010. These results were presented at the Society of Marine Mammalogy conference in...Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq - Brazilian government agency that issues such permits) by Universidade Federal

  9. The Physics of Marine Biology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conn, Kathleen

    1992-01-01

    Discusses ways in which marine biology can be integrated into the physics classroom. Topics suggested for incorporation include the harmonic motion of ocean waves, ocean currents, the interaction of visible light with ocean water, pressure, light absorption, and sound transfer in water. (MDH)

  10. 50 CFR 216.256 - Applications for Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Conducting Precision Strike Weapon Missions in the Gulf of Mexico § 216.256 Applications for Letters of Authorization. To incidentally take...

  11. 50 CFR 216.259 - Modifications to Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Conducting Precision Strike Weapon Missions in the Gulf of Mexico § 216.259 Modifications to Letters of Authorization. (a) Except as provided in...

  12. 50 CFR 216.236 - Renewal of a Letter of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Complex, Kodiak Island, AK § 216.236 Renewal of a Letter of Authorization. (a) A Letter of Authorization...) A determination that the number of marine mammals taken by the activity will be small and that the...

  13. Zooplankton fecal pellets, marine snow, phytodetritus and the ocean's biological pump

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Turner, Jefferson T.

    2015-01-01

    The 'biological pump' is the process by which photosynthetically-produced organic matter in the ocean descends from the surface layer to depth by a combination of sinking particles, advection or vertical mixing of dissolved organic matter, and transport by animals. Particulate organic matter that is exported downward from the euphotic zone is composed of combinations of fecal pellets from zooplankton and fish, organic aggregates known as 'marine snow' and phytodetritus from sinking phytoplankton. Previous reviews by Turner and Ferrante (1979) and Turner (2002) focused on publications that appeared through late 2001. Since that time, studies of the biological pump have continued, and there have been >300 papers on vertical export flux using sediment traps, large-volume filtration systems and other techniques from throughout the global ocean. This review will focus primarily on recent studies that have appeared since 2001. Major topics covered in this review are (1) an overview of the biological pump, and its efficiency and variability, and the role of dissolved organic carbon in the biological pump; (2) zooplankton fecal pellets, including the contribution of zooplankton fecal pellets to export flux, epipelagic retention of zooplankton fecal pellets due to zooplankton activities, zooplankton vertical migration and fecal pellet repackaging, microbial ecology of fecal pellets, sinking velocities of fecal pellets and aggregates, ballasting of sinking particles by mineral contents, phytoplankton cysts, intact cells and harmful algae toxins in fecal pellets, importance of fecal pellets from various types of zooplankton, and the role of zooplankton fecal pellets in picoplankton export; (3) marine snow, including the origins, abundance, and distributions of marine snow, particles and organisms associated with marine snow, consumption and fragmentation of marine snow by animals, pathogens associated with marine snow; (4) phytodetritus, including pulsed export of

  14. 50 CFR 218.188 - Modifications to Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Modifications to Letters of Authorization. 218.188 Section 218.188 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division § 218.188 Modifications to Letters of Authorization. (a...

  15. 50 CFR 218.188 - Modifications to Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Modifications to Letters of Authorization. 218.188 Section 218.188 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division § 218.188 Modifications to Letters of Authorization. (a...

  16. 50 CFR 218.188 - Modifications to Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 10 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Modifications to Letters of Authorization. 218.188 Section 218.188 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division § 218.188 Modifications to Letters of Authorization. (a...

  17. 50 CFR 218.188 - Modifications to Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 10 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Modifications to Letters of Authorization. 218.188 Section 218.188 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND... Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division § 218.188 Modifications to Letters of Authorization. (a...

  18. 50 CFR 216.166 - Modifications to the Letter of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Modifications to the Letter of Authorization. 216.166 Section 216.166 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking of...

  19. 50 CFR 216.166 - Modifications to the Letter of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Modifications to the Letter of Authorization. 216.166 Section 216.166 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE TAKING AND IMPORTING OF MARINE MAMMALS Taking of...

  20. 50 CFR 216.191 - Designation of Offshore Biologically Important Marine Mammal Areas.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ...) Detailed information on the biology of marine mammals within the area, including estimated population size... Important Marine Mammal Areas. 216.191 Section 216.191 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS...

  1. 50 CFR 216.191 - Designation of Offshore Biologically Important Marine Mammal Areas.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ...) Detailed information on the biology of marine mammals within the area, including estimated population size... Important Marine Mammal Areas. 216.191 Section 216.191 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS...

  2. 50 CFR 216.207 - Applications for Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Oil and Gas Facilities in the U.S. Beaufort Sea § 216.207 Applications for Letters of Authorization... identified in § 216.104(a). (d) NMFS will review an application for an initial Letter of Authorization in..., and at its discretion, the National Marine Fisheries Service may submit the monitoring plan to members...

  3. 50 CFR 217.148 - Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... TO SPECIFIED ACTIVITIES Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to Operation of Offshore Oil and Gas..., monitoring and reporting. (c) Issuance and renewal of the Letter of Authorization shall be based on a...

  4. Diversity of Secondary Metabolites from Marine Bacillus Species: Chemistry and Biological Activity

    PubMed Central

    Mondol, Muhammad Abdul Mojid; Shin, Hee Jae; Islam, Mohammad Tofazzal

    2013-01-01

    Marine Bacillus species produce versatile secondary metabolites including lipopeptides, polypeptides, macrolactones, fatty acids, polyketides, and isocoumarins. These structurally diverse compounds exhibit a wide range of biological activities, such as antimicrobial, anticancer, and antialgal activities. Some marine Bacillus strains can detoxify heavy metals through reduction processes and have the ability to produce carotenoids. The present article reviews the chemistry and biological activities of secondary metabolites from marine isolates. Side by side, the potential for application of these novel natural products from marine Bacillus strains as drugs, pesticides, carotenoids, and tools for the bioremediation of heavy metal toxicity are also discussed. PMID:23941823

  5. Biological Activity of Recently Discovered Halogenated Marine Natural Products

    PubMed Central

    Gribble, Gordon W.

    2015-01-01

    This review presents the biological activity—antibacterial, antifungal, anti-parasitic, antiviral, antitumor, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, and enzymatic activity—of halogenated marine natural products discovered in the past five years. Newly discovered examples that do not report biological activity are not included. PMID:26133553

  6. Carotenoids from Marine Organisms: Biological Functions and Industrial Applications

    PubMed Central

    Galasso, Christian; Corinaldesi, Cinzia; Sansone, Clementina

    2017-01-01

    As is the case for terrestrial organisms, carotenoids represent the most common group of pigments in marine environments. They are generally biosynthesized by all autotrophic marine organisms, such as bacteria and archaea, algae and fungi. Some heterotrophic organisms also contain carotenoids probably accumulated from food or partly modified through metabolic reactions. These natural pigments are divided into two chemical classes: carotenes (such as lycopene and α- and β-carotene) that are composed of hydrogen and carbon; xanthophylls (such as astaxanthin, fucoxanthin and lutein), which are constituted by hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. Carotenoids, as antioxidant compounds, assume a key role in the protection of cells. In fact, quenching of singlet oxygen, light capture and photosynthesis protection are the most relevant biological functions of carotenoids. The present review aims at describing (i) the biological functions of carotenoids and their benefits for human health, (ii) the most common carotenoids from marine organisms and (iii) carotenoids having large success in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical industries, highlighting the scientific progress in marine species cultivation for natural pigments production. PMID:29168774

  7. Army Response Letter - signed April 27, 1988

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Army response letter regarding a request to elevate the decision of the New England Division Engineer (DE) to issue a permit to the Maine Department of Transportation to construct a marine terminal at Sears Island.

  8. 76 FR 68777 - Letters of Authorization To Take Marine Mammals

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-11-07

    ... Act of 1972, as amended (MMPA), we, the Fish and Wildlife Service, have issued letters of... through August 3, 2016. The rule prescribed a process under which we issue Letters of Authorization (LOAs..., subpart J, we issued an LOA to each of the following companies in the Beaufort Sea and adjacent northern...

  9. Collagen from Marine Biological Sources and Medical Applications.

    PubMed

    Felician, Fatuma Felix; Xia, Chunlei; Qi, Weiyan; Xu, Hanmei

    2018-05-01

    Collagen is the most studied protein with a wide range of applications including pharmaceutical, biomedical, cosmetics, leather, and film industries due to its special characteristics that are high biocompatibility, good bioactivity, and weak antigenicity. Although collagen sources are abundant, the outbreak of varied diseases among land animals posed threat to its utilization in our daily life. Thus, a probe for an alternative source began, which in turn revealed the immense untapped marine sources, such as fish, jellyfish, and some marine Mammals. The present article deals with a brief description of collagen, its characteristics, marine sources, extraction, collagen peptides and their biological activities, potential use and application in various field. © 2018 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.

  10. [Book Review] Biology of marine birds

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Jodice, Patrick G.R.; Roby, Daniel D.; Antolos, Michelle; Lyons, Donald E.; Rizzolo, Daniel; Wright, Sadie K.; Anderson, Cynthia D.; Anderson, Scott K.; Nelson, S. Kim; Gall, Adrian E.; Wennerberg, Liv

    2003-01-01

    A text devoted to the biology and ecology of marine birds has not been published in the last 15 years. Although a number of more taxa-specific texts have been produced during that period, there has not been a single publication that attempted to review our knowledge of all the major seabird orders since the works of Nelson (1979), Croxall (1987), and Furness and Monaghan (1987). Following the publication of those works, a large and impressive body of literature has been produced. Given the rapid expansion of the field in the last two decades, the time was ripe for production of an extensive compendium on the biology, ecology, and conservation of the world's seabirds.E. A. Schreiber and J. Burger are editors of this CRC publication, Biology of Marine Birds. The book consists of 19 chapters that vary in length from 15 to 51 pages. There are also two extensive appendices: (1) a list of seabird species (restricted to the orders Sphenisciformes, Procellariiformes, Pelecaniformes, and Charadriiformes, the latter limited to Stercorariidae, Laridae, Rhynchopidae, and Alcidae) and their IUCN status, and (2) a very useful table of species-specific life-history traits. The 19 chapters were prepared by 26 authors, among them some of the most respected and published seabird scientists in the world. A brief preface introduces the book, its objective (to provide an examination and summary of the research on seabirds), its audience (researchers, conservationists, managers, and policy-makers), and the taxa covered. The editors coauthored the introductory chapter, Seabirds in the Marine Environment. The authors describe distinctive characteristics of seabird life-histories in comparison to other taxa, hypotheses for why those lifestyles evolved and the potential role of energy limitation in the evolution of seabird life-histories. Along with a discussion of other common seabird traits, such as a propensity for colonial breeding, the authors also suggest directions for future

  11. Biological importance of marine algae

    PubMed Central

    El Gamal, Ali A.

    2009-01-01

    Marine organisms are potentially prolific sources of highly bioactive secondary metabolites that might represent useful leads in the development of new pharmaceutical agents. Algae can be classified into two main groups; first one is the microalgae, which includes blue green algae, dinoflagellates, bacillariophyta (diatoms)… etc., and second one is macroalgae (seaweeds) which includes green, brown and red algae. The microalgae phyla have been recognized to provide chemical and pharmacological novelty and diversity. Moreover, microalgae are considered as the actual producers of some highly bioactive compounds found in marine resources. Red algae are considered as the most important source of many biologically active metabolites in comparison to other algal classes. Seaweeds are used for great number of application by man. The principal use of seaweeds as a source of human food and as a source of gums (phycocollides). Phycocolloides like agar agar, alginic acid and carrageenan are primarily constituents of brown and red algal cell walls and are widely used in industry. PMID:23960716

  12. Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering for marine carotenoids: new opportunities and future prospects.

    PubMed

    Wang, Chonglong; Kim, Jung-Hun; Kim, Seon-Won

    2014-09-17

    Carotenoids are a class of diverse pigments with important biological roles such as light capture and antioxidative activities. Many novel carotenoids have been isolated from marine organisms to date and have shown various utilizations as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. In this review, we summarize the pathways and enzymes of carotenoid synthesis and discuss various modifications of marine carotenoids. The advances in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology for carotenoid production are also reviewed, in hopes that this review will promote the exploration of marine carotenoid for their utilizations.

  13. Can marine protected areas enhance both economic and biological situations?

    PubMed

    Ami, Dominique; Cartigny, Pierre; Rapaport, Alain

    2005-04-01

    This paper investigates impacts of the creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), in both economic and biological perspectives. The economic indicator is defined as the sum of discounted benefits derived from exploitation of the resource in the fishery sector, assumed to be optimally managed. The biological indicator is taken as the stock density of the resource. The basic fishery model (C.W. Clark, Mathematical Bioeconomics: The Optimal Management of Renewable Resources, second ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1990) will serve as a convenient benchmark in comparing results with those that are derived from a model of two patchy populations (cf. R. Hannesson, Marine reserves: what would they accomplish, Mar. Resour. Econ. 13 (1998) 159). In the latter, a crucial characteristic is the migration coefficient with describes biological linkages between protected and unprotected areas. A set of situations where both economic and biological criteria are enhanced, after introducing a MPA, is presented. These results are obtained with the help of numerical simulations.

  14. Biological and ecological traits of marine species

    PubMed Central

    Claus, Simon; Dekeyzer, Stefanie; Vandepitte, Leen; Tuama, Éamonn Ó; Lear, Dan; Tyler-Walters, Harvey

    2015-01-01

    This paper reviews the utility and availability of biological and ecological traits for marine species so as to prioritise the development of a world database on marine species traits. In addition, the ‘status’ of species for conservation, that is, whether they are introduced or invasive, of fishery or aquaculture interest, harmful, or used as an ecological indicator, were reviewed because these attributes are of particular interest to society. Whereas traits are an enduring characteristic of a species and/or population, a species status may vary geographically and over time. Criteria for selecting traits were that they could be applied to most taxa, were easily available, and their inclusion would result in new research and/or management applications. Numerical traits were favoured over categorical. Habitat was excluded as it can be derived from a selection of these traits. Ten traits were prioritized for inclusion in the most comprehensive open access database on marine species (World Register of Marine Species), namely taxonomic classification, environment, geography, depth, substratum, mobility, skeleton, diet, body size and reproduction. These traits and statuses are being added to the database and new use cases may further subdivide and expand upon them. PMID:26312188

  15. Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering for Marine Carotenoids: New Opportunities and Future Prospects

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Chonglong; Kim, Jung-Hun; Kim, Seon-Won

    2014-01-01

    Carotenoids are a class of diverse pigments with important biological roles such as light capture and antioxidative activities. Many novel carotenoids have been isolated from marine organisms to date and have shown various utilizations as nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. In this review, we summarize the pathways and enzymes of carotenoid synthesis and discuss various modifications of marine carotenoids. The advances in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology for carotenoid production are also reviewed, in hopes that this review will promote the exploration of marine carotenoid for their utilizations. PMID:25233369

  16. Guidelines for Marine Biological Reference Collections. Unesco Reports in Marine Sciences, No. 22.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hureau, J. C.; Rice, A. L.

    This manual provides practical advice on the appropriation, conservation, and documentation of a marine biological reference collection, in response to needs expressed by Mediterranean Arab countries. A reference collection is defined as a working museum containing a series of specimens with which biologists are able to compare their own material.…

  17. 50 CFR 216.249 - Modifications to Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Assistant Administrator determines that an emergency exists that poses a significant risk to the well-being of the species or stocks of marine mammals specified in § 216.242(c), a Letter of Authorization...

  18. 50 CFR 216.159 - Modifications of Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Assistant Administrator determines that an emergency exists that poses a significant risk to the well-being of the species or stocks of marine mammals specified in § 216.150(b), a Letter of Authorization...

  19. A study on biological activity of marine fungi from different habitats in coastal regions.

    PubMed

    Zhou, Songlin; Wang, Min; Feng, Qi; Lin, Yingying; Zhao, Huange

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, marine fungi have become an important source of active marine natural products. Former researches are limited in habitats selection of fungi with bioactive compounds. In this paper were to measure antibacterial and antitumor cell activity for secondary metabolites of marine fungi, which were isolated from different habitats in coastal regions. 195 strains of marine fungi were isolated and purified from three different habitats. They biologically active experiment results showed that fungi isolation from the mangrove habitats had stronger antibacterial activity than others, and the stains isolated from the estuarial habitats had the least antibacterial activity. However, the strains separated from beach habitats strongly inhibited tumor cell proliferation in vitro, and fungi of mangrove forest habitats had the weakest activity of inhibiting tumor. Meanwhile, 195 fungal strains belonged to 46 families, 84 genera, 142 species and also showed 137 different types of activity combinations by analyzing the inhibitory activity of the metabolites fungi for 4 strains of pathogenic bacteria and B-16 cells. The study investigated the biological activity of marine fungi isolated from different habitats in Haikou coastal regions. The results help us to understand bioactive metabolites of marine fungi from different habitats, and how to selected biological activity fungi from various marine habitats effectively.

  20. 50 CFR 216.179 - Modifications to Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Administrator determines that an emergency exists that poses a significant risk to the well-being of the species or stocks of marine mammals specified in § 216.172(c), a Letter of Authorization issued pursuant to...

  1. Enhanced role of eddies in the Arctic marine biological pump

    PubMed Central

    Watanabe, Eiji; Onodera, Jonaotaro; Harada, Naomi; Honda, Makio C.; Kimoto, Katsunori; Kikuchi, Takashi; Nishino, Shigeto; Matsuno, Kohei; Yamaguchi, Atsushi; Ishida, Akio; Kishi, Michio J.

    2014-01-01

    The future conditions of Arctic sea ice and marine ecosystems are of interest not only to climate scientists, but also to economic and governmental bodies. However, the lack of widespread, year-long biogeochemical observations remains an obstacle to understanding the complicated variability of the Arctic marine biological pump. Here we show an early winter maximum of sinking biogenic flux in the western Arctic Ocean and illustrate the importance of shelf-break eddies to biological pumping from wide shelves to adjacent deep basins using a combination of year-long mooring observations and three-dimensional numerical modelling. The sinking flux trapped in the present study included considerable fresh organic material with soft tissues and was an order of magnitude larger than previous estimates. We predict that further reductions in sea ice will promote the entry of Pacific-origin biological species into the Arctic basin and accelerate biogeochemical cycles connecting the Arctic and subarctic oceans. PMID:24862402

  2. Elevation Request Letter to Army - signed April 29, 1986

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    A letter requesting a review of the decision to issue a permit to the Maine Department of Transportation (MEDOT) authorizing the construction of an access causeway and a marine cargo terminal in Penobscot Bay at Sears Island, Searsport, Maine.

  3. Laboratory Experiences in Marine Biology for Upper Elementary and Secondary School Grades, Teachers Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raimist, Roger J.

    Designed to assist the teacher who wishes to use marine organisms for biological laboratory investigations, this manual includes general information on maintaining marine aquaria and collecting marine organisms as well as five tested laboratory exercises. The exercises deal with the measurement of oxygen consumption (giving techniques for…

  4. Role of Marine Biology in Glacial-Interglacial CO2 Cycles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kohfeld, Karen E.; Le Quéré, Corinne; Harrison, Sandy P.; Anderson, Robert F.

    2005-04-01

    It has been hypothesized that changes in the marine biological pump caused a major portion of the glacial reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide by 80 to 100 parts per million through increased iron fertilization of marine plankton, increased ocean nutrient content or utilization, or shifts in dominant plankton types. We analyze sedimentary records of marine productivity at the peak and the middle of the last glacial cycle and show that neither changes in nutrient utilization in the Southern Ocean nor shifts in plankton dominance explain the CO2 drawdown. Iron fertilization and associated mechanisms can be responsible for no more than half the observed drawdown.

  5. Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes

    PubMed Central

    Reynolds, John D; Dulvy, Nicholas K; Goodwin, Nicholas B; Hutchings, Jeffrey A

    2005-01-01

    We review interactions between extrinsic threats to marine fishes and intrinsic aspects of their biology that determine how populations and species respond to those threats. Information is available on the status of less than 5% of the world's approximately 15 500 marine fish species, most of which are of commercial importance. By 2001, based on data from 98 North Atlantic and northeast Pacific populations, marine fishes had declined by a median 65% in breeding biomass from known historic levels; 28 populations had declined by more than 80%. Most of these declines would be sufficient to warrant a status of threatened with extinction under international threat criteria. However, this interpretation is highly controversial, in part because of a perception that marine fishes have a suite of life history characteristics, including high fecundity and large geographical ranges, which might confer greater resilience than that shown by terrestrial vertebrates. We review 15 comparative analyses that have tested for these and other life history correlates of vulnerability in marine fishes. The empirical evidence suggests that large body size and late maturity are the best predictors of vulnerability to fishing, regardless of whether differences among taxa in fishing mortality are controlled; there is no evidence that high fecundity confers increased resilience. The evidence reviewed here is of direct relevance to the diverse criteria used at global and national levels by various bodies to assess threat status of fishes. Simple life history traits can be incorporated directly into quantitative assessment criteria, or used to modify the conclusions of quantitative assessments, or used as preliminary screening criteria for assessment of the ∼95% of marine fish species whose status has yet to be evaluated either by conservationists or fisheries scientists. PMID:16243696

  6. Biology of extinction risk in marine fishes.

    PubMed

    Reynolds, John D; Dulvy, Nicholas K; Goodwin, Nicholas B; Hutchings, Jeffrey A

    2005-11-22

    We review interactions between extrinsic threats to marine fishes and intrinsic aspects of their biology that determine how populations and species respond to those threats. Information is available on the status of less than 5% of the world's approximately 15500 marine fish species, most of which are of commercial importance. By 2001, based on data from 98 North Atlantic and northeast Pacific populations, marine fishes had declined by a median 65% in breeding biomass from known historic levels; 28 populations had declined by more than 80%. Most of these declines would be sufficient to warrant a status of threatened with extinction under international threat criteria. However, this interpretation is highly controversial, in part because of a perception that marine fishes have a suite of life history characteristics, including high fecundity and large geographical ranges, which might confer greater resilience than that shown by terrestrial vertebrates. We review 15 comparative analyses that have tested for these and other life history correlates of vulnerability in marine fishes. The empirical evidence suggests that large body size and late maturity are the best predictors of vulnerability to fishing, regardless of whether differences among taxa in fishing mortality are controlled; there is no evidence that high fecundity confers increased resilience. The evidence reviewed here is of direct relevance to the diverse criteria used at global and national levels by various bodies to assess threat status of fishes. Simple life history traits can be incorporated directly into quantitative assessment criteria, or used to modify the conclusions of quantitative assessments, or used as preliminary screening criteria for assessment of the approximately 95% of marine fish species whose status has yet to be evaluated either by conservationists or fisheries scientists.

  7. Developmental biology in marine invertebrate symbioses.

    PubMed

    McFall-Ngai, M J; Ruby, E G

    2000-12-01

    Associations between marine invertebrates and their cooperative bacterial symbionts offer access to an understanding of the roots of host-microbe interaction; for example, several symbioses like the squid-vibrio light organ association serve as models for investigating how each partner affects the developmental biology of the other. Previous results have identified a program of specific developmental events that unfolds as the association is initiated. In the past year, published studies have focused primarily on describing the mechanisms underlying the signaling processes that occur between the juvenile squid and the luminous bacteria that colonize it.

  8. Natural products with health benefits from marine biological resources

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The ocean is the cradle of lives, which provides a diverse array of intriguing natural products that has captured scientists’ attention in the past few decades due to their significant and extremely potent biological activities. In addition to being rich sources for pharmaceutical drugs, marine nat...

  9. Supermarket Marine Biology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Colby, Jennifer A.; And Others

    1995-01-01

    Describes a survey used to determine the availability of intact marine vertebrates and live invertebrates in supermarkets. Results shows that local supermarkets frequently provide a variety of intact marine organisms suitable for demonstrations, experiments, or dissections. (ZWH)

  10. Overcoming the effect of letter confusability in letter-by-letter reading: a rehabilitation study.

    PubMed

    Harris, Lara; Olson, Andrew; Humphreys, Glyn

    2013-01-01

    Patients who read in a letter-by-letter manner can demonstrate effects of lexical variables when reading words comprised of low confusability letters, suggesting the capacity to process low-confusability words in parallel across the letters (Fiset, Arguin, & McCabe, 2006). Here a series of experiments is presented investigating letter confusability effects in MAH, a patient with expressive and receptive aphasia who shows reduced reading accuracy with longer words, and DM, a relatively "pure" alexic patient. Two rehabilitation studies were employed: (i) a word-level therapy and (ii) a letter-level therapy designed to improve discrimination of individual letters. The word-level treatment produced generalised improvement to low-confusability words only, but the serial processing treatment produced improvement on both high and low confusability words. The results add support to the hypothesis that letter confusability plays a key role in letter-by-letter reading, and suggest that a rehabilitation method aimed at reducing ambiguities in letter identification may be particularly effective for treating letter-by-letter reading.

  11. Authorized Course of Instruction for the Quinmester Program. Science: Introduction to Marine Science; Recreation and the Sea; Oceanography; Marine Ecology of South Florida, and Invertebrate Marine Biology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

    All five units, developed for the Dade County Florida Quinmester Program, included in this collection concern some aspect of marine studies. Except for "Recreation and the Sea," intended to give students basic seamanship skills and experience of other marine recreation, all units are designed for students with a background in biology or…

  12. Meta-analysis reveals complex marine biological responses to the interactive effects of ocean acidification and warming

    PubMed Central

    Harvey, Ben P; Gwynn-Jones, Dylan; Moore, Pippa J

    2013-01-01

    Ocean acidification and warming are considered two of the greatest threats to marine biodiversity, yet the combined effect of these stressors on marine organisms remains largely unclear. Using a meta-analytical approach, we assessed the biological responses of marine organisms to the effects of ocean acidification and warming in isolation and combination. As expected biological responses varied across taxonomic groups, life-history stages, and trophic levels, but importantly, combining stressors generally exhibited a stronger biological (either positive or negative) effect. Using a subset of orthogonal studies, we show that four of five of the biological responses measured (calcification, photosynthesis, reproduction, and survival, but not growth) interacted synergistically when warming and acidification were combined. The observed synergisms between interacting stressors suggest that care must be made in making inferences from single-stressor studies. Our findings clearly have implications for the development of adaptive management strategies particularly given that the frequency of stressors interacting in marine systems will be likely to intensify in the future. There is now an urgent need to move toward more robust, holistic, and ecologically realistic climate change experiments that incorporate interactions. Without them accurate predictions about the likely deleterious impacts to marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning over the next century will not be possible. PMID:23610641

  13. Meta-analysis reveals complex marine biological responses to the interactive effects of ocean acidification and warming.

    PubMed

    Harvey, Ben P; Gwynn-Jones, Dylan; Moore, Pippa J

    2013-04-01

    Ocean acidification and warming are considered two of the greatest threats to marine biodiversity, yet the combined effect of these stressors on marine organisms remains largely unclear. Using a meta-analytical approach, we assessed the biological responses of marine organisms to the effects of ocean acidification and warming in isolation and combination. As expected biological responses varied across taxonomic groups, life-history stages, and trophic levels, but importantly, combining stressors generally exhibited a stronger biological (either positive or negative) effect. Using a subset of orthogonal studies, we show that four of five of the biological responses measured (calcification, photosynthesis, reproduction, and survival, but not growth) interacted synergistically when warming and acidification were combined. The observed synergisms between interacting stressors suggest that care must be made in making inferences from single-stressor studies. Our findings clearly have implications for the development of adaptive management strategies particularly given that the frequency of stressors interacting in marine systems will be likely to intensify in the future. There is now an urgent need to move toward more robust, holistic, and ecologically realistic climate change experiments that incorporate interactions. Without them accurate predictions about the likely deleterious impacts to marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning over the next century will not be possible.

  14. 50 CFR 217.77 - Renewal of a Letter of Authorization and adaptive management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ..., NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS... to Space Vehicle and Missile Launches at Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska § 217.77 Renewal of a Letter...

  15. 50 CFR 217.77 - Renewal of a Letter of Authorization and adaptive management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ..., NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS... to Space Vehicle and Missile Launches at Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska § 217.77 Renewal of a Letter...

  16. 50 CFR 217.77 - Renewal of a Letter of Authorization and adaptive management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ..., NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS... to Space Vehicle and Missile Launches at Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska § 217.77 Renewal of a Letter...

  17. 50 CFR 217.77 - Renewal of a Letter of Authorization and adaptive management.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ..., NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS REGULATIONS... to Space Vehicle and Missile Launches at Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska § 217.77 Renewal of a Letter...

  18. Marine Omega-3 Phospholipids: Metabolism and Biological Activities

    PubMed Central

    Burri, Lena; Hoem, Nils; Banni, Sebastiano; Berge, Kjetil

    2012-01-01

    The biological activities of omega-3 fatty acids (n-3 FAs) have been under extensive study for several decades. However, not much attention has been paid to differences of dietary forms, such as triglycerides (TGs) versus ethyl esters or phospholipids (PLs). New innovative marine raw materials, like krill and fish by-products, present n-3 FAs mainly in the PL form. With their increasing availability, new evidence has emerged on n-3 PL biological activities and differences to n-3 TGs. In this review, we describe the recently discovered nutritional properties of n-3 PLs on different parameters of metabolic syndrome and highlight their different metabolic bioavailability in comparison to other dietary forms of n-3 FAs. PMID:23203133

  19. Biology, genome organization and evolution of parvoviruses in marine shrimp

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    A number of parvoviruses are now know to infect marine shrimp, and these viruses alone or in combination with other viruses have the potential to cause major losses in shrimp aquaculture globally. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the biology, genome organization, gene expression, and...

  20. 78 FR 43861 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Space Vehicle and...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-22

    ... Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Space Vehicle and Missile Launch Operations at..., notification is hereby given that a Letter of Authorization (LOA) has been issued to the Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) to take two species of pinnipeds incidental to space vehicle and missile launch operations...

  1. Synthetic biology approaches: Towards sustainable exploitation of marine bioactive molecules.

    PubMed

    Seghal Kiran, G; Ramasamy, Pasiyappazham; Sekar, Sivasankari; Ramu, Meenatchi; Hassan, Saqib; Ninawe, A S; Selvin, Joseph

    2018-06-01

    The discovery of genes responsible for the production of bioactive metabolites via metabolic pathways combined with the advances in synthetic biology tools, has allowed the establishment of numerous microbial cell factories, for instance the yeast cell factories, for the manufacture of highly useful metabolites from renewable biomass. Genome mining and metagenomics are two platforms provide base-line data for reconstruction of genomes and metabolomes which is based in the development of synthetic/semi-synthetic genomes for marine natural products discovery. Engineered biofilms are being innovated on synthetic biology platform using genetic circuits and cell signalling systems as represillators controlling biofilm formation. Recombineering is a process of homologous recombination mediated genetic engineering, includes insertion, deletion or modification of any sequence specifically. Although this discipline considered new to the scientific domain, this field has now developed as promising endeavor on the accomplishment of sustainable exploitation of marine natural products. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Marine biotechnologies and synthetic biology, new issues for a fair and equitable profit-sharing commercial use.

    PubMed

    Bloch, Jean-François; Tardieu-Guigues, Elisabeth

    2014-10-01

    The sea will be a source of economic development in the next years. Today the research works in marine biotechnologies supply new products and processes. The introduction in the laboratories of a new technology, synthesis biology, is going to increase the possibilities of creation of new products. Exploitation of product stemming from marine biodiversity has to be made with regard to various rights among which industrial property law, maritime law and the Convention on BioDiversity. All participants involved in the promotion of research in marine biotechnology must address the fair and equitable sharing of any commercial exploitation. Carrying out work involving synthetic biology has increased the number of unanswered questions about how operators should manage in order to avoid any threat of being sued for infringements of IP rights or for alleged bio-piracy. This paper, by no means exhaustive in the field, analyzes some of the issues raised on the modification to the landscape in marine biotechnology by the advent of synthetic biology. Such issues indicate how important the collaboration between researchers, industrialists, lawyers is for allowing proper use of marine biotech. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Support for ICES International Symposium: Recruitment Dynamics of Exploited Marine Populations: Physical-biological Interactions

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1997-09-30

    Environmental Science ,Chesapeake Biological Laboratory,PO Box 38,Solomons,MD,20688 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING...DYNAMICS OF EXPLOITED MARINE POPULATIONS: PHYSICAL-BIOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS Michael J. Fogarty University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Chesapeake

  4. Natural Proline-Rich Cyclopolypeptides from Marine Organisms: Chemistry, Synthetic Methodologies and Biological Status.

    PubMed

    Fang, Wan-Yin; Dahiya, Rajiv; Qin, Hua-Li; Mourya, Rita; Maharaj, Sandeep

    2016-10-26

    Peptides have gained increased interest as therapeutics during recent years. More than 60 peptide drugs have reached the market for the benefit of patients and several hundreds of novel therapeutic peptides are in preclinical and clinical development. The key contributor to this success is the potent and specific, yet safe, mode of action of peptides. Among the wide range of biologically-active peptides, naturally-occurring marine-derived cyclopolypeptides exhibit a broad range of unusual and potent pharmacological activities. Because of their size and complexity, proline-rich cyclic peptides (PRCPs) occupy a crucial chemical space in drug discovery that may provide useful scaffolds for modulating more challenging biological targets, such as protein-protein interactions and allosteric binding sites. Diverse pharmacological activities of natural cyclic peptides from marine sponges, tunicates and cyanobacteria have encouraged efforts to develop cyclic peptides with well-known synthetic methods, including solid-phase and solution-phase techniques of peptide synthesis. The present review highlights the natural resources, unique structural features and the most relevant biological properties of proline-rich peptides of marine-origin, focusing on the potential therapeutic role that the PRCPs may play as a promising source of new peptide-based novel drugs.

  5. Natural Proline-Rich Cyclopolypeptides from Marine Organisms: Chemistry, Synthetic Methodologies and Biological Status

    PubMed Central

    Fang, Wan-Yin; Dahiya, Rajiv; Qin, Hua-Li; Mourya, Rita; Maharaj, Sandeep

    2016-01-01

    Peptides have gained increased interest as therapeutics during recent years. More than 60 peptide drugs have reached the market for the benefit of patients and several hundreds of novel therapeutic peptides are in preclinical and clinical development. The key contributor to this success is the potent and specific, yet safe, mode of action of peptides. Among the wide range of biologically-active peptides, naturally-occurring marine-derived cyclopolypeptides exhibit a broad range of unusual and potent pharmacological activities. Because of their size and complexity, proline-rich cyclic peptides (PRCPs) occupy a crucial chemical space in drug discovery that may provide useful scaffolds for modulating more challenging biological targets, such as protein-protein interactions and allosteric binding sites. Diverse pharmacological activities of natural cyclic peptides from marine sponges, tunicates and cyanobacteria have encouraged efforts to develop cyclic peptides with well-known synthetic methods, including solid-phase and solution-phase techniques of peptide synthesis. The present review highlights the natural resources, unique structural features and the most relevant biological properties of proline-rich peptides of marine-origin, focusing on the potential therapeutic role that the PRCPs may play as a promising source of new peptide-based novel drugs. PMID:27792168

  6. Gap analysis on the biology of Mediterranean marine fishes

    PubMed Central

    Dimarchopoulou, Donna; Stergiou, Konstantinos I.

    2017-01-01

    We estimated the current level of knowledge concerning several biological characteristics of the Mediterranean marine fishes by carrying out a gap analysis based on information extracted from the literature, aiming to identify research trends and future needs in the field of Mediterranean fish biology that can be used in stock assessments, ecosystem modeling and fisheries management. Based on the datasets that emerged from the literature review, there is no information on any biological characteristic for 43% (n = 310) of the Mediterranean fish species, whereas for an additional 15% (n = 109) of them there is information about just one characteristic. The gap between current and desired knowledge (defined here as having information on most biological characteristics for at least half of the Mediterranean marine fishes) is smaller in length-weight relationships, which have been studied for 43% of the species, followed by spawning (39%), diet (29%), growth (25%), maturity (24%), lifespan (19%) and fecundity (17%). The gap is larger in natural mortality for which information is very scarce (8%). European hake (Merluccius merluccius), red mullet (Mullus barbatus), annular seabream (Diplodus annularis), common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus), European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) and bogue (Boops boops) were the most studied species, while sharks and rays were among the least studied ones. Only 25 species were fully studied, i.e. there was available information on all their biological characteristics. The knowledge gaps per characteristic varied among the western, central and eastern Mediterranean subregions. The number of available records per species was positively related to total landings, while no relationship emerged with its maximum reported length, trophic level and commercial value. Future research priorities that should be focused on less studied species (e.g. sharks and rays) and mortality/fecundity instead of length

  7. Gap analysis on the biology of Mediterranean marine fishes.

    PubMed

    Dimarchopoulou, Donna; Stergiou, Konstantinos I; Tsikliras, Athanassios C

    2017-01-01

    We estimated the current level of knowledge concerning several biological characteristics of the Mediterranean marine fishes by carrying out a gap analysis based on information extracted from the literature, aiming to identify research trends and future needs in the field of Mediterranean fish biology that can be used in stock assessments, ecosystem modeling and fisheries management. Based on the datasets that emerged from the literature review, there is no information on any biological characteristic for 43% (n = 310) of the Mediterranean fish species, whereas for an additional 15% (n = 109) of them there is information about just one characteristic. The gap between current and desired knowledge (defined here as having information on most biological characteristics for at least half of the Mediterranean marine fishes) is smaller in length-weight relationships, which have been studied for 43% of the species, followed by spawning (39%), diet (29%), growth (25%), maturity (24%), lifespan (19%) and fecundity (17%). The gap is larger in natural mortality for which information is very scarce (8%). European hake (Merluccius merluccius), red mullet (Mullus barbatus), annular seabream (Diplodus annularis), common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus), European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus), European pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) and bogue (Boops boops) were the most studied species, while sharks and rays were among the least studied ones. Only 25 species were fully studied, i.e. there was available information on all their biological characteristics. The knowledge gaps per characteristic varied among the western, central and eastern Mediterranean subregions. The number of available records per species was positively related to total landings, while no relationship emerged with its maximum reported length, trophic level and commercial value. Future research priorities that should be focused on less studied species (e.g. sharks and rays) and mortality/fecundity instead of length

  8. Letter Names, Letter Sounds and Phonological Awareness: An Examination of Kindergarten Children across Letters and of Letters across Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Evans, Mary Ann; Bell, Michelle; Shaw, Deborah; Moretti, Shelley; Page, Jodi

    2006-01-01

    In this study 149 kindergarten children were assessed for knowledge of letter names and letter sounds, phonological awareness, and cognitive abilities. Through this it examined child and letter characteristics influencing the acquisition of alphabetic knowledge in a naturalistic context, the relationship between letter-sound knowledge and…

  9. Learning to Write Letters: Examination of Student and Letter Factors

    PubMed Central

    Puranik, Cynthia S.; Petscher, Yaacov; Lonigan, Christopher J.

    2016-01-01

    Learning to write the letters of the alphabet is an important part of learning how to write conventionally. In this study, we investigated critical factors in the development of letter-writing skills using exploratory item response models to simultaneously account for variance in responses due to differences between students and between letters. Letter-writing skills were assessed in 415 preschool children aged 3 to 5 years. At the student level, we examined the contribution of letter-name knowledge, letter-sound knowledge, and phonological awareness to letter-writing skills. At the letter level, we examined seven intrinsic and extrinsic factors in understanding how preschool children learn to write alphabet letters: first letter of name, letters in name, letter order, textual frequency, number of strokes, symmetry, and letter type. Results indicated that variation in letter-writing skills was accounted for more by differences between students rather than by differences between letters, with most of the variability accounted for by letter-name knowledge and age. Although significant, the contribution of letter-sound knowledge and phonological awareness was relatively small. Student-level mechanisms underlying the acquisition of letter-writing skills are similar to the mechanisms underlying the learning of letter sounds. However, letter characteristics, which appear to play a major role in the learning of letter names and letter sounds, did not appear to influence learning how to write letters in a substantial way. The exception was if the letter was in the child’s name. PMID:25181463

  10. Rate of biological invasions is lower in coastal marine protected areas.

    PubMed

    Ardura, A; Juanes, F; Planes, S; Garcia-Vazquez, E

    2016-09-09

    Marine biological invasions threaten biodiversity worldwide. Here we explore how Marine Protected areas, by reducing human use of the coast, confer resilience against the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS), using two very different Pacific islands as case studies for developing and testing mathematical models. We quantified NIS vectors and promoters on Vancouver (Canada) and Moorea (French Polynesia) islands, sampled and barcoded NIS, and tested models at different spatial scales with different types of interaction among vectors and between marine protection and NIS frequency. In our results NIS were negatively correlated with the dimension of the protected areas and the intensity of the protection. Small to medium geographical scale protection seemed to be efficient against NIS introductions. The likely benefit of MPAs was by exclusion of aquaculture, principally in Canada. These results emphasize the importance of marine protected areas for biodiversity conservation, and suggest that small or medium protected zones would confer efficient protection against NIS introduction.

  11. Learning to recognize letters in the periphery: Effects of repeated exposure, letter frequency, and letter complexity

    PubMed Central

    Husk, Jesse S.; Yu, Deyue

    2017-01-01

    Patients with central vision loss must rely on their peripheral vision for reading. Unfortunately, limitations of peripheral vision, such as crowding, pose significant challenges to letter recognition. As a result, there is a need for developing effective training methods for improving crowded letter recognition in the periphery. Several studies have shown that extensive practice with letter stimuli is beneficial to peripheral letter recognition. Here, we explore stimulus-related factors that might influence the effectiveness of peripheral letter recognition training. Specifically, we examined letter exposure (number of letter occurrences), frequency of letter use in English print, and letter complexity and evaluated their contributions to the amount of improvement observed in crowded letter recognition following training. We analyzed data collected across a range of training protocols. Using linear regression, we identified the best-fitting model and observed that all three stimulus-related factors contributed to improvement in peripheral letter recognition with letter exposure being the most important factor. As an important explanatory variable, pretest accuracy was included in the model as well to avoid estimate biases and was shown to have influence on the relationship between training improvement and letter exposure. When developing training protocols for peripheral letter recognition, it may be beneficial to not only consider the overall length of training, but also to tailor the number of stimulus occurrences for each letter according to its initial performance level, frequency, and complexity. PMID:28265651

  12. Results of efforts by the Convention on Biological Diversity to describe ecologically or biologically significant marine areas.

    PubMed

    Bax, Nicholas J; Cleary, Jesse; Donnelly, Ben; Dunn, Daniel C; Dunstan, Piers K; Fuller, Mike; Halpin, Patrick N

    2016-06-01

    In 2004, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) addressed a United Nations (UN) call for area-based planning, including for marine-protected areas that resulted in a global effort to describe ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs). We summarized the results, assessed their consistency, and evaluated the process developed by the Secretariat of the CBD to engage countries and experts in 9 regional workshops held from 2011 to 2014. Experts from 92 countries and 79 regional or international bodies participated. They considered 250 million km(2) of the world's ocean area (two-thirds of the total). The 204 areas they examined in detail differed widely in area (from 5.5 km(2) to 11.1 million km(2) ). Despite the initial focus of the CBD process on areas outside national jurisdiction, only 31 of the areas examined were solely outside national jurisdiction. Thirty-five extended into national jurisdictions, 137 were solely within national jurisdictions, and 28 included the jurisdictions of more than 1 country (1 area lacked precise boundaries). Data were sufficient to rank 88-99% of the areas relative to each of the 7 criteria for EBSAs agreed to previously by Parties to the CBD. The naturalness criterion ranked high for a smaller percentage of the EBSAs (31%) than other criteria (51-70%), indicating the difficulty in finding relatively undisturbed areas in the ocean. The highly participatory nature of the workshops, including easy and consistent access to the relevant information facilitated by 2 technical teams, contributed to the workshop participants success in identifying areas that could be ranked relative to most criteria and areas that extend across jurisdictional boundaries. The formal recognition of workshop results by the Conference of Parties to the CBD resulted in these 204 areas being identified as EBSAs by the 196 Parties. They represent the only suite of marine areas recognized by the international community for their

  13. Sustainable production of biologically active molecules of marine based origin.

    PubMed

    Murray, Patrick M; Moane, Siobhan; Collins, Catherine; Beletskaya, Tanya; Thomas, Olivier P; Duarte, Alysson W F; Nobre, Fernando S; Owoyemi, Ifeloju O; Pagnocca, Fernando C; Sette, L D; McHugh, Edward; Causse, Eric; Pérez-López, Paula; Feijoo, Gumersindo; Moreira, Ma T; Rubiolo, Juan; Leirós, Marta; Botana, Luis M; Pinteus, Susete; Alves, Celso; Horta, André; Pedrosa, Rui; Jeffryes, Clayton; Agathos, Spiros N; Allewaert, Celine; Verween, Annick; Vyverman, Wim; Laptev, Ivan; Sineoky, Sergei; Bisio, Angela; Manconi, Renata; Ledda, Fabio; Marchi, Mario; Pronzato, Roberto; Walsh, Daniel J

    2013-09-25

    The marine environment offers both economic and scientific potential which are relatively untapped from a biotechnological point of view. These environments whilst harsh are ironically fragile and dependent on a harmonious life form balance. Exploitation of natural resources by exhaustive wild harvesting has obvious negative environmental consequences. From a European industry perspective marine organisms are a largely underutilised resource. This is not due to lack of interest but due to a lack of choice the industry faces for cost competitive, sustainable and environmentally conscientious product alternatives. Knowledge of the biotechnological potential of marine organisms together with the development of sustainable systems for their cultivation, processing and utilisation are essential. In 2010, the European Commission recognised this need and funded a collaborative RTD/SME project under the Framework 7-Knowledge Based Bio-Economy (KBBE) Theme 2 Programme 'Sustainable culture of marine microorganisms, algae and/or invertebrates for high value added products'. The scope of that project entitled 'Sustainable Production of Biologically Active Molecules of Marine Based Origin' (BAMMBO) is outlined. Although the Union is a global leader in many technologies, it faces increasing competition from traditional rivals and emerging economies alike and must therefore improve its innovation performance. For this reason innovation is placed at the heart of a European Horizon 2020 Strategy wherein the challenge is to connect economic performance to eco performance. This article provides a synopsis of the research activities of the BAMMBO project as they fit within the wider scope of sustainable environmentally conscientious marine resource exploitation for high-value biomolecules. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. The marine biological week as an approach to science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ransdorf, Angela; Satzinger, Viktoria

    2017-04-01

    The "Wiedner Gymnasium" is an academic high school with two branches: one focusses on languages and the other one on science. In the language branch the students learn at least three languages; one of which is Latin, whereas the students of the scientific branch can learn geometrical drawing and have to attend a scientific laboratory throughout the last four upper classes. As incentive highlights the language classes have a one week's school trip to France, Italy or Spain at the beginning of their 7th form in order to attend a language school and to practice their language skills. As a counterbalance, there was introduced the "marine biological week" several years ago, in which the students of the scientific branch take part whilst their colleagues have their language trips. The marine biological week takes place in Rovinj, Croatia. A team of biologists and divers leads through a programme, by which the students get an overview of different habitats, their conditions and the different ways of adaptation organisms find. Thus, they also become acquainted with several species of animals and plants which are characteristic for this area. They become familiar with some methods of scientific work and also get to know some of the problems marine ecosystems are confronted with. They also learn a little bit if the Mediterranean history and culture. Back in school all the findings are reviewed and brought into an ecological context. The insights can be used for many other topics, too, such as e.g. evolution. This week has proved to be a good start as well for the topic of ecology as for learning to think scientifically in general. So, you can call it a pivot for the scientific branch of our school.

  15. Synthesis and biology of cyclic imine toxins, an emerging class of potent, globally distributed marine toxins.

    PubMed

    Stivala, Craig E; Benoit, Evelyne; Aráoz, Rómulo; Servent, Denis; Novikov, Alexei; Molgó, Jordi; Zakarian, Armen

    2015-03-01

    From a small group of exotic compounds isolated only two decades ago, Cyclic Imine (CI) toxins have become a major class of marine toxins with global distribution. Their distinct chemical structure, biological mechanism of action, and intricate chemistry ensures that CI toxins will continue to be the subject of fascinating fundamental studies in the broad fields of chemistry, chemical biology, and toxicology. The worldwide occurrence of potent CI toxins in marine environments, their accumulation in shellfish, and chemical stability are important considerations in assessing risk factors for human health. This review article aims to provide an account of chemistry, biology, and toxicology of CI toxins from their discovery to the present day.

  16. Bio-logging of physiological parameters in higher marine vertebrates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ponganis, Paul J.

    2007-02-01

    Bio-logging of physiological parameters in higher marine vertebrates had its origins in the field of bio-telemetry in the 1960s and 1970s. The development of microprocessor technology allowed its first application to bio-logging investigations of Weddell seal diving physiology in the early 1980s. Since that time, with the use of increased memory capacity, new sensor technology, and novel data processing techniques, investigators have examined heart rate, temperature, swim speed, stroke frequency, stomach function (gastric pH and motility), heat flux, muscle oxygenation, respiratory rate, diving air volume, and oxygen partial pressure (P) during diving. Swim speed, heart rate, and body temperature have been the most commonly studied parameters. Bio-logging investigation of pressure effects has only been conducted with the use of blood samplers and nitrogen analyses on animals diving at isolated dive holes. The advantages/disadvantages and limitations of recording techniques, probe placement, calibration techniques, and study conditions are reviewed.

  17. Marine Biology: Ecology of the Sea. A Zephyr Learning Packet. Revised.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tanner, Joey

    From the smallest plankton to the most massive whales, marine biology is the study of the flora and fauna, the living creatures of the ocean. This Zephyr self-directed study unit was developed to bridge the gap between students as passive learners to students as active participants. Originally developed for gifted students, these units emphasize…

  18. What are undergraduates doing at biological field stations and marine laboratories?

    Treesearch

    Janet Hodder

    2009-01-01

    Biological field stations and marine laboratories (FSMLs) serve as places to study the natural environment in a variety of ways, from the level of the molecule to the globe. Undergraduate opportunities at FSMLs reflect the diversity of study options -- formal courses, research and service internships, and field-trip experiences -- and students are responding to those...

  19. Marine biological diversity: Some important issues, opportunities and critical research needs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Butman, Cheryl Ann; Carlton, James T.

    1995-07-01

    Marine biological diversity is changing, dramatically in some cases, and most recent changes are due to broad-scale human activities. Knowledge of "biodiversity" — the variety of genomes (the genetic material specifying all characteristics and functions within an organism), species and ecosystems — is the foundation for understanding and predicting how human and natural effects can change the ocean's ecosystems. Evaluating the scale and ultimate consequences to life in the sea of a plethora of anthropogenic effects is difficult, however, because there is inadequate knowledge of both the patterns of and the processes that control marine biodiversity. Recognizing change and evaluating its consequences require sufficient knowledge of present and historical natural patterns of biodiversity, and sufficient understanding of how and why these patterns vary in space and time. Data on biodiversity patterns and their causes are sorely lacking for most marine ecosystems. Adequate understanding of what creates and maintains diversity must be the scientific underpinning for policy decisions regarding pollutant and waste disposal, habitat alteration, fisheries management and the preservation of threatened or endangered species. The inability, at this time, to provide such information to policy makers may have important implications for the conservation of marine life [Norse, 1993].

  20. Investigation of Marine-Derived Fungal Diversity and Their Exploitable Biological Activities

    PubMed Central

    Hong, Joo-Hyun; Jang, Seokyoon; Heo, Young Mok; Min, Mihee; Lee, Hwanhwi; Lee, Young Min; Lee, Hanbyul; Kim, Jae-Jin

    2015-01-01

    Marine fungi are potential producers of bioactive compounds that may have pharmacological and medicinal applications. Fungi were cultured from marine brown algae and identified using multiple target genes to confirm phylogenetic placement. These target genes included the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the nuclear large subunit (LSU), and the β-tubulin region. Various biological activities of marine-derived fungi were evaluated, including their antifungal, antioxidant and cellulolytic enzyme activities. As a result, a total of 50 fungi was isolated from the brown algae Sargassum sp. Among the 50 isolated fungi, Corollospora angusta was the dominant species in this study. The genus Arthrinium showed a relatively strong antifungal activity to all of the target plant pathogenic fungi. In particular, Arthrinium saccharicola KUC21221 showed high radical scavenging activity and the highest activities in terms of filter paper units (0.39 U/mL), endoglucanase activity (0.38 U/mL), and β-glucosidase activity (1.04 U/mL). PMID:26133554

  1. Overview on Biological Activities and Molecular Characteristics of Sulfated Polysaccharides from Marine Green Algae in Recent Years

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Lingchong; Wang, Xiangyu; Wu, Hao; Liu, Rui

    2014-01-01

    Among the three main divisions of marine macroalgae (Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta), marine green algae are valuable sources of structurally diverse bioactive compounds and remain largely unexploited in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical areas. Recently, a great deal of interest has been developed to isolate novel sulfated polysaccharides (SPs) from marine green algae because of their numerous health beneficial effects. Green seaweeds are known to synthesize large quantities of SPs and are well established sources of these particularly interesting molecules such as ulvans from Ulva and Enteromorpha, sulfated rhamnans from Monostroma, sulfated arabinogalactans from Codium, sulfated galacotans from Caulerpa, and some special sulfated mannans from different species. These SPs exhibit many beneficial biological activities such as anticoagulant, antiviral, antioxidative, antitumor, immunomodulating, antihyperlipidemic and antihepatotoxic activities. Therefore, marine algae derived SPs have great potential for further development as healthy food and medical products. The present review focuses on SPs derived from marine green algae and presents an overview of the recent progress of determinations of their structural types and biological activities, especially their potential health benefits. PMID:25257786

  2. 50 CFR 18.114 - How do I obtain a Letter of Authorization?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false How do I obtain a Letter of Authorization? 18.114 Section 18.114 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF... IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal Taking of Pacific Walruses and Polar...

  3. 50 CFR 18.114 - How do I obtain a Letter of Authorization?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false How do I obtain a Letter of Authorization? 18.114 Section 18.114 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF... IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal Taking of Pacific Walruses and Polar...

  4. [Analysis of characteristics shown in self introduction letter and professor's recommendation letter].

    PubMed

    Kim, Sang Hyun

    2013-09-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate applicants' behavioral characteristics based on the evaluation of cognitive, affective and social domain shown in self introduction letter and professor's recommendation letter. Self introduction letters and professor's recommendation letters of 109 applicants students who applied to medical school were collected. Frequency analysis and simple correlation were done in self introduction letter and professor's recommendation letter. Frequency analysis showed affective characteristics were most often mentioned in self introduction letter, and cognitive characteristics were most frequently described in professor's recommendation letter. There was a strong correlation between cognitive domains of self introduction letter and cognitive domain of professor's recommendation letter. There was a strong correlation between affective domain of self introduction letter and cognitive domain professor's recommendation letter. It is very important to make full use of self introduction letter and professor's recommendation letter for selecting medical students. Through the frequency analysis and simple correlation, more specific guidelines need to be suggested in order to secure fairness and objectivity in the evaluation of self-introduction letter and professor's recommendation letter.

  5. Effects of Letter-Identification Training on Letter Naming in Prereading Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hayashi, Yusuke; Schmidt, Anna C.; Saunders, Kathryn J.

    2013-01-01

    Three prereading children who named 0 to 3 of 20 targeted letters were taught to select the 20 printed letters when they heard spoken letter names. For all participants, letter-identification training resulted in naming for the majority of letters.

  6. Should intellectual property be disseminated by "forwarding" rejected letters without permission?

    PubMed

    Gupta, V K

    1996-08-01

    Substantive scientific letter writing is a cost-effective mode of complementing observational and experimental research. The value of such philosophically uncommitted and unsponsored well-balanced scientific activity has been relegated. Critical letter writing entails the abilities to: maintain rational scepticism; refuse to conform in order to explain data; persist in keeping common sense centre-stage; exercise logic to evaluate the biological significance of mathematical figures, including statistics, and the ability to sustain the will to share insights regarding disease mechanisms on an ostensibly lower research platform. During peer review, innovative letter writing may share the occasionally unfortunate fate of innovative research. Rejected scientific letters do not automatically lose copyright. Periodicals with high letter loads will see some valuable contributions wasted, but that is the price for maintaining autonomy in scientific publication. The scientific community is an integrated whole that must respect the rights of authors at all levels. Unauthorised forwarding of rejected letters sets the dangerous precedent of justifying unjust means.

  7. Biological Targets and Mechanisms of Action of Natural Products from Marine Cyanobacteria

    PubMed Central

    Salvador-Reyes, Lilibeth A.

    2015-01-01

    Marine cyanobacteria are an ancient group of organisms and prolific producers of bioactive secondary metabolites. These compounds are presumably optimized by evolution over billions of years to exert high affinity for their intended biological target in the ecologically relevant organism but likely also possess activity in different biological contexts such as human cells. Screening of marine cyanobacterial extracts for bioactive natural products has largely focused on cancer cell viability; however, diversification of the screening platform led to the characterization of many new bioactive compounds. Targets of compounds have oftentimes been elusive if the compounds were discovered through phenotypic assays. Over the past few years, technology has advanced to determine mechanism of action (MOA) and targets through reverse chemical genetic and proteomic approaches, which has been applied to certain cyanobacterial compounds and will be discussed in this review. Some cyanobacterial molecules are the most-potent-in-class inhibitors and therefore may become valuable tools for chemical biology to probe protein function but also be templates for novel drugs, assuming in vitro potency translates into cellular and in vivo activity. Our review will focus on compounds for which the direct targets have been deciphered or which were found to target a novel pathway, and link them to disease states where target modulation may be beneficial. PMID:25571978

  8. Letter names and phonological awareness help children to learn letter-sound relations.

    PubMed

    Cardoso-Martins, Cláudia; Mesquita, Tereza Cristina Lara; Ehri, Linnea

    2011-05-01

    Two experimental training studies with Portuguese-speaking preschoolers in Brazil were conducted to investigate whether children benefit from letter name knowledge and phonological awareness in learning letter-sound relations. In Experiment 1, two groups of children were compared. The experimental group was taught the names of letters whose sounds occur either at the beginning (e.g., the letter /be/) or in the middle (e.g., the letter /'eli/) of the letter name. The control group was taught the shapes of the letters but not their names. Then both groups were taught the sounds of the letters. Results showed an advantage for the experimental group, but only for beginning-sound letters. Experiment 2 investigated whether training in phonological awareness could boost the learning of letter sounds, particularly middle-sound letters. In addition to learning the names of beginning- and middle-sound letters, children in the experimental group were taught to categorize words according to rhyme and alliteration, whereas controls were taught to categorize the same words semantically. All children were then taught the sounds of the letters. Results showed that children who were given phonological awareness training found it easier to learn letter sounds than controls. This was true for both types of letters, but especially for middle-sound letters. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  9. Emerging concepts promising new horizons for marine biodiscovery and synthetic biology.

    PubMed

    Reen, F Jerry; Gutiérrez-Barranquero, José A; Dobson, Alan D W; Adams, Claire; O'Gara, Fergal

    2015-05-13

    The vast oceans of the world, which comprise a huge variety of unique ecosystems, are emerging as a rich and relatively untapped source of novel bioactive compounds with invaluable biotechnological and pharmaceutical potential. Evidence accumulated over the last decade has revealed that the diversity of marine microorganisms is enormous with many thousands of bacterial species detected that were previously unknown. Associated with this diversity is the production of diverse repertoires of bioactive compounds ranging from peptides and enzymes to more complex secondary metabolites that have significant bioactivity and thus the potential to be exploited for innovative biotechnology. Here we review the discovery and functional potential of marine bioactive peptides such as lantibiotics, nanoantibiotics and peptidomimetics, which have received particular attention in recent years in light of their broad spectrum of bioactivity. The significance of marine peptides in cell-to-cell communication and how this may be exploited in the discovery of novel bioactivity is also explored. Finally, with the recent advances in bioinformatics and synthetic biology, it is becoming clear that the integration of these disciplines with genetic and biochemical characterization of the novel marine peptides, offers the most potential in the development of the next generation of societal solutions.

  10. Emerging Concepts Promising New Horizons for Marine Biodiscovery and Synthetic Biology

    PubMed Central

    Reen, F. Jerry; Gutiérrez-Barranquero, José A.; Dobson, Alan D. W.; Adams, Claire; O’Gara, Fergal

    2015-01-01

    The vast oceans of the world, which comprise a huge variety of unique ecosystems, are emerging as a rich and relatively untapped source of novel bioactive compounds with invaluable biotechnological and pharmaceutical potential. Evidence accumulated over the last decade has revealed that the diversity of marine microorganisms is enormous with many thousands of bacterial species detected that were previously unknown. Associated with this diversity is the production of diverse repertoires of bioactive compounds ranging from peptides and enzymes to more complex secondary metabolites that have significant bioactivity and thus the potential to be exploited for innovative biotechnology. Here we review the discovery and functional potential of marine bioactive peptides such as lantibiotics, nanoantibiotics and peptidomimetics, which have received particular attention in recent years in light of their broad spectrum of bioactivity. The significance of marine peptides in cell-to-cell communication and how this may be exploited in the discovery of novel bioactivity is also explored. Finally, with the recent advances in bioinformatics and synthetic biology, it is becoming clear that the integration of these disciplines with genetic and biochemical characterization of the novel marine peptides, offers the most potential in the development of the next generation of societal solutions. PMID:25984990

  11. Using biological effects tools to define Good Environmental Status under the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

    PubMed

    Lyons, B P; Thain, J E; Stentiford, G D; Hylland, K; Davies, I M; Vethaak, A D

    2010-10-01

    The use of biological effects tools offer enormous potential to meet the challenges outlined by the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) whereby Member States are required to develop a robust set of tools for defining 11 qualitative descriptors of Good Environmental Status (GES), such as demonstrating that "Concentrations of contaminants are at levels not giving rise to pollution effects" (GES Descriptor 8). This paper discusses the combined approach of monitoring chemical contaminant levels, along side biological effect measurements relating to the effect of pollutants, for undertaking assessments of GES across European marine regions. We outline the minimum standards that biological effects tools should meet if they are to be used for defining GES in relation to Descriptor 8 and describe the current international initiatives underway to develop assessment criteria for these biological effects techniques. Crown Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Parasites as biological tags in marine fisheries research: European Atlantic waters.

    PubMed

    Mackenzie, K; Hemmingsen, W

    2015-01-01

    Studies of the use of parasites as biological tags for stock identification and to follow migrations of marine fish, mammals and invertebrates in European Atlantic waters are critically reviewed and evaluated. The region covered includes the North, Baltic, Barents and White Seas plus Icelandic waters, but excludes the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Each fish species or ecological group of species is treated separately. More parasite tag studies have been carried out on Atlantic herring Clupea harengus than on any other species, while cod Gadus morhua have also been the subject of many studies. Other species that have been the subjects of more than one study are: blue whiting Micromesistius poutassou, whiting Merlangius merlangus, haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus, Norway pout Trisopterus esmarkii, horse mackerel Trachurus trachurus and mackerel Scomber scombrus. Other species are dealt with under the general headings redfishes, flatfish, tunas, anadromous fish, elasmobranchs, marine mammals and invertebrates. A final section highlights how parasites can be, and have been, misused as biological tags, and how this can be avoided. It also reviews recent developments in methodology and parasite genetics, considers the potential effects of climate change on the distributions of both hosts and parasites, and suggests host-parasite systems that should reward further research.

  13. An Attempt to Simulate Letter-by-Letter Dyslexia in Normal Readers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fiset, Stephanie; Arguin, Martin; Fiset, Daniel

    2006-01-01

    We attempted to simulate the main features of letter-by-letter (LBL) dyslexia in normal readers through stimulus degradation (i.e. contrast reduction and removal of high spatial frequencies). The results showed the word length and the letter confusability effects characteristic of LBL dyslexia. However, the interaction of letter confusability and…

  14. Skill Assessment for Coupled Biological/Physical Models of Marine Systems.

    PubMed

    Stow, Craig A; Jolliff, Jason; McGillicuddy, Dennis J; Doney, Scott C; Allen, J Icarus; Friedrichs, Marjorie A M; Rose, Kenneth A; Wallhead, Philip

    2009-02-20

    Coupled biological/physical models of marine systems serve many purposes including the synthesis of information, hypothesis generation, and as a tool for numerical experimentation. However, marine system models are increasingly used for prediction to support high-stakes decision-making. In such applications it is imperative that a rigorous model skill assessment is conducted so that the model's capabilities are tested and understood. Herein, we review several metrics and approaches useful to evaluate model skill. The definition of skill and the determination of the skill level necessary for a given application is context specific and no single metric is likely to reveal all aspects of model skill. Thus, we recommend the use of several metrics, in concert, to provide a more thorough appraisal. The routine application and presentation of rigorous skill assessment metrics will also serve the broader interests of the modeling community, ultimately resulting in improved forecasting abilities as well as helping us recognize our limitations.

  15. Knowledge about writing influences reading: Dynamic visual information about letter production facilitates letter identification.

    PubMed

    Schubert, Teresa; Reilhac, Caroline; McCloskey, Michael

    2018-06-01

    How are reading and writing related? In this study, we address the relationship between letter identification and letter production, uncovering a link in which production information can be used to identify letters presented dynamically. By testing an individual with a deficit in letter identification, we identified a benefit which would be masked by ceiling effects in unimpaired readers. In Experiment 1 we found that letter stimuli defined by the direction of dot motion (tiny dots within letter move leftward, background dots move rightward) provided no advantage over static letters. In Experiment 2, we tested dynamic stimuli in which the letter shapes emerged over time: drawn as they would be written, drawn in reverse, or with the letter shape filled in randomly. Improved identification was observed only for letters drawn as they are typically written. These results demonstrate that information about letter production can be integrated into letter identification, and point to bi-directional connections between stored letter production information (used for writing) and abstract letter identity representations (used in both reading and writing). The links from stored production information to abstract letter identities allow the former to activate the latter. We also consider the implications of our results for remediation of acquired letter identification deficits, including letter-drawing treatments and the underlying cause of their efficacy. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. 78 FR 63396 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Replacement of the...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-10-24

    ... of the Elliott Bay Seawall in Seattle, Washington, for the period October 2013 to October 2018. These regulations allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization (LOAs) for the incidental take of marine... Service, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910- 3225. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle...

  17. Marine Biology: Self-Directed Study Units for Grades K-3 and 4-8, Gifted. Easily Adapted for Regular Classroom Use. Zephyr Learning Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tanner, Joey

    Originally designed for the gifted student, these reproducible marine biology units emphasize the use of higher order thinking skills and are appropriate for use in any classroom. Interdisciplinary in content, the units provide a broad view of marine biology. Included are two complete units, one created for the upper elementary gifted student and…

  18. Status of marine biomedical research.

    PubMed Central

    Bessey, O

    1976-01-01

    A meeting on Marine Biomedical Research, sponsored by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health and the Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History, was attended by approximately 125 scientists, directors and representatives from many of the country's marine biological laboratories, and government agencies whose interests and responsibilites are in the marine biology and health areas. The purpose of the meeting was to explore the undeveloped research opportunities in the area of marine biology for the advancement of our understanding of human health problems and to provide information on the current status of marine biology laboratories. The meeting was devoted to presentations and discussions in four general areas: (1)Marine Species as Models for Human Disease; (2)Environmental Carcinogenesis and Mutagenesis; (3)Human Health and the Marine Environment--infectious agents and naturally occurring and foreign toxins; and (4)Drugs from the seas. Representatives from twelve of the country's approximatley 40 marine laboratories discussed their organization, developmental history, scientific programs, facilities, and present status of their support. The presentations served as a background and stimulated very lively analytical and constructive discussions of the undeveloped research and education potential residing in the marine environment and biological laboratories for a better understanding of many human health problems; some scientific areas that should be developed to realize this potential; and the needs and problems of marine laboratories that require attention and support if they are to survive and realize their possibilities. PMID:944630

  19. RED-LETTER DAYS

    EPA Science Inventory

    The word "red-letter" is an adjective meaning "of special significance." It's origin is from the practice of marking Christian holy days in red letters on calendars. The "red-letter days" to which I refer occurred while I was a graduate student of ...

  20. Letter and symbol identification: No evidence for letter-specific crowding mechanisms.

    PubMed

    Castet, Eric; Descamps, Marine; Denis-Noël, Ambre; Colé, Pascale

    2017-09-01

    It has been proposed that letters, as opposed to symbols, trigger specialized crowding processes, boosting identification of the first and last letters of words. This hypothesis is based on evidence that single-letter accuracy as a function of within-string position has a W shape (the classic serial position function [SPF] in psycholinguistics) whereas an inverted V shape is obtained when measured with symbols. Our main goal was to test the robustness of the latter result. Our hypothesis was that any letter/symbol difference might result from short-term visual memory processes (due to the partial report [PR] procedures used in SPF studies) rather than from crowding. We therefore removed the involvement of short-term memory by precueing target-item position and compared SPFs with precueing and postcueing. Perimetric complexity was stringently matched between letters and symbols. In postcueing conditions similar to previous studies, we did not reproduce the inverted V shape for symbols: Clear-cut W shapes were observed with an overall smaller accuracy for symbols compared to letters. This letter/symbol difference was dramatically reduced in precueing conditions in keeping with our prediction. Our results are not consistent with the claim that letter strings trigger specialized crowding processes. We argue that PR procedures are not fit to isolate crowding processes.

  1. The effect of letter string length and report condition on letter recognition accuracy.

    PubMed

    Raghunandan, Avesh; Karmazinaite, Berta; Rossow, Andrea S

    Letter sequence recognition accuracy has been postulated to be limited primarily by low-level visual factors. The influence of high level factors such as visual memory (load and decay) has been largely overlooked. This study provides insight into the role of these factors by investigating the interaction between letter sequence recognition accuracy, letter string length and report condition. Letter sequence recognition accuracy for trigrams and pentagrams were measured in 10 adult subjects for two report conditions. In the complete report condition subjects reported all 3 or all 5 letters comprising trigrams and pentagrams, respectively. In the partial report condition, subjects reported only a single letter in the trigram or pentagram. Letters were presented for 100ms and rendered in high contrast, using black lowercase Courier font that subtended 0.4° at the fixation distance of 0.57m. Letter sequence recognition accuracy was consistently higher for trigrams compared to pentagrams especially for letter positions away from fixation. While partial report increased recognition accuracy in both string length conditions, the effect was larger for pentagrams, and most evident for the final letter positions within trigrams and pentagrams. The effect of partial report on recognition accuracy for the final letter positions increased as eccentricity increased away from fixation, and was independent of the inner/outer position of a letter. Higher-level visual memory functions (memory load and decay) play a role in letter sequence recognition accuracy. There is also suggestion of additional delays imposed on memory encoding by crowded letter elements. Copyright © 2016 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  2. Effect of Orthographic Processes on Letter Identity and Letter-Position Encoding in Dyslexic Children

    PubMed Central

    Reilhac, Caroline; Jucla, Mélanie; Iannuzzi, Stéphanie; Valdois, Sylviane; Démonet, Jean-François

    2012-01-01

    The ability to identify letters and encode their position is a crucial step of the word recognition process. However and despite their word identification problem, the ability of dyslexic children to encode letter identity and letter-position within strings was not systematically investigated. This study aimed at filling this gap and further explored how letter identity and letter-position encoding is modulated by letter context in developmental dyslexia. For this purpose, a letter-string comparison task was administered to French dyslexic children and two chronological age (CA) and reading age (RA)-matched control groups. Children had to judge whether two successively and briefly presented four-letter strings were identical or different. Letter-position and letter identity were manipulated through the transposition (e.g., RTGM vs. RMGT) or substitution of two letters (e.g., TSHF vs. TGHD). Non-words, pseudo-words, and words were used as stimuli to investigate sub-lexical and lexical effects on letter encoding. Dyslexic children showed both substitution and transposition detection problems relative to CA-controls. A substitution advantage over transpositions was only found for words in dyslexic children whereas it extended to pseudo-words in RA-controls and to all type of items in CA-controls. Letters were better identified in the dyslexic group when belonging to orthographically familiar strings. Letter-position encoding was very impaired in dyslexic children who did not show any word context effect in contrast to CA-controls. Overall, the current findings point to a strong letter identity and letter-position encoding disorder in developmental dyslexia. PMID:22661961

  3. Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter across a Marine Distributed Biological Observatory in the Pacific Arctic Region

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berman, S. L.; Frey, K. E.; Shake, K. L.; Cooper, L. W.; Grebmeier, J. M.

    2014-12-01

    Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in marine ecosystems as both a carbon source for the microbial food web (and thus a source of CO2 to the atmosphere) and as a light inhibitor in marine environments. The presence of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM; the optically active portion of total DOM) can have significant controlling effects on transmittance of sunlight through the water column and therefore on primary production as well as the heat balance of the upper ocean. However, CDOM is also susceptible to photochemical degradation, which decreases the flux of solar radiation that is absorbed. Knowledge of the current spatial and temporal distribution of CDOM in marine environments is thus critical for understanding how ongoing and future changes in climate may impact these biological, biogeochemical, and physical processes. We describe the quantity and quality of CDOM along five key productive transects across a developing Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) in the Pacific Arctic region. The samples were collected onboard the CCGS Sir Wilfred Laurier in July 2013 and 2014. Monitoring of the variability of CDOM along transects of high productivity can provide important insights into biological and biogeochemical cycling across the region. Our analyses include overall concentrations of CDOM, as well as proxy information such as molecular weight, lability, and source (i.e., autochthonous vs. allochthonous) of organic matter. We utilize these field observations to compare with satellite-derived CDOM concentrations determined from the Aqua MODIS satellite platform, which ultimately provides a spatially and temporally continuous synoptic view of CDOM concentrations throughout the region. Examining the current relationships among CDOM, sea ice variability, biological productivity, and biogeochemical cycling in the Pacific Arctic region will likely provide key insights for how ecosystems throughout the region will respond in future

  4. Marine Indole Alkaloids

    PubMed Central

    Netz, Natalie; Opatz, Till

    2015-01-01

    Marine indole alkaloids comprise a large and steadily growing group of secondary metabolites. Their diverse biological activities make many compounds of this class attractive starting points for pharmaceutical development. Several marine-derived indoles were found to possess cytotoxic, antineoplastic, antibacterial and antimicrobial activities, in addition to the action on human enzymes and receptors. The newly isolated indole alkaloids of marine origin since the last comprehensive review in 2003 are reported, and biological aspects will be discussed. PMID:26287214

  5. Sustained climate warming drives declining marine biological productivity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moore, J. Keith; Fu, Weiwei; Primeau, Francois; Britten, Gregory L.; Lindsay, Keith; Long, Matthew; Doney, Scott C.; Mahowald, Natalie; Hoffman, Forrest; Randerson, James T.

    2018-03-01

    Climate change projections to the year 2100 may miss physical-biogeochemical feedbacks that emerge later from the cumulative effects of climate warming. In a coupled climate simulation to the year 2300, the westerly winds strengthen and shift poleward, surface waters warm, and sea ice disappears, leading to intense nutrient trapping in the Southern Ocean. The trapping drives a global-scale nutrient redistribution, with net transfer to the deep ocean. Ensuing surface nutrient reductions north of 30°S drive steady declines in primary production and carbon export (decreases of 24 and 41%, respectively, by 2300). Potential fishery yields, constrained by lower–trophic-level productivity, decrease by more than 20% globally and by nearly 60% in the North Atlantic. Continued high levels of greenhouse gas emissions could suppress marine biological productivity for a millennium.

  6. Reproductive biology, family conflict, and size of offspring in marine invertebrates.

    PubMed

    Kamel, Stephanie J; Oyarzun, Fernanda X; Grosberg, Richard K

    2010-10-01

    All organisms face two fundamental trade-offs in the allocation of energetic resources: one between many small versus a few large offspring, and the second between present and future reproduction. Nowhere are these trade-offs more apparent than in the vast range of variation in the sizes of eggs and offspring exhibited among species of marine invertebrates. It has become increasingly clear that, in many taxa of marine organisms, there is also substantial intraspecific variation in the size of eggs and hatchings. This variation has largely been attributed to adaptive maternal effects. In theory, however, the inevitable conflicts of interest that arise in families of sexually reproducing organisms over the optimal distribution of parental resources among siblings could also account for much of this variation in egg and offspring size. Here, we explore the potential impacts of family conflict on offspring traits by comparing the life histories of two exemplar species of marine organisms, the polychaete Boccardia proboscidea and the gastropod Solenosteira macrospira, emphasizing how differences in modes of fertilization and parental care might influence the phenotype and, consequently, the fitness of offspring. © The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved.

  7. Marine parasites as biological tags in South American Atlantic waters, current status and perspectives.

    PubMed

    Cantatore, D M P; Timi, J T

    2015-01-01

    Many marine fisheries in South American Atlantic coasts (SAAC) are threatened by overfishing and under serious risk of collapsing. The SAAC comprises a diversity of environments, possesses a complex oceanography and harbours a vast biodiversity that provide an enormous potential for using parasites as biological tags for fish stock delineation, a prerequisite for the implementation of control and management plans. Here, their use in the SAAC is reviewed. Main evidence is derived from northern Argentine waters, where fish parasite assemblages are dominated by larval helminth species that share a low specificity, long persistence and trophic transmission, parasitizing almost indiscriminately all available fish species. The advantages and constraints of such a combination of characteristics are analysed and recommendations are given for future research. Shifting the focus from fish/parasite populations to communities allows expanding the concept of biological tags from local to regional scales, providing essential information to delineate ecosystem boundaries for host communities. This new concept arose as a powerful tool to help the implementation of ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management, the new paradigm for fisheries science. Holistic approaches, including parasites as biological tags for stock delineation will render valuable information to help insure fisheries and marine ecosystems against further depletion and collapse.

  8. 50 CFR 18.115 - What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests? 18.115 Section 18.115 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH..., PURCHASE, BARTER, EXPORTATION, AND IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal...

  9. 50 CFR 18.115 - What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests? 18.115 Section 18.115 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH..., PURCHASE, BARTER, EXPORTATION, AND IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal...

  10. 50 CFR 18.125 - What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests? 18.125 Section 18.125 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH..., PURCHASE, BARTER, EXPORTATION, AND IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal...

  11. 50 CFR 18.125 - What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests? 18.125 Section 18.125 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH..., PURCHASE, BARTER, EXPORTATION, AND IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal...

  12. 50 CFR 18.115 - What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 8 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests? 18.115 Section 18.115 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH..., PURCHASE, BARTER, EXPORTATION, AND IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal...

  13. 50 CFR 18.125 - What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 8 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests? 18.125 Section 18.125 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH..., PURCHASE, BARTER, EXPORTATION, AND IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal...

  14. 50 CFR 18.115 - What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests? 18.115 Section 18.115 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH..., PURCHASE, BARTER, EXPORTATION, AND IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal...

  15. 50 CFR 18.115 - What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests? 18.115 Section 18.115 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH..., PURCHASE, BARTER, EXPORTATION, AND IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal...

  16. 50 CFR 18.125 - What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false What criteria does the Service use to evaluate Letter of Authorization requests? 18.125 Section 18.125 Wildlife and Fisheries UNITED STATES FISH..., PURCHASE, BARTER, EXPORTATION, AND IMPORTATION OF WILDLIFE AND PLANTS (CONTINUED) MARINE MAMMALS Nonlethal...

  17. All About Letters.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Post Office Dept., Washington, DC.

    This booklet, designed to promote the letter writing habit, provides information about writing letters in a variety of situations. It is divided into several short sections with illustrations. Reasons to write letters and postcards are offered by several authors and celebrites including Stevie Wonder, Darryl Stingley, and "Dear Abby." Addresses…

  18. Biological effects: Marine mammals and sea turtles (chapter 14). Book chapter

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Haebler, R.

    1994-01-01

    All spills are different, varying in type and amount of oil spilled, species exposed, and geographic and atmospheric conditions. It is important to understand as much as possible about both the natural history and characteristics of various species and the specific effects oil has on wildlife. Doing so improves the ability to extrapolate from one spill to another and improves prediction of types and severity of effects to wildlife. This chapter presents an overview of the biological effects of oil on marine mammals and sea turtles.

  19. Syntheses and Biological Studies of Marine Terpenoids Derived from Inorganic Cyanide

    PubMed Central

    Schnermann, Martin J.; Shenvi, Ryan A.

    2015-01-01

    Isocyanoterpenes (ICTs) are marine natural products biosynthesized through an unusual pathway that adorns terpene scaffolds with nitrogenous functionality derived from cyanide. The appendage of nitrogen functional groups–isonitriles in particular–onto stereochemically-rich carbocyclic ring systems provides enigmatic, bioactive molecules that have required innovative chemical syntheses. This review discusses the challenges inherent to the synthesis of this diverse family and details the development of the field. We also present recent progress in isolation and discuss key aspects of the remarkable biological activity of these compounds. PMID:25514696

  20. Letters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2008-07-01

    Confused or incorrect? J Khan Reply to the above letter from the authors of 'Aerodynamics experiments with an observable airflow: a fog-wind-tunnel' B Priemer A misleading explanation H Fricker Reply to the above letter from the authors of 'Demonstrate Lenz's law with an aluminium ring' Lyna, C T Chee, C L Sai, G N Khang and T A Ling The heart of the problem B Marshall

  1. Anthraquinones and Derivatives from Marine-Derived Fungi: Structural Diversity and Selected Biological Activities

    PubMed Central

    Fouillaud, Mireille; Venkatachalam, Mekala; Girard-Valenciennes, Emmanuelle; Caro, Yanis; Dufossé, Laurent

    2016-01-01

    Anthraquinones and their derivatives constitute a large group of quinoid compounds with about 700 molecules described. They are widespread in fungi and their chemical diversity and biological activities recently attracted attention of industries in such fields as pharmaceuticals, clothes dyeing, and food colorants. Their positive and/or negative effect(s) due to the 9,10-anthracenedione structure and its substituents are still not clearly understood and their potential roles or effects on human health are today strongly discussed among scientists. As marine microorganisms recently appeared as producers of an astonishing variety of structurally unique secondary metabolites, they may represent a promising resource for identifying new candidates for therapeutic drugs or daily additives. Within this review, we investigate the present knowledge about the anthraquinones and derivatives listed to date from marine-derived filamentous fungi′s productions. This overview highlights the molecules which have been identified in microorganisms for the first time. The structures and colors of the anthraquinoid compounds come along with the known roles of some molecules in the life of the organisms. Some specific biological activities are also described. This may help to open doors towards innovative natural substances. PMID:27023571

  2. Polar marine biology science in Portugal and Spain: Recent advances and future perspectives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xavier, José C.; Barbosa, Andrés; Agustí, Susana; Alonso-Sáez, Laura; Alvito, Pedro; Ameneiro, Julia; Ávila, Conxita; Baeta, Alexandra; Canário, João; Carmona, Raquel; Catry, Paulo; Ceia, Filipe; Clark, Melody S.; Cristobo, Francisco J.; Cruz, Bruno; Duarte, Carlos M.; Figuerola, Blanca; Gili, Josep-Maria; Gonçalves, Ana R.; Gordillo, Francisco J. L.; Granadeiro, José P.; Guerreiro, Miguel; Isla, Enrique; Jiménez, Carlos; López-González, Pablo J.; Lourenço, Sílvia; Marques, João C.; Moreira, Elena; Mota, Ana M.; Nogueira, Marta; Núñez-Pons, Laura; Orejas, Covadonga; Paiva, Vitor H.; Palanques, Albert; Pearson, Gareth A.; Pedrós-Alió, Carlos; Peña Cantero, Álvaro L.; Power, Deborah M.; Ramos, Jaime A.; Rossi, Sergi; Seco, José; Sañé, Elisabet; Serrão, Ester A.; Taboada, Sergi; Tavares, Sílvia; Teixidó, Núria; Vaqué, Dolors; Valente, Tiago; Vázquez, Elsa; Vieira, Rui P.; Viñegla, Benjamin

    2013-10-01

    Polar marine ecosystems have global ecological and economic importance because of their unique biodiversity and their major role in climate processes and commercial fisheries, among others. Portugal and Spain have been highly active in a wide range of disciplines in marine biology of the Antarctic and the Arctic. The main aim of this paper is to provide a synopsis of some of the results and initiatives undertaken by Portuguese and Spanish polar teams within the field of marine sciences, particularly on benthic and pelagic biodiversity (species diversity and abundance, including microbial, molecular, physiological and chemical mechanisms in polar organisms), conservation and ecology of top predators (particularly penguins, albatrosses and seals), and pollutants and evolution of marine organisms associated with major issues such as climate change, ocean acidification and UV radiation effects. Both countries have focused their polar research more in the Antarctic than in the Arctic. Portugal and Spain should encourage research groups to continue increasing their collaborations with other countries and develop multi-disciplinary research projects, as well as to maintain highly active memberships within major organizations, such as the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), the International Arctic Science Council (IASC) and the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS), and in international research projects.

  3. Connecting marine productivity to sea-spray via microscale biological processes: phytoplancton demise and viral infection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Facchini, C.; O'Dowd, C. D. D.; Danovaro, R.

    2015-12-01

    The processes that link phytoplankton biomass and productivity to the organic matter enrichment in sea spray aerosol are far from being elucidated and modelling predictions remain highly uncertain at the moment. While some studies have asserted that the enrichment of OM in sea spray aerosol is independent on marine productivity, others, have shown significant correlation with phytoplankton biomass and productivity (Chl-a retrieved by satellites). We present here new results illustrating a clear link between OM mass-fraction enrichment in sea spray (OMss) and both phytoplankton-biomass and Net Primary Productivity (NPP). We suggest that the OM enrichment of sea spray through the demise of the bloom, driven by nanoscale biological processes (such as viral infections), which determine the release of celldebris, exudates and other colloidal material. This OM, through processes, leads to enrichment in sea-spray, thus demonstrating an important coupling between biologically-drive plankton bloom termination, marine productivity and sea-spraymodification with potentially significant climate impacts.

  4. 77 FR 25435 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School Training Operations...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-30

    ... B harassment, incidental to Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School (NEODS) training operations at... Importing Marine Mammals; Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School Training Operations at Eglin Air Force... and the Issuance of Letters of Authorization to Take Marine Mammals, by Level B Harassment, Incidental...

  5. Sustained climate warming drives declining marine biological productivity

    DOE PAGES

    Moore, J. Keith; Fu, Weiwei; Primeau, Francois; ...

    2018-03-01

    Climate change projections to the year 2100 may miss physical-biogeochemical feedbacks that emerge later from the cumulative effects of climate warming. In a coupled climate simulation to the year 2300, the westerly winds strengthen and shift poleward, surface waters warm, and sea ice disappears, leading to intense nutrient trapping in the Southern Ocean. The trapping drives a global-scale nutrient redistribution, with net transfer to the deep ocean. Ensuing surface nutrient reductions north of 30°S drive steady declines in primary production and carbon export (decreases of 24 and 41%, respectively, by 2300). Potential fishery yields, constrained by lower–trophic-level productivity, decrease bymore » more than 20% globally and by nearly 60% in the North Atlantic. Continued high levels of greenhouse gas emissions could suppress marine biological productivity for a millennium.« less

  6. Sustained climate warming drives declining marine biological productivity

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Moore, J. Keith; Fu, Weiwei; Primeau, Francois

    Climate change projections to the year 2100 may miss physical-biogeochemical feedbacks that emerge later from the cumulative effects of climate warming. In a coupled climate simulation to the year 2300, the westerly winds strengthen and shift poleward, surface waters warm, and sea ice disappears, leading to intense nutrient trapping in the Southern Ocean. The trapping drives a global-scale nutrient redistribution, with net transfer to the deep ocean. Ensuing surface nutrient reductions north of 30°S drive steady declines in primary production and carbon export (decreases of 24 and 41%, respectively, by 2300). Potential fishery yields, constrained by lower–trophic-level productivity, decrease bymore » more than 20% globally and by nearly 60% in the North Atlantic. Continued high levels of greenhouse gas emissions could suppress marine biological productivity for a millennium.« less

  7. Isolation and biological characteristics of aerobic marine magnetotactic bacterium YSC-1

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, Jun; Pan, Hongmiao; Yue, Haidong; Song, Tao; Zhao, Yong; Chen, Guanjun; Wu, Longfei; Xiao, Tian

    2006-12-01

    Magnetotactic bacteria have become a hot spot of research in microbiology attracting intensive interest of researchers in multiple disciplinary fields. However, the studies were limited in few fastidious bacteria. The objective of this study aims at isolating new marine magnetic bacteria and better comprehension of magnetotactic bacteria. In this study, an aerobic magnetotactic bacterium YSC-1 was isolated from sediments in the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (YSCWM). In TEM, magnetic cells have one or several circular magnetosomes in diameter of 100nm, and consist of Fe and Co shown on energy dispersive X-ray spectrum. The biological and physiological characteristics of this bacterium were also described. The colour of YSC-1 colony is white in small rod. The gram stain is negative. Results showed that Strain YSC-1 differs from microaerophile magnetotactic bacteria MS-1 and WD-1 in biology.

  8. Size distributions of organic nitrogen and carbon in remote marine aerosols: Evidence of marine biological origin based on their isotopic ratios

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miyazaki, Yuzo; Kawamura, Kimitaka; Sawano, Maki

    2010-03-01

    Size-segregated aerosol samples were collected over the western North Pacific in summer 2008 for the measurements of organic nitrogen (ON) and organic carbon (OC). ON and OC showed bimodal size distributions. Their concentrations showed positive correlation with those of biogenic tracers, methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and azelaic acid (C9). We found that average ON and OC concentrations were twice greater in aerosols collected in the oceanic region with higher biological productivity than in the regions with lower productivity. The average ON/OC ratios are higher (0.49 ± 0.11) in more biologically influenced aerosols than those (0.35 ± 0.10) in less influenced aerosols. Stable carbon isotopic analysis indicates that marine-derived carbon accounted for ˜46-72% of total carbon in more biologically influenced aerosols. These results provide evidence that organic aerosols in this region are enriched in ON that is linked to oceanic biological activity and the subsequent emissions to the atmosphere.

  9. Connections are not enough for membership: Letter/non-letter distinction persists through phonological association learning.

    PubMed

    Schmitt, Andreas; van Leeuwen, Cees; Lachmann, Thomas

    2017-05-01

    In compound, hierarchical stimuli (also known as Navon figures), a Global Precedence Effect (GPE) can reliably be observed for both letters and non-letters. However, when presentation conditions sufficiently resemble those of reading, the GPE for letters has occasionally been found to disappear. We corroborate this effect in a study with a large group of participants. In addition, in-between two sessions, participants were trained in associating the non-letters with either phonological or non-phonological sounds. We reasoned that learning distinctive phonological associations might be akin to the acquisition of letter knowledge. This might eliminate the GPE also for the non-letters. However, the GPE persisted for the trained non-letters in both conditions. The large number of participants in this study revealed additional effects in the letter condition, which enabled further insights in the processing dissociation between letters and non-letter shapes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  10. Marine Public Affairs and the Battle of Iwo Jima

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2001-04-01

    torturous” among other things .41 Landsberge, an Associated Press Correspondent, was aboard Vice Admiral Richmand Kelly Turner’s flagship and not actually on ...thereby make it more palatable to civilian reporters. 49 The Marines on Iwo Jima did many things to gain the media’s trust and cooperation: media boats...Marine Corps prevailed on this front too. 52 Annotated Bibliograhy Major Ben H. Owens PRIMARY SOURCES: Cameron, Garry . Letter to Mike Caprero in

  11. S.E.A. Lab. Science Experiments and Activities. Marine Science for High School Students in Chemistry, Biology and Physics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hart, Kathy, Ed.

    A series of science experiments and activities designed for secondary school students taking biology, chemistry, physics, physical science or marine science courses are outlined. Each of the three major sections--chemistry, biology, and physics--addresses concepts that are generally covered in those courses but incorporates aspects of marine…

  12. The effect of suspending solution supplemented with marine cations on the oxidation of Biolog GN MicroPlate substrates by Vibrionaceae bacteria.

    PubMed

    Noble, L D; Gow, J A

    1998-03-01

    Bacteria belonging to the family Vibrionaceae were suspended using saline and a solution prepared from a marine-cations supplement. The effect of this on the profile of oxidized substrates obtained when using Biolog GN MicroPlates was investigated. Thirty-nine species belonging to the genera Aeromonas, Listonella, Photobacterium, and Vibrio were studied. Of the strains studied, species of Listonella, Photobacterium, and Vibrio could be expected to benefit from a marine-cations supplement that contained Na+, K+, and Mg2+. Bacteria that are not of marine origin are usually suspended in normal saline. Of the 39 species examined, 9 were not included in the Biolog data base and were not identified. Of the 30 remaining species, 50% were identified correctly using either of the suspending solutions. A further 20% were correctly identified only when suspended in saline. Three species, or 10%, were correctly identified only after suspension in the marine-cations supplemented solution. The remaining 20% of species were not correctly identified by either method. Generally, more substrates were oxidized when the bacteria had been suspended in the more complex salts solution. Usually, when identifications were incorrect, the use of the marine-cations supplemented suspending solution had resulted in many more substrates being oxidized. Based on these results, it would be preferable to use saline to suspend the cells when using Biolog for identification of species of Vibrionaceae. A salts solution containing a marine-cations supplement would be preferable for environmental studies where the objective is to determine profiles of substrates that the bacteria have the potential to oxidize. If identifications are done using marine-cations supplemented suspending solution, it would be advisable to include reference cultures to determine the effect of the supplement. Of the Vibrio and Listonella species associated with human clinical specimens, 8 out of the 11 studied were identified

  13. Secondary Metabolites from Marine Microorganisms. II. Marine Fungi and Their Habitats.

    PubMed

    Orlova, T I; Bulgakova, V G; Polin, A N

    Marine-derived fungi are of great interest as a new promising source of biologically active products such as anticancer compounds, antibiotics, inhibitors of biochemical processes. Since marine organisms inhabit biologically competitive environment with unique conditions, the chemical diversity of the secondary metabolites from marine fungi is considerably high. Recent genomic studies demonstrated that fungi can carry gene clasters encoding production of previously unknown secondary metabolites. Activation of the attenuated or silent genes would be useful either for improving activities of the known compounds or for discovery of new products.

  14. 78 FR 21134 - Merchant Mariner Medical Advisory Committee; Vacancy

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-09

    ... standards and guidelines for the physical qualifications of operators of commercial vessels; medical examiner education; and medical research. DATES: Applicants must send a cover letter describing their... merchant mariners' documents; medical standards and guidelines for the physical qualifications of operators...

  15. What Do Letter Migration Errors Reveal About Letter Position Coding in Visual Word Recognition?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, Colin J.; Bowers, Jeffrey S.

    2004-01-01

    Dividing attention across multiple words occasionally results in misidentifications whereby letters apparently migrate between words. Previous studies have found that letter migrations preserve within-word letter position, which has been interpreted as support for position-specific letter coding. To investigate this issue, the authors used word…

  16. Letter Names and Phonological Awareness Help Children to Learn Letter-Sound Relations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cardoso-Martins, Claudia; Mesquita, Tereza Cristina Lara; Ehri, Linnea

    2011-01-01

    Two experimental training studies with Portuguese-speaking preschoolers in Brazil were conducted to investigate whether children benefit from letter name knowledge and phonological awareness in learning letter-sound relations. In Experiment 1, two groups of children were compared. The experimental group was taught the names of letters whose sounds…

  17. What Can Reduce Letter Migrations in Letter Position Dyslexia?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Friedmann, Naama; Rahamim, Einav

    2014-01-01

    Letter position dyslexia (LPD) is a peripheral dyslexia that causes errors of letter position within words, such as reading "cloud" as "could." In this study, we assessed the effect of various display manipulations and reading methods on the reading of 10 Hebrew readers with developmental LPD. These manipulations included…

  18. Resource Letter: LBOT-1: Laser-based optical tweezers

    PubMed Central

    Lang, Matthew J.; Block, Steven M.

    2006-01-01

    This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on optical tweezers, also known as laser-based, gradient-force optical traps. Journal articles and books are cited for the following main topics: general papers on optical tweezers, trapping instrument design, optical detection methods, optical trapping theory, mechanical measurements, single molecule studies, and sections on biological motors, cellular measurements and additional applications of optical tweezers. PMID:16971965

  19. Resource Letter: LBOT-1: Laser-based optical tweezers.

    PubMed

    Lang, Matthew J; Block, Steven M

    2003-03-01

    This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on optical tweezers, also known as laser-based, gradient-force optical traps. Journal articles and books are cited for the following main topics: general papers on optical tweezers, trapping instrument design, optical detection methods, optical trapping theory, mechanical measurements, single molecule studies, and sections on biological motors, cellular measurements and additional applications of optical tweezers.

  20. Letter Names: Effect on Letter Saying, Spelling, and Word Recognition in Hebrew.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levin, Iris; Patel, Sigal; Margalit, Tamar; Barad, Noa

    2002-01-01

    Examined whether letter names, which bridge the gap between oral and written language among English speaking children, have a similar function in Hebrew. In findings from studies of Israeli kindergartners and first graders, children were found to rely on letter names in performing a number of letter saying, spelling, and word recognition tasks.…

  1. Disentangling the developmental trajectories of letter position and letter identity coding using masked priming.

    PubMed

    Kezilas, Yvette; McKague, Meredith; Kohnen, Saskia; Badcock, Nicholas A; Castles, Anne

    2017-02-01

    Masked transposed-letter (TL) priming effects have been used to index letter position processing over the course of reading development. Whereas some studies have reported an increase in TL priming over development, others have reported a decrease. These findings have led to the development of 2 somewhat contradictory accounts of letter position development: the lexical tuning hypothesis and the multiple-route model. One factor that may be contributing to these discrepancies is the use of baseline primes that substitute letters in the target word, which may confound the effect of changes in letter position processing over development with those of letter identity. The present study included an identity prime (e.g., listen-LISTEN), in addition to the standard two-substituted-letter (2SL; e.g., lidfen-LISTEN) and all-letter-different (ALD; e.g., rodfup-LISTEN) baselines, to remove the potential confound between letter position and letter identity information in determining the effect of the TL prime. Priming effects were measured in a lexical decision task administered to children aged 7-12 and a group of university students. Using inverse transformed response times, targets preceded by a TL prime were responded to significantly faster than those preceded by 2SL and ALD primes, and priming remained stable across development. In contrast, targets preceded by a TL prime were responded to significantly slower than those preceded by an ID prime, and this reaction-time cost increased significantly over development, with adults showing the largest cost. These findings are consistent with a lexical tuning account of letter position development, and are inconsistent with the multiple-route model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Bioactive terpenes from marine-derived fungi.

    PubMed

    Elissawy, Ahmed M; El-Shazly, Mohamed; Ebada, Sherif S; Singab, AbdelNasser B; Proksch, Peter

    2015-04-03

    Marine-derived fungi continue to be a prolific source of secondary metabolites showing diverse bioactivities. Terpenoids from marine-derived fungi exhibit wide structural diversity including numerous compounds with pronounced biological activities. In this review, we survey the last five years' reports on terpenoidal metabolites from marine-derived fungi with particular attention on those showing marked biological activities.

  3. What Are the ABC's of Marine Education? An Introduction to Marine Education in the Gulf of Maine Region.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Butzow, John W.; And Others

    Presented are 26 units (each title beginning with a letter of the alphabet) intended to serve as points of departure for teachers and students who desire to increase their awareness of the marine environment. Each unit includes ideas and activities drawn from a variety of content areas so that teachers of many different subjects at the junior high…

  4. 47 CFR 61.15 - Letters of transmittal and cover letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Section 61.15 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES (CONTINUED) TARIFFS Rules for Electronic Filing § 61.15 Letters of transmittal and cover letters. (a) All... pursuant to the notice requirements of section 204(a)(3) of the Communications Act shall display...

  5. 76 FR 39386 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the Port of Anchorage...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-07-06

    ... graduate and undergraduate marine biology students conducted approximately 600 hours of scientific... Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the Port of Anchorage Marine Terminal Redevelopment Project AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

  6. Parafoveal letter-position coding in reading.

    PubMed

    Snell, Joshua; Bertrand, Daisy; Grainger, Jonathan

    2018-05-01

    The masked-priming lexical decision task has been the paradigm of choice for investigating how readers code for letter identity and position. Insight into the temporal integration of information between prime and target words has pointed out, among other things, that readers do not code for the absolute position of letters. This conception has spurred various accounts of the word recognition process, but the results at present do not favor one account in particular. Thus, employing a new strategy, the present study moves out of the arena of temporal- and into the arena of spatial information integration. We present two lexical decision experiments that tested how the processing of six-letter target words is influenced by simultaneously presented flanking stimuli (each stimulus was presented for 150 ms). We manipulated the orthographic relatedness between the targets and flankers, in terms of both letter identity (same/different letters based on the target's outer/inner letters) and letter position (intact/reversed order of letters and of flankers, contiguous/noncontiguous flankers). Target processing was strongly facilitated by same-letter flankers, and this facilitatory effect was modulated by both letter/flanker order and contiguity. However, when the flankers consisted of the target's inner-positioned letters alone, letter order no longer mattered. These findings suggest that readers may code for the relative position of letters using words' edges as spatial points of reference. We conclude that the flanker paradigm provides a fruitful means to investigate letter-position coding in the fovea and parafovea.

  7. Analysis of reliability of professor recommendation letters based on concordance with self-introduction letter.

    PubMed

    Kim, Sang Hyun

    2013-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the concordance between a checklist's categories of professor recommendation letters and characteristics of the self-introduction letter. Checklists of professor recommendation letters were analyzed and classified into cognitive, social, and affective domains. Simple correlation was performed to determine whether the characteristics of the checklists were concordant with those of the self-introduction letter. The difference in ratings of the checklists by pass or fail grades was analyzed by independent sample t-test. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine whether a pass or fail grade was influenced by ratings on the checklists. The Cronbach alpha value of the checklists was 0.854. Initiative, as an affective domain, in the professor's recommendation letter was highly ranked among the six checklist categories. Self-directed learning in the self-introduction letter was influenced by a pass or fail grade by logistic regression analysis (p<0.05). Successful applicants received higher ratings than those who failed in every checklist category, particularly in problem-solving ability, communication skills, initiative, and morality (p<0.05). There was a strong correlation between cognitive and affective characteristics in the professor recommendation letters and the sum of all characteristics in the self-introduction letter.

  8. 75 FR 38465 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the Port of Anchorage...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-02

    ..., from May 4 through November 18, 2009, trained graduate and undergraduate marine biology students... Importing Marine Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to the Port of Anchorage Marine Terminal Redevelopment Project AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

  9. Van: An Open Letter

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tieman, John Samuel

    2011-01-01

    This essay is an open letter from a classroom teacher to a concerned citizen. The letter lists a variety of problems caused largely by standardization and the more corrosive effects of positivism. Many of these problems are unknown to those outside the immediate school setting. While the letter focuses on a specific setting, an inner city school…

  10. Outcome progress letter types

    PubMed Central

    Lingley-Pottie, Patricia; Janz, Teresa; McGrath, Patrick J.; Cunningham, Charles; MacLean, Cathy

    2011-01-01

    Abstract Objective To determine health care professional and parental preferences for receiving progress letters from a pediatric mental health program between a traditional text-only format and a version in which information was presented using graphs and tables with limited text. Design Mailed survey. Setting Nova Scotia. Participants Parents (n = 98) of children who received treatment from and health care professionals (n = 74) who referred patients to the Strongest Families Program (formerly the Family Help Program) were eligible. Most of the health care professionals were family practitioners (83.8%). Main outcome measures Preference between 2 letters that contained the same content (including progress in the program, results from a questionnaire, and resolved and ongoing problems) in different formats—one using text only, the other using graphs as well as text. Results In total, 83.8% of health professionals and 76.5% of parents indicated that they preferred to receive feedback in letters containing information in graphical format. Background and demographic information did not predict preferences. Parents preferred to receive progress letters at the beginning, midway through, and at the end of treatment, and health professionals preferred to receive progress letters at the beginning and end of treatment. Conclusion When receiving progress letters from a pediatric mental health program, health care professionals and parents preferred to receive letters that used graphs to help convey information. PMID:22170209

  11. Secondary metabolites from marine-derived microorganisms.

    PubMed

    Chen, Gang; Wang, Hai-Feng; Pei, Yue-Hu

    2014-01-01

    In the search for novel and bioactive molecules for drug discovery, marine-derived natural resources, especially marine microorganisms are becoming an important and interesting research area. This study covers the literature published after 2008 on secondary metabolites of marine-derived microorganisms. The emphasis was on new compounds with the relevant biological activities, strain information, and country of origin. New compounds without biological activity were not included.

  12. Evidence for a Biological Control on Emissions of Marine Ice Nucleating Particles: Laboratory, Field and Modeling Results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCluskey, Christina Song

    Laboratory, field, and modeling studies were used to (1) confirm the hypothesized source of marine ice nucleating particle (INP) emissions associated with marine organic aerosol that arises from elevated oceanic biological productivity; (2) identify marine INP compositions and their activation temperatures; (3) determine the natural abundances and variability of the number concentrations of marine INPs (nINPs); and (4) evaluate the current best model estimates of marine INPs against new observations. Observations of seawater biology, aerosol composition and ice nucleation ability of bulk seawater, the sea surface microlayer (upper 50 mum of the ocean surface), and laboratory-generated sea spray aerosol (SSA) during simulated phytoplankton blooms revealed that emissions of INPs active at temperatures warmer than -22°C increased during the decay of two phytoplankton blooms. Enrichment of organic matter in the sea surface microlayer and its subsequent control on transferring organic material into the aerosol phase was found to be an important factor in the release of INPs from the ocean surface. Integration of all size and compositional analyses led to two proposed classes of marine INPs: (A) ice nucleation active molecules and (B) ice nucleation active intact or fragmented microbes (e.g., diatoms or bacteria). To investigate marine INPs present in nature, several field campaigns were carried out over oceans and at two remote coastal sites. Regarding their abundance and variability, the number concentrations of ice nucleating particles, nINPs, active at temperatures warmer than -30 °C, ranged over three or more orders of magnitude at any particular temperature for samples collected in the marine boundary layer during six research voyages over the Pacific Ocean, spanning 70°S to 60°N over various seasons. nINPs were greater and more variable in the Northern Hemisphere compared to the Southern Hemisphere. Factors that contributed to this variability were

  13. Evaluating legacy contaminants and emerging chemicals in marine environments using adverse outcome pathways and biological effects-directed analysis.

    PubMed

    Hutchinson, Thomas H; Lyons, Brett P; Thain, John E; Law, Robin J

    2013-09-30

    Natural and synthetic chemicals are essential to our daily lives, food supplies, health care, industries and safe sanitation. At the same time protecting marine ecosystems and seafood resources from the adverse effects of chemical contaminants remains an important issue. Since the 1970s, monitoring of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals using analytical chemistry has provided important spatial and temporal trend data in three important contexts; relating to human health protection from seafood contamination, addressing threats to marine top predators and finally providing essential evidence to better protect the biodiversity of commercial and non-commercial marine species. A number of regional conventions have led to controls on certain PBT chemicals over several years (termed 'legacy contaminants'; e.g. cadmium, lindane, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs] and polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs]). Analytical chemistry plays a key role in evaluating to what extent such regulatory steps have been effective in leading to reduced emissions of these legacy contaminants into marine environments. In parallel, the application of biomarkers (e.g. DNA adducts, CYP1A-EROD, vitellogenin) and bioassays integrated with analytical chemistry has strengthened the evidence base to support an ecosystem approach to manage marine pollution problems. In recent years, however,the increased sensitivity of analytical chemistry, toxicity alerts and wider environmental awareness has led to a focus on emerging chemical contaminants (defined as chemicals that have been detected in the environment, but which are currently not included in regulatory monitoring programmes and whose fate and biological impacts are poorly understood). It is also known that natural chemicals (e.g. algal biotoxins) may also pose a threat to marine species and seafood quality. Hence complex mixtures of legacy contaminants, emerging chemicals and natural biotoxins in marine ecosystems represent

  14. Will marine productivity wane?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laufkötter, Charlotte; Gruber, Nicolas

    2018-03-01

    If marine algae are impaired severely by global climate change, the resulting reduction in marine primary production would strongly affect marine life and the ocean's biological pump that sequesters substantial amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the ocean's interior. Most studies, including the latest generation of Earth system models, project only moderate global decreases in biological production until 2100 (1, 2), suggesting that these concerns are unwarranted. But on page 1139 of this issue, Moore et al. (3) show that this conclusion might be shortsighted and that there may be much larger long-term changes in ocean productivity than previously appreciated.

  15. Marine Science Teaching at the University Level. Report of the Unesco Workshop on University Curricula. Unesco Technical Papers in Marine Science No. 19.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris (France). Div. of Marine Sciences.

    A group of marine science education educators from several countries were requested to provide guidelines for the education and training of marine scientists and formulate recommended curricula in the following disciplines: marine biology (including fisheries biology), physical oceanography, and marine geology. Included in the report are: (1)…

  16. [Secondary Metabolites from Marine Microorganisms. I. Secondary Metabolites from Marine Actinomycetes].

    PubMed

    Orlova, T I; Bulgakova, V G; Polin, A N

    2015-01-01

    Review represents data on new active metabolites isolated from marine actinomycetes published in 2007 to 2014. Marine actinomycetes are an unlimited source of novel secondary metabolites with various biological activities. Among them there are antibiotics, anticancer compounds, inhibitors of biochemical processes.

  17. Marine Education Knowledge Inventory.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hounshell, Paul B.; Hampton, Carolyn

    This 35-item, multiple-choice Marine Education Knowledge Inventory was developed for use in upper elementary/middle schools to measure a student's knowledge of marine science. Content of test items is drawn from oceanography, ecology, earth science, navigation, and the biological sciences (focusing on marine animals). Steps in the construction of…

  18. Marine medicinal glycomics

    PubMed Central

    Pomin, Vitor H.

    2014-01-01

    Glycomics is an international initiative aimed to understand the structure and function of the glycans from a given type of cell, tissue, organism, kingdom or even environment, as found under certain conditions. Glycomics is one of the latest areas of intense biological research. Glycans of marine sources are unique in terms of structure and function. They differ considerably from those of terrestrial origin. This review discusses the most known marine glycans of potential therapeutic properties. They are chitin, chitosan, and sulfated polysaccharides named glycosaminoglycans, sulfated fucans, and sulfated galactans. Their medical actions are very broad. When certain structural requirements are found, these glycans can exhibit beneficial effects in inflammation, coagulation, thrombosis, cancer growth/metastasis, and vascular biology. Both structure and therapeutic mechanisms of action of these marine glycans are discussed here in straight context with the current glycomic age through a project suggestively named marine medicinal glycomics. PMID:24524028

  19. Disentangling the Developmental Trajectories of Letter Position and Letter Identity Coding Using Masked Priming

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kezilas, Yvette; McKague, Meredith; Kohnen, Saskia; Badcock, Nicholas A.; Castles, Anne

    2017-01-01

    Masked transposed-letter (TL) priming effects have been used to index letter position processing over the course of reading development. Whereas some studies have reported an increase in TL priming over development, others have reported a decrease. These findings have led to the development of 2 somewhat contradictory accounts of letter position…

  20. Letter Knowledge in Parent–Child Conversations

    PubMed Central

    Robins, Sarah; Treiman, Rebecca; Rosales, Nicole

    2014-01-01

    Learning about letters is an important component of emergent literacy. We explored the possibility that parent speech provides information about letters, and also that children’s speech reflects their own letter knowledge. By studying conversations transcribed in CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000) between parents and children aged one to five, we found that alphabetic order influenced use of individual letters and letter sequences. The frequency of letters in children’s books influenced parent utterances throughout the age range studied, but children’s utterances only after age two. Conversations emphasized some literacy-relevant features of letters, such as their shapes and association with words, but not letters’ sounds. Describing these patterns and how they change over the preschool years offers important insight into the home literacy environment. PMID:25598577

  1. Compilation of selected marine radioecological data for the US Subseabed Program: Summaries of available radioecological concentration factors and biological half-lives

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gomez, L.S.; Marietta, M.G.; Jackson, D.W.

    1987-04-01

    The US Subseabed Disposal Program has compiled an extensive concentration factor and biological half-life data base from the international marine radioecological literature. A microcomputer-based data management system has been implemented to provide statistical and graphic summaries of these data. The data base is constructed in a manner which allows subsets to be sorted using a number of interstudy variables such as organism category, tissue/organ category, geographic location (for in situ studies), and several laboratory-related conditions (e.g., exposure time and exposure concentration). This report updates earlier reviews and provides summaries of the tabulated data. In addition to the concentration factor/biological half-lifemore » data base, we provide an outline of other published marine radioecological works. Our goal is to present these data in a form that enables those concerned with predictive assessment of radiation dose in the marine environment to make a more judicious selection of data for a given application. 555 refs., 19 figs., 7 tabs.« less

  2. 76 FR 12070 - Incidental Taking of Marine Mammals; Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to the Explosive Removal...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-03-04

    ... Energy's EROS operations in 2010: Marine mammals Biological impacts Company Structure Dates sighted... Taking of Marine Mammals; Taking of Marine Mammals Incidental to the Explosive Removal of Offshore Structures in the Gulf of Mexico AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and...

  3. Coupling biology and oceanography in models.

    PubMed

    Fennel, W; Neumann, T

    2001-08-01

    The dynamics of marine ecosystems, i.e. the changes of observable chemical-biological quantities in space and time, are driven by biological and physical processes. Predictions of future developments of marine systems need a theoretical framework, i.e. models, solidly based on research and understanding of the different processes involved. The natural way to describe marine systems theoretically seems to be the embedding of chemical-biological models into circulation models. However, while circulation models are relatively advanced the quantitative theoretical description of chemical-biological processes lags behind. This paper discusses some of the approaches and problems in the development of consistent theories and indicates the beneficial potential of the coupling of marine biology and oceanography in models.

  4. Letter-transposition effects are not universal: The impact of transposing letters in Hebrew

    PubMed Central

    Velan, Hadas; Frost, Ram

    2009-01-01

    We examined the effects of letter transposition in Hebrew in three masked-priming experiments. Hebrew, like English has an alphabetic orthography where sequential and contiguous letter strings represent phonemes. However, being a Semitic language it has a non-concatenated morphology that is based on root derivations. Experiment 1 showed that transposed-letter (TL) root primes inhibited responses to targets derived from the non-transposed root letters, and that this inhibition was unrelated to relative root frequency. Experiment 2 replicated this result and showed that if the transposed letters of the root created a nonsense-root that had no lexical representation, then no inhibition and no facilitation were obtained. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrated that in contrast to English, French, or Spanish, TL nonword primes did not facilitate recognition of targets, and when the root letters embedded in them consisted of a legal root morpheme, they produced inhibition. These results suggest that lexical space in alphabetic orthographies may be structured very differently in different languages if their morphological structure diverges qualitatively. In Hebrew, lexical space is organized according to root families rather than simple orthographic structure, so that all words derived from the same root are interconnected or clustered together, independent of overall orthographic similarity. PMID:20161017

  5. Liability and Letters of Recommendation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sendor, Benjamin

    1997-01-01

    Analyzes the California Supreme Court case "Randi W. v. Muroc Joint Unified School District." The court determined that letters of recommendation, which had omitted mentioning allegations of improper sexual conduct with students, were deceptively incomplete. Writers of letters have three choices: refuse to write a letter, write a fully…

  6. A Retrospective Analysis Comparing the New Standardized Letter of Recommendation in Dermatology with the Classic Narrative Letter of Recommendation

    PubMed Central

    Mosser, Joy; Lee, Grace; Pootrakul, Llana; Harfmann, Katya; Fabbro, Stephanie; Faith, Esteban Fernandez; Carr, David; Plotner, Alisha; Zirwas, Matthew; Kaffenberger, Benjamin H.

    2016-01-01

    Background: In an effort to avoid numerous problems associated with narrative letters of recommendation, a dermatology standardized letter of recommendation was utilized in the 2014–2015 resident application cycle. Objective: A comparison of the standardized letter of recommendation and narrative letters of recommendation from a single institution and application cycle to determine if the standardized letter of recommendation met its original goals of efficiency, applicant stratification, and validity. Methods: Eight dermatologists assessed all standardized letters of recommendation/narrative letters of recommendation pairs received during the 2014–2015 application cycle. Five readers repeated the analysis two months later. Each letter of recommendation was evaluated based on a seven question survey. Letter analysis and survey completion for each letter was timed. Results: Compared to the narrative letters of recommendation, the standardized letter of recommendation is easier to interpret (p<0.0001), has less exaggeration of applicants’ positive traits (p<0.001), and has higher inter-rater and intrarater reliability for determining applicant traits including personality, reliability, work-ethic, and global score. Standardized letters of recommendation are also faster to interpret (p<0.0001) and provide more information about the writer’s background or writer-applicant relationship than narrative letters of recommendation (p<0.001). Limitations: This study was completed at a single institution. Conclusions: The standardized letter of recommendation appears to be meeting its initial goals of 1) efficiency, 2) applicant stratification, and 3) validity. (J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2016;9(9):36–2.) PMID:27878060

  7. Embedded Picture Mnemonics to Learn Letters

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shmidman, Adina; Ehri, Linnea

    2010-01-01

    Can embedded mnemonics ease the task of learning a foreign alphabet? English-speaking preschoolers (N = 36, M = 5;2 years) were taught 10 Hebrew letter-sound relations. Experimental letters were learned with mnemonics that embedded letter shapes in drawings of objects whose shapes resembled the letters and whose English names began with the…

  8. 78 FR 42935 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16992

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-18

    ... permit has been issued to Paul Nachtigall, Ph.D., Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of... captivity at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology in Kaneohe, Hawaii. Researchers will conduct hearing...

  9. Parasites as biological tags for stock discrimination in marine fish from South American Atlantic waters.

    PubMed

    Timi, Juan T

    2007-06-01

    The use of parasites as biological tags in population studies of marine fish in the south-western Atlantic has proved to be a successful tool for discriminating stocks for all species to which it has been applied, namely: Scomber japonicus, Engraulis anchoita, Merluccius hubbsi and Cynoscion guatucupa, the latter studied on a broader geographic scale, including samples from Uruguayan and Brazilian waters. The distribution patterns of marine parasites are determined mainly by temperature-salinity profiles and by their association with specific masses of water. Analyses of distribution patterns of some parasite species in relation to gradients in environmental (oceanographic) conditions showed that latitudinal gradients in parasite distribution are common in the study area, and are probably directly related to water temperature. Indeed, temperature, which is a good predictor of latitudinal gradients of richness and diversity of species, shows a latitudinal pattern in south-western Atlantic coasts, decreasing southwards, due to the influence of subtropical and subantarctic marine currents flowing along the edge of the continental slope. This pattern also determines the distribution of zooplankton, with a characteristic specific composition in different water masses. The gradient in the distribution of parasites determines differential compositions of their communities at different latitudes, which makes possible the identification of different stocks of their fish hosts. Other features of the host-parasite systems contributing to the success of the parasitological method are: (1) parasites identified as good biological tags (i.e. anisakids) are widely distributed in the local fauna; (2) many of these species show low specificity and use paratenic hosts; and (3) the structure of parasite communities are, to a certain degree, predictable in time and space.

  10. Marine Biology and Oceanography, Grades Nine to Twelve. Part II.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kolb, James A.

    This unit, one of a series designed to develop and foster an understanding of the marine environment, presents marine science activities for students in grades 9-12. The unit, focusing on sea plants/animals and their interactions with each other and the non-living environment, has sections dealing with: marine ecology; marine bacteriology;…

  11. 78 FR 6977 - Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; U.S. Navy Training and Testing...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-31

    ...NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to the training and testing activities conducted in the Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing (HSTT) study area from January 2014 through January 2019. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue regulations and subsequent Letters of Authorization (LOAs) to the Navy to incidentally harass marine mammals.

  12. 78 FR 7049 - Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; U.S. Navy Training and Testing...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-31

    ...NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to the training and testing activities conducted in the Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) study area from January 2014 through January 2019. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue regulations and subsequent Letters of Authorization (LOAs) to the Navy to incidentally harass marine mammals.

  13. Connecting marine productivity to sea-spray via nanoscale biological processes: Phytoplankton Dance or Death Disco?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    O'Dowd, Colin; Ceburnis, Darius; Ovadnevaite, Jurgita; Bialek, Jakub; Stengel, Dagmar B.; Zacharias, Merry; Nitschke, Udo; Connan, Solene; Rinaldi, Matteo; Fuzzi, Sandro; Decesari, Stefano; Cristina Facchini, Maria; Marullo, Salvatore; Santoleri, Rosalia; Dell'Anno, Antonio; Corinaldesi, Cinzia; Tangherlini, Michael; Danovaro, Roberto

    2015-10-01

    Bursting bubbles at the ocean-surface produce airborne salt-water spray-droplets, in turn, forming climate-cooling marine haze and cloud layers. The reflectance and ultimate cooling effect of these layers is determined by the spray’s water-uptake properties that are modified through entrainment of ocean-surface organic matter (OM) into the airborne droplets. We present new results illustrating a clear dependence of OM mass-fraction enrichment in sea spray (OMss) on both phytoplankton-biomass, determined from Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and Net Primary Productivity (NPP). The correlation coefficient for OMss as a function of Chl-a increased form 0.67 on a daily timescale to 0.85 on a monthly timescale. An even stronger correlation was found as a function of NPP, increasing to 0.93 on a monthly timescale. We suggest the observed dependence is through the demise of the bloom, driven by nanoscale biological processes (such as viral infections), releasing large quantities of transferable OM comprising cell debris, exudates and other colloidal materials. This OM, through aggregation processes, leads to enrichment in sea-spray, thus demonstrating an important coupling between biologically-driven plankton bloom termination, marine productivity and sea-spray modification with potentially significant climate impacts.

  14. Functional genomics to assess biological responses to marine pollution at physiological and evolutionary timescales: toward a vision of predictive ecotoxicology.

    PubMed

    Reid, Noah M; Whitehead, Andrew

    2016-09-01

    Marine pollution is ubiquitous, and is one of the key factors influencing contemporary marine biodiversity worldwide. To protect marine biodiversity, how do we surveil, document and predict the short- and long-term impacts of pollutants on at-risk species? Modern genomics tools offer high-throughput, information-rich and increasingly cost-effective approaches for characterizing biological responses to environmental stress, and are important tools within an increasing sophisticated kit for surveiling and assessing impacts of pollutants on marine species. Through the lens of recent research in marine killifish, we illustrate how genomics tools may be useful for screening chemicals and pollutants for biological activity and to reveal specific mechanisms of action. The high dimensionality of transcriptomic responses enables their usage as highly specific fingerprints of exposure, and these fingerprints can be used to diagnose environmental problems. We also emphasize that molecular pathways recruited to respond at physiological timescales are the same pathways that may be targets for natural selection during chronic exposure to pollutants. Gene complement and sequence variation in those pathways can be related to variation in sensitivity to environmental pollutants within and among species. Furthermore, allelic variation associated with evolved tolerance in those pathways could be tracked to estimate the pace of environmental health decline and recovery. We finish by integrating these paradigms into a vision of how genomics approaches could anchor a modernized framework for advancing the predictive capacity of environmental and ecotoxicological science. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  15. Overt use of a tactile-kinesthetic strategy shifts to covert processing in rehabilitation of letter-by-letter reading.

    PubMed

    Lott, Susan Nitzberg; Carney, Aimee Syms; Glezer, Laurie S; Friedman, Rhonda B

    2010-11-01

    BACKGROUND: Letter-by-letter readers identify each letter of the word they are reading serially in left to right order before recognizing the word. When their letter naming is also impaired, letter-by-letter reading is inaccurate and can render even single word reading very poor. Tactile and/or kinesthetic strategies have been reported to improve reading in these patients, but only under certain conditions or for a limited set of stimuli. AIMS: The primary aim of the current study was to determine whether a tactile/kinesthetic treatment could significantly improve reading specifically under normal reading conditions, i.e. reading untrained words presented in free vision and read without overt use of the strategy. METHODS #ENTITYSTARTX00026; PROCEDURES: Three chronic letter-by-letter readers participated in a tactile/kinesthetic treatment aimed at first improving letter naming accuracy (phase 1) and then letter-by-letter reading speed (phase 2). In a multiple case series design, accuracy and speed of reading untrained words without overt use of the trained tactile/kinesthetic strategy was assessed before phase 1, after phase 1 and again after phase 2. OUTCOMES #ENTITYSTARTX00026; RESULTS: All three patients significantly improved both their speed and accuracy reading untrained words without overt use of the trained tactile/kinesthetic strategy. All three patients required the additional practice in phase 2 to achieve significant improvement. Treatment did not target sentence level reading, yet two of the three patients became so adept that they could read entire sentences. CONCLUSIONS: This study replicates previous findings on the efficacy of tactile/kinesthetic treatment for letter-by-letter readers with poor letter naming. It further demonstrates that this treatment can alter cognitive processing such that words never specifically trained can be read in free vision without overtly using the trained strategy. The data suggest that an important element in achieving

  16. Overt use of a tactile-kinesthetic strategy shifts to covert processing in rehabilitation of letter-by-letter reading

    PubMed Central

    Lott, Susan Nitzberg; Carney, Aimee Syms; Glezer, Laurie S.; Friedman, Rhonda B.

    2010-01-01

    Background Letter-by-letter readers identify each letter of the word they are reading serially in left to right order before recognizing the word. When their letter naming is also impaired, letter-by-letter reading is inaccurate and can render even single word reading very poor. Tactile and/or kinesthetic strategies have been reported to improve reading in these patients, but only under certain conditions or for a limited set of stimuli. Aims The primary aim of the current study was to determine whether a tactile/kinesthetic treatment could significantly improve reading specifically under normal reading conditions, i.e. reading untrained words presented in free vision and read without overt use of the strategy. Methods & Procedures Three chronic letter-by-letter readers participated in a tactile/kinesthetic treatment aimed at first improving letter naming accuracy (phase 1) and then letter-by-letter reading speed (phase 2). In a multiple case series design, accuracy and speed of reading untrained words without overt use of the trained tactile/kinesthetic strategy was assessed before phase 1, after phase 1 and again after phase 2. Outcomes & Results All three patients significantly improved both their speed and accuracy reading untrained words without overt use of the trained tactile/kinesthetic strategy. All three patients required the additional practice in phase 2 to achieve significant improvement. Treatment did not target sentence level reading, yet two of the three patients became so adept that they could read entire sentences. Conclusions This study replicates previous findings on the efficacy of tactile/kinesthetic treatment for letter-by-letter readers with poor letter naming. It further demonstrates that this treatment can alter cognitive processing such that words never specifically trained can be read in free vision without overtly using the trained strategy. The data suggest that an important element in achieving this level of generalization is

  17. Letters from the Future: The Use of Therapeutic Letter Writing in Counseling Sexual Abuse Survivors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kress, Victoria E.; Hoffman, Rachel; Thomas, Amanda M.

    2008-01-01

    In the context of counseling sexual abuse survivors, the creative counseling technique of having clients write letters--to themselves or others--from a future context is described. A theoretical framework for writing letters to oneself from the future is presented. Specific types of letters from the future are explained, and case examples and…

  18. Biodiversity's big wet secret: the global distribution of marine biological records reveals chronic under-exploration of the deep pelagic ocean.

    PubMed

    Webb, Thomas J; Vanden Berghe, Edward; O'Dor, Ron

    2010-08-02

    Understanding the distribution of marine biodiversity is a crucial first step towards the effective and sustainable management of marine ecosystems. Recent efforts to collate location records from marine surveys enable us to assemble a global picture of recorded marine biodiversity. They also effectively highlight gaps in our knowledge of particular marine regions. In particular, the deep pelagic ocean--the largest biome on Earth--is chronically under-represented in global databases of marine biodiversity. We use data from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System to plot the position in the water column of ca 7 million records of marine species occurrences. Records from relatively shallow waters dominate this global picture of recorded marine biodiversity. In addition, standardising the number of records from regions of the ocean differing in depth reveals that regardless of ocean depth, most records come either from surface waters or the sea bed. Midwater biodiversity is drastically under-represented. The deep pelagic ocean is the largest habitat by volume on Earth, yet it remains biodiversity's big wet secret, as it is hugely under-represented in global databases of marine biological records. Given both its value in the provision of a range of ecosystem services, and its vulnerability to threats including overfishing and climate change, there is a pressing need to increase our knowledge of Earth's largest ecosystem.

  19. Biodiversity's Big Wet Secret: The Global Distribution of Marine Biological Records Reveals Chronic Under-Exploration of the Deep Pelagic Ocean

    PubMed Central

    Webb, Thomas J.; Vanden Berghe, Edward; O'Dor, Ron

    2010-01-01

    Background Understanding the distribution of marine biodiversity is a crucial first step towards the effective and sustainable management of marine ecosystems. Recent efforts to collate location records from marine surveys enable us to assemble a global picture of recorded marine biodiversity. They also effectively highlight gaps in our knowledge of particular marine regions. In particular, the deep pelagic ocean – the largest biome on Earth – is chronically under-represented in global databases of marine biodiversity. Methodology/Principal Findings We use data from the Ocean Biogeographic Information System to plot the position in the water column of ca 7 million records of marine species occurrences. Records from relatively shallow waters dominate this global picture of recorded marine biodiversity. In addition, standardising the number of records from regions of the ocean differing in depth reveals that regardless of ocean depth, most records come either from surface waters or the sea bed. Midwater biodiversity is drastically under-represented. Conclusions/Significance The deep pelagic ocean is the largest habitat by volume on Earth, yet it remains biodiversity's big wet secret, as it is hugely under-represented in global databases of marine biological records. Given both its value in the provision of a range of ecosystem services, and its vulnerability to threats including overfishing and climate change, there is a pressing need to increase our knowledge of Earth's largest ecosystem. PMID:20689845

  20. Writing more informative letters of reference.

    PubMed

    Wright, Scott M; Ziegelstein, Roy C

    2004-05-01

    Writing a meaningful and valuable letter of reference is not an easy task. Several factors influence the quality of any letter of reference. First, the accuracy and reliability of the writer's impressions and judgment depend on how well he knows the individual being described. Second, the writer's frame of reference, which is determined by the number of persons at the same level that he has worked with, will impact the context and significance of his beliefs and estimations. Third, the letter-writing skills of the person composing the letter will naturally affect the letter. To support the other components of a candidate's application, a letter of reference should provide specific examples of how an individual's behavior or attitude compares to a reference group and should assess "intangibles" that are hard to glean from a curriculum vitae or from test scores. This report offers suggestions that should help physicians write more informative letters of reference.

  1. Writing More Informative Letters of Reference

    PubMed Central

    Wright, Scott M; Ziegelstein, Roy C

    2004-01-01

    Writing a meaningful and valuable letter of reference is not an easy task. Several factors influence the quality of any letter of reference. First, the accuracy and reliability of the writer's impressions and judgment depend on how well he knows the individual being described. Second, the writer's frame of reference, which is determined by the number of persons at the same level that he has worked with, will impact the context and significance of his beliefs and estimations. Third, the letter-writing skills of the person composing the letter will naturally affect the letter. To support the other components of a candidate's application, a letter of reference should provide specific examples of how an individual's behavior or attitude compares to a reference group and should assess “intangibles” that are hard to glean from a curriculum vitae or from test scores. This report offers suggestions that should help physicians write more informative letters of reference. PMID:15109330

  2. Statistical mechanics of letters in words

    PubMed Central

    Stephens, Greg J.; Bialek, William

    2013-01-01

    We consider words as a network of interacting letters, and approximate the probability distribution of states taken on by this network. Despite the intuition that the rules of English spelling are highly combinatorial and arbitrary, we find that maximum entropy models consistent with pairwise correlations among letters provide a surprisingly good approximation to the full statistics of words, capturing ~92% of the multi-information in four-letter words and even “discovering” words that were not represented in the data. These maximum entropy models incorporate letter interactions through a set of pairwise potentials and thus define an energy landscape on the space of possible words. Guided by the large letter redundancy we seek a lower-dimensional encoding of the letter distribution and show that distinctions between local minima in the landscape account for ~68% of the four-letter entropy. We suggest that these states provide an effective vocabulary which is matched to the frequency of word use and much smaller than the full lexicon. PMID:20866490

  3. Letters From Peplau.

    PubMed

    Peden, Ann R

    2018-03-01

    Dr. Hildegard Peplau, considered to be our first modern Nurse theorist and the Mother of Psychiatric Nursing, was a prolific writer, engaging in correspondence with colleagues and students who sought her professional and theoretical expertise. Through these letters, she influenced psychiatric nursing while maintaining a broad international network of professional colleagues. An analysis of letters, written between 1990 and 1998, provides insights into Peplau's last decade of professional life and a model of how to support the next generation of nurse scholars. Using content analysis, 24 letters received between 1990 and 1998 were read, reread, and coded. Recurring themes were identified. Three themes were identified. These include Peplau, the Person: Living a Life of Professional Balance; Lighting a Spark: Investing in the Next Generation; and Work in the Vineyards of Nursing: Maintaining a Life of Scholarship. The letters depict Peplau's keen intellect, her wide professional network, her leisure time spent with family and friends, and her own work to assure that her theoretical legacy continued. Peplau's insights continue to be relevant as psychiatric mental health nursing leaders engage in activities to support the next generation of scholars and leaders.

  4. Resource Letter FR-1: Fractals

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hurd, Alan J.

    1988-11-01

    This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on fractals. Although ``fractal'' is a relatively new term in science, unifying many new ideas with established ones, its wide application and general popularity have made it one of the fastest growing fields in statistical physics. The letter E after an item indicates elementary level or material of general interest to persons becoming informed in the field; the letter I, for intermediate level, indicates material of somewhat more specialized nature; and the letter A indicates rather specialized or advanced material. An asterisk (*) indicates those articles to be included in an accompanying Reprint Book.

  5. Computational Modeling of Aerosol Hazard Arising from the Opening of an Anthrax Letter in an Open-Office Complex

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lien, F. S.; Ji, H.; Yee, E.

    Early experimental work, conducted at Defence R&D Canada — Suffield, measured and characterized the personal and environmental contamination associated with the simulated opening of anthrax-tainted letters under a number of different scenarios. A better understanding of the physical and biological processes is considerably significant for detecting, assessing, and formulating potential mitigation strategies for managing these risks. These preliminary experimental investigations have been extended to simulate the contamination from the opening of anthrax-tainted letters in an Open-Office environment using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Bacillus globigii (BG) was used as a biological simulant for anthrax, with 0.1 gram of the simulant released from opened letters in the experiments conducted. The accuracy of the model for prediction of the spatial distribution of BG spores in the office is first assessed quantitatively by comparison with measured SF6 concentrations (the baseline experiment), and then qualitatively by comparison with measured BG concentrations obtained under a number of scenarios, some involving people moving within various offices.

  6. Recovery in a letter-by-letter reader: more efficiency at the expense of normal reading strategy.

    PubMed

    Ablinger, Irene; Huber, Walter; Schattka, Kerstin I; Radach, Ralph

    2013-01-01

    Although changes in reading performance of recovering letter-by-letter readers have been described in some detail, no prior research has provided an in-depth analysis of the underlying adaptive word processing strategies. Our work examined the reading performance of a letter-by-letter reader, FH, over a period of 15 months, using eye movement methodology to delineate the recovery process at two different time points (T1, T2). A central question is whether recovery is characterized either by moving back towards normal word processing or by refinement and possibly automatization of an existing pathological strategy that was developed in response to the impairment. More specifically, we hypothesized that letter-by-letter reading may be executed with at least four different strategies and our work sought to distinguish between these alternatives. During recovery significant improvements in reading performance were achieved. A shift of fixation positions from the far left to the extreme right of target words was combined with many small and very few longer regressive saccades. Apparently, 'letter-by-letter reading' took the form of local clustering, most likely corresponding to the formation of sublexical units of analysis. This pattern was more pronounced at T2, suggesting that improvements in reading efficiency may come at the expense of making it harder to eventually return to normal reading.

  7. Can "CANISO" Activate "CASINO"? Transposed-Letter Similarity Effects with Nonadjacent Letter Positions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perea, Manuel; Lupker, Stephen J.

    2004-01-01

    Nonwords created by transposing two "adjacent" letters (i.e., transposed-letter (TL) nonwords like "jugde") are very effective at activating the lexical representation of their base words. This fact poses problems for most computational models of word recognition (e.g., the interactive-activation model and its extensions), which assume that exact…

  8. Improving the quality of outpatient clinic letters using the Sheffield Assessment Instrument for Letters (SAIL).

    PubMed

    Fox, Adam T; Palmer, Roger D; Crossley, James G M; Sekaran, Devanitha; Trewavas, Eira S; Davies, Helena A

    2004-08-01

    To improve the quality of outpatient letters used as communication between hospital and primary care doctors. On 2 separate occasions, 15 unselected outpatient letters written by each of 7 hospital practitioners were rated by another hospital doctor and a general practitioner (GP) using the Sheffield Assessment Instrument for Letters (SAIL). Individualised feedback was provided to participants following the rating of the first set of letters. The audit cycle was completed 3 months later without forewarning by repeat assessment by the same hospital and GP assessors using the SAIL tool to see if there was any improvement in correspondence. Single centre: general paediatric outpatient department in a large district general hospital. All 7 doctors available for reassessment completed the audit loop, each providing 15 outpatient letters per assessment. The mean of the quality scores, derived for each letter from the summation of a 20-point checklist and a global score, improved from 23.3 (95% CI 22.1-24.4) to 26.6 (95% CI 25.8-27.4) (P = 0.001). The SAIL provides a feasible and reliable method of assessing the quality and content of outpatient clinic letters. This study demonstrates that it can also provide feedback with a powerful educational impact. This approach holds real potential for appraisal and revalidation, providing an effective means for the quality improvement required by clinical governance.

  9. Marine Biology and Oceanography, Grades Seven and Eight.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kolb, James A.

    This unit, one of a series designed to develop and foster an understanding of the marine environment, presents marine science activities for students in grades 7 and 8. The unit, focusing on life in the sea and the physical factors which influence that life, is divided into sections dealing with: (1) the theory of plate tectonics; (2) ocean floor…

  10. Marine Polysaccharides in Pharmaceutical Applications: An Overview

    PubMed Central

    Laurienzo, Paola

    2010-01-01

    The enormous variety of polysaccharides that can be extracted from marine plants and animal organisms or produced by marine bacteria means that the field of marine polysaccharides is constantly evolving. Recent advances in biological techniques allow high levels of polysaccharides of interest to be produced in vitro. Biotechnology is a powerful tool to obtain polysaccharides from a variety of micro-organisms, by controlling the growth conditions in a bioreactor while tailoring the production of biologically active compounds. Following an overview of the current knowledge on marine polysaccharides, with special attention to potential pharmaceutical applications and to more recent progress on the discovering of new polysaccharides with biological appealing characteristics, this review will focus on possible strategies for chemical or physical modification aimed to tailor the final properties of interest. PMID:20948899

  11. Audience Mail: Letters to an Anchorman

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gans, Herbert J.

    1977-01-01

    Analyzes letters sent to John Chancellor and NBC Nightly News in October of 1975 in an attempt to identify writer characteristics, letter types, stories and issues to which the writers reacted and the reasons for writing the letters. (MH)

  12. Senior High School Earth Sciences and Marine Sciences.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hackenberg, Mary; And Others

    This guide was developed for earth sciences and marine sciences instruction in the senior high schools of Duval County, Jacksonville, Florida. The subjects covered are: (1) Earth Science for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders; (2) Marine Biology I for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders; (3) Marine Biology II, Advanced, for 11th and 12th graders; (4) Marine…

  13. Effects of gill-net fishing on marine birds in a biological hotspot in the northwest Atlantic.

    PubMed

    Davoren, Gail K

    2007-08-01

    Marine biological hotspots, or areas where high abundances of species overlap in space and time, are ecologically important areas because energy flow through marine food webs, a key ecosystem process, is maximized in these areas. I investigated whether top predators aggregated at persistent spawning sites of a key forage fish species, capelin (Mallotus villosus), on the NE coast of Newfoundland during July and August 2000-2003. By examining the distributional patterns of top predators through ship-based surveys at multiple spatial and temporal scales, I found that the biomasses of birds-dominated by Common Murres (Uria aalge)-and mammals-dominated by whale species-were concentrated along the coast, with a biological hotspot forming near two persistent spawning sites of capelin in all years. The formation of this hotspot was well defined in space and time from middle of July to middle of August, likely coinciding with the spawning chronology of capelin. Within this hotspot, there was a high spatial and temporal overlap of Common Murres and gill nets set to capture Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). This resulted in breeding murres becoming entangled in gill nets while feeding on spawning capelin. Despite an acknowledged uncertainty of bycatch mortality, estimates for the larger regional-scale area (1936-4973 murres/year; 0.2-0.6% of the breeding population) underestimated mortality relative to estimates within the hotspot (3053-14054 murres/year; 0.4-1.7%). Although fishing effort for Atlantic cod has declined substantially since the groundfish moratorium in 1992, chronic, unnatural, and additive mortality through bycatch continues in coastal Newfoundland. Restricted use of gill nets within this and other biological hotspots during the capelin spawning period appears to be a straightforward application of the "ecological and biologically significant area" management framework in Canada's Oceans Act. This protection would minimize murre bycatch and maintain ecosystem

  14. ERP correlates of letter identity and letter position are modulated by lexical frequency

    PubMed Central

    Vergara-Martínez, Marta; Perea, Manuel; Gómez, Pablo; Swaab, Tamara Y.

    2013-01-01

    The encoding of letter position is a key aspect in all recently proposed models of visual-word recognition. We analyzed the impact of lexical frequency on letter position assignment by examining the temporal dynamics of lexical activation induced by pseudowords extracted from words of different frequencies. For each word (e.g., BRIDGE), we created two pseudowords: A transposed-letter (TL: BRIGDE) and a replaced-letter pseudoword (RL: BRITGE). ERPs were recorded while participants read words and pseudowords in two tasks: Semantic categorization (Experiment 1) and lexical decision (Experiment 2). For high-frequency stimuli, similar ERPs were obtained for words and TL-pseudowords, but the N400 component to words was reduced relative to RL-pseudowords, indicating less lexical/semantic activation. In contrast, TL- and RL-pseudowords created from low-frequency stimuli elicited similar ERPs. Behavioral responses in the lexical decision task paralleled this asymmetry. The present findings impose constraints on computational and neural models of visual-word recognition. PMID:23454070

  15. Resource Letter MA-2: Musical acoustics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rossing, Thomas D.

    1987-07-01

    This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on musical acoustics. The letter E after an item indicates elementary level or material of general interest to persons becoming informed in the field. The letter I, for intermediate level, indicates material of a somewhat more specialized nature; and the letter A indicates rather specialized or advanced material. An asterisk (*) indicates articles that are especially useful or interesting; a double asterisk (**) indicates those articles to be included in an accompanying Reprint Book.

  16. The letter knowledge assessment tool.

    PubMed

    Pedro, Cassandra; Lousada, Marisa; Pereira, Rita; Hall, Andreia; Jesus, Luis M T

    2017-10-10

    There is a need to develop letter knowledge assessment tools to characterise the letter knowledge in Portuguese pre-schoolers and to compare it with pre-schoolers from other countries, but there are no tools for this purpose in Portugal. The aim of this paper is to describe the development and validation procedures of the Prova de Avaliação de Competências de Pré-Literacia (PACPL), which assesses letter knowledge. This study includes data that has been gathered in two phases: pilot and main study. In the pilot study, an expert panel of six speech and language pathologists analysed the instrument. Children (n = 216) aged 5;0-7;11 participated in the main study that reports data related to the psychometric characteristics of the PACPL. Content validity, internal consistency, reliability and contributing factors to performance were examined statistically. A modified Bland-Altman method revealed good agreement amongst evaluators. The main study showed that the PACPL has a very good internal consistency and high inter-rater (96.2% of agreement and a Cohen's k value of 0.92) and intra-rater (95.6% of agreement and a Cohen's k value of 0.91) agreement. Construct validity of the PCAPL was also assured (Cronbach's α of 0.982). Significant differences were found between age groups with children increasing their letter knowledge with age. In addition, they were better at identifying than at producing both letter names and letter sounds. The PACPL is a valid and reliable instrument to assess letter knowledge in Portuguese children.

  17. Learning about Marine Biology. Superific Science Book VI. A Good Apple Science Activity Book for Grades 5-8+.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conway, Lorraine

    Based on the assumption that most students have a natural curiosity about the plant and animal life residing in the oceans, this document provides students in grades five through eight with activities in marine biology. The book provides illustrated information and learning activities dealing with: (1) diatoms; (2) the life cycle of the jellyfish;…

  18. 49 CFR 107.309 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Warning letters. 107.309 Section 107.309... PROGRAM PROCEDURES Enforcement Compliance Orders and Civil Penalties § 107.309 Warning letters. (a) The Associate Administrator may issue a warning letter to any person whom the Associate Administrator believes...

  19. 49 CFR 107.309 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Warning letters. 107.309 Section 107.309... PROGRAM PROCEDURES Enforcement Compliance Orders and Civil Penalties § 107.309 Warning letters. (a) The Associate Administrator may issue a warning letter to any person whom the Associate Administrator believes...

  20. 49 CFR 107.309 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Warning letters. 107.309 Section 107.309... PROGRAM PROCEDURES Enforcement Compliance Orders and Civil Penalties § 107.309 Warning letters. (a) The Associate Administrator may issue a warning letter to any person whom the Associate Administrator believes...

  1. 49 CFR 107.309 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Warning letters. 107.309 Section 107.309... PROGRAM PROCEDURES Enforcement Compliance Orders and Civil Penalties § 107.309 Warning letters. (a) The Associate Administrator may issue a warning letter to any person whom the Associate Administrator believes...

  2. 49 CFR 107.309 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Warning letters. 107.309 Section 107.309... PROGRAM PROCEDURES Enforcement Compliance Orders and Civil Penalties § 107.309 Warning letters. (a) The Associate Administrator may issue a warning letter to any person whom the Associate Administrator believes...

  3. Monitoring biological effects of contamination in marine fish along French coasts by measurement of ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity.

    PubMed

    Burgeot, T; Bocquené, G; Pingray, G; Godefroy, D; Legrand, J; Dimeet, J; Marco, F; Vincent, F; Henocque, Y; Jeanneret, H O

    1994-11-01

    The use of bioindicators to evaluate exposure to the biological effects of chemical pollutants in marine organisms constitutes a new tool in the monitoring field. The establishment of a North Sea monitoring network in 1991, involving such international organizations as the North Sea Task Force, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, and the Intergovernmental Oceanography Commission, led French researchers to develop an enzymatic biomarker to monitor biological effects within the National Observation Network. The biomarker, ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), dependent on the CP450 system, has been monitored biannually since 1992 in several species of fish (Callionymus lyra, Limanda limanda, Serranus sp., Mullus barbatus) in two coastal sites particularly exposed to industrial and domestic pollution. A rapid method is used to assay EROD enzymatic activity determined along a pollution gradient, and results are interpreted on a microplate reader. The strategy of this approach is to assess the effects on the marine ecosystem during prolonged exposure to specific pollutants such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, and dioxins.

  4. 49 CFR 190.205 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Warning letters. 190.205 Section 190.205... REGULATORY PROCEDURES Enforcement § 190.205 Warning letters. Link to an amendment published at 78 FR 58909... or order issued thereunder has occurred, the Associate Administrator, OPS, may issue a Warning Letter...

  5. 7 CFR 1773.33 - Management letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 12 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Management letter. 1773.33 Section 1773.33... AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED) POLICY ON AUDITS OF RUS BORROWERS RUS Reporting Requirements § 1773.33 Management letter. The CPA must prepare a management letter that includes, at a minimum, comments on: (a) Audit...

  6. 76 FR 25308 - Marine Mammals

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-04

    ...-XA165 Marine Mammals AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... Jennifer Burns, Ph.D., University of Alaska Anchorage, Biology Department, 3101 Science Circle, Anchorage, AK, has been issued a permit to conduct [[Page 25309

  7. Neural Correlates of Top-Down Letter Processing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Jiangang; Li, Jun; Zhang, Hongchuan; Rieth, Cory A.; Huber, David E.; Li, Wu; Lee, Kang; Tian, Jie

    2010-01-01

    This fMRI study investigated top-down letter processing with an illusory letter detection task. Participants responded whether one of a number of different possible letters was present in a very noisy image. After initial training that became increasingly difficult, they continued to detect letters even though the images consisted of pure noise,…

  8. Otters, Marine

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Estes, James A.; Bodkin, James L.; Ben-David, M.; Perrin, William F.; Würsing, Bernd; Thewissen, J.G.M.

    2009-01-01

    The otters (Mustelidae; Lutrinae) provide an exceptional perspective into the evolution of marine living by mammals. Most extant marine mammals (e.g. the cetaceans, pinnipeds, and sirenians) have been so highly modified by long periods of selection for life in the sea that they bear little resemblance to their terrestrial ancestors. Marine otters, in contrast, are more recent expatriates from freshwater habitats and some species still live in both environments. Contrasts among species within the otters, and among the otters, terrestrial mammals, and the more highly adapted pinnipeds and cetaceans provide powerful insights into mammalian adaptations to life in the sea (Estes, 1989). Among the marine mammals, sea otters (Enhydra lutris, Fig. 1) provide the clearest understanding of consumer-induced effects on ecosystem function. This is due in part to opportunities provided by history and in part to the relative ease with which shallow coastal systems where sea otters live can be observed and studied. Although more difficult to study than sea otters, other otter species reveal the connectivity among the marine, freshwater, and terrestrial systems. These three qualities of the otters – their comparative biology, their role as predators, and their role as agents of ecosystem connectivity – are what make them interesting to marine mammalogy.The following account provides a broad overview of the comparative biology and ecology of the otters, with particular emphasis on those species or populations that live in the sea. Sea otters are features prominently, in part because they live exclusively in the sea whereas other otters have obligate associations with freshwater and terrestrial environments (Kenyon, 1969; Riedman and Estes, 1990).

  9. Batch bioethanol production via the biological and chemical saccharification of some Egyptian marine macroalgae.

    PubMed

    Soliman, Ramadan M; Younis, Sherif A; El-Gendy, Nour Sh; Mostafa, Soha S M; El-Temtamy, Seham A; Hashim, Ahmed I

    2018-04-19

    Marine seaweeds (macroalgae) cause eutrophication problem and affects the touristic activities. The success of the production of the third generation bioethanol from marine macroalgae depends mainly on the development of an ecofriendly and eco-feasible pretreatment (i.e. hydrolysis) technique, a highly effective saccharification step and finally an efficient bioethanol fermentation step. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potentiality of different marine macroalgal strains, collected from Egyptian coasts, for bioethanol production via different saccharification processes. Different marine macroalgal strains; red Jania rubens, green Ulva lactuca. and brown Sargassum latifolium, have been collected from Egyptian Mediterranean and Red Sea shores. Different hydrolysis processes were evaluated to maximize the extraction of fermentable sugars; thermo-chemical hydrolysis with diluted acids (HCl and H 2 SO 4 ) and base (NaOH), hydrothermal hydrolysis followed by saccharification with different fungal strains and finally, thermo-chemical hydrolysis with diluted HCl, followed by fungal saccharification. The hydrothermal hydrolysis of Sargassum latifolium followed by biological saccharification using Trichoderma asperellum RM1 produced maximum total sugars of 510 mg g -1 macroalgal biomass. The integration of the hydrothermal and fungal hydrolyses of the macroalgal biomass with a separate batch fermentation of the produced sugars using two Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, produced approximately 0.29 g bioethanol g -1 total reducing sugars. A simulated regression modeling for the batch bioethanol fermentation was also performed. This study, supported the possibility of using seaweeds as a renewable source of bioethanol, throughout a suggested integration of macroalgal biomass hydrothermal- and fungal- hydrolysis with a separate batch bioethanol fermentation process of the produced sugars. The usage of marine macroalgae (i.e. seaweeds) as feedstock for bioethanol

  10. 33 CFR 127.009 - Letter of recommendation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Letter of recommendation. 127.009... General § 127.009 Letter of recommendation. After the COTP receives the Letter of Intent under § 127.007(a) or (b), the COTP issues a Letter of Recommendation as to the suitability of the waterway for LNG or...

  11. 33 CFR 127.009 - Letter of recommendation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Letter of recommendation. 127.009... General § 127.009 Letter of recommendation. After the COTP receives the Letter of Intent under § 127.007(a) or (b), the COTP issues a Letter of Recommendation as to the suitability of the waterway for LNG or...

  12. Marine biosurfaces research program

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    The Office of Naval Research (ONR) of the U.S. Navy is starting a basic research program to address the initial events that control colonization of surfaces by organisms in marine environments. The program “arises from the Navy's need to understand and ultimately control biofouling and biocorrosion in marine environments,” according to a Navy announcement.The program, “Biological Processes Controlling Surface Modification in the Marine Environment,” will emphasize the application of in situ techniques and modern molecular biological, biochemical, and biophysical approaches; it will also encourage the development of interdisciplinary projects. Specific areas of interest include sensing and response to environmental surface (physiology/physical chemistry), factors controlling movement to and retention at surfaces (behavior/hydrodynamics), genetic regulation of attachment (molecular genetics), and mechanisms of attachment (biochemistry/surface chemistry).

  13. 24 CFR 200.1505 - Warning letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Warning letter. 200.1505 Section... Lender Quality Assurance Enforcement § 200.1505 Warning letter. (a) In general. HUD may issue a warning letter, which specifies problems or violations identified by HUD, to a MAP lender. (b) Effect of warning...

  14. 49 CFR 190.205 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Warning letters. 190.205 Section 190.205... PROCEDURES Enforcement § 190.205 Warning letters. Upon determining that a probable violation of 49 U.S.C..., OPS, may issue a Warning Letter notifying the owner or operator of the probable violation and advising...

  15. 17 CFR 38.711 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Warning letters. 38.711... MARKETS Disciplinary Procedures § 38.711 Warning letters. Where a rule violation is found to have occurred, no more than one warning letter may be issued per rolling 12-month period for the same violation. ...

  16. 17 CFR 38.711 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Warning letters. 38.711... MARKETS Disciplinary Procedures § 38.711 Warning letters. Where a rule violation is found to have occurred, no more than one warning letter may be issued per rolling 12-month period for the same violation. ...

  17. 24 CFR 200.1505 - Warning letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Warning letter. 200.1505 Section... Lender Quality Assurance Enforcement § 200.1505 Warning letter. (a) In general. HUD may issue a warning letter, which specifies problems or violations identified by HUD, to a MAP lender. (b) Effect of warning...

  18. 49 CFR 190.205 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Warning letters. 190.205 Section 190.205... PROCEDURES Enforcement § 190.205 Warning letters. Upon determining that a probable violation of 49 U.S.C..., OPS, may issue a Warning Letter notifying the owner or operator of the probable violation and advising...

  19. 24 CFR 200.1505 - Warning letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Warning letter. 200.1505 Section... Lender Quality Assurance Enforcement § 200.1505 Warning letter. (a) In general. HUD may issue a warning letter, which specifies problems or violations identified by HUD, to a MAP lender. (b) Effect of warning...

  20. 24 CFR 200.1505 - Warning letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Warning letter. 200.1505 Section... Lender Quality Assurance Enforcement § 200.1505 Warning letter. (a) In general. HUD may issue a warning letter, which specifies problems or violations identified by HUD, to a MAP lender. (b) Effect of warning...

  1. 24 CFR 200.1505 - Warning letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Warning letter. 200.1505 Section... Lender Quality Assurance Enforcement § 200.1505 Warning letter. (a) In general. HUD may issue a warning letter, which specifies problems or violations identified by HUD, to a MAP lender. (b) Effect of warning...

  2. 49 CFR 190.205 - Warning letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Warning letters. 190.205 Section 190.205... PROCEDURES Enforcement § 190.205 Warning letters. Upon determining that a probable violation of 49 U.S.C..., OPS, may issue a Warning Letter notifying the owner or operator of the probable violation and advising...

  3. The Source Book of Marine Sciences.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beakley, John C.; And Others

    Included is a teachers resource collection of 42 marine science activities for high school students. Both the biological and the physical factors of the marine environment are investigated, including the study of tides, local currents, microscope measuring, beaches, turbidity, sea water solids, pH, and salinity, marine bacteriology, microbiology,…

  4. The letters of John Dastin.

    PubMed

    Thiesen, Wilfred

    2008-07-01

    John Dastin, a noted alchemist who lived ca. 1300, followed the lead of many of his contemporaries and predecessors in using letters to propagate his views on alchemy. This article identifies a number of letters that Dastin wrote, and includes one text addressed to a cardinal of the city of Naples. This letter is virtually a copy of a work by Arnold of Villanova. I believe that other works ascribed to Dastin will also show a great dependence on Arnold's works.

  5. 76 FR 28422 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16053

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-17

    ... Paul E. Nachtigall, PhD, Marine Mammal Research Program Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, P.O. Box... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XA384 Marine Mammals; File No. 16053 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

  6. Geoengineering impact of open ocean dissolution of olivine on atmospheric CO2, surface ocean pH and marine biology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Köhler, Peter; Abrams, Jesse F.; Völker, Christoph; Hauck, Judith; Wolf-Gladrow, Dieter A.

    2013-03-01

    Ongoing global warming induced by anthropogenic emissions has opened the debate as to whether geoengineering is a ‘quick fix’ option. Here we analyse the intended and unintended effects of one specific geoengineering approach, which is enhanced weathering via the open ocean dissolution of the silicate-containing mineral olivine. This approach would not only reduce atmospheric CO2 and oppose surface ocean acidification, but would also impact on marine biology. If dissolved in the surface ocean, olivine sequesters 0.28 g carbon per g of olivine dissolved, similar to land-based enhanced weathering. Silicic acid input, a byproduct of the olivine dissolution, alters marine biology because silicate is in certain areas the limiting nutrient for diatoms. As a consequence, our model predicts a shift in phytoplankton species composition towards diatoms, altering the biological carbon pumps. Enhanced olivine dissolution, both on land and in the ocean, therefore needs to be considered as ocean fertilization. From dissolution kinetics we calculate that only olivine particles with a grain size of the order of 1 μm sink slowly enough to enable a nearly complete dissolution. The energy consumption for grinding to this small size might reduce the carbon sequestration efficiency by ˜30%.

  7. Context-dependent similarity effects in letter recognition.

    PubMed

    Kinoshita, Sachiko; Robidoux, Serje; Guilbert, Daniel; Norris, Dennis

    2015-10-01

    In visual word recognition tasks, digit primes that are visually similar to letter string targets (e.g., 4/A, 8/B) are known to facilitate letter identification relative to visually dissimilar digits (e.g., 6/A, 7/B); in contrast, with letter primes, visual similarity effects have been elusive. In the present study we show that the visual similarity effect with letter primes can be made to come and go, depending on whether it is necessary to discriminate between visually similar letters. The results support a Bayesian view which regards letter recognition not as a passive activation process driven by the fixed stimulus properties, but as a dynamic evidence accumulation process for a decision that is guided by the task context.

  8. 78 FR 21112 - Marine Mammals; File Nos. 16992 and 14535

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-09

    ... hereby given that (1) Paul Nachtigall, Ph.D., Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, P... (Pseudorca crassidens) maintained in captivity at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology in Kaneohe, HI...

  9. The identification of a new Giardia duodenalis assemblage in marine vertebrates and a preliminary analysis of G. duodenalis population biology in marine systems.

    PubMed

    Lasek-Nesselquist, Erica; Welch, David Mark; Sogin, Mitchell L

    2010-08-01

    Giardia duodenalis is an intestinal parasite of many vertebrates. The presence of G. duodenalis in the marine environment due to anthropogenic and wildlife activity is well documented, including the contributions from untreated sewage and storm water, agricultural run-off and droppings from terrestrial animals. Recently, studies have detected this protistan parasite in the faeces of marine vertebrates such as whales, dolphins, seals and shore birds. To explore the population biology of G. duodenalis in marine life, we determined the prevalence of G. duodenalis in two species of seal (Halichoerus grypus, Phoca vitulina vitulina and Phoca vitulina richardsi) from the east and west coasts of the USA, sequenced two loci from G. duodenalis-positive samples to assess molecular diversity and examined G. duodenalis distribution amongst these seals and other marine vertebrates along the east coast. We found a significant difference in the presence of G. duodenalis between east and west coast seal species. Only the zoonotic lineages of G. duodenalis, Assemblages A and B and a novel lineage, which we designated as Assemblage H, were identified in marine vertebrates. Assemblages A and B are broadly distributed geographically and show a lack of host specificity. Only grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) samples and one gull sample (Larus argentatus) from a northern location of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, showed the presence of Assemblage H haplotypes; only one other study of harbour seals from the Puget Sound region of Washington, USA previously recorded the presence of an Assemblage H haplotype. Assemblage H sequences form a monophyletic clade that appears as divergent from the other seven Assemblages of G. duodenalis as these assemblages are from each other. The discovery of a previously uncharacterised lineage of G. duodenalis suggests that this parasite has more genetic diversity and perhaps a larger host range than previously believed. Copyright 2010 Australian Society for

  10. Resource Letter: GW-1: Global warming

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Firor, John W.

    1994-06-01

    This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on the possibility of a human-induced climate change—a global warming. Journal articles and books are cited for the following topics: the Greenhouse Effect, sources of infrared-trapping gases, climate models and their uncertainties, verification of climate models, past climate changes, and economics, ethics, and politics of policy responses to climate change. [The letter E after an item indicates elementary level or material of general interest to persons becoming informed in the field. The letter I, for intermediate level, indicates material of somewhat more specialized nature, and the letter A indicates rather specialized or advanced material.

  11. Implied reading direction and prioritization of letter encoding.

    PubMed

    Holcombe, Alex O; Nguyen, Elizabeth H L; Goodbourn, Patrick T

    2017-10-01

    Capacity limits hinder processing of multiple stimuli, contributing to poorer performance for identifying two briefly presented letters than for identifying a single letter. Higher accuracy is typically found for identifying the letter on the left, which has been attributed to a right-hemisphere dominance for selective attention. Here, we use rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of letters in two locations at once. The letters to be identified are simultaneous and cued by rings. In the first experiment, we manipulated implied reading direction by rotating or mirror-reversing the letters to face to the left rather than to the right. The left-side performance advantage was eliminated. In the second experiment, letters were positioned above and below fixation, oriented such that they appeared to face downward (90° clockwise rotation) or upward (90° counterclockwise rotation). Again consistent with an effect of implied reading direction, performance was better for the top position in the downward condition, but not in the upward condition. In both experiments, mixture modeling of participants' report errors revealed that attentional sampling from the two locations was approximately simultaneous, ruling out the theory that the letter on one side was processed first, followed by a shift of attention to sample the other letter. Thus, the orientation of the letters apparently controls not when the letters are sampled from the scene, but rather the dynamics of a subsequent process, such as tokenization or memory consolidation. Implied reading direction appears to determine the letter prioritized at a high-level processing bottleneck. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Applications for approval to market a new drug; complete response letter; amendments to unapproved applications. Final rule.

    PubMed

    2008-07-10

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending its regulations on new drug applications (NDAs) and abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) for approval to market new drugs and generic drugs (drugs for which approval is sought in an ANDA). The final rule discontinues FDA's use of approvable letters and not approvable letters when taking action on marketing applications. Instead, we will send applicants a complete response letter to indicate that the review cycle for an application is complete and that the application is not ready for approval. We are also revising the regulations on extending the review cycle due to the submission of an amendment to an unapproved application and starting a new review cycle after the resubmission of an application following receipt of a complete response letter. In addition, we are adding to the regulations on biologics license applications (BLAs) provisions on the issuance of complete response letters to BLA applicants. We are taking these actions to implement the user fee performance goals referenced in the Prescription Drug User Fee Amendments of 2002 (PDUFA III) that address procedures and establish target timeframes for reviewing human drug applications.

  13. Letter order is not coded by open bigrams

    PubMed Central

    Kinoshita, Sachiko; Norris, Dennis

    2013-01-01

    Open bigram (OB) models (e.g., SERIOL: Whitney, 2001, 2008; Binary OB, Grainger & van Heuven, 2003; Overlap OB, Grainger et al., 2006; Local combination detector model, Dehaene et al., 2005) posit that letter order in a word is coded by a set of ordered letter pairs. We report three experiments using bigram primes in the same-different match task, investigating the effects of order reversal and the number of letters intervening between the letters in the target. Reversed bigrams (e.g., fo-OF, ob-ABOLISH) produced robust priming, in direct contradiction to the assumption that letter order is coded by the presence of ordered letter pairs. Also in contradiction to the core assumption of current open bigram models, non-contiguous bigrams spanning three letters in the target (e.g., bs-ABOLISH) showed robust priming effects, equivalent in size to contiguous bigrams (e.g., bo-ABOLISH). These results question the role of open bigrams in coding letter order. PMID:23914048

  14. Therapeutic Properties and Biological Benefits of Marine-Derived Anticancer Peptides

    PubMed Central

    Kang, Hee Kyoung; Choi, Moon-Chang; Seo, Chang Ho; Park, Yoonkyung

    2018-01-01

    Various organisms exist in the oceanic environment. These marine organisms provide an abundant source of potential medicines. Many marine peptides possess anticancer properties, some of which have been evaluated for treatment of human cancer in clinical trials. Marine anticancer peptides kill cancer cells through different mechanisms, such as apoptosis, disruption of the tubulin-microtubule balance, and inhibition of angiogenesis. Traditional chemotherapeutic agents have side effects and depress immune responses. Thus, the research and development of novel anticancer peptides with low toxicity to normal human cells and mechanisms of action capable of avoiding multi-drug resistance may provide a new method for anticancer treatment. This review provides useful information on the potential of marine anticancer peptides for human therapy. PMID:29558431

  15. Intra- and interpattern relations in letter recognition.

    PubMed

    Sanocki, T

    1991-11-01

    Strings of 4 unrelated letters were backward masked at varying durations to examine 3 major issues. (a) One issue concerned relational features. Letters with abnormal relations but normal elements were created by interchanging elements between large and small normal letters. Overall accuracy was higher for letters with normal relations, consistent with the idea that relational features are important in recognition. (b) Interpattern relations were examined by mixing large and small letters within strings. Relative to pure strings, accuracy was reduced, but only for small letters and only when in mixed strings. This effect can be attributed to attentional priority for larger forms over smaller forms, which also explains global precedence with hierarchical forms. (c) Forced-choice alternatives were manipulated in Experiments 2 and 3 to test feature integration theory. Relational information was found to be processed at least as early as feature presence or absence.

  16. Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Robbins, Leslie J.; Lalonde, Stefan V.; Planavsky, Noah J.; Partin, Camille A.; Reinhard, Christopher T.; Kendall, Brian; Scott, Clinton T.; Hardisty, Dalton S.; Gill, Benjamin C.; Alessi, Daniel S.; Dupont, Christopher L.; Saito, Mak A.; Crowe, Sean A.; Poulton, Simon W.; Bekker, Andrey; Lyons, Timothy W.; Konhauser, Kurt O.

    2016-01-01

    Life requires a wide variety of bioessential trace elements to act as structural components and reactive centers in metalloenzymes. These requirements differ between organisms and have evolved over geological time, likely guided in some part by environmental conditions. Until recently, most of what was understood regarding trace element concentrations in the Precambrian oceans was inferred by extrapolation, geochemical modeling, and/or genomic studies. However, in the past decade, the increasing availability of trace element and isotopic data for sedimentary rocks of all ages has yielded new, and potentially more direct, insights into secular changes in seawater composition – and ultimately the evolution of the marine biosphere. Compiled records of many bioessential trace elements (including Ni, Mo, P, Zn, Co, Cr, Se, and I) provide new insight into how trace element abundance in Earth's ancient oceans may have been linked to biological evolution. Several of these trace elements display redox-sensitive behavior, while others are redox-sensitive but not bioessential (e.g., Cr, U). Their temporal trends in sedimentary archives provide useful constraints on changes in atmosphere-ocean redox conditions that are linked to biological evolution, for example, the activity of oxygen-producing, photosynthetic cyanobacteria. In this review, we summarize available Precambrian trace element proxy data, and discuss how temporal trends in the seawater concentrations of specific trace elements may be linked to the evolution of both simple and complex life. We also examine several biologically relevant and/or redox-sensitive trace elements that have yet to be fully examined in the sedimentary rock record (e.g., Cu, Cd, W) and suggest several directions for future studies.

  17. Biological properties

    Treesearch

    Rebecca E. Ibach

    2005-01-01

    There are numerous biological degradations that wood is exposed to in various environments. Biological damage occurs when a log, sawn product, or final product is not stored, handled, or designed properly. Biological organisms, such as bacteria, mold, stain, decay fungi, insects, and marine borers, depend heavily on temperature and moisture conditions to grow. A higher...

  18. Models of Discourse in the Letter of Complaint

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hartford, Beverly; Mahboob, Ahmar

    2004-01-01

    In both the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle countries, books which provide examples of letters written in English and guidelines for writing these letters are available for students, business people, and any others who have an interest or need for writing such letters. These model letters are not only for business correspondence, but also…

  19. 77 FR 13295 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16053

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-06

    ... Marine Biology, P.O. Box 1106, Kailua, Hawaii 96734, to conduct scientific research on cetaceans stranded... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XA384 Marine Mammals; File No. 16053 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

  20. 78 FR 15933 - Marine Mammals; File No. 17952

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-13

    ... Daniel P. Costa, Ph.D., Department of Biology and Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XC554 Marine Mammals; File No. 17952 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

  1. 15 CFR 700.63 - Letters of Understanding.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Letters of Understanding. 700.63... DEFENSE PRIORITIES AND ALLOCATIONS SYSTEM Official Actions § 700.63 Letters of Understanding. (a) A Letter of Understanding is an official action which may be issued in resolving special priorities assistance...

  2. 33 CFR 401.68 - Explosives Permission Letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... granted and the vessel shall not transit. (c) A written application for a Seaway Explosives Permission... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Explosives Permission Letter. 401... Permission Letter. (a) A Seaway Explosives Permission Letter is required for an explosive vessel in the...

  3. A Stimulus Sampling Theory of Letter Identity and Order

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Norris, Dennis; Kinoshita, Sachiko; van Casteren, Maarten

    2010-01-01

    Early on during word recognition, letter positions are not accurately coded. Evidence for this comes from transposed-letter (TL) priming effects, in which letter strings generated by transposing two adjacent letters (e.g., "jugde") produce large priming effects, more than primes with the letters replaced in the corresponding position (e.g.,…

  4. Substituted-letter and transposed-letter effects in a masked priming paradigm with French developing readers and dyslexics.

    PubMed

    Lété, Bernard; Fayol, Michel

    2013-01-01

    The aim of the study was to undertake a behavioral investigation of the development of automatic orthographic processing during reading acquisition in French. Following Castles and colleagues' 2007 study (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 97, 165-182) and their lexical tuning hypothesis framework, substituted-letter and transposed-letter primes were used in a masked priming paradigm with third graders, fifth graders, adults, and phonological dyslexics matched on reading level with the third graders. No priming effect was found in third graders. In adults, only a transposed-letter priming effect was found; there was no substituted-letter priming effect. Finally, fifth graders and dyslexics showed both substituted-letter and transposed-letter priming effects. Priming effects between the two groups were of the same magnitude after response time (RT) z-score transformation. Taken together, our results show that the pattern of priming effects found by Castles and colleagues in English normal readers emerges later in French normal readers. In other words, language orthographies seem to constrain the tuning of the orthographic system, with an opaque orthography producing faster tuning of orthographic processing than more transparent orthographies because of the high level of reliance on phonological decoding while learning to read. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Launch of Zoological Letters.

    PubMed

    Fukatsu, Takema; Kuratani, Shigeru

    2016-02-01

    A new open-access journal, Zoological Letters, was launched as a sister journal to Zoological Science, in January 2015. The new journal aims at publishing topical papers of high quality from a wide range of basic zoological research fields. This review highlights the notable reviews and research articles that have been published in the first year of Zoological Letters, providing an overview on the current achievements and future directions of the journal.

  6. Reasons for Letter Contracts.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-09-01

    accelerated Initial Operational Capability (IOC). The TOW-DRAGON PM reacted accordingly. This also is a good example of a letter contract award to permit...Government. Good pricing depends pri- marily upon the exercise of sound judgement by all personnel concerned with the procurement. I: 3-801.2...Contracts. (a) The written determination required by DAR 3-408(c)(1) shall in- clude an outline of the reaons for a letter contract and the alternatives

  7. 76 FR 4637 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet Active Sonar Training

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-26

    ... issuance of a Letter of Authorization; request for comments on Integrated Comprehensive Management Program... (Navy) to take marine mammals incidental to Navy training, maintenance, and research, development... notice that the Integrated Comprehensive Management Program (ICMP) Plan, which is intended for use as a...

  8. Learning to identify contrast-defined letters in peripheral vision

    PubMed Central

    Chung, Susana T.L.; Levi, Dennis M.; Li, Roger W.

    2009-01-01

    Performance for identifying luminance-defined letters in peripheral vision improves with training. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether performance for identifying contrast-defined letters also improves with training in peripheral vision, and whether any improvement transfers to luminance-defined letters. Eight observers were trained to identify contrast-defined letters presented singly at 10° eccentricity in the inferior visual field. Before and after training, we measured observers’ thresholds for identifying luminance-defined and contrast-defined letters, embedded within a field of white luminance noise (maximum luminance contrast = 0, 0.25, and 0.5), at the same eccentric location. Each training session consisted of 10 blocks (100 trials per block) of identifying contrast-defined letters at a background noise contrast of 0.5. Letters (x-height = 4.2°) were the 26 lowercase letters of the Times-Roman alphabet. Luminance-defined letters were generated by introducing a luminance difference between the stimulus letter and its mid-gray background. The background noise covered both the letter and its background. Contrast-defined letters were generated by introducing a differential noise contrast between the group of pixels that made up the stimulus letter and the group of pixels that made up the background. Following training, observers showed a significant reduction in threshold for identifying contrast-defined letters (p < 0.0001). Averaged across observers and background noise contrasts, the reduction was 25.8%, with the greatest reduction (32%) occurring at the trained background noise contrast. There was virtually no transfer of improvement to luminance-defined letters, or to an untrained letter size (2× original), or an untrained retinal location (10° superior field). In contrast, learning transferred completely to the untrained contralateral eye. Our results show that training improves performance for identifying contrast

  9. Resource Letter ETC-1: extraterrestrial civilization.

    PubMed

    Kuiper, T B; Brin, G D

    1989-01-01

    This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature about intelligent life beyond the human sphere of exploration. It offers a starting point for professionals and academics interested in participating in the debate about the existence of other technological civilizations or in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). It can also serve as a reference for teaching. This Letter is not intended as an exhaustive bibliography, but several extensive bibliographies have been cited. The letter E after an item indicates elementary, nontechnical material of general interest to persons becoming informed in the field. Intermediate level material, of a somewhat more specialized nature, is indicated by the Letter I. The annotation A indicates advanced, technical material. An asterisk (*) precedes items to be included in an accompanying Reprint Book.

  10. Educators' Liability for Negative Letters of Recommendation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tidwell, James A.

    1986-01-01

    Discusses the protection of "qualified privilege" provided by the law to teachers writing letters of recommendation for students. The letter must be written in good faith and with a belief that it contains no inaccurate information. Reviews some related court decisions and provides seven recommendations for writing such letters. (MD)

  11. Formation of automatic letter-colour associations in non-synaesthetes through likelihood manipulation of letter-colour pairings.

    PubMed

    Kusnir, Flor; Thut, Gregor

    2012-12-01

    Grapheme-colour synaesthesia is a well-characterized phenomenon in which achromatic letters and/or digits automatically and systematically trigger specific colour sensations. Models of its underlying mechanisms diverge on a central question: whether triggered sensations reflect (1) an overdeveloped capacity in normal cross-modal processing (i.e., sharing characteristics with the general population), or rather (2) qualitatively deviant processing (i.e., unique to a few individuals). To test to what extent synaesthesia-like (automatic) letter-colour associations may be learned by non-synaesthetes into adulthood, implied by (1), we developed a learning paradigm that aimed to implicitly train such associations via a visual search task that employed statistical probability learning of specific letter-colour pairs. In contrast to previous synaesthesia-training studies (Cohen Kadosh, Henik, Catena, Walsh, & Fuentes, 2009; Meier & Rothen, 2009), here all participants were naïve as to the end-goal of the experiment (i.e., the formation of letter-colour associations), mimicking the learning conditions of acquired grapheme-colour synaesthesia (Hancock, 2006; Witthoft & Winawer, 2006). In two experiments, we found evidence for significant binding of colours to letters by non-synaesthetes. These newly-formed associations showed synaesthesia-like characteristics, because they correlated in strength with performance on individual synaesthetic Stroop-tasks (experiment 1), and because interference between the learned (associated) colour and the real colour during letter processing depended on their relative positions in colour space (opponent vs. non-opponent colours, experiment 2) suggesting automatic formation on a perceptual rather than conceptual level, analogous to synaesthesia. Although not evoking conscious colour percepts, these learned, synaesthesia-like associations in non-synaesthetes support that common mechanisms may underlie letter-colour associations in synaesthetes

  12. Major bioactive metabolites from marine fungi: A Review.

    PubMed

    Hasan, Saba; Ansari, Mohammad Israil; Ahmad, Anis; Mishra, Maitreyi

    2015-01-01

    Biologists and chemists of the world have been attracted towards marine natural products for the last five decades. Approximately 16,000 marine natural products have been isolated from marine organisms which have been reported in approximately 6,800 publications, proving marine microorganisms to be a invaluable source for the production of novel antibiotic, anti tumor, and anti inflammatory agents. The marine fungi particularly those associated with marine alga, sponge, invertebrates, and sediments appear to be a rich source for secondary metabolites, possessing Antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal and antiyeast activities. Besides, a few growth stimulant properties which may be useful in studies on wound healing, carcinogenic properties, and in the study of cancers are reported. Recent investigations on marine filamentous fungi looking for biologically active secondary metabolites indicate the tremendous potential of them as a source of new medicines. The present study reviews about some important bioactive metabolites reported from marine fungal strains which are anti bacterial, anti tumour and anti inflammatory in action. It highlights the chemistry and biological activity of the major bioactive alkaloids, polyketides, terpenoids, isoprenoid and non-isoprenoid compounds, quinones, isolated from marine fungi.

  13. Chiral alkynylcarbinols from marine sponges: asymmetric synthesis and biological relevance.

    PubMed

    Listunov, Dymytrii; Maraval, Valérie; Chauvin, Remi; Génisson, Yves

    2015-01-01

    Covering: up to March 2014. Previous review on the topic: B. W. Gung, C. R. Chim., 2009, 12, 489-505. Chiral α-functional lipidic propargylic alcohols extracted from marine sponges, in particular of the pacific genus Petrosia, constitute a class of acetylenic natural products exhibiting remarkable in vitro biological activities, especially anti-tumoral cytotoxicity. These properties, associated to functionalities that are uncommon among natural products, have prompted recent projects on asymmetric total synthesis. On the basis of a three-sector structural typology, three main sub-types of secondary alkynylcarbinols (with either alkyl, alkenyl, or alkynyl as the second substituent) can be identified as the minimal pharmacophoric units. Selected natural products containing these functionalities have been targeted using previously known or on purpose-designed procedures, where the stereo-determining step can be: (i) a C-C bond forming reaction (e.g. the Zn-mediated addition of alkynyl nucleophiles to aldehydes in the presence of chiral aminoalcohols), (ii) a functional layout (e.g. the asymmetric organo- or metallo-catalytic reduction of ynones), or (iii) an enantiomeric resolution (e.g. a lipase-mediated kinetic resolution via acetylation). The promising medicinal importance of these targets is finally surveyed, and future investigation prospects are proposed, such as: (i) further total synthesis of known or future extraction products; (ii) the synthesis of non-natural analogues, with simpler lipophilic environments of the alkynylcarbinol-based pharmacophoric units; (iii) the variation and optimization of both the pharmacophoric units and their lipophilic environment; and (iv) investigations into the biological mode of action of these unique structures.

  14. 75 FR 49465 - Marine Mammals; File No. 14682

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-13

    ... has issued a permit to Whitlow Au, Ph.D., University of Hawaii, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XY09 Marine Mammals; File No. 14682 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

  15. 78 FR 37796 - Marine Mammals; File No. 17952

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-06-24

    ... permit has been issued to Daniel P. Costa, Ph.D., Department of Biology and Institute of Marine Sciences... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XC554 Marine Mammals; File No. 17952 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

  16. Written Communications Simulation: Write Me a Letter.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    North Carolina State Dept. of Public Instruction, Raleigh. Div. of Vocational Education.

    This simulation is intended for use as a culminating activity after students have been exposed to personal and/or business letter writing, use of reference manuals, typing of letters, mailing procedures, typing of numbers, punctuation practice, and filing procedures. Stated objectives are to enable students to type a mailable letter; to inspect,…

  17. Optimization of microwave digestion for mercury determination in marine biological samples by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry.

    PubMed

    Cardellicchio, Nicola; Di Leo, Antonella; Giandomenico, Santina; Santoro, Stefania

    2006-01-01

    Optimization of acid digestion method for mercury determination in marine biological samples (dolphin liver, fish and mussel tissues) using a closed vessel microwave sample preparation is presented. Five digestion procedures with different acid mixtures were investigated: the best results were obtained when the microwave-assisted digestion was based on sample dissolution with HNO3-H2SO4-K2Cr2O7 mixture. A comparison between microwave digestion and conventional reflux digestion shows there are considerable losses of mercury in the open digestion system. The microwave digestion method has been tested satisfactorily using two certified reference materials. Analytical results show a good agreement with certified values. The microwave digestion proved to be a reliable and rapid method for decomposition of biological samples in mercury determination.

  18. Are Letter Detection and Proofreading Tasks Equivalent?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saint-Aubin, Jean; Losier, Marie-Claire; Roy, Macha; Lawrence, Mike

    2015-01-01

    When readers search for misspellings in a proofreading task or for a letter in a letter detection task, they are more likely to omit function words than content words. However, with misspelled words, previous findings for the letter detection task were mixed. In two experiments, the authors tested the functional equivalence of both tasks. Results…

  19. The Intentions of Letter Writers for Applicants to a Baccalaureate-M.D. Program: Self-Report and Content Analyses of Letters of Reference.

    PubMed

    Mavis, Brian E; Shafer, Christine L; Magallanes, Belinda M

    2006-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine how individuals providing reference letters framed the task and the specific attributes used to describe applicants. Participants were letter writers (N=106) for accepted or alternate applicants. Participants received a brief anonymous survey and a return postcard to release their past letter for content analysis. Seventy-six percent of letter writers (N=81) returned a survey. Most (64%) intended to describe applicants' positive accomplishments. According to respondents' they were most likely to write about academic accomplishments (85%), work ethic (78%), dependability (70%) and motivation (70%). Seventy-four respondents (70%) released their letter for content analysis. Academic accomplishments (77%), motivation (41%) and leadership (41%) were the attributes most frequently mentioned in the letters. Most letter writers see their role as supportive rather than evaluative. Academic accomplishments, though often mentioned, are available from other sources. Many non-cognitive attributes of most interest to admissions committees are least likely to appear in reference letters.

  20. Response of the bacterial community in oil-contaminated marine water to the addition of chemical and biological dispersants.

    PubMed

    Couto, Camila Rattes de Almeida; Jurelevicius, Diogo de Azevedo; Alvarez, Vanessa Marques; van Elsas, Jan Dirk; Seldin, Lucy

    2016-12-15

    The use of dispersants in different stages of the oil production chain and for the remediation of water and soil is a well established practice. However, the choice for a chemical or biological dispersant is still a controversial subject. Chemical surfactants that persist long in the environment may pose problems of toxicity themselves; therefore, biosurfactants are considered to constitute an environmentally friendly and effective alternative. Nevertheless, the putative effects of such agents on the microbiomes of oil-contaminated and uncontaminated marine environments have not been sufficiently evaluated. Here, we studied the effects of the surfactant Ultrasperse II ® and the surfactin (biosurfactant) produced by Bacillus sp. H2O-1 on the bacterial communities of marine water. Specifically, we used quantitative PCR and genetic fingerprint analyses to study the abundance and structure of the bacterial communities in marine water collected from two regions with contrasting climatic conditions. The addition of either chemical surfactant or biosurfactant influenced the structure and abundance of total and oil-degrading bacterial communities of oil-contaminated and uncontaminated marine waters. Remarkably, the bacterial communities responded similarly to the addition of oil and/or either the surfactant or the biosurfactant in both set of microcosms. After 30 days of incubation, the addition of surfactin enhanced the oil-degrading bacteria more than the chemical surfactant. However, no increase of hydrocarbon biodegradation values was observed, irrespective of the dispersant used. These data contribute to an increased understanding of the impact of novel dispersants on marine bacteriomes before commercial release into the environment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Are All Letters Really Processed Equally and in Parallel? Further Evidence of a Robust First Letter Advantage

    PubMed Central

    Scaltritti, Michele; Balota, David A.

    2013-01-01

    This present study examined accuracy and response latency of letter processing as a function of position within a horizontal array. In a series of 4 Experiments, target-strings were briefly (33 ms for Experiment 1 to 3, 83 ms for Experiment 4) displayed and both forward and backward masked. Participants then made a two alternative forced choice. The two alternative responses differed just in one element of the string, and position of mismatch was systematically manipulated. In Experiment 1, words of different lengths (from 3 to 6 letters) were presented in separate blocks. Across different lengths, there was a robust advantage in performance when the alternative response was different for the letter occurring at the first position, compared to when the difference occurred at any other position. Experiment 2 replicated this finding with the same materials used in Experiment 1, but with words of different lengths randomly intermixed within blocks. Experiment 3 provided evidence of the first position advantage with legal nonwords and strings of consonants, but did not provide any first position advantage for non-alphabetic symbols. The lack of a first position advantage for symbols was replicated in Experiment 4, where target-strings were displayed for a longer duration (83 ms). Taken together these results suggest that the first position advantage is a phenomenon that occurs specifically and selectively for letters, independent of lexical constraints. We argue that the results are consistent with models that assume a processing advantage for coding letters in the first position, and are inconsistent with the commonly held assumption in visual word recognition models that letters are equally processed in parallel independent of letter position. PMID:24012723

  2. Phylogenetic Diversity and Biological Activity of Actinobacteria Isolated from the Chukchi Shelf Marine Sediments in the Arctic Ocean

    PubMed Central

    Yuan, Meng; Yu, Yong; Li, Hui-Rong; Dong, Ning; Zhang, Xiao-Hua

    2014-01-01

    Marine environments are a rich source of Actinobacteria and have the potential to produce a wide variety of biologically active secondary metabolites. In this study, we used four selective isolation media to culture Actinobacteria from the sediments collected from the Chukchi Shelf in the Arctic Ocean. A total of 73 actinobacterial strains were isolated. Based on repetitive DNA fingerprinting analysis, we selected 30 representatives for partial characterization according to their phylogenetic diversity, antimicrobial activities and secondary-metabolite biosynthesis genes. Results from the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the 30 strains could be sorted into 18 phylotypes belonging to 14 different genera: Agrococcus, Arsenicicoccus, Arthrobacter, Brevibacterium, Citricoccus, Janibacter, Kocuria, Microbacterium, Microlunatus, Nocardioides, Nocardiopsis, Saccharopolyspora, Salinibacterium and Streptomyces. To our knowledge, this paper is the first report on the isolation of Microlunatus genus members from marine habitats. Of the 30 isolates, 11 strains exhibited antibacterial and/or antifungal activity, seven of which have activities against Bacillus subtilis and Candida albicans. All 30 strains have at least two biosynthetic genes, one-third of which possess more than four biosynthetic genes. This study demonstrates the significant diversity of Actinobacteria in the Chukchi Shelf sediment and their potential for producing biologically active compounds and novel material for genetic manipulation or combinatorial biosynthesis. PMID:24663116

  3. Workshop held to discuss population connectivity in marine systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cowen, Robert K.; Thorrold, Simon; Pineda, Jesus; Gawarkiewicz, Glen

    A central goal of marine ecology is to achieve a mechanistic understanding of the factors regulating the abundance and distribution of marine populations. One critical component of the above goal is to quantify rates of exchange, or connectivity among sub-populations of marine organisms via larval dispersal. Theoretical studies suggest that these linkages play a fundamental role in local and meta-population dynamics, community structure, genetic diversity, and the resiliency of populations to human exploitation [Fogarty, 1998].Understanding population connectivity is also key in efforts to develop spatial management methods for marine-capture fisheries, including the design of networks of marine reserves [Sala et al., 2002]. We have made considerable advances in our understanding of the biology of juvenile and adult life history stages through experimental marine ecology However, there has been no concomitant increase in our knowledge of the biological and physical processes that determine the extent to which marine populations are connected via larval dispersal.

  4. Navon letters affect face learning and face retrieval.

    PubMed

    Lewis, Michael B; Mills, Claire; Hills, Peter J; Weston, Nicola

    2009-01-01

    Identifying the local letters of a Navon letter (a large letter made up of smaller different letters) prior to recognition causes impairment in accuracy, while identifying the global letters of a Navon letter causes an enhancement in recognition accuracy (Macrae & Lewis, 2002). This effect may result from a transfer-inappropriate processing shift (TIPS) (Schooler, 2002). The present experiment extends research on the underlying mechanism of this effect by exploring this Navon effect on face learning as well as face recognition. The results of the two experiments revealed that when the Navon task used at retrieval was the same as that used at encoding then the performance accuracy is enhanced, whereas when the processing operations mismatch at retrieval and at encoding, this impairs recognition accuracy. These results provide support for the TIPS explanation of the Navon effect.

  5. When writing impairs reading: letter perception's susceptibility to motor interference.

    PubMed

    James, Karin H; Gauthier, Isabel

    2009-08-01

    The effect of writing on the concurrent visual perception of letters was investigated in a series of studies using an interference paradigm. Participants drew shapes and letters while simultaneously visually identifying letters and shapes embedded in noise. Experiments 1-3 demonstrated that letter perception, but not the perception of shapes, was affected by motor interference. This suggests a strong link between the perception of letters and the neural substrates engaged during writing. The overlap both in category (letter vs. shape) and in the perceptual similarity of the features (straight vs. curvy) of the seen and drawn items determined the amount of interference. Experiment 4 demonstrated that intentional production of letters is not necessary for the interference to occur, because passive movement of the hand in the shape of letters also interfered with letter perception. When passive movements were used, however, only the category of the drawn items (letters vs. shapes), but not the perceptual similarity, had an influence, suggesting that motor representations for letters may selectively influence visual perception of letters through proprioceptive feedback, with an additional influence of perceptual similarity that depends on motor programs.

  6. Finestkind: The American Lobster. A Learning Experience for Marine Education. Northern New England Marine Education Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maine Univ., Orono. Coll. of Education.

    This interdisciplinary unit is intended for use in the fourth grade. Through discussion of the American Lobster, its economics, history, literature, and biology, the unit describes the effects of the marine environment on human history and culture. Sections deal with how marine organisms have evolved. Detailed descriptions are provided of lobster…

  7. Neural Correlates of Letter Reversal in Children and Adults

    PubMed Central

    Kalra, Priya; Yee, Debbie; Sinha, Pawan; Gabrieli, John D. E.

    2014-01-01

    Children often make letter reversal errors when first learning to read and write, even for letters whose reversed forms do not appear in normal print. However, the brain basis of such letter reversal in children learning to read is unknown. The present study compared the neuroanatomical correlates (via functional magnetic resonance imaging) and the electrophysiological correlates (via event-related potentials or ERPs) of this phenomenon in children, ages 5–12, relative to young adults. When viewing reversed letters relative to typically oriented letters, adults exhibited widespread occipital, parietal, and temporal lobe activations, including activation in the functionally localized visual word form area (VWFA) in left occipito-temporal cortex. Adults exhibited significantly greater activation than children in all of these regions; children only exhibited such activation in a limited frontal region. Similarly, on the P1 and N170 ERP components, adults exhibited significantly greater differences between typical and reversed letters than children, who failed to exhibit significant differences between typical and reversed letters. These findings indicate that adults distinguish typical and reversed letters in the early stages of specialized brain processing of print, but that children do not recognize this distinction during the early stages of processing. Specialized brain processes responsible for early stages of letter perception that distinguish between typical and reversed letters may develop slowly and remain immature even in older children who no longer produce letter reversals in their writing. PMID:24859328

  8. The role of sensorimotor learning in the perception of letter-like forms: tracking the causes of neural specialization for letters.

    PubMed

    James, Karin H; Atwood, Thea P

    2009-02-01

    Functional specialization in the brain is considered a hallmark of efficient processing. It is therefore not surprising that there are brain areas specialized for processing letters. To better understand the causes of functional specialization for letters, we explore the emergence of this pattern of response in the ventral processing stream through a training paradigm. Previously, we hypothesized that the specialized response pattern seen during letter perception may be due in part to our experience in writing letters. The work presented here investigates whether or not this aspect of letter processing-the integration of sensorimotor systems through writing-leads to functional specialization in the visual system. To test this idea, we investigated whether or not different types of experiences with letter-like stimuli ("pseudoletters") led to functional specialization similar to that which exists for letters. Neural activation patterns were measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after three different types of training sessions. Participants were trained to recognize pseudoletters by writing, typing, or purely visual practice. Results suggested that only after writing practice did neural activation patterns to pseudoletters resemble patterns seen for letters. That is, neural activation in the left fusiform and dorsal precentral gyrus was greater when participants viewed pseudoletters than other, similar stimuli but only after writing experience. Neural activation also increased after typing practice in the right fusiform and left precentral gyrus, suggesting that in some areas, any motor experience may change visual processing. The results of this experiment suggest an intimate interaction among perceptual and motor systems during pseudoletter perception that may be extended to everyday letter perception.

  9. Impacts of climate change on marine organisms and ecosystems.

    PubMed

    Brierley, Andrew S; Kingsford, Michael J

    2009-07-28

    Human activities are releasing gigatonnes of carbon to the Earth's atmosphere annually. Direct consequences of cumulative post-industrial emissions include increasing global temperature, perturbed regional weather patterns, rising sea levels, acidifying oceans, changed nutrient loads and altered ocean circulation. These and other physical consequences are affecting marine biological processes from genes to ecosystems, over scales from rock pools to ocean basins, impacting ecosystem services and threatening human food security. The rates of physical change are unprecedented in some cases. Biological change is likely to be commensurately quick, although the resistance and resilience of organisms and ecosystems is highly variable. Biological changes founded in physiological response manifest as species range-changes, invasions and extinctions, and ecosystem regime shifts. Given the essential roles that oceans play in planetary function and provision of human sustenance, the grand challenge is to intervene before more tipping points are passed and marine ecosystems follow less-buffered terrestrial systems further down a spiral of decline. Although ocean bioengineering may alleviate change, this is not without risk. The principal brake to climate change remains reduced CO(2) emissions that marine scientists and custodians of the marine environment can lobby for and contribute to. This review describes present-day climate change, setting it in context with historical change, considers consequences of climate change for marine biological processes now and in to the future, and discusses contributions that marine systems could play in mitigating the impacts of global climate change.

  10. Biomedical Applications of Enzymes From Marine Actinobacteria.

    PubMed

    Kamala, K; Sivaperumal, P

    Marine microbial enzyme technologies have progressed significantly in the last few decades for different applications. Among the various microorganisms, marine actinobacterial enzymes have significant active properties, which could allow them to be biocatalysts with tremendous bioactive metabolites. Moreover, marine actinobacteria have been considered as biofactories, since their enzymes fulfill biomedical and industrial needs. In this chapter, the marine actinobacteria and their enzymes' uses in biological activities and biomedical applications are described. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Assessing ecological correlates of marine bird declines to inform marine conservation.

    PubMed

    Vilchis, L Ignacio; Johnson, Christine K; Evenson, Joseph R; Pearson, Scott F; Barry, Karen L; Davidson, Peter; Raphael, Martin G; Gaydos, Joseph K

    2015-02-01

    Identifying drivers of ecosystem change in large marine ecosystems is central for their effective management and conservation. This is a sizable challenge, particularly in ecosystems transcending international borders, where monitoring and conservation of long-range migratory species and their habitats are logistically and financially problematic. Here, using tools borrowed from epidemiology, we elucidated common drivers underlying species declines within a marine ecosystem, much in the way epidemiological analyses evaluate risk factors for negative health outcomes to better inform decisions. Thus, we identified ecological traits and dietary specializations associated with species declines in a community of marine predators that could be reflective of ecosystem change. To do so, we integrated count data from winter surveys collected in long-term marine bird monitoring programs conducted throughout the Salish Sea--a transboundary large marine ecosystem in North America's Pacific Northwest. We found that decadal declines in winter counts were most prevalent among pursuit divers such as alcids (Alcidae) and grebes (Podicipedidae) that have specialized diets based on forage fish, and that wide-ranging species without local breeding colonies were more prone to these declines. Although a combination of factors is most likely driving declines of diving forage fish specialists, we propose that changes in the availability of low-trophic prey may be forcing wintering range shifts of diving birds in the Salish Sea. Such a synthesis of long-term trends in a marine predator community not only provides unique insights into the types of species that are at risk of extirpation and why, but may also inform proactive conservation measures to counteract threats--information that is paramount for species-specific and ecosystem-wide conservation. © 2014 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of the Society for Conservation Biology.

  12. Does letter rotation slow down orthographic processing in word recognition?

    PubMed

    Perea, Manuel; Marcet, Ana; Fernández-López, María

    2018-02-01

    Leading neural models of visual word recognition assume that letter rotation slows down the conversion of the visual input to a stable orthographic representation (e.g., local detectors combination model; Dehaene, Cohen, Sigman, & Vinckier, 2005, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 335-341). If this premise is true, briefly presented rotated primes should be less effective at activating word representations than those primes with upright letters. To test this question, we conducted a masked priming lexical decision experiment with vertically presented words either rotated 90° or in marquee format (i.e., vertically but with upright letters). We examined the impact of the format on both letter identity (masked identity priming: identity vs. unrelated) and letter position (masked transposed-letter priming: transposed-letter prime vs. replacement-letter prime). Results revealed sizeable masked identity and transposed-letter priming effects that were similar in magnitude for rotated and marquee words. Therefore, the reading cost from letter rotation does not arise in the initial access to orthographic/lexical representations.

  13. 48 CFR 42.504 - Postaward letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Postaward letters. 42.504 Section 42.504 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION CONTRACT MANAGEMENT CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION AND AUDIT SERVICES Postaward Orientation 42.504 Postaward letters. In some...

  14. Marine-Derived Bioactive Peptides for Biomedical Sectors: A Review.

    PubMed

    Ruiz-Ruiz, Federico; Mancera-Andrade, Elena I; Iqbal, Hafiz M N

    2017-01-01

    Marine-based resources such as algae and other marine by-products have been recognized as rich sources of structurally diverse bioactive peptides. Evidently, their structural characteristics including unique amino acid residues are responsible for their biological activity. Several of the above-mentioned marine-origin species show multi-functional bioactivities that are useful for a new discovery and/or reinvention of biologically active ingredients, nutraceuticals and/or pharmaceuticals. Therefore, in recent years, marine-derived bioactive peptides have gained a considerable attention with high-value biomedical and/or pharmaceutical potentials. Furthermore, a wider spectrum of bioactive peptides can be produced through proteolytic-assisted hydrolysis of various marine resources under controlled physicochemical (pH and temperature of the reaction media) environment. Owing to their numerous health-related beneficial effects and therapeutic potential in the treatment and/or prevention of many diseases, such marine-derived bioactive peptides exhibit a wider spectrum of biological activities such as anti-cancerous, anti-proliferative, anti-coagulant, antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-tumor activities among many others. Based on emerging evidence of marine-derived peptide mining, the above-mentioned marine resources contain noteworthy levels of high-value protein. The present review article mainly summarizes the marine-derived bioactive peptides and emphasizing their potential applications in biomedical and/or pharmaceutical sectors of the modern world. In conclusion, recent literature has provided evidence that marine-derived bioactive peptides play a critical role in human health along with many possibilities of designing new functional nutraceuticals and/or pharmaceuticals to clarify potent mechanisms of action for a wider spectrum of diseases. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

  15. Laboratory Experiences in Marine Biology, Student Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Raimist, Roger J.

    This manual contains instructions for laboratory exercises using marine organisms. For each exercise a problem is defined, materials are listed, possible ways to solve the problem are suggested, questions are asked to guide the student in interpreting data, and further reading is suggested. The exercises deal with the measurement of oxygen…

  16. 75 FR 45527 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Military Training Activities and Research, Development...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-08-03

    ...NMFS, upon application from the U.S. Navy (Navy) on behalf of the Department of Defense (including the Navy, the U.S. Air Force (USAF), and the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC)), is issuing regulations to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to activities conducted in the Mariana Islands Range Complex (MIRC) study area for the period of July 2010 through July 2015. The Navy's activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (NDAA). These regulations, which allow for the issuance of ``Letters of Authorization'' (LOAs) for the incidental take of marine mammals during the described activities and specified timeframes, prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, as well as requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking.

  17. Teaching Complaint and Adjustment Letters--And Tact (My Favorite Assignment).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Deimling, Paula

    1992-01-01

    Describes a three-part assignment in which each student writes a complaint letter and an adjustment letter responding to another student's complaint letter. Discusses how the third part of the assignment--journal entries--allows students to formulate their own criteria for excellent letters based upon their reactions to the letters they receive.…

  18. Measuring Compartment Size and Gas Solubility in Marine Mammals

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-09-30

    Koopman, H.N. and A.J. Westgate, Solubility of nitrogen in marine mammal blubber depends on its lipid composition. Journal of Experimental Biology ...1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Measuring Compartment Size and Gas Solubility in Marine ...Mammals Michael Moore Biology Department Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole, MA 02543 phone: (508) 289-3228 fax: (508) 457

  19. Pharmaceutically active secondary metabolites of marine actinobacteria.

    PubMed

    Manivasagan, Panchanathan; Venkatesan, Jayachandran; Sivakumar, Kannan; Kim, Se-Kwon

    2014-04-01

    Marine actinobacteria are one of the most efficient groups of secondary metabolite producers and are very important from an industrial point of view. Many representatives of the order Actinomycetales are prolific producers of thousands of biologically active secondary metabolites. Actinobacteria from terrestrial sources have been studied and screened since the 1950s, for many important antibiotics, anticancer, antitumor and immunosuppressive agents. However, frequent rediscovery of the same compounds from the terrestrial actinobacteria has made them less attractive for screening programs in the recent years. At the same time, actinobacteria isolated from the marine environment have currently received considerable attention due to the structural diversity and unique biological activities of their secondary metabolites. They are efficient producers of new secondary metabolites that show a range of biological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antitumor, cytotoxic, cytostatic, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, anti-malaria, antiviral, antioxidant, anti-angiogenesis, etc. In this review, an evaluation is made on the current status of research on marine actinobacteria yielding pharmaceutically active secondary metabolites. Bioactive compounds from marine actinobacteria possess distinct chemical structures that may form the basis for synthesis of new drugs that could be used to combat resistant pathogens. With the increasing advancement in science and technology, there would be a greater demand for new bioactive compounds synthesized by actinobacteria from various marine sources in future. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

  20. Marine Biology and Oceanography, Grades Nine to Twelve. Part I.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kolb, James A.

    This unit, one of a series designed to develop and foster an understanding of the marine environment, presents marine science activities for students in grades 9-12. The unit, focusing on physical factors influencing life in the sea, is divided into sections dealing with: (1) the ocean floor; (2) tides; (3) ocean waves; (4) ocean currents; (5)…

  1. The processing of consonants and vowels during letter identity and letter position assignment in visual-word recognition: an ERP study.

    PubMed

    Vergara-Martínez, Marta; Perea, Manuel; Marín, Alejandro; Carreiras, Manuel

    2011-09-01

    Recent research suggests that there is a processing distinction between consonants and vowels in visual-word recognition. Here we conjointly examine the time course of consonants and vowels in processes of letter identity and letter position assignment. Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants read words and pseudowords in a lexical decision task. The stimuli were displayed under different conditions in a masked priming paradigm with a 50-ms SOA: (i) identity/baseline condition e.g., chocolate-CHOCOLATE); (ii) vowels-delayed condition (e.g., choc_l_te-CHOCOLATE); (iii) consonants-delayed condition (cho_o_ate-CHOCOLATE); (iv) consonants-transposed condition (cholocate-CHOCOLATE); (v) vowels-transposed condition (chocalote-CHOCOLATE), and (vi) unrelated condition (editorial-CHOCOLATE). Results showed earlier ERP effects and longer reaction times for the delayed-letter compared to the transposed-letter conditions. Furthermore, at early stages of processing, consonants may play a greater role during letter identity processing. Differences between vowels and consonants regarding letter position assignment are discussed in terms of a later phonological level involved in lexical retrieval. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Transposed-Letter and Laterality Effects in Lexical Decision

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perea, Manuel; Fraga, Isabel

    2006-01-01

    Two divided visual field lexical decision experiments were conducted to examine the role of the cerebral hemispheres in transposed-letter similarity effects. In Experiment 1, we created two types of nonwords: nonadjacent transposed-letter nonwords ("TRADEGIA"; the base word was "TRAGEDIA," the Spanish for "TRAGEDY") and two-letter different…

  3. From Numbers to Letters: Feedback Regularization in Visual Word Recognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Molinaro, Nicola; Dunabeitia, Jon Andoni; Marin-Gutierrez, Alejandro; Carreiras, Manuel

    2010-01-01

    Word reading in alphabetic languages involves letter identification, independently of the format in which these letters are written. This process of letter "regularization" is sensitive to word context, leading to the recognition of a word even when numbers that resemble letters are inserted among other real letters (e.g., M4TERI4L). The present…

  4. IRTs of the ABCs: Children's Letter Name Acquisition

    PubMed Central

    Piasta, Shayne B.; Anthony, Jason L.; Lonigan, Christopher J.; Francis, David J.

    2015-01-01

    We examined the developmental sequence of letter name knowledge acquisition by children from 2 to five years of age. Data from 2 samples representing diverse regions, ethnicity, and socioeconomic backgrounds (ns = 1074 & 500) were analyzed using item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning techniques. Results from factor analyses indicated that letter name knowledge represented a unidimensional skill; IRT results yielded significant differences between letters in both difficulty and discrimination. Results also indicated an approximate developmental sequence in letter name learning for the simplest and most challenging to learn letters -- but with no clear sequence between these extremes. Findings also suggested that children were most likely to first learn their first initial. We discuss implications for assessment and instruction. PMID:22710016

  5. Parasites and marine invasions

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Torchin, M.E.; Lafferty, K.D.; Kuris, A.M.

    2002-01-01

    Introduced marine species are a major environmental and economic problem. The rate of these biological invasions has substantially increased in recent years due to the globalization of the world's economies. The damage caused by invasive species is often a result of the higher densities and larger sizes they attain compared to where they are native. A prominent hypothesis explaining the success of introduced species is that they are relatively free of the effects of natural enemies. Most notably, they may encounter fewer parasites in their introduced range compared to their native range. Parasites are ubiquitous and pervasive in marine systems, yet their role in marine invasions is relatively unexplored. Although data on parasites of marine organisms exist, the extent to which parasites can mediate marine invasions, or the extent to which invasive parasites and pathogens are responsible for infecting or potentially decimating native marine species have not been examined. In this review, we present a theoretical framework to model invasion success and examine the evidence for a relationship between parasite presence and the success of introduced marine species. For this, we compare the prevalence and species richness of parasites in several introduced populations of marine species with populations where they are native. We also discuss the potential impacts of introduced marine parasites on native ecosystems.

  6. Where and What Is Pristine Marine Aerosol?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Russell, L. M.; Frossard, A. A.; Long, M. S.; Burrows, S. M.; Elliott, S.; Bates, T. S.; Quinn, P.

    2014-12-01

    The sources and composition of atmospheric marine aerosol particles have been measured by functional group composition (from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) to identify the organic composition of the pristine primary marine (ocean-derived) particles as 65% hydroxyl, 21% alkane, 6% amine, and 7% carboxylic acid functional groups [Frossard et al., 2014a,b]. Pristine but non-primary components from photochemical reactions (likely from biogenic marine vapor emissions) add carboxylic acid groups. Non-pristine contributions include shipping effluent in seawater and ship emissions, which add additional alkane groups (up to 70%), and coastal or continental emissions mix in alkane and carboxylic acid groups. The pristine primary marine (ocean-derived) organic aerosol composition is nearly identical to model generated primary marine aerosol particles from bubbled seawater, indicating that its overall functional group composition is the direct consequence of the organic constituents of the seawater source. While the seawater organic functional group composition was nearly invariant across all three ocean regions studied and the ratio of organic carbon to sodium (OC/Na+) in the generated primary marine aerosol particles remained nearly constant over a broad range of chlorophyll-a concentrations, the generated primary marine aerosol particle alkane group fraction increased with chlorophyll-a concentrations. In addition, the generated primary marine aerosol particles have a hydroxyl group absorption peak location characteristic of monosaccharides and disaccharides, where the seawater hydroxyl group peak location is closer to that of polysaccharides. References Cited Frossard, Amanda A., Lynn M. Russell, Paola Massoli, Timothy S. Bates, and Patricia K. Quinn, "Side-by-Side Comparison of Four Techniques Explains the Apparent Differences in the Organic Composition of Generated and Ambient Marine Aerosol Particles," Aerosol Science and Technology - Aerosol Research Letter

  7. Representation of Letter Position in Spelling: Evidence from Acquired Dysgraphia

    PubMed Central

    Fischer-Baum, Simon; McCloskey, Michael; Rapp, Brenda

    2010-01-01

    The graphemic representations that underlie spelling performance must encode not only the identities of the letters in a word, but also the positions of the letters. This study investigates how letter position information is represented. We present evidence from two dysgraphic individuals, CM and LSS, who perseverate letters when spelling: that is, letters from previous spelling responses intrude into subsequent responses. The perseverated letters appear more often than expected by chance in the same position in the previous and subsequent responses. We used these errors to address the question of how letter position is represented in spelling. In a series of analyses we determined how often the perseveration errors produced maintain position as defined by a number of alternative theories of letter position encoding proposed in the literature. The analyses provide strong evidence that the grapheme representations used in spelling encode letter position such that position is represented in a graded manner based on distance from both edges of the word. PMID:20378104

  8. A crowdful of letters: disentangling the role of similarity, eccentricity and spatial frequencies in letter crowding.

    PubMed

    Zahabi, Sacha; Arguin, Martin

    2014-04-01

    The present study investigated the joint impact of target-flanker similarity and of spatial frequency content on the crowding effect in letter identification. We presented spatial frequency filtered letters to neurologically intact non-dyslexic readers while manipulating target-flanker distance, target eccentricity and target-flanker confusability (letter similarity metric based on published letter confusion matrices). The results show that high target-flanker confusability magnifies crowding. They also reveal an intricate pattern of interactions of the spatial frequency content of the stimuli with target eccentricity, flanker distance and similarity. The findings are congruent with the notion that crowding results from the inappropriate pooling of target and flanker features and that this integration is more likely to match a response template at a subsequent decision stage with similar than dissimilar flankers. In addition, the evidence suggests that crowding from similar flankers is biased towards relatively high spatial frequencies and that crowding shifts towards lower spatial frequencies as target eccentricity is increased. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. The dishonest dean's letter: an analysis of 532 dean's letters from 99 U.S. medical schools.

    PubMed

    Edmond, M; Roberson, M; Hasan, N

    1999-09-01

    To quantify the censure of potentially negative information in dean's letters. Concordance between 532 dean's letters and the corresponding transcripts was determined for six variables (failing grade in a preclinical course, marginal preclinical course grade, failing grade for a clinical rotation, marginal clinical rotation grade, leave of absence, and requirement to repeat an entire year of medical school). The evaluated variables were not found in the dean's letters 27% to 50% of the time that they were present on the transcripts. In three of nine instances (33%), a failing grade in a clinical rotation was not included. Four students had been required to repeat an entire year, but this was noted in only two cases. In toto, 35 of 104 (34%) of the variables identified on the transcripts were not reported. In addition, deans were significantly less likely to report a student's USMLE 1 score if the score was at or below the 20th percentile (p = .03). Some deans suppress negative information in their letters and potentially obfuscate the residency selection process.

  10. Exploring Corporate Rhetoric: Metadiscourse in the CEO's Letter.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hyland, Ken

    1998-01-01

    Examines how metadiscourse is used to create a positive corporate image in 137 CEOs' letters, showing how CEOs use nonpropositional material to realize rational, credible, and affective appeals. Reveals the essentially rhetorical nature of CEOs' letters by comparing the frequency and distribution of metadiscourse in their letters and directors'…

  11. Development of Early Handwriting: Visual-Motor Control During Letter Copying

    PubMed Central

    Maldarelli, Jennifer E.; Kahrs, Björn A.; Hunt, Sarah C.; Lockman, Jeffrey J.

    2015-01-01

    Despite the importance of handwriting for school readiness and early academic progress, prior research on the development of handwriting has focused primarily on the product rather than the process by which young children write letters. In contrast, in the present work, early handwriting is viewed as involving a suite of perceptual, motor and cognitive abilities, which must work in unison if children are to write letters efficiently. To study such coordination, head-mounted eye-tracking technology was used to investigate the process of visual-motor coordination while kindergarten children (N=23) and adults (N=11) copied individual letters and strings of letters that differed in terms of their phonemic properties. Results indicated that kindergarten children were able to copy single letters efficiently, as did adults. When the cognitive demands of the task increased and children were presented with strings of letters, however, their ability to copy letters efficiently was compromised: children frequently interrupted their writing mid-letter, whereas they did not do so on single letter trials. Yet, with increasing age, children became more efficient in copying letter strings, in part by using vision more prospectively when writing. Taken together, the results illustrate how the coordination of perceptual, motor and cognitive processes contributes to advances in the development of letter writing skill. PMID:26029821

  12. Advances in Biological Science.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oppenheimer, Steven B.; And Others

    1988-01-01

    Reviews major developments in areas that are at the cutting edge of biological research. Areas include: human anti-cancer gene, recombinant DNA techniques for the detection of Huntington disease carriers, and marine biology. (CW)

  13. 33 CFR 181.17 - Label numbers and letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Label numbers and letters. 181.17...) BOATING SAFETY MANUFACTURER REQUIREMENTS Manufacturer Certification of Compliance § 181.17 Label numbers and letters. Letters and numbers on each label must: (a) Be no less than one-eighth of an inch in...

  14. 33 CFR 181.17 - Label numbers and letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Label numbers and letters. 181.17...) BOATING SAFETY MANUFACTURER REQUIREMENTS Manufacturer Certification of Compliance § 181.17 Label numbers and letters. Letters and numbers on each label must: (a) Be no less than one-eighth of an inch in...

  15. Marine natural product peptides with therapeutic potential: Chemistry, biosynthesis, and pharmacology.

    PubMed

    Gogineni, Vedanjali; Hamann, Mark T

    2018-01-01

    The oceans are a uniquely rich source of bioactive metabolites, of which sponges have been shown to be among the most prolific producers of diverse bioactive secondary metabolites with valuable therapeutic potential. Much attention has been focused on marine bioactive peptides due to their novel chemistry and diverse biological properties. As summarized in this review, marine peptides are known to exhibit various biological activities such as antiviral, anti-proliferative, antioxidant, anti-coagulant, anti-hypertensive, anti-cancer, antidiabetic, antiobesity, and calcium-binding activities. This review focuses on the chemistry and biology of peptides isolated from sponges, bacteria, cyanobacteria, fungi, ascidians, and other marine sources. The role of marine invertebrate microbiomes in natural products biosynthesis is discussed in this review along with the biosynthesis of modified peptides from different marine sources. The status of peptides in various phases of clinical trials is presented, as well as the development of modified peptides including optimization of PK and bioavailability. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Bioaccumulation and biological effects of cigarette litter in marine worms

    PubMed Central

    Wright, Stephanie L.; Rowe, Darren; Reid, Malcolm J.; Thomas, Kevin V.; Galloway, Tamara S.

    2015-01-01

    Marine debris is a global environmental issue. Smoked cigarette filters are the predominant coastal litter item; 4.5 trillion are littered annually, presenting a source of bioplastic microfibres (cellulose acetate) and harmful toxicants to marine environments. Despite the human health risks associated with smoking, little is known of the hazards cigarette filters present to marine life. Here we studied the impacts of smoked cigarette filter toxicants and microfibres on the polychaete worm Hediste diversicolor (ragworm), a widespread inhabitant of coastal sediments. Ragworms exposed to smoked cigarette filter toxicants in seawater at concentrations 60 fold lower than those reported for urban run-off exhibited significantly longer burrowing times, >30% weight loss, and >2-fold increase in DNA damage compared to ragworms maintained in control conditions. In contrast, ragworms exposed to smoked cigarette filter microfibres in marine sediment showed no significant effects. Bioconcentration factors for nicotine were 500 fold higher from seawater than from sediment. Our results illustrate the vulnerability of organisms in the water column to smoking debris and associated toxicants, and highlight the risks posed by smoked cigarette filter debris to aquatic life. PMID:26369692

  17. Low-molecular-weight hydroxyacids in marine atmospheric aerosol: evidence of a marine microbial origin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miyazaki, Y.; Sawano, M.; Kawamura, K.

    2014-04-01

    Lactic acid (LA) and glycolic acid (GA), which are low-molecular-weight hydroxyacids, were identified in the particle and gas phases within the marine atmospheric boundary layer over the western subarctic North Pacific. Major portion of LA (81%) and GA (57%) were present in the particulate phase, which is consistent with the presence of a hydroxyl group in these molecules leading to the low volatility of the compounds. The average concentration of LA in more biologically influenced marine aerosols (average 33 ± 58 ng m-3) was substantially higher than that in less biologically influenced aerosols (average 11 ± 12 ng m-3). Over the oceacnic region of phytoplankton blooms, the concentration of aerosol LA was comparable to that of oxalic acid, which was the most abundant diacid during the study period. A positive correlation was found between the LA concentrations in more biologically influenced aerosols and chlorophyll a in seawater (r2 = 0.56), suggesting an important production of aerosol LA possibly associated with microbial (e.g., lactobacillus) activity in seawater and/or aerosols. Our finding provides a new insight into the poorly quantified microbial sources of marine organic aerosols (OA) because such low-molecular-weight hydroxyacids are key intermediates for OA formation.

  18. Low-molecular-weight hydroxyacids in marine atmospheric aerosol: evidence of a marine microbial origin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miyazaki, Y.; Sawano, M.; Kawamura, K.

    2014-08-01

    Lactic acid (LA) and glycolic acid (GA), which are low-molecular-weight hydroxyacids, were identified in the particle and gas phases within the marine atmospheric boundary layer over the western subarctic North Pacific. A major portion of LA (81%) and GA (57%) was present in the particulate phase, which is consistent with the presence of a hydroxyl group in these molecules leading to the low volatility of the compounds. The average concentration (±SD) of LA in more biologically influenced marine aerosols (33 ± 58 ng m-3) was substantially higher than that in less biologically influenced aerosols (11 ± 12 ng m-3). Over the oceanic region of phytoplankton blooms, the concentration of aerosol LA was comparable to that of oxalic acid, which was the most abundant diacid during the study period. A positive correlation was found between the LA concentrations in more biologically influenced aerosols and chlorophyll a in seawater (r2 = 0.56), suggesting an important production of aerosol LA possibly associated with microbial (e.g., lactobacillus) activity in seawater and/or aerosols. Our finding provides a new insight into the poorly quantified microbial sources of marine organic aerosols (OAs) because such low-molecular-weight hydroxyacids are key intermediates for OA formation.

  19. Teaching Letter Formation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Graham, Steve; Madan, Avi J.

    1981-01-01

    The authors describe a remedial technique for teaching letter formation to students with handwriting difficulties. The approach blends traditional procedures (modeling, physical prompts, tracing, self correction, etc.) with cognitive behavior modification principles. (CL)

  20. Marine polysaccharide-based nanomaterials as a novel source of nanobiotechnological applications.

    PubMed

    Manivasagan, Panchanathan; Oh, Junghwan

    2016-01-01

    Research on marine polysaccharide-based nanomaterials is emerging in nanobiotechnological fields such as drug delivery, gene delivery, tissue engineering, cancer therapy, wound dressing, biosensors, and water treatment. Important properties of the marine polysaccharides include biocompatibility, biodegradability, nontoxicity, low cost, and abundance. Most of the marine polysaccharides are derived from natural sources such as fucoidan, alginates, carrageenan, agarose, porphyran, ulvan, mauran, chitin, chitosan, and chitooligosaccharide. Marine polysaccharides are very important biological macromolecules that widely exist in marine organisms. Marine polysaccharides exhibit a vast variety of structures and are still under-exploited and thus should be considered as a novel source of natural products for drug discovery. An enormous variety of polysaccharides can be extracted from marine organisms such as algae, crustaceans, and microorganisms. Marine polysaccharides have been shown to have a variety of biological and biomedical properties. Recently, research and development of marine polysaccharide-based nanomaterials have received considerable attention as one of the major resources for nanotechnological applications. This review highlights the recent research on marine polysaccharide-based nanomaterials for biotechnological and biomedical applications. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Left cortical specialization for visual letter strings predicts rudimentary knowledge of letter-sound association in preschoolers

    PubMed Central

    Lochy, Aliette; Van Reybroeck, Marie; Rossion, Bruno

    2016-01-01

    Reading, one of the most important cultural inventions of human society, critically depends on posterior brain areas of the left hemisphere in proficient adult readers. In children, this left hemispheric cortical specialization for letter strings is typically detected only after approximately 1 y of formal schooling and reading acquisition. Here, we recorded scalp electrophysiological (EEG) brain responses in 5-y-old (n = 40) prereaders presented with letter strings appearing every five items in rapid streams of pseudofonts (6 items per second). Within 2 min of recording only, letter strings evoked a robust specific response over the left occipito-temporal cortex at the predefined frequency of 1.2 Hz (i.e., 6 Hz/5). Interindividual differences in the amplitude of this electrophysiological response are significantly related to letter knowledge, a preschool predictor of later reading ability. These results point to the high potential of this rapidly collected behavior-free measure to assess reading ability in developmental populations. These findings were replicated in a second experiment (n = 26 preschool children), where familiar symbols and line drawings of objects evoked right-lateralized and bilaterally specific responses, respectively, showing the specificity of the early left hemispheric dominance for letter strings. Collectively, these findings indicate that limited knowledge of print in young children, before formal education, is sufficient to develop specialized left lateralized neuronal circuits, thereby pointing to an early onset and rapid impact of left hemispheric reentrant sound mapping on posterior cortical development. PMID:27402739

  2. 7 CFR 1773.33 - Management letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... letter. The CPA must prepare a management letter that includes, at a minimum, comments on: (a) Audit... condition and operations. For borrowers with a December 31 year end, the CPA must state whether the... other than December 31, the CPA must state whether the information appears reasonable based upon the...

  3. 7 CFR 1773.33 - Management letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... letter. The CPA must prepare a management letter that includes, at a minimum, comments on: (a) Audit... condition and operations. For borrowers with a December 31 year end, the CPA must state whether the... other than December 31, the CPA must state whether the information appears reasonable based upon the...

  4. 7 CFR 1773.33 - Management letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... letter. The CPA must prepare a management letter that includes, at a minimum, comments on: (a) Audit... condition and operations. For borrowers with a December 31 year end, the CPA must state whether the... other than December 31, the CPA must state whether the information appears reasonable based upon the...

  5. Cognitive Determinants of Early Letter Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Helal, Suha; Weil-Barais, Annick

    2015-01-01

    The present study investigated the general cognitive determinants of alphabetic letter knowledge. It involved 60 French kindergarten children (mean age: five years six months). Two test batteries were used: the CMS to evaluate general cognitive abilities (memory, attention, and learning), and the LKT to assess letter knowledge and its various…

  6. Developing a Standardized Letter of Recommendation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walters, Alyssa M.; Kyllonen, Patrick C.; Plante, Janice W.

    2006-01-01

    The Standardized Letter of Recommendation (SLR) is a Web-based admission tool designed to replace traditional, narrative letters of recommendation with a more systematic and equitable source of information about applicants to institutions of higher education. The SLR includes a rating scale and open-ended response space that prompt evaluators to…

  7. Marine microorganisms and global nutrient cycles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arrigo, Kevin R.

    2005-09-01

    The way that nutrients cycle through atmospheric, terrestrial, oceanic and associated biotic reservoirs can constrain rates of biological production and help structure ecosystems on land and in the sea. On a global scale, cycling of nutrients also affects the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Because of their capacity for rapid growth, marine microorganisms are a major component of global nutrient cycles. Understanding what controls their distributions and their diverse suite of nutrient transformations is a major challenge facing contemporary biological oceanographers. What is emerging is an appreciation of the previously unknown degree of complexity within the marine microbial community.

  8. Age Changes in the Missing-Letter Effect Revisited

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saint-Aubin, J.; Klein, R.M.; Landry, T.

    2005-01-01

    When participants search for a target letter while reading, they make more omissions if the target letter is embedded in frequent function words than in less frequent content words. Reflecting developmental changes in component language and literacy skills, the size of this effect increases with age. With adults, the missing-letter effect is due…

  9. Marine Science Activities for Visually Impaired.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schatz, Dennis; And Others

    These marine education materials are based on the approach that students learn best when given a multisensory experience. The activities are intended to develop such experiences for the visually impaired child. Activities are intended to supplement an upper-elementary science curriculum or be the basis of a unit on marine biology. The guide is…

  10. Gender differences in recommendation letters for postdoctoral fellowships in geoscience

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dutt, Kuheli; Pfaff, Danielle L.; Bernstein, Ariel F.; Dillard, Joseph S.; Block, Caryn J.

    2016-11-01

    Gender disparities in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, including the geosciences, are well documented and widely discussed. In the geosciences, despite receiving 40% of doctoral degrees, women hold less than 10% of full professorial positions. A significant leak in the pipeline occurs during postdoctoral years, so biases embedded in postdoctoral processes, such as biases in recommendation letters, may be deterrents to careers in geoscience for women. Here we present an analysis of an international data set of 1,224 recommendation letters, submitted by recommenders from 54 countries, for postdoctoral fellowships in the geosciences over the period 2007-2012. We examine the relationship between applicant gender and two outcomes of interest: letter length and letter tone. Our results reveal that female applicants are only half as likely to receive excellent letters versus good letters compared to male applicants. We also find no evidence that male and female recommenders differ in their likelihood to write stronger letters for male applicants over female applicants. Our analysis also reveals significant regional differences in letter length, with letters from the Americas being significantly longer than any other region, whereas letter tone appears to be distributed equivalently across all world regions. These results suggest that women are significantly less likely to receive excellent recommendation letters than their male counterparts at a critical juncture in their career.

  11. Changes in FDA enforcement activities following changes in federal administration: the case of regulatory letters released to pharmaceutical companies.

    PubMed

    Nguyen, Diane; Seoane-Vazquez, Enrique; Rodriguez-Monguio, Rosa; Montagne, Michael

    2013-01-22

    The United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for the protection of the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness and security of human drugs and biological products through the enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and related regulations. These enforcement activities include regulatory letters (i.e. warning letters and notice of violation) to pharmaceutical companies. A regulatory letter represents the FDA's first official notification to a pharmaceutical company that the FDA has discovered a product or activity in violation of the FDCA.This study analyzed trends in the pharmaceutical-related regulatory letters released by the FDA during the period 1997-2011 and assessed differences in the average number and type of regulatory letters released during the last four federal administrations. Data derived from the FDA webpage. Information about the FDA office releasing the letter, date, company, and drug-related violation was collected. Regulatory letters were classified by federal administration. Descriptive statistics were performed for the analysis. Between 1997 and 2011 the FDA released 2,467 regulatory letters related to pharmaceuticals. FDA headquarters offices released 50.6% and district offices 49.4% of the regulatory letters. The Office of Prescription Drug Promotion released the largest number of regulatory letters (850; 34.5% of the total), followed by the Office of Scientific Investigations (131; 5.3%), and the Office of Compliance (105; 4.3%). During the 2nd Clinton Administration (1997-2000) the average number of regulatory letters per year was 242.8 ± 45.6, during the Bush Administration (2001-2008) it was 120.4 ± 33.7, and during the first three years of the Obama administration (2009-2011) it was 177.7.0 ± 17.0. The average number of regulatory letters released by the Office of Prescription Drug Promotion also varied by administration: Clinton (122.3 ± 36.4), Bush (29.5

  12. [The role of external letter positions in visual word recognition].

    PubMed

    Perea, Manuel; Lupker, Sthephen J

    2007-11-01

    A key issue for any computational model of visual word recognition is the choice of an input coding schema, which is responsible for assigning letter positions. Such a schema must reflect the fact that, according to recent research, nonwords created by transposing letters (e.g., caniso for CASINO ), typically, appear to be more similar to the word than nonwords created by replacing letters (e.g., caviro ). In the present research, we initially carried out a computational analysis examining the degree to which the position of the transposition influences transposed-letter similarity effects. We next conducted a masked priming experiment with the lexical decision task to determine whether a transposed-letter priming advantage occurs when the first letter position is involved. Primes were created by either transposing the first and third letters (démula-MEDULA ) or replacing the first and third letters (bérula-MEDULA). Results showed that there was no transposed-letter priming advantage in this situation. We discuss the implications of these results for models of visual word recognition.

  13. Ruggedized Portable Instrumentation Package for Marine Mammal Evoked Potential Hearing Measurements (DURIP)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-09-30

    NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology,Marine Mammal...Program Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology P.O. Box 1106 Kailua, Hawaii 96734 phone: (808) 247-5297 fax: (808) 247-5831 email: nachtiga...portable equipment was used at the Hilo Stranding Center to obtain the audiograms. Ready and available for RIMPAC excercises. 2 IMPACT

  14. Sixty-Minute Review of Letter Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cunningham, Donald H.; Graham, Louise

    1974-01-01

    The article describes a one-hour presentation which provides a basic stereotyped pattern of letter organization for the four types of letters (order, request, claim, and reply) the business of secretarial student is most likely to have to write. The four paragraphs of the pattern are: purpose, explanation, optional, and closing. (AG)

  15. Bioactive sterols from marine resources and their potential benefits for human health.

    PubMed

    Kim, Se-Kwon; Van Ta, Quang

    2012-01-01

    Bioactive agents from marine resources have shown their valuable health beneficial effects. Therefore, increase knowledge on novel functional ingredients with biological activities from marine animal and microbe has gained much attention. Sterols are recognized as potential in development functional food ingredients and pharmaceutical agents. Marine resources, with a great diversity, can be a very interesting natural resource of sterols. This chapter focuses on biological activities of marine animal and microbe sterols with potential health beneficial applications in functional foods and pharmaceuticals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Copying referral letters to patients: prepare for change.

    PubMed

    White, Philip

    2004-08-01

    The National Health Service (NHS) Plan for England has directed that from April 2004 clinicians will offer patients the opportunity to receive copies of letters that are written about them. Patients like to have more information and patients who have received copies of letters have found them useful. It is hoped that copying letters will improve relationships between doctors and patients, encourage patients to be better informed, and improve the quality of information provided to patients. Relatively little empirical research has been performed in this area but what exists is generally supportive. Attention will need to be paid to issues of confidentiality, the language and content of letters, and individuals who may have difficulty obtaining information from letters. This initiative is one of many that the NHS has introduced to enhance openness, honesty and the quality of information provided to patients.

  17. The Smithsonian-led Marine Global Earth Observatory (MarineGEO): Proposed Model for a Collaborative Network Linking Marine Biodiversity to Ecosystem Processes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Duffy, J. E.

    2016-02-01

    Biodiversity - the variety of functional types of organisms - is the engine of marine ecosystem processes, including productivity, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. Biodiversity remains a black box in much of ocean science, despite wide recognition that effectively managing human interactions with marine ecosystems requires understanding both structure and functional consequences of biodiversity. Moreover, the inherent complexity of biological systems puts a premium on data-rich, comparative approaches, which are best met via collaborative networks. The Smithsonian Institution's MarineGEO program links a growing network of partners conducting parallel, comparative research to understand change in marine biodiversity and ecosystems, natural and anthropogenic drivers of that change, and the ecological processes mediating it. The focus is on nearshore, seabed-associated systems where biodiversity and human population are concentrated and interact most, yet which fall through the cracks of existing ocean observing programs. MarineGEO offers a standardized toolbox of research modules that efficiently capture key elements of biological diversity and its importance in ecological processes across a range of habitats. The toolbox integrates high-tech (DNA-based, imaging) and low-tech protocols (diver surveys, rapid assays of consumer activity) adaptable to differing institutional capacity and resources. The model for long-term sustainability involves leveraging in-kind support among partners, adoption of best practices wherever possible, engagement of students and citizen scientists, and benefits of training, networking, and global relevance as incentives for participation. Here I highlight several MarineGEO comparative research projects demonstrating the value of standardized, scalable assays and parallel experiments for measuring fish and invertebrate diversity, recruitment, benthic herbivory and generalist predation, decomposition, and carbon sequestration. Key

  18. Record bid for Einstein letter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jeandron, Michelle

    2008-06-01

    A letter written by Albert Einstein the year before his death has sold for the staggering amount of £170 000 at an auction in London last month. The previously unrecorded letter, which has spent the past 50 years in a private collection, includes a discussion of Einstein's views on religion, bringing new material to the debate about whether or not he believed in God. The lot had been expected to fetch between £6000-£8000.

  19. 76 FR 4091 - Marine Mammals; File No. 15510

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-01-24

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XA165 Marine Mammals; File No. 15510 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... Jennifer Burns, Ph.D., University of Alaska Anchorage, Biology Department, 3101 Science Circle, Anchorage...

  20. 77 FR 267 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16621

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-01-04

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XA915 Marine Mammals; File No. 16621 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... Alejandro Acevedo- Guti[eacute]rrez, Ph.D., Biology Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham...

  1. 78 FR 42757 - Marine Mammals; File No. 17411

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-07-17

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XC541 Marine Mammals; File No. 17411 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... permit has been issued to Dr. Jennifer Burns, University of Alaska Anchorage, Biology Department...

  2. The Case of the Purloined Letter.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zirkel, Perry A.

    2003-01-01

    Analyzes Arkansas case wherein the Eighth Circuit held 6-5 that letter written by seventh-grade student threatening violence against his former girl friend was not protected by the First Amendment even though a friend took the letter from student's home without his knowledge and gave it to the girl. Upheld board's decision to expel student.…

  3. Development of early handwriting: Visual-motor control during letter copying.

    PubMed

    Maldarelli, Jennifer E; Kahrs, Björn A; Hunt, Sarah C; Lockman, Jeffrey J

    2015-07-01

    Despite the importance of handwriting for school readiness and early academic progress, prior research on the development of handwriting has focused primarily on the product rather than the process by which young children write letters. In contrast, in the present work, early handwriting is viewed as involving a suite of perceptual, motor, and cognitive abilities, which must work in unison if children are to write letters efficiently. To study such coordination, head-mounted eye-tracking technology was used to investigate the process of visual-motor coordination while kindergarten children (N = 23) and adults (N = 11) copied individual letters and strings of letters that differed in terms of their phonemic properties. Results indicated that kindergarten children were able to copy single letters efficiently, as did adults. When the cognitive demands of the task increased and children were presented with strings of letters, however, their ability to copy letters efficiently was compromised: Children frequently interrupted their writing midletter, whereas they did not do so on single letter trials. Yet, with increasing age, children became more efficient in copying letter strings, in part by using vision more prospectively when writing. Taken together, the results illustrate how the coordination of perceptual, motor, and cognitive processes contributes to advances in the development of letter writing skill. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. 76 FR 25479 - Taking and Importing Marine Mammals; Military Training Activities Conducted Within the Gulf of...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-05-04

    ...NMFS, upon application from the U.S. Navy (Navy), issues regulations to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to training activities conducted in the Gulf of Alaska (GoA) Temporary Maritime Activities Area (TMAA) for the period April 2011 through April 2016. The Navy's activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (NDAA). These regulations, which allow for the issuance of ``Letters of Authorization'' (LOAs) for the incidental take of marine mammals during the described activities and specified timeframes, prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, as well as requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking.

  5. 77 FR 63296 - Marine Mammals; File No. 17115

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-10-16

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XC100 Marine Mammals; File No. 17115 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... permit has been issued to James Lloyd-Smith, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University...

  6. 77 FR 19004 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16621

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-03-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XA915 Marine Mammals; File No. 16621 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... permit has been issued to Alejandro Acevedo-Guti[eacute]rrez, Ph.D., Biology Department, Western...

  7. 78 FR 14984 - Marine Mammals; File No. 17411

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-03-08

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XC541 Marine Mammals; File No. 17411 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric.... Jennifer Burns, University of Alaska Anchorage, Biology Department, Anchorage, AK, has applied in due form...

  8. 78 FR 56219 - Marine Mammals; File No. 17115

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-09-12

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XC100 Marine Mammals; File No. 17115 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, 610 Charles E. Young Dr...

  9. 77 FR 31585 - Marine Mammals; File No. 16388

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-05-29

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XB154 Marine Mammals; File No. 16388 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... Mark Baumgartner, Ph.D., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MS 33 Biology Department, Woods Hole, MA...

  10. Alkynyl-Containing Peptides of Marine Origin: A Review

    PubMed Central

    Chai, Qiu-Ye; Yang, Zhen; Lin, Hou-Wen; Han, Bing-Nan

    2016-01-01

    Since the 1990s, a number of terminal alkynyl residue-containing cyclic/acyclic peptides have been identified from marine organisms, especially cyanobacteria and marine mollusks. This review has presented 66 peptides, which covers over 90% marine peptides with terminal alkynyl fatty acyl units. In fact, more than 90% of these peptides described in the literature are of cyanobacterial origin. Interestingly, all the linear peptides featured with terminal alkyne were solely discovered from marine cyanobacteria. The objective of this article is to provide an overview on the types, structural characterization of these unusual terminal alkynyl fatty acyl units, as well as the sources and biological functions of their composed peptides. Many of these peptides have a variety of biological activities, including antitumor, antibacterial, antimalarial, etc. Further, we have also discussed the evident biosynthetic origin responsible for formation of terminal alkynes of natural PKS (polyketide synthase)/NRPS (nonribosome peptide synthetase) hybrids. PMID:27886049

  11. A Catalog of Curriculum Materials for Marine Environment Studies--Elementary and Secondary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Delaware Univ., Newark. Coll. of Marine Studies.

    This partially annotated bibliography on marine environment contains a list of learning experiences and curriculum units for elementary and secondary students. A majority of materials were published in the 1970s. Subjects include biological oceanography, which deals with general and specific aspects of marine biology such as plankton,…

  12. Marine Natural Product Bis-indole Alkaloid Caulerpin: Chemistry and Biology.

    PubMed

    Lunagariya, Jignesh; Bhadja, Poonam; Zhong, Shenghui; Vekariya, Rohit; Xu, Shihai

    2017-09-27

    Marine bis-indole alkaloids comprise a large and increasingly growing class of secondary metabolites, and continue to deliver a great variety of structural templates. The alkaloids derived from marine resources play a crucial role in medicinal chemistry and as chemical agents. In particular, bis-indole alkaloid caulerpin isolated from marine green algae Caulerpa and a red algae Chondria armata at various places around the world, and tested against several therapeutic areas such as anti-diabetic, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-larvicidal, anti-herpes, anti-tubercular, anti-microbial and immunostimulating activity as well as means of other chemical agents. Herein, we summarized discovery of caulerpin, and its potential medicinal and chemical applications in chronological order with various aspects. Additionally, synthesis of caulerpin, its functional analogues, and structural isomer have also been reviewed. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

  13. Letter position coding across modalities: the case of Braille readers.

    PubMed

    Perea, Manuel; García-Chamorro, Cristina; Martín-Suesta, Miguel; Gómez, Pablo

    2012-01-01

    The question of how the brain encodes letter position in written words has attracted increasing attention in recent years. A number of models have recently been proposed to accommodate the fact that transposed-letter stimuli like jugde or caniso are perceptually very close to their base words. Here we examined how letter position coding is attained in the tactile modality via Braille reading. The idea is that Braille word recognition may provide more serial processing than the visual modality, and this may produce differences in the input coding schemes employed to encode letters in written words. To that end, we conducted a lexical decision experiment with adult Braille readers in which the pseudowords were created by transposing/replacing two letters. We found a word-frequency effect for words. In addition, unlike parallel experiments in the visual modality, we failed to find any clear signs of transposed-letter confusability effects. This dissociation highlights the differences between modalities. The present data argue against models of letter position coding that assume that transposed-letter effects (in the visual modality) occur at a relatively late, abstract locus.

  14. Letter-Sound Reading: Teaching Preschool Children Print-to-Sound Processing

    PubMed Central

    2015-01-01

    This intervention study investigated the growth of letter sound reading and growth of consonant–vowel–consonant (CVC) word decoding abilities for a representative sample of 41 US children in preschool settings. Specifically, the study evaluated the effectiveness of a 3-step letter-sound teaching intervention in teaching pre-school children to decode, or read, single letters. The study compared a control group, which received the preschool’s standard letter-sound instruction, to an intervention group which received a 3-step letter-sound instruction intervention. The children’s growth in letter-sound reading and CVC word decoding abilities were assessed at baseline and 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks. When compared to the control group, the growth of letter-sound reading ability was slightly higher for the intervention group. The rate of increase in letter-sound reading was significantly faster for the intervention group. In both groups, too few children learned to decode any CVC words to allow for analysis. Results of this study support the use of the intervention strategy in preschools for teaching children print-to-sound processing. PMID:26839494

  15. The Effectiveness of Pictured Letters Mnemonics Strategy in Learning Similar English Language Letters among Students with Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dakhiel, Maysoon A.; Al Rub, Mohammed O. Abu

    2017-01-01

    The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of pictured letters mnemonics strategy in learning similar English language letters among students with learning disabilities in Saudi Arabia according to experimental group (1) and (2), control group, gender, and interaction between them. The study sample comprised (90) students with…

  16. Learning of Letter Names and Sounds and Their Contribution to Word Recognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levin, Iris; Shatil-Carmon, Sivan; Asif-Rave, Ornit

    2006-01-01

    This study investigated knowledge of letter names and letter sounds, their learning, and their contributions to word recognition. Of 123 preschoolers examined on letter knowledge, 65 underwent training on both letter names and letter sounds in a counterbalanced order. Prior to training, children were more advanced in associating letters with their…

  17. The effects of alphabet and expertise on letter perception

    PubMed Central

    Wiley, Robert W.; Wilson, Colin; Rapp, Brenda

    2016-01-01

    Long-standing questions in human perception concern the nature of the visual features that underlie letter recognition and the extent to which the visual processing of letters is affected by differences in alphabets and levels of viewer expertise. We examined these issues in a novel approach using a same-different judgment task on pairs of letters from the Arabic alphabet with two participant groups—one with no prior exposure to Arabic and one with reading proficiency. Hierarchical clustering and linear mixed-effects modeling of reaction times and accuracy provide evidence that both the specific characteristics of the alphabet and observers’ previous experience with it affect how letters are perceived and visually processed. The findings of this research further our understanding of the multiple factors that affect letter perception and support the view of a visual system that dynamically adjusts its weighting of visual features as expert readers come to more efficiently and effectively discriminate the letters of the specific alphabet they are viewing. PMID:26913778

  18. Letter Imperfect

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kramer, Stephen

    2003-01-01

    In this essay, the author, a 5th-grade teacher, questions how well a standardized test can measure his students. This article presents a letter he wrote for the Washington state science test scorer regarding his students' test scores. He shares stories about some of the students in his class. He points out that tests can turn out to be more like…

  19. The Indirect Empathic Approach to Claim Letters.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bell, James D.

    1985-01-01

    In discussing letter-writing methods for business communication classes, the article explains that claim letter formats other than the direct approach are not only legitimate, but also effective, and suggests that the approach selected should depend upon the circumstances surrounding the claim. (CT)

  20. Target--distractor separation and feature integration in visual attention to letters.

    PubMed

    Driver, J; Baylis, G C

    1991-04-01

    The interference produced by distractor letters diminishes with increasing distance from a target letter, as if the distractors fall outside an attentional spotlight focussed on the target (Eriksen and Eriksen 1974). We examine Hagenaar and Van der Heijden's (1986) claim that this distance effect is an acuity artefact. Feature integration theory (Treisman 1986) predicts that even when acuity is controlled for, distance effects should be found when interference is produced by conjoined distractor features (e.g. letter-identities), but not when interference arises from isolated distractor features (e.g. letter-strokes). The opposite pattern of results is found. A model is proposed in which both letter-strokes and letter-identities are derived in parallel. The location of letter-strokes can also be coded in parallel, but locating letter-identities may require the operation of attention.

  1. 78 FR 21347 - Marine Mammals; File No. 17344

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-04-10

    ... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration RIN 0648-XC588 Marine Mammals; File No. 17344 AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric... Samuel Wasser, Ph.D., University of Washington, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195...

  2. Report on the 5th International Bio-logging Symposium

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2014-09-30

    LONG-TERM GOALS Bio-logging originated in the marine (polar) realm, which explains why marine mammals remain today the main biological models in...Wikelski as the convenor. The Proceedings of BLS5 will be published in two open-access BioMed Central (BMC) journals: Animal Biotelemetry (http

  3. Comparative effectiveness of mailed reminder letters on mammography screening compliance.

    PubMed

    Romaire, Melissa A; Bowles, Erin J Aiello; Anderson, Melissa L; Buist, Diana S M

    2012-08-01

    Reminder letters are effective at prompting women to schedule mammograms. Less well studied are reminders addressing multiple preventive service recommendations. We compared the effectiveness of a mammogram-specific reminder sent when a woman was due for a mammogram to a reminder letter addressing multiple preventive services and sent on a woman's birthday on mammography receipt. The study included 48,583 women 52-74 years enrolled in Group Health Cooperative, a health plan in Washington State. From 2005 to 2009, women were mailed 88,605 mammogram-specific or birthday letters. In this one group pretest-posttest study, we modeled the odds of obtaining a screening mammogram after receiving a letter by reminder type using logistic regression, controlling for demographic and healthcare use characteristics and stratifying by whether women were overdue or up-to-date with mammography at the mailing. Among women up-to-date with screening, birthday letters were negatively associated with mammography receipt compared to mammogram-specific letters (birthday letters with 1-2 recommendations: OR=0.73; 95% CI:0.68-0.79; 3 recommendations: OR=0.74; 95% CI:0.69-0.78; 4-8 recommendations: OR=0.62 95% CI:0.55-0.68) after. Among overdue women, birthday letters with 4-8 recommendations were negatively associated with mammography receipt. Transitioning from mammogram-specific reminder letters to multiple preventive service birthday letters was associated with decreased mammography receipt. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Molecular Architecture and Biomedical Leads of Terpenes from Red Sea Marine Invertebrates

    PubMed Central

    Hegazy, Mohamed Elamir F.; Mohamed, Tarik A.; Alhammady, Montaser A.; Shaheen, Alaa M.; Reda, Eman H.; Elshamy, Abdelsamed I.; Aziz, Mina; Paré, Paul W.

    2015-01-01

    Marine invertebrates including sponges, soft coral, tunicates, mollusks and bryozoan have proved to be a prolific source of bioactive natural products. Among marine-derived metabolites, terpenoids have provided a vast array of molecular architectures. These isoprenoid-derived metabolites also exhibit highly specialized biological activities ranging from nerve regeneration to blood-sugar regulation. As a result, intense research activity has been devoted to characterizing invertebrate terpenes from both a chemical and biological standpoint. This review focuses on the chemistry and biology of terpene metabolites isolated from the Red Sea ecosystem, a unique marine biome with one of the highest levels of biodiversity and specifically rich in invertebrate species. PMID:26006713

  5. Molecular architecture and biomedical leads of terpenes from red sea marine invertebrates.

    PubMed

    Hegazy, Mohamed Elamir F; Mohamed, Tarik A; Alhammady, Montaser A; Shaheen, Alaa M; Reda, Eman H; Elshamy, Abdelsamed I; Aziz, Mina; Paré, Paul W

    2015-05-20

    Marine invertebrates including sponges, soft coral, tunicates, mollusks and bryozoan have proved to be a prolific source of bioactive natural products. Among marine-derived metabolites, terpenoids have provided a vast array of molecular architectures. These isoprenoid-derived metabolites also exhibit highly specialized biological activities ranging from nerve regeneration to blood-sugar regulation. As a result, intense research activity has been devoted to characterizing invertebrate terpenes from both a chemical and biological standpoint. This review focuses on the chemistry and biology of terpene metabolites isolated from the Red Sea ecosystem, a unique marine biome with one of the highest levels of biodiversity and specifically rich in invertebrate species.

  6. 46 CFR 169.219 - Renewal of letter of designation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Renewal of letter of designation. 169.219 Section 169.219 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) NAUTICAL SCHOOLS SAILING SCHOOL VESSELS Inspection and Certification Letter of Designation § 169.219 Renewal of letter of designation. At...

  7. 46 CFR 169.219 - Renewal of letter of designation.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 7 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Renewal of letter of designation. 169.219 Section 169.219 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) NAUTICAL SCHOOLS SAILING SCHOOL VESSELS Inspection and Certification Letter of Designation § 169.219 Renewal of letter of designation. At...

  8. The NASA planetary biology internship experience

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hinkle, G.; Margulis, L.

    1991-01-01

    By providing students from around the world with the opportunity to work with established scientists in the fields of biogeochemistry, remote sensing, and origins of life, among others, the NASA Planetary Biology Internship (PBI) Program has successfully launched many scientific careers. Each year approximately ten interns participate in research related to planetary biology at NASA Centers, NASA-sponsored research in university laboratories, and private institutions. The PBI program also sponsors three students every year in both the Microbiology and Marine Ecology summer courses at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Other information about the PBI Program is presented including application procedure.

  9. Methods to examine reproductive biology in free-ranging, fully-marine mammals.

    PubMed

    Lanyon, Janet M; Burgess, Elizabeth A

    2014-01-01

    Historical overexploitation of marine mammals, combined with present-day pressures, has resulted in severely depleted populations, with many species listed as threatened or endangered. Understanding breeding patterns of threatened marine mammals is crucial to assessing population viability, potential recovery and conservation actions. However, determining reproductive parameters of wild fully-marine mammals (cetaceans and sirenians) is challenging due to their wide distributions, high mobility, inaccessible habitats, cryptic lifestyles and in many cases, large body size and intractability. Consequently, reproductive biologists employ an innovative suite of methods to collect useful information from these species. This chapter reviews historic, recent and state-of-the-art methods to examine diverse aspects of reproduction in fully-aquatic mammals.

  10. Antifungal potential of marine natural products.

    PubMed

    El-Hossary, Ebaa M; Cheng, Cheng; Hamed, Mostafa M; El-Sayed Hamed, Ashraf Nageeb; Ohlsen, Knut; Hentschel, Ute; Abdelmohsen, Usama Ramadan

    2017-01-27

    Fungal diseases represent an increasing threat to human health worldwide which in some cases might be associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. However, only few antifungal drugs are currently available for the treatment of life-threatening fungal infections. Furthermore, plant diseases caused by fungal pathogens represent a worldwide economic problem for the agriculture industry. The marine environment continues to provide structurally diverse and biologically active secondary metabolites, several of which have inspired the development of new classes of therapeutic agents. Among these secondary metabolites, several compounds with noteworthy antifungal activities have been isolated from marine microorganisms, invertebrates, and algae. During the last fifteen years, around 65% of marine natural products possessing antifungal activities have been isolated from sponges and bacteria. This review gives an overview of natural products from diverse marine organisms that have shown in vitro and/or in vivo potential as antifungal agents, with their mechanism of action whenever applicable. The natural products literature is covered from January 2000 until June 2015, and we are reporting the chemical structures together with their biological activities, as well as the isolation source. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  11. How are climate and marine biological outbreaks functionally linked?

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Hayes, M.L.; Bonaventura, J.; Mitchell, T.P.; Prospero, J.M.; Shinn, E.A.; Van Dolah, F.; Barber, R.T.

    2001-01-01

    Since the mid-1970s, large-scale episodic events such as disease epidemics, mass mortalities, harmful algal blooms and other population explosions have been occurring in marine environments at an historically unprecedented rate. The variety of organisms involved (host, pathogens and other opportunists) and the absolute number of episodes have also increased during this period. Are these changes coincidental? Between 1972 and 1976, a global climate regime shift took place, and it is manifest most clearly by a change in strength of the North Pacific and North Atlantic pressure systems. Consequences of this regime shift are: (1) prolonged drought conditions in the Sahel region of Africa; (2) increased dust supply to the global atmosphere, by a factor of approximately four; (3) increased easterly trade winds across the Atlantic; (4) increased eolian transport of dust to the Atlantic and Caribbean basins; and (5) increased deposition of iron-rich eolian dust to typically iron-poor marine regions. On the basis of well-documented climate and dust observations and the widely accepted increase in marine outbreak rates, this paper proposes that the increased iron supply has altered the micronutrient factors limiting growth of opportunistic organisms and virulence of pathogenic microbes, particularly in macronutrient-rich coastal systems.

  12. 48 CFR 52.228-14 - Irrevocable Letter of Credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... acceptable financial institution that had letter of credit business of at least $25 million in the past year... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Irrevocable Letter of....228-14 Irrevocable Letter of Credit. As prescribed in 28.204-4, insert the following clause...

  13. A Logical Letter-Sound System in Five Phonic Generalizations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gates, Louis; Yale, Ian

    2011-01-01

    In five phonic generalizations, this article introduces a logical system of letter-sound relationships. Ranging from 91% to 99% phonic transparency, these statements generalize a study of 16,928 words in children's literature. The r-controlled vowels aside, the analysis shows 54 basic transparent letters and letter combinations, 39 transparent…

  14. Production of Enzymes from Marine Actinobacteria.

    PubMed

    Zhao, X Q; Xu, X N; Chen, L Y

    Marine actinobacteria are well recognized for their capabilities to produce valuable natural products, which have great potential for applications in medical, agricultural, and fine chemical industries. In addition to producing unique enzymes responsible for biosynthesis of natural products, many marine actinobacteria also produce hydrolytic enzymes which are able to degrade various biopolymers, such as cellulose, xylan, and chitin. These enzymes are important to produce biofuels and biochemicals of interest from renewable biomass. In this chapter, the recent reports of novel enzymes produced by marine actinobacteria are reviewed, and advanced technologies that can be applied to search for novel marine enzymes as well as for improved enzyme production by marine actinobacteria are summarized, which include ribosome engineering, genome mining, as well as synthetic biology studies. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. A Mentoring Opportunity: A Joint Effort in Writing Letters of Recommendation.

    PubMed

    Master, Zubin

    2017-01-01

    Integrity in writing letters of recommendation is important to academic research because it is an influential criterion used pervasively in peer review. While research in the integrity of recommendation letters has concentrated on contents of the letter, bias, and reliability, few have questioned the process of letter writing. Here, I argue that letter writing should be a joint opportunity between mentor/supervisor/advisor and trainee. It results in more compelling letters, may prevent errors and the use of biased language, and serves as an excellent mentoring opportunity promoting self-reflection.

  16. Marine biology, intertidal ecology, and a new place for biology.

    PubMed

    Benson, Keith R

    2015-01-01

    At the present time, there is considerable interest for the physical setting of science, that is, its actual 'place' of practice. Among historians of biology, place has been considered to be a crucial component for the study of ecology. Other historians have noted the 'built' environments (laboratories) for the study of biology along the seashore, even referring to these places in terms more applicable to vacation sites. In this paper, I examine the place of intertidal ecology investigations, both in terms of the physical space and the built space. Part of the examination will investigate the aesthetic aspect of the Pacific Coast, part will evaluate the unique character of the intertidal zone, and part will consider the construction of natural laboratories and built laboratories as characteristic places for biology.

  17. Recent Advances in Marine Algae Polysaccharides: Isolation, Structure, and Activities.

    PubMed

    Xu, Shu-Ying; Huang, Xuesong; Cheong, Kit-Leong

    2017-12-13

    Marine algae have attracted a great deal of interest as excellent sources of nutrients. Polysaccharides are the main components in marine algae, hence a great deal of attention has been directed at isolation and characterization of marine algae polysaccharides because of their numerous health benefits. In this review, extraction and purification approaches and chemico-physical properties of marine algae polysaccharides (MAPs) are summarized. The biological activities, which include immunomodulatory, antitumor, antiviral, antioxidant, and hypolipidemic, are also discussed. Additionally, structure-function relationships are analyzed and summarized. MAPs' biological activities are closely correlated with their monosaccharide composition, molecular weights, linkage types, and chain conformation. In order to promote further exploitation and utilization of polysaccharides from marine algae for functional food and pharmaceutical areas, high efficiency, and low-cost polysaccharide extraction and purification methods, quality control, structure-function activity relationships, and specific mechanisms of MAPs activation need to be extensively investigated.

  18. Experimental test of contemporary mathematical models of visual letter recognition.

    PubMed

    Townsend, J T; Ashby, F G

    1982-12-01

    A letter confusion experiment that used brief durations manipulated payoffs across the four stimulus letters, which were composed of line segments equal in length. The observers were required to report the features they perceived as well as to give a letter response. The early feature-sampling process is separated from the later letter-decision process in the substantive feature models, and predictions are thus obtained for the frequencies of feature report as well as letter report. Four substantive visual feature-processing models are developed and tested against one another and against three models of a more descriptive nature. The substantive models predict the decisional letter report phase much better than they do the feature-sampling phase, but the best overall 4 X 4 letter confusion matrix fits are obtained with one of the descriptive models, the similarity choice model. The present and other recent results suggest that the assumption that features are sampled in a stochastically independent manner may not be generally valid. The traditional high-threshold conceptualization of feature sampling is also falsified by the frequent reporting by observers of features not contained in the stimulus letter.

  19. Letter Position Coding Across Modalities: The Case of Braille Readers

    PubMed Central

    Perea, Manuel; García-Chamorro, Cristina; Martín-Suesta, Miguel; Gómez, Pablo

    2012-01-01

    Background The question of how the brain encodes letter position in written words has attracted increasing attention in recent years. A number of models have recently been proposed to accommodate the fact that transposed-letter stimuli like jugde or caniso are perceptually very close to their base words. Methodology Here we examined how letter position coding is attained in the tactile modality via Braille reading. The idea is that Braille word recognition may provide more serial processing than the visual modality, and this may produce differences in the input coding schemes employed to encode letters in written words. To that end, we conducted a lexical decision experiment with adult Braille readers in which the pseudowords were created by transposing/replacing two letters. Principal Findings We found a word-frequency effect for words. In addition, unlike parallel experiments in the visual modality, we failed to find any clear signs of transposed-letter confusability effects. This dissociation highlights the differences between modalities. Conclusions The present data argue against models of letter position coding that assume that transposed-letter effects (in the visual modality) occur at a relatively late, abstract locus. PMID:23071522

  20. Marine products with anti-protozoal activity: a review.

    PubMed

    García, Marley; Monzote, Lianet

    2014-01-01

    The marine organisms are a rich source of varied natural products with unique functionality. A variety of natural products of new molecular structures with diverse biological activities have been reported from marine flora and fauna for treatment and/or prevention of human diseases. The present review briefly illustrates current status of marine products as antiprotozoal agents. The in vitro and in vivo studies of marine algae, invertebrates and micro-organism against different protozoa parasites are included. The marine products studied, according to international criterions for selection of more promisory products in the different models reported, demonstrated their potentialities as antiprozoal agents. Herein, the interest of scientific community to search new alternatives from marine environment has been demonstrated.

  1. Support for Society for Marine Mammalogy 2015 Biennial Conference

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-09-30

    Communicating Science Speakers: • Jane Lubchenco – Distinguished Professor of Zoology and Valley Professor of Marine Biology , Oregon State University...1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. FINAL REPORT Support for Society for Marine Mammalogy 2015...Biennial Conference Frances Gulland The Marine Mammal Center 2000 Bunker Rd. Fort Cronkhite Sausolito, CA 94965 phone: (415) 289-7344 fax

  2. Letter Writing Made Easy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Porec, Carol J.

    1989-01-01

    Describes how "The Children's Writing and Publishing Center" (a desktop publishing program for elementary students) combines word processing with computer graphics and motivates students to write letters. (MM)

  3. Biological responses of the marine diatom Chaetoceros socialis to changing environmental conditions: A laboratory experiment

    PubMed Central

    Roevros, Nathalie; Dehairs, Frank; Chou, Lei

    2017-01-01

    Diatoms constitute a major group of phytoplankton, accounting for ~20% of the world’s primary production. It has been shown that iron (Fe) can be the limiting factor for phytoplankton growth, in particular, in the HNLC (High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll) regions. Iron plays thus an essential role in governing the marine primary productivity and the efficiency of biological carbon pump. Oceanic systems are undergoing continuous modifications at varying rates and magnitudes as a result of changing climate. The objective of our research is to evaluate how changing environmental conditions (dust deposition, ocean warming and acidification) can affect marine Fe biogeochemistry and diatom growth. Laboratory culture experiments using a marine diatom Chaetoceros socialis were conducted at two temperatures (13°C and 18°C) and under two pCO2 (carbon dioxide partial pressure) (400 μatm and 800 μatm) conditions. The present study clearly highlights the effect of ocean acidification on enhancing the release of Fe upon dust deposition. Our results also confirm that being a potential source of Fe, dust provides in addition a readily utilizable source of macronutrients such as dissolved phosphate (PO4) and silicate (DSi). However, elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations may also have an adverse impact on diatom growth, causing a decrease in cell size and possible further changes in phytoplankton composition. Meanwhile, ocean warming may lead to the reduction of diatom production and cell size, inducing poleward shifts in the biogeographic distribution of diatoms. The changing climate has thus a significant implication for ocean phytoplankton growth, cell size and primary productivity, phytoplankton distribution and community composition, and carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), silicon (Si) and Fe biogeochemical cycles in various ways. PMID:29190826

  4. Parents’ Talk About Letters With Their Young Children

    PubMed Central

    Treiman, Rebecca; Schmidt, John; Decker, Kristina; Robins, Sarah; Levine, Susan C.; Demir, Özlem Ece

    2015-01-01

    A literacy-related activity that occurs in children's homes—talk about letters in everyday conversations—was examined using data from 50 children who were visited every 4 months between 14 and 50 months. Parents talked about some letters, including those that are common in English words and the first letter of their children's names, especially often. Parents’ focus on the child's initial was especially strong in families of higher socioeconomic status, and the extent to which parents talked about the child's initial during the later sessions of the study was related to the children's kindergarten reading skill. Conversations that included the child's initial were longer than those that did not, and parents presented a variety of information about this letter. PMID:26014495

  5. When Do First Letters Mnemonics Aid Recall?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morris, P. E.; Cook, N.

    1978-01-01

    The evidence for the effectiveness of the first letter mnemonic technique is confused. There are at least three studies showing no effect, and one where an improvement in recall occurred. Reports two experiments which attempted to locate the conditions under which the first letter mnemonic is effective. (Author/RK)

  6. Bioavailability of sediment-bound contaminants to marine organisms

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Brown, B.; Neff, J.

    1993-09-01

    The bioavailability of sediment-bound contaminants to marine organisms indicates that there exists a potential for transfer of these contaminants through marine food webs to commercial fisheries products consumed by humans. However, there has been relatively little effort to combine and synthesize data on chemical/biological interactions between benthic animals and seagrasses and the sediments in which they reside on the one hand, and on the chemistry of bioaccumulation on the other. This report provides a conceptual basis for an approach to bioavailability and biomagnification of sediment-bound contaminants that reviews biological and chemical approaches.

  7. Claim and Adjustment Letters: Theory Versus Practice and Legal Implications.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aalberts, Roberts J.; Krajewski, Lorraine A.

    1987-01-01

    Addresses the reasons companies respond to consumer complaints, analyzes 35 business letters responding to complaints and the ways in which the letters deviate from textbook recommendations, and examines legal theories applicable to claim adjustment letters. (JC)

  8. The Predictive Validity of Teacher Candidate Letters of Reference

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mason, Richard W.; Schroeder, Mark P.

    2014-01-01

    Letters of reference are widely used as an essential part of the hiring process of newly licensed teachers. While the predictive validity of these letters of reference has been called into question it has never been empirically studied. The current study examined the predictive validity of the quality of letters of reference for forty-one student…

  9. Numerical and experimental hydrodynamic analysis of suction cup bio-logging tag designs for marine mammals

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Murray, Mark; Shorter, Alex; Howle, Laurens; Johnson, Mark; Moore, Michael

    2012-11-01

    The improvement and miniaturization of sensing technologies has made bio-logging tags, utilized for the study of marine mammal behavior, more practical. These sophisticated sensing packages require a housing which protects the electronics from the environment and provides a means of attachment to the animal. The hydrodynamic forces on these housings can inadvertently remove the tag or adversely affect the behavior or energetics of the animal. A modification to the original design of a suction cup bio-logging tag housing was desired to minimize the adverse forces. In this work, hydrodynamic loading of two suction cup tag designs, original and modified designs, were analyzed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models and validated experimentally. Overall, the simulation and experimental results demonstrated that a tag housing that minimized geometric disruptions to the flow reduced drag forces, and that a tag housing with a small frontal cross-sectional area close to the attachment surface reduced lift forces. Preliminary results from experimental work with a common dolphin cadaver indicates that the suction cups used to attach the tags to the animal provide sufficient attachment force to resist failure at predicted drag and lift forces in 10 m/s flow.

  10. Duonix Beatrice Determination Letter

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Determination letter in response to the petition from Duonix Beatrice, LP regarding their production process for biodiesel from non-food grade corn oil under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) program.

  11. Biologically-controlled multiple equilibria of tidal landforms and the fate of the Venice lagoon

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marani, Marco; D'Alpaos, Andrea; Lanzoni, Stefano; Carniello, Luca; Rinaldo, Andrea

    2007-06-01

    Looking across a tidal landscape, can one foresee the signs of impending shifts among different geomorphological structures? This is a question of paramount importance considering the ecological, cultural and socio-economic relevance of tidal environments and their worldwide decline. In this Letter we argue affirmatively by introducing a model of the coupled tidal physical and biological processes. Multiple equilibria, and transitions among them, appear in the evolutionary dynamics of tidal landforms. Vegetation type, disturbances of the benthic biofilm, sediment availability and marine transgressions or regressions drive the bio-geomorphic evolution of the system. Our approach provides general quantitative routes to model the fate of tidal landforms, which we illustrate in the case of the Venice lagoon (Italy), for which a large body of empirical observations exists spanning at least five centuries. Such observations are reproduced by the model, which also predicts that salt marshes in the Venice lagoon may not survive climatic changes in the next century if IPCC's scenarios of high relative sea level rise occur.

  12. Antimycobacterial Metabolites from Marine Invertebrates.

    PubMed

    Daletos, Georgios; Ancheeva, Elena; Chaidir, Chaidir; Kalscheuer, Rainer; Proksch, Peter

    2016-10-01

    Marine organisms play an important role in natural product-based drug research due to accumulation of structurally unique and bioactive metabolites. The exploration of marine-derived compounds may significantly extend the scientific knowledge of potential scaffolds for antibiotic drug discovery. Development of novel antitubercular agents is especially significant as the emergence of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains remains threateningly high. Marine invertebrates (i.e., sponges, corals, gorgonians) as a source of new chemical entities are the center of research for several scientific groups, and the wide spectrum of biological activities of marine-derived compounds encourages scientists to carry out investigations in the field of antibiotic research, including tuberculosis treatment. The present review covers published data on antitubercular natural products from marine invertebrates grouped according to their biogenetic origin. Studies on the structure-activity relationships of these important leads are highlighted as well. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  13. Teaching letter sounds to kindergarten English language learners using incremental rehearsal.

    PubMed

    Peterson, Meredith; Brandes, Dana; Kunkel, Amy; Wilson, Jennifer; Rahn, Naomi L; Egan, Andrea; McComas, Jennifer

    2014-02-01

    Proficiency in letter-sound correspondence is important for decoding connected text. This study examined the effects of an evidence-based intervention, incremental rehearsal (IR), on the letter-sound expression of three kindergarten English language learners (ELLs) performing below the district benchmark for letter-sound fluency. Participants were native speakers of Hmong, Spanish, and Polish. A multiple-baseline design across sets of unknown letter sounds was used to evaluate the effects of IR on letter-sound expression. Visual analysis of the data showed an increase in level and trend when IR was introduced in each phase. Percentage of all non-overlapping data (PAND) ranged from 95% to 100%. All participants exceeded expected growth and reached the spring district benchmark for letter-sound fluency. Results suggest that IR is a promising intervention for increasing letter-sound expression for ELLs who evidence delays in acquiring letter sounds. Copyright © 2013 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. 12 CFR 614.4720 - Letters of credit.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Letters of credit. 614.4720 Section 614.4720 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM LOAN POLICIES AND OPERATIONS Banks for Cooperatives and Agricultural Credit Banks Financing International Trade § 614.4720 Letters of credit. Banks...

  15. 19 CFR 162.4 - Search for letters.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 19 Customs Duties 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Search for letters. 162.4 Section 162.4 Customs Duties U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) INSPECTION, SEARCH, AND SEIZURE Inspection, Examination, and Search § 162.4 Search for letters. A...

  16. Molecular profiling of marine fauna: integration of omics with environmental assessment of the world's oceans.

    PubMed

    Veldhoen, Nik; Ikonomou, Michael G; Helbing, Caren C

    2012-02-01

    Many species that contribute to the commercial and ecological richness of our marine ecosystems are harbingers of environmental change. The ability of organisms to rapidly detect and respond to changes in the surrounding environment represents the foundation for application of molecular profiling technologies towards marine sentinel species in an attempt to identify signature profiles that may reside within the transcriptome, proteome, or metabolome and that are indicative of a particular environmental exposure event. The current review highlights recent examples of the biological information obtained for marine sentinel teleosts, mammals, and invertebrates. While in its infancy, such basal information can provide a systems biology framework in the detection and evaluation of environmental chemical contaminant effects on marine fauna. Repeated evaluation across different seasons and local marine environs will lead to discrimination between signature profiles representing normal variation within the complex milieu of environmental factors that trigger biological response in a given sentinel species and permit a greater understanding of normal versus anthropogenic-associated modulation of biological pathways, which prove detrimental to marine fauna. It is anticipated that incorporation of contaminant-specific molecular signatures into current risk assessment paradigms will lead to enhanced wildlife management strategies that minimize the impacts of our industrialized society on marine ecosystems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. The biology and chemistry of the zoanthamine alkaloids.

    PubMed

    Behenna, Douglas C; Stockdill, Jennifer L; Stoltz, Brian M

    2008-01-01

    Marine natural products have long played an important role in natural products chemistry and drug discovery. Mirroring the rich variety and complicated interactions of the marine environment, the substances isolated from sea creatures tend to be incredibly diverse in both molecular structure and biological activity. The natural products isolated from the polyps of marine zoanthids are no exception. The zoanthamine alkaloids, the first of which were isolated over 20 years ago, are of particular interest to the synthetic community because they feature a novel structural framework and exhibit a broad range of biological activities. In this Review, we summarize the major contributions to understanding the zoanthamine natural products with regard to their isolation and structure determination, as well as studies on their biological activity and total synthesis.

  18. T-SENSE a millimeter wave scanner for letters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nüßler, Dirk; Heinen, Sven; Sprenger, Thorsten; Hübsch, Daniel; Würschmidt, Tobais

    2013-10-01

    Letter bombs are an increasing problem for public authorities, companies and public persons. Nowadays every big company uses in his headquarters inspection system to check the incoming correspondence. Generally x-ray systems are used to inspect complete baskets or bags of letters. This concept which works very fine in big company with a large postal center is not usable for small companies or private persons. For an office environment with a small number of letters x-ray systems are too expensive and oversized. X-ray systems visualize the wires and electric circuits inside the envelope. If a letter contains no metallic components but hazard materials or drugs, the dangerous content is invisible for the most low-cost x-ray systems. Millimeter wave imagining systems offer the potential to close this gap.

  19. Studies on marine oil spills and their ecological damage

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mei, Hong; Yin, Yanjie

    2009-09-01

    The sources of marine oil spills are mainly from accidents of marine oil tankers or freighters, marine oil-drilling platforms, marine oil pipelines, marine oilfields, terrestrial pollution, oil-bearing atmosphere, and offshore oil production equipment. It is concluded upon analysis that there are two main reasons for marine oil spills: (I) The motive for huge economic benefits of oil industry owners and oil shipping agents far surpasses their sense of ecological risks. (II) Marine ecological safety has not become the main concern of national security. Oil spills are disasters because humans spare no efforts to get economic benefits from oil. The present paper draws another conclusion that marine ecological damage caused by oil spills can be roughly divided into two categories: damage to marine resource value (direct value) and damage to marine ecosystem service value (indirect value). Marine oil spills cause damage to marine biological, fishery, seawater, tourism and mineral resources to various extents, which contributes to the lower quality and value of marine resources.

  20. Exploring Nonfiction through Depression-Era Letter Writing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ousley, Denise M.

    2002-01-01

    Notes that by exploring Depression-era teens' letter writing, language arts teachers can enjoy more fruitful uses of nonfiction with their students. Discusses how reading, analyzing, and responding to the letters could help minimize the widening gap between the 1930s and the twenty-first century. Concludes that researching everyday Americans'…

  1. Assessment of Acoustic Adaptations for Noise Compensation in Marine Mammals

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-09-30

    been completed and the resulting article was published online in the journal Biology Letters in July 2010. These results were presented at the Society...collection in Brazil have been submitted through a Scientific Expedition process to Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq

  2. Grand challenges for biological engineering

    PubMed Central

    Yoon, Jeong-Yeol; Riley, Mark R

    2009-01-01

    Biological engineering will play a significant role in solving many of the world's problems in medicine, agriculture, and the environment. Recently the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) released a document "Grand Challenges in Engineering," covering broad realms of human concern from sustainability, health, vulnerability and the joy of living. Biological engineers, having tools and techniques at the interface between living and non-living entities, will play a prominent role in forging a better future. The 2010 Institute of Biological Engineering (IBE) conference in Cambridge, MA, USA will address, in part, the roles of biological engineering in solving the challenges presented by the NAE. This letter presents a brief outline of how biological engineers are working to solve these large scale and integrated problems of our society. PMID:19772647

  3. Remote Sensing of Temperature and Salinity Microstructure in Rivers and Estuaries Using Broadband Acoustic Scattering Techniques

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-01-01

    02543 telephone: (508) 289-2438 fax: (508) 357-2194 email: eterray@whoi.edu Scott Gallager Biology Department Woods Hole Oceanographic...measurements. This new finding (which is described in a manuscript to be submitted to Geophysical Researh Letters) has potentially important...remote characterization of zooplankton,” Lavery, A.C., Terray, E., and Sutor, M. Funded by ONR Marine Mammals and Biology . REFERENCES Chu, D., and

  4. The elaboration of motor programs for the automation of letter production.

    PubMed

    Thibon, Laurence Séraphin; Gerber, Silvain; Kandel, Sonia

    2018-01-01

    We investigated how children learn to write letters. Letter writing evolves from stroke-by-stroke to whole-letter programming. Children of ages 6 to 9 (N=98) wrote letters of varying complexity on a digitizer. At ages 6 and 7 movement duration, dysfluency and trajectory increased with stroke number. This indicates that the motor program they activated mainly coded information on stroke production. Stroke number affected the older children's production much less, suggesting that they programmed stroke chunks or the whole letter. The fact that movement duration and dysfluency decreased from ages 6 to 8, and remained stable at ages 8 and 9 suggests that automation of letter writing begins at age 8. Automation seems to require the elaboration of stroke chunks and/or letter-sized motor programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Marine litter in an EBSA (Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area) of the central Mediterranean Sea: Abundance, composition, impact on benthic species and basis for monitoring entanglement.

    PubMed

    Consoli, Pierpaolo; Andaloro, Franco; Altobelli, Chiara; Battaglia, Pietro; Campagnuolo, Silvana; Canese, Simonepietro; Castriota, Luca; Cillari, Tiziana; Falautano, Manuela; Pedà, Cristina; Perzia, Patrizia; Sinopoli, Mauro; Vivona, Pietro; Scotti, Gianfranco; Esposito, Valentina; Galgani, Francois; Romeo, Teresa

    2018-05-01

    Marine litter is commonly observed everywhere in the ocean. In this study, we analyzed 17 km of video footage, collected by a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) at depths ranging between 20 and 220 m, during 19 transects performed on the rocky banks of the Straits of Sicily. Recently, the Contracting Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognized this site as an Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area (EBSA). The research aim was to quantify the abundance of marine litter and its impact on benthic fauna. Litter density ranged from 0 items/100 m 2 to 14.02 items/100 m 2 with a mean (±standard error) of 2.13 (±0.84) items/100 m 2 . The observed average density was higher (5.2 items/100 m 2 ) at depths >100 m than at shallower depths (<100 m, 0.71 items/100 m 2 ). Lost or abandoned fishing lines contributed to 98.07% of the overall litter density, then representing the dominant source of marine debris. Litter interactions with fauna were frequently observed, with 30% of litter causing "entanglement/coverage" and 15% causing damage to sessile fauna. A total of 16 species showed interaction (entanglement/coverage or damage) with litter items and 12 of these are species of conservation concern according to international directives and agreements (CITES, Berne Convention, Habitat Directive, SPA/BD Protocol, IUCN Red List); we also observed 7 priority habitats of the SPA/BD Protocol. This research will support the implementation of monitoring "Harm" as recommended by the UN Environment/MAP Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management in the Mediterranean, and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The institution of a SPAMI in the investigated area could represent a good management action for the protection of this hotspot of biodiversity and to achieve a Good Environmental Status (GES) for the marine environment by 2020, under the MSFD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Using Incremental Rehearsal to Teach Letter Sounds to English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rahn, Naomi L.; Wilson, Jennifer; Egan, Andrea; Brandes, Dana; Kunkel, Amy; Peterson, Meredith; McComas, Jennifer

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the effects of incremental rehearsal (IR) on letter sound expression for one kindergarten and one first grade English learner who were below district benchmark for letter sound fluency. A single-subject multiple-baseline design across sets of unknown letter sounds was used to evaluate the effect of IR on letter-sound expression…

  7. Comparing the visual spans for faces and letters

    PubMed Central

    He, Yingchen; Scholz, Jennifer M.; Gage, Rachel; Kallie, Christopher S.; Liu, Tingting; Legge, Gordon E.

    2015-01-01

    The visual span—the number of adjacent text letters that can be reliably recognized on one fixation—has been proposed as a sensory bottleneck that limits reading speed (Legge, Mansfield, & Chung, 2001). Like reading, searching for a face is an important daily task that involves pattern recognition. Is there a similar limitation on the number of faces that can be recognized in a single fixation? Here we report on a study in which we measured and compared the visual-span profiles for letter and face recognition. A serial two-stage model for pattern recognition was developed to interpret the data. The first stage is characterized by factors limiting recognition of isolated letters or faces, and the second stage represents the interfering effect of nearby stimuli on recognition. Our findings show that the visual span for faces is smaller than that for letters. Surprisingly, however, when differences in first-stage processing for letters and faces are accounted for, the two visual spans become nearly identical. These results suggest that the concept of visual span may describe a common sensory bottleneck that underlies different types of pattern recognition. PMID:26129858

  8. Marine Flora and Fauna of the Northeastern United States. Copepoda: Lernaeopodidae and Sphyriidae.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ho, Ju-Shey

    This report is part of a sub-series to aid biology students, biologists, biological oceanographers, and informed laymen in the identification and study of marine flora and fauna of the Northeastern United States. Contents of this report include: (1) Introduction; (2) Glossary; (3) Key to the marine lernaeopodoid copepods of the Northeastern United…

  9. Linguistic Prescriptivism in Letters to the Editor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lukac, Morana

    2016-01-01

    The public's concern with the fate of the standard language has been well documented in the history of the complaint tradition. The print media have for centuries featured letters to the editor on questions of language use. This study examines a corpus of 258 language-related letters to the editor published in the English-speaking print media. By…

  10. An Open Letter to Premier Wen Jiabao

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chinese Education and Society, 2008

    2008-01-01

    This article is an open letter of a group of early childhood education (ECE) practitioners to Premier Wen Jiabao. This open letter was written with one goal in mind: to ask Premier Wen's government to take measures to protect young children and support early childhood education. These practitioners have become worried about the many accidents that…

  11. Letter to, and Paintings by, George Catlin

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosenbaum, David; Potter, Lee Ann; Eder, Elizabeth K.

    2008-01-01

    Letters received and sent by Secretary of War Lewis Cass in the 1830s reveal much about relations between the U.S. government and Native Americans. In the immediate aftermath of the Indian Removal Act, signed into law on May 28, 1830, by President Andrew Jackson, some letters came from interpreters and school teachers seeking payment for their…

  12. An Open Letter to Tomorrow's Secondary Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Worthy, Jeff

    2016-01-01

    The article takes the form of a letter written to pre-service or beginning teachers at the secondary level in the public school system. The letter acknowledges the attributes they bring to the profession (enthusiasm, optimism, creativity, and open-mindedness) and calls on them to make the most of and work to sustain these traits as they begin…

  13. Letters in time and retinotopic space.

    PubMed

    Adelman, James S

    2011-10-01

    Various phenomena in tachistoscopic word identification and priming (WRODS and LTRS are confused with and prime WORDS and LETTERS) suggest that position-specific channels are not used in the processing of letters in words. Previous approaches to this issue have sought alternative matching rules because they have assumed that these phenomena reveal which stimuli are good but imperfect matches to a particular word-such imperfect matches being taken by the word recognition system as partial evidence for that word. The new Letters in Time and Retinotopic Space model (LTRS) makes the alternative assumption that these phenomena reveal the rates at which different features of the stimulus are extracted, because the stimulus is ambiguous when some features are missing from the percept. LTRS is successfully applied to tachistoscopic identification and form priming data with manipulations of duration and target-foil and prime-target relationships. © 2011 American Psychological Association

  14. Recent trends in biological extraction of chitin from marine shell wastes: a review.

    PubMed

    Kaur, Surinder; Dhillon, Gurpreet Singh

    2015-03-01

    The natural biopolymer chitin and its deacetylated product chitosan are widely used in innumerable applications ranging from biomedicine, pharmaceuticals, food, agriculture and personal care products to environmental sector. The abundant and renewable marine processing wastes are commercially exploited for the extraction of chitin. However, the traditional chitin extraction processes employ harsh chemicals at elevated temperatures for a prolonged time which can harm its physico-chemical properties and are also held responsible for the deterioration of environmental health. In view of this, green extraction methods are increasingly gaining popularity due to their environmentally friendly nature. The bioextraction of chitin from crustacean shell wastes has been increasingly researched at the laboratory scale. However, the bioextraction of chitin is not currently exploited to its maximum potential on the commercial level. Bioextraction of chitin is emerging as a green, cleaner, eco-friendly and economical process. Specifically in the chitin extraction, microorganisms-mediated fermentation processes are highly desirable due to easy handling, simplicity, rapidity, controllability through optimization of process parameters, ambient temperature and negligible solvent consumption, thus reducing environmental impact and costs. Although, chitin production from crustacean shell waste through biological means is still at its early stage of development, it is undergoing rapid progress in recent years and showing a promising prospect. Driven by reduced energy, wastewater or solvent, advances in biological extraction of chitin along with valuable by-products will have high economic and environmental impact.

  15. Transposed-letter priming effects in reading aloud words and nonwords.

    PubMed

    Mousikou, Petroula; Kinoshita, Sachiko; Wu, Simon; Norris, Dennis

    2015-10-01

    A masked nonword prime generated by transposing adjacent inner letters in a word (e.g., jugde) facilitates the recognition of the target word (JUDGE) more than a prime in which the relevant letters are replaced by different letters (e.g., junpe). This transposed-letter (TL) priming effect has been widely interpreted as evidence that the coding of letter position is flexible, rather than precise. Although the TL priming effect has been extensively investigated in the domain of visual word recognition using the lexical decision task, very few studies have investigated this empirical phenomenon in reading aloud. In the present study, we investigated TL priming effects in reading aloud words and nonwords and found that these effects are of equal magnitude for the two types of items. We take this result as support for the view that the TL priming effect arises from noisy perception of letter order within the prime prior to the mapping of orthography to phonology.

  16. 77 FR 25145 - Marine Mammals; File No. 978-1857

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-04-27

    ... Biology, P.O. Box 1106, Kailua, Hawaii 96734 has been issued a minor amendment to Scientific Research... mammals at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology through May 31, 2012. The minor amendment (No. 978-1857...

  17. Mitochondrial Genomics and Northwestern Atlantic Population Genetics of Marine Annelids

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2005-09-01

    surfclams , Spisula solidissima, in the western North Atlantic based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Marine Biology, 146: 707-716. Hayden BP...Science 1930 and Engineering DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Mitochondrial Genomics and Northwestern Atlantic Population Genetics of Marine Annelids by Robert M...Jennings September 2005 MITIWHOI 2005-15 Mitochondrial Genomics and Northwestern Atlantic Population Genetics of Marine Annelids by Robert M. Jennings

  18. Color associations for days and letters across different languages

    PubMed Central

    Rouw, Romke; Case, Laura; Gosavi, Radhika; Ramachandran, Vilayanur

    2014-01-01

    While colors are commonplace in everyday metaphors, relatively little is known about implicit color associations to linguistic or semantic concepts in a general population. In this study, we test color associations for ordered linguistic concepts (letters and days). The culture and language specificity of these effects was examined in a large group (457) of Dutch-speaking participants, 92 English-speaking participants, and 49 Hindi-speaking participants. Non-random distributions of color choices were revealed; consistencies were found across the three language groups in color preferences for both days and letters. Interestingly, while the Hindi-speaking participants were presented with letter stimuli matched on phonology, their pattern of letter-to-color preferences still showed similarities with Dutch- and English-speaking participants. Furthermore, we found that that the color preferences corresponded between participants indicating to have conscious color experiences with letters or days (putative synesthetes) and participants who do not (non-synesthetes). We also explored possible mechanisms underlying the color preferences. There were a few specific associations, including red for “A,” red for “Monday,” and white for “Sunday.” We also explored more general mechanisms, such as overall color preferences as shown by Simner et al. (2005). While certainly not all variation can be explained or predicted, the results show that regularities are present in color-to-letter or color-to-day preferences in both putative synesthetes and non-synesthetes across languages. Both letter-to-color and day-to-color preferences were influenced by multiple factors. The findings support a notion of abstract concepts (such as days and letters) that are not represented in isolation, but are connected to perceptual representational systems. Interestingly, at least some of these connections to color representations are shared across different language/cultural groups. PMID

  19. Gender Gaps in Letter-Sound Knowledge Persist Across the First School Year

    PubMed Central

    Sigmundsson, Hermundur; Dybfest Eriksen, Adrian; Ofteland, Greta S.; Haga, Monika

    2018-01-01

    Literacy is the cornerstone of a primary school education and enables the intellectual and social development of young children. Letter-sound knowledge has been identified as critical for developing proficiency in reading. This study explored the development of letter-sound knowledge in relation to gender during the first year of primary school. 485 Norwegian children aged 5–6 years completed assessment of letter-sound knowledge, i.e., uppercase letters- name; uppercase letter -sound; lowercase letters- name; lowercase letter-sound. The children were tested in the beginning, middle, and end of their first school year. The results revealed a clear gender difference in all four variables in favor of the girls which were relatively constant over time. Implications for understanding the role of gender and letter-sound knowledge for later reading performance are discussed. PMID:29662461

  20. 48 CFR 28.204-3 - Irrevocable letter of credit (ILC).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... no document other than a written demand and the ILC (and letter of confirmation, if any), expire only... by another acceptable financial institution that had letter of credit business of at least $25... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Irrevocable letter of...

  1. How To Write a Business Letter. Power of the Printed Word.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Forbes, Malcolm

    Business letters should turn people on rather than turning them off. To write a good business letter, know what the goal is before starting to write, call the reader by name, tell what the letter is about in the first paragraph, refer to dates when answering letters, and write from the reader's point of view. Be positive, be nice, and be natural.…

  2. NOAA National Status and Trends Program Twelfth Round Intercomparison Exercise Results for Trace Metals in Marine Sediments and Biological Tissues. National Status and Trends Program for marine environmental quality: Technical memo

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Willie, S.

    1998-11-01

    The report summarizes the results of the Twelfth Round Intercomparison for Trace Metals in Marine Sediments and Biological Tissues under the directive of the NOAA National Status and Trends Program. A total of forty-four participants were included in the exercise, including NOAA, USEPA, state, Austrailian, Canadian, Mexican and Argentinean laboratories. Two samples were sent by NRC to each participant, a marine sediment collected on the east coast of Canada and a freeze-dried mussel tissue. Laboratories were also asked to analyze two certified reference materials (CRMs) MESS-2 and CRM 2976. The elements to be determined were Al, Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu,more » Zn, As, Se, Ag, Cd, Sn, Hg, and Pb for both matrices, plus Be, Si, Mn, Sb, and Tl for the sediments. An accepted mean and confidence interval was calculated for each analyte in the two unknown samples, laboratory biases were identified and an overall rating of superior, good, fair or others were assigned to each laboratory.« less

  3. New Peptides Isolated from Marine Cyanobacteria, an Overview over the Past Decade.

    PubMed

    Mi, Yue; Zhang, Jinrong; He, Shan; Yan, Xiaojun

    2017-05-05

    Marine cyanobacteria are significant sources of structurally diverse marine natural products with broad biological activities. In the past 10 years, excellent progress has been made in the discovery of marine cyanobacteria-derived peptides with diverse chemical structures. Most of these peptides exhibit strong pharmacological activities, such as neurotoxicity and cytotoxicity. In the present review, we summarized peptides isolated from marine cyanobacteria since 2007.

  4. Ten steps to writing curriculum vitae covering letters.

    PubMed

    Pearce, Chris

    2007-12-01

    As guides for recruiters, the covering letters of applicants' curricula vitae (CVs) can be almost as important as the CVs themselves. When applying for posts therefore, you should regard the writing of such letters as an opportunity to distinguish yourself from other candidates.

  5. Data on eye behavior during idea generation and letter-by-letter reading.

    PubMed

    Walcher, Sonja; Körner, Christof; Benedek, Mathias

    2017-12-01

    This article includes the description of data information from an idea generation task (alternate uses task, (Guilford, 1967) [1]) and a letter-by-letter reading task under two background brightness conditions with healthy adults as well as a baseline measurement and questionnaire data (SIPI (Huba et al., 1981) [2]; DDFS (Singer and Antrobus, 1972) [3], 1963; RIBS (Runco et al., 2001) [4]). Data are hosted at the Open Science Framework (OSF): https://osf.io/fh66g/ (Walcher et al., 2017) [5]. There you will find eye tracking data, task performance data, questionnaires data, analyses scripts (in R, R Core Team, 2017 [6]), eye tracking paradigms (in the Experiment Builder (SR Research Ltd., [7]) and graphs on pupil and angle of eye vergence dynamics. Data are interpreted and discussed in the article 'Looking for ideas: Eye behavior during goal-directed internally focused cognition' (Walcher et al., 2017) [8].

  6. 47 CFR 61.33 - Letters of transmittal.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... Rules for Dominant Carriers § 61.33 Letters of transmittal. (a) Except as specified in § 61.32(b), all... with Number 1, and must be accompanied by a letter of transmittal, A4 (21 cm×29.7 cm) or 81/2 by 11... purpose of the filing; (2) Specify whether supporting information under § 61.38 is required; (3) State...

  7. Visual-Motor Symbol Production Facilitates Letter Recognition in Young Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zemlock, Deborah; Vinci-Booher, Sophia; James, Karin H.

    2018-01-01

    Previous research has suggested that handwriting letters may be an important exerciser to facilitate early letter understanding. Experimental studies to date, however, have not investigated whether this effect is general to any visual-motor experience or specific to handwriting letters. In the present work, we addressed this issue by testing…

  8. Marine Viruses: Truth or Dare

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Breitbart, Mya

    2012-01-01

    Over the past two decades, marine virology has progressed from a curiosity to an intensely studied topic of critical importance to oceanography. At concentrations of approximately 10 million viruses per milliliter of surface seawater, viruses are the most abundant biological entities in the oceans. The majority of these viruses are phages (viruses that infect bacteria). Through lysing their bacterial hosts, marine phages control bacterial abundance, affect community composition, and impact global biogeochemical cycles. In addition, phages influence their hosts through selection for resistance, horizontal gene transfer, and manipulation of bacterial metabolism. Recent work has also demonstrated that marine phages are extremely diverse and can carry a variety of auxiliary metabolic genes encoding critical ecological functions. This review is structured as a scientific "truth or dare," revealing several well-established "truths" about marine viruses and presenting a few "dares" for the research community to undertake in future studies.

  9. The Processing of Consonants and Vowels during Letter Identity and Letter Position Assignment in Visual-Word Recognition: An ERP Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vergara-Martinez, Marta; Perea, Manuel; Marin, Alejandro; Carreiras, Manuel

    2011-01-01

    Recent research suggests that there is a processing distinction between consonants and vowels in visual-word recognition. Here we conjointly examine the time course of consonants and vowels in processes of letter identity and letter position assignment. Event related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants read words and pseudowords in…

  10. 21 CFR 314.110 - Complete response letter to the applicant.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... (CONTINUED) DRUGS FOR HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications... response letter. FDA will send the applicant a complete response letter if the agency determines that we...) Complete review of data. A complete response letter reflects FDA's complete review of the data submitted in...

  11. 21 CFR 314.110 - Complete response letter to the applicant.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ... (CONTINUED) DRUGS FOR HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications... response letter. FDA will send the applicant a complete response letter if the agency determines that we...) Complete review of data. A complete response letter reflects FDA's complete review of the data submitted in...

  12. 21 CFR 314.110 - Complete response letter to the applicant.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-04-01

    ... (CONTINUED) DRUGS FOR HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications... response letter. FDA will send the applicant a complete response letter if the agency determines that we...) Complete review of data. A complete response letter reflects FDA's complete review of the data submitted in...

  13. 21 CFR 314.110 - Complete response letter to the applicant.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-04-01

    ... (CONTINUED) DRUGS FOR HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications... response letter. FDA will send the applicant a complete response letter if the agency determines that we...) Complete review of data. A complete response letter reflects FDA's complete review of the data submitted in...

  14. 21 CFR 314.110 - Complete response letter to the applicant.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... (CONTINUED) DRUGS FOR HUMAN USE APPLICATIONS FOR FDA APPROVAL TO MARKET A NEW DRUG FDA Action on Applications... response letter. FDA will send the applicant a complete response letter if the agency determines that we...) Complete review of data. A complete response letter reflects FDA's complete review of the data submitted in...

  15. Opportunities in Biological Sciences; [VGM Career Horizons Series].

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Winter, Charles A.

    This book provides job descriptions and discusses career opportunities in various fields of the biological sciences. These fields include: (1) biotechnology, genetics, biomedical engineering, microbiology, mycology, systematic biology, marine and aquatic biology, botany, plant physiology, plant pathology, ecology, and wildlife biology; (2) the…

  16. ECOS Assumable Waters Letter

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Environmental Counsel of the States (ECOS) letter to EPA on state or tribal assumption encouraging the EPA to bring clarity and certainty to the identification of assumable and non-assumable waters, should a state assume the 404 program.

  17. IMPLEMENTATION REVIEW LETTERS, 2002

    EPA Science Inventory

    The following letters provide a summary of the Environmental Protection Agencys comments regarding 2002 Implementation Review of nineteen estuary programs in the National Estuary Program. Various strengths within the programs included use of implementation progress and tracking s...

  18. EDITORIAL: New criteria for Letters in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stoneham, A. M.

    2003-12-01

    Today, the median time from receipt to publication for regular articles in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter is about four months. Letters can be reviewed, possibly revised, and on the Web in little more than a week in favourable circumstances, and the median time is six weeks. When the Journal of Physics series was started, over thirty years ago, Letters took typically three months from receipt to print, and articles took substantially longer. Now that publication times for regular papers are of a similar order to those of Letters in the past, it makes sense to review the types of submission we accept as Letters and put a higher premium on urgency. In the past, Letters have been of several different types. There have been Letters giving a first announcement of some important new result, and these have a justifiable urgency and need for priority. In addition, there have been what one might call short papers, self-contained pieces of work, but with no requirement for rapid publication. The Editorial Board of Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter has decided that in future all Letters published will have to satisfy criteria of significant importance and urgency. To achieve this, all manuscripts submitted as Letters will be processed as follows. First, the Letter will be looked at by a Board Member, who will decide whether or not the proposed Letter has the right level of importance, urgency, and interest to appear as a Letter. The Board Member will not usually act as referee, unless the Letter is in a field in which they normally referee. If their decision is yes, then the manuscript will go to a regular referee. Special efforts will be made to ensure rapid treatment, both by the referee and in processing at Bristol. The ideal Letter would address a significant topic in condensed matter physics. It would be recognized as important by a large number of condensed matter physicists, including those whose research area is a different one. So it is crucial that the

  19. Transposed-letter priming of prelexical orthographic representations.

    PubMed

    Kinoshita, Sachiko; Norris, Dennis

    2009-01-01

    A prime generated by transposing two internal letters (e.g., jugde) produces strong priming of the original word (judge). In lexical decision, this transposed-letter (TL) priming effect is generally weak or absent for nonword targets; thus, it is unclear whether the origin of this effect is lexical or prelexical. The authors describe the Bayesian Reader theory of masked priming (D. Norris & S. Kinoshita, 2008), which explains why nonwords do not show priming in lexical decision but why they do in the cross-case same-different task. This analysis is followed by 3 experiments that show that priming in this task is not based on low-level perceptual similarity between the prime and target, or on phonology, to make the case that priming is based on prelexical orthographic representation. The authors then use this task to demonstrate equivalent TL priming effects for nonwords and words. The results are interpreted as the first reliable evidence based on the masked priming procedure that letter position is not coded absolutely within the prelexical, orthographic representation. The implications of the results for current letter position coding schemes are discussed.

  20. Marine bioacoustics and technology: The new world of marine acoustic ecology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hastings, Mardi C.; Au, Whitlow W. L.

    2012-11-01

    Marine animals use sound for communication, navigation, predator avoidance, and prey detection. Thus the rise in acoustic energy associated with increasing human activity in the ocean has potential to impact the lives of marine animals. Thirty years ago marine bioacoustics primarily focused on evaluating effects of human-generated sound on hearing and behavior by testing captive animals and visually observing wild animals. Since that time rapidly changing electronic and computing technologies have yielded three tools that revolutionized how bioacousticians study marine animals. These tools are (1) portable systems for measuring electrophysiological auditory evoked potentials, (2) miniaturized tags equipped with positioning sensors and acoustic recording devices for continuous short-term acoustical observation rather than intermittent visual observation, and (3) passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems for remote long-term acoustic observations at specific locations. The beauty of these breakthroughs is their direct applicability to wild animals in natural habitats rather than only to animals held in captivity. Hearing capabilities of many wild species including polar bears, beaked whales, and reef fishes have now been assessed by measuring their auditory evoked potentials. Miniaturized acoustic tags temporarily attached to an animal to record its movements and acoustic environment have revealed the acoustic foraging behavior of sperm and beaked whales. Now tags are being adapted to fishes in effort to understand their behavior in the presence of noise. Moving and static PAM systems automatically detect and characterize biological and physical features of an ocean area without adding any acoustic energy to the environment. PAM is becoming a powerful technique for understanding and managing marine habitats. This paper will review the influence of these transformative tools on the knowledge base of marine bioacoustics and elucidation of relationships between marine

  1. Biological responses of two marine organisms of ecological relevance to on-going ocean acidification and global warming.

    PubMed

    Gomiero, A; Bellerby, R G J; Manca Zeichen, M; Babbini, L; Viarengo, A

    2018-05-01

    Recently, there has been a growing concern that climate change may rapidly and extensively alter global ecosystems with unknown consequences for terrestrial and aquatic life. While considerable emphasis has been placed on terrestrial ecology consequences, aquatic environments have received relatively little attention. Limited knowledge is available on the biological effects of increments of seawater temperature and pH decrements on key ecological species, i.e., primary producers and/or organisms representative of the basis of the trophic web. In the present study, we addressed the biological effects of global warming and ocean acidification on two model organisms, the microbenthic marine ciliate Euplotes crassus and the green alga Dunaliella tertiocleta using a suite of high level ecological endpoint tests and sub-lethal stress measures. Organisms were exposed to combinations of pH and temperature (TR1: 7.9 [pH], 25.5 °C and TR2: 7.8 [pH], 27,0 °C) simulating two possible environmental scenarios predicted to occur in the habitats of the selected species before the end of this century. The outcomes of the present study showed that the tested scenarios did not induce a significant increment of mortality on protozoa. Under the most severe exposure conditions, sub-lethal stress indices show that pH homeostatic mechanisms have energetic costs that divert energy from essential cellular processes and functions. The marine protozoan exhibited significant impairment of the lysosomal compartment and early signs of oxidative stress under these conditions. Similarly, significant impairment of photosynthetic efficiency and an increment in lipid peroxidation were observed in the autotroph model organism held under the most extreme exposure condition tested. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Covert Reading of Letters in a Case of Global Alexia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Volpato, Chiara; Bencini, Giulia; Meneghello, Francesca; Piron, Lamberto; Semenza, Carlo

    2012-01-01

    This study describes the case of a global alexic patient with a severe reading deficit affecting words, letters and Arabic numbers, following a left posterior lesion. The patient (VA) could not match spoken letters to their graphic form. A preserved ability to recognize shape and canonical orientation of letters indicates intact access to the…

  3. The Distribution of Information within Letters. Technical Report No. 215.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Navon, David; Shimron, Joseph

    Two experiments were designed to study the relative importance of various letter segments in letter recognition. One experiment was conducted with 24 subjects and the English alphabet, the other with 15 subjects and the Hebrew alphabet. In each experiment a letter was presented for identification, but was preceded by a brief presentation of either…

  4. 7 CFR 1737.80 - Description of characteristics letter.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... the amount of the proposed loan, its purposes, rate of interest, loan security requirements, and other... SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE PRE-LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES COMMON TO INSURED AND GUARANTEED TELECOMMUNICATIONS LOANS Characteristics Letter § 1737.80 Description of characteristics letter. (a) After all of the...

  5. Dimensionality and Reliability of Letter Writing in 3- to 5-Year-Old Preschool Children

    PubMed Central

    Puranik, Cynthia S.; Petscher, Yaacov; Lonigan, Christopher J.

    2015-01-01

    The primary purpose of this study was to examine the dimensionality and reliability of letter writing skills in preschool children with the aim of determining whether a sequence existed in how children learn to write the letters of the alphabet. Additionally, we examined gender differences in the development of letter writing skills. 471 children aged 3 to 5 years old completed a letter writing task. Results from factor analyses indicated that letter writing represented a unidimensional skill. Similar to research findings that the development of letter-names and letter-sound knowledge varies in acquisition, our findings indicate that the ability to write some letters is acquired earlier than the ability to write other letters. Although there appears to be an approximate sequence for the easiest and most difficult letters, there appears to be a less clear sequence for letters in the middle stages of development. Overall, girls had higher letter writing scores compared to boys. Gender differences regarding difficulty writing specific letters was less conclusive; however, results indicated that when controlling for ability level, girls had a higher probability of writing a letter correctly than boys. Implications of these findings for the assessment and instruction of letter writing are discussed. PMID:26346443

  6. New Peptides Isolated from Marine Cyanobacteria, an Overview over the Past Decade

    PubMed Central

    Mi, Yue; Zhang, Jinrong; He, Shan; Yan, Xiaojun

    2017-01-01

    Marine cyanobacteria are significant sources of structurally diverse marine natural products with broad biological activities. In the past 10 years, excellent progress has been made in the discovery of marine cyanobacteria-derived peptides with diverse chemical structures. Most of these peptides exhibit strong pharmacological activities, such as neurotoxicity and cytotoxicity. In the present review, we summarized peptides isolated from marine cyanobacteria since 2007. PMID:28475149

  7. 50 CFR 218.237 - Applications for Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) Sonar § 218.237 Applications for Letters of... scheduled to begin conducting SURTASS LFA sonar operations or the previous Letter of Authorization is...

  8. 50 CFR 218.237 - Applications for Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) Sonar § 218.237 Applications for Letters of... scheduled to begin conducting SURTASS LFA sonar operations or the previous Letter of Authorization is...

  9. 50 CFR 218.237 - Applications for Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) Sonar § 218.237 Applications for Letters of... scheduled to begin conducting SURTASS LFA sonar operations or the previous Letter of Authorization is...

  10. Pseudo-Synesthesia through Reading Books with Colored Letters

    PubMed Central

    Colizoli, Olympia; Murre, Jaap M. J.; Rouw, Romke

    2012-01-01

    Background Synesthesia is a phenomenon where a stimulus produces consistent extraordinary subjective experiences. A relatively common type of synesthesia involves perception of color when viewing letters (e.g. the letter ‘a’ always appears as light blue). In this study, we examine whether traits typically regarded as markers of synesthesia can be acquired by simply reading in color. Methodology/Principal Findings Non-synesthetes were given specially prepared colored books to read. A modified Stroop task was administered before and after reading. A perceptual crowding task was administered after reading. Reading one book (>49,000 words) was sufficient to induce effects regarded as behavioral markers for synesthesia. The results of the Stroop tasks indicate that it is possible to learn letter-color associations through reading in color (F(1, 14) = 5.85, p = .030). Furthermore, Stroop effects correlated with subjective reports about experiencing letters in color (r(13) = 0.51, p = .05). The frequency of viewing letters is related to the level of association as seen by the difference in the Stroop effect size between upper- and lower-case letters (t(14) = 2.79, p = .014) and in a subgroup of participants whose Stroop effects increased as they continued to read in color. Readers did not show significant performance advantages on the crowding task compared to controls. Acknowledging the many differences between trainees and synesthetes, results suggest that it may be possible to acquire a subset of synesthetic behavioral traits in adulthood through training. Conclusion/Significance To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of acquiring letter-color associations through reading in color. Reading in color appears to be a promising avenue in which we may explore the differences and similarities between synesthetes and non-synesthetes. Additionally, reading in color is a plausible method for a long-term ‘synesthetic’ training program. PMID

  11. 30 CFR 1.3 - Use of letters and acronym MSHA.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Use of letters and acronym MSHA. 1.3 Section 1.3 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR OFFICIAL EMBLEM AND...; ESTABLISHMENT AND USE OF OFFICIAL EMBLEM § 1.3 Use of letters and acronym MSHA. The letters and acronym MSHA may...

  12. 30 CFR 1.3 - Use of letters and acronym MSHA.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Use of letters and acronym MSHA. 1.3 Section 1.3 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR OFFICIAL EMBLEM AND...; ESTABLISHMENT AND USE OF OFFICIAL EMBLEM § 1.3 Use of letters and acronym MSHA. The letters and acronym MSHA may...

  13. Name-letter branding under scrutiny: real products, new algorithms, and the probability of buying.

    PubMed

    Stieger, Stefan

    2010-06-01

    People like letters matching their own first and last name initials more than nonname letters. This name-letter effect has also been found for brands, i.e., people like brands resembling their own name letters (initial or first three). This has been termed name-letter branding effect. In the present study of 199 participants, ages 12 to 79 years, this name-letter branding effect was found for a modified design (1) using real products, (2) concentrating on product names rather than brand names, (3) using five different products for each letter of the Roman alphabet, (4) asking for the buying probability, and (5) using recently introduced algorithms, controlling for individual response tendencies (i.e., liking all letters more or less) and general normative popularity of particular letters (i.e., some letters are generally preferred more than other letters).

  14. 50 CFR 216.187 - Applications for Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA sonar) Sonar § 216.187 Applications for Letters of... scheduled to begin conducting SURTASS LFA sonar operations or the previous Letter of Authorization is...

  15. 50 CFR 216.187 - Applications for Letters of Authorization.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA sonar) Sonar § 216.187 Applications for Letters of... scheduled to begin conducting SURTASS LFA sonar operations or the previous Letter of Authorization is...

  16. Open Letter to Religious Leaders about Sex Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    American Journal of Sexuality Education, 2011

    2011-01-01

    The "Open Letter to Religious Leaders about Sex Education" reinforces scriptural and theological commitments to truth-telling in calling for "full and honest education about sexual and reproductive health." This "Open Letter" was published in 2002, at about the midpoint of a decade-long federal government commitment to…

  17. Letters to Our Forebears: Reconnecting Generations through Writing.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Okawa, Gail Y.

    2003-01-01

    Proposes that students writing public letters to their forebears might provide a reminder of how individuals and communities can learn from the experience of their foremothers and forefathers. Includes the author's letter to her grandfather, who was imprisoned in internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. (PM)

  18. 49 CFR 1503.703 - Civil penalty letter; referral.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... 49 Transportation 9 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Civil penalty letter; referral. 1503.703 Section... AND ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES Judicial Assessment of Civil Penalties § 1503.703 Civil penalty letter; referral. (a) Issuance. In a civil penalty action in which the amount in controversy exceeds the amounts...

  19. Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics to Elucidate Functions in Marine Organisms and Ecosystems

    PubMed Central

    Goulitquer, Sophie; Potin, Philippe; Tonon, Thierry

    2012-01-01

    Marine systems are very diverse and recognized as being sources of a wide range of biomolecules. This review provides an overview of metabolite profiling based on mass spectrometry (MS) approaches in marine organisms and their environments, focusing on recent advances in the field. We also point out some of the technical challenges that need to be overcome in order to increase applications of metabolomics in marine systems, including extraction of chemical compounds from different matrices and data management. Metabolites being important links between genotype and phenotype, we describe added value provided by integration of data from metabolite profiling with other layers of omics, as well as their importance for the development of systems biology approaches in marine systems to study several biological processes, and to analyze interactions between organisms within communities. The growing importance of MS-based metabolomics in chemical ecology studies in marine ecosystems is also illustrated. PMID:22690147

  20. Marine mammals of Puerto Rico: a bibliography

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Payne, S.F.

    1981-08-01

    This bibliography is the product of a literature survey on marine mammals at a proposed OTEC site near Punta Tuna, Puerto Rico. Included are reports of mammal sightings and strandings from Puerto Rico and adjacent Caribbean islands, reports containing information on distribution and abundance migration routes, and feeding ecology of those species known from the area. A few works on the general biology of marine mammals are also included. 96 references.

  1. Joint Program on Molecular Biology of Marine Organisms

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1992-08-20

    and lateral flagella formation in a marine vibrio (Belas and Colwell, 1982). Upon contact with a surface, the polar flagella of Vibrio ... parahemolyticus ceased to function. Shortl’ thereafter, lateral flagella formed around the cells, apparently mediating the "irreversible" attachment process. Pilus...Colwell. 1982. Adsorption kinetics of 18 Slaterally and polarly flagellated Vibrio . J. Bacteriol. 151:1568-1580. S-- Brown, C.M., D.C. Ellwood, and

  2. Potential Pharmacological Resources: Natural Bioactive Compounds from Marine-Derived Fungi

    PubMed Central

    Jin, Liming; Quan, Chunshan; Hou, Xiyan; Fan, Shengdi

    2016-01-01

    In recent years, a considerable number of structurally unique metabolites with biological and pharmacological activities have been isolated from the marine-derived fungi, such as polyketides, alkaloids, peptides, lactones, terpenoids and steroids. Some of these compounds have anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibiotic and cytotoxic properties. This review partially summarizes the new bioactive compounds from marine-derived fungi with classification according to the sources of fungi and their biological activities. Those fungi found from 2014 to the present are discussed. PMID:27110799

  3. Lexical access via letter naming in a profoundly alexic and anomic patient: a treatment study.

    PubMed

    Greenwald, M L; Gonzalez Rothi, L J

    1998-11-01

    We report the results of a letter naming treatment designed to facilitate letter-by-letter reading in an aphasic patient with no reading ability. Patient M.R.'s anomia for written letters reflected two loci of impairment within visual naming: impaired letter activation from print (a deficit commonly seen in pure alexic patients who read letter by letter) and impaired access to phonology via semantics (documented in a severe multimodality anomia). Remarkably, M.R. retained an excellent ability to pronounce orally spelled words, demonstrating that abstract letter identities could be activated normally via spoken letter names, and also that lexical phonological representations were intact when accessed via spoken letter names. M.R.'s training in oral naming of written letters resulted in significant improvement in her oral naming of trained letters. Importantly, as M.R.'s letter naming improved, she became able to employ letter-by-letter reading as a compensatory strategy for oral word reading. M.R.'s success in letter naming and letter-by-letter reading suggests that other patients with a similar pattern of spared and impaired cognitive abilities may benefit from a similar treatment. Moreover, this study highlights the value of testing the pronunciation of orally spelled words in localizing the source of prelexical reading impairment and in predicting the functional outcome of treatment for impaired letter activation in reading.

  4. Analysis of Letter Name Knowledge Using Rasch Measurement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowles, Ryan P.; Skibbe, Lori E.; Justice, Laura M.

    2011-01-01

    Letter name knowledge (LNK) is a key predictor of later reading ability and has been emphasized strongly in recent educational policy. Studies of LNK have implicitly treated it as a unidimensional construct with all letters equally relevant to its measurement. However, some empirical research suggests that contextual factors can affect the…

  5. LETTER TO EDITOR ON ARTICLE "ARSENIC MEANS BUSINESS"

    EPA Science Inventory

    The letter to the editor was written to point out that different forms of arsenic are found in source waters and that the technologies listed in the article such as POU RO will not necessarily be effective on all waters. The letter pointed out that most technologies are more eff...

  6. Analyzing International Letters in a Business Communication Class.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Devet, Bonnie

    1998-01-01

    Shows how students can use persuasive principles of communication (format and writer's purpose) and of classical rhetoric (organization, ethos, pathos, logos, and style) to improve their ability to analyze business letters. Shows how applying these principles to the analysis of business letters from other countries helps students write better and…

  7. The effects of marine carbohydrates and glycosylated compounds on human health.

    PubMed

    Kang, Hee-Kyoung; Seo, Chang Ho; Park, Yoonkyung

    2015-03-16

    Marine organisms have been recognized as a valuable source of bioactive compounds with industrial and nutraceutical potential. Recently, marine-derived carbohydrates, including polysaccharides and low molecular weight glycosylated oligosaccharides, have attracted much attention because of their numerous health benefits. Moreover, several studies have reported that marine carbohydrates exhibit various biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-infection, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diabetic effects. The present review discusses the potential industrial applications of bioactive marine carbohydrates for health maintenance and disease prevention. Furthermore, the use of marine carbohydrates in food, cosmetics, agriculture, and environmental protection is discussed.

  8. Immense Essence of Excellence: Marine Microbial Bioactive Compounds

    PubMed Central

    Bhatnagar, Ira; Kim, Se-Kwon

    2010-01-01

    Oceans have borne most of the biological activities on our planet. A number of biologically active compounds with varying degrees of action, such as anti-tumor, anti-cancer, anti-microtubule, anti-proliferative, cytotoxic, photo protective, as well as antibiotic and antifouling properties, have been isolated to date from marine sources. The marine environment also represents a largely unexplored source for isolation of new microbes (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, microalgae-cyanobacteria and diatoms) that are potent producers of bioactive secondary metabolites. Extensive research has been done to unveil the bioactive potential of marine microbes (free living and symbiotic) and the results are amazingly diverse and productive. Some of these bioactive secondary metabolites of microbial origin with strong antibacterial and antifungal activities are being intensely used as antibiotics and may be effective against infectious diseases such as HIV, conditions of multiple bacterial infections (penicillin, cephalosporines, streptomycin, and vancomycin) or neuropsychiatric sequelae. Research is also being conducted on the general aspects of biophysical and biochemical properties, chemical structures and biotechnological applications of the bioactive substances derived from marine microorganisms, and their potential use as cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals. This review is an attempt to consolidate the latest studies and critical research in this field, and to showcase the immense competence of marine microbial flora as bioactive metabolite producers. In addition, the present review addresses some effective and novel approaches of procuring marine microbial compounds utilizing the latest screening strategies of drug discovery. PMID:21116414

  9. Immense essence of excellence: marine microbial bioactive compounds.

    PubMed

    Bhatnagar, Ira; Kim, Se-Kwon

    2010-10-15

    Oceans have borne most of the biological activities on our planet. A number of biologically active compounds with varying degrees of action, such as anti-tumor, anti-cancer, anti-microtubule, anti-proliferative, cytotoxic, photo protective, as well as antibiotic and antifouling properties, have been isolated to date from marine sources. The marine environment also represents a largely unexplored source for isolation of new microbes (bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, microalgae-cyanobacteria and diatoms) that are potent producers of bioactive secondary metabolites. Extensive research has been done to unveil the bioactive potential of marine microbes (free living and symbiotic) and the results are amazingly diverse and productive. Some of these bioactive secondary metabolites of microbial origin with strong antibacterial and antifungal activities are being intensely used as antibiotics and may be effective against infectious diseases such as HIV, conditions of multiple bacterial infections (penicillin, cephalosporines, streptomycin, and vancomycin) or neuropsychiatric sequelae. Research is also being conducted on the general aspects of biophysical and biochemical properties, chemical structures and biotechnological applications of the bioactive substances derived from marine microorganisms, and their potential use as cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals. This review is an attempt to consolidate the latest studies and critical research in this field, and to showcase the immense competence of marine microbial flora as bioactive metabolite producers. In addition, the present review addresses some effective and novel approaches of procuring marine microbial compounds utilizing the latest screening strategies of drug discovery.

  10. Inside the Letter

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duke, Roger; Graham, Alan

    2007-01-01

    In this article, the authors describe how a Java applet can help to build learners' intuitions about basic ideas of algebra. "Matchbox Algebra" is a Java applet the authors have designed to enable learners to grasp a key idea in learning algebra: that the letter "x" may be thought of as representing an as-yet-unknown number. They describe the…

  11. Transposed-Letter Effects in Reading: Evidence from Eye Movements and Parafoveal Preview

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Rebecca L.; Perea, Manuel; Rayner, Keith

    2007-01-01

    Three eye movement experiments were conducted to examine the role of letter identity and letter position during reading. Before fixating on a target word within each sentence, readers were provided with a parafoveal preview that differed in the amount of useful letter identity and letter position information it provided. In Experiments 1 and 2,…

  12. The distributed neural system for top-down letter processing: an fMRI study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Jiangang; Feng, Lu; Li, Ling; Tian, Jie

    2011-03-01

    This fMRI study used Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) to investigate top-down letter processing with an illusory letter detection task. After an initial training that became increasingly difficult, participant was instructed to detect a letter from pure noise images where there was actually no letter. Such experimental paradigm allowed for isolating top-down components of letter processing and minimizing the influence of bottom-up perceptual input. A distributed cortical network of top-down letter processing was identified by analyzing the functional connectivity patterns of letter-preferential area (LA) within the left fusiform gyrus. Such network extends from the visual cortex to high level cognitive cortexes, including the left middle frontal gyrus, left medial frontal gyrus, left superior parietal gyrus, bilateral precuneus, and left inferior occipital gyrus. These findings suggest that top-down letter processing contains not only regions for processing of letter phonology and appearance, but also those involved in internal information generation and maintenance, and attention and memory processing.

  13. Readability of "Dear Patient" device advisory notification letters created by a device manufacturer.

    PubMed

    Mueller, Luke A; Sharma, Arjun; Ottenberg, Abigale L; Mueller, Paul S

    2013-04-01

    In 2006, the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) recommended that cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) manufacturers use advisory notification letters to communicate with affected patients. To evaluate the readability of the HRS sample "patient device advisory notification" letter and those created by 1 CIED manufacturer. The HRS sample letter and 25 Boston Scientific Corporation letters dated from 2005 through 2011 were evaluated by using 6 readability tests. Readability (Flesch-Kincaid score) of the HRS sample letter was grade level 12.5, and median readability of the device manufacturer letters was grade level 12.8 (range 10.8-18.9). Similar results were obtained by using other readability scales. No letters had readability scores at the National Work Group on Literacy and Health's recommended reading level-fifth grade; the letters' readability exceeded this recommended level by an average of 7.7 grades (95% confidence interval 6.9-8.5; P<.001). Likewise, no letters had readability scores at the average reading level of US adults-eighth grade; the letters' readability exceeded this level by an average of 4.7 grades (95% confidence interval 3.9-5.5; P< .001). The readability of the HRS sample letter and those created by a CIED manufacturer significantly exceeded the recommended and average US adults' reading skill levels. Such letters are unlikely to be informative to many patients. CIED manufacturers should ensure that advisory letters are comprehensible to most affected patients. Copyright © 2013 Heart Rhythm Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Professional Citation Practices in Child Maltreatment Forensic Letters

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schryer, Catherine F.; Bell, Stephanie; Mian, Marcellina; Spafford, Marlee M.; Lingard, Lorelei

    2011-01-01

    Using rhetorical genre theory and research on reported speech, this study investigates the citation practices in 81 forensic letters written by paediatricians and nurse practitioners that provide their opinion for the courts as to whether a child has experienced maltreatment. These letters exist in a complex social situation where a lack of…

  15. Visual Imagery for Letters and Words. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weber, Robert J.

    In a series of six experiments, undergraduate college students visually imagined letters or words and then classified as rapidly as possible the imagined letters for some physical property such as vertical height. This procedure allowed for a preliminary assessment of the temporal parameters of visual imagination. The results delineate a number of…

  16. The developing framework of marine ecotoxicology: Pollutants as a variable in marine ecosystems?

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Luoma, Samuel N.

    1996-01-01

    Marine ecosystems include a subset in which at least some interrelated geochemical, biochemical, physiological, population and community characteristics are changed by pollutants. Moderate contamination is relatively widespread in coastal and estuarine ecosystems, so the subset of ecosystems with at least some processes affected could be relatively large. Pollutant influences have changed and will probably continue to change on time scales of decades. Biological exposures and dose in such ecosystems are species-specific and determined by how the species is exposed to different environmental media and the geochemistry of individual pollutants within those media. Bioaccumulation models offer significant promise for interpreting such exposures. Biological responses to pollutants need to be more directly linked to exposure and dose. At the level of the individual this might be improved by better understanding relationships between tissue concentrations of pollutants and responses to pollutants. Multi-discipline field and laboratory studies combined with advanced understanding of some basic processes have reduced the ambiguities in interpreting a few physiological/organismic responses to pollutants in nature. Recognition of pollutant-induced patterns in population responses could lead to similar advances. A rational framework for ecotoxicology is developing, but its further advance is dependent upon better integration of ecotoxicology with basic marine ecology and biology.

  17. Letter to the Editor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2000-01-01

    All the Letters to the Editor in this issue are in the same PostScript or PDF file. Contents Looking back on Physics Peter Gill Lecturer in Education, School of Education, King's College London, Franklin-Wilkins Building, Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA

  18. Education and Conservation Benefits of Marine Wildlife Tours: Developing Free-Choice Learning Experiences

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zeppel, Heather

    2008-01-01

    Marine wildlife tours can provide a range of education and conservation benefits for visitors, including emotional (i.e., affective) responses and learning (i.e., cognition). Interpretive programs cover the biology, ecology, and behavior of marine species; best practice guidelines; and human threats to marine areas. The author reviews the…

  19. Marine genomics: News and views.

    PubMed

    Ribeiro, Ângela M; Foote, Andrew D; Kupczok, Anne; Frazão, Bárbara; Limborg, Morten T; Piñeiro, Rosalía; Abalde, Samuel; Rocha, Sara; da Fonseca, Rute R

    2017-02-01

    Marine ecosystems occupy 71% of the surface of our planet, yet we know little about their diversity. Although the inventory of species is continually increasing, as registered by the Census of Marine Life program, only about 10% of the estimated two million marine species are known. This lag between observed and estimated diversity is in part due to the elusiveness of most aquatic species and the technical difficulties of exploring extreme environments, as for instance the abyssal plains and polar waters. In the last decade, the rapid development of affordable and flexible high-throughput sequencing approaches have been helping to improve our knowledge of marine biodiversity, from the rich microbial biota that forms the base of the tree of life to a wealth of plant and animal species. In this review, we present an overview of the applications of genomics to the study of marine life, from evolutionary biology of non-model organisms to species of commercial relevance for fishing, aquaculture and biomedicine. Instead of providing an exhaustive list of available genomic data, we rather set to present contextualized examples that best represent the current status of the field of marine genomics. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Walking a Fine Line: Writing Negative Letters in an Insurance Company.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schryer, Catherine F.

    2000-01-01

    Examines the situated-language practices associated with the production of negative letters in an insurance company. Combines textual analyses of a set of negative letters together with writers' accounts of producing these letters to identify effective strategies for composing this correspondence. Identifies some strategies that characterize…

  1. Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color

    PubMed Central

    Colizoli, Olympia; Murre, Jaap M. J.; Rouw, Romke

    2014-01-01

    Synesthesia is a rare condition in which a stimulus from one modality automatically and consistently triggers unusual sensations in the same and/or other modalities. A relatively common and well-studied type is grapheme-color synesthesia, defined as the consistent experience of color when viewing, hearing and thinking about letters, words and numbers. We describe our method for investigating to what extent synesthetic associations between letters and colors can be learned by reading in color in nonsynesthetes. Reading in color is a special method for training associations in the sense that the associations are learned implicitly while the reader reads text as he or she normally would and it does not require explicit computer-directed training methods. In this protocol, participants are given specially prepared books to read in which four high-frequency letters are paired with four high-frequency colors. Participants receive unique sets of letter-color pairs based on their pre-existing preferences for colored letters. A modified Stroop task is administered before and after reading in order to test for learned letter-color associations and changes in brain activation. In addition to objective testing, a reading experience questionnaire is administered that is designed to probe for differences in subjective experience. A subset of questions may predict how well an individual learned the associations from reading in color. Importantly, we are not claiming that this method will cause each individual to develop grapheme-color synesthesia, only that it is possible for certain individuals to form letter-color associations by reading in color and these associations are similar in some aspects to those seen in developmental grapheme-color synesthetes. The method is quite flexible and can be used to investigate different aspects and outcomes of training synesthetic associations, including learning-induced changes in brain function and structure. PMID:24638033

  2. Letters to the Editor of the AAS Newsletter: A Personal Story

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Linsky, Jeffrey L.

    2006-01-01

    Since 1987 the American Astronomical Society Newsletter has published some 142 Letters to the Editor that provide the personal statements and concerns of astronomers about the policies, priorities, and experiences of being an astronomer. While these Letters do not provide a scientific sampling of the issues, they do provide an illuminating picture of the astronomical scene as seen from the perspectives of our colleagues. I describe the history and policies of the Letters section, then summarize the issues presented and debated in these Letters. The topics (in order of numbers of Letters published) are: (1) publishing and refereeing, (2) how the AAS and IAU conduct their business, (3) jobs and how to get them, (4) support for astronomy, (5) scientific units and time, (6) public policy issues, (7) planning for telescopes and space missions, (8) how astronomers do their work, (9) women in astronomy, (10) the work environment, and (11) other issues. A chronological list of the Letters by title and author is included.

  3. Orthographic Coding: Brain Activation for Letters, Symbols, and Digits.

    PubMed

    Carreiras, Manuel; Quiñones, Ileana; Hernández-Cabrera, Juan Andrés; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni

    2015-12-01

    The present experiment investigates the input coding mechanisms of 3 common printed characters: letters, numbers, and symbols. Despite research in this area, it is yet unclear whether the identity of these 3 elements is processed through the same or different brain pathways. In addition, some computational models propose that the position-in-string coding of these elements responds to general flexible mechanisms of the visual system that are not character-specific, whereas others suggest that the position coding of letters responds to specific processes that are different from those that guide the position-in-string assignment of other types of visual objects. Here, in an fMRI study, we manipulated character position and character identity through the transposition or substitution of 2 internal elements within strings of 4 elements. Participants were presented with 2 consecutive visual strings and asked to decide whether they were the same or different. The results showed: 1) that some brain areas responded more to letters than to numbers and vice versa, suggesting that processing may follow different brain pathways; 2) that the left parietal cortex is involved in letter identity, and critically in letter position coding, specifically contributing to the early stages of the reading process; and that 3) a stimulus-specific mechanism for letter position coding is operating during orthographic processing. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Letters to a Young Baller: Exploring Epistolary Criticism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chawansky, Megan

    2010-01-01

    This article explores the possibilities of epistolary criticism within the realm of sport studies and aspires to encourage scholars to consider the use of non-traditional sport memorabilia and source materials when telling emotive stories about sport and sport practices. The use of letters and the letter-writing format to tell a personal narrative…

  5. Chapter 5:Biological Properties of Wood

    Treesearch

    Rebecca E. Ibach

    2013-01-01

    There are numerous biological degradations that wood is exposed to in various environments. Biological damage occurs when a log, sawn product, or final product is not stored, handled, or designed properly. Biological organisms such as bacteria, mold, stain, decay fungi, insects, and marine borers depend heavily on temperature and moisture conditions to grow. Figure 5.1...

  6. Melanie Klein's letters addressed to Marcelle Spira (1955-1960).

    PubMed

    Quinodoz, Jean-Michel

    2009-12-01

    Between 1955 and 1960, Melanie Klein wrote some 45 hitherto unpublished letters to Marcelle Spira, the Swiss psychoanalyst living at that time in Geneva. In 2006, after Spira's death, these letters were deposited with the Raymond de Saussure Psychoanalysis Centre in Geneva. They are the only known letters that Klein addressed to her psychoanalyst colleagues. Several topics are mentioned in them: (1) the meetings between the two women in Geneva and London; (2) Spira's contribution to Boulanger's translation into French of The Psychoanalysis of Children, which Klein herself carefully revised; (3) the papers that Klein was at that time working on, including Envy and Gratitude; (4) Spira's own work; (5) the difficulties that Spira, a Kleinian psychoanalyst who trained in Buenos Aires, was encountering in her attempt to be admitted to the Swiss Psychoanalytical Society; and (6) a few items of personal and family news. In addition to the invaluable historical information that these letters provide, they offer us a very moving epistolary self-portrait of Melanie Klein, enabling us to discover her personality in the final years of her life - she died in September 1960, just two months after writing her last letter to Spira.

  7. [Representation of letter position in visual word recognition process].

    PubMed

    Makioka, S

    1994-08-01

    Two experiments investigated the representation of letter position in visual word recognition process. In Experiment 1, subjects (12 undergraduates and graduates) were asked to detect a target word in a briefly-presented probe. Probes consisted of two kanji words. The latters which formed targets (critical letters) were always contained in probes. (e.g. target: [symbol: see text] probe: [symbol: see text]) High false alarm rate was observed when critical letters occupied the same within-word relative position (left or right within the word) in the probe words as in the target word. In Experiment 2 (subject were ten undergraduates and graduates), spaces adjacent to probe words were replaced by randomly chosen hiragana letters (e.g. [symbol: see text]), because spaces are not used to separate words in regular Japanese sentences. In addition to the effect of within-word relative position as in Experiment 1, the effect of between-word relative position (left or right across the probe words) was observed. These results suggest that information about within-word relative position of a letter is used in word recognition process. The effect of within-word relative position was explained by a connectionist model of word recognition.

  8. [Patients' letters and pre-modern medical lay-culture].

    PubMed

    Stolberg, Michael

    2007-01-01

    Consulting by letter was fairly common practice among the educated, upper classes of early modern Europe. Surviving letters of consultation written by patients, relatives or friends count among the most valuable source for the analysis of pre-modern experiences of disease and the body. This essay gives a brief overview of the various types of consultation letters and related documents which resulted from this practice before tracing the historical development of epistolary consultations from the late Middle Ages through the heyday medical correspondence in the 18th c. before its decline in the 19th c. It presents "experience", "self-fashioning" and "discourse" as three particularly fruitful levels of analysis on which patients' letters can be used within the wider framework of a cultural history of medicine. These three levels of analysis, or three distinct approaches, enable historians to access a greater awareness of the ways in which the experience of illness and the body is culturally framed with an analysis of the performative effects of patients' narratives and the influence of medical discourse among the wider society.

  9. Biological and Chemical Diversity of Bacteria Associated with a Marine Flatworm.

    PubMed

    Lin, Hui-Na; Wang, Kai-Ling; Wu, Ze-Hong; Tian, Ren-Mao; Liu, Guo-Zhu; Xu, Ying

    2017-09-01

    The aim of this research is to explore the biological and chemical diversity of bacteria associated with a marine flatworm Paraplanocera sp., and to discover the bioactive metabolites from culturable strains. A total of 141 strains of bacteria including 45 strains of actinomycetes and 96 strains of other bacteria were isolated, identified and fermented on a small scale. Bioactive screening (antibacterial and cytotoxic activities) and chemical screening (ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS)) yielded several target bacterial strains. Among these strains, the ethyl acetate (EA) crude extract of Streptomyces sp. XY-FW47 fermentation broth showed strong antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ATCC43300 (MRSA ATCC43300) and potent cytotoxic effects on HeLa cells. The UPLC-MS spectral analysis of the crude extract indicated that the strain XY-FW47 could produce a series of geldanamycins (GMs). One new geldanamycin (GM) analog, 4,5-dihydro-17-O-demethylgeldanamycin (1), and three known GMs (2-4) were obtained. All of these compounds were tested for antibacterial, cytotoxic, and antifungal activities, yet only GM (3) showed potent cytotoxic (HeLa cells, EC 50 = 1.12 μg/mL) and antifungal ( Setosphaeria turcica MIC = 2.40 μg/mL) activities. Their structure-activity relationship (SAR) was also preliminarily discussed in this study.

  10. 78 FR 2407 - Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Nomination Letters

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2013-01-11

    ... GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Nomination Letters AGENCY: Government Accountability Office (GAO). ACTION: Notice on letters of nomination. SUMMARY: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 established the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and gave the Comptroller...

  11. 76 FR 81503 - Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Nomination Letters

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-12-28

    ... GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE Medicare Payment Advisory Commission Nomination Letters AGENCY: Government Accountability Office (GAO). ACTION: Notice on letters of nomination. SUMMARY: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 established the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and gave the Comptroller...

  12. Biological and Climate Controls on North Atlantic Marine Carbon Dynamics Over the Last Millennium: Insights From an Absolutely Dated Shell-Based Record From the North Icelandic Shelf

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reynolds, D. J.; Hall, I. R.; Scourse, J. D.; Richardson, C. A.; Wanamaker, A. D.; Butler, P. G.

    2017-12-01

    Given the rapid increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations (pCO2) over the industrial era, there is a pressing need to construct long-term records of natural carbon cycling prior to this perturbation and to develop a more robust understanding of the role the oceans play in the sequestration of atmospheric carbon. Here we reconstruct the past biological and climate controls on the carbon isotopic (δ13Cshell) composition of the North Icelandic shelf waters over the last millennium, derived from the shells of the long-lived marine bivalve mollusk Arctica islandica. Variability in the annually resolved δ13Cshell record is dominated by multidecadal variability with a negative trend (-0.003 ± 0.002‰ yr-1) over the industrial era (1800-2000 Common Era). This trend is consistent with the marine Suess effect brought about by the sequestration of isotopically light carbon (δ13C of CO2) derived from the burning of fossil fuels. Comparison of the δ13Cshell record with Contemporaneous proxy archives, over the last millennium, and instrumental data over the twentieth century, highlights that both biological (primary production) and physical environmental factors, such as relative shifts in the proportion of Subpolar Mode Waters and Arctic Intermediate Waters entrained onto the North Icelandic shelf, atmospheric circulation patterns associated with the winter North Atlantic Oscillation, and sea surface temperature and salinity of the subpolar gyre, are the likely mechanisms that contribute to natural variations in seawater δ13C variability on the North Icelandic shelf. Contrasting δ13C fractionation processes associated with these biological and physical mechanisms likely cause the attenuated marine Suess effect signal at this locality.

  13. Rethinking Trade-Driven Extinction Risk in Marine and Terrestrial Megafauna.

    PubMed

    McClenachan, Loren; Cooper, Andrew B; Dulvy, Nicholas K

    2016-06-20

    Large animals hunted for the high value of their parts (e.g., elephant ivory and shark fins) are at risk of extinction due to both intensive international trade pressure and intrinsic biological sensitivity. However, the relative role of trade, particularly in non-perishable products, and biological factors in driving extinction risk is not well understood [1-4]. Here we identify a taxonomically diverse group of >100 marine and terrestrial megafauna targeted for international luxury markets; estimate their value across three points of sale; test relationships among extinction risk, high value, and body size; and quantify the effects of two mitigating factors: poaching fines and geographic range size. We find that body size is the principal driver of risk for lower value species, but that this biological pattern is eliminated above a value threshold, meaning that the most valuable species face a high extinction risk regardless of size. For example, once mean product values exceed US$12,557 kg(-1), body size no longer drives risk. Total value scales with size for marine animals more strongly than for terrestrial animals, incentivizing the hunting of large marine individuals and species. Poaching fines currently have little effect on extinction risk; fines would need to be increased 10- to 100-fold to be effective. Large geographic ranges reduce risk for terrestrial, but not marine, species, whose ranges are ten times greater. Our results underscore both the evolutionary and ecosystem consequences of targeting large marine animals and the need to geographically scale up and prioritize conservation of high-value marine species to avoid extinction. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. The Complaint Letter and Response.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shukla, P. K.

    1998-01-01

    Describes an assignment in which students write a letter of complaint, and discusses how this assignment aids students in seeing the importance of effective written communication to their daily lives. (SR)

  15. Does location uncertainty in letter position coding emerge because of literacy training?

    PubMed

    Perea, Manuel; Jiménez, María; Gomez, Pablo

    2016-06-01

    In the quest to unveil the nature of the orthographic code, a useful strategy is to examine the transposed-letter effect (e.g., JUGDE is more confusable with its base word, JUDGE, than the replacement-letter nonword JUPTE). A leading explanation of this phenomenon, which is line with models of visual attention, is that there is perceptual uncertainty at assigning letters ("objects") to positions. This mechanism would be at work not only with skilled readers but also with preliterate children. An alternative explanation is that the transposed-letter effect emerges at an orthographic level of processing as a direct consequence of literacy training. To test these accounts, we conducted a same-different matching experiment with preliterate 4-year-old children using same versus different trials (created by letter transposition or replacement). Results showed a significantly larger number of false positives (i.e., "same" responses) to transposed-letter strings than to 1/2 replacement-letter strings. Therefore, the present data favor the view that the visual processing of location information is inherently noisy and rule out an interpretation of confusability in letter position coding as emerging from literacy training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  16. Caring Letters for Military Suicide Prevention: A Randomized Controlled Trial

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2016-03-01

    AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-11-2-0123 TITLE: Caring Letters for Military Suicide Prevention: A Randomized Controlled Trial PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dr...Caring Letters for Military Suicide Prevention: A Randomized 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Controlled Trial 5b. GRANT NUMBER W81XWH-11-2-0123 5c. PROGRAM...determine if the intervention is effective in preventing suicide and suicidal behaviors among Service Members and Veterans. The “caring letters

  17. Letter from the Board of Directors of Astronomy & Astrophysics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meynet, Georges

    2005-07-01

    1. New A&A memberships and scientific editorial structure for the Letters section At its meeting in Tartu, Estonia on 8 May 2004, the A&A Board of Directors decided to grant observer status on the Board to Brazil, Chile, and Portugal (Sandqvist 2004, A&A, 426, E15). Then on 6-7 May 2005, at its meeting in La Laguna, Spain, the Board of Directors admitted these three countries to full membership in A&A, starting 1 January 2006. The Letters Editor, Dr. P. Schneider, will complete his terms of service on 31 January 2006. A&A is indebted to him for his thoughtful and competent editing over the past several years. As a consequence of his departure, the Board has decided to restructure the manner in which the Letters will be handled as of 1 January 2006. The Associate Editor-in-Chief, Dr. M. Walmsley, will also become Editor-in-Chief for the Letters, and he will forward the Letters to the appropriate topical Associate Editor to organize the reviewing process. Likewise, the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. C. Bertout, will become the Associate Letters-Editor-in-Chief. This change will permit a more specialized treatment of Letters in the future and also allow Letters to benefit from language editing. Hence, after 1 January 2006, manuscripts for Letters should be submitted via the A&A Manuscript Management System (MMS) that is already in place for Main Journal submissions. Letters submitted before that will be handled by the current Letters Editor even after 1 January 2006. 2. New Associate Editor positions Considering both the increased workload on the Associate Editors due to the above change and the continuing specialization of sub-fields in astronomy, the Board decided to open two new positions for Associate Editors, one specialized in Cosmology with a particular interest in theoretical aspects and the other in Observational Stellar Physics. Applications are invited for these two new positions. The Associate Editors are expected to have a broad knowledge of astronomy and

  18. [Letters] LightSquared Subsidiary LCC.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-07-01

    For consideration in the above-referenced pending proceeding before the Federal : Communications Commission (FCC), the National Telecommunications and Information : Administration (NTIA) forwards for inclusion in the record the enclosed letter from t...

  19. Conservation of marine megafauna through minimization of fisheries bycatch.

    PubMed

    Žydelis, Ramūnas; Wallace, Bryan P; Gilman, Eric L; Werner, Timothy B

    2009-06-01

    Many populations of marine megafauna, including seabirds, sea turtles, marine mammals, and elasmobranchs, have declined in recent decades due largely to anthropogenic mortality. To successfully conserve these long-lived animals, efforts must be prioritized according to feasibility and the degree to which they address threats with the highest relative impacts on population dynamics. Recently, Wilcox and Donlan (2007, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment) and Donlan and Wilcox (2008, Biological Invasions) proposed a conservation strategy of "compensatory mitigation" in which fishing industries offset bycatch of seabirds and sea turtles by funding eradication of invasive mammalian predators from the terrestrial reproductive sites of these marine animals. Although this is a creative and conceptually compelling approach, we find it flawed as a conservation tool because it has narrow applicability among marine megafauna, it does not address the most pervasive threats to marine megafauna, and it is logistically and financially infeasible. Invasive predator eradication does not adequately offset the most pressing threat to most marine megafauna populations--fisheries bycatch. For seabird populations, fisheries bycatch and invasive predators infrequently are overlapping threats. Invasive predators have limited population-level impacts on sea turtles and marine mammals and no impacts on elasmobranchs, all of which are threatened by bycatch. Implementing compensatory mitigation in marine fisheries is unrealistic due to inadequate monitoring, control, and surveillance in the majority of fleets. Therefore, offsetting fisheries bycatch with eradication of invasive predators would be less likely to reverse population declines than reducing bycatch. We recommend that efforts to mitigate bycatch in marine capture fisheries should address multiple threats to sensitive bycatch species groups, but these efforts should first institute proven bycatch avoidance and reduction methods

  20. Parallel public spheres: distance and discourse in letters to the editor.

    PubMed

    Perrin, Andrew J; Vaisey, Stephen

    2008-11-01

    This article examines letters to the editor as one of the ways citizens seek to enact a public sphere using technological mediation. Using a sample of all letters received by a metropolitan newspaper during a three-month period (N = 1,113), the authors demonstrate that the tone and argumentative styles of letters differ with the scope of the issues the letters address. Local issues evoke more reasoned, conciliatory tones, while issues beyond the local context evoke more emotional, confrontational tones, even after controlling for individual writers' characteristics and anger as a motivation to write.