Sedimentary Processes on Earth, Mars, Titan, and Venus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grotzinger, J. P.; Hayes, A. G.; Lamb, M. P.; McLennan, S. M.

The production, transport and deposition of sediment occur to varying degrees on Earth, Mars, Venus, and Titan. These sedimentary processes are significantly influenced by climate that affects production of sediment in source regions (weathering), and the mode by which that sediment is transported (wind vs. water). Other, more geological, factors determine where sediments are deposited (topography and tectonics). Fluvial and marine processes dominate Earth both today and in its geologic past, aeolian processes dominate modern Mars although in its past fluvial processes also were important, Venus knows only aeolian processes, and Titan shows evidence of both fluvial and aeolian processes. Earth and Mars also feature vast deposits of sedimentary rocks, spanning billions of years of planetary history. These ancient rocks preserve the long-term record of the evolution of surface environments, including variations in climate state. On Mars, sedimentary rocks record the transition from wetter, neutral-pH weathering, to brine-dominated low-pH weathering, to its dry current state.

The Madrid Affective Database for Spanish (MADS): Ratings of Dominance, Familiarity, Subjective Age of Acquisition and Sensory Experience

PubMed Central

Hinojosa, José A.; Rincón-Pérez, Irene; Romero-Ferreiro, Mª Verónica; Martínez-García, Natalia; Villalba-García, Cristina; Montoro, Pedro R.; Pozo, Miguel A.

2016-01-01

The current study presents ratings by 540 Spanish native speakers for dominance, familiarity, subjective age of acquisition (AoA), and sensory experience (SER) for the 875 Spanish words included in the Madrid Affective Database for Spanish (MADS). The norms can be downloaded as supplementary materials for this manuscript from https://figshare.com/s/8e7b445b729527262c88 These ratings may be of potential relevance to researches who are interested in characterizing the interplay between language and emotion. Additionally, with the aim of investigating how the affective features interact with the lexicosemantic properties of words, we performed correlational analyses between norms for familiarity, subjective AoA and SER, and scores for those affective variables which are currently included in the MADs. A distinct pattern of significant correlations with affective features was found for different lexicosemantic variables. These results show that familiarity, subjective AoA and SERs may have independent effects on the processing of emotional words. They also suggest that these psycholinguistic variables should be fully considered when formulating theoretical approaches to the processing of affective language. PMID:27227521

Fate of acetone in water

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rathbun, R.E.; Stephens, D.W.; Shultz, D.J.

1982-01-01

The physical, chemical, and biological processes that might affect the concentration of acetone in water were investigated in laboratory studies. Processes considered included volatilization, adsorption by sediments, photodecomposition, bacterial degradation, and absorption by algae and molds. It was concluded that volatilization and bacterial degradation were the dominant processes determining the fate of acetone in streams and rivers. ?? 1982.

Tone Attrition in Mandarin Speakers of Varying English Proficiency

PubMed Central

Creel, Sarah C.

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether the degree of dominance of Mandarin–English bilinguals' languages affects phonetic processing of tone content in their native language, Mandarin. Method We tested 72 Mandarin–English bilingual college students with a range of language-dominance profiles in the 2 languages and ages of acquisition of English. Participants viewed 2 photographs at a time while hearing a familiar Mandarin word referring to 1 photograph. The names of the 2 photographs diverged in tone, vowels, or both. Word recognition was evaluated using clicking accuracy, reaction times, and an online recognition measure (gaze) and was compared in the 3 conditions. Results Relative proficiency in English was correlated with reduced word recognition success in tone-disambiguated trials, but not in vowel-disambiguated trials, across all 3 dependent measures. This selective attrition for tone content emerged even though all bilinguals had learned Mandarin from birth. Lengthy experience with English thus weakened tone use. Conclusions This finding has implications for the question of the extent to which bilinguals' 2 phonetic systems interact. It suggests that bilinguals may not process pitch information language-specifically and that processing strategies from the dominant language may affect phonetic processing in the nondominant language—even when the latter was learned natively. PMID:28124064

Tree Species Composition and Harvest Intensity Affect Herbivore Density and Leaf Damage on Beech, Fagus sylvatica, in Different Landscape Contexts

PubMed Central

Mangels, Jule; Blüthgen, Nico; Frank, Kevin; Grassein, Fabrice; Hilpert, Andrea; Mody, Karsten

2015-01-01

Most forests are exposed to anthropogenic management activities that affect tree species composition and natural ecosystem processes. Changes in ecosystem processes such as herbivory depend on management intensity, and on regional environmental conditions and species pools. Whereas influences of specific forest management measures have already been addressed for different herbivore taxa on a local scale, studies considering effects of different aspects of forest management across different regions are rare. We assessed the influence of tree species composition and intensity of harvesting activities on arthropod herbivores and herbivore-related damage to beech trees, Fagus sylvatica, in 48 forest plots in three regions of Germany. We found that herbivore abundance and damage to beech trees differed between regions and that – despite the regional differences - density of tree-associated arthropod taxa and herbivore damage were consistently affected by tree species composition and harvest intensity. Specifically, overall herbivore damage to beech trees increased with increasing dominance of beech trees – suggesting the action of associational resistance processes – and decreased with harvest intensity. The density of leaf chewers and mines was positively related to leaf damage, and several arthropod groups responded to beech dominance and harvest intensity. The distribution of damage patterns was consistent with a vertical shift of herbivores to higher crown layers during the season and with higher beech dominance. By linking quantitative data on arthropod herbivore abundance and herbivory with tree species composition and harvesting activity in a wide variety of beech forests, our study helps to better understand the influence of forest management on interactions between a naturally dominant deciduous forest tree and arthropod herbivores. PMID:25938417

Catchment process affecting drinking water quality, including the significance of rainfall events, using factor analysis and event mean concentrations.

PubMed

Cinque, Kathy; Jayasuriya, Niranjali

2010-12-01

To ensure the protection of drinking water an understanding of the catchment processes which can affect water quality is important as it enables targeted catchment management actions to be implemented. In this study factor analysis (FA) and comparing event mean concentrations (EMCs) with baseline values were techniques used to asses the relationships between water quality parameters and linking those parameters to processes within an agricultural drinking water catchment. FA found that 55% of the variance in the water quality data could be explained by the first factor, which was dominated by parameters usually associated with erosion. Inclusion of pathogenic indicators in an additional FA showed that Enterococcus and Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) were also related to the erosion factor. Analysis of the EMCs found that most parameters were significantly higher during periods of rainfall runoff. This study shows that the most dominant processes in an agricultural catchment are surface runoff and erosion. It also shows that it is these processes which mobilise pathogenic indicators and are therefore most likely to influence the transport of pathogens. Catchment management efforts need to focus on reducing the effect of these processes on water quality.

Priming Interpretations: Contextual Impact on the Processing of Garden Path Jokes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayerhofer, Bastian; Maier, Katja; Schacht, Annekathrin

2016-01-01

In garden path (GP) jokes, a first dominant interpretation is detected as incoherent and subsequently substituted by a hidden joke interpretation. Two important factors for the processing of GP jokes are salience of the initial interpretation and accessibility of the hidden interpretation. Both factors are assumed to be affected by contextual…

Atomic Processes in X-ray Photoionized Gas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kallman, Timothy

2005-01-01

It has long been known that photoionization and photoabsorption play a dominant role in determining the state of gas in nebulae surrounding hot stars and in active galaxies. Recent observations of X-ray spectra demonstrate that these processes are also dominant in highly ionized gas near compact objects, and also affect the transmission of X-rays from the majority of astronomical sources. This has led to new insights into the understanding of what is going on in these sources. It has also pointed out the need for a better atomic cross sections for photoionization and absorption, notably for processes involving inner shells. In this talk I will discuss these issues, what is known and where more work is needed.

Effects of Repeated Concussions and Sex on Early Processing of Emotional Facial Expressions as Revealed by Electrophysiology.

PubMed

Carrier-Toutant, Frédérike; Guay, Samuel; Beaulieu, Christelle; Léveillé, Édith; Turcotte-Giroux, Alexandre; Papineau, Samaël D; Brisson, Benoit; D'Hondt, Fabien; De Beaumont, Louis

2018-05-06

Concussions affect the processing of emotional stimuli. This study aimed to investigate how sex interacts with concussion effects on early event-related brain potentials (ERP) measures (P1, N1) of emotional facial expressions (EFE) processing in asymptomatic, multi-concussion athletes during an EFE identification task. Forty control athletes (20 females and 20 males) and 43 multi-concussed athletes (22 females and 21 males), recruited more than 3 months after their last concussion, were tested. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Post-Concussion Symptom Scale, and an Emotional Facial Expression Identification Task. Pictures of male and female faces expressing neutral, angry, and happy emotions were randomly presented and the emotion depicted had to be identified as fast as possible during EEG acquisition. Relative to controls, concussed athletes of both sex exhibited a significant suppression of P1 amplitude recorded from the dominant right hemisphere while performing the emotional face expression identification task. The present study also highlighted a sex-specific suppression of the N1 component amplitude after concussion which affected male athletes. These findings suggest that repeated concussions alter the typical pattern of right-hemisphere response dominance to EFE in early stages of EFE processing and that the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the processing of emotional stimuli are distinctively affected across sex. (JINS, 2018, 24, 1-11).

Mood, motivation, and misinformation: aging and affective state influences on memory.

PubMed

Hess, Thomas M; Popham, Lauren E; Emery, Lisa; Elliott, Tonya

2012-01-01

Normative age differences in memory have typically been attributed to declines in basic cognitive and cortical mechanisms. The present study examined the degree to which dominant everyday affect might also be associated with age-related memory errors using the misinformation paradigm. Younger and older adults viewed a positive and a negative event, and then were exposed to misinformation about each event. Older adults exhibited a higher likelihood than young adults of falsely identifying misinformation as having occurred in the events. Consistent with expectations, strength of the misinformation effect was positively associated with dominant mood, and controlling for mood eliminated any age effects. Also, motivation to engage in complex cognitive activity was negatively associated with susceptibility to misinformation, and susceptibility was stronger for negative than for positive events. We argue that motivational processes underlie all of the observed effects, and that such processes are useful in understanding age differences in memory performance.

Mood, motivation, and misinformation: Aging and affective state influences on memory

PubMed Central

Hess, Thomas M.; Popham, Lauren E.; Emery, Lisa; Elliott, Tonya

2014-01-01

Normative age differences in memory have typically been attributed to declines in basic cognitive and cortical mechanisms. The present study examined the degree to which dominant everyday affect might also be associated with age-related memory errors using the misinformation paradigm. Younger and older adults viewed a positive and a negative event, and then were exposed to misinformation about each event. Older adults exhibited a higher likelihood than young adults of falsely identifying misinformation as having occurred in the events. Consistent with expectations, strength of the misinformation effect was positively associated with dominant mood, and controlling for mood eliminated any age effects. Also, motivation to engage in complex cognitive activity was negatively associated with susceptibility to misinformation, and susceptibility was stronger for negative than for positive events. We argue that motivational processes underlie all of the observed effects, and that such processes are useful in understanding age differences in memory performance. PMID:22059441

Seed dispersal is more limiting to grassland diversity than competition or seed predation

Treesearch

Sarah M. Pinto; Dean E. Pearson; John L. Maron

2014-01-01

Competition has historically been viewed as the predominant process affecting plant community structure. In particular, it is often assumed that the dominant resident species is the superior competitor and therefore has large impacts on plant community diversity. This assumption, however, is seldom tested. As well, there are a variety of other processes such as...

Interacting Physical and Biological Processes Affecting Nutrient Transport Through Human Dominated Landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finlay, J. C.

2015-12-01

Human activities increasingly dominate biogeochemical cycles of limiting nutrients on Earth. Urban and agricultural landscapes represent the largest sources of excess nutrients that drive water quality degradation. The physical structure of both urban and agricultural watersheds has been extensively modified, and these changes have large impacts on water and nutrient transport. Despite strong physical controls over nutrient transport in human dominated landscapes, biological processes play important roles in determining the fates of both nitrogen and phosphorus. This talk uses examples from research in urban and agricultural watersheds in the Midwestern USA to illustrate interactions of physical and biological controls over nutrient cycles that have shifted nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) sources and cycling in unexpected ways in response to management changes. In urban watersheds, efforts to improve water quality have been hindered by legacy sources of phosphorus added to storm water through transport to drainage systems by vegetation. Similarly, reductions in field erosion in agricultural watersheds have not led to major reductions in phosphorus transport, because of continued release of biological sources of P. Where management of phosphorus has been most effective in reducing eutrophication of lakes, decreases in N removal processes have led to long term increases in N concentration and transport. Together, these examples show important roles for biological processes affecting nutrient movement in highly modified landscapes. Consideration of the downstream physical and biological responses of management changes are thus critical toward identification of actions that will most effectively reduce excess nutrients watersheds and coastal zones.

Public Speaking Pedagogy in the Media Age.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haynes, W. Lance

1990-01-01

Asserts that media systems and pedagogy affect each other, that electronic media increasingly dominate the society, and that pedagogy must respond. Outlines a heuristic model for talking and thinking pedagogically about the process of speech in the electronic media environment. (MG)

PARKINSON'S DISEASE PATIENTS WITH DOMINANT HEMIBODY AFFECTED BY THE DISEASE RELY MORE ON VISION TO MAINTAIN UPRIGHT POSTURAL CONTROL.

PubMed

Lahr, Juliana; Pereira, Marcelo Pinto; Pelicioni, Paulo Henrique Silva; De Morais, Luana Carolina; Gobbi, Lilian Teresa Bucken

2015-12-01

This study assesses the association between disease onset side (dominant or non-dominant) and vision on postural control of Parkinson's disease patients. Patient volunteers composed two groups, according to the onset side affected: Dominant group (n=9; M age=66.1 yr., SD=7.2; 6 women, 3 men) and Non-dominant group (n=9; M age=67.4 yr., SD=6.4; 6 women, 3 men). The groups' postural control was assessed by posturography during quiet upright stance in two conditions, Eyes open and Eyes closed. Two-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs; group×condition) with repeated measures for the second factor assessed the differences associated with affected hemibody and vision on postural control. Analyses indicated that patients with the dominant side affected also presented significantly greater variation in center of pressure than those with the non-dominant side affected, mainly in the Eyes closed condition. The results demonstrate a higher reliance on vision in the dominant side, possibly to compensate somatosensory system impairments. These results also highlight the importance of analyzing the hemibody affected by the disease when postural control is assessed in this population.

Species replacement dominates megabenthos beta diversity in a remote seamount setting.

PubMed

Victorero, Lissette; Robert, Katleen; Robinson, Laura F; Taylor, Michelle L; Huvenne, Veerle A I

2018-03-07

Seamounts are proposed to be hotspots of deep-sea biodiversity, a pattern potentially arising from increased productivity in a heterogeneous landscape leading to either high species co-existence or species turnover (beta diversity). However, studies on individual seamounts remain rare, hindering our understanding of the underlying causes of local changes in beta diversity. Here, we investigated processes behind beta diversity using ROV video, coupled with oceanographic and quantitative terrain parameters, over a depth gradient in Annan Seamount, Equatorial Atlantic. By applying recently developed beta diversity analyses, we identified ecologically unique sites and distinguished between two beta diversity processes: species replacement and changes in species richness. The total beta diversity was high with an index of 0.92 out of 1 and was dominated by species replacement (68%). Species replacement was affected by depth-related variables, including temperature and water mass in addition to the aspect and local elevation of the seabed. In contrast, changes in species richness component were affected only by the water mass. Water mass, along with substrate also affected differences in species abundance. This study identified, for the first time on seamount megabenthos, the different beta diversity components and drivers, which can contribute towards understanding and protecting regional deep-sea biodiversity.

Extraction of Protein-Protein Interaction from Scientific Articles by Predicting Dominant Keywords.

PubMed

Koyabu, Shun; Phan, Thi Thanh Thuy; Ohkawa, Takenao

2015-01-01

For the automatic extraction of protein-protein interaction information from scientific articles, a machine learning approach is useful. The classifier is generated from training data represented using several features to decide whether a protein pair in each sentence has an interaction. Such a specific keyword that is directly related to interaction as "bind" or "interact" plays an important role for training classifiers. We call it a dominant keyword that affects the capability of the classifier. Although it is important to identify the dominant keywords, whether a keyword is dominant depends on the context in which it occurs. Therefore, we propose a method for predicting whether a keyword is dominant for each instance. In this method, a keyword that derives imbalanced classification results is tentatively assumed to be a dominant keyword initially. Then the classifiers are separately trained from the instance with and without the assumed dominant keywords. The validity of the assumed dominant keyword is evaluated based on the classification results of the generated classifiers. The assumption is updated by the evaluation result. Repeating this process increases the prediction accuracy of the dominant keyword. Our experimental results using five corpora show the effectiveness of our proposed method with dominant keyword prediction.

Relationships between Sensory Stimuli and Autonomic Regulation During Real and Virtual Exercises.

PubMed

Kiryu, Tohru; Iijima, Atsuhiko; Bando, Takehiko

2005-01-01

For expanding application of virtual reality, such as rehabilitation engineering, concerns of cybersicknes should be cleared. We have investigated changes in autonomic regulations under real cycling and virtual mountain biking video with the first-person viewpoint. The results showed that the dominant sensory stimuli affected autonomic regulation with different process. The different process will lead to the hints for preventing cybersickness.

Enhancing picture naming with transcranial magnetic stimulation.

PubMed

Mottaghy, Felix M; Sparing, Roland; Töpper, Rudolf

2006-01-01

The enhancement of cognitive function in healthy subjects by medication, training or intervention yields increasing political, social and ethical attention. In this paper facilitatory effects of single-pulse TMS and repetitive TMS on a simple picture naming task are presented. A significant shortening of picture naming latencies was observed after single-pulse TMS over Wernicke's area. The accuracy of the response was not affected by this speed effect. After TMS over the dominant motor cortex or over the non-dominant temporal lobe, however, no facilitation of picture naming was observed. In the rTMS experiments only rTMS of Wernicke's area had an impact on picture naming latencies resulting in a shortening of naming latencies without affecting the accuracy of the response. rTMS over the visual cortex, Broca's area or over the corresponding sites in the non-dominant hemisphere had no effect. Single-pulse TMS is able to facilitate lexical processes due to a general preactivation of language-related neuronal networks when delivered over Wernicke's area. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over Wernicke's area also leads to a brief facilitation of picture naming possibly by shortening linguistic processing time. Whether TMS or rTMS can be used to aid linguistic therapy in the rehabilitation phase of aphasic patients should be subject of further investigations.

The Effectiveness of 1 Hz rTMS Over the Primary Motor Area of the Unaffected Hemisphere to Improve Hand Function After Stroke Depends on Hemispheric Dominance.

PubMed

Lüdemann-Podubecká, Jitka; Bösl, Kathrin; Theilig, Steven; Wiederer, Ralf; Nowak, Dennis Alexander

2015-01-01

Inhibition of motor cortex excitability of the contralesional hemisphere may improve dexterity of the affected hand after stroke. 40 patients (17 dominant hemispheric stroke, 23 non-dominant hemispheric stroke) with a mild to moderate upper limb motor impairment were enrolled in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with two parallel-groups. Both groups received 15 daily sessions of motor training preceded by either 1 Hz rTMS or sham rTMS. Behavioral and neurophysiological evaluations were performed at baseline, after the first week and after the third week of treatment, and after a 6 months follow-up. In both groups motor function of the affected hand improved significantly. Patients with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere made a similar improvement, regardless of whether the motor training was preceded by sham or 1 Hz rTMS. Patients with stroke of the dominant hemisphere had a less favorable improvement than those with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere after motor training preceded by sham rTMS. However, when 1 Hz rTMS preceded the motor training, patients with stroke of the dominant hemisphere made a similar improvement as those with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere. Motor recovery of the affected upper limb after stroke is determined by dominance of the affected hemisphere. Stroke of the dominant hemisphere is associated with per se poorer improvement of the affected hand. 1 Hz rTMS over the contralesional M1 significantly improves dexterity of the affected hand in patients with stroke of the dominant hemisphere, but not in those with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Deconfounding the effects of local element spatial heterogeneity and sparsity on processing dominance.

PubMed

Montoro, Pedro R; Luna, Dolores

2009-10-01

Previous studies on the processing of hierarchical patterns (Luna & Montoro, 2008) have shown that altering the spatial relationships between the local elements affected processing dominance by decreasing global advantage. In the present article, the authors examine whether heterogeneity or a sparse distribution of the local elements was the responsible factor for this effect. In Experiments 1 and 2, the distance between the local elements was increased in a similar way, but between-element distance was homogeneous in Experiment 1 and heterogeneous in Experiment 2. In Experiment 3, local elements' size was varied by presenting global patterns composed of similar large or small local elements and of different large and small sizes. The results of the present research showed that, instead of element sparsity, spatial heterogeneity that could change the appearance of the global form as well as the salience of the local elements was the main determiner of impairing global processing.

Effects of egg testosterone on female mate choice and male sexual behavior in the pheasant.

PubMed

Bonisoli-Alquati, Andrea; Matteo, Angelo; Ambrosini, Roberto; Rubolini, Diego; Romano, Maria; Caprioli, Manuela; Dessì-Fulgheri, Francesco; Baratti, Mariella; Saino, Nicola

2011-01-01

Evidence is accumulating that sex steroids in the eggs, besides affecting progeny phenotype and behavior in the short term, also have enduring effects until adulthood, when they may translate into differences in reproductive strategies and success. Maternal steroids transfer may therefore affect both agonistic behavior and mate choice decisions, either through the promotion of body size and condition or through a priming effect on the neuroendocrine system. However, owing to the prevalence of a short-term perspective, relevance of maternal transfer of sex steroids to sexual selection processes has been seldom studied. Here we investigate the effects of an experimental increase in egg testosterone on male dominance and copulation success in the ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus, a polygynous galliform with multiple male ornamental traits, in captivity. We found that females from testosterone (T) injected eggs copulated less than control females. Males from T-injected eggs obtained more copulations than control males, specifically with control females. The effect of male 'ordinary' and secondary sexual traits on either dominance or copulation frequency did not depend on early exposure to T, nor did T treatment affect male dominance. Present results demonstrate that variation in the early hormonal environment set up by mothers affects sexual behavior of the offspring, which might translate into fitness differences. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of the eye dominance effect in human face perception: the left-visual-field superiority for faces revisited.

PubMed

Jung, Wookyoung; Kang, Joong-Gu; Jeon, Hyeonjin; Shim, Miseon; Sun Kim, Ji; Leem, Hyun-Sung; Lee, Seung-Hwan

2017-08-01

Faces are processed best when they are presented in the left visual field (LVF), a phenomenon known as LVF superiority. Although one eye contributes more when perceiving faces, it is unclear how the dominant eye (DE), the eye we unconsciously use when performing a monocular task, affects face processing. Here, we examined the influence of the DE on the LVF superiority for faces using event-related potentials. Twenty left-eye-dominant (LDE group) and 23 right-eye-dominant (RDE group) participants performed the experiments. Face stimuli were randomly presented in the LVF or right visual field (RVF). The RDE group exhibited significantly larger N170 amplitudes compared with the LDE group. Faces presented in the LVF elicited N170 amplitudes that were significantly more negative in the RDE group than they were in the LDE group, whereas the amplitudes elicited by stimuli presented in the RVF were equivalent between the groups. The LVF superiority was maintained in the RDE group but not in the LDE group. Our results provide the first neural evidence of the DE's effects on the LVF superiority for faces. We propose that the RDE may be more biologically specialized for face processing. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Neural correlates of the eye dominance effect in human face perception: the left-visual-field superiority for faces revisited

PubMed Central

Jung, Wookyoung; Kang, Joong-Gu; Jeon, Hyeonjin; Shim, Miseon; Sun Kim, Ji; Leem, Hyun-Sung

2017-01-01

Abstract Faces are processed best when they are presented in the left visual field (LVF), a phenomenon known as LVF superiority. Although one eye contributes more when perceiving faces, it is unclear how the dominant eye (DE), the eye we unconsciously use when performing a monocular task, affects face processing. Here, we examined the influence of the DE on the LVF superiority for faces using event-related potentials. Twenty left-eye-dominant (LDE group) and 23 right-eye-dominant (RDE group) participants performed the experiments. Face stimuli were randomly presented in the LVF or right visual field (RVF). The RDE group exhibited significantly larger N170 amplitudes compared with the LDE group. Faces presented in the LVF elicited N170 amplitudes that were significantly more negative in the RDE group than they were in the LDE group, whereas the amplitudes elicited by stimuli presented in the RVF were equivalent between the groups. The LVF superiority was maintained in the RDE group but not in the LDE group. Our results provide the first neural evidence of the DE’s effects on the LVF superiority for faces. We propose that the RDE may be more biologically specialized for face processing. PMID:28379584

Extraction of Protein-Protein Interaction from Scientific Articles by Predicting Dominant Keywords

PubMed Central

Koyabu, Shun; Phan, Thi Thanh Thuy; Ohkawa, Takenao

2015-01-01

For the automatic extraction of protein-protein interaction information from scientific articles, a machine learning approach is useful. The classifier is generated from training data represented using several features to decide whether a protein pair in each sentence has an interaction. Such a specific keyword that is directly related to interaction as “bind” or “interact” plays an important role for training classifiers. We call it a dominant keyword that affects the capability of the classifier. Although it is important to identify the dominant keywords, whether a keyword is dominant depends on the context in which it occurs. Therefore, we propose a method for predicting whether a keyword is dominant for each instance. In this method, a keyword that derives imbalanced classification results is tentatively assumed to be a dominant keyword initially. Then the classifiers are separately trained from the instance with and without the assumed dominant keywords. The validity of the assumed dominant keyword is evaluated based on the classification results of the generated classifiers. The assumption is updated by the evaluation result. Repeating this process increases the prediction accuracy of the dominant keyword. Our experimental results using five corpora show the effectiveness of our proposed method with dominant keyword prediction. PMID:26783534

Exposure of Lactating Dairy Cows to Acute Pre-Ovulatory Heat Stress Affects Granulosa Cell-Specific Gene Expression Profiles in Dominant Follicles

PubMed Central

Vanselow, Jens; Vernunft, Andreas; Koczan, Dirk; Spitschak, Marion; Kuhla, Björn

2016-01-01

High environmental temperatures induce detrimental effects on various reproductive processes in cattle. According to the predicted global warming the number of days with unfavorable ambient temperatures will further increase. The objective of this study was to investigate effects of acute heat stress during the late pre-ovulatory phase on morphological, physiological and molecular parameters of dominant follicles in cycling cows during lactation. Eight German Holstein cows in established lactation were exposed to heat stress (28°C) or thermoneutral conditions (15°C) with pair-feeding for four days. After hormonal heat induction growth of the respective dominant follicles was monitored by ultrasonography for two days, then an ovulatory GnRH dose was given and follicular steroid hormones and granulosa cell-specific gene expression profiles were determined 23 hrs thereafter. The data showed that the pre-ovulatory growth of dominant follicles and the estradiol, but not the progesterone concentrations tended to be slightly affected. mRNA microarray and hierarchical cluster analysis revealed distinct expression profiles in granulosa cells derived from heat stressed compared to pair-fed animals. Among the 255 affected genes heatstress-, stress- or apoptosis associated genes were not present. But instead, we found up-regulation of genes essentially involved in G-protein coupled signaling pathways, extracellular matrix composition, and several members of the solute carrier family as well as up-regulation of FST encoding follistatin. In summary, the data of the present study show that acute pre-ovulatory heat stress can specifically alter gene expression profiles in granulosa cells, however without inducing stress related genes and pathways and suggestively can impair follicular growth due to affecting the activin-inhibin-follistatin system. PMID:27532452

Exposure of Lactating Dairy Cows to Acute Pre-Ovulatory Heat Stress Affects Granulosa Cell-Specific Gene Expression Profiles in Dominant Follicles.

PubMed

Vanselow, Jens; Vernunft, Andreas; Koczan, Dirk; Spitschak, Marion; Kuhla, Björn

2016-01-01

High environmental temperatures induce detrimental effects on various reproductive processes in cattle. According to the predicted global warming the number of days with unfavorable ambient temperatures will further increase. The objective of this study was to investigate effects of acute heat stress during the late pre-ovulatory phase on morphological, physiological and molecular parameters of dominant follicles in cycling cows during lactation. Eight German Holstein cows in established lactation were exposed to heat stress (28°C) or thermoneutral conditions (15°C) with pair-feeding for four days. After hormonal heat induction growth of the respective dominant follicles was monitored by ultrasonography for two days, then an ovulatory GnRH dose was given and follicular steroid hormones and granulosa cell-specific gene expression profiles were determined 23 hrs thereafter. The data showed that the pre-ovulatory growth of dominant follicles and the estradiol, but not the progesterone concentrations tended to be slightly affected. mRNA microarray and hierarchical cluster analysis revealed distinct expression profiles in granulosa cells derived from heat stressed compared to pair-fed animals. Among the 255 affected genes heatstress-, stress- or apoptosis associated genes were not present. But instead, we found up-regulation of genes essentially involved in G-protein coupled signaling pathways, extracellular matrix composition, and several members of the solute carrier family as well as up-regulation of FST encoding follistatin. In summary, the data of the present study show that acute pre-ovulatory heat stress can specifically alter gene expression profiles in granulosa cells, however without inducing stress related genes and pathways and suggestively can impair follicular growth due to affecting the activin-inhibin-follistatin system.

Dynamical modeling of microRNA action on the protein translation process

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Protein translation is a multistep process which can be represented as a cascade of biochemical reactions (initiation, ribosome assembly, elongation, etc.), the rate of which can be regulated by small non-coding microRNAs through multiple mechanisms. It remains unclear what mechanisms of microRNA action are the most dominant: moreover, many experimental reports deliver controversial messages on what is the concrete mechanism actually observed in the experiment. Nissan and Parker have recently demonstrated that it might be impossible to distinguish alternative biological hypotheses using the steady state data on the rate of protein synthesis. For their analysis they used two simple kinetic models of protein translation. Results In contrary to the study by Nissan and Parker, we show that dynamical data allow discriminating some of the mechanisms of microRNA action. We demonstrate this using the same models as developed by Nissan and Parker for the sake of comparison but the methods developed (asymptotology of biochemical networks) can be used for other models. We formulate a hypothesis that the effect of microRNA action is measurable and observable only if it affects the dominant system (generalization of the limiting step notion for complex networks) of the protein translation machinery. The dominant system can vary in different experimental conditions that can partially explain the existing controversy of some of the experimental data. Conclusions Our analysis of the transient protein translation dynamics shows that it gives enough information to verify or reject a hypothesis about a particular molecular mechanism of microRNA action on protein translation. For multiscale systems only that action of microRNA is distinguishable which affects the parameters of dominant system (critical parameters), or changes the dominant system itself. Dominant systems generalize and further develop the old and very popular idea of limiting step. Algorithms for identifying dominant systems in multiscale kinetic models are straightforward but not trivial and depend only on the ordering of the model parameters but not on their concrete values. Asymptotic approach to kinetic models allows putting in order diverse experimental observations in complex situations when many alternative hypotheses co-exist. PMID:20181238

Dynamical modeling of microRNA action on the protein translation process.

PubMed

Zinovyev, Andrei; Morozova, Nadya; Nonne, Nora; Barillot, Emmanuel; Harel-Bellan, Annick; Gorban, Alexander N

2010-02-24

Protein translation is a multistep process which can be represented as a cascade of biochemical reactions (initiation, ribosome assembly, elongation, etc.), the rate of which can be regulated by small non-coding microRNAs through multiple mechanisms. It remains unclear what mechanisms of microRNA action are the most dominant: moreover, many experimental reports deliver controversial messages on what is the concrete mechanism actually observed in the experiment. Nissan and Parker have recently demonstrated that it might be impossible to distinguish alternative biological hypotheses using the steady state data on the rate of protein synthesis. For their analysis they used two simple kinetic models of protein translation. In contrary to the study by Nissan and Parker, we show that dynamical data allow discriminating some of the mechanisms of microRNA action. We demonstrate this using the same models as developed by Nissan and Parker for the sake of comparison but the methods developed (asymptotology of biochemical networks) can be used for other models. We formulate a hypothesis that the effect of microRNA action is measurable and observable only if it affects the dominant system (generalization of the limiting step notion for complex networks) of the protein translation machinery. The dominant system can vary in different experimental conditions that can partially explain the existing controversy of some of the experimental data. Our analysis of the transient protein translation dynamics shows that it gives enough information to verify or reject a hypothesis about a particular molecular mechanism of microRNA action on protein translation. For multiscale systems only that action of microRNA is distinguishable which affects the parameters of dominant system (critical parameters), or changes the dominant system itself. Dominant systems generalize and further develop the old and very popular idea of limiting step. Algorithms for identifying dominant systems in multiscale kinetic models are straightforward but not trivial and depend only on the ordering of the model parameters but not on their concrete values. Asymptotic approach to kinetic models allows putting in order diverse experimental observations in complex situations when many alternative hypotheses co-exist.

Cross-Linguistic Influence in the Bilingual Mental Lexicon: Evidence of Cognate Effects in the Phonetic Production and Processing of a Vowel Contrast.

PubMed

Amengual, Mark

2016-01-01

The present study examines cognate effects in the phonetic production and processing of the Catalan back mid-vowel contrast (/o/-/ɔ/) by 24 early and highly proficient Spanish-Catalan bilinguals in Majorca (Spain). Participants completed a picture-naming task and a forced-choice lexical decision task in which they were presented with either words (e.g., /bɔsk/ "forest") or non-words based on real words, but with the alternate mid-vowel pair in stressed position ((*)/bosk/). The same cognate and non-cognate lexical items were included in the production and lexical decision experiments. The results indicate that even though these early bilinguals maintained the back mid-vowel contrast in their productions, they had great difficulties identifying non-words and real words based on the identity of the Catalan mid-vowel. The analyses revealed language dominance and cognate effects: Spanish-dominants exhibited higher error rates than Catalan-dominants, and production and lexical decision accuracy were also affected by cognate status. The present study contributes to the discussion of the organization of early bilinguals' dominant and non-dominant sound systems, and proposes that exemplar theoretic approaches can be extended to include bilingual lexical connections that account for the interactions between the phonetic and lexical levels of early bilingual individuals.

And What About Siblings? A Longitudinal Analysis of Sibling Effects on Youth's Intergroup Attitudes.

PubMed

Eckstein, Katharina; Šerek, Jan; Noack, Peter

2018-02-01

Within the process of political socialization, the family is of particular importance. Apart from parents, however, little is known about the role of other close family members. The present study examined if siblings affect each other's intergroup attitudes (i.e., intolerance towards immigrants, social dominance orientation). Drawing on a sample of 362 sibling dyads (older siblings: M age  = 17.77, 53.6% female; younger siblings: M age  = 13.61, 61.3% female), the results showed that older siblings' intergroup attitudes predicted younger siblings' attitudes, but this effect was moderated by gender. Specifically, older siblings' intolerance and social dominance orientation were only found to affect their younger sisters, yet not their younger brothers. Although younger siblings' intergroup attitudes had no main effect on older siblings, a significant moderation by age indicated that younger siblings affected older siblings' social dominance orientation with increasing age. These moderation effects of age and gender were not mediated by the quality of family relationships. The findings also remained the same when parental intergroup attitudes were taken into account. While siblings were generally identified as an important agent of political socialization in youth, the results also highlight the necessity to further examine the mechanism that either facilitate or hinder sibling effects.

Neural Cognition and Affective Computing on Cyber Language.

PubMed

Huang, Shuang; Zhou, Xuan; Xue, Ke; Wan, Xiqiong; Yang, Zhenyi; Xu, Duo; Ivanović, Mirjana; Yu, Xueer

2015-01-01

Characterized by its customary symbol system and simple and vivid expression patterns, cyber language acts as not only a tool for convenient communication but also a carrier of abundant emotions and causes high attention in public opinion analysis, internet marketing, service feedback monitoring, and social emergency management. Based on our multidisciplinary research, this paper presents a classification of the emotional symbols in cyber language, analyzes the cognitive characteristics of different symbols, and puts forward a mechanism model to show the dominant neural activities in that process. Through the comparative study of Chinese, English, and Spanish, which are used by the largest population in the world, this paper discusses the expressive patterns of emotions in international cyber languages and proposes an intelligent method for affective computing on cyber language in a unified PAD (Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance) emotional space.

Neural Cognition and Affective Computing on Cyber Language

PubMed Central

Huang, Shuang; Zhou, Xuan; Xue, Ke; Wan, Xiqiong; Yang, Zhenyi; Xu, Duo; Ivanović, Mirjana

2015-01-01

Characterized by its customary symbol system and simple and vivid expression patterns, cyber language acts as not only a tool for convenient communication but also a carrier of abundant emotions and causes high attention in public opinion analysis, internet marketing, service feedback monitoring, and social emergency management. Based on our multidisciplinary research, this paper presents a classification of the emotional symbols in cyber language, analyzes the cognitive characteristics of different symbols, and puts forward a mechanism model to show the dominant neural activities in that process. Through the comparative study of Chinese, English, and Spanish, which are used by the largest population in the world, this paper discusses the expressive patterns of emotions in international cyber languages and proposes an intelligent method for affective computing on cyber language in a unified PAD (Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance) emotional space. PMID:26491431

Assessment of the timing of daily peak streamflow during melt season in a snow dominated watershed

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Previous studies have shown that gauge-observed daily streamflow peak times (DPT) during spring snowmelt can exhibit distinct temporal shifts through the season. These shifts have been attributed to three processes that affect the timing of snowmelt arrival: 1) melt flux translation through the snow...

How does family intervention improve the outcome of people with schizophrenia?

PubMed

Girón, Manuel; Nova-Fernández, Francisco; Mañá-Alvarenga, Sonia; Nolasco, Andreu; Molina-Habas, Antonia; Fernández-Yañez, Antonio; Tabarés-Seisdedos, Rafael; Gómez-Beneyto, Manuel

2015-03-01

There is strong evidence of the efficacy of family psychosocial interventions for schizophrenia, but evidence of the role played by the attitudes of relatives in the therapeutic process is lacking. To study the effect of a family intervention on family attitudes and to analyse their mediating role in the therapeutic process 50 patients with schizophrenia and their key relatives undergoing a trial on the efficacy of a family psychosocial intervention were studied by means of the Affective Style Coding System, the Scale of Empathy, and the Relational Control Coding System. Specific statistical methods were used to determine the nature of the relationship of the relatives' attitudes to the outcome of family intervention. Family psychosocial intervention was associated with a reduction in relatives' guilt induction and dominance and an improvement in empathy. Empathy and lack of dominance were identified as independent mediators of the effect of family psychosocial intervention. The change in empathy and dominance during the first 9 months of the intervention predicted the outcome in the following 15 months. Relatives' empathy and lack of dominance are mediators of the beneficial effect of family psychosocial intervention on patient's outcome.

Specific arrangements of species dominance can be more influential than evenness in maintaining ecosystem process and function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wohlgemuth, Daniel; Solan, Martin; Godbold, Jasmin A.

2016-12-01

The ecological consequences of species loss are widely studied, but represent an end point of environmental forcing that is not always realised. Changes in species evenness and the rank order of dominant species are more widespread responses to directional forcing. However, despite the repercussions for ecosystem functioning such changes have received little attention. Here, we experimentally assess how the rearrangement of species dominance structure within specific levels of evenness, rather than changes in species richness and composition, affect invertebrate particle reworking and burrow ventilation behaviour - important moderators of microbial-mediated remineralisation processes in benthic environments - and associated levels of sediment nutrient release. We find that the most dominant species exert a disproportionate influence on functioning at low levels of evenness, but that changes in biomass distribution and a change in emphasis in species-environmental interactions become more important in governing system functionality as evenness increases. Our study highlights the need to consider the functional significance of alterations to community attributes, rather than to solely focus on the attainment of particular levels of diversity when safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystems that provide essential services to society.

Exploratory case study of students' main explanatory approaches to science concepts and their states of mental engagement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nicdao-Quita, Maria Isabel T.

This study explored students' dominant ways of operating in science; the types of structuring that is evident, not in terms of ideas, but in terms of how the students think about, imagine, and relate to the physical processes. As the study progressed, the investigation of the students' ideas went beyond their prior knowledge; other significant dimensions emerged as these students interacted with the heating process. The students demonstrated rich and dynamic pictures of the heating process, and from these images, a larger picture of the mental entities and processes dominant in their understanding of the physical phenomenon. Four Filipino students studying in the United States were individually observed in their science classes, were visited at home, and were interviewed about water being heated. The analysis of each student's data led to the two constructs, the main explanatory approach and the students' states of mental engagement (SOME), while the student was cognitively and affectively connected with the phenomenon. The features of the main explanatory approach include an explanatory element and an affective element that pervade the students' thinking about the phenomenon. It is common to and dominant in students' thinking across time. It is the approach of the student taken as a holistic organization within the student when he or she starts dealing with the phenomenon. One of the assumptions behind dealing with the main explanatory approach is that it is much more connected with what kind of person the student is and with the state of mental engagement (SOME) the student is in. SOME refers to the personal energy of a student as he or she relates to and becomes involved with the physical process--there is absorption into the object of study. SOME is related to energizing the main explanatory approach. The interconnectedness of these two constructs can be viewed as a different level of abstraction or interpretation of the students' ways of thinking about the physical process. This way of looking at students' understanding and its connection with students' states of mental engagement has opened up an area with many possibilities, one of which is how the affective structures play a significant role in the exploration of science concepts.

Affective Norms for Italian Words in Older Adults: Age Differences in Ratings of Valence, Arousal and Dominance

PubMed Central

Fairfield, Beth; Ambrosini, Ettore; Mammarella, Nicola; Montefinese, Maria

2017-01-01

In line with the dimensional theory of emotional space, we developed affective norms for words rated in terms of valence, arousal and dominance in a group of older adults to complete the adaptation of the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) for Italian and to aid research on aging. Here, as in the original Italian ANEW database, participants evaluated valence, arousal, and dominance by means of the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) in a paper-and-pencil procedure. We observed high split-half reliabilities within the older sample and high correlations with the affective ratings of previous research, especially for valence, suggesting that there is large agreement among older adults within and across-languages. More importantly, we found high correlations between younger and older adults, showing that our data are generalizable across different ages. However, despite this across-ages accord, we obtained age-related differences on three affective dimensions for a great number of words. In particular, older adults rated as more arousing and more unpleasant a number of words that younger adults rated as moderately unpleasant and arousing in our previous affective norms. Moreover, older participants rated negative stimuli as more arousing and positive stimuli as less arousing than younger participants, thus leading to a less-curved distribution of ratings in the valence by arousal space. We also found more extreme ratings for older adults for the relationship between dominance and arousal: older adults gave lower dominance and higher arousal ratings for words rated by younger adults with middle dominance and arousal values. Together, these results suggest that our affective norms are reliable and can be confidently used to select words matched for the affective dimensions of valence, arousal and dominance across younger and older participants for future research in aging. PMID:28046070

Biological nutrient removal and molecular biological characteristics in an anaerobic-multistage anaerobic/oxic (A-MAO) process to treat municipal wastewater.

PubMed

Huang, Xiao; Dong, Wenyi; Wang, Hongjie; Jiang, Shilong

2017-10-01

This study aimed to present an anaerobic-multistage anaerobic/oxic (A-MAO) process to treat municipal wastewater. The average COD, NH 4 + -N, TN, and TP removal efficiency were 91.81%, 96.26%, 83.73% and 94.49%, respectively. Temperature plunge and C/N decrease have a certain impact on the modified process. Characteristics of microbial community, function microorganism, and correlation of microbial community with environmental variables in five compartments were carried out by Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing. The differences of microbial community were observed and Blastocatella, Flavobacterium and Pseudomonas were the dominant genus. Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira occupied a dominant position in AOB and NOB, respectively. Rhodospirillaceae and Rhodocyclaceae owned a considerable proportion in phosphorus removal bacteria. DO and COD played significant roles on affecting the microbial components. The A-MAO process in this study demonstrated a high potential for nutrient removal from municipal wastewater. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comprehensive Analysis of Contributions from Protein Conformational Stability and Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II-Peptide Binding Affinity to CD4+ Epitope Immunogenicity in HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein

PubMed Central

Li, Tingfeng; Steede, N. Kalaya; Nguyen, Hong-Nam P.; Freytag, Lucy C.; McLachlan, James B.; Mettu, Ramgopal R.; Robinson, James E.

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT Helper T-cell epitope dominance in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoprotein gp120 is not adequately explained by peptide binding to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins. Antigen processing potentially influences epitope dominance, but few, if any, studies have attempted to reconcile the influences of antigen processing and MHC protein binding for all helper T-cell epitopes of an antigen. Epitopes of gp120 identified in both humans and mice occur on the C-terminal flanks of flexible segments that are likely to be proteolytic cleavage sites. In this study, the influence of gp120 conformation on the dominance pattern in gp120 from HIV strain 89.6 was examined in CBA mice, whose MHC class II protein has one of the most well defined peptide-binding preferences. Only one of six dominant epitopes contained the most conserved element of the I-Ak binding motif, an aspartic acid. Destabilization of the gp120 conformation by deletion of single disulfide bonds preferentially enhanced responses to the cryptic I-Ak motif-containing sequences, as reported by T-cell proliferation or cytokine secretion. Conversely, inclusion of CpG in the adjuvant with gp120 enhanced responses to the dominant CD4+ T-cell epitopes. The gp120 destabilization affected secretion of some cytokines more than others, suggesting that antigen conformation could modulate T-cell functions through mechanisms of antigen processing. IMPORTANCE CD4+ helper T cells play an essential role in protection against HIV and other pathogens. Thus, the sites of helper T-cell recognition, the dominant epitopes, are targets for vaccine design; and the corresponding T cells may provide markers for monitoring infection and immunity. However, T-cell epitopes are difficult to identify and predict. It is also unclear whether CD4+ T cells specific for one epitope are more protective than T cells specific for other epitopes. This work shows that the three-dimensional (3D) structure of an HIV protein partially determines which epitopes are dominant, most likely by controlling the breakdown of HIV into peptides. Moreover, some types of signals from CD4+ T cells are affected by the HIV protein 3D structure; and thus the protectiveness of a particular peptide vaccine could be related to its location in the 3D structure. PMID:24920818

Sources and transformations of nitrate from streams draining varying land uses: Evidence from dual isotope analysis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Burns, Douglas A.; Boyer, E.W.; Elliott, E.M.; Kendall, C.

2009-01-01

Knowledge of key sources and biogeochemical processes that affect the transport of nitrate (NO3-) in streams can inform watershed management strategies for controlling downstream eutrophication. We applied dual isotope analysis of NO3- to determine the dominant sources and processes that affect NO3- concentrations in six stream/river watersheds of different land uses. Samples were collected monthly at a range of flow conditions for 15 mo during 2004-05 and analyzed for NO3- concentrations, ?? 15NNO3, and ??18ONO3. Samples from two forested watersheds indicated that NO3- derived from nitrification was dominant at baseflow. A watershed dominated by suburban land use had three ??18ONO3 values greater than +25???, indicating a large direct contribution of atmospheric NO 3- transported to the stream during some high flows. Two watersheds with large proportions of agricultural land use had many ??15NNO3 values greater than +9???, suggesting an animal waste source consistent with regional dairy farming practices. These data showed a linear seasonal pattern with a ??18O NO3:??15NNO3 of 1:2, consistent with seasonally varying denitrification that peaked in late summer to early fall with the warmest temperatures and lowest annual streamflow. The large range of ?? 15NNO3 values (10???) indicates that NO 3- supply was likely not limiting the rate of denitrification, consistent with ground water and/or in-stream denitrification. Mixing of two or more distinct sources may have affected the seasonal isotope patterns observed in these two agricultural streams. In a mixed land use watershed of large drainage area, none of the source and process patterns observed in the small streams were evident. These results emphasize that observations at watersheds of a few to a few hundred km2 may be necessary to adequately quantify the relative roles of various NO 3- transport and process patterns that contribute to streamflow in large basins. Copyright ?? 2009 by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America. All rights reserved.

Process Damping and Cutting Tool Geometry in Machining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, C. M.; Sims, N. D.; Turner, S.

2011-12-01

Regenerative vibration, or chatter, limits the performance of machining processes. Consequences of chatter include tool wear and poor machined surface finish. Process damping by tool-workpiece contact can reduce chatter effects and improve productivity. Process damping occurs when the flank (also known as the relief face) of the cutting tool makes contact with waves on the workpiece surface, created by chatter motion. Tool edge features can act to increase the damping effect. This paper examines how a tool's edge condition combines with the relief angle to affect process damping. An analytical model of cutting with chatter leads to a two-section curve describing how process damped vibration amplitude changes with surface speed for radiussed tools. The tool edge dominates the process damping effect at the lowest surface speeds, with the flank dominating at higher speeds. A similar curve is then proposed regarding tools with worn edges. Experimental data supports the notion of the two-section curve. A rule of thumb is proposed which could be useful to machine operators, regarding tool wear and process damping. The question is addressed, should a tool of a given geometry, used for a given application, be considered as sharp, radiussed or worn regarding process damping.

Do Visual Illusions Probe the Visual Brain?: Illusions in Action without a Dorsal Visual Stream

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coello, Yann; Danckert, James; Blangero, Annabelle; Rossetti, Yves

2007-01-01

Visual illusions have been shown to affect perceptual judgements more so than motor behaviour, which was interpreted as evidence for a functional division of labour within the visual system. The dominant perception-action theory argues that perception involves a holistic processing of visual objects or scenes, performed within the ventral,…

The Combined Influence of Affective, Continuance and Normative Commitment on Employee Withdrawal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Somers, Mark John

2009-01-01

In a sample of 288 hospital nurses, commitment profiles were compared to turnover intentions, job search behavior, work withdrawal (absenteeism and lateness) and job stress. Five empirically-derived commitment profiles emerged: highly committed, affective-normative dominant, continuance-normative dominant, continuance dominant, and uncommitted.…

Mineralogy and evolution of the surface of Mars: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chevrier, V.; Mathé, P. E.

2007-02-01

We review the mineralogy of the surface of Mars, using data from various sources, including in situ characterisations performed by landers, remote observations from orbit, and studies of the SNC meteorites. We also discuss the possible alteration processes and the factor controlling them, and try to relate the mineralogical observations to the chemical evolution of the surface materials on Mars in order to identify the dominant process(es). Then we try to describe a possible chemical and mineralogical evolution of the surface materials, resulting from weathering driven by the abundance and activity of water. Even if weathering is the dominant process responsible for the surface evolution, all observations suggest that it is strongly affected locally in time and space by various other processes including hydrothermalism, volcanism, evaporites, meteoritic impacts and aeolian erosion. Nevertheless, the observed phases on the surface of Mars globally depend on the evolution of the weathering conditions. This hypothesis, if confirmed, could give a new view of the evolution of the martian surface, roughly in three steps. The first would correspond to clay-type weathering process in the Noachian, under a probable thick H 2O/CO 2-rich atmosphere. Then, during the Hesperian when water became scarcer and its activity sporadic, linked to volcanic activity, sulfate-type acidic weathering process would have been predominant. The third period would be like today, a very slow weathering by strongly oxidising agents (H 2O 2, O 2) in cold and dry conditions, through solid-gas or solid-films of water resulting frost-thaw and/or acid fog. This would favour poorly crystalline phases, mainly iron (oxy) hydroxides. But in this scenario many questions remain about the transition between these processes, and about the factors affecting the evolution of the weathering process.

Cross-Linguistic Influence in the Bilingual Mental Lexicon: Evidence of Cognate Effects in the Phonetic Production and Processing of a Vowel Contrast

PubMed Central

Amengual, Mark

2016-01-01

The present study examines cognate effects in the phonetic production and processing of the Catalan back mid-vowel contrast (/o/-/ɔ/) by 24 early and highly proficient Spanish-Catalan bilinguals in Majorca (Spain). Participants completed a picture-naming task and a forced-choice lexical decision task in which they were presented with either words (e.g., /bɔsk/ “forest”) or non-words based on real words, but with the alternate mid-vowel pair in stressed position (*/bosk/). The same cognate and non-cognate lexical items were included in the production and lexical decision experiments. The results indicate that even though these early bilinguals maintained the back mid-vowel contrast in their productions, they had great difficulties identifying non-words and real words based on the identity of the Catalan mid-vowel. The analyses revealed language dominance and cognate effects: Spanish-dominants exhibited higher error rates than Catalan-dominants, and production and lexical decision accuracy were also affected by cognate status. The present study contributes to the discussion of the organization of early bilinguals' dominant and non-dominant sound systems, and proposes that exemplar theoretic approaches can be extended to include bilingual lexical connections that account for the interactions between the phonetic and lexical levels of early bilingual individuals. PMID:27199849

Meet OLAF, a Good Friend of the IAPS! The Open Library of Affective Foods: A Tool to Investigate the Emotional Impact of Food in Adolescents

PubMed Central

Miccoli, Laura; Delgado, Rafael; Rodríguez-Ruiz, Sonia; Guerra, Pedro; García-Mármol, Eduardo; Fernández-Santaella, M. Carmen

2014-01-01

In the last decades, food pictures have been repeatedly employed to investigate the emotional impact of food on healthy participants as well as individuals who suffer from eating disorders and obesity. However, despite their widespread use, food pictures are typically selected according to each researcher's personal criteria, which make it difficult to reliably select food images and to compare results across different studies and laboratories. Therefore, to study affective reactions to food, it becomes pivotal to identify the emotional impact of specific food images based on wider samples of individuals. In the present paper we introduce the Open Library of Affective Foods (OLAF), which is a set of original food pictures created to reliably select food pictures based on the emotions they prompt, as indicated by affective ratings of valence, arousal, and dominance and by an additional food craving scale. OLAF images were designed to allow simultaneous use with affective images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), which is a well-known instrument to investigate emotional reactions in the laboratory. The ultimate goal of the OLAF is to contribute to understanding how food is emotionally processed in healthy individuals and in patients who suffer from eating and weight-related disorders. The present normative data, which was based on a large sample of an adolescent population, indicate that when viewing affective non-food IAPS images, valence, arousal, and dominance ratings were in line with expected patterns based on previous emotion research. Moreover, when viewing food pictures, affective and food craving ratings were consistent with research on food cue processing. As a whole, the data supported the methodological and theoretical reliability of the OLAF ratings, therefore providing researchers with a standardized tool to reliably investigate the emotional and motivational significance of food. The OLAF database is publicly available at zenodo.org. PMID:25490404

Meet OLAF, a good friend of the IAPS! The Open Library of Affective Foods: a tool to investigate the emotional impact of food in adolescents.

PubMed

Miccoli, Laura; Delgado, Rafael; Rodríguez-Ruiz, Sonia; Guerra, Pedro; García-Mármol, Eduardo; Fernández-Santaella, M Carmen

2014-01-01

In the last decades, food pictures have been repeatedly employed to investigate the emotional impact of food on healthy participants as well as individuals who suffer from eating disorders and obesity. However, despite their widespread use, food pictures are typically selected according to each researcher's personal criteria, which make it difficult to reliably select food images and to compare results across different studies and laboratories. Therefore, to study affective reactions to food, it becomes pivotal to identify the emotional impact of specific food images based on wider samples of individuals. In the present paper we introduce the Open Library of Affective Foods (OLAF), which is a set of original food pictures created to reliably select food pictures based on the emotions they prompt, as indicated by affective ratings of valence, arousal, and dominance and by an additional food craving scale. OLAF images were designed to allow simultaneous use with affective images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), which is a well-known instrument to investigate emotional reactions in the laboratory. The ultimate goal of the OLAF is to contribute to understanding how food is emotionally processed in healthy individuals and in patients who suffer from eating and weight-related disorders. The present normative data, which was based on a large sample of an adolescent population, indicate that when viewing affective non-food IAPS images, valence, arousal, and dominance ratings were in line with expected patterns based on previous emotion research. Moreover, when viewing food pictures, affective and food craving ratings were consistent with research on food cue processing. As a whole, the data supported the methodological and theoretical reliability of the OLAF ratings, therefore providing researchers with a standardized tool to reliably investigate the emotional and motivational significance of food. The OLAF database is publicly available at zenodo.org.

Impressions of dominance are made relative to others in the visual environment.

PubMed

Re, Daniel E; Lefevre, Carmen E; DeBruine, Lisa M; Jones, Benedict C; Perrett, David I

2014-03-27

Face judgments of dominance play an important role in human social interaction. Perceived facial dominance is thought to indicate physical formidability, as well as resource acquisition and holding potential. Dominance cues in the face affect perceptions of attractiveness, emotional state, and physical strength. Most experimental paradigms test perceptions of facial dominance in individual faces, or they use manipulated versions of the same face in a forced-choice task but in the absence of other faces. Here, we extend this work by assessing whether dominance ratings are absolute or are judged relative to other faces. We presented participants with faces to be rated for dominance (target faces), while also presenting a second face (non-target faces) that was not to be rated. We found that both the masculinity and sex of the non-target face affected dominance ratings of the target face. Masculinized non-target faces decreased the perceived dominance of a target face relative to a feminized non-target face, and displaying a male non-target face decreased perceived dominance of a target face more so than a female non-target face. Perceived dominance of male target faces was affected more by masculinization of male non-target faces than female non-target faces. These results indicate that dominance perceptions can be altered by surrounding faces, demonstrating that facial dominance is judged at least partly relative to other faces.

Geochemical processes controlling groundwater quality under semi arid environment: A case study in central Morocco.

PubMed

Karroum, Morad; Elgettafi, Mohammed; Elmandour, Abdenabi; Wilske, Cornelia; Himi, Mahjoub; Casas, Albert

2017-12-31

Bahira plain is an important area for Morocco due to its agriculture and mining activities. Situated in a sub-arid to arid climate, this plain hosts an aquifer system that represents sequences of carbonates, phosphates, evaporates and alluvial deposits. Groundwater flows from Ganntour plateau (recharge area) to the basin-fill deposits and Zima Lake and Sed Elmejnoun where water evaporates. The objective of this study was to characterize the chemical properties of the groundwater and to assess the processes controlling the groundwater's chemistry. We can divide water samples into three hydrochemical water groups: recharge waters (Ca/Mg-HCO 3 ), transition zone waters (Ca-HCO 3 -SO 4 /Cl) and discharge waters (Na-Cl/SO 4 ). Accordingly, compositions of waters are determined by the availability of easily soluble minerals like calcite (Ca-HCO 3 dominant), halite (Na-Cl dominant) and gypsum (Ca-SO 4 dominant). Cl/Br ratios show that Cl concentration increases from dissolution of natural halite. When groundwater is affected by extreme evaporation Cl/Br ratios may increase up to 1900. High fluoride concentrations are associated with low Ca 2+ concentrations (<100mg/L). That means when recharge waters enter the aquifer, it starts dissolving fluorite since the Ca 2+ concentration is low. Once groundwater becomes saturated with Ca 2+ , the immobilization of fluoride is occurring by precipitation of fluoride-rich minerals like fluoro-apatite. According to the environmental isotope ( 18 O and 2 H) analyses, they are three potential processes affecting groundwater: 1. Evaporation as verified by low slope value, 2. Water-rock interaction, 3. admixture of waters showed different stable isotope compositions and salinities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

How racial/ethnic bullying affects rejection sensitivity: the role of social dominance orientation.

PubMed

Wu, Ivan H C; Lyons, Brent; Leong, Frederick T L

2015-01-01

The authors built upon models of workplace bullying to examine how racial/ethnic bullying can lead to racial/ethnic minorities' sensitivity to future discrimination via its effects on race/ethnic-related stress. With a sample of racial/ethnic minorities, they found support for this process. Individual differences in social dominance orientation (SDO) also attenuated the mediation: The indirect effect of race/ethnic-related stress was weaker for minorities who endorse hierarchy legitimizing ideologies (high in SDO) compared to minorities low in SDO. Practical implications for the management of minority employees' experiences of discrimination are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Seasonality of Forcing by Carbonaceous Aerosols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habib, G.; Bond, T.; Rasch, P. J.; Coleman, D.

2006-12-01

Aerosols can influence the energy balance of Earth-Atmosphere system with profound effect on regional climate. Atmospheric processes, such as convection, scavenging, wet and dry deposition, govern the lifetime and location of aerosol; emissions affect its quantity and location. Both affect climate forcing. Here we investigate the effect of seasonality in emissions and atmospheric processes on radiative forcing by carbonaceous aerosols, focusing on aerosol from fossil fuel and biofuel. Because aerosol lifetime is seasonal, ignoring the seasonality of sources such as residential biofuel may introduce a bias in aerosol burden and therefore in predicted climate forcing. We present a global emission inventory of carbonaceous aerosols with seasonality, and simulate atmospheric concentrations using the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM). We discuss where and when the seasonality of emissions and atmospheric processes has strong effects on atmospheric burden, lifetime, climate forcing and aerosol optical depth (AOD). Previous work has shown that aerosol forcing is higher in summer than in winter, and has identified the importance of aerosol above cloud in determining black carbon forcing. We show that predicted cloud height is a very important factor in determining normalized radiative forcing (forcing per mass), especially in summer. This can affect the average summer radiative forcing by nearly 50%. Removal by cloud droplets is the dominant atmospheric cleansing mechanism for carbonaceous aerosols. We demonstrate the modeled seasonality of removal processes and compare the importance of scavenging by warm and cold clouds. Both types of clouds contribute significantly to aerosol removal. We estimate uncertainty in direct radiative forcing due to scavenging by tagging the aerosol which has experienced cloud interactions. Finally, seasonal variations offer an opportunity to assess modeled processes when a single process dominates variability. We identify regions where aerosol burden is most sensitive to convection and scavenging in warm and cold clouds, and compare seasonally modeled AOD with that retrieved by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

Can a Picture Ruin a Thousand Words? The Effects of Visual Resources in Exam Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crisp, Victoria; Sweiry, Ezekiel

2006-01-01

Background: When an exam question is read, a mental representation of the task is formed in each student's mind. This processing can be affected by features such as visual resources (e.g. pictures, diagrams, photographs, tables), which can come to dominate the mental representation due to their salience. Purpose: The aim of this research was to…

A method to assess longitudinal riverine connectivity in tropical streams dominated by migratory data

Treesearch

Kelly E. Crook; Catherine M. Pringle; Mary C. Freeman

2009-01-01

1. One way in which dams affect ecosystem function is by altering the distribution and abundance of aquatic species. 2. Previous studies indicate that migratory shrimps have significant effects on ecosystem processes in Puerto Rican streams, but are vulnerable to impediments to upstream or downstream passage, such as dams and associated water intakes where stream water...

Fungi diversity from different depths and times in chicken manure waste static aerobic composting.

PubMed

Gu, Wenjie; Lu, Yusheng; Tan, Zhiyuan; Xu, Peizhi; Xie, Kaizhi; Li, Xia; Sun, Lili

2017-09-01

The Dirichlet multinomial mixtures mode was used to analyse illumina sequencing data to reveal both temporal and spatial variations of the fungi community present in the aerobic composting. Results showed that 670 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were detected, and the dominant phylum was Ascomycota. There were four types of samples fungi communities during the composting process. Samples from the early composting stage were mainly grouped into type I and Saccharomycetales sp. was dominant. Fungi community in the medium composting stage were fallen into type II and III, Sordariales sp. and Acremonium alcalophilum, Saccharomycetales sp. and Scedosporium minutisporum were the dominant OTUs respectively. Samples from the late composting stage were mainly grouped into type IV and Scedosporium minutisporum was the dominant OTU; Scedosporium minutisporum was significantly affected by depth (P<0.05). Results indicate that time and depth both are factors that influence fungi distribution and variation in c waste during static aerobic composting. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Cat Mountain: A meteoritic sample of an impact-melted chondritic asteroid

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kring, David A.

1993-01-01

Although impact cratering and collisional disruption are the dominant geologic processes affecting asteroids, samples of impact melt breccias comprise less than 1 percent of ordinary chondritic material and none exist among enstatite and carbonaceous chondrite groups. Because the average collisional velocity among asteroids is sufficiently large to produce impact melts, this paucity of impact-melted material is generally believed to be a sampling bias, making it difficult to determine the evolutionary history of chondritic bodies and how impact processes may have affected the physical properties of asteroids (e.g., their structural integrity and reflectance spectra). To help address these and related issues, the first petrographic description of a new chondritic impact melt breccia sample, tentatively named Cat Mountain, is presented.

From putative genes to temperament and culture: cultural characteristics of the distribution of dominant affective temperaments in national studies.

PubMed

Gonda, Xenia; Vázquez, Gustavo H; Akiskal, Kareen K; Akiskal, Hagop S

2011-06-01

Affective temperaments may carry distinct evolutionary advantages both on the individual or a group level, so we can expect that in different cultural and national samples the frequency of dominant affective temperaments will show characteristic differences. The aim of the present study was to investigate the characteristics of distribution of dominant affective temperaments in different national studies of general non-clinical population. In our study we included six studies published in different countries around the world (Argentina, Germany, Hungary, Korea, Portugal, and Lebanon) which investigated a large sample of non-clinical population using TEMPS-A, and reported frequencies for dominant affective temperaments. The frequencies of dominant affective temperaments were compared using chi square tests. We found a significant difference in the frequency of affective temperaments among the different national studies in case of the cyclothymic, hyperthymic and irritable temperaments. We found important parallels between the frequency of affective temperaments and cultural dimensions described by Hofstede (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005). The characteristics encompassed by the depressive temperament show considerable similarities with Hofstede's individualism-collectivism dimension, while those of the hyperthymic temperament seem to be similar to uncertainty avoidance, and the irritable temperament shows similarities with Hofstede's power distance. Furthermore, the relative frequency of these dominant temperaments in case of the different national samples paralleled the relative scores of these countries on the corresponding cultural scales. Our results indicate an important relationship between affective temperaments and cultural dimensions, which suggests that these phenomena may be the manifestations of the same genetically determined predispositions in different forms. We included a study by Erfurth et al. (2005), in which affective temperaments were evaluated using the TEMPS-M. Also, in the Korean study the Korean version of the TEMPS-A was not validated. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Regulation of hippocampal synaptic plasticity thresholds and changes in exploratory and learning behavior in dominant negative NPR-B mutant rats

PubMed Central

Barmashenko, Gleb; Buttgereit, Jens; Herring, Neil; Bader, Michael; Özcelik, Cemil; Manahan-Vaughan, Denise; Braunewell, Karl H.

2014-01-01

The second messenger cyclic GMP affects synaptic transmission and modulates synaptic plasticity and certain types of learning and memory processes. The impact of the natriuretic peptide receptor B (NPR-B) and its ligand C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), one of several cGMP producing signaling systems, on hippocampal synaptic plasticity and learning is, however, less well understood. We have previously shown that the NPR-B ligand CNP increases the magnitude of long-term depression (LTD) in hippocampal area CA1, while reducing the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP). We have extended this line of research to show that bidirectional plasticity is affected in the opposite way in rats expressing a dominant-negative mutant of NPR-B (NSE-NPR-BΔKC) lacking the intracellular guanylyl cyclase domain under control of a promoter for neuron-specific enolase. The brain cells of these transgenic rats express functional dimers of the NPR-B receptor containing the dominant-negative NPR-BΔKC mutant, and therefore show decreased CNP-stimulated cGMP-production in brain membranes. The NPR-B transgenic rats display enhanced LTP but reduced LTD in hippocampal slices. When the frequency-dependence of synaptic modification to afferent stimulation in the range of 1–100 Hz was assessed in transgenic rats, the threshold for both, LTP and LTD induction, was shifted to lower frequencies. In parallel, NPR-BΔKC rats exhibited an enhancement in exploratory and learning behavior. These results indicate that bidirectional plasticity and learning and memory mechanism are affected in transgenic rats expressing a dominant-negative mutant of NPR-B. Our data substantiate the hypothesis that NPR-B-dependent cGMP signaling has a modulatory role for synaptic information storage and learning. PMID:25520616

The neural basis of visual dominance in the context of audio-visual object processing.

PubMed

Schmid, Carmen; Büchel, Christian; Rose, Michael

2011-03-01

Visual dominance refers to the observation that in bimodal environments vision often has an advantage over other senses in human. Therefore, a better memory performance for visual compared to, e.g., auditory material is assumed. However, the reason for this preferential processing and the relation to the memory formation is largely unknown. In this fMRI experiment, we manipulated cross-modal competition and attention, two factors that both modulate bimodal stimulus processing and can affect memory formation. Pictures and sounds of objects were presented simultaneously in two levels of recognisability, thus manipulating the amount of cross-modal competition. Attention was manipulated via task instruction and directed either to the visual or the auditory modality. The factorial design allowed a direct comparison of the effects between both modalities. The resulting memory performance showed that visual dominance was limited to a distinct task setting. Visual was superior to auditory object memory only when allocating attention towards the competing modality. During encoding, cross-modal competition and attention towards the opponent domain reduced fMRI signals in both neural systems, but cross-modal competition was more pronounced in the auditory system and only in auditory cortex this competition was further modulated by attention. Furthermore, neural activity reduction in auditory cortex during encoding was closely related to the behavioural auditory memory impairment. These results indicate that visual dominance emerges from a less pronounced vulnerability of the visual system against competition from the auditory domain. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Atomic Processes in X-ray Photoioinzed Gas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kallman, Timothy

2005-01-01

It has long been known that photoionization and photoabsorption play a dominant role in determining the state of gas in nebulae surrounding hot stars and in active galaxies. Recent observations of X-ray spectra demonstrate that these processes are also dominant in highly ionized gas near compact objects, and also affect the transmission of X-rays from the majority of astronomical sources. This has led to new insights into the understanding of what is going on in these sources. It has also pointed out the need for accurate atomic cross sections for photoionization and absorption, notably for processes involving inner shells. The xstar code can be used for calculating the heating, ionization and reprocessing of X-rays by gas in a range of ionization states and temperatures. It has recently been updated to include an improved treatment of inner shell transitions in iron. I will review the capabilities of xstar, the atomic data, and illustrate some applications to recent X-ray spectral observations.

Positive affective processes underlie positive health behaviour change.

PubMed

Van Cappellen, Patty; Rice, Elise L; Catalino, Lahnna I; Fredrickson, Barbara L

2018-01-01

Positive health behaviours such as physical activity can prevent or reverse many chronic conditions, yet a majority of people fall short of leading a healthy lifestyle. Recent discoveries in affective science point to promising approaches to circumvent barriers to lifestyle change. Here, we present a new theoretical framework that integrates scientific knowledge about positive affect with that on implicit processes. The upward spiral theory of lifestyle change explains how positive affect can facilitate long-term adherence to positive health behaviours. The inner loop of this spiral model identifies nonconscious motives as a central mechanism of behavioural maintenance. Positive affect experienced during health behaviours increases incentive salience for cues associated with those behaviours, which in turn, implicitly guides attention and the everyday decisions to repeat those behaviours. The outer loop represents the evidence-backed claim, based on Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory, that positive affect builds a suite of endogenous resources, which may in turn amplify the positive affect experienced during positive health behaviours and strengthen the nonconscious motives. We offer published and preliminary evidence in favour of the theory, contrast it to other dominant theories of health behaviour change, and highlight attendant implications for interventions that merit testing.

Acoustic-Phonetic Versus Lexical Processing in Nonnative Listeners Differing in Their Dominant Language.

PubMed

Shi, Lu-Feng; Koenig, Laura L

2016-09-01

Nonnative listeners have difficulty recognizing English words due to underdeveloped acoustic-phonetic and/or lexical skills. The present study used Boothroyd and Nittrouer's (1988)j factor to tease apart these two components of word recognition. Participants included 15 native English and 29 native Russian listeners. Fourteen and 15 of the Russian listeners reported English (ED) and Russian (RD) to be their dominant language, respectively. Listeners were presented 119 consonant-vowel-consonant real and nonsense words in speech-spectrum noise at +6 dB SNR. Responses were scored for word and phoneme recognition, the logarithmic quotient of which yielded j. Word and phoneme recognition was comparable between native and ED listeners but poorer in RD listeners. Analysis of j indicated less effective use of lexical information in RD than in native and ED listeners. Lexical processing was strongly correlated with the length of residence in the United States. Language background is important for nonnative word recognition. Lexical skills can be regarded as nativelike in ED nonnative listeners. Compromised word recognition in ED listeners is unlikely a result of poor lexical processing. Performance should be interpreted with caution for listeners dominant in their first language, whose word recognition is affected by both lexical and acoustic-phonetic factors.

Colloidal characterization of silicon nitride and silicon carbide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feke, Donald L.

1986-01-01

The colloidal behavior of aqueous ceramic slips strongly affects the forming and sintering behavior and the ultimate mechanical strength of the final ceramic product. The colloidal behavior of these materials, which is dominated by electrical interactions between the particles, is complex due to the strong interaction of the solids with the processing fluids. A surface titration methodology, modified to account for this interaction, was developed and used to provide fundamental insights into the interfacial chemistry of these systems. Various powder pretreatment strategies were explored to differentiate between true surface chemistry and artifacts due to exposure history. The colloidal behavior of both silicon nitride and carbide is dominated by silanol groups on the powder surfaces. However, the colloid chemistry of silicon nitride is apparently influenced by an additional amine group. With the proper powder treatments, silicon nitride and carbide powder can be made to appear colloidally equivalent. The impact of these results on processing control will be discussed.

Thought confidence as a determinant of persuasion: the self-validation hypothesis.

PubMed

Petty, Richard E; Briñol, Pablo; Tormala, Zakary L

2002-05-01

Previous research in the domain of attitude change has described 2 primary dimensions of thinking that impact persuasion processes and outcomes: the extent (amount) of thinking and the direction (valence) of issue-relevant thought. The authors examined the possibility that another, more meta-cognitive aspect of thinking is also important-the degree of confidence people have in their own thoughts. Four studies test the notion that thought confidence affects the extent of persuasion. When positive thoughts dominate in response to a message, increasing confidence in those thoughts increases persuasion, but when negative thoughts dominate, increasing confidence decreases persuasion. In addition, using self-reported and manipulated thought confidence in separate studies, the authors provide evidence that the magnitude of the attitude-thought relationship depends on the confidence people have in their thoughts. Finally, the authors also show that these self-validation effects are most likely in situations that foster high amounts of information processing activity.

Effects of wildfire on catchment runoff response: a modeling approach to detect changes in snow-dominated forested catchments

Treesearch

Jan Seibert; Jeffrey J. McDonnell; Richard D. Woodsmith

2010-01-01

Wildfire is an important disturbance affecting hydrological processes through alteration of vegetation cover and soil characteristics. The effects of fire on hydrological systems at the catchment scale are not well known, largely because site specific data from both before and after wildfire are rare. In this study a modelling approach was employed for change detection...

Are prescribed fire and thinning dominant processes affecting snag occurrence at a landscape scale?

Treesearch

Stanley J. Zarnoch; John I. Blake; Bernard R. Parresol

2014-01-01

Snags are standing dead trees that are an important component in the nesting habitat of birds and other species. Although snag availability is believed to limit populations in managed and non-managed forests, little data are available to evaluate the relative effect of stand conditions and management on snag occurrence. We analyzed point sample data from an intensive...

Long-term variability in the water budget and its controls in an oak-dominated temperate forest

Treesearch

Jing Xie; Ge Sun; Hou-Sen Chu; Junguo Liu; Steven G. McNulty; Asko Noormets; Ranjeet John; Zutao Ouyang; Tianshan Zha; Haitao Li; Wenbin Guan; Jiquan Chen

2014-01-01

Water availability is one of the key environmental factors that control ecosystem functions in temperate forests. Changing climate is likely to alter the ecohydrology and other ecosystem processes, which affect forest structures and functions. We constructed a multi-year water budget (2004–2010) and quantified environmental controls on an evapotranspiration (ET) in a...

Plant water use affects competition for nitrogen: why drought favors invasive species in California.

PubMed

Everard, Katherine; Seabloom, Eric W; Harpole, W Stanley; de Mazancourt, Claire

2010-01-01

Abstract: Classic resource competition theory typically treats resource supply rates as independent; however, nutrient supplies can be affected by plants indirectly, with important consequences for model predictions. We demonstrate this general phenomenon by using a model in which competition for nitrogen is mediated by soil moisture, with competitive outcomes including coexistence and multiple stable states as well as competitive exclusion. In the model, soil moisture regulates nitrogen availability through soil moisture dependence of microbial processes, leaching, and plant uptake. By affecting water availability, plants also indirectly affect nitrogen availability and may therefore alter the competitive outcome. Exotic annual species from the Mediterranean have displaced much of the native perennial grasses in California. Nitrogen and water have been shown to be potentially limiting in this system. We parameterize the model for a Californian grassland and show that soil moisture-mediated competition for nitrogen can explain the annual species' dominance in drier areas, with coexistence expected in wetter regions. These results are concordant with larger biogeographic patterns of grassland invasion in the Pacific states of the United States, in which annual grasses have invaded most of the hot, dry grasslands in California but perennial grasses dominate the moister prairies of northern California, Oregon, and Washington.

Further evidence for a locus for autosomal dominant juvenile glaucoma on chromosome 1q and evidence for genetic heterogeneity

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

Wiggs, J.; Paglinauan, C.; Stawski, S.

1994-09-01

Glaucoma is a term used to describe a group of disorders which have in common a characteristic degeneration of the optic nerve associated with typical visual field defects and usually associated with elevated intraocular pressure. Two percent of white Americans and 6-10% of black Americans are affected by the disease. Compelling data indicate that susceptibility to many types of glaucoma is inherited. Hereditary juvenile glaucoma is one form of glaucoma that develops in children and is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait with high penetrance. Using a single large Caucasian pedigree affected with autosomal dominant juvenile glaucoma, Sheffield discovered positivemore » linkage to a group of markers that map to a 30 cM region on the long arm of chromosome 1 (1q21-q31). We have subsequently identified three unrelated Caucasian pedigrees affected with autosomal dominant juvenile glaucoma that also demonstrate linkage to this region on chromosome 1, with the highest combined lod score of 5.12 at theta = .05 for marker D1S218. The identification of critical recombinant individuals in our three pedigrees has allowed us to further localize the disease gene to a 12 cM region between markers D1S242 and D1S431. In addition, we have identified several pedigrees which do not demonstrate linkage to chromosome 1q, including a black family affected with autosomal dominant juvenile glaucoma that is indistinguishable clinically from the disorder affecting the caucasian pedigrees and three pedigrees affected with pigmentary dispersion syndrome, a form of glaucoma that also affects the juvenile population and is also inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. These findings provide evidence for genetic heterogeneity in juvenile glaucoma.« less

Semantic congruency and the (reversed) Colavita effect in children and adults.

PubMed

Wille, Claudia; Ebersbach, Mirjam

2016-01-01

When presented with auditory, visual, or bimodal audiovisual stimuli in a discrimination task, adults tend to ignore the auditory component in bimodal stimuli and respond to the visual component only (i.e., Colavita visual dominance effect). The same is true for older children, whereas young children are dominated by the auditory component of bimodal audiovisual stimuli. This suggests a change of sensory dominance during childhood. The aim of the current study was to investigate, in three experimental conditions, whether children and adults show sensory dominance when presented with complex semantic stimuli and whether this dominance can be modulated by stimulus characteristics such as semantic (in)congruency, frequency of bimodal trials, and color information. Semantic (in)congruency did not affect the magnitude of the auditory dominance effect in 6-year-olds or the visual dominance effect in adults, but it was a modulating factor of the visual dominance in 9-year-olds (Conditions 1 and 2). Furthermore, the absence of color information (Condition 3) did not affect auditory dominance in 6-year-olds and hardly affected visual dominance in adults, whereas the visual dominance in 9-year-olds disappeared. Our results suggest that (a) sensory dominance in children and adults is not restricted to simple lights and sounds, as used in previous research, but can be extended to semantically meaningful stimuli and that (b) sensory dominance is more robust in 6-year-olds and adults than in 9-year-olds, implying a transitional stage around this age. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity of Psychopathy Factors Assessed Via Self-Report

PubMed Central

Benning, Stephen D.; Patrick, Christopher J.; Salekin, Randall T.; Leistico, Anne-Marie R.

2008-01-01

Psychopathy has been conceptualized as a personality disorder with distinctive interpersonal-affective and behavioral deviance features. The authors examine correlates of the factors of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI), Self-Report Psychopathy–II (SRP-II) scale, and Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) to understand similarities and differences among the constructs embodied in these instruments. PPI Fearless Dominance and SRP-II Factor 1 were negatively related to most personality disorder symptoms and were both predicted by high Dominance and low Neuroticism. In addition, PPI Fearless Dominance correlated positively with antisocial personality features, although SRP-II Factor 1 did not. In contrast, PPI Impulsive Antisociality, SRP-II Factor 2, and both APSD factors correlated with antisocial personality features and symptoms of nearly all personality disorders, and were predicted by low Love. Results suggest ways in which the measurement of the constructs in each instrument may be improved. PMID:16123248

The impact of negative emotions on self-concept abstraction depends on accessible information processing styles.

PubMed

Isbell, Linda M; Rovenpor, Daniel R; Lair, Elicia C

2016-10-01

Research suggests that anger promotes global, abstract processing whereas sadness and fear promote local, concrete processing (see Schwarz & Clore, 2007 for a review). Contrary to a large and influential body of work suggesting that specific affective experiences are tethered to specific cognitive outcomes, the affect-as-cognitive-feedback account maintains that affective experiences confer positive or negative value on currently dominant processing styles, and thus can lead to either global or local processing (Huntsinger, Isbell, & Clore, 2014). The current work extends this theoretical perspective by investigating the impact of discrete negative emotions on the self-concept. By experimentally manipulating information processing styles and discrete negative emotions that vary in appraisals of certainty, we demonstrate that the impact of discrete negative emotions on the spontaneous self-concept depends on accessible processing styles. When global processing was accessible, individuals in angry (negative, high certainty) states generated more abstract statements about themselves than individuals in either sad (Experiment 1) or fearful (Experiment 2; negative, low certainty) states. When local processing was made accessible, however, the opposite pattern emerged, whereby individuals in angry states generated fewer abstract statements than individuals in sad or fearful states. Together these studies provide new insights into the mechanisms through which discrete emotions influence cognition. In contrast to theories assuming a dedicated link between emotions and processing styles, these results suggest that discrete emotions provide feedback about accessible ways of thinking, and are consistent with recent evidence suggesting that the impact of affect on cognition is highly context-dependent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A novel framework for improvement of road accidents considering decision-making styles of drivers in a large metropolitan area.

PubMed

Azadeh, Ali; Zarrin, Mansour; Hamid, Mehdi

2016-02-01

Road accidents can be caused by different factors such as human factors. Quality of the decision-making process of drivers could have a considerable impact on preventing disasters. The main objective of this study is the analysis of factors affecting road accidents by considering the severity of accidents and decision-making styles of drivers. To this end, a novel framework is proposed based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) and statistical methods (SMs) to assess the factors affecting road accidents. In this study, for the first time, dominant decision-making styles of drivers with respect to severity of injuries are identified. To show the applicability of the proposed framework, this research employs actual data of more than 500 samples in Tehran, Iran. The empirical results indicate that the flexible decision style is the dominant style for both minor and severe levels of accident injuries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toxicity of naphthenic acid fraction components extracted from fresh and aged oil sands process-affected waters, and commercial naphthenic acid mixtures, to fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) embryos.

PubMed

Marentette, Julie R; Frank, Richard A; Bartlett, Adrienne J; Gillis, Patricia L; Hewitt, L Mark; Peru, Kerry M; Headley, John V; Brunswick, Pamela; Shang, Dayue; Parrott, Joanne L

2015-07-01

Naphthenic acids (NAs) are constituents of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW). These compounds can be both toxic and persistent and thus are a primary concern for the ultimate remediation of tailings ponds in northern Alberta's oil sands regions. Recent research has focused on the toxicity of NAs to the highly vulnerable early life-stages of fish. Here we examined fathead minnow embryonic survival, growth and deformities after exposure to extracted NA fraction components (NAFCs), from fresh and aged oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), as well as commercially available NA mixtures. Commercial NA mixtures were dominated by acyclic O2 species, while NAFCs from OSPW were dominated by bi- and tricyclic O2 species. Fathead minnow embryos less than 24h old were reared in tissue culture plates terminating at hatch. Both NAFC and commercial NA mixtures reduced hatch success, although NAFCs from OSPW were less toxic (EC50=5-12mg/L, nominal concentrations) than commercial NAs (2mg/L, nominal concentrations). The toxicities of NAFCs from aged and fresh OSPW were similar. Embryonic heart rates at 2 days post-fertilization (dpf) declined with increasing NAFC exposure, paralleling patterns of hatch success and rates of cardiovascular abnormalities (e.g., pericardial edemas) at hatch. Finfold deformities increased in exposures to commercial NA mixtures, not NAFCs. Thus, commercial NA mixtures are not appropriate surrogates for NAFC toxicity. Further work clarifying the mechanisms of action of NAFCs in OSPW, as well as comparisons with additional aged sources of OSPW, is merited. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterizing multiple timescales of stream and storage zone interaction that affect solute fate and transport in streams

USGS Publications Warehouse

Choi, Jungyill; Harvey, Judson W.; Conklin, Martha H.

2000-01-01

The fate of contaminants in streams and rivers is affected by exchange and biogeochemical transformation in slowly moving or stagnant flow zones that interact with rapid flow in the main channel. In a typical stream, there are multiple types of slowly moving flow zones in which exchange and transformation occur, such as stagnant or recirculating surface water as well as subsurface hyporheic zones. However, most investigators use transport models with just a single storage zone in their modeling studies, which assumes that the effects of multiple storage zones can be lumped together. Our study addressed the following question: Can a single‐storage zone model reliably characterize the effects of physical retention and biogeochemical reactions in multiple storage zones? We extended an existing stream transport model with a single storage zone to include a second storage zone. With the extended model we generated 500 data sets representing transport of nonreactive and reactive solutes in stream systems that have two different types of storage zones with variable hydrologic conditions. The one storage zone model was tested by optimizing the lumped storage parameters to achieve a best fit for each of the generated data sets. Multiple storage processes were categorized as possessing I, additive; II, competitive; or III, dominant storage zone characteristics. The classification was based on the goodness of fit of generated data sets, the degree of similarity in mean retention time of the two storage zones, and the relative distributions of exchange flux and storage capacity between the two storage zones. For most cases (>90%) the one storage zone model described either the effect of the sum of multiple storage processes (category I) or the dominant storage process (category III). Failure of the one storage zone model occurred mainly for category II, that is, when one of the storage zones had a much longer mean retention time (ts ratio > 5.0) and when the dominance of storage capacity and exchange flux occurred in different storage zones. We also used the one storage zone model to estimate a “single” lumped rate constant representing the net removal of a solute by biogeochemical reactions in multiple storage zones. For most cases the lumped rate constant that was optimized by one storage zone modeling estimated the flux‐weighted rate constant for multiple storage zones. Our results explain how the relative hydrologic properties of multiple storage zones (retention time, storage capacity, exchange flux, and biogeochemical reaction rate constant) affect the reliability of lumped parameters determined by a one storage zone transport model. We conclude that stream transport models with a single storage compartment will in most cases reliably characterize the dominant physical processes of solute retention and biogeochemical reactions in streams with multiple storage zones.

Inverted edge effects on carbon stocks in human-dominated landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romitelli, I.; Keller, M.; Vieira, S. A.; Metzger, J. P.; Reverberi Tambosi, L.

2017-12-01

Although the importance of tropical forests to regulate greenhouse gases is well documented, little is known about what factors affect the ability of these forests to store carbon in human-dominated landscapes. Among those factors, the landscape structure, particularly the amount of forest cover, the type of matrix and edge effects, can have important roles. We tested how carbon stock is influenced by a combination of factors of landscape composition (pasture and forest cover), landscape configuration (edge effect) and relief factors (slope, elevation and aspect). To test those relationships, we performed a robust carbon stock estimation with inventory and LiDAR data in human-dominated landscapes from the Brazilian Atlantic forest region. The study area showed carbon stock mean 45.49 ± 9.34 Mg ha-1. The interaction between forest cover, edge effect and slope was the best combination explanatory of carbon stock. We observed an inverted edge effect pattern where carbon stock is higher close to the edges of the studied secondary forests. This inverted edge effect observed contradicts the usual pattern reported in the literature for mature forests. We suppose this pattern is related with a positive effect that edge conditions can have stimulating forest regeneration, but the underlying processes to explain the observed pattern should still be tested. Those results suggest that Carbon stocks in human-dominated and fragmented landscapes can be highly affected by the landscape structure, and particularly that edges conditions can favor carbon sequestration in regenerating tropical forests.

Grain setting defect1, Encoding a Remorin Protein, Affects the Grain Setting in Rice through Regulating Plasmodesmatal Conductance1[W

PubMed Central

Gui, Jinshan; Liu, Chang; Shen, Junhui; Li, Laigeng

2014-01-01

Effective grain filling is one of the key determinants of grain setting in rice (Oryza sativa). Grain setting defect1 (GSD1), which encodes a putative remorin protein, was found to affect grain setting in rice. Investigation of the phenotype of a transfer DNA insertion mutant (gsd1-Dominant) with enhanced GSD1 expression revealed abnormalities including a reduced grain setting rate, accumulation of carbohydrates in leaves, and lower soluble sugar content in the phloem exudates. GSD1 was found to be specifically expressed in the plasma membrane and plasmodesmata (PD) of phloem companion cells. Experimental evidence suggests that the phenotype of the gsd1-Dominant mutant is caused by defects in the grain-filling process as a result of the impaired transport of carbohydrates from the photosynthetic site to the phloem. GSD1 functioned in affecting PD conductance by interacting with rice ACTIN1 in association with the PD callose binding protein1. Together, our results suggest that GSD1 may play a role in regulating photoassimilate translocation through the symplastic pathway to impact grain setting in rice. PMID:25253885

Transformation of PVP coated silver nanoparticles in a simulated wastewater treatment process and the effect on microbial communities

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Manufactured silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one of the most commonly used nanomaterials in consumer goods and consequently their concentrations in wastewater and hence wastewater treatment plants are predicted to increase. We investigated the fate of AgNPs in sludge that was subjected to aerobic and anaerobic treatment and the impact of AgNPs on microbial processes and communities. The initial identification of AgNPs in sludge was carried out using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The solid phase speciation of silver in sludge and wastewater influent was then examined using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The effects of transformed AgNPs (mainly Ag-S phases) on nitrification, wastewater microbial populations and, for the first time, methanogenesis was investigated. Results Sequencing batch reactor experiments and anaerobic batch tests, both demonstrated that nitrification rate and methane production were not affected by the addition of AgNPs [at 2.5 mg Ag L-1 (4.9 g L-1 total suspended solids, TSS) and 183.6 mg Ag kg -1 (2.9 g kg-1 total solids, TS), respectively]. The low toxicity is most likely due to AgNP sulfidation. XAS analysis showed that sulfur bonded Ag was the dominant Ag species in both aerobic (activated sludge) and anaerobic sludge. In AgNP and AgNO3 spiked aerobic sludge, metallic Ag was detected (~15%). However, after anaerobic digestion, Ag(0) was not detected by XAS analysis. Dominant wastewater microbial populations were not affected by AgNPs as determined by DNA extraction and pyrotag sequencing. However, there was a shift in niche populations in both aerobic and anaerobic sludge, with a shift in AgNP treated sludge compared with controls. This is the first time that the impact of transformed AgNPs (mainly Ag-S phases) on anaerobic digestion has been reported. Conclusions Silver NPs were transformed to Ag-S phases during activated sludge treatment (prior to anaerobic digestion). Transformed AgNPs, at predicted future Ag wastewater concentrations, did not affect nitrification or methanogenesis. Consequently, AgNPs are very unlikely to affect the efficient functioning of wastewater treatment plants. However, AgNPs may negatively affect sub-dominant wastewater microbial communities. PMID:23497481

Effects of pyrite and sphalerite on population compositions, dynamics and copper extraction efficiency in chalcopyrite bioleaching process.

PubMed

Xiao, Yunhua; Liu, Xueduan; Dong, Weiling; Liang, Yili; Niu, Jiaojiao; Gu, Yabing; Ma, Liyuan; Hao, Xiaodong; Zhang, Xian; Xu, Zhen; Yin, Huaqun

2017-07-01

This study used an artificial microbial community with four known moderately thermophilic acidophiles (three bacteria including Acidithiobacillus caldus S1, Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans ST and Leptospirillum ferriphilum YSK, and one archaea, Ferroplasma thermophilum L1) to explore the variation of microbial community structure, composition, dynamics and function (e.g., copper extraction efficiency) in chalcopyrite bioleaching (C) systems with additions of pyrite (CP) or sphalerite (CS). The community compositions and dynamics in the solution and on the ore surface were investigated by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). The results showed that the addition of pyrite or sphalerite changed the microbial community composition and dynamics dramatically during the chalcopyrite bioleaching process. For example, A. caldus (above 60%) was the dominant species at the initial stage in three groups, and at the middle stage, still dominated C group (above 70%), but it was replaced by L. ferriphilum (above 60%) in CP and CS groups; at the final stage, L. ferriphilum dominated C group, while F. thermophilum dominated CP group on the ore surface. Furthermore, the additions of pyrite or sphalerite both made the increase of redox potential (ORP) and the concentrations of Fe 3+ and H + , which would affect the microbial community compositions and copper extraction efficiency. Additionally, pyrite could enhance copper extraction efficiency (e.g., improving around 13.2% on day 6) during chalcopyrite bioleaching; on the contrary, sphalerite restrained it.

Sedimentary masses and concepts about tectonic processes at underthrust ocean margins ( subduction).

USGS Publications Warehouse

Scholl, D. W.; von Huene, Roland E.; Vallier, T.L.; Howell, D.G.

1980-01-01

Tectonic processes associated with subduction of oceanic crust, but unrelated to the collision of thick crustal masses or microplates, are presumed by many geologists to significantly affect the formation and deformation of large sedimentary bodies at underthrust ocean margins. More geologists are familiar with the concept of subduction accretion than with other noncollision processes - for example, sediment subduction, subduction erosion, and subduction kneading. In our opinion, no single subduction-related tectonic process is the dominant or typical one that forges the geologic framework of modern underthrust ocean margins. It is likely, therefore, that the rock records of ancient underthrust margins are preserved in a multitude of structural and stratigraphic forms.-from Authors

High-Throughput Sequencing of Microbial Community Diversity and Dynamics during Douchi Fermentation.

PubMed

Yang, Lin; Yang, Hui-Lin; Tu, Zong-Cai; Wang, Xiao-Lan

2016-01-01

Douchi is a type of Chinese traditional fermented food that is an important source of protein and is used in flavouring ingredients. The end product is affected by the microbial community present during fermentation, but exactly how microbes influence the fermentation process remains poorly understood. We used an Illumina MiSeq approach to investigate bacterial and fungal community diversity during both douchi-koji making and fermentation. A total of 181,443 high quality bacterial 16S rRNA sequences and 221,059 high quality fungal internal transcribed spacer reads were used for taxonomic classification, revealing eight bacterial and three fungal phyla. Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were the dominant bacterial phyla, while Ascomycota and Zygomycota were the dominant fungal phyla. At the genus level, Staphylococcus and Weissella were the dominant bacteria, while Aspergillus and Lichtheimia were the dominant fungi. Principal coordinate analysis showed structural separation between the composition of bacteria in koji making and fermentation. However, multivariate analysis of variance based on unweighted UniFrac distances did identify distinct differences (p <0.05), and redundancy analysis identified two key genera that are largely responsible for the differences in bacterial composition between the two steps. Staphylococcus was enriched in koji making, while Corynebacterium was enriched in fermentation. This is the first investigation to integrate douchi fermentation and koji making and fermentation processes through this technological approach. The results provide insight into the microbiome of the douchi fermentation process, and reveal a structural separation that may be stratified by the environment during the production of this traditional fermented food.

High-Throughput Sequencing of Microbial Community Diversity and Dynamics during Douchi Fermentation

PubMed Central

Tu, Zong-cai; Wang, Xiao-lan

2016-01-01

Douchi is a type of Chinese traditional fermented food that is an important source of protein and is used in flavouring ingredients. The end product is affected by the microbial community present during fermentation, but exactly how microbes influence the fermentation process remains poorly understood. We used an Illumina MiSeq approach to investigate bacterial and fungal community diversity during both douchi-koji making and fermentation. A total of 181,443 high quality bacterial 16S rRNA sequences and 221,059 high quality fungal internal transcribed spacer reads were used for taxonomic classification, revealing eight bacterial and three fungal phyla. Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were the dominant bacterial phyla, while Ascomycota and Zygomycota were the dominant fungal phyla. At the genus level, Staphylococcus and Weissella were the dominant bacteria, while Aspergillus and Lichtheimia were the dominant fungi. Principal coordinate analysis showed structural separation between the composition of bacteria in koji making and fermentation. However, multivariate analysis of variance based on unweighted UniFrac distances did identify distinct differences (p <0.05), and redundancy analysis identified two key genera that are largely responsible for the differences in bacterial composition between the two steps. Staphylococcus was enriched in koji making, while Corynebacterium was enriched in fermentation. This is the first investigation to integrate douchi fermentation and koji making and fermentation processes through this technological approach. The results provide insight into the microbiome of the douchi fermentation process, and reveal a structural separation that may be stratified by the environment during the production of this traditional fermented food. PMID:27992473

Environmental Impact Analysis Process. Deployment Area Selection and Land Withdrawal/Acquisition DEIS. Chapter III. Part II. Affected Environment.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-12-01

tridentata, A. nova, and A. arbriscula), sticky-leaved rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus) and Mormon tea ( Ephedra viridis ). The Sevier River contains...Chrysothamnus nauseosus), and Mormon tea ( Ephedra spp). Shifts in dominance occur locally in response to topographic and geographic variances. In general...divaricata), Nevada ephedra ( Ephedra nevadensis), Mojave yucca (Yucca schidigera), and spiny menodora (Menodora spinescens). Creosote brush scrub occurs

High prevalence of mutations affecting the splicing process in a Spanish cohort with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa

PubMed Central

Ezquerra-Inchausti, Maitane; Barandika, Olatz; Anasagasti, Ander; Irigoyen, Cristina; López de Munain, Adolfo; Ruiz-Ederra, Javier

2017-01-01

Retinitis pigmentosa is the most frequent group of inherited retinal dystrophies. It is highly heterogeneous, with more than 80 disease-causing genes 27 of which are known to cause autosomal dominant RP (adRP), having been identified. In this study a total of 29 index cases were ascertained based on a family tree compatible with adRP. A custom panel of 31 adRP genes was analysed by targeted next-generation sequencing using the Ion PGM platform in combination with Sanger sequencing. This allowed us to detect putative disease-causing mutations in 14 out of the 29 (48.28%) families analysed. Remarkably, around 38% of all adRP cases analysed showed mutations affecting the splicing process, mainly due to mutations in genes coding for spliceosome factors (SNRNP200 and PRPF8) but also due to splice-site mutations in RHO. Twelve of the 14 mutations found had been reported previously and two were novel mutations found in PRPF8 in two unrelated patients. In conclusion, our results will lead to more accurate genetic counselling and will contribute to a better characterisation of the disease. In addition, they may have a therapeutic impact in the future given the large number of studies currently underway based on targeted RNA splicing for therapeutic purposes. PMID:28045043

Testosterone and estrogen impact social evaluations and vicarious emotions: A double-blind placebo-controlled study.

PubMed

Olsson, Andreas; Kopsida, Eleni; Sorjonen, Kimmo; Savic, Ivanka

2016-06-01

The abilities to "read" other peoples' intentions and emotions, and to learn from their experiences, are critical to survival. Previous studies have highlighted the role of sex hormones, notably testosterone and estrogen, in these processes. Yet it is unclear how these hormones affect social cognition and emotion using acute hormonal administration. In the present double-blind placebo-controlled study, we administered an acute exogenous dose of testosterone or estrogen to healthy female and male volunteers, respectively, with the aim of investigating the effects of these steroids on social-cognitive and emotional processes. Following hormonal and placebo treatment, participants made (a) facial dominance judgments, (b) mental state inferences (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test), and (c) learned aversive associations through watching others' emotional responses (observational fear learning [OFL]). Our results showed that testosterone administration to females enhanced ratings of facial dominance but diminished their accuracy in inferring mental states. In men, estrogen administration resulted in an increase in emotional (vicarious) reactivity when watching a distressed other during the OFL task. Taken together, these results suggest that sex hormones affect social-cognitive and emotional functions at several levels, linking our results to neuropsychiatric disorders in which these functions are impaired. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Music and language: musical alexia and agraphia.

PubMed

Brust, J C

1980-06-01

Two aphasic right-handed professional musicians with left hemispheric lesions had disturbed musical function, especially musical alexia and agraphia. In Case 1 aphasia was of transcortical sensory type, with severe agraphia and decreased comprehension of written words, although she could match them with pictures. Except for reading and writing, musical ability was normal; she could sing in five languages. Musical alexia and agraphia affected pitch symbols more than rhythm. Case 2 had conduction aphasia and severe expressive amusia, especially for rhythm. Although his language alexia and agraphia were milder than Case 1's, his musical alexia and agraphia were more severe, affecting rhythm as much as pitch. In neither patient were those aspects of musical notation either closest to verbal language or most dependent upon temporal (sequential) processing maximally impaired. These cases are consistent with the literature in suggesting that the presence or absence of aphasia or of right or left hemispheric damage fails to predict the presence, type, or severity of amusia, including musical alexia and agraphia. The popular notion that receptive amusia follows lesions of the language-dominant temporal lobe, whereas expressive amusia follows non-dominant frontal lobe damage, is an over-simplification, as is the view that increasing musical sophistication causes a shift of musical processing from the right hemisphere to the left.

Autosomal dominant inheritance of Brachmann-de Lange syndrome

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

Kozma, C.

A mother with mild phenotype and her severely affected son, both with classic manifestations of Brachmann-de Lange syndrome (BDLS), are described. This documented mother-to-child transmission supports the hypothesis of autosomal dominant transmission with intrafamilial variability. Known cases of BDLS with autosomal dominant inheritance are reviewed. Although most cases of BDLS are sporadic, a careful evaluation of parents of affected children is important for appropriate genetic counseling. 15 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

Mental chronometry with simple linear regression.

PubMed

Chen, J Y

1997-10-01

Typically, mental chronometry is performed by means of introducing an independent variable postulated to affect selectively some stage of a presumed multistage process. However, the effect could be a global one that spreads proportionally over all stages of the process. Currently, there is no method to test this possibility although simple linear regression might serve the purpose. In the present study, the regression approach was tested with tasks (memory scanning and mental rotation) that involved a selective effect and with a task (word superiority effect) that involved a global effect, by the dominant theories. The results indicate (1) the manipulation of the size of a memory set or of angular disparity affects the intercept of the regression function that relates the times for memory scanning with different set sizes or for mental rotation with different angular disparities and (2) the manipulation of context affects the slope of the regression function that relates the times for detecting a target character under word and nonword conditions. These ratify the regression approach as a useful method for doing mental chronometry.

Upscaling Empirically Based Conceptualisations to Model Tropical Dominant Hydrological Processes for Historical Land Use Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toohey, R.; Boll, J.; Brooks, E.; Jones, J.

2009-12-01

Surface runoff and percolation to ground water are two hydrological processes of concern to the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica because of their impacts on flooding and drinking water contamination. As per legislation, the Costa Rican Government funds land use management from the farm to the regional scale to improve or conserve hydrological ecosystem services. In this study, we examined how land use (e.g., forest, coffee, sugar cane, and pasture) affects hydrological response at the point, plot (1 m2), and the field scale (1-6ha) to empirically conceptualize the dominant hydrological processes in each land use. Using our field data, we upscaled these conceptual processes into a physically-based distributed hydrological model at the field, watershed (130 km2), and regional (1500 km2) scales. At the point and plot scales, the presence of macropores and large roots promoted greater vertical percolation and subsurface connectivity in the forest and coffee field sites. The lack of macropores and large roots, plus the addition of management artifacts (e.g., surface compaction and a plough layer), altered the dominant hydrological processes by increasing lateral flow and surface runoff in the pasture and sugar cane field sites. Macropores and topography were major influences on runoff generation at the field scale. Also at the field scale, antecedent moisture conditions suggest a threshold behavior as a temporal control on surface runoff generation. However, in this tropical climate with very intense rainstorms, annual surface runoff was less than 10% of annual precipitation at the field scale. Significant differences in soil and hydrological characteristics observed at the point and plot scales appear to have less significance when upscaled to the field scale. At the point and plot scales, percolation acted as the dominant hydrological process in this tropical environment. However, at the field scale for sugar cane and pasture sites, saturation-excess runoff increased as irrigation intensity and duration (e.g., quantity) increased. Upscaling our conceptual models to the watershed and regional scales, historical data (1970-2004) was used to investigate whether dominant hydrological processes changed over time due to land use change. Preliminary investigations reveal much higher runoff coefficients (<30%) at the larger watershed scales. The increase in importance of runoff at the larger geographic scales suggests an emerging process and process non-linearity between the smaller and larger scales. Upscaling is an important and useful concept when investigating catchment response using the tools of field work and/or physically distributed hydrological modeling.

Analysis of factors driving stream water composition and synthesis of management tools--a case study on small/medium Greek catchments.

PubMed

Skoulikidis, N Th; Amaxidis, Y; Bertahas, I; Laschou, S; Gritzalis, K

2006-06-01

Twenty-nine small- and mid-sized permanent rivers (thirty-six sites) scattered throughout Greece and equally distributed within three geo-chemical-climatic zones, have been investigated in a seasonal base. Hydrochemical types have been determined and spatio-temporal variations have been interpreted in relation to environmental characteristics and anthropogenic pressures. Multivariate statistical techniques have been used to identify the factors and processes affecting hydrochemical variability and the driving forces that control aquatic composition. It has been shown that spatial variation of aquatic quality is mainly governed by geological and hydrogeological factors. Due to geological and climatic variability, the three zones have different hydrochemical characteristics. Temporal hydrological variations in combination with hydrogeological factors control seasonal hydrochemical trends. Respiration processes due to municipal wastewaters, dominate in summer, and enhance nutrient, chloride and sodium concentrations, while nitrate originates primarily from agriculture. Photosynthetic processes dominate in spring. Carbonate chemistry is controlled by hydrogeological factors and biological activity. A possible enrichment of surface waters with nutrients in "pristine" forested catchments is attributed to soil leaching and mineralisation processes. Two management tools have been developed: a nutrient classification system and a rapid prediction of aquatic composition tool.

Scale-Dependent Habitat Selection and Size-Based Dominance in Adult Male American Alligators

PubMed Central

Strickland, Bradley A.; Vilella, Francisco J.; Belant, Jerrold L.

2016-01-01

Habitat selection is an active behavioral process that may vary across spatial and temporal scales. Animals choose an area of primary utilization (i.e., home range) then make decisions focused on resource needs within patches. Dominance may affect the spatial distribution of conspecifics and concomitant habitat selection. Size-dependent social dominance hierarchies have been documented in captive alligators, but evidence is lacking from wild populations. We studied habitat selection for adult male American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis; n = 17) on the Pearl River in central Mississippi, USA, to test whether habitat selection was scale-dependent and individual resource selectivity was a function of conspecific body size. We used K-select analysis to quantify selection at the home range scale and patches within the home range to determine selection congruency and important habitat variables. In addition, we used linear models to determine if body size was related to selection patterns and strengths. Our results indicated habitat selection of adult male alligators was a scale-dependent process. Alligators demonstrated greater overall selection for habitat variables at the patch level and less at the home range level, suggesting resources may not be limited when selecting a home range for animals in our study area. Further, diurnal habitat selection patterns may depend on thermoregulatory needs. There was no relationship between resource selection or home range size and body size, suggesting size-dependent dominance hierarchies may not have influenced alligator resource selection or space use in our sample. Though apparent habitat suitability and low alligator density did not manifest in an observed dominance hierarchy, we hypothesize that a change in either could increase intraspecific interactions, facilitating a dominance hierarchy. Due to the broad and diverse ecological roles of alligators, understanding the factors that influence their social dominance and space use can provide great insight into their functional role in the ecosystem. PMID:27588947

Scale-dependent habitat selection and size-based dominance in adult male American alligators

USGS Publications Warehouse

Strickland, Bradley A.; Vilella, Francisco; Belant, Jerrold L.

2016-01-01

Habitat selection is an active behavioral process that may vary across spatial and temporal scales. Animals choose an area of primary utilization (i.e., home range) then make decisions focused on resource needs within patches. Dominance may affect the spatial distribution of conspecifics and concomitant habitat selection. Size-dependent social dominance hierarchies have been documented in captive alligators, but evidence is lacking from wild populations. We studied habitat selection for adult male American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis; n = 17) on the Pearl River in central Mississippi, USA, to test whether habitat selection was scale-dependent and individual resource selectivity was a function of conspecific body size. We used K-select analysis to quantify selection at the home range scale and patches within the home range to determine selection congruency and important habitat variables. In addition, we used linear models to determine if body size was related to selection patterns and strengths. Our results indicated habitat selection of adult male alligators was a scale-dependent process. Alligators demonstrated greater overall selection for habitat variables at the patch level and less at the home range level, suggesting resources may not be limited when selecting a home range for animals in our study area. Further, diurnal habitat selection patterns may depend on thermoregulatory needs. There was no relationship between resource selection or home range size and body size, suggesting size-dependent dominance hierarchies may not have influenced alligator resource selection or space use in our sample. Though apparent habitat suitability and low alligator density did not manifest in an observed dominance hierarchy, we hypothesize that a change in either could increase intraspecific interactions, facilitating a dominance hierarchy. Due to the broad and diverse ecological roles of alligators, understanding the factors that influence their social dominance and space use can provide great insight into their functional role in the ecosystem.

Observational aspects of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon charging in the Interstellar Medium

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bakes, E. L. O.; Tielens, Alexander G. G. M.

1995-01-01

We have investigated the charging processes which affect small carbonaceous dust grains and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's). Because of their high abundance, interstellar PAH molecules can dominate the charge balance of the interstellar medium (ISM), which controls the heating and cooling interstellar gas and interstellar chemistry. We present the results of our model, which compare well with observations and suggest further applications to both laboratory measurements and data obtainable from the KAO.

Functional outcomes of traumatic and non-traumatic rotator cuff tears after arthroscopic repair

PubMed Central

Abechain, José Jorge Kitagaki; Godinho, Glaydson Gomes; Matsunaga, Fabio Teruo; Netto, Nicola Archetti; Daou, Julia Pozzetti; Tamaoki, Marcel Jun Sugawara

2017-01-01

AIM To compare the functional outcomes of traumatic and non-traumatic rotator cuff tears after arthroscopic repair. METHODS Eighty-seven patients with rotator cuff tears following arthroscopic treatment were divided into traumatic and non-traumatic tear groups. Postoperative muscle strength and outcomes using the modified University of California, Los Angeles score were evaluated. Sex, age, affected limb and dominant limb were correlated between groups. Muscle strength of the repaired and unaffected shoulders was compared. Rotator cuff injury size was measured. RESULTS Of the 87 patients who underwent rotator cuff repairs, 35 had traumatic tears and 52 had non-traumatic tears. In patients with non-traumatic tears, the average age was 59 years, 74.5% were female, 96.1% were right-hand dominant and 92.3% had their dominant shoulder affected. Patients with traumatic tears were 59.5 years old on average, 51.4% were female, 91.4% were right-hand dominant and 88.5% had their dominant shoulder affected. No difference existed in the mean modified University of California, Los Angeles score between patients with traumatic tears (33.7) compared with those with non-traumatic tears (32.8). No strength differences were observed between groups: The strength difference between the non-affected and affected sides was 1.21 kg in the non-traumatic group and 1.39 kg in the traumatic group (P = 0.576), while the strength ratio between the non-affected/affected sides was 0.805 in the non-traumatic group and 0.729 in the traumatic group (P = 0.224). CONCLUSION The functional results of traumatic rotator cuff repairs are similar to non-traumatic tears. Both outcomes are satisfactory. PMID:28875129

Effects of herbivory, nutrients, and reef protection on algal proliferation and coral growth on a tropical reef.

PubMed

Rasher, Douglas B; Engel, Sebastian; Bonito, Victor; Fraser, Gareth J; Montoya, Joseph P; Hay, Mark E

2012-05-01

Maintaining coral reef resilience against increasing anthropogenic disturbance is critical for effective reef management. Resilience is partially determined by how processes, such as herbivory and nutrient supply, affect coral recovery versus macroalgal proliferation following disturbances. However, the relative effects of herbivory versus nutrient enrichment on algal proliferation remain debated. Here, we manipulated herbivory and nutrients on a coral-dominated reef protected from fishing, and on an adjacent macroalgal-dominated reef subject to fishing and riverine discharge, over 152 days. On both reefs, herbivore exclusion increased total and upright macroalgal cover by 9-46 times, upright macroalgal biomass by 23-84 times, and cyanobacteria cover by 0-27 times, but decreased cover of encrusting coralline algae by 46-100% and short turf algae by 14-39%. In contrast, nutrient enrichment had no effect on algal proliferation, but suppressed cover of total macroalgae (by 33-42%) and cyanobacteria (by 71% on the protected reef) when herbivores were excluded. Herbivore exclusion, but not nutrient enrichment, also increased sediment accumulation, suggesting a strong link between herbivory, macroalgal growth, and sediment retention. Growth rates of the corals Porites cylindrica and Acropora millepora were 30-35% greater on the protected versus fished reef, but nutrient and herbivore manipulations within a site did not affect coral growth. Cumulatively, these data suggest that herbivory rather than eutrophication plays the dominant role in mediating macroalgal proliferation, that macroalgae trap sediments that may further suppress herbivory and enhance macroalgal dominance, and that corals are relatively resistant to damage from some macroalgae but are significantly impacted by ambient reef condition.

Seasonal and spatial patterns in diurnal cycles in streamflow in the western United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lundquist, J.D.; Cayan, D.R.

2002-01-01

The diurnal cycle in streamflow constitutes a significant part of the variability in many rivers in the western United States and can be used to understand some of the dominant processes affecting the water balance of a given river basin. Rivers in which water is added diurnally, as in snowmelt, and rivers in which water is removed diurnally, as in evapotranspiration and infiltration, exhibit substantial differences in the timing, relative magnitude, and shape of their diurnal flow variations. Snowmelt-dominated rivers achieve their highest sustained flow and largest diurnal fluctuations during the spring melt season. These fluctuations are characterized by sharp rises and gradual declines in discharge each day. In large snowmelt-dominated basins, at the end of the melt season, the hour of maximum discharge shifts to later in the day as the snow line retreats to higher elevations. Many evapotranspiration/infiltration-dominated rivers in the western states achieve their highest sustained flows during the winter rainy season but exhibit their strongest diurnal cycles during summer months, when discharge is low, and the diurnal fluctuations compose a large percentage of the total flow. In contrast to snowmelt-dominated rivers, the maximum discharge in evapotranspiration/infiltration-dominated rivers occurs consistently in the morning throughout the summer. In these rivers, diurnal changes are characterized by a gradual rise and sharp decline each day.

Bottlenecks to coral recovery in the Seychelles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chong-Seng, K. M.; Graham, N. A. J.; Pratchett, M. S.

2014-06-01

Processes that affect recovery of coral assemblages require investigation because coral reefs are experiencing a diverse array of more frequent disturbances. Potential bottlenecks to coral recovery include limited larval supply, low rates of settlement, and high mortality of new recruits or juvenile corals. We investigated spatial variation in local abundance of scleractinian corals in the Seychelles at three distinct life history stages (recruits, juveniles, and adults) on reefs with differing benthic conditions. Following widespread coral loss due to the 1998 bleaching event, some reefs are recovering (i.e., relatively high scleractinian coral cover: `coral-dominated'), some reefs have low cover of living macrobenthos and unconsolidated rubble substrates (`rubble-dominated'), and some reefs have high cover of macroalgae (`macroalgal-dominated'). Rates of coral recruitment to artificial settlement tiles were similar across all reef conditions, suggesting that larval supply does not explain differential coral recovery across the three reef types. However, acroporid recruits were absent on macroalgal-dominated reefs (0.0 ± 0.0 recruits tile-1) in comparison to coral-dominated reefs (5.2 ± 1.6 recruits tile-1). Juvenile coral colony density was significantly lower on macroalgal-dominated reefs (2.4 ± 1.1 colonies m-2), compared to coral-dominated reefs (16.8 ± 2.4 m-2) and rubble-dominated reefs (33.1 ± 7.3 m-2), suggesting that macroalgal-dominated reefs have either a bottleneck to successful settlement on the natural substrates or a high post-settlement mortality bottleneck. Rubble-dominated reefs had very low cover of adult corals (10.0 ± 1.7 %) compared to coral-dominated reefs (33.4 ± 3.6 %) despite no statistical difference in their juvenile coral densities. A bottleneck caused by low juvenile colony survivorship on unconsolidated rubble-dominated reefs is possible, or alternatively, recruitment to rubble-dominated reefs has only recently begun. This study identified bottlenecks to recovery of coral assemblages that varied depending on post-disturbance habitat condition.

Temperature-dependence of biomass accumulation rates during secondary succession.

PubMed

Anderson, Kristina J; Allen, Andrew P; Gillooly, James F; Brown, James H

2006-06-01

Rates of ecosystem recovery following disturbance affect many ecological processes, including carbon cycling in the biosphere. Here, we present a model that predicts the temperature dependence of the biomass accumulation rate following disturbances in forests. Model predictions are derived based on allometric and biochemical principles that govern plant energetics and are tested using a global database of 91 studies of secondary succession compiled from the literature. The rate of biomass accumulation during secondary succession increases with average growing season temperature as predicted based on the biochemical kinetics of photosynthesis in chloroplasts. In addition, the rate of biomass accumulation is greater in angiosperm-dominated communities than in gymnosperm-dominated ones and greater in plantations than in naturally regenerating stands. By linking the temperature-dependence of photosynthesis to the rate of whole-ecosystem biomass accumulation during secondary succession, our model and results provide one example of how emergent, ecosystem-level rate processes can be predicted based on the kinetics of individual metabolic rate.

Control of Chemical Effects in the Separation Process of a Differential Mobility / Mass Spectrometer System

PubMed Central

Schneider, Bradley B.; Coy, Stephen L.; Krylov, Evgeny V.; Nazarov, Erkinjon G.

2013-01-01

Differential mobility spectrometry (DMS) separates ions on the basis of the difference in their migration rates under high versus low electric fields. Several models describing the physical nature of this field mobility dependence have been proposed but emerging as a dominant effect is the clusterization model sometimes referred to as the dynamic cluster-decluster model. DMS resolution and peak capacity is strongly influenced by the addition of modifiers which results in the formation and dissociation of clusters. This process increases selectivity due to the unique chemical interactions that occur between an ion and neutral gas phase molecules. It is thus imperative to bring the parameters influencing the chemical interactions under control and find ways to exploit them in order to improve the analytical utility of the device. In this paper we describe three important areas that need consideration in order to stabilize and capitalize on the chemical processes that dominate a DMS separation. The first involves means of controlling the dynamic equilibrium of the clustering reactions with high concentrations of specific reagents. The second area involves a means to deal with the unwanted heterogeneous cluster ion populations emitted from the electrospray ionization process that degrade resolution and sensitivity. The third involves fine control of parameters that affect the fundamental collision processes, temperature and pressure. PMID:20065515

Emotion Perception from Face, Voice, and Touch: Comparisons and Convergence

PubMed Central

Schirmer, Annett; Adolphs, Ralph

2017-01-01

Historically, research on emotion perception has focused on facial expressions, and findings from this modality have come to dominate our thinking about other modalities. Here, we examine emotion perception through a wider lens by comparing facial with vocal and tactile processing. We review stimulus characteristics and ensuing behavioral and brain responses, and show that audition and touch do not simply duplicate visual mechanisms. Each modality provides a distinct input channel and engages partly non-overlapping neuroanatomical systems with different processing specializations (e.g., specific emotions versus affect). Moreover, processing of signals across the different modalities converges, first into multi- and later into amodal representations that enable holistic emotion judgments. PMID:28173998

Vegetation disturbance and maintenance of diversity in intermittently flooded Carolina Bays in South Carolina

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

Kirkman, L.K.; Sharitz, R.R.

1994-02-01

The authors manipulated the fire regime and soil disturbance in four grass-dominated Carolina bay wetlands during a prolonged drought period and examined vegetation composition and cover within dominant vegetation types prior to and after treatments. The authors used the seedling emergence technique to determine the role of the seed bank in the recovery process. Burning did not affect richness, evenness, or diversity (all vegetation types combined); however, soil tillage increased diversity, including both evenness and richness. Percent similarity of the vegetation before and after disturbance was greater in the burning treatment than in the tillage treatment, probably due to greatermore » disruption of the rhizomes of the perennial vegetation by tillage. Vegetation types varied in degree of recovery, although dominance was not altered by either treatment. Several native fugitive species increased following disturbance, indicating that species coexistence in these Carolina bay wetlands depends on the life history characteristics of residual vegetation, as well as that of seed bank species.« less

The importance of subsurface geology for water source and vegetation communities in Cherokee Marsh, Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kurtz, A.M.; Bahr, J.M.; Carpenter, Q.J.; Hunt, R.J.

2007-01-01

Restoration of disturbed wetland systems is an important component of wetland mitigation, yet uncertainty remains about how hydrologic processes affect biologic processes and wetlands patterns. To design more effective restoration strategies and re-establish native plant communities in disturbed wetlands, it is imperative to understand undisturbed systems. A site within Cherokee Marsh located in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, contains a relatively undisturbed area of wetland consisting of plant communities common within the prairie landscape including a fen, sedge meadow, and shallow marsh. These distinct communities are found within an area of minimal topographic relief, yet transitions from one community to the next occur over short distances. This study sought to characterize the geologic, hydrologic, and chemical gradients associated with these shifts in vegetation to gain insight into the factors controlling the spatial differences in dominant plant species, which could be critical for restoration success. Vegetation analyses revealed a transition of dominant sedge species, which appeared to correspond to changes in hydrology from a ground-water dominated to a surface-water dominated system (as determined by water isotopes). Along the same vegetation transect, subsurface coring results show a heterogeneous composition of peat and till with lateral and vertical variations in stratigraphy, which relates to variability in ground-water discharge as evidenced by hydroperiods and stable isotope composition. Applications of this type of approach throughout the glaciated terrains of the midwestern and northeastern United States and Canada can improve future wetland restoration and management. ?? 2007, The Society of Wetland Scientists.

A novel IMPDH1 mutation (Arg231Pro) in a family with a severe form of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa.

PubMed

Grover, Sandeep; Fishman, Gerald A; Stone, Edwin M

2004-10-01

To define ophthalmic findings in a family with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa and a novel IMPDH1 gene mutation. Genetic and observational family study. Sixteen affected members of a family with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Ophthalmic examination, including best-corrected visual acuity (VA), slit-lamp biomicroscopy, direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy, Goldmann kinetic perimetry, and electroretinography were performed. Deoxyribonucleic acid single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis was done. Abnormal polymerase chain reaction products identified by SSCP analysis were sequenced bidirectionally. All affected patients had the onset of night blindness within the first decade of life. Ocular findings were characterized by diffuse retinal pigmentary degenerative changes, marked restriction of peripheral visual fields, severe loss of VA, nondetectable electroretinography amplitudes, and a high frequency of posterior subcapsular lens opacities. Affected members were observed to harbor a novel IMPDH1 gene mutation. A novel IMPDH1 gene mutation (Arg231Pro) was associated with a severe form of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Families affected with a severe form of this genetic subtype should be investigated for a mutation in the IMPDH1 gene.

Biocrusts modulate warming and rainfall exclusion effects on soil respiration in a semi-arid grassland

PubMed Central

Escolar, Cristina; Maestre, Fernando T.; Rey, Ana

2015-01-01

Soil surface communities composed of cyanobacteria, algae, mosses, liverworts, fungi, bacteria and lichens (biocrusts) largely affect soil respiration in dryland ecosystems. Climate change is expected to have large effects on biocrusts and associated ecosystem processes. However, few studies so far have experimentally assessed how expected changes in temperature and rainfall will affect soil respiration in biocrust-dominated ecosystems. We evaluated the impacts of biocrust development, increased air temperature and decreased precipitation on soil respiration dynamics during dry (2009) and wet (2010) years, and investigated the relative importance of soil temperature and moisture as environmental drivers of soil respiration, in a semiarid grassland from central Spain. Soil respiration rates were significantly lower in the dry than during the wet year, regardless of biocrust cover. Warming increased soil respiration rates, but this response was only significant in biocrust-dominated areas (> 50% biocrust cover). Warming also increased the temperature sensitivity (Q10 values) of soil respiration in biocrust-dominated areas, particularly during the wet year. The combination of warming and rainfall exclusion had similar effects in low biocrust cover areas. Our results highlight the importance of biocrusts as a modulator of soil respiration responses to both warming and rainfall exclusion, and indicate that they must be explicitly considered when evaluating soil respiration responses to climate change in drylands. PMID:25914428

Paternity and Dominance Loss in Male Breeders: The Cost of Helpers in a Cooperatively Breeding Mammal

PubMed Central

Lardy, Sophie; Cohas, Aurélie; Desouhant, Emmanuel; Tafani, Marion; Allainé, Dominique

2012-01-01

Paternity insurance and dominance tenure length are two important components of male reproductive success, particularly in species where reproduction is highly skewed towards a few individuals. Identifying the factors affecting these two components is crucial to better understand the pattern of variation in reproductive success among males. In social species, the social context (i.e. group size and composition) is likely to influence the ability of males to secure dominance and to monopolize reproduction. Most studies have analyzed the factors affecting paternity insurance and dominance tenure separately. We use a long term data set on Alpine marmots to investigate the effect of the number of subordinate males on both paternity insurance and tenure of dominant males. We show that individuals which are unable to monopolize reproduction in their family groups in the presence of many subordinate males are likely to lose dominance the following year. We also report that dominant males lose body mass in the year they lose both paternity and dominance. Our results suggest that controlling many subordinate males is energetically costly for dominant males, and those unable to support this cost lose the control over both reproduction and dominance. A large number of subordinate males in social groups is therefore costly for dominant males in terms of fitness. PMID:22272236

Seed storage conditions change the germination pattern of clonal growth plants in Mediterranean salt marshes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Espinar, J.L.; Garcia, L.V.; Clemente, L.

2005-01-01

The effect of salinity level and extended exposure to different salinity and flooding conditions on germination patterns of three saltmarsh clonal growth plants (Juncus subulatus, Scirpus litoralis, and S. maritimus) was studied. Seed exposure to extended flooding and saline conditions significantly affected the outcome of the germination process in a different, though predictable, way for each species, after favorable conditions for germination were restored. Tolerance of the germination process was related to the average salinity level measured during the growth/germination season at sites where established individuals of each species dominated the species cover. No relationship was found between salinity tolerance of the germination process and seed response to extended exposure to flooding and salinity conditions. The salinity response was significantly related to the conditions prevailing in the habitats of the respective species during the unfavorable (nongrowth/nongermination) season. Our results indicate that changes in salinity and hydrology while seeds are dormant affect the outcome of the seed-bank response, even when conditions at germination are identical. Because these environmental-history-dependent responses differentially affect seed germination, seedling density, and probably sexual recruitment in the studied and related species, these influences should be considered for wetland restoration and management.

Emotion disrupts neural activity during selective attention in psychopathy

PubMed Central

Spielberg, Jeffrey M.; Heller, Wendy; Herrington, John D.; Engels, Anna S.; Warren, Stacie L.; Crocker, Laura D.; Sutton, Bradley P.; Miller, Gregory A.

2013-01-01

Dimensions of psychopathy are theorized to be associated with distinct cognitive and emotional abnormalities that may represent unique neurobiological risk factors for the disorder. This hypothesis was investigated by examining whether the psychopathic personality dimensions of fearless-dominance and impulsive-antisociality moderated neural activity and behavioral responses associated with selective attention and emotional processing during an emotion-word Stroop task in 49 adults. As predicted, the dimensions evidenced divergent selective-attention deficits and sensitivity to emotional distraction. Fearless-dominance was associated with disrupted attentional control to positive words, and activation in right superior frontal gyrus mediated the relationship between fearless-dominance and errors to positive words. In contrast, impulsive-antisociality evidenced increased behavioral interference to both positive and negative words and correlated positively with recruitment of regions associated with motivational salience (amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula), emotion regulation (temporal cortex, superior frontal gyrus) and attentional control (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). Individuals high on both dimensions had increased recruitment of regions related to attentional control (temporal cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex), response preparation (pre-/post-central gyri) and motivational value (orbitofrontal cortex) in response to negative words. These findings provide evidence that the psychopathy dimensions represent dual sets of risk factors characterized by divergent dysfunction in cognitive and affective processes. PMID:22210673

Emotion disrupts neural activity during selective attention in psychopathy.

PubMed

Sadeh, Naomi; Spielberg, Jeffrey M; Heller, Wendy; Herrington, John D; Engels, Anna S; Warren, Stacie L; Crocker, Laura D; Sutton, Bradley P; Miller, Gregory A

2013-03-01

Dimensions of psychopathy are theorized to be associated with distinct cognitive and emotional abnormalities that may represent unique neurobiological risk factors for the disorder. This hypothesis was investigated by examining whether the psychopathic personality dimensions of fearless-dominance and impulsive-antisociality moderated neural activity and behavioral responses associated with selective attention and emotional processing during an emotion-word Stroop task in 49 adults. As predicted, the dimensions evidenced divergent selective-attention deficits and sensitivity to emotional distraction. Fearless-dominance was associated with disrupted attentional control to positive words, and activation in right superior frontal gyrus mediated the relationship between fearless-dominance and errors to positive words. In contrast, impulsive-antisociality evidenced increased behavioral interference to both positive and negative words and correlated positively with recruitment of regions associated with motivational salience (amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, insula), emotion regulation (temporal cortex, superior frontal gyrus) and attentional control (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). Individuals high on both dimensions had increased recruitment of regions related to attentional control (temporal cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex), response preparation (pre-/post-central gyri) and motivational value (orbitofrontal cortex) in response to negative words. These findings provide evidence that the psychopathy dimensions represent dual sets of risk factors characterized by divergent dysfunction in cognitive and affective processes.

Seasonal hyporheic dynamics control coupled microbiology and geochemistry in Colorado River sediments

DOE PAGES

Danczak, Robert E.; Sawyer, Audrey H.; Williams, Kenneth H.; ...

2016-12-03

Riverbed microbial communities play an oversized role in many watershed ecosystem functions, including the processing of organic carbon, cycling of nitrogen, and alterations to metal mobility. The structure and activity of microbial assemblages depend in part on geochemical conditions set by river-groundwater exchange or hyporheic exchange. In order to assess how seasonal changes in river-groundwater mixing affect these populations in a snowmelt-dominated fluvial system, vertical sediment and pore water profiles were sampled at three time points at one location in the hyporheic zone of the Colorado River and analyzed by using geochemical measurements, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and ecological modeling.more » Oxic river water penetrated deepest into the subsurface during peak river discharge, while under base flow conditions, anoxic groundwater dominated shallower depths. Over a 70 cm thick interval, riverbed sediments were therefore exposed to seasonally fluctuating redox conditions and hosted microbial populations statistically different from those at both shallower and deeper locations. Additionally, microbial populations within this zone were shown to be the most dynamic across sampling time points, underlining the critical role that hyporheic mixing plays in constraining microbial abundances. Given such mixing effects, we anticipate that future changes in river discharge in mountainous, semiarid western U.S. watersheds may affect microbial community structure and function in riverbed environments, with potential implications for biogeochemical processes in riparian regions.« less

Seasonal hyporheic dynamics control coupled microbiology and geochemistry in Colorado River sediments

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

Danczak, Robert E.; Sawyer, Audrey H.; Williams, Kenneth H.

Riverbed microbial communities play an oversized role in many watershed ecosystem functions, including the processing of organic carbon, cycling of nitrogen, and alterations to metal mobility. The structure and activity of microbial assemblages depend in part on geochemical conditions set by river-groundwater exchange or hyporheic exchange. In order to assess how seasonal changes in river-groundwater mixing affect these populations in a snowmelt-dominated fluvial system, vertical sediment and pore water profiles were sampled at three time points at one location in the hyporheic zone of the Colorado River and analyzed by using geochemical measurements, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and ecological modeling.more » Oxic river water penetrated deepest into the subsurface during peak river discharge, while under base flow conditions, anoxic groundwater dominated shallower depths. Over a 70 cm thick interval, riverbed sediments were therefore exposed to seasonally fluctuating redox conditions and hosted microbial populations statistically different from those at both shallower and deeper locations. Additionally, microbial populations within this zone were shown to be the most dynamic across sampling time points, underlining the critical role that hyporheic mixing plays in constraining microbial abundances. Given such mixing effects, we anticipate that future changes in river discharge in mountainous, semiarid western U.S. watersheds may affect microbial community structure and function in riverbed environments, with potential implications for biogeochemical processes in riparian regions.« less

Seasonal hyporheic dynamics control coupled microbiology and geochemistry in Colorado River sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danczak, Robert E.; Sawyer, Audrey H.; Williams, Kenneth H.; Stegen, James C.; Hobson, Chad; Wilkins, Michael J.

2016-12-01

Riverbed microbial communities play an oversized role in many watershed ecosystem functions, including the processing of organic carbon, cycling of nitrogen, and alterations to metal mobility. The structure and activity of microbial assemblages depend in part on geochemical conditions set by river-groundwater exchange or hyporheic exchange. To assess how seasonal changes in river-groundwater mixing affect these populations in a snowmelt-dominated fluvial system, vertical sediment and pore water profiles were sampled at three time points at one location in the hyporheic zone of the Colorado River and analyzed by using geochemical measurements, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and ecological modeling. Oxic river water penetrated deepest into the subsurface during peak river discharge, while under base flow conditions, anoxic groundwater dominated shallower depths. Over a 70 cm thick interval, riverbed sediments were therefore exposed to seasonally fluctuating redox conditions and hosted microbial populations statistically different from those at both shallower and deeper locations. Additionally, microbial populations within this zone were shown to be the most dynamic across sampling time points, underlining the critical role that hyporheic mixing plays in constraining microbial abundances. Given such mixing effects, we anticipate that future changes in river discharge in mountainous, semiarid western U.S. watersheds may affect microbial community structure and function in riverbed environments, with potential implications for biogeochemical processes in riparian regions.

Numerical studies of convective heat transfer in an inclined semiannular enclosure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Lin-Wen; Yung, Chain-Nan; Chai, An-Ti; Rashidnia, Nasser

1989-01-01

Natural convection heat transfer in a two-dimensional differentially heated semiannular enclosure is studied. The enclosure is isothermally heated and cooled at the inner and outer walls, respectively. A commercial software based on the SIMPLER algorithm was used to simulate the velocity and temperature profiles. Various parameters that affect the momentum and heat transfer processes were examined. These parameters include the Rayleigh number, Prandtl number, radius ratio, and the angle of inclination. A flow regime extending from conduction-dominated to convection-dominated flow was examined. The computed results of heat transfer are presented as a function of flow parameter and geometric factors. It is found that the heat transfer rate attains a minimum when the enclosure is tilted about +50 deg with respect to the gravitational direction.

The pleasures and pains of distinct self-construals: the role of interdependence in regulatory focus.

PubMed

Lee, A Y; Aaker, J L; Gardner, W L

2000-06-01

Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between self-regulatory processes that focus on promotion and prevention strategies for goal pursuit. Five studies provide support for the hypothesis that these strategies differ for individuals with distinct self-construals. Specifically, individuals with a dominant independent self-construal were predicted to place more emphasis on promotion-focused information, and those with a dominant interdependent self-construal on prevention-focused information. Support for this hypothesis was obtained for participants who scored high versus low on the Self-Construal Scale, participants who were presented with an independent versus interdependent situation, and participants from a Western versus Eastern culture. The influence of interdependence on regulatory focus was observed in both importance ratings of information and affective responses consistent with promotion or prevention focus.

How right is left? Handedness modulates neural responses during morphosyntactic processing.

PubMed

Grey, Sarah; Tanner, Darren; van Hell, Janet G

2017-08-15

Most neurocognitive models of language processing generally assume population-wide homogeneity in the neural mechanisms used during language comprehension, yet individual differences are known to influence these neural mechanisms. In this study, we focus on handedness as an individual difference hypothesized to affect language comprehension. Left-handers and right-handers with a left-handed blood relative, or familial sinistrals, are hypothesized to process language differently than right-handers with no left-handed relatives (Hancock and Bever, 2013; Ullman, 2004). Yet, left-handers are often excluded from neurocognitive language research, and familial sinistrality in right-handers is often not taken into account. In the current study we used event-related potentials to test morphosyntactic processing in three groups that differed in their handedness profiles: left-handers (LH), right-handers with a left-handed blood relative (RH FS+), and right-handers with no reported left-handed blood relative (RH FS-; both right-handed groups were previously tested by Tanner and Van Hell, 2014). Results indicated that the RH FS- group showed only P600 responses during morphosyntactic processing whereas the LH and RH FS+ groups showed biphasic N400-P600 patterns. N400s in LH and RH FS+ groups are consistent with theories that associate left-handedness (self or familial) with increased reliance on lexical/semantic mechanisms during language processing. Inspection of individual-level results illustrated that variability in RH FS- individuals' morphosyntactic processing was remarkably low: most individuals were P600-dominant. In contrast, LH and RH FS+ individuals showed marked variability in brain responses, which was similar for both groups: half of individuals were N400-dominant and half were P600-dominant. Our findings have implications for neurocognitive models of language that have been largely formulated around data from only right-handers without accounting for familial sinistrality or including left-handers, and moreover highlight that there is systematic - and often ignored - variability in language processing outcomes in neurologically healthy populations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The role of sports in making sense of the process of growing old.

PubMed

Eman, Josefin

2012-12-01

Drawing on interviews with 22 athletically active old men and women, the study explores whether and how the practice of sports can affect old adults' processes of sense-making about old age and the process of growing old in ways that challenge dominant constructions about old age. Thereto, the study will explore the possible impact of gender in this process. The results show that men and women who continue to practice competitive sports into old age make sense of the process of growing old by focusing primarily on their physical abilities, at least in the context of sports. This focus on capability age allows them partly, although not completely, to challenge the usual thinking about old age and the process of growing old. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Treatment of oil sands process-affected water using moving bed biofilm reactors: With and without ozone pretreatment.

PubMed

Shi, Yijing; Huang, Chunkai; Rocha, Ketley Costa; El-Din, Mohamed Gamal; Liu, Yang

2015-09-01

Two moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) were operated to treat raw (untreated) and 30 mg/L ozone-treated oil sands process-affected water (OSPW). After 210 days, the MBBR process showed 18.3% of acid-extractable fraction (AEF) and 34.8% of naphthenic acids (NAs) removal, while the ozonation combined MBBR process showed higher removal of AEF (41.0%) and NAs (78.8%). Biodegradation of raw and ozone treated OSPW showed similar performance. UPLC/HRMS analysis showed a highest NAs removal efficiency with a carbon number of 14 and a -Z number of 4. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) showed thicker biofilms in the raw OSPW MBBR (97 ± 5 μm) than in the ozonated OSPW MBBR (71 ± 12 μm). Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) results showed higher abundance of gene copies of total bacteria and nitrogen removal relevant bacteria in the ozonated OSPW MBBR, but no significant difference was found. MiSeq sequencing showed Proteobacteria, Nitrospirae, and Acidobacteria were dominant. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Polysemy in Sentence Comprehension: Effects of Meaning Dominance

PubMed Central

Foraker, Stephani; Murphy, Gregory L.

2012-01-01

Words like church are polysemous, having two related senses (a building and an organization). Three experiments investigated how polysemous senses are represented and processed during sentence comprehension. On one view, readers retrieve an underspecified, core meaning, which is later specified more fully with contextual information. On another view, readers retrieve one or more specific senses. In a reading task, context that was neutral or biased towards a particular sense preceded a polysemous word. Disambiguating material consistent with only one sense followed, in a second sentence (Experiment 1) or the same sentence (Experiments 2 & 3). Reading the disambiguating material was faster when it was consistent with that context, and dominant senses were committed to more strongly than subordinate senses. Critically, following neutral context, the continuation was read more quickly when it selected the dominant sense, and the degree of sense dominance partially explained the reading time advantage. Similarity of the senses also affected reading times. Across experiments, we found that sense selection may not be completed immediately following a polysemous word but is completed at a sentence boundary. Overall, the results suggest that readers select an individual sense when reading a polysemous word, rather than a core meaning. PMID:23185103

From pairwise to group interactions in games of cyclic dominance.

PubMed

Szolnoki, Attila; Vukov, Jeromos; Perc, Matjaž

2014-06-01

We study the rock-paper-scissors game in structured populations, where the invasion rates determine individual payoffs that govern the process of strategy change. The traditional version of the game is recovered if the payoffs for each potential invasion stem from a single pairwise interaction. However, the transformation of invasion rates to payoffs also allows the usage of larger interaction ranges. In addition to the traditional pairwise interaction, we therefore consider simultaneous interactions with all nearest neighbors, as well as with all nearest and next-nearest neighbors, thus effectively going from single pair to group interactions in games of cyclic dominance. We show that differences in the interaction range affect not only the stationary fractions of strategies but also their relations of dominance. The transition from pairwise to group interactions can thus decelerate and even revert the direction of the invasion between the competing strategies. Like in evolutionary social dilemmas, in games of cyclic dominance, too, the indirect multipoint interactions that are due to group interactions hence play a pivotal role. Our results indicate that, in addition to the invasion rates, the interaction range is at least as important for the maintenance of biodiversity among cyclically competing strategies.

Embodied Cognition and the Direct Induction of Affect as a Compliment to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy †

PubMed Central

Pietrzak, Tania; Lohr, Christina; Jahn, Beverly; Hauke, Gernot

2018-01-01

We make the case for the possible integration of affect experience induced via embodiment techniques with CBT for the treatment of emotional disorders in clinical settings. Theoretically we propose a possible integration of cognitive behavioural theory, neuroscience, embodied cognition and important processes of client change outcomes such as the therapeutic alliance to enhance client outcomes. We draw from evidence of bidirectional effects between embodiment modes of bottom-up (sensory-motor simulations giving rise to important basis of knowledge) and top-down (abstract mental representations of knowledge) processes such as CBT in psychotherapy. The paper first describes the dominance and success of CBT for the treatment of a wide range of clinical disorders. Some limitations of CBT, particularly for depression are also outlined. There is a growing body of evidence for the added value of experiential affect-focused interventions combined with CBT. Evidence for the embodied model of cognition and emotion is reviewed. Advantages of embodiment is highlighted as a complimentary process model to deepen the intensity and valence of affective experience. It is suggested that an integrated embodiment approach with CBT enhances outcomes across a wide range of emotional disorders. A description of our embodiment method integrated with CBT for inducing affective experience, emotional regulation, acceptance of unwanted emotions and emotional mastery is given. Finally, the paper highlights the importance of the therapeutic alliance as a critical component of the change process. The paper ends with a case study highlighting some clinical strategies that may aid the therapist to integrate embodiment techniques in CBT that can further explore in future research on affective experience in CBT for a wider range of clinical disorders. PMID:29495377

Embodied Cognition and the Direct Induction of Affect as a Compliment to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

PubMed

Pietrzak, Tania; Lohr, Christina; Jahn, Beverly; Hauke, Gernot

2018-02-26

We make the case for the possible integration of affect experience induced via embodiment techniques with CBT for the treatment of emotional disorders in clinical settings. Theoretically we propose a possible integration of cognitive behavioural theory, neuroscience, embodied cognition and important processes of client change outcomes such as the therapeutic alliance to enhance client outcomes. We draw from evidence of bidirectional effects between embodiment modes of bottom-up (sensory-motor simulations giving rise to important basis of knowledge) and top-down (abstract mental representations of knowledge) processes such as CBT in psychotherapy. The paper first describes the dominance and success of CBT for the treatment of a wide range of clinical disorders. Some limitations of CBT, particularly for depression are also outlined. There is a growing body of evidence for the added value of experiential affect-focused interventions combined with CBT. Evidence for the embodied model of cognition and emotion is reviewed. Advantages of embodiment is highlighted as a complimentary process model to deepen the intensity and valence of affective experience. It is suggested that an integrated embodiment approach with CBT enhances outcomes across a wide range of emotional disorders. A description of our embodiment method integrated with CBT for inducing affective experience, emotional regulation, acceptance of unwanted emotions and emotional mastery is given. Finally, the paper highlights the importance of the therapeutic alliance as a critical component of the change process. The paper ends with a case study highlighting some clinical strategies that may aid the therapist to integrate embodiment techniques in CBT that can further explore in future research on affective experience in CBT for a wider range of clinical disorders.

Mechanism of the surface runoff generation processes of a permafrost watershed in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Genxu, W.

2017-12-01

There is a lack of knowledge about how to quantify runoff generation and the hydrological processes operating in permafrost catchments on permafrost-dominant catchments. To understand the mechanism of runoff generation processes in permafrost catchments, a typical headwater catchment with continuous permafrost on the Tibetan Plateau was measured. A new approach is presented in this study to account for runoff processes on the spring thawing period and autumn freezing period, when runoff generation clearly differs from that of non-permafrost catchments. This approach introduces a soil temperature-based water saturation function and modifies the soil water storage curve with a soil temperature threshold. The results show that surface soil thawing induced saturation excess runoff and subsurface interflow account for approximately 66-86% and 14-34% of total spring runoff, respectively, and the soil temperature significantly affects the runoff generation pattern, the runoff composition and the runoff coefficient with the enlargement of the active layer. The suprapermafrost groundwater discharge decreases exponentially with active layer frozen processes during autumn runoff recession, whereas the ratio of groundwater discharge to total runoff and the direct surface runoff coefficient simultaneously increase. The bidirectional freezing of the active layer controls and changes the autumn runoff processes and runoff composition. The new approach could be used to further develop hydrological models of cold regions dominated by permafrost.

Does positive affect broaden and negative affect narrow attentional scope? A new answer to an old question.

PubMed

Huntsinger, Jeffrey R

2012-11-01

The current research challenges the common view that positive affect and negative affect generate a broadened or narrowed attentional focus, respectively. Contrary to this view, two studies found that the link between affect and attentional focus as measured by a traditional flanker task (Study 1) and a modified flanker task (Study 2) reflects whatever focus is momentarily dominant. Further, in these studies when neither focus was dominant, the link between affect and attentional focus vanished. These results demonstrate that, like reward, positive affect and negative affect are not dedicated to a particular broadened or narrowed attentional scope but rather provide embodied information about the value of currently accessible attentional orientations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Affective Norms for 4900 Polish Words Reload (ANPW_R): Assessments for Valence, Arousal, Dominance, Origin, Significance, Concreteness, Imageability and, Age of Acquisition

PubMed Central

Imbir, Kamil K.

2016-01-01

In studies that combine understanding of emotions and language, there is growing demand for good-quality experimental materials. To meet this expectation, a large number of 4905 Polish words was assessed by 400 participants in order to provide a well-established research method for everyone interested in emotional word processing. The Affective Norms for Polish Words Reloaded (ANPW_R) is designed as an extension to the previously introduced the ANPW dataset and provides assessments for eight different affective and psycholinguistic measures of Valence, Arousal, Dominance, Origin, Significance, Concreteness, Imageability, and subjective Age of Acquisition. The ANPW_R is now the largest available dataset of affective words for Polish, including affective scores that have not been measured in any other dataset (concreteness and age of acquisition scales). Additionally, the ANPW_R allows for testing hypotheses concerning dual-mind models of emotion and activation (origin and subjective significance scales). Participants in the current study assessed all 4905 words in the list within 1 week, at their own pace in home sessions, using eight different Self-assessment Manikin (SAM) scales. Each measured dimension was evaluated by 25 women and 25 men. The ANPW_R norms appeared to be reliable in split-half estimation and congruent with previous normative studies in Polish. The quadratic relation between valence and arousal was found to be in line with previous findings. In addition, nine other relations appeared to be better described by quadratic instead of linear function. The ANPW_R provides well-established research materials for use in psycholinguistic and affective studies in Polish-speaking samples. PMID:27486423

A missense mutation in the arginine-vasopressin neurophysin-II gene causes autosomal dominant neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus in a Chinese family.

PubMed

Ye, Dan; Dong, FengQin; Lu, WeiQin; Zhang, Zhe; Lu, XunLiang; Li, ChengJiang; Liu, YanNing

2013-06-01

Familial neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus, an autosomal dominant disorder, is mostly caused by mutations in the genes that encode AVP or its intracellular binding protein, neurophysin-II. The mutations lead to aberrant preprohormone processing and progressive destruction of AVP-secreting cells, which gradually manifests a progressive polyuria and polydipsia during early childhood, and a disorder of water homeostasis. We characterized the clinical and biochemical features, and sequenced the AVP neurophysin-II(AVP-NPII) gene of the affected individuals with autosomal dominant neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus(ADNDI)to determine whether this disease was genetically determined. We obtained the histories of eight affected and four unaffected family individuals. The diagnosis of ADNDI was established using a water deprivation test and exogenous AVP administration. For molecular analysis, genomic DNA was extracted and the AVP-NPII gene was amplified using polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. The eight affected individuals showed different spectra of age of onsets (7-15 years) and urine volumes (132-253 ml/kg/24 h). All affected individuals responded to vasopressin administration, with a resolution of symptoms and an increase in urine osmolality by more than 50%. The characteristic hyperintense signal in the posterior pituitary on T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was absent in six family members and present in one. Sequencing analysis revealed a missense heterozygous mutation 1516G > T (Gly17Val) in exon 2 of the AVP-NPII gene among the ADNDI individuals. We identified a missense mutation in the AVP-NPII gene and the same mutation showed different spectra of age of onsets and urine volumes in a new Chinese family with ADNDI. The mutation may provide a molecular basis for understanding the characteristics of NPII and add to our knowledge of the pathogenesis of ADNDI, which would allow the presymptomatic diagnosis of asymptomatic subjects. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Tale of Two Deltas: Permafrost Dynamics on the Colville and Yukon-Kuskokwim Deltas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jorgenson, T.; Shur, Y.

2016-12-01

Arctic deltas are the predominant coastline in the Arctic and are greatly modified by permafrost aggradation and degradation. In comparing the Colville Delta (CD) along the Beaufort Sea (MAAT -11 °C) with the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (YKD) along the Bering Sea (MAAT -1 °C), permafrost characteristics respond to differences in climate, flooding, salinization, and vegetation-soil development. Both deltas have an inner zone dominated by fluvial processes and nonsaline ecosystems, and an outer zone affected by both tidal and fluvial processes and has salt-affected ecosystems. In the CD, closed taliks develop under the deeper channels and surface permafrost starts to form on channel bars where water is <2 m deep. During early floodplain development with active sedimentation, syngenetic permafrost is climate driven, ice-poor, and dominated by pore and lenticular cryostructures. On inactive floodplains, where flooding is infrequent and fine-grained sedimentation is greatly diminished, climate-driven, ecosystem-modified permafrost aggrades upward in response to thickening organics and thinning active layer. Here a 2-m-thick intermediate layer develops that is ice-rich and dominated by reticulate and ataxitic cryostructures. On the oldest abandoned floodplains, permafrost becomes sufficiently ice rich from segregated and wedge ice that thermokarst lakes develop. Large storm surges up to 3 m amsl, such as those in 1963 and 1970, have caused extensive salt killed and ice-wedge degradation. Thus, thermokarst is abundant even at low temperatures. In the YKD, permafrost develops only during late floodplain stages in response to sphagnum accumulation and creates extensive permafrost plateaus that rise 1 m above the floodplain. This ecosystem-driven permafrost is epigenetic, ice-poor, and dominated by pore and lenticular cryostructures. Permafrost develops around existing water bodies, but thermokarst lakes are uncommon. Large storm surges up to 3.5 m amsl, such those in 1974 and 2005, damaged vegetation along the plateaus margins and created shallow thermokarst moats. In response to expected climate warming of 4-6 °C over the next century, permafrost dynamics in the CD should remain similar to current conditions, while in the YKD permafrost likely will be eliminated in the next 30-50 years.

Temperature and doping dependent changes in surface recombination during UV illumination of (Al)GaN bulk layers

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

Netzel, Carsten; Jeschke, Jörg; Brunner, Frank

2016-09-07

We have studied the effect of continuous illumination with above band gap energy on the emission intensity of polar (Al)GaN bulk layers during the photoluminescence experiments. A temporal change in emission intensity on time scales from seconds to hours is based on the modification of the semiconductor surface states and the surface recombination by the incident light. The temporal behavior of the photoluminescence intensity varies with the parameters such as ambient atmosphere, pretreatment of the surface, doping density, threading dislocation density, excitation power density, and sample temperature. By means of temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements, we observed that at least two differentmore » processes at the semiconductor surface affect the non-radiative surface recombination during illumination. The first process leads to an irreversible decrease in photoluminescence intensity and is dominant around room temperature, and the second process leads to a delayed increase in intensity and becomes dominant around T = 150–200 K. Both processes become slower when the sample temperature decreases from room temperature. They cease for T < 150 K. Stable photoluminescence intensity at arbitrary sample temperature was obtained by passivating the analyzed layer with an epitaxially grown AlN cap layer.« less

Large wood recruitment and redistribution in headwater streams in the southern Oregon Coast Range, U.S.A

USGS Publications Warehouse

May, Christine L.; Gresswell, Robert E.

2003-01-01

Large wood recruitment and redistribution mechanisms were investigated in a 3.9 km2 basin with an old-growth Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco and Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg. forest, located in the southern Coast Range of Oregon. Stream size and topographic setting strongly influenced processes that delivered wood to the channel network. In small colluvial channels draining steep hillslopes, processes associated with slope instability dominated large wood recruitment. In the larger alluvial channel, windthrow was the dominant recruitment process from the local riparian area. Consequently, colluvial channels received wood from further upslope than the alluvial channel. Input and redistribution processes influenced piece location relative to the direction of flow and thus, affected the functional role of wood. Wood recruited directly from local hillslopes and riparian areas was typically positioned adjacent to the channel or spanned its full width, and trapped sediment and wood in transport. In contrast, wood that had been fluvially redistributed was commonly located in mid-channel positions and was associated with scouring of the streambed and banks. Debris flows were a unique mechanism for creating large accumulations of wood in small streams that lacked the capacity for abundant fluvial transport of wood, and for transporting wood that was longer than the bank-full width of the channel.

Cerebral dominance for speech and handwriting of patients with cortical vascular malformations.

PubMed

Sass, K J; Buchanan, C P; Westerveld, M; Spencer, D D

1994-10-01

Lateralization of speech dominance was established using amobarbital for 22 patients with vascular malformations lateralized to the left cerebral hemisphere. Patients' histories were negative for clinically evident neurological events (e.g., seizures or hemorrhage) prior to adulthood. The vascular lesions were categorized as high flow arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) (n = 4), low flow AVMs (n = 6), cavernous hemangiomas (n = 10), or venous angiomas (n = 2) by reviewing angiographic findings and surgical pathology for those patients whose lesions were excised. Three of the malformations encroached upon primary language areas. The frequency of right hemisphere speech dominance was not significantly elevated in comparison with the normal population, even though the incidence of nonright-handedness was. Ninety-five percent of the patients were left hemisphere dominant for speech: only one patient, with a parietal lobe cavernous hemangioma, was found to be right hemisphere dominant for speech. This malformation did not involve the primary language areas. These findings suggest that vascular malformations do not affect speech dominance as readily as other neurological diseases, but frequently affect manual dominance.

Dynamics of soil CO 2 efflux under varying atmospheric CO 2 concentrations reveal dominance of slow processes

Treesearch

Dohyoung Kim; Ram Oren; James S. Clark; Sari Palmroth; A. Christopher Oishi; Heather R. McCarthy; Chris A. Maier; Kurt Johnsen

2017-01-01

We evaluated the effect on soil CO2 efflux (FCO2) of sudden changes in photosynthetic rates by altering CO2 concentration in plots subjected to +200 ppmv for 15 years. Five-day intervals of exposure to elevated CO2 (eCO2) ranging 1.0–1.8 times ambient did not affect FCO2. FCO2 did not decrease until 4 months after termination of the long-term eCO2 treatment, longer...

Parental mosaicism is a pitfall in preimplantation genetic diagnosis of dominant disorders.

PubMed

Steffann, Julie; Michot, Caroline; Borghese, Roxana; Baptista-Fernandes, Marcia; Monnot, Sophie; Bonnefont, Jean-Paul; Munnich, Arnold

2014-05-01

PCR amplification on single cells is prone to allele drop-out (PCR failure of one allele), a cause of misdiagnosis in preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Owing to this error risk, PGD usually relies on both direct and indirect genetic analyses. When the affected partner is the sporadic case of a dominant disorder, building haplotypes require spermatozoon or polar body testing prior to PGD, but these procedures are cost and time-consuming. A couple requested PGD because the male partner suffered from a dominant Cowden syndrome (CS). He was a sporadic case, but the couple had a first unaffected child and the non-mutated paternal haplotype was tentatively deduced. The couple had a second spontaneous pregnancy and the fetus was found to carry the at-risk haplotype but not the PTEN mutation. The mutation was present in blood from the affected father, but at low level, confirming the somatic mosaicism. Ignoring the possibility of mosaicism in the CS patient would have potentially led to selection of affected embryos. This observation emphasizes the risk of PGD in families at risk to transmit autosomal-dominant disorder when the affected partner is a sporadic case.

Photoluminescence study of carbon dots from ginger and galangal herbs using microwave technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isnaeni; Rahmawati, I.; Intan, R.; Zakaria, M.

2018-03-01

Carbon dots are new type of fluorescent nanoparticle that can be synthesis easily from natural sources. We have synthesized carbon dots from ginger and galangal herbs using microwave technique and studied their optical properties. We synthesized colloidal carbon dots in water solvent by varying microwave processing time. UV-Vis absorbance, photoluminescence, time-resolved photoluminescence, and transmission electron microscope were utilized to study properties of carbon dots. We found that microwave processing time significantly affect optical properties of synthesized carbon dots. UV-Vis absorbance spectra and time-resolved photoluminescence results show that luminescent of carbon dots is dominated by recombination process from n-π* surface energy level. With further development, these carbon dots are potential for several applications.

SRSF2 mutations drive oncogenesis by activating a global program of aberrant alternative splicing in hematopoietic cells.

PubMed

Liang, Yang; Tebaldi, Toma; Rejeski, Kai; Joshi, Poorval; Stefani, Giovanni; Taylor, Ashley; Song, Yuanbin; Vasic, Radovan; Maziarz, Jamie; Balasubramanian, Kunthavai; Ardasheva, Anastasia; Ding, Alicia; Quattrone, Alessandro; Halene, Stephanie

2018-06-01

Recurrent mutations in the splicing factor SRSF2 are associated with poor clinical outcomes in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Their high frequency suggests these mutations drive oncogenesis, yet the molecular explanation for this process is unclear. SRSF2 mutations could directly affect pre-mRNA splicing of a vital gene product; alternatively, a whole network of gene products could be affected. Here we determine how SRSF2 mutations globally affect RNA binding and splicing in vivo using HITS-CLIP. Remarkably, the majority of differential binding events do not translate into alternative splicing of exons with SRSF2 P95H binding sites. Alternative splice alterations appear to be dominated by indirect effects. Importantly, SRSF2 P95H targets are enriched in RNA processing and splicing genes, including several members of the hnRNP and SR families of proteins, suggesting a "splicing-cascade" phenotype wherein mutation of a single splicing factor leads to widespread modifications in multiple RNA processing and splicing proteins. We show that splice alteration of HNRNPA2B1, a splicing factor differentially bound and spliced by SRSF2 P95H , impairs hematopoietic differentiation in vivo. Our data suggests a model whereby the recurrent mutations in splicing factors set off a cascade of gene regulatory events that together affect hematopoiesis and drive cancer.

3D Shape Perception in Posterior Cortical Atrophy: A Visual Neuroscience Perspective

PubMed Central

Gillebert, Céline R.; Schaeverbeke, Jolien; Bastin, Christine; Neyens, Veerle; Bruffaerts, Rose; De Weer, An-Sofie; Seghers, Alexandra; Sunaert, Stefan; Van Laere, Koen; Versijpt, Jan; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu; Salmon, Eric; Todd, James T.; Orban, Guy A.

2015-01-01

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a rare focal neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by progressive visuoperceptual and visuospatial deficits, most often due to atypical Alzheimer's disease (AD). We applied insights from basic visual neuroscience to analyze 3D shape perception in humans affected by PCA. Thirteen PCA patients and 30 matched healthy controls participated, together with two patient control groups with diffuse Lewy body dementia (DLBD) and an amnestic-dominant phenotype of AD, respectively. The hierarchical study design consisted of 3D shape processing for 4 cues (shading, motion, texture, and binocular disparity) with corresponding 2D and elementary feature extraction control conditions. PCA and DLBD exhibited severe 3D shape-processing deficits and AD to a lesser degree. In PCA, deficient 3D shape-from-shading was associated with volume loss in the right posterior inferior temporal cortex. This region coincided with a region of functional activation during 3D shape-from-shading in healthy controls. In PCA patients who performed the same fMRI paradigm, response amplitude during 3D shape-from-shading was reduced in this region. Gray matter volume in this region also correlated with 3D shape-from-shading in AD. 3D shape-from-disparity in PCA was associated with volume loss slightly more anteriorly in posterior inferior temporal cortex as well as in ventral premotor cortex. The findings in right posterior inferior temporal cortex and right premotor cortex are consistent with neurophysiologically based models of the functional anatomy of 3D shape processing. However, in DLBD, 3D shape deficits rely on mechanisms distinct from inferior temporal structural integrity. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by progressive visuoperceptual dysfunction and most often an atypical presentation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) affecting the ventral and dorsal visual streams rather than the medial temporal system. We applied insights from fundamental visual neuroscience to analyze 3D shape perception in PCA. 3D shape-processing deficits were affected beyond what could be accounted for by lower-order processing deficits. For shading and disparity, this was related to volume loss in regions previously implicated in 3D shape processing in the intact human and nonhuman primate brain. Typical amnestic-dominant AD patients also exhibited 3D shape deficits. Advanced visual neuroscience provides insight into the pathogenesis of PCA that also bears relevance for vision in typical AD. PMID:26377458

Water-use-efficiency of annual-dominated and bunchgrass-dominated savanna intercanopy space

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In semiarid savannas, annual or perennial grasses intercanopy dominance may alter partitioning of ecosystem water and carbon fluxes. This could affect ecosystem water use efficiency, WUEe, the ratio of net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange (NEE) to evapotranspiration (ET), an important metric of te...

Steroid 5α-reductase 2 deficiency leads to reduced dominance-related and impulse-control behaviors.

PubMed

Mosher, Laura J; Godar, Sean C; Morissette, Marc; McFarlin, Kenneth M; Scheggi, Simona; Gambarana, Carla; Fowler, Stephen C; Di Paolo, Thérèse; Bortolato, Marco

2018-05-01

The enzyme steroid 5α-reductase 2 (5αR2) catalyzes the conversion of testosterone into the potent androgen 5α-dihydrotestosterone. Previous investigations showed that 5αR2 is expressed in key brain areas for emotional and socio-affective reactivity, yet the role of this enzyme in behavioral regulation remains mostly unknown. Here, we profiled the behavioral characteristics of 5αR2 heterozygous (HZ) and knockout (KO) mice, as compared with their wild-type (WT) littermates. While male 5αR2 KO mice displayed no overt alterations in motoric, sensory, information-processing and anxiety-related behaviors, they exhibited deficits in neurobehavioral correlates of dominance (including aggression against intruders, mating, and tube dominance) as well as novelty-seeking and risk-taking responses. Furthermore, male 5αR2 KO mice exhibited reduced D 2 -like dopamine receptor binding in the shell of the nucleus accumbens - a well-recognized molecular signature of social dominance. Collectively, these results suggest that 5αR2 is involved in the establishment of social dominance and its behavioral manifestations. Further studies are warranted to understand how the metabolic actions of 5αR2 on steroid profile may be implicated in social ranking, impulse control, and the modulation of dopamine receptor expression in the nucleus accumbens. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of two dominance manipulations on the stress response: Cognitive and embodied influences.

PubMed

Deuter, Christian Eric; Schächinger, Hartmut; Best, Daniel; Neumann, Roland

2016-09-01

In response to stress, physiological and mental resources are allocated towards those systems that are needed for rapid responding in terms of fight or flight. On the other hand, long term regenerative processes such as growth, digestion and reproduction are attenuated. Levels of the sex steroid testosterone are reduced in participants that suffer from chronic stress. However, beyond its role for reproductive functions, testosterone plays an important role in the regulation of social status and dominance, testosterone levels increase during competition or when the social status is challenged. The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a laboratory stressor with a substantial social-evaluative component, can provoke an increase in salivary testosterone levels. Still, so far the reported findings regarding acute stress effects on testosterone are equivocal, possibly due to moderating effects. In this study we experimentally manipulated social dominance in 56 healthy participants (28m) by two independent manipulations (body posture and cognitive role taking) and subjected them to the TSST. We analyzed salivary testosterone and cortisol levels as dependent measures for the endocrine stress response. The role taking manipulation interacted with the testosterone response: we found the strongest increase when participants had to put themselves in a dominant (vs. submissive) role. Our results suggest that transient changes in testosterone levels during stress reflect a response to status threat that is affected by social dominance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Seasonality and partitioning of root allocation to rhizosphere soils in a midlatitude forest

DOE PAGES

Abramoff, Rose Z.; Finzi, Adrien C.

2016-11-09

Root growth, respiration, and exudation are important components of biogeochemical cycles, yet data on the timing and partitioning of C to these processes are rare. As a result, it is unclear how the seasonal timing, or phenology, of root C allocation is affected by the phenology of its component processes: growth of root tissue, respiration, mycorrhizal allocation, and exudation of labile C. The objective of this study was to estimate the phenology and partitioning of C belowground across the growing season in a midlatitude forest located in central Massachusetts. Fine and coarse root production, respiration, and exudation were summed tomore » estimate a monthly total belowground C flux (TBCF) in two hardwood stands dominated by Quercus rubra and Fraxinus americana, respectively, and one conifer stand dominated by Tsuga canadensis. We observed significant stand-level differences in belowground C flux and the partitioning of C to root growth, mycorrhizal fungi, exudation, and respiration. The deciduous hardwood stands allocated C belowground earlier in the season compared to the conifer-dominated stand. The deciduous stands also allocated a greater proportion of TBCF to root growth compared to the conifer-dominated hemlock (T. canadensis) stand. Of the three stands, red oak partitioned the greatest proportion of TBCF (~50%) to root growth, and hemlock the least. Low root growth rates in hemlock may be related to the arrival and spread of the invasive pest, hemlock wooly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), during the study period. Ongoing research in the eastern hemlock stand may yet determine how whole tree allocation and partitioning change as a result of this infestation.« less

Seasonality and partitioning of root allocation to rhizosphere soils in a midlatitude forest

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

Abramoff, Rose Z.; Finzi, Adrien C.

Root growth, respiration, and exudation are important components of biogeochemical cycles, yet data on the timing and partitioning of C to these processes are rare. As a result, it is unclear how the seasonal timing, or phenology, of root C allocation is affected by the phenology of its component processes: growth of root tissue, respiration, mycorrhizal allocation, and exudation of labile C. The objective of this study was to estimate the phenology and partitioning of C belowground across the growing season in a midlatitude forest located in central Massachusetts. Fine and coarse root production, respiration, and exudation were summed tomore » estimate a monthly total belowground C flux (TBCF) in two hardwood stands dominated by Quercus rubra and Fraxinus americana, respectively, and one conifer stand dominated by Tsuga canadensis. We observed significant stand-level differences in belowground C flux and the partitioning of C to root growth, mycorrhizal fungi, exudation, and respiration. The deciduous hardwood stands allocated C belowground earlier in the season compared to the conifer-dominated stand. The deciduous stands also allocated a greater proportion of TBCF to root growth compared to the conifer-dominated hemlock (T. canadensis) stand. Of the three stands, red oak partitioned the greatest proportion of TBCF (~50%) to root growth, and hemlock the least. Low root growth rates in hemlock may be related to the arrival and spread of the invasive pest, hemlock wooly adelgid (Adelges tsugae), during the study period. Ongoing research in the eastern hemlock stand may yet determine how whole tree allocation and partitioning change as a result of this infestation.« less

Geomorphic Processes and Remote Sensing Signatures of Alluvial Fans in the Kun Lun Mountains, China

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Farr, Tom G.; Chadwick, Oliver A.

1996-01-01

The timing of alluvial deposition in arid and semiarid areas is tied to land-surface instability caused by regional climate changes. The distribution pattern of dated deposits provides maps of regional land-surface response to past climate change. Sensitivity to differences in surface roughness and composition makes remote sensing techniques useful for regional mapping of alluvial deposits. Radar images from the Spaceborne Radar Laboratory and visible wavelength images from the French SPOT satellite were used to determine remote sensing signatures of alluvial fan units for an area in the Kun Lun Mountains of northwestern China. These data were combined with field observations to compare surface processes and their effects on remote sensing signatures in northwestern China and the southwestern United States. Geomorphic processes affecting alluvial fans in the two areas include aeolian deposition, desert varnish, and fluvial dissection. However, salt weathering is a much more important process in the Kun Lun than in the southwestern United States. This slows the formation of desert varnish and prevents desert pavement from forming. Thus the Kun Lun signatures are characteristic of the dominance of salt weathering, while signatures from the southwestern United States are characteristic of the dominance of desert varnish and pavement processes. Remote sensing signatures are consistent enough in these two regions to be used for mapping fan units over large areas.

The Organization of Collective Group Movements in Wild Barbary Macaques (Macaca sylvanus): Social Structure Drives Processes of Group Coordination in Macaques

PubMed Central

Seltmann, Anne; Majolo, Bonaventura

2013-01-01

Social animals have to coordinate activities and collective movements to benefit from the advantages of group living. Animals in large groups maintain cohesion by self-organization processes whereas in smaller groups consensus decisions can be reached. Where consensus decisions are relevant leadership may emerge. Variation in the organization of collective movements has been linked to variation in female social tolerance among macaque species ranging from despotic to egalitarian. Here we investigated the processes underlying group movements in a wild macaque species characterized by a degree of social tolerance intermediate to previously studied congeneric species. We focused on processes before, during and after the departure of the first individual. To this end, we observed one group of wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in the Middle Atlas, Morocco using all-occurrence behaviour sampling of 199 collective movements. We found that initiators of a collective movement usually chose the direction in which more individuals displayed pre-departure behavior. Dominant individuals contributed to group movements more than subordinates, especially juveniles, measured as frequencies of successful initiations and pre-departure behaviour. Joining was determined by affiliative relationships and the number of individuals that already joined the movement (mimetism). Thus, in our study group partially shared consensus decisions mediated by selective mimetism seemed to be prevalent, overall supporting the suggestion that a species’ social style affects the organization of group movements. As only the most tolerant species show equally shared consensus decisions whereas in others the decision is partially shared with a bias to dominant individuals the type of consensus decisions seems to follow a stepwise relation. Joining order may also follow a stepwise, however opposite, relationship, because dominance only determined joining in highly despotic, but not in intermediate and tolerant species. PMID:23805305

Emissions of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) throughout wastewater biosolids processing.

PubMed

Fisher, R M; Le-Minh, N; Alvarez-Gaitan, J P; Moore, S J; Stuetz, R M

2018-03-01

Volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) are important contributors to nuisance odours from the processing of wastewater sludge and biosolids. However, emission characteristics are difficult to predict as they vary between sites and are likely to be affected by biosolids processing configuration and operation. VSC emissions from biosolids throughout 6 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Sydney, Australia were examined in this study. H 2 S was the VSC found at the highest concentrations throughout the WWTPs, with concentrations ranging from 7 to 39,000μg/m 3 . Based on odour activity values (OAVs), H 2 S was typically also the most dominant odorant. However, methyl mercaptan (MeSH) was also found to be sensorially important in the biosolids storage areas given its low odour detection threshold (ODT). High concentrations of VOSCs such as MeSH in the storage areas were shown to potentially interfere with H 2 S measurements using the Jerome 631-X H 2 S sensor and these interferences should be investigated in more detail. The VSC composition of emissions varied throughout biosolids processing as well as between the different WWTPs. The primary sludge and biosolids after dewatering and during storage, were key stages producing nuisance odours as judged by the determination of OAVs. Cluster analysis was used to group sampling locations according to VSC emissions. These groups were typically the dewatered and stored biosolids, primary and thickened primary sludge, and waste activated sludge (WAS), thickened WAS, digested sludge and centrate. Effects of biosolids composition and process operation on VSC emissions were evaluated using best subset regression. Emissions from the primary sludge were dominated by H 2 S and appeared to be affected by the presence of organic matter, pH and Fe content. While volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSCs) emitted from the produced biosolids were shown to be correlated with upstream factors such as Fe and Al salt dosing, anaerobic digestion and dewatering parameters. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rainfall changes affect the algae dominance in tank bromeliad ecosystems.

PubMed

Pires, Aliny Patricia Flauzino; Leal, Juliana da Silva; Peeters, Edwin T H M

2017-01-01

Climate change and biodiversity loss have been reported as major disturbances in the biosphere which can trigger changes in the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems. Nonetheless, empirical studies demonstrating how both factors interact to affect shifts in aquatic ecosystems are still unexplored. Here, we experimentally test how changes in rainfall distribution and litter diversity affect the occurrence of the algae-dominated condition in tank bromeliad ecosystems. Tank bromeliads are miniature aquatic ecosystems shaped by the rainwater and allochthonous detritus accumulated in the bases of their leaves. Here, we demonstrated that changes in the rainfall distribution were able to reduce the chlorophyll-a concentration in the water of bromeliad tanks affecting significantly the occurrence of algae-dominated conditions. On the other hand, litter diversity did not affect the algae dominance irrespective to the rainfall scenario. We suggest that rainfall changes may compromise important self-reinforcing mechanisms responsible for maintaining high levels of algae on tank bromeliads ecosystems. We summarized these results into a theoretical model which suggests that tank bromeliads may show two different regimes, determined by the bromeliad ability in taking up nutrients from the water and by the total amount of light entering the tank. We concluded that predicted climate changes might promote regime shifts in tropical aquatic ecosystems by shaping their structure and the relative importance of other regulating factors.

Rainfall changes affect the algae dominance in tank bromeliad ecosystems

PubMed Central

Pires, Aliny Patricia Flauzino; Leal, Juliana da Silva; Peeters, Edwin T. H. M.

2017-01-01

Climate change and biodiversity loss have been reported as major disturbances in the biosphere which can trigger changes in the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems. Nonetheless, empirical studies demonstrating how both factors interact to affect shifts in aquatic ecosystems are still unexplored. Here, we experimentally test how changes in rainfall distribution and litter diversity affect the occurrence of the algae-dominated condition in tank bromeliad ecosystems. Tank bromeliads are miniature aquatic ecosystems shaped by the rainwater and allochthonous detritus accumulated in the bases of their leaves. Here, we demonstrated that changes in the rainfall distribution were able to reduce the chlorophyll-a concentration in the water of bromeliad tanks affecting significantly the occurrence of algae-dominated conditions. On the other hand, litter diversity did not affect the algae dominance irrespective to the rainfall scenario. We suggest that rainfall changes may compromise important self-reinforcing mechanisms responsible for maintaining high levels of algae on tank bromeliads ecosystems. We summarized these results into a theoretical model which suggests that tank bromeliads may show two different regimes, determined by the bromeliad ability in taking up nutrients from the water and by the total amount of light entering the tank. We concluded that predicted climate changes might promote regime shifts in tropical aquatic ecosystems by shaping their structure and the relative importance of other regulating factors. PMID:28422988

Caring and Dominance Affect Participants’ Perceptions and Behaviors During a Virtual Medical Visit

PubMed Central

Hall, Judith A.; Roter, Debra L.

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND Physician communication style affects patients’ perceptions and behaviors. Two aspects of physician communication style, caring and dominance, are often related in that a high caring physician is usually not dominant and vice versa. OBJECTIVE This research was aimed at testing the sole or joint impact of physician caring and physician dominance on participant perceptions and behavior during the medical visit. PARTICIPANTS AND DESIGN In an experimental design, analog patients (APs) (167 university students) interacted with a computer-generated virtual physician on a computer screen. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions (physician communication style: high dominance and low caring, high dominance and high caring, low dominance and low caring, or low dominance and high caring). The APs’ verbal and nonverbal behavior during the visit as well as their perception of the virtual physician were assessed. RESULTS Analog patients were able to distinguish dominance and caring dimensions of the virtual physician’s communication. Moreover, APs provided less medical information, spoke less, and agreed more when interacting with a high-dominant compared to a low-dominant physician. They also talked more about emotions and were quicker in taking their turn to speak when interacting with a high-caring compared to a low-caring physician. CONCLUSIONS Dominant and caring physicians elicit different emotional and behavioral responses from APs. Physician dominance reduces patient engagement in the medical dialog and produces submissiveness, whereas physician caring increases patient emotionality. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11606-008-0512-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. PMID:18259824

Trace fossils, sedimentary facies and parasequence architecture from the Lower Cretaceous Mulichinco Formation of Argentina: The role of fair-weather waves in shoreface deposits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wesolowski, Lindsey J. N.; Buatois, Luis A.; Mángano, M. Gabriela; Ponce, Juan José; Carmona, Noelia B.

2018-05-01

Shorefaces can display strong facies variability and integration of sedimentology and ichnology provides a high-resolution model to identify variations among strongly storm-dominated (high energy), moderately storm-affected (intermediate energy), and weakly storm-affected (low energy) shoreface deposits. In addition, ichnology has proved to be of help to delineate parasequences as trace-fossil associations are excellent indicators of environmental conditions which typically change along the depositional profile. Shallow-marine deposits and associated ichnofaunas from the Mulichinco Formation (Valanginian, Lower Cretaceous) in Puerta Curaco, Neuquén Basin, western Argentina, were analyzed to evaluate stress factors on shoreface benthos and parasequence architecture. During storm-dominated conditions, the Skolithos Ichnofacies prevails within the offshore transition and lower shoreface represented by assemblages dominated by Thalassinoides isp. and Ophiomorpha irregulaire. Under weakly storm-affected conditions, the Cruziana Ichnofacies is recognized, characterized by assemblages dominated by Thalassinoides isp. and Gyrochorte comosa in the offshore transition, and by Gyrochorte comosa within the lower shoreface. Storm-influenced conditions yield wider ichnologic variability, showing elements of both ichnofacies. Storm influence on sedimentation is affected by both allogenic (e.g. tectonic subsidence, sea-level, and sediment influx) and autogenic (e.g. hydrodynamic) controls at both parasequence and intra-parasequence scales. Four distinct types of parasequences were recognized, strongly storm-dominated, moderately storm-affected, moderately storm-affected - strongly fair-weather reworked, and weakly storm-affected, categorized based on parasequence architectural variability derived from varying degrees of storm and fair-weather wave influence. The new type of shoreface described here, the moderately storm-affected - strongly fair-weather reworked shoreface, features storm deposits reworked thoroughly by fair-weather waves. During fair-weather wave reworking, elements of the Cruziana Ichnofacies are overprinted upon relict elements of the Skolithos Ichnofacies from previous storm induced deposition. This type of shoreface, commonly overlooked in past literature, expands our understanding of the sedimentary dynamics and stratigraphic architecture in a shoreface susceptible to various parasequence and intra-parasequence scale degrees of storm and fair-weather wave influence.

Factors Influencing Bacterial Diversity and Community Composition in Municipal Drinking Waters in the Ohio River Basin, USA

PubMed Central

Stanish, Lee F.; Hull, Natalie M.; Robertson, Charles E.; Harris, J. Kirk; Stevens, Mark J.; Spear, John R.; Pace, Norman R.

2016-01-01

The composition and metabolic activities of microbes in drinking water distribution systems can affect water quality and distribution system integrity. In order to understand regional variations in drinking water microbiology in the upper Ohio River watershed, the chemical and microbiological constituents of 17 municipal distribution systems were assessed. While sporadic variations were observed, the microbial diversity was generally dominated by fewer than 10 taxa, and was driven by the amount of disinfectant residual in the water. Overall, Mycobacterium spp. (Actinobacteria), MLE1-12 (phylum Cyanobacteria), Methylobacterium spp., and sphingomonads were the dominant taxa. Shifts in community composition from Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria to Firmicutes and Gammaproteobacteria were associated with higher residual chlorine. Alpha- and beta-diversity were higher in systems with higher chlorine loads, which may reflect changes in the ecological processes structuring the communities under different levels of oxidative stress. These results expand the assessment of microbial diversity in municipal distribution systems and demonstrate the value of considering ecological theory to understand the processes controlling microbial makeup. Such understanding may inform the management of municipal drinking water resources. PMID:27362708

Probing Electron-Phonon Interaction through Two-Photon Interference in Resonantly Driven Semiconductor Quantum Dots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reigue, Antoine; Iles-Smith, Jake; Lux, Fabian; Monniello, Léonard; Bernard, Mathieu; Margaillan, Florent; Lemaitre, Aristide; Martinez, Anthony; McCutcheon, Dara P. S.; Mørk, Jesper; Hostein, Richard; Voliotis, Valia

2017-06-01

We investigate the temperature dependence of photon coherence properties through two-photon interference (TPI) measurements from a single quantum dot (QD) under resonant excitation. We show that the loss of indistinguishability is related only to the electron-phonon coupling and is not affected by spectral diffusion. Through these measurements and a complementary microscopic theory, we identify two independent separate decoherence processes, both of which are associated with phonons. Below 10 K, we find that the relaxation of the vibrational lattice is the dominant contribution to the loss of TPI visibility. This process is non-Markovian in nature and corresponds to real phonon transitions resulting in a broad phonon sideband in the QD emission spectra. Above 10 K, virtual phonon transitions to higher lying excited states in the QD become the dominant dephasing mechanism, this leads to a broadening of the zero phonon line, and a corresponding rapid decay in the visibility. The microscopic theory we develop provides analytic expressions for the dephasing rates for both virtual phonon scattering and non-Markovian lattice relaxation.

The abundance of homoeologue transcripts is disrupted by hybridization and is partially restored by genome doubling in synthetic hexaploid wheat.

PubMed

Hao, Ming; Li, Aili; Shi, Tongwei; Luo, Jiangtao; Zhang, Lianquan; Zhang, Xuechuan; Ning, Shunzong; Yuan, Zhongwei; Zeng, Deying; Kong, Xingchen; Li, Xiaolong; Zheng, Hongkun; Lan, Xiujin; Zhang, Huaigang; Zheng, Youliang; Mao, Long; Liu, Dengcai

2017-02-10

The formation of an allopolyploid is a two step process, comprising an initial wide hybridization event, which is later followed by a whole genome doubling. Both processes can affect the transcription of homoeologues. Here, RNA-Seq was used to obtain the genome-wide leaf transcriptome of two independent Triticum turgidum × Aegilops tauschii allotriploids (F1), along with their spontaneous allohexaploids (S1) and their parental lines. The resulting sequence data were then used to characterize variation in homoeologue transcript abundance. The hybridization event strongly down-regulated D-subgenome homoeologues, but this effect was in many cases reversed by whole genome doubling. The suppression of D-subgenome homoeologue transcription resulted in a marked frequency of parental transcription level dominance, especially with respect to genes encoding proteins involved in photosynthesis. Singletons (genes where no homoeologues were present) were frequently transcribed at both the allotriploid and allohexaploid plants. The implication is that whole genome doubling helps to overcome the phenotypic weakness of the allotriploid, restoring a more favourable gene dosage in genes experiencing transcription level dominance in hexaploid wheat.

Factors Influencing Bacterial Diversity and Community Composition in Municipal Drinking Waters in the Ohio River Basin, USA.

PubMed

Stanish, Lee F; Hull, Natalie M; Robertson, Charles E; Harris, J Kirk; Stevens, Mark J; Spear, John R; Pace, Norman R

2016-01-01

The composition and metabolic activities of microbes in drinking water distribution systems can affect water quality and distribution system integrity. In order to understand regional variations in drinking water microbiology in the upper Ohio River watershed, the chemical and microbiological constituents of 17 municipal distribution systems were assessed. While sporadic variations were observed, the microbial diversity was generally dominated by fewer than 10 taxa, and was driven by the amount of disinfectant residual in the water. Overall, Mycobacterium spp. (Actinobacteria), MLE1-12 (phylum Cyanobacteria), Methylobacterium spp., and sphingomonads were the dominant taxa. Shifts in community composition from Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria to Firmicutes and Gammaproteobacteria were associated with higher residual chlorine. Alpha- and beta-diversity were higher in systems with higher chlorine loads, which may reflect changes in the ecological processes structuring the communities under different levels of oxidative stress. These results expand the assessment of microbial diversity in municipal distribution systems and demonstrate the value of considering ecological theory to understand the processes controlling microbial makeup. Such understanding may inform the management of municipal drinking water resources.

Overexpression of Cdk5 or non-phosphorylatable retinoblastoma protein protects septal neurons from oxygen-glucose deprivation.

PubMed

Panickar, Kiran S; Nonner, Doris; White, Michael G; Barrett, John N

2008-09-01

Activation of cyclin dependent kinases (Cdks) contributes to neuronal death following ischemia. We used oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) in septal neuronal cultures to test for possible roles of cell cycle proteins in neuronal survival. Increased cdc2-immunoreactive neurons were observed at 24 h after the end of 5 h OGD. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) or GFP along with a wild type or dominant negative form of the retinoblastoma protein (Rb), or cyclin-dependent kinase5 (Cdk5), were overexpressed using plasmid constructs. Following OGD, when compared to controls, neurons expressing both GFP and dominant negative Rb, RbDeltaK11, showed significantly less damage using microscopy imaging. Overexpression of Rb-wt did not affect survival. Surprisingly, overexpression of Cdk5-wild type significantly protected neurons from process disintegration but Cdk5T33, a dominant negative Cdk5, gave little or no protection. Thus phosphorylation of the cell cycle regulator, Rb, contributes to death in OGD in septal neurons but Cdk5 can have a protective role.

Semantic priming in the lexical decision task: roles of prospective prime-generated expectancies and retrospective semantic matching.

PubMed

Neely, J H; Keefe, D E; Ross, K L

1989-11-01

In semantic priming paradigms for lexical decisions, the probability that a word target is semantically related to its prime (the relatedness proportion) has been confounded with the probability that a target is a nonword, given that it is unrelated to its prime (the nonword ratio). This study unconfounded these two probabilities in a lexical decision task with category names as primes and with high- and low-dominance exemplars as targets. Semantic priming for high-dominance exemplars was modulated by the relatedness proportion and, to a lesser degree, by the nonword ratio. However, the nonword ratio exerted a stronger influence than did the relatedness proportion on semantic priming for low-dominance exemplars and on the nonword facilitation effect (i.e., the superiority in performance for nonword targets that follow a category name rather than a neutral XXX prime). These results suggest that semantic priming for lexical decisions is affected by both a prospective prime-generated expectancy, modulated by the relatedness proportion, and a retrospective target/prime semantic matching process, modulated by the nonword ratio.

Comparative lifecycle assessment of alternatives for waste management in Rio de Janeiro - Investigating the influence of an attributional or consequential approach.

PubMed

Bernstad Saraiva, A; Souza, R G; Valle, R A B

2017-10-01

The environmental impacts from three management alternatives for organic fraction of municipal solid waste were compared using lifecycle assessment methodology. The alternatives (sanitary landfill, selective collection of organic waste for anaerobic digestion and anaerobic digestion after post-separation of organic waste) were modelled applying an attributional as well as consequential approach, in parallel with the aim of identifying if and how these approaches can affect results and conclusions. The marginal processes identified in the consequential modelling were in general associated with higher environmental impacts than average processes modelled with an attributional approach. As all investigated waste management alternatives result in net-substitution of energy and in some cases also materials, the consequential modelling resulted in lower absolute environmental impacts in five of the seven environmental impact categories assessed in the study. In three of these, the chosen modelling approach can alter the hierarchy between compared waste management alternatives. This indicates a risk of underestimating potential benefits from efficient energy recovery from waste when applying attributional modelling in contexts in which electricity provision historically has been dominated by technologies presenting rather low environmental impacts, but where projections point at increasing impacts from electricity provision in coming years. Thus, in the present case study, the chosen approach affects both absolute and relative results from the comparison. However, results were largely related to the processes identified as affected by investigated changes, and not merely the chosen modelling approach. The processes actually affected by future choices between different waste management alternatives are intrinsically uncertain. The study demonstrates the benefits of applying different assumptions regarding the processes affected by investigated choices - both for provision of energy and materials substituted by waste management processes in consequential LCA modelling, in order to present outcomes that are relevant as decision support within the waste management sector. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of graphite particle size and content on the formation mechanism of detonation polycrystalline diamond

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong, Y.; Cao, Y.; Liu, R.; Shang, S. Y.; Huang, F. L.

2018-03-01

The formation mechanism of detonation polycrystalline diamond (DPD) generated from the detonation of a mixed RDX/graphite explosive is investigated. It is found experimentally that the DPD conversion rate decreases with both the content and the particle size of the graphite. Moreover, the particle sizes of the generated DPD powder are analyzed, which shows that, with the decrease in the graphite particle size, the mean number diameter of DPD decreases, but the mean volume diameter increases. In addition, with the help of scanning electron microscopy, it is observed that the in situ phase change occurs in the graphite particles, by which the small particles combine to form numerous large DPD particles. Based on both the experimental data and the classical ZND detonation model, we divide such a DPD synthesis process into two stages: In the first stage, the in situ phase change from graphite to diamond is dominant, supplemented by some coalescence growth at high pressure and temperature, which is affected mainly by the detonation performance of the mixed explosive under consideration. In the second stage, the graphitization of DPD caused by the residual heat is dominant, which is affected mainly by the unloading rate of the particle temperature.

Treatment of raw and ozonated oil sands process-affected water under decoupled denitrifying anoxic and nitrifying aerobic conditions: a comparative study.

PubMed

Xue, Jinkai; Zhang, Yanyan; Liu, Yang; Gamal El-Din, Mohamed

2016-11-01

Batch experiments were performed to evaluate biodegradation of raw and ozonated oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) under denitrifying anoxic and nitrifying aerobic conditions for 33 days. The results showed both the anoxic and aerobic conditions are effective in degrading OSPW classical and oxidized naphthenic acids (NAs) with the aerobic conditions demonstrating higher removal efficiency. The reactors under nitrifying aerobic condition reduced the total classical NAs of raw OSPW by 69.1 %, with better efficiency for species of higher hydrophobicity. Compared with conventional aerobic reactor, nitrifying aerobic condition substantially shortened the NA degradation half-life to 16 days. The mild-dose ozonation remarkably accelerated the subsequent aerobic biodegradation of classical NAs within the first 14 days, especially for those with long carbon chains. Moreover, the ozone pretreatment enhanced the biological removal of OSPW classical NAs by leaving a considerably lower final residual concentration of 10.4 mg/L under anoxic conditions, and 5.7 mg/L under aerobic conditions. The combination of ozonation and nitrifying aerobic biodegradation removed total classical NAs by 76.5 % and total oxy-NAs (O3-O6) by 23.6 %. 454 Pyrosequencing revealed that microbial species capable of degrading recalcitrant hydrocarbons were dominant in all reactors. The most abundant genus in the raw and ozonated anoxic reactors was Thauera (~56 % in the raw OSPW anoxic reactor, and ~65 % in the ozonated OSPW anoxic reactor); whereas Rhodanobacter (~40 %) and Pseudomonas (~40 %) dominated the raw and ozonated aerobic reactors, respectively. Therefore, the combination of mild-dose ozone pretreatment and subsequent biological process could be a competent choice for OSPW treatment.

Monaural Congenital Deafness Affects Aural Dominance and Degrades Binaural Processing

PubMed Central

Tillein, Jochen; Hubka, Peter; Kral, Andrej

2016-01-01

Cortical development extensively depends on sensory experience. Effects of congenital monaural and binaural deafness on cortical aural dominance and representation of binaural cues were investigated in the present study. We used an animal model that precisely mimics the clinical scenario of unilateral cochlear implantation in an individual with single-sided congenital deafness. Multiunit responses in cortical field A1 to cochlear implant stimulation were studied in normal-hearing cats, bilaterally congenitally deaf cats (CDCs), and unilaterally deaf cats (uCDCs). Binaural deafness reduced cortical responsiveness and decreased response thresholds and dynamic range. In contrast to CDCs, in uCDCs, cortical responsiveness was not reduced, but hemispheric-specific reorganization of aural dominance and binaural interactions were observed. Deafness led to a substantial drop in binaural facilitation in CDCs and uCDCs, demonstrating the inevitable role of experience for a binaural benefit. Sensitivity to interaural time differences was more reduced in uCDCs than in CDCs, particularly at the hemisphere ipsilateral to the hearing ear. Compared with binaural deafness, unilateral hearing prevented nonspecific reduction in cortical responsiveness, but extensively reorganized aural dominance and binaural responses. The deaf ear remained coupled with the cortex in uCDCs, demonstrating a significant difference to deprivation amblyopia in the visual system. PMID:26803166

Monaural Congenital Deafness Affects Aural Dominance and Degrades Binaural Processing.

PubMed

Tillein, Jochen; Hubka, Peter; Kral, Andrej

2016-04-01

Cortical development extensively depends on sensory experience. Effects of congenital monaural and binaural deafness on cortical aural dominance and representation of binaural cues were investigated in the present study. We used an animal model that precisely mimics the clinical scenario of unilateral cochlear implantation in an individual with single-sided congenital deafness. Multiunit responses in cortical field A1 to cochlear implant stimulation were studied in normal-hearing cats, bilaterally congenitally deaf cats (CDCs), and unilaterally deaf cats (uCDCs). Binaural deafness reduced cortical responsiveness and decreased response thresholds and dynamic range. In contrast to CDCs, in uCDCs, cortical responsiveness was not reduced, but hemispheric-specific reorganization of aural dominance and binaural interactions were observed. Deafness led to a substantial drop in binaural facilitation in CDCs and uCDCs, demonstrating the inevitable role of experience for a binaural benefit. Sensitivity to interaural time differences was more reduced in uCDCs than in CDCs, particularly at the hemisphere ipsilateral to the hearing ear. Compared with binaural deafness, unilateral hearing prevented nonspecific reduction in cortical responsiveness, but extensively reorganized aural dominance and binaural responses. The deaf ear remained coupled with the cortex in uCDCs, demonstrating a significant difference to deprivation amblyopia in the visual system. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Sometimes Happy People Focus on the Trees and Sad People Focus on the Forest: Context-Dependent Effects of Mood in Impression Formation

PubMed Central

Hunsinger, Matthew; Isbell, Linda M.; Clore, Gerald L.

2014-01-01

Research indicates that affect influences whether people focus on categorical or behavioral information during impression formation. One explanation is that affect confers its value on whatever cognitive inclinations are most accessible in a given situation. Three studies tested this malleable mood effects hypothesis, predicting that happy moods should maintain and unhappy moods should inhibit situationally dominant thinking styles. Participants completed an impression formation task that included categorical and behavioral information. Consistent with the proposed hypothesis, no fixed relation between mood and processing emerged. Whether happy moods led to judgments reflecting category-level or behavior-level information depended on whether participants were led to focus on the their immediate psychological state (i.e., current affective experience; Studies 1 and 2) or physical environment (i.e., an unexpected odor; Study 3). Consistent with research on socially situated cognition, these results demonstrate that the same affective state can trigger entirely different thinking styles depending on the context. PMID:21957087

Method to study the effect of blend flowability on the homogeneity of acetaminophen.

PubMed

Llusá, Marcos; Pingali, Kalyana; Muzzio, Fernando J

2013-02-01

Excipient selection is key to product development because it affects their processability and physical properties, which ultimately affect the quality attributes of the pharmaceutical product. To study how the flowability of lubricated formulations affects acetaminophen (APAP) homogeneity. The formulations studied here contain one of two types of cellulose (Avicel 102 or Ceollus KG-802), one of three grades of Mallinckrodt APAP (fine, semi-fine, or micronized), lactose (Fast-Flo) and magnesium stearate. These components are mixed in a 300-liter bin blender. Blend flowability is assessed with the Gravitational Displacement Rheometer. APAP homogeneity is assessed with off-line NIR. Excluding blends dominated by segregation, there is a trend between APAP homogeneity and blend flow index. Blend flowability is affected by the type of microcrystalline cellulose and by the APAP grade. The preliminary results suggest that the methodology used in this paper is adequate to study of the effect of blend flow index on APAP homogeneity.

X-linked dominant retinitis pigmentosa in an American family

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

McGuire, R.E.; Daiger, S.P.; Blanton, S.H.

1994-09-01

Retinitis pigmentosa is a genetically heterogeneous disease with autosomal dominant (adRP), autosomal recessive and X-linked forms. At least 3 forms of X-linked retinitis pigmentosa have been reported: RP2 which maps to Xp11.4-p 11.23, RP3 which maps to Xp21.1 and RP6, which maps to Xp21.3-p21.1. The X-linked forms of retinitis pigmentosa are generally considered to be recessive as female carriers are not affected or are much less affected than males. Here we report a five generation American family with X-linked retinitis pigmentosa in which both males and females are significantly affected. The disease locus in this family appears to be distinctmore » from RP2 and RP3. The American family (UTAD054) presents with early-onset retinitis pigmentosa. The family appeared to fit an autosomal dominant pattern; however, linkage testing excluded all known adRP loci. Absence of male-to-male transmission in the pedigree suggested the possibility of X-linked dominant inheritance. Thus we tested six microsatellite markers that map to Xp (DXS987, DXS989, DXS993, DXS999, DXS1003 and DXS1110). Of these, DXS989 showed tight linkage with one allele (199) showing a 100% concordance with disease status. The odds favoring an X-linked dominant mode of inheritance in this family, versus autosomal dominant, are 10{sup 5}:1. In addition, recombinations for DXS999, and dXS1110, the two markers flanking DXS989, were observed in affected individuals. These data map the disease locus in this family to a 9 mb region on the X chromosome between Xp22.11 and Xp21.41. In addition, the recombinant individuals exclude close linkage to RP2 and RP3. The observance of high penetrance in females indicates that this family has X-linked dominant retinitis pigmentosa. We suggest that this mode of inheritance should be considered in other families with dominant retinitis pigmentosa but an absence of male-to-male transmission.« less

Use of the Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) method to interpret late Quaternary tide-dominated successions: A case study from the eastern China coastal plain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xia; Lin, Chun-Ming; Dalrymple, Robert W.; Gao, Shu; Canas, Daniel T.

2018-06-01

We evaluate the applicability of cone penetration testing (CPT), calibrated using adjacent cores, as a tool for the sedimentological and stratigraphic examination of late Quaternary tide-dominated successions in the eastern China coastal plain. The results indicate that the sedimentary facies and sequence-stratigraphic surfaces can be readily distinguished using CPT profiles in the Qiantang River incised-valley system because of their distinctive mechanical behavior. The lithologic character of the various facies, which is controlled mainly by sediment supply, dynamic processes and post-depositional diagenesis, is the key factor affecting how well the CPT technique works. Within this particular macrotidal environment, which is dominated by non-cohesive sand and silt in the tidal channels, the accumulation of fluid mud is rare. Consequently, the tidal-channel deposits exhibit the geotechnical properties of coarse-grained sediments, and can be easily distinguished from the mud-dominated facies. However, in the nearby Changjiang delta system which is characterized by very high suspended-sediment concentrations and an abundance of fine-grained cohesive sediments, the presence of channel-bottom fluid muds makes it difficult to recognize channel deposits, because of the lack of a sharp lithologic contrast at their base. Consequently, the CPT method might not be as universally effective in tide-dominated systems as it appears to be in wave-dominated settings. Care is needed in the interpretation of the results from tide-dominated successions because of the widespread presence of fluid muds, the heterolithic nature of tidal deposits, the rheological similarity between adjacent facies, and the averaging of geotechnical properties between the alternating finer and coarser layers.

Deletion of eIF2β lysine stretches creates a dominant negative that affects the translation and proliferation in human cell line: A tool for arresting the cell growth.

PubMed

Salton, Gabrielle Dias; Laurino, Claudia Cilene Fernandes Correia; Mega, Nicolás Oliveira; Delgado-Cañedo, Andrés; Setterblad, Niclas; Carmagnat, Maryvonnick; Xavier, Ricardo Machado; Cirne-Lima, Elizabeth; Lenz, Guido; Henriques, João Antonio Pêgas; Laurino, Jomar Pereira

2017-08-03

Eukaryote initiation factor 2 subunit β (eIF2β) plays a crucial role in regulation protein synthesis, which mediates the interaction of eIF2 with mRNA. eIF2β contains evolutionarily conserved polylysine stretches in amino-terminal region and a zinc finger motif in the carboxy-terminus. The gene eIF2β was cloned under tetracycline transcription control and the polylysine stretches were deleted by site-directed mutagenesis (eIF2βΔ3K). The plasmid was transfected into HEK 293 TetR cells. These cells were analyzed for their proliferative and translation capacities as well as cell death rate. Experiments were performed using gene reporter assays, western blotting, flow cytometry, cell sorting, cell proliferation assays and confocal immunofluorescence. eIF2βΔ3K affected negatively the protein synthesis, cell proliferation and cell survival causing G2 cell cycle arrest and increased cell death, acting in a negative dominant manner against the native protein. Polylysine stretches are also essential for eIF2β translocated from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, accumulating in the nucleolus and eIF2βΔ3K did not make this translocation. eIF2β is involved in the protein synthesis process and should act in nuclear processes as well. eIF2βΔ3K reduces cell proliferation and causes cell death. Since translation control is essential for normal cell function and survival, the development of drugs or molecules that inhibit translation has become of great interest in the scenario of proliferative disorders. In conclusion, our results suggest the dominant negative eIF2βΔ3K as a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of proliferative disorders and that eIF2β polylysine stretch domains are promising targets for this.

Post-fire vegetation succession in Mediterranean gorse shrublands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Luis, Martin; Raventós, José; González-Hidalgo, José Carlos

2006-07-01

In Western Mediterranean areas, forest fires are frequent in forests established on old croplands where post-fire regeneration is limited to obligate-seeder species. This has resulted in the spread of Mediterranean gorse ( Ulex parviflorus) increasing the risk and severity of fires. The aim of this paper is to test the autosuccessional hypothesis on a Mediterranean gorse shrubland dominated by seeders species. Particular objectives are: a) to analyze the effect of fire on seedling emergence, survival and growth on the main species involved on plant regeneration process. b) to identify changes in the relative abundance of species as consequence of fire by using a before-after experiment. Then, after experimental fires, seedling emergence, survival and growth rates were analyzed for the main species present in the vegetation regeneration process. Our results show that Mediterranean gorse communities are dominated by Fabaceae species (64% of individuals, mainly of Ulex parviflorus). However, our study demonstrates that vegetation regeneration after fire does not display an autosuccessional pattern and is produced a change on dominance from Fabaceae (mainly U. parviflorus) to Cistaceae (mainly C. albidus) species. Cistaceae seedlings (mainly Cistus albidus and Helianthemum marifolium) were the most abundant post-fire (63% of total germination) while species of Fabaceae (including U. parviflorus and Ononis fruticosa) represented 25%, and Lamiaceae (restricted to Rosmarinus officinalis) comprised only 3% of total emergences. Seedling survival did not differ significantly from one species to another (25-30% of initial individuals over 3 years) but seedling growth rates were also higher for Cistaceae than for Fabaceae individuals. Then, after fire, in terms of biomass, Fabaceae presence decreased from 78.7% to 13.1% while Cistaceae increase from 8% to 83.4%. Given that fire frequency, intensity or severity is partially controlled by the composition and structure of the plant community population changes in the main species, could affect the future fire regime and in turn, affect the hydrological, ecological and economic role of a large stretch of forest and woodland areas in western Mediterranean ecosystems.

Drought-induced vegetation shifts in terrestrial ecosystems: The key role of regeneration dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez-Vilalta, Jordi; Lloret, Francisco

2016-09-01

Ongoing climate change is modifying climatic conditions worldwide, with a trend towards drier conditions in most regions. Vegetation will respond to these changes, eventually adjusting to the new climate. It is unclear, however, how close different ecosystems are to climate-related tipping points and, thus, how dramatic these vegetation changes will be in the short- to mid-term, given the existence of strong stabilizing processes. Here, we review the published evidence for recent drought-induced vegetation shifts worldwide, addressing the following questions: (i) what are the necessary conditions for vegetation shifts to occur? (ii) How much evidence of drought-induced vegetation shifts do we have at present and where are they occurring? (iii) What are the main processes that favor/oppose the occurrence of shifts at different ecological scales? (iv) What are the complications in detecting and attributing drought-induced vegetation shifts? (v) What ecological factors can interact with drought to promote shifts or stability? We propose a demographic framework to classify the likely outcome of instances of drought-induced mortality, based upon the survival of adults of potential replacement species and the regeneration of both formerly dominant affected species and potential replacement species. Out of 35 selected case studies only eight were clearly consistent with the occurrence of a vegetation shift (species or biome shift), whereas three corresponded to self-replacements in which the affected, formerly dominant species was able to regenerate after suffering drought-induced mortality. The other 24 cases were classified as uncertain, either due to lack of information or, more commonly, because the initially affected and potential replacement species all showed similar levels of regeneration after the mortality event. Overall, potential vegetation transitions were consistent with more drought-resistant species replacing less resistant ones. However, almost half (44%) of the vegetation trajectories associated to the 35 case studies implied no change in the functional type of vegetation. Of those cases implying a functional type change, the most common one was a transition from tree- to shrub-dominated communities. Overall, evidence for drought-induced vegetation shifts is still limited. In this context, we stress the need for improved, long-term monitoring programs with sufficient temporal resolution. We also highlight the critical importance of regeneration in determining the outcome of drought-induced mortality events, and the crucial role of co-drivers, particularly management. Finally, we illustrate how placing vegetation shifts in a biogeographical and successional context may support progress in our understanding of the underlying processes and the ecosystem-level implications.

Response Ant Colony Optimization of End Milling Surface Roughness

PubMed Central

Kadirgama, K.; Noor, M. M.; Abd Alla, Ahmed N.

2010-01-01

Metal cutting processes are important due to increased consumer demands for quality metal cutting related products (more precise tolerances and better product surface roughness) that has driven the metal cutting industry to continuously improve quality control of metal cutting processes. This paper presents optimum surface roughness by using milling mould aluminium alloys (AA6061-T6) with Response Ant Colony Optimization (RACO). The approach is based on Response Surface Method (RSM) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). The main objectives to find the optimized parameters and the most dominant variables (cutting speed, feedrate, axial depth and radial depth). The first order model indicates that the feedrate is the most significant factor affecting surface roughness. PMID:22294914

Parasitism and the Biodiversity-Functioning Relationship.

PubMed

Frainer, André; McKie, Brendan G; Amundsen, Per-Arne; Knudsen, Rune; Lafferty, Kevin D

2018-04-01

Species interactions can influence ecosystem functioning by enhancing or suppressing the activities of species that drive ecosystem processes, or by causing changes in biodiversity. However, one important class of species interactions - parasitism - has been little considered in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BD-EF) research. Parasites might increase or decrease ecosystem processes by reducing host abundance. Parasites could also increase trait diversity by suppressing dominant species or by increasing within-host trait diversity. These different mechanisms by which parasites might affect ecosystem function pose challenges in predicting their net effects. Nonetheless, given the ubiquity of parasites, we propose that parasite-host interactions should be incorporated into the BD-EF framework. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electron microscopy studies of the morphological evolution in hydrothermally derived lead titanate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Zhiyuan

Hydrothermal processing is a promising technique to synthesize perovskite ceramic powders. Understanding the reaction mechanisms and the factors that affect the particle morphologies is essential to optimize the hydrothermal processing. In this dissertation, the reaction mechanisms and nucleation processes in hydrothermally derived lead titanate (PbTiO3) are examined and established by morphological studies. The initial concentration of potassium hydroxide [KOH]i had a strong influence on the reaction. As [KOH] i increased from 0.01 M to 0.1 M to 1.0 M, the resultant morphology changed from irregular spherical to dendritic to faceted rectangular platelet morphology. The morphological evolution was well explained in the context of a supersaturation-nucleation relation. As the [KOH]i increased, the supersaturation increased and the nucleation mechanism changed from weak heterogeneous nucleation to strong heterogeneous nucleation or even homogeneous nucleation. These different nucleation mechanisms resulted in the different morphologies. Kinetic and morphological studies suggest that the reaction starting from nanocrystalline titania is dominated by dissolution-precipitation. The titanium precursors strongly affected the reaction. Increasing the particle size of precursors significantly reduced the reaction rate, especially at the low [KOH]i case. In situ transformations play important roles under the conditions of low [KOH] i and/or large particle size of precursors. Investigation using amorphous titania indicated that the nucleation of lead titanate at low and intermediate [KOH]i is via a in situ transformation while at high [KOH]i a dissolution-precipitation mechanism dominates. Ferro electricity of PbTiO3 also affects the particle morphology. The hydrothermal lead titanate particles could grow as a single domain during the processing. The ferroelectric polarization of PbTiO3 induced different local ionic environment between the positively and negatively charged surfaces, resulting a one-sided dendritic morphology at intermediate [KOH] i. The platelet morphology at high [KOH]i gave rise to a new type of size effect. For platelets with size less than a critical size of ˜70 nm, the domain polarization reoriented from perpendicular to the platelet during the processing, to parallel to the platelet after the particles were washed and dried (so that the depolarization energy builds up). This domain reorientation is attributed to strong depolarization effects and anisotropic geometry factors.

Tree species diversity promotes aboveground carbon storage through functional diversity and functional dominance.

PubMed

Mensah, Sylvanus; Veldtman, Ruan; Assogbadjo, Achille E; Glèlè Kakaï, Romain; Seifert, Thomas

2016-10-01

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem function has increasingly been debated as the cornerstone of the processes behind ecosystem services delivery. Experimental and natural field-based studies have come up with nonconsistent patterns of biodiversity-ecosystem function, supporting either niche complementarity or selection effects hypothesis. Here, we used aboveground carbon (AGC) storage as proxy for ecosystem function in a South African mistbelt forest, and analyzed its relationship with species diversity, through functional diversity and functional dominance. We hypothesized that (1) diversity influences AGC through functional diversity and functional dominance effects; and (2) effects of diversity on AGC would be greater for functional dominance than for functional diversity. Community weight mean (CWM) of functional traits (wood density, specific leaf area, and maximum plant height) were calculated to assess functional dominance (selection effects). As for functional diversity (complementarity effects), multitrait functional diversity indices were computed. The first hypothesis was tested using structural equation modeling. For the second hypothesis, effects of environmental variables such as slope and altitude were tested first, and separate linear mixed-effects models were fitted afterward for functional diversity, functional dominance, and both. Results showed that AGC varied significantly along the slope gradient, with lower values at steeper sites. Species diversity (richness) had positive relationship with AGC, even when slope effects were considered. As predicted, diversity effects on AGC were mediated through functional diversity and functional dominance, suggesting that both the niche complementarity and the selection effects are not exclusively affecting carbon storage. However, the effects were greater for functional diversity than for functional dominance. Furthermore, functional dominance effects were strongly transmitted by CWM of maximum plant height, reflecting the importance of forest vertical stratification for diversity-carbon relationship. We therefore argue for stronger complementary effects that would be induced also by complementary light-use efficiency of tree and species growing in the understory layer.

Influence of dominant- as compared with nondominant-side symptoms on Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand and Western Ontario Rotator Cuff scores in patients with rotator cuff tendinopathy.

PubMed

Christiansen, David Høyrup; Michener, Lori; Roy, Jean-Sébastien

2018-02-13

The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire and the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff (WORC) index are 2 widely used patient-reported questionnaires in individuals with rotator cuff (RC) tendinopathy. In contrast to the WORC index, for which the items are specific to the affected shoulder, the items of the DASH questionnaire assess the ability to perform activities regardless of the arm used. The objective of this study is to determine whether scores on the DASH questionnaire and WORC index are affected if the symptoms are on the dominant or nondominant side in individuals with RC tendinopathy. Given the number of items that can be influenced by dominance, the hypothesis is that DASH scores will be impacted by the side of the symptoms. Individuals with RC tendinopathy (N = 149) completed questions on symptomatology and hand dominance, the DASH questionnaire, and the WORC index. Differences in total scores (independent t test) and single items (Wilcoxon rank sum test) were compared between groups of participants with dominant-side symptoms and those without dominant-side symptoms. No significant differences were observed for WORC or DASH total scores when comparing participants with and without symptoms on their dominant side. Single-item comparison revealed more items being affected by symptom side on the DASH questionnaire (6 of 30 items) than on the WORC index (2 of 21 items). The side of the symptoms does not influence the DASH and WORC total scores, as there are no systematic differences between individuals with and without symptoms in their dominant shoulder. However, the presence of dominant symptoms does influence item scores more on the DASH questionnaire than on the WORC index. Copyright © 2018 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parasitism and the biodiversity-functioning relationship

USGS Publications Warehouse

Frainer, André; McKie, Brendan G.; Amundsen, Per-Arne; Knudsen, Rune; Lafferty, Kevin D.

2018-01-01

Biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning.Biodiversity may decrease or increase parasitism.Parasites impair individual hosts and affect their role in the ecosystem.Parasitism, in common with competition, facilitation, and predation, could regulate BD-EF relationships.Parasitism affects host phenotypes, including changes to host morphology, behavior, and physiology, which might increase intra- and interspecific functional diversity.The effects of parasitism on host abundance and phenotypes, and on interactions between hosts and the remaining community, all have potential to alter community structure and BD-EF relationships.Global change could facilitate the spread of invasive parasites, and alter the existing dynamics between parasites, communities, and ecosystems.Species interactions can influence ecosystem functioning by enhancing or suppressing the activities of species that drive ecosystem processes, or by causing changes in biodiversity. However, one important class of species interactions – parasitism – has been little considered in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BD-EF) research. Parasites might increase or decrease ecosystem processes by reducing host abundance. Parasites could also increase trait diversity by suppressing dominant species or by increasing within-host trait diversity. These different mechanisms by which parasites might affect ecosystem function pose challenges in predicting their net effects. Nonetheless, given the ubiquity of parasites, we propose that parasite–host interactions should be incorporated into the BD-EF framework.

Effects of two-handed task training on upper limb function of chronic hemiplegic patients after stroke

PubMed Central

Yang, Byung Il; Song, Bo Kyoung; Joung, Sang Mi

2017-01-01

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to determine whether two-handed task training is effective on motor learning of injured cerebral cortex activation and upper extremity function recovery after stroke. [Subjects and Methods] Two hemiplegic subjects participated in this study: one patient was affected on the dominant side of the body and the other was affected on the non-dominant side of the body, and both scored in the range of 58–66 in the Fugl-Meyer assessment. The excitability of the corticospinal tract and Manual Function Test were examined. [Results] The excitability of the corticospinal tract and the Manual Function Test showed significant differences in the activation of both sides of the cerebral cortex and in the variation in learning effect of upper extremity motor function recovery in patients with hemiplegic non-dominant hand (left). [Conclusion] The results suggested that two-handed task training had a different influence on dominant hand (right) and non-dominant hand (left) motor recovery. PMID:28210051

Cracking process of Fe-26Cr-1Mo during low cycle corrosion fatigue

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

Wang, J.Q.; Li, J.; Wang, Z.F.

1994-12-01

The corrosion fatigue (CF) life has been divided classically into the initiation'' and propagation'' periods. Usually, the crack initiation process dominates the component lifetime under the low cycle CF condition because the crack propagates rapidly one initiated. Despite much work done on the research of the CF crack initiation mechanisms, however, a full understanding of crack initiation is still lacking. There are some limitations in explaining the CF crack initiation in an aqueous solution using the above four mechanisms individually. And, it is difficult to conduct experiments in which one mechanism along can be examined. Although CF is complicated, itmore » is possible to reproduce a specific experiment condition which will have the dominant factor affecting the CF crack initiation. Once the cracks initiate on the smooth metal surface, their coalescence, micropropagation and macropropagation will take place successively. The initiated cracks propagate first in the range of several grains, and the behavior of the microcrack propagation is different from that of macrocrack propagation. For Fe-26Cr-1Mo ferritic stainless steel, the fundamental research work of straining electrode has been done by many investigators, but the observation of the material surface at different deformation processes has not been reported. In the present study, the detailed observation of the cracking process of the material has been carried out in low cycle CF.« less

Effect of silk sericin on morphology and structure of calcium carbonate crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Rui-Bo; Han, Hua-Feng; Ding, Shao; Li, Ze-Hao; Kong, Xiang-Dong

2013-06-01

In this paper, silk sericin was employed to regulate the mineralization of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). CaCO3 composite particles were prepared by the precipitation reaction of sodium carbonate with calcium chloride solution in the presence of silk sericin. The as-prepared samples were collected at different reaction time to study the crystallization process of CaCO3 by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that silk sericin significantly affected the morphology and crystallographic polymorph of CaCO3. With increasing the reaction time, the crystal phase of CaCO3 transferred from calcite dominated to vaterite dominated mixtures, while the morphology of CaCO3 changed from disk-like calcite crystal to spherical vaterite crystal. These studies showed the potential of silk sericin used as a template molecule to control the growth of inorganic crystal.

The global susceptibility of coastal forage fish to competition by large jellyfish

PubMed Central

Mariani, Patrizio

2016-01-01

Competition between large jellyfish and forage fish for zooplankton prey is both a possible cause of jellyfish increases and a concern for the management of marine ecosystems and fisheries. Identifying principal factors affecting this competition is therefore important for marine management, but the lack of both good quality data and a robust theoretical framework have prevented general global analyses. Here, we present a general mechanistic food web model that considers fundamental differences in feeding modes and predation pressure between fish and jellyfish. The model predicts forage fish dominance at low primary production, and a shift towards jellyfish with increasing productivity, turbidity and fishing. We present an index of global ecosystem susceptibility to shifts in fish–jellyfish dominance that compares well with data on jellyfish distributions and trends. The results are a step towards better understanding the processes that govern jellyfish occurrences globally and highlight the advantage of considering feeding traits in ecosystem models. PMID:28120793

Right hemispheric dominance in gaze-triggered reflexive shift of attention in humans.

PubMed

Okada, Takashi; Sato, Wataru; Toichi, Motomi

2006-11-01

Recent findings suggest a right hemispheric dominance in gaze-triggered shifts of attention. The aim of this study was to clarify the dominant hemisphere in the gaze processing that mediates attentional shift. A target localization task, with preceding non-predicative gaze cues presented to each visual field, was undertaken by 44 healthy subjects, measuring reaction time (RT). A face identification task was also given to determine hemispheric dominance in face processing for each subject. RT differences between valid and invalid cues were larger when presented in the left rather than the right visual field. This held true regardless of individual hemispheric dominance in face processing. Together, these results indicate right hemispheric dominance in gaze-triggered reflexive shifts of attention in normal healthy subjects.

On Time Experience in Depression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emrich, Hinderk M.; Bonnemann, Catharina; Dietrich, Detlef E.

Emotionality of subjective time experience in depressed patients is related to Michael Theunissen's concept concerning the dominance of the past in relation to the spontaneity of the subject within a present moment of time. Electrophysiological data using the event-related potential method point to the view that negative emotions cannot use a value-related cognitive/emotional blockade of valuation processes. In addition, the subjective time experience is substantiated by reports of patients with an affective disorder. Furthermore, the role of forgetting to overcome such memory-related impairments is discussed within the context of possible functions of consciousness.

Survival and dominant transmission of "lethal" platyspondylic dwarfism of the "West coast" types.

PubMed

Omran, H; Uhl, M; Brandis, M; Wolff, G

2000-03-01

Torrance, San Diego, and Luton types ("West coast" types) of neonatal platyspondylic short-limbed dwarfism are suspected to be caused by dominant mutations that are obligatorily lethal. We report on an affected mother, who passed the disease to her daughter, confirming dominant disease transmission. Survival of the mother indicates a wider phenotypic spectrum.

Enumeration and rapid identification of yeasts during extraction processes of extra virgin olive oil in Tuscany.

PubMed

Mari, Eleonora; Guerrini, Simona; Granchi, Lisa; Vincenzini, Massimo

2016-06-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of yeast populations during different olive oil extraction processes, carried out in three consecutive years in Tuscany (Italy), by analysing crushed pastes, kneaded pastes, oil from decanter and pomaces. The results showed yeast concentrations ranging between 10(3) and 10(5) CFU/g or per mL. Seventeen dominant yeast species were identified by random amplified polymorphic DNA with primer M13 and their identification was confirmed by restriction fragments length polymorphism of ribosomal internal transcribed spacer and sequencing rRNA genes. The isolation frequencies of each species in the collected samples pointed out that the occurrence of the various yeast species in olive oil extraction process was dependent not only on the yeasts contaminating the olives but also on the yeasts colonizing the plant for oil extraction. In fact, eleven dominant yeast species were detected from the washed olives, but only three of them were also found in oil samples at significant isolation frequency. On the contrary, the most abundant species in oil samples, Yamadazyma terventina, did not occur in washed olive samples. These findings suggest a phenomenon of contamination of the plant for oil extraction that selects some yeast species that could affect the quality of olive oil.

Uncertainties in s -process nucleosynthesis in low mass stars determined from Monte Carlo variations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cescutti, G.; Hirschi, R.; Nishimura, N.; den Hartogh, J. W.; Rauscher, T.; Murphy, A. St J.; Cristallo, S.

2018-05-01

The main s-process taking place in low mass stars produces about half of the elements heavier than iron. It is therefore very important to determine the importance and impact of nuclear physics uncertainties on this process. We have performed extensive nuclear reaction network calculations using individual and temperature-dependent uncertainties for reactions involving elements heavier than iron, within a Monte Carlo framework. Using this technique, we determined the uncertainty in the main s-process abundance predictions due to nuclear uncertainties link to weak interactions and neutron captures on elements heavier than iron. We also identified the key nuclear reactions dominating these uncertainties. We found that β-decay rate uncertainties affect only a few nuclides near s-process branchings, whereas most of the uncertainty in the final abundances is caused by uncertainties in neutron capture rates, either directly producing or destroying the nuclide of interest. Combined total nuclear uncertainties due to reactions on heavy elements are in general small (less than 50%). Three key reactions, nevertheless, stand out because they significantly affect the uncertainties of a large number of nuclides. These are 56Fe(n,γ), 64Ni(n,γ), and 138Ba(n,γ). We discuss the prospect of reducing uncertainties in the key reactions identified in this study with future experiments.

The Relative Salience of Daily and Enduring Influences on Off-Job Reactions to Work Stress.

PubMed

Calderwood, Charles; Ackerman, Phillip L

2016-12-01

Work stress is an important determinant of employee health and wellness. The occupational health community is recognizing that one contributor to these relationships may be the presence of negative off-job reactivity to work, which we argue involves continued thoughts directed towards work (cognitive reactivity), continued negative mood stemming from work (affective reactivity), and the alteration of post-work behaviours in response to work factors (behavioural reactivity). We explored the relative contributions of daily work stressors, affective traits, and subjective job stress perceptions to negative off-job reactivity. These relationships were evaluated in a study of hospital nurses (n = 75), who completed trait measures and then provided self-assessments of daily work stress and off-job reactions for four work days. The results of several multilevel analyses indicated that a main-effects model best described the data when predicting cognitive, affective, and behavioural reactivity from daily work stressors, affective traits, and subjective job stress perceptions. A series of multilevel dominance analyses revealed that subjective job stress perceptions dominated the prediction of behavioural reactivity, while trait negative affect dominated the prediction of affective reactivity. Theoretical implications and the relative salience of daily and enduring contributors to negative off-job reactivity are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Dimethylsulfide Cycle in the Eutrophied Southern North Sea: A Model Study Integrating Phytoplankton and Bacterial Processes

PubMed Central

Gypens, Nathalie; Borges, Alberto V.; Speeckaert, Gaelle; Lancelot, Christiane

2014-01-01

We developed a module describing the dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and dimethylsulfide (DMS) dynamics, including biological transformations by phytoplankton and bacteria, and physico-chemical processes (including DMS air-sea exchange). This module was integrated in the MIRO ecological model and applied in a 0D frame in the Southern North Sea (SNS). The DMS(P) module is built on parameterizations derived from available knowledge on DMS(P) sources, transformations and sinks, and provides an explicit representation of bacterial activity in contrast to most of existing models that only include phytoplankton process (and abiotic transformations). The model is tested in a highly productive coastal ecosystem (the Belgian coastal zone, BCZ) dominated by diatoms and the Haptophyceae Phaeocystis, respectively low and high DMSP producers. On an annual basis, the particulate DMSP (DMSPp) production simulated in 1989 is mainly related to Phaeocystis colonies (78%) rather than diatoms (13%) and nanoflagellates (9%). Accordingly, sensitivity analysis shows that the model responds more to changes in the sulfur:carbon (S:C) quota and lyase yield of Phaeocystis. DMS originates equally from phytoplankton and bacterial DMSP-lyase activity and only 3% of the DMS is emitted to the atmosphere. Model analysis demonstrates the sensitivity of DMS emission towards the atmosphere to the description and parameterization of biological processes emphasizing the need of adequately representing in models both phytoplankton and bacterial processes affecting DMS(P) dynamics. This is particularly important in eutrophied coastal environments such as the SNS dominated by high non-diatom blooms and where empirical models developed from data-sets biased towards open ocean conditions do not satisfactorily predict the timing and amplitude of the DMS seasonal cycle. In order to predict future feedbacks of DMS emissions on climate, it is needed to account for hotspots of DMS emissions from coastal environments that, if eutrophied, are dominated not only by diatoms. PMID:24465753

Characterisation of organic matter source and sediment distribution in Ashtamudi Estuary, southern India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Prem; Ankit, Yadav; Mishra, Praveen K.; Jha, Deepak Kumar; Anoop, Ambili

2017-04-01

In the present study we have focussed on the surface sediments of Ashtamudi Estuary (southern India) to understand (i) the fate and sources of organic matter by investigating lipid biomarker (n-alkanes) distribution in modern sediments and vegetation samples and (ii) the processes controlling the sediment distribution into the lake basin using end-member modelling approach. The sediment n-alkanes from the Ashtamudi Estuary exhibit a pronounced odd over even predominance with maxima at C29 and C31 chain length indicative of a dominant terrestrial contribution. A number of n-alkane indices have been calculated to illustrate the variability in space by considering separately the river dominated northern reaches and tidal influenced southern part of Ashtamudi Estuary. The highest terrigenous organic contents were found in sediments from the river and upper bay sites, with smaller contributions to the lower parts of the estuary. The Paq and TAR (terrigenous/aquatic ratio) indices demonstrate maximum aquatic productivity (plankton growth and submerged macrophytes) in the tidal dominated region of the Ashtamudi Estuary. The carbon preference index (CPI) and average chain length (ACL) provide evidence for high petrogenic organic inputs in the tidal zone, whereas dominant biogenic contribution have been observed in the riverine zone. In addition, the end member modeling of the grain size distribution of the surface sediment samples enabled us to decipher significant sedimentological processes affecting the sediment distribution in the estuarine settings. The end-member distribution showing highest loading with the coarser fraction is maximum where estuary debouches into the sea. However, the samples near the mouth of the river shows finer fraction of the end-member.

Dominance dynamics of competition between intrinsic and extrinsic grouping cues.

PubMed

Luna, Dolores; Villalba-García, Cristina; Montoro, Pedro R; Hinojosa, José A

2016-10-01

In the present study we examined the dominance dynamics of perceptual grouping cues. We used a paradigm in which participants selectively attended to perceptual groups based on several grouping cues in different blocks of trials. In each block, single and competing grouping cues were presented under different exposure durations (50, 150 or 350ms). Using this procedure, intrinsic vs. intrinsic cues (i.e. proximity and shape similarity) were compared in Experiment 1; extrinsic vs. extrinsic cues (i.e. common region and connectedness) in Experiment 2; and intrinsic vs. extrinsic cues (i.e. common region and shape similarity) in Experiment 3. The results showed that in Experiment 1, no dominance of any grouping cue was found: shape similarity and proximity grouping cues showed similar reaction times (RTs) and interference effects. In contrast, in Experiments 2 and 3, common region dominated processing: (i) RTs to common region were shorter than those to connectedness (Exp. 2) or shape similarity (Exp. 3); and (ii) when the grouping cues competed, common region interfered with connectedness (Exp. 2) and shape similarity (Exp. 3) more than vice versa. The results showed that the exposure duration of stimuli only affected the connectedness grouping cue. An important result of our experiments indicates that when two grouping cues compete, both the non-attended intrinsic cue in Experiment 1, and the non-dominant extrinsic cue in Experiments 2 and 3, are still perceived and they are not completely lost. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The challenges of climate for energy markets

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-09-01

Among the many complex issues of technology, governance, and market design affecting the : electricity sector, climate policy has become dominant. From the perspective of a nonspecialist looking at this changing dominance, a quiz illuminates some of ...

Hand dominance in intravenous drug using patients does not affect peripheral venous access sites identified by ultrasound.

PubMed

Kaban, Nicole L; Avitabile, Nicholas C; Siadecki, Sebastian D; Saul, Turandot

2016-06-01

The peripheral veins in the arms and forearms of patients with a history of intravenous (IV) drug use may be sclerosed, calcified, or collapsed due to damage from previous injections. These patients may consequently require alternative, more invasive types of vascular access including central venous or intraosseous catheters. We investigated the relationship between hand dominance and the presence of patent upper extremity (UE) veins specifically in patients with a history of IV drug-use. We predicted that injection into the non-dominant UE would occur with a higher frequency than the dominant UE, leading to fewer damaged veins in the dominant UE. If hand dominance affects which upper extremity has more patent veins, providers could focus their first vascular access attempt on the dominant upper extremity. Adult patients were approached for enrollment if they provided a history of IV drug use into one of their upper extremities. Each upper extremity was examined with a high frequency linear transducer in 3 areas: the antecubital crease, forearm and the proximal arm. The number of fully compressible veins ≥1.8 mm in diameter was recorded for each location. The mean vein difference between the numbers of veins in the dominant versus the non-dominant UE was -1.5789. At a .05 significance level, there was insufficient evidence to suggest the number of compressible veins between patients' dominant and non-dominant arms was significantly different (P = .0872.) The number of compressible veins visualized with ultrasound was not greater in the dominant upper extremity as expected. Practitioners may gain more information about potential peripheral venous access sites by asking patients their previous injection practice patterns. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The influence of current mood state, number of previous affective episodes and predominant polarity on insight in bipolar disorder.

PubMed

de Assis da Silva, Rafael; Mograbi, Daniel C; Camelo, Evelyn Vieira Miranda; Peixoto, Ursula; Santana, Cristina Maria Teixeira; Landeira-Fernandez, Jesus; Morris, Robin G; Cheniaux, Elie

2017-11-01

Although many studies have explored the effect of current affective episodes on insight into bipolar disorder, the potential interaction between current mood state and previous affective episodes has not been consistently investigated. To explore the influence of dominant polarity, number of previous affective episodes and current affective state on insight in bipolar disorder patients in euthymia or mania. A total of 101 patients with bipolar disorder were recruited for the study, including 58 patients in euthymia (30 with no defined predominant polarity and 28 with manic predominant polarity) and 43 in mania (26 with no defined predominant polarity and 17 with manic predominant polarity). Patients underwent a clinical assessment and insight was evaluated through the Insight Scale for Affective Disorders. Bipolar disorder patients in mania had worse insight than those in euthymia, with no effect of dominant polarity. In addition, positive psychotic symptoms showed a significant effect on insight and its inclusion as a covariate eliminated differences related to mood state. Finally, the number of previous manic or depressive episodes did not correlate with insight level. Mania is a predictor of loss of insight into bipolar disorder. However, it is possible that its contribution is linked to the more frequent presence of psychotic symptoms in this state. Dominant polarity and number/type of previous affective episodes have a limited impact on insight.

Modeling experimental stable isotope results from CO2 adsorption and diffusion experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larson, T. E.

2012-12-01

Transport of carbon dioxide through porous media can be affected by diffusion, advection and adsorption processes. Developing new tools to understand which of these processes dominates migration of CO2 or other gases in the subsurface is important to a wide range of applications including CO2 storage. Whereas advection rates are not affected by isotope substitution in CO2, adsorption and diffusion constants are. For example, differences in the binary diffusion constant calculated between C12O2-He and C13O2-He results in a carbon isotope fractionation whereby the front of the chromatographic peak is enriched in carbon-12 and the tail of the peak is enriched in carbon-13. Interestingly, adsorption is shown to have an opposite, apparent inverse affect whereby the lighter isotopologues of CO2 are preferentially retained by the chromatographic column and the heavier isotopologues are eluted first. This apparent inverse chromatographic effect has been ascribed to Van der Waals dispersion forces. Smaller molar volumes of the heavier isotopologues resulting from increased bond strength (shorter bond length) effectively decreases Van der Waals forces in heavier isotopologues compared to lighter isotopologues. Here we discuss the possible application of stable isotope values measured across chromatographic peaks to differentiate diffusion-dominated from adsorption-dominated transport processes for CO2. Separate 1-dimensional flow-through columns were packed with quartz and illite, and one remained empty. Dry helium was used as a carrier gas. Constant flow rate, temperature and column pressure were maintained. After background CO2 concentrations were minimized and constant, a sustained pulse of CO2 was injected at the head of the column and the effluent was sampled at 4 minute intervals for CO2 concentration, and carbon and oxygen isotope ratios. The quartz-sand packed and empty columns resulted in similar trends in concentration and isotope ratios whereby CO2 concentrations steadily increased and became constant after two pore volumes of CO2 flushed through the column. Carbon and oxygen isotope values of the front of the peak (first pore volume) are 2‰ and 5‰ lower than the injected CO2 values, respectively. These results are fit very well using a mass transfer model that only includes binary diffusion between CO2 and helium that account for isotope substitution in the reduced mass coefficient. In contrast to these diffusion-dominated systems, CO2 break through curves from the illite packed column show strong adsorption effects that include a +180‰ increase in the carbon isotope ratio at the front of the peak followed by a 20‰ decrease. Up to 20 pore volumes of CO2 were flushed through the column before the carbon and oxygen isotope values stabilized to their starting values. These adsorption effects cannot be modeled using mass isotope effects alone, and instead must include additional parameters such as volume effects. These results demonstrate the importance of understanding the isotopic effects of CO2 in different substrates, and potentially offers a tracer tool that can be used to quantify surface area, transport distance, and surface reactivity of CO2. Additional applications may include more affectively determining transfer rates of CO2 across low permeability zones.

From facilitation to competition: temperature-driven shift in dominant plant interactions affects population dynamics in seminatural grasslands.

PubMed

Olsen, Siri L; Töpper, Joachim P; Skarpaas, Olav; Vandvik, Vigdis; Klanderud, Kari

2016-05-01

Biotic interactions are often ignored in assessments of climate change impacts. However, climate-related changes in species interactions, often mediated through increased dominance of certain species or functional groups, may have important implications for how species respond to climate warming and altered precipitation patterns. We examined how a dominant plant functional group affected the population dynamics of four co-occurring forb species by experimentally removing graminoids in seminatural grasslands. Specifically, we explored how the interaction between dominants and subordinates varied with climate by replicating the removal experiment across a climate grid consisting of 12 field sites spanning broad-scale temperature and precipitation gradients in southern Norway. Biotic interactions affected population growth rates of all study species, and the net outcome of interactions between dominants and subordinates switched from facilitation to competition with increasing temperature along the temperature gradient. The impacts of competitive interactions on subordinates in the warmer sites could primarily be attributed to reduced plant survival. Whereas the response to dominant removal varied with temperature, there was no overall effect of precipitation on the balance between competition and facilitation. Our findings suggest that global warming may increase the relative importance of competitive interactions in seminatural grasslands across a wide range of precipitation levels, thereby favouring highly competitive dominant species over subordinate species. As a result, seminatural grasslands may become increasingly dependent on disturbance (i.e. traditional management such as grazing and mowing) to maintain viable populations of subordinate species and thereby biodiversity under future climates. Our study highlights the importance of population-level studies replicated under different climatic conditions for understanding the underlying mechanisms of climate change impacts on plants. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Processes affecting suspended sediment transport in the mid-field plume region of the Rhine River, Netherlands.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flores, R. P.; Rijnsburger, S.; Horner-Devine, A.; Souza, A. J.; Pietrzak, J.

2016-02-01

This work will describe dominant processes affecting suspended sediment transport along the Dutch coast, in the mid-field plume region of the Rhine River. We will present field observations from two long-term deployments conducted in the vicinity of the Sand Engine, a mega-nourishment experiment located 10 km north of the Rhine river mouth. To investigate the role of density stratification, winds, tides, waves and river plume processes on sediment transport, frames and moorings were deployed within the excursion of the tidal plume front generated by the freshwater outflow from the Rhine River for 4 and 6 weeks during years 2013 and 2014, respectively. The moorings were designed to measure vertical profiles of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and salinity, using arrays of CTDs and OBS sensors. Mean tidal velocities were measured using bottom-mounted ADCPs. The near-bed dynamics and the near-bottom sediment concentrations were measured as well using a set of synchronized ADVs and OBSs. By combining the two deployments we observe hydrodynamics and suspended sediment dynamics under a wide range of forcing conditions. Preliminary observations indicate that stratification is highly dependent on wind magnitude and direction, and its role is primarily identified as to induce significant cross-shore sediment transport product of the generation of cross-shore velocities due to the modification of the tidal ellipses and the passage of the surface plume front. The passage of the surface plume front generates strong offshore currents near the bottom, producing transport events that can be similar in magnitude to the dominant alongshore transport. Preliminary results also indicate that storms play an important role in alongshore transport primarily by wave-induced sediment resuspension, but as stratification is suppressed due to the enhancement of mixing processes, no significant cross-shore transport is observed during very energetic conditions.

Ground-water geochemistry of the Albuquerque-Belen Basin, central New Mexico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Anderholm, S.K.

1988-01-01

The purpose of this study was to define the areal distribution of different water types, use the distribution to help define the groundwater flow system, and identify processes resulting in differences in groundwater quality in the Albuquerque-Belen Basin in central New Mexico. The chemistry of surface water inflow from adjacent areas, which infiltrates and recharges the aquifer along the basin margin, affects the groundwater quality in the eastern and southeastern areas of the basin. Groundwater in the eastern area generally has a specific conductance less than 400 microsiemens, and calcium and bicarbonate are the dominant ions. Mixing of recharge, groundwater inflow, and surface inflow from adjacent areas, which have different chemical compositions, is the major process affecting groundwater quality in the southwestern, western, and northern areas of the basin. In these areas, there is a large range in specific conductance and distribution of dissolved ions. Groundwater quality in the Rio Grande valley is affected by the infiltration of excess irrigation water. The excess irrigation water generally has a larger specific conductance than other groundwater in the valley, so mixing of these waters results in shallow groundwater generally having larger specific conductance than the deeper groundwater. (USGS)

Degradation of recalcitrant naphthenic acids from raw and ozonated oil sands process-affected waters by a semi-passive biofiltration process.

PubMed

Zhang, Lei; Zhang, Yanyan; Gamal El-Din, Mohamed

2018-04-15

In this study, a fixed-bed biofiltration system (biofilter) that utilized indigenous microorganisms was developed for the reclamation of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW). With the assistance of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), indigenous microorganisms from OSPW were able to attach to the surface of sand media and form biofilms. The number of total bacteria on the biofilter media reached a steady state (10 9 /g) after 23 days of operation. Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography/High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UPLC/HRMS) analysis showed that 21.8% of the classical naphthenic acids (NAs) removal was achieved through the circulation of raw OSPW on the biofilter for 8 times (equivalent to a hydraulic retention time of 16 h). When ozonation with utilized ozone dose of 30 mg/L was applied as pretreatment, the classical NAs in the ozonated OSPW were removed by 89.3% with an accelerated biodegradation rate of 0.5 mg/L/h. Compared with other biofilm reactors such as moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), ozonation pretreatment could benefit the biodegradation of NAs in the biofilter more (classical NA removal: 89.3% vs. 34.4%), especially for those with high carbon number and cyclicity. The combined ozonation-biofiltration process could remove 92.7% of classical NAs from raw OSPW in 16 h. Although both ozonation and biofiltration alone did not show degradation of oxidized NAs from raw OSPW, the combined process led to a 52.9% and 42.6% removal for O 3 -NAs and O 4 -NAs, respectively, which were the dominant oxidized NA species in OSPW. Metagenomic sequencing analysis showed that Rhodococcus was the dominant bacterial genus on the sand media, which may play a crucial role during the NA biodegradation. With the advantage of high NA removal efficiency, the combined ozonation-biofiltration process is a promising approach for NA degradation and shows high potential to be scaled up for in-situ OSPW treatment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

STEM learning research through a funds of knowledge lens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Civil, Marta

2016-03-01

This article examines STEM learning as a cultural process with a focus on non-dominant communities. Building on my work in funds of knowledge and mathematics education, I present three vignettes to raise some questions around connections between in-school and out-of-school mathematics. How do we define competence? How do task and environment affect engagement? What is the role of affect, language, and cognition in different settings? These vignettes serve to highlight the complexity of moving across different domains of STEM practice—everyday life, school, and STEM disciplines. Based on findings from occupational interviews I discuss characteristics of learning and engaging in everyday practices and propose several areas for further research, including the nature of everyday STEM practices, valorization of knowledge, language choice, and different forms of engagement.

Ichthyoplankton assemblages of coastal west-central Lake Erie and associated habitat characteristics

USGS Publications Warehouse

McKenna, J.E.; Hunter, R. Douglas; Fabrizio, M.C.; Savino, J.F.; Todd, T.N.; Bur, M.

2008-01-01

Early life stage survival often determines fish cohort strength and that survival is affected by habitat conditions. The structure and dynamics of ichthyoplankton assemblages can tell us much about biodiversity and fish population dynamics, but are poorly understood in nearshore areas of the Great Lakes, where most spawning and nursery habitats exist. Ichthyoplankton samples were collected with a neuston net in waters 2-13 m deep weekly or biweekly from mid-April through August, during 3 years (2000-2002) as part of a study of fish assemblages in west-central Lake Erie. A suite of abiotic variables was simultaneously measured to characterize habitat. Cluster and ordination analyses revealed several distinct ichthyoplankton assemblages that changed seasonally. A lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) dominated assemblage appeared first in April. In May, assemblages were dominated by several percid species. Summer assemblages were overwhelmingly dominated by emerald shiner (Notropis atherinoides), with large gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) and alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) components. This seasonal trend in species assemblages was also associated with increasing temperature and water clarity. Water depth and drift processes may also play a role in structuring these assemblages. The most common and widely distributed assemblages were not associated with substratum type, which we characterized as either hard or soft. The timing of hatch and larval growth separated the major groups in time and may have adaptive significance for the members of each major assemblage. The quality and locations (with reference to lake circulation) of spawning and nursery grounds may determine larval success and affect year class strength.

Physiological Laterality of Superficial Cerebral Veins on Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging.

PubMed

Matsushima, Satoshi; Shimizu, Tetsuya; Gomi, Taku; Fukuda, Kunihiko

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether laterality of the superficial cerebral veins can be seen on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) in patients with no intracranial lesions that affect venous visualization. We retrospectively evaluated 386 patients who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging including SWI in our institute. Patients with a lesion with the potential to affect venous visualization on SWI were excluded. Two neuroradiologists visually evaluated the findings and scored the visualization of the superficial cerebral veins. Of the 386 patients, 315 (81.6%) showed no obvious laterality on venous visualization, 64 (16.6%) showed left-side dominant laterality, and 7 (1.8%) showed right-side dominant laterality. Left-side dominant physiological laterality exists in the visualization of the superficial cerebral veins on SWI. Therefore, when recognizing left-side dominant laterality of the superficial cerebral veins on SWI, the radiologist must also consider the possibility of physiological laterality.

Somatic and germline mosaicism for a mutation of the PHEX gene can lead to genetic transmission of X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets that mimics an autosomal dominant trait.

PubMed

Goji, Katsumi; Ozaki, Kayo; Sadewa, Ahmad H; Nishio, Hisahide; Matsuo, Masafumi

2006-02-01

Familial hypophosphatemic rickets is usually transmitted as an X-linked dominant disorder (XLH), although autosomal dominant forms have also been observed. Genetic studies of these disorders have identified mutations in PHEX and FGF23 as the causes of X-linked dominant disorder and autosomal dominant forms, respectively. The objective of the study was to describe the molecular genetic findings in a family affected by hypophosphatemic rickets with presumed autosomal dominant inheritance. We studied a family in which the father and the elder of his two daughters, but not the second daughter, were affected by hypophosphatemic rickets. The pedigree interpretation of the family suggested that genetic transmission of the disorder occurred as an autosomal dominant trait. Direct nucleotide sequencing of FGF23 and PHEX revealed that the elder daughter was heterozygous for an R567X mutation in PHEX, rather than FGF23, suggesting that the genetic transmission occurred as an X-linked dominant trait. Unexpectedly, the father was heterozygous for this mutation. Single-nucleotide primer extension and denaturing HPLC analysis of the father using DNA from single hair roots revealed that he was a somatic mosaic for the mutation. Haplotype analysis confirmed that the father transmitted the genotypes for 18 markers on the X chromosome equally to his two daughters. The fact that the father transmitted the mutation to only one of his two daughters indicated that he was a germline mosaic for the mutation. Somatic and germline mosaicism for an X-linked dominant mutation in PHEX may mimic autosomal dominant inheritance.

Dynamic Changes of Photosynthetic Picoeukaryotes Composition in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean Revealed by High-Throughput Tag Sequencing of Plastid 16S rRNA Gene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, D. H.; Noh, J. H.; Selph, K. E.; Lee, C. M.

2016-02-01

Photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPEs) are major oceanic primary producers. However, the diversity of such communities remains poorly understood, especially in the northwestern (NW) Pacific. We investigated the abundance and diversity of PPEs, and recorded environmental variables, along a transect from the coast to the open Pacific Ocean. High-throughput tag sequencing (using the MiSeq system) revealed the diversity of plastid 16S rRNA genes. The dominant PPEs changed at the class level along the transect. Prymnesiophyceae were the only dominant PPEs in the warm pool of the NW Pacific, but Mamiellophyceae dominated in coastal waters of the East China Sea. Phylogenetically, most Prymnesiophyceae sequences could not be resolved at lower taxonomic levels because no close relatives have been cultured. Within the Mamiellophyceae, the genera Micromonas and Ostreococcus dominated in marginal coastal areas affected by open water, whereas Bathycoccus dominated in the lower euphotic depths of open oligotrophic waters. Cryptophyceae and Phaeocystis (of the Prymnesiophyceae) dominated in areas affected principally by coastal water. We also defined the biogeographical distributions of Chrysophyceae, Prasinophyceae, Bacillariophyceaea, and Pelagophyceae. These distributions were influenced by temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll a and nutrient concentrations.

3D Shape Perception in Posterior Cortical Atrophy: A Visual Neuroscience Perspective.

PubMed

Gillebert, Céline R; Schaeverbeke, Jolien; Bastin, Christine; Neyens, Veerle; Bruffaerts, Rose; De Weer, An-Sofie; Seghers, Alexandra; Sunaert, Stefan; Van Laere, Koen; Versijpt, Jan; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu; Salmon, Eric; Todd, James T; Orban, Guy A; Vandenberghe, Rik

2015-09-16

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a rare focal neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by progressive visuoperceptual and visuospatial deficits, most often due to atypical Alzheimer's disease (AD). We applied insights from basic visual neuroscience to analyze 3D shape perception in humans affected by PCA. Thirteen PCA patients and 30 matched healthy controls participated, together with two patient control groups with diffuse Lewy body dementia (DLBD) and an amnestic-dominant phenotype of AD, respectively. The hierarchical study design consisted of 3D shape processing for 4 cues (shading, motion, texture, and binocular disparity) with corresponding 2D and elementary feature extraction control conditions. PCA and DLBD exhibited severe 3D shape-processing deficits and AD to a lesser degree. In PCA, deficient 3D shape-from-shading was associated with volume loss in the right posterior inferior temporal cortex. This region coincided with a region of functional activation during 3D shape-from-shading in healthy controls. In PCA patients who performed the same fMRI paradigm, response amplitude during 3D shape-from-shading was reduced in this region. Gray matter volume in this region also correlated with 3D shape-from-shading in AD. 3D shape-from-disparity in PCA was associated with volume loss slightly more anteriorly in posterior inferior temporal cortex as well as in ventral premotor cortex. The findings in right posterior inferior temporal cortex and right premotor cortex are consistent with neurophysiologically based models of the functional anatomy of 3D shape processing. However, in DLBD, 3D shape deficits rely on mechanisms distinct from inferior temporal structural integrity. Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by progressive visuoperceptual dysfunction and most often an atypical presentation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) affecting the ventral and dorsal visual streams rather than the medial temporal system. We applied insights from fundamental visual neuroscience to analyze 3D shape perception in PCA. 3D shape-processing deficits were affected beyond what could be accounted for by lower-order processing deficits. For shading and disparity, this was related to volume loss in regions previously implicated in 3D shape processing in the intact human and nonhuman primate brain. Typical amnestic-dominant AD patients also exhibited 3D shape deficits. Advanced visual neuroscience provides insight into the pathogenesis of PCA that also bears relevance for vision in typical AD. Copyright © 2015 Gillebert, Schaeverbeke et al.

Vasotocin increases dominance in the weakly electric fish Brachyhypopomus gauderio.

PubMed

Perrone, Rossana; Silva, Ana

2016-10-01

Animals establish social hierarchies through agonistic behavior. The recognition of the own and others social ranks is crucial for animals that live in groups to avoid costly constant conflicts. Weakly electric fish are valuable model systems for the study of agonistic behavior and its neuromodulation, given that they display conspicuous electrocommunication signals that are generated by a very well-known electromotor circuit. Brachyhypopomus gauderio is a gregarious electric fish, presents a polygynous breeding system, morphological and electrophysiological sexual dimorphism during the breeding season, and displays a typical intrasexual reproduction-related aggression. Dominants signal their social status by increasing their electric organ discharge (EOD) rate after an agonistic encounter (electric dominance). Subordinates only occasionally produce transient electric signals (chirps and offs). The hypothalamic neuropeptide arginine-vasotocin (AVT) and its mammalian homologue, arginine- vasopressin (AVP) are key modulators of social behavior across vertebrates. In this study, we focus on the role of AVT on dominance establishment in Brachyhypopomus gauderio by analyzing the effects of pharmacological manipulations of the AVT system in potential dominants. AVT exerts a very specific direct effect restricted only to EOD rate, and is responsible for the electric dominance. Unexpectedly, AVT did not affect the intensity of aggression in either contender. Nor was the time structure affected by AVT administration. We also present two interesting examples of the interplay between contenders by evaluating how AVT modulations, even when directed to one individual, affect the behavior of the dyad as a unit. First, we found that V1a AVT receptor antagonist Manning Compound (MC) induces a reversion in the positive correlation between dominants' and subordinates' attack rates, observed in both control and AVT treated dyads, suggesting that an endogenous AVT tone modulates aggressive interactions. Second, we confirmed that AVT administered to dominants induces an increase in the submissive transient electric signals in subordinates. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The Impact of Dominant Ventricle Morphology on Palliation Outcomes of Single Ventricle Anomalies.

PubMed

Alsoufi, Bahaaldin; Gillespie, Scott; Kim, Dennis; Shashidharan, Subhadra; Kanter, Kirk; Maher, Kevin; Kogon, Brian

2016-08-01

Differences in right ventricle and tricuspid valve structure compared with left ventricle and mitral valve structure make them less equipped to support the systemic circulation long term, with subsequent systemic right ventricle failure. We examined the effect of dominant ventricle morphology on single ventricle palliation outcomes. We grouped 530 neonates who underwent first-stage palliation into two groups based on dominant ventricle morphology: right dominant ventricle (RV group; n = 302, 57%) and left dominant ventricle or functional single ventricle with two well-formed ventricles (LV group; n = 228, 43%). Comparisons of hospital outcomes, interstage mortality, progression to subsequent palliation stages, and late survival was performed, and factors affecting outcomes were examined. After first-stage palliation, the RV group and LV group, respectively, had comparable extracorporeal membrane oxygenation requirements (12% versus 11%, p = 0.648), unplanned reoperation (12% versus 13%, p = 0.586), and hospital death (16% versus 13%, p = 0.437). Among hospital survivors, interstage mortality (11% versus 9%, p = 0.509) and progression to Glenn operation (89% versus 84%, p = 0.182) were comparable; however, death after Glenn was higher in the RV group (10%, versus LV group 4%, p = 0.020) with a trend for lower 8-year survival (66% versus 73%, p = 0.081). On multivariable analysis, dominant RV was not associated with mortality (hazard ratio 0.75, 95% confidence interval: 0.6 to 1.0, p = 0.081), whereas factors such as genetic syndromes, weight 2.5 kg or less, underlying cardiac anomaly, and first-stage palliation type affected survival. At midterm follow-up, underlying cardiac anomaly and patient characteristics affect single ventricle palliation outcomes more than dominant ventricular morphology. As right ventricle and associated tricuspid valve failure might occur at late stages, the impact of dominant ventricular morphology on long-term outcomes requires further assessment. Copyright © 2016 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How does litter become soil organic matter? Tracing the fate of needle- and root-derived soil organic matter through 10 years of decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hicks Pries, Caitlin E.; Hatton, Pierre-Joseph; Castanha, Cristina; Bird, Jeffrey A.; Torn, Margaret S.

2014-05-01

All soil organic matter (SOM) is derived from plant material. However, little is known about the process by which plant litter becomes SOM (as opposed to the better-studied controls on rates of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) loss from litter). We investigated the transformations of above- and below-ground plant inputs in soil over ten years, and whether litter type (roots versus needles) affects the form and location of litter-derived C and N in soil after 10 years. We placed 15N and 13C-labeled Pinus ponderosa needle and fine root litter in the Blodgett Experimental Forest in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 2001. A two-way factorial design was used with needle and root litter placed into O and A soil horizons. Litter was inserted into the given horizon within soil mesocosms (10.2 cm diameter x 24 cm long PVC) that had two 5 x 5 cm mesh windows to allow contact with the surrounding soil. After 0.5, 1, 1.5, 4.5, and 10 years, the mesocosms were collected from the field. Isotopes were used to measure the percent recovery of the litter C and N in the bulk soil of the O and A horizons. To investigate mineral associations of the added litter C and N after 10 years, we sequentially fractionated the soils by density. The fractions were a free light fraction (<1.75 g cm-3), a fraction dominated by secondary phyllosilicate minerals (1.75-2.5 g cm-3), a quartz and feldspar-dominated fraction (2.5-2.78 g cm-3), and a fraction dominated by biotite with kaolinite and iron oxide coatings (>2.78 g cm-3). These fractions differ in the type of organic matter they are associated with according to C:N ratios and molecular characterization via FTIR. The biotite fraction had the lowest C:N ratios, indicating it was the most microbially-processed. After 10 years, more root litter C (about 44%) was retained in the soil than needle litter C (about 28%). In line with slower rates of decomposition, root C and N remained in the particulate (>2 mm) fraction and the free light fraction longer than needle C. However, there were similar amounts of root and needle C and N in the mineral-associated pools with 12-17% of the remaining C associated with secondary phyllosilicates and less than 1% associated with biotite. C:N ratios of the litter-derived OM were much lower in the mineral fractions than in the free light fraction. In conclusion, litter type affects how long organic matter is retained in soils by affecting the earlier stages of decomposition when microbes are utilizing substrates that are part of larger OM particles, but litter type does not appear to affect later stages of decomposition, when microbially-processed OM becomes associated with minerals.

Left hemispheric dominance of vestibular processing indicates lateralization of cortical functions in rats.

PubMed

Best, Christoph; Lange, Elena; Buchholz, Hans-Georg; Schreckenberger, Mathias; Reuss, Stefan; Dieterich, Marianne

2014-11-01

Lateralization of cortical functions such as speech dominance, handedness and processing of vestibular information are present not only in humans but also in ontogenetic older species, e.g. rats. In human functional imaging studies, the processing of vestibular information was found to be correlated with the hemispherical dominance as determined by the handedness. It is located mainly within the right hemisphere in right handers and within the left hemisphere in left handers. Since dominance of vestibular processing is unknown in animals, our aim was to study the lateralization of cortical processing in a functional imaging study applying small-animal positron emission tomography (microPET) and galvanic vestibular stimulation in an in vivo rat model. The cortical and subcortical network processing vestibular information could be demonstrated and correlated with data from other animal studies. By calculating a lateralization index as well as flipped region of interest analyses, we found that the vestibular processing in rats follows a strong left hemispheric dominance independent from the "handedness" of the animals. These findings support the idea of an early hemispheric specialization of vestibular cortical functions in ontogenetic older species.

Within-Subject Correlation Analysis to Detect Functional Areas Associated With Response Inhibition.

PubMed

Yamasaki, Tomoko; Ogawa, Akitoshi; Osada, Takahiro; Jimura, Koji; Konishi, Seiki

2018-01-01

Functional areas in fMRI studies are often detected by brain-behavior correlation, calculating across-subject correlation between the behavioral index and the brain activity related to a function of interest. Within-subject correlation analysis is also employed in a single subject level, which utilizes cognitive fluctuations in a shorter time period by correlating the behavioral index with the brain activity across trials. In the present study, the within-subject analysis was applied to the stop-signal task, a standard task to probe response inhibition, where efficiency of response inhibition can be evaluated by the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT). Since the SSRT is estimated, by definition, not in a trial basis but from pooled trials, the correlation across runs was calculated between the SSRT and the brain activity related to response inhibition. The within-subject correlation revealed negative correlations in the anterior cingulate cortex and the cerebellum. Moreover, the dissociation pattern was observed in the within-subject analysis when earlier vs. later parts of the runs were analyzed: negative correlation was dominant in earlier runs, whereas positive correlation was dominant in later runs. Regions of interest analyses revealed that the negative correlation in the anterior cingulate cortex, but not in the cerebellum, was dominant in earlier runs, suggesting multiple mechanisms associated with inhibitory processes that fluctuate on a run-by-run basis. These results indicate that the within-subject analysis compliments the across-subject analysis by highlighting different aspects of cognitive/affective processes related to response inhibition.

Tracking competition and cognitive control during language comprehension with multi-voxel pattern analysis

PubMed Central

Musz, Elizabeth; Thompson-Schill, Sharon L.

2017-01-01

To successfully comprehend a sentence that contains a homonym, readers must select the ambiguous word’s context-appropriate meaning. The outcome of this process is influenced both by top-down contextual support and bottom-up, word-specific characteristics. We examined how these factors jointly affect the neural signatures of lexical ambiguity resolution. We measured the similarity between multi-voxel patterns evoked by the same homonym in two distinct linguistic contexts: once after subjects read sentences that biased interpretation toward each homonym’s most frequent, dominant meaning, and again after interpretation was biased toward a weaker, subordinate meaning. We predicted that, following a subordinate-biasing context, the dominant yet inappropriate meaning would nevertheless compete for activation, manifesting in increased similarity between the neural patterns evoked by the two word meanings. In left anterior temporal lobe (ATL), degree of within-word pattern similarity was positively predicted by the association strength of each homonym’s dominant meaning. Further, within-word pattern similarity in left ATL was negatively predicted by item-specific responses in a region of left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) sensitive to semantic conflict. These findings have implications for psycholinguistic models of lexical ambiguity resolution, and for the role of left VLPFC function during this process. Moreover, these findings demonstrate the utility of item-level, similarity-based analyses of fMRI data for our understanding of competition between co-activated word meanings during language comprehension. PMID:27898341

Geomorphic threshold conditions for gully erosion in Southwestern Iran (Boushehr-Samal watershed)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nazari Samani, Aliakbar; Ahmadi, Hassan; Jafari, Mohammad; Boggs, Guy; Ghoddousi, Jamal; Malekian, Arash

2009-06-01

Globally, a large amount of research has been dedicated to furthering our understanding of the factors and mechanisms affecting gully erosion. However, despite the importance of gully erosion in arid and semi arid regions of Iran there has been no comprehensive study of the geomorphic threshold conditions and factors influencing gully initiation. The aim of this article is to investigate the gullying processes and threshold conditions of permanent gullies in an arid region of Iran based upon examination of the slope-area ( S = αA-β) relationship. The data were collected through field and laboratory studies as well as Digital Elevation Model (DEM) analyses. In total, 97 active headcuts were identified across the three study sites and classified based on dominant initiation process including piping, landsliding and overland flow. Soil properties, including EC, SAR and soil texture, as well as landuse practices were found to be the major factors initiating piping and bank gullies. All gullies initiated by landsliding and seepage processes were found to be located in steep areas (28-40% slope) with their distribution further influenced by the lithology and presence of a cohesionless sand layer within the soil profile. An inverse relationship between upslope area ( A) and local slope ( S), in which the α and β coefficients varied, was further investigated based on the dominant gullying process and land use. Gullies occurring in the rangelands that were dominated by overland flow had the strongest relationship while landsliding dominated gullies did not have a statistically significant S- A relationship. In comparison to theoretical and literature based relationships for gully initiation, relatively low values for β were obtained (-0.182 to -0.266), possibly influenced by the presence of seepage and subsurface processes in many gullies. However, this is consistent with other studies in arid regions and may reflect greater potential for gullying in arid zones due to low vegetation cover and high variation in rainfall. In addition, the soil attributes together with land use practices influenced gully initiation thresholds. Application of the solved S- A relation for predicting vulnerable areas to gullying indicates that it is possible to predict the location of gullies with an acceptable level of accuracy; however other environmental factors should be integrated with the S- A relationship to more accurately identify the location of permanent gullies in arid regions.

The new model of chemical evolution of r-process elements based on the hierarchical galaxy formation. I. Ba and Eu

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

Komiya, Yutaka; Suda, Takuma; Yamada, Shimako

2014-03-10

We investigate the chemical enrichment of r-process elements in the early evolutionary stages of the Milky Way halo within the framework of hierarchical galaxy formation using a semi-analytic merger tree. In this paper, we focus on heavy r-process elements, Ba and Eu, of extremely metal-poor (EMP) stars and give constraints on their astronomical sites. Our models take into account changes of the surface abundances of EMP stars by the accretion of interstellar medium (ISM). We also consider metal-enrichment of intergalactic medium by galactic winds and the resultant pre-enrichment of proto-galaxies. The trend and scatter of the observed r-process abundances aremore » well reproduced by our hierarchical model with ∼10% of core-collapse supernovae in low-mass end (∼10 M {sub ☉}) as a dominant r-process source and the star formation efficiency of ∼10{sup –10} yr{sup –1}. For neutron star mergers as an r-process source, their coalescence timescale has to be ∼10{sup 7} yr, and the event rates ∼100 times larger than currently observed in the Galaxy. We find that the accretion of ISM is a dominant source of r-process elements for stars with [Ba/H] < –3.5. In this model, a majority of stars at [Fe/H] < –3 are formed without r-process elements, but their surfaces are polluted by the ISM accretion. The pre-enrichment affects ∼4% of proto-galaxies, and yet, is surpassed by the ISM accretion in the surface of EMP stars.« less

Multiple factors affect diversity and abundance of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in iron mine soil.

PubMed

Xing, Yi; Si, Yan-Xiao; Hong, Chen; Li, Yang

2015-07-01

Ammonia oxidation by microorganisms is a critical process in the nitrogen cycle. In this study, four soil samples collected from a desert zone in an iron-exploration area and others from farmland and planted forest soil in an iron mine surrounding area. We analyzed the abundance and diversity of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in iron-mining area near the Miyun reservoir using ammonia monooxygenase. A subunit gene (amoA) as molecular biomarker. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was applied to explore the relationships between the abundance of AOA and AOB and soil physicochemical parameters. The results showed that AOA were more abundant than AOB and may play a more dominant role in the ammonia-oxidizing process in the whole region. PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to analyze the structural changes of AOA and AOB. The results showed that AOB were much more diverse than AOA. Nitrosospira cluster three constitute the majority of AOB, and AOA were dominated by group 1.1b in the soil. Redundancy analysis was performed to explore the physicochemical parameters potentially important to AOA and AOB. Soil characteristics (i.e. water, ammonia, organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, and soil type) were proposed to potentially contribute to the distributions of AOB, whereas Cd was also closely correlated to the distributions of AOB. The community of AOA correlated with ammonium and water contents. These results highlight the importance of multiple drivers in microbial niche formation as well as their affect on ammonia oxidizer composition, both which have significant consequences for ecosystem nitrogen functioning.

The Development of Severe and Chronic Violence Among Youth: The Role of Psychopathic Traits and Reward Processing.

PubMed

Reidy, Dennis E; Krusemark, Elizabeth; Kosson, David S; Kearns, Megan C; Smith-Darden, Joanne; Kiehl, Kent A

2017-12-01

Psychopathic traits are a manifestation of a personality pathology that comprises a core affective-interpersonal dysfunction (callous-unemotional traits) and an impulsive-antisocial behavioral component. Of particular importance, psychopathic traits are associated with the perpetration of some of the most severe acts of violence, and they appear to indicate a subset of youth at risk for earlier onset, greater frequency, and persistence of violent offending. Although these youth represent a minority of the population, they commit a significant proportion of the violence in the general community. In our review, we highlight evidence of a unique neurobiological predisposition that underlies the core affective deficits and describe contemporary accounts for the developmental processes leading to the antisocial behavior associated with psychopathy. Current evidence suggests that, for this subset of youth, the structure and function of neural circuitry supporting emotion processing, reward learning, decision making, and the development of emotion related to empathy may be crucial to understanding why they are at risk for violence. In particular, a reward dominant pattern of neurobehavioral conditioning may explain how these youth progress to some of the most severe and persistent forms of violence. However, this pattern of conditioning may also be essential to the primary prevention of such deleterious behavior. We suspect that effective strategies to prevent such violence may ultimately be informed by understanding these affective and motivational mechanisms.

Bilingual language processing after a lesion in the left thalamic and temporal regions. A case report with early childhood onset

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

van Lieshout, P.; Renier, W.; Eling, P.

1990-02-01

This case study concerns an 18-year-old bilingual girl who suffered a radiation lesion in the left (dominant) thalamic and temporal region when she was 4 years old. Language and memory assessment revealed deficits in auditory short-term memory, auditory word comprehension, nonword repetition, syntactic processing, word fluency, and confrontation naming tasks. Both languages (English and Dutch) were found to be affected in a similar manner, despite the fact that one language (English) was acquired before and the other (Dutch) after the period of lesion onset. Most of the deficits appear to be related to verbal (short-term) memory dysfunction. Several hypotheses ofmore » subcortical involvement in memory processes are discussed with reference to existing theories in this area.« less

What controls channel form in steep mountain streams?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palucis, M. C.; Lamb, M. P.

2017-07-01

Steep mountain streams have channel morphologies that transition from alternate bar to step-pool to cascade with increasing bed slope, which affect stream habitat, flow resistance, and sediment transport. Experimental and theoretical studies suggest that alternate bars form under large channel width-to-depth ratios, step-pools form in near supercritical flow or when channel width is narrow compared to bed grain size, and cascade morphology is related to debris flows. However, the connection between these process variables and bed slope—the apparent dominant variable for natural stream types—is unclear. Combining field data and theory, we find that certain bed slopes have unique channel morphologies because the process variables covary systematically with bed slope. Multiple stable states are predicted for other ranges in bed slope, suggesting that a competition of underlying processes leads to the emergence of the most stable channel form.

Alpine treeline of western North America: Linking organism-to-landscape dynamics

USGS Publications Warehouse

Malanson, George P.; Butler, David R.; Fagre, Daniel B.; Walsh, Stephen J; Tomback, Diana F.; Daniels, Lori D.; Resler, Lynn M.; Smith, William K.; Weiss, Daniel J.; Peterson, David L.; Bunn, Andrew G.; Hiemstra, Christopher A.; Liptzin, Daniel; Bourgeron, Patrick S.; Shen, Zehao; Millar, Constance I.

2007-01-01

Although the ecological dynamics of the alpine treeline ecotone are influenced by climate, it is an imperfect indicator of climate change. Mechanistic processes that shape the ecotone—seed rain, seed germination, seedling establishment and subsequent tree growth form, or, conversely tree dieback—depend on microsite patterns. Growth forms affect wind and snow, and so develop positive and negative feedback loops that create these microsites. As a result, complex landscape patterns are generated at multiple spatial scales. Although these mechanistic processes are fundamentally the same for all forest-tundra ecotones across western North America, factors such as prior climate, underlying geology and geomorphology, and genetic constraints of dominant tree species lead to geographic differences in the responses of particular ecotones to climate change.

Influence of refractive correction on ocular dominance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakayama, Nanami; Kawamorita, Takushi; Uozato, Hiroshi

2010-07-01

We investigated the effects of refractive correction and refractive defocus on the assessment of sensory ocular dominance. In 25 healthy subjects (4 males and 21 females) aged between 20 and 31 years, a quantitative measurement of sensory ocular dominance was performed with refractive correction and the addition of a positive lens on the dominant eye. Sensory ocular dominance was measured with a chart using binocular rivalry targets. The reversal point changed after the addition of a +1.00 D lens on the dominant eye in all subjects. However, sighting ocular dominance and stereopsis did not change after the addition of a positive lens on the dominant eye ( P > 0:05, Wilcoxon test). These results suggest that refractive correction affects sensory ocular dominance, indicating the possible development of a new type of occlusion for amblyopia in the future.

Cytokinin is required for escape but not release from auxin mediated apical dominance

PubMed Central

Müller, Dörte; Waldie, Tanya; Miyawaki, Kaori; To, Jennifer PC; Melnyk, Charles W; Kieber, Joseph J; Kakimoto, Tatsuo; Leyser, Ottoline

2015-01-01

Auxin produced by an active primary shoot apex is transported down the main stem and inhibits the growth of the axillary buds below it, contributing to apical dominance. Here we use Arabidopsis thaliana cytokinin (CK) biosynthetic and signalling mutants to probe the role of CK in this process. It is well established that bud outgrowth is promoted by CK, and that CK synthesis is inhibited by auxin, leading to the hypothesis that release from apical dominance relies on an increased supply of CK to buds. Our data confirm that decapitation induces the expression of at least one ISOPENTENYLTRANSFERASE (IPT) CK biosynthetic gene in the stem. We further show that transcript abundance of a clade of the CK-responsive type-A Arabidopsis response regulator (ARR) genes increases in buds following CK supply, and that, contrary to their typical action as inhibitors of CK signalling, these genes are required for CK-mediated bud activation. However, analysis of the relevant arr and ipt multiple mutants demonstrates that defects in bud CK response do not affect auxin-mediated bud inhibition, and increased IPT transcript levels are not needed for bud release following decapitation. Instead, our data suggest that CK acts to overcome auxin-mediated bud inhibition, allowing buds to escape apical dominance under favourable conditions, such as high nitrate availability. Significance Statement It has been proposed that the release of buds from auxin-mediated apical dominance following decapitation requires increased cytokinin biosynthesis and consequent increases in cytokinin supply to buds. Here we show that in Arabidopsis, increases in cytokinin appear to be unnecessary for the release of buds from apical dominance, but rather allow buds to escape the inhibitory effect of apical auxin, thereby promoting bud activation in favourable growth conditions. PMID:25904120

Contributions to singing ability by the posterior portion of the superior temporal gyrus of the non-language-dominant hemisphere: First evidence from subdural cortical stimulation, Wada testing, and fMRI

PubMed Central

Suarez, Ralph O.; Golby, Alexandra; Whalen, Stephen; Sato, Susumu; Theodore, William H.; Kufta, Conrad V.; Devinsky, Orrin; Balish, Marshall; Bromfield, Edward B.

2009-01-01

INTRODUCTION Although the substrates that mediate singing abilities in the human brain are not well understood, invasive brain mapping techniques used for clinical decision making such as intracranial electrocortical testing and Wada testing offer a rare opportunity to examine music-related function in a select group of subjects, affording exceptional spatial and temporal specificity. METHODS We studied eight patients with medically refractory epilepsy undergoing indwelling subdural electrode seizure focus localization. All patients underwent Wada testing for language lateralization. Functional assessment of language and music tasks was done by electrode grid cortical stimulation. One patient was also tested non-invasively with functional MRI. Functional organization of singing ability compared to language ability was determined based on four regions-ofinterest: left and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and left and right posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG). RESULTS In some subjects, electrical stimulation of dominant pSTG can interfere with speech and not singing, whereas stimulation of non-dominant pSTG area can interfere with singing and not speech. Stimulation of the dominant IFG tends to interfere with both musical and language expression, while non-dominant IFG stimulation was often observed to cause no interference with either task; and finally, that stimulation of areas adjacent to but not within non-dominant pSTG typically does not affect either ability. FMRI mappings of one subject revealed similar music/language dissociation with respect to activation asymmetry within the regions-of-interest. CONCLUSION Despite inherent limitations with respect to strictly research objectives, invasive clinical techniques offer a rare opportunity to probe musical and language cognitive processes of the brain in a select group of patients. PMID:19570530

Magmatic versus tectonic influence in the Eolian arc: the case of Vulcano and Lipari islands revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruch, Joel; Di Lorenzo, Riccardo; Vezzoli, Luigina Maria; De Rosa, Rosanna; Acocella, Valerio; Catalano, Stefano; Romagnoli, Gino

2014-05-01

The prevalent influence of magma versus tectonics for the edification and the evolution of volcanic zones is matter of debate. Here we focus on Vulcano and Lipari, two active volcanic islands located in the central sector of the Eolian arc (North of Sicily). Both systems are influenced by regional tectonics and affected by historical magmatic events taking place along a NS oriented structure, connecting both islands. We revisit and implement previous structural studies performed during the 1980's considering several new geophysical, geochemical and geodynamical findings. Four extensive structural campaigns have been performed on both islands and along the shorelines in 2012-2013 covering about 80% of the possible accessible outcrops. We collected ~500 measurements (e.g. faults, fractures and dikes) at 40 sites. Overall, most of the observed structures are oriented N-S and NNW-SSE, confirming previous studies, however, almost all features are strikingly dominated by an EW-oriented extensive regime, which is a novelty. These findings are supported by kinematic indicators and suggest a predominant dip-slip component (pitch from 80 and 130°) with alternating left and right kinematics. Marginal faulting in most recent formations have been observed, suggesting that the deformation may occur preferentially during transient deformation related to periods of magmatic activity, instead of resulting from continuous regional tectonic processes. Overall, fault and dike planes are characterized by a dominant eastward immersion, suggesting an asymmetric graben-like structure of the entire area. This may be explained by the presence of a topographic gradient connecting both islands to the deep Gioia basin to the East, leading to a preferential ample gravitational collapse. Finally, we propose a model in which the stress field rotates northward. It transits from a pure right lateral strike-slip regime along the Tindari fault zone (tectonic-dominant) to an extensive regime explained by the presence of magma at depth inducing a local magmatic stress field affecting structures on Vulcano and Lipari islands (magmatic dominant).

Moments of Teaching and Learning in a Children's Hospital: Affects, Textures, and Temporalities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ehret, Christian

2018-01-01

Although nonrepresentational theory has enriched anthropologists' understanding of affect in social and cultural life, it has a short history in education research, where representational paradigms dominate. This article develops nonrepresentational theories of moments, temporal textures, and affective pedagogies in order to evoke affects of…

Dynamics of bacterial communities during manufacture and ripening of traditional Caciocavallo of Castelfranco cheese in relation to cows' feeding.

PubMed

Giello, Marina; La Storia, Antonietta; Masucci, Felicia; Di Francia, Antonio; Ercolini, Danilo; Villani, Francesco

2017-05-01

Traditional Caciocavallo of Castelfranco is a semi-hard "pasta-filata" cheese produced from raw cows' milk in Campania region. The aim of the present research is mainly focused on the study, by 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing and viable counts, of the dynamics of bacterial communities during manufacture and ripening of traditional Caciocavallo cheese. Moreover, the possible correlation between cheese microbiota and cows' feeding based on silage or hay was also evaluated. In general, except for enterococci, the technological process significantly affected all the microbial groups. According to 16S rRNA, raw cows' milk was dominated by Streptococcus thermophilus, L. lactis and Pseudomonas sp. in hay cheese production, whereas Lactococcus lactis and Acinetobacter sp. dominated silage production. Differences in the taxonomic structure of the milk's microbiota within diet groups were not related to silage and hay cows' feeding. Moreover, S. thermophilus was the unique species that dominate from raw milks to fermented intermediates and cheese in both hay and silage cheese productions. Feeding and ripening time influenced significantly sensory characteristics of the cheeses. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Partitioning the primary ice formation modes in large eddy simulations of mixed-phase clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hande, Luke B.; Hoose, Corinna

2017-11-01

State-of-the-art aerosol-dependent parameterisations describing each heterogeneous ice nucleation mode (contact, immersion, and deposition ice nucleation), as well as homogeneous nucleation, were incorporated into a large eddy simulation model. Several cases representing commonly occurring cloud types were simulated in an effort to understand which ice nucleation modes contribute the most to total concentrations of ice crystals. The cases include a completely idealised warm bubble, semi-idealised deep convection, an orographic cloud, and a stratiform case. Despite clear differences in thermodynamic conditions between the cases, the results are remarkably consistent between the different cloud types. In all the investigated cloud types and under normal aerosol conditions, immersion freezing dominates and contact freezing also contributes significantly. At colder temperatures, deposition nucleation plays only a small role, and homogeneous freezing is important. To some extent, the temporal evolution of the cloud determines the dominant freezing mechanism and hence the subsequent microphysical processes. Precipitation is not correlated with any one ice nucleation mode, instead occurring simultaneously when several nucleation modes are active. Furthermore, large variations in the aerosol concentration do affect the dominant ice nucleation mode; however, they have only a minor influence on the precipitation amount.

Lessons learned from multifrequency acoustic studies of zooplankton and micronekton in the western Antarctic Peninsula and the Gulf of Maine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lavery, Andone C.; Lawson, Gareth L.; Wiebe, Peter H.

2005-09-01

A series of acoustic surveys of zooplankton and micronekton have been performed in the Gulf of Maine (GOM), off the northeast United States, and along the western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). Similar techniques were used to survey these regions, including multifrequency acoustic backscatter (43, 120, 200, 420, 1000 kHz), MOCNESS, CTD, VPR, and in some instances physical microstructure measurements. The GOM is characterized by heterogeneous zooplankton communities in which biomass is dominated by abundant millimeter sized copepods, but the scattering is frequently dominated by a smaller number of strong scatterers, such as shelled pteropods and gas-bearing siphonophores. Heterogeneous zooplankton communities are also observed in the WAP, but patches of comparatively large (40 mm) Antarctic krill are present and often dominate the scattering. In both regions, striking patterns are evident in the backscatter that can be related to the biological community structure and physical processes. Differences in community structure, however, strongly affect the quantitative inferences that can be made based on the acoustic data. Combining direct biological and environmental information with recently developed scattering models has allowed dominant scatterers to be identified and inferences to be made regarding the physical factors influencing backscatter variability, though only under limited conditions. Highlights from these studies and lessons learned regarding our ability to interpret multifrequency acoustics are presented.

Incorporating anthropogenic effects into trophic ecology: predator-prey interactions in a human-dominated landscape.

PubMed

Dorresteijn, Ine; Schultner, Jannik; Nimmo, Dale G; Fischer, Joern; Hanspach, Jan; Kuemmerle, Tobias; Kehoe, Laura; Ritchie, Euan G

2015-09-07

Apex predators perform important functions that regulate ecosystems worldwide. However, little is known about how ecosystem regulation by predators is influenced by human activities. In particular, how important are top-down effects of predators relative to direct and indirect human-mediated bottom-up and top-down processes? Combining data on species' occurrence from camera traps and hunting records, we aimed to quantify the relative effects of top-down and bottom-up processes in shaping predator and prey distributions in a human-dominated landscape in Transylvania, Romania. By global standards this system is diverse, including apex predators (brown bear and wolf), mesopredators (red fox) and large herbivores (roe and red deer). Humans and free-ranging dogs represent additional predators in the system. Using structural equation modelling, we found that apex predators suppress lower trophic levels, especially herbivores. However, direct and indirect top-down effects of humans affected the ecosystem more strongly, influencing species at all trophic levels. Our study highlights the need to explicitly embed humans and their influences within trophic cascade theory. This will greatly expand our understanding of species interactions in human-modified landscapes, which compose the majority of the Earth's terrestrial surface. © 2015 The Author(s).

Language control in bilingual language comprehension: evidence from the maze task

PubMed Central

Wang, Xin

2015-01-01

Most empirical evidence on switch costs is based on bilingual production and interpreted as a result of inhibitory control. It is unclear whether such a top–down control process exists in language switching during comprehension. This study investigates whether a non-lexical switch cost is involved in reading code-switched sentences and its relation to language dominance with cross-script bilingual readers. A maze task is adopted in order to separate top–down inhibitory effects, from lexical effects driven by input. The key findings are: (1) switch costs were observed in both L1–L2 and L2–L1 directions; (2) these effects were driven by two mechanisms: lexical activation and inhibitory control; (3) language dominance modulated the lexical effects, but did not affect the inhibitory effects. These results suggest that a language control mechanism is involved in bilingual reading, even though the control process is not driven by selection as in production. At the theoretical level, these results lend support for the Inhibitory Control model during language switching in comprehension; while the BIA/BIA+ model needs to incorporate a top–down control mechanism to be able to explain the current findings. PMID:26347675

A binary origin for 'blue stragglers' in globular clusters.

PubMed

Knigge, Christian; Leigh, Nathan; Sills, Alison

2009-01-15

Blue stragglers in globular clusters are abnormally massive stars that should have evolved off the stellar main sequence long ago. There are two known processes that can create these objects: direct stellar collisions and binary evolution. However, the relative importance of these processes has remained unclear. In particular, the total number of blue stragglers found in a given cluster does not seem to correlate with the predicted collision rate, providing indirect support for the binary-evolution model. Yet the radial distributions of blue stragglers in many clusters are bimodal, with a dominant central peak: this has been interpreted as an indication that collisions do dominate blue straggler production, at least in the high-density cluster cores. Here we report that there is a clear, but sublinear, correlation between the number of blue stragglers found in a cluster core and the total stellar mass contained within it. From this we conclude that most blue stragglers, even those found in cluster cores, come from binary systems. The parent binaries, however, may themselves have been affected by dynamical encounters. This may be the key to reconciling all of the seemingly conflicting results found to date.

Incorporating anthropogenic effects into trophic ecology: predator–prey interactions in a human-dominated landscape

PubMed Central

Dorresteijn, Ine; Schultner, Jannik; Nimmo, Dale G.; Fischer, Joern; Hanspach, Jan; Kuemmerle, Tobias; Kehoe, Laura; Ritchie, Euan G.

2015-01-01

Apex predators perform important functions that regulate ecosystems worldwide. However, little is known about how ecosystem regulation by predators is influenced by human activities. In particular, how important are top-down effects of predators relative to direct and indirect human-mediated bottom-up and top-down processes? Combining data on species' occurrence from camera traps and hunting records, we aimed to quantify the relative effects of top-down and bottom-up processes in shaping predator and prey distributions in a human-dominated landscape in Transylvania, Romania. By global standards this system is diverse, including apex predators (brown bear and wolf), mesopredators (red fox) and large herbivores (roe and red deer). Humans and free-ranging dogs represent additional predators in the system. Using structural equation modelling, we found that apex predators suppress lower trophic levels, especially herbivores. However, direct and indirect top-down effects of humans affected the ecosystem more strongly, influencing species at all trophic levels. Our study highlights the need to explicitly embed humans and their influences within trophic cascade theory. This will greatly expand our understanding of species interactions in human-modified landscapes, which compose the majority of the Earth's terrestrial surface. PMID:26336169

Drugs of abuse in urban groundwater. A case study: Barcelona.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jurado, A.; Mastroianni, N.; Vazquez-Suñe, E.; Carrera, J.; Tubau, I.; Pujades, E.; Postigo, C.; Lopez de Alda, M.; Barceló, D.

2012-04-01

This study is concerned with drugs of abuse (DAs) and their metabolites in urban groundwater at field scale in relation to (1) the spatial distribution of the groundwater samples, (2) the depth of the groundwater sample, (3) the presence of DAs in recharge sources, and (4) the identification of processes affecting the fate of DAs in groundwater. To this end, urban groundwater samples were collected in the city of Barcelona and a total of 21 drugs were analyzed including cocainics, amphetamine-like compounds, opioids, lysergics and cannabinoids and the prescribed drugs benzodiazepines. Overall, the highest groundwater concentrations and the largest number of detected DAs were found in zones basically recharged by a river that receives large amounts of effluents from waste water treatment plants (WWTPs). In contrast, the urbanized areas yielded not only lower concentrations but also a much smaller number of drugs, which suggests a local origin. In fact, cocaine and its metabolite were dominant in more prosperous neighbourhoods, whereas the cheaper (MDMA) was the dominant DA in poorer districts. Concentrations of DAs estimated mainly from the waste water fraction in groundwater samples were consistently higher than the measured ones, suggesting that DAs undergo removal processes in both reducing and oxidizing conditions.

Individual differences in automatic emotion regulation affect the asymmetry of the LPP component.

PubMed

Zhang, Jing; Zhou, Renlai

2014-01-01

The main goal of this study was to investigate how automatic emotion regulation altered the hemispheric asymmetry of ERPs elicited by emotion processing. We examined the effect of individual differences in automatic emotion regulation on the late positive potential (LPP) when participants were viewing blocks of positive high arousal, positive low arousal, negative high arousal and negative low arousal pictures from International affect picture system (IAPS). Two participant groups were categorized by the Emotion Regulation-Implicit Association Test which has been used in previous research to identify two groups of participants with automatic emotion control and with automatic emotion express. The main finding was that automatic emotion express group showed a right dominance of the LPP component at posterior electrodes, especially in high arousal conditions. But no right dominance of the LPP component was observed for automatic emotion control group. We also found the group with automatic emotion control showed no differences in the right posterior LPP amplitude between high- and low-arousal emotion conditions, while the participants with automatic emotion express showed larger LPP amplitude in the right posterior in high-arousal conditions compared to low-arousal conditions. This result suggested that AER (Automatic emotion regulation) modulated the hemispheric asymmetry of LPP on posterior electrodes and supported the right hemisphere hypothesis.

Lateralized behaviour as indicator of affective state in dairy cows

PubMed Central

Barrett, David C.; Murrell, Joanna C.; Whay, Helen R.

2017-01-01

In humans, there is evidence that sensory processing of novel or threatening stimuli is right hemisphere dominated, especially in people experiencing negative affective states. There is also evidence for similar lateralization in a number of non-human animal species. Here we investigate whether this is also the case in domestic cattle that may experience long-term negative states due to commonly occurring conditions such as lameness. Health and welfare implications associated with pain in lame cows are a major concern in dairy farming. Behavioural tests combining animal behaviour and cognition could make a meaningful contribution to our understanding of disease-related changes in sensory processing in animals, and consequently enhance their welfare. We presented 216 lactating Holstein-Friesian cows with three different unfamiliar objects which were placed either bilaterally (e.g. two yellow party balloons, two black/white checkerboards) or hung centrally (a Kong™) within a familiar area. Cows were individually exposed to the objects on three consecutive days, and their viewing preference/eye use, exploration behaviour/nostril use, and stop position during approach was assessed. Mobility (lameness) was repeatedly scored during the testing period. Overall, a bias to view the right rather than the left object was found at initial presentation of the bilateral objects. More cows also explored the right object rather than the left object with their nose. There was a trend for cows appearing hesitant in approaching the objects by stopping at a distance to them, to then explore the left object rather than the right. In contrast, cows that approached the objects directly had a greater tendency to contact the right object. No significant preference in right or left eye/nostril use was found when cows explored the centrally-located object. We found no relationship between lameness and lateralized behaviour. Nevertheless, observed trends suggesting that lateralized behaviour in response to bilaterally located unfamiliar objects may reflect an immediate affective response are discussed. Further study is needed to understand the impact of long-term affective states on hemispheric dominance and lateralized behaviour. PMID:28910416

Lateralized behaviour as indicator of affective state in dairy cows.

PubMed

Kappel, Sarah; Mendl, Michael T; Barrett, David C; Murrell, Joanna C; Whay, Helen R

2017-01-01

In humans, there is evidence that sensory processing of novel or threatening stimuli is right hemisphere dominated, especially in people experiencing negative affective states. There is also evidence for similar lateralization in a number of non-human animal species. Here we investigate whether this is also the case in domestic cattle that may experience long-term negative states due to commonly occurring conditions such as lameness. Health and welfare implications associated with pain in lame cows are a major concern in dairy farming. Behavioural tests combining animal behaviour and cognition could make a meaningful contribution to our understanding of disease-related changes in sensory processing in animals, and consequently enhance their welfare. We presented 216 lactating Holstein-Friesian cows with three different unfamiliar objects which were placed either bilaterally (e.g. two yellow party balloons, two black/white checkerboards) or hung centrally (a Kong™) within a familiar area. Cows were individually exposed to the objects on three consecutive days, and their viewing preference/eye use, exploration behaviour/nostril use, and stop position during approach was assessed. Mobility (lameness) was repeatedly scored during the testing period. Overall, a bias to view the right rather than the left object was found at initial presentation of the bilateral objects. More cows also explored the right object rather than the left object with their nose. There was a trend for cows appearing hesitant in approaching the objects by stopping at a distance to them, to then explore the left object rather than the right. In contrast, cows that approached the objects directly had a greater tendency to contact the right object. No significant preference in right or left eye/nostril use was found when cows explored the centrally-located object. We found no relationship between lameness and lateralized behaviour. Nevertheless, observed trends suggesting that lateralized behaviour in response to bilaterally located unfamiliar objects may reflect an immediate affective response are discussed. Further study is needed to understand the impact of long-term affective states on hemispheric dominance and lateralized behaviour.

The amblyopic deficit for 2nd order processing: Generality and laterality.

PubMed

Gao, Yi; Reynaud, Alexandre; Tang, Yong; Feng, Lixia; Zhou, Yifeng; Hess, Robert F

2015-09-01

A number of previous reports have suggested that the processing of second-order stimuli by the amblyopic eye (AE) is defective and that the fellow non-amblyopic eye (NAE) also exhibits an anomaly. Second-order stimuli involve extra-striate as well as striate processing and provide a means of exploring the extent of the cortical anomaly in amblyopia using psychophysics. We use a range of different second-order stimuli to investigate how general the deficit is for detecting second-order stimuli in adult amblyopes. We compare these results to our previously published adult normative database using the same stimuli and approach to determine the extent to which the detection of these stimuli is defective for both amblyopic and non-amblyopic eye stimulation. The results suggest that the second-order deficit affects a wide range of second-order stimuli, and by implication a large area of extra-striate cortex, both dorsally and ventrally. The NAE is affected only in motion-defined form judgments, suggesting a difference in the degree to which ocular dominance is disrupted in dorsal and ventral extra-striate regions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Indigenous somatic coliphage removal from a real municipal wastewater by a submerged membrane bioreactor.

PubMed

Wu, Jinling; Li, Haitao; Huang, Xia

2010-03-01

The membrane bioreactor (MBR) features many advantages, such as its excellent effluent quality and compactness. Moreover, the MBR is well known for its disinfectant capacity. This paper investigates virus removal performance for municipal wastewater using a submerged MBR and the operational conditions affecting the virus removal using indigenous somatic coliphages (SC) as an indicator for viruses. The results revealed that the municipal wastewater acquired by the Qinghe Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant, Beijing, contained an SC concentration of (2.81+/-1.51)x10(4)PFU ml(-1), which varies seasonally due to spontaneous decay. In the MBR system, the biomass process dominates SC removal. Membrane rejection is an essential supplement of biomass process for SC removal. In this paper, the relative contributions of biomass process and membrane rejection during the start-up and steady operational periods are discussed in detail. The major factors affecting SC removal are biodegradation, membrane pore size, and gel layer formation on the membrane. During long-term experiments, it was demonstrated that high inoculated sludge concentration, long hydraulic retention time, moderate fouling layer, and non-frequent chemical cleaning are favorable for high SC removal in MBR systems. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The building-up of social relationships: behavioural types, social networks and cooperative breeding in a cichlid

PubMed Central

Schürch, Roger; Rothenberger, Susan; Heg, Dik

2010-01-01

Consistent individual differences in behavioural types may not only cause variation in life-history decisions, but may also affect the choice of social partners and sociality in general. Here, we tested whether and how behavioural type influences the establishment of social ties using the cooperatively breeding cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher. In a habitat saturation experiment with individuals pre-tested for behavioural type, we first analysed whether behavioural type affected the likelihood of settlement (i.e. social status), group sizes, and the types of dominant and subordinate individuals accepted as group members. Corrected for effects of body size and sex, the behavioural type did not affect settlement. However, bold dominant males only accepted smaller females, and grouped with bold subordinates, while shy dominant males accepted larger females than themselves, and grouped with shy subordinates. Second, we analysed the relationships between behavioural type and the aggressiveness or affiliation social network. Behavioural type significantly affected the number and quality of connections within the two networks. We show that behavioural types affect group composition, social networks and status achieved, in interaction with body size. Thus, the interactions within groups may depend not only on age, size and sex, but also on the behavioural type of the individuals involved. PMID:21078660

Autosomal dominant optic neuropathy and sensorineual hearing loss associated with a novel mutation of WFS1

PubMed Central

Pennings, Ronald J.E.; Hol, Frans A.; Kunst, Henricus P.M.; Hoefsloot, Elisabeth H.; Cruysberg, Johannes R.M.; Cremers, Cor W.R.J.

2010-01-01

Purpose To describe the phenotype of a novel Wolframin (WFS1) mutation in a family with autosomal dominant optic neuropathy and deafness. The study is designed as a retrospective observational case series. Methods Seven members of a Dutch family underwent ophthalmological, otological, and genetical examinations in one institution. Fasting serum glucose was assessed in the affected family members. Results All affected individuals showed loss of neuroretinal rim of the optic nerve at fundoscopy with enlarged blind spots at perimetry. They showed a red-green color vision defect at color vision tests and deviations at visually evoked response tests. The audiograms of the affected individuals showed hearing loss and were relatively flat. The unaffected individuals showed no visual deviations or hearing impairment. The affected family members had no glucose intolerance. Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) mitochondrial mutations and mutations in the Optic atrophy-1 gene (OPA1) were excluded. In the affected individuals, a novel missense mutation c.2508G>C (p.Lys836Asn) in exon 8 of WFS1 was identified. Conclusions This study describes the phenotype of a family with autosomal dominant optic neuropathy and hearing impairment associated with a novel missense mutation in WFS1. PMID:20069065

Networking Sensors for Information Dominance - Joint Signal Processing and Communication Design

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

2012 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE NETWORKING SENSORS FOR INFORMATION DOMINANCE - JOINT SIGNAL PROCESSING AND COMMUNICATION DESIGN, Final Report for FA9550...Rev. 2-89) Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39-18 298-102 Public A AFRL-OSR-VA-TR-2012-0729 NETWORKING SENSORS FOR INFORMATION DOMINANCE - JOINT

Chromatic and achromatic monocular deprivation produce separable changes of eye dominance in adults.

PubMed

Zhou, Jiawei; Reynaud, Alexandre; Kim, Yeon Jin; Mullen, Kathy T; Hess, Robert F

2017-11-29

Temporarily depriving one eye of its input, in whole or in part, results in a transient shift in eye dominance in human adults, with the patched eye becoming stronger and the unpatched eye weaker. However, little is known about the role of colour contrast in these behavioural changes. Here, we first show that the changes in eye dominance and contrast sensitivity induced by monocular eye patching affect colour and achromatic contrast sensitivity equally. We next use dichoptic movies, customized and filtered to stimulate the two eyes differentially. We show that a strong imbalance in achromatic contrast between the eyes, with no colour content, also produces similar, unselective shifts in eye dominance for both colour and achromatic contrast sensitivity. Interestingly, if this achromatic imbalance is paired with similar colour contrast in both eyes, the shift in eye dominance is selective, affecting achromatic but not chromatic contrast sensitivity and revealing a dissociation in eye dominance for colour and achromatic image content. On the other hand, a strong imbalance in chromatic contrast between the eyes, with no achromatic content, produces small, unselective changes in eye dominance, but if paired with similar achromatic contrast in both eyes, no changes occur. We conclude that perceptual changes in eye dominance are strongly driven by interocular imbalances in achromatic contrast, with colour contrast having a significant counter balancing effect. In the short term, eyes can have different dominances for achromatic and chromatic contrast, suggesting separate pathways at the site of these neuroplastic changes. © 2017 The Author(s).

Geomorphology and Landscape Evolution Model for the natural and human-impacted regions of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilson, C.; Goodbred, S. L.; Wallace Auerbach, L.; Ahmed, K.; Paola, C.; Reitz, M. D.; Pickering, J.

2013-12-01

The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta (GBMD) in south Asia is generally considered a tide-dominated system, but much of the subaerial delta plain is geomorphically similar to river-dominated systems such as the Mississippi River delta, with a well-developed distributary network separated by low-lying, organic-rich interdistributary basins. By contrast, the lower GBMD is dominated by tidal processes and comprises a 100-km wide coastal plain with dense, interconnected tidal channels that are amalgamated to the seaward edge of the river-dominated portion of the delta. These distinct river- and tide-dominated geomorphic regions are simultaneously sustained by the enormous sediment load of the GBM rivers and its efficient dispersal via the distributary channel network and onshore advection by tides. Together these processes have resulted in the ability of the GBMD to keep pace with sea-level rise throughout the Holocene, with comparatively little shoreline transgression. However, topographic data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) highlight low-lying regions of the delta that are located at the interface of the river- and tide-dominated portions of the delta, where the transport energy of small distributaries and the upper tidal zone go to zero. As a result, these are the most sediment-starved regions of the delta and those most at risk to flooding by the summer monsoon and storm surges. Compounding the slow rates of sedimentation and high local organic content, these regions have been strongly affected by the construction of embankments (polders) that artificially de-water the soils and accelerate organic decomposition during the dry season, and further starve the land surface of sediment. Here, we present an integrated conceptual model for the geomorphic evolution of the GBMD that incorporates river- and tide-dominated regions in conjunction with channel-avulsion processes and delta-lobe construction. Each of these is also overprinted by tectonic deformation and human-landscape modifications. A key goal of this model is to explain the wide-scale distribution of coarse-grained river-borne sediment (predominantly sand) that forms the underlying architecture of the GBMD, with only localized preservation of fine-grained (silt and clay) deposits. Finally, analysis of the channel networks in the tidal delta plain reveal that constructed embankments have significantly decreased the density of naturally functioning tidal channels, inducing locally rapid bank migration and affiliated changes in sinuosity. These rapid landscape changes suggest that there has been a resultant change in hydrodynamics of the tidal delta plain following widespread construction of the embankments. With concern to assess landscape vulnerabilities to environmental change and renewed efforts to rehabilitate and stabilize the embankments, this information is needed to support the successful outcome of coastal defense initiatives.

(Un)Disciplined futures: Women of color feminism as a disruptive to white affect studies.

PubMed

Garcia-Rojas, Claudia

2017-07-03

The aim of this article is to demonstrate how women of color feminism predates and disrupts dominant dialogues in the field of White affect studies. I introduce the concept of White affect studies as an arena of inquiry that draws from Western-European theories and literatures and architects a sociopolitical structure of affect that positions White affects as universal. Scholars contributing to the field of White affect studies posit theories of affect, embodiment, subjectivity, phenomenology, violence, war, and more, while disregarding the theoretical contributions made by women of color feminism in thinking through these notions and social issues. This is done by engaging in a citational practice that results in an epistemic erasure of women of color feminist thought. The voices of women of color feminists are thus disqualified, and their theoretical contributions are not acknowledged as significant or relevant in conceptualizing affect, affective economies, and the social. By turning to the writings of women of color feminists, I demonstrate how their theories on embodiment, subjectivity, and social structures predate the institutionalization of White affect studies. Feminists of color from the past and present have and continue to theorize through a language of self their experiences as subjects embedded within matrices of violence, power, and pleasure. Lorde, Martinez, and Chinchilla write about the ways in which lesbian and queer women of color institute different affects that counter dominant structures of emotion, systems of power, and heterosexual modes of being. In developing conceptual methodologies, Lorde, Martinez, and Chinchilla are able to weave into the dominant discursive logic a language of self that both introduces new queer subjectivities, while reinterpreting existing forms of thought, thereby contesting mainstream economies of White affects and White affect studies. It is through a language of self that Lorde, Martinez, and Chinchilla develop an ethic of survival that countermobilizes against White hegemonic apparatuses.

Viscoelastic behavior of basaltic ash from Stromboli volcano inferred from intermittent compression experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurokawa, A. K.; Miwa, T.; Okumura, S.; Uesugi, K.

2017-12-01

After ash-dominated Strombolian eruption, considerable amount of ash falls back to the volcanic conduit forming a dense near-surface region compacted by weights of its own and other fallback clasts (Patrick et al., 2007). Gas accumulation below this dense cap causes a substantial increase in pressure within the conduit, causing the volcanic activity to shift to the preliminary stages of a forthcoming eruption (Del Bello et al., 2015). Under such conditions, rheology of the fallback ash plays an important role because it controls whether the fallback ash can be the cap. However, little attention has been given to the point. We examined the rheology of ash collected at Stromboli volcano via intermittent compression experiments changing temperature and compression time/rate. The ash deformed at a constant rate during compression process, and then it was compressed without any deformation during rest process. The compression and rest processes repeated during each experiment to see rheological variations with progression of compaction. Viscoelastic changes during the experiment were estimated by Maxwell model. The results show that both elasticity and viscosity increases with decreasing porosity. On the other hand, the elasticity shows strong rate-dependence in the both compression and rest processes while the viscosity dominantly depends on the temperature, although the compression rate also affects the viscosity in the case of the compression process. Thus, the ash behaves either elastically or viscously depending on experimental process, temperature, and compression rate/time. The viscoelastic characteristics can be explained by magnitude relationships between the characteristic relaxation times and times for compression and rest processes. This indicates that the balance of the time scales is key to determining the rheological characteristics and whether the ash behaves elastically or viscously may control cyclic Strombolian eruptions.

Empathy in Psychoanalysis and Medical Education - what can we learn from each other?

PubMed

Löffler-Stastka, Henriette; Datz, Felicitas; Parth, Karoline; Preusche, Ingrid; Bukowski, Xenia; Seidman, Charles

2017-05-02

Several research areas, including medical education (ME), focus on empathy as an important topic in interpersonal relationships. This focus is central to the use of communication skills related to empathy and even more crucial to provide information in a way that makes patients feel more involved in the treatment process. Psychoanalysis (PA) provides its initial concept of empathy based on affective aspects including findings from neuroscience and brain research. Enhancing cooperation between ME and PA can help to integrate both aspects of empathy into a longitudinal training program. The condition of psychoanalytic empathy definitions is the understanding of unconscious processes. It is important to primarily attend especially the dominant affects towards the patient before interpreting his or her behaviour, since in explaining the emerging affects, the analyst has to empathize with the patient to understand the (unconscious) reasons for its behaviour. A strong consideration of nonverbal communication, clinical perceptions, intuitive interaction, contagion-like processes and their implementation and empowerment in medical and therapeutic curricula is one way of beneficially using interdisciplinary approaches to yield empathy in clinical interaction. Established methods of PA, like training of containment, reflective functioning, affective holding and giving meaningful interpretations in accordance with countertransferential and transferential aspects may help to put a focus on the clinican-patient-interaction and the preservation of the physicians' (mental) health. In consequence of the discussion of various training methods that take the theoretical and practical concepts of empathy into account, we aim for an implementation of the named methods in the medical curricula.

Double Compton and Cyclo-Synchrotron in Super-Eddington Discs, Magnetized Coronae, and Jets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKinney, Jonathan C.; Chluba, Jens; Wielgus, Maciek; Narayan, Ramesh; Sadowski, Aleksander

2017-05-01

Black hole accretion discs accreting near the Eddington rate are dominated by bremsstrahlung cooling, but above the Eddington rate, the double Compton process can dominate in radiation-dominated regions, while the cyclo-synchrotron can dominate in strongly magnetized regions like a corona or a jet. We present an extension to the general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamic code harmrad to account for emission and absorption by thermal cyclo-synchrotron, double Compton, bremsstrahlung, low-temperature opal opacities, as well as Thomson and Compton scattering. The harmrad code and associated analysis and visualization codes have been made open-source and are publicly available at the github repository website. We approximate the radiation field as a Bose-Einstein distribution and evolve it using the radiation number-energy-momentum conservation equations in order to track photon hardening. We perform various simulations to study how these extensions affect the radiative properties of magnetically arrested discs accreting at Eddington to super-Eddington rates. We find that double Compton dominates bremsstrahlung in the disc within a radius of r ˜ 15rg (gravitational radii) at hundred times the Eddington accretion rate, and within smaller radii at lower accretion rates. Double Compton and cyclo-synchrotron regulate radiation and gas temperatures in the corona, while cyclo-synchrotron regulates temperatures in the jet. Interestingly, as the accretion rate drops to Eddington, an optically thin corona develops whose gas temperature of T ˜ 109K is ˜100 times higher than the disc's blackbody temperature. Our results show the importance of double Compton and synchrotron in super-Eddington discs, magnetized coronae and jets.

A dominantly inherited form of arthrogryposis multiplex congenita with unusual dermatoglyphics.

PubMed

Sack, G H

1978-12-01

A father and daughter with arthrogryposis multiplex congenita and similar dermatoglyphic patterns are described. No evidence was found of chromosomal abnormality, neuropathy or myopathy, and there were no other affected family members. The findings are compatible with autosomal dominant inheritance.

Processing and analysis of cardiac optical mapping data obtained with potentiometric dyes

PubMed Central

Laughner, Jacob I.; Ng, Fu Siong; Sulkin, Matthew S.; Arthur, R. Martin

2012-01-01

Optical mapping has become an increasingly important tool to study cardiac electrophysiology in the past 20 years. Multiple methods are used to process and analyze cardiac optical mapping data, and no consensus currently exists regarding the optimum methods. The specific methods chosen to process optical mapping data are important because inappropriate data processing can affect the content of the data and thus alter the conclusions of the studies. Details of the different steps in processing optical imaging data, including image segmentation, spatial filtering, temporal filtering, and baseline drift removal, are provided in this review. We also provide descriptions of the common analyses performed on data obtained from cardiac optical imaging, including activation mapping, action potential duration mapping, repolarization mapping, conduction velocity measurements, and optical action potential upstroke analysis. Optical mapping is often used to study complex arrhythmias, and we also discuss dominant frequency analysis and phase mapping techniques used for the analysis of cardiac fibrillation. PMID:22821993

Neurology of Affective Prosody and Its Functional-Anatomic Organization in Right Hemisphere

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ross, Elliott D.; Monnot, Marilee

2008-01-01

Unlike the aphasic syndromes, the organization of affective prosody in brain has remained controversial because affective-prosodic deficits may occur after left or right brain damage. However, different patterns of deficits are observed following left and right brain damage that suggest affective prosody is a dominant and lateralized function of…

Theory of choice in bandit, information sampling and foraging tasks.

PubMed

Averbeck, Bruno B

2015-03-01

Decision making has been studied with a wide array of tasks. Here we examine the theoretical structure of bandit, information sampling and foraging tasks. These tasks move beyond tasks where the choice in the current trial does not affect future expected rewards. We have modeled these tasks using Markov decision processes (MDPs). MDPs provide a general framework for modeling tasks in which decisions affect the information on which future choices will be made. Under the assumption that agents are maximizing expected rewards, MDPs provide normative solutions. We find that all three classes of tasks pose choices among actions which trade-off immediate and future expected rewards. The tasks drive these trade-offs in unique ways, however. For bandit and information sampling tasks, increasing uncertainty or the time horizon shifts value to actions that pay-off in the future. Correspondingly, decreasing uncertainty increases the relative value of actions that pay-off immediately. For foraging tasks the time-horizon plays the dominant role, as choices do not affect future uncertainty in these tasks.

Media, racism and public health psychology.

PubMed

Nairn, Raymond; Pega, Frank; McCreanor, Tim; Rankine, Jenny; Barnes, Angela

2006-03-01

International literature has established that racism contributes to ill-health of migrants, ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples. Racism generally negates wellbeing, adversely affecting physical and psychological health. Numerous studies have shown that media contribute marginalizing particular ethnic and cultural groups depicting them primarily as problems for and threats to the dominant. This articles frames media representations of, and their effect on, the indigenous Maori of Aotearoa, New Zealand within the ongoing processes of colonization. We argue that reflects the media contribution to maintenance and naturalisation of colonial relationships and seek to include critical media scholarship in a critical public health psychology.

Distribution of Chinese names

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Ding-wei

2013-03-01

We present a statistical model for the distribution of Chinese names. Both family names and given names are studied on the same basis. With naive expectation, the distribution of family names can be very different from that of given names. One is affected mostly by genealogy, while the other can be dominated by cultural effects. However, we find that both distributions can be well described by the same model. Various scaling behaviors can be understood as a result of stochastic processes. The exponents of different power-law distributions are controlled by a single parameter. We also comment on the significance of full-name repetition in Chinese population.

Side of symptom onset affects motor dysfunction in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Haaxma, C A; Helmich, R C G; Borm, G F; Kappelle, A C; Horstink, M W I M; Bloem, B R

2010-11-10

The healthy brain appears to have an asymmetric dopamine distribution, with higher levels of dopamine in the left than in the right striatum. Here, we test the hypothesis that this neurochemical asymmetry renders the right striatum relatively more vulnerable to the effects of dopaminergic denervation in Parkinson's disease (PD). Using the pegboard dexterity test, we compared motor performance of both hands between healthy subjects (n=48), PD patients with predominantly right-hemispheric dopamine depletion (PD-RIGHT; n=83) and PD patients with more severe left-hemispheric dopamine depletion (PD-LEFT; n=103). All subjects were right-handed. After adjusting for hand-dominance effects, we found that PD-RIGHT patients exhibited a 55% larger difference between right and left dexterity scores than PD-LEFT patients. This effect could be attributed to greater motor dysfunction of the more-affected hand in PD-RIGHT patients, while the less-affected hand performed similarly in both groups. We conclude that the side of symptom onset affects motor dysfunction in PD, and suggest that the non-dominant right hemisphere may be more susceptible to dopaminergic denervation than the dominant left hemisphere. Copyright © 2010 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ovarian development in a primitively eusocial wasp: social interactions affect behaviorally dominant and subordinate wasps in opposite directions relative to solitary females.

PubMed

Shukla, Shantanu; Pareek, Vidhi; Gadagkar, Raghavendra

2014-07-01

In many primitively eusocial wasp species new nests are founded either by a single female or by a small group of females. In the single foundress nests, the lone female develops her ovaries, lays eggs as well as tends her brood. In multiple foundress nests social interactions, especially dominance-subordinate interactions, result in only one 'dominant' female developing her ovaries and laying eggs. Ovaries of the remaining 'subordinate' cofoundresses remain suppressed and these individuals function as workers and tend the dominant's brood. Using the tropical, primitively eusocial polistine wasp Ropalidia marginata and by comparing wasps held in isolation and those kept as pairs in the laboratory, we demonstrate that social interactions affect ovarian development of dominant and subordinate wasps among the pairs in opposite directions, suppressing the ovaries of the subordinate member of the pair below that of solitary wasps and boosting the ovaries of dominant member of the pair above that of solitary females. In addition to being of physiological interest, such mirror image effects of aggression on the ovaries of the aggressors and their victims, suggest yet another mechanism by which subordinates can enhance their indirect fitness and facilitate the evolution of worker behavior by kin selection. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dynamic changes in the composition of photosynthetic picoeukaryotes in the northwestern Pacific Ocean revealed by high-throughput tag sequencing of plastid 16S rRNA genes.

PubMed

Choi, Dong H; An, Sung M; Chun, Sungjun; Yang, Eun C; Selph, Karen E; Lee, Charity M; Noh, Jae H

2016-02-01

Photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPEs) are major oceanic primary producers. However, the diversity of such communities remains poorly understood, especially in the northwestern (NW) Pacific. We investigated the abundance and diversity of PPEs, and recorded environmental variables, along a transect from the coast to the open Pacific Ocean. High-throughput tag sequencing (using the MiSeq system) revealed the diversity of plastid 16S rRNA genes. The dominant PPEs changed at the class level along the transect. Prymnesiophyceae were the only dominant PPEs in the warm pool of the NW Pacific, but Mamiellophyceae dominated in coastal waters of the East China Sea. Phylogenetically, most Prymnesiophyceae sequences could not be resolved at lower taxonomic levels because no close relatives have been cultured. Within the Mamiellophyceae, the genera Micromonas and Ostreococcus dominated in marginal coastal areas affected by open water, whereas Bathycoccus dominated in the lower euphotic depths of oligotrophic open waters. Cryptophyceae and Phaeocystis (of the Prymnesiophyceae) dominated in areas affected principally by coastal water. We also defined the biogeographical distributions of Chrysophyceae, prasinophytes, Bacillariophyceaea and Pelagophyceae. These distributions were influenced by temperature, salinity and chlorophyll a and nutrient concentrations. © FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

[The clinico-psychopathological differentiation of schizoaffective psychoses with a predominance of affective disorders].

PubMed

Korenev, A N

1994-01-01

Basing on the clinico-psychopathological analysis of 43 patients with an affect-dominant form of schizoaffective psychosis, their typological division has been suggested. The interrelations of clinical types of delusional disturbances with affective disorders, their polarity, congruent and noncongruent delusions were shown. The discussion covers differential-diagnostic characteristics of affective states in schizoaffective and affective psychoses.

What Controls the Vertical Distribution of Aerosol? Relationships Between Process Sensitivity in HadGEM3-UKCA and Inter-Model Variation from AeroCom Phase II

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kipling, Zak; Stier, Philip; Johnson, Colin E.; Mann, Graham W.; Bellouin, Nicolas; Bauer, Susanne E.; Bergman, Tommi; Chin, Mian; Diehl, Thomas; Ghan, Steven J.;

Grain Surface Chemistry and the Composition of Interstellar Ices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tielens, A. G. G. M.

2006-01-01

Submicron sized dust grains are an important component of the interstellar medium. In particular they provide surface where active chemistry can take place. At the low temperatures (-10 K) of the interstellar medium, colliding gas phase species will stick, diffuse, react, and form an icy mantle on these dust grains. This talk will review the principles of grain surface chemistry and delineate important grain surface routes, focusing on reactions involving H, D, and O among each other and with molecules such as CO. Interstellar ice mantles can be studied through the fundamental vibrations of molecular species in the mid-infrared spectra of sources embedded in or located behind dense molecular clouds. Analysis of this type of data has provided a complex view of the composition of these ices and the processes involved. Specifically, besides grain surface chemistry, the composition of interstellar ices is also affected by thermal processing due to nearby newly formed stars. This leads to segregation between different ice components as well as outgassing. The latter results in the formation of a so-called Hot Core region with a gas phase composition dominated by evaporated mantle species. Studies of such regions provide thus a different view on the ice composition and the chemical processes involved. Interstellar ices can also be processed by FUV photons and high energy cosmic ray ions. Cosmic ray processing likely dominates the return of accreted species to the gas phase where further gas phase reactions can take place. These different chemical routes towards molecular complexity in molecular clouds and particularly regions of star formation will be discussed.

The dynamic relationship between plant architecture and competition

PubMed Central

Ford, E. David

2014-01-01

In this review, structural and functional changes are described in single-species, even-aged, stands undergoing competition for light. Theories of the competition process as interactions between whole plants have been advanced but have not been successful in explaining these changes and how they vary between species or growing conditions. This task now falls to researchers in plant architecture. Research in plant architecture has defined three important functions of individual plants that determine the process of canopy development and competition: (i) resource acquisition plasticity; (ii) morphogenetic plasticity; (iii) architectural variation in efficiency of interception and utilization of light. In this review, this research is synthesized into a theory for competition based on five groups of postulates about the functioning of plants in stands. Group 1: competition for light takes place at the level of component foliage and branches. Group 2: the outcome of competition is determined by the dynamic interaction between processes that exert dominance and processes that react to suppression. Group 3: species differences may affect both exertion of dominance and reaction to suppression. Group 4: individual plants may simultaneously exhibit, in different component parts, resource acquisition and morphogenetic plasticity. Group 5: mortality is a time-delayed response to suppression. Development of architectural models when combined with field investigations is identifying research needed to develop a theory of architectural influences on the competition process. These include analyses of the integration of foliage and branch components into whole-plant growth and precise definitions of environmental control of morphogenetic plasticity and its interaction with acquisition of carbon for plant growth. PMID:24987396

The dynamic relationship between plant architecture and competition.

PubMed

Ford, E David

2014-01-01

In this review, structural and functional changes are described in single-species, even-aged, stands undergoing competition for light. Theories of the competition process as interactions between whole plants have been advanced but have not been successful in explaining these changes and how they vary between species or growing conditions. This task now falls to researchers in plant architecture. Research in plant architecture has defined three important functions of individual plants that determine the process of canopy development and competition: (i) resource acquisition plasticity; (ii) morphogenetic plasticity; (iii) architectural variation in efficiency of interception and utilization of light. In this review, this research is synthesized into a theory for competition based on five groups of postulates about the functioning of plants in stands. Group 1: competition for light takes place at the level of component foliage and branches. Group 2: the outcome of competition is determined by the dynamic interaction between processes that exert dominance and processes that react to suppression. Group 3: species differences may affect both exertion of dominance and reaction to suppression. Group 4: individual plants may simultaneously exhibit, in different component parts, resource acquisition and morphogenetic plasticity. Group 5: mortality is a time-delayed response to suppression. Development of architectural models when combined with field investigations is identifying research needed to develop a theory of architectural influences on the competition process. These include analyses of the integration of foliage and branch components into whole-plant growth and precise definitions of environmental control of morphogenetic plasticity and its interaction with acquisition of carbon for plant growth.

Fast Reduction Method in Dominance-Based Information Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yan; Zhou, Qinghua; Wen, Yongchuan

2018-01-01

In real world applications, there are often some data with continuous values or preference-ordered values. Rough sets based on dominance relations can effectively deal with these kinds of data. Attribute reduction can be done in the framework of dominance-relation based approach to better extract decision rules. However, the computational cost of the dominance classes greatly affects the efficiency of attribute reduction and rule extraction. This paper presents an efficient method of computing dominance classes, and further compares it with traditional method with increasing attributes and samples. Experiments on UCI data sets show that the proposed algorithm obviously improves the efficiency of the traditional method, especially for large-scale data.

Heat Transfer of Thermocapillary Convection in a Two-Layered Fluid System Under the Influence of Magnetic Field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, N.; Ludovisis, D.; Cha, S. S.

2006-01-01

Heat transfer of a two-layer fluid system has been of great importance in a variety of industrial applications. For example, the phenomena of immiscible fluids can be found in materials processing and heat exchangers. Typically in solidification from a melt, the convective motion is the dominant factor that affects the uniformity of material properties. In the layered flow, thermocapillary forces can come into an important play, which was first emphasized by a previous investigator in 1958. Under extraterrestrial environments without gravity, thermocapillary effects can be a more dominant factor, which alters material properties in processing. Control and optimization of heat transfer in an immiscible fluid system need complete understanding of the flow phenomena that can be induced by surface tension at a fluid interface. The present work is focused on understanding of the magnetic field effects on thermocapillary convection, in order to optimize material processing. That is, it involves the study of the complicated phenomena to alter the flow motion in crystal growth. In this effort, the Marangoni convection in a cavity with differentially heated sidewalls is investigated with and without the influence of a magnetic field. As a first step, numerical analyses are performed, by thoroughly investigating influences of all pertinent physical parameters. Experiments are then conducted, with preliminary results, for comparison with the numerical analyses.

Environmental and human impact on the sedimentary dynamic in the Rhone Delta subaquatic canyons (France-Switzerland)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arantegui, A.; Corella, J. P.; Loizeau, J. L.; Anselmetti, F. S.; Girardclos, S.

2012-04-01

Deltas are very sensitive environments and highly vulnerable to variations in water discharge and the amount of suspended sediment load provided by the delta-forming currents. Human activities in the watershed, such as building of dams and irrigation ditches, or river bed deviations, may affect the discharge regime and sediment input, thus affecting delta growth. Underwater currents create deeply incised canyons cutting into the delta lobes. Understanding the sedimentary processes in these subaquatic canyons is crucial to reconstruct the fluvial evolution and human impact on deltaic environments and to carry out a geological risk assessment related to mass movements, which may affect underwater structures and civil infractructure. Recently acquired high-resolution multibeam bathymetry on the Rhone Delta in Lake Geneva (Sastre et al. 2010) revealed the complexity of the underwater morphology formed by active and inactive canyons first described by Forel (1892). In order to unravel the sedimentary processes and sedimentary evolution in these canyons, 27 sediment cores were retrieved in the distal part of each canyon and in the canyon floor/levee complex of the active canyon. Geophysical, sedimentological, geochemical and radiometric dating techniques were applied to analyse these cores. Preliminary data show that only the canyon originating at the current river mouth is active nowadays, while the others remain inactive since engineering works in the watershed occurred, confirming Sastre et al. (2010). However, alternating hemipelagic and turbiditic deposits on the easternmost canyons, evidence underflow processes during the last decades as well. Two canyons, which are located close to the Rhone river mouth, correspond to particularly interesting deeply incised crevasse channels formed when the underwater current broke through the outer bend of a meander in the proximal northern levee. In these canyons, turbidites occur in the sediment record indicating ongoing sediment dynamics during whether extreme flood events or mass-movements due to deltaic scarp failures. The active canyon shows a classic turbiditic system with frequent spillover processes in the canyon floor/levee complex. Geotechnical measurements, a decrease in the frequency of turbidites and a fining upward sequence along the levee suggest that erosion dominates sedimentation in the canyon floor, while sedimentation dominates in the rapid levee building-up process, with sedimentation rates that exceed 3cm/yr in the proximal areas. Therefore, mechanisms controlling the sedimentary evolution on the active canyon result in a complex interplay between erosion and sedimentation. Further research will provide a detailed evaluation of the human impact on sedimentary dynamic in the Rhone Delta subaquatic canyons.

Dominance of Spouse Orientation and Perceived Couple Mutuality.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Antoinette D.; Dudek, Stephanie Z.

Interactions between husbands and wives are often assessed in terms of power distribution, based on decision-making outcomes. To examine the association of the dominance of "spouse" over "parents" and "peers" orientation with perceived behavioral and affective mutuality in the couple's financial management, couples…

Compound Heterozygosity of Dominant and Recessive COL7A Alleles in a Severely Affected Patient with a Family History of Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa: Clinical Findings, Genetic Testing, and Treatment Implications.

PubMed

Watson, Kendra D; Schoch, Jennifer J; Beek, Geoffrey J; Hand, Jennifer L

2017-03-01

An 8-year-old girl born to a family with more than three generations of dominant dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DDEB) presented with life-threatening confluent skin erosions, mitten hand deformity, and failure to thrive. Reassessment of her family history and genetic testing showed compound heterozygous COL7A mutations, one inherited from her DDEB-affected mother and one from her unaffected, healthy father. This family illustrates the risk of unexpected, severe, autosomal recessive epidermolysis bullosa (EB) in a family with milder, multigenerational autosomal dominant EB. Clinicians should recognize the clinical spectrum of dystrophic EB and recommend genetic consultation when the phenotype conflicts with family history. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Familial neuralgia of occipital and intermedius nerves in a Chinese family.

PubMed

Wang, Yu; Yu, Chuan-Yong; Huang, Lin; Riederer, Franz; Ettlin, Dominik

2011-08-01

Cranial nerve neuralgia usually occurs sporadically. Nonetheless, familial cases of trigeminal neuralgia are not uncommon with a reported incidence of 1-2%, suggestive of an autosomal dominant inheritance. In contrast, familial occipital neuralgia is rarely reported with only one report in the literature. We present a Chinese family with five cases of occipital and nervus intermedius neuralgia alone or in combination in three generations. All persons afflicted with occipital neuralgia have suffered from paroxysmal 'electric wave'-like pain for years. In the first generation, the father (index patient) was affected, in the second generation all his three daughters (with two sons spared) and in the third generation a daughter's male offspring is affected. This familial pattern suggests an X-linked dominant or an autosomal dominant inheritance mode.

Dissecting repulsion linkage in the dwarfing gene Dw3 region for sorghum plant height provides insights into heterosis.

PubMed

Li, Xin; Li, Xianran; Fridman, Eyal; Tesso, Tesfaye T; Yu, Jianming

2015-09-22

Heterosis is a main contributor to yield increase in many crop species. Different mechanisms have been proposed for heterosis: dominance, overdominance, epistasis, epigenetics, and protein metabolite changes. However, only limited examples of molecular dissection and validation of these mechanisms are available. Here, we present an example of discovery and validation of heterosis generated by a combination of repulsion linkage and dominance. Using a recombinant inbred line population, a separate quantitative trait locus (QTL) for plant height (qHT7.1) was identified near the genomic region harboring the known auxin transporter Dw3 gene. With two loci having repulsion linkage between two inbreds, heterosis in the hybrid can appear as a single locus with an overdominance mode of inheritance (i.e., pseudo-overdominance). Individually, alleles conferring taller plant height exhibited complete dominance over alleles conferring shorter height. Detailed analyses of different height components demonstrated that qHT7.1 affects both the upper and lower parts of the plant, whereas Dw3 affects only the part below the flag leaf. Computer simulations show that repulsion linkage could influence QTL detection and estimation of effect in segregating populations. Guided by findings in linkage mapping, a genome-wide association study of plant height with a sorghum diversity panel pinpointed genomic regions underlying the trait variation, including Dw1, Dw2, Dw3, Dw4, and qHT7.1. Multilocus mixed model analysis confirmed the advantage of complex trait dissection using an integrated approach. Besides identifying a specific genetic example of heterosis, our research indicated that integrated molecular dissection of complex traits in different population types can enable plant breeders to fine tune the breeding process for crop production.

Fire as the dominant driver of central Canadian boreal forest carbon balance.

PubMed

Bond-Lamberty, Ben; Peckham, Scott D; Ahl, Douglas E; Gower, Stith T

2007-11-01

Changes in climate, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and fire regimes have been occurring for decades in the global boreal forest, with future climate change likely to increase fire frequency--the primary disturbance agent in most boreal forests. Previous attempts to assess quantitatively the effect of changing environmental conditions on the net boreal forest carbon balance have not taken into account the competition between different vegetation types on a large scale. Here we use a process model with three competing vascular and non-vascular vegetation types to examine the effects of climate, carbon dioxide concentrations and fire disturbance on net biome production, net primary production and vegetation dominance in 100 Mha of Canadian boreal forest. We find that the carbon balance of this region was driven by changes in fire disturbance from 1948 to 2005. Climate changes affected the variability, but not the mean, of the landscape carbon balance, with precipitation exerting a more significant effect than temperature. We show that more frequent and larger fires in the late twentieth century resulted in deciduous trees and mosses increasing production at the expense of coniferous trees. Our model did not however exhibit the increases in total forest net primary production that have been inferred from satellite data. We find that poor soil drainage decreased the variability of the landscape carbon balance, which suggests that increased climate and hydrological changes have the potential to affect disproportionately the carbon dynamics of these areas. Overall, we conclude that direct ecophysiological changes resulting from global climate change have not yet been felt in this large boreal region. Variations in the landscape carbon balance and vegetation dominance have so far been driven largely by increases in fire frequency.

Eco-Physiological Responses of Dominant Species to Watering in a Natural Grassland Community on the Semi-Arid Loess Plateau of China

PubMed Central

Niu, Furong; Duan, Dongping; Chen, Ji; Xiong, Peifeng; Zhang, He; Wang, Zhi; Xu, Bingcheng

2016-01-01

Altered precipitation regimes significantly affect ecosystem structure and function in arid and semi-arid regions. In order to investigate effects of precipitation changes on natural grassland community in the semi-arid Loess Plateau, the current research examined eco-physiological characteristics of two co-dominant species (i.e., Bothriochloa ischaemum and Lespedeza davurica) and community composition following two watering instances (i.e., precipitation pulses, July and August, 2011, respectively) in a natural grassland community. Results showed that the photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and intercellular CO2 concentration rapidly increased on the first to third day following watering in both species, and both months. Under watering treatments, the maximum net photosynthetic rates appeared on the second to third day after watering, which increased 30–80% in B. ischaemum and 40–50% in L. davurica compared with non-watering treatments, respectively. Leaf water use efficiency kept stable or initially decreased in both species under watering treatments. Watering in July produced more promoting effects on grass photosynthesis than in August, particularly in B. ischaemum. Community above-ground biomass at the end of the growing season increased after watering, although no significant changes in species diversity were observed. Our results indicated that timing and magnitude of watering could significantly affect plant eco-physiological processes, and there were species-specific responses in B. ischaemum and L. davurica. Pulsed watering increased community productivity, while did not significantly alter community composition after one growing season. The outcomes of this study highlight eco-physiological traits in dominant species may playing important roles in reshaping community composition under altered precipitation regimes. PMID:27242864

Urbanization and international trade and investment policies as determinants of noncommunicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Schram, Ashley; Labonté, Ronald; Sanders, David

2013-01-01

There are three dominant globalization pathways affecting noncommunicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): urbanization, trade liberalization, and investment liberalization. Urbanization carries potential health benefits due to improved access to an increased variety of food imports, although for the growing number of urban poor, this has often meant increased reliance on cheap, highly processed food commodities. Reduced barriers to trade have eased the importation of such commodities, while investment liberalization has increased corporate consolidation over global and domestic food chains. Higher profit margins on processed foods have promoted the creation of 'obesogenic' environments, which through progressively integrated global food systems have been increasingly 'exported' to developing nations. This article explores globalization processes, the food environment, and dietary health outcomes in SSA through the use of trend analyses and structural equation modelling. The findings are considered in the context of global barriers and facilitators for healthy public policy. © 2013.

Flies and humans share a motion estimation strategy that exploits natural scene statistics

PubMed Central

Clark, Damon A.; Fitzgerald, James E.; Ales, Justin M.; Gohl, Daryl M.; Silies, Marion A.; Norcia, Anthony M.; Clandinin, Thomas R.

2014-01-01

Sighted animals extract motion information from visual scenes by processing spatiotemporal patterns of light falling on the retina. The dominant models for motion estimation exploit intensity correlations only between pairs of points in space and time. Moving natural scenes, however, contain more complex correlations. Here we show that fly and human visual systems encode the combined direction and contrast polarity of moving edges using triple correlations that enhance motion estimation in natural environments. Both species extract triple correlations with neural substrates tuned for light or dark edges, and sensitivity to specific triple correlations is retained even as light and dark edge motion signals are combined. Thus, both species separately process light and dark image contrasts to capture motion signatures that can improve estimation accuracy. This striking convergence argues that statistical structures in natural scenes have profoundly affected visual processing, driving a common computational strategy over 500 million years of evolution. PMID:24390225

Indigenous microorganisms production and the effect on composting process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abu-Bakar, Nurul-Ain; Ibrahim, Nazlina

2013-11-01

In this study, production of indigenous microorganisms (IMO) and effect on addition of IMO in composting process were done. Production of IMO was done in a series of steps to allow propagation of beneficial microorganisms. Effect of IMO addition in composting process was investigated by having 4 treatments; 1) rice straw without IMO nor manure and rice bran, 2) rice straw with IMO only, 3) rice straw with manure and rice bran, 4) rice straw with IMO, manure and rice bran. Production of IMO using cooked rice yields white molds. Addition of IMO during composting did not affect temperature increment. However, there were differences in numbers of microorganisms found during each stages of composting. Initial composting stage was dominated by mesophilic bacteria and actinomycetes, followed by thermophilic bacteria and later by actinomycetes upon composting completion. In conclusion, this study showed that IMO addition in composting increased microorganisms which are responsible in organic decomposition.

Interactive effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on ecosystem functioning.

PubMed

Pires, Aliny P F; Srivastava, Diane S; Marino, Nicholas A C; MacDonald, A Andrew M; Figueiredo-Barros, Marcos Paulo; Farjalla, Vinicius F

2018-05-01

Climate change and biodiversity loss are expected to simultaneously affect ecosystems, however research on how each driver mediates the effect of the other has been limited in scope. The multiple stressor framework emphasizes non-additive effects, but biodiversity may also buffer the effects of climate change, and climate change may alter which mechanisms underlie biodiversity-function relationships. Here, we performed an experiment using tank bromeliad ecosystems to test the various ways that rainfall changes and litter diversity may jointly determine ecological processes. Litter diversity and rainfall changes interactively affected multiple functions, but how depends on the process measured. High litter diversity buffered the effects of altered rainfall on detritivore communities, evidence of insurance against impacts of climate change. Altered rainfall affected the mechanisms by which litter diversity influenced decomposition, reducing the importance of complementary attributes of species (complementarity effects), and resulting in an increasing dependence on the maintenance of specific species (dominance effects). Finally, altered rainfall conditions prevented litter diversity from fueling methanogenesis, because such changes in rainfall reduced microbial activity by 58%. Together, these results demonstrate that the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on ecosystems cannot be understood in isolation and interactions between these stressors can be multifaceted. © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America.

Ecosystem ecology meets adaptive management: food web response to a controlled flood on the Colorado River, Glen Canyon

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cross, Wyatt F.; Baxter, Colden V.; Donner, Kevin C.; Rosi-Marshall, Emma J.; Kennedy, Theodore A.; Hall, Robert O.; Wellard Kelly, Holly A.; Rogers, R. Scott

2011-01-01

Large dams have been constructed on rivers to meet human demands for water, electricity, navigation, and recreation. As a consequence, flow and temperature regimes have been altered, strongly affecting river food webs and ecosystem processes. Experimental high-flow dam releases, i.e., controlled floods, have been implemented on the Colorado River, USA, in an effort to reestablish pulsed flood events, redistribute sediments, improve conditions for native fishes, and increase understanding of how dam operations affect physical and biological processes. We quantified secondary production and organic matter flows in the food web below Glen Canyon dam for two years prior and one year after an experimental controlled flood in March 2008. Invertebrate biomass and secondary production declined significantly following the flood (total biomass, 55% decline; total production, 56% decline), with most of the decline driven by reductions in two nonnative invertebrate taxa, Potamopyrgus antipodarum and Gammarus lacustris. Diatoms dominated the trophic basis of invertebrate production before and after the controlled flood, and the largest organic matter flows were from diatoms to the three most productive invertebrate taxa (P. antipodarum, G. lacustris, and Tubificida). In contrast to invertebrates, production of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) increased substantially (194%) following the flood, despite the large decline in total secondary production of the invertebrate assemblage. This counterintuitive result is reconciled by a post-flood increase in production and drift concentrations of select invertebrate prey (i.e., Chironomidae and Simuliidae) that supported a large proportion of trout production but had relatively low secondary production. In addition, interaction strengths, measured as species impact values, were strongest between rainbow trout and these two taxa before and after the flood, demonstrating that the dominant consumer—resource interactions were not necessarily congruent with the dominant organic matter flows. Our study illustrates the value of detailed food web analysis for elucidating pathways by which dam management may alter production and strengths of species interactions in river food webs. We suggest that controlled floods may increase production of nonnative rainbow trout, and this information can be used to help guide future dam management decisions.

Cerebro-costo-mandibular syndrome in a father and a female fetus: early prenatal ultrasonographic diagnosis and autosomal dominant transmission.

PubMed

Morin, G; Gekas, J; Naepels, P; Gondry, J; Devauchelle, B; Testelin, S; Sevestre, H; Thépôt, F; Mathieu, M

2001-10-01

Ultrasonography in a female fetus revealed cystic cervical hygroma, severe micrognathia, and vertebral and upper limb anomalies suggestive of cerebro-costo-mandibular syndrome (CCMS) which was diagnosed ultrasonographically at 16 weeks' gestation. The father is affected and presents with a Pierre Robin sequence, short stature and typical costovertebral anomalies. CCMS is a rare and severe disorder. The high frequency of sporadic cases, vertical transmission, and the excess of sibs affected via horizontal transmission suggest dominant autosomal mutation with possible germinal mosaicism. The vertical familial case detailed in the present report is a reminder of the high risk when one parent or one sibling is affected and the extreme variability of phenotype and costal ossification. Early prenatal ultrasound diagnosis is possible in a severely affected fetus. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effect of oxytocin receptor blockade on appetite for sugar is modified by social context.

PubMed

Olszewski, Pawel K; Allen, Kerry; Levine, Allen S

2015-03-01

Research on oxytocin (OT) has yielded two seemingly unrelated sets of discoveries: OT has prosocial effects, and it elicits termination of feeding, especially of food rich in carbohydrates. Here we investigated whether OT's involvement in food intake is affected by the social context in mice, with particular focus on the role of dominance. We used two approaches: injections and gene expression analysis. We housed two males per cage and determined a dominant one. Then we injected a blood-brain barrier penetrant OT receptor antagonist L-368,899 in either dominant or subordinate animals and gave them 10-min access to a sucrose solution in the apparatus in which social exposure was modified and it ranged from none to unrestricted contact. L-368,899 increased the amount of consumed sugar in dominant mice regardless of whether these animals had access to sucrose in the non-social or social contexts (olfactory-derived or partial social exposure). The antagonist also increased the proportion of time that dominant mice spent drinking the sweet solution in the paradigm in which both mice had to share a single source of sucrose. L-368,899-treated subordinate mice consumed more sucrose solution than saline controls only when the environment in which sugar was presented was devoid of social cues related to the dominant animal. Finally, we investigated whether hypothalamic OT gene expression differs between dominant and subordinate mice consuming sugar and found OT mRNA levels to be higher in dominant mice. We conclude that social context and dominance affect OT's effect on appetite for sucrose. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using remote sensing to monitor past changes and assess future scenarios for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta waterways, California USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, Maria J.; Hestir, Erin; Khanna, Shruti; Ustin, Susan L.

2017-04-01

Historically, deltas have been extensively affected both by natural processes and human intervention. Thus, understanding drivers, predicting impacts and optimizing solutions to delta problems requires a holistic approach spanning many sectors, disciplines and fields of expertise. Deltas are ideal model systems to understand the effects of the interaction between social and ecological domains, as they face unprecedented disturbances and threats to their biological and ecological sustainability. The challenge for deltas is to meet the goals of supporting biodiversity and ecosystem processes while also provisioning fresh water resources for human use. We provide an overview of the last 150 years of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta, where we illustrate the parallel process of an increase in disturbances, by particularly zooming in on the current cascading effects of invasive species on geophysical and biological processes. Using remote sensing data coupled with in situ measurements of water quality, turbidity, and species presence we show how the spread and persistence of aquatic invasive species affects sedimentation processes and ecosystem functioning. Our results show that the interactions between the biological and physical conditions in the Delta affect the trajectory of dominance by native and invasive aquatic plant species. Trends in growth and community characteristics associated with predicted impacts of climate change (sea level rise, warmer temperatures, changes in the hydrograph with high winter and low summer outflows) do not provide simple predictions. Individually, the impact of specific environmental changes on the biological components can be predicted, however it is the complex interactions of biological communities with the suite of physical changes that make predictions uncertain. Systematic monitoring is critical to provide the data needed to document and understand change of these delta systems, and to identify successful adaptation strategies.

Decomposition of Phragmites australis rhizomes in artificial land-water transitional zones (ALWTZs) and management implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Zhen; Cui, Baoshan; Zhang, Yongtao

2015-09-01

Rhizomes are essential organs for growth and expansion of Phragmites australis. They function as an important source of organic matter and as a nutrient source, especially in the artificial land-water transitional zones (ALWTZs) of shallow lakes. In this study, decomposition experiments on 1- to 6-year-old P. australis rhizomes were conducted in the ALWTZ of Lake Baiyangdian to evaluate the contribution of the rhizomes to organic matter accumulation and nutrient release. Mass loss and changes in nutrient content were measured after 3, 7, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 180 days. The decomposition process was modeled with a composite exponential model. The Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationships between mass loss and litter quality factors. A multiple stepwise regression model was utilized to determine the dominant factors that affect mass loss. Results showed that the decomposition rates in water were significantly higher than those in soil for 1- to 6-year-old rhizomes. However, the sequence of decomposition rates was identical in both water and soil. Significant relationships between mass loss and litter quality factors were observed at a later stage, and P-related factors proved to have a more significant impact than N-related factors on mass loss. According to multiple stepwise models, the C/P ratio was found to be the dominant factor affecting the mass loss in water, and the C/N and C/P ratios were the main factors affecting the mass loss in soil. The combined effects of harvesting, ditch broadening, and control of water depth should be considered for lake administrators.

Identification of Major Rhizobacterial Taxa Affected by a Glyphosate-Tolerant Soybean Line via Shotgun Metagenomic Approach

PubMed Central

Hua, Xiao-Mei; Liang, Li; Wen, Zhong-Ling; Du, Mei-Hang; Meng, Fan-Fan; Pang, Yan-Jun; Tang, Cheng-Yi

2018-01-01

The worldwide commercial cultivation of transgenic crops, including glyphosate-tolerant (GT) soybeans, has increased widely during the past 20 years. However, it is accompanied with a growing concern about potential effects of transgenic crops on the soil microbial communities, especially on rhizosphere bacterial communities. Our previous study found that the GT soybean line NZL06-698 (N698) significantly affected rhizosphere bacteria, including some unidentified taxa, through 16S rRNA gene (16S rDNA) V4 region amplicon deep sequencing via Illumina MiSeq. In this study, we performed 16S rDNA V5–V7 region amplicon deep sequencing via Illumina MiSeq and shotgun metagenomic approaches to identify those major taxa. Results of these processes revealed that the species richness and evenness increased in the rhizosphere bacterial communities of N698, the beta diversity of the rhizosphere bacterial communities of N698 was affected, and that certain dominant bacterial phyla and genera were related to N698 compared with its control cultivar Mengdou12. Consistent with our previous findings, this study showed that N698 affects the rhizosphere bacterial communities. In specific, N698 negatively affects Rahnella, Janthinobacterium, Stenotrophomonas, Sphingomonas and Luteibacter while positively affecting Arthrobacter, Bradyrhizobium, Ramlibacter and Nitrospira. PMID:29659545

Lateral Sinus Thrombosis: The Importance of the Unaffected Sinus.

PubMed

Glik, Amir; Benkovich, Elya; Kesler, Anat; Ifergan, Gal; Benifla, Moni; Shelef, Ilan

2016-11-01

Intracranial hypertension develops in only some patients with lateral sinus thrombosis (LST), for reasons that are unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a possible association between patency of the unaffected sinus and clinical presentation of unilateral LST. A computerized search identified patients with LST, hospitalized in Soroka Medical Center. Patients with signs of increased intracranial pressure (iICP) and those with normal intracranial pressure (nICP) were compared. CT venography or MR venography confirmed the diagnosis, located the thrombosis, and determined the dominant lateral sinus (LS). Diameters of the right and left LSs (the occluded and unaffected) were compared to the diameter of the distal superior sagittal sinus (SSS). Of the 50 patients identified, 30 had iICP and 20 nICP. The dominant LS was the right one in 39 (78%) and the left one in 8 (16%); 3 (6%) had equal LS dominance. The dominant sinus was affected in 32 (70%) and the non-dominant in 15 (30%) patients. iICP was detected in 28/32 (81%) of patients with the dominant side affected, and 3/15 (20%) of those with non-dominant thrombotic sinus (P = .002). The unaffected sinus was narrower in iICP patients (size relative to SSS diameter = 43% in iICP vs. 86% in nICP [P = .0002]; size grading, according to Farb's method was 1.86 in the iICP vs. 3.57 in the nICP group [P = .0001]). Thrombosis was more common in the dominant LS. Unaffected LS patency appears to be associated with the development of increased ICP. Copyright © 2016 by the American Society of Neuroimaging.

Selecting optimal feast-to-famine ratio for a new polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production system fed by valerate-dominant sludge hydrolysate.

PubMed

Hao, Jiuxiao; Wang, Hui; Wang, Xiujin

2018-04-01

The feast-to-famine ratio (F/F) represents the extent of selective pressure during polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) culture selection. This study evaluated the effects of F/F on a new PHA production system by an enriched culture with valerate-dominant sludge hydrolysate and selected the optimal F/F. After the original F/F 1/3 was modified to 1/1, 1/2, 1/4, and 1/5, F/F did not affect their lengths of feast phase, but affected their biomass growth behaviors during the famine phase and PHA-producing abilities. The optimal F/F was 1/2, and compared with 1/3, it increased the maximal PHA content and the fraction of 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) and 3-hydroxy-2-methylvalerate (3H2MV) monomers, with higher productivity and better polymer properties. Although F/F 1/2 impaired the advantage of the dominant genus Delftia, it improved the PHA production rate while decreased biomass growth rate, meanwhile enhancing the utilization and conversion of valerate. These findings indicate that in contrast to previous studies using acetate-dominant substrate for PHA production, the new system fed by valerate-dominant substrate can adopt a higher F/F.

Mid-tertiary volcano-tectonic development of the Southwestern Cordillera of North America

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, Kerri L.

1987-01-01

In the Southwestern Cordillera (SC) of North America, volcanic style changed from dominantly calcalkaline stratovolcanoes to caldera-related magmatism during the mid-Tertiary. The dominant tectonic process affecting the region during this time was convergence of the Farallon and North American Plates. The change in style of volcanism indicates a change in the operative stress regime: compressional for the earlier calcalkaline volcanism and tensional for development of the calderas. The development of the centers were compared to evaluate the volcano-tectonic relationship of caldera development within and between centers and determine the relationships between the earlier calcalkaline and later caldera-style volcanisms. The calderas exhibit three distinct stages of development that are closely associated with the East Pacific Rise/trench collision. The spatial and temporal association of the calcalkaline and caldera-related volcanism argues for the SC representing a region of continued arc magnetism in which the style of volcanism varied in response to differences in regional stresses.

How Does the Body Affect the Mind? Role of Cardiorespiratory Coherence in the Spectrum of Emotions.

PubMed

Jerath, Ravinder; Crawford, Molly W

2015-01-01

The brain is considered to be the primary generator and regulator of emotions; however, afferent signals originating throughout the body are detected by the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and brainstem, and, in turn, can modulate emotional processes. During stress and negative emotional states, levels of cardiorespiratory coherence (CRC) decrease, and a shift occurs toward sympathetic dominance. In contrast, CRC levels increase during more positive emotional states, and a shift occurs toward parasympathetic dominance. The dynamic changes in CRC that accompany different emotions can provide insights into how the activity of the limbic system and afferent feedback manifest as emotions. The authors propose that the brainstem and CRC are involved in important feedback mechanisms that modulate emotions and higher cortical areas. That mechanism may be one of many mechanisms that underlie the physiological and neurological changes that are experienced during pranayama and meditation and may support the use of those techniques to treat various mood disorders and reduce stress.

The global susceptibility of coastal forage fish to competition by large jellyfish.

PubMed

Schnedler-Meyer, Nicolas Azaña; Mariani, Patrizio; Kiørboe, Thomas

2016-11-16

Competition between large jellyfish and forage fish for zooplankton prey is both a possible cause of jellyfish increases and a concern for the management of marine ecosystems and fisheries. Identifying principal factors affecting this competition is therefore important for marine management, but the lack of both good quality data and a robust theoretical framework have prevented general global analyses. Here, we present a general mechanistic food web model that considers fundamental differences in feeding modes and predation pressure between fish and jellyfish. The model predicts forage fish dominance at low primary production, and a shift towards jellyfish with increasing productivity, turbidity and fishing. We present an index of global ecosystem susceptibility to shifts in fish-jellyfish dominance that compares well with data on jellyfish distributions and trends. The results are a step towards better understanding the processes that govern jellyfish occurrences globally and highlight the advantage of considering feeding traits in ecosystem models. © 2016 The Author(s).

Additional Amphivasal Bundles in Pedicel Pith Exacerbate Central Fruit Dominance and Induce Self-Thinning of Lateral Fruitlets in Apple1[C][W

PubMed Central

Celton, Jean-Marc; Dheilly, Emmanuelle; Guillou, Marie-Charlotte; Simonneau, Fabienne; Juchaux, Marjorie; Costes, Evelyne; Laurens, François; Renou, Jean-Pierre

2014-01-01

Apple (Malus × domestica) trees naturally produce an excess of fruitlets that negatively affect the commercial value of fruits brought to maturity and impact their capacity to develop flower buds the following season. Therefore, chemical thinning has become an important cultural practice, allowing the selective removal of unwanted fruitlets. As the public pressure to limit the use of chemical agents increases, the control of thinning becomes a major issue. Here, we characterized the self-thinning capacity of an apple hybrid genotype from the tree scale to the molecular level. Additional amphivasal vascular bundles were identified in the pith of pedicels supporting the fruitlets with the lowest abscission potential (central fruitlet), indicating that these bundles might have a role in the acquisition of dominance over lateral fruitlets. Sugar content analysis revealed that central fruitlets were better supplied in sorbitol than lateral fruitlets. Transcriptomic profiles allowed us to identify genes potentially involved in the overproduction of vascular tissues in central pedicels. In addition, histological and transcriptomic data permitted a detailed characterization of abscission zone development and the identification of key genes involved in this process. Our data confirm the major role of ethylene, auxin, and cell wall-remodeling enzymes in abscission zone formation. The shedding process in this hybrid appears to be triggered by a naturally exacerbated dominance of central fruitlets over lateral ones, brought about by an increased supply of sugars, possibly through additional amphivasal vascular bundles. The characterization of this genotype opens new perspectives for the selection of elite apple cultivars. PMID:24550240

Dual nitrate isotopes clarify the role of biological processing and hydrologic flow paths on nitrogen cycling in subtropical low-gradient watersheds

DOE PAGES

Griffiths, Natalie A.; Jackson, C. Rhett; McDonnell, Jeffrey J.; ...

2016-02-08

Nitrogen (N) is an important nutrient as it often limits productivity but in excess can impair water quality. Most studies on watershed N cycling have occurred in upland forested catchments where snowmelt dominates N export; fewer studies have focused on low-relief watersheds that lack snow. We examined watershed N cycling in three adjacent, low-relief watersheds in the Upper Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States to better understand the role of hydrological flow paths and biological transformations of N at the watershed scale. Groundwater was the dominant source of nitrified N to stream water in two of the three watersheds,more » while atmospheric deposition comprised 28% of stream water nitrate in one watershed. The greater atmospheric contribution may have been due to the larger stream channel area relative to total watershed area or the dominance of shallow subsurface flow paths contributing to stream flow in this watershed. There was a positive relationship between temperature and stream water ammonium concentrations and a negative relationship between temperature and stream water nitrate concentrations in each watershed suggesting that N cycling processes (i.e., nitrification and denitrification) varied seasonally. However, there were no clear patterns in the importance of denitrification in different water pools possibly because a variety of factors (i.e., assimilatory uptake, dissimilatory uptake, and mixing) affected nitrate concentrations. In conclusion, together, these results highlight the hydrological and biological controls on N cycling in low-gradient watersheds and variability in N delivery flow paths among adjacent watersheds with similar physical characteristics.« less

Discursive constructions of professional identity in policy and regulatory discourse.

PubMed

Fealy, Gerard; Hegarty, Josephine-Mary; McNamara, Martin; Casey, Mary; O'Leary, Denise; Kennedy, Catriona; O'Reilly, Pauline; O'Connell, Rhona; Brady, Anne-Marie; Nicholson, Emma

2018-05-23

To examine and describe disciplinary discourses conducted through professional policy and regulatory documents in nursing and midwifery in Ireland. A key tenet of discourse theory is that group identities are constructed in public discourses and these discursively-constructed identities become social realities. Professional identities can be extracted from both the explicit and latent content of discourse. Studies of nursing's disciplinary discourse have drawn attention to a dominant discourse that confers nursing with particular identities, which privilege the relational and affective aspects of nursing and in the process, marginalise scientific knowledge and the technical and body work of nursing. We used critical discourse analysis to analyse a purposive sample of nursing and midwifery regulatory and policy documents. We applied a four-part, sequential approach to analysing the selected texts. This involved identifying key words, phrases and statements that indicated dominant discourses that, in turn, revealed latent beliefs and assumptions. The focus of our analysis was on how the discourses construct professional identities. Our analysis indicated recurring narratives that appeared to confer nurses and midwives with three dominant identities: 'the knowledgeable practitioner', the 'interpersonal practitioner' and the 'accountable practitioner'. The discourse also carried assumptions about the form and content of disciplinary knowledge. Academic study of identity construction in discourse is important to disciplinary development by raising nurses' and midwives' consciousness, alerting them to the ways that their own discourse can shape their identities, influence public and political opinion and, in the process, shape public policy on their professions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Mechanism governing nanoparticle flow behaviour in porous media: insight for enhanced oil recovery applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agi, Augustine; Junin, Radzuan; Gbadamosi, Afeez

2018-06-01

Nanotechnology has found its way to petroleum engineering, it is well-accepted path in the oil and gas industry to recover more oil trapped in the reservoir. But the addition of nanoparticles to a liquid can result in the simplest flow becoming complex. To understand the working mechanism, there is a need to study the flow behaviour of these particles. This review highlights the mechanism affecting the flow of nanoparticles in porous media as it relates to enhanced oil recovery. The discussion focuses on chemical-enhanced oil recovery, a review on laboratory experiment on wettability alteration, effect of interfacial tension and the stability of emulsion and foam is discussed. The flow behaviour of nanoparticles in porous media was discussed laying emphasis on the physical aspect of the flow, the microscopic rheological behaviour and the adsorption of the nanoparticles. It was observed that nanofluids exhibit Newtonian behaviour at low shear rate and non-Newtonian behaviour at high shear rate. Gravitational and capillary forces are responsible for the shift in wettability from oil-wet to water-wet. The dominant mechanisms of foam flow process were lamellae division and bubble to multiple bubble lamellae division. In a water-wet system, the dominant mechanism of flow process and residual oil mobilization are lamellae division and emulsification, respectively. Whereas in an oil-wet system, the generation of pre-spinning continuous gas foam was the dominant mechanism. The literature review on oil displacement test and field trials indicates that nanoparticles can recover additional oil. The challenges encountered have opened new frontier for research and are highlighted herein.

Spatial and temporal functional changes in alpine summit vegetation are driven by increases in shrubs and graminoids.

PubMed

Venn, Susanna; Pickering, Catherine; Green, Ken

2014-01-01

Classical approaches to investigating temporal and spatial changes in community composition offer only partial insight into the ecology that drives species distribution, community patterns and processes, whereas a functional approach can help to determine many of the underlying mechanisms that drive such patterns. Here, we aim to bring these two approaches together to understand such drivers, using an elevation gradient of sites, a repeat species survey and species functional traits. We used data from a repeat vegetation survey on five alpine summits and measured plant height, leaf area, leaf dry matter content and specific leaf area (SLA) for every species recorded in the surveys. We combined species abundances with trait values to produce a community trait-weighted mean (CTWM) for each trait, and then combined survey results with the CTWMs. Across the gradient of summits, more favourable conditions for plant growth (warmer, longer growing season) occurred at the lower elevations. Vegetation composition changes between 2004 and 2011 (according to non-metric multi-dimensional scaling ordination) were strongly affected by the high and increasing abundance of species with high SLA at high elevations. Species life-form categories strongly affected compositional changes and functional composition, with increasing dominance of tall shrubs and graminoids at the lower-elevation summits, and an overall increase in graminoids across the gradient. The CTWM for plant height and leaf dry matter content significantly decreased with elevation, whereas for leaf area and SLA it significantly increased. The significant relationships between CTWM and elevation may suggest specific ecological processes, namely plant competition and local productivity, influencing vegetation preferentially across the elevation gradient, with the dominance of shrubs and graminoids driving the patterns in the CTWMs.

Spatial and temporal functional changes in alpine summit vegetation are driven by increases in shrubs and graminoids

PubMed Central

Venn, Susanna; Pickering, Catherine; Green, Ken

2014-01-01

Classical approaches to investigating temporal and spatial changes in community composition offer only partial insight into the ecology that drives species distribution, community patterns and processes, whereas a functional approach can help to determine many of the underlying mechanisms that drive such patterns. Here, we aim to bring these two approaches together to understand such drivers, using an elevation gradient of sites, a repeat species survey and species functional traits. We used data from a repeat vegetation survey on five alpine summits and measured plant height, leaf area, leaf dry matter content and specific leaf area (SLA) for every species recorded in the surveys. We combined species abundances with trait values to produce a community trait-weighted mean (CTWM) for each trait, and then combined survey results with the CTWMs. Across the gradient of summits, more favourable conditions for plant growth (warmer, longer growing season) occurred at the lower elevations. Vegetation composition changes between 2004 and 2011 (according to non-metric multi-dimensional scaling ordination) were strongly affected by the high and increasing abundance of species with high SLA at high elevations. Species life-form categories strongly affected compositional changes and functional composition, with increasing dominance of tall shrubs and graminoids at the lower-elevation summits, and an overall increase in graminoids across the gradient. The CTWM for plant height and leaf dry matter content significantly decreased with elevation, whereas for leaf area and SLA it significantly increased. The significant relationships between CTWM and elevation may suggest specific ecological processes, namely plant competition and local productivity, influencing vegetation preferentially across the elevation gradient, with the dominance of shrubs and graminoids driving the patterns in the CTWMs. PMID:24790129

Use of major ion and stable isotope geochemistry to delineate natural and anthropogenic sources of nitrate and sulfate in the Kettle River Basin, British Columbia, Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harker, Leslie; Hutcheon, Ian; Mayer, Bernhard

2015-11-01

The Kettle River Basin in South central British Columbia (Canada) is under increasing anthropogenic pressures affecting both water quantity and quality of surface waters and aquifers. We investigated water quality and sources and processes influencing NO3- and SO42- in the Kettle River Basin using a combination of chemical and isotopic techniques. The dominant water type in the Kettle River Basin is Ca-HCO3 with surface waters having total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations of < 115 mg/L and groundwaters having TDS values of up to 572 mg/L. Based on δ15NNO3andδ18ONO3 values and concentration data, NO3- in surface waters originates primarily from natural soil nitrification processes, with additional influences from anthropogenic activities, such as waste water effluents at sampling locations downstream from population centres. The source of NO3- in groundwater was predominantly nitrification of soil organic matter, although nitrate in a few groundwater samples originated from anthropogenic sources, including manure or septic systems. The dominant source of SO42- in surface water and groundwater samples was the natural oxidation of sulfide minerals. With increasing distance downstream, surface water δ18OSO4 values increase beyond the range of oxidation of sulfide minerals and into the range of soil and atmospheric-derived SO42- that is in part derived from anthropogenic emissions. Hence, we conclude that recent anthropogenic impacts have affected water quality only marginally at only few sites in the Kettle River Basin. The presented data will serve as an excellent baseline against which future impacts can be assessed.

Linking body mass and group dynamics in an obligate cooperative breeder.

PubMed

Ozgul, Arpat; Bateman, Andrew W; English, Sinead; Coulson, Tim; Clutton-Brock, Tim H

2014-11-01

Social and environmental factors influence key life-history processes and population dynamics by affecting fitness-related phenotypic traits such as body mass. The role of body mass is particularly pronounced in cooperative breeders due to variation in social status and consequent variation in access to resources. Investigating the mechanisms underlying variation in body mass and its demographic consequences can help elucidate how social and environmental factors affect the dynamics of cooperatively breeding populations. In this study, we present an analysis of the effect of individual variation in body mass on the temporal dynamics of group size and structure of a cooperatively breeding mongoose, the Kalahari meerkat, Suricata suricatta. First, we investigate how body mass interacts with social (dominance status and number of helpers) and environmental (rainfall and season) factors to influence key life-history processes (survival, growth, emigration and reproduction) in female meerkats. Next, using an individual-based population model, we show that the models explicitly including individual variation in body mass predict group dynamics better than those ignoring this morphological trait. Body mass influences group dynamics mainly through its effects on helper emigration and dominant reproduction. Rainfall has a trait-mediated, destabilizing effect on group dynamics, whereas the number of helpers has a direct and stabilizing effect. Counteracting effects of number of helpers on different demographic rates, despite generating temporal fluctuations, stabilizes group dynamics in the long term. Our study demonstrates that social and environmental factors interact to produce individual variation in body mass and accounting for this variation helps to explain group dynamics in this cooperatively breeding population. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2014 British Ecological Society.

Effect of Elevated Salt Concentrations on the Aerobic Granular Sludge Process: Linking Microbial Activity with Microbial Community Structure▿

PubMed Central

Bassin, J. P.; Pronk, M.; Muyzer, G.; Kleerebezem, R.; Dezotti, M.; van Loosdrecht, M. C. M.

2011-01-01

The long- and short-term effects of salt on biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal processes were studied in an aerobic granular sludge reactor. The microbial community structure was investigated by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) on 16S rRNA and amoA genes. PCR products obtained from genomic DNA and from rRNA after reverse transcription were compared to determine the presence of bacteria as well as the metabolically active fraction of bacteria. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to validate the PCR-based results and to quantify the dominant bacterial populations. The results demonstrated that ammonium removal efficiency was not affected by salt concentrations up to 33 g/liter NaCl. Conversely, a high accumulation of nitrite was observed above 22 g/liter NaCl, which coincided with the disappearance of Nitrospira sp. Phosphorus removal was severely affected by gradual salt increase. No P release or uptake was observed at steady-state operation at 33 g/liter NaCl, exactly when the polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs), “Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis” bacteria, were no longer detected by PCR-DGGE or FISH. Batch experiments confirmed that P removal still could occur at 30 g/liter NaCl, but the long exposure of the biomass to this salinity level was detrimental for PAOs, which were outcompeted by glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs) in the bioreactor. GAOs became the dominant microorganisms at increasing salt concentrations, especially at 33 g/liter NaCl. In the comparative analysis of the diversity (DNA-derived pattern) and the activity (cDNA-derived pattern) of the microbial population, the highly metabolically active microorganisms were observed to be those related to ammonia (Nitrosomonas sp.) and phosphate removal (“Candidatus Accumulibacter”). PMID:21926194

Counter Conducts as Affective Practices in the Classroom: The Task of Pedagogies of Affirmative Estrangement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zembylas, Michalinos

2018-01-01

This paper suggests that scholarship in critical pedagogy needs to consider two important issues: first, how students' affective life ("affect" and "emotion" are used as interchangeable terms here) is manifested through "counter-conduct practices", namely, practices of resistance that challenge dominant or hegemonic…

Nitrogen narcosis and emotional processing during compressed air breathing.

PubMed

Löfdahl, Per; Andersson, Daniel; Bennett, Michael

2013-01-01

Previous studies on nitrogen narcosis have focused on how it affects behavior, performance, and cognitive function. However, little is known about the effects of nitrogen narcosis on the emotional processing of external stimuli. We presented 20 volunteers with images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) and categorized as unpleasant, neutral, or pleasant, while sitting in a hyperbaric chamber at the surface (101,3kPa) and at 39 m equivalent depth (496.4 kPa). The participants rated the images along three affective dimensions: valence (intrinsic attractiveness or aversiveness of a stimuli), arousal, and dominance. In the valence dimension there was no significant effect of increased pressure or interaction between increased pressure and image category. There was a significant interaction between image category and the pressure at which the images were viewed in the arousal dimension. The mean arousal rating score for unpleasant stimuli was 0.5 point (on a 9-point scale) lower at hyperbaric conditions and equal arousal rating score for neutral stimuli in general. The absence of any effect of pressure in the valence dimension suggests that divers have no impairment in their ability to determine the pleasantness or unpleasantness of different stimuli. Furthermore, this study suggests that the effects of nitrogen narcosis on the emotional processing of external stimuli are primarily evident in the arousal dimension. Although differences in arousal ratings were relatively small in magnitude, even a small alteration in emotional response to external stimuli might be important in the context of deep diving.

Study of FES/CAST/HGS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Workman, Gary L.; Cummings, Rick; Jones, Brian

1992-01-01

The microgravity materials processing program has been instrumental in providing the crystal growth community with an experimental environment to better understand the phenomena associated with the growing of crystals. In many applications one may pursue the growth of large single crystals which cannot be grown on earth due to convective driven flows. A microgravity environment is characterized by neither convection of buoyancy. Consequently superior crystals are able to be grown in space. On the other hand, since neither convection nor buoyancy dominates the fluid flow in a microgravity environment, then lesser dominating phenomena can affect crystal growth, such as surface driven flows or diffusion limited solidification. In the case of experiments that are to be flown in space using the Fluid Experiments System (FES), diffusion limited growth should be the dominating phenomenon. The use of holographic and Schlieren optical techniques for studying the concentration gradients in solidification processes has been used by several investigators over the years. The Holographic Ground System (HGS) facility at MSFC has been a primary resource in researching this capability. Consequently scientific personnel have been able to utilize these techniques in both ground based research and in space experiments. An important event in the scientific utilization of the HGS facilities was the TGS (triglycine sulfate) Crystal Growth and the Casting and Solidification Technology (CAST) experiments that were flown on the International Microgravity Lab (IML) mission in March of this year. The preparation and processing of these space observations are the primary experiments reported in this work. This project provides some ground-based studies to optimize on the holographic techniques used to acquire information about the crystal growth processes flown on IML. Since the ground-based studies will be compared with the space-based experimental results, it is necessary to conduct sufficient ground based studies to best determine how the experiment in space worked. The current capabilities in computer based systems for image processing and numerical computation have certainly assisted in those efforts. As anticipated, this study has certainly shown that these advanced computing capabilities are helpful in the data analysis of such experiments.

From miracle to reconciliation: a hermeneutic phenomenological study exploring the experience of living with Parkinson's disease following deep brain stimulation.

PubMed

Haahr, Anita; Kirkevold, Marit; Hall, Elisabeth O C; Ostergaard, Karen

2010-10-01

Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's disease is a promising treatment for patients who can no longer be treated satisfactorily with L-dopa. Deep Brain Stimulation is known to relieve motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease and improve quality of life. Focusing on how patients experience life when treated with Deep Brain Stimulation can provide essential information on the process patients go through when receiving a treatment that alters the body and changes the illness trajectory. The aim of this study was to explore and describe the experience of living with Parkinson's disease when treated with Deep Brain Stimulation. The study was designed as a longitudinal study and data were gathered through qualitative in-depth interviews three times during the first year of treatment. Nine patients participated in the study. They were included when they had accepted treatment with Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's disease. Data collection and data analysis were inspired by the hermeneutic phenomenological methodology of Van Manen. The treatment had a major impact on the body. Participants experienced great bodily changes and went through a process of adjustment in three phases during the first year of treatment with Deep Brain Stimulation. These stages were; being liberated: a kind of miracle, changes as a challenge: decline or opportunity and reconciliation: re-defining life with Parkinson's disease. The course of the process was unique for each participant, but dominant was that difficulties during the adjustment of stimulation and medication did affect the re-defining process. Patients go through a dramatic process of change following Deep Brain Stimulation. A changing body affects their entire lifeworld. Some adjust smoothly to changes while others are affected by loss of control, uncertainty and loss of everyday life as they knew it. These experiences affect the process of adjusting to life with Deep Brain Stimulation and re-define life with Parkinson's disease. It is of significant importance that health care professionals are aware of these dramatic changes in the patients' life and offer support during the adjustment process following Deep Brain Stimulation. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of gene interactions on the long-term response to selection.

PubMed

Paixão, Tiago; Barton, Nicholas H

2016-04-19

The role of gene interactions in the evolutionary process has long been controversial. Although some argue that they are not of importance, because most variation is additive, others claim that their effect in the long term can be substantial. Here, we focus on the long-term effects of genetic interactions under directional selection assuming no mutation or dominance, and that epistasis is symmetrical overall. We ask by how much the mean of a complex trait can be increased by selection and analyze two extreme regimes, in which either drift or selection dominate the dynamics of allele frequencies. In both scenarios, epistatic interactions affect the long-term response to selection by modulating the additive genetic variance. When drift dominates, we extend Robertson's [Robertson A (1960)Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci153(951):234-249] argument to show that, for any form of epistasis, the total response of a haploid population is proportional to the initial total genotypic variance. In contrast, the total response of a diploid population is increased by epistasis, for a given initial genotypic variance. When selection dominates, we show that the total selection response can only be increased by epistasis when some initially deleterious alleles become favored as the genetic background changes. We find a simple approximation for this effect and show that, in this regime, it is the structure of the genotype-phenotype map that matters and not the variance components of the population.

Parasite infracommunities of a specialized marine fish species in a compound community dominated by generalist parasites.

PubMed

Lanfranchi, A L; Rossin, M A; Timi, J T

2009-12-01

The structure and composition of parasite communities of Mullus argentinae were analysed under two alternative hypotheses in a sample of 75 specimens caught off Mar del Plata, Argentina (38 degrees 27'S, 57 degrees 90'W). The first, based on the dominance of trophically transmitted larval parasites of low host-specificity among fish species in the region, predicts that infracommunities will be random subsets of regionally available species. The second, based on previous studies on other mullids, predicts that infracommunities will be dominated by adult digeneans. The parasite fauna of goatfishes was mainly composed of endoparasites, with metacercariae of Prosorhynchus australis accounting for most individual parasites and greatly affecting infracommunity descriptors. Its importance was reinforced by the low number of trophically transmitted larval parasites. Both hypotheses were refuted; parasite communities were not dominated either by trophically transmitted larval parasites of low host-specificity or by adult digeneans. Prosorhynchus australis was the only species displaying any degree of phylogenetic specificity. Therefore, the influence of phylogenetic factors seems to exceed that of ecological ones in determining the observed structure of infracommunities. However, it is precisely host ecology that allows P. australis to become the determinant of infracommunity structure by constraining the acquisition of other parasites. Studies aiming to determine the relative importance of evolutionary and ecological processes as structuring forces of parasite communities should take into account not only the identity and specificity of their component parasites, but also their availability in the compound community.

Let the sunshine in? The effects of luminance on economic preferences, choice consistency and dominance violations

PubMed Central

Glimcher, Paul W.

2017-01-01

Weather, in particular the intensity and duration of sunshine (luminance), has been shown to significantly affect financial markets. Yet, because of the complexity of market interactions we do not know how human behavior is affected by luminance in a way that could inform theoretical choice models. In this paper, we use data from a field study using an incentive-compatible, decision task conducted daily over a period of two years and from the US Earth System Research Laboratory luminance sensor to investigate the impact of luminance on risk preferences, ambiguity preferences, choice consistency and dominance violations. We find that luminance levels affect all of these. Age and gender influence the strength of some of these effects. PMID:28783734

Critiquing Human Resource Development's Dominant Masculine Rationality and Evaluating Its Impact

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bierema, Laura L.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this article is to critique human resource development's (HRD) dominant philosophy, practices, and research; illustrate how they negatively affect women HRD practitioners and recipients; and recommend alternative conceptualizations of the field. This article is grounded in a critical feminist theoretical framework, draws on critical…

Bilingual Listeners' Perception of Temporally Manipulated English Passages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shi, Lu-Feng; Farooq, Nadia

2012-01-01

Purpose: The current study measured, objectively and subjectively, how changes in speech rate affect recognition of English passages in bilingual listeners. Method: Ten native monolingual, 20 English-dominant bilingual, and 20 non-English-dominant bilingual listeners repeated target words in English passages at five speech rates (unprocessed, two…

Career plans for male-dominated occupations among female seniors in religious and secular high schools.

PubMed

Rich, Y; Golan, R

1992-01-01

This study investigated the hypothesis that the religious beliefs of young women significantly affect their career planning. All female seniors (N = 315) in one public religious and two public secular high schools in Israel responded to inventories examining their (1) orientation to homemaking or career, (2) interest in male-dominated occupations, and (3) preference for male-dominated occupations. Results from regression analyses indicated that young women from the secular schools, as compared to those from the religious school, expressed greater interest in and preference for male-dominated occupations. In addition, religious orientation, more than other background variables, had predictive power for interest in and preference for male-dominated occupations.

Accessibility of the nondominant language in picture naming: a counterintuitive effect of dementia on bilingual language production.

PubMed

Gollan, Tamar H; Salmon, David P; Montoya, Rosa I; da Pena, Eileen

2010-04-01

The current study tested the assumption that bilinguals with dementia regress to using primarily the dominant language. Spanish-English bilinguals with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD; n=29), and matched bilingual controls (n=42) named Boston Naming Test pictures in their dominant and nondominant languages. Surprisingly, differences between patients and controls were larger using dominant-language than nondominant-language naming scores, and bilinguals with AD were either more likely than controls (in English-dominant bilinguals), or equally likely (in Spanish-dominant bilinguals), to name some pictures in the nondominant language that they could not produce in their dominant language. These findings suggest that dominant language testing may provide the best assessment of language deficits in bilingual AD, and argue against the common notion that the nondominant language is particularly susceptible to dementia. The greater vulnerability of the dominant language may reflect the increased probability of AD affecting richer semantic representations associated with dominant compared to nondominant language names. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Accessibility of the nondominant language in picture naming: A counterintuitive effect of dementia on bilingual language production

PubMed Central

Gollan, Tamar H.; Salmon, David P.; Montoya, Rosa I.; Pena, Eileen da

2010-01-01

The current study tested the assumption that bilinguals with dementia regress to using primarily the dominant language. Spanish-English bilinguals with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD; n=29), and matched bilingual controls (n=42) named Boston Naming Test pictures in their dominant and nondominant languages. Surprisingly, differences between patients and controls were larger using dominant-language than nondominant-language naming scores, and bilinguals with AD were either more likely than controls (in English-dominant bilinguals), or equally likely (in Spanish-dominant bilinguals), to name some pictures in the nondominant language that they could not produce in their dominant language. These findings suggest that dominant language testing may provide the best assessment of language deficits in bilingual AD, and argue against the common notion that the nondominant language is particularly susceptible to dementia. The greater vulnerability of the dominant language may reflect the increased probability of AD affecting richer semantic representations associated with dominant compared to nondominant language names. PMID:20036679

State rumination enhances elaborative processing of negative material as evidenced by the late positive potential.

PubMed

Lewis, Kimberly L; Taubitz, Lauren E; Duke, Michael W; Steuer, Elizabeth L; Larson, Christine L

2015-12-01

Rumination has been shown to increase negative affect and is highly associated with increased duration of depressive episodes. Previous research has shown that enhanced elaborative processing of negative stimuli is often associated with depression and trait rumination. We hypothesized that engaging in rumination would result in sustained elaborative processing of negative information, as measured by late positive potential (LPP) asymmetry, regardless of depression. Participants were experimentally induced to engage in ruminative- or distraction-oriented thoughts and subsequently viewed negative, positive, and neutral images. Our results showed a very specific right-dominant frontal and parietal LPP to negative, but not neutral or positive, pictures in the rumination condition only that was not correlated with any measures of trait rumination or depression symptoms. This suggests that state rumination alone may lead to an enhanced, sustained processing of negative material that is typically associated with depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Food waste and food processing waste for biohydrogen production: a review.

PubMed

Yasin, Nazlina Haiza Mohd; Mumtaz, Tabassum; Hassan, Mohd Ali; Abd Rahman, Nor'Aini

2013-11-30

Food waste and food processing wastes which are abundant in nature and rich in carbon content can be attractive renewable substrates for sustainable biohydrogen production due to wide economic prospects in industries. Many studies utilizing common food wastes such as dining hall or restaurant waste and wastes generated from food processing industries have shown good percentages of hydrogen in gas composition, production yield and rate. The carbon composition in food waste also plays a crucial role in determining high biohydrogen yield. Physicochemical factors such as pre-treatment to seed culture, pH, temperature (mesophilic/thermophilic) and etc. are also important to ensure the dominance of hydrogen-producing bacteria in dark fermentation. This review demonstrates the potential of food waste and food processing waste for biohydrogen production and provides a brief overview of several physicochemical factors that affect biohydrogen production in dark fermentation. The economic viability of biohydrogen production from food waste is also discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiple-objective optimization in precision laser cutting of different thermoplastics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamrin, K. F.; Nukman, Y.; Choudhury, I. A.; Shirley, S.

2015-04-01

Thermoplastics are increasingly being used in biomedical, automotive and electronics industries due to their excellent physical and chemical properties. Due to the localized and non-contact process, use of lasers for cutting could result in precise cut with small heat-affected zone (HAZ). Precision laser cutting involving various materials is important in high-volume manufacturing processes to minimize operational cost, error reduction and improve product quality. This study uses grey relational analysis to determine a single optimized set of cutting parameters for three different thermoplastics. The set of the optimized processing parameters is determined based on the highest relational grade and was found at low laser power (200 W), high cutting speed (0.4 m/min) and low compressed air pressure (2.5 bar). The result matches with the objective set in the present study. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is then carried out to ascertain the relative influence of process parameters on the cutting characteristics. It was found that the laser power has dominant effect on HAZ for all thermoplastics.

The study of flow pattern and phase-change problem in die casting process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, T. S.; Wei, H.; Chen, Y. S.; Shang, H. M.

1996-01-01

The flow pattern and solidification phenomena in die casting process have been investigated in the first phase study. The flow pattern in filling process is predicted by using a VOF (volume of fluid) method. A good agreement with experimental observation is obtained for filling the water into a die cavity with different gate geometry and with an obstacle in the cavity. An enthalpy method has been applied to solve the solidification problem. By treating the latent heat implicitly into the enthalpy instead of explicitly into the source term, the CPU time can be reduced at least 20 times. The effect of material properties on solidification fronts is tested. It concludes that the dependence of properties on temperature is significant. The influence of the natural convection over the diffusion has also been studied. The result shows that the liquid metal solidification phenomena is diffusion dominant, and the natural convection can affect the shape of the interface. In the second phase study, the filling and solidification processes will be considered simultaneously.

Influence of turning Treatments on Al6061 by Offline Inspection Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Annigeri, Ulhas K.; Sandeep, K. L. G.; Prasanna Chaitanya, M.; Sairam Varma, G.; Datta, B. Arun

2018-02-01

Aluminium is mostly extracted from bauxite and is frequently being utilised in the manufacture of sea, land and air vehicles. Since, it has the merit of resistance to corrosion it is frequently being used in sea vehicles. Another outstanding merit of aluminium is its weight which is very less compared to other ferrous materials. In our study, we have selected Al6061 as the material and based on full factorial design the surface roughness has been observed with three base parameters speed, feed and depth of cut. A mathematical model has been developed to predict the surface roughness and also the dominant factor affecting the turning process has been determined. The plots such as main effects, interaction and Pareto chart have been analysed to give an effective conclusion to the process followed in the study. The purpose of these experiments to compare the effect of process treatments in all possible pairs to select the best treatment to the process has been done satisfactorily.

The contribution of local and transport processes to phytoplankton biomass variability over different timescales in the Upper James River, Virginia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Qubin; Shen, Jian

2017-09-01

Although both local processes (photosynthesis, respiration, grazing, and settling), and transport processes (advective transport and diffusive transport) significantly affect local phytoplankton dynamics, it is difficult to separate their contributions and to investigate the relative importance of each process to the local variability of phytoplankton biomass over different timescales. A method of using the transport rate is introduced to quantify the contribution of transport processes. By combining the time-varying transport rate and high-frequency observed chlorophyll a data, we can explicitly examine the impact of local and transport processes on phytoplankton biomass over a range of timescales from hourly to annually. For the Upper James River, results show that the relative importance of local and transport processes differs on different timescales. Local processes dominate phytoplankton variability on daily to weekly timescales, whereas the contribution of transport processes increases on seasonal to annual timescales and reaches equilibrium with local processes. With the use of the transport rate and high-frequency chlorophyll a data, a method similar to the open water oxygen method for metabolism is also presented to estimate phytoplankton primary production.

Changes in the structure and dynamics of marine assemblages dominated by Bifurcaria bifurcata and Cystoseira species over three decades (1977-2007)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Méndez-Sandín, Miguel; Fernández, Consolación

2016-06-01

Two low intertidal assemblages dominated in 1977 by Bifurcaria bifurcata and Cystoseira baccata-Saccorhiza polyschides in the North coast of Spain show changes in the structure and dynamics after 30 years. A re-survey in 2007 detected phenological changes affecting the annual cycle of dominant canopy species. B. bifurcata has shortened its growth period and undergone a decrease in biomass, while C. baccata lengthened its period of growth and increased its biomass. Also important were the disappearance of Saccorhiza polyschides and the increase of Cystoseira tamariscifolia. These changes affect the rest of the species of the assemblages, with a shift in the main understory species and an increase in crustose coralline algae although the overall biomass of the subcanopy was similar. The species richness shows a sharp increase, at the expense of increasing epiphytes and simpler functional and morphological groups. These biological changes agree with the general trends of increasing sea surface temperature and the relaxation of the summer upwelling affecting the North coast of Spain, but the results were unexpected in the case of Bifurcaria bifurcata.

Parental practices and willingness to ask for children's help later in life.

PubMed

Schooler, Carmi; Revell, Andrew J; Caplan, Leslie J

2007-05-01

We examine how parents' relationships with their 13- to 25-year-old offspring affect the parents' willingness to ask them for help with financial and personal problems 20 years later. Husbands and wives were interviewed in 1974 and 1994; a child was interviewed in 1974. We used two aspects of parental style, responsiveness and restrictive dominance, to predict parents' willingness to request help from a child 20 years later. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed the following: (a) mothers' willingness to ask an adult child for help with a personal problem was increased by higher levels of responsiveness; (b) mothers' willingness to ask for financial help was increased by responsive and decreased by restrictive-dominant maternal behavior; and (c) neither responsive nor restrictive-dominant paternal behavior affected fathers' later willingness to ask an adult child for help of either kind.

The first description of dominance hierarchy in captive giraffe: not loose and egalitarian, but clear and linear.

PubMed

Horová, Edita; Brandlová, Karolína; Gloneková, Markéta

2015-01-01

Wild giraffes live in extensive groups in the fission fusion system, maintaining long social distances and loose social bonds. Within these groups, resources are widely distributed, agonistic encounters are scarce and the dominance hierarchy was reported in males only, while never deeply analysed. In captivity, the possibility to maintain inter-individual distances is limited and part of the resources is not evenly distributed. Consequently, we suggest that agonistic encounters should be more frequent, leading to the establishment of the dominance hierarchy. Based on the differences in resource-holding potential, we suggested that the rank of an individual would be affected by age and sex. Based on hypotheses of prior ownership, we tested whether rank was positively affected by the time spent in a herd and whether it was stable in adult females, which were present long-term in the same herd. We originally monitored four herds of Rothschild giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildii) in Dvůr Králové zoo (n = 8), Liberec zoo (n = 6), and two herds in Prague zoo: Prague 1 (n = 8) and Prague 2 (n = 9). The Prague 1 and Prague 2 herds were then combined and the resulting fifth herd was observed over three consecutive years (2009, 2010, and 2011) (n = 14, 13, and 14, respectively). We revealed a significantly linear hierarchy in Dvůr Králové, Prague 2 and in the combined herd in Prague. Rank was significantly affected by age in all herds; older individuals dominated the younger ones. In females, rank was positively affected by the time spent in the herd and adult females in Prague maintained their rank during three consecutive years. This study represents the first analysis of the dominance hierarchy in the captive giraffe, and discusses the behavioural flexibility of the social structure in response to monopolisable resources in a captive environment.

The First Description of Dominance Hierarchy in Captive Giraffe: Not Loose and Egalitarian, but Clear and Linear

PubMed Central

Gloneková, Markéta

2015-01-01

Wild giraffes live in extensive groups in the fission fusion system, maintaining long social distances and loose social bonds. Within these groups, resources are widely distributed, agonistic encounters are scarce and the dominance hierarchy was reported in males only, while never deeply analysed. In captivity, the possibility to maintain inter-individual distances is limited and part of the resources is not evenly distributed. Consequently, we suggest that agonistic encounters should be more frequent, leading to the establishment of the dominance hierarchy. Based on the differences in resource-holding potential, we suggested that the rank of an individual would be affected by age and sex. Based on hypotheses of prior ownership, we tested whether rank was positively affected by the time spent in a herd and whether it was stable in adult females, which were present long-term in the same herd. We originally monitored four herds of Rothschild giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildii) in Dvůr Králové zoo (n = 8), Liberec zoo (n = 6), and two herds in Prague zoo: Prague 1 (n = 8) and Prague 2 (n = 9). The Prague 1 and Prague 2 herds were then combined and the resulting fifth herd was observed over three consecutive years (2009, 2010, and 2011) (n = 14, 13, and 14, respectively). We revealed a significantly linear hierarchy in Dvůr Králové, Prague 2 and in the combined herd in Prague. Rank was significantly affected by age in all herds; older individuals dominated the younger ones. In females, rank was positively affected by the time spent in the herd and adult females in Prague maintained their rank during three consecutive years. This study represents the first analysis of the dominance hierarchy in the captive giraffe, and discusses the behavioural flexibility of the social structure in response to monopolisable resources in a captive environment. PMID:25970483

Simulating carbon capture by enhanced weathering with croplands: an overview of key processes highlighting areas of future model development

PubMed Central

Quegan, Shaun; Banwart, Steven A.

2017-01-01

Enhanced weathering (EW) aims to amplify a natural sink for CO2 by incorporating powdered silicate rock with high reactive surface area into agricultural soils. The goal is to achieve rapid dissolution of minerals and release of alkalinity with accompanying dissolution of CO2 into soils and drainage waters. EW could counteract phosphorus limitation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in tropical soils, and soil acidification, a common agricultural problem studied with numerical process models over several decades. Here, we review the processes leading to soil acidification in croplands and how the soil weathering CO2 sink is represented in models. Mathematical models capturing the dominant processes and human interventions governing cropland soil chemistry and GHG emissions neglect weathering, while most weathering models neglect agricultural processes. We discuss current approaches to modelling EW and highlight several classes of model having the potential to simulate EW in croplands. Finally, we argue for further integration of process knowledge in mathematical models to capture feedbacks affecting both longer-term CO2 consumption and crop growth and yields. PMID:28381633

Evidence of a dominance hierarchy in captive Caribbean flamingos and its relation to pair bonding and physiological measures of health.

PubMed

Royer, Erica A; Anderson, Matthew J

2014-06-01

Caribbean flamingo social structure, how pair bonds affect the structure of the flock, and how social stress affects health measured by heterophil to lymphocyte ratios (H/L) were investigated at the Philadelphia Zoo. It was hypothesized that a hierarchy may become apparent by analyzing agonistic interactions and that paired individuals would share similar places within the hierarchy. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that a negative relationship between H/L ratio and dominance would exist. Forty observations were conducted and in 70% of interactions instigating bird(s) won the encounter, suggesting either some advantage for instigating birds or a prior expectation of an encounter's outcome based upon an understanding of the flock's hierarchy. The flock possessed a semi-linear hierarchy (in terms of wins/losses) and birds with higher pair-bond strengths maintained dominant positions, suggesting that pair-bonding may help individuals become more successful in agonistic encounters. Birds who won more often had higher lymphocytes percentages and analyses suggested a trend indicating dominant birds may be less stressed. A semi-linear hierarchy was also found in terms of initiation/being targeted, and a bird's rank on the dominance (wins/losses) and initiate/target hierarchies were positively correlated, suggesting that subdominant birds were targeted by dominant birds more frequently than vice versa. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perceived differences in social status between speaker and listener affect the speaker's vocal characteristics

PubMed Central

Mileva, Viktoria R.; Little, Anthony C.; Roberts, S. Craig

2017-01-01

Non-verbal behaviours, including voice characteristics during speech, are an important way to communicate social status. Research suggests that individuals can obtain high social status through dominance (using force and intimidation) or through prestige (by being knowledgeable and skilful). However, little is known regarding differences in the vocal behaviour of men and women in response to dominant and prestigious individuals. Here, we tested within-subject differences in vocal parameters of interviewees during simulated job interviews with dominant, prestigious, and neutral employers (targets), while responding to questions which were classified as introductory, personal, and interpersonal. We found that vocal modulations were apparent between responses to the neutral and high-status targets, with participants, especially those who perceived themselves as low in dominance, increasing fundamental frequency (F0) in response to the dominant and prestigious targets relative to the neutral target. Self-perceived prestige, however, was less related to contextual vocal modulations than self-perceived dominance. Finally, we found that differences in the context of the interview questions participants were asked to respond to (introductory, personal, interpersonal), also affected their vocal parameters, being more prominent in responses to personal and interpersonal questions. Overall, our results suggest that people adjust their vocal parameters according to the perceived social status of the listener as well as their own self-perceived social status. PMID:28614413

Trace fossil assemblages in the tide-dominated estuarine system: Ameki Group, south-eastern Nigeria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekwenye, O. C.; Nichols, G.; Okogbue, C. O.; Mode, A. W.

2016-06-01

A systematic ichnological analysis with sedimentological study of the Eocene Ameki Group in south-eastern Nigeria, was conducted to infer depositional and biogenic processes operating during basin fill, identify discontinuities using substrate controlled ichnofacies, and identify the paleocological conditions that affected the diversity of the trace fossils. The Ameki Group represents a tide-dominated estuarine system characterised by a range of trace fossils assemblages. Eighteen individual ichnogenera and nineteen ichnospecies observed in the study area, were grouped into six recurring ichnofacies namely Scoyenia, Psilonichnus, Skolithos, Cruziana, Glossifungites and Teredolites. Skolithos and Cruziana ichnofacies are predominant in the estuarine deposits indicating that the sedimentary successions of the Eocene are dominantly of moderate to high energy marginal marine environments. The estuarine deposits (senus stricto) were controlled by low to fluctuating salinity levels, high sedimentation rate and fluctuating hydrodynamic energy. These resulted in the occurrence of low diversity of Scoyenia and Teredolites ichnofacies and low to moderate ichnodiversity of mixed Skolithos and depauperate Cruziana ichnofacies. Low levels of dissolved oxygen in quiescent water-embayment (open estuarine) resulted in low diversity of impoverished Cruziana ichnofacies. Glossifungites ichnofacies marked an amalgamated sequence boundary/marine flooding and an initial flooding surface at the base of the tidally influenced fluvial deposits.

Microbial polychlorinated biphenyl dechlorination in sediments by electrical stimulation: The effect of adding acetate and nonionic surfactant.

PubMed

Yu, Hui; Wan, Hui; Feng, Chunhua; Yi, Xiaoyun; Liu, Xiaoping; Ren, Yuan; Wei, Chaohai

2017-02-15

The necessity for developing an efficient and cost-effective in situ bioremediation technology for sediments contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has prompted the application of low-voltage electrical fields to anaerobic digestion systems. Here we show that the use of a sediment-based bio-electrochemical reactor (BER) poised at a potential of -0.50V (vs. a standard calomel electrode, SCE) substantially enhanced the reduction of 2,3,4,5-tetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB 61) when acetate was added as a carbon source. The addition of surfactant Tween 80 to the BER further accelerated the PCB 61 transformation. The comparative study of closed- and open-circuit reactors demonstrated the enrichment conditions affecting the bacterial community structure, the dominant dechlorination metabolisms, and thus the extent, the rate and the products of the reduction of PCBs. The dominant bacterial dechlorinators detected in the BERs in the presence of acetate and Tween 80 are Dehalogenimonas, Dehalobacter, Sulfuricurvum, Dechloromonas and Geobacter, which should be responsible for PCB dechlorination. This study improves understanding of the key factors influencing dechlorination activity in sediment-based BERs polarized at a low potential, as well as the metabolic mechanisms dominating in the PCB dechlorination process. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Land use mediates riverine nitrogen export under the dominant influence of human activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Binhui; Chang, Scott X.; Lam, Shu Kee; Erisman, Jan Willem; Gu, Baojing

2017-09-01

Riverine nitrogen (N) export is a crucial process that links upstream and downstream ecosystems and coastal zones. However, the driving forces of riverine N export that is closely related to water N pollution are still not well understood. In this study, we used a mass balance approach to quantify the sources of N discharge and analyzed the effect of land use composition on riverine N export, taking Zhejiang Province, China as a case study. We found that the total reactive N discharge to rivers in Zhejiang increased from 0.22 to 0.26 Tg yr-1 from 2000 to 2015. At the watershed scale, our estimate of N export agrees well with the monitored riverine N concentration in the eight major watersheds in Zhejiang. Direct discharge of domestic wastewater and effluents from wastewater treatment plants are dominant sources of riverine N export, followed by agricultural non-point sources. Although riverine N export increases with the increasing proportion of urban and agricultural land uses, we did not find any relationship between land use change and changes in riverine N export. This suggests that the dominant factor affecting riverine N export should be human activities (e.g. wastewater discharge and fertilization level), while land use only mediates riverine N export.

Social Class and Mental Health: Testing Exploitation as a Relational Determinant of Depression

PubMed Central

Muntaner, Carles; Ng, Edwin; Prins, Seth J.; Bones-Rocha, Katia; Espelt, Albert; Chung, Haejoo

2016-01-01

This study tests whether social class exploitation operates as a relational mechanism that generates mental health inequalities in the nursing home industry. We ask, does social class exploitation (i.e., the acquisition of economic benefits from the labor of those who are dominated) have a systematic and predictable impact on depression among nursing assistants? Using cross-sectional data from 868 nursing assistants employed in 50 nursing homes in three U.S. states, we measure social class exploitation as “ownership type” (private for-profit, private not-for-profit, and public) and “managerial domination” (labor relations violations, perceptions of labor-management conflict). Depression is assessed using the original and revised versions of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D and CESD-R). Using two-level logistic regressions, we find that private for-profit ownership and higher managerial domination are predictive of depression among nursing assistants even after adjustment for potential confounders and mediators. Our findings confirm the theoretical and empirical value of applying a social class approach to understanding how mental health inequalities are generated through exploitative mechanisms. Ownership type and managerial domination appear to affect depression through social relations that generate mental health inequalities through the process of acquiring profits, controlling production, supervising and monitoring labor, and enforcing disciplinary sanctions. PMID:25813501

Diversity within African American, female therapists: variability in clients' expectations and assumptions about the therapist.

PubMed

Kelly, Jennifer F; Greene, Beverly

2010-06-01

Despite the presence of some literature that has addressed the characteristics of the African American female therapist, most psychotherapy training proceeds with the assumption that therapists are members of dominant groups, and most of the psychological and psychotherapy literature has been written by therapists and psychologists who come from dominant cultural perspectives. Not as much has been written about psychological paradigms or the process of psychotherapy from the perspective of the therapist who is not a dominant group member. This article explores both the common and divergent experiences that we, the authors, share as African American female therapists and the different reactions we frequently elicit in clients. We also explore how individual differences in our physical appearances, personal backgrounds, and different characteristics of our respective practices elicit distinct responses from clients that we believe are based on differences between us, despite the fact that we are both African American women. We believe that many of the stereotypes that affect perceptions of African American female clients also exist for African American female therapists. We will address how the intersection of gender, race, and sexual orientation of the client highlights the complexity of culturally competent practice. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Relative significance of microtopography and vegetation as controls on surface water flow on a low-gradient floodplain

USGS Publications Warehouse

Choi, Jungyill; Harvey, Judson W.

2014-01-01

Surface water flow controls water velocities, water depths, and residence times, and influences sediment and nutrient transport and other ecological processes in shallow aquatic systems. Flow through wetlands is substantially influenced by drag on vegetation stems but is also affected by microtopography. Our goal was to use microtopography data directly in a widely used wetland model while retaining the advantages of the model’s one-dimensional structure. The base simulation with no explicit treatment of microtopography only performed well for a period of high water when vegetation dominated flow resistance. Extended simulations using microtopography can improve the fit to low-water conditions substantially. The best fit simulation had a flow conductance parameter that decreased in value by 70 % during dry season such that mcrotopographic features blocked 40 % of the cross sectional width for flow. Modeled surface water became ponded and flow ceased when 85 % of the cross sectional width became blocked by microtopographic features. We conclude that vegetation drag dominates wetland flow resistance at higher water levels and microtopography dominates at low water levels with the threshold delineated by the top of microtopographic features. Our results support the practicality of predicting flow on floodplains using relatively easily measured physical and biological variables.

Responsiveness of soil nitrogen fractions and bacterial communities to afforestation in the Loess Hilly Region (LHR) of China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ren, Chengjie; Sun, Pingsheng; Kang, Di; Zhao, Fazhu; Feng, Yongzhong; Ren, Guangxin; Han, Xinhui; Yang, Gaihe

2016-06-01

In the present paper, we investigated the effects of afforestation on nitrogen fractions and microbial communities. A total of 24 soil samples were collected from farmland (FL) and three afforested lands, namely Robinia pseudoacacia L (RP), Caragana korshinskii Kom (CK), and abandoned land (AL), which have been arable for the past 40 years. Quantitative PCR and Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA genes were used to analyze soil bacterial abundance, diversity, and composition. Additionally, soil nitrogen (N) stocks and fractions were estimated. The results showed that soil N stock, N fractions, and bacterial abundance and diversity increased following afforestation. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria were the dominant phyla of soil bacterial compositions. Overall, soil bacterial compositions generally changed from Actinobacteria (Acidobacteria)-dominant to Proteobacteria-dominant following afforestation. Soil N fractions, especially for dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), were significantly correlated with most bacterial groups and bacterial diversity, while potential competitive interactions between Proteobacteria (order Rhizobiales) and Cyanobacteria were suggested. In contrast, nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) influenced soil bacterial compositions less than other N fractions. Therefore, the present study demonstrated that bacterial diversity and specific species respond to farmland-to-forest conversion and hence have the potential to affect N dynamic processes in the Loess Plateau.

Attitudinal moderation of correlation between food liking and consumption.

PubMed

Cantin, I; Dubé, L

1999-06-01

This paper focuses on the degree of correlation between food liking and consumption and proposes the degree of correspondence between affective and cognitive aspects of liking and consumption as moderators of this correlation. In a close-response questionnaire, 103 young females (average age of 20) indicated their liking for and consumption of 12 non-alcoholic cold beverages. They also indicated their level of agreement with affective and cognitive statements associated with each beverage as well as the affective or cognitive statement that was representative of their attitude toward each beverage. Even though there are affective and cognitive bases of both liking and consumption, the affective basis dominates liking whereas the cognitive basis dominates consumption for most beverage categories. Separate analyses conducted at the level of individual subjects and of individual beverage categories both revealed that those cases in which the attitude basis for liking and consumption showed the highest correspondence, also manifested the highest liking-consumption correlation. Results are discussed with regard to health promotion and food marketing strategies. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Efficiency enhancement of ZnO nanostructure assisted Si solar cell based on fill factor enlargement and UV-blue spectral down-shifting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gholizadeh, A.; Reyhani, A.; Parvin, P.; Mortazavi, S. Z.

2017-05-01

ZnO nanostructures (including nano-plates and nano-rods (NRs)) are grown in various temperatures and Ar/O2 flow rates using thermal chemical vapor deposition, which affect the structure, nano-plate/NR population, and the quality of ZnO nanostructures. X-ray diffraction (XRD) attests that the peak intensity of the crystallographic plane (1 0 0) is correlated to nano-plate abundance. Moreover, optical properties elucidate that the population of nano-plates in samples strongly affect the band gap, binding energy of the exciton, and UV-visible (UV-vis) absorption and spectral luminescence emissions. In fact, the exciton binding energy reduces from ~100 to 80 meV when the population of nano-plates increases in samples. Photovoltaic characteristics based on the drop-casting on Si solar cells reveals three dominant factors, namely, the equivalent series resistance, decreasing reflectance, and down-shifting, in order to scale up the absolute efficiency by 3%. As a consequence, the oxygen vacancies in ZnO nanostructures give rise to the down-shifting and increase of free-carriers, leading to a reduction in the equivalent series resistance and an enlargement of fill factor. To obtain a larger I sc, reduction of spectral reflectance is essential; however, the down-shifting process is shown to be dominant by lessening the surface electron-hole recombination rate over the UV-blue spectral range.

Menstrual cycle-related changes of functional cerebral asymmetries in fine motor coordination.

PubMed

Bayer, Ulrike; Hausmann, Markus

2012-06-01

Fluctuating sex hormone levels during the menstrual cycle have been shown to affect functional cerebral asymmetries in cognitive domains. These effects seem to result from the neuromodulatory properties of sex hormones and their metabolites on interhemispheric processing. The present study was carried out to investigate whether functional cerebral asymmetries in fine motor coordination as reflected by manual asymmetries are also susceptible to natural sex hormonal variations during the menstrual cycle. Sixteen right-handed women with a regular menstrual cycle performed a finger tapping paradigm consisting of two conditions (simple, sequential) during the low hormone menstrual phase and the high estrogen and progesterone luteal phase. To validate the luteal phase, saliva levels of free progesterone (P) were analysed using chemiluminescence assays. As expected, normally cycling women showed a substantial decrease in manual asymmetries in a more demanding sequential tapping condition involving four fingers compared with simple (repetitive) finger tapping. This reduction in the degree of dominant (right) hand manual asymmetries was evident during the luteal phase. During the menstrual phase, however, manual asymmetries were even reversed in direction, indicating a slight advantage in favour of the non-dominant (left) hand. These findings suggest that functional cerebral asymmetries in fine motor coordination are affected by sex hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle, probably via hormonal modulations of interhemispheric interaction. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Risk Analysis of Underestimate Cost Offer to The Project Quality in Aceh Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rani, Hafnidar A.

2016-11-01

The possibility of errors in the process of offer price determination could be enormous, so it can affect the possibility of project underestimate cost which can impact and reduce the profit if being implementing. Government Equipment/Service Procurement Policy Institution (LKPP) assesses that the practices of cheaper price in the government equipment/service procurement are still highly found and can be potential to decrease the project quality. This study aimed to analyze the most dominant factors happened in underestimate cost offer practice, to analyze the relationship of underestimate cost offer risk factors to road construction project quality in Aceh Province and to analyze the most potential factors of underestimate cost offer risk affecting road construction project quality in Aceh Province. Road construction projects observed the projects which have been implemented in Aceh Province since 2013 - 2015. This study conducted by interviewing Government Budget Authority (KPA), and distributing the questionnaire to the road construction contractors with the qualification of K1, K2, K3, M1, M2 and B1. Based on the data from Construction Service Development Institution (LPJK) of Aceh Province on 2016, the populations obtained are 2,717 constructors. By using Slovin Equation, the research samples obtained are 97 contractors. The most dominant factors in underestimate cost offer risk of the road construction projects in Aceh Province is Contingency Cost Factor which the mean is 4.374.

Hydrographic processes driven by seasonal monsoon system affect siphonophore assemblages in tropical-subtropical waters (western North Pacific Ocean).

PubMed

Lo, Wen-Tseng; Yu, Shwu-Feng; Hsieh, Hung-Yen

2014-01-01

This work is a part of the Taiwan Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation, the first large scale hydrographic and plankton survey around Taiwan (21-26°N, 119-123°E). The present study examined the influence of hydrodynamic and biological variables driven by monsoon system on the siphonophore assemblages through an annual cycle in 2004. Calycophorans, namely Chelophyes appendiculata, Diphyes chamissonis, Lensia subtiloides, Bassia bassensis, and Muggiaea atlantica, were the most dominant siphonophore species. Maximum abundance of these dominant species generally occurred during the warm period (May and August), while M. atlantica had a significantly peak abundance in February. Although no apparently temporal difference in siphonophore abundance was observed in the study, siphonophore assemblage was more diverse in August than in other sampling times. Result of a cluster analysis indicated that assemblage structure of siphonophores in the waters around Taiwan varied at temporal and spatial scales during the sampling period. The intrusions of the Kuroshio Branch Current and China Coastal Current to the study area play an important role on the transportation of siphonophores. Also, the distribution of siphonophore assemblage was closely related to the hydrographic characteristics, with temperature, chlorophyll a concentration, and zooplankton abundance being the major environmental factors affecting the spatio-temporal variability of siphonophores. This study contributes substantially to the new knowledge of the siphonophore assemblage in the tropical-temperate waters of Taiwan.

Unbiased plasma metabolomics reveal the correlation of metabolic pathways and Prakritis of humans.

PubMed

Shirolkar, Amey; Chakraborty, Sutapa; Mandal, Tusharkanti; Dabur, Rajesh

2017-11-25

Ayurveda, an ancient Indian medicinal system, has categorized human body constitutions in three broad constitutional types (prakritis) i.e. Vata, Pitta and Kapha. Analysis of plasma metabolites and related pathways to classify Prakriti specific dominant marker metabolites and metabolic pathways. 38 healthy male individuals were assessed for dominant Prakritis and their fasting blood samples were collected. The processed plasma samples were subjected to rapid resolution liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (RRLC-ESI-QTOFMS). Mass profiles were aligned and subjected to multivariate analysis. Partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model showed 97.87% recognition capability. List of PLS-DA metabolites was subjected to permutative Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction and final list of 76 metabolites with p < 0.05 and fold-change > 2.0 was identified. Pathway analysis using metascape and JEPETTO plugins in Cytoscape revealed that steroidal hormone biosynthesis, amino acid, and arachidonic acid metabolism are major pathways varying with different constitution. Biological Go processes analysis showed that aromatic amino acids, sphingolipids, and pyrimidine nucleotides metabolic processes were dominant in kapha type of body constitution. Fat soluble vitamins, cellular amino acid, and androgen biosynthesis process along with branched chain amino acid and glycerolipid catabolic processes were dominant in pitta type individuals. Vata Prakriti was found to have dominant catecholamine, arachidonic acid and hydrogen peroxide metabolomics processes. The neurotransmission and oxidative stress in vata, BCAA catabolic, androgen, xenobiotics metabolic processes in pitta, and aromatic amino acids, sphingolipid, and pyrimidine metabolic process in kaphaPrakriti were the dominant marker pathways. Copyright © 2017 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gas chemistry of Icelandic thermal fluids

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stefánsson, Andri

2017-10-01

The chemistry of gases in thermal fluids from Iceland was studied in order to evaluate the sources and processes affecting volatile concentrations in volcanic geothermal systems at divergent plate boundaries. The fluids included vapor fumaroles and two-phase well discharges with temperatures of 100-340 °C. The vapor was dominated by H2O accounting for 62-100 mol% and generally for > 99 mol%, with CO2, H2S and H2 being the dominant gases followed by N2, CH4, and Ar. Overall mineral-gas and gas-gas equilibria were not observed for the major gases, including CO2, H2S, H2 and CH4 within the geothermal reservoirs. Instead the system proved to be controlled by source(s) and their ratios and various metastable equilibria along a fluid-rock reaction progress with gas concentrations controlled by such metastable equilibria varying at particular temperatures as a functional extent of reaction. The concentrations of H2S and H2 closely reflect mineral-fluid metastable equilibria, whereas CO2 concentrations are controlled by the input of magma gas corresponding to > 0.1 to < 5% mass input. With fluid ascent to the surface, boiling and condensation may occur, further changing the gas concentrations and hence surface fumaroles may not reflect the reservoir fluid characteristics but rather secondary processes.

[Multidisciplinary practice guideline 'Marfan syndrome'].

PubMed

Hilhorst-Hofstee, Yvonne

2013-01-01

Marfan syndrome is a multi-system disorder of dominant inheritance in which the cardiovasculature, in particular the aorta, the eyes and the skeleton are affected. Diagnostic assessment and treatment of patients who are suspected of or have Marfan syndrome should preferably be done by multidisciplinary teams such as those found in specialised Marfan syndrome centres. The practice guideline is intended for all care givers involved with the recognition, diagnosis, consultations and the medicinal and surgical treatment of Marfan patients; it includes referral criteria and information on the referral process. A diagnosis of Marfan syndrome is based on international criteria in which aortic root dilatation and dissection, ectopia lentis, an affected first-degree family member and a pathogenic FBN1 mutation are the cardinal features. Alternative diagnoses are also included in the practice guideline. Recommendations are given for the monitoring and treatment of Marfan patients during pregnancy and delivery. Advice on lifestyle is mainly focussed on sports activities.

A dual system model of preferences under risk.

PubMed

Mukherjee, Kanchan

2010-01-01

This article presents a dual system model (DSM) of decision making under risk and uncertainty according to which the value of a gamble is a combination of the values assigned to it independently by the affective and deliberative systems. On the basis of research on dual process theories and empirical research in Hsee and Rottenstreich (2004) and Rottenstreich and Hsee (2001) among others, the DSM incorporates (a) individual differences in disposition to rational versus emotional decision making, (b) the affective nature of outcomes, and (c) different task construals within its framework. The model has good descriptive validity and accounts for (a) violation of nontransparent stochastic dominance, (b) fourfold pattern of risk attitudes, (c) ambiguity aversion, (d) common consequence effect, (e) common ratio effect, (f) isolation effect, and (g) coalescing and event-splitting effects. The DSM is also used to make several novel predictions of conditions under which specific behavior patterns may or may not occur.

New challenges in solar energy resource and forecasting in Greece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazantzidis, A.; Nikitidou, E.; Salamalikis, V.; Tzoumanikas, P.; Zagouras, A.

2018-05-01

Aerosols and clouds are the most important constituents in the atmosphere that affect the incoming solar radiation, either directly through absorbing and scattering processes or indirectly by changing the optical properties and lifetime of clouds. Under clear skies, aerosols become the dominant factor that affect the intensity of solar irradiance reaching the ground. Under cloudy skies, the high temporal and spatial variability of cloudiness is the key factor for the estimation of solar irradiance. In this study, recent research activities related to the climatology and the prediction of solar energy in Greece are presented with emphasis on new challenges in the climatology of global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and direct normal irradiance (DNI), the changes of DNI due to the decreasing aerosol optical depth and the short-term (15-240 min) forecasts of solar irradiance with the collaborative use of neural networks and satellite images.

Impression formation and revision in social anxiety disorder.

PubMed

Haker, Ayala; Aderka, Idan M; Marom, Sofi; Hermesh, Haggai; Gilboa-Schechtman, Eva

2014-03-01

Interpersonal relations are markedly impaired in social anxiety. Yet, little is known about the ways social anxiety affects social cognition. We examined impression formation and impression revision among individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD, n = 26) and non-anxious individuals (n = 29). Participants read initial descriptions of protagonists depicted as dominant, neutral or submissive and rated them on social rank and affiliation dimensions. Next, participants were presented with behavioral acts that were either congruent, incongruent or irrelevant to the initial descriptions, and re-rated the protagonists. Individuals with SAD (a) rated others as more extreme on social rank dimension, (b) rated others as lower on the affiliation dimension, and (c) revised their impressions of others to a greater extent than did the non-anxious individuals. Understanding the ways social anxiety affects the formation and revision of perceptions of others can improve our understanding of maintaining processes in SAD. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Noonan syndrome and clinically related disorders

PubMed Central

Tartaglia, Marco; Gelb, Bruce D.; Zenker, Martin

2010-01-01

Noonan syndrome is a relatively common, clinically variable developmental disorder. Cardinal features include postnatally reduced growth, distinctive facial dysmorphism, congenital heart defects and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, variable cognitive deficit and skeletal, ectodermal and hematologic anomalies. Noonan syndrome is transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait, and is genetically heterogeneous. So far, heterozygous mutations in nine genes (PTPN11, SOS1, KRAS, NRAS, RAF1, BRAF, SHOC2, MEK1 and CBL) have been documented to underlie this disorder or clinically related phenotypes. Based on these recent discoveries, the diagnosis can now be confirmed molecularly in approximately 75% of affected individuals. Affected genes encode for proteins participating in the RAS-mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) signal transduction pathway, which is implicated in several developmental processes controlling morphology determination, organogenesis, synaptic plasticity and growth. Here, we provide an overview of clinical aspects of this disorder and closely related conditions, the molecular mechanisms underlying pathogenesis, and major genotype-phenotype correlations. PMID:21396583

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

Unalan, Dilek, E-mail: unaland@cf.ac.u; Cowell, Richard

This paper analyses the adoption of the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (2001/42/EC) in Turkey as part of a programme of environmental policy harmonisation for EU accession, to explore the extent to which this is driving wider shifts in modes of environmental governance. To do this, rather than simply assess compliance with Directive in narrow, formal, statutory terms, we use Jaenicke and Weidner's concept of capacity building, which focuses on the constraints facing societal action to promote sustainable development. Despite the resources invested in pre-accession training and pilot SEA projects, Turkey's adoption of the Directive is still likely to bemore » affected by the centralised nature of the bureaucracy (affecting the scope for sectoral integration), its politicised nature (interrupting the accumulation of policy learning), the limited capacity of civil society and environmental organisations to engage with the process, and the political dominance of economic development objectives.« less

Elucidating dominant pathways of the nano-particle self-assembly process.

PubMed

Zeng, Xiangze; Li, Bin; Qiao, Qin; Zhu, Lizhe; Lu, Zhong-Yuan; Huang, Xuhui

2016-09-14

Self-assembly processes play a key role in the fabrication of functional nano-structures with widespread application in drug delivery and micro-reactors. In addition to the thermodynamics, the kinetics of the self-assembled nano-structures also play an important role in determining the formed structures. However, as the self-assembly process is often highly heterogeneous, systematic elucidation of the dominant kinetic pathways of self-assembly is challenging. Here, based on mass flow, we developed a new method for the construction of kinetic network models and applied it to identify the dominant kinetic pathways for the self-assembly of star-like block copolymers. We found that the dominant pathways are controlled by two competing kinetic parameters: the encounter time Te, characterizing the frequency of collision and the transition time Tt for the aggregate morphology change from rod to sphere. Interestingly, two distinct self-assembly mechanisms, diffusion of an individual copolymer into the aggregate core and membrane closure, both appear at different stages (with different values of Tt) of a single self-assembly process. In particular, the diffusion mechanism dominates the middle-sized semi-vesicle formation stage (with large Tt), while the membrane closure mechanism dominates the large-sized vesicle formation stage (with small Tt). Through the rational design of the hydrophibicity of the copolymer, we successfully tuned the transition time Tt and altered the dominant self-assembly pathways.

Underwater femtosecond laser micromachining of thin nitinol tubes for medical coronary stent manufacture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muhammad, Noorhafiza; Li, Lin

2012-06-01

Microprofiling of medical coronary stents has been dominated by the use of Nd:YAG lasers with pulse lengths in the range of a few milliseconds, and material removal is based on the melt ejection with a high-pressure gas. As a result, recast and heat-affected zones are produced, and various post-processing procedures are required to remove these defects. This paper reports a new approach of machining stents in submerged conditions using a 100-fs pulsed laser. A comparison is given of dry and underwater femtosecond laser micromachining techniques of nickel-titanium alloy (nitinol) typically used as the material for coronary stents. The characteristics of laser interactions with the material have been studied. A femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system (wavelength of 800 nm, pulse duration of 100 fs, repetition rate of 1 kHz) was used to perform the cutting process. It is observed that machining under a thin water film resulted in no presence of heat-affected zone, debris, spatter or recast with fine-cut surface quality. At the optimum parameters, the results obtained with dry cutting showed nearly the same cut surface quality as with cutting under water. However, debris and recast formation still appeared on the dry cut, which is based on material vaporization. Physical processes involved during the cutting process in a thin water film, i.e. bubble formation and shock waves, are discussed.

Rethinking clinical language mapping approaches: discordant receptive and expressive hemispheric language dominance in epilepsy surgery candidates.

PubMed

Gage, Nicole M; Eliashiv, Dawn S; Isenberg, Anna L; Fillmore, Paul T; Kurelowech, Lacey; Quint, Patti J; Chung, Jeffrey M; Otis, Shirley M

2011-06-01

Neuroimaging studies have shed light on cortical language organization, with findings implicating the left and right temporal lobes in speech processing converging to a left-dominant pattern. Findings highlight the fact that the state of theoretical language knowledge is ahead of current clinical language mapping methods, motivating a rethinking of these approaches. The authors used magnetoencephalography and multiple tasks in seven candidates for resective epilepsy surgery to investigate language organization. The authors scanned 12 control subjects to investigate the time course of bilateral receptive speech processes. Laterality indices were calculated for left and right hemisphere late fields ∼150 to 400 milliseconds. The authors report that (1) in healthy adults, speech processes activated superior temporal regions bilaterally converging to a left-dominant pattern, (2) in four of six patients, this was reversed, with bilateral processing converging to a right-dominant pattern, and (3) in three of four of these patients, receptive and expressive language processes were laterally discordant. Results provide evidence that receptive and expressive language may have divergent hemispheric dominance. Right-sided receptive language dominance in epilepsy patients emphasizes the need to assess both receptive and expressive language. Findings indicate that it is critical to use multiple tasks tapping separable aspects of language function to provide sensitive and specific estimates of language localization in surgical patients.

A process-sedimentary framework for characterizing recent and ancient sabkhas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Handford, C.R.

1981-01-01

The discovery of sabkha environments during the 1960's, marked the beginning of Recent evaporite sedimentological studies and their perception as models for facies analysis. However, variation among Recent sabkhas, though recognized by the geologic community, has not been duly addressed, which has resulted in overuse of the Trucial Coast model in comparative sedimentological studies. Knowledge of the dominant physical processes which determine sabkha morphology, and of the sedimentary response to those processes, can lead to a fundamental understanding of a sabkha's origin and of how it differs from other sabkhas. Physical processes thought to be most important (besides evaporation) include those operative under: (1) marine-; (2) fluvial-lacustrine-; and (3) eolian-dominated conditions. Dominance of one or more of these in the proper settings give rise to marine coastal sabkhas, continental playas, and interdune sabkhas. Sedimentary responses to dominant physical processes lead to the development of sabkhas consisting of a combination of either: (1) terrigenous clastics; (2) carbonate-sulfate (anhydrite-gypsum) minerals; or (3) soluble salts (halite, sylvite, polyhalite, etc.). Sediment characterization can also allow discrimination of the range or compositional variety in, for example, coastal sabkhas. Where applied to the stratigraphic record, this classification system may help unravel the sedimentary history of an ancient sabkha system, and a determination of the dominant physical processes that ruled its development. ?? 1981.

Drought affects abortion of reproductive organs by exacerbating developmentally driven processes via expansive growth and hydraulics.

PubMed

Turc, Olivier; Tardieu, François

2018-06-06

Abortion of reproductive organs is a major limiting factor of yield under water deficit, but is also a trait selected for by evolutionary processes. The youngest reproductive organs must be prone to abortion so older organs can finish their development in case of limited resources. Water deficit increases natural abortion via two developmentally driven processes, namely a signal from the first fertilized ovaries and a simultaneous arrest of the expansive growth of all ovaries at a precise stage. In maize (Zea mays) subjected to water deficits typically encountered in dryland agriculture, these developmental mechanisms account for 90% of drought-associated abortion and are irreversible 3 d after silk emergence. Consistently, transcripts and enzyme activities suggest that the molecular events associated with abortion affect expansive growth in silks whereas ovaries maintain a favourable carbon status. Abortion due to carbon starvation is only observed for severe drought scenarios occurring after silking. Both kinetic and genetic evidence indicates that vegetative and reproductive structures share a partly common hydraulic control of expansive growth. Hence, the control of expansive growth of reproductive structures probably has a prominent effect on abortion for mild water deficits occurring at flowering time, while carbon starvation dominates in severe post-flowering drought scenarios.

Divided Attention and Processes Underlying Sense of Agency

PubMed Central

Wen, Wen; Yamashita, Atsushi; Asama, Hajime

2016-01-01

Sense of agency refers to the subjective feeling of controlling events through one’s behavior or will. Sense of agency results from matching predictions of one’s own actions with actual feedback regarding the action. Furthermore, when an action involves a cued goal, performance-based inference contributes to sense of agency. That is, if people achieve their goal, they would believe themselves to be in control. Previous studies have shown that both action-effect comparison and performance-based inference contribute to sense of agency; however, the dominance of one process over the other may shift based on task conditions such as the presence or absence of specific goals. In this study, we examined the influence of divided attention on these two processes underlying sense of agency in two conditions. In the experimental task, participants continuously controlled a moving dot for 10 s while maintaining a string of three or seven digits in working memory. We found that when there was no cued goal (no-cued-goal condition), sense of agency was impaired by high cognitive load. Contrastingly, when participants controlled the dot based on a cued goal (cued-goal-directed condition), their sense of agency was lower than in the no-cued-goal condition and was not affected by cognitive load. The results suggest that the action-effect comparison process underlying sense of agency requires attention. On the other hand, the weaker influence of divided attention in the cued-goal-directed condition could be attributed to the dominance of performance-based inference, which is probably automatic. PMID:26858680

Effects of eye dominance (left vs. right) and cannabis use on intermanual coordination and negative symptoms in schizophrenia patients.

PubMed

Gorynia, Inge; Schwaiger, Markus; Heinz, Andreas

2014-12-01

Based on the previous findings, it has been assumed that in schizophrenia patients, eye dominance and cannabis use will affect negative symptoms and intermanual coordination (IMC), an index of interhemispheric communication. But eye dominance, specifically the clinical findings for it, has been neglected in schizophrenia research. We therefore investigated its effects in 52 right-handed (36 right-eyed and 16 left-eyed) and 51 left-handed (35 left-eyed and 16 right-eyed) schizophrenia in-patients without and with drug use. Eye dominance affected IMC in all schizophrenia patients. When comparing right- and left-handers, we found that this result was only significant in the right-handed patients and in the smaller subgroup without drug use. In the right-handers, left eye dominance-like left-handedness-was associated with higher values in IMC and less pronounced manifestation of negative symptoms, right eye dominance was not. Thus, left-eyed right-handers may be more closely related to left-handers than to right-handers. In accordance with the results from the literature, we suggest that these findings are due to better interhemispheric connections and less impairment of white matter structures, especially in right-hemispheric regions. Moreover, cannabis use was related to higher scores in IMC and less pronounced negative symptoms, but only in the right-eyed and not in the left-eyed right-handers or in the left-handers. Hence, differences in eye dominance and handedness may be partially responsible for different results in interhemispheric connections among cannabis users. In conclusion, both eye dominance and use of cannabis should be taken into account when assessing clinical symptoms in schizophrenia patients.

Factors affecting the evolution of coastal wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes: An overview

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mayer, T.; Edsall, T.; Munawar, M.

2004-01-01

Coastal wetlands play a pivotal role in the Great Lakes ecosystem. As buffer zones between the land and open waters of the Great Lakes, they perform a variety of essential functions providing both direct and indirect anthropogenic benefits. Geology, morphology and climate are the dominant variables that influence Laurentian Great Lakes wetland development. However, anthropogenic factors are the major contributors to alteration of natural wetland processes. This paper provides an overview of natural and anthropogenic factors important in Great Lakes coastal wetland development and provides statistical information describing the Great Lakes Basin. A brief description of wetlands classification and research issues is also presented.

Tunneling magnetoresistance sensors with different coupled free layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yen-Fu; Yin, Xiaolu; Yang, Yi; Ewing, Dan; De Rego, Paul J.; Liou, Sy-Hwang

2017-05-01

Large differences of magnetic coercivity (HC), exchange coupling field (HE), and tunneling magnetoresistance ratio (TMR) in magnetic tunnel junctions with different coupled free layers are discussed. We demonstrate that the magnetization behavior of the free layer is not only dominated by the interfacial barrier layer but also affected largely by the magnetic or non-magnetic coupled free layers. All these parameters are sensitively controlled by the magnetic nanostructure, which can be tuned also by the magnetic annealing process. The optimized sensors exhibit a large field sensitivity of up to 261%/mT in the region of the reversal synthetic ferrimagnet at the pinned layers.

Conditioned social dominance threat: observation of others' social dominance biases threat learning.

PubMed

Haaker, Jan; Molapour, Tanaz; Olsson, Andreas

2016-10-01

Social groups are organized along dominance hierarchies, which determine how we respond to threats posed by dominant and subordinate others. The persuasive impact of these dominance threats on mental and physical well-being has been well described but it is unknown how dominance rank of others bias our experience and learning in the first place. We introduce a model of conditioned social dominance threat in humans, where the presence of a dominant other is paired with an aversive event. Participants first learned about the dominance rank of others by observing their dyadic confrontations. During subsequent fear learning, the dominant and subordinate others were equally predictive of an aversive consequence (mild electric shock) to the participant. In three separate experiments, we show that participants' eye-blink startle responses and amygdala reactivity adaptively tracked dominance of others during observation of confrontation. Importantly, during fear learning dominant vs subordinate others elicited stronger and more persistent learned threat responses as measured by physiological arousal and amygdala activity. Our results characterize the neural basis of learning through observing conflicts between others, and how this affects subsequent learning through direct, personal experiences. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Conditioned social dominance threat: observation of others’ social dominance biases threat learning

PubMed Central

Molapour, Tanaz; Olsson, Andreas

2016-01-01

Social groups are organized along dominance hierarchies, which determine how we respond to threats posed by dominant and subordinate others. The persuasive impact of these dominance threats on mental and physical well-being has been well described but it is unknown how dominance rank of others bias our experience and learning in the first place. We introduce a model of conditioned social dominance threat in humans, where the presence of a dominant other is paired with an aversive event. Participants first learned about the dominance rank of others by observing their dyadic confrontations. During subsequent fear learning, the dominant and subordinate others were equally predictive of an aversive consequence (mild electric shock) to the participant. In three separate experiments, we show that participants’ eye-blink startle responses and amygdala reactivity adaptively tracked dominance of others during observation of confrontation. Importantly, during fear learning dominant vs subordinate others elicited stronger and more persistent learned threat responses as measured by physiological arousal and amygdala activity. Our results characterize the neural basis of learning through observing conflicts between others, and how this affects subsequent learning through direct, personal experiences. PMID:27217107

Longitudinal and Transverse Instability of Ion Acoustic Waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chapman, T.; Berger, R. L.; Cohen, B. I.; Banks, J. W.; Brunner, S.

2017-08-01

Ion acoustic waves are found to be susceptible to at least two distinct decay processes. Which process dominates depends on the parameters. In the cases examined, the decay channel where daughter modes propagate parallel to the mother mode is found to dominate at larger amplitudes, while the decay channel where the daughter modes propagate at angles to the mother mode dominates at smaller amplitudes. Both decay processes may occur simultaneously and with onset thresholds below those suggested by fluid theory, resulting in the eventual multidimensional collapse of the mother mode to a turbulent state.

Near-Source Shaking and Dynamic Rupture in Plastic Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gabriel, A.; Mai, P. M.; Dalguer, L. A.; Ampuero, J. P.

2012-12-01

Recent well recorded earthquakes show a high degree of complexity at the source level that severely affects the resulting ground motion in near and far-field seismic data. In our study, we focus on investigating source-dominated near-field ground motion features from numerical dynamic rupture simulations in an elasto-visco-plastic bulk. Our aim is to contribute to a more direct connection from theoretical and computational results to field and seismological observations. Previous work showed that a diversity of rupture styles emerges from simulations on faults governed by velocity-and-state-dependent friction with rapid velocity-weakening at high slip rate. For instance, growing pulses lead to re-activation of slip due to gradual stress build-up near the hypocenter, as inferred in some source studies of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. Moreover, off-fault energy dissipation implied physical limits on extreme ground motion by limiting peak slip rate and rupture velocity. We investigate characteristic features in near-field strong ground motion generated by dynamic in-plane rupture simulations. We present effects of plasticity on source process signatures, off-fault damage patterns and ground shaking. Independent of rupture style, asymmetric damage patterns across the fault are produced that contribute to the total seismic moment, and even dominantly at high angles between the fault and the maximum principal background stress. The off-fault plastic strain fields induced by transitions between rupture styles reveal characteristic signatures of the mechanical source processes during the transition. Comparing different rupture styles in elastic and elasto-visco-plastic media to identify signatures of off-fault plasticity, we find varying degrees of alteration of near-field radiation due to plastic energy dissipation. Subshear pulses suffer more peak particle velocity reduction due to plasticity than cracks. Supershear ruptures are affected even more. The occurrence of multiple rupture fronts affect seismic potency release rate, amplitude spectra, peak particle velocity distributions and near-field seismograms. Our simulations enable us to trace features of source processes in synthetic seismograms, for example exhibiting a re-activation of slip. Such physical models may provide starting points for future investigations of field properties of earthquake source mechanisms and natural fault conditions. In the long-term, our findings may be helpful for seismic hazard analysis and the improvement of seismic source models.

Spatial analysis of the impacts of the Chaitén volcano eruption (Chile) in three fluvial systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ulloa, H.; Iroumé, A.; Picco, L.; Mohr, C. H.; Mazzorana, B.; Lenzi, M. A.; Mao, L.

2016-08-01

The eruption of the Chaitén volcano in May 2008 generated morphological and ecological disturbances in adjacent river basins, and the magnitude of these disturbances depended on the type of dominant volcanic process affecting each of them. The aim of this study is to analyse the morphological changes in different periods in river segments of the Blanco, El Amarillo and Rayas river basins located near the Chaitén volcano. These basins suffered disturbances of different intensity and spatial distribution caused by tephra fall, dome collapses and pyroclastic density currents that damaged hillslope forests, widened channels and destroyed island and floodplain vegetation. Changes continued to occur in the fluvial systems in the years following the eruption, as a consequence of the geomorphic processes indirectly induced by the eruption. Channel changes were analyzed by comparing remote images of pre and post-eruption conditions. Two periods were considered: the first from 2008 to 2009-2010 associated with the explosive and effusive phases of the eruption and the second that correspond to the post-eruption stage from 2009-2010 to 2013. Following the first phases channel segments widened 91% (38 m/yr), 6% (7 m/yr) and 7% (22 m/yr) for Blanco, Rayas and El Amarillo Rivers, respectively, compared to pre-eruption condition. In the second period, channel segments additionally widened 42% (8 m/yr), 2% (2 m/yr) and 5% (4 m/yr) for Blanco, Rayas and El Amarillo Rivers, respectively. In the Blanco River 62 and 82% of the islands disappeared in the first and second period, respectively, which is 6-8 times higher than in the El Amarillo approximately twice the Rayas. Sinuosity increased after the eruption only in the Blanco River but the three study channels showed a high braiding intensity mainly during the first post-eruption period. The major disturbances occurred during the eruptive and effusive phases of Chaitén volcano, and the intensity of these disturbances reflects the magnitude of the dominant volcanic processes affecting each basin. Inputs of sediment from dome collapses and pyroclastic density currents and not ash fall seem to explain morphologic channel change magnitudes in the study segments. The resulting knowledge can facilitate land use planning and design of river restoration projects in areas affected by volcanic eruptions disturbances.

Dominant root locus in state estimator design for material flow processes: A case study of hot strip rolling.

PubMed

Fišer, Jaromír; Zítek, Pavel; Skopec, Pavel; Knobloch, Jan; Vyhlídal, Tomáš

2017-05-01

The purpose of the paper is to achieve a constrained estimation of process state variables using the anisochronic state observer tuned by the dominant root locus technique. The anisochronic state observer is based on the state-space time delay model of the process. Moreover the process model is identified not only as delayed but also as non-linear. This model is developed to describe a material flow process. The root locus technique combined with the magnitude optimum method is utilized to investigate the estimation process. Resulting dominant roots location serves as a measure of estimation process performance. The higher the dominant (natural) frequency in the leftmost position of the complex plane the more enhanced performance with good robustness is achieved. Also the model based observer control methodology for material flow processes is provided by means of the separation principle. For demonstration purposes, the computer-based anisochronic state observer is applied to the strip temperatures estimation in the hot strip finishing mill composed of seven stands. This application was the original motivation to the presented research. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Whole Exome Sequencing in Dominant Cataract Identifies a New Causative Factor, CRYBA2, and a Variety of Novel Alleles in Known Genes

PubMed Central

Reis, Linda M.; Tyler, Rebecca C.; Muheisen, Sanaa; Raggio, Victor; Salviati, Leonardo; Han, Dennis P.; Costakos, Deborah; Yonath, Hagith; Hall, Sarah; Power, Patricia; Semina, Elena V.

2013-01-01

Pediatric cataracts are observed in 1–15 per 10,000 births with 10–25% of cases attributed to genetic causes; autosomal dominant inheritance is the most commonly observed pattern. Since the specific cataract phenotype is not sufficient to predict which gene is mutated, whole exome sequencing (WES) was utilized to concurrently screen all known cataract genes and to examine novel candidate factors for a disease-causing mutation in probands from 23 pedigrees affected with familial dominant cataract. Review of WES data for 36 known cataract genes identified causative mutations in nine pedigrees (39%) in CRYAA, CRYBB1, CRYBB3, CRYGC (2), CRYGD, GJA8 (2), and MIP and an additional likely causative mutation in EYA1; the CRYBB3 mutation represents the first dominant allele in this gene and demonstrates incomplete penetrance. Examination of crystallin genes not yet linked to human disease identified a novel cataract gene, CRYBA2, a member of the βγ-crystallin superfamily. The p.(Val50Met) mutation in CRYBA2 cosegregated with disease phenotype in a four-generation pedigree with autosomal dominant congenital cataracts with incomplete penetrance. Expression studies detected cryba2 transcripts during early lens development in zebrafish, supporting its role in congenital disease. Our data highlight the extreme genetic heterogeneity of dominant cataract as the eleven causative/likely causative mutations affected nine different genes and the majority of mutant alleles were novel. Furthermore, these data suggest that less than half of dominant cataract can be explained by mutations in currently known genes. PMID:23508780

The Relationship Between Lower Limb Bone and Muscle in Military Recruits, Response to Physical Training, and Influence of Smoking Status

PubMed Central

Puthucheary, Zudin; Kordi, Mehdi; Rawal, Jai; Eleftheriou, Kyriacos I.; Payne, John; Montgomery, Hugh E.

2015-01-01

The relationship between bone and skeletal muscle mass may be affected by physical training. No studies have prospectively examined the bone and skeletal muscle responses to a short controlled exercise-training programme. We hypothesised that a short exercise-training period would affect muscle and bone mass together. Methods: Femoral bone and Rectus femoris Volumes (RFVOL) were determined by magnetic resonance imaging in 215 healthy army recruits, and bone mineral density (BMD) by Dual X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) and repeated after 12 weeks of regulated physical training. Results: Pre-training, RFVOL was smaller in smokers than non-smokers (100.9 ± 20.2 vs. 108.7 ± 24.5, p = 0.018; 96.2 ± 16.9 vs. 104.8 ± 21.3, p = 0.002 for dominant/non-dominant limbs), although increases in RFVOL with training (of 14.2 ± 14.5% and 13.2 ± 15.6%] respectively, p < 0.001) were independent of prior smoking status. Pre-training RFVOL was related to bone cortical volume (r2 = 0.21 and 0.30, p < 0.001 for dominant and non-dominant legs), and specifically to periosteal (r2 = 0.21 and 0.23, p < 0.001) volume. Pre-training dominant RFVOL was independently associated with Total Hip BMD (p < 0.001). Training-related increases in RFVOL and bone volumes were related. Whilst smokers demonstrated lower muscle mass than non-smokers, differences were abolished with training. Training-related increases in muscle mass were related to increases in periosteal bone volume in both dominant and non-dominant legs. PMID:25792356

On the competing affects of shear heating and grainsize reduction in lithospheric shear zone formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foley, B. J.

2017-12-01

Grain-size reduction is thought to play an important role in shear localization within the lithosphere, as mylonites are commonly seen in regions that have undergone intense deformation. However, flow in lithospheric shear zones can also cause heating due to the energy dissipated by deformation. As grain growth is strongly enhanced by warmer temperatures, shear heating may impede grainsize reduction and the formation of mylonite zones. I use models of simple shear, with length-scales representative of lithospheric shear zones and plate boundaries, including shear heating and grainsize evolution. Grain-damage theory is used to represent the evolution of grainsize. The models are used to determine conditions where grainsize reduction dominates versus those where shear heating dominates; if grainsize reduction dominates, then heating is held in check by the drop in viscosity brought about by small grains. On the other hand, if heating dominates then grain-reduction is prevented by fast grain-growth rates. From the numerical models, simple scaling laws are developed that give the stready-state grainsize and temperature rise as a function of strain-rate, background temperature, and parameters for grain-growth and grain-reduction. I find that for parameter ranges constrained by field observations of shear zones and rock deformation experiments, grainsize reduction dominated over shear heating. Very high strain-rates or driving stresses, above what is typically expected in natural shear zones, are needed for shear heating to dominate over grainsize reduction. Also explored is the timescale to reach steady-state grainsize and temperature conditions in a shear zone. For realistic driving stress or strain-rate, timescales to reach steady-state are often very long, on the order of hundreds of millions of years or longer. This might indicate that natural shear zones do not reach steady-state, or that additional processes are important in initiating lithospheric shear localization.

Delivering risk information in a dynamic information environment: Framing and authoritative voice in Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and primetime broadcast news media communications during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.

PubMed

Kott, Anne; Limaye, Rupali J

2016-11-01

During a disease outbreak, media serve as primary transmitters of information from public health agencies to the public, and have been shown to influence both behavior and perception of risk. Differences in news frequency, framing and information source can impact the public's interpretation of risk messages and subsequent attitudes and behaviors about a particular threat. The media's framing of an outbreak is important, as it may affect both perception of risk and the ability to process important health information. To understand how risk communication by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the 2014 Ebola outbreak was framed and delivered and to what extent primetime broadcast news media mirrored CDC's framing and authoritative voice, 209 CDC communications and primetime broadcast transcripts issued between July 24 and December 29, 2014 were analyzed and coded by thematic frame and authoritative voice. Dominant frame and voice were determined for each month and for overall period of analysis. Medical frame was dominant in CDC (60%), Anderson Cooper 360 (49%), The Rachel Maddow Show (47%) and All In with Chris Hayes (47%). The human interest frame was dominant in The Kelly File (45%), while The O'Reilly Factor coverage was equally split between sociopolitical and medical frames (28%, respectively). Primetime news media also changed dominant frames over time. Dominant authoritative voice in CDC communications was that of CDC officials, while primetime news dominantly featured local and federal (non-CDC) government officials and academic/medical experts. Differences in framing and delivery could have led the public to interpret risk in a different way than intended by CDC. Overall, public health agencies should consider adapting risk communication strategies to account for a dynamic news environment and the media's agenda. Options include adapting communications to short-form styles and embracing the concept of storytelling. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Carbon limitation patterns in buried and open urban streams

EPA Science Inventory

Urban streams alternate between darkened buried segments dominated by heterotrophic processes and lighted open segments dominated by autotrophic processes. We hypothesized that labile carbon leaking from autotrophic cells would reduce heterotrophic carbon limitation in open chan...

Firmicutes dominate the bacterial taxa within sugar-cane processing plants

PubMed Central

Sharmin, Farhana; Wakelin, Steve; Huygens, Flavia; Hargreaves, Megan

2013-01-01

Sugar cane processing sites are characterised by high sugar/hemicellulose levels, available moisture and warm conditions, and are relatively unexplored unique microbial environments. The PhyloChip microarray was used to investigate bacterial diversity and community composition in three Australian sugar cane processing plants. These ecosystems were highly complex and dominated by four main Phyla, Firmicutes (the most dominant), followed by Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Chloroflexi. Significant variation (p < 0.05) in community structure occurred between samples collected from ‘floor dump sediment’, ‘cooling tower water’, and ‘bagasse leachate’. Many bacterial Classes contributed to these differences, however most were of low numerical abundance. Separation in community composition was also linked to Classes of Firmicutes, particularly Bacillales, Lactobacillales and Clostridiales, whose dominance is likely to be linked to their physiology as ‘lactic acid bacteria’, capable of fermenting the sugars present. This process may help displace other bacterial taxa, providing a competitive advantage for Firmicutes bacteria. PMID:24177592

Soot Formation in Hydrocarbon/Air Laminar Jet Diffusion Flames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sunderland, P. B.; Faeth, G. M.

1994-01-01

Soot processes within hydrocarbon/air diffusion flames are important because they affect the durability and performance of propulsion systems, the hazards of unwanted fires, the pollutant and particulate emissions from combustion processes, and the potential for developing computational combustion. Motivated by these observations, this investigation involved an experimental study of the structure and soot properties of round laminar jet diffusion flames, seeking an improved understanding of soot formation (growth and nucleation) within diffusion flames. The present study extends earlier work in this laboratory concerning laminar smoke points (l) and soot formation in acetylene/air laminar jet diffusion flames (2), emphasizing soot formation in hydrocarbon/air laminar jet diffusion flames for fuels other than acetylene. In the flame system, acetylene is the dominant gas species in the soot formation region and both nucleation and growth were successfully attributed to first-order reactions of acetylene, with nucleation exhibiting an activation energy of 32 kcal/gmol while growth involved negligible activation energy and a collision efficiency of O.53%. In addition, soot growth in the acetylene diffusion flames was comparable to new soot in premixed flame (which also has been attributed to first-order acetylene reactions). In view of this status, a major issue is the nature of soot formation processes in diffusion flame involving hydrocarbon fuels other than acetylene. In particular, information is needed about th dominant gas species in the soot formation region and the impact of gas species other than acetylene on soot nucleation and growth.

Food web pathway determines how selenium affects aquatic ecosystems: A San francisco Bay case study

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stewart, A.R.; Luoma, S.N.; Schlekat, C.E.; Doblin, M.A.; Hieb, K.A.

2004-01-01

Chemical contaminants disrupt ecosystems, but specific effects may be under-appreciated when poorly known processes such as uptake mechanisms, uptake via diet, food preferences, and food web dynamics are influential. Here we show that a combination of food web structure and the physiology of trace element accumulation explain why some species in San Francisco Bay are threatened by a relatively low level of selenium contamination and some are not. Bivalves and crustacean Zooplankton form the base of two dominant food webs in estuaries. The dominant bivalve Potamocorbula amurensis has a 10-fold slower rate constant of loss for selenium than do common crustaceans such as copepods and the mysid Neomysis mercedis (rate constant of loss, ke = 0.025, 0.155, and 0.25 d-1, respectively). The result is much higher selenium concentrations in the bivalve than in the crustaceans. Stable isotope analyses show that this difference is propagated up the respective food webs in San Francisco Bay. Several predators of bivalves have tissue concentrations of selenium that exceed thresholds thought to be associated with teratogenesis or reproductive failure (liver Se > 15 ??g g-1 dry weight). Deformities typical of selenium-induced teratogenesis were observed in one of these species. Concentrations of selenium in tissues of predators of Zooplankton are less than the thresholds. Basic physiological and ecological processes can drive wide differences in exposure and effects among species, but such processes are rarely considered in traditional evaluations of contaminant impacts.

Interpersonal Subtypes and Therapy Response in Patients Treated for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

PubMed

König, Julia; Onnen, Margarete; Karl, Regina; Rosner, Rita; Butollo, Willi

2016-01-01

Interpersonal traits may influence psychotherapy success. One way of conceptualizing such traits is the interpersonal circumplex model. In this study, we analyse interpersonal circumplex data, assessed with the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (Horowitz, Strauß, & Kordy, 1994) from a randomized study with 138 patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder after trauma in adulthood. The study compared cognitive processing therapy and dialogical exposure therapy, a Gestalt-based intervention. We divided the interpersonally heterogeneous sample according to the quadrants of the interpersonal circumplex. The division into quadrants yielded subgroups that did not differ in their general psychological distress, but the cold-submissive quadrant tended to exhibit higher posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity and interpersonal distress than the other three. There was also a trend for patients in different quadrants to be affected differently by the treatments. Correlation analyses supported these results: in cognitive processing therapy, more dominant patients had more successful therapies, while in dialogical exposure therapy, success was not correlated with interpersonal style. Results indicate that especially patients with cold interpersonal styles profited differentially from the two treatments offered. Dividing samples according to the interpersonal circumplex quadrants seems promising. Interpersonal traits may contribute to psychotherapy outcome. Dividing the sample according to the quadrants of the interpersonal circumplex, as opposed to cluster analysis, yielded promising results. Patients higher in dominance fared better with cognitive processing therapy, while interpersonal style had no correlations with therapy success in dialogical exposure therapy. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

From Contextual Fear to a Dynamic View of Memory Systems

PubMed Central

Fanselow, Michael S

2009-01-01

The brain does not learn and remember in a unitary fashion. Rather, different circuits specialize in certain classes of problems and encode different types of information. Damage to one of these systems typically results in amnesia only for the form of memory that is the affected region's specialty. How does the brain allocate a specific category of memory to a particular circuit? This question has received little attention. The currently dominant view, Multiple Memory Systems Theory, assumes that such abilities are hard-wired. Using fear conditioning as a paradigmatic case, I propose an alternative model in which mnemonic processing is allocated to specific circuits through a dynamic process. Potential circuits compete to form memories with the most efficient circuits emerging as winners. However, alternate circuits compensate when these “primary” circuits are compromised. PMID:19939724

Printing ink and paper recycling sources of TMDD in wastewater and rivers.

PubMed

Guedez, Arlen A; Püttmann, Wilhelm

2014-01-15

2,4,7,9-Tetramethyl-5-decyne-4,7-diol (TMDD) is a non-ionic surfactant which is preferentially used as defoamer in paints and printing ink and for the treatment of surfaces. Effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as the domination point sources for TMDD in rivers since the removal rate of the compound in the WWTPs is in general less than 70%. However, the dominating entry pathways of TMDD into the sewage were unknown so far. In this study effluents from both, municipal WWTPs with and without treatment of indirect industrial dischargers and from industrial WWTPs with direct discharge of wastewater into receiving rivers were analyzed for the first time to identify the proportions of TMDD coming from domestic wastewater and from various industrial sources. Moreover, rivers were samples before and after the influent of sewage water from WWTPs. The TMDD concentrations in the water samples were measured using solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). High TMDD concentrations were found in rivers (up to 63.5 μg/L), and in effluents of WWTPs (up to 310 μg/L) affected by wastewater from paper recycling industry and factories producing paint and printing ink. Concentrations of TMDD revealed to be far higher in wastewater from factories processing recycled paper (up to 113 μg/L) compared to wastewater from factories not processing recycled paper (0.066 μg/L). The results indicate that the use of recycling paper in the paper production process is the dominating reason for increased TMDD concentrations in wastewaters and receiving rivers due to the wash out of TMDD from the paper impregnated with printing ink. Very high TMDD concentrations (up to 3300 μg/L) were also detected in wastewater from a printing ink factory and a paint factory. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Foundering and Exhumation of UHP Terranes: Race Car or School Bus?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kylander-Clark, A. R.; Hacker, B. R.

2008-12-01

Recent geochronologic data from the giant ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) terrane, in the Western Gneiss Region of Norway, indicate that subduction and exhumation were relatively slow (a few mm/yr), and that the terrane was exhumed to the surface as a relatively thick, coherent body. These conclusions are in stark contrast to those reached in previous studies of some of the best-studied, smaller UHP terranes and suggest that the processes that form and/or exhume small UHP terranes are fundamentally different from the processes that affect large UHP terranes. These differences may be the result of variations in the buoyancy forces of different proportions of subducted felsic crust, mafic crust, and mantle lithosphere. Initial collision occurs via the subduction of smaller portions of continental material, such as microcontinents or ribbon continents. Because the proportion of continental crust is small, the processes involved in early UHP terrane formation are dominated by the oceanic slab; subduction rates are fast because average plate densities are high, and, as a result, subduction angles are steep. Because these smaller, thinner portions of crust are weak, they deform easily and mix readily with the mantle. As the collision matures, thicker and larger portions of continental material-such as a continental margin-are subducted, and the subduction regime changes from one that was ocean dominated to one that is continent dominated. The increased buoyancy of the larger volume of continental crust resists the pull of the leading oceanic lithosphere; subduction shallows and plate rates slow. Because the downgoing continent is thick, it is strong, remains cohesive and has limited interaction with the mantle. Although the subduction regime during early orogenesis is distinct from that during late orogenesis, the degree of mountain building and crustal thickening may be similar in both stages as small volumes and fast flow rates of buoyant material give way to large volumes and slow flow rates.

Ecohydrologic relationships of two juniper woodlands with different precipitation regimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ochoa, C. G.; Guldan, S. J.; Deboodt, T.; Fernald, A.; Ray, G.

2015-12-01

The significant expansion of juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodlands throughout the western U.S. during the last two centuries has disrupted important ecological functions and hydrologic processes. The relationships between water and vegetation distribution are highly impacted by the ongoing shift from shrub steppe and grassland to woodland-dominated landscapes. We investigated vegetation dynamics and hydrologic processes occurring in two distinct juniper landscapes with different precipitation regimes in the Intermountain West region: A winter snow-dominated (Oregon) and a summer rain-dominated with some winter precipitation (New Mexico) landscape. Results from the Oregon site showed marginal differences (1-2%) in soil moisture in treated vs untreated watersheds throughout the dry and wet seasons. In general, soil moisture was greater in the treated watershed in both seasons. Canopy cover affected soil moisture over time. Perennial grass cover was positively correlated with changes in soil moisture, whereas juniper cover was negatively correlated with changes in soil moisture. Shallow groundwater response observed in upland and valley monitoring wells indicate there are temporary hydrologic connections between upland and valley locations during the winter precipitation season. Results from the New Mexico site provided valuable information regarding timing and intensity of monsoon-driven precipitation and the rainfall threshold (5 mm/15 min) that triggers runoff. Long-term vegetation dynamics and hydrologic processes were evaluated based on pre- and post-juniper removal (70%) in three watersheds. In general, less runoff and greater forage response was observed in the treated watersheds. During rainfall events, soil moisture was less under juniper canopy compared with inter-canopy; this difference in soil moisture was intensified during high intensity, short duration rainstorms in the summer months. We found that winter snow precipitation helped recharge soil moisture prior to plant growth in the springtime, but it did not generate streamflow. Study results provide valuable information towards understanding ecohydrologic differences and similarities of woody vegetation expansion in semiarid areas on both sides of the continental divide in the Intermountain West.

Limited Bacterial Diversity within a Treatment Plant Receiving Antibiotic-Containing Waste from Bulk Drug Production.

PubMed

Marathe, Nachiket P; Shetty, Sudarshan A; Shouche, Yogesh S; Larsson, D G Joakim

2016-01-01

Biological treatment of waste water from bulk drug production, contaminated with high levels of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, can lead to massive enrichment of antibiotic resistant bacteria, resistance genes and associated mobile elements, as previously shown. Such strong selection may be boosted by the use of activated sludge (AS) technology, where microbes that are able to thrive on the chemicals within the wastewater are reintroduced at an earlier stage of the process to further enhance degradation of incoming chemicals. The microbial community structure within such a treatment plant is, however, largely unclear. In this study, Illumina-based 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was applied to investigate the bacterial communities of different stages from an Indian treatment plant operated by Patancheru Environment Technology Limited (PETL) in Hyderabad, India. The plant receives waste water with high levels of fluoroquinolones and applies AS technology. A total of 1,019,400 sequences from samples of different stages of the treatment process were analyzed. In total 202, 303, 732, 652, 947 and 864 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained at 3% distance cutoff in the equilibrator, aeration tanks 1 and 2, settling tank, secondary sludge and old sludge samples from PETL, respectively. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phyla in all samples with Gammaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria being the dominant classes. Alcaligenaceae and Pseudomonadaceae, bacterial families from PETL previously reported to be highly multidrug resistant, were the dominant families in aeration tank samples. Despite regular addition of human sewage (approximately 20%) to uphold microbial activity, the bacterial diversity within aeration tanks from PETL was considerably lower than corresponding samples from seven, regular municipal waste water treatment plants. The strong selection pressure from antibiotics present may be one important factor in structuring the microbial community in PETL, which may affect not only resistance promotion but also general efficiency of the waste treatment process.

Limited Bacterial Diversity within a Treatment Plant Receiving Antibiotic-Containing Waste from Bulk Drug Production

PubMed Central

Shouche, Yogesh S.; Larsson, D. G. Joakim

2016-01-01

Biological treatment of waste water from bulk drug production, contaminated with high levels of fluoroquinolone antibiotics, can lead to massive enrichment of antibiotic resistant bacteria, resistance genes and associated mobile elements, as previously shown. Such strong selection may be boosted by the use of activated sludge (AS) technology, where microbes that are able to thrive on the chemicals within the wastewater are reintroduced at an earlier stage of the process to further enhance degradation of incoming chemicals. The microbial community structure within such a treatment plant is, however, largely unclear. In this study, Illumina-based 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was applied to investigate the bacterial communities of different stages from an Indian treatment plant operated by Patancheru Environment Technology Limited (PETL) in Hyderabad, India. The plant receives waste water with high levels of fluoroquinolones and applies AS technology. A total of 1,019,400 sequences from samples of different stages of the treatment process were analyzed. In total 202, 303, 732, 652, 947 and 864 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained at 3% distance cutoff in the equilibrator, aeration tanks 1 and 2, settling tank, secondary sludge and old sludge samples from PETL, respectively. Proteobacteria was the most dominant phyla in all samples with Gammaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria being the dominant classes. Alcaligenaceae and Pseudomonadaceae, bacterial families from PETL previously reported to be highly multidrug resistant, were the dominant families in aeration tank samples. Despite regular addition of human sewage (approximately 20%) to uphold microbial activity, the bacterial diversity within aeration tanks from PETL was considerably lower than corresponding samples from seven, regular municipal waste water treatment plants. The strong selection pressure from antibiotics present may be one important factor in structuring the microbial community in PETL, which may affect not only resistance promotion but also general efficiency of the waste treatment process. PMID:27812209

Sediment Transport Dynamics and Bedform Evolution During Unsteady Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, H.; Parsons, D. R.; Ockelford, A.; Hardy, R. J.; Ashworth, P. J.; Best, J.

2016-12-01

Dunes are ubiquitous features in sand bed rivers and estuaries, and their formation, growth and kinematics play a dominant role in boundary flow structure, flow resistance and sediment transport processes. However, bedform evolution and dynamics during the rising/falling limb of a flood wave remain poorly understood. Herein, we report on a series of flume experiments, undertaken at the University of Hull's Total Environment Simulator flume/wave tank facility, with imposed flow variations and different hydrographs: i) a sudden (shock) change, ii) a fast flood wave and iii) a slow flood wave. Our analysis shows that, because of changes of sediment transport mechanisms with discharge, the sediment flux rather than bedform migration rate is a more appropriate parameter to relate to transport stage. This is particularly the case during bedload transport dominated periods at lower flow discharge, where a strong power law relationship was detected. In terms of varying processes across the hydrograph limbs, bedform evolution during the rising limb is dominated not only by bedform amalgamation but also by the washing out of smaller-scale bedforms. Furthermore, bedform growth is independent of the rising rate of the hydrograph limb, while evolution of bedform decay is affected by the rate of discharge decrease. This results in an anticlockwise hysteresis between transport stage and total flux was found in fast wave experiment, indicating a significant role of the change in sediment transport mechanisms on bedform evolution. Moreover, analysis on the variation of deformation fraction (F, ratio of the deformation flux to the total bed material flux) suggests that net degradation of the bed enhances bedform deformation and leads to a higher F ( 0.65). This work extends our knowledge on how dunes generate and develop under variable flows and has begun to explore how variations in transport stage can be coupled with the variation in sediment transport mechanisms, and/or sediment supply which can help improve the modelling of sediment transport processes.

A new conceptual framework for unifying the heterogeneity of plant-microbe interactions in forests by linking belowground measurements with large-scale modeling and remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brzostek, E. R.; Phillips, R.; Fisher, J. B.

2015-12-01

Recognition of the importance of rhizosphere interactions to ecosystem processes has led to efforts to integrate these dynamics into a conceptual framework that can be tested, refined and applied across spatial scales. A new view suggests that a plant's mycorrhizal association represents a "trait integrator" for a suite of aboveground and belowground functional traits involved in coupling C-nutrient cycles, since nearly all plants associate with a single type of mycorrhizal fungi. The MANE framework predicts that tree species that associate with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi differ from trees that associate with ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi in a suite of functional traits, and that such differences contribute to unique "biogeochemical syndromes" in forests with varying abundances of AM- and ECM-associated trees. To date, we have found that relative to AM trees, the leaf litter of ECM trees decomposes nearly 50% more slowly; as such, the nutrient economy of ECM-dominated stands is driven by organic forms of N and P whereas the nutrient economy of AM-dominated stands in driven by inorganic forms of N and P. Moreover, differences in the nutrient economies between AM- and ECM-dominated stands can affect the carbon (C) cost of nutrient acquisition. For example, while ECM trees allocate 2-3-fold more C to fine roots and mycorrhizal fungi, this greater investment results in the enhanced activity of enzymes that mobilize nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from soil organic matter, and ultimately the greater uptake of nutrients by plants. However, this enhanced uptake by ECM trees comes at a cost to soil organic C, which declines as a function of root-accelerated N mineralization. By incorporating these dynamics into a coupled nutrient acquisition-microbial decomposition model, and scaling these processes following development of a map of mycorrhizal associations, we are now quantifying how belowground processes shape ecosystem sensitivity to global changes (e.g., rising CO2, warming) at regional- and continental-scales.

The Mica Creek Experimental Watershed: An Outdoor Laboratory for the Investigation of Hydrologic Processes in a Continental/Maritime Mountainous Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Link, T. E.; Gravelle, J.; Hubbart, J.; Warnsing, A.; Du, E.; Boll, J.; Brooks, E.; Cundy, T.

2004-12-01

Experimental catchments have proven to be extremely useful for investigations focused on fundamental hydrologic processes and on the impacts of land cover change on hydrologic regimes and water quality. Recent studies have illustrated how watershed responses to experimental treatments vary greatly between watersheds with differing physical, ecological and hydroclimatic characteristics. Meteorological and hydrological data within catchments are needed to help identify how hydrologic mechanisms may be altered by land cover alterations, and to both constrain and develop spatially-distributed physically based models. Existing instrumentation at the Mica Creek Experimental Watershed (MCEW) in northern Idaho is a fourth-order catchment that is undergoing expansion to produce a comprehensive dataset for model development and testing. The experimental catchments encompass a 28 km2 area spanning elevations from 975 to 1725 m msl. Snow processes dominate the hydrology of the catchment and climate conditions in the winter alternate between cold, dry continental and warm, moist maritime weather systems. Landcover is dominated by 80 year old second growth conifer forests, with partially cut (thinned) and clear-cut sub-catchments. Climate and precipitation data are collected at a SNOTEL site, three primary, and seven supplemental meteorological stations stratified by elevation and canopy cover. Manual snow depth measurements are recorded every 1-2 weeks during snowmelt, stratified by aspect, elevation and canopy cover. An air temperature transect spans three second-order sub-catchments to track air temperature lapse rate dynamics. Precipitation gauge arrays are installed within thinned and closed-canopy stands to track throughfall and interception loss. Nine paired and nested sub-catchments are monitored for flow, temperature, sediment, and nutrients. Hydroclimatic data are augmented by LiDAR and hyperspectral imagery for determination of canopy and topographic structure. Results will serve as a key dataset to assess how canopy conditions affect surface hydrology in complex snow-dominated catchments in the intermountain western U.S.

Experimental Manipulation of Grassland Plant Diversity Induces Complex Shifts in Aboveground Arthropod Diversity

PubMed Central

Hertzog, Lionel R.; Meyer, Sebastian T.; Weisser, Wolfgang W.; Ebeling, Anne

2016-01-01

Changes in producer diversity cause multiple changes in consumer communities through various mechanisms. However, past analyses investigating the relationship between plant diversity and arthropod consumers focused only on few aspects of arthropod diversity, e.g. species richness and abundance. Yet, shifts in understudied facets of arthropod diversity like relative abundances or species dominance may have strong effects on arthropod-mediated ecosystem functions. Here we analyze the relationship between plant species richness and arthropod diversity using four complementary diversity indices, namely: abundance, species richness, evenness (equitability of the abundance distribution) and dominance (relative abundance of the dominant species). Along an experimental gradient of plant species richness (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 60 plant species), we sampled herbivorous and carnivorous arthropods using pitfall traps and suction sampling during a whole vegetation period. We tested whether plant species richness affects consumer diversity directly (i), or indirectly through increased productivity (ii). Further, we tested the impact of plant community composition on arthropod diversity by testing for the effects of plant functional groups (iii). Abundance and species richness of both herbivores and carnivores increased with increasing plant species richness, but the underlying mechanisms differed between the two trophic groups. While higher species richness in herbivores was caused by an increase in resource diversity, carnivore richness was driven by plant productivity. Evenness of herbivore communities did not change along the gradient in plant species richness, whereas evenness of carnivores declined. The abundance of dominant herbivore species showed no response to changes in plant species richness, but the dominant carnivores were more abundant in species-rich plant communities. The functional composition of plant communities had small impacts on herbivore communities, whereas carnivore communities were affected by forbs of small stature, grasses and legumes. Contrasting patterns in the abundance of dominant species imply different levels of resource specialization for dominant herbivores (narrow food spectrum) and carnivores (broad food spectrum). That in turn could heavily affect ecosystem functions mediated by herbivorous and carnivorous arthropods, such as herbivory or biological pest control. PMID:26859496

Dominant Factors for Kampung Laut Bontang Kuala Development through Ecotourism Concept

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idajati, Hertiari; Andastry, Fonita

2017-07-01

Bontang is one of the cities in East Kalimantan Province which is known oil and gas industry and condensate. Besides that, Bontang also has potential tourism that can be developed in the form of Kampung Laut Bontang Kuala. This tourism area can be a leading tourism spot based on ecotourism in Bontang. Based on these fact, conducted a study to find out how Kampung Laut Bontang Kuala can be developed. This study aims to determine the dominant factors that affect Kampung Laut Bontang Kuala development through ecotourism. This research stage begins with interviewing stakeholders related to Kampung Laut Bontang Kuala development through ecotourism. The interview results were analysed using quantitative content analysis which showed the factors that affect Kampung Laut Bontang Kuala development through ecotourism in accordance with the assessment of stakeholders. The research result showed there are 9 of dominant factors for Kampung Laut Bontang Kuala Development ecotourism development.

Organic matter controls of soil water retention in an alpine grassland and its significance for hydrological processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Fei; Zhang, Gan-Lin; Yang, Jin-Ling; Li, De-Cheng; Zhao, Yu-Guo; Liu, Feng; Yang, Ren-Min; Yang, Fan

2014-11-01

Soil water retention influences many soil properties and soil hydrological processes. The alpine meadows and steppes of the Qilian Mountains on the northeast border of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau form the source area of the Heihe River, the second largest inland river in China. The soils of this area therefore have a large effect on water movement and storage of the entire watershed. In order to understand the controlling factors of soil water retention and how they affect regional eco-hydrological processes in an alpine grassland, thirty-five pedogenic horizons in fourteen soil profiles along two facing hillslopes in typical watersheds of this area were selected for study. Results show that the extensively-accumulated soil organic matter plays a dominant role in controlling soil water retention in this alpine environment. We distinguished two mechanisms of this control. First, at high matric potentials soil organic matter affected soil water retention mainly through altering soil structural parameters and thereby soil bulk density. Second, at low matric potentials the water adsorbing capacity of soil organic matter directly affected water retention. To investigate the hydrological functions of soils at larger scales, soil water retention was compared by three generalized pedogenic horizons. Among these soil horizons, the mattic A horizon, a diagnostic surface horizon of Chinese Soil Taxonomy defined specially for alpine meadow soils, had the greatest soil water retention over the entire range of measured matric potentials. Hillslopes with soils having these horizons are expected to have low surface runoff. This study promotes the understanding of the critical role of alpine soils, especially the vegetated surface soils in controlling the eco-hydrological processes in source regions of the Heihe River watershed.

Information Dominance in Military Decision Making.

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-06-04

This study considers how ABCS (Army Battle Command System) capabilities achieve information dominance and how they influence the military decision...making process. The work examines how ABCS enables commanders and staffs to achieve information dominance at the brigade and battalion levels. Further...future digitized systems that will gain information dominance for the future commander. It promotes the continued development information dominance technologies

Dominance rank causally affects personality and glucocorticoid regulation in female rhesus macaques

PubMed Central

Kohn, Jordan N.; Snyder-Mackler, Noah; Barreiro, Luis B.; Johnson, Zachary P.; Tung, Jenny; Wilson, Mark E.

2017-01-01

Low social status is frequently associated with heightened exposure to social stressors and altered glucocorticoid regulation by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Additionally, personality differences can affect how individuals behave in response to social conditions, and thus may aggravate or protect against the effects of low status on HPA function. Disentangling the relative importance of personality from the effects of the social environment on the HPA axis has been challenging, since social status can predict aspects of behavior, and both can remain stable across the lifespan. To do so here, we studied an animal model of social status and social behavior, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). We performed two sequential experimental manipulations of dominance rank (i.e., social status) in 45 adult females, allowing us to characterize personality and glucocorticoid regulation (based on sensitivity to the exogenous glucocorticoid dexamethasone) in each individual while she occupied two different dominance ranks. We identified two behavioral characteristics, termed ‘social approachability’ and ‘boldness,’ which were highly social status-dependent. Social approachability and a third dimension, anxiousness, were also associated with cortisol dynamics in low status females, suggesting that behavioral tendencies may sensitize individuals to the effects of low status on HPA axis function. Finally, we found that improvements in dominance rank increased dexamethasone-induced acute cortisol suppression and glucocorticoid negative feedback. Our findings indicate that social status causally affects both behavioral tendencies and glucocorticoid regulation, and that some behavioral tendencies also independently affect cortisol levels, beyond the effects of rank. Together, they highlight the importance of considering personality and social status together when investigating their effects on HPA axis function. PMID:27639059

Dominance rank causally affects personality and glucocorticoid regulation in female rhesus macaques.

PubMed

Kohn, Jordan N; Snyder-Mackler, Noah; Barreiro, Luis B; Johnson, Zachary P; Tung, Jenny; Wilson, Mark E

2016-12-01

Low social status is frequently associated with heightened exposure to social stressors and altered glucocorticoid regulation by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Additionally, personality differences can affect how individuals behave in response to social conditions, and thus may aggravate or protect against the effects of low status on HPA function. Disentangling the relative importance of personality from the effects of the social environment on the HPA axis has been challenging, since social status can predict aspects of behavior, and both can remain stable across the lifespan. To do so here, we studied an animal model of social status and social behavior, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). We performed two sequential experimental manipulations of dominance rank (i.e., social status) in 45 adult females, allowing us to characterize personality and glucocorticoid regulation (based on sensitivity to the exogenous glucocorticoid dexamethasone) in each individual while she occupied two different dominance ranks. We identified two behavioral characteristics, termed 'social approachability' and 'boldness,' which were highly social status-dependent. Social approachability and a third dimension, anxiousness, were also associated with cortisol dynamics in low status females, suggesting that behavioral tendencies may sensitize individuals to the effects of low status on HPA axis function. Finally, we found that improvements in dominance rank increased dexamethasone-induced acute cortisol suppression and glucocorticoid negative feedback. Our findings indicate that social status causally affects both behavioral tendencies and glucocorticoid regulation, and that some behavioral tendencies also independently affect cortisol levels, beyond the effects of rank. Together, they highlight the importance of considering personality and social status together when investigating their effects on HPA axis function. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-Level Binocular Rivalry Effects

PubMed Central

Wolf, Michal; Hochstein, Shaul

2011-01-01

Binocular rivalry (BR) occurs when the brain cannot fuse percepts from the two eyes because they are different. We review results relating to an ongoing controversy regarding the cortical site of the BR mechanism. Some BR qualities suggest it is low-level: (1) BR, as its name implies, is usually between eyes and only low-levels have access to utrocular information. (2) All input to one eye is suppressed: blurring doesn’t stimulate accommodation; pupilary constrictions are reduced; probe detection is reduced. (3) Rivalry is affected by low-level attributes, contrast, spatial frequency, brightness, motion. (4) There is limited priming due to suppressed words or pictures. On the other hand, recent studies favor a high-level mechanism: (1) Rivalry occurs between patterns, not eyes, as in patchwork rivalry or a swapping paradigm. (2) Attention affects alternations. (3) Context affects dominance. There is conflicting evidence from physiological studies (single cell and fMRI) regarding cortical level(s) of conscious perception. We discuss the possibility of multiple BR sites and theoretical considerations that rule out this solution. We present new data regarding the locus of the BR switch by manipulating stimulus semantic content or high-level characteristics. Since these variations are represented at higher cortical levels, their affecting rivalry supports high-level BR intervention. In Experiment I, we measure rivalry when one eye views words and the other non-words and find significantly longer dominance durations for non-words. In Experiment II, we find longer dominance times for line drawings of simple, structurally impossible figures than for similar, possible objects. In Experiment III, we test the influence of idiomatic context on rivalry between words. Results show that generally words within their idiomatic context have longer mean dominance durations. We conclude that BR has high-level cortical influences, and may be controlled by a high-level mechanism. PMID:22144953

Brain Hemisphere Dominance: Building the Whole-Brain Singer

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyd, Amanda R.

2012-01-01

The concept of brain hemisphere dominance serves as the basis for many educational learning theories. The dominant brain hemisphere guides the learning process, but both hemispheres are necessary for true learning to take place. This treatise outlines and analyzes the dominance factor, a learning theory developed by Dr. Carla Hannaford, which…

Are prescribed fire and thinning dominant processes affecting snag occurrence at a landscape scale?

DOE PAGES

Zarnoch, Stanley J.; Blake, John I.; Parresol, Bernard R.

2014-11-01

Snags are standing dead trees that are an important component in the nesting habitat of birds and other species. Although snag availability is believed to limit populations in managed and non-managed forests, little data are available to evaluate the relative effect of stand conditions and management on snag occurrence. We analyzed point sample data from an intensive forest inventory within an 80,000 ha landscape for four major forest types to support the hypotheses that routine low-intensity prescribed fire would increase, and thinning would decrease, snag occurrence. We employed path analysis to define a priori causal relationships to determine the directmore » and indirect effects of site quality, age, relative stand density index and fire for all forest types and thinning effects for loblolly pine and longleaf pine. Stand age was an important direct effect for loblolly pine, mixed pine-hardwoods and hardwoods, but not for longleaf pine. Snag occurrence in loblolly pine was increased by prescribed fire and decreased by thinning which confirmed our initial hypotheses. Although fire was not important in mixed pine-hardwoods, it was for hardwoods but the relationship depended on site quality. For longleaf pine the relative stand density index was the dominant variable affecting snag occurrence, which increased as the density index decreased. Site quality, age and thinning had significant indirect effects on snag occurrence in longleaf pine through their effects on the density index. Although age is an important condition affecting snag occurrence for most forest types, path analysis revealed that fire and density management practices within certain forest types can also have major beneficial effects, particularly in stands less than 60 years old.« less

AVP-NPII gene mutations and clinical characteristics of the patients with autosomal dominant familial central diabetes insipidus.

PubMed

Turkkahraman, Doga; Saglar, Emel; Karaduman, Tugce; Mergen, Hatice

2015-12-01

Familial central diabetes insipidus (DI), usually an autosomal dominant disorder, is caused by mutations in arginine vasopressin-neurophysin II (AVP-NPII) gene that leads to aberrant preprohormone processing and gradual destruction of AVP-secreting cells. To determine clinical and molecular characteristics of patients with familial central DI from two different Turkish families. The diagnosis of central DI was established by 24-h urine collection, water deprivation test, and desmopressin challenge. To confirm the diagnosis of familial central DI, the entire coding region of AVP-NPII gene was amplified and sequenced. A total of eight affected patients and three unaffected healthy relatives from two families were studied. Genetic analysis revealed a previously reported heterozygous mutation (p.C98X) in family A, and a heterozygous novel mutation (p.G45C) in family B, both detected in exon 2 of AVP-NPII gene. When we compared the clinical characteristics of the two families, it was noticed that as the age of onset of symptoms in family A ranges between 4 and 7 years, it was <1 year in family B. Additionally, pituitary bright spot was present in the affected siblings, but absent in their affected parents. Familial central DI is a progressive disease, and age of onset of symptoms can differ depending on the mutation. Bright spot on pituitary MRI might be present at onset, but become invisible over time. Genetic testing and appropriate counseling should be given in familial cases of central DI to ensure adequate treatment, and to avoid chronic water deprivation that might result in growth retardation in childhood.

Subclinical Primary Psychopathy, but Not Physical Formidability or Attractiveness, Predicts Conversational Dominance in a Zero-Acquaintance Situation

PubMed Central

Manson, Joseph H.; Gervais, Matthew M.; Fessler, Daniel M. T.; Kline, Michelle A.

2014-01-01

The determinants of conversational dominance are not well understood. We used videotaped triadic interactions among unacquainted same-sex American college students to test predictions drawn from the theoretical distinction between dominance and prestige as modes of human status competition. Specifically, we investigated the effects of physical formidability, facial attractiveness, social status, and self-reported subclinical psychopathy on quantitative (proportion of words produced), participatory (interruptions produced and sustained), and sequential (topic control) dominance. No measure of physical formidability or attractiveness was associated with any form of conversational dominance, suggesting that the characteristics of our study population or experimental frame may have moderated their role in dominance dynamics. Primary psychopathy was positively associated with quantitative dominance and (marginally) overall triad talkativeness, and negatively associated (in men) with affect word use, whereas secondary psychopathy was unrelated to conversational dominance. The two psychopathy factors had significant opposing effects on quantitative dominance in a multivariate model. These latter findings suggest that glibness in primary psychopathy may function to elicit exploitable information from others in a relationally mobile society. PMID:25426962

Red clothing increases perceived dominance, aggression and anger

PubMed Central

Wiedemann, Diana; Burt, D. Michael; Hill, Russell A.; Barton, Robert A.

2015-01-01

The presence and intensity of red coloration correlate with male dominance and testosterone in a variety of animal species, and even artificial red stimuli can influence dominance interactions. In humans, red stimuli are perceived as more threatening and dominant than other colours, and wearing red increases the probability of winning sporting contests. We investigated whether red clothing biases the perception of aggression and dominance outside of competitive settings, and whether red influences decoding of emotional expressions. Participants rated digitally manipulated images of men for aggression and dominance and categorized the emotional state of these stimuli. Men were rated as more aggressive and more dominant when presented in red than when presented in either blue or grey. The effect on perceived aggression was found for male and female raters, but only male raters were sensitive to red as a signal of dominance. In a categorization test, images were significantly more often categorized as ‘angry’ when presented in the red condition, demonstrating that colour stimuli affect perceptions of emotions. This suggests that the colour red may be a cue used to predict propensity for dominance and aggression in human males. PMID:25972401

Subclinical primary psychopathy, but not physical formidability or attractiveness, predicts conversational dominance in a zero-acquaintance situation.

PubMed

Manson, Joseph H; Gervais, Matthew M; Fessler, Daniel M T; Kline, Michelle A

2014-01-01

The determinants of conversational dominance are not well understood. We used videotaped triadic interactions among unacquainted same-sex American college students to test predictions drawn from the theoretical distinction between dominance and prestige as modes of human status competition. Specifically, we investigated the effects of physical formidability, facial attractiveness, social status, and self-reported subclinical psychopathy on quantitative (proportion of words produced), participatory (interruptions produced and sustained), and sequential (topic control) dominance. No measure of physical formidability or attractiveness was associated with any form of conversational dominance, suggesting that the characteristics of our study population or experimental frame may have moderated their role in dominance dynamics. Primary psychopathy was positively associated with quantitative dominance and (marginally) overall triad talkativeness, and negatively associated (in men) with affect word use, whereas secondary psychopathy was unrelated to conversational dominance. The two psychopathy factors had significant opposing effects on quantitative dominance in a multivariate model. These latter findings suggest that glibness in primary psychopathy may function to elicit exploitable information from others in a relationally mobile society.

Cognitive debiasing 1: origins of bias and theory of debiasing.

PubMed

Croskerry, Pat; Singhal, Geeta; Mamede, Sílvia

2013-10-01

Numerous studies have shown that diagnostic failure depends upon a variety of factors. Psychological factors are fundamental in influencing the cognitive performance of the decision maker. In this first of two papers, we discuss the basics of reasoning and the Dual Process Theory (DPT) of decision making. The general properties of the DPT model, as it applies to diagnostic reasoning, are reviewed. A variety of cognitive and affective biases are known to compromise the decision-making process. They mostly appear to originate in the fast intuitive processes of Type 1 that dominate (or drive) decision making. Type 1 processes work well most of the time but they may open the door for biases. Removing or at least mitigating these biases would appear to be an important goal. We will also review the origins of biases. The consensus is that there are two major sources: innate, hard-wired biases that developed in our evolutionary past, and acquired biases established in the course of development and within our working environments. Both are associated with abbreviated decision making in the form of heuristics. Other work suggests that ambient and contextual factors may create high risk situations that dispose decision makers to particular biases. Fatigue, sleep deprivation and cognitive overload appear to be important determinants. The theoretical basis of several approaches towards debiasing is then discussed. All share a common feature that involves a deliberate decoupling from Type 1 intuitive processing and moving to Type 2 analytical processing so that eventually unexamined intuitive judgments can be submitted to verification. This decoupling step appears to be the critical feature of cognitive and affective debiasing.

Image-Based Grouping during Binocular Rivalry Is Dictated by Eye-Of-Origin

PubMed Central

Stuit, Sjoerd M.; Paffen, Chris L. E.; van der Smagt, Maarten J.; Verstraten, Frans A. J.

2014-01-01

Prolonged viewing of dichoptically presented images with different content results in perceptual alternations known as binocular rivalry. This phenomenon is thought to be the result of competition at a local level, where local rivalry zones interact to give rise to a single, global dominant percept. Certain perceived combinations that result from this local competition are known to last longer than others, which is referred to as grouping during binocular rivalry. In recent years, the phenomenon has been suggested to be the result of competition at both eye- and image-based processing levels, although the exact contribution from each level remains elusive. Here we use a paradigm designed specifically to quantify the contribution of eye- and image-based processing to grouping during rivalry. In this paradigm we used sine-wave gratings as well as upright and inverted faces, with and without binocular disparity-based occlusion. These stimuli and conditions were used because they are known to result in processing at different stages throughout the visual processing hierarchy. Specifically, more complex images were included in order to maximize the potential contribution of image-based grouping. In spite of this, our results show that increasing image complexity did not lead to an increase in the contribution of image-based processing to grouping during rivalry. In fact, the results show that grouping was primarily affected by the eye-of-origin of the image parts, irrespective of stimulus type. We suggest that image content affects grouping during binocular rivalry at low-level processing stages, where it is intertwined with eye-of-origin information. PMID:24987847

The Interactive Effects of Facial Expressions of Emotion and Verbal Messages on Perceptions of Affective Meaning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Howard S.

1979-01-01

Students' perceptions of sincerity, dominance, and positivity were measured by pairing happy, angry, surprised and sad faces of teachers with teachers' comments characterized as positive or negative and dominant or submissive. Clear effects of facial-verbal combinations emerged; there were no sex differences other than in perceptions of sincerity.…

Managing Japanese stiltgrass dominated communities in the ridge and valley physiographic province in eastern West Virginia

Treesearch

David W. McGill; William N. Grafton; Jonathan A. Pomp

2008-01-01

Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) is an exotic invasive species that can dominate forest understories and suppress native herbaceous and woody species. This study had two objectives: 1) to assess directed spray herbicides for controlling M. vimineum; and 2) to collect a set of factors that affect management of M...

Effect of ovulatory follicle size on steroidogenic capacity and molecular markers of oocyte competence prior to GnRH-induced ovulation in non-lactating beef cows

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH)-induced ovulation of small dominant follicles decreased pregnancy rates and increased late embryonic/fetal mortality in beef cows. Inadequate oocyte competence, as affected by the physiological status of the dominant follicle, is a potential explanation for the...

Which Dominates? The Relative Importance of Work-Family Organizational Support and General Organizational Context on Employee Outcomes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Behson, Scott J.

2002-01-01

Dominance analysis investigated the effects of organizational context and work-family organizational support on several outcomes for 147 employees. Work-family support contributes to job satisfaction and organizational commitment most strongly through its impact on work-family conflict. However, variance in employee affect is better explained by…

Global attractors for a discrete selection model with periodic immigration

Treesearch

James F. Selgrade; James H. Roberds

2007-01-01

A one-island selection-migration model is used to study the periodic immigration of a population of fixed allele frequency into a natural population. Density-dependent selection and immigration are the primary factors affecting the demographic genetic change in the island population. With the assumptions of complete dominance (CD) or no dominance (ND) and homozygote...

Relative Contribution of Mutations in Genes for Autosomal Dominant Distal Hereditary Motor Neuropathies: A Genotype-Phenotype Correlation Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dierick, Ines; Baets, Jonathan; Irobi, Joy; Jacobs, An; De Vriendt, Els; Deconinck, Tine; Merlini, Luciano; Van den Bergh, Peter; Rasic, Vedrana Milic; Robberecht, Wim; Fischer, Dirk; Morales, Raul Juntas; Mitrovic, Zoran; Seeman, Pavel; Mazanec, Radim; Kochanski, Andrzej; Jordanova, Albena; Auer-Grumbach, Michaela; Helderman-van den Enden, A. T. J. M.; Wokke, John H. J.; Nelis, Eva; De Jonghe, Peter; Timmerman, Vincent

2008-01-01

Distal hereditary motor neuropathy (HMN) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous group of disorders affecting spinal alpha-motor neurons. Since 2001, mutations in six different genes have been identified for autosomal dominant distal HMN; "glycyl-tRNA synthetase (GARS)," "dynactin 1 (DCTN1)," "small heat shock 27 kDa…

Impacts of nitrogen fertilization and plant species diversity on soil C accumulation in a lignocellulosic bioenergy cropping system nine years following land conversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Graaff, M. A.; Jastrow, J. D.

2017-12-01

Ethanol production from second generation biofuel feedstocks, including the perennial grasses switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) has expanded rapidly, with the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, land conversion for bioenergy production releases carbon (C) stored in soil to the atmosphere as CO2, and creates a C debt in ecosystems. If biofuels are to aid in curbing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, it is important that this initial C debt be repaid rapidly. A variety of management approaches aimed at increasing NPP and soil C input may be used to accelerate the repayment of soil C. We conducted a long-term field experiment located at the Fermilab National Environmental Research Park in IL, that compares a variety of approaches for perennial feedstock production following conversion of an old-field dominated by C3 grasses to a grassland dominated by C4 perennial grasses. Treatments included a variety of big bluestem and switchgrass cultivars grown in monoculture, diversity manipulated at both the species- and cultivar level, and nitrogen (N) applied at two levels (0 and 67 kg/ha). Previous results from this experiment indicated that four years following initiation of this experiment, only choice of plant species significantly affected the rate of bulk soil C-debt repayment. Here we quantified how nine years of fertilization, plant species, and inter- and intra-specific diversity treatments affect soil C accumulation. To increase our detection of changes in soil C and our mechanistic understanding of the processes that drive C accumulation in this experiment, we used the natural abundance C isotope ratio technique to estimate the contribution and fate of root-derived C to soil organic matter pools. Additionally, we evaluated how the different management approaches affected the ecological sustainability of bioenergy production, by quantifying impacts of the treatments on soil micro-and meso fauna abundance and diversity. Our results will improve our understanding of how alternative management approaches in lignocellulosic biofuel cropping systems regulate soil C sequestration, and the processes that influence it.

What controls the vertical distribution of aerosol? Relationships between process sensitivity in HadGEM3–UKCA and inter-model variation from AeroCom Phase II

DOE PAGES

Kipling, Zak; Stier, Philip; Johnson, Colin E.; ...

2016-02-26

The vertical profile of aerosol is important for its radiative effects, but weakly constrained by observations on the global scale, and highly variable among different models. To investigate the controlling factors in one particular model, we investigate the effects of individual processes in HadGEM3–UKCA and compare the resulting diversity of aerosol vertical profiles with the inter-model diversity from the AeroCom Phase II control experiment. In this way we show that (in this model at least) the vertical profile is controlled by a relatively small number of processes, although these vary among aerosol components and particle sizes. We also show that sufficientlymore » coarse variations in these processes can produce a similar diversity to that among different models in terms of the global-mean profile and, to a lesser extent, the zonal-mean vertical position. However, there are features of certain models' profiles that cannot be reproduced, suggesting the influence of further structural differences between models. In HadGEM3–UKCA, convective transport is found to be very important in controlling the vertical profile of all aerosol components by mass. In-cloud scavenging is very important for all except mineral dust. Growth by condensation is important for sulfate and carbonaceous aerosol (along with aqueous oxidation for the former and ageing by soluble material for the latter). The vertical extent of biomass-burning emissions into the free troposphere is also important for the profile of carbonaceous aerosol. Boundary-layer mixing plays a dominant role for sea salt and mineral dust, which are emitted only from the surface. Dry deposition and below-cloud scavenging are important for the profile of mineral dust only. In this model, the microphysical processes of nucleation, condensation and coagulation dominate the vertical profile of the smallest particles by number (e.g. total CN > 3 nm), while the profiles of larger particles (e.g. CN > 100 nm) are controlled by the same processes as the component mass profiles, plus the size distribution of primary emissions. Here, we also show that the processes that affect the AOD-normalised radiative forcing in the model are predominantly those that affect the vertical mass distribution, in particular convective transport, in-cloud scavenging, aqueous oxidation, ageing and the vertical extent of biomass-burning emissions.« less

Investigating the Relative Contributions of Secondary Ice Formation Processes to Ice Crystal Number Concentrations Within Mixed-Phase Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sullivan, S.; Nenes, A.

2015-12-01

Measurements of the in-cloud ice nuclei concentration can be three or four orders of magnitude less than those of the in-cloud ice crystal number concentration. Different secondary formation processes, active after initial ice nucleation, have been proposed to explain this discrepancy, but their relative importance, and even the exact physics of each mechanism, are still unclear. We construct a simple bin microphysics model (2IM) including depositional growth, the Hallett-Mossop process, ice-ice collisions, and ice-ice aggregation, with temperature- and supersaturation-dependent efficiencies for each process. 2IM extends the time-lag collision model of Yano and Phillips to additional bins and incorporates the aspect ratio evolution of Jensen and Harrington. Model output and measured ice crystal size distributions are compared to answer three questions: (1) how important is ice-ice aggregation relative to ice-ice collision around -15°C, where the Hallett-Mossop process is no longer active; (2) what process efficiencies lead to the best reproduction of observed ice crystal size distributions; and (3) does ice crystal aspect ratio affect the dominant secondary formation process. The resulting parameterization is intended for eventual use in larger-scale mixed-phase cloud schemes.

Trace Elements Induce Predominance among Methanogenic Activity in Anaerobic Digestion

PubMed Central

Wintsche, Babett; Glaser, Karin; Sträuber, Heike; Centler, Florian; Liebetrau, Jan; Harms, Hauke; Kleinsteuber, Sabine

2016-01-01

Trace elements (TE) play an essential role in all organisms due to their functions in enzyme complexes. In anaerobic digesters, control, and supplementation of TEs lead to stable and more efficient methane production processes while TE deficits cause process imbalances. However, the underlying metabolic mechanisms and the adaptation of the affected microbial communities to such deficits are not yet fully understood. Here, we investigated the microbial community dynamics and resulting process changes induced by TE deprivation. Two identical lab-scale continuous stirred tank reactors fed with distiller’s grains and supplemented with TEs (cobalt, molybdenum, nickel, tungsten) and a commercial iron additive were operated in parallel. After 72 weeks of identical operation, the feeding regime of one reactor was changed by omitting TE supplements and reducing the amount of iron additive. Both reactors were operated for further 21 weeks. Various process parameters (biogas production and composition, total solids and volatile solids, TE concentration, volatile fatty acids, total ammonium nitrogen, total organic acids/alkalinity ratio, and pH) and the composition and activity of the microbial communities were monitored over the total experimental time. While the methane yield remained stable, the concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, total ammonia nitrogen, and acetate increased in the TE-depleted reactor compared to the well-supplied control reactor. Methanosarcina and Methanoculleus dominated the methanogenic communities in both reactors. However, the activity ratio of these two genera was shown to depend on TE supplementation explainable by different TE requirements of their energy conservation systems. Methanosarcina dominated the well-supplied anaerobic digester, pointing to acetoclastic methanogenesis as the dominant methanogenic pathway. Under TE deprivation, Methanoculleus and thus hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis was favored although Methanosarcina was not overgrown by Methanoculleus. Multivariate statistics revealed that the decline of nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten, and manganese most strongly influenced the balance of mcrA transcripts from both genera. Hydrogenotrophic methanogens seem to be favored under nickel- and cobalt-deficient conditions as their metabolism requires less nickel-dependent enzymes and corrinoid cofactors than the acetoclastic and methylotrophic pathways. Thus, TE supply is critical to sustain the activity of the versatile high-performance methanogen Methanosarcina. PMID:28018337

Intra-seasonal Mixed Layer Process Variability from the ECCO Ocean Data Assimilation Product: Preliminary Analysis Relevant to DYNAMO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halkides, D. J.; Waliser, D. E.; Lee, T.; Lucas, L. E.; Murtugudde, R. G.

2010-12-01

The Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO), the dominant feature of 30-90 day variability in the tropical Indian (IO) and Pacific (PO) Oceans, plays an important role in air-sea interactions and affects multi-scale phenomena ranging from hurricanes to ENSO. Understanding the MJO requires knowledge of ocean mixed layer (ML) heat budgets. As part of a model-data intercomparison planned for 2011-13 to support the Dynamics of the MJO (DYNAMO) project (a US branch of the CINDY2011 international field program), we perform ML heat budget calculations using a heat-conserving assimilation product from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) project to study the onset and evolution of MJO scale anomalies in the tropics. For the IO, we focus on the western equatorial basin and the southwest IO thermocline ridge. Here, upwelling processes are very important, indicating a slab or 1-D ocean model is insufficient for accurate MJO simulation. We also examine several locations across the equatorial PO. For example, in the eastern PO, we compare results from ECCO to prior studies with different findings: one based on incomplete mooring data indicating vertical processes dominate, another based on model output that indicates meridional advection dominates in the same area. In ECCO, subsurface process and horizontal advection terms are both important, but their relationships to the net tendency vary spatially. This work has implications for understanding MJO onset and development, associated air-sea interactions, ramifications for multi-scale cross-equatorial heat transport (especially in the IO), and, it is likely to be important in constructing a predictive index for MJO onset. We present budgets in terms of variability of the atmospheric and oceanic circulations, as well as mixed layer and barrier layer depths, and we address DYNAMO’s third hypothesis: “The barrier-layer, wind and shear driven mixing, shallow thermocline, and mixing-layer entrainment all play essential roles in MJO initiation in the Indian Ocean by controlling the upper-ocean heat content and SST, and thereby surface flux feedback.”

Integrated sedimentological and ichnological characteristics of a wave-dominated, macrotidal coast: a case study from the intertidal shoreface of the Dongho coast, southwest Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Byong Cheon; Chang, Tae Soo

2018-04-01

Generalized coastal facies models invariably assume that tidal flats and intertidally exposed shorefaces along macrotidal coasts are tide-dominated. Recent advances in coastal sedimentology, however, have revealed that wave-dominated macrotidal flats also occur in a wide range of coastal settings, in particular where tidal modulation forces the lateral translation of the wave-affected zone across the tidally exposed shoreface with the rising tide. Despite tidal modulation, the depositional character in the latter case (abundant storm deposits) exhibits a high degree of similarity with conventional subtidal shorefaces, implying that it is inherently difficult to distinguish between the two coastal systems in the rock record. In the present study, integrated sedimentological and ichnological data from the Dongho coast, which is located along the southwest coast of Korea, provide valuable information for the establishment of facies criteria that can assist in the recognition of such coastal deposits. In fact, the sedimentary character of the study area, which is dominated by an abundance of wave-formed structures, resembles that generally associated with subtidal shorefaces. In addition, the depositional processes responsible for sediment accumulation are, in the present case, also strongly influenced by pronounced seasonal variations in wave energy. In this context, the study has revealed a number of major features that appear to be characteristic of wave-dominated intertidal flats and shorefaces: (1) firmground muds may be encountered on the beach face, where intense swash-backwash motions are dominant; (2) the thickness of storm deposits decreases landward, reflecting the progressive decrease in wave energy; (3) ichnologically, there is an offshore shift in the dominance of trace fossils from the Skolithos ichnofacies, including Ophiomorpha, Thalassinoides and Psilonichnus, to a proximal expression of the Cruziana ichnofacies, which includes Siphonichnus and Asterosoma; (4) compared with subtidal shorefaces, the overall ichnological suite is represented by a substantial reduction in diversity and less uniformly distributed burrows. Although these findings have not yet been applied to the rock record, they should nevertheless assist in the distinction between corresponding coastal deposits.

Natural and anthropogenic factors affecting the shallow groundwater quality in a typical irrigation area with reclaimed water, North China Plain.

PubMed

Gu, Xiaomin; Xiao, Yong; Yin, Shiyang; Pan, Xingyao; Niu, Yong; Shao, Jingli; Cui, Yali; Zhang, Qiulan; Hao, Qichen

2017-09-22

In this study, the hydrochemical characteristics of shallow groundwater were analyzed to get insight into the factors affecting groundwater quality in a typical agricultural dominated area of the North China Plain. Forty-four shallow groundwater samples were collected for chemical analysis. The water type changes from Ca·Na-HCO 3 type in grass land to Ca·Na-Cl (+NO 3 ) type and Na (Ca)-Cl (+NO 3 +SO 4 ) type in construction and facility agricultural land, indicating the influence of human activities. The factor analysis and geostatistical analysis revealed that the two major factors contributing to the groundwater hydrochemical compositions were the water-rock interaction and contamination from sewage discharge and agricultural fertilizers. The major ions (F, HCO 3 ) and trace element (As) in the shallow groundwater represented the natural origin, while the nitrate and sulfate concentrations were related to the application of fertilizer and sewage discharge in the facility agricultural area, which was mainly affected by the human activities. The values of pH, total dissolved solids, electric conductivity, and conventional component (K, Ca, Na, Mg, Cl) in shallow groundwater increased from grass land and cultivated land, to construction land and to facility agriculture which were originated from the combination sources of natural processes (e.g., water-rock interaction) and human activities (e.g., domestic effluents). The study indicated that both natural processes and human activities had influences on the groundwater hydrochemical compositions in shallow groundwater, while anthropogenic processes had more contribution, especially in the reclaimed water irrigation area.

A locus for an auditory processing deficit and language impairment in an extended pedigree maps to 12p13.31-q14.3

PubMed Central

Addis, L; Friederici, A D; Kotz, S A; Sabisch, B; Barry, J; Richter, N; Ludwig, A A; Rübsamen, R; Albert, F W; Pääbo, S; Newbury, D F; Monaco, A P

2010-01-01

Despite the apparent robustness of language learning in humans, a large number of children still fail to develop appropriate language skills despite adequate means and opportunity. Most cases of language impairment have a complex etiology, with genetic and environmental influences. In contrast, we describe a three-generation German family who present with an apparently simple segregation of language impairment. Investigations of the family indicate auditory processing difficulties as a core deficit. Affected members performed poorly on a nonword repetition task and present with communication impairments. The brain activation pattern for syllable duration as measured by event-related brain potentials showed clear differences between affected family members and controls, with only affected members displaying a late discrimination negativity. In conjunction with psychoacoustic data showing deficiencies in auditory duration discrimination, the present results indicate increased processing demands in discriminating syllables of different duration. This, we argue, forms the cognitive basis of the observed language impairment in this family. Genome-wide linkage analysis showed a haplotype in the central region of chromosome 12 which reaches the maximum possible logarithm of odds ratio (LOD) score and fully co-segregates with the language impairment, consistent with an autosomal dominant, fully penetrant mode of inheritance. Whole genome analysis yielded no novel inherited copy number variants strengthening the case for a simple inheritance pattern. Several genes in this region of chromosome 12 which are potentially implicated in language impairment did not contain polymorphisms likely to be the causative mutation, which is as yet unknown. PMID:20345892

Combined effects of temperature and ocean acidification on the juvenile individuals of the mussel Mytilus chilensis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duarte, C.; Navarro, J. M.; Acuña, K.; Torres, R.; Manríquez, P. H.; Lardies, M. A.; Vargas, C. A.; Lagos, N. A.; Aguilera, V.

2014-01-01

Anthropogenic CO2 emissions have led to increasing global mean temperatures (a process called global warming) and ocean acidification. Because both processes are occurring simultaneously, to better understand their consequences on marine species their combined effects must be experimentally evaluated. The aim of this study was to evaluate for the first time the combined effects of ocean acidification and water temperature increase on the total calcification rate, growth rate and survival of juvenile individuals of the mytilid mussel Mytilus chilensis (Hupe). Two temperature levels (12 and 16 °C) and three nominal CO2 concentrations (390, 700 and 1000 ppm of CO2) were used. We found that the net rate of calcium deposition and total weight were not significantly affected by temperature, but were negatively affected by the levels of CO2. The interactive effects of temperature and CO2 levels affected only the shell dissolution, but this process was not important for the animal's net calcification. These results suggest that individuals of M. chilensis are able to overcome increased temperatures, but not increments of CO2 levels. It is well known that mussels influence their physical and biological surroundings. Therefore, the negative effects of a CO2 increase could have significant ecological consequences, mainly in those habitats where this group is dominant in terms of abundance and biomass. Finally, taking into account that this species inhabit a wide geographic range, with contrasting environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, salinity and, pH), further studies are needed to evaluate the intraspecific variability in the responses of this species to different environmental stressors.

Response of phytoplankton and enhanced biogeochemical activity to an episodic typhoon event in the coastal waters of Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsuchiya, Kenji; Kuwahara, Victor S.; Yoshiki, Tomoko M.; Nakajima, Ryota; Shimode, Shinji; Kikuchi, Tomohiko; Toda, Tatsuki

2017-07-01

Daily field surveys were conducted at a coastal-shelf station in Sagami Bay, Japan after the passage of typhoon Malou in 2010 to evaluate the after-effect of a typhoon passage on the physical-chemical environment, phytoplankton bloom formation and microbial processes within and below the euphotic layer. The passage of Malou induced an abrupt decrease in salinity and increased loading of nutrients to the euphotic layer. Dinoflagellates dominated the phytoplankton community at the surface, whereas diatoms dominated below the surface just after the passage of Malou. Four days later, the dominant dinoflagellate taxa at the surface changed from Protoperidinium spp. to Prorocentrum spp. and Ceratium spp., indicating a dinoflagellate community succession from heterotrophic to autotrophic functional groups. Five days after passage, the dominant phytoplankton taxa shifted from dinoflagellates to diatom groups of Chaetoceros spp. and Cerataulina spp. throughout the water column. Below the euphotic layer, there were increases in diatom frustules, mainly composed of Chaetoceros spp. and Cerataulina spp., bacterial abundance and NH4+ concentrations. Diatom carbon biomass contributed to approximately half of particulate organic carbon (POC) below the euphotic layer, suggesting a significant contribution of diatoms to POC sinking flux after the passage of a typhoon. Bacterial abundance was positively correlated to both phaeopigment concentrations (p < 0.01) and NH4+ concentrations (p < 0.01), suggesting bacterial growth was associated with zooplankton grazing and remineralization of NH4+. The results suggest that the passage of a typhoon could significantly affect biogeochemical activities within and below the euphotic layer in temperate coastal waters.

Dichotic Hearing in Elderly Hearing Aid Users Who Choose to Use a Single-Ear Device

PubMed Central

Ribas, Angela; Mafra, Nicoli; Marques, Jair; Mottecy, Carla; Silvestre, Renata; Kozlowski, Lorena

2014-01-01

Introduction Elderly individuals with bilateral hearing loss often do not use hearing aids in both ears. Because of this, dichotic tests to assess hearing in this group may help identify peculiar degenerative processes of aging and hearing aid selection. Objective To evaluate dichotic hearing for a group of elderly hearing aid users who did not adapt to using binaural devices and to verify the correlation between ear dominance and the side chosen to use the device. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study involving 30 subjects from 60 to 81 years old, of both genders, with an indication for bilateral hearing aids for over 6 months, but using only a single device. Medical history, pure tone audiometry, and dichotic listening tests were all completed. Results All subjects (100%) of the sample failed the dichotic digit test; 94% of the sample preferred to use the device in one ear because bilateral use bothered them and affected speech understanding. In 6%, the concern was aesthetics. In the dichotic digit test, there was significant predominance of the right ear over the left, and there was a significant correlation between the dominant side with the ear chosen by the participant for use of the hearing aid. Conclusion In elderly subjects with bilateral hearing loss who have chosen to use only one hearing aid, there is dominance of the right ear over the left in dichotic listening tasks. There is a correlation between the dominant ear and the ear chosen for hearing aid fitting. PMID:25992120

Are children of older fathers at risk for genetic disorders?

PubMed

Jung, A; Schuppe, H-C; Schill, W-B

2003-08-01

Genetic risks related to paternal age should be of interest to clinical andrologists counselling older men who wish to father a child. Theoretically, the number of (pre-meiotic) mitotic cell divisions during spermatogenesis and their remarkable increase with ageing compared with oogenesis would be in favour of genetic risks for the offspring of older men. But for numerical and structural chromosomal anomalies, such an influence of paternal age has not been found. However, in several autosomal dominant disorders affecting three specific genes (fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 and 3, RET proto-oncogene) the risk for a child to be affected increases with paternal age at time of birth. For other autosomal dominant -X chromosomal dominant or recessive disorders, the available data are sufficient to support the concept of a positive relationship between paternal age and de novo gene mutations. Studies analysing gene sequences of affected children and their parents would allow further evaluation of this topic. The impact of paternal age on disorders with a complex genetic background, however, is a matter of debate. A significant effect of paternal age could not be shown for nonfamilial Alzheimer's disease, congenital heart defects, nonfamilial schizophrenia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia or prostate cancer.

Perceived breast cancer risk: heuristic reasoning and search for a dominance structure.

PubMed

Katapodi, Maria C; Facione, Noreen C; Humphreys, Janice C; Dodd, Marylin J

2005-01-01

Studies suggest that people construct their risk perceptions by using inferential rules called heuristics. The purpose of this study was to identify heuristics that influence perceived breast cancer risk. We examined 11 interviews from women of diverse ethnic/cultural backgrounds who were recruited from community settings. Narratives in which women elaborated about their own breast cancer risk were analyzed with Argument and Heuristic Reasoning Analysis methodology, which is based on applied logic. The availability, simulation, representativeness, affect, and perceived control heuristics, and search for a dominance structure were commonly used for making risk assessments. Risk assessments were based on experiences with an abnormal breast symptom, experiences with affected family members and friends, beliefs about living a healthy lifestyle, and trust in health providers. Assessment of the potential threat of a breast symptom was facilitated by the search for a dominance structure. Experiences with family members and friends were incorporated into risk assessments through the availability, simulation, representativeness, and affect heuristics. Mistrust in health providers led to an inappropriate dependence on the perceived control heuristic. Identified heuristics appear to create predictable biases and suggest that perceived breast cancer risk is based on common cognitive patterns.

Animal taxa contrast in their scale-dependent responses to land use change in rural Africa.

PubMed

Foord, Stefan Hendrik; Swanepoel, Lourens Hendrik; Evans, Steven William; Schoeman, Colin Stefan; Erasmus, Barend Frederik N; Schoeman, M Corrie; Keith, Mark; Smith, Alain; Mauda, Evans Vusani; Maree, Naudene; Nembudani, Nkhumeleni; Dippenaar-Schoeman, Anna Sophia; Munyai, Thinandavha Caswell; Taylor, Peter John

2018-01-01

Human-dominated landscapes comprise the bulk of the world's terrestrial surface and Africa is predicted to experience the largest relative increase over the next century. A multi-scale approach is required to identify processes that maintain diversity in these landscapes. Here we identify scales at which animal diversity responds by partitioning regional diversity in a rural African agro-ecosystem between one temporal and four spatial scales. Human land use practices are the main driver of diversity in all seven animal assemblages considered, with medium sized mammals and birds most affected. Even the least affected taxa, bats and non-volant small mammals (rodents), responded with increased abundance in settlements and agricultural sites respectively. Regional turnover was important to invertebrate taxa and their response to human land use was intermediate between that of the vertebrate extremes. Local scale (< 300 m) heterogeneity was the next most important level for all taxa, highlighting the importance of fine scale processes for the maintenance of biodiversity. Identifying the triggers of these changes within the context of functional landscapes would provide the context for the long-term sustainability of these rapidly changing landscapes.

Animal taxa contrast in their scale-dependent responses to land use change in rural Africa

PubMed Central

Swanepoel, Lourens Hendrik; Evans, Steven William; Schoeman, Colin Stefan; Erasmus, Barend Frederik N.; Schoeman, M. Corrie; Keith, Mark; Smith, Alain; Mauda, Evans Vusani; Maree, Naudene; Nembudani, Nkhumeleni; Dippenaar-Schoeman, Anna Sophia; Munyai, Thinandavha Caswell; Taylor, Peter John

2018-01-01

Human-dominated landscapes comprise the bulk of the world’s terrestrial surface and Africa is predicted to experience the largest relative increase over the next century. A multi-scale approach is required to identify processes that maintain diversity in these landscapes. Here we identify scales at which animal diversity responds by partitioning regional diversity in a rural African agro-ecosystem between one temporal and four spatial scales. Human land use practices are the main driver of diversity in all seven animal assemblages considered, with medium sized mammals and birds most affected. Even the least affected taxa, bats and non-volant small mammals (rodents), responded with increased abundance in settlements and agricultural sites respectively. Regional turnover was important to invertebrate taxa and their response to human land use was intermediate between that of the vertebrate extremes. Local scale (< 300 m) heterogeneity was the next most important level for all taxa, highlighting the importance of fine scale processes for the maintenance of biodiversity. Identifying the triggers of these changes within the context of functional landscapes would provide the context for the long-term sustainability of these rapidly changing landscapes. PMID:29738559

Microphysical processes affecting stratospheric aerosol particles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hamill, P.; Toon, O. B.; Kiang, C. S.

1977-01-01

Physical processes which affect stratospheric aerosol particles include nucleation, condensation, evaporation, coagulation and sedimentation. Quantitative studies of these mechanisms to determine if they can account for some of the observed properties of the aerosol are carried out. It is shown that the altitude range in which nucleation of sulfuric acid-water solution droplets can take place corresponds to that region of the stratosphere where the aerosol is generally found. Since heterogeneous nucleation is the dominant nucleation mechanism, the stratospheric solution droplets are mainly formed on particles which have been mixed up from the troposphere or injected into the stratosphere by volcanoes or meteorites. Particle growth by heteromolecular condensation can account for the observed increase in mixing ratio of large particles in the stratosphere. Coagulation is important in reducing the number of particles smaller than 0.05 micron radius. Growth by condensation, applied to the mixed nature of the particles, shows that available information is consistent with ammonium sulfate being formed by liquid phase chemical reactions in the aerosol particles. The upper altitude limit of the aerosol layer is probably due to the evaporation of sulfuric acid aerosol particles, while the lower limit is due to mixing across the tropopause.

Happy software developers solve problems better: psychological measurements in empirical software engineering

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiaofeng; Abrahamsson, Pekka

2014-01-01

For more than thirty years, it has been claimed that a way to improve software developers’ productivity and software quality is to focus on people and to provide incentives to make developers satisfied and happy. This claim has rarely been verified in software engineering research, which faces an additional challenge in comparison to more traditional engineering fields: software development is an intellectual activity and is dominated by often-neglected human factors (called human aspects in software engineering research). Among the many skills required for software development, developers must possess high analytical problem-solving skills and creativity for the software construction process. According to psychology research, affective states—emotions and moods—deeply influence the cognitive processing abilities and performance of workers, including creativity and analytical problem solving. Nonetheless, little research has investigated the correlation between the affective states, creativity, and analytical problem-solving performance of programmers. This article echoes the call to employ psychological measurements in software engineering research. We report a study with 42 participants to investigate the relationship between the affective states, creativity, and analytical problem-solving skills of software developers. The results offer support for the claim that happy developers are indeed better problem solvers in terms of their analytical abilities. The following contributions are made by this study: (1) providing a better understanding of the impact of affective states on the creativity and analytical problem-solving capacities of developers, (2) introducing and validating psychological measurements, theories, and concepts of affective states, creativity, and analytical-problem-solving skills in empirical software engineering, and (3) raising the need for studying the human factors of software engineering by employing a multidisciplinary viewpoint. PMID:24688866

Happy software developers solve problems better: psychological measurements in empirical software engineering.

PubMed

Graziotin, Daniel; Wang, Xiaofeng; Abrahamsson, Pekka

2014-01-01

For more than thirty years, it has been claimed that a way to improve software developers' productivity and software quality is to focus on people and to provide incentives to make developers satisfied and happy. This claim has rarely been verified in software engineering research, which faces an additional challenge in comparison to more traditional engineering fields: software development is an intellectual activity and is dominated by often-neglected human factors (called human aspects in software engineering research). Among the many skills required for software development, developers must possess high analytical problem-solving skills and creativity for the software construction process. According to psychology research, affective states-emotions and moods-deeply influence the cognitive processing abilities and performance of workers, including creativity and analytical problem solving. Nonetheless, little research has investigated the correlation between the affective states, creativity, and analytical problem-solving performance of programmers. This article echoes the call to employ psychological measurements in software engineering research. We report a study with 42 participants to investigate the relationship between the affective states, creativity, and analytical problem-solving skills of software developers. The results offer support for the claim that happy developers are indeed better problem solvers in terms of their analytical abilities. The following contributions are made by this study: (1) providing a better understanding of the impact of affective states on the creativity and analytical problem-solving capacities of developers, (2) introducing and validating psychological measurements, theories, and concepts of affective states, creativity, and analytical-problem-solving skills in empirical software engineering, and (3) raising the need for studying the human factors of software engineering by employing a multidisciplinary viewpoint.

Vicariously learned helplessness: the role of perceived dominance and prestige of a model.

PubMed

Chambers, Sheridan; Hammonds, Frank

2014-01-01

Prior research has examined the relationship between various model characteristics (e.g., age, competence, similarity) and the likelihood that the observers will experience vicariously learned helplessness. However, no research in this area has investigated dominance as a relevant model characteristic. This study explored whether the vicarious acquisition of learned helplessness could be mediated by the perceived dominance of a model. Participants observed a model attempting to solve anagrams. Across participant groups, the model displayed either dominant or nondominant characteristics and was either successful or unsuccessful at solving the anagrams. The characteristics displayed by the model significantly affected observers' ratings of his dominance and prestige. After viewing the model, participants attempted to solve 40 anagrams. When the dominant model was successful, observers solved significantly more anagrams than when he was unsuccessful. This effect was not found when the model was nondominant.

Intra- and Interindividual Variability in the Behavioral, Affective, and Perceptual Effects of Alcohol Consumption in a Social Context.

PubMed

Franzen, Minita; Sadikaj, Gentiana; Moskowitz, Debbie S; Ostafin, Brian D; Aan Het Rot, Marije

2018-05-01

We examined the influence of interindividual differences in alcohol use on the intraindividual associations of drinking occurrence with interpersonal behaviors, affect, and perceptions of others during naturally occurring social interactions. For 14 consecutive days, 219 psychology freshmen (55% female; M age  = 20.7 years, SD = 2.18) recorded their behaviors, affect, and perceptions in social interactions soon after an interpersonal event occurred. Interpersonal behaviors and perceptions were assessed in terms of dominance-submissiveness and agreeableness-quarrelsomeness. Participants also reported the number of alcoholic drinks consumed within 3 hours of each interaction. We considered the intraindividual associations of (i) having a drinking episode and (ii) the number of drinks during an episode with behaviors, affect, and perceptions and examined interindividual differences in drinking frequency and intensity during social interactions as potential moderators of these associations. Social drinking frequency and intensity moderated the associations between drinking episode and behaviors, affect, and perceptions in social interactions. During a drinking episode, more frequent social drinkers perceived others as more dominant than less frequent social drinkers. During a drinking episode in which more alcohol was consumed than usual, more frequent social drinkers also reported behaving more dominantly and experiencing less pleasant affect. As more frequent social drinkers had different interpersonal responses to drinking than less frequent social drinkers, including when they had consumed larger amounts of alcohol than usual, our results suggest a differential susceptibility to the effects of alcohol during naturally occurring social interactions among drinkers with varying drinking frequency. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Research Society on Alcoholism.

[Functional asymmetry of electric processes in the rabbit brain cortex at formation of the hunger dominant].

PubMed

Rusinova, E V

2011-01-01

The motivational condition of hunger and formation of the hunger dominant after daily food deprivation was studied in the conditions of chronic experiments on rabbits. It was shown, that the hunger condition was accompanied by left sided interhemispher asymmetry on indicators of spectral capacity of EEG frontal and right-hand asymmetry sensorimotor areas of the cortex. A hunger dominant was accompanied by falling of spectral capacity of EEG of areas of both hemispheres. The condition of hunger and a hunger dominant were characterized by right-hand asymmetry on average level of EEG coherence of frontal and sensorimotor areas. At transition of a condition of hunger in a hunger dominant there was an average level of EEG coherence decrease in areas of the right hemisphere. Electric processes of the cortex of the brain at a motivational condition of hunger and a hunger dominant were different.

Ecosystem and Community Responses to Rainfall Manipulations in Shrublands Depends on Dominant Vegetation Cover

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esch, E. H.; Lipson, D.; Kim, J. B.; Cleland, E. E.

2014-12-01

Southern California is predicted to face decreasing precipitation with increased interannual variability in the coming century. Native shrublands in this area are increasingly invaded by exotic annual grasses, though invasion dynamics can vary by rainfall scenario, with wet years generally associated with high invasion pressure. Interplay between rainfall and invasion scenarios can influence carbon stocks and community composition. Here we asked how invasion alters ecosystem and community responses in drought versus high rainfall scenarios, as quantified by community identity, biomass production, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). To do this, we performed a rainfall manipulation experiment with paired plots dominated either by native shrubs or exotic herbaceous species, subjected to treatments of 50%, 100%, or 150% of ambient rainfall. The study site was located in a coastal sage scrub ecosystem, with patches dominated by native shrubs and exotic grasses located in San Diego County, USA. During two growing seasons, we found that native, herbaceous biomass production was significantly affected by rainfall treatment (p<0.05 for both years), though was not affected by dominant community composition. Photosynthetic biomass production of shrub species also varied by treatment (p=0.035). Exotic biomass production showed a significant interaction between dominant community composition and rainfall treatment, and both individual effects (p<0.001 for all). NDVI showed similar results, but also indicated the importance of rainfall timing on overall biomass production between years. Community composition data showed certain species, of both native and exotic identities, segregating by treatment. These results indicate that exotic species are more sensitive to rainfall, and that increased rainfall may promote greater carbon storage in annual dominated communities when compared to shrub dominated communities in high rainfall years, but with drought, this trend is reversed.

Analysis of Particle Distribution in Milled Al-Based Composites Reinforced by B4C Nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alihosseini, Hamid; Dehghani, Kamran

2017-04-01

In the present work, high-energy ball milling was employed to synthesize Al-(5-10 wt.%)B4C nanocomposite. To do this, two sizes of particles of 50 nm as nanoparticles (NPs) and 50 μm as coarse particles (CPs) were used. The morphology and microstructure of the milled powders were characterized using particle size analyzer, SEM, TEM and EDX techniques. It was found that milling time, B4C particles size and their content strongly affect the characteristics of powders during milling process. The breaking and cold welding of powders was recognized as two main competitive actions during the milling process that influence the microstructural evolutions. It was found that the presence of CPs led to the formation of microcracks which promote the fracture process of Al powders. The dominated mechanisms during the fabrication of composites and nanocomposites were discussed. Also, the theoretical issues regarding the changes in morphology and distribution of B4C particles in CPs and NPs are clarified.

Unveiling the structural arrangements responsible for the atomic dynamics in metallic glasses during physical aging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giordano, V. M.; Ruta, B.

2016-01-01

Understanding and controlling physical aging, that is, the spontaneous temporal evolution of out-of-equilibrium systems, represents one of the greatest tasks in material science. Recent studies have revealed the existence of a complex atomic motion in metallic glasses, with different aging regimes in contrast with the typical continuous aging observed in macroscopic quantities. By combining dynamical and structural synchrotron techniques, here for the first time we directly connect previously identified microscopic structural mechanisms with the peculiar atomic motion, providing a broader unique view of their complexity. We show that the atomic scale is dominated by the interplay between two processes: rearrangements releasing residual stresses related to a cascade mechanism of relaxation, and medium range ordering processes, which do not affect the local density, likely due to localized relaxations of liquid-like regions. As temperature increases, a surprising additional secondary relaxation process sets in, together with a faster medium range ordering, likely precursors of crystallization.

Assessment of quality and geochemical processes occurring in groundwaters near central air conditioning plant site in Trombay, Maharashtra, India.

PubMed

Tirumalesh, K; Shivanna, K; Sriraman, A K; Tyagi, A K

2010-04-01

This paper summarizes the findings obtained in a monitoring study to understand the sources and processes affecting the quality of shallow and deep groundwater near central air conditioning plant site in Trombay region by making use of physicochemical and biological analyses. All the measured parameters of the groundwaters indicate that the groundwater quality is good and within permissible limits set by (Indian Bureau of Standards 1990). Shallow groundwater is dominantly of Na-HCO(3) type whereas deep groundwater is of Ca-Mg-HCO(3) type. The groundwater chemistry is mainly influenced by dissolution of minerals and base exchange processes. High total dissolved solids in shallow groundwater compared to deeper ones indicate faster circulation of groundwater in deep zone preferably through fissures and fractures whereas groundwater flow is sluggish in shallow zone. The characteristic ionic ratio values and absence of bromide point to the fact that seawater has no influence on groundwater system.

New insights into saline water evaporation from porous media: Complex interaction between evaporation rates, precipitation, and surface temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shokri-Kuehni, Salomé M. S.; Vetter, Thomas; Webb, Colin; Shokri, Nima

2017-06-01

Understanding salt transport and deposition patterns during evaporation from porous media is important in many engineering and hydrological processes such as soil salinization, ecosystem functioning, and land-atmosphere interaction. As evaporation proceeds, salt concentration increases until it exceeds solubility limits, locally, and crystals precipitate. The interplay between transport processes, crystallization, and evaporation influences where crystallization occurs. During early stages, the precipitated salt creates an evolving porous structure affecting the evaporation kinetics. We conducted a comprehensive series of experiments to investigate how the salt concentration and precipitation influence evaporation dynamics. Our results illustrate the contribution of the evolving salt crust to the evaporative mass losses. High-resolution thermal imaging enabled us to investigate the complex temperature dynamics at the surface of precipitated salt, providing further confirmation of salt crust contribution to the evaporation. We identify different phases of saline water evaporation from porous media with the corresponding dominant mechanisms in each phase and extend the physical understanding of such processes.

Effects of filler type and content on mechanical properties of photopolymerizable composites measured across two-dimensional combinatorial arrays.

PubMed

Lin-Gibson, Sheng; Sung, Lipiin; Forster, Aaron M; Hu, Haiqing; Cheng, Yajun; Lin, Nancy J

2009-07-01

Multicomponent formulations coupled with complex processing conditions govern the final properties of photopolymerizable dental composites. In this study, a single test substrate was fabricated to support multiple formulations with a gradient in degree of conversion (DC), allowing the evaluation of multiple processing conditions and formulations on one specimen. Mechanical properties and damage response were evaluated as a function of filler type/content and irradiation. DC, surface roughness, modulus, hardness, scratch deformation and cytotoxicity were quantified using techniques including near-infrared spectroscopy, laser confocal scanning microscopy, depth-sensing indentation, scratch testing and cell viability. Scratch parameters (depth, width, percent recovery) were correlated to composite modulus and hardness. Total filler content, nanofiller and irradiation time/intensity all affected the final properties, with the dominant factor for improved properties being a higher DC. This combinatorial platform accelerates the screening of dental composites through the direct comparison of properties and processing conditions across the same sample.

Characterisation of source-separated household waste intended for composting

PubMed Central

Sundberg, Cecilia; Franke-Whittle, Ingrid H.; Kauppi, Sari; Yu, Dan; Romantschuk, Martin; Insam, Heribert; Jönsson, Håkan

2011-01-01

Large-scale composting of source-separated household waste has expanded in recent years in the Nordic countries. One problem can be low pH at the start of the process. Incoming biowaste at four composting plants was characterised chemically, physically and microbiologically. The pH of food waste ranged from 4.7 to 6.1 and organic acid concentration from 24 to 81 mmol kg−1. The bacterial diversity in the waste samples was high, with all samples dominated by Gammaproteobacteria, particularly Pseudomonas and Enterobacteria (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Enterobacter). Lactic acid bacteria were also numerically important and are known to negatively affect the composting process because the lactic acid they produce lowers the pH, inhibiting other bacteria. The bacterial groups needed for efficient composting, i.e. Bacillales and Actinobacteria, were present in appreciable amounts. The results indicated that start-up problems in the composting process can be prevented by recycling bulk material and compost. PMID:21075618

Characterisation of source-separated household waste intended for composting.

PubMed

Sundberg, Cecilia; Franke-Whittle, Ingrid H; Kauppi, Sari; Yu, Dan; Romantschuk, Martin; Insam, Heribert; Jönsson, Håkan

2011-02-01

Large-scale composting of source-separated household waste has expanded in recent years in the Nordic countries. One problem can be low pH at the start of the process. Incoming biowaste at four composting plants was characterised chemically, physically and microbiologically. The pH of food waste ranged from 4.7 to 6.1 and organic acid concentration from 24 to 81 mmol kg(-1). The bacterial diversity in the waste samples was high, with all samples dominated by Gammaproteobacteria, particularly Pseudomonas and Enterobacteria (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella, Enterobacter). Lactic acid bacteria were also numerically important and are known to negatively affect the composting process because the lactic acid they produce lowers the pH, inhibiting other bacteria. The bacterial groups needed for efficient composting, i.e. Bacillales and Actinobacteria, were present in appreciable amounts. The results indicated that start-up problems in the composting process can be prevented by recycling bulk material and compost. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genetics and Hearing Loss: A Review of Stickler Syndrome.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nowak, Catherine Bearce

1998-01-01

Stickler syndrome is an autosomal dominant multisystem disease. The four most affected systems are craniofacial, skeletal, ocular, and auditory. The manifestations of Stickler syndrome vary considerably among affected individuals. Audiologists and speech-language pathologists should be familiar with the characteristics associated with Stickler…

Cartilage ablation studies using mid-IR free electron laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Youn, Jong-In; Peavy, George M.; Venugopalan, Vasan

2005-04-01

The ablation rate of articular cartilage and fibrocartilage (meniscus), were quantified to examine wavelength and tissue-composition dependence of ablation efficiency for selected mid-infrared wavelengths. The wavelengths tested were 2.9 um (water dominant absorption), 6.1 (protein and water absorption) and 6.45 um (protein dominant absorption) generated by the Free Electron Laser (FEL) at Vanderbilt University. The measurement of tissue mass removal using a microbalance during laser ablation was conducted to determine the ablation rates of cartilage. The technique can be accurate over methods such as profilometer and histology sectioning where tissue surface and the crater morphology may be affected by tissue processing. The ablation efficiency was found to be dependent upon the wavelength. Both articular cartilage and meniscus (fibrocartilage) ablations at 6.1 um were more efficient than those at the other wavelengths evaluated. We observed the lowest ablation efficiency of both types of cartilage with the 6.45 um wavelength, possibly due to the reduction in water absorption at this wavelength in comparison to the other wavelengths that were evaluated.

Ambiguity's aftermath: how age differences in resolving lexical ambiguity affect subsequent comprehension.

PubMed

Lee, Chia-lin; Federmeier, Kara D

2012-04-01

When ambiguity resolution is difficult, younger adults recruit selection-related neural resources that older adults do not. To elucidate the nature of those resources and the consequences of their recruitment for subsequent comprehension, we embedded noun/verb homographs and matched unambiguous words in syntactically well-specified but semantically neutral sentences. Target words were followed by a prepositional phrase whose head noun was plausible for only one meaning of the homograph. Replicating past findings, younger but not older adults elicited sustained frontal negativity to homographs compared to unambiguous words. On the subsequent head nouns, younger adults showed plausibility effects in all conditions, attesting to successful meaning selection through suppression. In contrast, older adults showed smaller plausibility effects following ambiguous words and failed to show plausibility effects when the context picked out the homograph's non-dominant meaning (i.e., they did not suppress the contextually-irrelevant dominant meaning). Meaning suppression processes, reflected in the frontal negativity, thus become less available with age, with consequences for subsequent comprehension. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Regulation of axonal and dendritic growth by the extracellular calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR)

PubMed Central

Vizard, Thomas N.; O'Keeffe, Gerard W.; Gutierrez, Humberto; Kos, Claudine H.; Riccardi, Daniela; Davies, Alun M.

2009-01-01

The extracellular calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) monitors the systemic extracellular free ionized calcium level ([Ca2+]o) in organs involved in systemic [Ca2+]o homeostasis. However, the CaSR is also expressed in the nervous system where its role is unknown. Here we find high levels of the CaSR in perinatal mouse sympathetic neurons when their axons are innervating and branching extensively in their targets. Manipulating CaSR function in these neurons by varying [Ca2+]o, using CaSR agonists and antagonists or expressing a dominant-negative CaSR markedly affects neurite growth in vitro Sympathetic neurons lacking the CaSR have smaller neurite arbors in vitro, and sympathetic innervation density is reduced in CaSR-deficient mice in vivo. Hippocampal pyramidal neurons, which also express the CaSR, have smaller dendrites when transfected with dominant-negative CaSR in postnatal organotypic cultures. Our findings reveal a crucial role for the CaSR in regulating the growth of neural processes in the peripheral and central nervous systems. PMID:18223649

Analyzing the Long Term Cohesive Effect of Sector Specific Driving Forces.

PubMed

Berman, Yonatan; Ben-Jacob, Eshel; Zhang, Xin; Shapira, Yoash

2016-01-01

Financial markets are partially composed of sectors dominated by external driving forces, such as commodity prices, infrastructure and other indices. We characterize the statistical properties of such sectors and present a novel model for the coupling of the stock prices and their dominating driving forces, inspired by mean reverting stochastic processes. Using the model we were able to explain the market sectors' long term behavior and estimate the coupling strength between stocks in financial markets and the sector specific driving forces. Notably, the analysis was successfully applied to the shipping market, in which the Baltic dry index (BDI), an assessment of the price of transporting the major raw materials by sea, influences the shipping financial market. We also present the analysis of other sectors-the gold mining market and the food production market, for which the model was also successfully applied. The model can serve as a general tool for characterizing the coupling between external forces and affected financial variables and therefore for estimating the risk in sectors and their vulnerability to external stress.

Chemically-mediated interactions between macroalgae Dictyota spp. and multiple life-history stages of the coral Porites astreoides

USGS Publications Warehouse

Paul, Valerie J.; Kuffner, Ilsa B.; Walters, Linda J.; Ritson-Williams, Raphael; Beach, Kevin S.; Becerro, Mikel A.

2011-01-01

Competition between corals and macroalgae is often assumed to occur on reefs, especially those that have undergone shifts from coral to algal dominance; however, data examining these competitive interactions, especially during the early life-history stages of corals, are scarce. We conducted a series of field and outdoor seawater-table experiments to test the hypothesis that allelopathy (chemical inhibition) mediates interactions between 2 common brown macroalgae, Dictyota pulchella and D. pinnatifida, and the coral Porites astreoides at different life-history stages of the coral. D. pinnatifida significantly reduced larval survival and larval recruitment. The extracts of both D. pinnatifida and D. pulchella significantly reduced larval survival, and the extract of D. pulchella also negatively influenced larval recruitment. There was no measurable effect of the crude extracts from Dictyota spp. on the photophysiology of adult corals. Our results provide evidence that these Dictyota species chemically compete with P. astreoides by negatively affecting larval settlement and recruitment as well as the survival of larvae and new recruits. Macroalgae may perpetuate their dominance on degraded reefs by chemically inhibiting the process of coral recruitment.

Effect of ferrite transformation on the tensile and stress corrosion properties of type 316 L stainless steel weld metal thermally aged at 873 K

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaikh, H.; Khatak, H. S.; Seshadri, S. K.; Gnanamoorthy, J. B.; Rodriguez, P.

1995-07-01

This article deals with the effect of the microstructural changes, due to transformation of delta ferrite, on the associated variations that take place in the tensile and stress corrosion properties of type 316 L stainless steel weld deposits when subjected to postweld heat treatment at 873 K for prolonged periods (up to 2000 hours). On aging for short durations (up to 20 hours), carbide/ carbonitride was the dominant transformation product, whereas sigma phase was dominant at longer aging times. The changes in the tensile and stress corrosion behavior of the aged weld metal have been attributed to the two competitive processes of matrix softening and hardening. Yield strength (YS) was found to depend predominantly on matrix softening only, while sig-nificant changes in the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and the work-hardening exponent, n, occurred due to matrix hardening. Ductility and stress corrosion properties were considerably affected by both factors. Fractographic observations on the weld metal tested for stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) indicated a combination of transgranular cracking of the austenite and interface cracking.

The long-term impact of urbanization on nitrogen patterns and dynamics in Shanghai, China.

PubMed

Gu, Baojing; Dong, Xiaoli; Peng, Changhui; Luo, Weidong; Chang, Jie; Ge, Ying

2012-12-01

Urbanization is an important process that alters the regional and global nitrogen biogeochemistry. In this study, we test how long-term urbanization (1952-2004) affects the nitrogen flows, emissions and drivers in the Greater Shanghai Area (GSA) based on the coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) approach. Results show that: (1) total nitrogen input to the GSA increased from 57.7 to 587.9 Gg N yr(-1) during the period 1952-2004, mainly attributing to fossil fuel combustion (43%), Haber-Bosch nitrogen fixation (31%), and food/feed import (26%); (2) per capita nitrogen input increased from 13.5 to 45.7 kg N yr(-1), while per gross domestic product (GDP) nitrogen input reduced from 22.2 to 0.9 g N per Chinese Yuan, decoupling of nitrogen with GDP; (3) emissions of reactive nitrogen to the environment transformed from agriculture dominated to industry and human living dominated, especially for air pollution. This study provides decision-makers a novel view of nitrogen management. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Arsenic mobility controlled by solid calcium arsenates: a case study in Mexico showcasing a potentially widespread environmental problem.

PubMed

Martínez-Villegas, Nadia; Briones-Gallardo, Roberto; Ramos-Leal, José A; Avalos-Borja, Miguel; Castañón-Sandoval, Alan D; Razo-Flores, Elías; Villalobos, Mario

2013-05-01

An As-contaminated perched aquifer under an urban area affected by mining was studied over a year to determine the contamination source species and the mechanism of As mobilization. Results show that the dissolution of calcium arsenates in residues disposed on an inactive smelter has caused high levels of As pollution in the adjoining downgradient 6-km perched aquifer, reaching up to 158 mg/L of dissolved As, and releasing a total of ca. 7.5 tons of As in a year. Furthermore, free calcium ion availability was found to control As mobility in the aquifer through the diagenetic precipitation of calcium arsenates (Ca5H2(AsO4)4·cH2O) preventing further mobilization of As. Results shown here represent a model for understanding a highly underreported mechanism of retention of arsenate species likely to dominate in calcium-rich environments, such as those in calcareous sediments and soils, where the commonly reported mechanism of adsorption to iron(III) oxyhydroxides is not the dominant process. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analyzing the Long Term Cohesive Effect of Sector Specific Driving Forces

PubMed Central

Berman, Yonatan; Zhang, Xin; Shapira, Yoash

2016-01-01

Financial markets are partially composed of sectors dominated by external driving forces, such as commodity prices, infrastructure and other indices. We characterize the statistical properties of such sectors and present a novel model for the coupling of the stock prices and their dominating driving forces, inspired by mean reverting stochastic processes. Using the model we were able to explain the market sectors’ long term behavior and estimate the coupling strength between stocks in financial markets and the sector specific driving forces. Notably, the analysis was successfully applied to the shipping market, in which the Baltic dry index (BDI), an assessment of the price of transporting the major raw materials by sea, influences the shipping financial market. We also present the analysis of other sectors—the gold mining market and the food production market, for which the model was also successfully applied. The model can serve as a general tool for characterizing the coupling between external forces and affected financial variables and therefore for estimating the risk in sectors and their vulnerability to external stress. PMID:27031230

Dark Matter Freeze-in Production in Fast-Expanding Universes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Eramo, Francesco; Fernandez, Nicolas; Profumo, Stefano

2018-02-01

If the dark matter is produced in the early universe prior to Big Bang nucleosynthesis, a modified cosmological history can drastically affect the abundance of relic dark matter particles. Here, we assume that an additional species to radiation dominates at early times, causing the expansion rate at a given temperature to be larger than in the standard radiation-dominated case. We demonstrate that, if this is the case, dark matter production via freeze-in (a scenario when dark matter interacts very weakly, and is dumped in the early universe out of equilibrium by decay or scattering processes involving particles in the thermal bath) is dramatically suppressed. We illustrate and quantitatively and analytically study this phenomenon for three different paradigmatic classes of freeze-in scenarios. For the frozen-in dark matter abundance to be as large as observations, couplings between the dark matter and visible-sector particles must be enhanced by several orders of magnitude. This sheds some optimistic prospects for the otherwise dire experimental and observational outlook of detecting dark matter produced by freeze-in.

Analysis of Particle-Stimulated Nucleation (PSN)-Dominated Recrystallization for Hot-Rolled 7050 Aluminum Alloy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adam, Khaled F.; Long, Zhengdong; Field, David P.

2017-04-01

In 7xxx series aluminum alloys, the constituent large and small second-phase particles present during deformation process. The fraction and spatial distribution of these second-phase particles significantly influence the recrystallized structure, kinetics, and texture in the subsequent treatment. In the present work, the Monte Carlo Potts model was used to model particle-stimulated nucleation (PSN)-dominated recrystallization and grain growth in high-strength aluminum alloy 7050. The driving force for recrystallization is deformation-induced stored energy, which is also strongly affected by the coarse particle distribution. The actual microstructure and particle distribution of hot-rolled plate were used as an initial point for modeling of recrystallization during the subsequent solution heat treatment. Measurements from bright-field TEM images were performed to enhance qualitative interpretations of the developed microstructure. The influence of texture inhomogeneity has been demonstrated from a theoretical point of view using pole figures. Additionally, in situ annealing measurements in SEM were performed to track the orientational and microstructural changes and to provide experimental support for the recrystallization mechanism of PSN in AA7050.

Mesoscale Variation of Mechanisms Contributing to Stability in Rocky Shore Communities

PubMed Central

Valdivia, Nelson; González, Andrés E.; Manzur, Tatiana; Broitman, Bernardo R.

2013-01-01

Environmental fluctuations can generate asynchronous species’ fluctuations and community stability, due to compensatory dynamics of species with different environmental tolerances. We tested this hypothesis in intertidal hard-bottom communities of north-central Chile, where a persistent upwelling centre maintains a mosaic in sea surface temperatures (SST) over 10s of kilometres along the shore. Coastal upwelling implies colder and temporally more stable SST relative to downstream sites. Uni- and multivariate analyses of multiyear timeseries of SST and species abundances showed more asynchronous fluctuations and higher stability in sites characterised by warmer and more variable SST. Nevertheless, these effects were weakened after including data obtained in sites affected by less persistent upwelling centres. Further, dominant species were more stable in sites exposed to high SST variability. The strength of other processes that can influence community stability, chiefly statistical averaging and overyielding, did not vary significantly between SST regimes. Our results provide observational evidence supporting the idea that exogenously driven compensatory dynamics and the stabilising effects of dominant species can determine the stability of ecosystems facing environmental fluctuations. PMID:23326592

Dissecting disease entities out of the broad spectrum of bipolar-disorders.

PubMed

Levine, Joseph; Toker, Lilach; Agam, Galila

2018-01-01

The etiopathology of bipolar disorders is yet unraveled and new avenues should be pursued. One such avenue may be based on the assumption that the bipolar broad spectrum includes, among others, an array of rare medical disease entities. Towards this aim we propose a dissecting approach based on a search for rare medical diseases with known etiopathology which also exhibit bipolar disorders symptomatology. We further suggest that the etiopathologic mechanisms underlying such rare medical diseases may also underlie a rare variant of bipolar disorder. Such an assumption may be further reinforced if both the rare medical disease and its bipolar clinical phenotype demonstrate a] a similar mode of inheritance (i.e, autosomal dominant); b] brain involvement; and c] data implicating that the etiopathological mechanisms underlying the rare diseases affect biological processes reported to be associated with bipolar disorders and their treatment. We exemplify our suggested approach by a rare case of autosomal dominant leucodystrophy, a disease entity exhibiting nuclear lamin B1 pathology also presenting bipolar symptomatology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cerebral asymmetry for mental rotation: effects of response hand, handedness and gender.

PubMed

Johnson, Blake W; McKenzie, Kirsten J; Hamm, Jeff P

2002-10-28

We assessed lateralization of brain function during mental rotation, measuring the scalp distribution of a 400-600 ms latency event-related potential (ERP) with 128 recording electrodes. Twenty-four subjects, consisting of equal numbers of dextral and sinistral males and females, performed a mental rotation task under two response conditions (dominant non-dominant hand). For males, ERPs showed a right parietal bias regardless of response hand. For females, the parietal ERPs were slightly left-lateralized when making dominant hand responses, but strongly right-lateralized when making non-dominant hand responses. These results support the notion that visuo-spatial processing is more bilaterally organized in females. However, left hemisphere resources may be allocated to response preparation when using the non-dominant hand, forcing visuo-spatial processing to the right hemisphere.

Enhancing lexical ambiguity resolution by brain polarization of the right posterior superior temporal sulcus.

PubMed

Peretz, Yael; Lavidor, Michal

2013-04-01

Previous studies have reported a hemispheric asymmetry in processing dominant (e.g., paper) and subordinate (e.g., farmer) associations of ambiguous words (pen). Here we applied sham and anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over Wernicke's area and its right homologue to test whether we can modulate the selective hemispheric expertise in processing lexical ambiguity. Ambiguous prime words were presented followed by target words that could be associated to the dominant or subordinate meaning of the prime in a semantic relatedness task. Anodal stimulation of the right Wernicke's area significantly decreased response time (RTs) to subordinate but not dominant associations compared to sham stimulation. There was also a complementary trend of faster responses to dominant associations following anodal stimulation of Wernicke's area. The results support brain asymmetry in processing lexical ambiguity and show that tDCS can enhance complex language processing even in a sample of highly literate individuals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genome-Wide Survey of Cold Stress Regulated Alternative Splicing in Arabidopsis thaliana with Tiling Microarray

PubMed Central

Leviatan, Noam; Alkan, Noam; Leshkowitz, Dena; Fluhr, Robert

2013-01-01

Alternative splicing plays a major role in expanding the potential informational content of eukaryotic genomes. It is an important post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism that can increase protein diversity and affect mRNA stability. Alternative splicing is often regulated in a tissue-specific and stress-responsive manner. Cold stress, which adversely affects plant growth and development, regulates the transcription and splicing of plant splicing factors. This can affect the pre-mRNA processing of many genes. To identify cold regulated alternative splicing we applied Affymetrix Arabidopsis tiling arrays to survey the transcriptome under cold treatment conditions. A novel algorithm was used for detection of statistically relevant changes in intron expression within a transcript between control and cold growth conditions. A reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of a number of randomly selected genes confirmed the changes in splicing patterns under cold stress predicted by tiling array. Our analysis revealed new types of cold responsive genes. While their expression level remains relatively unchanged under cold stress their splicing pattern shows detectable changes in the relative abundance of isoforms. The majority of cold regulated alternative splicing introduced a premature termination codon (PTC) into the transcripts creating potential targets for degradation by the nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD) process. A number of these genes were analyzed in NMD-defective mutants by RT-PCR and shown to evade NMD. This may result in new and truncated proteins with altered functions or dominant negative effects. The results indicate that cold affects both quantitative and qualitative aspects of gene expression. PMID:23776682

Biological reduction of chlorinated solvents: Batch-scale geochemical modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kouznetsova, Irina; Mao, Xiaomin; Robinson, Clare; Barry, D. A.; Gerhard, Jason I.; McCarty, Perry L.

2010-09-01

Simulation of biodegradation of chlorinated solvents in dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) source zones requires a model that accounts for the complexity of processes involved and that is consistent with available laboratory studies. This paper describes such a comprehensive modeling framework that includes microbially mediated degradation processes, microbial population growth and decay, geochemical reactions, as well as interphase mass transfer processes such as DNAPL dissolution, gas formation and mineral precipitation/dissolution. All these processes can be in equilibrium or kinetically controlled. A batch modeling example was presented where the degradation of trichloroethene (TCE) and its byproducts and concomitant reactions (e.g., electron donor fermentation, sulfate reduction, pH buffering by calcite dissolution) were simulated. Local and global sensitivity analysis techniques were applied to delineate the dominant model parameters and processes. Sensitivity analysis indicated that accurate values for parameters related to dichloroethene (DCE) and vinyl chloride (VC) degradation (i.e., DCE and VC maximum utilization rates, yield due to DCE utilization, decay rate for DCE/VC dechlorinators) are important for prediction of the overall dechlorination time. These parameters influence the maximum growth rate of the DCE and VC dechlorinating microorganisms and, thus, the time required for a small initial population to reach a sufficient concentration to significantly affect the overall rate of dechlorination. Self-inhibition of chlorinated ethenes at high concentrations and natural buffering provided by the sediment were also shown to significantly influence the dechlorination time. Furthermore, the analysis indicated that the rates of the competing, nonchlorinated electron-accepting processes relative to the dechlorination kinetics also affect the overall dechlorination time. Results demonstrated that the model developed is a flexible research tool that is able to provide valuable insight into the fundamental processes and their complex interactions during bioremediation of chlorinated ethenes in DNAPL source zones.

Differences in forest area classification based on tree tally from variable- and fixed-radius plots

Treesearch

David Azuma; Vicente J. Monleon

2011-01-01

In forest inventory, it is not enough to formulate a definition; it is also necessary to define the "measurement procedure." In the classification of forestland by dominant cover type, the measurement design (the plot) can affect the outcome of the classification. We present results of a simulation study comparing classification of the dominant cover type...

Woodland structure affects intensity of infection by an exotic forest pathogen

Treesearch

Nathan Rank; Hall Cushman; Ross Meentemeyer

2008-01-01

Woodland ecosystems often consist of a mosaic of interacting dominant woody species that vary in density and abundance. Local variation in dominant species abundance may influence spread of plant pathogens across this heterogeneous landscape. We investigated this possibility in a 275 km2 study area in eastern Sonoma County, which is being invaded by the pathogen that...

Separate Education and Hegemonic Domination: Civil Society Challenges in the Arab-Jewish City of Jaffa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payes, Shany

2013-01-01

The case of education in the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Jaffa, Israel, demonstrates the dialectical role of education in conflict-affected societies. As scholars of transformative education and critical pedagogy have noted, education tends to serve as an instrument of the dominant ideology of social and political elites, yet it is also a…

Pretreatment tree dominance and conifer removal treatments affect plant succession in sagebrush communities

Treesearch

Rachel E. Williams; Bruce A. Roundy; April Hulet; Richard F. Miller; Robin J. Tausch; Jeanne C. Chambers; Jeffrey Matthews; Robert Schooley; Dennis Eggett

2017-01-01

In sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) ecosystems, expansion and infilling of conifers decreases the abundance of understory perennial vegetation and lowers ecosystem resilience and resistance of the once shrub grass−dominated state. We prescribed burned or cut juniper (Juniperus spp. L.) and pinyon (Pinus spp. L.) trees at 10 sites across the western United States...

Sociality and oxytocin and vasopressin in the brain of male and female dominant and subordinate mandarin voles.

PubMed

Qiao, Xufeng; Yan, Yating; Wu, Ruiyong; Tai, Fadao; Hao, Ping; Cao, Yan; Wang, Jianli

2014-02-01

The dominant-subordinate hierarchy in animals often needs to be established via agonistic encounters and consequently affects reproduction and survival. Differences in brain neuropeptides and sociality among dominant and subordinate males and females remain poorly understood. Here we explore neuropeptide levels and sociality during agonistic encounter tests in mandarin voles. We found that dominant mandarin voles engaged in higher levels of approaching, investigating, self-grooming and exploring behavior than subordinates. Dominant males habituated better to a stimulus vole than dominant females. Dominant males displayed significantly less oxytocin-immunoreactive neurons in the paraventricular nuclei and more vasopressin-immunoreactive neurons in the paraventricular nuclei, supraoptic nuclei, and the lateral and anterior hypothalamus than subordinates. Dominant females displayed significantly more vasopressin-immunoreactive neurons in the lateral hypothalamus and anterior hypothalamus than subordinates. Sex differences were found in the level of oxytocin and vasopressin. These results indicate that distinct parameters related to central nervous oxytocin and vasopressin are associated with behaviors during agonistic encounters in a sex-specific manner in mandarin voles.

Exogenous testosterone enhances cortisol and affective responses to social-evaluative stress in dominant men.

PubMed

Knight, Erik L; Christian, Colton B; Morales, Pablo J; Harbaugh, William T; Mayr, Ulrich; Mehta, Pranjal H

2017-11-01

Stress often precedes the onset of mental health disorders and is linked to negative impacts on physical health as well. Prior research indicates that testosterone levels are related to reduced stress reactivity in some cases but correlate with increased stress responses in other cases. To resolve these inconsistencies, we tested the causal influence of testosterone on stress reactivity to a social-evaluative stressor. Further, prior work has failed to consider status-relevant individual differences such as trait dominance that may modulate the influence of testosterone on responses to stressors. Participants (n=120 males) were randomly assigned to receive exogenous testosterone or placebo (n=60 testosterone treatment group) via topical gel prior to a well-validated social-evaluative stressor. Compared to placebo, testosterone significantly increased cortisol and negative affect in response to the stressor, especially for men high in trait dominance (95% confidence intervals did not contain zero). The findings suggest that the combination of high testosterone and exposure to status-relevant social stress may confer increased risk for stress-mediated disorders, particularly for individuals high in trait dominance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Microbial biodiversity in arable soils is affected by agricultural practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolińska, Agnieszka; Górniak, Dorota; Zielenkiewicz, Urszula; Goryluk-Salmonowicz, Agata; Kuźniar, Agnieszka; Stępniewska, Zofia; Błaszczyk, Mieczysław

2017-04-01

The aim of the study was to examine the differences in microbial community structure as a result of agricultural practices. Sixteen samples of cultivated and the same number of non-cultivated soils were selected. Gel bands were identified using the GelCompar software to create the presence-absence matrix, where each band represented a bacterial operational taxonomic unit. The data were used for principal-component analysis and additionally, the Shannon- Weaver index of general diversity, Simpson index of dominance and Simpson index of diversity were calculated. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiles clearly indicated differentiation of tested samples into two clusters: cultivated and non-cultivated soils. Greater numbers of dominant operational taxonomic units (65) in non-cultivated soils were noted compared to cultivated soils (47 operational taxonomic units). This implies that there was a reduction of dominant bacterial operational taxonomic units by nearly 30% in cultivated soils. Simpson dominance index expressing the number of species weighted by their abundance amounted to 1.22 in cultivated soils, whereas a 3-fold higher value (3.38) was observed in non-cultivated soils. Land-use practices seemed to be a important factors affected on biodiversity, because more than soil type determined the clustering into groups.

Emotional effects of dynamic textures

PubMed Central

Toet, Alexander; Henselmans, Menno; Lucassen, Marcel P; Gevers, Theo

2011-01-01

This study explores the effects of various spatiotemporal dynamic texture characteristics on human emotions. The emotional experience of auditory (eg, music) and haptic repetitive patterns has been studied extensively. In contrast, the emotional experience of visual dynamic textures is still largely unknown, despite their natural ubiquity and increasing use in digital media. Participants watched a set of dynamic textures, representing either water or various different media, and self-reported their emotional experience. Motion complexity was found to have mildly relaxing and nondominant effects. In contrast, motion change complexity was found to be arousing and dominant. The speed of dynamics had arousing, dominant, and unpleasant effects. The amplitude of dynamics was also regarded as unpleasant. The regularity of the dynamics over the textures' area was found to be uninteresting, nondominant, mildly relaxing, and mildly pleasant. The spatial scale of the dynamics had an unpleasant, arousing, and dominant effect, which was larger for textures with diverse content than for water textures. For water textures, the effects of spatial contrast were arousing, dominant, interesting, and mildly unpleasant. None of these effects were observed for textures of diverse content. The current findings are relevant for the design and synthesis of affective multimedia content and for affective scene indexing and retrieval. PMID:23145257

Characterization of a novel MYO3A missense mutation associated with a dominant form of late onset hearing loss.

PubMed

Dantas, Vitor G L; Raval, Manmeet H; Ballesteros, Angela; Cui, Runjia; Gunther, Laura K; Yamamoto, Guilherme L; Alves, Leandro Ucela; Bueno, André Silva; Lezirovitz, Karina; Pirana, Sulene; Mendes, Beatriz C A; Yengo, Christopher M; Kachar, Bechara; Mingroni-Netto, Regina C

2018-06-07

Whole-exome sequencing of samples from affected members of two unrelated families with late-onset non-syndromic hearing loss revealed a novel mutation (c.2090 T > G; NM_017433) in MYO3A. The mutation was confirmed in 36 affected individuals, showing autosomal dominant inheritance. The mutation alters a single residue (L697W or p.Leu697Trp) in the motor domain of the stereocilia protein MYO3A, leading to a reduction in ATPase activity, motility, and an increase in actin affinity. MYO3A-L697W showed reduced filopodial actin protrusion initiation in COS7 cells, and a predominant tipward accumulation at filopodia and stereocilia when coexpressed with wild-type MYO3A and espin-1, an actin-regulatory MYO3A cargo. The combined higher actin affinity and duty ratio of the mutant myosin cause increased retention time at stereocilia tips, resulting in the displacement of the wild-type MYO3A protein, which may impact cargo transport, stereocilia length, and mechanotransduction. The dominant negative effect of the altered myosin function explains the dominant inheritance of deafness.

Micro-Pulse Lidar Signals: Uncertainty Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Welton, Ellsworth J.; Campbell, James R.; Starr, David OC. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Micro-pulse lidar (MPL) systems are small, autonomous, eye-safe lidars used for continuous observations of the vertical distribution of cloud and aerosol layers. Since the construction of the first MPL in 1993, procedures have been developed to correct for various instrument effects present in MPL signals. The primary instrument effects include afterpulse, laser-detector cross-talk, and overlap, poor near-range (less than 6 km) focusing. The accurate correction of both afterpulse and overlap effects are required to study both clouds and aerosols. Furthermore, the outgoing energy of the laser pulses and the statistical uncertainty of the MPL detector must also be correctly determined in order to assess the accuracy of MPL observations. The uncertainties associated with the afterpulse, overlap, pulse energy, detector noise, and all remaining quantities affecting measured MPL signals, are determined in this study. The uncertainties are propagated through the entire MPL correction process to give a net uncertainty on the final corrected MPL signal. The results show that in the near range, the overlap uncertainty dominates. At altitudes above the overlap region, the dominant source of uncertainty is caused by uncertainty in the pulse energy. However, if the laser energy is low, then during mid-day, high solar background levels can significantly reduce the signal-to-noise of the detector. In such a case, the statistical uncertainty of the detector count rate becomes dominant at altitudes above the overlap region.

Effect of imbalanced nutrients and immigration on Prymnesium parvum community dominance and toxicity: Results from in-lake microcosm experiments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Errera, R.M.; Roelke, D.L.; Kiesling, R.L.; Brooks, B.W.; Grover, J.P.; Schwierzke, L.; Urena-Boeck, F.; Baker, J.W.; Pinckney, J.L.

2008-01-01

Prymnesium parvum, a haptophyte species, forms harmful blooms, including those that have caused severe fish kills in Texas, USA, over the past 6 yr. We studied P. parvum dynamics using in situ microcosm experiments at Lake Possum Kingdom, Texas, during 3 seasons (fall 2004, winter and spring 2005). Experimental treatments included full and partial nutrient enrichment (encompassing nitrogen [N] and phosphorus [P] deficient treatments), P. parvum immigration and combinations of these factors. In the control and N and P deficient treatments, P. parvum populations dominated the community, but only in the N deficient treatments did P. parvum experience a significant growth in the population. In contrast, when nutrients were not limiting, P. parvum tended to lose its competitive edge to other taxa such as chlorophytes, euglenophytes and diatoms, which then dominated the community. Population growth of P. parvum was also stimulated through immigration, but only during the winter experiment, a period of the year when bloom initiation is common. This finding suggests that movement into the water column may be an important process leading to P. parvum bloom initiation. Toxicity of P. parvum to fish was also affected by the nutrient changes: during conditions of no nutrient addition P. parvum was most toxic; intermediate toxicity was observed under N and P deficient conditions, and full nutrient enrichments resulted in nearly non-toxic conditions. ?? Inter-Research 2008.

Sequence variations of the partially dominant DELLA gene Rht-B1c in wheat and their functional impacts

PubMed Central

Ma, Zhengqiang

2013-01-01

Rht-B1c, allelic to the DELLA protein-encoding gene Rht-B1a, is a natural mutation documented in common wheat (Triticum aestivum). It confers variation to a number of traits related to cell and plant morphology, seed dormancy, and photosynthesis. The present study was conducted to examine the sequence variations of Rht-B1c and their functional impacts. The results showed that Rht-B1c was partially dominant or co-dominant for plant height, and exhibited an increased dwarfing effect. At the sequence level, Rht-B1c differed from Rht-B1a by one 2kb Veju retrotransposon insertion, three coding region single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), one 197bp insertion, and four SNPs in the 1kb upstream sequence. Haplotype investigations, association analyses, transient expression assays, and expression profiling showed that the Veju insertion was primarily responsible for the extreme dwarfing effect. It was found that the Veju insertion changed processing of the Rht-B1c transcripts and resulted in DELLA motif primary structure disruption. Expression assays showed that Rht-B1c caused reduction of total Rht-1 transcript levels, and up-regulation of GATA-like transcription factors and genes positively regulated by these factors, suggesting that one way in which Rht-1 proteins affect plant growth and development is through GATA-like transcription factor regulation. PMID:23918966

Longitudinal change in CSF biomarkers in autosomal-dominant Alzheimer disease

PubMed Central

Fagan, Anne M.; Xiong, Chengjie; Jasielec, Mateusz S.; Bateman, Randall J.; Goate, Alison M.; Benzinger, Tammie L.S.; Ghetti, Bernardino; Martins, Ralph N.; Masters, Colin L.; Mayeux, Richard; Ringman, John M.; Rossor, Martin N.; Salloway, Stephen; Schofield, Peter R.; Sperling, Reisa A.; Marcus, Daniel; Cairns, Nigel J.; Buckles, Virginia D.; Ladenson, Jack H.; Morris, John C.; Holtzman, David M.

2014-01-01

Clinicopathologic evidence suggests the pathology of Alzheimer disease (AD) begins many years prior to cognitive symptoms. Biomarkers are required to identify affected individuals during this asymptomatic (“pre-clinical”) stage to permit intervention with potential disease-modifying therapies designed to preserve normal brain function. Studies of families with autosomal-dominant AD (ADAD) mutations provide a unique and powerful means to investigate AD biomarker changes during the asymptomatic period. In this biomarker study comparing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), plasma and in vivo amyloid imaging, cross-sectional data obtained at baseline in individuals from ADAD families enrolled in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN) demonstrate reduced concentrations of CSF amyloid-β1-42 (Aβ1–42) associated with the presence of β-amyloid plaques, and elevated concentrations of CSF tau, ptau181 and VILIP-1, markers of neurofibrillary tangles and/or neuronal injury/death, in asymptomatic mutation carriers 10-20 years prior to their estimated age at symptom onset (EAO), and prior to detection of cognitive deficits. When compared longitudinally, however, the concentrations of CSF biomarkers of neuronal injury/death within-individuals decrease after their EAO, suggesting a slowing of acute neurodegenerative processes with symptomatic disease progression. These results emphasize the importance of longitudinal, within-person assessment when modeling biomarker trajectories across the course of the disease. If corroborated, this pattern may influence the definition of a positive neurodegenerative biomarker outcome in clinical trials. PMID:24598588

Estimating the mode of inheritance in genetic association studies of qualitative traits based on the degree of dominance index

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The biological justification for the choice of the genetic mode in genetic association studies (GAS) is seldom available. Then, the mode of inheritance is approximated by investigating a number of non-orthogonal genetic contrasts making the interpretation of results difficult. Methods We propose to define the mode of inheritance by the significance of the deviance of the co-dominant contrast and the degree of dominance (h), which is a function of two orthogonal contrasts (the co-dominant and additive). Non-dominance exists when the co-dominant contrast is non-significant and, hence, the risk effect of heterozygotes lies in the middle of the risk of the two homozygotes. Otherwise, dominance (including over- and under-dominance) is present and the direction of dominance depends on the value of h. Results Simulations show that h may capture the real mode of inheritance and it is affected by deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE). In addition, power for detecting significance of h when the study conforms to HWE rule increases with the degree of dominance and to some extent is related to the mutant allele frequency. Conclusion The introduction of the degree of dominance provides useful insights into the mode of inheritance in GAS. PMID:22188898

Environmental Effects on Evolution of Cluster Galaxies in a Λ-dominated Cold Dark Matter Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okamoto, Takashi; Nagashima, Masahiro

2003-04-01

We investigate environmental effects on evolution of bright cluster galaxies (L>L*) in a Λ-dominated cold dark matter universe using a combination of dissipationless N-body simulations and a semianalytic galaxy formation model. The N-body simulations enable us to calculate orbits of galaxies in simulated clusters. Therefore, we can incorporate stripping of cold gas from galactic disks by ram pressure (RP) from the intracluster medium into our model. In this paper we study how ram pressure stripping (RPS) and small starburst induced by a minor merger affect colors, star formation rates (SFRs), and morphologies of cluster galaxies. These processes are new ingredients in our model and have not been studied sufficiently. We find that the RPS is not important for colors and SFRs of galaxies in the cluster core if the star formation timescale is properly chosen, because the star formation is sufficiently suppressed by consumption of the cold gas in the disks. Then observed color and SFR gradients can be reproduced without the RPS. The small starburst triggered by a minor merger hardly affects the SFRs and colors of the galaxies as well. We also examine whether these two processes can resolve the known problem that the hierarchical clustering models based on the major merger-driven bulge formation scenario predict too few galaxies of intermediate bulge-to-total luminosity ratio (B/T) in clusters. When the minor burst is taken into account, the intermediate B/T population is increased, and the observed morphology gradients in clusters are successfully reproduced. Without the minor burst, the RPS cannot increase the intermediate B/T population. On the other hand, when the minor burst is considered, the RPS also plays an important role in formation of the intermediate B/T galaxies. We present redshift evolution of morphological fractions predicted by our models. The predicted number ratios of the intermediate B/T galaxies to the bulge-dominated galaxies show nearly flat or slightly increasing trends with increasing redshift. We conclude that these trends are inevitable when bulges are formed through mergers. We discuss whether our results conflict with observationally suggested NS0/NE evolution in clusters, which is a decreasing function of redshift.

Hydrographic Processes Driven by Seasonal Monsoon System Affect Siphonophore Assemblages in Tropical-Subtropical Waters (Western North Pacific Ocean)

PubMed Central

Lo, Wen-Tseng; Yu, Shwu-Feng; Hsieh, Hung-Yen

2014-01-01

This work is a part of the Taiwan Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation, the first large scale hydrographic and plankton survey around Taiwan (21–26°N, 119–123°E). The present study examined the influence of hydrodynamic and biological variables driven by monsoon system on the siphonophore assemblages through an annual cycle in 2004. Calycophorans, namely Chelophyes appendiculata, Diphyes chamissonis, Lensia subtiloides, Bassia bassensis, and Muggiaea atlantica, were the most dominant siphonophore species. Maximum abundance of these dominant species generally occurred during the warm period (May and August), while M. atlantica had a significantly peak abundance in February. Although no apparently temporal difference in siphonophore abundance was observed in the study, siphonophore assemblage was more diverse in August than in other sampling times. Result of a cluster analysis indicated that assemblage structure of siphonophores in the waters around Taiwan varied at temporal and spatial scales during the sampling period. The intrusions of the Kuroshio Branch Current and China Coastal Current to the study area play an important role on the transportation of siphonophores. Also, the distribution of siphonophore assemblage was closely related to the hydrographic characteristics, with temperature, chlorophyll a concentration, and zooplankton abundance being the major environmental factors affecting the spatio-temporal variability of siphonophores. This study contributes substantially to the new knowledge of the siphonophore assemblage in the tropical-temperate waters of Taiwan. PMID:24932727

Testing promotes effector transfer.

PubMed

Boutin, Arnaud; Panzer, Stefan; Salesse, Robin N; Blandin, Yannick

2012-11-01

The retrieval of information from memory during testing has recently been shown to promote transfer in the verbal domain. Motor-related research, however, has ignored testing as a relevant method to enhance motor transfer. We thus investigated whether testing has the potential to induce generalised motor memories by favouring effector transfer. Participants were required to reproduce a spatial-temporal pattern of elbow extensions and flexions with their dominant right arm. We tested the ability of participants to transfer the original pattern (extrinsic transformation; i.e., goal-based configuration) or the mirrored pattern (intrinsic transformation; i.e., movement-based configuration) to the unpractised non-dominant left arm. To evaluate how testing affects motor transfer at 24-h testing, participants were either administered an initial testing session during early practice (early testing group) or shortly after the end of practice (late testing group; i.e., no alternation between practice and testing sessions). No initial testing session was completed for the control group. We found better effector transfer at 24-h testing for the early testing group for both extrinsic and intrinsic transformations of the movement pattern when compared with the control group, while no testing benefit was observed for the late testing group. This indicates that testing positively affects motor learning, yielding enhanced long-term transfer capabilities. We thus demonstrate the critical role of retrieval practice via testing during the process of motor memory encoding, and provide the conditions under which testing effectively contributes to the generalisation of motor memories. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Land-use controls on sources and processing of nitrate in small watersheds: Insights from dual isotopic analysis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barnes, R.T.; Raymond, P.A.

2010-01-01

Studies have repeatedly shown that agricultural and urban areas export considerably more nitrogen to streams than forested counterparts, yet it is difficult to identify and quantify nitrogen sources to streams due to complications associated with terrestrial and in-stream biogeochemical processes. In this study, we used the isotopic composition of nitrate (??15N-NO3- and ??18O- NO3-) in conjunction with a simple numerical model to examine the spatial and temporal variability of nitrate (NO3-) export across a land-use gradient and how agricultural and urban development affects net removal mechanisms. In an effort to isolate the effects of land use, we chose small headwater systems in close proximity to each other, limiting the variation in geology, surficial materials, and climate between sites. The ??15N and ??18Oof stream NO 3- varied significantly between urban, agricultural, and forested watersheds, indicating that nitrogen sources are the primary determinant of the ??15N-NO3-, while the ??18O-NO3- was found to reflect biogeochemical processes. The greatest NO3- concentrations corresponded with the highest stream ??15N-NO3- values due to the enriched nature of two dominant anthropogenic sources, septic and manure, within the urban and agricultural watersheds, respectively. On average, net removal of the available NO3- pool within urban and agricultural catchments was estimated at 45%. The variation in the estimated net removal of NO3- from developed watersheds was related to both drainage area and the availability of organic carbon. The determination of differentiated isotopic land-use signatures and dominant seasonal mechanisms illustrates the usefulness of this approach in examining the sources and processing of excess nitrogen within headwater catchments. ?? 2010 by the Ecological Society of America.

Self-organizing maps in geothermal exploration-A new approach for understanding geochemical processes and fluid evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brehme, Maren; Bauer, Klaus; Nukman, Mochamad; Regenspurg, Simona

2017-04-01

Understanding geochemical processes is an important part of geothermal exploration to get information about the source and evolution of geothermal fluids. However, in most cases knowledge of fluid properties is based on few parameters determined in samples from the shallow subsurface. This study presents a new approach that allows to conclude from the combination of a variety of these data on processes occurring at depth in a geothermal reservoir. The neural network clustering technique called "self-organizing maps" (SOMs) successfully distinguished two different geothermal settings based on a hydrochemical database and disclosed the source, evolution and flow pathways of geothermal fluids. Scatter plots, as shown in this study, are appropriate presentations of element concentrations and the chemical interaction of water and rock at depth. One geological setting presented here is marked by fault dominated fluid pathways and minor influence of volcanic affected fluids with high concentrations of HCO3, Ca and Sr. The second is a magmatically dominated setting showing strong alteration features in volcanic rocks and accommodates acidic fluids with high SO4 and Si concentrations. Former studies, i.e., Giggenbach (1988), suggested Cl, HCO3 and SO4 to be generally the most important elements for understanding hydrochemical processes in geothermal reservoirs. Their relation has been widely used to classify different water types in geothermal fields. However, this study showed that non-standard elements are at least of same importance to reveal different fluid types in geothermal systems. Therefore, this study is an extended water classification approach using SOM for element correlations. SOM have been proven to be a successful method for analyzing even relatively small hydrochemical datasets in geothermal applications.

Subcortical mechanisms in language: lexical-semantic mechanisms and the thalamus.

PubMed

Crosson, B

1999-07-01

Four previously published cases of dominant thalamic lesion in which the author has participated are reviewed to gain a better understanding of thalamic participation in lexical-semantic functions. Naming deficits in two cases support Nadeau and Crosson's (1997) hypothesis of a selective engagement mechanism involving the frontal lobes, inferior thalamic peduncle, nucleus reticularis, and other thalamic nuclei, possibly the centromedian nucleus. This mechanism selectively engages those cortical areas required to perform a cognitive task, while maintaining other areas in a state of relative disengagement. Deficits in selective engagement disproportionately affect lexical retrieval based on semantic input, as opposed to lexical and sublexical processes, because the former is more dependent upon this attentional system. The concept of selective engagement is also useful in understanding thalamic participation in working memory, as supported by data from one recent functional neuroimaging study. Other processes also may be compromised in more posterior thalamic lesions which damage the pulvinar but not other components of this selective engagement system. A third case with aphasia after a more superior and posterior thalamic lesion also had oral reading errors similar to those in neglect dyslexia. The pattern of deficits suggested a visual processing problem in the early stages of reading. The fourth case had a category-specific naming deficit after posterior thalamic lesion. Taken together, the latter two cases indicate that the nature of language functions in more posterior regions of the dominant thalamus depends upon the cortical connectivity of the thalamic region. Together, findings from the four cases suggest that thalamic nuclei and systems are involved in multiple processes which directly or indirectly support cortical language functions. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Vadose zone process that control landslide initiation and debris flow propagation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidle, Roy C.

2015-04-01

Advances in the areas of geotechnical engineering, hydrology, mineralogy, geomorphology, geology, and biology have individually advanced our understanding of factors affecting slope stability; however, the interactions among these processes and attributes as they affect the initiation and propagation of landslides and debris flows are not well understood. Here the importance of interactive vadose zone processes is emphasized related to the mechanisms, initiation, mode, and timing of rainfall-initiated landslides that are triggered by positive pore water accretion, loss of soil suction and increase in overburden weight, and long-term cumulative rain water infiltration. Both large- and small-scale preferential flow pathways can both contribute to and mitigate instability, by respectively concentrating and dispersing subsurface flow. These mechanisms are influenced by soil structure, lithology, landforms, and biota. Conditions conducive to landslide initiation by infiltration versus exfiltration are discussed relative to bedrock structure and joints. The effects of rhizosphere processes on slope stability are examined, including root reinforcement of soil mantles, evapotranspiration, and how root structures affect preferential flow paths. At a larger scale, the nexus between hillslope landslides and in-channel debris flows is examined with emphasis on understanding the timing of debris flows relative to chronic and episodic infilling processes, as well as the episodic nature of large rainfall and related stormflow generation in headwater streams. The hydrogeomorphic processes and conditions that determine whether or not landslides immediately mobilize into debris flows is important for predicting the timing and extent of devastating debris flow runout in steep terrain. Given the spatial footprint of individual landslides, it is necessary to assess vadose zone processes at appropriate scales to ascertain impacts on mass wasting phenomena. Articulating the appropriate level of detail of small-scale vadose zone processes into landslide models is a particular challenge. As such, understanding flow pathways in regoliths susceptible to mass movement is critical, including distinguishing between conditions conducive to vertical recharge of water through relatively homogeneous soil mantles and conditions where preferential flow dominates - either by rapid infiltration and lateral flow through interconnected preferential flow networks or via exfiltration through bedrock fractures. These different hydrologic scenarios have major implications for the occurrence, timing, and mode of slope failures.

It wasn't Witchcraft--It was Huntington Disease!

PubMed

Penaranda, Eribeth; Garcia, Angel; Montgomery, Lisa

2011-01-01

Huntington disease (HD) is an autosomal-dominant, incurable, progressive disorder that manifests with chorea and behavioral and cognitive impairment. The disease usually occurs during the fourth or fifth decade of life; however, it may present at any age. Clinical suspicion is confirmed by genetic testing. Death occurs, on average, 15 to 20 years after the onset of symptoms. Here we report about a Hispanic woman and her family who were affected by the disease; this case illustrates the role of cultural values and beliefs in the decision-making process, as well as the importance of the physician's cultural competency in fostering a trusting relationship that may lessen the burden of catastrophic diseases on individuals, families, and society at-large.

Transient controls on estuarine SPM fluxes: case study in the Dee Estuary, UK.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amoudry, Laurent; Williams, Megan; Todd, David

2017-04-01

Estuaries are a critical interface between land and coastal ocean across which freshwater, suspended particulate matter (SPM), and consequently terrestrial carbon, nutrients and anthropogenic contaminants are exchanged. Suspended particulate matter is closely linked to estuarine turbidity; it affects water quality and estuarine ecology; and it contributes to overall estuarine sediment budgets. However, predicting the response of estuarine ecosystems to climate change and human interventions remains difficult partly due to a lack of comprehensive understanding of SPM concentrations and fluxes across time scales from intratidal to seasonal and interannual variability. We investigate the dynamics of suspended sediment and suspended particulate matter in a hypertidal estuary with a maximum tidal range in excess of 10 m and tidal currents reaching over 1 m/s: the Dee Estuary. This estuary is located in northwest England and outflows in Liverpool Bay, itself in the eastern Irish Sea. The Dee Estuary is a funnel-shaped, coastal plain estuary, which is about 30 km long with a maximum width of 8.5 km at the mouth, and consists of mixed sediments. We focus on field observations, collected during several campaigns in the channels of the Dee Estuary from 2004 to 2009 using acoustic and optical instrumentation, which provide intratidal measurements of flow velocity and suspended sediment, and thus sediment fluxes, over approximately a month. Measurements in February-March 2008 highlight three distinct hydrodynamic regimes: a current dominant regime at neap tides (14-21 February); a combined wave-current regime at spring tides (21-29 February); and a wave dominant regime at neap tide (1-4 March). While analysis of tidal distortion and dominance predicts weak ebb dominant channels, the observations yield flood dominant sediment transport. The net sediment flux exhibits a two-layer structure - import near the bed, export near the surface - that is consistent with the residual circulations in the estuary. Wavelet analysis provides clear evidence that such influx of sediment in the estuary is alternatively the result of periodic stratification at neap tides and of tidal asymmetry in suspended sediment concentration at spring tides. Such transient processes will be important to determine and predict estuarine responses to short-lived perturbations. Further analysis of other field campaigns will enable to determine the persistence of these processes over seasonal and annual timescales.

Sex Differences in Brain Control of Prosody

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rymarczyk, Krystyna; Grabowska, Anna

2007-01-01

Affective (emotional) prosody is a neuropsychological function that encompasses non-verbal aspects of language that are necessary for recognizing and conveying emotions in communication, whereas non-affective (linguistic) prosody indicates whether the sentence is a question, an order or a statement. Considerable evidence points to a dominant role…

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

Kaurov, Alexander A., E-mail: kaurov@uchicago.edu

We explore a time-dependent energy dissipation of the energetic electrons in the inhomogeneous intergalactic medium (IGM) during the epoch of cosmic reionization. In addition to the atomic processes, we take into account the inverse Compton (IC) scattering of the electrons on the cosmic microwave background photons, which is the dominant channel of energy loss for electrons with energies above a few MeV. We show that: (1) the effect on the IGM has both local (atomic processes) and non-local (IC radiation) components; (2) the energy distribution between hydrogen and helium ionizations depends on the initial energy of an electron; (3) themore » local baryon overdensity significantly affects the fractions of energy distributed in each channel; and (4) the relativistic effect of the atomic cross-section becomes important during the epoch of cosmic reionization. We release our code as open source for further modification by the community.« less

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

Meusel, O., E-mail: o.meusel@iap.uni-frankfurt.de; Droba, M.; Noll, D.

The transport of intense ion beams is affected by the collective behavior of this kind of multi-particle and multi-species system. The space charge expressed by the generalized perveance dominates the dynamical process of thermalisation, which leads to emittance growth. To prevent changes of intrinsic beam properties and to reduce the intensity dependent focusing forces, space charge compensation seems to be an adequate solution. In the case of positively charged ion beams, electrons produced by residual gas ionization and secondary electrons provide the space charge compensation. The influence of the compensation particles on the beam transport and the local degree ofmore » space charge compensation is given by different beam properties as well as the ion beam optics. Especially for highly charged ion beams, space charge compensation in combination with poor vacuum conditions leads to recombination processes and therefore increased beam losses. Strategies for providing a compensation-electron reservoir at very low residual gas pressures will be discussed.« less

The effect of catastrophic collisional fragmentation and diffuse medium accretion on a computational interstellar dust system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liffman, Kurt

1990-01-01

The effects of catastrophic collisional fragmentation and diffuse medium accretion on a the interstellar dust system are computed using a Monte Carlo computer model. The Monte Carlo code has as its basis an analytic solution of the bulk chemical evolution of a two-phase interstellar medium, described by Liffman and Clayton (1989). The model is subjected to numerous different interstellar processes as it transfers from one interstellar phase to another. Collisional fragmentation was found to be the dominant physical process that shapes the size spectrum of interstellar dust. It was found that, in the diffuse cloud phase, 90 percent of the refractory material is locked up in the dust grains, primarily due to accretion in the molecular medium. This result is consistent with the observed depletions of silicon. Depletions were found to be affected only slightly by diffuse cloud accretion.

Impact of an extreme climatic event on community assembly.

PubMed

Thibault, Katherine M; Brown, James H

2008-03-04

Extreme climatic events are predicted to increase in frequency and magnitude, but their ecological impacts are poorly understood. Such events are large, infrequent, stochastic perturbations that can change the outcome of entrained ecological processes. Here we show how an extreme flood event affected a desert rodent community that has been monitored for 30 years. The flood (i) caused catastrophic, species-specific mortality; (ii) eliminated the incumbency advantage of previously dominant species; (iii) reset long-term population and community trends; (iv) interacted with competitive and metapopulation dynamics; and (v) resulted in rapid, wholesale reorganization of the community. This and a previous extreme rainfall event were punctuational perturbations-they caused large, rapid population- and community-level changes that were superimposed on a background of more gradual trends driven by climate and vegetation change. Captured by chance through long-term monitoring, the impacts of such large, infrequent events provide unique insights into the processes that structure ecological communities.

Black carbon aerosol size in snow.

PubMed

Schwarz, J P; Gao, R S; Perring, A E; Spackman, J R; Fahey, D W

2013-01-01

The effect of anthropogenic black carbon (BC) aerosol on snow is of enduring interest due to its consequences for climate forcing. Until now, too little attention has been focused on BC's size in snow, an important parameter affecting BC light absorption in snow. Here we present first observations of this parameter, revealing that BC can be shifted to larger sizes in snow than are typically seen in the atmosphere, in part due to the processes associated with BC removal from the atmosphere. Mie theory analysis indicates a corresponding reduction in BC absorption in snow of 40%, making BC size in snow the dominant source of uncertainty in BC's absorption properties for calculations of BC's snow albedo climate forcing. The shift reduces estimated BC global mean snow forcing by 30%, and has scientific implications for our understanding of snow albedo and the processing of atmospheric BC aerosol in snowfall.

Defining a new candidate gene for amelogenesis imperfecta: from molecular genetics to biochemistry.

PubMed

Urzúa, Blanca; Ortega-Pinto, Ana; Morales-Bozo, Irene; Rojas-Alcayaga, Gonzalo; Cifuentes, Víctor

2011-02-01

Amelogenesis imperfecta is a group of genetic conditions that affect the structure and clinical appearance of tooth enamel. The types (hypoplastic, hypocalcified, and hypomature) are correlated with defects in different stages of the process of enamel synthesis. Autosomal dominant, recessive, and X-linked types have been previously described. These disorders are considered clinically and genetically heterogeneous in etiology, involving a variety of genes, such as AMELX, ENAM, DLX3, FAM83H, MMP-20, KLK4, and WDR72. The mutations identified within these causal genes explain less than half of all cases of amelogenesis imperfecta. Most of the candidate and causal genes currently identified encode proteins involved in enamel synthesis. We think it is necessary to refocus the search for candidate genes using biochemical processes. This review provides theoretical evidence that the human SLC4A4 gene (sodium bicarbonate cotransporter) may be a new candidate gene.

Traumatogenic Processes and Pathways to Mental Health Outcomes for Sexual Minorities Exposed to Bias Crime Information.

PubMed

Lannert, Brittany K

2015-07-01

Vicarious traumatization of nonvictim members of communities targeted by bias crimes has been suggested by previous qualitative studies and often dominates public discussion following bias events, but proximal and distal responses of community members have yet to be comprehensively modeled, and quantitative research on vicarious responses is scarce. This comprehensive review integrates theoretical and empirical literatures in social, clinical, and physiological psychology in the development of a model of affective, cognitive, and physiological responses of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals upon exposure to information about bias crimes. Extant qualitative research in vicarious response to bias crimes is reviewed in light of theoretical implications and methodological limitations. Potential pathways to mental health outcomes are outlined, including accumulative effects of anticipatory defensive responding, multiplicative effects of minority stress, and putative traumatogenic physiological and cognitive processes of threat. Methodological considerations, future research directions, and clinical implications are also discussed. © The Author(s) 2014.

Oxygen-assisted multipass cutting of carbon fiber reinforced plastics with ultra-short laser pulses

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

Kononenko, T. V.; Komlenok, M. S.; Konov, V. I.

Deep multipass cutting of bidirectional and unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) with picosecond laser pulses was investigated in different static atmospheres as well as with the assistance of an oxygen or nitrogen gas flow. The ablation rate was determined as a function of the kerf depth and the resulting heat affected zone was measured. An assisting oxygen gas flow is found to significantly increase the cutting productivity, but only in deep kerfs where the diminished evaporative ablation due to the reduced laser fluence reaching the bottom of the kerf does not dominate the contribution of reactive etching anymore. Oxygen-supportedmore » cutting was shown to also solve the problem that occurs when cutting the CFRP parallel to the fiber orientation where a strong deformation and widening of the kerf, which temporarily slows down the process speed, is revealed to be typical for processing in standard air atmospheres.« less

Ion Irradiation Experiments on the Murchison CM2 Carbonaceous Chondrite: Simulating Space Weathering of Primitive Asteroids

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keller, L. P.; Christoffersen, R.; Dukes, C. A.; Baragiola, R. A.; Rahman, Z.

2015-01-01

Remote sensing observations show that space weathering processes affect all airless bodies in the Solar System to some degree. Sample analyses and lab experiments provide insights into the chemical, spectroscopic and mineralogic effects of space weathering and aid in the interpretation of remote- sensing data. For example, analyses of particles returned from the S-type asteroid Itokawa by the Hayabusa mission revealed that space-weathering on that body was dominated by interactions with the solar wind acting on LL ordinary chondrite-like materials [1, 2]. Understanding and predicting how the surface regoliths of primitive carbonaceous asteroids respond to space weathering processes is important for future sample return missions (Hayabusa 2 and OSIRIS-REx) that are targeting objects of this type. Here, we report the results of our preliminary ion irradiation experiments on a hydrated carbonaceous chondrite with emphasis on microstructural and infrared spectral changes.

Epigenetics of Huntington's Disease.

PubMed

Bassi, Silvia; Tripathi, Takshashila; Monziani, Alan; Di Leva, Francesca; Biagioli, Marta

2017-01-01

Huntington's disease (HD) is a genetic, fatal autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder typically occurring in midlife with symptoms ranging from chorea, to dementia, to personality disturbances (Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser B Biol Sci 354:957-961, 1999). HD is inherited in a dominant fashion, and the underlying mutation in all cases is a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion within exon 1 of the HD gene (Cell 72:971-983, 1993). The expanded CAG repeat, translated into a lengthened glutamine tract at the amino terminus of the huntingtin protein, affects its structural properties and functional activities. The effects are pleiotropic, as huntingtin is broadly expressed in different cellular compartments (i.e., cytosol, nucleus, mitochondria) as well as in all cell types of the body at all developmental stages, such that HD pathogenesis likely starts at conception and is a lifelong process (Front Neurosci 9:509, 2015). The rate-limiting mechanism(s) of neurodegeneration in HD still remains elusive: many different processes are commonly disrupted in HD cell lines and animal models, as well as in HD patient cells (Eur J Neurosci 27:2803-2820, 2008); however, epigenetic-chromatin deregulation, as determined by the analysis of DNA methylation, histone modifications, and noncoding RNAs, has now become a prevailing feature. Thus, the overarching goal of this chapter is to discuss the current status of the literature, reviewing how an aberrant epigenetic landscape can contribute to altered gene expression and neuronal dysfunction in HD.

Tropical land use land cover mapping in Pará (Brazil) using discriminative Markov random fields and multi-temporal TerraSAR-X data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hagensieker, Ron; Roscher, Ribana; Rosentreter, Johannes; Jakimow, Benjamin; Waske, Björn

2017-12-01

Remote sensing satellite data offer the unique possibility to map land use land cover transformations by providing spatially explicit information. However, detection of short-term processes and land use patterns of high spatial-temporal variability is a challenging task. We present a novel framework using multi-temporal TerraSAR-X data and machine learning techniques, namely discriminative Markov random fields with spatio-temporal priors, and import vector machines, in order to advance the mapping of land cover characterized by short-term changes. Our study region covers a current deforestation frontier in the Brazilian state Pará with land cover dominated by primary forests, different types of pasture land and secondary vegetation, and land use dominated by short-term processes such as slash-and-burn activities. The data set comprises multi-temporal TerraSAR-X imagery acquired over the course of the 2014 dry season, as well as optical data (RapidEye, Landsat) for reference. Results show that land use land cover is reliably mapped, resulting in spatially adjusted overall accuracies of up to 79% in a five class setting, yet limitations for the differentiation of different pasture types remain. The proposed method is applicable on multi-temporal data sets, and constitutes a feasible approach to map land use land cover in regions that are affected by high-frequent temporal changes.

Tensile and creep deformation of a newly developed Ni-Fe-based superalloy for 700 °C advanced ultra-supercritical boiler applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Y.; Zhong, Z. H.; Yu, Z. S.; Yin, H. F.; Dang, Y. Y.; Zhao, X. B.; Yang, Z.; Lu, J. T.; Yan, J. B.; Gu, Y.

2015-07-01

A new Ni-Fe-based superalloy, HT-X, has been developed for applications in 700 °C advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) boilers. The HT-X alloy is subjected to various heat treatments. Tensile tests are conducted at room temperature (RT), 700 °C and 750 °C. Creep tests are carried out under conditions of 700 °C/300 MPa and 750 °C/150 MPa. After aging treatment, the yield strength of the HT-X alloy at RT and 750 °C is 787 MPa and 624 MPa, respectively. When additional thermal exposure at 750 °C for 5400 h is applied, the yield strength is decreased to 656 MPa at RT and 480 MPa at 700 °C. For an aged specimen, the a/2<110>dislocation shearing process occurs when tensile testing is conducted at RT and 750 °C. As the γ' precipitate size increases in the specimen that is thermally exposed at 750 °C for 5400 h, Orowan bowing is the dominant dislocation process, and stacking faults develop in the γ' precipitates at both RT and 700 °C. Dislocation slip combined with climb is the dominant mechanism under the creep testing conditions. The factors that affect the mechanical properties and deformation mechanisms are discussed.

Impact of Debaryomyces hansenii strains inoculation on the quality of slow dry-cured fermented sausages.

PubMed

Cano-García, Liliana; Belloch, Carmela; Flores, Mónica

2014-04-01

Debaryomyces hansenii strains, M4 and P2, isolated from natural fermented sausages were inoculated in slow fermented sausages to study their effect on processing parameters, microbial population, volatile compound and sensory characteristics. The inoculation of D. hansenii strains, M4 and P2, did not affect the ripening process as no differences in pH and Aw were detected. The dominance of the inoculated yeast strains along the process was followed by RAPDs of M13 minisatellite. The inoculated yeasts, P2 and M4, were recovered at the end of the ripening process although P2 appeared in higher counts than M4. The sausages inoculated with P2 resulted in a decrease in lipid oxidation values (TBARS) and a reduction of lipid-oxidation derived aldehydes in addition to a highest acid compound abundance. M4 inoculated sausages resulted in highest sulphur containing compound abundance. However, no differences in consumer acceptance were detected. Moreover, both yeast strains were responsible for the generation of ethyl methyl-branched ester compounds in the dry-cured sausages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Riverine Settlement Adaptation Characteristic in Mentaya River, East Kotawaringin Regency, Kalimantan Province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esariti, L.; Yuliastuti, N.; Ratih, N. K.

2018-02-01

The research looks for the importance of riverine settlement preservation as one of the efforts to carry out sustainable management of a traditional settlement. East Kalimantan, more specifically riverine settlement in Mentaya River is known as one of the traditional settlements that put river as the central of their livelihood activities. The theory of Rapopport [1] was used to investigate the importance of cultural aspect influence to the settlement process, and to seek for the behavioural and environment relationship in determining the pattern of adaptation process. Mix method approach was conducted by utilizing in depth interviews among 40 respondents within three districts, namely in Baamang, Mentaya Seberang and Mentawa Baru Ketapang subdistrict. The result shows that culture dominantly affect the process of settlement adaptation, especially the aspect of family structure, social network, and kinship. The adaptation pattern is influenced significantly by physical environment, type of physical condition of the houses, economic condition and the degree of heritage preservation motive. It sums up that adaptation process could be effective if the integration of culture, activities and government regulations is performed.

[Diversity of soil nematode communities in the subalpine and alpine forests of western Sichuan, China.

PubMed

Chen, Ya; Yang, Wan Qin; Wu, Fu Zhong; Yang, Fan; Lan, Li Ying; Liu, Yu Wei; Guo, Cai Hong; Tan, Bo

2017-10-01

In order to understand the diversity of soil nematodes in the subalpine/alpine forests of the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, soil nematodes in the primary forest, mixed forest and secondary forest of Abies faxoniana were extracted by elutriation and sugar-centrifugation method in July 2015, and the composition and structure characteristics of soil nematode communities were studied in the three forests at different altitudes. A total of 37950 soil nematodes were collected, which belonged to 20 families and 27 genera, and the mean density was 4217 ind·100 g -1 dry soil. Filenchus was the dominant genus in the primary forest, and Filenchus and Pararotylenchus in the mixed forest and secondary forest, respectively. The individual number of each dominant genus was significantly affected by forest type. All nematode individuals were classified into the four trophic groups of bacterivores, fungivores, plant-parasites and omnivore-predators. The fungivores were dominant in the primary and secondary forest and the bacterivores in the mixed forest. The number of soil nematode c-p (colonizer-persister) groups of c-p 1, c-p 2, c-p 3 and c-p 4 accounted for 6.1%, 51.1%, 30.0% and 12.7% of the total nematode abundance, respectively. The maturity index (MI), the total maturity index (∑MI) and the plant parasitic index (PPI) of soil nematodes decreased gradually with the increase of altitude. The nematode channel ratio in the mixed forest was higher than 0.5, but that in the primary forest and secondary forest was below 0.5. The forest type significantly affected the soil nematode maturity index and channel ratio, but the forest type, soil layer and their interaction had no significant effect on the diversity index. There were obvious diffe-rences in the composition, nutrient structure and energy flow channel of soil nematodes in the subalpine/alpine forests of western Sichuan, providing an important reference for understanding the function of soil nematodes in soil processes of this region.

Laser ablation for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy: Surgical and cognitive outcomes with and without mesial temporal sclerosis.

PubMed

Donos, Cristian; Breier, Joshua; Friedman, Elliott; Rollo, Patrick; Johnson, Jessica; Moss, Lauren; Thompson, Stephen; Thomas, Melissa; Hope, Omotola; Slater, Jeremy; Tandon, Nitin

2018-06-12

Laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) is a minimally invasive surgical technique for focal epilepsy. A major appeal of LITT is that it may result in fewer cognitive deficits, especially when targeting dominant hemisphere mesial temporal lobe (MTL) epilepsy. To evaluate this, as well as to determine seizure outcomes following LITT, we evaluated the relationships between ablation volumes and surgical or cognitive outcomes in 43 consecutive patients undergoing LITT for MTL epilepsy. All patients underwent unilateral LITT targeting mesial temporal structures. FreeSurfer software was used to derive cortical and subcortical segmentation of the brain (especially subregions of the MTL) using preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Ablation volumes were outlined using a postablation T1-contrasted MRI. The percentages of the amygdala, hippocampus, and entorhinal cortex ablated were quantified objectively. The volumetric measures were regressed against changes in neuropsychological performance before and after surgery, RESULTS: A median of 73.7% of amygdala, 70.9% of hippocampus, and 28.3% of entorhinal cortex was ablated. Engel class I surgical outcome was obtained in 79.5% and 67.4% of the 43 patients at 6 and 20.3 months of follow-up, respectively. No significant differences in surgical outcomes were found across patient subgroups (hemispheric dominance, hippocampal sclerosis, or need for intracranial evaluation). Furthermore, no significant differences in volumes ablated were found between patients with Engel class IA vs Engel class II-IV outcomes. In patients undergoing LITT in the dominant hemisphere, a decline in verbal and narrative memory, but not in naming function was noted. Seizure-free outcomes following LITT may be comparable in carefully selected patients with and without MTS, and these outcomes are comparable with outcomes following microsurgical resection. Failures may result from non-mesial components of the epileptogenic network that are not affected by LITT. Cognitive declines following MTL-LITT are modest, and principally affect memory processes. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2018 International League Against Epilepsy.

Fungal-to-bacterial dominance of soil detrital food-webs: Consequences for biogeochemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rousk, Johannes; Frey, Serita

2015-04-01

Resolving fungal and bacterial groups within the microbial decomposer community is thought to capture disparate microbial life strategies, associating bacteria with an r-selected strategy for carbon (C) and nutrient use, and fungi with a K-selected strategy. Additionally, food-web models have established a widely held belief that the bacterial decomposer pathway in soil supports high turnover rates of easily available substrates, while the slower fungal pathway supports the decomposition of more complex organic material, thus characterising the biogeochemistry of the ecosystem. Three field-experiments to generate gradients of SOC-quality were assessed. (1) the Detritus Input, Removal, and Trenching - DIRT - experiment in a temperate forest in mixed hardwood stands at Harvard Forest LTER, US. There, experimentally adjusted litter input and root input had affected the SOC quality during 23 years. (2) field-application of 14-C labelled glucose to grassland soils, sampled over the course of 13 months to generate an age-gradient of SOM (1 day - 13 months). (3) The Park Grass Experiment at Rothamsted, UK, where 150-years continuous N-fertilisation (0, 50, 100, 150 kg N ha-1 y-1) has affected the quality of SOM in grassland soils. A combination of carbon stable and radio isotope studies, fungal and bacterial growth and biomass measurements, and C and N mineralisation (15N pool dilution) assays were used to investigate how SOC-quality influenced fungal and bacterial food-web pathways and the implications this had for C and nutrient turnover. There was no support that decomposer food-webs dominated by bacteria support high turnover rates of easily available substrates, while slower fungal-dominated decomposition pathways support the decomposition of more complex organic material. Rather, an association between high quality SOC and fungi emerges from the results. This suggests that we need to revise our basic understanding for soil microbial communities and the processes they regulate in soil.

Groundwater solute chemistry and arsenic fate in aquifer of Brahmaputra river basin, India: Controls of geology and tectonic setting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verma, S.; Mukherjee, A.; Mahanta, C.

2015-12-01

Elevated arsenic (As) concentrations in groundwater of the river Brahmaputra basin of India has been largely undocumented, and unexplored. Hydrogeochemical investigations in three different tectono-geomorphic settings of the basin i.e. the northwestern and northern part (located along foothills of the Eastern Himalayas) and southern part (in vicinity of Naga-thrust belt) demonstrate regional variability of groundwater chemistry and redox conditions with geology. Shallow alluvial aquifers of southern part, which are mainly composed of black/dark grey clay and fine sands are affected by high arsenic concentration whereas groundwater from sandy aquifer in the northwestern and northern part have comparatively lower As concentrations. Stable isotopes (δ2H and δ18O) in groundwater indicate suggest that some evaporation may have taken place through recharging water in the study areas. The major-ion composition shows that groundwater of northwestern and northern part are dominated by Ca2+-HCO3-, Ca2+-Na+-HCO3 while southern part is dominated by Na+-Ca2+-HCO3- hydrochemical facies. Molar ratios suggested that most groundwater solutes of northwestern and northern parts were derived from both silicate weathering and carbonate dissolution and have not been affected by cation exchange, while silicate weathering process dominates in aquifers of southern where cation exchange probably has little influence on water chemistry. Thermodynamic calculations show that most of samples fall along the equilibrium line between kaolinite and smectite. While, positive correlations of As with Fe, Mn and HCO3 were observed in northwestern and northern parts aquifers, no consistent correlation of As with any parameter was observed in the aquifers of southern part. Therefore, the results of the study clearly indicate geological control (i.e. change in lithofacies, tectonic set-up) on groundwater chemistry and distribution of redox-sensitive solutes such as As.

Glycines from the APP GXXXG/GXXXA Transmembrane Motifs Promote Formation of Pathogenic Aβ Oligomers in Cells

PubMed Central

Decock, Marie; Stanga, Serena; Octave, Jean-Noël; Dewachter, Ilse; Smith, Steven O.; Constantinescu, Stefan N.; Kienlen-Campard, Pascal

2016-01-01

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive cognitive decline leading to dementia. The amyloid precursor protein (APP) is a ubiquitous type I transmembrane (TM) protein sequentially processed to generate the β-amyloid peptide (Aβ), the major constituent of senile plaques that are typical AD lesions. There is a growing body of evidence that soluble Aβ oligomers correlate with clinical symptoms associated with the disease. The Aβ sequence begins in the extracellular juxtamembrane region of APP and includes roughly half of the TM domain. This region contains GXXXG and GXXXA motifs, which are critical for both TM protein interactions and fibrillogenic properties of peptides derived from TM α-helices. Glycine-to-leucine mutations of these motifs were previously shown to affect APP processing and Aβ production in cells. However, the detailed contribution of these motifs to APP dimerization, their relation to processing, and the conformational changes they can induce within Aβ species remains undefined. Here, we describe highly resistant Aβ42 oligomers that are produced in cellular membrane compartments. They are formed in cells by processing of the APP amyloidogenic C-terminal fragment (C99), or by direct expression of a peptide corresponding to Aβ42, but not to Aβ40. By a point-mutation approach, we demonstrate that glycine-to-leucine mutations in the G29XXXG33 and G38XXXA42 motifs dramatically affect the Aβ oligomerization process. G33 and G38 in these motifs are specifically involved in Aβ oligomerization; the G33L mutation strongly promotes oligomerization, while G38L blocks it with a dominant effect on G33 residue modification. Finally, we report that the secreted Aβ42 oligomers display pathological properties consistent with their suggested role in AD, but do not induce toxicity in survival assays with neuronal cells. Exposure of neurons to these Aβ42 oligomers dramatically affects neuronal differentiation and, consequently, neuronal network maturation. PMID:27242518

The Genetics of a Small Autosomal Region of DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER Containing the Structural Gene for Alcohol Dehydrogenase. III. Hypomorphic and Hypermorphic Mutations Affecting the Expression of Hairless

PubMed Central

Ashburner, Michael

1982-01-01

A lethal locus (l(2)br7;35B6-10), near Adh on chromosome arm 2L of D. melanogaster, is identified with Plunkett's dominant suppressor of Hairless (H). Of eight new alleles, seven act as dominant suppressors of H, the eighth is a dominant enhancer of H. One of the suppressor alleles is both a leaky lethal and a weak suppressor of H. Confirming Nash (1970), deletions of l(2)br7 are dominant suppressors, and duplications are dominant enhancers of H. A simple model is proposed to account for the interaction of l(2)br7 and H, assuming that amorphic (or hypomorphic) alleles of l(2)br7 suppress H and that hypermorphic alleles enhance H. PMID:6816670

Multiple mechanisms of early plant community assembly with stochasticity driving the process.

PubMed

Marteinsdóttir, Bryndís; Svavarsdóttir, Kristín; Thórhallsdóttir, Thóra Ellen

2018-01-01

Initial plant establishment is one of the most critical phases in ecosystem development, where an early suite of physical (environmental filtering), biological (seed limitation, species interactions) and stochastic factors may affect successional trajectories and rates. While functional traits are commonly used to study processes that influence plant community assembly in late successional communities, few studies have applied them to primary succession. The objective here was to determine the importance of these factors in shaping early plant community assembly on a glacial outwash plain, Skeiðarársandur, in SE Iceland using a trait based approach. We used data on vascular plant assemblages at two different spatial scales (community and neighborhood) sampled in 2005 and 2012, and compiled a dataset on seven functional traits linked to species dispersal abilities, establishment, and persistence for all species within these assemblages. Trait-based null model analyses were used to determine the processes that influenced plant community assembly from the regional species pool into local communities, and to determine if the importance of these processes in community assembly was dependent on local environment or changed with time. On the community scale, for most traits, random processes dominated the assembly from the regional species pool. However, in some communities, there was evidence of non-random assembly in relation to traits linked to species dispersal abilities, persistence, and establishment. On the neighborhood scale, assembly was mostly random. The relative importance of different processes varied spatially and temporally and the variation was linked to local soil conditions. While stochasticity dominated assembly patterns of our early successional communities, there was evidence of both seed limitation and environmental filtering. Our results indicated that as soil conditions improved, environmental constraints on assembly became weaker and the assembly became more dependent on species availability. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Correlation of ankle eversion to inversion strength ratio and static balance in dominant and non-dominant limbs of basketball players.

PubMed

Dabadghav, Rachana

2016-04-01

To compare ankle eversion to inversion strength ratio (E/I R) and static balance control between the dominant and non-dominant limbs of basketball players and to correlate ankle E/I R and static balance control in the dominant and non-dominant limbs of basketball players. Twenty-one healthy basketball players in the age-group of 18-25 years participated in this study. Isokinetic ankle eversion and inversion muscle strength was assessed at 30°/s and 120°/s in both dominant and non-dominant limbs using the Biodex isokinetic dynamometer. Similarly balance was assessed on a force platform with eyes open and eyes closed in both dominant and non-dominant limbs. Repeated measure ANOVA for strength measurement, found that there was significant main effect of speed, P=0.001 (P<0.05). However, there was no significant main effect in the sides P=0.099 (P<0.05).There was significant main effect of sides with respect to balance. Balance was affected more in non-dominant limb P=0.000 as compared to dominant limb. However, there was not much of a significant difference with eyes open and eyes closed position. The E/I ratio was >1.0 at the angular velocity of 120°/s increasing the chances of ankle injuries in basketball players. There was no correlation between ankle strength and balance in both dominant and non-dominant limbs.

The effect of occupational health and safety, work environment and discipline on employee performance in a consumer goods company

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putri, D. O.; Triatmanto, B.; Setiyadi, S.

2018-04-01

Employee performance can be the supporting factor of company performance. However, employee performance can be affected by several factors. Employees can have optimal performance if they feel safe, have good working environment and have discipline. The purposes of this research are to analyze the effect of occupational health and safety, work environment and discipline on the employee performance in PPIC Thermo section in a consumer goods company and to find the dominant variable which primarily affects employee performance. This research was conducted by taking data from 47 respondents. The data were collected using questionnaire. The techniques in data analysis is multiple linear regression with SPSS software. The result shows that occupational health and safety, work environment and discipline are simultaneously significant to the employee performance. Discipline holds the dominant factor which affects employee performance.

The Sun, Its Extended Corona, the Interplanetary Space, the Earth's Magnetosphere, Ionosphere, Middle and Low Atmosphere, are All Parts of a Complex System - the Heliosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gopalswamy, Natchimuthuk

2011-01-01

Various manifestations of solar activity cause disturbances known as space weather effects in the interplanetary space, near-Earth environment, and all the Earth's "spheres. Longterm variations in the frequency, intensity and relative importance of the manifestations of solar activity are due to the slow changes in the output of the solar dynamo, and they define space climate. Space climate governs long-term variations in geomagnetic activity and is the primary natural driver of terrestrial climate. To understand how the variable solar activity affects the Earth's environment, geomagnetic activity and climate on both short and long time scales, we need to understand the origins of solar activity itself and its different manifestations, as well as the sequence of coupling processes linking various parts of the system. This session provides a forum to discuss the chain of processes and relations from the Sun to the Earth's surface: the origin and long-term and short-term evolution of solar activity, initiation and temporal variations in solar flares, CMEs, coronal holes, the solar wind and its interaction with the terrestrial magnetosphere, the ionosphere and its connection to the neutral dominated regions below and the plasma dominated regions above, the stratosphere, its variations due to the changing solar activity and its interactions with the underlying troposphere, and the mechanisms of solar influences on the lower atmosphere on different time-scales. Particularly welcome are papers highlighting the coupling processes between the different domains in this complex system.

Identification of inflammation sites in arthritic joints using hyperspectral imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paluchowski, Lukasz A.; Milanic, Matija; Bjorgan, Asgeir; Grandaunet, Berit; Dhainaut, Alvilde; Hoff, Mari; Randeberg, Lise L.

2014-03-01

Inflammatory arthritic diseases have prevalence between 2 and 3% and may lead to joint destruction and deformation resulting in a loss of function. Patient's quality of life is often severely affected as the disease attacks hands and finger joints. Pathology involved in arthritis includes angiogenesis, hyper-vascularization, hyper-metabolism and relative hypoxia. We have employed hyperspectral imaging to study the hemodynamics of affected- and non-affected joints and tissue. Two hyperspectral, push-broom cameras were used (VNIR-1600, SWIR-320i, Norsk Elektro Optikk AS, Norway). Optical spectra (400nm - 1700nm) of high spectral resolution were collected from 15 patients with visible symptoms of arthritic rheumatic diseases in at least one joint. The control group consisted of 10 healthy individuals. Concentrations of dominant chromophores were calculated based on analytical calculations of light transport in tissue. Image processing was used to analyze hyperspectral data and retrieve information, e.g. blood concentration and tissue oxygenation maps. The obtained results indicate that hyperspectral imaging can be used to quantify changes within affected joints and surrounding tissue. Further improvement of this method will have positive impact on diagnosis of arthritic joints at an early stage. Moreover it will enable development of fast, noninvasive and noncontact diagnostic tool of arthritic joints

Effects of leg dominance on performance of ballet turns (pirouettes) by experienced and novice dancers.

PubMed

Lin, Chia-Wei; Su, Fong-Chin; Wu, Hong-Wen; Lin, Cheng-Feng

2013-01-01

Turns (pirouettes) are an important movement in ballet and may be affected by "lateral bias". This study investigated physiological differences exhibited by experienced and novice dancers, respectively, when performing pirouette with dominant and non-dominant leg supports, respectively. Thirteen novice and 13 experienced dancers performed turns on dominant or non-dominant legs. The maximum ankle plantarflexion, knee extension and hip extension were measured during the single-leg support phase. The inclination angle of rotation axis is the angle between instantaneous rotation axis and global vertical axis in the early single-leg support phase. Both groups exhibited a greater hip extension, knee extension, and ankle plantarflexion when performing a turn on the non-dominant leg. For experienced dancers, the inclination angle of rotation axis during the pre-swing phase was generally smaller for dominant leg support than non-dominant leg. However, no significant difference was found in inclination angle of rotation axis of novice dancers. For experienced dancers, an improved performance is obtained when using the dominant leg for support. By contrast, for novice dancers, the performance is independent of choice of support leg. The significant lateral bias in experienced dancers indicates the possible influence of training. That is, repetitive rehearsal on the preferred leg strengthens the impact of side dominance in experienced dancers.

Dominant Douglas-fir respond to fertilizing and thinning in southwest Oregon

Treesearch

Richard E. Miller; Richard L. Williamson

1974-01-01

In 30-year-old, Site IV Douglas-fir in southwest Oregon, fertilizing increased average 4-year basal area growth of dominant trees by 57 and 28 percent on clay loam and sandy loam soils, respectively. Fertilizing with thinning increased growth by 94 and 132 percent over untreated growth. Thinning on clay loam soil increased growth by 53 percent. Treatment did not affect...