Turning the ship: a new direction for managing wood waste in the Salish Sea of Washington State

Wood waste has been a major driver in numerous large scale, nearshore cleanups in Washington State Its presence has contributed substantially to both the extent and volume of sediment requiring cleanup which is costly and time consuming. Success in dealing with wood waste must start with controlling sources and a reassessment of how timber-related uses of our waters are conducted. Recognizing its ecological impacts and the financial burden of cleanup prompts the change from practices that release wood waste to state waters. While it is tough to change from traditional use of waters for transport and storage of logs or chips, the minor investment in source control measures is necessary to avoid impacts. Activities that generate wood waste have received less attention than the regulation of typical industrial process discharges and solid waste streams. Also, the nature of wood waste is highly variable which makes its toxic effects difficult to predict. Unlike many traditional contaminants, there is not a simple metric like chemical concentration that accurately characterizes the effects of wood waste in the aquatic environment. The Washington State Sediment Management Standards address both of these challenges, 1) implementing practical source control measures under state and federal (Clean Water Act) laws, and 2) use of biological criteria (bioassays) for final assessment of wood waste impacted sediments. These are detailed in Ecology’s technical guidance document, Wood Waste Cleanup, Identifying, assessing, and remediating wood waste in marine and freshwater environments

Religion as a Chinese Cultural Component: Culture in the Chinese Taoist Association and Confucius Institute

This thesis examines the role of the cultural discourse on the indigenous religious traditions of China and their place within an officially sanctioned construction of Chinese culture. It starts by examining the concept of culture as it developed in the modern era, its place within the construction of national identities, and the marginalizing effects this has on certain members of national populations. Next it turns to the development of the cultural discourse within China from the mid-1800s to the Cultural Revolution, highlighting the social and legal transformations as they restricted and reframed the practice and articulation of religious traditions in mainland China. Following these early articulations of a cultural discourse in China and the subjugation of religious traditions to secular standards of legitimation, it examines the official presentations and governmentally sanctioned forms of the Daoist tradition in post-Mao China during a “cultural revival,” through an analysis of official publications and online presentations. Finally, it examines the way teachers and administrators package Chinese culture for a foreign audience through the Confucius Institute. This thesis argues that, despite greater freedom to explore indigenous traditions previously written off as “superstitious” within the cultural revival of contemporary China, the official cultural discourse in China continues to operate within the parameters of a modern cultural identity that marginalizes ritualistic forms of religion, allowing these religious forms to survive in an official space only as exotic images, sanitized and secularized activities, or ethical ideals

Very bright orange fluorescent plants: endoplasmic reticulum targeting of orange fluorescent proteins as visual reporters in transgenic plants

Background The expression of fluorescent protein (FP) genes as real-time visual markers, both transiently and stably, has revolutionized plant biotechnology. A palette of colors of FPs is now available for use, but the diversity has generally been underutilized in plant biotechnology. Because of the green and far-red autofluorescent properties of many plant tissues and the FPs themselves, red and orange FPs (RFPs, and OFPs, respectfully) appear to be the colors with maximum utility in plant biotechnology. Within the color palette OFPs have emerged as the brightest FP markers in the visible spectra. This study compares several native, near-native and modified OFPs for their “brightness” and fluorescence, therefore, their usability as marker genes in transgenic plant tissues. Results The OFPs DsRed2, tdTomato, mOrange and pporRFP were all expressed under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter in agroinfiltration-mediated transient assays in Nicotiana benthamiana. Each of these, as well as endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-targeted versions, were stably expressed in transgenic Nicotiana tabacum and Arabidopsis thaliana. Congruent results were observed between transient and stable assays. Our results demonstrated that there are several adequate OFP genes available for plant transformation, including the new pporRFP, an unaltered tetramer from the hard coral Porites porites. When the tandem dimer tdTomato and the monomeric mOrange were targeted to the ER, dramatic, ca. 3-fold, increase in plant fluorescence was observed. Conclusions From our empirical data, and a search of the literature, it appears that tdTomato-ER and mOrange-ER are the two highest fluorescing FPs available as reporters for transgenic plants. The pporRFP is a brightly fluorescing tetramer, but all tetramer FPs are far less bright than the ER-targeted monomers we report here

Endovascular treatment of a Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome variant secondary to traumatic pseudoaneurysm

Pseudoaneurysms related to the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) are a recognised complication of trauma to the vessel, and successful treatment with stenting has been previously described. We report the case of a patient who presented with obstruction of the fourth part of the duodenum secondary to a traumatic pseudoaneurysm, a hitherto unreported variant of superior mesenteric artery syndrome. Exclusion of the pseudoaneurysm and relief of the duodenal obstruction were simultaneously achieved by placement of a covered stent

Enhanced fed-batch production, partial purification, characterization of jenseniin P, and discovery of a new bacteriocin-like substance produced by Propionibacterium jensenii B1264

Propionibacterium jensenii B1264 was discovered to inhibit various Propionibacterium, Lactobacilli, and Lactococcus strains based on a deferred agar spot-on-lawn detection method in previous research, in which Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. lactis ATCC 4797 was the most susceptible one. The antimicrobial substance(s) was named jenseniin P and L. delbrueckii ssp. lactis ATCC 4797 was thereafter used as the indicator strain in subsequent research. In current study, production of jenseniin P was significantly enhanced via an improved fed-batch fermentation method and was partially purified using reverse phase silica gel (C18). This partially purified jenseniin P was inactivated by trypsin, pronase, and proteinase K. The molecular weight of jenseniin P was determined to be between 4.5 and 5kDa. Jenseniin P was characterized as being pH stable with partial inactivation at 100°C. Jenseniin P was determined to be bactericidal, causing 2.38 log reduction within 60min at room temperature. A new bacteriocin-like inhibitory substance (BLIS) produced by P. jensenii B1264 was discovered in this study. The new BLIS inhibited the growth of Propionibacterium acnes ATCC 6919 but not the previously used indicator strain L. lactis ATCC 4797. The new discovered BLIS was recovered from the 30% acetonitrile elution fraction of C18 resin silica column purification process. This new BLIS might present new potential application in the pharmaceutical industry for acne treatment

Pleasure and meaningful discourse: an overview of research issues

The concept of pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural phenomenon in studies of media audiences since the 1980s. In these studies different forms of pleasure have been identified as explaining audience activity and commitment. In the diverse studies pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural concept that needs to be contextualized carefully. Genre and genre variations, class, gender, (sub-)cultural identity and generation all seem to be instrumental in determining the kind and variety of pleasures experienced in the act of viewing. This body of research has undoubtedly contributed to a better understanding of the complexity of audience activities, but it is exactly the diversity of the concept that is puzzling and poses a challenge to its further use. If pleasure is maintained as a key concept in audience analysis that holds much explanatory power, it needs a stronger theoretical foundation. The article maps the ways in which the concept of pleasure has been used by cultural theorists, who have paved the way for its application in reception analysis, and it goes on to explore the ways in which the concept has been used in empirical studies. Central to our discussion is the division between the ‘public knowledge’ and the ‘popular culture’ projects in reception analysis which, we argue, have major implications for the way in which pleasure has come to be understood as divorced from politics, power and ideology. Finally, we suggest ways of bridging the gap between these two projects in an effort to link pleasure to the concepts of hegemony and ideology

Understanding the influences on successful quality improvement in emergency general surgery: learning from the RCS Chole-QuIC project.

BACKGROUND: Acute gallstone disease is the highest volume Emergency General Surgical presentation in the UK. Recent data indicate wide variations in the quality of care provided across the country, with national guidance for care delivery not implemented in most UK hospitals. Against this backdrop, the Royal College of Surgeons of England set up a 13-hospital quality improvement collaborative (Chole-QuIC) to support clinical teams to reduce time to surgery for patients with acute gallstone disease requiring emergency cholecystectomy. METHODS: Prospective, mixed-methods process evaluation to answer the following: (1) how was the collaborative delivered by the faculty and received, understood and enacted by the participants; (2) what influenced teams' ability to improve care for patients requiring emergency cholecystectomy? We collected and analysed a range of data including field notes, ethnographic observations of meetings, and project documentation. Analysis was based on the framework approach, informed by Normalisation Process Theory, and involved the creation of comparative case studies based on hospital performance during the project. RESULTS: Chole-QuIC was delivered as planned and was well received and understood by participants. Four hospitals were identified as highly successful, based upon a substantial increase in the number of patients having surgery in line with national guidance. Conversely, four hospitals were identified as challenged, achieving no significant improvement. The comparative analysis indicate that six inter-related influences appeared most associated with improvement: (1) achieving clarity of purpose amongst site leads and key stakeholders; (2) capacity to lead and effective project support; (3) ideas to action; (4) learning from own and others' experience; (5) creating additional capacity to do emergency cholecystectomies; and (6) coordinating/managing the patient pathway. CONCLUSION: Collaborative-based quality improvement is a viable strategy for emergency surgery but success requires the deployment of effective clinical strategies in conjunction with improvement strategies. In particular, achieving clarity of purpose about proposed changes amongst key stakeholders was a vital precursor to improvement, enabling the creation of additional surgical capacity and new pathways to be implemented effectively. Protected time, testing ideas, and the ability to learn quickly from data and experience were associated with greater impact within this cohort

Stakeholder collaboration and heritage management

This article examines a collaborative approach to the relationship between heritage management and tourism development in Luang Prabang, Laos. The purpose is to examine stakeholder collaboration and management roles, heritage tourism development, as well as the interdependence of the heritage conservation and tourism relationship. The research examines a UNESCO/Norwegian government project, which aiming to promote collaboration between heritage conservation and tourism through stakeholder involvement. Five aspects are explored: channels of communication between the heritage and the tourism groups, generating income for heritage conservation and management, involving the local community in decisionmaking, involving the local community in tourism activities, and an assessment of the extent and success of stakeholder collaboration

Paleogeodetic records of seismic and aseismic subduction from central Sumatran microatolls, Indonesia

We utilize coral microatolls in western Sumatra to document vertical deformation associated with subduction. Microatolls are very sensitive to fluctuations in sea level and thus act as natural tide gauges. They record not only the magnitude of vertical deformation associated with earthquakes (paleoseismic data), but also continuously track the long-term aseismic deformation that occurs during the intervals between earthquakes (paleogeodetic data). This paper focuses on the twentieth century paleogeodetic history of the equatorial region. Our coral paleogeodetic record of the 1935 event reveals a classical example of deformations produced by seismic rupture of a shallow subduction interface. The site closest to the trench rose 90 cm, whereas sites further east sank by as much as 35 cm. Our model reproduces these paleogeodetic data with a 2.3 m slip event on the interface 88 to 125 km from the trench axis. Our coral paleogeodetic data reveal slow submergence during the decades before and after the event in the areas of coseismic emergence. Likewise, interseismic emergence occurred before and after the 1935 event in areas of coseismic submergence. Among the interesting phenomenon we have discovered in the coral record is evidence of a large aseismic slip or “silent event” in 1962, 27 years after the 1935 event. Paleogeodetic deformation rates in the decades before, after, and between the 1935 and 1962 events have varied both temporally and spatially. During the 25 years following the 1935 event, submergence rates were dramatically greater than in prior decades. During the past four decades, however, rates have been lower than in the preceding decades, but are still higher than they were prior to 1935. These paleogeodetic records enable us to model the kinematics of the subduction interface throughout the twentieth century

Source parameters of the great Sumatran megathrust earthquakes of 1797 and 1833 inferred from coral microatolls

Large uplifts and tilts occurred on the Sumatran outer arc islands between 0.5° and 3.3°S during great historical earthquakes in 1797 and 1833, as judged from relative sea level changes recorded by annually banded coral heads. Coral data for these two earthquakes are most complete along a 160-km length of the Mentawai islands between 3.2° and 2°S. Uplift there was as great as 0.8 m in 1797 and 2.8 m in 1833. Uplift in 1797 extended 370 km, between 3.2° and 0.5°S. The pattern and magnitude of uplift imply megathrust ruptures corresponding to moment magnitudes (M_w) in the range 8.5 to 8.7. The region of uplift in 1833 ranges from 2° to at least 3.2°S and, judging from historical reports of shaking and tsunamis, perhaps as far as 5°S. The patterns and magnitude of uplift and tilt in 1833 are similar to those experienced farther north, between 0.5° and 3°N, during the giant Nias-Simeulue megathrust earthquake of 2005; the outer arc islands rose as much as 3 m and tilted toward the mainland. Elastic dislocation forward modeling of the coral data yields megathrust ruptures with moment magnitudes ranging from 8.6 to 8.9. Sparse accounts at Padang, along the mainland west coast at latitude 1°S, imply tsunami runups of at least 5 m in 1797 and 3–4 m in 1833. Tsunamis simulated from the pattern of coral uplift are roughly consistent with these reports. The tsunami modeling further indicates that the Indian Ocean tsunamis of both 1797 and 1833, unlike that of 2004, were directed mainly south of the Indian subcontinent. Between about 0.7° and 2.1°S, the lack of vintage 1797 and 1833 coral heads in the intertidal zone demonstrates that interseismic submergence has now nearly equals coseismic emergence that accompanied those earthquakes. The interseismic strains accumulated along this reach of the megathrust have thus approached or exceeded the levels relieved in 1797 and 1833