5,186 research outputs found
Pleistocene Walrus (Odobenus Rosmarus) from Forteau, Labrador
A partial skeleton of an adult male walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) was excavated from a raised beach on the Labrador coast, near the present community of Forteau. Bone collagen from the specimen has been radiocarbon dated at about 11 500 yr BP. Fossil pollen, dinoflagellates, diatoms, sponges, echinoderms, barnacles, foraminifers and ostracodes from sandy clay surrounding the specimen are considered in terms of their paleoenvironmental implications. Presuming the bone date is correct, palynological and molluscan data suggest that the walrus skeleton was reworked and redeposited by a receding sea some 10 300 to 10 400 years ago, when sparse tundra vegetation evidently bordered on a glaciomarine environment.Le squelette partiel d'un morse adulte mâle a été exhumé d'une plage soulevée sur la côte du Labrador, près de l'habitat de la communauté actuelle. Le collagène des os du spécimen a été daté au radiocarbone à 11 500 BP. Le pollen fossile, les dinoflagellés, les diatomées, les éponges, les échinodermes, les balanes, les foraminifères et les ostracodes prélevés dans l'argile sableuse des environs ont été étudiés en fonction des implications paléo-environnementales. En supposant que la date de l'os est juste, les données sur le pollen et les mollusques semblent indiquer que le squelette du morse a été dérangé et redéposé par une mer en recul il y a 10 300-10 400 ans, alors qu'une végétation clairsemée de toundra occupait les abords d'un milieu glacio-marin
Honey Bee Gut Microbiome Is Altered by In-Hive Pesticide Exposures
Honey bees (Apismellifera) are the primary pollinators of major horticultural crops. Over the last few decades, a substantial decline in honey bees and their colonies have been reported. While a plethora of factors could contribute to the putative decline, pathogens, and pesticides are common concerns that draw attention. In addition to potential direct effects on honey bees, indirect pesticide effects could include alteration of essential gut microbial communities and symbionts that are important to honey bee health (e.g.,immunesystem). The primary objective of this study was to determine the microbiome associated with honey bees exposed to commonly used in-hive pesticides: coumaphos, tau-fluvalinate, and chlorothalonil. Treatments were replicated at three independent locations near Blacksburg Virginia, and included ano-pesticide amended control at each location. The microbiome was characterized through pyrosequencing of V2–V3 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and fungal ITS region. Pesticide exposure significantly affected the structure of bacterial but not fungal communities. The bee bacteriome, similar to other studies, was dominated by sequences derived from Bacilli, Actinobacteria, α-, β-, γ-proteobacteria. The fungal community sequences were dominated by Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes. The Multi-response permutation procedures (MRPP) and subsequent Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) analysis indicated that chlorothalonil caused significant change to the structure and functional potential of the honey bee gut bacterial community relative to control. Putative genes for oxidative phosphorylation, for example, increased while sugar metabolism and peptidase potential declined in the microbiome of chlorothalonil exposed bees. The results of this field-based study suggest the potential for pesticide induced changes to the honey bee gut microbiome that warrant further investigation
Dengue in Madeira Island
This is a preprint of a paper whose final and definite form will be published in the volume
Mathematics of Planet Earth that initiates the book series CIM Series in Mathematical Sciences
(CIM-MS) published by Springer. Submitted Oct/2013; Revised 16/July/2014 and 20/Sept/2014;
Accepted 28/Sept/2014.Dengue is a vector-borne disease and 40% of world population is at risk.
Dengue transcends international borders and can be found in tropical and subtropical
regions around the world, predominantly in urban and semi-urban areas. A
model for dengue disease transmission, composed by mutually-exclusive compartments
representing the human and vector dynamics, is presented in this study. The
data is from Madeira, a Portuguese island, where an unprecedented outbreak was
detected on October 2012. The aim of this work is to simulate the repercussions of
the control measures in the fight of the disease
A nested loop for simultaneous model topology screening, parameters estimation, and identification of the optimal number of experiments: Application to a Simulated Moving Bed unit
Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) chromatography is a well-known technique for the
resolution of several high-value-added compounds. Parameters identification and
model topology definition are arduous when one is dealing with complex systems
such as a Simulated Moving Bed unit. Moreover, the large number of experiments
necessary might be an expansive-long process. Hence, this work proposes a novel
methodology for parameter estimation, screening the most suitable topology of
the models sink-source (defined by the adsorption isotherm equation) and
defining the minimum number of experiments necessary to identify the model.
Therefore, a nested loop optimization problem is proposed with three levels
considering the three main goals of the work: parameters estimation; topology
screening by isotherm definition; minimum number of experiments necessary to
yield a precise model. The proposed methodology emulated a real scenario by
introducing noise in the data and using a Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) approach.
Data reconciliation and uncertainty evaluation add robustness to the parameter
estimation adding precision and reliability to the model. The methodology is
validated considering experimental data from literature apart from the samples
applied for parameter estimation, following a cross-validation. The results
corroborate that it is possible to carry out trustworthy parameter estimation
directly from an SMB unit with minimal system knowledge
Transverse spin dynamics in a spin-polarized Fermi liquid
The linear equations for transverse spin dynamics in weakly polarised
degenerate Fermi liquid with arbitrary relationship between temperature and
polarization are derived from Landau-Silin phenomenological kinetic equation
with general form of two-particle collision integral. The temperature and
polarization dependence of the spin current relaxation time is established. It
is found in particular that at finite polarization transverse spin wave damping
has a finite value at T=0. The analogy between temperature dependences of spin
waves attenuation and ultrasound absorption in degenerate Fermi liquid at
arbitrary temperature is presented. We also discuss spin-polarized Fermi liquid
in the general context of the Fermi-liquid theory and compare it with "Fermi
liquid" with spontaneous magnetization.Comment: 10 page
d-Wave Superconductivity Induced by Chern-Simons Term in High- Cuprates
We show that a Chern-Simons term for a gauge field describing a fluctuation
of spins is induced by integrating out hole fields in the presence of
spin-orbit coupling which originates from a buckling of the CuO plane.
Through the Chern-Simons term, holes behave like skyrmion excitations in a spin
system and become a superconducting state with symmetry after the
antiferromagnetic long-range order is destroyed.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, the condition of taking continuum limit included,
references added, typos corrected, to be published in Journal of Physical
Society of Japa
The Sagnac Phase Shift suggested by the Aharonov-Bohm effect for relativistic matter beams
The phase shift due to the Sagnac Effect, for relativistic matter beams
counter-propagating in a rotating interferometer, is deduced on the bases of a
a formal analogy with the the Aharonov-Bohm effect. A procedure outlined by
Sakurai, in which non relativistic quantum mechanics and newtonian physics
appear together with some intrinsically relativistic elements, is generalized
to a fully relativistic context, using the Cattaneo's splitting technique. This
approach leads to an exact derivation, in a self-consistently relativistic way,
of the Sagnac effect. Sakurai's result is recovered in the first order
approximation.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 2 EPS figures. To appear in General Relativity and
Gravitatio
(5S)-4-(2,2-Dimethylpropyl)-5-isopropyl-1,3,4-oxadiazinan-2-one
The title compound, C11H22N2O2, has one chiral center and packs in the monoclinic space group P21. The asymmetric unit has five crystallographically independent molecules, four of which engage in intermolecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonding
Aedes aegypti salivary gland extract alleviates acute itching by blocking TRPA1 channels
Aedes aegypti (Ae. aegypti) saliva induces a variety of anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. Interestingly, although it is known that mosquito bites cause allergic reactions in sensitised hosts, the primary exposure of humans to Ae. aegypti does not evoke significant itching. Whether active components in the saliva of Ae. aegypti can counteract the normal itch reaction to injury produced by a histaminergic or non-histaminergic pathway in vertebrate hosts is unknown. This study investigated the effects of Ae. aegypti mosquito salivary gland extract (SGE) on sensitive reactions such as itching and associated skin inflammation. Acute pruritus and plasma extravasation were induced in mice by the intradermal injection of either compound 48/80 (C48/80), the Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor (Mrgpr) agonist chloroquine (CQ), or the transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) agonist allyl isothiocyanate (AITC). The i.d. co-injection of Ae. aegypti SGE inhibited itching, plasma extravasation, and neutrophil influx evoked by C48/80, but it did not significantly affect mast cell degranulation in situ or in vitro. Additionally, SGE partially reduced CQ- and AITC-induced pruritus in vivo, suggesting that SGE affects pruriceptive nerve firing independently of the histaminergic pathway. Activation of TRPA1 significantly increased intracellular Ca2+ in TRPA-1-transfected HEK293t lineage, which was attenuated by SGE addition. We showed for the first time that Ae. aegypti SGE exerts anti-pruriceptive effects, which are partially regulated by the histamine-independent itch TRPA1 pathway. Thus, SGE may possess bioactive molecules with therapeutic potential for treating nonhistaminergic itch
Putting the psychology back into psychological models: Mechanistic versus rational approaches
- …