University of Colorado: 1970 Summer Field Season in East Baffin Island

... Field work continued on [the late glacial and neoglacial chronology and recent crustal movements] program with the main emphasis being shifted to Narpaing Fiord and outer Okoa Bay. Marine limits were measured at many localities in the two areas and some samples of marine shells were collected for dating ... Studies continued on the task of subdividing the glacial deposits on the basis of a number of weathering criteria such as: depth of pitting, surface texture of boulders, soil development, X-ray analysis for clay minerals and Free-iron content. The combined results suggest several episodes of glaciation with a general decrease of glacier area and volume throughout the Wisconsin. ... A tentative lichen growth-curve is being developed based on a variety of evidence, and it is considered that the graph may usefully be extended back to 8,000 or 10,000 years ago. Work on a series of corrie moraines at the heads of Narpaing and Quajon fiords suggests that the outermost south-facing moraines at 600 m.a.s.l. may be 15,000 years old whereas the north-facing moraines at 550 m.a.s.l. are 8,000 to 10,000 years old. ... A series of 7 weather stations were established at different exposures and elevations in the area between the head of Quajon and Narpaing fiords. ... Mass budgets were measured in early June and mid-August using a variety of methods. Stakes, probing and pits were used to detail the progress of melting during the ablation season. In early June the specific net budget was + 0.42 cm ± 0.06 and in mid-August was + 0.38 ± 0.06 cm water equivalent. In complete contrast to 1969, no ice was showing on the glacier and the summer melt had been compensated by snowfalls throughout the "ablation" season. Surface lowering amounted to about 45 cm of snow and this was nearly identical to the mass added in the growth of superimposed ice. Because of low temperatures the glacier was acting nearly as a closed system. ..

University of Colorado 1974 Field Season in Eastern Baffin Island

The summer of 1974 saw one of the largest research parties the University of Colorado has been able to mount operating along the eastern coast of Baffin Island. The early and widespread break-up of sea ice greatly assisted in the completion of the field programme in which a total of sixteen persons were involved. In addition to members of the University staff, the following individuals from other institutions also participated. In the programme: a member of the Department of Micropalaeontology of the University of Aarhus, Denmark; a soil scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A.; a Quaternary geologist from Brock University, Ontario, Canada; and a Quaternary geologist from Grand Valley State College, Michigan, U.S.A. ... Raised marine sediments and tills were investigated on Broughton Island and northwards along the coast to Quajon Fiord. Specific attention was focused on collecting samples for micro-faunal analysis and delimiting different marine episodes. In addition, a number of sites were revisited on Broughton Island and northwards along the coast to Kivitoo and Quajon Fiord. Large (1000-g and over) samples of marine shells were collected from sites previously given dates of over 30,000 years BP. ... One field party mapped the southern part of the Baffin Island National Park, giving particular attention to (a) the delimitation of glacial periods on the basis of surface weathering of boulders, and (b) determining the elevation of local marine limits and lower strandlines. The latter research was concentrated on the mapping of the southern shore of Cumberland Peninsula, from outer Kingnait Fiord westward to the head of Cumberland Sound. ... Soil scientists established a soil chronosequence, and investigated the range of soil types existing within the southern part of Cumberland Peninsula. They sent samples south from laboratory analysis. Plant collection: Specimens of vascular plants, mosses and lichens were collected from Broughton Island and from the head of Maktak Fiord, and sent to the University of Colorado Museum. By December 1974, a total of 86 vascular plants had been identified. Climatological studies in relation to fast ice: Work done during the summer of 1974 concludes the field-measurement phase of the University of Colorado's study of the surface energy budgets of fast ice at Broughton Island. A micrometeorological station was operated at a site approximately one kilometre south of Broughton settlement, from late May until local break-up in early July. The programme of observation consisted of the periodic taking of profiles of wind, temperature and relative humidity; the continuous measurement of temperature at two metres, and net radiation over both saturated and unsaturated surfaces; and transects of surface short-wave albedo. Salinity and temperature profiles in the ice and water were taken every 304 days. Comparative analysis of the data for 1972-74 is now in progress in relation to the observed ice regime. The 1974 data should provide better estimates of the turbulent flux components of the energy budget than it was possible to make in previous summers. Meteorological observations were continued near the base of the Broughton Island operations through mid-August. Results are now available of four summers and two winters of standard meteorological observations, and global solar and net radiation measurements as well. The Atmospheric Environment Service Cooperative Observer station, with its twice-daily measurements of maximum and minimum temperatures and of precipitation, is now into its fourth calendar year of operation. The summer of 1974 was unusually mild. The mean ablation seasonal temperature was 3.9°C at the Broughton DEW line weather station. In contrast, 1972 was the coldest (-1.2 C°). The early part of June 1974 was dominated by anticyclonic synoptic weather patterns which greatly accelerated the fast ice ablation rate to give the earliest break-up in five years. Satellite-observed conce ntrations of pack ice in Davis Strait in late May were less than at the same time in 1973. With the resurvey of the "Boas" Glacier (67 35 N, 65 16 W) in August 1974, the mass balance measurements were extended to five balance years. Accurate measurements were not possible, because most ablation poles melted out during the warm summer of 1974. However, it is estimated that the net specific balance for the 1973-74 budget year was approximately -0.5 m water equivalent (w.e.). ... Analysis of the past five budget years shows that (a) the "Boas" Glacier exhibited a two-year alternation of large mass gains and losses during the first four years, and (b) the estimated net specific mass balance for the five-year period was -0.16 m w.e., in spite of the total net mass gains of 0.38 m w.e. during the first four years. ..

Optically switched 56 GBd PAM-4 using a hybrid InP-TriPleX integrated tunable laser based on silicon nitride micro-ring resonators

Tunable lasers are key elements for switching fabrics in future datacenter networks. Experimental results show transmission of 56 GBd PAM-4 data in a switching environment using an integrated silicon nitride micro-ring resonator based tunable laser

Charge Deficiency, Charge Transport and Comparison of Dimensions

We study the relative index of two orthogonal infinite dimensional projections which, in the finite dimensional case, is the difference in their dimensions. We relate the relative index to the Fredholm index of appropriate operators, discuss its basic properties, and obtain various formulas for it. We apply the relative index to counting the change in the number of electrons below the Fermi energy of certain quantum systems and interpret it as the charge deficiency. We study the relation of the charge deficiency with the notion of adiabatic charge transport that arises from the consideration of the adiabatic curvature. It is shown that, under a certain covariance, (homogeneity), condition the two are related. The relative index is related to Bellissard's theory of the Integer Hall effect. For Landau Hamiltonians the relative index is computed explicitly for all Landau levels.Comment: 23 pages, no figure

Measurement of νˉμ\bar{\nu}_{\mu} and νμ\nu_{\mu} charged current inclusive cross sections and their ratio with the T2K off-axis near detector

We report a measurement of cross section $\sigma(\nu_{\mu}+{\rm nucleus}\rightarrow\mu^{-}+X)$ and the first measurements of the cross section $\sigma(\bar{\nu}_{\mu}+{\rm nucleus}\rightarrow\mu^{+}+X)$ and their ratio $R(\frac{\sigma(\bar \nu)}{\sigma(\nu)})$ at (anti-)neutrino energies below 1.5 GeV. We determine the single momentum bin cross section measurements, averaged over the T2K $\bar{\nu}/\nu$-flux, for the detector target material (mainly Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Copper) with phase space restricted laboratory frame kinematics of $\theta_{\mu}$500 MeV/c. The results are $\sigma(\bar{\nu})=\left( 0.900\pm0.029{\rm (stat.)}\pm0.088{\rm (syst.)}\right)\times10^{-39}$ and $\sigma(\nu)=\left( 2.41\ \pm0.022{\rm{(stat.)}}\pm0.231{\rm (syst.)}\ \right)\times10^{-39}$in units of cm$^{2}$/nucleon and$R\left(\frac{\sigma(\bar{\nu})}{\sigma(\nu)}\right)= 0.373\pm0.012{\rm (stat.)}\pm0.015{\rm (syst.)}$.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Robust, reversible gene knockdown using a single lentiviral short hairpin RNA vector

Manipulation of gene expression is an invaluable tool to study gene function in vitro and in vivo. The application of small inhibitory RNAs to knock down gene expression provides a relatively simple, elegant, but transient approach to study gene function in many cell types as well as in whole animals. Short hairpin structures (shRNAs) are a logical advance as they can be expressed continuously and are hence suitable for stable gene knockdown. Drug-inducible systems have now been developed; however, application of the technology has been hampered by persistent problems with low or transient expression, leakiness or poor inducibility of the short hairpin, and lack of reversibility. We have developed a robust, versatile, single lentiviral vector tool that delivers tightly regulated, fully reversible, doxycycline-responsive knockdown of target genes (FOXP3 and MYB), using single short hairpin RNAs. To demonstrate the capabilities of the vector we targeted FOXP3 because it plays a critical role in the development and function of regulatory T cells. We also targeted MYB because of its essential role in hematopoiesis and implication in breast cancer progression. The versatility of this vector is hence demonstrated by knockdown of distinct genes in two biologically separate systems.Cheryl Y. Brown, Timothy Sadlon, Tessa Gargett, Elizabeth Melville, Rui Zhang, Yvette Drabsch, Michael Ling, Craig A. Strathdee, Thomas J. Gonda, and Simon C. Barr

Spatializing the Ecological Leviathan: Territorial Strategies and the Production of Regional Natures

This paper explores a dual absence – the absence of the state within contemporary geographical analyses of nature; and the absence of nature within contemporary explorations of state power. We argue that the modern state continues to play a crucial role in framing social interactions with nature, while nature is still vital to states within their realization of different forms of material and ideological power. In order to reconnect analyses of the state and nature, this paper combines work on the production of nature and state strategy with Lefebvre’s recently translated writings on state space and territory. By focusing on the production of territory (or state space), we explore the interaction of the state and nature in the context of the political management of social and ecological space. We unravel the spatial entanglements of the state and nature through an analysis of the British state’s territorial strategies within the West Midlands region. By considering three key historical periods within the history of the West Mid-lands we reveal how the emergence of the regional space called the West Midlands is a product of the ongoing spatial dialectics of state and nature therein

PI16 is expressed by a subset of human memory Treg with enhanced migration to CCL17 and CCL20

The peptidase inhibitor PI16 was shown previously by microarray analysis to be over-expressed by CD4-positive/CD25-positive Treg compared with CD4-positive/CD25-negative Th cells. Using a monoclonal antibody to the human PI16 protein, we found that PI16-positive Treg have a memory (CD45RO-positive) phenotype and express higher levels of FOXP3 than PI16-negative Treg. PI16-positive Treg are functional in suppressor assays in vitro with potency similar to PI16-negative Treg. Further phenotyping of the PI16-positive Treg revealed that the chemokine receptors CCR4 and CCR6 are expressed by more of the PI16-positive/CD45RO-positive Treg compared with PI16-negative/CD45RO-positive Treg or Th cells. PI16-positive Treg showed enhanced in vitro migration towards the inflammatory chemokines CCL17 and CCL20, suggesting they can migrate to sites of inflammation. We conclude that PI16 identifies a novel distinct subset of functional memory Treg which can migrate to sites of inflammation and regulate the pro-inflammatory response at those sites.Ian C. Nicholson, Christos Mavrangelos, Daniel R.G. Bird, Suzanne Bresatz-Atkins, Nicola G. Eastaff-Leung, Randall H. Grose, Batjargal Gundsambuu, Danika Hill, Debbrah J. Millard, Timothy J. Sadlon, Sarah To, Heddy Zola, Simon C. Barry, Doreen Krumbiege