Induced Innovation or a Paradox of Environmental Regulation?

In a seeming paradox, bluegrass seed production in the State of Washington increased following imposition of a statewide ban on stubble burning in 1996. Despite forecasts that alternative production practices would increase the cost of producing bluegrass seed so much that the industry would be driven from the state, production in the years 1997-2003 was higher than in any seven-year period in recorded history. This study seeks to explain why this occurred. Several hypotheses are put forward and systematically tested. The final hypothesis, induced innovation, cannot be formally tested because of data limitations, but it is examined by an assessment of innovations that occurred contemporaneously with the ban and by corroborative statistical evidence. The evidence is consistent with this hypothesis as a plausible explanation.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Postglacial (Holocene) ostracodes from Lake Erie

26 p., 8 fig., 4 pl.http://paleo.ku.edu/contributions.htm

Habitat fragmentation reduces survival and drives source–sink dynamics for a large carnivore

Rigorous understanding of how environmental conditions impact population dynamics is essential for species conservation, especially in mixed-use landscapes where source–sink dynamics may be at play. Conservation of large carnivore populations in fragmented, human-dominated landscapes is critical for their long-term persistence. However, living in human-dominated landscapes comes with myriad costs, including direct anthropogenic mortality and sublethal energetic costs. How these costs impact individual fitness and population dynamics are not fully understood, partly due to the difficulty in collecting long-term demographic data for these species. Here, we analyzed an 11-year dataset on puma (Puma concolor) space use, mortality, and reproduction in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA, to quantify how living in a fragmented landscape impacts individual survival and population dynamics. Long-term exposure to housing density drove mortality risk for female pumas, resulting in an 18-percentage-point reduction in annual survival for females in exurban versus remote areas. While the overall population growth rate appeared stable, reduced female survival in more developed areas resulted in source–sink dynamics across the study area, with 42.1% of the Santa Cruz Mountains exhibiting estimated population growth rates \u3c1. Since habitat selection is often used as a proxy for habitat quality, we also assessed whether puma habitat selection predicted source and sink areas. Patterns of daytime puma habitat selection predicted source areas, while time-of-day-independent habitat selection performed less well as a proxy. These results illuminate the individual- and population-level consequences of habitat fragmentation for large carnivores, illustrating that habitat fragmentation can produce source– sink dynamics that may not be apparent from other metrics of habitat quality. Locally, conserving high-quality source habitat within the Santa Cruz Mountains is necessary to support long-term puma population persistence. More broadly, source–sink dynamics may at play for other carnivore populations in similar fragmented systems, and linking landscape condition

Overcoming the fear: an autoethnographic narrative of running with epilepsy

Through a phenomenological approach, this article explores the identity conflict that arose within a female runner after diagnosis with epilepsy. Utilising a three month autoethnography to track her experiences of returning to running, the first author narrates the effect of epilepsy on her identity formation. Providing a voice that is absent from a research area dominated by statistics, the reader is asked to involve him/herself in the world of this athlete and in turn embrace the use of narratives as a valuable coping mechanism for those with chronic disorders

Study of three-dimensional nonlinear nip mechanics

An understanding of nip pressure and deformed nip geometry is of vital importance to the design of web handling equipment. Axial variations in nip pressure and deformed nip geometry can lead to poor product performance and customer dissatisfaction. This study evaluates these axial variations for two general cases: an identical-hollow-drum design and a classic calendaring design. Both cases include the effects of elastomeric coverings. Comparisons between modelling the resulting axial variations in nip parameters by beam effects or shell effects are evaluated. Evaluations of nip pressure and overdrive/underdrive are performed. Approximate boundary conditions for the study of web wrinkling are proposed based on deformed nip geometry

Experimental photoluminescence and lifetimes at wavelengths including beyond 7 microns in Sm3+-doped selenide-chalcogenide glass fibers

1000 ppmw Sm3+-doped Ge19.4Sb9.7Se67.9Ga3 atomic % chalcogenide bulk glass and unstructured fiber are prepared. Near- and mid-infrared absorption spectra of the bulk glass reveal Sm3+ electronic absorption bands, and extrinsic vibrational absorption bands, due to host impurities. Fiber photoluminescence, centred at 3.75 μm and 7.25 μm, is measured when pumping at either 1300 or 1470 nm. Pumping at 1470 nm enables the photoluminescent lifetime at 7.3 μm to be measured for the first time which was ~100 μm. This is the longest to date, experimentally observed lifetime in the 6.5-9 μm wavelength-range of a lanthanide-doped chalcogenide glass fiber

Ductile flow in sub-volcanic carbonate basement as the main control for edifice stability:new experimental insights

Limestone in volcanic basements has been identified as a hazard in terms of edifice stability due to the propensity of calcite to decompose into lime and CO2 at high temperatures (>600 °C), causing a decrease in mechanical strength. To date, such hypotheses have been tested by experiments performed at ambient pressure. The present work determines the mechanical strength of limestone under sub-volcanic conditions of pressure and temperature and evaluates the effect of calcite decomposition. To this end, we use Mt. Etna as a case study, deforming sub-Etnean carbonate samples under triaxial compression using a Paterson deformation apparatus. We evaluate the effect of thermal decomposition of calcite on sample strength by comparing closed and open systems and measuring the permeability evolution under static conditions. Mechanical and micro-structural observations at a constant strain rate of 10-5 s-1 and at a confining pressure of 50 MPa indicate that the rocks are brittle up to and including 300 °C. At higher temperatures the deformation becomes macroscopically ductile, i.e., deformation is distributed throughout the sample. The brittle to ductile transition is accompanied by an irreversible permeability decrease from 10-17 to 10-19 m2 between 200 and 600 °C. We present new evidence that permanent change in permeability is due to ductile processes closing the initial pore space. Samples deformed at temperatures up to 900 °C do not contain any decarbonation products. At these temperatures, permeability is sufficiently low to permit CO2 pore pressures to increase, thereby increasing local CO2 fugacity, which in turn strongly limits the decarbonation reaction. We note that, for non-pure calcite rocks, permeability might be sufficient to allow decarbonation reactions to occur. As such, variability in lithologies may slightly influence the efficiency of decarbonation reactions. We conclude that, in a closed system, the instability of Mt. Etna is related to high temperature induced ductile flow of basement limestone rather than chemical/mineralogical changes. This may have important implication for the stability of volcanoes within carbonate-rich basement, as carbonates become significantly weak at high temperatures, which may increase the risk of sector collapse. © 2015 Elsevier B.V

Autoantibody levels are associated with acute kidney injury, anemia and post-discharge morbidity and mortality in Ugandan children with severe malaria

Autoantibodies targeting host antigens contribute to autoimmune disorders, frequently occur during and after infections and have been proposed to contribute to malaria-induced anemia. We measured anti-phosphatidylserine (PS) and anti-DNA antibody levels in 382 Ugandan children prospectively recruited in a study of severe malaria (SM). High antibody levels were defined as antibody levels greater than the mean plus 3 standard deviations of community children (CC). We observed increases in median levels of anti-PS and anti-DNA antibodies in children with SM compared to CC (p < 0.0001 for both). Children with severe malarial anemia were more likely to have high anti-PS antibodies than children with cerebral malaria (16.4% vs. 7.4%), p = 0.02. Increases in anti-PS and anti-DNA antibodies were associated with decreased hemoglobin (p < 0.05). A one-unit increase in anti-DNA antibodies was associated with a 2.99 (95% CI, 1.68, 5.31) increase odds of acute kidney injury (AKI) (p < 0.0001). Elevated anti-PS and anti-DNA antibodies were associated with post-discharge mortality (p = 0.031 and p = 0.042, respectively). Children with high anti-PS antibodies were more likely to have multiple hospital readmissions compared to children with normal anti-PS antibody levels (p < 0.05). SM is associated with increased autoantibodies against PS and DNA. Autoantibodies were associated with anemia, AKI, post-discharge mortality, and hospital readmission