Cooperation through Imitation

This paper characterizes long-run outcomes for broad classes of symmetric games, when players select actions on the basis of average historical performance. Received wisdom is that when agent's interests are partially opposed, behavior is excessively competitive: ``keeping up with the Jones' '' lowers everyones' welfare. Here, we study the long-run consequences of imitative behavior when agents have sufficiently long memories --- and the outcome is dramatically different. Imitation robustly leads to cooperative outcomes (with highest symmetric payoffs) in the long run. This provides a rationale, for example, for collusive cartel-like behavior without collusive intent on the part of the agents.Evolution, Imitation

Balancing the Automatic Stay

This article discusses a Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel decision holding that purchasers at a trustee sale can successfully have the stay that originally prohibited the sale annulled if the court finds that the equities are in their favor

How are “Atypical” Sulfite Dehydrogenases Linked to Cell Metabolism? Interactions between the SorT Sulfite Dehydrogenase and Small Redox Proteins

Sulfite dehydrogenases (SDHs) are enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of the toxic and mutagenic compound sulfite to sulfate, thereby protecting cells from adverse effects associated with sulfite exposure. While some bacterial SDHs that have been characterized to date are able to use cytochrome c as an electron acceptor, the majority of these enzymes prefer ferricyanide as an electron acceptor and have therefore been termed “atypical” SDHs. Identifying the natural electron acceptor of these enzymes, however, is crucial for understanding how the “atypical” SDHs are integrated into cell metabolism. The SorT sulfite dehydrogenase from Sinorhizobium meliloti is a representative of this enzyme type and we have investigated the interactions of SorT with two small redox proteins, a cytochrome c and a Cu containing pseudoazurin, that are encoded in the same operon and are co-transcribed with the sorT gene. Both potential acceptor proteins have been purified and characterized in terms of their biochemical and electrochemical properties, and interactions and enzymatic studies with both the purified SorT sulfite dehydrogenase and components of the respiratory chain have been carried out. We were able to show for the first time that an “atypical” sulfite dehydrogenase can couple efficiently to a cytochrome c isolated from the same organism despite being unable to efficiently reduce horse heart cytochrome c, however, at present the role of the pseudoazurin in SorT electron transfer is unclear, but it is possible that it acts as an intermediate electron shuttle between. The SorT system appears to couple directly to the respiratory chain, most likely to a cytochrome oxidase

Bistatic Observations of the Ocean Surface with HF Radar, Satellite and Airborne Receivers

Embargo of 24 months from date of publishing on accepted manuscript version. Link to publisher's version:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8232298/Copyright notice:“© © 20xx IEEE policy"A new concept has been developed which can view vast regions of the Earth's surface. Ground HF transmissions are reflected by the ionosphere to illuminate the ocean over a few thousand kilometers. HF receivers detect the radio waves scattered by the sea and land surface. Using the theory of radio wave scatter from ocean surfaces, the HF data is then processed to yield the directional wave-height spectrum of the ocean. This technique has several advantages over existing remote sensing methods. A large area of the ocean can be sampled to yield the wave-height characteristics with high, km-scale resolution. The wave height spectrum can be directly compared with temporal frequency spectrum obtained with buoys at specific points in the ocean volume. Furthermore, the technique uses HF waves which penetrate the dense rain found in hurricanes

Emergent productivity regimes of river networks

High-resolution data are improving our ability to resolve temporal patterns and controls on river productivity, but we still know little about the emergent patterns of primary production at river-network scales. Here, we estimate daily and annual river-network gross primary production (GPP) by applying characteristic temporal patterns of GPP (i.e., regimes) representing distinct river functional types to simulated river networks. A defined envelope of possible productivity regimes emerges at the network-scale, but the amount and timing of network GPP can vary widely within this range depending on watershed size, productivity in larger rivers, and reach-scale variation in light within headwater streams. Larger rivers become more influential on network-scale GPP as watershed size increases, but small streams with relatively low productivity disproportionately influence network GPP due to their large collective surface area. Our initial predictions of network-scale productivity provide mechanistic understanding of the factors that shape aquatic ecosystem function at broad scales

Bistatic Observations of the Ocean Surface with HF Radar, Satellite and Airborne Receivers

Accepted manuscript file. Published version available at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8232298A new concept has been developed which can view vast regions of the Earth’s surface. Ground HF transmissions are reflected by the ionosphere to illuminate the ocean over a few thousand kilometers. HF receivers detect the radio waves scattered by the sea and land surface. Using the theory of radio wave scatter from ocean surfaces, the HF data is then processed to yield the directional wave-height spectrum of the ocean. This technique has several advantages over existing remote sensing methods. A large area of the ocean can be sampled to yield the wave-height characteristics with high, km-scale resolution. The wave height spectrum can be directly compared with temporal frequency spectrum obtained with buoys at specific points in the ocean volume. Furthermore, the technique uses HF waves which penetrate the dense rain found in hurricanes

Burrowing owls, Pulex irritans and plague

Western burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) are small, ground-dwelling owls ofwestern North America that frequent prairie dog (Cynomys spp.) towns and other grasslands.As they rely on rodent prey and occupy burrows once or concurrently inhabited by fossorialmammals, the owls often harbor fleas. We examined the potential role of fleas found onburrowing owls in plague dynamics by evaluating prevalence of Yersinia pestis in fleas and inowl blood. During 2012-2013 fleas and blood were collected from burrowing owls in portionsof five states with endemic plague: Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and South Dakota.Fleas were enumerated, taxonomically identified, pooled by nest and assayed for Y. pestis usingculturing and molecular (PCR) approaches. Owl blood underwent serological analysis for plagueantibodies and nested PCR for detection of Y. pestis. Of \u3e4750 fleas collected from owls, Pulexirritans, a known plague vector in portions of its range, comprised more than 99.4%. However,diagnostic tests for Y. pestis of flea pools (culturing and PCR) and owl blood (PCR and serology)were negative. Thus, despite that fleas were prevalent on burrowing owls, and the potentialfor a relationship with burrowing owls as a phoretic host of infected fleas exists, we found noevidence of Y. pestis in sampled fleas or in owls that harbored them. We suggest that studiessimilar to those reported here during plague epizootics will be especially useful for confirmingthese results

Susceptibility of Wild-Caught Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) Sand Flies to Insecticide After an Extended Period of Exposure in Western São Paulo, Brazil

Background In Brazil, members of the sand fly species complex Lutzomyia longipalpis transmit Leishmania infantum, a protist parasite that causes visceral leishmaniasis. Male Lu. longipalpis produce a sex pheromone that is attractive to both females and males. During a cluster randomised trial, to determine the combined effect of synthetic sex-aggregation pheromone and insecticide on Le. infantum transmission Lu. longipalpis had been continuously exposed to insecticide for 30 months. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of continuous exposure to the insecticides used in the trial on the susceptibility of Lu. longipalpis population. Methods During the trial the sand flies had been exposed to either lambda-cyhalothrin [pheromone + residual insecticide spray (PI)], deltamethrin [dog collars (DC)] or no insecticide [control (C)], for 30 months (November 2012 to April 2015). The insecticide treatment regime was kept in place for an additional 12 months (May 2015-April 2016) during this susceptibility study. Sand flies collected from the field were exposed to WHO insecticide-impregnated papers cyhalothrin (0.05%), deltamethrin (0.5%) and control (silicone oil) in a modified WHO insecticide exposure trial to determine their susceptibility. Results We collected 788 Lu. longipalpis using CDC-light traps in 31 municipalities across the three trial arms. Probit analysis showed that the knockdown times (KDTs) of Lu. longipalpis collected from the lambda-cyhalothrin exposed PI-arm [KDT50: 31.1 min, confidence interval (CI): 29.6–32.6 and KDT90: 44.2 min, CI: 42.1–46.7] were longer than the KDTs from the non-insecticide-treated C-arm (KDT50: 26.3 min, CI: 25.1–27.6 and KDT90: 38.2, CI: 36.5–40.2) (no-overlapping 95% CIs). KDTs of Lu. longipalpis collected from the deltamethrin exposed DC-arm had similar values (KDT50: 13.7 min, CI: 10.1–16.2 and KDT90: 26.7 min, CI: 21.8–30.6) to those for the C-arm (KDT50: 13.5 min; CI: 12.2–14.8 and KDT90: 23.2 min, CI: 21.4–25.4) (overlapping CIs). The wild-caught unexposed Lu. longipalpis (C-arm), took approximately twice as long to knock down as laboratory-colonised specimens for both insecticides. Conclusions Our study reveals slight changes in KDT, in sand flies after prolonged exposure to lambda-cyhalothrin in the presence of pheromone. These changes are not considered to have reached the reference levels indicative of resistance in sand flies suggesting that pheromone and insecticide treatment at the level indicated in this study do not constitute a significant risk of increased insecticide resistance. Prolonged exposure to deltamethrin in dog collars did not result in changes to KDT

Erratum to: How Can Psychological Science Inform Research About Genetic Counseling for Clinical Genomic Sequencing?

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147141/1/jgc40372.pd

How Can Psychological Science Inform Research About Genetic Counseling for Clinical Genomic Sequencing?

Next generation genomic sequencing technologies (including whole genome or whole exome sequencing) are being increasingly applied to clinical care. Yet, the breadth and complexity of sequencing information raise questions about how best to communicate and return sequencing information to patients and families in ways that facilitate comprehension and optimal health decisions. Obtaining answers to such questions will require multidisciplinary research. In this paper, we focus on how psychological science research can address questions related to clinical genomic sequencing by explaining emotional, cognitive, and behavioral processes in response to different types of genomic sequencing information (e.g., diagnostic results and incidental findings). We highlight examples of psychological science that can be applied to genetic counseling research to inform the following questions: (1) What factors influence patients’ and providers’ informational needs for developing an accurate understanding of what genomic sequencing results do and do not mean?; (2) How and by whom should genomic sequencing results be communicated to patients and their family members?; and (3) How do patients and their families respond to uncertainties related to genomic information?Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147034/1/jgc40193.pd