A Study of the Relationship Bettween Soil and Quantitative Terrain Factors

The objective of the study was to determine whether or not different soil areas in Hawaii could be separated by means of quantitative terrain factors. Eight great soil group areas on Oahu and six soil association areas on Kauai were selected. A sufficient number of 0.5-mile square test cells was established at random in each of the soil areas. Ten terrain factors were quantified in each of the test cells from data measured on either the topographic maps or the aerial photographs or both. The results showed that certain great soil groups on Oahu and certain soil associations on Kauai can be differentiated by their quantitative terrain factors. Average elevation, local relief, average slope, slope length, land texture ratio and drainage density were found effective in differentiating between these different groups and associations. Four terrain factors has been found effective in separating the Haplustox, Eutrorthox and Gibbsihumox areas on Oahu. These factors, in the order of decreasing effectiveness, were average slope, drainage density, slope length and local relief. The discriminant function equation developed for Tropohumult and Gibbsihumox areas, based on average elevation, average slope, slope length and drainage density, has satisfactorily segregated the two soil areas on Oahu. The results of the numerical grouping analysis of 108 test cells established in 0.5-mile grids in eastern Kauai indicated that numerical methods on the basis of several terrain factors has much to offer in reconnaissance soil surveys of large, relatively undeveloped regions where information about the soil is not available

Enhancing offspring hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) regulation via systematic novelty exposure: The influence of maternal HPA function

In the rat, repeated brief exposures to novelty early in life can induce long-lasting enhancements in adult cognitive, social, emotional, and neuroendocrine function. Family-to-family variations in these intervention effects on adult offspring are predicted by the mother's ability to mount a rapid corticosterone (CORT) response to the onset of an acute stressor. Here, in Long-Evans rats, we investigated whether neonatal and adulthood novelty exposure, each individually and in combination, can enhance offspring hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) regulation. Using a 2 × 2 within-litter design, one half of each litter were exposed to a relatively novel non-home environment for 3-min (Neo_Novel) daily during infancy (PND 1-21) and the other half of the litter remained in the home cage (Neo_Home); we further exposed half of these two groups to early adulthood (PND 54-63) novelty exposure in an open field and the remaining siblings stayed in their home cages. Two aspects of HPA regulation were assessed: the ability to maintain a low level of resting CORT (CORTB) and the ability to mount a large rapid CORT response (CORTE) to the onset of an acute stressor. Assessment of adult offspring's ability to regulate HPA regulation began at 370 days of age. We further investigated whether the novelty exposure effects on offspring HPA regulation are sensitive to the context of maternal HPA regulation by assessing maternal HPA regulation similarly beginning 7 days after her pups were weaned. We found that at the population level, rats receiving neonatal, but not early adulthood exposure or both, showed a greater rapid CORTE than their home-staying siblings. At the individual family level, these novelty effects are positively associated with maternal CORTE. These results suggest that early experience of novelty can enhance the offspring's ability to mount a rapid response to environmental challenge and the success of such early life intervention is critically dependent upon the context of maternal HPA regulation. © 2014 Dinces, Romeo, McEwen and Tang.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Prenatal diagnosis and linkage disequilibrium with cystic fibrosis for markers surrounding D7S8

Three polymorphic DNA markers surrounding the D7S8 locus were tested for their usefulness in the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF) by linkage analysis. The markers correspond to the loci D7S424 and D7S426. These polymorphisms were studied by centers in the U.S., the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Italy, using samples from populations throughout Europe and North America. The additional information provided by these probes increased the heterogeneity of the region from 50% to 58% and was essential for a completely informative diagnosis in one family. A very high degree of linkage disequilibrium was found between these markers, which span a distance of approximately 250kb. In addition, linkage disequilibrium with CF was noted. Significant heterogeneity of linkage disequilibrium was found among the populations, both for the marker-marker pairs and between the markers and CF.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47627/1/439_2004_Article_BF00206745.pd

The Relationship Between Gas, Stars, and Star Formation in Irregular Galaxies: A Test of Simple Models

We explore various instability models for the onset of star formation in irregular galaxies. Critical gas densities are calculated for gravitational instabilities with a thin, pure-gas disk, and with a thick disk composed of gas and a star-like fluid. We also calculated the stability properties of three dimensional systems including dark matter, considered the thermal state of the gas, and used a modified threshold column density written in terms of the local rate of shear instead of the epicyclic frequency. The model predictions were compared to the azimuthally-averaged present day star formation activity traced by the Halpha surface brightness, and to the 1 Gyr-integrated star formation activity represented by the stellar surface brightness. The ratio of the observed gas density to the critical gas density is lower by a factor of 2 in most of the Im galaxies than it is in spiral galaxies. Star formation ends before this ratio drops significantly in the outer regions, and it remains high in the inner regions where the ratio is often low. These results suggest that the critical gas density does not trace star formation with the same detail in irregular galaxies as it appears to trace it in giant spiral galaxies. The only azimuthally-averaged quantity that correlates with the current star formation activity in irregulars is the stellar surface density. Theoretical implications are discussed.Comment: 39 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 493, Feb 1, 199

Catching more offenders with EvoFIT facial composites: Lab research and Police field trials.

Often, the only evidence of an offender’s identity comes from the memory of an eyewitness. For over 12 years, we have been developing software called EvoFIT to help eyewitnesses recover their memories of offenders’ faces, to assist police investigations. EvoFIT requires eyewitnesses to repeatedly select from arrays of faces, with ‘breeding’, to ‘evolve’ a face. Recently, police forces have been formally evaluating EvoFIT in criminal cases. The current paper describes four such police audits. It is reported that EvoFIT composites directly led to an arrest in 25.4% of cases overall; the arrest rate was 38.5% for forces that used a newer, less detailed face-recall interview. These results are similar to those found in the laboratory using simulated procedures. Here, we also evaluate the impact of interviewing techniques and outline further work that has improved system performance

Social Competitiveness and Plasticity of Neuroendocrine Function in Old Age: Influence of Neonatal Novelty Exposure and Maternal Care Reliability

Early experience is known to have a profound impact on brain and behavioral function later in life. Relatively few studies, however, have examined whether the effects of early experience remain detectable in the aging animal. Here, we examined the effects of neonatal novelty exposure, an early stimulation procedure, on late senescent rats' ability to win in social competition. During the first 3 weeks of life, half of each litter received daily 3-min exposures to a novel environment while the other half stayed in the home cage. At 24 months of age, pairs of rats competed against each other for exclusive access to chocolate rewards. We found that novelty-exposed rats won more rewards than home-staying rats, indicating that early experience exerts a life-long effect on this aspect of social dominance. Furthermore, novelty-exposed but not home-staying rats exhibited habituation of corticosterone release across repeated days of social competition testing, suggesting that early experience permanently enhances plasticity of the stress response system. Finally, we report a surprising finding that across individual rat families, greater effects of neonatal novelty exposure on stress response plasticity were found among families whose dams provided more reliable, instead of a greater total quantity of, maternal care

Genotype-Phenotype Correlation in NF1: Evidence for a More Severe Phenotype Associated with Missense Mutations Affecting NF1 Codons 844–848

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a common genetic disorder with a birth incidence of 1:2,000–3,000, is characterized by a highly variable clinical presentation. To date, only two clinically relevant intragenic genotype-phenotype correlations have been reported for NF1 missense mutations affecting p.Arg1809 and a single amino acid deletion p.Met922del. Both variants predispose to a distinct mild NF1 phenotype with neither externally visible cutaneous/plexiform neurofibromas nor other tumors. Here, we report 162 individuals (129 unrelated probands and 33 affected relatives) heterozygous for a constitutional missense mutation affecting one of five neighboring NF1 codons—Leu844, Cys845, Ala846, Leu847, and Gly848—located in the cysteine-serine-rich domain (CSRD). Collectively, these recurrent missense mutations affect ∼0.8% of unrelated NF1 mutation-positive probands in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) cohort. Major superficial plexiform neurofibromas and symptomatic spinal neurofibromas were more prevalent in these individuals compared with classic NF1-affected cohorts (both p < 0.0001). Nearly half of the individuals had symptomatic or asymptomatic optic pathway gliomas and/or skeletal abnormalities. Additionally, variants in this region seem to confer a high predisposition to develop malignancies compared with the general NF1-affected population (p = 0.0061). Our results demonstrate that these NF1 missense mutations, although located outside the GAP-related domain, may be an important risk factor for a severe presentation. A genotype-phenotype correlation at the NF1 region 844–848 exists and will be valuable in the management and genetic counseling of a significant number of individuals

What controls star formation in the central 500 pc of the Galaxy?

The star formation rate (SFR) in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ, i.e. the central 500 pc) of the Milky Way is lower by a factor of ≥10 than expected for the substantial amount of dense gas it contains, which challenges current star formation theories. In this paper, we quantify which physical mechanisms could be responsible. On scales larger than the disc scaleheight, the low SFR is found to be consistent with episodic star formation due to secular instabilities or possibly variations of the gas inflow along the Galactic bar. The CMZ is marginally Toomre-stable when including gas and stars, but highly Toomre-stable when only accounting for the gas, indicating a low condensation rate of self-gravitating clouds. On small scales, we find that the SFR in the CMZ may be caused by an elevated critical density for star formation due to the high turbulent pressure. The existence of a universal density threshold for star formation is ruled out. The H I–H2 phase transition of hydrogen, the tidal field, a possible underproduction of massive stars due to a bottom-heavy initial mass function, magnetic fields, and cosmic ray or radiation pressure feedback also cannot individually explain the low SFR. We propose a self-consistent cycle of star formation in the CMZ, in which the effects of several different processes combine to inhibit star formation. The rate-limiting factor is the slow evolution of the gas towards collapse – once star formation is initiated it proceeds at a normal rate. The ubiquity of star formation inhibitors suggests that a lowered central SFR should be a common phenomenon in other galaxies. We discuss the implications for galactic-scale star formation and supermassive black hole growth, and relate our results to the star formation conditions in other extreme environments

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio