The Smut Rakers: A Report in Depth on Obscenity and Censors. By Edwin A. Roberts, Jr.

The Smut Rakers, by Edwin A. Roberts, Jr., subtitled, A Report in Depth on Obscenity and the Censors, published by the National Observer, as a NEWSBOOK, offers a generalized discussion of obscenity. Written without scholarly pretense, and in nonlegal language, this collection of articles serves as the point of departure for an inquiry into the nature of obscenity and all of its ramifications

Beaches in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Modern beaches in McMurdo Sound can be divided into 3 process regimes. Beaches on Ross Island (eastern McMurdo Sound) are characterised by marine processes with little ice modification. On ice-bound western McMurdo Sound, coastal orientation is of paramount importance. Ice thrust features are prominent on south facing beaches, which are open to the predominant wind direction and receive relatively small waves from the fetch restricted south. A greater degree of marine dominance is exhibited by beaches on north facing coasts where sea ice is blown offshore and the beaches are open to the larger storm waves from the eastern Ross Sea. The single most useful indicator of the relative importance of marine and ice processes on the beaches is the roundness of the beach material. Unlike the modern beaches, raised beach ridges at all sites comprise poorly sorted cobbles in a mixed sand and gravel matrix. These are inferred to be storm ridges. In contrast with the raised beaches, the modern beaches on the western side of the Sound have evidence of ice processes on them. This suggests that the modem beach has not experienced the same magnitude storms that produced the raised beaches. The size and frequency of the ridges is a product of the local wave climate. The number of raised beaches at any site is a useful indicator of the paleo-wave climate. More ridges occur in sheltered south facing locations, because they are more protected from open marine conditions, than on beaches in ice-free or north facing locations. When determining the marine limit of a site the most useful features are, low energy marine bedding features (such as flaser bedding) and boulder pavements. Based on inferred process information at the time of deposition, revised estimates of marine limits in McMurdo Sound and a new marine limit at Cape Barne are presented. Because the nature of the raised beaches has not been fully considered by previous authors sea level curves are inaccurate. The reconstruction of the retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf from marine limits in McMurdo Sound shows a three stage stepwise southward retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf. A breakout from somewhere north of Cape Roberts and south of Cape Ross back to Marble Point (on the western side of the Sound) while remaining north of Cape Bird (on the eastern side of the Sound), occurred sometime around 8,000 years ago. Another breakout cleared ice from Cape Bird to somewhere south of Cape Barne and south of Cape Bernacchi around 5,000 years ago. This differs with other authors work (Hall and Denton, 1999, Kellogg et al., 1996, Stuiver et al., 1981) by suggesting a considerably older date for the Ross Ice Sheet retreating from McMurdo Sound. The data presented here suggests that much of McMurdo Sound was ice free about 1,500 years before earlier estimates at about 6,500 years. The effect of the change in deglaciation timing is to reduce isostatic rebound rates. This suggests that there was less ice in McMurdo Sound during the Last Glacial Maximum

3,5-Dimethyl-1-(4-nitro­phen­yl)-1H-pyrazole

In the title pyrazole derivative, C11H11N3O2, the benzene ring is twisted [dihedral angle = 31.38 (12)°] with respect to the pyrazole ring (r.m.s. deviation = 0.009 Å). The nitro group is effectively coplanar with the benzene ring to which it is attached [O—N—C—C torsion angle = −6.5 (3)°]. Supra­molecular chains along the b axis are formed owing to π–π inter­actions [3.8653 (2) Å] between translationally related mol­ecules involving both the five- and six-membered rings

LASE Measurements of Water Vapor, Aerosol, and Cloud Distributions in Saharan Air Layers and Tropical Disturbances

LASE (Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment) onboard the NASA DC-8 was used to measure high resolution profiles of water vapor and aerosols, and cloud distributions in 14 flights over the eastern Atlantic region during the NAMMA (NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses) field experiment, which was conducted from August 15 to September 12, 2006. These measurements were made in conjunction with flights designed to study African Easterly Waves (AEW), Tropical Disturbances (TD), and Saharan Aerosol Layers (SALs) as well as flights performed in clear air and convective regions. As a consequence of their unique radiative properties and dynamics, SAL layers have a significant influence in the development of organized convection associated with TD. Interactions of the SAL with tropical air during early stages of the development of TD were observed. These LASE measurements represent the first simultaneous water vapor and aerosol lidar measurements to study the SAL and its impact on TDs and hurricanes. Seven AEWs were studied and four of these evolved into tropical storms and three did not. Three out of the four tropical storms evolved into hurricanes

LASE Observations of Interactions Between African Easterly Waves and the Saharan Air Layer

The Lidar Atmospheric Sensing Experiment (LASE) participated in the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) field experiment in 2006 that was conducted from Sal, Cape Verde to study the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) and its influence on the African Easterly Waves (AEWs) and Tropical Cyclones (TCs). During NAMMA, LASE collected simultaneous water vapor and aerosol lidar measurements from 14 flights onboard the NASA DC- 8. In this paper we present three examples of the interaction of the SAL and AEWs regarding: moistening of the SAL and transfer of latent heat; injection of dust in an updraft; and influence of dry air intrusion on an AEW. A brief discussion is also given on activities related to the refurbishment of LASE to enhance its operational performance and plans to participate in the next NASA hurricane field experiment in the summer of 2010

5-{[(E)-2-(4-Iodo­phen­yl)hydrazinyl­idene]meth­yl}thio­phene-2-carbaldehyde

The title compound, C12H9IN2OS, has an overall U-shape, with a dihedral angle of 21.4 (3)° between the thio­phene and benzene rings. In the crystal, supra­molecular chains mediated by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds are formed along the b-axis direction

An Assessment of the Representation of Ecosystems in Global Protected Areas Using New Maps of World Climate Regions and World Ecosystems

Representation of ecosystems in protected area networks and conservation strategies is a core principle of global conservation priority setting approaches and a commitment in Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly call for the conservation of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Accurate ecosystem distribution maps are required to assess representation of ecosystems in protected areas, but standardized, high spatial resolution, and globally comprehensive ecosystem maps have heretofore been lacking. While macroscale global ecoregions maps have been used in global conservation priority setting exercises, they do not identify distinct localized ecosystems at the occurrence (patch) level, and instead describe large ecologically meaningful areas within which additional conservation planning and management are necessary. We describe a new set of maps of globally consistent climate regions and ecosystems at a much finer spatial resolution (250 m) than existing ecological regionalizations. We then describe a global gap analysis of the representation of these ecosystems in protected areas. The new map of terrestrial World Ecosystems was derived from the objective development and integration of 1) global temperature domains, 2) global moisture domains, 3) global landforms, and 4) 2015 global vegetation and land use. These new terrestrial World Ecosystems do not include either freshwater or marine ecosystems, but analog products for the freshwater and marine domains are in development. A total of 431 World Ecosystems were identified, and of these a total of 278 units were natural or semi-natural vegetation/environment combinations, including different kinds of forestlands, shrublands, grasslands, bare areas, and ice/snow regions. The remaining classes were different kinds of croplands and settlements. Of the 278 natural and semi-natural classes, 9 were not represented in global protected areas with a strict biodiversity conservation management objective (IUCN management categories I-IV), and an additional 206 were less than 8.5% protected (half way to the 17% Aichi Target 11 goal). Forty four classes were between 8.5% and 17% protected (more than half way towards the Aichi 17% target), and only 19 classes exceeded the 17% Aichi target. However, when all protected areas (IUCN management categories I-VI plus protected areas with no IUCN designation) were included in a separate global gap analysis, representation of ecosystems increases substantially, with a third of the ecosystems exceeding the 17% Aichi target, and another third between 8.5% and 17%. The overall protection (representation) of global ecosystems in protected areas is considerably less when assessed using only strictly conserved protected areas, and more if all protected areas are included in the analysis. Protected area effectiveness should be included in further evaluations of global ecosystem protection. The ecosystems with the highest representation in protected areas were often bare or sparsely vegetated and found in inhospitable environments (e.g. cold mountains, deserts), and the eight most protected ecosystems were all snow and ice ecosystems. In addition to the global gap analysis of World Ecosystems in protected areas, we report on the representation results for the ecosystems in each biogeographic realm (Neotropical, Nearctic, Afrotropical, Palearctic, Indomalayan, Australasian, and Oceania)

The Impact of Biomechanics in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

Biomechanical factors profoundly influence the processes of tissue growth, development, maintenance, degeneration, and repair. Regenerative strategies to restore damaged or diseased tissues in vivo and create living tissue replacements in vitro have recently begun to harness advances in understanding of how cells and tissues sense and adapt to their mechanical environment. It is clear that biomechanical considerations will be fundamental to the successful development of clinical therapies based on principles of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine for a broad range of musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, craniofacial, skin, urinary, and neural tissues. Biomechanical stimuli may in fact hold the key to producing regenerated tissues with high strength and endurance. However, many challenges remain, particularly for tissues that function within complex and demanding mechanical environments in vivo. This paper reviews the present role and potential impact of experimental and computational biomechanics in engineering functional tissues using several illustrative examples of past successes and future grand challenges.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78125/1/ten.teb.2009.0340.pd

Preparing clinical-grade myeloid dendritic cells by electroporation-mediated transfection of in vitro amplified tumor-derived mRNA and safety testing in stage IV malignant melanoma

BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells (DCs) have been used as vaccines in clinical trials of immunotherapy of cancer and other diseases. Nonetheless, progress towards the use of DCs in the clinic has been slow due in part to the absence of standard methods for DC preparation and exposure to disease-associated antigens. Because different ex vivo exposure methods can affect DC phenotype and function differently, we studied whether electroporation-mediated transfection (electrotransfection) of myeloid DCs with in vitro expanded RNA isolated from tumor tissue might be feasible as a standard physical method in the preparation of clinical-grade DC vaccines. METHODS: We prepared immature DCs (IDCs) from CD14(+ )cells isolated from leukapheresis products and extracted total RNA from freshly resected melanoma tissue. We reversely transcribed the RNA while attaching a T7 promoter to the products that we subsequently amplified by PCR. We transcribed the amplified cDNA in vitro and introduced the expanded RNA into IDCs by electroporation followed by DC maturation and cryopreservation. Isolated and expanded mRNA was analyzed for the presence of melanoma-associated tumor antigens gp100, tyrosinase or MART1. To test product safety, we injected five million DCs subcutaneously at three-week intervals for up to four injections into six patients suffering from stage IV malignant melanoma. RESULTS: Three preparations contained all three transcripts, one isolate contained tyrosinase and gp100 and one contained none. Electrotransfection of DCs did not affect viability and phenotype of fresh mature DCs. However, post-thaw viability was lower (69 ± 12 percent) in comparison to non-electroporated cells (82 ± 12 percent; p = 0.001). No patient exhibited grade 3 or 4 toxicity upon DC injections. CONCLUSION: Standardized preparation of viable clinical-grade DCs transfected with tumor-derived and in vitro amplified mRNA is feasible and their administration is safe