Sperm-mediated Effects of Predation Risk on Reproduction in Male Threespined Sticklebacks

Threespined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, exhibit male-only parental care, but will decrease paternal care if exposed to predators while given care or if their mate has had prior experiences with predators. The offspring will experience lasting effects based on the experience of their parents (behavior-mediated transgenerational plasticity). While other studies have concluded that male exposure to predators prior to fertilization (sperm-mediated transgenerational plasticity) impacts offspring, whether sperm-mediated effects exist in sticklebacks, and for how many generations the effects persist is unknown. Courtship trials with both predator exposed and predator unexposed females with six male treatment groups shows significant impact of maternal grandfather predation exposure, suggesting that daughters of predator-exposed fathers are passing down cues to their sons

Final design of a space debris removal system

The objective is the removal of medium sized orbital debris in low Earth orbits. The design incorporates a transfer vehicle and a netting vehicle to capture the medium size debris. The system is based near an operational space station located at 28.5 degrees inclination and 400 km altitude. The system uses ground based tracking to determine the location of a satellite breakup or debris cloud. This data is unloaded to the transfer vehicle, and the transfer vehicle proceeds to rendezvous with the debris at a lower altitude parking orbit. Next, the netting vehicle is deployed, tracks the targeted debris, and captures it. After expending the available nets, the netting vehicle returns to the transfer vehicle for a new netting module and continues to capture more debris in the target area. Once all the netting modules are expended, the transfer vehicle returns to the space station's orbit, where it is resupplied with new netting modules from a space shuttle load. The new modules are launched by the shuttle from the ground, and the expended modules are taken back to Earth for removal of the captured debris, refueling, and repacking of the nets. Once the netting modules are refurbished, they are taken back into orbit for reuse. In a typical mission, the system has the ability to capture 50 pieces of orbital debris. One mission will take about six months. The system is designed to allow for a 30 degree inclination change on the outgoing and incoming trips of the transfer vehicle

Bullet Fragmentation and Lead Deposition in White-Tailed Deer and Domestic Sheep

In February 2008, a private physician in North Dakota radiographed hunterharvested venison and found that 60 of 100 packages contained metal fragments. This discovery had implications for public-funded venison donation programs, and it prompted several Midwest states to examine their programs. Approximately 500,000 deer hunters harvest \u3e200,000 deer annually in Minnesota, and the state has a donation program similar to North Dakota’s program. Therefore, we analyzed fragmentation patterns and lead deposition in carcasses of 8 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and 72 domestic sheep (Ovis aries). We fired 5 different bullet types from centerfire rifles, and we also fired projectiles from both a shotgun and a black-powder muzzleloader. Centerfire bullets, which are designed to expand quickly upon impacting the animal, left bullet fragments and lead deposits throughout the entire abdominal cavity of carcasses. We also used 2 types of centerfire bullets that were purportedly designed to resist fragmentation. One of these bullet types had fragmentation patterns and lead deposition rates similar to the rapid-expanding bullets; the other bullet type resisted fragmentation, and no lead was detected in muscle tissue that we sampled. Centerfire bullets made from copper resisted fragmentation, and of course did not deposit any lead in muscle tissues. Projectiles fired from the shotgun and black-powder muzzleloader did deposit lead into carcasses but did not fragment as much as bullets fired from centerfire rifles. Our study suggests that rinsing the abdominal cavity may spread the lead contaminant to other areas of the carcass, thereby worsening the contamination situation. We suggest that hunters who use centerfire rifles and are concerned about lead exposure should purchase a bullet type that resists fragmentation

A humanness dimension to visual object coding in the brain

Neuroimaging studies investigating human object recognition have primarily focused on a relatively small number of object categories, in particular, faces, bodies, scenes, and vehicles. More recent studies have taken a broader focus, investigating hypothesized dichotomies, for example, animate versus inanimate, and continuous feature dimensions, such as biologically similarity. These studies typically have used stimuli that are identified as animate or inanimate, neglecting objects that may not fit into this dichotomy. We generated a novel stimulus set including standard objects and objects that blur the animate-inanimate dichotomy, for example, robots and toy animals. We used MEG time-series decoding to study the brain's emerging representation of these objects. Our analysis examined contemporary models of object coding such as dichotomous animacy, as well as several new higher order models that take into account an object's capacity for agency (i.e. its ability to move voluntarily) and capacity to experience the world. We show that early (0–200 ​ms) responses are predicted by the stimulus shape, assessed using a retinotopic model and shape similarity computed from human judgments. Thereafter, higher order models of agency/experience provided a better explanation of the brain's representation of the stimuli. Strikingly, a model of human similarity provided the best account for the brain's representation after an initial perceptual processing phase. Our findings provide evidence for a new dimension of object coding in the human brain – one that has a “human-centric” focus

Combined physical and statistical modeling of laser induced ultrasound signals from thin light absorbing films

This paper presents a method for predicting the ultrasound pulses generated by thin semi-transparent polymer films, excited by a short laser pulse. The acoustic pressure is first modeled based on the physical properties of the polymer. Partial Least-Squares Regression is then used to link the model pressure to the ultrasound pulses measured by an ultrasound transducer. The uncertainty of the regression is also simulated, showing that the method is robust to noise in the measurementsGodkänd; 2013; 20130611 (johanc

Identifying avian malaria vectors: sampling methods influence outcomes

Background The role of vectors in the transmission of avian malaria parasites is currently understudied. Many studies that investigate parasite-vector relationships use limited trapping techniques and/or identify potential competent vectors in the field in such ways that cannot distinguish between an infected or infectious vector. Without the use of multiple trapping techniques that address the specific biology of diverse mosquito species, and without looking at the infection status of individual mosquitoes, it is not possible to make dependable conclusions on the role of mosquitoes in the transmission of avian malaria parasites. Methods We conducted two years of mosquito collections at a riparian preserve in California where a wide diversity of species were collected with multiple trap types. We hypothesized that competent mosquito species can influence the distribution and diversity of avian malaria parasites by acting as a compatibility filter for specific Plasmodium species. To determine the infection status of all individual mosquitoes for Plasmodium species/lineages, amplification within the cytochrome b gene was carried out on over 3000 individual mosquito thoraxes, and for those that tested positive we then repeated the same process for abdomens and salivary glands. Results Our data show heterogeneity in the transmissibility of Plasmodium among ornithophillic mosquito species. More specifically, Culex stigmatosoma appears to not be a vector of Plasmodium homopolare, a parasite that is prevalent in the avian population, but is a vector of multiple other Plasmodium species/lineages. Conclusions Our results suggest that conclusions made on the role of vectors from studies that do not use different mosquito trapping methods should be re-evaluated with caution, as we documented the potential for trapping biases, which may cause studies to miss important roles of specific mosquito species in the transmission of avian malaria. Moreover, we document heterogeneity in the transmission of Plasmodium spp. by mosquitoes can influence Plasmodium diversity and prevalence in specific locations to Plasmodium-vector incompatibilities

Creating a Charrette Process to Ignite the Conversation on Equity and Inclusion

The gaps in graduation and retention rates between ethnic and gender groups continue to be a foremost area of focus at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), The City University of New York (CUNY). Equity and inclusion is also a critical concern as it relates to faculty and staff. At BMCC, a college-wide initiative, Designing for Success, is seeking to improve declining retention and graduation rates. At its core is the question, “Have we designed our operations to produce these results?” The answer is, “Yes”. BMCC’s Designing for Success strategic planning process seeks to re-design administrative processes and teaching in an effort to eradicate these gaps through efforts which include a community-wide discussion and action planning on equity and inclusion inspired by the charrette process. The charrette creates small groups that meet on more than one occasion to identify critical barriers to addressing equity and inclusion and develops action plans for addressing these barriers from stakeholders at all levels of an organization. This paper proposes that public scholarship is at the core of the charrette process, that it is uniquely appropriate for the higher education environment and moves the community from a “discussion” of the barriers to fully engaging the entire college community in meaningful action-oriented strategic planning

Deciphering the genome structure and paleohistory of _Theobroma cacao_

We sequenced and assembled the genome of _Theobroma cacao_, an economically important tropical fruit tree crop that is the source of chocolate. The assembly corresponds to 76% of the estimated genome size and contains almost all previously described genes, with 82% of them anchored on the 10 _T. cacao_ chromosomes. Analysis of this sequence information highlighted specific expansion of some gene families during evolution, for example flavonoid-related genes. It also provides a major source of candidate genes for _T. cacao_ disease resistance and quality improvement. Based on the inferred paleohistory of the T. cacao genome, we propose an evolutionary scenario whereby the ten _T. cacao_ chromosomes were shaped from an ancestor through eleven chromosome fusions. The _T. cacao_ genome can be considered as a simple living relic of higher plant evolution

Project Khepri: Mining Asteroid Bennu for Water

Deep space asteroid mining presents the opportunity for the collection of critical resources required to establish a cis-lunar infrastructure. In specific, the Project Khepri team has focused on the collection of water from asteroid Bennu. This water has the potential to provide a source of clean-energy propellant as well as an essential consumable for humans or agriculture on crewed trips to the Moon or Mars. This would avoid the high costs of launching from Earth - making it a highly desirable element for the future of cis-lunar infrastructure. The OSIRIS-REx mission provided a complete survey of asteroid Bennu and is set to return regolith samples to Earth in 2023. This makes asteroid Bennu a well-understood and low-risk target that is estimated to be around 6.26% water by mass. The Khepri Project comprises a team of international students, academics, and industry subject matter experts working on the technical design, business case, and political aspects of a mission to mine asteroid Bennu for water. The research output explores the multi-year mission that the Khepri team has proposed