Changing Daily Wind Speeds on Alaska’s North Slope: Implications for Rural Hunting Opportunities

Because of their reliance on the harvest of fish and game, Alaskan rural communities have experienced a variety of impacts from climate change, the effects of which are amplified at high latitudes. We collaborated with hunters from the coastal community of Wainwright, Alaska, to document their observations of environmental change (e.g., sea ice, wind, temperature) and the implications of those changes for opportunities to hunt bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) during spring and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) during summer. We integrated hunter observations on wind with statistical analysis of daily wind speed data collected in the nearby community of Barrow, Alaska, between 1971 and 2010 to characterize changes in the number of days with suitable hunting conditions. Hunters in Wainwright currently observe fewer days than in previous decades with wind conditions suitable for safely hunting bowhead whales and caribou. The statistical analysis of wind speed data supported these conclusions and suggested that the annual windows of opportunity for hunting each species have decreased by up to seven days since 1971. This study demonstrates the potential power of collaboration between local communities and researchers to characterize the societal impacts of climate change. Continued collaborative research with residents of rural northern Alaskan communities could produce knowledge and develop tools to help rural Alaskans adapt to novel social-ecological conditions.Les collectivités rurales de l’Alaska dépendent de la récolte du poisson et du gibier et à ce titre, elles sont assujetties à une panoplie d’incidences découlant du changement climatique, dont les effets sont amplifiés en haute altitude. Grâce à l’aide des chasseurs de la collectivité côtière de Wainwright, en Alaska, nous avons consigné les observations de ces chasseurs relativement à l’évolution de l’environnement (en ce qui a trait, par exemple, à la glace de mer, au vent et aux températures) de même que les incidences de cette évolution sur les possibilités de chasse de la baleine boréale (Balaena mysticetus) au printemps, et du caribou (Rangifer tarandus) à l’été. Nous avons intégré les observations des chasseurs au sujet du vent à l’analyse statistique des données de la vitesse quotidienne du vent, données recueillies dans la localité avoisinante de Barrow, en Alaska, entre 1971 et 2010, afin de caractériser les changements quant au nombre de jours où les conditions de chasse sont convenables. Comparativement aux décennies précédentes, les chasseurs de Wainwright observent un moins grand nombre de jours, à l’heure actuelle, qu’au cours des décennies précédentes pendant lesquels le régime des vents se prête à la chasse sécuritaire de la baleine boréale et du caribou. L’analyse statistique des données de la vitesse du vent permet de soutenir ces conclusions et suggère qu’annuellement, la période pendant laquelle chacune de ces espèces peut faire l’objet de la chasse a diminué dans une mesure allant jusqu’à sept jours depuis 1971. Cette étude témoigne du pouvoir de collaboration qui pourrait exister entre les collectivités de la région et les chercheurs dans le but de caractériser les incidences du changement climatique sur la société. Les travaux de recherche en collaboration continue avec les habitants des collectivités rurales du nord de l’Alaska pourraient permettre de produire des connaissances et d’élaborer des outils qui aideraient les Alaskiens à s’adapter aux nouvelles conditions socioécologiques

Putting local knowledge and context to work for Gunnison sage-grouse conservation

Successful conservation requires adequate understanding of focal species and ecology, practices that may assist species survival, and a community of people willing and able to conserve the species. For many species at risk, we operate with imperfect knowledge in complex conservation contexts. In this case study involving the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus), we interviewed 26 community-defined local experts, including both those with and without related academic degrees, to assess the utility of local knowledge for understanding and informing conservation opportunities.This project suggests several benefits of integrating local knowledge that apply specifically to rare and endemic populations, including the ability to gain (1) access to a deeper temporal perspective, (2) observations made during different seasons and life-history stages, and (3) insights regarding the applicability of management strategies formed and science conducted on similar species. The contributions of local experts also can help identify conflicting narratives of species decline and, therefore, important future research directions. The patterns of expert referrals in this project provide evidence that long-term collaboration in conservation has created a pool of local Gunnison sage-grouse experts with technical training and long-term experience. Systematic assessment of the pool of local experts may improve long-term conservation by providing increased insight into the conservation context

A new era of wide-field submillimetre imaging: on-sky performance of SCUBA-2

SCUBA-2 is the largest submillimetre wide-field bolometric camera ever built. This 43 square arc-minute field-of-view instrument operates at two wavelengths (850 and 450 microns) and has been installed on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. SCUBA-2 has been successfully commissioned and operational for general science since October 2011. This paper presents an overview of the on-sky performance of the instrument during and since commissioning in mid-2011. The on-sky noise characteristics and NEPs of the 450 and 850 micron arrays, with average yields of approximately 3400 bolometers at each wavelength, will be shown. The observing modes of the instrument and the on-sky calibration techniques are described. The culmination of these efforts has resulted in a scientifically powerful mapping camera with sensitivities that allow a square degree of sky to be mapped to 10 mJy/beam rms at 850 micron in 2 hours and 60 mJy/beam rms at 450 micron in 5 hours in the best weather.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures.SPIE Conference series 8452, Millimetre, Submillimetre and Far-infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy VI 201

The fables of pity: Rousseau, Mandeville and the animal-fable

Copyright @ 2012 Edinburgh University PressPrompted by Derrida’s work on the animal-fable in eighteenth-century debates about political power, this article examines the role played by the fiction of the animal in thinking of pity as either a natural virtue (in Rousseau’s Second Discourse) or as a natural passion (in Mandeville’s The Fable of the Bees). The war of fables between Rousseau and Mandeville – and their hostile reception by Samuel Johnson and Adam Smith – reinforce that the animal-fable illustrates not so much the proper of man as the possibilities and limitations of a moral philosophy that is unable to address the political realities of the state

Ecosystem Stewardship: Sustainability Strategies for a Rapidly Changing Planet

Ecosystem stewardship is an action-oriented framework intended to foster social-ecological sustainability of a rapidly changing planet. Recent developments identify three strategies that make optimal use of current understanding in an environment of inevitable uncertainty and abrupt change: reducing the magnitude of, and exposure and sensitivity to, known stresses; focusing on proactive policies that shape change; and avoiding or escaping unsustainable social-ecological traps. All social-ecological systems are vulnerable to recent and projected changes but have sources of adaptive capacity and resilience that can sustain ecosystem services and human well-being through active ecosystem stewardship

The Prevalence of Norovirus in returning international travelers with diarrhea

Background: There is a high incidence of diarrhea in traveling populations. Norovirus (NV) infection is a common cause of diarrhea and is associated with 7% of all diarrhea related deaths in the US. However, data on the overall prevalence of NV infection in traveling populations is limited. Furthermore, the prevalence of NV amongst travelers returning to Europe has not been reported. This study determined the prevalence of NV among international travelers returning to Germany from over 50 destinations in and outside Europe. Methods: Stool samples of a total of 104 patients with a recent (< 14days) history of international travel (55 male, mean age 37 yrs.) were tested for the presence of NV genogroup (GG) I and II infection using a sensitive and well established quantitative RT PCR method. 57 patients experienced diarrhea at the time of presentation at the Department of Infectious Diseases & Tropical Medicine. The remaining 47 patients had no experience of diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms for at least 14 days prior to their date of presentation at our institute. Results: In our cohort, NV infection was detected in 15.7% of returning travelers with diarrhea. The closer to the date of return symptoms appeared, the higher the incidence of NV, ranging as high as 21.2% within the first four days after return. Conclusions: In our cohort, NV infection was shown to be frequent among returning travelers especially in those with diarrhea, with over 1/5 of diarrhea patients tested positive for NV within the first four days after their return to Germany. Due to this prevalence, routine testing for NV infection and hygienic precautions may be warranted in this group. This is especially applicable to patients at an increased risk of spreading the disease, such as healthcare workers, teachers or food-handlers

Invasion is a community affair: clandestine followers in the bacterial community associated to green algae, Caulerpa racemosa, track the invasion source

Biological invasions rank amongst the most deleterious components of global change inducing alterations from genes to ecosystems. The genetic characteristics of introduced pools of individuals greatly influence the capacity of introduced species to establish and expand. The recently demonstrated heritability of microbial communities associated to individual genotypes of primary producers makes them a potentially essential element of the evolution and adaptability of their hosts. Here, we characterized the bacterial communities associated to native and non-native populations of the marine green macroalga Caulerpa racemosa through pyrosequencing, and explored their potential role on the strikingly invasive trajectory of their host in the Mediterranean. The similarity of endophytic bacterial communities from the native Australian range and several Mediterranean locations confirmed the origin of invasion and revealed distinct communities associated to a second Mediterranean variety of C. racemosa long reported in the Mediterranean. Comparative analysis of these two groups demonstrated the stability of the composition of bacterial communities through the successive steps of introduction and invasion and suggested the vertical transmission of some major bacterial OTUs. Indirect inferences on the taxonomic identity and associated metabolism of bacterial lineages showed a striking consistency with sediment upheaval conditions associated to the expansion of their invasive host and to the decline of native species. These results demonstrate that bacterial communities can be an effective tracer of the origin of invasion and support their potential role in their eukaryotic host’s adaptation to new environments. They put forward the critical need to consider the 'meta-organism' encompassing both the host and associated micro-organisms, to unravel the origins, causes and mechanisms underlying biological invasions

Canagliflozin and Renal Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes and Nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to 300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m 2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to &lt;90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], &gt;300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of &lt;15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P&lt;0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P&lt;0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years