Odonata species of special concern for Oklahoma, USA

Assessment of conservation status is a necessary step before management plans can be formulated. Historically such assessments have a strong bias toward vertebrates, particularly endothermic terrestrial vertebrates (i.e. birds and mammals). Invertebrates, by contrast, tend to be ignored, and many insect groups, despite being species rich and reasonably well studied, such as the Odonata (damselflies and dragonflies), have not been assessed or have been assessed only at a broad geographic level (e.g. internationally or continentally). Assessment at a state level recognizes that states often are at the front of regional and local conservation and management planning and implementation. On the basis of our extensive surveys across the Great Plains state of Oklahoma in the central USA, as well as our compilation of thousands of museum specimens dating back to 1877, we were able to discern the status and distribution of each of the 161 species of odonates recorded in the state. In doing so we were able to assess a conservation rank, using NatureServe criteria, for each species.We conclude that nine species are critically imperiled (S1) in the state. These species require immediate conservation attention, initially at the level of intensive surveys to delineate the full extent of the geographic range in the state and to determine the population size and habitat needs. We categorized an additional 13 species as imperiled (S2) and placed 18 species on a “watch list” (S3). Species on these two lists will require field surveys as well, and regions of high occurrence of listed species ought to be targeted for such efforts and considered as set-asides for preservation of key members of the odonate fauna in the state

Jakatar- Proposing a New Lifestyle

There are two major effects of global warming; rising temperatures and melting glaciers. More than five million cubic miles of ice fields are continuously melting. Experts estimate if all melting drains to the sea, the sea-level would rise 216 feet. It will cause a different life style for the future. The effects of sea-level rise are scarcity of resources and a lack of habitat. We propose a new infrastructure, through the use of existing buildings, with different function to help humanity cope with rising sea-levels

Creating Legitimacy for Sustainability Assurance Practices: Evidence from Sustainability Restatements

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis (Routledge) via the DOI in this record.This study examines sustainability reporting assurance (SRA) provider use of sustainability restatements as a means to create legitimacy in the developing SRA market. In comparison to financial data, mistakes in sustainability reporting are more likely to be made and less likely to be discovered prior to reporting. A lack of clear reporting standards and ambiguous SRA guidelines create a setting where providers can use restatements in an attempt to demonstrate both a problem in sustainability reporting and assurance as the solution to that issue. Based on a sample of U.S. firms from 2010–14, we find that SRA is associated with an increased likelihood of sustainability restatements, that the association is stronger for error restatements than for restatements due to methodological updates, and that SRA is significantly associated with the disclosure of quantitatively non-material restatements. We also document differences in these relations across provider-type, with only consultant assurance significantly associated with methodological restatements and restatements of a non-material amount. Our findings support differences between sustainability report restatements and financial restatements, and provide evidence in support of our argument that assurance providers may be using restatements in an attempt to expand market share in a new professional space.We also gratefully acknowledge the 2014 Best Paper Prize awarded by the PRI Stichting Foundation at the 2nd GARI International Conference (Henley Business School) and financial support from the University of Exeter Firms, Markets and Value Research Cluster and the School of Accounting, Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University

Filler bar heating due to stepped tiles in the shuttle orbiter thermal protection system

An analytical study was performed to investigate the excessive heating in the tile to tile gaps of the Shuttle Orbiter Thermal Protection System due to stepped tiles. The excessive heating was evidence by visible discoloration and charring of the filler bar and strain isolation pad that is used in the attachment of tiles to the aluminum substrate. Two tile locations on the Shuttle orbiter were considered, one on the lower surface of the fuselage and one on the lower surface of the wing. The gap heating analysis involved the calculation of external and internal gas pressures and temperatures, internal mass flow rates, and the transient thermal response of the thermal protection system. The results of the analysis are presented for the fuselage and wing location for several step heights. The results of a study to determine the effectiveness of a half height ceramic fiber gap filler in preventing hot gas flow in the tile gaps are also presented

L and T Dwarf Models and the L to T Transition

Using a model for refractory clouds, a novel algorithm for handling them, and the latest gas-phase molecular opacities, we have produced a new series of L and T dwarf spectral and atmosphere models as a function of gravity and metallicity, spanning the \teff range from 2200 K to 700 K. The correspondence with observed spectra and infrared colors for early- and mid-L dwarfs and for mid- to late-T dwarfs is good. We find that the width in infrared color-magnitude diagrams of both the T and L dwarf branches is naturally explained by reasonable variations in gravity and, therefore, that gravity is the "second parameter" of the L/T dwarf sequence. We investigate the dependence of theoretical dwarf spectra and color-magnitude diagrams upon various cloud properties, such as particle size and cloud spatial distribution. In the region of the L$\to$T transition, we find that no one cloud-particle-size and gravity combination can be made to fit all the observed data. Furthermore, we note that the new, lower solar oxygen abundances of Allende-Prieto, Lambert, & Asplund (2002) produce better fits to brown dwarf data than do the older values. Finally, we discuss various issues in cloud physics and modeling and speculate on how a better correspondence between theory and observation in the problematic L$\to$T transition region might be achieved.Comment: accepted to the Astrophysical Journal, 21 figures (20 in color); spectral models in electronic form available at http://zenith.as.arizona.edu/~burrow

Recognition and property in Hegel and the early Marx

The article attempts to show, first, that for Hegel the role of property is to enable persons both to objectify their freedom and to properly express their recognition of each other as free, and second, that the Marx of 1844 uses fundamentally similar ideas in his exposition of communist society. For him the role of ‘true property’ is to enable individuals both to objectify their essential human powers and their individuality, and to express their recognition of each other as fellow human beings with needs, or their ‘human recognition’. Marx further uses these ideas to condemn the society of private property and market exchange as characterised by ‘estranged’ forms of property and recognition. He therefore uses a structure of ideas which Hegel had used to justify the institutions of private property and market exchange in order to condemn those same institutions. It is concluded that Marx’s adoption from Hegel of the idea that property as the means of self-objectification and of expressed recognition, leaves his vision of communism open to the charge that in it, just as in market society, the relations between human beings are mediated by things

The Ultrasensitivity of Living Polymers

Synthetic and biological living polymers are self-assembling chains whose chain length distributions (CLDs) are dynamic. We show these dynamics are ultrasensitive: even a small perturbation (e.g. temperature jump) non-linearly distorts the CLD, eliminating or massively augmenting short chains. The origin is fast relaxation of mass variables (mean chain length, monomer concentration) which perturbs CLD shape variables before these can relax via slow chain growth rate fluctuations. Viscosity relaxation predictions agree with experiments on the best-studied synthetic system, alpha-methylstyrene.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

The Effect of Ventricular Assist Devices on Post-Transplant Mortality An Analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing Thoracic Registry

ObjectivesThis study sought to determine the relationship between pre-transplant ventricular assist device (VAD) support and mortality after heart transplantation.BackgroundIncreasingly, VADs are being used to bridge patients to heart transplantation. The effect of these devices on post-transplant mortality is unclear.MethodsPatients 18 years or older who underwent first-time, single-organ heart transplantation in the U.S. between 1995 and 2004 were included in the analyses. This study compared 1,433 patients bridged with intracorporeal and 448 patients bridged with extracorporeal VADs with 9,455 United Network for Organ Sharing status 1 patients not bridged with a VAD with respect to post-transplant mortality. Because the proportional hazards assumption was not met, hazard ratios (HRs) for different time periods were estimated.ResultsIntracorporeal VADs were associated with an HR of 1.20 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02 to 1.43; p = 0.03) for mortality in the first 6 months after transplant and an HR of 1.99 (95% CI: 1.44 to 2.75; p < 0.0001) beyond 5 years. Between 6 months and 5 years, the HRs were not significantly different from 1. Extracorporeal VADs were associated with an HR of 1.91 (95% CI: 1.53 to 2.37; p < 0.0001) for mortality in the first 6 months and an HR of 2.93 (95% CI: 1.19 to 7.25; p = 0.02) beyond 5 years. The HRs were not significantly different from 1 between 6 months and 5 years, except for an HR of 0.23 (95% CI: 0.06 to 0.91; p = 0.04) between 24 and 36 months.ConclusionsExtracorporeal VADs are associated with higher mortality within 6 months and again beyond 5 years after transplantation. Intracorporeal VADs are associated with a small increase in mortality in the first 6 months and a clinically significant increase in mortality beyond 5 years. These data do not provide evidence supporting VAD implantation in stable United Network for Organ Sharing status I patients awaiting heart transplantation

A Spitzer/IRAC Search for Substellar Companions of the Debris Disk Star epsilon Eridani

We have used the InfraRed Array Camera (IRAC) onboard the Spitzer Space telescope to search for low mass companions of the nearby debris disk star epsilon Eridani. The star was observed in two epochs 39 days apart, with different focal plane rotation to allow the subtraction of the instrumental Point Spread Function, achieving a maximum sensitivity of 0.01 MJy/sr at 3.6 and 4.5 um, and 0.05 MJy/sr at 5.8 and 8.0 um. This sensitivity is not sufficient to directly detect scattered or thermal radiation from the epsilon Eridani debris disk. It is however sufficient to allow the detection of Jovian planets with mass as low as 1 MJ in the IRAC 4.5 um band. In this band, we detected over 460 sources within the 5.70 arcmin field of view of our images. To test if any of these sources could be a low mass companion to epsilon Eridani, we have compared their colors and magnitudes with models and photometry of low mass objects. Of the sources detected in at least two IRAC bands, none fall into the range of mid-IR color and luminosity expected for cool, 1 Gyr substellar and planetary mass companions of epsilon Eridani, as determined by both models and observations of field M, L and T dwarf. We identify three new sources which have detections at 4.5 um only, the lower limit placed on their [3.6]-[4.5] color consistent with models of planetary mass objects. Their nature cannot be established with the currently available data and a new observation at a later epoch will be needed to measure their proper motion, in order to determine if they are physically associated to epsilon Eridani.Comment: 36 pages, to be published on The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 647, August 200

Electrophysiological Measurements and Analysis of Nociception in Human Infants

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience. Since infants cannot verbally report their experiences, current methods of pain assessment are based on behavioural and physiological body reactions, such as crying, body movements or changes in facial expression. While these measures demonstrate that infants mount a response following noxious stimulation, they are limited: they are based on activation of subcortical somatic and autonomic motor pathways that may not be reliably linked to central sensory processing in the brain. Knowledge of how the central nervous system responds to noxious events could provide an insight to how nociceptive information and pain is processed in newborns