Antibiotic Resistance in Marine Microbial Communities Proximal to a Florida Sewage Outfall System

Water samples were collected at several wastewater treatment plants in southeast Florida, and water and sediment samples were collected along and around one outfall pipe, as well as along several transects extending both north and south of the respective outfall outlet. Two sets of samples were collected to address potential seasonal differences, including 38 in the wet season (June 2018) and 42 in the dry season (March 2019). Samples were screened for the presence/absence of 15 select antibiotic resistance gene targets using the polymerase chain reaction. A contrast between seasons was found, with a higher frequency of detections occurring in the wet season and fewer during the dry season. These data illustrate an anthropogenic influence on offshore microbial genetics and seasonal flux regarding associated health risks to recreational users and the regional ecosystem

Antibiotic Resistance in Marine Microbial Communities Proximal to a Florida Sewage Outfall System

Water samples were collected at several wastewater treatment plants in southeast Florida, and water and sediment samples were collected along and around one outfall pipe, as well as along several transects extending both north and south of the respective outfall outlet. Two sets of samples were collected to address potential seasonal differences, including 38 in the wet season (June 2018) and 42 in the dry season (March 2019). Samples were screened for the presence/absence of 15 select antibiotic resistance gene targets using the polymerase chain reaction. A contrast between seasons was found, with a higher frequency of detections occurring in the wet season and fewer during the dry season. These data illustrate an anthropogenic influence on offshore microbial genetics and seasonal flux regarding associated health risks to recreational users and the regional ecosystem

National culture and capital structure decisions: Evidence from foreign joint ventures in China

We investigate the role of firms' country of origin in financial leverage decisions. Foreign joint ventures in China face a common set of country-level formal institutional constraints, but vary in the cultural values they bring from their countries of origin. We hypothesize that national culture enters the joint optimization process, leading to foreign joint ventures' leverage decisions, and that it affects leverage decisions both directly and indirectly. Employing a hierarchical linear model distinguishing firm-level from country-level variables, and a data set covering over 8000 foreign joint ventures in China from 32 different countries and regions in the year 2002, we find that mastery has negative and significant direct effects on foreign joint ventures' leverage and short-term debt decisions, and a positive and significant direct effect on the likelihood of foreign joint ventures having long-term debt. The indirect effects of mastery on leverage decisions sometimes reinforce and sometimes offset the direct effects. Embeddedness has no significant direct effect on foreign joint ventures' leverage decisions, but exerts its influence entirely through indirect effects. Finally, the economic significance analysis of the total effects suggests that national culture has significant explanatory power in the leverage decisions of foreign joint ventures in China. Journal of International Business Studies (2011) 42, 477-503. doi:10.1057/jibs.2011.7http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000289776100002&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701BusinessManagementSSCI28ARTICLE4477-5034

Individual differences in self-affirmation: distinguishing self-affirmation from positive self-regard

Research into self-affirmation has almost exclusively employed experimental manipulations. In this paper we address individual differences in the tendency to respond to threats with self-affirming cognitions and distinguish this from two overlapping constructs: habitual positive self-thought and trait self-esteem. Items we designed to measure self-affirmation were represented by three first-order factors and loaded on a higher-order factor, creating the Spontaneous Self-Affirmation Measure (SSAM). The SSAM correlated moderately with self-esteem and habitual positive self-thought. In competitive analyses, the SSAM was an independent predictor of a large number of outcomes. The studies provide evidence about the correlates of individual differences in reported spontaneous self-affirmation in response to threat and the contribution made to this response by habitual positive self-thought and trait self-esteem

Enhanced dust heating in the bulges of early-type spiral galaxies

Stellar density and bar strength should affect the temperatures of the cool (T ~ 20-30 K) dust component in the inner regions of galaxies, which implies that the ratio of temperatures in the circumnuclear regions to the disk should depend on Hubble type. We investigate the differences between cool dust temperatures in the central 3 kpc and disk of 13 nearby galaxies by fitting models to measurements between 70 and 500 microns. We attempt to quantify temperature trends in nearby disk galaxies, with archival data from Spitzer/MIPS and new observations with Herschel/SPIRE, which were acquired during the first phases of the Herschel observations for the KINGFISH (key insights in nearby galaxies: a far-infrared survey with Herschel) sample. We fit single-temperature modified blackbodies to far-infrared and submillimeter measurements of the central and disk regions of galaxies to determine the temperature of the component(s) emitting at those wavelengths. We present the ratio of central-region-to-disk-temperatures of the cool dust component of 13 nearby galaxies as a function of morphological type. We find a significant temperature gradient in the cool dust component in all galaxies, with a mean center-to-disk temperature ratio of 1.15 +/- 0.03. The cool dust temperatures in the central ~3 kpc of nearby galaxies are 23(+/-3)% hotter for morphological types earlier than Sc, and only 9(+/-3)% hotter for later types. The temperature ratio is also correlated with bar strength, with only strongly barred galaxies having a ratio over 1.2. The strong radiation field in the high stellar density of a galactic bulge tends to heat the cool dust component to higher temperatures, at least in early-type spirals with relatively large bulges, especially when paired with a strong bar.Comment: Accepted for publication on the A&A Herschel Special Issu

Mapping the cold dust temperatures and masses of nearby Kingfish galaxies with Herschel

Taking advantage of the sensitivity and angular resolution of the Herschel Space Observatory at far-infrared and submm wavelengths, we aim to characterize the physical properties of cold dust within nearby galaxies and study the robustness of the parameters we derive using different modified blackbody models. For a pilot subsample of the KINGFISH program, we perform 2 temperature fits of the Spitzer and Herschel photometric data (24 to 500um), with a warm and a cold component, globally and in each resolution element.At global scales, we observe ranges of values for beta_c(0.8 to 2.5) and Tc(19.1 to 25.1K).We compute maps of our parameters with beta fixed or free to test the robustness of the temperature and dust surface density maps we deduce. When the emissivity is fixed, we observe temperature gradients as a function of radius.When the emissivity is fitted as a free parameter, barred galaxies tend to have uniform fitted emissivities.Gathering resolved elements in a Tc-beta_c diagram underlines an anti-correlation between the two parameters.It remains difficult to assess whether the dominant effect is the physics of dust grains, noise, or mixing along the line of sight and in the beam. We finally observe in both cases that the dust column density peaks in central regions of galaxies and bar ends (coinciding with molecular gas density enhancements usually found in these locations).We also quantify how the total dust mass varies with our assumptions about the emissivity index as well as the influence of the wavelength coverage used in the fits. We show that modified blackbody fits using a shallow emissivity (beta_c < 2.0) lead to significantly lower dust masses compared to the beta_c < 2.0 case, with dust masses lower by up to 50% if beta_c=1.5 for instance.The working resolution affects our total dust mass estimates: masses increase from global fits to spatially-resolved fits.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS, 2012 June 2

The IRX-beta relation on sub-galactic scales in star-forming galaxies of the Herschel Reference Survey

UV and optical surveys are essential to gain insight into the processes driving galaxy formation and evolution. The rest-frame UV emission is key to measure the cosmic SFR. However, UV light is strongly reddened by dust. In starburst galaxies, the UV colour and the attenuation are linked, allowing to correct for dust extinction. Unfortunately, evidence has been accumulating that the relation between UV colour and attenuation is different for normal star-forming galaxies when compared to starburst galaxies. It is still not understood why star-forming galaxies deviate from the UV colour-attenuation relation of starburst galaxies. Previous work and models hint that the role of the shape of the attenuation curve and the age of stellar populations have an important role. In this paper we aim at understanding the fundamental reasons to explain this deviation. We have used the CIGALE SED fitting code to model the far UV to the far IR emission of a set of 7 reasonably face-on spiral galaxies from the HRS. We have explored the influence of a wide range of physical parameters to quantify their influence and impact on the accurate determination of the attenuation from the UV colour, and why normal galaxies do not follow the same relation as starburst galaxies. We have found that the deviation can be best explained by intrinsic UV colour differences between different regions in galaxies. Variations in the shape of the attenuation curve can also play a secondary role. Standard age estimators of the stellar populations prove to be poor predictors of the intrinsic UV colour. These results are also retrieved on a sample of 58 galaxies when considering their integrated fluxes. When correcting the emission of normal star-forming galaxies for the attenuation, it is crucial to take into account possible variations in the intrinsic UV colour as well as variations of the shape of the attenuation curve.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 18 pages, 14 figures. The paper with high resolution figures can be downloaded at http://www.oamp.fr/people/mboquien/HRS/boquien_IRX_beta.pd

Trust as a daily defense against collective disease threats

Although the isolated threat of disease often motivates people to avoid others, people need the help and cooperation of others to protect themselves against pandemic disease threats. Therefore, the fear of contracting a highly contagious virus like COVID-19 should motivate people to believe that they can in fact count on the help and cooperation of others for protection. Trusting in others provides the basis to anticipate their cooperation. Therefore, we expected a greater daily threat of contracting COVID-19 to motivate people to trust more in others, providing needed assurance that others would keep them safe from harm. We obtained 4 daily diary samples involving 2794 participants who provided in excess of 18,000 daily observations within the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each day, we tracked (1) disease threat, captured daily by personal concerns about COVID-19 and infection totals in the nearest most populous city, and (2) trust in others, captured daily by expressions of trust in intimates, collective caregivers (e.g., President, Congress), and strangers. Participants in two samples completed 2-month follow-ups. Integrative analyses of the daily diaries revealed that people trusted more in intimates and collective caregivers on days they had greater (vs. less) reason to be concerned about COVID-19. Further integrative analyses of the follow-up data revealed that participants who were initially more likely to trust in others on days when COVID-19 cases in nearby communities spread more rapidly later reported greater confidence that others would keep them safe from harm. That is, they evidenced greater physical, interpersonal, and collective security in social connection than participants who were initially less likely to defensively trust in others on such occasions. The present findings suggest that ecological threats may dynamically motivate people to trust others more than they otherwise would, providing optimism that collectively-faced crises may motivate social cooperation when it is most needed