The Influence of Physical Features upon the History of Rhode Island

To affirm that the physical features of the State of Rhode Island have influenced its history is not to deny that the character of its early settlers has exerted an equal, or perhaps a greater influence. It would ill become one who has made a special study of genealogy to ignore the fact that heredity affects the history of a state. If he were inclined to doubt the fact in general, there are too many evidences of that influence in this State to be overlooked. But, at this time, that branch of history is not our topic

Assessment of Subjective Experiences of Boys Entering the Community From a Correctional School

The purpose of this study was to explore, classify, and evaluate the personal experiences of juvenile offenders following release from a state training school. During a two month period beginning in the fall of 1967, a group of twenty-three releasees from the MacLaren School for Boys in Woodburn, Oregon were interviewed on a weekly basis in the Portland metropolitan area. The boys, ranging in age from thirteen to seventeen were contacted in their homes, schools, and other settings to learn of positive, negative, and critical experiences encountered in the community. Open ended questions based upon a twenty- seven item schedule were administered to the boys, focusing upon personal experiences in six major areas: school, family, peer group, community, work and authority. Responses were recorded verbatim and classified according to the boys\u27 judgments of positive and negative connotations. Critical experiences were also recorded to determine specific incidents which brought the boys into contact with legal authorities or otherwise seriously affected their parole status. Positive, negative, and critical experiences from this study were analyzed both descriptively and statistically. Null hypotheses were tested to determine the quality, quantity, and intensity of experiences with respect to such major variables as age of the boys, race, length of stay in the community, records of school attendance, and personality inventory characteristics. Experiences were similarly related with respect to other variables found to be present as a result of the interviewing experience. Findings yielded evidence to indicate a predominance of negative experiences in the boys’ contacts with the community following release. The highest proportion of these occurred within the boys’ families, followed by contacts with authority and school, respectively. Peer group relationships for the boys indicated the highest proportion of positive experiences when compared with other major categories

High temperature/pressure MAS-NMR for the study of dynamic processes in mixed phase systems

A new MAS-NMR rotor (the WHiMS rotor) has been developed which can reach pressures of 400 bar at 20 °C or 225 bar at 250 °C. These rotors are ideal for mixed phase systems such as a reaction using a solid catalyst with a liquid/supercritical solvent topped with high pressure gas in the head space. After solid and liquid portions of the sample are loaded, the rotor is capped with an o-ring equipped polymer bushing that snaps into a mating groove in the rotor. The bushings incorporate a check valve into the sealing mechanism which allows for pressurization without mechanical manipulation – they will allow gas to flow in but not out. This WHiMS rotor design has enabled experiments on a wide variety of biotic and abiotic mixed-phase systems. Geochemical systems have also been studied, for example, adsorption and confinement studies of supercritical methane/CO2 in clays and other minerals which display pressure dependent 13C chemical shifts. Example data from other mixed-phase chemical and microbial systems are reported. These include monitoring metabolite conversion of extremophilic bacteria found in subsurface systems at elevated pressures and real-time operando reactions in catalysis systems - with liquid-quality resolution for 1H and 13C NMR spectra

Untargeted metabolomic profiling of Sphagnum fallax reveals novel antimicrobial metabolites

Sphagnum mosses dominate peatlands by employing harsh ecosystem tactics to prevent vascular plant growth and microbial degradation of these large carbon stores. Knowledge about Sphagnum-produced metabolites, their structure and their function, is important to better understand the mechanisms, underlying this carbon sequestration phenomenon in the face of climate variability. It is currently unclear which compounds are responsible for inhibition of organic matter decomposition and the mechanisms by which this inhibition occurs. Metabolite profiling of Sphagnum fallax was performed using two types of mass spectrometry (MS) systems and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR). Lipidome profiling was performed using LC-MS/MS. A total of 655 metabolites, including one hundred fifty-two lipids, were detected by NMR and LC-MS/MS-329 of which were novel metabolites (31 unknown lipids). Sphagum fallax metabolite profile was composed mainly of acid-like and flavonoid glycoside compounds, that could be acting as potent antimicrobial compounds, allowing Sphagnum to control its environment. Sphagnum fallax metabolite composition comparison against previously known antimicrobial plant metabolites confirmed this trend, with seventeen antimicrobial compounds discovered to be present in Sphagnum fallax, the majority of which were acids and glycosides. Biological activity of these compounds needs to be further tested to confirm antimicrobial qualities. Three fungal metabolites were identified providing insights into fungal colonization that may benefit Sphagnum. Characterizing the metabolite profile of Sphagnum fallax provided a baseline to understand the mechanisms in which Sphagnum fallax acts on its environment, its relation to carbon sequestration in peatlands, and provide key biomarkers to predict peatland C store changes (sequestration, emissions) as climate shifts.Microbiomes in Transition; Office of Biological and Environmental ResearchOpen access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Sulfide Generation by Dominant Halanaerobium Microorganisms in Hydraulically Fractured Shales

Hydraulic fracturing of black shale formations has greatly increased United States oil and natural gas recovery. However, the accumulation of biomass in subsurface reservoirs and pipelines is detrimental because of possible well souring, microbially induced corrosion, and pore clogging. Temporal sampling of produced fluids from a well in the Utica Shale revealed the dominance of Halanaerobium strains within the in situ microbial community and the potential for these microorganisms to catalyze thiosulfate-dependent sulfidogenesis. From these field data, we investigated biogenic sulfide production catalyzed by a Halanaerobium strain isolated from the produced fluids using proteogenomics and laboratory growth experiments. Analysis of Halanaerobium isolate genomes and reconstructed genomes from metagenomic data sets revealed the conserved presence of rhodanese-like proteins and anaerobic sulfite reductase complexes capable of converting thiosulfate to sulfide. Shotgun proteomics measurements using a Halanaerobium isolate verified that these proteins were more abundant when thiosulfate was present in the growth medium, and culture-based assays identified thiosulfate-dependent sulfide production by the same isolate. Increased production of sulfide and organic acids during the stationary growth phase suggests that fermentative Halanaerobium uses thiosulfate to remove excess reductant. These findings emphasize the potential detrimental effects that could arise from thiosulfate-reducing microorganisms in hydraulically fractured shales, which are undetected by current industry-wide corrosion diagnostics. IMPORTANCE Although thousands of wells in deep shale formations across the United States have been hydraulically fractured for oil and gas recovery, the impact of microbial metabolism within these environments is poorly understood. Our research demonstrates that dominant microbial populations in these subsurface ecosystems contain the conserved capacity for the reduction of thiosulfate to sulfide and that this process is likely occurring in the environment. Sulfide generation (also known as “souring”) is considered deleterious in the oil and gas industry because of both toxicity issues and impacts on corrosion of the subsurface infrastructure. Critically, the capacity for sulfide generation via reduction of sulfate was not detected in our data sets. Given that current industry wellhead tests for sulfidogenesis target canonical sulfate-reducing microorganisms, these data suggest that new approaches to the detection of sulfide-producing microorganisms may be necessary

Soil Metabolome Response to Whole-Ecosystem Warming at the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments Experiment

While peatlands have historically stored massive amounts of soil carbon, warming is expected to enhance decomposition, leading to a positive feedback with climate change. In this study, a unique whole-ecosystem warming experiment was conducted in northern Minnesota to warm peat profiles to 2 m deep while keeping water flow intact. After nearly 2 y, warming enhanced the degradation of soil organic matter and increased greenhouse gas production. Changes in organic matter quality with warming were accompanied by a stimulation of methane production relative to carbon dioxide. Our results revealed increased decomposition to be fueled by the availability of reactive carbon substrates produced by surface vegetation. The elevated rates of methanogenesis are likely to persist and exacerbate climate warming

Reviews and syntheses: The promise of big diverse soil data, moving current practices towards future potential

In the age of big data, soil data are more available and richer than ever, but – outside of a few large soil survey resources – they remain largely unusable for informing soil management and understanding Earth system processes beyond the original study. Data science has promised a fully reusable research pipeline where data from past studies are used to contextualize new findings and reanalyzed for new insight. Yet synthesis projects encounter challenges at all steps of the data reuse pipeline, including unavailable data, labor-intensive transcription of datasets, incomplete metadata, and a lack of communication between collaborators. Here, using insights from a diversity of soil, data, and climate scientists, we summarize current practices in soil data synthesis across all stages of database creation: availability, input, harmonization, curation, and publication. We then suggest new soil-focused semantic tools to improve existing data pipelines, such as ontologies, vocabulary lists, and community practices. Our goal is to provide the soil data community with an overview of current practices in soil data and where we need to go to fully leverage big data to solve soil problems in the next century

Imidazol-1-ylethylindazole Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Ligands Are Neuroprotective during Optic Neuritis in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis

[Image: see text] A series of imidazol-1-ylethylindazole sodium channel ligands were developed and optimized for sodium channel inhibition and in vitro neuroprotective activity. The molecules exhibited displacement of a radiolabeled sodium channel ligand and selectivity for blockade of the inactivated state of cloned neuronal Na(v) channels. Metabolically stable analogue 6 was able to protect retinal ganglion cells during optic neuritis in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis

The Making of a Productivity Hotspot in the Coastal Ocean

Highly productive hotspots in the ocean often occur where complex physical forcing mechanisms lead to aggregation of primary and secondary producers. Understanding how hotspots persist, however, requires combining knowledge of the spatio-temporal linkages between geomorphology, physical forcing, and biological responses with the physiological requirements and movement of top predators.) off the Baja California peninsula, Mexico.We have identified the set of conditions that lead to a persistent top predator hotspot, which increases our understanding of how highly migratory species exploit productive regions of the ocean. These results will aid in the development of spatially and environmentally explicit management strategies for marine species of conservation concern