Like Water for the West: Why Bison Could and Should Be What’s for Dinner

The most effective way to correct the environmental and health problems caused by grain-based industrial cattle ranching would be for people to become vegetarians. The current demand for meat demonstrates that such a drastic societal shift is unlikely to occur soon. Alternatively, this Note envisions a move to bison ranching, deliberately limited to a grass-fed and free-range approach. Bison are less destructive of rangeland ecosystems, more efficiently raised for meat, and healthier to consume when raised conscientiously. Short of eliminating livestock ranching altogether, “natural” bison ranching is a logical solution to the environmental, health, and economic problems made worse every day by the beef industry. This Note examines the strength of the beef industry but also its entrenched problems. It introduces the Beef Research and Information Act, a law that has played a large role in the endurance of beef’s strengths and problems, and whose structure could be imitated for promoting the natural bison industry, instead. Then, this Note describes the vulnerability of the Beef Research and Information Act and notes three ways the Act could be eliminated so as to lessen cattle ranchers’ current market advantage over bison. This Note then makes recommendations for how to structure a proposed Natural Bison Research and Information Act that adapts components of the Beef Research and Information Act, to meet the needs of bison producers while fostering a healthier, more environmentally-sound meat industry. Finally, this Note suggests changes to other laws and policies that must accompany the Natural Bison Research and Information Act if the bison industry is to grow responsibly

An investigation of the variables affecting steam condensation on the outside of a horizontal tube bundle

The accurate prediction of the thermal performance of large multitube steam condensers for application to the distillation desalination of seawater depends on the availability of correlations for calculating each of the film heat transfer coefficients for individual tubes located within the condenser as a function of local conditions. Although correlations are available, there have been few experimental verifications of their accuracy or even of their validity in the specific application to desalination, particularly with respect to the two film coefficients associated with the condensation process, the condensate film heat transfer coefficient and the non-condensable gas film heat transfer coefficient. A horizontal multitube steam condenser was built and operated in the present work in order to investigate the individual and combined effects of steam temperature, steam velocity, condensate rain, and non-condensable gas fraction on the thermal performance of a vertical array of five tubes located within the condenser over the range of interest of each of the variables of importance to the distillation desalination process. The results were analyzed by comparison with existing and improved correlations. The effect of condensate rain on the condensate film heat transfer coefficient was found to be consistent with previous investigations. A new side drainage model described the observed results and provided the basis for improved prediction methods. The effect of steam velocity was found to be similar in the horizontal direction to that observed by previous investigators in the vertical direction. The effect could be accounted for as being due to the lateral transport of the condensate by the steam out of the region of active condenser tubes, and thus unlikely to occur in large tube bundles. The effect of temperature on the condensate film heat transfer coefficient was found to be consistent with the theoretical prediction of the Nusselt equation. The combined effect of gas concentration, steam velocity, condensing rate and condensing temperature on the non-condensable gas film heat transfer coefficient was correlated using the Colburn mass transfer j factor and a modified j factor, with the latter being preferred because it led to a considerable decrease in the data scatter about the correlating line. A cavity flow model for describing the process of condensation in the presence of gas in a tube bundle was described and the results analyzed in terms of it. Design equations for predicting the film coefficients were presented, with values based on the present work incorporated. Recommendations for additional work to generalize the present results are included

HP1a: a structural chromosomal protein regulating transcription

Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1a in Drosophila) is a conserved eukaryotic chromosomal protein that is prominently associated with pericentric heterochromatin and mediates the concomitant gene silencing. Mechanistic studies implicate HP1 family proteins as \u27hub proteins,\u27 able to interact with a variety of chromosomal proteins through the chromo-shadow domain (CSD), as well as to recognize key histone modification sites [primarily histone H3 di/trimethyl Lys9 (H3K9me2/3)] through the chromodomain (CD). Consequently, HP1 has many important roles in chromatin architecture and impacts both gene expression and gene silencing, utilizing a variety of mechanisms. Clearly, HP1 function is altered by context, and potentially by post-translational modifications (PTMs). Here, we report on recent ideas as to how this versatile protein accomplishes its diverse functions. Keywords: HP1a; chromodomain; gene expression; silencing

The HP1 protein family: getting a grip on chromatin

HP1 was first described in Drosophila as a heterochromatin-associated protein with dosage-dependent effects on heterochromatin-induced gene silencing. Recently, membership of the HP1 protein family has expanded tremendously. A number of intriguing interactions between HP1 and other proteins have been described, implicating HP1 in gene regulation, DNA replication, and nuclear architecture

Explaining Test Results to Parents

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Electronic cigarettes and nicotine dependence: evolving products, evolving problems

Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) use an electric heater to aerosolize a liquid that usually contains propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavorants, and the dependence-producing drug nicotine. ECIG-induced nicotine dependence has become an important concern, as some ECIGs deliver very little nicotine while some may exceed the nicotine delivery profile of a tobacco cigarette. This variability is relevant to tobacco cigarette smokers who try to switch to ECIGs. Products with very low nicotine delivery may not substitute for tobacco cigarettes, so that ECIG use is accompanied by little reduced risk of cigarette-caused disease. Products with very high nicotine delivery may make quitting ECIGs particularly difficult should users decide to try. For non-smokers, the wide variability of ECIGs on the market is especially troublesome: low nicotine products may lead them to initiate nicotine self-administration and progress to higher dosing ECIGs or other products, and those that deliver more nicotine may produce nicotine dependence where it was not otherwise present. External regulatory action, guided by strong science, may be required to ensure that population-level nicotine dependence does not rise

Electronic cigarettes and nicotine dependence: evolving products, evolving problems

Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) use an electric heater to aerosolize a liquid that usually contains propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavorants, and the dependence-producing drug nicotine. ECIG-induced nicotine dependence has become an important concern, as some ECIGs deliver very little nicotine while some may exceed the nicotine delivery profile of a tobacco cigarette. This variability is relevant to tobacco cigarette smokers who try to switch to ECIGs. Products with very low nicotine delivery may not substitute for tobacco cigarettes, so that ECIG use is accompanied by little reduced risk of cigarette-caused disease. Products with very high nicotine delivery may make quitting ECIGs particularly difficult should users decide to try. For non-smokers, the wide variability of ECIGs on the market is especially troublesome: low nicotine products may lead them to initiate nicotine self-administration and progress to higher dosing ECIGs or other products, and those that deliver more nicotine may produce nicotine dependence where it was not otherwise present. External regulatory action, guided by strong science, may be required to ensure that population-level nicotine dependence does not rise

CONCENTRATION OF SETTLED BEDS OF THORIA SLURRY

The variation in concentration of settled beds of flocculated aqueous suspensions of thoria was studied experimentally as a function of the calcination temperature and particle size of the thoria, the temperature and initial concentration of the suspension, and the concentration of added chromic acid. Values of the ultimate settled-bed concentration were obtained by several methods. Dilatant-plastic behavior of one suspension was considered responsible for the formation, in long vertical tubes, of intractable plugs. (auth

A descriptive study of waterpipe smoking among college students

Purpose The purpose of this cross‐sectional study was to examine waterpipe smoking and beliefs about waterpipe smoking in a sample of college students from a public university in Virginia. Data sources A web‐based survey was sent to 1000 undergraduate students recruiting them to participate in the study. Measures from the investigator‐developed Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) Waterpipe Questionnaire were used to capture belief‐based components of the TRA related to waterpipe use. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the prevalence of waterpipe smoking and beliefs associated with waterpipe smoking. Conclusions Of the sample ( n = 223), 71% of males and 52% of females reporting ever smoking tobacco using a waterpipe and 22% of males and 5% of females reporting current waterpipe smoking. Of the sample, 28% of males and 10% of females were current cigarette smokers and 25% of males and 10% of females were current marijuana users. Common beliefs associated with waterpipe smoking are also presented. Implications for practice Nurse practitioners working with college students need to be aware of the multiple forms of tobacco that students may engage in. They also should be aware of the common beliefs about waterpipe smoking. This information is useful when targeting and counseling patients about alternative tobacco products like waterpipe smoking.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95501/1/jaan781.pd

Estimating the beginning of the waterpipe epidemic in Syria

BACKGROUND: Waterpipe smoking is becoming a global public health problem, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR). METHODS: We try in this study, which is a cross sectional survey among a representative sample of waterpipe smokers in cafes/restaurants in Aleppo-Syria, to assess the time period for the beginning of this new smoking hype. We recruited 268 waterpipe smokers (161 men, 107 women; mean age ± standard deviation (SD) 30.1 ± 10.2, response rate 95.3%). Participants were divided into 4 birth cohorts (≤ 1960, 1961–1970, 1971–1980, >1980) and year of initiation of waterpipe smoking and daily cigarette smoking were plotted according to these birth cohorts. RESULTS: Data indicate that unlike initiation of cigarette smoking, which shows a clear age-related pattern, the nineties was the starting point for most of waterpipe smoking implicating this time period for the beginning of the waterpipe epidemic in Syria. CONCLUSION: The introduction of new flavored and aromatic waterpipe tobacco (Maassel), and the proliferation of satellite and electronic media during the nineties may have helped spread the new hype all over the Arab World