Urbanization as Socioenvironmental Succession: The Case of Hazardous Industrial Site Accumulation

This study rehabilitates concepts from classical human ecology and synthesizes them with contemporary urban and environmental sociology to advance a theory of urbanization as socioenvironmental succession. The theory illuminates how social and biophysical phenomena interact endogenously at the local level to situate urban land use patterns recursively and reciprocally in place. To demonstrate this theory we conduct a historical-comparative analysis of hazardous industrial site accumulation in four U.S. cities, using a relational database that was assembled for more than 11,000 facilities that operated during the past half centuryﾗmost of which remain unacknowledged in government reports. Results show how three iterative processesﾗhazardous industrial churning, residential churning, and risk containmentﾗintersect to produce successive socioenvironmental changes that are highly relevant to but often missed by research on urban growth machines, environmental inequality, and systemic risk

Calnexin, calreticulin, and ERp57: Teammates in glycoprotein folding

In eukaryotic cells, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) plays an essential role in the synthesis and maturation of a variety of important secretory and membrane proteins. For glycoproteins, the ER possesses a dedicated maturation system, which assists folding and ensures the quality of final products before ER release. Essential components of this system include the lectin chaperones calnexin (CNX) and calreticulin (CRT) and their associated co-chaperone ERp57, a glycoprotein specific thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase. The significance of this system is underscored by the fact that CNX and CRT interact with practically all glycoproteins investigated to date, and by the debilitating phenotypes revealed in knockout mice deficient in either gene. Compared to other important chaperone systems, such as the Hsp70s, Hsp90s and GroEL/GroES, the principles whereby this system works at the molecular level are relatively poorly understood. However, recent structural and biochemical data have provided important new insights into this chaperone system and present a solid basis for further mechanistic studie

Economic Impacts of Irrigation Technologies in the Sevier River Basin

The economic well-being of the semiarid intermountain area requires efficent use of available water supplies. Agriculture, the major water-consuming industry, depends on irrigation water. The adoption of sprinkler systems that increase on-farm irrigation efficiencies and the area which can be irrigated from upstream diversions may interfere with the tenure of downstream water rights. These downstream effects need to be evaluated before allowing farmers to use the water saved to irrigate additional acreages or crops to obtain greater profits. The problem in letting farms expand their irrigated acreage is that the individual farmer increases his profits through increased consumptive use. The consequent reduction in return flows reduces the water available to the downstream irrigators and violates the downstream user\u27s proper rights. Water rights administrators have a responsibility to both users. They need to protect downstream water rights. In doing so, the policies should not deny those who install new sprinkler systems the right to any water they really save from wasteful consumptive use (e.g., by weeds or evaporation). A linear programming model was developed to evaluate the effect of changes in irrigation technology on basinwide cropping patterns and hence consumptive use and return flows for downstream users within the Sevier River Basin. Cropping choices were made from inforamtion on field slopes and soil types as represented by land classifications, consumptive use for nine crops, and the characteristics of four on-farm irrigation systems (flood and sprinkler irrigation systems with lined and unlined ditches). In addition, water diversions any available irrigated acreages were constrained to the limits imposed by the State Engineer\u27s Office as a means of protecting property rights. Modern irrigation systems were estimated to be profitable and hence would be adopted with the present acreage and diversion restrictions. Basin output would increase; however, downstream water rights would not be met. With relations of these restrictions, the farm economy would gain even more from the adoption of new irrigation systems. Again, present water rights would not be met. Federal and state cost sharing programs could also aggravate the water rights problem and possibly cause environmental problems by reducing instream flows. The empiracle linear programming model developed to represent the agricultural economy of the Sevier River Basin was able to provide reasonable replication of cropping patterns, wate ruse, and instream flows in the basin. This success generates some confidence in the model\u27s ability to estimate the effects of adaptations of new irrigation technology and various basin water management policies on the bropping decisions made by basin farmers. The estiamtes made by the model provide a valuable tool for equitable water rights administration, but the results would be much improved if refined to incorporate hydrologic routing, hydrosalinity effects, optimal irrigation levels, and year-to-year variation in water availability

EC95-107-A Nebraska Proso, Sunflower, Amaranth, Oat and Spring Wheat Variety Tests 1995

Extension Circular 95-107-A: Nebraska Proso, sunflower, amaranth, oat and spring wheat variety tests-1995; historic prices of Proso Millet and Sunflowers compared with corn and sorghum, Proso variety trails and description of plot techniques, agronomic characteristics of varieties, Proso yields for 1995 variety trails, and five year yield summary of Proso varieties. Sunflower trails and description-1995, sunflower hybrids, sunflower two and three year yield and oil summaries. Spring oat and barley trail and description of different locations in Nebraska

Transnuclear CD8 T cells specific for the immunodominant epitope Gra6 lower acute-phase Toxoplasma gondii burden.

We generated a CD8 T-cell receptor (TCR) transnuclear (TN) mouse specific to the Ld -restricted immunodominant epitope of GRA6 from Toxoplasma gondii as a source of cells to facilitate further investigation into the CD8 T-cell-mediated response against this pathogen. The TN T cells bound Ld -Gra6 tetramer and proliferated upon unspecific and peptide-specific stimulation. The TCR beta sequence of the Gra6-specific TN CD8 T cells is identical in its V- and J-region to the TCR-β harboured by a hybridoma line generated in response to Gra6 peptide. Adoptively transferred Gra6 TN CD8 T cells proliferated upon Toxoplasma infection in vivo and exhibited an activated phenotype similar to host CD8 T cells specific to Gra6. The brain of Toxoplasma-infected mice carried Gra6 TN cells already at day 8 post-infection. Both Gra6 TN mice as well as adoptively transferred Gra6 TN cells were able to significantly reduce the parasite burden in the acute phase of Toxoplasma infection. Overall, the Gra6 TN mouse represents a functional tool to study the protective and immunodominant specific CD8 T-cell response to Toxoplasma in both the acute and the chronic phases of infection

Eco-evolutionary dynamics in host-virus systems

In my thesis, I studied eco-evolutionary dynamics with the focus to advance this relatively novel research field. In general, I aim to develop a detailed mechanistic understanding of eco-evolutionary dynamics in host-virus systems and investigate the effects and important consequences of such dynamics in simple and increasingly complex food webs. The first chapter of this thesis serves as a general introduction into eco-evolutionary dynamics. Here, I review most recent findings concerning the field of eco-evolutionary dynamics and propose several further research directions by identifying important gaps in our knowledge, which then served as the most important driver for my thesis work. The second chapter addresses several missing links identified in chapter one; i) study eco-evolutionary dynamics with different types of biotic species interactions, ii) use systems with more than one evolving species, iii) use systems with more than one evolving trait, iv) combine empirical work with modeling. I test in great detail for eco-evolutionary dynamics in a host-virus system and combine this empirical work with mathematical modeling. In the third chapter, I extend the relatively simple host-virus community of chapter two with an additional player. As eco-evolutionary dynamics are not well understood in more complex systems, this approach enabled testing for increasing complexity in a controlled experimental design by comparing more complex systems with the relatively simple two species host-virus system. In the last chapter I take a different approach. As the results from the second chapter show a tight link between ecology and evolution, I investigate here the result of these eco-evolutionary dynamics on parallel and divergent evolution between replicate host populations that coevolved with a virus.In meiner Doktorarbeit untersuchte ich ökologisch - evolutionäre Dynamiken mit dem Fokus dieses relativ neue Forschungsgebiet voranzutreiben. Im Allgemeinen versuche ich ein detailliertes Verständnis dieser dynamischen Abläufe in einem Wirt-Virus-System zu entwickeln, und deren Auswirkungen und wichtigen Folgen in einfachen und immer komplexer werdenden Nahrungsnetzen zu untersuchen. Das erste Kapitel dieser Arbeit dient als allgemeine Einführung in ökologisch - evolutionäre Dynamiken. Das zweite Kapitel befasst sich mit einigen der Lüken, die ich in Kapitel I dargestellt habe: ökologisch - evolutionären Dynamiken mit verschiedenen Typen biotischer Interaktionen, Systeme in denen mehr als eine Art und mehrere Merkmale evolvieren und die Kombination empirischer Arbeit mit Modellierung. Im Detail, teste ich ökologisch - evolutionäre Dynamiken in einem Wirt-Virus-System und kombiniere diese empirische Arbeit mit mathematischen Modellierung. Im dritten Kapitel erweitere ich das relativ einfache Wirt-Virus-System von Kapitel II mit einem zusätzlichen Organismus. Das Verständnis von ökologisch - evolutionäre Dynamiken in komplexeren Systemen ist noch nicht hinreichend untersucht, durch den hier beschriebenen Ansatz ist es mir möglich ansteigende Komplexität in einem kontrollierten experimentellen System zu testen, indem komplexere Systeme mit dem einfachen Wits-Virus-System verglichen werden. Im letzten Kapitel verfolge ich einen anderen Ansatz. Die Ergebnisse aus dem vorangegangenen Kapitel zeigen einen engen Zusammenhang zwischen Ökologie und Evolution, in diesem Kapitel untersuche ich vergleichend die aus den ökologisch - evolutionäre Dynamiken resultierende parallele und divergierende Selektion zwischen replizierten Wirts-Populationen die mit einem Virus koevolvieren

Summer Engagement in Cyber Undergraduate Research Experiences (SECURE)

Background: This virtual initiative, called Summer Engagement in Cyber Undergraduate Research Experiences (SECURE), was established as a response to support students who may have lost summer internships and/or have financial hardships due to COVID-19. Several students in the program were NSF S-STEM scholars, a mix of computer engineering, cyber security engineering, electrical engineering and software engineering students.Purpose/Hypothesis: The main question addressed by this initiative was whether we could build a virtual undergraduate research experience that enabled students to apply their studies and knowledge similarly as they would in a traditional summer internship. Goals for the experience included providing small-group mentoring as well as broader opportunities for students to learn about design and research skills and to collaborate across projects.Design/Method: Sixteen paid students were assigned to one of ten projects. Several students were classified as sophomores, and others were more advanced. Projects were proposed by faculty mentors with an emphasis on the development of educational experiences using research and/or design approaches. Several projects revolved around cyber security. We introduced students to the research process, while adapting to the limitations of a virtual program. While our main goal was to support students and provide summer work, we also made progress on projects that were established before the program.Results: The SECURE program operated from May 18 through July 31, 2020. The program was funded using funds remaining in an NSF grant with the approval of the program manager. It was successfully implemented through the concerted efforts of faculty, staff and graduate students to rapidly set up program operations. The goals for the program were met, and the feedback from the students and mentors were very positive.Conclusions: We demonstrated it is possible to rapidly build a virtual internship program to meet student needs, and we are working to obtain funding to continue the project next summer. The future goal will be to offer a hybrid model where students can be virtual or a combination of virtual and on-campus

The Effect Of NAFTA On Trade And Investment Between Member Countries

Literature is full of studies on the relationship between trade and investment. Since trade agreements have the potential of altering this relationship, this study employed gravity model analysis to determine how NAFTA might have affected trade and investment among member countries. Overall improvement in NAFTA economy enhanced exports in the region; however, it was relative improvement in domestic economy that attracted foreign investment. Responsiveness plots show that the impact of NAFTA on exports was short lived, but was longer on FDI