Within-wing isotopic (δ2H, δ13C, δ15N) variation of monarch butterflies: implications for studies of migratory origins and diet

Increasingly, stable isotope measurements are being used to assign individuals to broad geographic origins based on established relationships between animal tissues and tissue-specific isoscapes. In particular, the eastern North American population of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) has been the subject of several studies using established δ2H and δ13C wing-tissue isoscapes to infer natal origins of migrating and overwintering individuals. However, there has been no study investigating potential variance that can derive from sub-sampling different regions of the wings, especially those regions differing in pigmentation (orange versus black). Within-wing isotopic (δ2H, δ13C, δ15N) variance of 40 monarch butterflies collected from natural overwinter mortality on Mexican roost sites were split evenly into two groups: unwashed samples and those washed in a 2:1 chloroform:methanol solvent. Isotopic variance in δ2H and δ13C was related to pigment (within-wing range 5‰ and 0.5‰, respectively), but not region of subsampling. This variance was reduced 3 to 4 fold through solvent washing that removed pigmented surface scales and any adhered oils. Wing δ15N was similarly influenced by pigment (range 0.3‰), but this effect was not reduced through washing. We recommend future isotopic studies of monarchs and other butterflies for migration research to use the same region for sub-sampling consistently and to wash samples with solvent to reduce isotopic variance related to uncontrolled variance in discrimination (δ2H, δ13C, δ15N) and/or adsorbed water vapor (δ2H). These data also need to be included in description of methods

Supplemental Income: British newspaper colour supplements in the 1960s

The introduction of colour supplements by three ‘quality’ newspapers during the 1960s was a key development in the British press during the decade, and was described by the editor of the Sunday Times as ‘perhaps the most successful single innovation in post-war journalism’. This article provides an overview of the advent of the colour supplements, explaining why they emerged when they did and developed in the manner they did, and exploring some of the difficulties and issues that attended their arrival. The article also demonstrates that sections of the British press were capable of taking advantage of changes in print and advertising culture brought about by the arrival of the post-war consumer society. However, the term ‘colour supplement’ became pejorative shorthand for the perceived vacuity of this new society, in part because of the tension that existed between the editorial and advertising content of these modish new publications. Consequently, the success of the colour supplement experiment was not universally celebrated

The medical student

The Medical Student was published from 1888-1921 by the students of Boston University School of Medicine

Evidence of Latitudinal Migration in Tri-colored Bats, Perimyotis subflavus

Background: Annual movements of tri-colored bats (Perimyotis subflavus) are poorly understood. While this species has been considered a regional migrant, some evidence suggests that it may undertake annual latitudinal migrations, similar to other long distance North American migratory bat species. Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigated migration in P. subflavus by conducting stable hydrogen isotope analyses of 184 museum specimen fur samples and comparing these results (dDfur) to published interpolated dD values of collection site growing season precipitation (dDprecip). Results suggest that the male molt period occurred between June 23 and October 16 and 33 % of males collected during the presumed non-molt period were south of their location of fur growth. For the same time period, 16 % of females were south of their location of fur growth and in general, had not travelled as far as migratory males. There were strong correlations between dDfur from the presumed molt period and both growing season dD precip (males – r 2 = 0.86; p,0.01; females – r 2 = 0.75; p,0.01), and latitude of collection (males – r 2 = 0.85; p,0.01; females – r 2 = 0.73; p,0.01). Most migrants were collected at the northern (.40uN; males and females) and southern (,35uN; males only) extents of the species ’ range. Conclusions/Significance: These results indicate a different pattern of migration for this species than previously documented, suggesting that some P. subflavus engage in annual latitudinal migrations and that migratory tendency varie

Clinical reactivity and immunogenicity of hemagglutinin influenza vaccine

Subjects aged 3–6, 16–17 and 27–50 years were vaccinated with one dose of hemagglutinin influenza virus vaccine. Clinical reactions, hemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) and strain- and type-specific complement-fixing (CF-V and CF-S) antibodies were determined in sera taken before and four weeks after vaccine administration. The results indicated that the reactogenicity of the vaccine was very low. The HI antibody response differed with the age of the vaccinees, apparently being conditioned by prior exposure to the various influenza virus subtypes. The results of CF tests using strain-specific V antigens corresponded in general with HI tests, with two marked exceptions. In the youngest group nearly half of the subjects developed CF antibody to V-Swine, while all of them remained without antibody detectable in the HI test. However, when V antigen was used instead of intact virus as hemagglutinin, the post-vaccination sera of these subjects also reacted positively in the HI test. Secondly, a number of prevaccination sera from persons aged 27–50 years possessed CF antibody to A/PR 8 in the absence of homologous HI antibody. Among these subjects the antibody response to both A/PR 8 and Swine was more marked in the CF test than in the HI test. After vaccine administration most of the subjects developed antibody or responded by an antibody increase to the S antigens of both influenza A and B. No significant differences were found after intradermal (0.1 ml) and subcutaneous (0.5 ml) administration of one dose of vaccine.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41682/1/705_2005_Article_BF01250294.pd

Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry of Seabird Guano Fertilization: Results from Growth Chamber Studies with Maize (Zea Mays)

Stable isotope analysis is being utilized with increasing regularity to examine a wide range of issues (diet, habitat use, migration) in ecology, geology, archaeology, and related disciplines. A crucial component to these studies is a thorough understanding of the range and causes of baseline isotopic variation, which is relatively poorly understood for nitrogen (δ(15)N). Animal excrement is known to impact plant δ(15)N values, but the effects of seabird guano have not been systematically studied from an agricultural or horticultural standpoint.This paper presents isotopic (δ(13)C and δ(15)N) and vital data for maize (Zea mays) fertilized with Peruvian seabird guano under controlled conditions. The level of (15)N enrichment in fertilized plants is very large, with δ(15)N values ranging between 25.5 and 44.7‰ depending on the tissue and amount of fertilizer applied; comparatively, control plant δ(15)N values ranged between -0.3 and 5.7‰. Intraplant and temporal variability in δ(15)N values were large, particularly for the guano-fertilized plants, which can be attributed to changes in the availability of guano-derived N over time, and the reliance of stored vs. absorbed N. Plant δ(13)C values were not significantly impacted by guano fertilization. High concentrations of seabird guano inhibited maize germination and maize growth. Moreover, high levels of seabird guano greatly impacted the N metabolism of the plants, resulting in significantly higher tissue N content, particularly in the stalk.The results presented in this study demonstrate the very large impact of seabird guano on maize δ(15)N values. The use of seabird guano as a fertilizer can thus be traced using stable isotope analysis in food chemistry applications (certification of organic inputs). Furthermore, the fertilization of maize with seabird guano creates an isotopic signature very similar to a high-trophic level marine resource, which must be considered when interpreting isotopic data from archaeological material

Abstracts from the NIHR INVOLVE Conference 2017

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Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI