Seasonal activity levels of a farm-island population of striated caracaras (Phalcoboenus australis) in the Falkland Islands

Harrington KJ, Fahlbusch JA, Langrock R, Therrien J-F, Houtz JL, McDonald BI. Seasonal activity levels of a farm-island population of striated caracaras (Phalcoboenus australis) in the Falkland Islands. Animal Biotelemetry. 2020;8(1): 27

Improving human-robot interactivity for tele-operated industrial and service robot applications

In industrial robotics applications, teach pendant has been widely used by human operators to pre-define action trajectories for robot manipulators to execute as primitives. This hard-coding approach is only good for low-mix-highvolume jobs with sparse trajectory way-points. In this paper, we present a novel industrial robotic system designed for applications where human-robot interaction is key for efficient execution of actions such as high-mix-low-volume jobs. The proposed system comprises a robot manipulator that controls a tool (such as a soldering iron) to interact with the required workpiece, a networking server for remote tele-operation, and an integrated user interface that allows the human operator to better perceive the remote operation and to execute actions with greater ease. A user study is conducted to understand the merits of the proposed system. Results indicate that human can operate the system with ease and complete tasks more quickly and that the system can improve application efficiency

Evidence of Remediation-Induced Alteration of Subsurface Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) Distribution at a Former Firefighter Training Area

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a class of fluorinated chemicals that are utilized in firefighting and have been reported in groundwater and soil at several firefighter training areas. In this study, soil and groundwater samples were collected from across a former firefighter training area to examine the extent to which remedial activities have altered the composition and spatial distribution of PFASs in the subsurface. Log K[subscript oc] values for perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), estimated from analysis of paired samples of groundwater and aquifer solids, indicated that solid/water partitioning was not entirely consistent with predictions based on laboratory studies. Differential PFAA transport was not strongly evident in the subsurface, likely due to remediation-induced conditions. When compared to the surface soil spatial distributions, the relative concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and PFAA precursors in groundwater strongly suggest that remedial activities altered the subsurface PFAS distribution, presumably through significant pumping of groundwater and transformation of precursors to PFAAs. Additional evidence for transformation of PFAA precursors during remediation included elevated ratios of perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) to PFOS in groundwater near oxygen sparging wells

Aerobic Biotransformation of Fluorotelomer Thioether Amido Sulfonate (Lodyne) in AFFF-Amended Microcosms

The aerobic biotransformation pathways of 4:2, 6:2, and 8:2 fluorotelomer thioether amido sulfonate (FtTAoS) were characterized by determining the fate of the compounds in soil and medium microcosms amended with an aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) solution. The biotransformation of FtTAoS occurred in live microcosms over approximately 40 days and produced 4:2, 6:2, and 8:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate (FtS), 6:2 fluorotelomer unsaturated carboxylic acid (FtUCA), 5:3 fluorotelomer carboxylic acid (FtCA), and C₄ to C₈ perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs). Two biotransformation products corresponding to singly and doubly oxygenated forms of 6:2 FtTAoS were also identified through high resolution mass spectrometry (MS) analysis and liquid chromatography tandem-MS. An oxidative assay was used to indirectly quantify the total concentration of polyfluorinated compounds and check the mass balance. The assay produced near complete mass recovery of FtTAoS after biotransformation, with 10% (mol/mol) of the amended FtTAoS accounted for in FtS, FtCA, and PFCA products. The transformation rates of identified products appear to be slow relative to FtTAoS, indicating that some intermediates may persist in the environment. This study confirms some of the sources of FtS and PFCAs in groundwater and soil at AFFF-impacted sites and suggests that fluorinated intermediates that are not routinely measured during the biotransformation of PFASs may accumulate

Exploring the mycobacteriophage metaproteome: Phage genomics as an educational platform

Bacteriophages are the most abundant forms of life in the biosphere and carry genomes characterized by high genetic diversity and mosaic architectures. The complete sequences of 30 mycobacteriophage genomes show them collectively to encode 101 tRNAs, three tmRNAs, and 3,357 proteins belonging to 1,536 "phamilies" of related sequences, and a statistical analysis predicts that these represent approximately 50% of the total number of phamilies in the mycobacteriophage population. These phamilies contain 2.19 proteins on average; more than half (774) of them contain just a single protein sequence. Only six phamilies have representatives in more than half of the 30 genomes, and only three - encoding tape-measure proteins, lysins, and minor tail proteins - are present in all 30 phages, although these phamilies are themselves highly modular, such that no single amino acid sequence element is present in all 30 mycobacteriophage genomes. Of the 1,536 phamilies, only 230 (15%) have amino acid sequence similarity to previously reported proteins, reflecting the enormous genetic diversity of the entire phage population. The abundance and diversity of phages, the simplicity of phage isolation, and the relatively small size of phage genomes support bacteriophage isolation and comparative genomic analysis as a highly suitable platform for discovery-based education. © 2006 Hatfull et al

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Measurement of associated W plus charm production in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Peer reviewe

Disentangling relationships between physiology, morphology, diet, and gut microbial diversity in American kestrel nestlings

Gut microbiota are increasingly recognized as important drivers of host health and fitness across vertebrate taxa. Given that gut microbial composition is directly influenced by the environment, gut microbiota may also serve as an eco‐physiological mechanism connecting host ecology, such as diet, and physiology. Although gut microbiota have been well‐studied in mammalian systems, little is known about how gut microbial diversity and composition impact morphological and physiological development in wild birds. Here, we characterized both diet and gut microbial diversity of free‐living American kestrel Falco sparverius nestlings throughout development to test whether gut microbial diversity predicts host morphological and physiological traits in either contemporary or time‐lagged manners. Gut microbial alpha diversity on day 21 of nestling development was positively correlated with diet alpha diversity representative of the majority of nestling development (days 5–20). Gut microbial alpha diversity early in development was negatively correlated with body mass in both contemporary and time‐lagged manners. Gut microbial alpha diversity early in development was positively correlated with blood glucose later in development. As nestlings experience rapid growth demands in preparation to fledge, these time‐lagged associations may indicate that gut microbial diversity at early critical developmental windows may determine the future trajectory of morphological and physiological traits underlying metabolism that ultimately impact fitness