Temperate carbonate cycling and water mass properties from intertidal to bathyal depths (Azores)

The rugged submarine topography of the Azores supports a diverse heterozoan association resulting in intense biotically-controlled carbonate-production and accumulation. In order to characterise this cold-water (C) factory a 2-year experiment was carried out in the southern Faial Channel to study the biodiversity of hardground communities and for budgeting carbonate production and degradation along a bathymetrical transect from the intertidal to bathyal 500 m depth. Seasonal temperatures peak in September (above a thermocline) and bottom in March (stratification diminishes) with a decrease in amplitude and absolute values with depth, and tidal-driven short-term fluctuations. Measured seawater stable isotope ratios and levels of dissolved nutrients decrease with depth, as do the calcium carbonate saturation states. The photosynthetic active radiation shows a base of the euphotic zone in ~70 m and a dysphotic limit in ~150 m depth. Bioerosion, being primarily a function of light availability for phototrophic endoliths and grazers feeding upon them, is ~10 times stronger on the illuminated upside versus the shaded underside of substrates in the photic zone, with maximum rates in the intertidal (−631 g/m2/yr). Rates rapidly decline towards deeper waters where bioerosion and carbonate accretion are slow and epibenthic/endolithic communities take years to mature. Accretion rates are highest in the lower euphotic zone (955 g/m2/yr), where the substrate is less prone to hydrodynamic force. Highest rates are found – inversely to bioerosion – on down-facing substrates, suggesting that bioerosion may be a key factor governing the preferential settlement and growth of calcareous epilithobionts on down-facing substrates. In context of a latitudinal gradient, the Azores carbonate cycling rates plot between known values from the cold-temperate Swedish Kosterfjord and the tropical Bahamas, with a total range of two orders in magnitude. Carbonate budget calculations for the bathymetrical transect yield a mean 266.9 kg of epilithic carbonate production, −54.6 kg of bioerosion, and 212.3 kg of annual net carbonate production per metre of coastline in the Azores C factory

Discovery of symbiotic nitrogen fixation and chemoautotrophy in cold-water corals

Cold-water corals (CWC) are widely distributed around the world forming extensive reefs at par with tropical coral reefs. They are hotspots of biodiversity and organic matter processing in the world’s deep oceans. Living in the dark they lack photosynthetic symbionts and are therefore considered to depend entirely on the limited flux of organic resources from the surface ocean. While symbiotic relations in tropical corals are known to be key to their survival in oligotrophic conditions, the full metabolic capacity of CWC has yet to be revealed. Here we report isotope tracer evidence for efficient nitrogen recycling, including nitrogen assimilation, regeneration, nitrification and denitrification. Moreover, we also discovered chemoautotrophy and nitrogen fixation in CWC and transfer of fixed nitrogen and inorganic carbon into bulk coral tissue and tissue compounds (fatty acids and amino acids). This unrecognized yet versatile metabolic machinery of CWC conserves precious limiting resources and provides access to new nitrogen and organic carbon resources that may be essential for CWC to survive in the resource-depleted dark ocean

Technical Evaluation of the Carolo-Cup 2014 - A Competition for Self-Driving Miniature Cars

The Carolo-Cup competition conducted for the eighth time this year, is an international student competition focusing on autonomous driving scenarios implemented on 1:10 scale car models. Three practical sub-competitions have to be realized in this context and represent a complex, interdisciplinary challenge. Hence, students have to cope with all core topics like mechanical development, electronic design, and programming as addressed usually by robotic applications. In this paper we introduce the competition challenges in detail and evaluate the results of all 13 participating teams from the 2014 competition. For this purpose, we analyze technical as well as non-technical configurations of each student group and derive best practices, lessons learned, and criteria as a precondition for a successful participation. Due to the comprehensive orientation of the Carolo-Cup, this knowledge can be applied on comparable projects and related competitions as well

Space-time coupling of shaped ultrafast ultraviolet pulses from an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter

A comprehensive experimental analysis of spatio-temporal coupling effects inherent to the acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF) is presented. Phase and amplitude measurements of the AOPDF transfer function are performed using spatially and spectrally resolved interferometry. Spatio-temporal and spatio-spectral coupling effects are presented for a range of shaped pulses that are commonly used in quantum control experiments. These effects are shown to be attributable to a single mechanism: a group-delay--dependent displacement of the shaped pulse. The physical mechanism is explained and excellent quantitative agreement between the measured and calculated coupling speed is obtained. The implications for quantum control experiments are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication within JOSA

Ward Identities, B-> \rho Form Factors and |V_ub|

The exclusive FCNC beauty semileptonic decay B-> \rho is studied using Ward identities in a general vector meson dominance framework, predicting vector meson couplings involved. The long distance contributions are discussed which results to obtain form factors and |V_ub|. A detailed comparison is given with other approaches.Comment: 30 pages+four postscript figures, an Appendix adde

Antimetastatic activity of a cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression is increased in breast cancer and surgery has been shown to increase the growth of metastatic tumours. We investigated the effect of selective COX-2 inhibition on the growth of metastases in either an experimental metastasis model or following excision of a murine primary breast tumour. 50,000 4T1 mammary carcinoma cells were injected into the mammary fat pad of female BALB/c mice. When the mean TD reached 8+/-0.4 mm, tumours were excised and the mice were randomised into two groups (n=12 per group) to receive daily intraperitoneal injections of the selective COX-2 inhibitor, SC-236 or drug vehicle for 14 days. Alternatively, experimental metastases were established by tail-vein injection of 50,000 4T1 cells. Mice received either the selective COX-2 inhibitor, SC-236 or drug vehicle for 14 days (n=12 per group). SC-236 treatment significantly reduced tumour burden, the number and size of spontaneous metastases following primary tumour excision. SC-236 treatment also reduced tumour burden, the number and size of experimental metastases. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that COX-2 inhibition reduced microvessel density and increased apoptosis within both spontaneous and experimental metastases. These data clearly demonstrate that the selective COX-2 inhibitor, SC-236, has potent antimetastatic activity against both spontaneous metastases arising following primary tumour excision and experimental metastases.</p

Avoiding Coral Reef Functional Collapse Requires Local and Global Action

oral reefs face multiple anthropogenic threats, from pollution and overfishing to the dual effects of greenhouse gas emissions: rising sea temperature and ocean acidification [1]. While the abundance of coral has declined in recent decades [2, 3], the implications for humanity are difficult to quantify because they depend on ecosystem function rather than the corals themselves. Most reef functions and ecosystem services are founded on the ability of reefs to maintain their three-dimensional structure through net carbonate accumulation [4]. Coral growth only constitutes part of a reef's carbonate budget; bioerosion processes are influential in determining the balance between net structural growth and disintegration [5, 6]. Here, we combine ecological models with carbonate budgets and drive the dynamics of Caribbean reefs with the latest generation of climate models. Budget reconstructions using documented ecological perturbations drive shallow (6-10 m) Caribbean forereefs toward an increasingly fragile carbonate balance. We then projected carbonate budgets toward 2080 and contrasted the benefits of local conservation and global action on climate change. Local management of fisheries (specifically, no-take marine reserves) and the watershed can delay reef loss by at least a decade under "business-as-usual" rises in greenhouse gas emissions. However, local action must be combined with a low-carbon economy to prevent degradation of reef structures and associated ecosystem services

A short-term in situ CO2 enrichment experiment on Heron Island (GBR)

Ocean acidification poses multiple challenges for coral reefs on molecular to ecological scales, yet previous experimental studies of the impact of projected CO2 concentrations have mostly been done in aquarium systems with corals removed from their natural ecosystem and placed under artificial light and seawater conditions. The Coral–Proto Free Ocean Carbon Enrichment System (CP-FOCE) uses a network of sensors to monitor conditions within each flume and maintain experimental pH as an offset from environmental pH using feedback control on the injection of low pH seawater. Carbonate chemistry conditions maintained in the −0.06 and −0.22 pH offset treatments were significantly different than environmental conditions. The results from this short-term experiment suggest that the CP-FOCE is an important new experimental system to study in situ impacts of ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems

The sensorium at work: the sensory phenomenology of the working body

The sociology of the body and the sociology of work and occupations have both neglected to some extent the study of the ‘working body’ in paid employment, particularly with regard to empirical research into the sensory aspects of working practices. This gap is perhaps surprising given how strongly the sensory dimension features in much of working life. This article is very much a first step in calling for a more phenomenological, embodied and ‘fleshy’ perspective on the body in employment, and examines some of the theoretical and conceptual resources available to researchers wishing to focus on the lived working-body experiences of the sensorium. We also consider some possible representational forms for a more evocative, phenomenologically-inspired portrayal of sensory, lived-working-body experiences, and offer suggestions for future avenues of research

Inhibition of haematogenous metastasis of colon cancer in mice by a selective COX-2 inhibitor, JTE-522

It is proposed that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduce colorectal tumorigenesis by inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX). COX is a key enzyme in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins and two isoforms of COX have been characterized, COX-1 and COX-2. Multiple studies have shown that COX-2 is expressed at high levels in colorectal tumours and play a role in colorectal tumorigenesis. Recently it has been reported that selective inhibition of COX-2 inhibits colon cancer cell growth. In this study we investigated the effect of a selective COX-2 inhibitor (JTE-522) on haematogenous metastasis of colon cancer. For this purpose, we selected a murine colon cancer cell line, colon-26, that constitutively expresses the COX-2 protein. The subclone P expressed a high level of COX-2 and the subclone 5 expressed a low level. The colon-26 subclones were injected into the tail vein of BALB/c mice. JTE-522 was given intraperitoneally every day from the day prior to cancer cell injection, and the mice were sacrificed 16 days after cell injection. Lung metastases were compared between groups with and without JTE-522. In the mice injected with subclone P, the number of lung metastatic nodules was significantly reduced in the treated group. However, in the mice injected with subclone 5, there was little difference between the control and the treated groups. These results indicate that there may be a direct link between inhibition of haematogenous metastasis of colon cancer and selective inhibition of COX-2, and that selective COX-2 inhibitors may be a novel class of therapeutic agents not only for colorectal tumorigenesis but also for haematogenous metastasis of colon cancer. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig