Analysis of the Importance of Extension in Accounting for the Post-Carboniferous Subsidence of the North Sea Basin

Post Carboniferous sedimentary deposition in the Central North Sea basins can be separated into three major periods: Permian, Triassic and mid-Jurassic through present. Most efforts to explain the basin within an extensional framework have concentrated on the post mid-Jurassic subsidence. These efforts have ignored the large amount of prior extension required to account for the observed crustal thinning and the substantial Permian and Triassic sediment fill. In addition the models predict a mid-Jurassic through early Cretaceous extension that significantly exceeds estimates of the horizontal displacement observed on high angle faults on multichannel seismic lines. We show in areas of minimal pre-Permian subsidence that adding two earlier phase extensions, one in the late Carboniferous through early Permian and the other in the Triassic produces a nearly horizontal late Carboniferous crustal thickness. The time-dependent extensional model required to account for the three periods of sediment deposition gives an excellent match to the observed subsidence history of the basement. We present an analysis of a recent seismic reflection line nm across the Central Graben in the vicinity of published refraction and well data. We show that the extension required in the third phase of the three phase model is compatible with the observed displacement on the high angle mid-Jurassic through early Cretaceous faults. However, we find no evidence for major extension either in the Triassic or late Carboniferous through early Permian.Institute for Geophysic

Lender Liability under Pennsylvania Environmental Law

This article examines the potential exposure of creditors to liability under Pennsylvania environmental laws. The theory of environmental liability of creditors first made an appearance in the caselaw resulting from litigation instituted pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-9675, enacted in 1980 by the United States Congress. CERCLA was designed to place the cost of cleaning up hazardous waste sites on those responsible for the waste. Congress, in an attempt to protect secured creditors from liability under CERCLA, included a security interest exemption. The presence of this exemption suggested that secured creditors might be liable, as owners or operators, under CERCLA for the environmental harm caused by their debtors if they became involved in their debtors\u27 business, and, in fact, a number of federal decisions have so held. Pennsylvania\u27s environmental laws contain provisions under which the theory of environmental liability of lenders may be asserted. Such Attempts have been made, resulting in several rulings by the courts and the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board. This article includes an examination of the significance of those, and other, cases in connection with Pennsylvania\u27s environmental laws

A Dream of Spring: Creation of an IR Managers Forum

Sometimes it’s hard to find answers for work‐related questions. This difficulty is compounded when one lacks the means to engage with a community of peers who face similar situations and problems. As institutional repository (IR) managers, we found ourselves with access to resources and listservs that didn’t quite fit our needs. Available discussion spaces were either too general in scope, drowning out repository‐specific concerns; or too narrowly focused on platform‐specific issues and technical details. Lacking an appropriate forum, we decided to create a discussion space for IR managers. The IR Manager Forum (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/irmanagers) is designed to foster a community of practice for reposi- tory managers, regardless of software implementation, institutional setting, or technical expertise. Using the Goo- gle Groups platform, members can post and view threaded messages in an online interface or by e‐mail. Conversations in this space have the potential to help IR managers develop their repository policies and local practices. The authors hope that the forum will also support cross‐platform comparisons to identify useful fea- tures and limitations of various software, areas for practical improvement, and larger trends in institutional repos- itories that speak to their future direction. This paper covers how IR managers from the University of Florida, University of North Texas, Texas A&M University, and University of Massachusetts Amherst created the IR Man- agers Forum. It also gives an overview of the forum’s usage and growth over the first year and a half, and lessons learned along the way

Patronin-mediated minus end growth is required for dendritic microtubule polarity.

Microtubule minus ends are thought to be stable in cells. Surprisingly, in Drosophila and zebrafish neurons, we observed persistent minus end growth, with runs lasting over 10 min. In Drosophila, extended minus end growth depended on Patronin, and Patronin reduction disrupted dendritic minus-end-out polarity. In fly dendrites, microtubule nucleation sites localize at dendrite branch points. Therefore, we hypothesized minus end growth might be particularly important beyond branch points. Distal dendrites have mixed polarity, and reduction of Patronin lowered the number of minus-end-out microtubules. More strikingly, extra Patronin made terminal dendrites almost completely minus-end-out, indicating low Patronin normally limits minus-end-out microtubules. To determine whether minus end growth populated new dendrites with microtubules, we analyzed dendrite development and regeneration. Minus ends extended into growing dendrites in the presence of Patronin. In sum, our data suggest that Patronin facilitates sustained microtubule minus end growth, which is critical for populating dendrites with minus-end-out microtubules

Substance Use as a Longitudinal Predictor of the Perpetration of Teen Dating Violence

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9877-1.The prevention of teen dating violence is a major public health priority. However, the dearth of longitudinal studies makes it difficult to develop programs that effectively target salient risk factors. Using a school-based sample of ethnically diverse adolescents, this longitudinal study examined whether substance use (alcohol, marijuana, and hard drugs) and exposure to parental violence predicted the perpetration of physical dating violence over time. 1,042 9th and 10th grade high schools students were recruited and assessed in the spring of 2010, and 93% of the original sample completed the 1-year follow-up in the spring of 2011. Participants who had begun dating at the initial assessment and who self-identified as African American (n = 263; 32%), Caucasian (n = 272; 33%), or Hispanic (n = 293; 35%) were included in the current analyses (n = 828; 55% female). Slightly more than half of the adolescents who perpetrated dating violence at baseline reported past year dating violence at follow-up, relative to only 11% of adolescents who did not report perpetrating dating violence at baseline. Structural equation modeling revealed that the use of alcohol and hard drugs at baseline predicted the future perpetration of physical dating violence, even after accounting for the effects of baseline dating violence and exposure to interparental violence. Despite differences in the prevalence of key variables between males and females, the longitudinal associations did not vary by gender. With respect to race, exposure to mother-to-father violence predicted the perpetration of dating violence among Caucasian adolescents. Findings from the current study indicate that targeting substance use, and potentially youth from violent households, may be viable approaches to preventing the perpetration of teen dating violence

The Association Between Problematic Parental Substance Use and Adolescent Substance Use in an Ethnically Diverse Sample of 9th and 10th Graders

Adolescents of parents who use substances are at an increased risk for substance use themselves. Both parental monitoring and closeness have been shown to mediate the relationship between parents’ and their adolescents’ substance use. However, we know little about whether these relationships vary across different substances used by adolescents. Using structural equation modeling, we examined these associations within a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 9th and 10th graders (N = 927). Path analyses indicated that maternal closeness partially mediated the association between maternal problematic substance use and adolescent alcohol use. Parental monitoring partially mediated the relationship between paternal problematic substance use and adolescent alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, inhalant, and illicit prescription drug use. These results were consistent across gender and race/ethnicity. These findings suggest that parental interventions designed to increase closeness and monitoring may help to reduce adolescent substance use

Nicotinamide is an Endogenous Agonist for a C. elegans TRPV OSM-9 and OCR-4 Channel

TRPV ion channels are directly activated by sensory stimuli and participate in thermo-, mechano- and chemo-sensation. They are also hypothesized to respond to endogenous agonists that would modulate sensory responses. Here, we show that the nicotinamide (NAM) form of vitamin B3 is an agonist of a Caenorhabditis elegans TRPV channel. Using heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes, we demonstrate that NAM is a soluble agonist for a channel consisting of the well-studied OSM-9 TRPV subunit and relatively uncharacterized OCR-4 TRPV subunit as well as the orthologous Drosophila Nan-Iav TRPV channel, and we examine stoichiometry of subunit assembly. Finally, we show that behaviours mediated by these C. elegans and Drosophila channels are responsive to NAM, suggesting conservation of activity of this soluble endogenous metabolite on TRPV activity. Our results in combination with the role of NAM in NAD+ metabolism suggest an intriguing link between metabolic regulation and TRPV channel activity

Pathogenic role of delta 2 tubulin in bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy

The pathogenesis of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is poorly understood. Here, we report that the CIPN-causing drug bortezomib (Bort) promotes delta 2 tubulin (D2) accumulation while affecting microtubule stability and dynamics in sensory neurons in vitro and in vivo and that the accumulation of D2 is predominant in unmyelinated fibers and a hallmark of bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy (BIPN) in humans. Furthermore, while D2 overexpression was sufficient to cause axonopathy and inhibit mitochondria motility, reduction of D2 levels alleviated both axonal degeneration and the loss of mitochondria motility induced by Bort. Together, our data demonstrate that Bort, a compound structurally unrelated to tubulin poisons, affects the tubulin cytoskeleton in sensory neurons in vitro, in vivo, and in human tissue, indicating that the pathogenic mechanisms of seemingly unrelated CIPN drugs may converge on tubulin damage. The results reveal a previously unrecognized pathogenic role for D2 in BIPN that may occur through altered regulation of mitochondria motility