Extramedullary Plasmacytoma of Soft Tissues and Gingiva

Extramedullary plasmacytoma (EMP) is a rare plasma cell neoplasm of soft tissue without bone marrow involvement or other systemic characteristics of multiple myeloma. It accounts for 3% of all plasma cell tumors. Multiple extramedullary plasmacytoma is defined when there is more than one extramedullary tumor of clonal plasma cells and such presentation has not been described earlier. We report such rare case of multiple extramedullary plasmacytoma involving multiple soft tissues in chest, abdomen, mandible, maxilla, and gingiva

Seasonal Survival of Adult Female Mottled Ducks

The mottled duck (Anas fulgivula) is a non‐migratory duck dependent on coastal habitats to meet all of its life cycle requirements in the Western Gulf Coast (WGC) of Texas and Louisiana, USA. This population of mottled ducks has experienced a moderate decline during the past 2 decades. Adult survival has been identified as an important factor influencing population demography. Previous work based on band‐recovery data has provided only annual estimates of survival. We assessed seasonal patterns of female mottled duck survival from 2009 to 2012 using individuals marked with satellite platform transmitter terminals (PTTs). We used temperature and movement sensors within each PTT to indicate potential mortality events. We estimated cumulative weekly survival and ranked factors influential in patterns of mortality using known‐fate modeling in Program MARK. Models included 4 predictors: week; hunting and non‐hunting periods; biological periods defined as breeding, brooding, molt, and pairing; and mass at time of capture. Models containing hunt periods, during and outside the mottled duck season, comprised essentially 100% of model weights where both legal and illegal harvest had a negative influence on mottled duck survival. Survival rates were low during 2009–2011 (12–38% annual rate of survival), when compared with the long‐term banding average of 53% annual survival. During 2011, survival of female mottled ducks was the lowest annual rate (12%) ever documented and coincided with extreme drought. Management actions maximizing the availability of wetlands and associated upland habitats during hunting seasons and drought conditions may increase adult female mottled duck survival. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Wildlife Management Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Wildlife Society

Study of structural and electrical properties of few double perovskite compounds

A detail structure and electrical characterization of a few double perovskite and their perovskite counterpart have been performed. All the compounds are synthesized by wet chemical route known as sol-gel process. The samples are found to be in single phase and stoichiometric. The information about the molecular bonding is obtained from the FTIR spectra. The calculated band gap from UV-Visible spectra characterises the semiconducting and insulating nature of the material. The morphology of the materials has been studied through FESEM and finally the dielectric spectroscopy has been carried out for all compounds

On the quantum and classical scattering times due to charged dislocations in an impure electron gas

We derive the ratio of transport and single particle relaxation times in three and two - dimensional electron gases due to scattering from charged dislocations in semiconductors. The results are compared to the respective relaxation times due to randomly placed charged impurities. We find that the ratio is larger than the case of ionized impurity scattering in both three and two-dimensional electron transport.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Distribution of contaminants in the environment and wildlife habitat use: a case study with lead and waterfowl on the Upper Texas Coast

The magnitude and distribution of lead contamination remain unknown in wetland systems. Anthropogenic deposition of lead may be contributing to negative population-level effects in waterfowl and other organisms that depend on dynamic wetland habitats, particularly if they are unable to detect and differentiate levels of environmental contamination by lead. Detection of lead and behavioral response to elevated lead levels by waterfowl is poorly understood, but necessary to characterize the risk of lead-contaminated habitats. We measured the relationship between lead contamination of wetland soils and habitat use by mottled ducks (Anas fulvigula) on the Upper Texas Coast, USA. Mottled ducks have historically experienced disproportionate negative effects from lead exposure, and exhibit a unique nonmigratory life history that increases risk of exposure when inhabiting contaminated areas. We used spatial interpolation to estimate lead in wetland soils of the Texas Chenier Plain National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Soil lead levels varied across the refuge complex (0.01–1085.51 ppm), but greater lead concentrations frequently corresponded to areas with high densities of transmittered mottled ducks. We used soil lead concentration data and MaxENT species distribution models to quantify relationships among various habitat factors and locations of mottled ducks. Use of habitats with greater lead concentration increased during years of a major disturbance. Because mottled ducks use habitats with high concentrations of lead during periods of stress, have greater risk of exposure following major disturbance to the coastal marsh system, and no innate mechanism for avoiding the threat of lead exposure, we suggest the potential presence of an ecological trap of quality habitat that warrants further quantification at a population scale for mottled ducks

On modeling of the Ae3 temperature of steel

Ae3 temperature of steel is required for many purposes for mechanical processing, thermal treatment and design of steels. However, the models available in the literature are not adequate. An attempt has been made to develop a relation for satisfactory prediction of the Ae3 temper- ature of steel. Ae3 temperature was expressed as a funct-ion of concentration of seven components of steels. The terms upto fourth order in concentration were retained. Total number of terms in the expression was 260. From a careful search of the literature 173 steels for which accurate values of the Ae3 temperature were known were selected. Step wise multiple regression analysis was used to isolate the terms which made significant contribution to the Ae3 temperature. Only nineteen of the 260 terms were found to be significant. These terms predicted the Ae3 temperature with an accuracy which is much more than that offered by the other models. Although other invest-igators have tried to modify the model in various ways, the improvements have not been much. In all these treat-ments the exponents of the concentration parameters have been integral. It is possible to optimize allowing expo- nents as fractions with the help of genetic algorithm. However this technique also does not improve the over all quality of predictions appreciably