Rain event properties at the source of the Blue Nile River

In the present study, spatial and temporal patterns of rain event properties are analysed. These event properties are rain event depth, event duration, mean event rain rate, peak rain rate and the time span between two consecutive rain events which is referred to as inter-event time (IET). In addition, we assessed how rain event properties change when the period over which rainfall data is aggregated changes from 1 to 6 min and when the minimum inter-event time (MIT) changes from 30 min to 8 h. Rainfall data is obtained from a field campaign in two wet seasons of June–August (JJA) of 2007 and 2008 in Gilgel Abbay watershed that is situated at the source basin of the Upper Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. The rainfall data was automatically recorded at eight stations. The results revealed that rain event depth is more related to peak rain rate than to event duration. At the start and towards the end of the wet season, the rain events have larger depth with longer duration and longer IET than those in mid-season. Event rain rate and IET are strongly related to terrain elevation. Sekela which is on a mountain area has the shortest IET while Bahir Dar which is at the south shore of Lake Tana has the longest IET. The period over which rainfall data is aggregated significantly affected the values of rain event properties that are estimated using relatively small value (30 min) of MIT but its effect diminished when the MIT is increased to 8 h. It is shown that increasing the value of MIT has the largest effect on rain event properties of mountain stations that are characterised by high rainfall intermittency

Hopelessly Mortal: The Role of Mortality Salience, Immortality and Trait Self-esteem in Personal Hope

Do people lose hope when thinking about death? Based on Terror Management Theory, we predicted that thoughts of death (i.e., mortality salience) would reduce personal hope for people low, but not high, in self-esteem, and that this reduction in hope would be ameliorated by promises of immortality. In Studies 1 and 2, mortality salience reduced personal hope for people low in self-esteem, but not for people high in self-esteem. In Study 3, mortality salience reduced hope for people low in self-esteem when they read an argument that there is no afterlife, but not when they read “evidence” supporting life after death. In Study 4, this effect was replicated with an essay affirming scientific medical advances that promise immortality. Together, these findings uniquely demonstrate that thoughts of mortality interact with trait self-esteem to cause changes in personal hope, and that literal immortality beliefs can aid psychological adjustment when thinking about death. Implications for understanding personal hope, trait self-esteem, afterlife beliefs and terror management are discussed

Having a lot of a good thing: multiple important group memberships as a source of self-esteem.

Copyright: © 2015 Jetten et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedMembership in important social groups can promote a positive identity. We propose and test an identity resource model in which personal self-esteem is boosted by membership in additional important social groups. Belonging to multiple important group memberships predicts personal self-esteem in children (Study 1a), older adults (Study 1b), and former residents of a homeless shelter (Study 1c). Study 2 shows that the effects of multiple important group memberships on personal self-esteem are not reducible to number of interpersonal ties. Studies 3a and 3b provide longitudinal evidence that multiple important group memberships predict personal self-esteem over time. Studies 4 and 5 show that collective self-esteem mediates this effect, suggesting that membership in multiple important groups boosts personal self-esteem because people take pride in, and derive meaning from, important group memberships. Discussion focuses on when and why important group memberships act as a social resource that fuels personal self-esteem.This study was supported by 1. Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT110100238) awarded to Jolanda Jetten (see http://www.arc.gov.au) 2. Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP110200437) to Jolanda Jetten and Genevieve Dingle (see http://www.arc.gov.au) 3. support from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Social Interactions, Identity and Well-Being Program to Nyla Branscombe, S. Alexander Haslam, and Catherine Haslam (see http://www.cifar.ca)

От «Русской идеи» к идее «русского мира»: теоретические и социо-культурные основания трансформации ценностного пространства русского самосознания : Спец. модуль (дисциплина) по выбору студента : Аннотация

Основные этапы формирования русской идеи. Цивилизационные аспекты формирования представлений о самоценности России. В.С. Соловьев о русской идее как наднациональной задаче русского народа. Особенности интерпретации цивилизационной идентичности в трудах Н.Я. Данилевского, К. Леонтьева, В.М. Ламанского. Классическое евразийство о путях и стратегиях формирования новой евразийской цивилизации. Новое консервативное мышление современной России

HECT E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Itch Functions as a Novel Nega

The transcription factor Gli-similar 3 (Glis3) plays a critical role in the generation of pancreatic ß cells and the regulation insulin gene transcription and has been implicated in the development of several pathologies, including type 1 and 2 diabetes and polycystic kidney disease. However, little is known about the proteins and posttranslational modifications that regulate or mediate Glis3 transcriptional activity. In this study, we identify by mass-spectrometry and yeast 2-hybrid analyses several proteins that interact with the N-terminal region of Glis3. These include the WW-domain-containing HECT E3 ubiquitin ligases, Itch, Smurf2, and Nedd4. The interaction between Glis3 and the HECT E3 ubiquitin ligases was verified by co-immunoprecipitation assays and mutation analysis. All three proteins interact through their WW-domains with a PPxY motif located in the Glis3 N-terminus. However, only Itch significantly contributed to Glis3 polyubiquitination and reduced Glis3 stability by enhancing its proteasomal degradation. Itch-mediated degradation of Glis3 required the PPxY motif-dependent interaction between Glis3 and the WW-domains of Itch as well as the presence of the Glis3 zinc finger domains. Transcription analyses demonstrated that Itch dramatically inhibited Glis3-mediated transactivation and endogenous Ins2 expression by increasing Glis3 protein turnover. Taken together, our study identifies Itch as a critical negative regulator of Glis3-mediated transcriptional activity. This regulation provides a novel mechanism to modulate Glis3-driven gene expression and suggests that it may play a role in a number of physiological processes controlled by Glis3, such as insulin transcription, as well as in Glis3-associated diseases

Anoxic Iron Cycling Bacteria from an Iron Sulfide- and Nitrate-Rich Freshwater Environment

In this study, both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods were used to determine whether the iron sulfide mineral- and nitrate-rich freshwater nature reserve Het Zwart Water accommodates anoxic microbial iron cycling. Molecular analyses (16S rRNA gene clone library and fluorescence in situ hybridization, FISH) showed that sulfur-oxidizing denitrifiers dominated the microbial population. In addition, bacteria resembling the iron-oxidizing, nitrate-reducing Acidovorax strain BrG1 accounted for a major part of the microbial community in the groundwater of this ecosystem. Despite the apparent abundance of strain BrG1-like bacteria, iron-oxidizing nitrate reducers could not be isolated, likely due to the strictly autotrophic cultivation conditions adopted in our study. In contrast an iron-reducing Geobacter sp. was isolated from this environment while FISH and 16S rRNA gene clone library analyses did not reveal any Geobacter sp.-related sequences in the groundwater. Our findings indicate that iron-oxidizing nitrate reducers may be of importance to the redox cycling of iron in the groundwater of our study site and illustrate the necessity of employing both culture-dependent and independent methods in studies on microbial processes

Simultaneous Anaerobic and Aerobic Ammonia and Methane Oxidation under Oxygen Limitation Conditions

Methane and ammonia have to be removed from wastewater treatment effluent in order to discharge it to receiving water bodies. A potential solution for this is a combination of simultaneous ammonia and methane oxidation by anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) bacteria and nitrite/nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (N-damo) microorganisms. When applied, these microorganisms will be exposed to oxygen, but little is known about the effect of a low concentration of oxygen on a culture containing these microorganisms. In this study, a stable coculture containing anammox and N-damo microorganisms in a laboratory scale bioreactor was established under oxygen limitation. Membrane inlet mass spectrometry (MIMS) was used to directly measure the in situ simultaneous activity of N-damo, anammox, and aerobic ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms. In addition, batch tests revealed that the bioreactor also harbored aerobic methanotrophs and anaerobic methanogens. Together with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis and metagenomics, these results indicate that the combination of N-damo and anammox activity under the continuous supply of limiting oxygen concentrations is feasible and can be implemented for the removal of methane and ammonia from anaerobic digester effluents. IMPORTANCE Nitrogen in wastewater leads to eutrophication of the receiving water bodies, and methane is a potent greenhouse gas; it is therefore important that these are removed from wastewater. A potential solution for the simultaneous removal of nitrogenous compounds and methane is the application of a combination of nitrite/ nitrate-dependent methane oxidation (N-damo) and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (annamox). In order to do so, it is important to investigate the effect of oxygen on these two anaerobic processes. In this study, we investigate the effect of a continuous oxygen supply on the activity of an anaerobic methane- and ammonia-oxidizing coculture. The findings presented in this study are important for the potential application of these two microbial processes in wastewater treatment