Stimulated growth response to sand burial of a coastal shrub

Drivers of vegetation zonation on barrier islands are complex and interconnected. Sand burial is a strong driver in dynamic coastal systems, especially in the foredune community. However, it is not well understood how burial impacts the interdunal swales communities and it is especially difficult to separate the effects of burial from salinity. Climate change is altering the frequency of overwash events as well as expanding the range of the native shrub, Morella cerifera, on the Virginia barrier islands. To accurately forecast island response to climate change it is important to understand how the shrub responds to sand burial. Juvenile and mature shrubs were experimentally buried at 0, ¼, ½, and ¾ height in a glasshouse to observe the growth response to burial independent of other factors. Morella cerifera shrubs were largely unaffected at low burial levels (\u3c ½ height) and were stimulated at high levels (≥ ½ height). Shrubs recovered biomass deficits at low levels and prioritized vertical growth at high levels of burial. Shrubs in both life stages also produced adventitious roots in response to burial, increasing production with burial severity. Adult shrubs sacrificed belowground root biomass to support adventitious root and vertical growth at ¾ burial. Young shrubs were able to have an elevated growth in all three zones without sacrifice at any burial level. Morella cerifera exhibits a neutral, then positive response to sand burial and is resilient at both juvenile and mature stages. Burial is therefore not a major driver of M. cerifera zonation on the Virginia barrier islands

«Hallöchen Herr Professor!»: Überlegungen zur Normierungsproblematik in der E-Mail-Kommunikation am Beispiel des Hochschulkontextes

Obwohl die E-Mail mittlerweile zu den alltäglichen Kommunikationsformen an Hochschulen zählt, kommt es immer wieder zu Irritationen – ausgelöst durch ­E- Mails, die von Seiten der Lehrenden zum Teil als «schlampig» oder «frech» empfunden werden. Dieses Phänomen wird im vorliegenden Beitrag zum Anlass genommen, der Frage nachzugehen, warum sich in der E-Mail-Kommunikation bislang wenig allgemeingültige Regeln herausgebildet haben. Dabei wird erstens die These vertreten, dass die (oftmals gescholtenen) studentischen E-Mails keineswegs regelfrei verfasst werden; sie werden aber von den Empfänger/innen als «abweichend» erlebt, da die E-Mail als Gattung oder Textsorte – insbesondere zu Beginn der Kommunikation – auf sehr unterschiedlichen Referenztextsorten fusst: Die Verfasser/innen orientieren sich an zahlreichen anderen Formaten, wie etwa dem Brief, der Kurznotiz, dem Alltagsgespräch, der Verfahrensanweisung oder dem Kommentar. Erst im Verlauf einer weiteren E-Mail- Kommunikation können dann gemeinsame Regeln ausgehandelt werden. Da jedoch – so die zweite These im Anschluss – der E-Mail-Verkehr meist interpersonal geschlossen bleibt, kommt es nicht zu einer kollektiven Normbildung, die durch grössere Öffentlichkeiten dauerhaft geteilt würde. Solange also die Referenznormen zu Beginn eines Austausches derart unterschiedlich sind, und sie für die jeweilige digitale Interaktion im Verlauf immer neu interpersonal justiert werden müssen, solange wird die E-Mail als ein individualisierender, vermeintlich regelloser «Selbstläufer» wahrgenommen. Die beiden Thesen basieren nicht auf eigenen empirischen Erhebungen, sie stellen vielmehr Überlegungen dar, die das alltäglich auftretende Phänomen der «Normverletzung» bei E-Mail-Texten – methodisch explorativ anhand von Beispieltexten – aufgreifen, um es mit Forschungsbefunden zur Spezifik der E-Mail bzw. zur digitalen Kommunikation zu kontrastieren bzw. zu erschliessen

Integrated cantilever-based flow sensors with tunable sensitivity for in-line monitoring of flow fluctuations in microfluidic systems

For devices such as bio-/chemical sensors in microfluidic systems, flow fluctuations result in noise in the sensor output. Here, we demonstrate in-line monitoring of flow fluctuations with a cantilever-like sensor integrated in a microfluidic channel. The cantilevers are fabricated in different materials (SU-8 and SiN) and with different thicknesses. The integration of arrays of holes with different hole size and number of holes allows the modification of device sensitivity, theoretical detection limit and measurement range. For an average flow in the microliter range, the cantilever deflection is directly proportional to the flow rate fluctuations in the microfluidic channel. The SiN cantilevers show a detection limit below 1 nL/min and the thinnest SU-8 cantilevers a detection limit below 5 nL/min. Finally, the sensor is applied for in-line monitoring of flow fluctuations generated by external pumps connected to the microfluidic system

A minimally invasive multiple marker approach allows highly efficient detection of meningioma tumors

BACKGROUND: The development of effective frameworks that permit an accurate diagnosis of tumors, especially in their early stages, remains a grand challenge in the field of bioinformatics. Our approach uses statistical learning techniques applied to multiple antigen tumor antigen markers utilizing the immune system as a very sensitive marker of molecular pathological processes. For validation purposes we choose the intracranial meningioma tumors as model system since they occur very frequently, are mostly benign, and are genetically stable. RESULTS: A total of 183 blood samples from 93 meningioma patients (WHO stages I-III) and 90 healthy controls were screened for seroreactivity with a set of 57 meningioma-associated antigens. We tested several established statistical learning methods on the resulting reactivity patterns using 10-fold cross validation. The best performance was achieved by Naïve Bayes Classifiers. With this classification method, our framework, called Minimally Invasive Multiple Marker (MIMM) approach, yielded a specificity of 96.2%, a sensitivity of 84.5%, and an accuracy of 90.3%, the respective area under the ROC curve was 0.957. Detailed analysis revealed that prediction performs particularly well on low-grade (WHO I) tumors, consistent with our goal of early stage tumor detection. For these tumors the best classification result with a specificity of 97.5%, a sensitivity of 91.3%, an accuracy of 95.6%, and an area under the ROC curve of 0.971 was achieved using a set of 12 antigen markers only. This antigen set was detected by a subset selection method based on Mutual Information. Remarkably, our study proves that the inclusion of non-specific antigens, detected not only in tumor but also in normal sera, increases the performance significantly, since non-specific antigens contribute additional diagnostic information. CONCLUSION: Our approach offers the possibility to screen members of risk groups as a matter of routine such that tumors hopefully can be diagnosed immediately after their genesis. The early detection will finally result in a higher cure- and lower morbidity-rate

Selection criteria for flagship species by conservation organizations

Flagship species are among key marketing tools used by conservation organizations to motivate public support, but are often selected in an ad hoc, rather than systematic, manner. Furthermore, it is unclear whether selected flagship species do motivate public support. This paper describes a multi-method exploratory study, carried out in Switzerland, which aimed to determine the selection criteria for flagship species and measure whether a species selected according to these criteria was able to motivate support. Fourteen representatives of international, regional and local conservation organizations were interviewed and the selection criteria for their flagship species were identified. A charismatic species (the great spotted woodpecker) that meets these criteria and an apparently less charismatic species (the clover stem weevil) were selected as treatments in a quantitative experiment with 900 respondents. Using conjoint analysis, it was found that both charismatic and uncharismatic species have the ability to positively influence public preferences for habitat variables that encourage biodiversity in urban landscapes. These results may be used by conservation organizations to assist in the selection of flagship species, and in particular for flagship species that are intended to perform a specific conservation functio

Learning from the Past : The Women Writers Project and Thirty Years of Humanities Text Encoding

In recent years, intensified attention in the humanities has been paid to data: to data modeling, data visualization, ?big data?. The Women Writers Project has dedicated significant effort over the past thirty years to creating what Christoph Schöch calls ?smart clean data?: a moderate-sized collection of early modern women?s writing, carefully transcribed and corrected, with detailed digital text encoding that has evolved in response to research and changing standards for text representation. But that data?whether considered as a publication through Women Writers Online, or as a proof of the viability of text encoding approaches like those expressed in the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) Guidelines?is only the most visible part of a much larger ecology. That ecology includes complex human systems, evolving sets of tools, and a massive apparatus of documentation and organizational memory that have made it possible for the project to work coherently over such a long period of time. In this article we examine the WWP?s information systems in relation to the project?s larger scholarly goals, with the aim of showing where they may generalize to the needs of other projects

Cross-Sectional Nutrition Profile of Palliative Home Care Clients in Ontario and Performance of the interRAI Palliative Care Nutrition Clinical Assessment Protocol

Background: The nutrition profile of palliative home care clients is unknown. This study describes this group and their nutrition issues and evaluates the performance of the interRAI nutrition Clinical Assessment Protocol (CAP). Methods: This was a cross-sectional secondary analysis using Ontario interRAI Palliative Care (interRAI PC) Assessment data. The sample represents 74,963 unique Ontario home care clients assessed between 2011 and 2018. Frequencies and standardized differences (stdiffs) of nutrition characteristics were presented for cancer (n = 62,394) and noncancer (n = 12,569) diagnostic subgroups. Rates of triggering the nutrition CAP were presented by nutrition issue to evaluate its performance. Results: Of this sample, 16.7% were ≥85 years of age, 52.6% had a prognosis between 6 weeks and 6 months, and 41.4% required assistance with eating. The prevalence was higher among those with nervous/mental/behavioral disorders (72.6%) compared with those with cancer (37.6%; stdiff = 0.75). However, most nutrition issues experienced were similar (stdiff \u3c 0.20) across diagnostic groups. Of the entire sample, 21% triggered the nutrition CAP, indicating a need for further evaluation or intervention. Yet, 73.4% of those who experienced dry mouth, 71.8% of those who required assistance with eating, and 68.4% of those who received a nutrition consult within the last 3 days did not trigger the nutrition CAP. Conclusions: Nutrition issues are prevalent in palliative home care clients, regardless of diagnosis; yet the nutrition CAP identified a small fraction of this group. There is a need to focus research and care guidelines toward life-limiting illnesses beyond cancer and address nutrition-related issues in this population