Histological techniques for marine bivalve molluscs: update

This chapter describes the procedures for determining the reproductive stage of oysters, mytilid mussels, and dreissenid mussels collected for NOAA’s National Status and Trends Mussel Watch Project. Analyses are conducted on paraffin-embedded tissues sectioned at a 5-μm thickness and stained using a pentachrome staining procedure. Each slide is examined microscopically to determine the animal’s sex and stage of gonadal development. A semi-quantitative ranking is assigned

Possible wormholes in a brane world

The condition R=0, where R is the four-dimensional scalar curvature, is used for obtaining a large class (with an arbitrary function of r) of static, spherically symmetric Lorentzian wormhole metrics. The wormholes are globally regular and traversable, can have throats of arbitrary size and can be both symmetric and asymmetric. These metrics may be treated as possible wormhole solutions in a brane world since they satisfy the vacuum Einstein equations on the brane where effective stress-energy is induced by interaction with the bulk gravitational field. Some particular examples are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, revtex4. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Disease Morbidity and Cost Analysis Associated with Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza Among Children <15 Years in South Korea, 2004–2007

Background: The available opinions regarding participation do not appear to be applicableto adults with visual and severe or profound intellectual disabilities (VSPID). Because a cleardefinition and operationalization are lacking, it is difficult for support professionals to givemeaning to participation for adults with VSPID. Aims: The purpose of the present study was to develop a definition and operationalizationof the concept of participation of adults with VSPID. Methods: Parents or family members, professionals, and experts participated in an onlineconcept mapping procedure. This procedure includes generating statements, clusteringthem, and rating their importance. The data were analyzed quantitatively using multidi-mensional scaling and qualitatively with triangulation. Results: A total of 53 participants generated 319 statements of which 125 were clusteredand rated. The final cluster map of the statements contained seven clusters: (1) Experienceand discover; (2) Inclusion; (3) Involvement; (4) Leisure and recreation; (5) Communica-tion and being understood; (6) Social relations; and (7) Self-management and autonomy.The average importance rating of the statements varied from 6.49 to 8.95. A definition ofparticipation of this population was developed which included these seven clusters. Conclusions: The combination of the developed definition, the clusters, and the statementsin these clusters, derived from the perceptions of parents or family members, professionals,and experts, can be employed to operationalize the construct of participation of adults withVSPID. This operationalization supports professionals in their ability to give meaning toparticipation in these adults. Future research will focus on using the operationalization asa checklist of participation for adults with VSPID

Comparative analysis of greenhouse gas emission inventory for Pakistan: Part I energy and industrial processes and product use

In order to further improve the accuracy and reliability and reduce uncertainties in the national GHG inventories for Pakistan, this study call for using 2006 IPCC Guidelines, to help to identify the national targets for GHG mitigation with respect to the nationally determined contributions (NDCs). GHG (CO2, CH4, and N2O) inventories for Pakistan have been developed by conducting a detailed sectoral assessment of IPCC source sectors, energy, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU), and the waste sector. Further, sector wise comparative analysis of GHG inventories (1994–2017) based on the 2006 and 1996 IPCC Guidelines have also been presented. Results indicated an average relative difference of 4% in total GHG emissions (CO2 equivalent) from energy sector between 2006 and 1996 IPCC Guidelines. With 3.6% average annual growth rate based on 2006 IPCC Guidelines, CO2 from energy sector remained the most abundant GHG emitted, followed by CH4 and N2O. While the average absolute difference in emissions of CH4 and N2O from the energy sector is notable, the total estimated GHG emissions by 2006 IPCC Guidelines duplicate those by 1996 IPCC Guidelines. In the mineral industry with 2006 IPCC Guidelines, an average annual growth rate of 6.7% is observed, contributing 64% of total IPPU sector CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, the relative difference between the two Guidelines in overall IPPU sector emissions remained negligible. There might be a need for switching to 2006 IPCC Guidelines to consider more parameters such as additional source sectors and new default emission factors that fit into national circumstances

Role of type 1 and type 3 fimbriae in Klebsiella pneumoniae biofilm formation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Klebsiella pneumoniae </it>is an important gram-negative opportunistic pathogen causing primarily urinary tract infections, respiratory infections, and bacteraemia. The ability of bacteria to form biofilms on medical devices, e.g. catheters, has a major role in development of many nosocomial infections. Most clinical <it>K. pneumoniae </it>isolates express two types of fimbrial adhesins, type 1 fimbriae and type 3 fimbriae. In this study, we characterized the role of type 1 and type 3 fimbriae in <it>K. pneumoniae </it>biofilm formation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Isogenic fimbriae mutants of the clinical <it>K. pneumoniae </it>isolate C3091 were constructed, and their ability to form biofilm was investigated in a flow cell system by confocal scanning laser microscopy. The wild type strain was found to form characteristic biofilm and development of <it>K. pneumoniae </it>biofilm occurred primarily by clonal growth, not by recruitment of planktonic cells. Type 1 fimbriae did not influence biofilm formation and the expression of type 1 fimbriae was found to be down-regulated in biofilm forming cells. In contrast, expression of type 3 fimbriae was found to strongly promote biofilm formation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>By use of well defined isogenic mutants we found that type 3 fimbriae, but not type 1 fimbriae, strongly promote biofilm formation in <it>K. pneumoniae </it>C3091. As the vast majority of clinical <it>K. pneumoniae </it>isolates express type 3 fimbriae, this fimbrial adhesin may play a significant role in development of catheter associated <it>K. pneumoniae </it>infections.</p

Long-term trends in tropical cyclone tracks around Korea and Japan in late summer and early fall

This study investigates long-term trends in tropical cyclones (TCs) over the extratropical western North Pacific (WNP) over a period of 35 years (1982-2016). The area analyzed extended across 30-45 degrees N and 120-150 degrees E, including the regions of Korea and Japan that were seriously affected by TCs. The northward migration of TCs over the WNP to the mid-latitudes showed a sharp increase in early fall. In addition, the duration of TCs over the WNP that migrated northwards showed an increase, specifically in early to mid-September. Therefore, more recently, TC tracks have been observed to significantly extend into the mid-latitudes. The recent northward extension of TC tracks over the WNP in early fall was observed to be associated with changes in environmental conditions that were favorable for TC activities, including an increase in sea surface temperature (SST), decrease in vertical wind shear, expansion of subtropical highs, strong easterly steering winds, and an increase in relative vorticity. In contrast, northward migrations of TCs to Korea and Japan showed a decline in late August, because of the presence of unfavorable environmental conditions for TC activities. These changes in environmental conditions, such as SST and vertical wind shear, can be partially associated with the Pacific decadal oscillation

Generalized dynamic reduction in finite element dynamic optimization

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76662/1/AIAA-8826-211.pd

Absorption cross section in the topologically massive gravity at the critical point

The absorption cross section for the the warped AdS$_3$ black hole background shows that it is larger than the area even if the s-wave limit is considered. It raises some question whether the deviation from the areal cross section is due to the warped configuration of the geometry or the rotating coordinate system, where these two effects are mixed up in the warped AdS$_3$ black hole. So, we study the low-frequency scattering dynamics of propagating scalar fields under the warped AdS$_3$ background at the critical point which reduces to the BTZ black hole in the rotating frame without the warped factor, which shows that the deformation effect at the critical point does not appear.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe

Exploring Minimal Scenarios to Produce Transversely Bright Electron Beams Using the Eigen-Emittance Concept

Next generation hard X-ray free electron lasers require electron beams with low transverse emittance. One proposal to achieve these low emittances is to exploit the eigen-emittance values of the beam. The eigen-emittances are invariant under linear beam transport and equivalent to the emittances in an uncorrelated beam. If a correlated beam with two small eigen-emittances can be produced, removal of the correlations via appropriate optics will lead to two small emittance values, provided non-linear effects are not too large. We study how such a beam may be produced using minimal linear correlations. We find it is theoretically possible to produce such a beam, however it may be more difficult to realize in practice. We identify linear correlations that may lead to physically realizable emittance schemes and discuss promising future avenues.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to appear in NIM

The Phase Structure of Supersymmetric Sp(2N_c) Gauge Theories with an Adjoint

We study the phase structure of N = 1 supersymmetric Sp(2N_c) gauge theories with 2N_f fundamentals, an adjoint, and vanishing superpotential. Using a-maximization, we derive analytic expressions for the values of N_f below which the first several gauge-invariant operators in the chiral ring violate the unitarity bound and become free fields. In doing so we are able to explicitly check previous conjectures about the behavior of this theory made by Luty, Schmaltz, and Terning. We then compare this to an analysis of the first two 'deconfined' dual descriptions based on the gauge groups Sp(2N_f+2) x SO(2N_c+5) and Sp(2N_f+2) x SO(4N_f+4) x Sp(2N_c+2), finding precise agreement. In particular, we find no evidence for non-obvious accidental symmetries or the appearance of a mixed phase in which one of the dual gauge groups becomes free.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; v2: added references to match JHEP versio