Ecological Sustainability of Winter Harvesting in the Duck Mountain Provincial Park, SK: The Effects of Skidder Traffic, Slash Loading, and Cumulative Effects on Soils and Aspen Regeneration

In over-mature trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) forests, like those of the Duck Mountain Provincial Park (DMPP), mechanical harvesting has been shown to be an effective source of disturbance to re-establish a healthy and productive forest. However, harvesting operations can result in a degree of unwanted disturbance that could threaten the success of regeneration. The overall goal of this study was to assess, on a landscape scale, whether winter harvesting of the old growth aspen forests in the park is an ecologically sustainable practice for successful aspen regeneration. Skidder traffic intensity, slash coverage, and vegetation indices were calculated for six harvested blocks using Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Unoccupied Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Based on this information, soil bulk density and early sucker growth was measured to assess the effects of winter harvesting. Soil bulk density increased significantly following 1-5 skidder passes (1.39 g cm-3) compared to unharvested controls (1.29 g cm-3) but remained relatively constant as skidder traffic continued to increase. In areas of high skidder traffic (51-100 passes) aspen sucker density decreased by approximately 50% while sucker height decreased by over 20 cm compared to areas with less traffic. Soil bulk density, vegetation indices, and slash coverage (up to 60%) showed no relationship with the level of aspen regeneration in harvested blocks. To assess cumulative effects, principal component analysis, principal component regression, and fuzzy logic analysis were used to determine the regeneration suitability across harvested blocks. This analysis indicated that the majority of a harvested block (51-71% of the area) occurred with a rating of low to below average regeneration suitability. On average, low suitability areas had significantly more traffic and slash compared to the other levels of suitability, experiencing 27 more skidder passes and 6% more slash cover compared to high suitability areas. Aspen sucker height, root collar diameter, and dry leaf biomass were also significantly higher in areas with high regeneration suitability compared to areas with low suitability. Therefore, skidder traffic and slash must be properly managed and distributed throughout harvested blocks to ensure the sustainability of future aspen forests in the DMPP

Challenges in Reconciling Different Views of Neuroanatomy in a Reference Ontology of Anatomy

A fundamental requirement for integrating neuroscience data is a well-structured ontology that can incorporate, accommodate and reconcile different neuroanatomical views. Here we describe the challenges in creating such ontology, and, because of its principled design, illustrate the potential of the Foundational Model of Anatomy to be that ontology

A Student Research Manual: Helping Students Help Themselves Identifying and Addressing Challenges Facing Prospective Undergraduate Researchers

Undergraduate research does not only help equip STEM majors to be better researchers and employees but increases retention of students to graduate school in needed scientific fields. However, while resources are being produced for undergraduates like Undergraduate Research Experiences (UREs), Centers for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship (CURS), and Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), undergraduate involvement and awareness about these resources, and the value of undergraduate research in general, does not seem to be improving. Therefore, it would be valuable to figure out why undergraduates aren\u27t autonomously seeking out undergraduate research during their studies. To investigate why, a two-part survey was developed using the experience of a single undergraduate who, after complications, was able to participate in undergraduate research via a summer research fellowship. The survey asks undergraduates to rate their ability to perform certain aptitudes that are important for research as well as skills that aren\u27t important to research but undergraduates still consider valuable. They were then asked to rate the importance of these skills for acquiring and undergraduate research position. The same survey was administered to faculty. The goal is to determine where faculty and undergraduates are and aren\u27t aligned in terms of both undergraduates\u27 skill level and the importance of each skill. With this data we hope to communicate both to faculty and undergraduates the misconceptions facing each party and to bridge the gap between researchers and undergraduates. In doing so, increasing communication and fostering a climate that will enable more undergraduates to participate in undergraduate research

Enabling RadLex with the Foundational Model of Anatomy Ontology to Organize and Integrate Neuro-imaging Data

In this study we focused on empowering RadLex with an ontological framework and additional content derived from the Foundational Model of Anatomy Ontology1 thereby providing RadLex the facility to correlate the different standards used in annotating neuroradiological image data. The objective of this work is to promote data sharing, data harmonization and interoperability between disparate neuroradiological labeling systems

Intelligent Queries over BIRN Data using the Foundational Model of Anatomy and a Distributed Query-Based Data Integration System

We demonstrate the usefulness of the Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) ontology in reconciling different neuroanatomical parcellation schemes in order to facilitate automatic annotation and “intelligent” querying and visualization over a large multisite fMRI study of schizophrenic versus normal controls

Anti-galectin-3 peptides increase apoptosis in galectin-3 expressing human breast cancer cells

Abstract only availableA critical factor in the proliferation and the metastatic nature of carcinoma cells appears to be their resistance to natural programmed cell death (apoptosis). However, the molecular mechanisms that enable carcinoma cells to become resistant to cell death are unclear. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a protein that is found at elevated levels in a variety of primary and metastatic tumor cells that may play a key role in chemo-resistance and proliferation of carcinoma cells. Gal-3 has also been found to play a key role in the regulation of common apoptosis commitment pathways. Therefore, we hypothesize that peptides, which bind to and inhibit Gal-3 functions, could be used to reduce the anti-apoptotic activity of Gal-3 thus increasing the occurrence of cell death in carcinoma cells. Two cell lines were cultured, the human breast cancer cell line BT549 and a Gal-3-transfected derivative of BT549 (BT549/V). After undergoing apoptosis induction with 0.5 M staurosporine, apoptosis markers were detected fluorescently using flow cytometry. Our preliminary data suggests that, in the absence of anti-galectin-3 peptides, the parent BT549 cell line exhibits mitochondrial damage (decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential as detected by using MitoTracker Red fluorescence) by 6 hours of staurosporine treatment, whereas the BT549/V cell line shows little change in MitoTracker Red fluorescence even after 8 hours of apoptosis induction. A similar pattern is observed when changes in MitoTracker Red fluorescence are correlated with changes in phosphatidylserine translocation from the inner to outer surface of the plasma membrane. The current data suggest that cells transfected with Gal-3 have an increased rate of survival after apoptosis induction. In the next phase of this ongoing project, flow cytometric studies of changes in membrane permeability and DNA damage in parent and galectin-3 transfected BT549 cells will be conducted to further define the time-dependent apoptotic response of the BT549 parent versus BT549/V cells. Finally, we will observe and compare the effect of anti-Gal-3 peptides on induction of apoptosis in these two cell lines in order to determine if Gal-3 plays a key role in the anti-apoptotic nature of carcinoma cells and to test if anti-Gal-3 peptides are efficacious in inhibiting the anti-apoptotic functions of Gal-3.Molecular Imaging Progra

Mixed-mode oscillations and interspike interval statistics in the stochastic FitzHugh-Nagumo model

We study the stochastic FitzHugh-Nagumo equations, modelling the dynamics of neuronal action potentials, in parameter regimes characterised by mixed-mode oscillations. The interspike time interval is related to the random number of small-amplitude oscillations separating consecutive spikes. We prove that this number has an asymptotically geometric distribution, whose parameter is related to the principal eigenvalue of a substochastic Markov chain. We provide rigorous bounds on this eigenvalue in the small-noise regime, and derive an approximation of its dependence on the system's parameters for a large range of noise intensities. This yields a precise description of the probability distribution of observed mixed-mode patterns and interspike intervals.Comment: 36 page