Phytoremediation of Nitrate in the Karlsruhe Aquifer, McHenry County, North Dakota

Nitrate concentrations in the Karlsruhe aquifer (23,070 acres), located in north central McHenry County, North Dakota have been monitored by the North Dakota State Water Commission since 2001. The average nitrate-N concentration in the top ten feet of the aquifer was determined to be about 14.0 mg/L. The objective of this engineering design was to determine the location of shallow areas in the Karlsruhe aquifer where phytoremediation would be most suitable and to evaluate the effect of phytoremediation on attenuating nitrate-N concentrations. The determination of areas in the Karlsruhe aquifer where phytoremediation would be most effective was carried out through analysis of the average depth to water table in the spring and fall, and land use for that region. The potential phytoremediation areas were narrowed down further by accessing the location of primary discharge points in the aquifer. Cross-sections and flownets were utilized to gain a general understanding of groundwater flow beneath these areas. Calculations of nitrate-N loss were based on the hydraulic conductivity, porosity, hydraulic gradient, and the average nitrate-N concentration in the aquifer as well as the hybrid poplar’s nitrogen uptake ability. Overall, the influence of phytoremediation on nitrate-N concentrations in aquifer discharge was variable. The 66 ft long buffer was able to decrease the average concentration of 14 mg/L by about 50% to a value below the EPA-MCL when the hydraulic conductivity was 20 ft/day. The 30 ft long buffer decreased the initial nitrate-N concentration by only 20% when the hydraulic conductivity was 20 ft/day. Both riparian buffers had negligible effects on nitrate-N concentrations at maximum hydraulic conductivity. The geologic material comprising the Karlsruhe aquifer appears to have the greatest influence on the hybrid poplar’s ability to remove nitrate from the subsurface. The high hydraulic conductivity values for the aquifer create groundwater flow conditions in which the interaction between nitrate and the root zone is limited. However, it was recommended that a 66 ft long buffer be implemented along the Wintering River because the average nitrate-N concentration in the upper portion of the aquifer is above the EPA-MCL and a riparian buffer has the potential to decrease the concentrations to a suitable level

El poder y lo sagrado: intereses políticos y religiosos en la canonización de Vicente Ferrer

This article explores some of the political and religious considerations in the canonization of St. Vincent Ferrer through a close and sometimes against the grain reading of canonization materials, letters, and early hagiography. The most aggressive promoters of Vincent’s canonization were the Montfort dukes of Brittany, where the saint is buried, and who used their association with the holy friar to assert sacred legitimacy for their dynasty, which had come to power as the result of a bloody civil war and which adopted a quasi-royal image along the lines of the French monarchy. In Vincent’s native Aragon, the situation was more complicated. The friar had helped bring the Trastámara dynasty to power there in 1412, but Vincent’s role in announcing the crown of Aragon’s 1416 withdrawal of obedience from the Aragonese pope Benedict XIII would diminish his symbolic value in his homeland. Only after Alfonso V’s conquest of the kingdom of Naples did the Trastámaras begin to push in earnest for the opening of a canonization process as part of a strategy to show divine favor for the new Aragonese regime in Naples. Promoters of Vincent’s canonization acknowledged that they had overcome various “impediments”—presumably, rumors of a heresy conviction, as well as concerns about Vincent’s preaching on Antichrist and his actions vis-à-vis the Great Schism and the Council of Constance. In response, champions of the new saint subtly recast the friar as a gifted preacher whose apocalyptic sermons moved crowds to penitence and whose strenuous efforts brought unity to a divided church.El presente artículo examina algunas cuestiones políticas y religiosas relacionadas con la canonización de San Vicente Ferrer, a través de una atenta y a menudo compleja lectura de los materiales de la canonización, de cartas y de hagiografía contemporánea. Los más fervientes promotores de su canonización fueron los Montfort, Duques de Bretaña, donde el santo fue enterrado; ellos utilizaron su buena relación con el dominico para afirmar la sagrada legitimidad de su dinastía, que había llegado al poder después de una sangrienta guerra civil y que adoptó una imagen casi real, similar a la de la monarquía francesa. En su Aragón natal, la situación era más complicada. El dominico había aupado a los Trastámara al poder en 1412, pero su protagonismo en el anuncio de la sustracción de la Corona de Aragón a la obediencia del papa Benedicto XIII disminuyó su importancia simbólica en su propia tierra. Solo después de la conquista del Reino de Nápoles por Alfonso V empezaron los Trastámara a impulsar con fervor la apertura del proceso de canonización, como parte de una estrategia para mostrar el favor divino con el que contaba el nuevo “régimen” aragonés en Nápoles. Los promotores de la canonización de Ferrer sabían que se encontrarían con varios impedimentos –presumiblemente, los rumores sobre sus convicciones heréticas, como aquellas vinculadas a la predicación de Vicente Ferrer sobre el Anticristo, y su posición respecto al Cisma y al Concilio de Constanza. En contrapartida, los defensores del nuevo santo lo presentaron sutilmente como sabio predicador que, gracias a sus sermones apocalípticos, movía a la multitud a la penitencia y que no reparaba en esfuerzos para conseguir la unidad de la iglesia dividida

The Effect of Cumulus Cloud Field Anisotropy on Domain-Averaged Solar Fluxes and Atmospheric Heating Rates

Cumulus clouds can become tilted or elongated in the presence of wind shear. Nevertheless, most studies of the interaction of cumulus clouds and radiation have assumed these clouds to be isotropic. This paper describes an investigation of the effect of fair-weather cumulus cloud field anisotropy on domain-averaged solar fluxes and atmospheric heating rate profiles. A stochastic field generation algorithm was used to produce twenty three-dimensional liquid water content fields based on the statistical properties of cloud scenes from a large eddy simulation. Progressively greater degrees of x-z plane tilting and horizontal stretching were imposed on each of these scenes, so that an ensemble of scenes was produced for each level of distortion. The resulting scenes were used as input to a three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer model. Domain-average transmission, reflection, and absorption of broadband solar radiation were computed for each scene along with the average heating rate profile. Both tilt and horizontal stretching were found to significantly affect calculated fluxes, with the amount and sign of flux differences depending strongly on sun position relative to cloud distortion geometry. The mechanisms by which anisotropy interacts with solar fluxes were investigated by comparisons to independent pixel approximation and tilted independent pixel approximation computations for the same scenes. Cumulus anisotropy was found to most strongly impact solar radiative transfer by changing the effective cloud fraction, i.e., the cloud fraction when the field is projected on a surface perpendicular to the direction of the incident solar beam

Divergence between genes but limited allelic polymorphism in two MHC class II A genes in Leach’s storm-petrels Oceanodroma leucorhoa

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is critical to host-pathogen interactions. Class II MHC is a heterodimer, with α and β subunits encoded by different genes. The peptide-binding groove is formed by the first domain of both subunits (α1 and β1), but studies of class II variation or natural selection focus primarily on the β subunit and II B genes. We explored MHC II A in Leach’s storm-petrel, a seabird with two expressed, polymorphic II B genes. We found two II A genes, Ocle-DAA and Ocle-DBA, in contrast to the single II A gene in chicken and duck. In exon 2 which encodes the α1 domain, the storm-petrel II A genes differed strongly from each other but showed little within-gene polymorphism in 30 individuals: just one Ocle-DAA allele, and three Ocle-DBA alleles differing from each other by single non-synonymous substitutions. In a comparable sample, the two II B genes had nine markedly diverged alleles each. Differences between the α1 domains of Ocle-DAA and Ocle-DBA showed signatures of positive selection, but mainly at non-peptide-binding site (PBS) positions. In contrast, positive selection within and between the II B genes corresponded to putative PBS codons. Phylogenetic analysis of the conserved α2 domain did not reveal deep or well-supported lineages of II A genes in birds, in contrast to the pronounced differentiation of DQA, DPA, and DRA isotypes in mammals. This uncertain homology complicates efforts to compare levels of functional variation and modes of evolution of II A genes across taxa

Homogeneity and Heterogeneity as Situational Properties: Producing – and Moving Beyond? – Race in Post-Genomic Science

In this article, we explore current thinking and practices around the logics of difference in gene–environment interaction research in the post-genomic era. We find that scientists conducting gene–environment interaction research continue to invoke well-worn notions of racial difference and diversity, but use them strategically to try to examine other kinds of etiologically significant differences among populations. Scientists do this by seeing populations not as inherently homogeneous or heterogeneous, but rather by actively working to produce homogeneity along some dimensions and heterogeneity along others in their study populations. Thus we argue that homogeneity and heterogeneity are situational properties – properties that scientists seek to achieve in their study populations, the available data, and other aspects of the research situation they are confronting, and then leverage to advance post-genomic science. Pointing to the situatedness of homogeneity and heterogeneity in gene–environment interaction research underscores the work that these properties do and the contingencies that shape decisions about research procedures. Through a focus on the situational production of homogeneity and heterogeneity more broadly, we find that gene–environment interaction research attempts to shift the logic of difference from solely racial terms as explanatory ends unto themselves, to racial and other dimensions of difference that may be important clues to the causes of complex diseases

What WorX: Measuring the impact of faith-based service and social justice programs on Catholic youth

The Center for FaithJustice (CFJ) offers innovative programs that engage youth in faith, service, and social justice. With the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI, they developed a survey to evaluate their programs and measure their longitudinal impact on alumni in those three focus areas. This report will offer related insights on youth engagement and suggest how CFJ’s programs relate to larger trends of youth disaffiliation within the Catholic Church. This study examines survey results from alumni and parents of alumni of CFJ’s youth programs, which are collectively called the “WorX” programs. These include curricula for middle school students (ServiceworX), high school students (JusticeworX, New Jersey Service Project/NJSP, MercyworX, and CommunityworX), young adults (LeaderworX), and adults (FaithJustice Fellows and adult volunteers). The results of this study focused on CFJ’s three core areas of interest: faith, service, and social justice

Know Before You Go: A Community-Derived Approach to Planning for and Preventing Sexual Harassment at Oceanographic Field Sites

Sexual harassment is a pervasive problem on oceanographic research vessels and while conducting fieldwork in general. A variety of factors contribute to inadequate protection against sexual harassment, such as poor training in prevention, support, and response; remoteness of field sites; academic hierarchies that reinforce uneven power dynamics that extend to fieldwork; and multi-institutional teams with distinct policies or reporting structures that can lead to confusion in reporting and responding to incidents in the field. In compromising individuals’ physical and mental health, sexual harassment can negatively affect research expeditions. For example, harassed individuals may decide to refrain from working on complicated team-based tasks, which can be a safety issue. A broader concern is that sexual harassment deters talented people from pursing or maintaining employment in ocean science. Harassment must be treated with the same gravity as research misconduct and safety policy infringements. When planning a research expedition, science team leaders are responsible for the safety of their team and other colleagues aboard and would benefit from resources aimed at helping team leadership create a plan to ensure safety and inclusivity. To address this resource gap, 18 participants in the Workshop to Promote Field Safety in Ocean Sciences, convened by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership and held May 17–18, 2022, in Washington, DC, developed a checklist for use by scientific leaders and others to assist in planning for participant safety and to prevent harassment the field. The checklist specifies the timing of, and who is responsible for, specific actions that should be taken to improve safety while conducting fieldwork, whether on a research vessel or on land. It also provides additional resources and suggestions for leaders on how to amend the checklist to address their specific fieldwork situations

GPR56/ADGRG1 regulates development and maintenance of peripheral myelin

Myelin is a multilamellar sheath generated by specialized glia called Schwann cells (SCs) in the peripheral nervous system (PNS), which serves to protect and insulate axons for rapid neuronal signaling. In zebrafish and rodent models, we identify GPR56/ADGRG1 as a conserved regulator of PNS development and health. We demonstrate that, during SC development, GPR56-dependent RhoA signaling promotes timely radial sorting of axons. In the mature PNS, GPR56 is localized to distinct SC cytoplasmic domains, is required to establish proper myelin thickness, and facilitates organization of the myelin sheath. Furthermore, we define plectin-a scaffolding protein previously linked to SC domain organization, myelin maintenance, and a series of disorders termed "plectinopathies"-as a novel interacting partner of GPR56. Finally, we show that Gpr56 mutants develop progressive neuropathy-like symptoms, suggesting an underlying mechanism for peripheral defects in some human patients with GPR56 mutations. In sum, we define Gpr56 as a new regulator in the development and maintenance of peripheral myelin

The FNIP co-chaperones decelerate the Hsp90 chaperone cycle and enhance drug binding

The ability of Heat Shock Protein 90 (Hsp90) to hydrolyze ATP is essential for its chaperone function. The co-chaperone Aha1 stimulates Hsp90 ATPase activity, tailoring the chaperone function to specific "client" proteins. The intracellular signaling mechanisms directly regulating Aha1 association with Heat shock protein-90 (Hsp90) is an essential molecular chaperone in eukaryotes involved in maintaining the stability and activity of numerous signalling proteins, also known as clients. Hsp90 ATPase activity is essential for its chaperone function and it is regulated by co-chaperones. Here we show that the tumour suppressor FLCN is an Hsp90 client protein and its binding partners FNIP1/FNIP2 function as co-chaperones. FNIPs decelerate the chaperone cycle, facilitating FLCN interaction with Hsp90, consequently ensuring FLCN stability. FNIPs compete with the activating co-chaperone Aha1 for binding to Hsp90, thereby providing a reciprocal regulatory mechanism for chaperoning of client proteins. Lastly, downregulation of FNIPs desensitizes cancer cells to Hsp90 inhibitors, whereas FNIPs overexpression in renal tumours compared with adjacent normal tissues correlates with enhanced binding of Hsp90 to its inhibitors. Our findings suggest that FNIPs expression can potentially serve as a predictive indicator of tumour response to Hsp90 inhibitors