Forty-Five Years of Grizzly Bear Mortality in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem

Within the last 10 years, the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) population in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) has increased in size and doubled its range. Understanding the changes in mortalities is important to guide management of the population. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has maintained a record of documented grizzly bear mortalities since 1971. During this time there were a total of 650 human-caused, independent-aged (?2 years old) bear mortalities recorded. We reviewed the last 45 years of human-caused grizzly bear mortalities in the NCDE, to determine any changes in mortality demographics, mortality causes, and spatial distribution. During 1975–1992, a quota of 25 human-caused mortalities was in effect and a slight temporal decline in total mortality was observed. Since 1992, the trend in total mortalities has been increasing at approximately 3%/year. Agency removals comprised 24% of human-caused mortalities.  Previously, removals were largely associated with anthropogenic foods, but livestock depredations have been the primary cause for removals during the last two decades.  Among public-caused mortalities (76%), legal hunting (during 1971–1991) and poaching/malicious kill have been the most dominant causes of death.  Defense of life kills and automobile and train collision deaths have increased over time.  During the last decade, there was an increase in the number of females with young present that were killed by the public. Whereas most mortalities occurred inside the Recovery Zone during the 1970s and 1980s, >50% now occur outside of it. Wildlife managers can use this information for developing strategies for managing grizzly bear mortality and improving bear-human coexistence

Let\u27s Be Honest About Law School Cheating: A Low-Tech Solution for a High-Tech Problem

The savvy nature of academic cheating has outpaced educators racing to foil students’ high-tech high-jinx. Indeed, a culture of cheating in higher education has become pervasive, and even normalized. While problematic in all educational contexts, the implications of this erosion of academic integrity have particularly profound consequences in law school. There is no question that every law school has problems with cheating, but this Article is meant to cast doubt that engaging in a technological arms race with students to catch the cheaters is the best solution. Instead, a pedagogical commitment to teaching integrity in law school is a better low-tech solution to the high-tech problem of cheating. This Article posits that academic dishonesty can be addressed in law school by not only developing exam procedures to deter cheating, and appropriate procedures for handling allegations of cheating, but also by creating a law school culture that reinforces the high ethical standards that students will be held to once in practice. This Article contends that academic integrity should be part-and-parcel of legal education because nurturing a culture of integrity can lead to a significant impact on student behavior, and better prepare students for the practice of law

Seismic Characterization of the Northern Puget Lowland, Washington

Records show that thousands of earthquakes have occurred in the northern Puget Lowland since 1969. At least fifteen of these events have been greater than magnitude 4, and one (Deming mag. 5.2, 1990) was the second largest recorded shallow crustal event in Washington for the last hundred years. Despite the evidence that suggests that the potential for great earthquakes capable of severe damage in the northern Puget Lowland is very real, the seismicity in the area is poorly understood. This is in part due to the wide scattering and apparently random assortment of recorded events. This thesis attempts to create a better understanding of the structures along which these earthquakes occur. A better understanding the active structures can help to better evaluate the full potential for destructive earthquakes. Conclusions in this thesis are based primarily on historical seismic records from the Washington Regional Seismic Network, and include earthquake activity from 1969 to 1995. Focal mechanisms from the Washington Regional Seismic Network and Western Canadian Telemetered Network databases are for seismic events that were recorded at enough stations to meet quality standards. The records used were limited to events with foci within the upper 30 km of the North American crust and lie within the boundaries of the northern Puget Lowland. Depth distributions of earthquake foci were used to determine the extent and location of seismic deformation. Results show that events are concentrated within two general depth intervals in the crust. This bimodal distribution includes a shallow concentration between the surface and 5 km depth and another concentration at approximately 17+/- 3 km. Depth distribution across the region suggests that a wedge-shaped body is being deformed seismically. This wedge-shaped body roughly conforms to low temperature regions defined by geothermal modeling for the region, suggesting a direct correlation between low heat flow and seismic deformation. This thesis introduces a modified technique of fault classification that can be used to analyze focal mechanisms for a region as a group, rather than just an event-by-event basis. The plunges of the pressure and tension axes from focal mechanisms were used to classify earthquakes by fault type. The results were consistent with the study region being in a transpressive regime, with 74% of the events being clearly reverse and strike-slip. However, deformation is not uniform. A depth distribution plot shows a change from predominantly reverse faulting above 20 km to predominantly strike-slip faulting below 20 km. This could be the result of a swapping of σ2 and σ3 due to an increased lithostatic load, the result of faulting along preexisting zones of weakness, or the result of spatial distribution of both. Maps of focal mechanisms of a single fault type helped to define possible trends in an otherwise seemingly random assortment of focal mechanisms. Right lateral strike-slip faulting between 20 and 30 km along the trend of the southern Whidbey Island fault was most apparent. Shallower than 20 km, the stresses appear diffused into the northern part of the study region that forms the wedge. A statistical Chi-square analysis for planar distributions of earthquake foci was developed and used over the entire region to investigate possible correlations with maps of focal mechanisms. Planar distributions that met statistical criteria that indicated they are significant show some interesting patterns. The eastern portion of the Devil\u27s Mountain fault had planar distributions that aligned with focal mechanisms showing shallow strike slip and reverse faulting. Clear reverse faulting around 15 km depth along the trace of the Vedder Mountain lineament was also observed

The presence of a dog increases greetings: a study in social intervention

Pet dogs served many useful purposes, especially by provoking social interaction in the lives of their owners. The purpose of this study was to show that a person accompanied by a dog received more greetings from passersby than a person without a dog. This was a field study using a female confederate, a dog, and three observers. Subjects passing in front of the confederate were recorded as a greeter or a non-greeter. Results formulated by the Chi Square showed that when the confederate was with the dog, they were greeted significantly more than when they were not accompanied by the dog. This study had important applications for people who consider themselves lonely, shy, or socially inept

WOMAN-2 Pilot Study Data

Data and supporting material produced as part of a pilot study to test outcome questions for the WOMAN-2 trial of tranexamic acid for the prevention of postpartum haemorrhage. This pilot study was conducted in one hospital which will also be conducting the WOMAN-2 Trial in Pakistan. The pilot study population included participants similar to those to be included in the WOMAN-2 Trial: women who are anaemic, and having given birth. Participants took part in an interview which included answering questions from the draft participant reported outcomes questionnaire. A small subset of participants enrolled in this pilot study also took part in a cognitive interview directly following the questionnaire to learn how they understood the questions. Each row of the dataset table represents data for an individual participant

Correia repeat enclosed elements and non-coding RNAs in the Neisseria species

Neisseria gonorrhoeae is capable of causing gonorrhoea and more complex diseases in the human host. Neisseria meningitidis is a closely related pathogen that shares many of the same genomic features and virulence factors, but causes the life threatening diseases meningococcal meningitis and septicaemia. The importance of non-coding RNAs in gene regulation has become increasingly evident having been demonstrated to be involved in regulons responsible for iron acquisition, antigenic variation, and virulence. Neisseria spp. contain an IS-like element, the Correia Repeat Enclosed Element, which has been predicted to be mobile within the genomes or to have been in the past. This repeat, present in over 100 copies in the genome, has the ability to alter gene expression and regulation in several ways. We reveal here that Correia Repeat Enclosed Elements tend to be near non-coding RNAs in the Neisseria spp., especially N. gonorrhoeae. These results suggest that Correia Repeat Enclosed Elements may have disrupted ancestral regulatory networks not just through their influence on regulatory proteins but also for non-coding RNAs

Autoimmune hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis in a patient with FGF23 autoantibodies

Hyperphosphatemic familial tumoral calcinosis (HFTC)/hyperostosis-hyperphosphatemia syndrome (HHS) is an autosomal recessive disorder of ectopic calcification due to deficiency of or resistance to intact fibroblast growth factor 23 (iFGF23). Inactivating mutations in FGF23, N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 3 (GALNT3), or KLOTHO (KL) have been reported as causing HFTC/HHS. We present what we believe is the first identified case of autoimmune hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis in an 8-year-old boy. In addition to the classical clinical and biochemical features of hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis, the patient exhibited markedly elevated intact and C-terminal FGF23 levels, suggestive of FGF23 resistance. However, no mutations in FGF23, KL, or FGF receptor 1 (FGFR1) were identified. He subsequently developed type 1 diabetes mellitus, which raised the possibility of an autoimmune cause for hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis. Luciferase immunoprecipitation systems revealed markedly elevated FGF23 autoantibodies without detectable FGFR1 or Klotho autoantibodies. Using an in vitro FGF23 functional assay, we found that the FGF23 autoantibodies in the patient's plasma blocked downstream signaling via the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, this report describes the first case, to our knowledge, of autoimmune hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis with pathogenic autoantibodies targeting FGF23. Identification of this pathophysiology extends the etiologic spectrum of hyperphosphatemic tumoral calcinosis and suggests that immunomodulatory therapy may be an effective treatment

Theory of imaging a photonic crystal with transmission near-field optical microscopy

While near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) can provide optical images with resolution much better than the diffraction limit, analysis and interpretation of these images is often difficult. We present a theory of imaging with transmission NSOM that includes the effects of tip field, tip/sample coupling, light propagation through the sample and light collection. We apply this theory to analyze experimental NSOM images of a nanochannel glass (NCG) array obtained in transmission mode. The NCG is a triangular array of dielectric rods in a dielectric glass matrix with a two-dimensional photonic band structure. We determine the modes for the NCG photonic crystal and simulate the observed data. The calculations show large contrast at low numerical aperture (NA) of the collection optics and detailed structure at high NA consistent with the observed images. We present calculations as a function of NA to identify how the NCG photonic modes contribute to and determine the spatial structure in these images. Calculations are presented as a function of tip/sample position, sample index contrast and geometry, and aperture size to identify the factors that determine image formation with transmission NSOM in this experiment.Comment: 28 pages of ReVTex, 14 ps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.