Century Services Year I Evaluation Report on the Social Business Enterprise Model

The Mid-America Institute on Poverty is conducting a three year (12/30/1999 - 12/30/2002) evaluation of Century Services employment activities and social business enterprise model. The goals of the evaluation are to provide: a clear understanding of the social business enterprise partnership model, real time information on the enterprise's impact on employees so that management may make adjustments in implementation as necessary, and outcomes-based understanding of the Century Services model as an intervention designed to improve the attitude of employees toward work, help employees develop work skills, and increase the labor force attachment of hard to employ persons

Intensification in pastoralist cereal use coincides with the expansion of trans-regional networks in the Eurasian Steppe

The pace of transmission of domesticated cereals, including millet from China as well as wheat and barley from southwest Asia, throughout the vast pastoralist landscapes of the Eurasian Steppe (ES) is unclear. The rich monumental record of the ES preserves abundant human remains that provide a temporally deep and spatially broad record of pastoralist dietary intake. Calibration of human δ13C and δ15N values against isotope ratios derived from co-occurring livestock distinguish pastoralist consumption of millet from the products of livestock and, in some regions, identify a considerable reliance by pastoralists on C3 crops. We suggest that the adoption of millet was initially sporadic and consumed at low intensities during the Bronze Age, with the low-level consumption of millet possibly taking place in the Minusinsk Basin perhaps as early as the late third millennium cal BC. Starting in the mid-second millennium cal BC, millet consumption intensified dramatically throughout the ES with the exception of both the Mongolian steppe where millet uptake was strongly delayed until the end of first millennium cal BC and the Trans-Urals where instead barley or wheat gained dietary prominence. The emergence of complex, trans-regional political networks likely facilitated the rapid transfer of cultivars across the steppe during the transition to the Iron Age

Spectral Mixture Modeling using Principle Component Analysis

A method for modeling mixtures between two end-member spectra using principle component analysis and linear regression was presented. The presentation included results from three binary mixture data sets including orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene, kaolinite-montmorillonite, and nontronite-ferrihydrite

Spectral Mixture Modeling using Principle Component Analysis

A method for modeling mixtures between two end-member spectra using principle component analysis and linear regression was presented. The presentation included results from three binary mixture data sets including orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene, kaolinite-montmorillonite, and nontronite-ferrihydrite

Epidemiologische und diagnostische Bedeutung der genetischen Plastizität und Variabilität der β-Lactamasen

Infektionen mit multiresistenten gramnegativen Bakterien (MRGN) sind ein globales und zunehmendes Problem. Grunde hierfür liegen vor allem in den hohen Verbrauch an beta-Lactamen in ambulanten und klinischen Sektor, sowie in der Tierhaltung. Durch die plasmidale Lokalisation der Resistenzgene, die für die beta-Lactamasen kodieren, wird die schnelle Ausbreitung speziesübergreifend begünstigt. Das bring zusätzliche Herausforderungen für die Diagnostik und Therapie. Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit verschiedenen Aspekten im Kampf gegen MRGN, die im Rahmen verschiedener Förderprojekte adressiert wurden. Klinisch relevante beta-Lactamasen mit erweitertem Wirkungsspektrum (ESBL) und Carbapenemasen, die seit Mitte der 1980-er Jahre auftauchen, entstehen nicht primär durch Mutationen, sondern sind Ergebnis von Transmissionen aus dem Umweltreservoir. In einer unfangreichen Genomanalyse konnte gezeigt werden, dass dieses noch über zahlreiche unbekannate beta-Lactamasen verfügt, die ihren Weg in pathogene Bakterien nehmen können. Antrieb hierfür ist die steigende Verunreinigung der Umwelt mit Antibiotika und damit der erhöhte selektive Druck in Oberflächengewässern und Böden. Ebenfalls konnte gezeigt werden, dass Sekundärmechanismen, wie Efflux und Porinverlust bei der Ausprägung des Carbapenem-resistenten Phänotyps eine wichtige Rolle spielen, was molekulardiagnostisch nicht gut abgebildet wird aber therapeutisch durch Kombinationstherapie adressiert werden kann. Hier wäre eine mRNA-basiert Diagnostik der DNA-basierten überlegen. Die Nutzung der bakteriellem mRNA als diagnostisches Zielmaterial wurde erprobt und es konnte gezeigt werden, dass diese sogar quantitative Aussagen zu minimalen Hemmkonzentration (MHK) ermöglichen könnte. Es konnte auch durch die nachträgliche molekulare Analyse eines Carbapenemase-Kolonisierungsausbruches die Spezies-übergreifende Verbreitung eines Resistenzplasmides und des darin enthaltenden Transposons demonstriert werden

Phytoplankton and Zooplankton: In Lakes Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan: 1984

With the acknowledgement that biological monitoring was fundamental to charting ecosystem health (Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement 1978), EPA\u27s program was developed for Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan to: 1) monitor seasonal patterns, ranges of abundance and, in general, structure of the phytoplankton and zooplankton communities; 2) relate the biological components to variations in the physical, nutrient and biological environment; and 3) assess the annual variance to allow better long-term assessments of trophic structure and state. Several offshore stations (9-11) on several cruises (9-11) during the spring, summer and autumn of 1984 and winter of 1985 were sampled. By examining changes in the phytoplankton and zooplankton in relation to water chemistry, evidence was found suggesting little change in the trophic status of Lakes Huron and Michigan while an improvement in the trophic status of Lake Erie was evident. The offshore region of Lake Michigan is experiencing changes in phytoplankton and zooplankton composition consistent with nutrient control and top-down control by fish. Even so, the biomass of phytoplankton and zooplankton and the trophic status of the lake have not changed significantly. The appearance and establishment of Daphnia pulicaria in offshore waters of Lake Huron suggest a change in the forage fish base. With the exception of the resurgence of Asterionella formosa in Lake Erie, plankton composition has changed little since the 60\u27s. However, dramatic reductions in biomass of nuisance and eutrophic indicator species have occurred. These changes are consistent with expectations of long-term nutrient control. However, a change in piscivory is evident that has apparently allowed the establishment of the large cladoceran Daphnia pulicaria

Trophic Interactions: Changes in Phytoplankton Community Structure Coinciding with Alewife Introduction (Alosa pseudoharengus)

Conesus Lake is a eutrophic lake (MILLS 1975) and the most western of the Finger Lakes of New York State, USA. Abundance of a top level predator, the walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum), decreased from a high of 12,000 individuals in 1966 to 9,614 individuals in 1975 to 1,850 individuals by 1985 in Conesus Lake (ABRAHAM 1989). Coincidental with the decline of the walleye in Conesus Lake was the proliferation of an obligate planktivore, Alosa pseudoharengus (ABRAHAM 1988). During the late 1970s (probably 1978 or 79), the alewife was accidentally introduced and became established in the lake. The pre-alewife zooplankton community was dominated by Daphnia pulex, Conochilus unicornis and Cyclops bicuspidatus. The overwhelming dominance of D. pulex in 1972 was impressive. It was the dominant cladoceran on each of the 50 sampling days throughout the year (CHAMBERLAIN 1975). Abundance reached as high as 36 individuals/L in the summer and 13 individuals/L in December. The pre-alewife phytoplankton community was dominated by larger (\u3e70 μm, greatest axial linear dimension) colonial, filamentous and unicelluar algae or net phytoplankton (MILLS 1975). With excellent historical phytoplankton and zooplankton data available, an opportunity existed to examine the impact of alewife introduction on plankton community structure in a large-lake ecosystem (13.7 km2) over a 16-year period