ALFALFA HI Data Stacking III. Comparison of environmental trends in HI gas mass fraction and specific star formation rate

It is well known that both the star formation rate and the cold gas content of a galaxy depend on the local density out to distances of a few Megaparsecs. In this paper, we compare the environmental density dependence of the atomic gas mass fractions of nearby galaxies with the density dependence of their central and global specific star formation rates. We stack HI line spectra extracted from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey centered on galaxies with UV imaging from GALEX and optical imaging/spectroscopy from SDSS. We use these stacked spectra to evaluate the mean atomic gas mass fraction of galaxies in bins of stellar mass and local density. For galaxies with stellar masses less than 10^10.5 M_sun, the decline in mean atomic gas mass fraction with density is stronger than the decline in mean global and central specific star formation rate. The same conclusion does not hold for more massive galaxies. We interpret our results as evidence for ram-pressure stripping of atomic gas from the outer disks of low mass satellite galaxies. We compare our results with the semi-analytic recipes of Guo et al. (2011) implemented on the Millennium II simulation. These models assume that only the diffuse gas surrounding satellite galaxies is stripped, a process that is often termed "strangulation". We show that these models predict relative trends in atomic gas and star formation that are in disagreement with observations. We use mock catalogues generated from the simulation to predict the halo masses of the HI-deficient galaxies in our sample. We conclude that ram-pressure stripping is likely to become effective in dark matter halos with masses greater than 10^13 M_sun.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Effects of High-Level Acylsugar-Producing Tomato Lines on the Development of Tomato Psyllids (Hemiptera: Triozidae).

Acylsugars have been shown to provide activity against numerous insect pests of tomatoes. Comparison of acylsugar levels in four tomato plant lines, FA7/AS, FA2/AS, CU071026, and 'Yellow Pear', found that the acylsugar contents in the elevated acylsugar lines were significantly higher than the commercial Yellow Pear (control) tomato plant line. Adult choice tests indicated that the tomato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli, preferred to settle on the Yellow Pear and FA2/AS lines over the line with the highest content of acylsugars, FA7/AS, and the parental line, CU071026. The no-choice test demonstrated that adults laid fewer eggs on the high acylsugar tomato lines than on the control tomato line, Yellow Pear. For all high acylsugar lines, the relative growth index of the psyllid was significantly lower compared with the commercial line, indicating a reduced potential for population growth. Although some tomato psyllids completed their life cycle on the high acylsugar tomato plant lines, the percent survival of psyllids to the adult stage when developing on the high acylsugar lines was significantly less (range = 43.7-57.1%) than on the commercial tomato line (83.8%). All mortality occurred during the early stages of development (egg stage to third instar), which has implications for acquisition and transmission of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum, the causal agent of tomato vein greening disease. Therefore, with reduced attractiveness for tomato psyllids and significantly reduced survival, the high-acylsugar tomato plant lines have the potential to be part of an integrated pest management program for this pest

Interparental Conflict Styles and Parenting Behaviors: Associations With Overt and Relational Aggression Among Chinese Children

This study examined how interparental conflict styles related to Chinese children’s overt and relational aggression directly and indirectly through parenting behaviors. Mothers (n = 670) and fathers (n = 570) reported their overt and covert interparental conflict styles and different parenting behaviors. Children’s (n = 671) aggression was assessed by peer nominations. Consistent with previous research, coercive control and psychological control showed positive associations with children’s overt and relational aggression, which varied by parent-child gender. The significant indirect effects of interparental conflict styles showed that paternal overt conflict was positively related to boys’ aggression mediating through paternal coercive control and that maternal covert conflict was positively related to boys’ aggression mediating through psychological control. Discussions regarding parent-child gender moderations and implications of the findings in the Chinese cultural context are provided

Long-term yogurt consumption and risk of incident hypertension in adults

The Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study cohorts are supported by grants UM1 CA186107, UM1 CA176726, and UM1 CA167552 from the National Institutes of Health. The current analyses were supported by small grants from the National Dairy Council, the General Mills Bell Institute for Health and Nutrition, and the Boston Nutrition and Obesity Research Center. The Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center is administratively based at Boston Medical Center and is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIDDK) grant P30DK046200. (UM1 CA186107 - National Institutes of Health; UM1 CA176726 - National Institutes of Health; UM1 CA167552 - National Institutes of Health; small grants from the National Dairy Council; General Mills Bell Institute for Health and Nutrition; Boston Nutrition and Obesity Research Center; P30DK046200 - National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIDDK))Accepted manuscrip