Notes [September 1980]

DESOTO NWR RECORDS. First recorded observations of six species of birds were made at DeSoto NWR in 1979: 1. Snowy Egret. Seen 10 May in the old Missouri River channel marsh in Harrison Co., Iowa (about 300 yards from the Iowa-Nebraska boundary line). Observer, D. Menke. 2. Hungarian Partridge. Small flock seen 20 and 28 January in the fields near the Refuge\u27s west boundary in Harrison Co., Iowa. Observer, D. Knauer. 3. Worm-eating Warbler. Seen 28 May on the Cottonwood Nature Trail (heavily wooded area) in Washington Co., Nebraska. Observer, D. Menke. 4. Northern Parula. Seen 22 April on the Cottonwood Nature Trail (woods/brushy area) in Washington Co., Nebraska. Observer, Omaha Audubon Society. 5. Manolia Warbler. Seen 12 and 13 May on Cottonwood Nature Trail (heavily wooded area) in Washington Co., Nebraska. Observer, D. Menke. 6. Hooded Warbler. Seen 22 April on Cotton Nature Trail (brushy areal small trees) in Washington Co., Nebraska. Observer, Omaha Audubon Society. —David W. Menke, DeSoto NWR, RR 1, Box 114, Missouri Valley, Iowa 5155

Water resources data for Alachua, Bradford, Clay, and Union Counties, Florida

A study of the water resources of Alachua, Bradford, Clay, and Union counties, Florida (fig. 1), was made by the Water Resources Division of the U. S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Florida Geological Survey during the period 1957-61. The results of this study will be published by the Florida Geological Survey in the following reports by William E. Clark, Rufus H. Musgrove, Clarence G. Menke, and Joseph W. Cagle, Jr.: "Interim Report on the Water Resources of Alachua, Bradford, Clay, and Union Counties, Florida," "Water Resources of Alachua, Bradford, Clay, and Union Counties, Florida," and "Hydrology of Brooklyn Lake, near Keystone Heights, Florida." (Document has 161 pages.

In Vitro Digestibility of Mountain-Grown Irrigated Perennial Legume, Grass and Forb Forages is Influenced by Elevated Non-Fibrous Carbohydrates and Plant Secondary Compounds

BACKGROUND Perennial legumes cultivated under irrigation in the Mountain West USA have non‐fibrous carbohydrate (NFC) concentrations exceeding 400 g kg−1, a level commonly found in concentrate‐based ruminant diets. Our objective was to determine the influence of NFC concentration and plant secondary compounds on in vitro rumen digestion of grass, legume and forb forages compared with digestion of their isolated neutral detergent fiber (NDF) fraction. Forages were composited from ungrazed paddocks of rotationally stocked, irrigated monoculture pastures between May and August 2016, frozen in the field, freeze‐dried, and ground. RESULTS The maximum rate (RMax) of gas production was greater for the legumes alfalfa (ALF; Medicago sativa L.) and birdsfoot trefoil (BFT; Lotus corniculatus L.) than for the legume cicer milkvetch (CMV; Astragalus cicer L.) the grass meadow brome (MBG; Bromus riparius Rehm.) and the non‐legume forb small burnet (SMB; Sanguisorba minor Scop.), and intermediate for the legume sainfoin (SNF; Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.). The RMax of isolated NDF was greatest for BFT and CMV, intermediate for ALF, SNF and SMB and least for MBG. CONCLUSIONS More than 900 g of organic matter kg−1 dry matter of legumes was digested after 96 h. Across forages, the extent of whole‐plant digestion increased with NFC and crude protein concentrations, decreased with NDF concentrations, and was modulated by secondary compounds. The extent of digestion of isolated NDF decreased with concentration of lignin and residual tannins

Digitization of LAr calorimeter for CSC simulations

This note describes the digitization of the LAr signals, which is the step creating RDO from Geant4 Hits, as used during the production of the CSC simulated samples with athena release 12

Correlated sediment thickness, temperature gradient and excess pore pressure in a marine fault block basin

Measurements of temperature gradient and excess pore pressure in the surficial sediment of a fault block basin in the Guatemala Basin correlate with sediment thickness. The temperature gradient is smaller and the excess pore pressure gradient is more negative in areas of thinner sediment. This correlation is explained by postulating downward pore water advection within the sediments, with flow velocities on the order of 10−9 to 10−8 m/s in the thinnest sediments and much less flow in the thickest sediments. Sediment physical properties and pore water chemistry also support this interpretation. Since the conductive heat flow of the basin as a whole is less than one third that predicted by sea floor spreading models, the oceanic basement may be the site of a vigorous hydrothermal circulation system. The pore water advection in the sediments may be driven by this larger scale circulation

STITCHER: Dynamic assembly of likely amyloid and prion β-structures from secondary structure predictions

The supersecondary structure of amyloids and prions, proteins of intense clinical and biological interest, are difficult to determine by standard experimental or computational means. In addition, significant conformational heterogeneity is known or suspected to exist in many amyloid fibrils. Previous work has demonstrated that probability-based prediction of discrete β-strand pairs can offer insight into these structures. Here, we devise a system of energetic rules that can be used to dynamically assemble these discrete β-strand pairs into complete amyloid β-structures. The STITCHER algorithm progressively ‘stitches’ strand-pairs into full β-sheets based on a novel free-energy model, incorporating experimentally observed amino-acid side-chain stacking contributions, entropic estimates, and steric restrictions for amyloidal parallel β-sheet construction. A dynamic program computes the top 50 structures and returns both the highest scoring structure and a consensus structure taken by polling this list for common discrete elements. Putative structural heterogeneity can be inferred from sequence regions that compose poorly. Predictions show agreement with experimental models of Alzheimer's amyloid beta peptide and the Podospora anserina Het-s prion. Predictions of the HET-s homolog HET-S also reflect experimental observations of poor amyloid formation. We put forward predicted structures for the yeast prion Sup35, suggesting N-terminal structural stability enabled by tyrosine ladders, and C-terminal heterogeneity. Predictions for the Rnq1 prion and alpha-synuclein are also given, identifying a similar mix of homogenous and heterogeneous secondary structure elements. STITCHER provides novel insight into the energetic basis of amyloid structure, provides accurate structure predictions, and can help guide future experimental studies. Proteins 2011