157 research outputs found
Transformation
Prior to leaving for Claremont Colleges’ Envriolab Asia trip to Malaysia and Singapore, I was conflicted by the question: Do we have the moral authority to interfere with resource extraction and oil-palm development in SE Asia? At that time, the trip seemed imperialistic. Why should people from Malaysia, Indonesia or any developing SE Asia country listen to a group of liberal arts college faculty from a city where widespread habitat modifications have led to significant loss of native habitats, declines in biodiversity, and changes in how these ecosystems function? Many observations transformed my opinion and have inspired me to advocate for transformative environmental and social change both in SE Asia and at home
Transformation
Prior to leaving for Claremont Colleges’ Envriolab Asia trip to Malaysia and Singapore, I was conflicted by the question: Do we have the moral authority to interfere with resource extraction and oil-palm development in SE Asia? At that time, the trip seemed imperialistic. Why should people from Malaysia, Indonesia or any developing SE Asia country listen to a group of liberal arts college faculty from a city where widespread habitat modifications have led to significant loss of native habitats, declines in biodiversity, and changes in how these ecosystems function? Many observations transformed my opinion and have inspired me to advocate for transformative environmental and social change both in SE Asia and at home
Re-envisioning Sustainable Oil-Palm in SE Asia
In Southeast Asia, expansion of oil-palm agriculture, in combination with other industries (logging, fiber, and mega-dams), is transforming significant portions of the landscape threatening biodiversity, key ecosystem services, and human cultural diversity. While transformative answers to these multifaceted environmental issues seem daunting, the conservation biology literature provides a road map for effective techniques to mitigate environmental degradation while allowing for thoughtful, well-planned economic growth. I suggest that the lack of strict operational definitions and a holistic approach to sustainability are the two most critical factors hindering development of sustainable oil-palm agriculture. The task for environmental practitioners is to succinctly define quantifiable long-term sustainability practices and persuade governments and industries that it is in their best interest not to dismiss environmental concerns. If adopted, oil-palm and other industries in SE Asia could become a sustainable model for the world by preserving diverse biological and human communities while expanding economic interests
Negative impacts of invasive predators used as biological control agents against the pest snail Lissachatina fulica: the snail Euglandina ‘rosea’ and the flatworm Platydemus manokwari
Since 1955 snails of the Euglandina rosea
species complex and Platydemus manokwari flatworms were widely introduced in attempted biological
control of giant African snails (Lissachatina fulica)
but have been implicated in the mass extinction of
Pacific island snails. We review the histories of the 60
introductions and their impacts on L. fulica and native
snails. Since 1993 there have been unofficial releases
of Euglandina within island groups. Only three official
P. manokwari releases took place, but new populations
are being recorded at an increasing rate, probably
because of accidental introduction. Claims that these
predators controlled L. fulica cannot be substantiated;
in some cases pest snail declines coincided with
predator arrival but concomitant declines occurred
elsewhere in the absence of the predator and the
declines in some cases were only temporary. In the
Hawaiian Islands, although there had been some earlier declines of native snails, the Euglandina
impacts on native snails are clear with rapid decline
of many endemic Hawaiian Achatinellinae following
predator arrival. In the Society Islands, Partulidae tree
snail populations remained stable until Euglandina
introduction, when declines were extremely rapid with
an exact correspondence between predator arrival and
tree snail decline. Platydemus manokwari invasion
coincides with native snail declines on some islands,
notably the Ogasawara Islands of Japan, and its
invasion of Florida has led to mass mortality of
Liguus spp. tree snails. We conclude that Euglandina
and P. manokwari are not effective biocontrol agents,
but do have major negative effects on native snail
faunas. These predatory snails and flatworms are
generalist predators and as such are not suitable for
biological control
Double Diffraction Dissociation at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider
We present results from a measurement of double diffraction dissociation in
collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The production cross
section for events with a central pseudorapidity gap of width
(overlapping ) is found to be [] at [630]
GeV. Our results are compared with previous measurements and with predictions
based on Regge theory and factorization.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, using RevTeX. Submitted to Physical Review
Letter
Computationally guided discovery of a reactive, hydrophilic <i>trans</i> -5-oxocene dienophile for bioorthogonal labeling
Measurement of the Top Quark Mass with the Collider Detector at Fermilab
This report describes a measurement of the top quark mass in \ppbar
collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.8 TeV. The data sample was collected
with the CDF detector during the 1992--95 collider run at the Fermilab
Tevatron, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 106 \pb. Candidate
events in the ``lepton+jets'' decay channel provide our most precise
measurement of the top quark mass. For each event a top mass is determined by
using energy and momentum constraints on the production of the \ttbar pair
and its subsequent decay. A likelihood fit to the distribution of reconstructed
masses in the data sample gives a top mass in the lepton+jets channel of
176.1\pm 5.1 (stat.)\pm 5.3 (syst.) \gevcc. Combining this result with
measurements from the ``all-hadronic'' and ``dilepton'' decay topologies yields
a top mass of 176.1\pm 6.6 \gevcc.Comment: 158 pages, 41 figure
Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease
Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1β, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or cardiovascular death. RESULTS: At 48 months, the median reduction from baseline in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level was 26 percentage points greater in the group that received the 50-mg dose of canakinumab, 37 percentage points greater in the 150-mg group, and 41 percentage points greater in the 300-mg group than in the placebo group. Canakinumab did not reduce lipid levels from baseline. At a median follow-up of 3.7 years, the incidence rate for the primary end point was 4.50 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group, 4.11 events per 100 person-years in the 50-mg group, 3.86 events per 100 person-years in the 150-mg group, and 3.90 events per 100 person-years in the 300-mg group. The hazard ratios as compared with placebo were as follows: in the 50-mg group, 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.07; P = 0.30); in the 150-mg group, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.98; P = 0.021); and in the 300-mg group, 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; P = 0.031). The 150-mg dose, but not the other doses, met the prespecified multiplicity-adjusted threshold for statistical significance for the primary end point and the secondary end point that additionally included hospitalization for unstable angina that led to urgent revascularization (hazard ratio vs. placebo, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.95; P = 0.005). Canakinumab was associated with a higher incidence of fatal infection than was placebo. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio for all canakinumab doses vs. placebo, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.06; P = 0.31). Conclusions: Antiinflammatory therapy targeting the interleukin-1β innate immunity pathway with canakinumab at a dose of 150 mg every 3 months led to a significantly lower rate of recurrent cardiovascular events than placebo, independent of lipid-level lowering. (Funded by Novartis; CANTOS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01327846.
Search for Eccentric Black Hole Coalescences during the Third Observing Run of LIGO and Virgo
Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences
observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these
binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers
of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains
challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that
include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a
waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences,
covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We
identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already
identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the
sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass ) binaries
covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to
compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed
quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for
the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities at Gpc yr at 90\% confidence level.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure
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