GLAD director speaks a womens\u27 lunch

Pride Week visited the Women\u27s Studies Program\u27s this past week, and brought its own unique spin to the long-running series. In honor of the week\u27s events, Mary Bonauto, director of the Civil Rights Project at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders GLAD gave a presentation called The Future of Marriage Equality in New England: Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine. Between thirty and forty people attended the presentation

Circadian Rhythms of Crawling and Swimming in the Nudibranch Mollusc Melibe leonina

Daily rhythms of activity driven by circadian clocks are expressed by many organisms, including molluscs. We initiated this study, with the nudibranch Melibe leonina, with four goals in mind: (1) determine which behaviors are expressed with a daily rhythm; (2) investigate which of these rhythmic behaviors are controlled by a circadian clock; (3) determine if a circadian clock is associated with the eyes or optic ganglia of Melibe, as it is in several other gastropods; and (4) test the hypothesis that Melibe can use extraocular photoreceptors to synchronize its daily rhythms to natural light-dark cycles. To address these goals, we analyzed the behavior of 55 animals exposed to either artificial or natural light-dark cycles, followed by constant darkness. We also repeated this experiment using 10 animals that had their eyes removed. Individuals did not express daily rhythms of feeding, but they swam and crawled more at night. This pattern of locomotion persisted in constant darkness, indicating the presence of a circadian clock. Eyeless animals also expressed a daily rhythm of locomotion, with more locomotion at night. The fact that eyeless animals synchronized their locomotion to the light-dark cycle suggests that they can detect light using extraocular photoreceptors. However, in constant darkness, these rhythms deteriorated, suggesting that the clock neurons that influence locomotion may be located in, or near, the eyes. Thus, locomotion in Melibe appears to be influenced by both ocular and extraocular photoreceptors, although the former appear to have a greater influence on the expression of circadian rhythms

Influence of diurnal heating on stratification and residual circulation of Georges Bank

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2003. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 108, C11 (2003): 8008, doi:10.1029/2001JC001245.The influence of the diurnal heat flux on summer stratification and residual circulation over Georges Bank was examined using a three-dimensional primitive equation numerical circulation model. For a given spatially uniform and time-varying heat flux the model results show that the surface water is heated much faster on the southern flank than on the northern flank and much faster in the stratified region than in the mixed region. Heating significantly strengthens the tidal mixing front and intensifies the frontward convergence near the surface. As seasonal stratification develops, the location of the tidal mixing front gradually shifts on bank on the southern flank, while remaining almost unchanged on the northern flank. Response of the tidal currents to the diurnal variation in the heat flux varies across Georges Bank. It changes periodically with tidal cycles on the southern flank but is locked to the phase of the eastward tidal current on the northern flank. This phase-lock feature directly contributes to the intensification of the along-bank residual current jet on the northern flank. Diagnostic analysis suggests that this intensification is mainly caused by the heat-enhanced, cross-bank momentum flux. Model-computed variations of near-surface temperature and residual currents are in good agreement with satellite-derived sea surface temperature data and drifter measurements.This research was supported by the U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic/Georges Bank program through NOAA grants NA56RG0487, NA960P003, and NA960P005 to C. Chen, NSF grants OCE 96-32357, OCE 98-06379, and OCE 02-27679 to R. Beardsley, and NOAA grant NA76GP0176 to Peter Franks

Soft skills and dental education

Soft skills and hard skills are essential in the practice of dentistry. While hard skills deal with technical proficiency, soft skills relate to a personal values and interpersonal skills that determine a person's ability to fit in a particular situation. These skills contribute to the success of organisations that deal face-to-face with clients. Effective soft skills benefit the dental practice. However, the teaching of soft skills remains a challenge to dental schools. This paper discusses the different soft skills, how they are taught and assessed and the issues that need to be addressed in their teaching and assessment. The use of the module by the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya for development of soft skills for institutions of higher learning introduced by the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia.Article Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eje.12017/abstrac

Do you know where I can find the new center which is called “Cognitive styles and language learning strategies link”?

AbstractThis article reports on research into the language learning strategies used by a group of Iranian learners. The aims of this study were to explore levels of the strategy use among the Field dependent (FD) and Field independent (FI) learners, and to examine levels of relationship between strategy use and cognitive style. Firstly, the findings suggest that language learning strategies should be taught to language learners (regardless of their cognitive style group), in the classroom environment. Secondly, the teaching methods should be compatible with language learners’ choice of the language learning strategies

A model-dye comparison experiment in the tidal mixing front zone on the southern flank of Georges Bank

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 113 (2008): C02005, doi:10.1029/2007JC004106.A process-oriented model-dye comparison experiment was conducted to examine the ability of a numerical ocean model to simulate the observed movement of dye across the tidal mixing front on the southern flank of Georges Bank during 22–26 May 1999. The experiment was made using the unstructured-grid Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM) with varying horizontal resolution. The results indicate that the observed cross-isobath movement of the dye patch was primarily controlled by meso-scale temporal and spatial variability of the water temperature and salinity fields. Onset of vertical stratification tended to slow down an upward stretching of the dye column and trapped the dye within the bottom mixed layer. To reach a convergent numerical solution that reproduced the observed lateral turbulent dispersion of dye, the FVCOM grid required a horizontal resolution of ∼500 m in the dye study region. Within the tidal mixing front of Georges Bank, the movement of the center of the dye patch was mainly driven by the ensemble velocity integrated over the dye volume, with a first-order contribution from vertical shear of the dye's horizontal velocity.This research was supported by the U.S. GLOBEC Northwest Atlantic/Georges Bank Program NSF (OCE-0234545; OCE-0227679) and NOAA grants (NA-16OP2323) to Changsheng Chen and Qixchun Xu, NSF grant (OCE-0236270) to Robert Houghton, and the Smith Chair in Coastal Oceanography and NOAA grant (NA-17RJ1223) to R.C. Beardsley. The experiments were conducted using the Linux cluster computers of the Marine Ecosystem Dynamics Modeling Laboratory at the School of Marine Science and Technology, University of Massachusetts- Dartmouth, funded by the SMAST Fishery Program through NOAA grants DOC/NOAA/NA04NMF4720332 and DOC/NOAA/NA05NMF4721131

Tobramycin-Treated Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 Enhances Streptococcus constellatus 7155 Biofilm Formation in a Cystic Fibrosis Model System

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a human genetic disorder which results in a lung environment that is highly conducive to chronic microbial infection. Over the past decade, deep-sequencing studies have demonstrated that the CF lung can harbor a highly diverse polymicrobial community. We expanded our existing in vitro model of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation on CF-derived airway cells to include this broader set of CF airway colonizers to investigate their contributions to CF lung disease, particularly as they relate to the antibiotic response of the population. Using this system, we identified an interspecies interaction between P. aeruginosa, a bacterium associated with declining lung function and worsening disease, and Streptococcus constellatus, a bacterium correlated with the onset of pulmonary exacerbations in CF patients. The growth rate and cytotoxicity of S. constellatus 7155 and P. aeruginosa PA14 were unchanged when grown together as mixed biofilms in the absence of antibiotics. However, the addition of tobramycin, the frontline maintenance therapy antibiotic for individuals with CF, to a mixed biofilm of S. constellatus 7155 and P. aeruginosa PA14 resulted in enhanced S. constellatus biofilm formation. Through a candidate genetic approach, we showed that P. aeruginosa rhamnolipids were reduced upon tobramycin exposure, allowing for S. constellatus 7155 biofilm enhancement, and monorhamnolipids were sufficient to reduce S. constellatus 7155 biofilm viability in the absence of tobramycin. While the findings presented here are specific to a biofilm of S. constellatus 7155 and P. aeruginosa PA14, they highlight the potential of polymicrobial interactions to impact antibiotic tolerance in unanticipated ways

Seasonal Variability of the Labrador Current and Shelf Circulation off Newfoundland

Three-dimensional finite element models were established for the Newfoundland and Labrador Shelf to investigate climatological monthly mean wind- and density-driven circulation. The model was forced using wind stresses from the National Center for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data prescribed at the sea surface, large-scale remote forcing determined from a North Atlantic model, monthly mean temperature and salinity climatology, and M2 tide on the open boundary. The model results were examined against various in situ observations (moored current meter, tide gauge, and vessel-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler data) and satellite drift measurements and discussed together with literature information. The seasonal mean circulation solutions were investigated in terms of relative importance of wind to density forcing for the Labrador Current. The model results indicate significant seasonal and spatial variations, consistent generally with previous study results and in approximate agreement with observations for the major currents. The region is dominated by the equatorward flowing Labrador Current along the shelf edge and along the Labrador and Newfoundland coasts. The Labrador Current is strong in the fall/winter and weak in the spring/summer. The mean transport of the shelf edge Labrador Current is 7.5 Sv at the Seat Island transect and 5.5 Sv through the Flemish Pass. The seasonal ranges are 4.5 and 5.2 Sv at the two sections, respectively. Density- and wind-driven components are both important in the inshore Labrador Current. The density-driven component dominates the mean component of the shelf edge Labrador Current while the large-scale wind-forcing contributes significantly to its seasonal variability

Biological control of the vernal population increase of Calanus finmarchicus on Georges Bank

Author Posting. © Elsevier B.V., 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 53 (2006): 2632-2655, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2006.08.011.An adjoint data assimilation approach was used to quantify the physical and biological controls on Calanus finmarchicus N3 to C stages on Georges Bank and its nearby environs. The mean seasonal cycle of vertically-averaged distributions, from 5 years of the GLOBEC Georges Bank Broad-Scale Surveys between January and June, was assimilated into a physical-biological model based on the climatological circulation. Large seasonal and spatial variability is present in the inferred supply sources, mortality rates, computed molting fluxes, and physical transports. Estimated mortalities fall within the range of observed rates, and exhibit stage structure that is consistent with earlier findings. Inferred off-bank initial conditions indicate that the deep basins in the Gulf of Maine are source regions of early-stage nauplii and late-stage copepodids in January. However, the population increase on Georges Bank from January to April is controlled mostly by local biological processes. Magnitudes of the physical transport terms are nearly as large as the mortality and molting fluxes, but their bank-wide averages are small in comparison to the biological terms. The hypothesis of local biological control is tested in a sensitivity experiment in which upstream sources are set to zero. In that solution, the lack of upstream sources is compensated by a decrease in mortality that is much smaller than the uncertainty in observational estimates.This work was supported by the US GLOBEC Georges Bank program: Integration and Synthesis of Georges Bank Broad-Scale Survey Results, sponsored by NSF (OCE-0233800) and NOAA (NA17RJ1223)

Carlsbad Caverns National Park Air Quality Study 2019

This data set includes fine particle and gas precursor measurements from Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The study was designed to examine the influence of regional sources, including urban emissions, oil and gas development, wildfires, and soil dust on air quality in the park. Field measurements of aerosols, trace gases and deposition were conducted from 25 July through 5 September 2019.Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico is adjacent to the Permian Basin, one of the most productive oil and gas regions in the country. The 2019 Carlsbad Caverns Air Quality Study (CarCavAQS) was designed to examine the influence of regional sources, including urban emissions, oil and gas development, wildfires, and soil dust on air quality in the park. Field measurements of aerosols, trace gases, and deposition were conducted from 25 July through 5 September 2019.This work was supported by the National Park Service Q5 [P20AC00679]