Hydrological and sedimentation implications of landscape changes in a Himalayan catchment due to bioenergy cropping

There is a global effort to focus on the development of bioenergy and energy cropping, due to the generally increasing demand for crude oil, high oil price volatility and climate change mitigation challenges. Second generation energy cropping is expected to increase greatly in India as the Government of India has recently approved a national policy of 20 % biofuel blending by 2017; furthermore, the country’s biomass based power generation potential is estimated as around ∼24GW and large investments are expected in coming years to increase installed capacity. In this study, we have modelled the environmental influences (e.g.: hydrology and sediment) of scenarios of increased biodiesel cropping (Jatropha curcas) using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) in a northern Indian river basin. SWAT has been applied to the River Beas basin, using daily Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation and NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) meteorological data to simulate the river regime and crop yields. We have applied Sequential Uncertainty Fitting Ver. 2 (SUFI-2) to quantify the parameter uncertainty of the stream [U+FB02]ow modelling. The model evaluation statistics for daily river flows at the Jwalamukhi and Pong gauges show good agreement with measured flows (Nash Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.70 and PBIAS of 7.54 %). The study has applied two land use change scenarios of (1) increased bioenergy cropping in marginal (grazing) lands in the lower and middle regions of catchment (2) increased bioenergy cropping in low yielding areas of row crops in the lower and middle regions of the catchment. The presentation will describe the improved understanding of the hydrological, erosion and sediment delivery and food production impacts arising from the introduction of a new cropping variety to a marginal area; and illustrate the potential prospects of bioenergy production in Himalayan valleys

Full Faith and Credit in the Post-Roe Era

In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, once again leaving the question of whether abortion should be legal to individual state legislatures. This decision allowed the Texas law known as S.B. 8, alternatively known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, to go into effect. The law allows private individuals to sue anyone who has performed or has aided and abetted the performance or inducement of an abortion in Texas. California responded to this law with Assembly Bill 2091, which prevents California state courts from issuing subpoenas arising under S.B. 8 and similar laws in other states. This Note addresses the unique challenges that A.B. 2091 may face under the Full Faith and Credit Clause in Article IV of the United States Constitution, which requires all states to give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and judgments of sister-states. If the federal courts view subpoenas as records instead of final judgments, then California would likely be allowed to block the issuance of subpoenas that violate the State\u27s public policy. Regardless of whether courts determine subpoenas are records or judgments, the law will likely still be upheld under the exception for foreign penal civil actions under the standard described in the Supreme Court\u27s opinion in Huntington v. Attrill. Although the California legislature’s decision to single out the Texas law when discussing and drafting A.B. 2091 may pose some additional obstacles, California may still be able to claim that policy considerations should be sufficient to allow the State to block subpoenas arising from S.B. 8

Regenerating human epithelia with cultured stem cells: feeder cells, organoids and beyond

More than 40 years ago, Howard Green's laboratory developed a method for long-term expansion of primary human epidermal keratinocytes by co-culture with 3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts. This was a breakthrough for in vitro cultivation of cells from human skin and later for other epithelia: it led to the first stem cell therapy using cultured cells and has vastly increased our understanding of epithelial stem cell biology. In recent years, new methods to expand epithelial cells as three-dimensional organoids have provided novel means to investigate the functions of these cells in health and disease. Here, we outline the history of stratified epithelial stem cell culture and the application of cultured epithelial cells in clinical therapies. We further discuss the derivation of organoids from other types of epithelia and the challenges that remain for the translation of novel stem cell therapies toward clinical use

Hyperthermia treatment of tumors by mesenchymal stem cell-delivered superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.

Magnetic hyperthermia - a potential cancer treatment in which superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are made to resonantly respond to an alternating magnetic field (AMF) and thereby produce heat - is of significant current interest. We have previously shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be labeled with SPIONs with no effect on cell proliferation or survival and that within an hour of systemic administration, they migrate to and integrate into tumors in vivo. Here, we report on some longer term (up to 3 weeks) post-integration characteristics of magnetically labeled human MSCs in an immunocompromized mouse model. We initially assessed how the size and coating of SPIONs dictated the loading capacity and cellular heating of MSCs. Ferucarbotran(®) was the best of those tested, having the best like-for-like heating capability and being the only one to retain that capability after cell internalization. A mouse model was created by subcutaneous flank injection of a combination of 0.5 million Ferucarbotran-loaded MSCs and 1.0 million OVCAR-3 ovarian tumor cells. After 2 weeks, the tumors reached ~100 µL in volume and then entered a rapid growth phase over the third week to reach ~300 µL. In the control mice that received no AMF treatment, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data showed that the labeled MSCs were both incorporated into and retained within the tumors over the entire 3-week period. In the AMF-treated mice, heat increases of ~4°C were observed during the first application, after which MRI indicated a loss of negative contrast, suggesting that the MSCs had died and been cleared from the tumor. This post-AMF removal of cells was confirmed by histological examination and also by a reduced level of subsequent magnetic heating effect. Despite this evidence for an AMF-elicited response in the SPION-loaded MSCs, and in contrast to previous reports on tumor remission in immunocompetent mouse models, in this case, no significant differences were measured regarding the overall tumor size or growth characteristics. We discuss the implications of these results on the clinical delivery of hyperthermia therapy to tumors and on the possibility that a preferred therapeutic route may involve AMF as an adjuvant to an autologous immune response

A New Species of Ovabunda (Octocorallia, Xeniidae) From the Andaman Sea, Thailand with Notes on the Biogeography of This Genus

A survey of xeniid octocorals was carried out in the waters off Southwestern Thailand in September, 2007. Microscopic investigation of the colonies revealed that three specimens belonged to the genus Ovabunda. Gross morphological examination is presented here accompanied by scanning electron micrographs of the sclerites. Molecular phylogenetic analysis showed identical genotypes at mtMutS, COI, and 28S rDNA for all three specimens and supports their generic assignment. Colony size and shape, sclerite size, and pinnule arrangement differ from nominal species of Ovabunda and thus a new species, O. andamanensis is introduced here. This work also presents a new eastern geographical record for the genus Ovabunda

XO-5b: A Transiting Jupiter-sized Planet With A Four Day Period

The star XO-5 (GSC 02959-00729, V=12.1, G8V) hosts a Jupiter-sized, Rp=1.15+/-0.12 Rjup, transiting extrasolar planet, XO-5b, with an orbital period of P=4.187732+/-0.00002 days. The planet mass (Mp=1.15+/-0.08 Mjup) and surface gravity (gp=22+/-5 m/s^2) are significantly larger than expected by empirical Mp-P and Mp-P-[Fe/H] relationships. However, the deviation from the Mp-P relationship for XO-5b is not large enough to suggest a distinct type of planet as is suggested for GJ 436b, HAT-P-2b, and XO-3b. By coincidence XO-5 overlies the extreme H I plume that emanates from the interacting galaxy pair NGC 2444/NGC 2445 (Arp 143).Comment: 10 pages, 9 Figures, Submitted to Ap

An Innovative Dynamic Test Method for Piles

The system described involves using solid propellant fuels to accelerate a reaction mass of the test pile. The force required to accelerate the reaction mass upwards acts equally downward on the pile. Very high forces be may applied to the pile in a controlled, linearly increasing manner. The duration of the applied load is approximately 100 milliseconds. This rate of loading is slow enough to allow the pile and soil to react together as a composite rigid body. The effects combine to produce pile and soil response no longer dominated by the transfer of force via stress pulse (as with impact). State of the art instrumentation systems are used to obtain test data. Displacement is monitored directly using a laser datum and integrated receiver located at the center axis of the pile. Force is also monitored directly using a calibrated load cell

The Encyclopedia of Female Pioneers in Online Learning, 2023.

The Encyclopedia of Female Pioneers in Online Learning by Drs. Susan Bainbridge and Norine Wark is an overview of the work and experiences of 30 women - early adopters of online (OL) and distance education (DE) in their countries (although even they struggle with what to call their focus of study and practice, as discussed in Chapter 32). Building on the use of “…career profiles, original interviews, and research analysis…” (p. 1), the book is a testament to the space that women in this field, have occupied and continue to occupy in the modern-day world of technology enhanced global education. The book is divided into two parts