A River Otter's, Lontra canadensis, Capture of a Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, in British Columbia's Gulf Island Waters

Direct and apparent predation events by River Otters (Lontra canadensis) on birds have been recorded on marine islands and freshwater lakes. We add to this the first known observation of a River Otter capturing a marine bird on the ocean

Identification of rice blast disease-suppressing bacterial strains from the rhizosphere of rice grown in Pakistan.

Sixteen bacterial strains isolated from the roots and rhizosphere of rice plants growing in saline and non-saline soils from the Shorkot area of Pakistan were tested for their ability to promote plant growth and reduce the incidence of rice blast disease. When applied to the soil, many of the isolated rhizobacterial strains increased seedling growth and/or suppressed rice blast disease in greenhouse-grown plants of the cultivars Super Basmati and Azucena, but each cultivar responded to different subsets of the bacteria. In the cv Super Basmati, increased blast resistance was correlated with the production of siderophores by the rhizobacteria. Several strains inhibited the growth of the causative agent of rice blast disease, the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe grisea, in an in vitro dual culture assay. Direct bioantagonism was correlated with disease resistance in Super Basmati, but not in Azucena, and direct antagonism as a cause for the reduced disease incidence is also unlikely since no epiphytic colonisation of leaves was detected. Rhizosphere colonisation by the bacteria in plants grown in sterile sand was correlated with disease resistance in Super Basmati, but not in Azucena. As well as the differences in strains that protected each cv against blast disease, we also found that there were differences in the ability of some strains to protect plants against blast depending on soil type. Hence, there are complex interactions between rhizobacteria and rice plants with respect to biocontrol of rice blast disease, dependent upon both rice cv and soil type. The identity of strains that promoted high levels of disease protection, including three that performed well across all plant cultivars and growth conditions, was determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing

Return of the Solow Paradox? IT, Productivity, and Employment in US Manufacturing

An increasingly influential "technological-discontinuity" paradigm suggests that IT-induced technological changes are rapidly raising productivity while making workers redundant. This paper explores the evidence for this view among the IT-using US manufacturing industries. There is some limited support for more rapid productivity growth in IT-intensive industries depending on the exact measures, though not since the late 1990s. Most challenging to this paradigm, and to our expectations, is that output contracts in IT-intensive industries relative to the rest of manufacturing. Productivity increases, when detectable, result from the even faster declines in employment.Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Grant 2011-10-12)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant SES-1227334)Spain. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (ECO2010-16726)Spain. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (JCI2011-09709)William & Flora Hewlett Foundatio

Facts from Faeces: Prey Remains in Wolf, Canis lupus, Faeces Revise Occurrence Records for Mammals of British Columbia's Coastal Archipelago

Archipelagos often harbour taxa that are endemic and vulnerable to disturbance. Conservation planning and research for these areas depend fundamentally on accurate and current taxonomic inventories. Although basic ecological information is in its infancy, the temperate rainforest islands of coastal British Columbia are undergoing rapid human-caused modification, particularly logging. We report herein new mammal records for these islands as determined by prey remains in the faeces of Wolves (Canis lupus), the area’s apex mammalian terrestrial predator. Of particular interest is our detection of Marten (Martes americana) on islands previously inventoried and island occupancy by Moose (Alces alces), which have apparently migrated recently to coastal British Columbia. Remains in faeces provided valuable new species occurrence information, but more extensive and focused inventories are required to generate predictions of island occupancy by mammals based on biotic and abiotic landscape features

Facts from Faeces: Prey Remains in Wolf, Canis lupus, Faeces Revise Occurrence Records for Mammals of British Columbia’s Coastal Archipelago

Archipelagos often harbour taxa that are endemic and vulnerable to disturbance. Conservation planning and research for these areas depend fundamentally on accurate and current taxonomic inventories. Although basic ecological information is in its infancy, the temperate rainforest islands of coastal British Columbia are undergoing rapid human-caused modification, particularly logging. We report herein new mammal records for these islands as determined by prey remains in the faeces of Wolves (Canis lupus), the area’s apex mammalian terrestrial predator. Of particular interest is our detection of Marten (Martes americana) on islands previously inventoried and island occupancy by Moose (Alces alces), which have apparently migrated recently to coastal British Columbia. Remains in faeces provided valuable new species occurrence information, but more extensive and focused inventories are required to generate predictions of island occupancy by mammals based on biotic and abiotic landscape features

Detecting massive gravitons using pulsar timing arrays

At the limit of weak static fields, general relativity becomes Newtonian gravity with a potential field that falls off as inverse distance rather than a theory of Yukawa-type fields with a finite range. General relativity also predicts that the speed of disturbances of its waves is c, the vacuum light speed, and is non-dispersive. For these reasons, the graviton, the boson for general relativity, can be considered to be massless. Massive gravitons, however, are features of some alternatives to general relativity. This has motivated experiments and observations that, so far, have been consistent with the zero-mass graviton of general relativity, but further tests will be valuable. A basis for new tests may be the high sensitivity gravitational wave (GW) experiments that are now being performed and the higher sensitivity experiments that are being planned. In these experiments, it should be feasible to detect low levels of dispersion due to non-zero graviton mass. One of the most promising techniques for such a detection may be the pulsar timing program that is sensitive to nano-Hertz GWs. Here, we present some details of such a detection scheme. The pulsar timing response to a GW background with the massive graviton is calculated, and the algorithm to detect the massive graviton is presented. We conclude that, with 90% probability, massless gravitons can be distinguished from gravitons heavier than 3 × 10-22 eV (Compton wavelength λg = 4.1 × 1012 km), if bi-weekly observation of 60 pulsars is performed for 5 years with a pulsar rms timing accuracy of 100 ns. If 60 pulsars are observed for 10 years with the same accuracy, the detectible graviton mass is reduced to 5 × 10-23 eV (λg = 2.5 × 1013 km); for 5 year observations of 100 or 300 pulsars, the sensitivity is respectively 2.5 × 10-22 (λg = 5.0 × 1012 km) and 10-22 eV (λg = 1.2 × 1013 km). Finally, a 10 year observation of 300 pulsars with 100 ns timing accuracy would probe graviton masses down to 3 × 10-23 eV (λ g = 4.1 × 1013 km). © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A

Mesoscale acid deposition modeling studies

The work performed in support of the EPA/DOE MADS (Mesoscale Acid Deposition) Project included the development of meteorological data bases for the initialization of chemistry models, the testing and implementation of new planetary boundary layer parameterization schemes in the MASS model, the simulation of transport and precipitation for MADS case studies employing the MASS model, and the use of the TASS model in the simulation of cloud statistics and the complex transport of conservative tracers within simulated cumuloform clouds. The work performed in support of the NASA/FAA Wind Shear Program included the use of the TASS model in the simulation of the dynamical processes within convective cloud systems, the analyses of the sensitivity of microburst intensity and general characteristics as a function of the atmospheric environment within which they are formed, comparisons of TASS model microburst simulation results to observed data sets, and the generation of simulated wind shear data bases for use by the aviation meteorological community in the evaluation of flight hazards caused by microbursts

Chain Restaurant Calorie Posting Laws, Obesity, and Consumer Welfare

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) introduced a mandate requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus and menu boards. This paper investigates whether and why calorie posting laws work. To do so, we develop a model of calories consumed that highlights two potential channels through which mandates influence choice and outlines an empirical strategy to disentangle these alternatives. We test the predictions of our model using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to compare changes in body mass index (BMI), obesity, and consumer well-being in locations that implemented calorie-posting laws between 2008 and 2011 to those in neighboring locations without such laws. We find that calorie mandates lead to a small but statistically significant reduction in average BMI of 0.2 kg/m2 (1.5 pounds) and reductions in self-reported measures of life satisfaction. Quantile regressions provide evidencethat reductions in BMI and life satisfaction are concentrated among those with healthy weight. Viewed in its totality, the pattern of results is consistent with an economic model in which calorie labels influence consumers both by providing information and by imposing a welfare-reducing moral cost on unhealthy eating

Sea Louse Infection of Juvenile Sockeye Salmon in Relation to Marine Salmon Farms on Canada's West Coast

BACKGROUND: Pathogens are growing threats to wildlife. The rapid growth of marine salmon farms over the past two decades has increased host abundance for pathogenic sea lice in coastal waters, and wild juvenile salmon swimming past farms are frequently infected with lice. Here we report the first investigation of the potential role of salmon farms in transmitting sea lice to juvenile sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used genetic analyses to determine the origin of sockeye from Canada's two most important salmon rivers, the Fraser and Skeena; Fraser sockeye migrate through a region with salmon farms, and Skeena sockeye do not. We compared lice levels between Fraser and Skeena juvenile sockeye, and within the salmon farm region we compared lice levels on wild fish either before or after migration past farms. We matched the latter data on wild juveniles with sea lice data concurrently gathered on farms. Fraser River sockeye migrating through a region with salmon farms hosted an order of magnitude more sea lice than Skeena River populations, where there are no farms. Lice abundances on juvenile sockeye in the salmon farm region were substantially higher downstream of farms than upstream of farms for the two common species of lice: Caligus clemensi and Lepeophtheirus salmonis, and changes in their proportions between two years matched changes on the fish farms. Mixed-effects models show that position relative to salmon farms best explained C. clemensi abundance on sockeye, while migration year combined with position relative to salmon farms and temperature was one of two top models to explain L. salmonis abundance. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first study to demonstrate a potential role of salmon farms in sea lice transmission to juvenile sockeye salmon during their critical early marine migration. Moreover, it demonstrates a major migration corridor past farms for sockeye that originated in the Fraser River, a complex of populations that are the subject of conservation concern

Causal evidence for a mechanism of semantic integration in the angular gyrus as revealed by high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation

A defining aspect of human cognition is the ability to integrate conceptual information into complex semantic combinations. For example, we can comprehend “plaid” and “jacket” as individual concepts, but we can also effortlessly combine these concepts to form the semantic representation of “plaid jacket.” Many neuroanatomic models of semantic memory propose that heteromodal cortical hubs integrate distributed semantic features into coherent representations. However, little work has specifically examined these proposed integrative mechanisms and the causal role of these regions in semantic integration. Here, we test the hypothesis that the angular gyrus (AG) is critical for integrating semantic information by applying high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to an fMRI-guided region-of-interest in the left AG. We found that anodal stimulation to the left AG modulated semantic integration but had no effect on a letter-string control task. Specifically, anodal stimulation to the left AG resulted in faster comprehension of semantically meaningful combinations like “tiny radish” relative to non-meaningful combinations, such as “fast blueberry,” when compared to the effects observed during sham stimulation and stimulation to a right-hemisphere control brain region. Moreover, the size of the effect from brain stimulation correlated with the degree of semantic coherence between the word pairs. These findings demonstrate that the left AG plays a causal role in the integration of lexical-semantic information, and that high-definition tDCS to an associative cortical hub can selectively modulate integrative processes in semantic memory. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A major goal of neuroscience is to understand the neural basis of behaviors that are fundamental to human intelligence. One essential behavior is the ability to integrate conceptual knowledge from semantic memory, allowing us to construct an almost unlimited number of complex concepts from a limited set of basic constituents (e.g., “leaf” and “wet” can be combined into the more complex representation “wet leaf”). Here, we present a novel approach to studying integrative processes in semantic memory by applying focal brain stimulation to a heteromodal cortical hub implicated in semantic processing. Our findings demonstrate a causal role of the left angular gyrus in lexical-semantic integration and provide motivation for novel therapeutic applications in patients with lexical-semantic deficits