Aberrant Wing Pigmentation in \u3ci\u3eLibellula Luctuosa\u3c/i\u3e Specimens From Ohio

Over the past few years we obtained three female Libellula luctuosa specimens, all collected in northeast Ohio, which exhibited unusually reduced wing pigmentation. The individuals were extremely difficult to identify as most keys rely heavily upon wing pigmentation for identification of many Libellula species. A description of this aberrant wing pigmentation and a photograph are provided

Schools Respond to Risk Management Programs for Asbestos, Lead in Drinking Water and Radon

Based on a study of the three EPA-initiated, public school risk management programs noted in the title, the authors find that state agency involvement is an important factor in the success of such programs. They also find, e.g., that school districts are justifiably reluctant to comply with tentative program

Asymptotic Reduction of a Lithium-ion Pouch Cell Model

A three-dimensional model of a single-layer lithium-ion pouch cell is presented which couples conventional porous electrode theory describing cell electrochemical behaviour with an energy balance describing cell thermal behaviour. Asymptotic analysis of the model is carried out by exploiting the small aspect ratio typical of pouch cell designs. The analysis reveals the scaling that results in a distinguished limit, and highlights the role played by the electrical conductivities of the current collectors. The resulting model comprises a collection of one-dimensional models for the through-cell electrochemical behaviour which are coupled via two-dimensional problems for the Ohmic and thermal behaviour in the planar current collectors. A further limit is identified which reduces the problem to a single volume-averaged through-cell model, greatly reducing the computational complexity. Numerical simulations are presented which illustrate and validate the asymptotic results.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, submitted to SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics (08/05/2020

A Suite of Reduced-Order Models of a Single-Layer Lithium-ion Pouch Cell

For many practical applications, fully coupled three-dimensional models describing the behaviour of lithium-ion pouch cells are too computationally expensive. However, owing to the small aspect ratio of typical pouch cell designs, such models are well approximated by splitting the problem into a model for through-cell behaviour and a model for the transverse behaviour. In this paper, we combine different simplifications to through-cell and transverse models to develop a hierarchy of reduced-order pouch cell models. We give a critical numerical comparison of each of these models in both isothermal and thermal settings, and also study their performance on realistic drive cycle data. Finally, we make recommendations regarding model selection, taking into account the available computational resource and the quantities of interest in a particular study

The Indestructible Insect: Velvet Ants From Across the United States Avoid Predation by Representatives From All Major Tetrapod Clades

Velvet ants are a group of parasitic wasps that are well known for a suite of defensive adaptations including bright coloration and a formidable sting. While these adaptations are presumed to function in antipredator defense, observations between potential predators and this group are lacking. We conducted a series of experiments to determine the risk of velvet ants to a host of potential predators including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals. Velvet ants from across the United States were tested with predator\u27s representative of the velvet ants native range. All interactions between lizards, free-ranging birds, and a mole resulted in the velvet ants survival, and ultimate avoidance by the predator. Two shrews did injure a velvet ant, but this occurred only after multiple failed attacks. The only predator to successfully consume a velvet ant was a single American toad (Anaxyrus americanus). These results indicate that the suite of defenses possessed by velvet ants, including aposematic coloration, stridulations, a chemical alarm signal, a hard exoskeleton, and powerful sting are effective defenses against potential predators. Female velvet ants appear to be nearly impervious to predation by many species whose diet is heavily derived of invertebrate prey

Sar1 GTPase Activity Is Regulated by Membrane Curvature.

The majority of biosynthetic secretory proteins initiate their journey through the endomembrane system from specific subdomains of the endoplasmic reticulum. At these locations, coated transport carriers are generated, with the Sar1 GTPase playing a critical role in membrane bending, recruitment of coat components, and nascent vesicle formation. How these events are appropriately coordinated remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that Sar1 acts as the curvature-sensing component of the COPII coat complex and highlight the ability of Sar1 to bind more avidly to membranes of high curvature. Additionally, using an atomic force microscopy-based approach, we further show that the intrinsic GTPase activity of Sar1 is necessary for remodeling lipid bilayers. Consistent with this idea, Sar1-mediated membrane remodeling is dramatically accelerated in the presence of its guanine nucleotide-activating protein (GAP), Sec23-Sec24, and blocked upon addition of guanosine-5'-[(β,γ)-imido]triphosphate, a poorly hydrolysable analog of GTP. Our results also indicate that Sar1 GTPase activity is stimulated by membranes that exhibit elevated curvature, potentially enabling Sar1 membrane scission activity to be spatially restricted to highly bent membranes that are characteristic of a bud neck. Taken together, our data support a stepwise model in which the amino-terminal amphipathic helix of GTP-bound Sar1 stably penetrates the endoplasmic reticulum membrane, promoting local membrane deformation. As membrane bending increases, Sar1 membrane binding is elevated, ultimately culminating in GTP hydrolysis, which may destabilize the bilayer sufficiently to facilitate membrane fission.This work was supported by grants from the NIH (GM110567 and GM088151 to AA). IM, RMH and JME were supported by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J018236/1). ERC is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. We thank Elizabeth Miller for providing purified yeast COPII components, Subhanjan Mondal and Said Goueli at Promega Corporation for providing us access to the GTPase-Glo system ahead of release, and members of the Audhya lab for critically reading this manuscript.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology via http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M115.67228

Seasonal characteristics of bottom boundary layer detachment at the shelfbreak front in the Middle Atlantic Bight

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2004. 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 109 (2004): C03049, doi:10.1029/2003JC002032.The seasonality of various characteristics of the detached bottom boundary layer of the Middle Atlantic Bight shelfbreak front is examined using a collection of high-resolution transects across the front. The analysis follows previous methodology in which accumulated temperature change along isopycnals within the front is used to infer the location of the detached layer. The seasonal mean isopycnal at which detachment occurs (approximately 26.0 kg m−3) is fairly constant throughout the year. However, the vertical scale of the detached layer varies significantly with season, extending 60−80 m above the bottom in winter and spring, but only 20−40 m above the bottom in summer. The vertical scale is controlled by the strength and depth of the seasonal pycnocline. The observations suggest that the detached layer is capable of extending into the euphotic zone during winter and spring.This work was funded by the Office of Naval Research under contracts N00014-01-1-0931 (C. L. and G. G.) and N00014-01-1-0772 (C. L. and G. G.) and by the National Science Foundation under grant OCE-0095261 (R. P.

Snow and the ground temperature record of climate change

[1] Borehole temperature-depth profiles contain a record of surface ground temperature (SGT) changes with time and complement surface air temperature (SAT) analysis to infer climate change over multiple centuries. Ground temperatures are generally warmer than air temperatures due to solar radiation effects in the summer and the insulating effect of snow cover during the winter. The low thermal diffusivity of snow damps surface temperature variations; snow effectively acts as an insulator of the ground during the coldest part of the year. A numerical model of snow-ground thermal interactions is developed to investigate the effect of seasonal snow cover on annual ground temperatures. The model is parameterized in terms of three snow event parameters: onset time of the annual snow event, duration of the event, and depth of snow during the event. These parameters are commonly available from meteorological and remotely sensed data making the model broadly applicable. The model is validated using SAT, subsurface temperature from a depth of 10 cm, and snow depth data from the 6 years of observations at Emigrant Pass climate observatory in northwestern Utah and 217 station years of National Weather Service data from sites across North America. Measured subsurface temperature-time series are compared to changes predicted by the model. The model consistently predicts ground temperature changes that compare well with those observed. Sensitivity analysis of the model leads to a nonlinear relationship between the three snow event parameters (onset, duration, and depth of the annual snow event) and the influence snow has on mean annual SGT.Keywords: climate change, land/atmosphere interactions, snow cover, snow modeling, ground temperatures, borehole climate reconstruction