Evolution of a stream ecosystem in recently deglaciated terrain

Climate change and associated glacial recession create new stream habitat that leads to the assembly of new riverine communities through primary succession. However, there are still very few studies of the patterns and processes of community assembly during primary succession for stream ecosystems. We illustrate the rapidity with which biotic communities can colonize and establish in recently formed streams by examining Stonefly Creek in Glacier Bay, Alaska (USA), which began to emerge from a remnant glacial ice mass between 1976 and 1979. By 2002, 57 macroinvertebrate and 27 microcrustacea species had become established. Within 10 years of the stream's formation, pink salmon and Dolly Varden charr colonized, followed by other fish species, including juvenile red and silver salmon, Coast Range sculpin, and sticklebacks. Stable-isotope analyses indicate that marine-derived nitrogen from the decay of salmon carcasses was substantially assimilated within the aquatic food web by 2004. The findings from Stonefly Creek are compared with those from a long-term study of a similarly formed but older stream (12 km to the northeast) to examine possible similarities in macroinvertebrate community and biological trait composition between streams at similar stages of development. Macroinvertebrate community assembly appears to have been initially strongly deterministic owing to low water temperature associated with remnant ice masses. In contrast, microcrustacean community assembly appears to have been more stochastic. However, as stream age and water temperature increased, macroinvertebrate colonization was also more stochastic, and taxonomic similarity between Stonefly Creek and a stream at the same stage of development was,<50%. However the most abundant taxa were similar, and functional diversity of the two communities was almost identical. Tolerance is suggested as the major mechanism of community assembly. The rapidity with which salmonids and invertebrate communities have become established across an entire watershed has implications for the conservation of biodiversity in freshwater habitats

In vitro and in vivo studies of RNA recognition by Rna15

For successful gene expression in eukaryotes, mRNA transcripts are processed in the 5’ and 3’ untranslated regions (UTRs) and non-coding mRNA is spliced out. These processes are crucial in determining the fate of the mRNA transcript. Rna14 and Rna15 are subunits of Cleavage factor 1A (CF1A) and required for 3’ end processing in S. cerevisiae. Structural and biophysical data have determined a number of residues within the RNA recognition motif (RRM) of Rna15 that interact directly with RNA. However, although the crystal structure of the RRM revealed a mechanism for the preferential recognition of G/U nucleotides by Rna15 the sequence specificity for Rna15 is still extensively debated. This thesis applies combination of in vivo and in vitro techniques aimed to characterise Rna15-RNA binding, Rna15 interaction with Rna14 and examine consequences for RNA processing and yeast viability in vivo. An in vitro mutational/biophysical analysis is presented that reveals the residues essential for the Rna15-RNA interaction and application of NMR-quantified Scaffold Independent Analysis (SIA) demonstrates a clear GU-bias in the in vitro consensus sequence. However, given these strong effects, surprisingly only extensive mutation of the RRM produces growth defects in S. cerevisiae and qRT-PCR experiments employing a small subset of genes show only slight effects on polyA site selection. By contrast, an RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) global analysis of expression and transcriptional readthrough reveals that expression of over 100 S. cerevisiae genes is severely affected when the RRM of Rna15 is deleted and in addition the 3’-UTR of the mRNA of a sample set of 40 genes is significantly different to wild type. These results indicate that only severe reduction of Rna15-RNA interactions result in defects in transcriptional and 3’ end processing, hypothesized to be due in part to functional redundancy. Nevertheless, the global changes observed upon deletion of the Rna15 RRM are striking and reinforce the link between 3’-end processing, transcriptional regulation and gene expression

The Atomic-to-Molecular Transition in Galaxies. III. A New Method for Determining the Molecular Content of Primordial and Dusty Clouds

Understanding the molecular content of galaxies is a critical problem in star formation and galactic evolution. Here we present a new method, based on a Stromgren-type analysis, to calculate the amount of HI that surrounds a molecular cloud irradiated by an isotropic radiation field. We consider both planar and spherical clouds, and H_2 formation either in the gas phase or catalyzed by dust grains. Under the assumption that the transition from atomic to molecular gas is sharp, our method gives the solution without any reference to the photodissociation cross section. We test our results for the planar case against those of a PDR code, and find typical accuracies of about 10%. Our results are also consistent with the scaling relations found in Paper I of this series, but they apply to a wider range of physical conditions. We present simple, accurate analytic fits to our results that are suitable for comparison to observations and to implementation in numerical and semi-analytic models.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Ap

In situ non-invasive Raman spectroscopic characterisation of succinic acid polymorphism during segmented flow crystallisation

The kinetically regulated automated input crystalliser for Raman spectroscopy (KRAIC-R) combines highly controlled crystallisation environments, via tri segmented flow, with non-invasive confocal Raman spectroscopy. Taking advantage of the highly reproducible crystallisation environment within a segmented flow crystalliser and the non-invasive nature of confocal spectroscopy, we are able to shine light on the nucleation and growth of Raman active polymorphic materials without inducing unrepresentative crystallisation events through our analysis technique. Using the KRAIC-R we have probed the nucleation and subsequent growth of succinic acid. Succinic acid typically crystallises as β-SA from solution-based crystallisation although some examples of a small proportion of α-SA have been reported in the β-SA product. Here we show that α-SA and β-SA nucleate concomitantly but undergo Ostwald ripening to a predominantly β-SA product

Dust-enshrouded Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars in the Solar Neighbourhood

A study is made of a sample of 58 dust-enshrouded Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars (including 2 possible post AGB stars), of which 27 are carbon-rich and 31 are oxygen-rich. These objects were originally identified by Jura & Kleinmann as nearby (within about 1 kpc of the sun) AGB stars with high mass-loss rates, greater than 1E-6 solar masses per year. Ground-based near-infrared photometry, data obtained by IRAS and kinematic data from the literature are combined to investigate the properties of these stars. The light amplitude in the near-infrared is found to be correlated with period, and this amplitude decreases with increasing wavelength. Statistical tests show that there is no reason to suspect any difference in the period distributions of the carbon- and oxygen-rich stars for periods less than 1000 days, and no carbon-rich star has a period longer than 1000 days. The colours are consistent with those of cool stars with evolved circumstellar dust-shells. Luminosities and distances are estimated using a period-luminosity relation. Mass-loss rates, estimated from the 60 micron fluxes, show a correlation with pulsation period and is tightly correlated with the K-[12] colour. The kinematics and scale-height of the sample shows that the sources with periods less than 1000 days must have low mass main-sequence progenitors. It is argued that the three oxygen-rich stars with periods over 1000 days probably had intermediate mass main-sequence progenitors with remaining stars having an average progenitor mass of about 1.3 solar masses. The average lifetime of stars in this phase is estimated to be about 4.0E4 years, indicating they will undergo at most one more thermal pulse before leaving the AGB.Comment: 27 pages, 20 figures, accepted for MNRA

Low-Impact Mating System for Docking Spacecraft

A document describes a low-impact mating system suitable for both docking (mating of two free-flying spacecraft) and berthing (in which a robot arm in one spacecraft positions an object for mating with either spacecraft). The low-impact mating system is fully androgynous: it mates with a copy of itself, i.e., all spacecraft and other objects to be mated are to be equipped with identical copies of the system. This aspect of the design helps to minimize the number of unique parts and to standardize and facilitate mating operations. The system includes a closed-loop feedback control subsystem that actively accommodates misalignments between mating spacecraft, thereby attenuating spacecraft dynamics and mitigating the need for precise advance positioning of the spacecraft. The operational characteristics of the mating system can be easily configured in software, during operation, to enable mating of spacecraft having various masses, center-of-gravity offsets, and closing velocities. The system design provides multi-fault tolerance for critical operations: for example, to ensure unmating at a critical time, a redundant unlatching mechanism and two independent pyrotechnic release subsystems are included

Low-impact mating system

An androgynous mating system for mating two exoatmospheric space modules comprising a first mating assembly capable of mating with a second mating assembly; a second mating assembly structurally identical to said first mating assembly, said first mating assembly comprising; a load ring; a plurality of load cell subassemblies; a plurality of actuators; a base ring; a tunnel; a closed loop control system; one or more electromagnets; and one or more striker plates, wherein said one or more electomagnets on said second mating assembly are capable of mating with said one or more striker plates on said first mating assembly, and wherein said one or more striker plates is comprised of a plate of predetermined shape and a 5-DOF mechanism capable of maintaining predetermined contact requirements during said mating of said one or more electromagnets and said one or more striker plates

Carbon Nanotubes Synthesized in Channels of Alpo4-5 Single Crystals : First X-Ray Scattering Investigations

Following the synthesis of aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes in the channels of AlPO4-5 zeolite single crystals, we present the first X-ray diffraction and diffuse scattering results. They can be analysed in terms of a partial filling of the zeolite channels by nanotubes with diameter around 4A. The possible selection of only one type of nanotube during the synthesis, due to the constraints imposed by the zeolite host, is discussed.Comment: to appear in Solid State Com