Enhancing the food waste composting program at Clemson University

Clemson University\u27s composting program currently uses an in-vessel composter to breakdown food waste to useable mulch that serves to supplement materials needed at the Botanical Gardens. Our Creative Inquiry is investigating ways in which the program can become more visible and expand to include other methods of food waste composting that will provide a demonstration of composting techniques useful for education and to yield valuable economic analyses as a basis for making future programmatic decisions. We have three projects in progress. The first project will result in a vermicomposting demonstration system that will be used to assess the feasibility and profitability of a future large-scale effort. The second project will gather data on the food hydrator that is on loan from Integrated Waste Solutions specifically to assess its cost/benefit and to evaluate the end result of using biodegradable products in the Clemson House dining facility. The final project will result in two the production of two videos to advertise the program and to provide a view of what happens to food as it decomposes

Análisis morfológico y molecular de los blenios de agua dulce: una nueva especie del género Salaria Forsskål, 1775 (Actinopterygii, Blennidae) en Marruecos.

The North African freshwater fish fauna is scarce compared to other regions of the world, probably due to historical and climatic factors. The western part of North Africa is more diverse than central or eastern areas. Populations of freshwater blennids that have been traditionally ascribed to the species Salaria fluviatilis nowadays inhabit the Sebou basin in Morocco. In this study we demonstrated morphologically and molecularly that these Moroccan populations constitute a new species, for which we provide a formal description. The following diagnostic characters distinguish the newly described species from other freshwater blennids: head without diagonal rows of dark dots or blotches on cheeks; supra-ocular tentacle thick and simple (not branched); 13-15 teeth on the upper jaw and 14-16 on the lower jaw; 16-17 soft anal fin rays; short pre-orbital distance (cephalic index: 2.9-3.8); height of the anterior (spiny) part of the dorsal fin short (dorsal fin index: 0.8-1.3) and 34 vertebrae. Mitochondrial and nuclear genetic distances between the new Salaria species and either S. economidisi or S. fluviatilis are high, especially in the mitochondrial control region (18%), while these genetic distances range from 2 to 3% when the nuclear S7 marker is compared. These morphological and molecular characters differentiate the new species from the remaining freshwater species of the genus (Salaria economidisi and S. fluviatilis). The new species is confined to a small restricted area of the Sebou basin in Morocco and should be considered endangered (EN) according to the IUCN Red List.La fauna de peces de agua dulce del norte de África es escasa comparada con otras regiones del mundo debido fundamentalmente a factores históricos y climáticos. El oeste del norte de África es más diverso que las regiones del centro y del este. En la cuenca del río Sebou habitan actualmente poblaciones de blenios de agua dulce que han sido tradicionalmente adscritas a la especie Salaria fluviatilis. En este estudio demostramos morfológica y molecularmente que estas poblaciones marroquíes constituyen una nueva especie, para la cual proveemos una descripción formal. Los siguientes caracteres diagnósticos distinguen a la nueva especie descrita del resto de especies de blenios de agua dulce: cabeza sin una fila diagonal de puntos oscuros o manchas en las mejillas; tentáculo supraocular grueso y simple (no ramificado); 13-15 dientes en la mandíbula superior y 14-16 en la inferior; 16-17 radios blandos en la aleta anal; distancia preorbital corta (índice cefálico: 2.9-3.8); altura de la region anterior de la aleta dorsal corta (índice dorsal: 0.8-1.3) y 34 vértebras. Las distancias genéticas mitocondriales y nuclear entre la nueva especie de Salaria y las otras dos especies son altas, especialmente en la región control (18%), mientras que estas distancias genéticas variaron entre 2-3% para el gen nuclear S7. Estos caracteres morfológicos y moleculares diferencian a la nueva especie del resto de blenios de agua dulce del género (Salaria fluviatilis y S. economidisi). La nueva especie está confinada a la cuenca del río Sebou en Marruecos y debería ser considerada como En Peligro (EN) de acuerdo a las categorías de la lista roja

CG J1720-67.8: A Detailed Analysis of Optical and Infrared Properties of a New Ultracompact Group of Galaxies

We present here optical spectroscopy and BVRJHK(s) photometry of the recently discovered ultra-compact group of galaxies CG J1720-67.8. This work represents a considerable extension of the preliminary results we presented in a previous paper. Despite the complicated morphology of the group, a quantitative morphological classification of the three brightest members of the group is attempted based on photometric analysis. We find that one galaxy is consistent with a morphological type S0, while the other two are most probably late-type spirals that are already losing their identity due tothe interaction process. Information on the star formation activity and dust content derived from both spectroscopic data and optical and near-infrared colors are complemented with a reconstruction of far-infrared (FIR) maps from IRAS raw data. Enhanced star formation activity is revealed in all the group's members, including the early-type galaxy and the extended tidal tail, along which several tidal dwarf galaxy candidates are identified. The metallicity of the gaseous component is investigated and photoionization models are applied to the three main galaxies of the group, while a detailed study of the tidal dwarf candidates will appear in a companion paper. Subsolar metal abundances are found for all the three galaxies, the highest values being shown by the early-type galaxy (Z ~ 0.5 Zsolar).Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Optimizing CIGB-300 intralesional delivery in locally advanced cervical cancer

Background:We conducted a phase 1 trial in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer by injecting 0.5 ml of the CK2-antagonist CIGB-300 in two different sites on tumours to assess tumour uptake, safety, pharmacodynamic activity and identify the recommended dose.Methods:Fourteen patients were treated with intralesional injections containing 35 or 70 mg of CIGB-300 in three alternate cycles of three consecutive days each before standard chemoradiotherapy. Tumour uptake was determined using 99 Tc-radiolabelled peptide. In situ B23/nucleophosmin was determined by immunohistochemistry.Results:Maximum tumour uptake for CIGB-300 70-mg dose was significantly higher than the one observed for 35 mg: 16.1±8.9 vs 31.3±12.9 mg (P=0.01). Both, AUC 24h and biological half-life were also significantly higher using 70 mg of CIGB-300 (P<0.001). Unincorporated CIGB-300 diffused rapidly to blood and was mainly distributed towards kidneys, and marginally in liver, lungs, heart and spleen. There was no DLT and moderate allergic-like reactions were the most common systemic side effect with strong correlation between unincorporated CIGB-300 and histamine levels in blood. CIGB-300, 70 mg, downregulated B23/nucleophosmin (P=0.03) in tumour specimens.Conclusion:Intralesional injections of 70 mg CIGB-300 in two sites (0.5 ml per injection) and this treatment plan are recommended to be evaluated in phase 2 studies.Fil: Sarduy, M. R.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: García, I.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Coca, M. A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Perera, A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Torres, L. A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Valenzuela, C. M.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Baladrón, I.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Solares, M.. Hospital Materno Ramón González Coro; CubaFil: Reyes, V.. Center For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology Havana; CubaFil: Hernández, I.. Isotope Center; CubaFil: Perera, Y.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Martínez, Y. M.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: Molina, L.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: González, Y. M.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: Ancízar, J. A.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Prats, A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: González, L.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Casacó, C. A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Acevedo, B. E.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: López Saura, P. A.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Alonso, Daniel Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; ArgentinaFil: Gómez, R.. Elea Laboratories; ArgentinaFil: Perea Rodríguez, S. E.. Center For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology Havana; Cuba. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; Cub

Overview of VideoCLEF 2009: New perspectives on speech-based multimedia content enrichment

VideoCLEF 2009 offered three tasks related to enriching video content for improved multimedia access in a multilingual environment. For each task, video data (Dutch-language television, predominantly documentaries) accompanied by speech recognition transcripts were provided. The Subject Classification Task involved automatic tagging of videos with subject theme labels. The best performance was achieved by approaching subject tagging as an information retrieval task and using both speech recognition transcripts and archival metadata. Alternatively, classifiers were trained using either the training data provided or data collected from Wikipedia or via general Web search. The Affect Task involved detecting narrative peaks, defined as points where viewers perceive heightened dramatic tension. The task was carried out on the “Beeldenstorm” collection containing 45 short-form documentaries on the visual arts. The best runs exploited affective vocabulary and audience directed speech. Other approaches included using topic changes, elevated speaking pitch, increased speaking intensity and radical visual changes. The Linking Task, also called “Finding Related Resources Across Languages,” involved linking video to material on the same subject in a different language. Participants were provided with a list of multimedia anchors (short video segments) in the Dutch-language “Beeldenstorm” collection and were expected to return target pages drawn from English-language Wikipedia. The best performing methods used the transcript of the speech spoken during the multimedia anchor to build a query to search an index of the Dutch language Wikipedia. The Dutch Wikipedia pages returned were used to identify related English pages. Participants also experimented with pseudo-relevance feedback, query translation and methods that targeted proper names

Seyfert's Sextet: A Slowly Dissolving Stephan's Quintet?

We present a multiwavelength study of the highly evolved compact galaxy group known as Seyfert's Sextet (HCG79: SS). We interpret SS as a 2-3 Gyr more evolved analog of Stephan's Quintet (HCG92: SQ). We postulate that SS formed by sequential acquisition of 4-5 primarily late-type field galaxies. Four of the five galaxies show an early-type morphology which is likely the result of secular evolution driven by gas stripping. Stellar stripping has produced a massive/luminous halo and embedded galaxies that are overluminous for their size. These are interpreted as remnant bulges of the accreted spirals. H79d could be interpreted as the most recent intruder being the only galaxy with an intact ISM and uncertain evidence for tidal perturbation. In addition to stripping activity we find evidence for past accretion events. H79b (NGC6027) shows a strong counter-rotating emission line component interpreted as an accreted dwarf spiral. H79a shows evidence for an infalling component of gas representing feedback or possible cross fueling by H79d. The biggest challenge to this scenario involves the low gas fraction in the group. If SS formed from normal field spirals then much of the gas is missing. Finally, despite its advanced stage of evolution, we find no evidence for major mergers and infer that SS (and SQ) are telling us that such groups coalesce via slow dissolution.Comment: 70 pages, 19 figures, 15 tables - accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Non-linear Dependence of L(B) on L(FIR) and M(H2) among Spiral Galaxies and Effects of Tidal Interaction

Through the study of a carefully selected sample of isolated spiral galaxies, we have established that two important global physical quantities for tracing star forming activities, L(FIR) and M(H2), have non-linear dependence on another commonly cited global quantity L(B). Furthermore we show that simple power law relations can effectively describe these non-linear relations for spiral galaxies spanning four orders of magnitude in FIR and M(H2) and nearly three orders of magnitude in L(B). While the existence of non-linear dependence of M(H2) (assuming a constant CO-to-H2 conversion) and L(FIR) on optical luminosity L(B) has been previously noted in the literature, an improper normalization of simple scaling by L(B) has been commonly used in many previous studies to claim enhanced molecular gas content and induced activities among tidally interacting and other types of galaxies. We remove these non-linear effects using the template relations derived from the isolated galaxy sample and conclude that strongly interacting galaxies do not have enhanced molecular gas content, contrary to previous claims. With these non-linear relations among L(B), L(FIR) and M(H2) properly taken into account, we confirm again that the FIR emission and the star formation efficiency L(FIR)/M(H2) are indeed enhanced by tidal interactions. Virgo galaxies show the same level of M(H2) and L(FIR) as isolated galaxies. We do not find any evidence for enhanced star forming activity among barred galaxies.Comment: 19 pages and 5 figures, requires AAS style files, ApJ, accepte