Description and growth of larval and pelagic juvenile pygmy rockfish (Sebastes wilsoni) (family Sebastidae)

A developmental series of larval and pelagic juvenile pygmy rockfish (Sebastes wilsoni) from central California is illustrated and described. Sebastes wilsoni is a non- commercially, but ecologically, important rockfish, and the ability to differentiate its young stages will aid researchers in population abundance studies. Pigment patterns, meristic characters, morphometric measurements, and head spination were recorded from specimens that ranged from 8.1 to 34.4 mm in standard length. Larvae were identified initially by meristic characters and the absence of ventral and lateral midline pigment. Pelagic juveniles developed a prominent pigment pattern of three body bars that did not extend to the ventral surface. Species identification was confirmed subsequently by using mitochondrial sequence data of four representative specimens of various sizes. As determined from the examination of otoliths, the growth rate of larval and pelagic juvenile pygmy rockfish was 0.28 mm/day, which is relatively slow in comparison to the growth rate of other species of Sebastes. These data will aid researchers in determining species abundance

Predicting market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) landings from pre-recruit abundance

The fishery for market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) in California is typical of many of the world’s cephalopod fisheries, in that a very short life span and the effect of environmental forcing on recruitment result in enormous interannual variability in catches and population size. We evaluate the utility of a pre-recruit index of squid abundance that is based on midwater trawl sampling in the 3–5 months preceding the onset of the fishery as a basis for predicting landings. Catches in the survey largely represent squid in the 30–50 mm dorsal mantle length size range, representing individuals 30–90 day old. Catch-per-unit-effort statistics are derived from simple twofactor Δ-Generalized Linear Models, with year and station as main effects and numbers per tow as the dependent variable. Regional models for northern and southern squid populations are developed. Pre-recruit indices, as well as indices of squid prey (krill) abundance are compared with landings data, as well as estimates of squid spawning stock biomass derived from an egg escapement model. Our results show that the abundance of prerecruit market squid and krill sampled in the survey tracks both catches and overall population size, providing the potential to forecast landings. Our findings are consistent with a sparse but growing literature showing the potential utility of pre-recruit surveys to inform fisheries participants and managers

HIF2α-Sp1 interaction mediates a deacetylation-dependent FVII-gene activation under hypoxic conditions in ovarian cancer cells

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF)-1α and HIF2α are major transcription factors required for adaptive responses to hypoxia. HIFs form a complex with aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) to bind to the regulatory regions of target genes. The acetylation of histones by histone acetyltransferases (HATs) is one of the epigenetic marks associated with active chromatin. Indeed, HIFs recruit p300 HAT to hypoxia response elements (HREs) within gene regulatory regions. Here, we report an unusual HIF-mediated transcriptional activation in ovarian clear cell carcinoma (CCC). While characterizing coagulation factor VII (FVII) gene induction during hypoxic conditions, we observed that the interaction of HIF2α with Sp1, but not with ARNT, could induce transcription of FVII in a HRE-independent manner. Unexpectedly, this gene activation is associated with histone deacetylation. We found that a class II HDAC, HDAC4, is recruited with HIF2α to the FVII promoter as a co-activator, while p300 HAT negatively regulated this process. Furthermore, this mechanism can be synergistically enhanced via a deacetylation-dependent pathway when cells are simultaneously exposed to hypoxic and serum-free conditions. These results suggest the presence of a stress-responsive transcription mediated by the HIF2α/Sp1/HDAC4 network and explain how CCC shed their procoagulant activity under hypoxia

Inhibition of Myostatin Signaling through Notch Activation following Acute Resistance Exercise

Myostatin is a TGFb family member and negative regulator of muscle size. Due to the complexity of the molecular pathway between myostatin mRNA/protein and changes in transcription, it has been difficult to understand whether myostatin plays a role in resistance exercise-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy. To circumvent this problem, we determined the expression of a unique myostatin target gene, Mighty, following resistance exercise. Mighty mRNA increased by 6 h (82.9624.21%) and remained high out to 48 h (56.5619.67%) after resistance exercise. Further examination of the soleus, plantaris and tibialis anterior muscles showed that the change in Mighty mRNA at 6 h correlated with the increase in muscle size associated with this protocol (R2 = 0.9996). The increase in Mighty mRNA occurred both independent of Smad2 phosphorylation and in spite of an increase in myostatin mRNA (341.86147.14% at 3 h). The myostatin inhibitor SKI remained unchanged. However, activated Notch, another potential inhibitor of TGFb signaling, increased immediately following resistance exercise (83611.2%) and stayed elevated out to 6 h (78616.6%). Electroportion of the Notch intracellular domain into the tibialis anterior resulted in an increase in Mighty mRNA (63613.4%) that was equivalent to the canonical Notch target HES-1 (94.467.32%). These data suggest that acute resistance exercise decreases myostatin signaling through the activation of the TGFb inhibitor Notch resulting in a decrease in myostatin transcriptional activity that correlates well with muscle hypertrophy

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass