Survey of finance companies, 2000

Against a backdrop of robust economic activity, the finance company sector expanded briskly over the second half of the 1990s. The value of receivables held by finance companies in the United States rose nearly 50 percent, or about 11 percent a year, between 1996 and 2000. Business lending remained finance companies' major line of activity; the importance to the sector of consumer lending and leasing declined slightly, and the importance of real estate lending rose a bit. These and other findings from the Federal Reserve's mid-2000 benchmark survey of finance companies, as well as developments in the sector since that time, are discussed in this article.Finance companies

Survey of finance companies, 1996

Finance companies are major suppliers of credit to consumers and businesses. The sector is made up of roughly 1,250 nondepository financial institutions, with 20 firms accounting for three-fourths of the receivables. The Federal Reserve System has been surveying the assets and liabilities of finance companies, typically at five-year intervals, since June 1955. This article summarizes the results of the 1996 survey. Special features of that survey are a breakdown of automobile leases into consumer and business components and, relative to previous surveys, greater detail on the composition of real estate credit and more information on securitized loans and leases.Finance companies

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

Data from: Coevolutionary interactions with parasites constrain the spread of self-fertilization into outcrossing host populations

Given the cost of sex, outcrossing populations should be susceptible to invasion and replacement by self-fertilization or parthenogenesis. However, biparental sex is common in nature, suggesting that cross-fertilization has substantial short-term benefits. The Red Queen hypothesis (RQH) suggests that coevolution with parasites can generate persistent selection favoring both recombination and outcrossing in host populations. We tested the prediction that coevolving parasites can constrain the spread of self-fertilization relative to outcrossing. We introduced wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites, capable of both self-fertilization, and outcrossing, into C. elegans populations that were fixed for a mutant allele conferring obligate outcrossing. Replicate C. elegans populations were exposed to the parasite Serratia marcescens for 33 generations under three treatments: a control (avirulent) parasite treatment, a fixed (nonevolving) parasite treatment, and a copassaged (potentially coevolving) parasite treatment. Self-fertilization rapidly invaded C. elegans host populations in the control and the fixed-parasite treatments, but remained rare throughout the entire experiment in the copassaged treatment. Further, the frequency of the wild-type allele (which permits selfing) was strongly positively correlated with the frequency of self-fertilization across host populations at the end of the experiment. Hence, consistent with the RQH, coevolving parasites can limit the spread of self-fertilization in outcrossing populations

Topic 2 -Secondary source , Friedrich Engels

<div><p>Long-distance migrations influence the physiology, behavior, and fitness of migratory animals throughout their annual cycles, and fundamentally alter their interactions with parasites. Several hypotheses relating migratory behavior to the likelihood of parasitism have entered the literature, making conflicting, testable predictions. To assess how migratory behavior of hosts is associated with parasitism, we compared haemosporidian parasite infections between two closely related populations of a common North American sparrow, the dark-eyed junco, that co-occur in shared habitats during the non-breeding season. One population is sedentary and winters and breeds in the Appalachian Mountains. The other population is migratory and is found in seasonal sympatry with the sedentary population from October through April, but then flies (≥ 900 km) northwards to breed. The populations were sampled in the wild on the shared montane habitat at the beginning of winter and again after confining them in a captive common environment until the spring. We found significantly higher prevalence of haemosporidian parasite infections in the sedentary population. Among infected juncos, we found no difference in parasite densities (parasitemias) between the sedentary and migrant populations and no evidence for winter dormancy of the parasites. Our results suggest that long-distance migration may reduce the prevalence of parasite infections at the population level. Our results are inconsistent with the migratory exposure hypothesis, which posits that long-distance migration increases exposure of hosts to diverse parasites, and with the migratory susceptibility hypothesis, which posits that trade-offs between immune function and migration increase host susceptibility to parasites. However, our results are consistent with the migratory culling hypothesis, which posits that heavily infected animals are less likely to survive long-distance migration, and with the migratory escape hypothesis, which posits that long-distance migration allows host populations to seasonally escape areas of high infection risk.</p></div

Slowinski et al Evolution 2016 data Dryad

Key and description of the Slowinski et al. 2016 Evolution data submitted to Dryad Key: Treatments were abbreviated as follows: C: Control (heat-killed) parasite treatment F: Fixed-parasite (non-evolving parasite) treatment R: Recycled parasite treatment (referred to as the “copassaged” treatment in the paper) Genetic background data was abbreviated as follows: C: Lines that were previously passaged for 30 generations in a control, or heat-killed, parasite treatment prior to their use in the Slowinski et al. 2016 Evolution study. E: Lines that were previously passaged in an “Evolution” treatment for 30 generations during which they were passaged on plates with a live but non-evolving parasite prior to their use in the Slowinski et al. 2016 Evolution study. F: Lines that were not previously subject to experimental evolution prior to the Slowinski et al 2016 Evolution study. The “F” genetic background lines are the ancestors of the “C” and “E” genetic background lines. OR is an abbreviation for outcrossing rate. SR is an abbreviation for selfing rate. MF is an abbreviation for male frequency. MMG is an abbreviation for mixed-mating genotype. Male frequencies sheet: The male frequencies data sheet contains the male frequency data from all the time points in the experiment in which male frequencies were measured. The generation 10, 15, 21, and 33 male frequencies were calculated by scoring the sexes of a random sample of 200 individuals along a transect in experimental populations. The generation zero male frequencies were not measured directly, but rather were estimated based on the starting frequency of males in the mixed-mating populations (which are listed in the sheet called “mixed mating pop gen zero MFs”), and on the male frequencies in the obligately outcrossing generation zero populations (which were assumed to be 50% male and 50% female). The male frequencies at generations 10, 15, and 21 were all measured during the experiment in populations that had not been frozen and rethawed prior to male frequency measures. The male frequencies in generation 33 populations were measured before and after the populations had been frozen and rethawed, as indicated in the data sheet. Outcrossing rates data sheet: This sheet indicates the outcrossing rates for each of the experimental lines. Outcrossing rates were calculated from the male frequencies using the equation: outcrossing rate = (male frequency – 0.0015) X 2 The 0.0015 in the equation is to correct for males produced by non-disjunction of the X chromosome during meiosis, which we assumed occurs at a frequency of 0.0015. Selfing rates data sheet: The selfing rates data sheet indicates the selfing rates for each experimental line at each of the time points measured. Selfing rates were calculated using the following equation: Selfing rate = 1 – Outcrossing rate Mixed mating pop gen zero MFs sheet: The Mixed mating pop gen zero MFs sheet indicates the male frequencies that we measured in the mixed mating populations shortly before the initiation of our experiment (i.e. these male frequencies were measured before the mixed-mating populations and the obligately outcrossing populations were combined). The male frequencies that we measured in the mixed-mating populations prior to the start of our experiment were used to estimate the male frequencies in the mixed (mixed-mating + obligately outcrossing) populations at the start (generation zero) of our experiment

Experimental evidence that symbiotic bacteria produce chemical cues in a songbird

Symbiotic microbes that inhabit animal scent glands can produce volatile compounds used as chemical signals by the host animal. Though several studies have demonstrated correlations between scent gland bacterial community structure and host animal odour profiles, none have systematically demonstrated a causal relationship. In birds, volatile compounds in preen oil secreted by the uropygial gland serve as chemical cues and signals. Here, we tested whether manipulating the uropygial gland microbial community affects chemical profiles in the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis). We found an effect of antibiotic treatment targeting the uropygial gland on both bacterial and volatile profiles. In a second experiment, we cultured bacteria from junco preen oil, and found that all of the cultivars produced at least one volatile compound common in junco preen oil, and that most cultivars produced multiple preen oil volatiles. In both experiments, we identified experimentally generated patterns in specific volatile compounds previously shown to predict junco reproductive success. Together, our data provide experimental support for the hypothesis that symbiotic bacteria produce behaviourally relevant volatile compounds within avian chemical cues and signals

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least 4 m. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the 6.5 m James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 yr, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit