Distribution of Mysis diluviana in nearshore Lake Ontario

Opossum shrimp Mysis diluviana are an important trophic link in Lake Ontario, and in all of the lakes where they occur. Their temporal and spatial distributions are not well documented in the nearshore area (\u3c30 m bottom depth), where alewives and other fish increasingly depend on them as a food source. This study describes their distributions over three years (2009 to 2011) from April through November using data collected from Tucker trawls and multi-frequency hydroacoustics; both deployed over incremental depths. Mysis was found to occur in the nearshore area in 69.6% of the trawl surveys. Maximum densities occurred in April and early May and were located in the deepest (30-m) contour. The density and frequency of occurrence of Mysis increased exponentially from shore. Hydroacoustic methods were effective in quantifying of Mysis density in 42% of the echograms when they were present in simultaneously obtained samples

Inversion tectonics in the Iberian ranges of Castille-La Mancha, Spain

The Iberian Ranges of Central Spain represent a contracted complex graben system, formed by reactivation of Hercynian lineaments during the same Mesozoic extension and subsidence which formed the Tethyan ocean to the east. In the thesis, part of the range, between the Serrania de Cuenca and Sierra de Albarracin in Castille, is analysed to investigate basin inversion during the Tertiary and to prove that inversion is a three dimensional phenomenon related to the resolution and partitioning of compressive stresses about intrabasinal heterogeneities. An analysis of the stratigraphy was carried out to reconstruct the basin structure immediately prior to the onset of deformation. It was found that the area is separated into two graben systems by NW-SE horst which concentrated most of the cover (thin skin) thrusting and folding during the Tertiary. Eighteen serial sections drawn at 2.5km intervals were constructed and partially restored to investigate cover strain and to assess the distribution of decollement strata and their effect on deformation. Thin, poorly gypsiferous regions of the decollement promote imbricate thrusting while the converse promotes detachment folding. The evolution of deformation above a buried fault scarp is investigated in a region where Tertiary syn-tectonic molassic sediments are preserved. Two main deformation events are recognised. It is found that the fault scarp strongly effects the distribudon of stresses leading to diapirism in the decollement strata which accommodates the buttressing effect of the scarp and the promodon of cover failure over the scarp where differential stresses are highest. Diapiric walls and minor scarps perpendicular to the strike of the basement fault nucleate zones of strike-slip faulting in cover whose style is dependant on the thickness and gypsum content of the decollement. Shear indicators in these strata are well developed and allow the sense of displacement of cover relative to basement to be determined. In the Serrania de Cuenca their analysis leads to a conceptual model for basementicover interaction and the initiation of décollement. Gravity tectonics is preferred but differential shortening during pinching of the half grabens and slight inversion of the basin bounding faults also occurs. The deformation of basement is analysed using the Sierra de Albarracin as a case study and Alpine structural geology is discriminated from Hercynian. Strike-slip deformation plays an important role in the evolution of basement folds and fractures and severely limits the application of section balancing, however, a partly balanced crustal model is proposed based on a rheologically layered crust. Brittle microstructural analysis leads to the inference of approximate σ1 trajectories and reveals that one principal stress was always close to vertical. This allows the resolution of stress on fault surfaces to be analysed using simple graphical techniques such as ROMSA and YRPROG. The shapes and orientations of stress tensors from sample areas throughout the study area reveals that the pre-existing basin structure has a strong modifying effect on the regional stresses and may cause a variety of structures, normally attributed to different tectonic regimes, to develop in response to the same regional stress event

Baron Guillaume Dupuytren: when brilliance combats professionalism.

Baron Guilluame Dupuytren was a French anatomist and surgeon who practiced during the 1800s and is considered by some to be the most brilliant and gifted surgeons of his time. His contributions to the field of surgery are quite extensive, yet his eccentric personality and attitude toward his colleagues, students, and patients raises a very interesting question: could Dr. Dupuytren (Fig. 1) and his many contributions to the field of surgery have thrived in today’s era of professionalism? The concept of professionalism is emphasized to medical students starting from day one of their medical training. How would Dr. Dupuytren, an esteemed anatomist, react to the idea that students are introduced to the idea of professionalism before entering the cadaver laboratory

Extremal decompositions of tropical varieties and relations with rigidity theory

Extremality and irreducibility constitute fundamental concepts in mathematics, particularly within tropical geometry. While extremal decomposition is typically computationally hard, this article presents a fast algorithm for identifying the extremal decomposition of tropical varieties with rational balanced weightings. Additionally, we explore connections and applications related to rigidity theory. In particular, we prove that a tropical hypersurface is extremal if and only if it has a unique reciprocal diagram up to homothety.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figure

Visual priming of two-step motion sequences.

Perception of an ambiguous apparent motion is influenced by the immediately preceding motion. In positive priming, when an observer is primed with a slow-pace (1-3 Hz) sequence of motion frames depicting unidirectional drift (e.g., Right-Right-Right-Right), subsequent sequences of ambiguous frames are often perceived to continue moving in the primed direction (illusory Right-Right …). Furthermore, priming an observer with a slow-pace sequence of rebounding apparent motion frames that alternate between opponently coded motion directions (e.g., Right-Left-Right-Left) leads to an illusory continuation of the two-step rebounding sequence in subsequent random frames. Here, we show that even more arbitrary two-step motion sequences can be primed; in particular, two-step motion sequences that alternate between non-opponently coded directions (e.g., Up-Right-Up-Right; staircase motion) can be primed to be illusorily perceived in subsequent random frames. We found that staircase sequences, but not drifting or rebounding sequences, were primed more effectively with four priming frames compared with two priming frames, suggesting the importance of repeating the sequence element for priming arbitrary two-step motion sequences. Moreover, we compared the effectiveness of motion primes to that of symbolic primes (arrows) and found that motion primes were significantly more effective at producing prime-consistent responses. Although it has been proposed that excitatory and rivalry-like mechanisms account for drifting and rebounding motion priming, current motion processing models cannot account for our observed priming of staircase motion. We argue that higher order processes involving the recruitment and interaction of both attention and visual working memory are required to account for the type of two-step motion priming reported here

The Effects of a Core Stabilization Training Program on the Performance of Functional Tasks in Firefighters

International Journal of Exercise Science 17(4): 602-610, 2024. The purpose of this study was to observe if core stabilization training plays a significant role in firefighter time-to-completion during a functional performance test. A within subjects study design was used in which subjects (n = 13, 84.6% male, 33.7 ± 7.4 years of age, 91.06 ± 13.29 kg, 25.79 ± 6.55 percent body fat, 8.96 ± 7.51 years of firefighting experience) completed two performance tests (pre and post core training), comprised of 7 firefighter-specific exercises performed while wearing a 22.68 kg weight vest to mimic typical firefighter equipment. Between testing sessions, subjects were prescribed specific core stabilization exercises to perform at least three days a week for a total of 4 weeks. Time-to-completion was significantly quicker between the first (300.89 ± 42.11s) and second (256.92 ± 34.31s) performance testing, on average by 43.8 seconds (p \u3c 0.001). Body mass index (p = 0.065) and rating of perceived exertion during testing (p = 0.084) did not significantly decrease across the course of the study. Adequate fitness is essential to firefighters’ job task performance. Data from this study suggests that regular core stabilization training may assist in optimizing the effectiveness, and potentially safety, of firefighters’ performance in high intensity functional skills

Oracy curriculum, culture and assessment toolkit

This report evaluates a developmental project designed by School 21 and the University of Cambridge to improve Year 7 students' oracy skills. The project involved developing an Oracy Skills Framework, which sets out the physical, linguistic, cognitive, and social-emotional oracy skills required by students for education and life. Other components which were informed by this framework are: • a dedicated Year 7 oracy curriculum comprising weekly oracy lessons; • oracy in every lesson; • building a whole school oracy culture; and • an Oracy Assessment Toolkit. These components were piloted and further developed with Year 7 students within School 21 from September 2013 to July 2014. During the final stages of the project the components were brought together to create an 'Oracy Curriculum, Culture and Assessment Toolkit' that can be adopted by other schools and a website was created, Voice 21 (http://voice21.org/), containing guidance and resources for schools using the Toolkit. This report focuses on an evaluation of: 1. The approaches and materials which formed the Oracy Curriculum, Culture and Assessment Toolkit, including an indicative impact finding on the impact on Year 7 pupils in School 21. 2. What further development of the Oracy Curriculum, Culture and Assessment Toolkit is needed and would enable a more robust evaluation of its impact

Key inflammatory pathway activations in the MCI stage of Alzheimer's disease

OBJECTIVE: To determine the key inflammatory pathways that are activated in the peripheral and CNS compartments at the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: A cross-sectional study of patients with clinical and biomarker characteristics consistent with MCI-AD in a discovery cohort, with replication in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort. Inflammatory analytes were measured in the CSF and plasma with the same validated multiplex analyte platform in both cohorts and correlated with AD biomarkers (CSF Aβ42, total tau (t-tau), phosphorylated tau (p-tau) to identify key inflammatory pathway activations. The pathways were additionally validated by evaluating genes related to all analytes in coexpression networks of brain tissue transcriptome from an autopsy confirmed AD cohort to interrogate if the same pathway activations were conserved in the brain tissue gene modules. RESULTS: Analytes of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway (KEGG ID:4668) in the CSF and plasma best correlated with CSF t-tau and p-tau levels, and analytes of the complement and coagulation pathway (KEGG ID:4610) best correlated with CSF Aβ42 levels. The top inflammatory signaling pathways of significance were conserved in the peripheral and the CNS compartments. They were also confirmed to be enriched in AD brain transcriptome gene clusters. INTERPRETATION: A cell-protective rather than a proinflammatory analyte profile predominates in the CSF in relation to neurodegeneration markers among MCI-AD patients. Analytes from the TNF signaling and the complement and coagulation pathways are relevant in evaluating disease severity at the MCI stage of AD