Assessing the Risk of 100-year Freshwater Floods in the Lamprey River Watershed of New Hampshire Resulting from Changes in Climate and Land Use

What is the coastal resource issue the project sought to address? Both the magnitude and frequency of freshwater flooding is on the rise in seacoast NH and around much of New England. In the Great Bay watershed, this is the result of two primary causes: 1) increases in impervious surface stemming from a three-to-four fold increase in developed land since 1962; and 2) changing rainfall patterns in part exemplified by a doubling in the frequency of extreme weather events that drop more than 4 inches of precipitation in less than 48 hours (Wake et al., 2011) over the same time period. Moreover, the size of the 100-year precipitation event in this region has increased 26% from 6.3 inches to 8.5 inches from the mid 1950’s to 2010 (NRCC and NRCS, 2012). One consequence is the occurrence of three 100-year floods measured on the Lamprey River at Packers Falls since 1987, and a fourth if the three days of flooding in March of 2010 had occurred instead in two days (Figure 1). Flooding events are expected to continue to increase in magnitude and frequency as land in the watershed is further developed and climate continues to change in response to anthropogenic forcing (e.g., Hayhoe et el., 2007; IPCC, 2007; Karl et al., 2009). Land use management strategies, in particular low impact development (LID) zoning requirements, are one strategy that communities can employ for increased resiliency to flooding with the greatest influence in urban environments

Pectocarya anisocarpa, a new species of Boraginaceae, and a revised key for the genus in western North America

Pectocarya is a genus of 13 currently accepted taxa in Boraginaceae, subtribe Cryptanthinae. The genus has an amphitropical distribution in the New World, with eight taxa in western North America, seven in South America, and two occurring in both continents. Members of Pectocarya are distinctive in having a bilaterally or radially symmetrical fruit of four strongly divergent nutlets. Taxa within the genus are distinguished largely by the morphology of the nutlets, including shape, size, margin, posture, and variability both within a fruit and/or within a plant. Pectocarya anisocarpa (Boraginaceae) was previously named and described, but not validly published. Along with taxon-specific nutlet ornamentation, P. “anisocarpa” has fruits within a plant that are monomorphic and nutlets within a fruit that are heteromorphic. It is common throughout its range, which in the United States includes the southern half of California, Arizona, and southern Utah to the east. The species’ southernmost extent is in northwestern Baja California, Mexico. It is often encountered in mixed populations with congeners, and has been confused historically with P. penicillata and P. linearis var. ferocula in California and Baja California and P. heterocarpa in Arizona and Utah. Here we validly publish the name P. anisocarpa, as well as provide illustrations, an image of the holotype specimen, and a range map of the new taxon. A revised taxonomic key and photographs of the fruits of the North American Pectocarya taxa are also included

Structural analyses of \u3ci\u3ePhycodnaviridae\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eIridoviridae\u3c/i\u3e

The Phycodnaviridae, Iridoviridae and related viruses, with diameters of 1500±2000 A Ê , are formed from large trigonal arrays of hexagonally close-packed capsomers forming the faces of icosahedra [Yan et al. (2000), Nature Struct. Biol. 7, 101-103; Nandhagopal et al. (2002), Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 99, 14758-14763]. Caspar and Klug predicted that such structures could be assembled from hexameric capsomers [Caspar & Klug (1962), Cold Spring Harbor. Symp. Quant. Biol. 27, 1-24], as was subsequently found in numerous icosahedral viruses. During the course of evolution, some viruses, including the virus families mentioned above, replaced hexameric capsomers with pseudo-hexameric trimers by gene duplication. In large dsDNA icosahedral viruses, the capsomers are organized into `pentasymmetrons\u27 and `trisymmetrons\u27. The interactions between the trimeric capsomers can be divided into three groups, one between similarly oriented trimers and two between oppositely oriented trimers (trimers related by an approximately sixfold rotation). The interactions within a trisymmetron belong to the ®rst class, whereas those between trisymmetrons and within the pentasymmetron are of the other two types. Knowledge of these distances permits a more accurate ®tting of the atomic structure of the capsomer into the cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) reconstruction of the whole virus. The adoption of pseudo-hexagonal capsomers places these viruses into a subset of the Caspar and Klug surface lattices

Pharmacokinetic and Biodistribution Assessment of a Near Infrared-Labeled PSMA-Specific Small Molecule in Tumor-Bearing Mice

Prostate cancer is themost frequently diagnosed cancer in men and often requires surgery. Use of near infrared (NIR) technologies to perform image-guided surgery may improve accurate delineation of tumor margins. To facilitate preclinical testing of such outcomes, here we developed and characterized a PSMA-targeted small molecule, YC-27. IRDye 800CW was conjugated to YC-27 or an anti-PSMA antibody used for reference. Human 22Rv1, PC3M-LN4, and/or LNCaP prostate tumor cells were exposed to the labeled compounds. In vivo targeting and clearance properties were determined in tumor-bearing mice. Organs and tumors were excised and imaged to assess probe localization. YC-27 exhibited a dose dependent increase in signal upon binding. Binding specificity and internalization were visualized by microscopy. In vitro and in vivo blocking studies confirmed YC-27 specificity. In vivo, YC-27 showed good tumor delineation and tissue contrast at doses as low as 0.25 nmole. YC-27 was cleared via the kidneys but bound the proximal tubules of the renal cortex and epididymis. Since PSMA is also broadly expressed on the neovasculature of most tumors, we expect YC-27 will have clinical utility for image-guided surgery and tumor resections

Simple guide to starting a research group

Conducting cutting-edge research and scholarship becomes more complicated with each passing year; forming a collaborative research group offers a way to navigate this increasing complexity. Yet many individuals whose work might benefit from the formation of a collaborative team may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of attempting to build and maintain a research group. We propose this simple guide for starting and maintaining such an enterprise

Insights into the composition of recalcitrant organic matter from estuarine sediments using NMR spectroscopy

peer-reviewedThe full text of this article will not be available on ULIR until the embargo expires on the 24/05/2018Sediment cores (ca. 6 m) from an estuarine environment gave insights into the composition and preservation of recalcitrant organic carbon (OC) in the environment. The coring locations provided organic matter (OM) of terrestrial origin and of marine origin. Our study specifically focused on the humin (HU), the OM fraction that is most difficult to isolate and to characterize. HU fractions were compared with the total OM recovered after removal of the associated mineral colloids. Solid state and multiphase (nuclear magnetic resonance) NMR experiments were carried out on dried and swollen samples to obtain comparative information about the whole samples and the fractionated samples. The total OM associated with the clay-size fraction provided a standard that allowed differences between the fractions to be observed. The NMR data provided new insights into the molecular structures that become part of the long term C sink in sediments. The recalcitrant OC in the sediments is composed mainly of aliphatic hydrocarbon material that may be protected from, or otherwise unavailable for, degradation. Microbial peptides and carbohydrates were also shown to be important contributors to the C sink and these biomolecules may be from living biomass or preserved necromass. Lignin residues formed only a small part of the OM in the surface sediments but made a greater contribution at depth. Highly ordered components in HU (that resists swelling by dimethylsulfoxide, DMSO) play a major role in C sequestration

Young stars and non-stellar emission in the aligned radio galaxy 3C 256

We present ground-based images of the z=1.824 radio galaxy 3C 256 in the standard BVRIJHK filters and an interference filter centered at 8800A, a Hubble Space Telescope image in a filter dominated by Ly-alpha emission (F336W), and spectra covering rest-frame wavelengths from Ly-alpha to [O III] 5007. Together with published polarimetry observations, we use these to decompose the overall spectral energy distribution into nebular continuum emission, scattered quasar light, and stellar emission. The nebular continuum and scattered light together comprise half (one third) of the V-band (K-band) light within a 4-arcsec aperture, and are responsible for the strong alignment between the optical/near-infrared light and the radio emission. The stellar emission is dominated by a population estimated to be 100-200 Myr old (assuming a Salpeter IMF), and formed in a short burst with a peak star formation rate of 1-4x10^3 Msun/yr. The total stellar mass is estimated to be no more than 2x10^{11} Msun, which is far less than other luminous radio galaxies at similar redshifts, and suggests that 3C 256 will undergo further star formation or mergers.Comment: 35 pages including 10 figures; to appear in Nov 10 Ap