Artificial Irrelevance

Artificial Irrelevance tackles the difficult task of writing song lyrics. The project explores the relationship between an author and his tools, and ultimately culminates in a long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network algorithm for generating song lyrics, and an EP of folk songs co-written with the algorithm.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1084/thumbnail.jp

Resuspension by fish facilitates the transport and redistribution of coastal sediments

Author Posting. © Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Limnology and Oceanography 57 (2012): 945-958, doi:10.4319/lo.2012.57.4.0945.Oxygen availability restricts groundfish to the oxygenated, shallow margins of Saanich Inlet, an intermittently anoxic fjord in British Columbia, Canada. New and previously reported 210Pb measurements in sediment cores compared with flux data from sediment traps indicate major focusing of sediments from the oxygenated margins to the anoxic basin seafloor. We present environmental and experimental evidence that groundfish activity in the margins is the major contributor to this focusing. Fine particles resuspended by groundfish are advected offshore by weak bottom currents, eventually settling in the anoxic basin. Transmittance and sediment trap data from the water column show that this transport process maintains an intermediate nepheloid layer (INL) in the center of the Inlet. This INL is located above the redox interface and is unrelated to water density shifts in the water column. We propose that this INL is shaped by the distribution of groundfish (as resuspension sources) along the slope and hence by oxygen availability to these fish. We support this conclusion with a conceptual model of the resuspension and offshore transport of sediment. This fish-induced transport mechanism for sediments is likely to enhance organic matter decomposition in oxygenated sediments and its sequestration in anoxic seafloors.The VENUS Project and University of Victoria supported the ship and submersible time for field experiments, and the U.S. Geological Survey and Coastal and Marine Geological Program generously supported J.C. The project was supported by Discovery Grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to V.T. and P.S. and a Yohay Ben-Nun fellowship and Moshe Shilo Center for Marine Biogeochemistry Fund award to T.K

Does the Association between Depressive Symptomatology and Physical Activity Depend on Body Image Perception? A Survey of Students from Seven Universities in the UK

This cross-sectional study assessed the association between depression and PA in university students of both genders and the role of body image perception as a potential effect modifier. Undergraduate students (N = 3706) from seven universities in the UK completed a self-administered questionnaire that assessed sociodemographic information; a range of health, health behaviour and health awareness related factors; the modified version of Beck’s Depression Inventory (M-BDI); educational achievement, and different levels of physical activity (PA), such as moderate PA (at least 5 days per week moderate exercise of at least 30 minutes), and vigorous PA (at least 3 days per week vigorous exercise of at least 20 minutes). Only 12.4% of the sample achieved the international recommended level for moderate PA, and 33.1% achieved the recommendations for vigorous PA. Both moderate and vigorous PA were inversely related to the M-BDI score. Physically active students, regardless of the type of PA, were significantly more likely to perceive their health as good, to have higher health awareness, to perform strengthening exercises, and to be males. The stratified analyses indicated that the association between depression and PA differed by body image. In students perceiving their body image as ‘just right’, moderate (>4th percentile) and high (>5th percentile) M-BDI scores were inversely related to vigorous PA. However, in students who perceived their body image as ‘overweight’, the inverse association was only significant in those with high M-BDI scores. We conclude that the positive effect of PA on depression could be down modulated by the negative impact of a ‘distorted’ body image on depression. The practical implications of these findings are that PA programmes targeting persons with depressive symptoms should include effective components to enhance body image perception

Sustained desensitization to bacterial Toll-like receptor ligands after resolutionof respiratory influenza infection

The World Health Organization estimates that lower respiratory tract infections (excluding tuberculosis) account for ∼35% of all deaths caused by infectious diseases. In many cases, the cause of death may be caused by multiple pathogens, e.g., the life-threatening bacterial pneumonia observed in patients infected with influenza virus. The ability to evolve more efficient immunity on each successive encounter with antigen is the hallmark of the adaptive immune response. However, in the absence of cross-reactive T and B cell epitopes, one lung infection can modify immunity and pathology to the next for extended periods of time. We now report for the first time that this phenomenon is mediated by a sustained desensitization of lung sentinel cells to Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands; this is an effect that lasts for several months after resolution of influenza or respiratory syncytial virus infection and is associated with reduced chemokine production and NF-κB activation in alveolar macrophages. Although such desensitization may be beneficial in alleviating overall immunopathology, the reduced neutrophil recruitment correlates with heightened bacterial load during secondary respiratory infection. Our data therefore suggests that post-viral desensitization to TLR signals may be one possible contributor to the common secondary bacterial pneumonia associated with pandemic and seasonal influenza infection

Global Carbon Cycling on a Heterogeneous Seafloor

Diverse biological communities mediate the transformation, transport, and storage of elements fundamental to life on Earth, including carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. However, global biogeochemical model outcomes can vary by orders of magnitude, compromising capacity to project realistic ecosystem responses to planetary changes, including ocean productivity and climate. Here, we compare global carbon turnover rates estimated using models grounded in biological versus geochemical theory and argue that the turnover estimates based on each perspective yield divergent outcomes. Importantly, empirical studies that include sedimentary biological activity vary less than those that ignore it. Improving the relevance of model projections and reducing uncertainty associated with the anticipated consequences of global change requires reconciliation of these perspectives, enabling better societal decisions on mitigation and adaptation.Peer reviewe

Resolving fine-scale population structure and fishery exploitation using sequenced microsatellites in a northern fish

Funding Information Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Strategic Project Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation grants allocated to the Labrador Institute (MC) Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Genomics Research and Development Initiative (GRDI) Weston Family AwardPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Groundfish overfishing, diatom decline, and the marine silica cycle : lessons from Saanich Inlet, Canada, and the Baltic Sea cod crash

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2009. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 23 (2009): GB4032, doi:10.1029/2008GB003416.In this study, we link groundfish activity to the marine silica cycle and suggest that the drastic mid-1980s crash of the Baltic Sea cod (Gadus morhua) population triggered a cascade of events leading to decrease in dissolved silica (DSi) and diatom abundance in the water. We suggest that this seemingly unrelated sequence of events was caused by a marked decline in sediment resuspension associated with reduced groundfish activity resulting from the cod crash. In a study in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, Canada, we discovered that, by resuspending bottom sediments, groundfish triple DSi fluxes from the sediments and reduce silica accumulation therein. Using these findings and the available oceanographic and environmental data from the Baltic Sea, we estimate that overfishing and recruitment failure of Baltic cod reduced by 20% the DSi supply from bottom sediments to the surface water leading to a decline in the diatom population in the Baltic Sea. The major importance of the marginal ocean in the marine silica cycle and the associated high population density of groundfish suggest that groundfish play a major role in the silica cycle. We postulate that dwindling groundfish populations caused by anthropogenic perturbations, e.g., overfishing and bottom water anoxia, may cause shifts in marine phytoplankton communities.We acknowledge the VENUS Project, University of Victoria, for supporting the ship and submersible time for field experiments and USGS, CMGP, for support to J.C. Additional funding from NSERC Canada and from the Canada Research Chairs Foundation to V.T.; a Rothschild fellowship to G.Y.; and a Yohay Ben-Nun fellowship and Moshe Shilo Center for Marine Biogeochemistry fund to T.K. are also acknowledged

Feeling Healthy? A Survey of Physical and Psychological Wellbeing of Students from Seven Universities in the UK

University students’ physical and psychological health and wellbeing are important and comprise many variables. This study assessed perceived health status in addition to a range of physical and psychological wellbeing indicators of 3,706 undergraduate students from seven universities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We compared differences in these variables across males and females, and across the participating universities. The data was collected in 2007–2008. A self-administered questionnaire assessed socio-demographic information (e.g., gender, age), self-reported physical and psychological health data, as well as questions on health awareness, health service use, social support, burdens and stressors and university study related questions. While females generally reported more health problems and psychological burdens, male students felt that they received/had fewer persons to depend on for social support. The comparisons of health and wellbeing variables across the different universities suggested some evidence of ‘clustering’ of the variables under study, whereby favourable situations would be exhibited by a cluster of the variables that is encountered at some universities; and conversely, the clustering of less favourable variables as exhibited at other universities. We conclude that the level of health complaints and psychological problems/burdens is relatively high and calls for increased awareness of university administrators, leaders and policy makers to the health and well-being needs of their students. The observed clustering effects also indicated the need for local (university-specific) health and wellbeing profiles as basis and guidance for relevant health promotion programmes at universities

Inhibition of Nox2 Oxidase Activity Ameliorates Influenza A Virus-Induced Lung Inflammation

Influenza A virus pandemics and emerging anti-viral resistance highlight the urgent need for novel generic pharmacological strategies that reduce both viral replication and lung inflammation. We investigated whether the primary enzymatic source of inflammatory cell ROS (reactive oxygen species), Nox2-containing NADPH oxidase, is a novel pharmacological target against the lung inflammation caused by influenza A viruses. Male WT (C57BL/6) and Nox2−/y mice were infected intranasally with low pathogenicity (X-31, H3N2) or higher pathogenicity (PR8, H1N1) influenza A virus. Viral titer, airways inflammation, superoxide and peroxynitrite production, lung histopathology, pro-inflammatory (MCP-1) and antiviral (IL-1β) cytokines/chemokines, CD8+ T cell effector function and alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis were assessed. Infection of Nox2−/y mice with X-31 virus resulted in a significant reduction in viral titers, BALF macrophages, peri-bronchial inflammation, BALF inflammatory cell superoxide and lung tissue peroxynitrite production, MCP-1 levels and alveolar epithelial cell apoptosis when compared to WT control mice. Lung levels of IL-1β were ∼3-fold higher in Nox2−/y mice. The numbers of influenza-specific CD8+DbNP366+ and DbPA224+ T cells in the BALF and spleen were comparable in WT and Nox2−/y mice. In vivo administration of the Nox2 inhibitor apocynin significantly suppressed viral titer, airways inflammation and inflammatory cell superoxide production following infection with X-31 or PR8. In conclusion, these findings indicate that Nox2 inhibitors have therapeutic potential for control of lung inflammation and damage in an influenza strain-independent manner

Biophysical Factors Affecting the Distribution of Demersal Fish around the Head of a Submarine Canyon Off the Bonney Coast, South Australia

We sampled the demersal fish community of the Bonney Canyon, South Australia at depths (100–1,500 m) and locations that are poorly known. Seventy-eight species of demersal fish were obtained from 12 depth-stratified trawls along, and to either side, of the central canyon axis. Distributional patterns in species richness and biomass were highly correlated. Three fish assemblage groupings, characterised by small suites of species with narrow depth distributions, were identified on the shelf, upper slope and mid slope. The assemblage groupings were largely explained by depth (ρw = 0.78). Compared to the depth gradient, canyon-related effects are weak or occur at spatial or temporal scales not sampled in this study. A conceptual physical model displayed features consistent with the depth zonational patterns in fish, and also indicated that canyon upwelling can occur. The depth zonation of the fish assemblage was associated with the depth distribution of water masses in the area. Notably, the mid-slope community (1,000 m) coincided with a layer of Antarctic Intermediate Water, the upper slope community (500 m) resided within the core of the Flinders Current, and the shelf community was located in a well-mixed layer of surface water (<450 m depth)