The Concepts of Reliability and Homogeneity

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67956/2/10.1177_001316445001000103.pd

Incorporation Of Deepwater Horizon Oil In A Terrestrial Bird

Carbon isotopic evidence revealed Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil entering coastal planktonic and lower terrestrial food webs. The integration of spilled oil into higher terrestrial trophic levels, however, remains uncertain. Wemeasured radiocarbon (C-14) and stable carbon (C-13) in seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus) feathers and crop contents. Lower C-14 and C-13 values in feathers and crop contents of birds from contaminated areas indicated incorporation of carbon from oil. Our results, although based on a small sample of birds, thus reveal a food-web link between oil exposure and a terrestrial ecosystem. They also suggest that the reduction in reproductive success previously documented in the same population might be due to the (direct) toxic effect of oil exposure, rather than to (indirect) ecological effects. Werecommend future studies test our results by using larger samples of birds from a wider area in order to assess the extent and implications ofDWHoil incorporation into the terrestrial food web

Effects of Restoration of Blood Flow on the Development of Aortic Atherosclerosis in ApoE −/− Mice With Unilateral Renal Artery Stenosis

BACKGROUND: Chronic unilateral renal artery stenosis (RAS) causes accelerated atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE(-/-)) mice, but effects of restoration of renal blood flow on aortic atherosclerosis are unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Male ApoE(-/-) mice underwent sham surgery (n=16) or had partial ligation of the right renal artery (n=41) with the ligature being removed 4 days later (D4LR; n=6), 8 days later (D8LR; n=11), or left in place for 90 days (chronic RAS; n=24). Ligature removal at 4 or 8 days resulted in improved renal blood flow, decreased plasma angiotensin II levels, a return of systolic blood pressure to baseline, and increased plasma levels of neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin. Chronic RAS resulted in increased lipid staining in the aortic arch (33.2% [24.4, 47.5] vs 11.6% [6.1, 14.2]; P<0.05) and descending thoracic aorta (10.2% [6.4, 25.9] vs 4.9% [2.8, 7.8]; P<0.05), compared to sham surgery. There was an increased amount of aortic arch lipid staining in the D8LR group (22.7% [22.1, 32.7]), compared to sham-surgery, but less than observed with chronic RAS. Lipid staining in the aortic arch was not increased in the D4LR group, and lipid staining in the descending aorta was not increased in either the D8LR or D4LR groups. There was less macrophage expression in infrarenal aortic atheroma in the D4LR and D8LR groups compared to the chronic RAS group. CONCLUSIONS: Restoration of renal blood flow at either 4 or 8 days after unilateral RAS had a beneficial effect on systolic blood pressure, aortic lipid deposition, and atheroma inflammation

Population genetics of seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus) subspecies along the gulf of Mexico.

Seaside Sparrows (Ammodramus maritimus) along the Gulf of Mexico are currently recognized as four subspecies, including taxa in Florida (A. m. juncicola and A. m. peninsulae) and southern Texas (Ammodramus m. sennetti), plus a widespread taxon between them (A. m. fisheri). We examined population genetic structure of this Gulf Coast clade using microsatellite and mtDNA data. Results of Bayesian analyses (Structure, GeneLand) of microsatellite data from nine locations do not entirely align with current subspecific taxonomy. Ammodramus m. sennetti from southern Texas is significantly differentiated from all other populations, but we found evidence of an admixture zone with A. m. fisheri near Corpus Christi. The two subspecies along the northern Gulf Coast of Florida are significantly differentiated from both A. m. sennetti and A. m. fisheri, but are not distinct from each other. We found a weak signal of isolation by distance within A. m. fisheri, indicating this population is not entirely panmictic throughout its range. Although continued conservation concern is warranted for all populations along the Gulf Coast, A. m. fisheri appears to be more secure than the far smaller populations in south Texas and the northern Florida Gulf Coast. In particular, the most genetically distinct populations, those in Texas south of Corpus Christi, occupy unique habitats within a very small geographic range

Destabilization of the thermohaline circulation by transient perturbations to the hydrological cycle

We reconsider the problem of the stability of the thermohaline circulation as described by a two-dimensional Boussinesq model with mixed boundary conditions. We determine how the stability properties of the system depend on the intensity of the hydrological cycle. We define a two-dimensional parameters' space descriptive of the hydrology of the system and determine, by considering suitable quasi-static perturbations, a bounded region where multiple equilibria of the system are realized. We then focus on how the response of the system to finite-amplitude surface freshwater forcings depends on their rate of increase. We show that it is possible to define a robust separation between slow and fast regimes of forcing. Such separation is obtained by singling out an estimate of the critical growth rate for the anomalous forcing, which can be related to the characteristic advective time scale of the system.Comment: 37 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Clim. Dy

A universal model for mobility and migration patterns

Introduced in its contemporary form by George Kingsley Zipf in 1946, but with roots that go back to the work of Gaspard Monge in the 18th century, the gravity law is the prevailing framework to predict population movement, cargo shipping volume, inter-city phone calls, as well as bilateral trade flows between nations. Despite its widespread use, it relies on adjustable parameters that vary from region to region and suffers from known analytic inconsistencies. Here we introduce a stochastic process capturing local mobility decisions that helps us analytically derive commuting and mobility fluxes that require as input only information on the population distribution. The resulting radiation model predicts mobility patterns in good agreement with mobility and transport patterns observed in a wide range of phenomena, from long-term migration patterns to communication volume between different regions. Given its parameter-free nature, the model can be applied in areas where we lack previous mobility measurements, significantly improving the predictive accuracy of most of phenomena affected by mobility and transport processes.Comment: Main text and supplementary informatio

Stable Patterns of Gene Expression Regulating Carbohydrate Metabolism Determined by Geographic Ancestry

Background: Individuals of African descent in the United States suffer disproportionately from diseases with a metabolic etiology (obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes), and from the pathological consequences of these disorders (hypertension and cardiovascular disease). Methodology/Principal Findings: Using a combination of genetic/genomic and bioinformatics approaches, we identified a large number of genes that were both differentially expressed between American subjects self-identified to be of either African or European ancestry and that also contained single nucleotide polymorphisms that distinguish distantly related ancestral populations. Several of these genes control the metabolism of simple carbohydrates and are direct targets for the SREBP1, a metabolic transcription factor also differentially expressed between our study populations. Conclusions/Significance: These data support the concept of stable patterns of gene transcription unique to a geographic ancestral lineage. Differences in expression of several carbohydrate metabolism genes suggest both genetic and transcriptional mechanisms contribute to these patterns and may play a role in exacerbating the disproportionate levels o

Acute ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction in Patients Hospitalized for Noncardiac Conditions

BackgroundMajor advances have been made in the treatment of ST‐elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in outpatients. In contrast, little is known about outcomes in STEMI that occur in patients hospitalized for a noncardiac condition.Methods and ResultsThis was a retrospective, single‐center study of inpatient STEMIs from January 1, 2007, to July 31, 2011. Forty‐eight cases were confirmed to be inpatient STEMIs of a total of 139 410 adult discharges. These patients were older and more often female and had higher rates of chronic kidney disease and prior cerebrovascular events compared with 227 patients with outpatient STEMIs treated during the same period. Onset of inpatient STEMI was heralded most frequently by a change in clinical status (60%) and less commonly by patient complaints (33%) or changes on telemetry. Coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention were performed in 71% and 56% of patients, respectively. The median time to obtain ECG (41 [10, 600] versus 5 [2, 10] minutes; P<0.001), ECG to angiography time (91 [26, 209] versus 35 [25, 46] minutes; P<0.001) and ECG to first device activation (FDA) (129 [65, 25] versus 60 [47, 76] minutes; P<0.001) were longer for inpatient versus outpatient STEMI. Survival to discharge was lower for inpatient STEMI (60% versus 96%; P<0.001), and this difference persisted after adjusting for potential confounders.ConclusionsPatients who develop a STEMI while hospitalized for a noncardiac condition are older and more often female, have more comorbidities, have longer ECG‐to‐FDA times, and are less likely to survive than patients with an outpatient STEMI

Software Defined Networking Opportunities for Intelligent Security Enhancement of Industrial Control Systems

In the last years, cyber security of Industrial Control Systems (ICSs) has become an important issue due to the discovery of sophisticated malware that by attacking Critical Infrastructures, could cause catastrophic safety results. Researches have been developing countermeasures to enhance cyber security for pre-Internet era systems, which are extremely vulnerable to threats. This paper presents the potential opportunities that Software Defined Networking (SDN) provides for the security enhancement of Industrial Control Networks. SDN permits a high level of configuration of a network by the separation of control and data planes. In this work, we describe the affinities between SDN and ICSs and we discuss about implementation strategies

A constitutive representation for linear aging, environmental-dependent viscoelastic materials

This study is concerned with developing a constitutive law for aging and environmental-dependent materials. The development rests on the assumption that the mechanical properties of the aforementioned materials can be mathematically represented by a functional of the strain and environmental histories, and this functional depends on the present time and the time the material is created. This constitutive assumption leads to two equivalent integral forms of the constitutive law after asserting that the functional is linear in the strain history. The first form of the integral law contains a material response functional analogous to the creep and relaxation functions of classical linear viscoelasticity. The second integral law has the same basic mathematical form but the physical interpretation of the mechanical response functional is different. It is demonstrated that both forms of the aging law reduce to the same non-aging law which is the usual starting for an analysis of only environmental-dependent materials. In the Appendix an operator algebra is presented for convenience in manipulating the integral laws for aging materials. Diese Untersuchung beschäftigt sich mit der Darstellung eines Werkstoffgesetzes für Altern und für umgebungsabhängige Stoffe. Die Entwicklung beruht auf der Annahme, daß die mechanischen Eigenschaften der oben erwähnten Stoffe mathematisch durch ein Funktional der Verzerrungs- und der Umgebungsgeschichten dargestellt werden kann und daß dieses Funktional von der augenblicklichen Zeit und der Zeit der Erzeugung des Stoffes abhängt. Diese Werkstoffannahme führt, unter der Voraussetzung einer linearen Abhängigkeit des Funktionals von der Verzerrungsgeschichte, auf zwei äquivalente Integraldarstellungen des Werkstoffgesetzes. Die erste Darstellung des Integralgesetzes enthält ein Materialantwort-Funktional analog der Kriech- und Relaxationsfunktionen der klassischen linearen Viskoelastizität. Das zweite Gesetz hat die gleiche mathematische Gestalt, aber verschiedene physikalische Interpretation des mechanischen Antwort-Funktionals. Es wird gezeigt, daß für nicht-alternde Stoffe beide Darstellungen dasselbe Gesetz, das der übliche Ausgangspunkt einer Untersuchung umgebungsbeeinflußter Stoffe ist, ergeben. Im Anhang werden einige für das Rechnen mit den Integralgesetzen alternder Stoffe handliche Sätze der Operatorenrechnung angegeben.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41700/1/707_2005_Article_BF01179657.pd