Using an established morphometric model to assess field-based sexing of Arctic grayling

Arctic grayling display sexual dimorphism in dorsal fin shape and size. A recent study established a reliable model for fish sex determination using morphometric measurements, but its application is time-consuming. Our objective is to assess the accuracy of field-based fish sexing using the established morphometric model as a reference

Identification of 24 new microsatellite loci in the sweat bee Lasioglossum malachurum (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

OBJECTIVE: The objective here is to identify highly polymorphic microsatellite loci for the Palaearctic sweat bee Lasioglossum malachurum. Sweat bees (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) are widespread pollinators that exhibit an unusually large range of social behaviours from non-social, where each female nests alone, to eusocial, where a single queen reproduces while the other members of the colony help to rear her offspring. They thus represent excellent models for understanding social evolution. RESULTS: 24 new microsatellite loci were successfully optimized. When amplified across 23-40 unrelated females, the number of alleles per locus ranged from 3 to 17 and the observed heterozygosities 0.45 to 0.95. Only one locus showed evidence of significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. No evidence of linkage disequilibrium was found. These 24 loci will enable researchers to gain greater understanding of colony relationships within this species, an important model for the study of eusociality. Furthermore, 22 of the same loci were also successfully amplified in L. calceatum, suggesting that these loci may be useful for investigating the ecology and evolution of sweat bees in general

Co-exposure to urban particulate matter and aircraft noise adversely impacts the cerebro-pulmonary-cardiovascular axis in mice

Worldwide, up to 8.8 million excess deaths/year have been attributed to air pollution, mainly due to the exposure to fine particulate matter (PM). Traffic-related noise is an additional contributor to global mortality and morbidity. Both health risk factors substantially contribute to cardiovascular, metabolic and neuropsychiatric sequelae. Studies on the combined exposure are rare and urgently needed because of frequent co-occurrence of both risk factors in urban and industrial settings. To study the synergistic effects of PM and noise, we used an exposure system equipped with aerosol generator and loud-speakers, where C57BL/6 mice were acutely exposed for 3d to either ambient PM (NIST particles) and/or noise (aircraft landing and take-off events). The combination of both stressors caused endothelial dysfunction, increased blood pressure, oxidative stress and inflammation. An additive impairment of endothelial function was observed in isolated aortic rings and even more pronounced in cerebral and retinal arterioles. The increase in oxidative stress and inflammation markers together with RNA sequencing data indicate that noise particularly affects the brain and PM the lungs. The combination of both stressors has additive adverse effects on the cardiovascular system that are based on PM-induced systemic inflammation and noise-triggered stress hormone signaling. We demonstrate an additive upregulation of ACE-2 in the lung, suggesting that there may be an increased vulnerability to COVID-19 infection. The data warrant further mechanistic studies to characterize the propagation of primary target tissue damage (lung, brain) to remote organs such as aorta and heart by combined noise and PM exposure

Creating and curating an archive: Bury St Edmunds and its Anglo-Saxon past

This contribution explores the mechanisms by which the Benedictine foundation of Bury St Edmunds sought to legitimise and preserve their spurious pre-Conquest privileges and holdings throughout the Middle Ages. The archive is extraordinary in terms of the large number of surviving registers and cartularies which contain copies of Anglo-Saxon charters, many of which are wholly or partly in Old English. The essay charts the changing use to which these ancient documents were put in response to threats to the foundation's continued enjoyment of its liberties. The focus throughout the essay is to demonstrate how pragmatic considerations at every stage affects the development of the archive and the ways in which these linguistically challenging texts were presented, re-presented, and represented during the Abbey’s history

Madison Place : a cultural arts center, Madison, Indiana

The thesis book in general, is viewed as the documnetation of the final year of design study, involving the comprehensive development of a single design project. My book is designed to show a process of involvement in that single project over the course of the year. The process, I believe, is as important, as the final product and thusly the book attempts to show that process.From all this something was suppose to be gained, besides the fact of producing a design project. Something did emerge, throughout the course of the year . . . ideological concepts on architecture. Architecture, must first address itself to satisfying the functional requirements of the program. Architecture, however, must do much more: it must initially and continually endure to design human spaces; to have humanistic qualities for those spaces; it must be conscious of the context it is to be located and follow with the best response; . . . and much more. Principally, however, the architect must give life to buildings, for just as a painter and sculptor give life to their canvas and clay . . . so it must follow that the architect must give of himself, of his spirit to each project, with a newness and vitality . . . life to a high form of art . . . the built environment, architecture.Thesis (B. Arch.)College of Architecture and Plannin

U.S. Waterways Experiment Station Reports

Partial abstract: "The study consisted of field and laboratory investigations, construction evaluation, and geotechnical and structural analyses to determine the cause(s) of distress and failure of a 2600-ft section of 12-ft 9-in. diameter concrete-lined sanitary sewer tunnel in the Detroit, Mich., area. [...] The report includes summaries of all pertinent construction records, results of all pertinent past and current field and laboratory tests on construction and geotechnical materials, and detailed geotechnical and structural analyses based on observed conditions and measured parameters.