The Role of a Hot Gas Environment on the Evolution of Galaxies

Most spiral galaxies are found in galaxy groups with low velocity dispersions; most E/S0 galaxies are found in galaxy groups with relatively high velocity dispersions. The mass of the hot gas we can observe in the E/S0 groups via their thermal X-ray emission is, on average, as much as the baryonic mass of the galaxies in these groups. By comparison, galaxy clusters have as much or more hot gas than stellar mass. Hot gas in S-rich groups, however, is of low enough temperature for its X-ray emission to suffer heavy absorption due to Galactic HI and related observational effects, and hence is hard to detect. We postulate that such lower temperature hot gas does exist in low velocity dispersion, S-rich groups, and explore the consequences of this assumption. For a wide range of metallicity and density, hot gas in S-rich groups can cool in far less than a Hubble time. If such gas exists and can cool, especially when interacting with HI in existing galaxies, then it can help link together a number of disparate observations, both Galactic and extragalactic, that are otherwise difficult to understand.Comment: 16 pages with one figure. ApJ Letters, in pres

Changes in bird community composition in response to growth changes in short-rotation woody crop plantings

Hybrid poplar established as intensively managed short-rotation woody crops (SRWC) former agricultural lands can provide habitat for wildlife. Studies of bird use of SRWC for nesting and during fall migration have shown that the numbers and kinds of breeding birds using mature plantings of hybrid poplar are similar to natural-forested lands. In Minnesota, the number and species of breeding birds using habitat provided by clonal-trial plantings and young larger-scale plantings (12--64 ha) of hybrid poplar were initially most similar to those using grasslands and row-crops. As the plantings approached canopy closure, successional species became predominant. In the Pacific Northwest, breeding bird composition and density were very similar for mature plantings and forested areas; however, fall migrants were found primarily in forested areas. In the Southeast, preliminary comparisons of breeding bird use of plantings of sweetgum and sycamore with naturally regenerating forests of different ages and sizes and vegetation structure are showing no size effect on use. As with hybrid poplar, species use of the more mature plantings of sweetgum and sycamore was most similar to that of natural forests

Brown Carbon Production by Aqueous-Phase Interactions of Glyoxal and SO2

Oxalic acid and sulfate salts are major components of aerosol particles. Here, we explore the potential for their respective precursor species, glyoxal and SO2, to form atmospheric brown carbon via aqueous-phase reactions in a series of bulk aqueous and flow chamber aerosol experiments. In bulk aqueous solutions, UV- and visible-light-absorbing products are observed at pH 3–4 and 5–6, respectively, with small but detectable yields of hydroxyquinone and polyketone products formed, especially at pH 6. Hydroxymethanesulfonate (HMS), C2, and C3 sulfonates are major products detected by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) at pH 5. Past studies have assumed that the reaction of formaldehyde and sulfite was the only atmospheric source of HMS. In flow chamber experiments involving sulfite aerosol and gas-phase glyoxal with only 1 min residence times, significant aerosol growth is observed. Rapid brown carbon formation is seen with aqueous aerosol particles at \u3e80% relative humidity (RH). Brown carbon formation slows at 50–60% RH and when the aerosol particles are acidified with sulfuric acid but stops entirely only under dry conditions. This chemistry may therefore contribute to brown carbon production in cloud-processed pollution plumes as oxidizing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) interact with SO2 and water

The role of SRC-3 in estrogen-dependent vasoprotection during vascular wall remodeling postinjury

Estrogen receptors are hormone-inducible transcription factors requiring coactivators such as members of the SRC/p160 family to modulate the transcription of their target genes. This perspective will examine the interplay between estrogen receptors and their coactivators in vasoprotection during vascular wall remodeling

Biomass Crop Production: Benefits for Soil Quality and Carbon Sequestration

Research at three locations in the southeastern US is quantifying changes in soil quality and soil carbon storage that occur during production of biomass crops compared with row crops. After three growing seasons, soil quality improved and soil carbon storage increased on plots planted to cottonwood, sycamore, sweetgum with a cover crop, switchgrass, and no-till corn. For tree crops, sequestered belowground carbon was found mainly in stumps and large roots. At the TN site, the coarse woody organic matter storage belowground was 1.3 Mg ha{sup {minus}1}yr{sup {minus}1}, of which 79% was stumps and large roots and 21% fine roots. Switchgrass at the AL site also stored considerable carbon belowground as coarse roots. Most of the carbon storage occurred mainly in the upper 30 cw although coarse roots were found to depths of greater than 60 cm. Biomass crops contributed to improvements in soil physical quality as well as increasing belowground carbon sequestration. The distribution and extent of carbon sequestration depends on the growth characteristics and age of the individual biomass crop species. Time and increasing crop maturity will determine the potential of these biomass crops to significantly contribute to the overall national goal of increasing carbon sequestration and reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Evaluation Research and Institutional Pressures: Challenges in Public-Nonprofit Contracting

This article examines the connection between program evaluation research and decision-making by public managers. Drawing on neo-institutional theory, a framework is presented for diagnosing the pressures and conditions that lead alternatively toward or away the rational use of evaluation research. Three cases of public-nonprofit contracting for the delivery of major programs are presented to clarify the way coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures interfere with a sound connection being made between research and implementation. The article concludes by considering how public managers can respond to the isomorphic pressures in their environment that make it hard to act on data relating to program performance.This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 23. The Hauser Center Working Paper Series was launched during the summer of 2000. The Series enables the Hauser Center to share with a broad audience important works-in-progress written by Hauser Center scholars and researchers

Estimating Fuel Cycle Externalities: Analytical Methods and Issues, Report 2

The activities that produce electric power typically range from extracting and transporting a fuel, to its conversion into electric power, and finally to the disposition of residual by-products. This chain of activities is called a fuel cycle. A fuel cycle has emissions and other effects that result in unintended consequences. When these consequences affect third parties (i.e., those other than the producers and consumers of the fuel-cycle activity) in a way that is not reflected in the price of electricity, they are termed ''hidden'' social costs or externalities. They are the economic value of environmental, health and any other impacts, that the price of electricity does not reflect. How do you estimate the externalities of fuel cycles? Our previous report describes a methodological framework for doing so--called the damage function approach. This approach consists of five steps: (1) characterize the most important fuel cycle activities and their discharges, where importance is based on the expected magnitude of their externalities, (2) estimate the changes in pollutant concentrations or other effects of those activities, by modeling the dispersion and transformation of each pollutant, (3) calculate the impacts on ecosystems, human health, and any other resources of value (such as man-made structures), (4) translate the estimates of impacts into economic terms to estimate damages and benefits, and (5) assess the extent to which these damages and benefits are externalities, not reflected in the price of electricity. Each step requires a different set of equations, models and analysis. Analysts generally believe this to be the best approach for estimating externalities, but it has hardly been used! The reason is that it requires considerable analysis and calculation, and to this point in time, the necessary equations and models have not been assembled. Equally important, the process of identifying and estimating externalities leads to a number of complex issues that also have not been fully addressed. This document contains two types of papers that seek to fill part of this void. Some of the papers describe analytical methods that can be applied to one of the five steps of the damage function approach. The other papers discuss some of the complex issues that arise in trying to estimate externalities. This report, the second in a series of eight reports, is part of a joint study by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Commission of the European Communities (EC)* on the externalities of fuel cycles. Most of the papers in this report were originally written as working papers during the initial phases of this study. The papers provide descriptions of the (non-radiological) atmospheric dispersion modeling that the study uses; reviews much of the relevant literature on ecological and health effects, and on the economic valuation of those impacts; contains several papers on some of the more complex and contentious issues in estimating externalities; and describes a method for depicting the quality of scientific information that a study uses. The analytical methods and issues that this report discusses generally pertain to more than one of the fuel cycles, though not necessarily to all of them. The report is divided into six parts, each one focusing on a different subject area

Amilorides inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro by targeting RNA structures

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and the likelihood of future coronavirus pandemics, emphasized the urgent need for development of novel antivirals. Small-molecule chemical probes offer both to reveal aspects of virus replication and to serve as leads for antiviral therapeutic development. Here, we report on the identification of amiloride-based small molecules that potently inhibit OC43 and SARS-CoV-2 replication through targeting of conserved structured elements within the viral 5′-end. Nuclear magnetic resonance–based structural studies revealed specific amiloride interactions with stem loops containing bulge like structures and were predicted to be strongly bound by the lead amilorides in retrospective docking studies. Amilorides represent the first antiviral small molecules that target RNA structures within the 5′ untranslated regions and proximal region of the CoV genomes. These molecules will serve as chemical probes to further understand CoV RNA biology and can pave the way for the development of specific CoV RNA–targeted antivirals