Epidermal Papilloma in an Ozark Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi) from the Spring River of Northwest Arkansas

An Ozark hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis bishopi) with multiple, large, warty skin lesions was collected in the Spring River, Fulton County, Arkansas, in 1994. The specimen was a female, 560 mm in total length, and had a mass of 1,947 g. Tissues were formalin-fixed, and three lesions were processed for histopathology. The normal skin at the tumor margins had a stratified squamous epidermis overlying a loose, well-vascularized, heavily pigmented dermis. Poison glands and mucous glands extended from the epidermis into the dermis. The lesions, in contrast, were masses of epidermal cells up to 100 times thicker than the normal epidermis. They consisted of long, thick, branching epidermal pegs separated by thin fibrovascular papillae. The base of the lesions and all pegs had sharp boundaries bordered by a basement membrane, ruling out invasion. Tumor cells were differentiated into scattered glandular structures suggestive of dermal glands. Cells within the pegs were poorly organized. Nuclei usually contained basophilic granules. Mitotic figures were numerous. By electron microscopy, the cells appeared to be pulling apart except where held together by desmosomes. The sum of the above observations is consistent with a pathological diagnosis of epidermal papilloma

Status of the Ozark Hellbender, Cryptobranchus Bishopi (Urodela: Cryptobranchidae), in the Spring River, Fulton County, Arkansas

We conducted a tag and release study of the Ozark hellbender along a 26 km stretch of the Spring River from mid-July through mid-November, 1991, to determine current population levels. Salamanders were collected by hand with the aid of scuba diving equipment. Thirteen visits(36 dive hrs.) to10 selected access sites yielded 20 animals. Compared to previously published data of the early 1980\u27s which indicated large, striving populations of C. bishopi(in some cases, \u3e 300 individuals) in the Spring River, our study found perilously low numbers of salamanders. This drastic decline may be attributed to over collection of specimens for scientific or other purposes and habitat alteration related to recreational activities. Other contributing factors for this decline could be the inadventent killing of animals during human activity (seining, swimming, canoeing, and fishing), the elimination of riparian habitats leading to an increase in the silt burden, and water pollution associated with human occupation and development along the river

Simple renormalizable flavor symmetry for neutrino oscillations

pre-printThe recent measurement of a nonzero neutrino mixing angle θ13 requires a modification of the tri-bimaximal mixing pattern that predicts a zero value for it. We propose a new neutrino mixing pattern based on a spontaneously broken A4 flavor symmetry and a type-I seesaw mechanism. Our model allows for approximate tri-bimaximal mixing and nonzero θ13, and contains a natural way to implement low- and high-energy CP violations in neutrino oscillations, and leptogenesis with a renormalizable Lagrangian. Both normal and inverted mass hierarchies are permitted within 3σ experimental bounds, with the prediction of small (large) deviations from maximality in the atmospheric mixing angle for the normal (inverted) case. Interestingly, we show that the inverted case is excluded by the global analysis in 1σ experimental bounds, while the most recent MINOS data seem to favor the inverted case. Our model make predictions for the Dirac CP phase in the normal and inverted hierarchies, which can be tested in near-future neutrino oscillation experiments. Our model also predicts the effective mass |mee| measurable in neutrinoless double beta decay to be in the range 0:04 ≤ |mee| ≤ 0:15 eV for the normal hierarchy and 0:06 ≤ |mee| ≤ 0:11 eV for the inverted hierarchy, both of which are within the sensitivity of the next generation experiments

Att skapa en mix-template (mixningsmall) : en processbeskrivning av att skapa en mix-template som används för musikproduktion

Syftet med denna forskning är att utöka mitt eget kunnande kring skapandet av en mix-template. Detta gör jag genom att skapa min version av en mix-template i inspelningsprogrammet Cubase samt pröva resultatet i praktiken. Målet är att ha en mix-template som gör mixningsjobbet lättare och snabbare att utföra. Denna process har lett till att jag har utvecklats som mixare samt att mitt arbetssätt har förbättrats. Jag hoppas med detta arbete hjälpa andra som är intresserade av att skapa en mix-template samt klargöra processen i fråga. Frågeställningar till detta projekt är: • Hur skapar man en mix-template? • Hur använder man en mix-template i praktiken?The goal with this study is to increase my knowledge around making my own mix-template. I do this by creating my version of a mix-template in the recording software Cubase and by evaluating the results in practice. The goal is to have a mix-template that makes mixing easier and quicker to execute. This process has resulted in me developing further as a mixer and my workflow has improved. I hope this study will help others who are interested in creating a mix-template and to clarify the process behind this. Questions I am asking are: • How do you create a mix-template? • How do you use a mix-template in practice

A Case for Integrated Data Processing in Large-Scale Cyber-Physical Systems

Large-scale cyber-physical systems such as manufacturing lines generate vast amounts of data to guarantee precise control of their machinery. Visions such as the Industrial Internet of Things aim at making this data available also to computation systems outside the lines to increase productivity and product quality. However, rising amounts and complexities of data and control decisions push existing infrastructure for data transmission, storage, and processing to its limits. In this paper, we exemplarily study a fine blanking line which can produce up to 6.2 Gbit/s worth of data to showcase the extreme requirements found in modern manufacturing. We consequently propose integrated data processing which keeps inherently local and small-scale tasks close to the processes while at the same time centralizing tasks relying on more complex decision procedures and remote data sources. Our approach thus allows for both maintaining control of field-level processes and leveraging the benefits of “big data” applications

Prática de ensino supervisionada em Educação Pré-Escolar e ensino do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

O presente relatório é referente à ação educativa realizada durante a Prática de Ensino Supervisionada, em contexto de Educação Pré-Escolar e 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico. As instituições onde decorreram os diferentes contextos são de rede pública, sendo dois grupos de crianças de três e de seis anos de idade, respetivamente. Apresentamos a contextualização das instituições envolventes bem como a caracterização de cada um dos grupos. Explanamos ainda um conjunto de experiências de aprendizagem que foram selecionadas, com o intuito de apresentar uma visão integrada da ação educativa desenvolvida nos contextos supra referenciados. A ação pedagógica foi desenvolvida em conjunto com as crianças, as Educadoras de Infância e Professoras Cooperantes valorizando sempre uma ação participativa. Os dados recolhidos sobre os grupos de crianças foram obtidos através de instrumentos de recolha de dados de registo de observação e dos diálogos com o educadora/professora. O trabalho realizado foi fruto da nossa formação académica, da nossa investigação, com o intuito de promover nas crianças aprendizagens significativas, assentes em pedagogias ativas e participativas. Refere-se ainda o respeito pelo ritmo da criança no processo de ensino e aprendizagem e a sua capacidade de interação no meio em que está inserida, pois são elas as protagonistas.The present report refers to the educational activities conducted during the Supervised Teaching Practice in the context of Preschool Education and First Primary School. Both contexts are public institutions with two groups of children from three and six years of age, respectively. We present the context of the surrounding institutions as well as the characterization of each group also we explain a set of learning experiences selected in order to present an integrated view of the educational activity developed in the context referenced above. The pedagogical action was developed on a partnership between children, Childhood Educators and Cooperating Teachers always valuing a participatory action. The data collected about the groups of children were obtained through data collection instruments for registration of observation and dialogue with the educator/teacher. The work was the result of our academic training, our investigation, with the aim of promote meaningful learning in young children, based on active and participatory pedagogies. Also note the respect for the pace of the child in the process of teaching and learning and their ability to interact in the environment in which it operates, because they are the protagonists

Modern Sedimentation and Authigenic Mineral Formation in the Chew Bahir Basin, Southern Ethiopia:Implications for Interpretation of Late Quaternary Paleoclimate Records

We present new mineralogical and geochemical data from modern sediments in the Chew Bahir basin and catchment, Ethiopia. Our goal is to better understand the role of modern sedimentary processes in chemical proxy formation in the Chew Bahir paleolake, a newly investigated paleoclimatic archive, to provide environmental context for human evolution and dispersal. Modern sediment outside the currently dry playa lake floor have higher SiO2 and Al2O3 (50-70 wt.%) content compared to mudflat samples. On average, mudflat sediment samples are enriched in elements such as Mg, Ca, Ce, Nd, and Na, indicating possible enrichment during chemical weathering (e.g., clay formation). Thermodynamic modeling of evaporating water in upstream Lake Chamo is shown to produce an authigenic mineral assemblage of calcite, analcime, and Mg-enriched authigenic illitic clay minerals, consistent with the prevalence of environments of enhanced evaporative concentration in the Chew Bahir basin. A comparison with samples from the sediment cores of Chew Bahir based on whole-rock MgO/Al2O3, Ba/Sr and authigenic clay mineral delta O-18 values shows the following: modern sediments deposited in the saline mudflats of the Chew Bahir dried out lake bed resemble paleosediments deposited during dry periods, such as during times of the Last Glacial Maximum and Younger Dryas stadial. Sediments from modern detrital upstream sources are more similar to sediments deposited during wetter periods, such as the early Holocene African Humid Period

The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project:High-Resolution Paleoclimate Records from the East African Rift System and Their Implications for Understanding the Environmental Context of Hominin Evolution

The possibility of a causal relationship between Earth history processes and hominin evolution in Africa has been the subject of intensive paleoanthropological research for the last 25 years. One fundamental question is: can any geohistorical processes, in particular, climatic ones, be characterized with sufficient precision to enable temporal correlation with events in hominin evolution and provide support for a possible causal mechanism for evolutionary changes? Previous attempts to link paleoclimate and hominin evolution have centered on evidence from the outcrops where the hominin fossils are found, as understanding whether and how hominin populations responded to habitat change must be examined at the local basinal scale. However, these outcrop records typically provide incomplete, low-resolution climate and environmental histories, and surface weathering often precludes the application of highly sensitive, state-of-the-art paleoenvironmental methods. Continuous and well-preserved deep-sea drill core records have provided an alternative approach to reconstructing the context of hominin evolution, but have been collected at great distances from hominin sites and typically integrate information over vast spatial scales. The goal of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) is to analyze climate and other Earth system dynamics using detailed paleoenvironmental data acquired through scientific drilling of lacustrine depocenters at or near six key paleoanthropological sites in Kenya and Ethiopia. This review provides an overview of a unique collaboration of paleoanthropologists and earth scientists who have joined together to explicitly explore key hypotheses linking environmental history and mammalian (including hominin) evolution and potentially develop new testable hypotheses. With a focus on continuous, high-resolution proxies at timescales relevant to both biological and cultural evolution, the HSPDP aims to dramatically expand our understanding of the environmental history of eastern Africa during a significant portion of the Late Neogene and Quaternary, and to generate useful models of long-term environmental dynamics in the regionpublishersversionPeer reviewe

Mouse hitchhiker mutants have spina bifida, dorso-ventral patterning defects and polydactyly: identification of Tulp3 as a novel negative regulator of the Sonic hedgehog pathway

The mammalian Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signalling pathway is essential for embryonic development and the patterning of multiple organs. Disruption or activation of Shh signalling leads to multiple birth defects, including holoprosencephaly, neural tube defects and polydactyly, and in adults results in tumours of the skin or central nervous system. Genetic approaches with model organisms continue to identify novel components of the pathway, including key molecules that function as positive or negative regulators of Shh signalling. Data presented here define Tulp3 as a novel negative regulator of the Shh pathway. We have identified a new mouse mutant that is a strongly hypomorphic allele of Tulp3 and which exhibits expansion of ventral markers in the caudal spinal cord, as well as neural tube defects and preaxial polydactyly, consistent with increased Shh signalling. We demonstrate that Tulp3 acts genetically downstream of Shh and Smoothened (Smo) in neural tube patterning and exhibits a genetic interaction with Gli3 in limb development. We show that Tulp3 does not appear to alter expression or processing of Gli3, and we demonstrate that transcriptional regulation of other negative regulators (Rab23, Fkbp8, Thm1, Sufu and PKA) is not affected. We discuss the possible mechanism of action of Tulp3 in Shh-mediated signalling in light of these new data