Checklist of the Invertebrate Animals Reported from the Region of Port Aransas, Texas

This checklist is of preliminary form with the hope that this will be a beginning for a more complete annotated list of the fauna and flora of this region. In many cases this list is quite obviously incomplete, however further work on the taxonomy of the biota of this region will gradually fill the incomplete gaps, and the resulting list should then prove quite useful to field investigators in this area.Marine Scienc

Faith, Librarianship and Technology

Technology is transforming many venues. Some suggest that the transformation is happening much too quickly, others suggest not quickly enough. As Christians, we have a responsibility to observe this technological transformation through the lens of faith and act upon what we learn. As academic librarians, we have a responsibility to use technology to further the spread of resources to our patrons. How does a Christian librarian respond to changes? Is there a measuring rod by which technology should be evaluated? This article argues that relationships are the measuring rod by which technology should be evaluated; relationships meaning not simply a casual acquaintance, but an effort to restore Eden in every interaction that takes place, both online and face to face. When these efforts are made, faith, librarianship, and technology can serve a unified purpose

Checklist of the Marine Fauna and Flora Reported from the Region of Aransas Pass, Texas

This checklist is of preliminary form with the hope that this will be a beginning for a more complete annotated list of the fauna and flora of this region. In many cases, this list is quite obviously incomplete, such as the algae, for which there are many species found on the Port Aransas jetties which have not been reported in a formal publication. Further work on the taxonomy or the biota of this region will gradually fill the incomplete gaps, and the resulting list should then prove quite beneficial to field investigators in this area. The arrangement or this list is phylogenetic, with reference for each species indicated by the number of each reference.Marine Scienc

The Higgs Decay Width in Multi-Scalar Doublet Models

We show that there are regions of parameter space in multi-scalar doublet models where, in the first few hundred inverse femtobarns of data, the new charged and neutral scalars are not directly observable at the LHC and yet the Higgs decay rate to b bbar is changed significantly from its standard model value. For a light Higgs with a mass less than 140 GeV, this can cause a large change in the number of two photon and tau tau Higgs decay events expected at the LHC compared to the minimal standard model. In the models we consider, the principle of minimal flavor violation is used to suppress flavor changing neutral currents. This paper emphasizes the importance of measuring the properties of the Higgs boson at the LHC; for a range of parameters the model considered has new physics at the TeV scale that is invisible, in the first few hundred inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity at the LHC, except indirectly through the measurement of Higgs boson properties.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures V2: refs adde

The Higgs Decay Width in Multi-Scalar Doublet Models

We show that there are regions of parameter space in multi-scalar doublet models where, in the first few hundred inverse femtobarns of data, the new charged and neutral scalars are not directly observable at the LHC and yet the Higgs decay rate to b bbar is changed significantly from its standard model value. For a light Higgs with a mass less than 140 GeV, this can cause a large change in the number of two photon and tau tau Higgs decay events expected at the LHC compared to the minimal standard model. In the models we consider, the principle of minimal flavor violation is used to suppress flavor changing neutral currents. This paper emphasizes the importance of measuring the properties of the Higgs boson at the LHC; for a range of parameters the model considered has new physics at the TeV scale that is invisible, in the first few hundred inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity at the LHC, except indirectly through the measurement of Higgs boson properties.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures V2: refs adde

Scalar Representations and Minimal Flavor Violation

We discuss the representations that new scalar degrees of freedom (beyond those in the minimal standard model) can have if they couple to quarks in a way that is consistent with minimal flavor violation. If the new scalars are singlets under the flavor group then they must be color singlets or color octets. In this paper we discuss the allowed representations and renormalizable couplings when the new scalars also transform under the flavor group. We find that color \bar{3} and 6 representations are also allowed. We focus on the cases where the new scalars can have renormalizable Yukawa couplings to the quarks without factors of the quark Yukawa matrices. The renormalizable couplings in the models we introduce automatically conserve baryon number.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures V2: Lepton MFV protection of baryon number discusse

Study of systematics effects on the Cross Power Spectrum of 21 cm Line and Cosmic Microwave Background using Murchison Widefield Array Data

Observation of the 21cm line signal from neutral hydrogen during the Epoch of Reionization is challenging due to extremely bright Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds and complicated instrumental calibration. A reasonable approach for mitigating these problems is the cross correlation with other observables. In this work, we present the first results of the cross power spectrum (CPS) between radio images observed by the Murchison Widefield Array and the cosmic microwave background (CMB), measured by the Planck experiment. We study the systematics due to the ionospheric activity, the dependence of CPS on group of pointings, and frequency. The resulting CPS is consistent with zero because the error is dominated by the foregrounds in the 21cm observation. Additionally, the variance of the signal indicates the presence of unexpected systematics error at small scales. Furthermore, we reduce the error by one order of magnitude with application of a foreground removal using a polynomial fitting method. Based on the results, we find that the detection of the 21cm-CMB CPS with the MWA Phase I requires more than 99.95% of the foreground signal removed, 2000 hours of deep observation and 50% of the sky fraction coverage.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, accepted to MNRA

Old Mice Exhibit Greater Skeletal Muscle Cxcl10 Gene Expression

Advanced age is associated with impairments in glucose tolerance increasing the risk for metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes. Preliminary data from our lab demonstrates greater T-cell infiltration in the skeletal muscle with age and that depletion of T-cells improves glucose tolerance in old mice. The mechanisms responsible for increased T-cell recruitment to the skeletal muscles with age is not known. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether gene expression of the T-cell recruiting chemokine’s Cxcl10, Ccl5, and Ccl2 are altered with advanced age in mouse skeletal muscle. METHODS: 4 young mice (~6months) and 5 old mice (~24 months) were euthanized and the gastrocnemius was snap frozen and kept -80°C until further use. Muscles were homogenized and the RNA was extracted using the phenol chloroform method. After the extraction of the RNA, the complimentary DNA (cDNA) was synthesized and used for qPCR to assess the gene expression of Ccl2, Cxcl10, Ccl5, and 18s. The 18s gene was used as the endogenous control. Relative gene expression was determined using the delta delta CT method. Group differences were assessed with an independent sample t-test. RESULTS: All data are expressed as mean ± standard error. Relative Ccl2 gene expression was 1.76 ± 0.82 in young mice and 1.96 ± 0.59 in old mice (p=0.42). Relative Cxcl10 gene expression was 0.88 ± 0.24 in young mice and 13.86 ± 1.25 in old mice (p=0.04). Relative Ccl5 gene expression was 3.88 ± 3.34 in young mice and 1.32± 0.28 in old mice (p=0.21). CONCLUSION: Overall, this study suggests that Cxcl10 but not Ccl2 and Ccl5 gene expression is greater in the gastrocnemius muscle of old mice. These data suggest that increased production of Cxcl10 may be responsible for skeletal muscle T cell infiltration with age. Our study suggests that the T-cell recruiting chemokine Cxcl10 may be a target to preserve metabolic health in older adults