Testing the Design of a Library Information Gateway

In autumn of 1999, the library World Wide Websites at Appalachian State University and Georgia Southern University had been in place for more than a year, and many library users reported that certain aspects of the sites’ designs were confusing. In order to alleviate the confusion, librarians from the two universities decided to redesign the sites by determining the greatest sources of confusion. To do this, we studied how patrons used the web sites by way of user-centered usability testing

North Atlantic right whale foraging ecology and its role in human-caused mortality

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Marine Ecology Progress Series 581 (2017): 165-181, doi:10.3354/meps12315.Endangered North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis suffer from unacceptably high rates of ship strikes and fishing gear entanglements, but little is known of the role that diving and foraging behavior plays in mediating human-caused mortality. We conducted a study of right whale foraging ecology by attaching tags to whales for short periods of time (hours), tracking their movements during daytime, and repeatedly sampling oceanographic conditions and prey distribution along the whales’ tracks. Right whales were tagged from late winter to late fall in 6 regions of the Gulf of Maine and southwestern Scotian Shelf from 2000 to 2010. The diving behavior of the tagged whales was governed by the vertical distribution of their primary prey, the copepod Calanus finmarchicus. On average, right whales tagged during spring spent 72% of their time in the upper 10 m (within the draft of most large commercial vessels), indicating the need for expanded ship speed restrictions in western Gulf of Maine springtime habitats. One out of every 4 whales dove to within 5 m of the sea floor during the short time they were tagged, spending as much as 45% of their total tagged time in this depth stratum. Right whales dove to the sea floor in each habitat studied except for one (where only 1 whale was tagged). This relatively high incidence of near-bottom diving raises serious concerns about the continued use of floating ground lines in pot and trap gear in coastal Maine and Canadian waters.Support for this research was provided by the NOAA Right Whale Grants Program, Northeast Consortium, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, and the Office of Naval Research

Spinal Cord Injury Causes Sustained Disruption of the Blood-Testis Barrier in the Rat

There is a high incidence of infertility in males following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Quality of semen is frequently poor in these patients, but the pathophysiological mechanism(s) causing this are not known. Blood-testis barrier (BTB) integrity following SCI has not previously been examined. The objective of this study was to characterize the effects of spinal contusion injury on the BTB in the rat. 63 adult, male Sprague Dawley rats received SCI (n = 28), laminectomy only (n = 7) or served as uninjured, age-matched controls (n = 28). Using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI), BTB permeability to the vascular contrast agent gadopentate dimeglumine (Gd) was assessed at either 72 hours-, or 10 months post-SCI. DCE-MRI data revealed that BTB permeability to Gd was greater than controls at both 72 h and 10 mo post-SCI. Histological evaluation of testis tissue showed increased BTB permeability to immunoglobulin G at both 72 hours- and 10 months post-SCI, compared to age-matched sham-operated and uninjured controls. Tight junctional integrity within the seminiferous epithelium was assessed; at 72 hours post-SCI, decreased expression of the tight junction protein occludin was observed. Presence of inflammation in the testes was also examined. High expression of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta was detected in testis tissue. CD68+ immune cell infiltrate and mast cells were also detected within the seminiferous epithelium of both acute and chronic SCI groups but not in controls. In addition, extensive germ cell apoptosis was observed at 72 h post-SCI. Based on these results, we conclude that SCI is followed by compromised BTB integrity by as early as 72 hours post-injury in rats and is accompanied by a substantial immune response within the testis. Furthermore, our results indicate that the BTB remains compromised and testis immune cell infiltration persists for months after the initial injury

Влияние фосфатных связующих на физико-механические свойства периклазохромитовых огнеупоров

У данній статті наведено та порівняно фізико-механічні властивості периклазо-хромітових матеріалів в залежності від різних типів фосфатних зв’язуючих та введення різних домішок. Визначено, що найбільш раціональним є введення триполіфосфату натрію.In given clause are resulted and the physycal-mechanical properties periclase-cgromite of materials are compared depending on different of types phosphate binding and introduction of the various additives. Is determined, that most rational is the introduction treepolyphosphate sodume

Ocena zgodności krzyżowej odmian Pyrus communis L. na podstawie obserwacji łagiewek pyłkowych i analizy genu S-Rnase

Diallel crosses of P. communis cultivars: ‘Amfora’, ‘Radana’, ‘Red Williams’, ‘Carola’, ‘Conference’, and ‘Dicolor’, were conducted under orchard and laboratory conditions at temperatures of 20oC and 28oC . Based on pollen tube observations and after the determination of the S genotypes, the usefulness of these pear cultivars as cross pollinators was evaluated as good and very good.Krzyżowe zapylenia w układzie diallelicznym pomiędzy odmianami P. communis ‘Amfora’, ‘Radana’, ‘Red Bonkreta Williamsa’, ‘Carola’, ‘Konferencja’ i ‘Dicolor’ przeprowadzono w sadzie, a także w warunkach laboratoryjnych w temperaturach 20oC i 28oC. Na podstawie obserwacji łagiewek pyłkowych oraz po określeniu genotypów S odmian gruszy uprawnej oceniono ich przydatność w charakterze wzajemnych zapylaczy. Otrzymane wyniki wskazują, iż bardzo dobrymi i dobrymi zapylaczami dla badanych odmian P. communis są: Odmiana Zapylacze ‘Amfora’ ‘Red Bonkreta Williamsa’, ‘Radana’, ‘Konferencja’, ‘Dicolor’ ‘Radana’ ‘Red Bonkreta Williamsa’, ‘Carola’, ‘Dicolor’ ‘Red Bonkreta Williamsa’ ‘Amfora’, ‘Radana’, ‘Carola’, ‘Konferencja’, ‘Dicolor’ ‘Carola’ ‘Radana’, ‘Red Bonkreta Williamsa’, ‘Konferencja’, ‘Dicolor’ ‘Konferencja’ ‘Carola’, ‘Radana’ ‘Dicolor’ ‘Amfora’, ‘Radana’, ‘Carola’, ‘Konferencja’, ‘Dicolor’, ‘Red Bonkreta Williamsa

Testing the Design of a Library Information Gateway

In autumn of 1999, librarians at Appalachian State University and Georgia Southern University had decided to revise their Web sites. Each institution\u27s site had been in place for more than a year, and experience with library users had shown that there were certain aspects of the sites\u27 designs that were confusing. Previous efforts to improve these library sites had involved the pooling of criticisms from the librarians and users, and then a small group of library faculty and staff would attempt to create new designs that avoided the weaknesses of the old designs