Renesting Decisions and Annual Fecundity of Female Dickcissels (Spiza Americana) in Illinois

T.-Renesting decisions and annual fecundity are crucial for interpreting other demographic information, yet are infrequently reported. We used radiotelemetry to monitor female Dickcissels (Spiza americana) throughout the 1999 and 2000 breeding seasons in south- eastern Illinois. Overall fecundity (regardless of whether females remained in the study area throughout the breeding season) was 0.61 ? 0.13 female fledglings per year. Of females that re- mained within the study area, 94% fledged young (1.25 ? 0.15 female fledglings per year). Most females (62%) that experienced nest failure emigrated from the study area (moved \u3e10 km) in 2.8 ? 0.6 days; others (36%) initiated subsequent nests in 8.5 ? 0.8 days. After fledging \u3e1 young, 95% of females ceased breeding for the season. Successful and failed nest sites were indistin- guishable on the basis of vegetative characteristics. Moreover, replacement nests had similar vegetative characteristics and were similar distances from habitat edges, compared with initial nests, which suggests that female Dickcissels do not or cannot improve nest-site characteris- tics in response to nest failure. We observed two behaviors unusual in female Dickcissels: one bird that fledged two broods in one season, and the return of five females banded in 1999 to the study site in 2000

Renesting Decisions and Annual Fecundity of Female Dickcissels (Spiza americana) in Illinois

ABSTRACT.-Renesting decisions and annual fecundity are crucial for interpreting other demographic information, yet are infrequently reported. We used radiotelemetry to monitor female Dickcissels (Spiza americana) throughout the 1999 and 2000 breeding seasons in southeastern Illinois. Overall fecundity (regardless of whether females remained in the study area throughout the breeding season) was 0.61 ± 0.13 female fledglings per year. Of females that remained within the study area, 94% fledged young (1.25 ± 0.15 female fledglings per year). Most females (62%) that experienced nest failure emigrated from the study area (moved \u3e10 km) in 2.8 ± 0.6 days; others (36%) initiated subsequent nests in 8.5 ± 0.8 days. After fledging ~1 young, 95% of females ceased breeding for the season. Successful and failed nest sites were indistinguishable on the basis of vegetative characteristics. Moreover, replacement nests had similar vegetative characteristics and were similar distances from habitat edges, compared with initial nests, which suggests that female Dickcissels do not or cannot improve nest-site characteristics in response to nest failure. We observed two behaviors unusual in female Dickcissels: one bird that fledged two broods in one season, and the return of five females banded in 1999 to the study site in 2000

Renesting Decisions and Annual Fecundity of Female Dickcissels (Spiza Americana) in Illinois

T.-Renesting decisions and annual fecundity are crucial for interpreting other demographic information, yet are infrequently reported. We used radiotelemetry to monitor female Dickcissels (Spiza americana) throughout the 1999 and 2000 breeding seasons in south- eastern Illinois. Overall fecundity (regardless of whether females remained in the study area throughout the breeding season) was 0.61 ? 0.13 female fledglings per year. Of females that re- mained within the study area, 94% fledged young (1.25 ? 0.15 female fledglings per year). Most females (62%) that experienced nest failure emigrated from the study area (moved \u3e10 km) in 2.8 ? 0.6 days; others (36%) initiated subsequent nests in 8.5 ? 0.8 days. After fledging \u3e1 young, 95% of females ceased breeding for the season. Successful and failed nest sites were indistin- guishable on the basis of vegetative characteristics. Moreover, replacement nests had similar vegetative characteristics and were similar distances from habitat edges, compared with initial nests, which suggests that female Dickcissels do not or cannot improve nest-site characteris- tics in response to nest failure. We observed two behaviors unusual in female Dickcissels: one bird that fledged two broods in one season, and the return of five females banded in 1999 to the study site in 2000

Renesting Decisions and Annual Fecundity of Female Dickcissels (Spiza americana) in Illinois

ABSTRACT.-Renesting decisions and annual fecundity are crucial for interpreting other demographic information, yet are infrequently reported. We used radiotelemetry to monitor female Dickcissels (Spiza americana) throughout the 1999 and 2000 breeding seasons in southeastern Illinois. Overall fecundity (regardless of whether females remained in the study area throughout the breeding season) was 0.61 ± 0.13 female fledglings per year. Of females that remained within the study area, 94% fledged young (1.25 ± 0.15 female fledglings per year). Most females (62%) that experienced nest failure emigrated from the study area (moved \u3e10 km) in 2.8 ± 0.6 days; others (36%) initiated subsequent nests in 8.5 ± 0.8 days. After fledging ~1 young, 95% of females ceased breeding for the season. Successful and failed nest sites were indistinguishable on the basis of vegetative characteristics. Moreover, replacement nests had similar vegetative characteristics and were similar distances from habitat edges, compared with initial nests, which suggests that female Dickcissels do not or cannot improve nest-site characteristics in response to nest failure. We observed two behaviors unusual in female Dickcissels: one bird that fledged two broods in one season, and the return of five females banded in 1999 to the study site in 2000

Development of automated brightfield double In Situ hybridization (BDISH) application for HER2 gene and chromosome 17 centromere (CEN 17) for breast carcinomas and an assay performance comparison to manual dual color HER2 fluorescence In Situ hybridization (FISH)

BACKGROUND: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a quantitative assay for selecting breast cancer patients for trastuzumab therapy. However, current HER2 FISH procedures are labor intensive, manual methods that require skilled technologists and specialized fluorescence microscopy. Furthermore, FISH slides cannot be archived for long term storage and review. Our objective was to develop an automated brightfield double in situ hybridization (BDISH) application for HER2 gene and chromosome 17 centromere (CEN 17) and test the assay performance with dual color HER2 FISH evaluated breast carcinomas. METHODS: The BDISH assay was developed with the nick translated dinitrophenyl (DNP)-labeled HER2 DNA probe and DNP-labeled CEN 17 oligoprobe on the Ventana BenchMark(® )XT slide processing system. Detection of HER2 and CEN 17 signals was accomplished with the silver acetate, hydroquinone, and H(2)O(2 )reaction with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and the fast red and naphthol phosphate reaction with alkaline phosphatise (AP), respectively. The BDISH specificity was optimized with formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded xenograft tumors, MCF7 (non-amplified HER2 gene) and BT-474 (amplified HER2 gene). Then, the BDISH performance was evaluated with 94 routinely processed breast cancer tissues. Interpretation of HER2 and CEN 17 BDISH slides was conducted by 4 observers using a conventional brightfield microscope without oil immersion objectives. RESULTS: Sequential hybridization and signal detection for HER2 and CEN 17 ISH demonstrated both DNA targets in the same cells. HER2 signals were visualized as discrete black metallic silver dots while CEN 17 signals were detected as slightly larger red dots. Our study demonstrated a high consensus concordance between HER2 FISH and BDISH results of clinical breast carcinoma cases based on the historical scoring method (98.9%, Simple Kappa = 0.9736, 95% CI = 0.9222 – 1.0000) and the ASCO/CAP scoring method with the FISH equivocal cases (95.7%, Simple Kappa = 0.8993%, 95% CI = 0.8068 – 0.9919) and without the FISH equivocal cases (100%, Simple Kappa = 1.0000%, 95% CI = 1.0000 – 1.0000). CONCLUSION: Automated BDISH applications for HER2 and CEN 17 targets were successfully developed and it might be able to replace manual two-color HER2 FISH methods. The application also has the potential to be used for other gene targets. The use of BDISH technology allows the simultaneous analyses of two DNA targets within the context of tissue morphological observation

Measurement of LHCD edge power deposition through modulation techniques on Alcator C-Mod

The efficiency of LHCD on Alcator C-Mod drops exponentially with line average density. At reactor relevant densities (> 1 · 1020 [m[-3 superscript]]) no measurable current is driven. While a number of causes have been suggested, no specific mechanism has been shown to be responsible for the loss of current drive at high density. Fast modulation of the LH power was used to isolate and quantify the LHCD deposition within the plasma. Measurements from these plasmas provide unique evidence for determining a root cause. Modulation of LH power in steady plasmas exhibited no correlated change in the core temperature. A correlated, prompt response in the edge suggests that the loss in efficiency is related to a edge absorption mechanism. This follows previous results which found the generation of n||-independent SOL currents. Multiple Langmuir probe array measurements of the conducted heat conclude that the lost power is deposited near the last closed flux surface. The heat flux induced by LH waves onto the outer divertor is calculated. Changes in the neutral pressure, ionization and hard X-ray emission at high density highlight the importance of the active divertor in the loss of efficiency. Results of this study implicate a mechanism which may occur over multiple passes, leading to power absorption near the LCFS

Nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of the I-mode high confinement regime and comparisons with experimenta)

For the first time, nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of I-mode plasmas are performed and compared with experiment. I-mode is a high confinement regime, featuring energy confinement similar to H-mode, but without enhanced particle and impurity particle confinement [D. G. Whyte et al., Nucl. Fusion 50, 105005 (2010)]. As a consequence of the separation between heat and particle transport, I-mode exhibits several favorable characteristics compared to H-mode. The nonlinear gyrokinetic code GYRO [J. Candy and R. E. Waltz, J Comput. Phys. 186, 545 (2003)] is used to explore the effects of E × B shear and profile stiffness in I-mode and compare with L-mode. The nonlinear GYRO simulations show that I-mode core ion temperature and electron temperature profiles are more stiff than L-mode core plasmas. Scans of the input E × B shear in GYRO simulations show that E × B shearing of turbulence is a stronger effect in the core of I-mode than L-mode. The nonlinear simulations match the observed reductions in long wavelength density fluctuation levels across the L-I transition but underestimate the reduction of long wavelength electron temperature fluctuation levels. The comparisons between experiment and gyrokinetic simulations for I-mode suggest that increased E × B shearing of turbulence combined with increased profile stiffness are responsible for the reductions in core turbulence observed in the experiment, and that I-mode resembles H-mode plasmas more than L-mode plasmas with regards to marginal stability and temperature profile stiffness.United States. Department of Energy (Contract No. DE-FC02-99ER54512-CMOD)United States. Department of Energy. Office of Science (Contract No. DE-AC02- 05CH11231

Alcator C-Mod: research in support of ITER and steps beyond

This paper presents an overview of recent highlights from research on Alcator C-Mod. Significant progress has been made across all research areas over the last two years, with particular emphasis on divertor physics and power handling, plasma–material interaction studies, edge localized mode-suppressed pedestal dynamics, core transport and turbulence, and RF heating and current drive utilizing ion cyclotron and lower hybrid tools. Specific results of particular relevance to ITER include: inner wall SOL transport studies that have led, together with results from other experiments, to the change of the detailed shape of the inner wall in ITER; runaway electron studies showing that the critical electric field required for runaway generation is much higher than predicted from collisional theory; core tungsten impurity transport studies reveal that tungsten accumulation is naturally avoided in typical C-Mod conditions.United States. Department of Energy (DE-FC02-99ER54512-CMOD)United States. Department of Energy (DE-AC02-09CH11466)United States. Department of Energy (DE-FG02-96ER-54373)United States. Department of Energy (DE-FG02-94ER54235