Long-term Trends and the Trophic Status of Conesus Lake 2012: A report to the Livingston County Planning Department Geneseo, NY

Conesus Lake monitoring conducted by personnel from The College at Brockport during the summer of 2012 determined the current trophic status of the lake and if any improvements or further degradation of water quality had occurred. To accomplish this goal, lake chemistry was monitored from 22 May to 14 August 2012 and the following were completed: a trophic state assessment of the lake and an evaluation of long-term trends in lake chemistry. Recommendations 1. The monitoring of Conesus Lake should continue. Current results suggest a slow improvement in it’s surface water. The status of the lake’s water quality has been an issue for many years. If it is indeed improving as suggested, this success story needs to be communicated to the general public. 2. The importance of managing nutrients and soil loss from the watershed is now even more important to prevent a relapse or return to less desirable conditions. Continuing efforts to reduce nutrient losses from sources in agriculture, from septic systems above the ring sewer, and from lawn fertilizers should be emphasized

Filtered screens and augmented Teichmüller space

We study a new bordification of the decorated Teichmüller space for a multiply punctured surface F by a space of filtered screens on the surface that arises from a natural elaboration of earlier work of McShane–Penner. We identify necessary and sufficient conditions for paths in this space of filtered screens to yield short curves having vanishing length in the underlying surface F . As a result, an appropriate quotient of this space of filtered screens on F yields a decorated augmented Teichmüller space which is shown to admit a CW decomposition that naturally projects to the augmented Teichmüller space by forgetting decorations and whose strata are indexed by a new object termed partially oriented stratum graphs

Filtered screens and augmented Teichm\"uller space

We study a new bordification of the decorated Teichm\"uller space for a multiply punctured surface F by a space of filtered screens on the surface that arises from a natural elaboration of earlier work of McShane-Penner. We identify necessary and sufficient conditions for paths in this space of filtered screens to yield short curves having vanishing length in the underlying surface F. As a result, an appropriate quotient of this space of filtered screens on F yields a decorated augmented Teichm\"uller space which is shown to admit a CW decomposition that naturally projects to the augmented Teichm\"uller space by forgetting decorations and whose strata are indexed by a new object termed partially oriented stratum graphs.Comment: Final version to appear in Geometriae Dedicat

Mesoproterozoic surface oxygenation accompanied major sedimentary manganese deposition at 1.4 and 1.1 Ga

This research was funded by the Australian Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) as part of The Distal Footprints of Giant Ore Systems: UNCOVER Australia Project (RP04-063)—Capricorn Distal Footprints. EAS also thanks the donors of The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for partial support of this research (61017-ND2).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A survey of free software for the design, analysis, modelling, and simulation of an unmanned aerial vehicle

The objective of this paper is to analyze free software for the design, analysis, modelling, and simulation of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Free software is the best choice when the reduction of production costs is necessary; nevertheless, the quality of free software may vary. This paper probably does not include all of the free software, but tries to describe or mention at least the most interesting programs. The first part of this paper summarizes the essential knowledge about UAVs, including the fundamentals of flight mechanics and aerodynamics, and the structure of a UAV system. The second section generally explains the modelling and simulation of a UAV. In the main section, more than 50 free programs for the design, analysis, modelling, and simulation of a UAV are described. Although the selection of the free software has been focused on small subsonic UAVs, the software can also be used for other categories of aircraft in some cases; e.g. for MAVs and large gliders. The applications with an historical importance are also included. Finally, the results of the analysis are evaluated and discussed—a block diagram of the free software is presented, possible connections between the programs are outlined, and future improvements of the free software are suggested. © 2015, CIMNE, Barcelona, Spain.Internal Grant Agency of Tomas Bata University in Zlin [IGA/FAI/2015/001, IGA/FAI/2014/006

Heterochromatin: A Rapidly Evolving Species Barrier

Recent work has shown that changes in the sequence composition of heterochromatin, or in the factors that maintain that heterochromatin, may play an important role in speciation

Solution-focused intervention for sick listed employees with psychological problems or muscle skeletal pain: a randomised controlled trial [ISRCTN39140363]

BACKGROUND: Long-term sick leave has been of concern to politicians and decision-makers in Norway for several years. In the current study we assess the efficacy of a solution-focused follow-up for sick-listed employees. METHODS: Employees on long-term sick leave due to psychological problems or muscle skeletal pain (n = 703) were invited to participate in the project. Following self-recruitment, 103 were randomly allocated to receive solution-focused follow-up (n = 53) or "treatment as usual" (n = 50). The intervention was integrated within the regular follow up of six social security offices and organised as eight weekly solution focused work sessions. Effectiveness was measured by rate of return to work and health related quality of life (SF-36). RESULTS: Intention to treat analysis showed no significant differences between the two groups for any of the outcome measures. Secondary analysis, comparing those who attended at least 50% of the sessions with the control group revealed a significant difference in favour of the active intervention group in the SF-36 subscale of mental health (Effect Size 0.56, p = 0.05). When comparing the subgroup of participants with psychological problems there was a significant difference in mental health in favour of the intervention group (Effect Size 0.71, p = 0.041). CONCLUSION: A voluntary solution-focused intervention offered by social-security offices is no more effective than regular follow up for employees on long-term sick leave due to psychological problems or muscle skeletal pain

Distinct Functional Roles of β-Tubulin Isotypes in Microtubule Arrays of Tetrahymena thermophila, a Model Single-Celled Organism

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>The multi-tubulin hypothesis proposes that each tubulin isotype performs a unique role, or subset of roles, in the universe of microtubule function(s). To test this hypothesis, we are investigating the functions of the recently discovered, noncanonical β-like tubulins (BLTs) of the ciliate, <em>Tetrahymena thermophila</em>. <em>Tetrahymena</em> forms 17 distinct microtubular structures whose assembly had been thought to be based on single α- and β-isotypes. However, completion of the macronuclear genome sequence of <em>Tetrahymena</em> demonstrated that this ciliate possessed a β-tubulin multigene family: two synonymous genes (<em>BTU1</em> and <em>BTU2</em>) encode the canonical β-tubulin, BTU2, and six genes (<em>BLT1-6</em>) yield five divergent β-tubulin isotypes. In this report, we examine the structural features and functions of two of the BLTs (BLT1 and BLT4) and compare them to those of BTU2.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>With respect to BTU2, BLT1 and BLT4 had multiple sequence substitutions in their GTP-binding sites, in their interaction surfaces, and in their microtubule-targeting motifs, which together suggest that they have specialized functions. To assess the roles of these tubulins <em>in vivo</em>, we transformed <em>Tetrahymena</em> with expression vectors that direct the synthesis of GFP-tagged versions of the isotypes. We show that GFP-BLT1 and GFP-BLT4 were not detectable in somatic cilia and basal bodies, whereas GFP-BTU2 strongly labeled these structures. During cell division, GFP-BLT1 and GFP-BLT4, but not GFP-BTU2, were incorporated into the microtubule arrays of the macronucleus and into the mitotic apparatus of the micronucleus. GFP-BLT1 also participated in formation of the microtubules of the meiotic apparatus of the micronucleus during conjugation. Partitioning of the isotypes between nuclear and ciliary microtubules was confirmed biochemically.</p> <h3>Conclusion/Significance</h3><p>We conclude that <em>Tetrahymena</em> uses a family of distinct β-tubulin isotypes to construct subsets of functionally different microtubules, a result that provides strong support for the multi-tubulin hypothesis.</p> </div

Kinetochore-Independent Chromosome Poleward Movement during Anaphase of Meiosis II in Mouse Eggs

Kinetochores are considered to be the key structures that physically connect spindle microtubules to the chromosomes and play an important role in chromosome segregation during mitosis. Due to different mechanisms of spindle assembly between centrosome-containing mitotic cells and acentrosomal meiotic oocytes, it is unclear how a meiotic spindle generates the poleward forces to drive two rounds of meiotic chromosome segregation to achieve genome haploidization. We took advantage of the fact that DNA beads are able to induce bipolar spindle formation without kinetochores and studied the behavior of DNA beads in the induced spindle in mouse eggs during meiosis II. Interestingly, DNA beads underwent poleward movements that were similar in timing and speed to the meiotic chromosomes, although all the beads moved together to the same spindle pole. Disruption of dynein function abolished the poleward movements of DNA beads but not of the meiotic chromosomes, suggesting the existence of different dynein-dependent and dynein-independent force generation mechanisms for the chromosome poleward movement, and the latter may be dependent on the presence of kinetochores. Consistent with the observed DNA bead poleward movement, sperm haploid chromatin (which also induced bipolar spindle formation after injection to a metaphase egg without forming detectable kinetochore structures) also underwent similar poleward movement at anaphase as DNA beads. The results suggest that in the chromatin-induced meiotic spindles, kinetochore attachments to spindle microtubules are not absolutely required for chromatin poleward movements at anaphase