Microbial diversity in the thermal springs within Hot Springs National Park

The thermal water systems of Hot Springs National Park (HSNP) in Hot Springs, Arkansas exist in relative isolation from other North American thermal systems. The HSNP waters could therefore serve as a unique center of thermophilic microbial biodiversity. However, these springs remain largely unexplored using culture-independent next generation sequencing techniques to classify species of thermophilic organisms. Additionally, HSNP has been the focus of anthropogenic development, capping and diverting the springs for use in recreational bathhouse facilities. Human modification of these springs may have impacted the structure of these bacterial communities compared to springs left in a relative natural state. The goal of this study was to compare the community structure in two capped springs and two uncapped springs in HSNP, as well as broadly survey the microbial diversity of the springs. We used Illumina 16S rRNA sequencing of water samples from each spring, the QIIME workflow for sequence analysis, and generated measures of genera and phyla richness, diversity, and evenness. In total, over 700 genera were detected and most individual samples had more than 100 genera. There were also several uncharacterized sequences that could not be placed in known taxa, indicating the sampled springs contain undescribed bacteria. There was great variation both between sites and within samples, so no significant differences were detected in community structure between sites. Our results suggest that these springs, regardless of their human modification, contain a considerable amount of biodiversity, some of it potentially unique to the study site

The Effects Of Port Security Compliance On The Competitiveness Of European Union Maritime Industry Firms

ABSTRACT The Effects Of Port Security Compliance On The Competitiveness Of European Union Maritime Industry Firms. (May 2013) Jonathan Stone Department of Maritime Administration Texas A&M University Research Advisor: Dr. Joan Mileski Department of Maritime Administration Prior research has addressed European Union (EU) water transportation policy and its impact on firm strategy. We extend this research by attempting to measure the effect of port security regulation compliance implementation on the perceived competitiveness of maritime firms located in European Union ports. We ask the question: Can firm specific implementation of required port security compliance enhance or hinder a firm’s competitive advantage? We use Resource-Based Strategic Theory as a framework for evaluating competitiveness. Resource based theory purports that assets and systems can give a firm a competitive advantage if they follow the “VRIN” criteria of Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, and Not easily substitutable. We ask via email and snail mail survey instrument whether certain security assets, resources and systems are “VRIN” and whether these assets, resources and systems give competitive advantage to the firm. The type of resources/assets/systems include physical assets such as fencing; ongoing management assets such as communication systems, planning and structuring management assets such as security planning systems; human assets such as employee knowledge; technological assets such as software protection; intangible assets such as a safety culture and financial assets such as cost savings from security compliance. We administer the instrument to all firms operating in EU ports in 2011-2012. A list of firms is obtained from IHSfairplay Ports and Terminals Guide. The results of the survey shows that most managers do not perceive a competitive advantage was gained in the way security assets/resources/management systems were implemented. However, a strong minority 34.12% of managers did perceive competitive advantage was gained from port security compliance where systems/assets/resources were not easily imitated or the “I.” Furthermore, managers perceive where they were located within the port as an important advantage to security and competitiveness

Defining the Conservative Woman: Margaret Thatcher, Politics, and Gender

When Margaret Thatcher won the election for Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1979, she entered unchartered territory. Not only was she the first Conservative Prime Minister in several terms, she was the first female Prime Minister and, as such, became the subject of public scrutiny. This thesis seeks to understand how Thatcher’s gender and her traditional values shaped the decisions that she made in three key areas of her political life: her first election for Prime Minister, the race riots of 1981, and the Falklands War. I seek to understand these events in her life by studying the statements she made to the public in BBC broadcasts, her speeches in Parliament, and her speeches to various constituencies along the way. By scrutinizing her gendered language choices and her frequent references to Winston Churchill, I am able to explain how her deep connection to the past helped her shape Britain into a country with traditional values that reflected her own. Previous scholarship on Thatcher examines either her gender or her politics, leaving a conspicuous gap at the intersection of the two. This thesis seeks to fill that gap in order to better understand her legacy and the place she created for Conservative women in politics

On non-linear hydrodynamic instability and enhanced transport in differentially rotating flows

In this paper we argue that differential rotation can possibly sustain hydrodynamic turbulence in the absence of magnetic field. We explain why the non-linearities of the hydrodynamic equations (i.e. turbulent diffusion) should not be neglected, either as a simplifying approximation or based on boundary counditions. The consequences of lifting this hypothesis are studied for the flow stability and the enhanced turbulent transport. We develop a simple general model for the energetics of turbulent fluctuations in differentially rotating flows. By taking into account the non-linearities of the equations of motions, we give constraints on the mean flow properties for the possible development of shear instability. The results from recent laboratory experiments on rotating flows show -- in agreement with the model -- that the pertinent parameter for stability appears to be the Rossby number Ro. The laboratory experiments seem to be compatible with Ro 1 in the inviscid or high rotation rates limit. Our results, taken in the inviscid limit, are coherent with the classical linear stability analysis, in the sense that the critical perturbation equals zero on the marginal linear stability curve. We also propose a prescription for turbulent viscosity which generalize the beta-prescription derived in Richard & Zahn 1999.Comment: Accepted for publication in "Astronomy and Astrophysics

Collaborative working within UK NHS secondary care and across sectors for COPD and the impact of peer review : qualitative findings from the UK National COPD Resources and Outcomes Project

Introduction: We investigated the effects on collaborative work within the UK National Health Service (NHS) of an intervention for service quality improvement: informal, structured, reciprocated, multidisciplinary peer review with feedback and action plans. The setting was care for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Theory and methods: We analysed semi-structured interviews with 43 hospital respiratory consultants, nurses and general managers at 24 intervention and 11 control sites, as part of a UK randomised controlled study, the National COPD Resources and Outcomes Project (NCROP), using Scott’s conceptual framework for action (inter-organisational, intra-organisational, inter-professional and inter-individual). Three areas of care targeted by NCROP involved collaboration across primary and secondary care. Results: Hospital respiratory department collaborations with commissioners and hospital managers varied. Analysis suggested that this is related to team responses to barriers. Clinicians in unsuccessful collaborations told ‘atrocity stories’ of organisational, structural and professional barriers to service improvement. The others removed barriers by working with government and commissioner agendas to ensure continued involvement in patients’ care. Multidisciplinary peer review facilitated collaboration between participants, enabling them to meet, reconcile differences and exchange ideas across boundaries. Conclusions: The data come from the first randomised controlled trial of organisational peer review, adding to research into UK health service collaborative work, which has had a more restricted focus on inter-professional relations. NCROP peer review may only modestly improve collaboration but these data suggest it might be more effective than top-down exhortations to change when collaboration both across and within organisations is required

A 3D MHD model of astrophysical flows: algorithms, tests and parallelisation

In this paper we describe a numerical method designed for modelling different kinds of astrophysical flows in three dimensions. Our method is a standard explicit finite difference method employing the local shearing-box technique. To model the features of astrophysical systems, which are usually compressible, magnetised and turbulent, it is desirable to have high spatial resolution and large domain size to model as many features as possible, on various scales, within a particular system. In addition, the time-scales involved are usually wide-ranging also requiring significant amounts of CPU time. These two limits (resolution and time-scales) enforce huge limits on computational capabilities. The model we have developed therefore uses parallel algorithms to increase the performance of standard serial methods. The aim of this paper is to report the numerical methods we use and the techniques invoked for parallelising the code. The justification of these methods is given by the extensive tests presented herein.Comment: 17 pages with 21 GIF figures. Accepted for publication in A&

The Role of Positionality in Teaching for Critical Consciousness: Implications for Adult Education

This paper examines how differences in positionality of the three co-authors (as a white man, a white woman, and an African-American woman) informs both the theorizing and the differences in practice of education for critical consciousness in adult higher education settings

Hfq binding changes the structure of Escherichia coli small noncoding RNAs OxyS and RprA, which are involved in the riboregulation of rpoS

OxyS and RprA are two small noncoding RNAs (sRNAs) that modulate the expression of rpoS, encoding an alternative sigma factor that activates transcription of multiple Escherichia coli stress-response genes. While RprA activates rpoS for translation, OxyS down-regulates the transcript. Crucially, the RNA binding protein Hfq is required for both sRNAs to function, although the specific role played by Hfq remains unclear. We have investigated RprA and OxyS interactions with Hfq using biochemical and biophysical approaches. In particular, we have obtained the molecular envelopes of the Hfq–sRNA complexes using small-angle scattering methods, which reveal key molecular details. These data indicate that Hfq does not substantially change shape upon complex formation, whereas the sRNAs do. We link the impact of Hfq binding, and the sRNA structural changes induced, to transcript stability with respect to RNase E degradation. In light of these findings, we discuss the role of Hfq in the opposing regulatory functions played by RprA and OxyS in rpoS regulation