Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) affect water quality and macroinvertebrate communities in Nebraska Sandhill lakes

Invasive species like the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) threaten the health and integrity of aquatic ecosystems. The Nebraska Sandhills region consists of 57,000 km2 of grass-stabilized sand dunes and topographic lows between the dunes are generally occupied by shallow lakes, wetlands, or wet meadows. These wetlands and their associated shallow lakes are an ideal environment to evaluate the impacts of carp introduction and removal because of the large number of water bodies in the Sandhills that are vulnerable to carp invasions. To help understand the influence of carp on these ecosystems, I collaborated with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGP) to conduct an ecological assessment of 21 Sandhills lakes. I collected water quality samples and characterized benthic and littoral macroinvertebrate community data from 11 lakes infested with carp (3 medium density and 8 high density), and 10 carp free lakes in 2018 and 2019. I created a macroinvertebrate Index of Biological integrity (IBI) that shows carp had a significant negative effect on both benthic and littoral macroinvertebrate communities in these lakes. Non-carp lakes had lower turbidity, higher submergent vegetation coverage, and lower phytoplankton biomass. Heavy carp had higher turbidity, high phytoplankton biomass, and less submersed vegetation. Lakes with low to medium carp densities varied. Our study suggests that in order to improve water quality, and maximize invertebrate and plant resources, efforts should be made to eradicate carp from Nebraska Sandhill lakes

Hydrothermal activity lowers trophic diversity in Antarctic sedimented hydrothermal vents

Sedimented hydrothermal vents are those in which hydrothermal fluid vents through sediment and are among the least studied deep-sea ecosystems. We present a combination of microbial and biochemical data to assess trophodynamics between and within hydrothermally active and off-vent areas of the Bransfield Strait (1050–1647 m depth). Microbial composition, biomass and fatty acid signatures varied widely between and within vent and non-vent sites and provided evidence of diverse metabolic activity. Several species showed diverse feeding strategies and occupied different trophic positions in vent and non-vent areas and stable isotope values of consumers were generally not consistent with feeding structure morphology. Niche area and the diversity of microbial fatty acids reflected trends in species diversity and was lowest at the most hydrothermally active site. Faunal utilisation of chemosynthetic activity was relatively limited but was detected at both vent and non-vent sites as evidenced by carbon and sulphur isotopic signatures, suggesting that the hydrothermal activity can affect trophodynamics over a much wider area than previously thought

A 360 degree approach to resolving uncertainty and prioritising delivery of coastal adaptation, resilience and environmental protection for the future economic growth of Jersey, Channel Isles

The island of Jersey has a rich history influenced by natural and man-made change; particularly the fortifications constructed as defensive structures during periods of conflict, from the Napoleonic period through to 1940’s. Over the next century Jersey faces a growing challenge from the predicted impacts of climate change via rising sea levels combined with increasingly intense rainfall which will result in an increase to the extents of coastal and pluvial flooding. Jersey needs to be prepared and resilient; to support a digital Island that attracts international business, providing a secure and safe location. Jersey’s shoreline policies balance the Island’s environmental legislation and economic policies, but a priority for the Government is flood avoidance, mitigation and development opportunities through planning policy and asset adaptation in a way that supports the Island’s prosperity. This includes consideration of advancing the ‘defence’ line. A 360 degree approach is taken to deliver an island wide coastal resilience plan, which includes pluvial flooding as well as coastal flooding – the outcome will be the Jersey Shoreline Management Plan (SMP). This paper presents the first ever emerging coastal flood and erosion mapping for the whole island under the jurisdiction of the Government of Jersey. The mapping is supported by shoreline planning and policy over the next 20, 50 and 100 years, which augments the plan for integrated coastal management based on the Government’s environmental, community and economic objectives for the island

Combination Schemes for Turning Point Predictions

We propose new forecast combination schemes for predicting turning points of business cycles. The combination schemes deal with the forecasting performance of a given set of models and possibly providing better turning point predictions. We consider turning point predictions generated by autoregressive (AR) and Markov-Switching AR models, which are commonly used for business cycle analysis. In order to account for parameter uncertainty we consider a Bayesian approach to both estimation and prediction and compare, in terms of statistical accuracy, the individual models and the combined turning point predictions for the United States and Euro area business cycles

Establishment of Centromeric Chromatin by the CENP-A Assembly Factor CAL1 Requires FACT-Mediated Transcription

SummaryCentromeres are essential chromosomal structures that mediate accurate chromosome segregation during cell division. Centromeres are specified epigenetically by the heritable incorporation of the centromeric histone H3 variant CENP-A. While many of the primary factors that mediate centromeric deposition of CENP-A are known, the chromatin and DNA requirements of this process have remained elusive. Here, we uncover a role for transcription in Drosophila CENP-A deposition. Using an inducible ectopic centromere system that uncouples CENP-A deposition from endogenous centromere function and cell-cycle progression, we demonstrate that CENP-A assembly by its loading factor, CAL1, requires RNAPII-mediated transcription of the underlying DNA. This transcription depends on the CAL1 binding partner FACT, but not on CENP-A incorporation. Our work establishes RNAPII passage as a key step in chaperone-mediated CENP-A chromatin establishment and propagation

Continuous Deployment Transitions at Scale

Predictable, rapid, and data-driven feature rollout; lightning-fast; and automated fix deployment are some of the benefits most large software organizations worldwide are striving for. In the process, they are transitioning toward the use of continuous deployment practices. Continuous deployment enables companies to make hundreds or thousands of software changes to live computing infrastructure every day while maintaining service to millions of customers. Such ultra-fast changes create a new reality in software development. Over the past four years, the Continuous Deployment Summit, hosted at Facebook, Netflix, Google, and Twitter has been held. Representatives from companies like Cisco, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Netflix, and Twitter have shared the triumphs and struggles of their transition to continuous deployment practices—each year the companies press on, getting ever faster. In this chapter, the authors share the common strategies and practices used by continuous deployment pioneers and adopted by newcomers as they transition and use continuous deployment practices at scale

Mapping interactions with the chaperone network reveals factors that protect against tau aggregation.

A network of molecular chaperones is known to bind proteins ('clients') and balance their folding, function and turnover. However, it is often unclear which chaperones are critical for selective recognition of individual clients. It is also not clear why these key chaperones might fail in protein-aggregation diseases. Here, we utilized human microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT or tau) as a model client to survey interactions between ~30 purified chaperones and ~20 disease-associated tau variants (~600 combinations). From this large-scale analysis, we identified human DnaJA2 as an unexpected, but potent, inhibitor of tau aggregation. DnaJA2 levels were correlated with tau pathology in human brains, supporting the idea that it is an important regulator of tau homeostasis. Of note, we found that some disease-associated tau variants were relatively immune to interactions with chaperones, suggesting a model in which avoiding physical recognition by chaperone networks may contribute to disease

Pandemic gardening:A narrative review, vignettes and implications for future research

There is a significant amount of evidence highlighting the health, wellbeing and social benefits of gardening during previous periods of crises. These benefits were also evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents a narrative review exploring gardening during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the different forms of gardening that took place during this crisis and key elements of this activity. Research about gardening during the pandemic focused on food (in)security and disrupted food systems, the health and wellbeing benefits of gardening, and the social dimensions of gardening. We offer three vignettes of our own research to highlight key insights from local, national and international perspectives of gardening during the pandemic. The paper's conclusion outlines how researchers, policy makers and public health practitioners can harness what has been learned from gardening during the pandemic to ensure these benefits are more widely available and do not exacerbate already entrenched health inequalities in society.</p

Collage Vol. I

JUDY COCHRAN: Editorial MICHAEL TANGEMAN: Haikus 2-5 ELISE ALBRECHT, CURTIS PLOWGIAN: French Calligrams 6 JASON VARDEN: Waiting 7 ALEXANDER GREEN: Photo 8 EDUARDO JARAMILLO: Formas violentas 9-11 GABRIELE DILLMANN: Photo 12 MICHAEL GOLDSBERG: Funf fur Ashley 13 MEGAN CARLSON: Fur Jared (German) 14 MAGGIE GLOVER: For Jared 14-15 CHRIS FAUR: Painting 16 LINDSEY ESHELMAN: Stuhl (The Chair) 17 HALLE THOMPSON, GWENN DOBOS: Les Bouches 18 JILL BOO: Lacheln (A Smile) 19 ALEXANDER GREEN: Photo 20 JULIA GRAWEMEYER: Villanelle 21, Expressions francaises (French Figures) 22-23, Pour me rappeler (So that I\u27d remember) 24 MICHEL CLIQUET: Photo 25 CHARLES O\u27KEEFE: Photos 26-28 LINE LERYCKE: Photos 29-32 MICHEL CLIQUET: Pierre docile (Docile Stone) 29-32 LOGAN FAVIA: Ataraxia 33 AVRITA SINGH: Absence 34 RACHEL GROTHEER: Compassion 35, Ligne (Line) 36, Nuit, douce nuit (Night, gentle night) 37, Rouge (Red) 38, Bonjour Bleu (Hello Blue) 39, Ligne courbe (Curved Line) 40 AMELIA DUNLAP: Compassion 41-42 KYLE SIMPSON: Separation 43 ALEXANDER GREEN: Photo 44 GWENN DOBOS: Ataraxia 45 SARAH SLOTKIN: Separation 46 CURTIS PLOWGIAN: Absence 47 ELISA VER MERRIS: Photo 48, Attachement (Attachment) 49 JENNIFER JOHNSON: Attachement (Attachment)50 ANNA KELLY: Compassion 51 RICHARD BANAHAN: Photo 52, Mon grand-pere et moit (My grandfather and me) 53 MEREDITH KATZ: Separation 54 BRENDA HEATER: Compassion 55 ZACHARY WALSH: Ataraxia 56 MICHEL CLIQUET: Photos 57-5

Magnetic Flux Density Sensor Analysis

Undergraduate Basi