Beyond Nature and Subjectivity——The Issues of Space in Nathaniel Hawthorne' s The Scarlet Letter

In Nathaniel Hawthorne' s literary creation, the usages of space are usually highlighted by Hawthorne' s arrangement of the settings, scenes and social background. In The Scarlet Letter, according to the spatial turn in 20th spatial theories—especially the spatial theory of Lefebvre, Nathaniel Hawthorne constructed three spaces in this romance novel: the material space, spiritual space and social space. These three kinds of space are not simply juxtaposed, but are intervening, intermingling, superimposing each other, and sometimes even contradicting each other. It is through the construction of space that Hawthorne combines serious moral content with excellent artistic expressions, giving The Scarlet Letter its powerful vitality and enduring charm. It is also through the construction of space that the theme and meaning of the novel about the human spiritual ecological crisis is better manifested, and shows Hawthorne's contemplation and transcendence of the real world. In the process of interpreting the space construction of The Scarlet Letter, readers can appreciate the narrative techniques and artistic effects of the text, and then examine the social reality that the novel should express

EVALUATING FARGO-MOORHEAD FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT PROJECT USING THE HYDROLOGIC AND WATER QUALITY SYSTEM

Spring floods in the Red River basin generated from melting snow have increasingly affected the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan region of North Dakota and Minnesota within recent decades, causing serious economic damage and disturbance to the local community. Various local and federal government agencies have come together to formulate a flood management project mainly utilizing water diversion to protect the Fargo-Moorhead urban area from future floods. Major structural measures that alter the surface water flow regime would take place under the current project proposal. This study applied the Hydrologic and Water Quality System to set up the study watershed, covering the upper portion of the Red River basin with its outlet located in Fargo. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool Calibration and Uncertainty Procedures were used to perform sensitivity analysis, model calibration, and model validation on a chosen set of hydrologic input parameters. Results from one of the general circulation models, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory’s global coupled carbon-climate earth system model with vertical coordinates based on density, were coupled with the hydrologic model to set up predictive simulations to evaluate climate change impacts on the study watershed. A flood diversion channel was added into the predictive simulations in the form of point-source water extraction. The time durations for the predictive simulations were divided into two decade-long sections, 2026 to 2035 and 2036 to 2045, which represent the short- to medium-terms following project construction completion. Results of the predictive simulations indicate a significant increase in streamflow for the entire iii simulation time span under both RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 climate change scenarios. Meanwhile, the implementation of a diversion channel near the Fargo-Moorhead urban area would have a strong impact on the flow regime of the Red River at Fargo, where a streamflow pattern with lower average discharge and lower flow variability is predicted for the flood-diversion-included simulations. The inclusion of the flood diversion channel in the model also significantly reduces the occurrence of large-magnitude streamflow events

EVALUATING FARGO-MOORHEAD FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT PROJECT USING THE HYDROLOGIC AND WATER QUALITY SYSTEM

Spring floods in the Red River basin generated from melting snow have increasingly affected the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan region of North Dakota and Minnesota within recent decades, causing serious economic damage and disturbance to the local community. Various local and federal government agencies have come together to formulate a flood management project mainly utilizing water diversion to protect the Fargo-Moorhead urban area from future floods. Major structural measures that alter the surface water flow regime would take place under the current project proposal. This study applied the Hydrologic and Water Quality System to set up the study watershed, covering the upper portion of the Red River basin with its outlet located in Fargo. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool Calibration and Uncertainty Procedures were used to perform sensitivity analysis, model calibration, and model validation on a chosen set of hydrologic input parameters. Results from one of the general circulation models, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory’s global coupled carbon-climate earth system model with vertical coordinates based on density, were coupled with the hydrologic model to set up predictive simulations to evaluate climate change impacts on the study watershed. A flood diversion channel was added into the predictive simulations in the form of point-source water extraction. The time durations for the predictive simulations were divided into two decade-long sections, 2026 to 2035 and 2036 to 2045, which represent the short- to medium-terms following project construction completion. Results of the predictive simulations indicate a significant increase in streamflow for the entire iii simulation time span under both RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 climate change scenarios. Meanwhile, the implementation of a diversion channel near the Fargo-Moorhead urban area would have a strong impact on the flow regime of the Red River at Fargo, where a streamflow pattern with lower average discharge and lower flow variability is predicted for the flood-diversion-included simulations. The inclusion of the flood diversion channel in the model also significantly reduces the occurrence of large-magnitude streamflow events

Cdc42 is essential for the polarized movement and adhesion of human dental pulp stem cells

Objective: Stem cell-based tissue repair and regeneration require the regulation of cell migration and adhesion. As a regulator of cell polarization, Cdc42 (cell division control protein 42) plays a basic role at the initial stage of cell migration and adhesion. This study explores the effect of Cdc42 on the polarized migration and adhesion of hDPSCs (human dental pulp stem cells). Design: HDPSCs were isolated from extracted third molars and transfected with siRNA targeted against Cdc42. Scratch wound assays and transwell assays were performed to detect the migration of human dental pulp stem cells. Polarization assays were applied to explore the polarized movement of Golgi bodies and nuclei. Western blot was used to examine the expression of related proteins. Results: The expression of Cdc42 was knocked down by siRNA transfection, which inhibited the migration of hDPSCs in both the scratch wound assays and transwell assays. Meanwhile, the proportion of polarized hDPSCs during migration was also decreased, and the adhesion ability of hDPSCs was downregulated. Western blot demonstrated that these effects were dependent on FAK (focal adhesion kinase), β-catenin and GSK3β (Glycogen synthase kinase-3β). Conclusion Our study demonstrates that Cdc42 plays an essential role during the polarized movement and adhesion of hDPSCs

GIS-based volunteer cotton habitat prediction and plant-level detection with UAV remote sensing

Volunteer cotton plants germinate and grow at unwanted locations like transport routes and can serve as hosts for a harmful cotton pests called cotton boll weevils. The main objective of this study was to develop a geographic information system (GIS) framework to efficiently locate volunteer cotton plants in the cotton production regions in southern Texas, thus reducing time and economic cost for their removal. A GIS network analysis tool was applied to estimate the most likely routes for cotton transportation, and a GIS model was created to identify and visualize potential areas of volunteer cotton growth. The GIS model indicated that, of the 31 counties in southern Texas that may have habitat for volunteer cotton, Hidalgo, Cameron, Nueces, and San Patricio are the counties at the greatest risk. Moreover, a method based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing was proposed to detect the precise locations of volunteer cotton plants in potential areas for their subsequent removal. In this study, a UAV was used to scan limited samples of potential volunteer cotton growth areas identified with the GIS model. The results indicated that UAV remote sensing coupled with the proposed image analysis methods could accurately identify the precise locations of volunteer cotton and could potentially assist in the elimination of volunteer cotton along transport routes

Different Distribution of Core Microbiota in Upper Soil Layer in Two Places of North China Plain

Backgrounds: Soils harbor diverse bacteria, and these bacteria play important roles in soil nutrition cycling and carbon storage. Numerous investigations of soil microbiota had been performed, and the core microbiota in different soil or vegetation soil types had been described. The upper layer of soil, as a source of organic matter, is important and affected by the habitats and dominant bacteria. However, the complexity of soil environments and relatively limited information of many geographic areas had attracted great attention on comprehensive exploration of soil microbes in enormous types of soil. Methods: To reveal the core upper layer soil microbiota, soil samples from metropolis and countryside regions in the North China Plain were investigated using high-throughput sequencing strategy. Results: The results showed that the most dominant bacteria are Proteobacteria (38.34%), Actinobacteria (20.56%), and Acidobacteria (15.18%). At the genus-level, the most abundant known genera are Gaiella (3.66%), Sphingomonas (3.6%), Acidobacteria Gp6 (3.52%), and Nocardioides (2.1%). Moreover, several dominant operational taxanomy units OTUs, such as OTU_3 and OTU_17, were identified to be associated with the soil environment. Microbial distributions of the metropolis samples were different from the countryside samples, which may reflect the environments in the countryside were more diverse than in the metropolis. Microbial diversity and evenness were higher in the metropolis than in the countryside, which might due to the fact that human activity increased the microbial diversity in the metropolis. Conclusion: The upper layer soil core microbiota of the North China Plain were complex, and microbial distributions in these two places might be mainly affected by the human activity and environmental factors, not by the distance. Our data highlights the upper layer soil core microbiota in North China Plain, and provides insights for future soil microbial distribution studies in central China

Disciplinary Segregation’s Effects on Inmate Behavior: Institutional and Community Outcomes

Disciplinary segregation (DS) is practiced in a variety of correctional settings and a growing body of research explores its subsequent effects among offenders. The present study contributes to this literature by analyzing the impact of short-term DS on violent infractions and community recidivism among a sample of inmates in Washington State. We assessed the impact of DS on these outcomes from deterrence and stain theory perspectives while controlling for social support variables such as visitations and correctional programming. Mentally ill offenders were excluded, as their abilities to make rational choices may be inconsistent with deterrence theory. Results show DS does not significantly affect post-DS infractions. Social supports significantly reduced inmates’ odds of violent infractions while incarcerated. Community models indicate no substantive differences between the DS and non-DS groups on post-prison convictions 3 years after release. Overall, DS exhibited limited effects on offenders’ institutional or community outcomes

Understanding Offender Needs Over Forms of Isolation Using a Repeated Measures Design

A number of studies find that solitary confinement is associated with mental impairment. Yet, confinement dosage and which individual and exogenous variables lead to mental impairment have received less attention. This study of 2 years of data on disciplinary segregation male inmates employs a repeated measures design to examine how isolation affects mental health and psychological needs. The findings indicate that the duration of disciplinary segregation and incarceration, incidence of homelessness, and other individual-level factors had deleterious effects on mental health and psychological needs. Vocational programming and a high school education were found to be protective factors for psychological needs

Light-responsive expression atlas reveals the effects of light quality and intensity in Kalanchoë fedtschenkoi, a plant with crassulacean acid metabolism.

BackgroundCrassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), a specialized mode of photosynthesis, enables plant adaptation to water-limited environments and improves photosynthetic efficiency via an inorganic carbon-concentrating mechanism. Kalanchoë fedtschenkoi is an obligate CAM model featuring a relatively small genome and easy stable transformation. However, the molecular responses to light quality and intensity in CAM plants remain understudied.ResultsHere we present a genome-wide expression atlas of K. fedtschenkoi plants grown under 12 h/12 h photoperiod with different light quality (blue, red, far-red, white light) and intensity (0, 150, 440, and 1,000 μmol m-2 s-1) based on RNA sequencing performed for mature leaf samples collected at dawn (2 h before the light period) and dusk (2 h before the dark period). An eFP web browser was created for easy access of the gene expression data. Based on the expression atlas, we constructed a light-responsive co-expression network to reveal the potential regulatory relationships in K. fedtschenkoi. Measurements of leaf titratable acidity, soluble sugar, and starch turnover provided metabolic indicators of the magnitude of CAM under the different light treatments and were used to provide biological context for the expression dataset. Furthermore, CAM-related subnetworks were highlighted to showcase genes relevant to CAM pathway, circadian clock, and stomatal movement. In comparison with white light, monochrome blue/red/far-red light treatments repressed the expression of several CAM-related genes at dusk, along with a major reduction in acid accumulation. Increasing light intensity from an intermediate level (440 μmol m-2 s-1) of white light to a high light treatment (1,000 μmol m-2 s-1) increased expression of several genes involved in dark CO2 fixation and malate transport at dawn, along with an increase in organic acid accumulation.ConclusionsThis study provides a useful genomics resource for investigating the molecular mechanism underlying the light regulation of physiology and metabolism in CAM plants. Our results support the hypothesis that both light intensity and light quality can modulate the CAM pathway through regulation of CAM-related genes in K. fedtschenkoi