High-speed intercity passenger rail projects are very complex and require many years of planning and environmental activities before construction can begin. Given the complexity of planning and environmental reviews associated with high-speed intercity passenger rail corridor planning, a systematic approach for high-level screening of various alternative routings for proposed high-speed...
Type-II dilemma zones are the segment of roadway approaching an intersection where drivers have difficulty deciding to stop or proceed at the onset of the circular yellow (CY) indication. Signalized intersection safety is improved when dilemma zones are correctly identified and steps are taken to reduce the likelihood that vehicles...
Many bacteria possess cell density-dependent quorum-sensing (QS) systems that often regulate cooperative secretions involved
in host-microbe or microbe-microbe interactions. These secretions, or “public goods,” are frequently coregulated by stress and
starvation responses. Here we provide a physiological rationale for such regulatory complexity in the opportunistic pathogen
Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using minimal-medium...
Microglia and reactive astrocytes accumulate in the spinal cord of rats expressing the Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-linked SOD1ᴳ⁹³ᴬ mutation. We previously reported that the rapid progression of paralysis in ALS rats is associated with the appearance of prolifer- ative astrocyte-like cells that surround motor neurons. These cells, designated as Aberrant...
BACKGROUND: The wild grass Brachypodium distachyon has emerged as a model system for temperate grasses and
biofuel plants. However, the global analysis of miRNAs, molecules known to be key for eukaryotic gene regulation,
has been limited in B. distachyon to studies examining a few samples or that rely on computational...
The reaction conditions for the synthesis of Cu-BTC (BTC = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid) were elucidated using a continuous-flow microreactor-assisted solvothermal system to achieve crystal size and phase control. A high-rate synthesis of Cu-BTC metal-organic frameworks with BET surface area of more than 1600 m²/g (Langmuir surface area of more than 2000...
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to study, in detail, the transfer of thermal (vibrational) energy between objects with discrete vibrational spectra to those with a semi-continuum of spectra. The transfer of energy is stochastic and strongly dependent on the instantaneous separation between the bodies. The insight from the MD...
The Ti plasmid in Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain 15955 carries two alleles of traR that regulate conjugative transfer. The first
is a functional allele, called traR, that is transcriptionally induced by the opine octopine. The second, trlR, is a nonfunctional,
dominant-negative mutant located in an operon that is inducible by the...
The role of each habitat fish use is of great importance to the dynamics of populations. During
their early marine residence, Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), an anadromous fish
species, mostly inhabit estuaries but also use sandy beach surf zones and the coastal ocean.
However, the role of surf zones in...
The Mongolian Steppe is one of the largest remaining grassland ecosystems. Recent studies have reported widespread
decline of vegetation across the steppe and about 70% of this ecosystem is now considered degraded. Among
the scientific community there has been an active debate about whether the observed degradation is related to...
The exponential growth of the salmonid farming industry during the last 3 decades has created conditions for massive escapes of these exotic species into natural environments in southern Chile. Here, we review and update information about salmonid escapes from 1993 to 2012 and examine their potential environmental, social, and economic...
Background: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and a risk
factor for cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and liver failure. Previously, we reported that dietary docosahexaenoic
acid (DHA, 22:6,n-3) was more effective than eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5,n-3) at reversing western diet (WD)
induced NASH in LDLR-/-...
Research progress to understand the role of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in human health has been slow in coming. This is predominantly the result of several flawed approaches to study design, often lacking a full appreciation of the redox chemistry and biology of ascorbic acid. In this review, we summarize...
The climate sensitivity uncertainty of global climate models (GCMs) is partly due to the spread of individual feedbacks. One approach to constrain long-term climate sensitivity is to use the relatively short observational record, assuming there exists some relationship in feedbacks between short and long records. The present work tests this...
A multifunctional tumor-targeting delivery system was developed and evaluated for an efficient treatment of drug-resistant ovarian cancer by combinatorial therapeutic modality based on chemotherapy and mild hyperthermia. The engineered iron oxide nanoparticle (IONPs)-based nanocarrier served as an efficient delivery vehicle for doxorubicin and provided the ability to heat cancer cells...
Quantitative associations between animals and vegetation have long been used as a basis for conservation and management, as well as in formulating predictions about the influence of resource management and climate change on populations. A fundamental assumption embedded in the use of such correlations is that they remain relatively consistent...
Components of biodiversity in intensively managed forest stands may be reduced in comparison to naturally regenerated stands. Use of herbicides to suppress herbaceous and woody plant species that compete with planted seedlings has been implicated in negative impacts. We designed a large-scale experimental study to test the influence of intensive...
Metal–insulator–metal diodes with Nb₂O₅ and Ta₂O₅ insulators deposited via atomic layer deposition are investigated. For both Nb₂O₅ and Ta₂O₅, the dominant conduction process is established as Schottky emission at small biases and Frenkel–Poole emission at large biases. Fowler–Nordheim tunneling is not found to play a role in determining current versus...
BACKGROUND: The significance of the serotonergic system in bone physiology and, more specifically, the importance of the five hydroxytryptamine receptor 2A (5HTR2A) in normal osteoblast proliferation have been previously described; however the role of serotonin in osteosarcoma remains unclear. Particularly, the expression and function of 5HTR2A in canine osteosarcoma has...
The network comprising 61 high-frequency radar systems along the U.S. West Coast (USWC) provides a unique, high resolution, and broad scale view of ocean surface circulation. Subinertial alongshore surface currents show poleward propagating signals with phase speeds of O(10) and O(100–300) km d⁻¹ that are consistent with historical in situ...
Bacteria in the class Alphaproteobacteria have a wide variety of lifestyles and physiologies. They include pathogens
of humans and livestock, agriculturally valuable strains, and several highly abundant marine groups. The ancestor of
mitochondria also originated in this clade. Despite significant effort to investigate the phylogeny of the
Alphaproteobacteria with a...
BACKGROUND: Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) has risen over the past two decades, with over 10 million Californians drinking one or more SSB per day. High SSB intake is associated with risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and coronary heart disease (CHD). Reduction of SSB intake and the potential...
BACKGROUND: Patients receiving hospice or palliative care often receive antimicrobial therapy; however the effectiveness
of antimicrobial therapy for symptom management in these patients is unknown.
OBJECTIVE: The study’s objective was to systematically review and summarize existing data on the prevalence and
effectiveness of antimicrobial therapy to improve symptom burden among...
While radiocarbon (¹⁴C) abundances in standing stocks of soil carbon have been used to evaluate rates of soil carbon turnover on timescales of several years to centuries, soil-respired ¹⁴CO₂ measurements are an important tool for identifying more immediate responses to disturbance and climate change. Soil Δ¹⁴CO₂ data, however, are often...
Bismuth oxide thin films were deposited by atomic layer deposition using Bi(OCMe₂ [superscript i]Pr)₃ and H₂O
at deposition temperatures between 90 and 270°C on Si₃N₄, TaN, and TiN substrates. Films were
analyzed using spectroscopic ellipsometry, x-ray diffraction, x-ray reflectivity, high-resolution
transmission electron microscopy, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Bi₂O₃ films
deposited...
Deep cycle mixing in the cold tongue of the equatorial
Pacific Ocean is associated with a mean flow regime
in which the gradient Richardson number Ri (a ratio of
stratification to shear that affects the evolution of turbulence)
fluctuates about a critical value near 1/4. This is the state
of...
The frictional resistance on a fault during slip controls earthquake dynamics. Friction dissipates heat during an earthquake; therefore the fault temperature after an earthquake provides insight into the level of friction. The JFAST project (IODP Expedition 343/343T) installed a borehole temperature observatory 16 months after the March 2011 M[subscript w]9.0...
Dietary selenium (Se) alters whole-blood Se concentrations in sheep, dependent upon Se source and dosage administered, but little is known about effects on immune function. We used footrot (FR) as a disease model to test the effects of supranutritional Se supplementation on immune function. To determine the effect of Se-source...
The amino acid acridon-2-ylalanine (Acd) can be a valuable probe of protein conformational change because it is a
long lifetime, visible wavelength fluorophore that is small enough to be incorporated during ribosomal biosynthesis. Incorporation
of Acd into proteins expressed in E. coli requires efficient chemical synthesis to produce large quantities...
The manuscript reports on simulations of the intrinsic dissipation of standing and traveling
flexural vibrations in carbon nanotubes. It is found that extended traveling and standing waves
exhibit anomalous dissipation, during which the excited modes experience massive damping
that is triggered by the accumulation of energy in special gateway modes....
We quantified the relative influence of maternal fidelity to feeding grounds and natal
fidelity to breeding grounds on the population structure of humpback whales Megaptera novae-angliae based on an ocean-wide survey of mitochondrial (mt) DNA diversity in the North Pacific.
For 2193 biopsy samples collected from whales in 10 feeding...
The Bering Sea ecosystem has experienced significant climatic and biological shifts
over the past 3 decades, including temporal and spatial fluctuations of jellyfish biomass. Jellyfish
are important predators and competitors of fish; thus, it is critical to understand the effects of environmental
factors on their population dynamics. We explored the...
We have compared the helium isotope ratio in five
samples of Pacific marine air spanning the 40 year period
between 1973 and 2013 against a secondary gas standard. In
a separate experiment we directly compared the ³He/⁴He
ratio in air samples collected in 1973 and 2013 at the same
location...
BACKGROUND: Meniscal injury is a common cause of lameness in the dog. Tissue engineered bioscaffolds may be a treatment option for meniscal incompetency, and ideally would possess meniscus-like extracellular matrix (ECM) and withstand meniscal tensile hoop strains. Synovium may be a useful cell source for meniscal tissue engineering because of...
Nonlinear mesoscale eddies can influence biogeochemical cycles in the upper ocean through vertical and horizontal advection of nutrients and marine organisms. The relative importance of these two processes depends on the polarity of an eddy (cyclones versus anticyclones) and the initial biological conditions of the fluid trapped in the core...
Idealized numerical simulations utilizing the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) are carried out to examine the response of buoyant river plume systems to offshore-directed wind stresses. It is found that after a few inertial periods of wind forcing the plume becomes detached from the coast and reaches a steady state...
Industrial emissions of SO₂ and NOₓ, resulting in the formation and deposition of sulfuric and nitric acids, affect the health of both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Since the mid-late 20th century, legislation to control acid rain precursors in both Europe and the US has led to significant declines in both...
In the study of nutritional variability in potato it is desirable to know the present range of expression and genetic potential for increase. Potato breeding lines and varieties in two separate trials were evaluated for potassium and phosphorus content by wet ashing and Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma Emission Spectrophotometer analysis....
The diurnal cycle of marine stratocumulus in cloud-topped boundary layers is examined using ship-based meteorological data obtained during the 2008 Variability of American Monsoon Systems (VAMOS) Ocean–Cloud–Atmosphere–Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx). The high temporal and spatial continuity of the ship data, as well as the 31-day sample size, allows the...
Characterizations of tsunami hazards
along the Cascadia subduction zone hinge
on uncertainties in megathrust rupture
models used for simulating tsunami inundation.
To explore these uncertainties, we
constructed 15 megathrust earthquake scenarios
using rupture models that supply the
initial conditions for tsunami simulations
at Bandon, Oregon. Tsunami inundation
varies with the...
The 20-year US GLOBEC (Global Ocean Ecosystem Dynamics) program examined zooplankton populations and their predators in four coastal marine ecosystems. Program scientists learned that environmental controls on zooplankton vital rates, especially the timing and magnitude of reproduction, growth, life-cycle progression, and mortality, determine species population dynamics, seasonal and spatial distributions,...
As mobile technologies continue to evolve, libraries seek sustainable ways to keep up with these changes and to best serve our users. Previous library mobile usability research has examined tasks users predict they might be likely to perform, but little is known about what users actually do on a mobile-optimized...
Neutral genetic markers are routinely used to define distinct units within species that warrant discrete management. Human-induced changes to gene flow however may reduce the power of such an approach. We tested the efficiency of adaptive versus neutral genetic markers in differentiating temporally divergent migratory runs of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus...
An experimentally based, quantitative understanding of the entrapment and function of small peptides within PEO brush layers does not currently exist. Earlier work provided a rationale for expecting that an ordered, compact peptide will enter the PEO phase more readily than a peptide of similar size that adopts a less...
Remediation methods and strength predictions were evaluated for wood I-joists with single, circular holes in the webs, leaving utilities in place. A full-scale bending test using four equally-spaced point loads was applied to three depths of joists with varying flange widths and span lengths of 4.88 m and 2.44 m....
The thermal conductivity, measured by the 3ω method, of amorphous films of Al₂P₁.₂O₆ (AlPO) deposited on Si substrates by an all-aqueous spin-coating technique is 0.93(3) Wm⁻¹K⁻¹. The thermal conductivity of a degenerately doped n-Si substrate is 85(5) Wm⁻¹K⁻¹ and of a more lightly doped p-Si substrate is 139(7) Wm⁻¹K⁻¹. The...
The recent economic downturn severely affected the US forest sector from a macro-economic perspective but little is known about changes in firm-level performance. In this study we investigate the changes in financial, social and environmental performance of forest sector firms during a period approximately corresponding to the downturn. We also...
Acid deposition and repeated biomass harvest have decreased
soil calcium (Ca) availability in many temperate forests worldwide, yet
existing methods for assessing available soil Ca do not fully characterize
soil Ca forms. To account for discrepancies in ecosystem Ca budgets, it
has been hypothesized that the highly insoluble biomineral Ca...
Large shifts in species ranges have been predicted under future climate scenarios based primarily on niche-based species distribution models. However, the mechanisms that would cause such shifts are uncertain. Natural and anthropogenic fires have shaped the distributions of many plant species, but their effects have seldom been included in future...