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This study examines the functional histology of the thin-spined porcupine's (Chaetomys subspinosus (Olfers, 1818)) quills and integument, and compares them with the North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum (Linnaeus, 1758)) equivalents. Erethizon quills disseminate warnings to potential predators. An olfactory warning is generated by sebaceous glands of the lower back, disseminated by osmetrichial specializations of lower-back quills. Chaetomys skin lacks functional sebaceous glands, and generates no warning odor. Erethizon quills also carry a visual warning, effective even in dim light. Chaetomys quills carry no warning color. The straight, stiff quills of Erethizon are tipped with one-way barbs and can be elevated to 90[degrees]. A protective collagenous spool at the base of the quill prevents back-stabbing on impact. Chaetomys quills lack barbs and the basal collagenous spool is poorly developed. The quill shafts are wavy and angled at the base, allowing them to act as shock absorbers during a fall from a tree. Nevertheless, Chaetomys quills of the head and shoulders can be elevated to 90[degrees] to function as stabbing devices. Major defensive quills of Erethizon protect the back; in Chaetomys, the front. Though both species have 1-3 arrector muscles, they differ in the details of quill stabilization. The Chaetomys quill surface has regional cuticular patterns, of which the distal, longest region is highly pitted. The function of the pitted region remains a mystery. Key words: Chaetomys subspinosus, thin-spined porcupine, Erethizon dorsatum, North American porcupine, functional histology of quills, hair, skin, aposematic signaling, Introduction The functional histology of the skin of the thin-spined porcupine, Chaetomys subspinosus, from Brazil is here described and compared with the skin of Erethizon dorsatum, the North American porcupine. [...]

The Red Book of Anton Bruckner: Eleven Symphonies; A Guide to the Versions. By William Carragan. Windsor, CT: Bruckner Society of America, 2020. [xi, 214 p. ISBN 9781938911590 (hardcover), $50.] [...]

The performance of geotechnical assets is influenced by various external factors including time and changing loading and environmental conditions. These changes could reduce the asset's ability to maintain its function, potentially resulting in failure, which could be extremely disruptive and expensive to remediate; thus, the ability to monitor the long-term condition of the ground is clearly desirable as this could function as an early-warning system, permitting intervention prior to failure. This study demonstrates, for the first time, the potential of using time domain reflectometry (TDR) for long-term monitoring of the relative health of an asset (via water content and dry density) in a field trial where a clayey sandy silt was exposed to leaking water from a pipe. TDR sensors were able to provide detailed information on the variation in the soil conditions and detect abrupt changes that would relay a prompt for asset inspections or interventions. It is proposed that TDR could be used alone or together with other shallow geophysical techniques for long-term condition monitoring of critical geotechnical assets. Early-warning systems could be based on thresholds defined from the values or the relative change of the measured parameters. Key words: time domain reflectometry, soil condition monitoring, gravimetric water content, dry density, degree of saturation. La performance des actifs geotechniques est influencee par divers facteurs externes, notamment le temps et les conditions changeantes de chargement et d'environnement. Ces modifications pourraient reduire la capacite de l'actif a conserver sa fonction, ce qui pourrait entrainer une defaillance qui pourrait etre extremement perturbatrice et couteuse a resoudre; ainsi, la capacite de surveiller l'etat a long terme du sol est clairement souhaitable, car cela pourrait fonctionner comme un systeme d'alerte rapide, permettant une intervention avant la panne. Cette etude demontre, pour la premiere fois, la possibilite d'utiliser la reflectometrie temporelle (TDR) pour surveiller a long terme la sante relative d'un actif dans un essai sur le terrain (via la teneur en eau et la densite seche) ou un silt sableux argileux etait expose a des fuites d'eau. Les capteurs TDR ont ete en mesure de fournir des informations detaillees sur la variation des conditions du sol et de detecter les changements brusques qui entraineraient des inspections ou des interventions sur les actifs. Il est propose que le TDR puisse etre utilise seul ou conjointement avec d'autres techniques geophysiques peu profondes pour la surveillance de la situation a long terme des actifs geotechniques critiques. Les systemes d'alerte precoce pourraient etre bases sur des seuils definis a partir des valeurs ou de la variation relative des parametres mesures. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: reflectometrie temporelle, surveillance de l'etat du sol, teneur en eau gravimetrique, densite seche, degre de saturation., Introduction Modern, developed societies are fundamentally dependent upon the performance of their geotechnical assets (e.g., embankments, cuttings, earth dams, flood levees, pavement subbase layers) to function properly; yet, many of [...]

Scanning electron microscopy shows that the quill surface from the thin-spined porcupine (Chaetomys subspinosus (Olfers, 1818)) has several regional cuticular patterns of which the most expansive is highly pitted with 4 [micro]m wide pores leading to pits, which in turn communicate circumferentially via tunnels to neighboring pits. The cell unit of the pitted layer is a hexagonal or pentagonal prism, the 'pitted fibrillous cuticular cell' (PFCC), which has a superficial pitted cuticular scale derived part with an underlying part packed with fine fibrils and the nucleus. The scaled part has about six scales, which swell and fuse except where raised cuticular scales from the inner root sheath intervene. This unique and complicated cell soon dies even while below the skin's surface during its development. The raised scale-bearing cells of the inner root sheath leave their imprints on the PFCC's surface, thus indicating that the quill's pitted layer is at one time soft. Histochemistry, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry show that the PFCC is keratinous.Key words: development, Chaetomys subspinosus, thin-spined porcupine, quill, cuticle development, ultrastructure, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry.La microscopie electronique a balayage montre que la surface d'aiguillons du porc-epic epineux (Chaetomys subspinosus (Olfers, 1818)) presente plusieurs motifs cuticulaires regionaux dont le plus grand est fortement pique de pores de 4 [[micro]m de largeur menant a des trous, qui communiquent autour de la circonference par des tunnels avec des trous voisins. L'unite cellulaire de la couche piquee est un prisme hexagonal ou pentagonal, la [much less than] cellule cuticulaire fibrillaire piquee [much greater than] (CCFP), qui presente une partie derivee d'ecailles cuticulaires piquees avec une partie sous-jacente remplie de fines fibrilles et le noyau. La partie a ecailles compte environ six ecailles, qui se gonflent et fusionnent sauf la ou des ecailles cuticulaires surelevees de la gaine interne de la racine interviennent. Cette cellule singuliere et compliquee meurt rapidement meme quand elle est sous la surface de la peau durant son developpement. Les cellules porteuses d'ecailles surelevees de la gaine interne de la racine laissent leurs empreintes sur la surface des CCFP, indiquant que la couche piquee de l'aiguillon est molle a un moment donne. L'histochimie, la spectrometrie de rayons X a dispersion d'energie et la spectrometrie infrarouge par transformation de Fourier montrent que la CCFP est keratineuse. [Traduit par la Redaction]Mots-cles: developpement, Chaetomys subspinosus, porc-epic epineux, aiguillon, developpement des cuticules, ultrastructure, microscopie electronique a balayage, spectrometrie de rayons X a dispersion d'energie, spectrometrie infrarouge par transformation de Fourier., IntroductionPorcupines are famous for their defensive and, occasionally, offensive spines (Roze 2009). The histochemical and chemical properties of quills, as well as the associated piloerector muscles and dermal components of [...]

Visitors to London are often seeking an imaginary city, one defined through literary depictions and pop culture. To (dis)cover Victorian London requires the visitor to disentangle the corporeal, historical, and mythical manifestations of the city. Thus, the corpus of London is both a literary and a physical space with geographical features, architectural styles, and visual references that sometimes form the viewer's experience and are sometimes formed by the viewer's expectations. The corpus of London is not only an experience of recognition but also one that leads inevitably to magnification, distortion, disruption, and even erasure of the cultural artifact. Keywords: architectural history, Gothic Revival, Kew Gardens, literary tourism, Victoria Embankment, Victorian London, Westminster Palace, When we experience any city in lived time, we necessarily understand it as a dynamic enterprise. Over time buildings are raised and then razed. Neighborhoods may be gentrified or go [...]

As many countries expand their higher education systems, they must attract, support, and retain qualified academic staff. This paper focuses on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a case study of a nation drawing on large numbers of mostly expatriate faculty working in short-term academic appointments. The paper begins by considering the national context within which expatriate faculty work in the UAE. Then, using a published conceptual framework highlighting key elements of academic work, the paper examines defining aspects of the work experience of expatriate faculty in the UAE, including work expectations (teaching, research, and service); equity (compensation, incentives, and benefits); autonomy, academic freedom, and flexibility; collegiality and institutional involvement; and professional growth. The discussion considers the implications of these elements of academic work for the satisfaction, motivation, and institutional commitment of the expatriate faculty members. The sample of 29 expatriate faculty studied is drawn from the population of full-time instructors at three public and three semi-public institutions in the UAE who teach in education or media, humanities and social sciences, science or engineering, and business or economics. The discussion of findings highlights satisfactions and concerns, as well as the relationship of work experiences with organizational commitment. The nature of academic work in many countries is shifting toward temporary and short-term contract-based appointments. Thus, analysis of the experiences of expatriate academic staff working within the UAE, where the majority of faculty members are in short-term positions, raises issues relevant to those in other countries where the nonpermanent academic workforce is increasing. Additionally, issues considered are of interest to those who study the academic career and the factors shaping it. Keywords Academic staff and faculty work * Higher education institutions * Teaching, research, and service in academic work * Autonomy in academic work * Faculty collegiality * Faculty job satisfaction, motivation, and commitment, Introduction Higher education systems are expanding in many countries in the world, fueled by the aspirations of students, national successes in expanding basic education, and the interests of governments seeking [...]

In June of the year 1178, an impact was observed on the Moon. Within a few years, Europe experienced a climatic event known as the Little Ice Age. Calculations of the reduction in sunlight due to dust in high earth orbit are consistent with the historical temperature decrease. Other past temperature reductions may have resulted from similar impacts on the Moon., 1 Historical events Shortly after sunset on June 25, 1178 AD, a large explosion occurred on the surface of the Moon. This event was observed by several people in Canterbury, [...]

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is characterized by excessive deposition of collagen in the lung, leading to chronically impaired gas exchange and death.sup.1-3. Oxidative stress is believed to be critical in this disease pathogenesis.sup.4-6, although the exact mechanisms remain enigmatic. Protein S-glutathionylation (PSSG) is a post-translational modification of proteins that can be reversed by glutaredoxin-1 (GLRX).sup.7. It remains unknown whether GLRX and PSSG play a role in lung fibrosis. Here, we explored the impact of GLRX and PSSG status on the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis, using lung tissues from subjects with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, transgenic mouse models and direct administration of recombinant Glrx to airways of mice with existing fibrosis. We demonstrate that GLRX enzymatic activity was strongly decreased in fibrotic lungs, in accordance with increases in PSSG. Mice lacking Glrx were far more susceptible to bleomycin- or adenovirus encoding active transforming growth factor beta-1 (AdTGFB1)-induced pulmonary fibrosis, whereas transgenic overexpression of Glrx in the lung epithelium attenuated fibrosis. We furthermore show that endogenous GLRX was inactivated through an oxidative mechanism and that direct administration of the Glrx protein into airways augmented Glrx activity and reversed increases in collagen in mice with TGFB1- or bleomycin-induced fibrosis, even when administered to fibrotic, aged animals. Collectively, these findings suggest the therapeutic potential of exogenous GLRX in treating lung fibrosis. Targeting a post-translational modification of Fas by recombinant Glrx reverses established lung fibrosis in a mouse model of age-related idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis., Author(s): Vikas Anathy [sup.1] , Karolyn G. Lahue [sup.1] , David G. Chapman [sup.2] , Shi B. Chia [sup.1] , Dylan T. Casey [sup.1] , Reem Aboushousha [sup.1] , Jos [...]

The Art of Partimento: History, Theory, Practice. By Giorgio Sanguinetti. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. [xiii, 385 p. ISBN 9780195394207. $49.95]. Music examples, bibliography, index, companion Web site. The [...]

African swine fever (ASF) is a hemorrhagic fever in domestic pigs that causes serious economic losses and high mortality rates. ASF is currently endemic to many countries in sub-Saharan Africa [...]

This paper describes the design and evaluates the adequacy of the moment connection of an experimental two-span highway bridge designed by the Tennessee Department of Transportation. The Massman Drive Bridge is an experimental design that unifies the construction economy of simple span bridges and the structural economy of continuous span bridges. The experimental connection, consisting of cover plates and kicker wedge plates, is used to connect the two adjoining girders over the center pier. As a result, the bridge is designed to function as a continuous bridge during the deck pour and behave compositely with the reinforced concrete deck under the live load. After completing a moment comparison analysis, it is concluded that the Massman Drive Bridge indeed acts as continuous over the pier as it was designed. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0887-3828(2010)24:1(40) CE Database subject headings: Bridges; Construction; Design; Connections; Experimentation; Tennessee. Author keywords: Bridge construction; Bridge design; Connections; Experimentation; Moments.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2009.01482.x Byline: DAVID A. CHAPMAN, VALERY POLKOVNICHENKO (*) Abstract: ABSTRACT We examine a wide range of two-date economies populated by heterogeneous agents with the most common forms of nonexpected utility preferences used in finance and macroeconomics. We demonstrate that the risk premium and the risk-free rate in these models are sensitive to ignoring heterogeneity. This follows because of endogenous withdrawal by nonexpected utility agents from the market for the risky asset. This finding is important precisely because these alternative preferences have frequently been proposed as possible resolutions to various asset pricing puzzles, and they have all been examined exclusively in a representative agent framework. Article note: (*) Chapman is at Boston College and Polkovnichenko is at the University of Texas at Dallas. Polkovnichenko acknowledges financial support from a Business and Economics Research Grant of the McKnight Foundation at the University of Minnesota. We would like to thank an anonymous referee; Nick Barberis; John Campbell; Wayne Ferson; Iraj Fooladi; Evan Gatev; Campbell Harvey (the editor); Erzo Luttmer, Maureen O'Hara; Neil Pearson; Bryan Routledge; Jeremy Stein; and workshop participants at Boston College, Harvard University, McGill University, and the 2005 WFA meetings for helpful comments.

The Aqua spacecraft, launched on May 4, 2002, carries two well-calibrated independent infrared (IR) grating spectrometers Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), which have been continuously returning upwelling IR spectral radiance measurements for over five years. Based on an Aqua St. Project Review, estimates of available flight fuel, power, and orbital projections assess the life span of the Aqua satellite, and these two instruments, to be reliable to 2013. Since launch, these instruments have generated petabytes of data, which are managed and made available by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Earth Science Data and Information Services Center and GSFC MODAPS. Agencies such as NOAA, DOD, EPA, and USGS use the AIRS data mostly for weather-related applications, whereas MODIS data are used, in addition to some climate-related studies, for studies of weather, oceans, and land processes, aerosols, natural and man-made disasters, and earth ecology. The Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS) teams have made many of the desired products derived from these data sets available either as level 2 products and/or level 3 gridded product fields. However, no gridded level 3 data products of radiances, either averaged for a grid element, max, min, or as brightness temperatures (BTs), are provided directly by the SIPS. Thus, one impediment that the general community faces in accessing these MODIS produced petabytes of data is storing such large data sets, interpreting the multiformatted data, and transforming it into helpful data sets for climate-research needs. The Service-Oriented Atmospheric Radiance (SOAR) system has been designed to bridge these gaps and overcome the challenges of bringing this rich data source to the science community, by delivering applications that process these valuable radiance data into standard spatial-temporal grids as well as user-defined criteria on demand. SOAR can serve this community with aggregated, enriched, and thinned gridded data sets provided with access to the data on demand, with query and subsetting capabilities across many dimensions. In addition, SOAR provides online user-specified visualization and analysis requests, all accessible via a Web browser. The utility of SOAR is exposed via Web-service routines, using the Simple Object Access Protocol. The Web-service library and supporting technologies (Axis, PostgreSQL, and Tomcat) reside on a University of Maryland Baltimore Campus client server, which interfaces to and invokes algorithms on the process server, a high-performance computer cluster and storage system. These servers are connected to the sensor data stores at the GSFC via a high-speed fiber-optic network connection [10 Gb/s], providing reliable and fast on-demand access to a vast online library of AIRS and current monthly MODIS source data. Index Terms--Data conversion, on-demand data processing, service-oriented computing, Web services.

Neighborhoods unable to adequately satisfy perceived resident needs are susceptible to the migration of their inhabitants to areas that better address their needs. Using the American Housing Survey, the authors examine neighborhood satisfaction and its relationship to perceptions of residents living in both gated and nongated fee-based neighborhoods. The findings indicate that respondent age and the lack of knowledge of crime have the largest positive impact on how the residents rated their neighborhoods. While chronological age may have myriad possible influential factors, the simple knowledge by residents of neighborhood crime has implications for crime prevention and community awareness efforts. Keywords: fee: gated: nongated; residential community; neighborhood satisfaction; American Housing Survey

ABSTRACT This paper develops a decision framework for considering emission control technologies on marine engines, informed by standard decision theory, with an open structure that may be adapted by operators [...]

Abstract Introduction What Is an Invasive Species? Vectors and Dispersal Patterns Mechanisms of Invasive Success of Introduced Marine Macroalgae Abiotic and Biotic Factors Biotic Resistance Nutrient Fluctuations Enemy Release Hypothesis [...]

The dynamic compaction characteristics of a porous silicon dioxide powder are reported, while generating theoretical pressure-particle velocity and shock velocity-particle velocity curves using a P-alpha compaction curve. The findings reveal that the P-alpha compaction curve accurately represented the pressure-particle velocity and shock velocity-particle valocity Hugoniot curves for the low specific volume powder, specifically V00=1.30 cm3/g.

This paper describes a new method for classification and presentation of voltage sag and short interruption performance information for individual sites and entire systems. The method expands on traditional methods by including information about the individual phase voltages during the disturbance, rather than just a single magnitude and duration. This improved method provides better information for correlation with equipment impacts associated with the voltage sags and short interruptions. The method is validated with sag and interruption data measured/recorded in actual power systems and with results of simulations on an example system. Index Terms--Classification and presentation of voltage sags and short interruptions, fault rate, power quality, system/site sag performance.

Seamounts contribute to globally significant hydrothermal fluxes, but the dynamics and impacts of fluid flow through these features are poorly understood. Numerical models of coupled heat and fluid flow illustrate how seamounts induce local convection in the oceanic crust. We consider idealized axisymmetric seamounts and calculate mass and heat fluxes by using a coupled heat-and fluid-flow model. By using P. Wessel's global database of ~15,000 seamounts identified through satellite gravimetry, we estimate that the mass flux associated with seamounts is ~[10.sup.14] kg/yr, a number comparable to estimated regional mass fluxes through mid-ocean ridges and flanks. In addition, the seamount-generated advective heat flux may be locally significant well beyond the 65 Ma average age at which advective lithospheric heat loss on ridge flanks ends. These flows may be important for facilitating geochemical exchange between the crust and ocean and may affect subseafloor microbial ecosystems. Keywords: fluid flow, heat flow, seamounts, numerical model, mass flux.

Investment policy restrictions are commonplace among the interactions between mutual fund portfolio managers and their investors. A large sample of domestic equity mutual funds from 1994 to 2000 is taken to demonstrate the restriction adoption practices and the significant variance in them across the funds and the changing levels of constraint in the industry are analyzed.

Each spring, sometime between the wilting of the azaleas and the flowering of the roses, our university sets aside a day for Student Showcase. About one hundred of our best [...]

The interest rate drift function is linear yet includes some nonlinear qualities. Use of a weighted least squares estimation technique suggests that the nonlinear nature of the short rate drift is not a stylized fact.

As a result of recovering housing markets, California is one state that is experiencing a surge in master-planned communities. Because of the complexity of these long-term, large-scale land development projects, combined with investors' relative lack of familiarity with the unique aspects of master-planned communities, California serves as an example of why it is imperative that developers educate investors on the many nuances of entitlement, development, and marketing of these communities, as well as provide ongoing status reports - all of which can yield long-term relationships with satisfied equity partners.

The role of the FGL sequence of the periplasmic molecular chaperone Caf1M of Yersinia pestis was investigated by expressing a mutant Caf1M in Escherichia coli. An accumulation of high levels of dCaf1M was observed as a result of the expression. The mutant and wild-type proteins were also found to be similar and displayed relatively the same temperature and pH dependencies. The results suggest that the FGL sequence of Caf1M is not essential to the stability of the protein conformation.

The use of a production economy with sufficient asset return distribution structure was proposed to address a problem that results in employing an endowment economy for the assessment of an equilibrium asset pricing model with habit formation. The proposed solution allows endogenous derivation of the aggregate consumption process. It entails the use of a powerful assumption regarding asset returns.

Thermal anomalies that have important geodynamic implications may not always be recognizable in present-day surface heat-flow patterns. The masking occurs because surface heat flow responds to mantle heat, crustal radioactivity, magmatism, crustal deformation, burial and/or exhumation, and fluid movement, any of which may offset the thermal effects of the others. Sedimentary basins are particularly suited to partitioning heat flow into its various components. We use Taranaki basin, New Zealand, as an example. It has a relatively undeformed (since the Miocene) western region that is used as a control against which the tectonically active eastern region can be compared. Although surface heat flow is roughly constant across Taranaki basin, basal heat flow modeled at lower crustal-upper mantle depths varies by a factor of two or more. A combination of low heat-producing crust and the heat sink effects of crustal thickening in the eastern region can account for the basal heat-flow anomalies. The tectonic thermal anomaly would have gone unnoticed without the aid of detailed basin analysis and thermal modeling.

Consumption growth and real yields are strongly correlated with cyclical component of the natural logarithm of output, as revealed in an analysis on economic real terms structure between the 1952-1991 period. Results also suggest that real yields are insignificantly related with consumption growth, particularly during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Such a correlation is contradictory with the results gathered during the 1990s, when positive contemporaneous correlation between the two increased by 0.46 to 0.71.

The Semi-spectral Primitive Equation Ocean Circulation Model (SPEM) was used to study the flow response of a stratified ocean over a tall, isolated seamount induced by the combination of slow steady inflow and weak diurnal tides. Flow and particle behavior were observed during the onset of the inflow. At an oceanically relevant range of forcing magnitudes, the steady flow and the tidal forcing were found to be of equal importance at the seamount.

Lack of a 19th-century baseline temperature against which 20th-century warming can be referenced constitutes a deficiency in understanding recent climate change. Combination of borehole temperature profiles, which contain a memory of surface temperature changes in previous centuries, with the meteorological archive of surface air temperatures can provide a 19th-century baseline temperature tied to the current observational record. A test case in Utah, where boreholes are interspersed with meteorological stations belonging to the Historical Climatological Network, yields a noise reduction in estimates of 20th-century warming and a baseline temperature that is 0.6 ° ± 0.1 ° C below the 1951 to 1970 mean temperature for the region., Analysis of surface air temperature (SAT) measurements provides the primary evidence for recent and widespread climatic warming and indicates that the average global warming since 1900 has been 0.45 ° [...]

Coastal residents associate the sea with particular rhythms: the short, insistent lapping of small harbor waves, or the long beat of ocean swell rolling toward shore from distant storms at [...]

The tectonic history of the area bounded by the Colorado Plateau, New Mexico, Chihuahua, and southern and Baja California is reconstructed for the last 100 million years. Activity in this region peaked in mid-Cretaceous, and remains current and independent of boundary transform faulting. Magmatic emplacement due to subduction resulted in a large isostatic welt that elevated and spread outward, accompanied by erosional and tectonic unloading. Subsidence of the central portion and elevation of the marginal mountain ranges were evident from the mid-Miocene up to the present.

Psychophysical data on the biological mechanism of intermediate visual processing is simulated in a system called SIMS. Unlike early and late visual processes, intermediate vision involves nonlocal computations of image representations. Basic issues are addressed in these computations. These are the finding and selective processing of task-relevant regions and the serial nature of visual processing.