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The effectiveness of energy labels is crucial in nudging the adoption of energy-efficient products. Here we analyse how providing monetary information on the cost of energy affects the purchases of energy-efficient appliances. To that end, a field experiment was carried out at a major Spanish retailer. The appliances under study were washing-machines, fridges, dishwashers and tumble-driers. Monetary information was provided in two different ways: (i) directly by sales staff; and (ii) directly by sales staff and via a supplementary label. We find that providing monetary information is not always effective to increase the purchases of more energy-efficient appliances. Moreover, the effectiveness is different depending on both the appliance and the specific way in which information is provided. The monetary information provided only by sales staff is effective in promoting purchases of A++washing-machines, fridges and dishwashers but no effect is found for tumble-driers. Monetary information given out by sales staff together with the supplementary label is effective in increasing purchases of A++washing-machines and dishwashers and A+++tumble-driers, but no effect is found for fridges. Prior to the experiment, a rebate programme for energy-efficient appliances was in place for a few months in some regions. We find that this rebate programme had an impact on purchases of those types of appliances even after it ended. This “memory effect” should be considered when analysing the effectiveness of such rebate programmes.

Sagasti, A.J., GarcíaMassini, J., Escapa, I.H., Guido, D.M. & Channing, A., August 2016. Millerocaulis zamuneraesp. nov. (Osmundaceae) from Jurassic geothermally influenced wetland environments of Patagonia, Argentina. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518A new species of MillerocaulisErasmus ex.Tidwell emend.Vera is defined based on several permineralized stems recovered from geothermally influenced chert deposits in the Middle–Late Jurassic La Matilde Formation (Santa Cruz, Argentina). Millerocaulis zamuneraesp. nov. is characterized by the presence of an ectophloic dictyoxylic siphonostele, inner parenchymatic and outer sclerotic cortices, homogeneous sclerotic ring in the petiole bases, two masses of sclerenchyma lining the concavity of the petiolar vascular bundle, petiolar inner cortex with sclerenchyma strands in the outermost petiole cycles and stipular wings having one large and several smaller sclerenchyma bundles. Millerocaulis zamuneraeinhabited geothermal wetlands and other hot-spring-related sedimentary facies associated with the La Bajada epithermal deposit. Reference to active geothermal wetlands, analogous living plants and other fossil hot spring ecosystems suggest the plant’s tolerance of physico-chemical stressors including elevated temperature, pH, salinity and phytotoxic metals/metalloids. Millerocaulis zamuneraethrived in wetlands preserved in the Jurassic geothermal systems of Santa Cruz Province, the same kind of environment in which Equisetum thermaleChanning et al. was recorded previously.Ana Julia Sagasti [anajusagasti@gmail.com] División Paleobotánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Becaria Doctoral Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Paseo del Bosque S/N B1900FWA La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Juan García Massini [massini112@yahoo.com.ar] Centro Regional de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia Tecnológica de La Rioja (CRILAR), Provincia de La Rioja, UNLaR, SEGEMAR, UNCa, CONICET. Entre Ríos y Mendoza S/N, 5301 Anillaco, La Rioja Argentina. Ignacio H. Escapa [iescapa@mef.org.ar] Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Av. Fontana 140, U9100GYO, Trelew, Chubut, Argentina. Diego M. Guido [diegoguido@yahoo.com] Instituto de Recursos Minerales (INREMI), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Calle 64 y 120, La Plata (1900), Argentina. Alan Channing [channinga@gmail.com] School of Earth & Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.

Valorar el impacto de la introducción del tratamiento endovascular en pacientes con hemorragia subaracnoidea espontánea aneurismática (HSAa) en un centro de medio-bajo volumen.

In this investigation we determine a new contribution to the nutation series due to an indirect effect of the triaxiality of the rigid Earth. We undertake this work in the context of the Hamiltonian theory for the rigid Earth, developed by Kinoshita ([CITE]) and recently updated by Souchay et al. ([CITE]). To do this, we express the potential energy in terms of the action–angle variables for the triaxial Earth. Then, we work out analytical formulae for the new contributions, showing that their numerical values are within the truncation level adopted by REN–2000 (Souchay et al. [CITE]), which was fixed to $0.1\;\mu$as.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the contributions to the nutation series arising from the triaxiality of a non-rigid Earth model composed of a rigid mantle and a liquid core. With this aim, the canonical formulation of the rotation of the non-rigid Earth developed by Getino and Ferrándiz is applied in order to study the semidiurnal terms arising from the C22and S22geopotential coefficients. Once the corresponding generating function is calculated, analytical expressions of the Andoyer and figure planes are derived. We also provide numerical nutation series based on the analytical formulae.

In the second paper in this series, we improve on our previous demonstration of the ability of a commercially available graphic arts scanner and cost-effective analysis tools to produce scientifically useful scans of astronomical photographic plates. We describe a method using freely available tools to extract magnitude measurements from the star images on sky-survey plates, such as are stored in observatory archives around the world. We detail the use of this method on one plate in particular, Plate 8 in E. E. Barnard’s APhotographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way, examine the effects of our scanning method on our magnitude measurements, discuss the difficulties encountered when measuring the magnitudes of stars in crowded fields, and present a case study of red supergiant stars appearing within the field. Our work results in a catalog of more than 66,000 measurements of stellar positions and magnitudes in the central 6.°8 × 6.°8 field of view.

Identifying novel players of the pluripotency gene regulatory network centered on Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog as well as delineating the interactions within the complex network is key to understanding self‐renewal and early cell fate commitment of embryonic stem cells (ESC). While overexpression of the transcriptional regulator Cited2 sustains ESC pluripotency, its role in ESC functions remains unclear. Here, we show that Cited2 is important for proliferation, survival, and self‐renewal of mouse ESC. We position Cited2 within the pluripotency gene regulatory network by defining Nanog, Tbx3, and Klf4 as its direct targets. We also demonstrate that the defects caused by Cited2 depletion are, at least in part, rescued by Nanog constitutive expression. Finally, we demonstrate that Cited2is required for and enhances reprogramming of mouse embryonic fibroblasts to induced pluripotent stem cells. StemCells2015;33:699–712

Sphenophytes are a common floral element in the Triassic of Gondwana. Most sphenophyte compression fossils have been conventionally assigned to a few, presumably very widespread species of Neocalamitesbased on vegetative features of the stems (or pith casts) and the foliage. During recent decades, however, new reports on morphological and anatomical details of some of these fossils have cast doubt on the systematic affinities of many Gondwanan Triassic sphenophytes. Here we describe Neocalamites suberosus(Artabe & Zamuner) nov. comb. et emend. and Schizoneura africanaFeistmantel emend. from several Triassic deposits in the central Transantarctic Mountains and Victoria Land, East Antarctica. The material enables a critical reevaluation of morphological and anatomical features that have been historically used to define the two genera, including leaf-base morphology, degree of leaf fusion, stem vasculature and vallecular canals, and features of the nodal diaphragm. The diagnoses of Neocalamitesand Schizoneuraare emended so that they more accurately reflect recent advances in our understanding of the anatomy and ontogeny of these plants.[Benjamin Bomfleur [bbomfleur@ku]edu], Rudolph Serbet [serbet@ku.edu], Edith L. Taylor [etaylor@ku.edu] and Thomas N. Taylor [tntaylor@ku.edu], Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA; Ignacio H. Escapa [iescapa@mef.org.ar], CONICET—Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Chubut 9100, Argentina. Received 4.7.2012; revised 22.12.2012; accepted 7.1.2013.Bomfleur, B., Escapa, I.H., Serbet, R., Taylor, E.L. & Taylor, T.N., 2013. A reappraisal of Neocalamites and Schizoneura(fossil Equisetales) based on material from the Triassic of East Antarctica. Alcheringa 37, 1–17. ISSN 0311-5518.

In this work we studied the actual coverage, distribution patterns and ecologic effects of the introduced oyster Crassostrea gigas 20 y after their introduction to the Northern Argentinean Patagonia (Bahía Anegada; 39°50'S to 40°40'S and 61°59 to 62°28 W). Using satellite imagery and field and aerial inspections we found 10 oyster beds that cover less than 0.05% of the bay intertidal (area covered: 36.45 ha). These beds are restricted to intertidal zones with superficial hard substrata (limestone outcrops). Most epifaunal organisms (the crabs Cyrtograpsus angulatus, Chasmagnathus granulatus, the isopod Melita palmata, and the snail Heleobia australis) showed higher densities inside oyster beds compared with outside and experiments showed that artificially deployed oyster beds increased the densities of their at three intertidal zones (high intertidal marsh, low intertidal marsh, and low intertidal with hard substrata) and also increased densities of infaunal organisms (the polychaetes Laeonereis acuta, Nepthys fluviatilis, and the priapulid Priapulus tuberculatospinosus) at the low intertidal with hard substrata. This may be the result of increasing habitat structure and refuge for epifaunal organisms, and enhancement of deposition and sediment stability that may benefit infaunal organisms. Densities bird species (Local species: Larus dominicanus, Haematopus palliatus; Regional migratory shorebird: Charadrius falklandicus; Long range migratory shorebirds: Pluvialis dominica, Calidris canutus, Tringa flavipes) were higher inside oyster beds compared with similar zones without oysters, which may be the result of higher prey availability. Foraging rate was also higher for some of these species (P. dominica, C. falklandicus). However, due to the limited availability of hard substratum the distribution of oysters is small. In conclusion, no negative effects were observed as a result of this introduction. There was an increase in species abundance and the area was preferred by local and migratory bird species, which also showed higher feeding rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhythmic movements in response to tidal cycles are characteristic of infaunal inhabitant of intertidal soft-bottoms, allowing them to remain in the area with best living conditions. The effect of bioturbators as modifier of local environmental conditions and thus of gradients in intertidal habitats, has not been investigated yet. The Atlantic estuarine intertidal areas are dominated by the burrowing crabChasmagnathus granulatusthat generates strong environmental heterogeneity by affecting the physical-chemical characteristics of the sediment. The comparison between intertidal areas with and without crab shows that sediments in the crab beds remain more humid, softer, and homogeneous across the intertidal and along the tidal cycle than areas without crabs. The densities of infauna were higher at high intertidal zones in crab beds than in similar areas without crabs. Infaunal organisms performed vertical movements into the sediment following the tidal cycle that were always of higher magnitude in habitats without crabs. Infaunal species tend to spend most of the time buried into the sediment in the crab bed. Migratory shorebirds use the Atlantic estuarine environments as stopover or wintering sites. They feed (mainly on polychaetes) in the low intertidal zones of both habitats (with and without crabs), but they also feed in the upper intertidal of the crab bed; polychaete per capita mortality rate is higher in the upper part of the crab bed. Environmental heterogeneity produced by crab disturbance has an effect on the infaunal behavior, risk of mortality, and the zonation pattern. This is another example of the ecosystem engineering ability of a burrowing intertidal species.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable polymers that many bacteria accumulate as carbon and energy storage when growth conditions are unbalanced. Pseudomonasstrains belonging to the rRNA homology group I such as P. putidacan accumulate medium‐chain‐length‐PHA from monomers in the C8 to C10 range. Regulation of PHA synthesis and degradation in P. putidaKT2442 has been studied using different molecular approaches. In this study six promoter regions located upstream of each phagene were identified. The expression of the phacluster have been analysed in the presence of octanoic acid versusglucose in the culture medium. Results demonstrated that the system is activated in the presence of octanoic acid as PHA precursor.

ABSTRACTThe majority of bacteria detected in the nostril microbiota of most healthy adults belong to three genera: Propionibacterium, Corynebacterium, and Staphylococcus. Among these staphylococci is the medically important bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. Almost nothing is known about interspecies interactions among bacteria in the nostrils. We observed that crude extracts of cell-free conditioned medium from Propionibacteriumspp. induce S. aureusaggregation in culture. Bioassay-guided fractionation implicated coproporphyrin III (CIII), the most abundant extracellular porphyrin produced by human-associated Propionibacteriumspp., as a cause of S. aureusaggregation. This aggregation response depended on the CIII dose and occurred during early stationary-phase growth, and a low pH (~4 to 6) was necessary but was not sufficient for its induction. Additionally, CIII induced plasma-independent S. aureusbiofilm development on an abiotic surface in multiple S. aureusstrains. In strain UAMS-1, CIII stimulation of biofilm depended on sarA, a key biofilm regulator. This study is one of the first demonstrations of a small-molecule-mediated interaction among medically relevant members of the nostril microbiota and the first description of a role for CIII in bacterial interspecies interactions. Our results indicate that CIII may be an important mediator of S. aureusaggregation and/or biofilm formation in the nostril or other sites inhabited by Propionibacteriumspp. and S. aureus.IMPORTANCEVery little is known about interspecies interactions among the bacteria that inhabit the adult nostril, including Staphylococcus aureus, a potential pathogen that colonizes about a quarter of adults. We demonstrated that coproporphyrin III (CIII), a diffusible small molecule excreted by nostril- and skin-associated Propionibacteriumspp., induces S. aureusaggregation in a manner dependent on dose, growth phase, and pH. CIII also induces S. aureusto form a plasma-independent surface-attached biofilm. This report is the first description of a role for CIII in bacterial interspecies interactions at any human body site and a novel demonstration that nostril microbiota physiology is influenced by small-molecule-mediated interactions.