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McMurdo Sound sea ice can generally be partitioned into two regimes: (1) a stable fast-ice cover, forming south of approximately 77.6∘ S around March–April and then breaking out the following January–February, and (2) a more dynamic region north of 77.6∘ S that the McMurdo Sound and Ross Sea polynyas regularly impact. In 2019, a stable fast-ice cover formed unusually late due to repeated break-out events. We analyse the 2019 sea-ice conditions and relate them to a modified storm index (MSI), a proxy for southerly wind events. We find there is a strong correlation between the timing of break-out events and several unusually large MSI events.

Augmented Reality (AR) sandtables facilitate the shaping of sand to form a surface that is transformed into a digital terrain map which is projected back onto the sand. Although a mature te...

Thermal expansions of single crystals of mercurous halides grown by the physical vapor transport method have been investigated. The unit cell lattice parameters were measured by using x-ray diffraction, whereas, the bulk thermal expansion was investigated using the dilatometer instrument as a function of temperature. It was found by both techniques that mercurous halides exhibit positive linear thermal expansion along the a-axis and negative linear thermal expansion along the c-axis. However, the volume expansion in both methods was found to be positive. The coefficient of thermal expansion along the a-axis was significantly larger than the one along the c-axis giving a net positive volume expansion.

Uncertainty is rampant in military expeditionary operations spanning high-intensity combat to humanitarian operations. These missions require rapid planning and decision-support tools to address the logistical challenges involved in providing support in often austere environments. The US Army’s adoption of an enterprise resource planning system provides an opportunity to develop automated decision-support tools and other analytical models designed to take advantage of newly available logistical data. This research presents a tool that runs in near-real time to assess risk while conducting capacity planning and performance analysis designed for inclusion in a suite of applications dubbed the Military Logistics Network Planning System, which previously only evaluated the mean sample path. Logistical data from combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom drive supply requisition forecasts for a contingency scenario in a similar geographic environment. A nonstationary queueing network model is linked with a heuristic logistics scheduling methodology to provide a stochastic framework to account for uncertainty and assess risk.

Because of the large degree of homology among dopamine D2-like receptors, discovering ligands capable of discriminating between the D2, D3, and D4 receptor subtypes remains a significant challenge....

Many firms generate revenue by operating systems or fleets, such as welding robots, rental cars, aircraft, etc. The contribution of service parts to the availability of the system or fleet is well ...

Paleogeographic and tectonic models for the southern Taranaki Basin are refined with sandstone and conglomerate provenances determined from the Late Cretaceous fluvial Rakopi, marginal mari...

New LA–ICP–MS U–Pb zircon ages of tuffs, from the northern Taranaki coastal section constrain depositional ages of the Mount Messenger Formation to 9.69 ± 0.12 and 9.43 ± 0.17 Ma at the Moh...

Glomerular crescent formation is a hallmark of rapidly progressive forms of glomerulonephritis. Thrombosis and macrophage infiltration are features of crescent formation in human and experimental kidney disease. Protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) is a G-protein coupled receptor that links coagulation and inflammation. This study investigated whether pharmacological inhibition of PAR-2 can suppress glomerular crescent formation in rat nephrotoxic serum nephritis (NTN). Disease was induced in Wistar Kyoto rats by immunisation with sheep IgG followed by administration of sheep nephrotoxic serum. Rats (n = 8/group) received the PAR-2 antagonist (GB88, 10 mg/kg/p.o.), vehicle or no treatment starting 3 days before nephrotoxic serum injection and continuing until day 14. Vehicle and untreated rats developed thrombosis and macrophage infiltration in the glomerular tuft and Bowman's space in conjunction with prominent crescent formation. Activation of JNK signalling and proliferation in parietal epithelial cells was associated with crescent formation. GB88 treatment significantly reduced crescent formation with a substantial reduction in glomerular thrombosis, reduced macrophage infiltration in Bowman's space, and reduced activation of parietal epithelial cells. However, GB88 did not protect against the development of proteinuria, renal function impairment, inflammation or tubular cell damage in the NTN model. In conclusion, PAR-2 plays a specific role in glomerular crescent formation by promoting glomerular thrombosis, macrophage accumulation in Bowman's space and activation of parietal epithelial cells.

A paucity of well data in frontier basins presents serious challenges for reservoir characterisation studies around the world. In this paper, we provide the first regional study addressing reservoir distribution, composition and quality in the frontier Canterbury Basin (CB) and Great South Basin (GSB) of New Zealand, and show how the results can be used to help reduce uncertainties associated with reservoir presence and effectiveness. Cretaceous strata in Canterbury and Great South basins represent two stages of basin history. The oldest Cenomanian–Coniacian (mid-Cretaceous) strata are syn-rift deposits that developed in response to the breakup of the eastern margin of Gondwana, while overlying Santonian–Maastrichtian (late Cretaceous) strata are post-rift deposits that signify the start of rift–drift transgression. These Cretaceous deposits are characterised by a change in facies from predominantly alluvial–fluvial to marginal–shallow marine that is recognisable in outcrop and wells, and from seismic response. Based on our petrographic examination of 99 Cretaceous samples from well and outcrop locations, we conclude that there are significant differences in sandstone texture and mineralogy that are related to differences in depositional facies, basin stratigraphy, geographic location, and degree of diagenetic alteration. Sandstones from the earliest part of the syn-rift succession largely reflect the composition of the underlying basement geology; typically granitoid or quartzose Western Province rocks in GSB, and lithic-rich Eastern Province metasedimentary rocks in CB. Younger strata, representing part of the post-rift succession, are generally better sorted, with detrital compositions reflecting sediment mixing of several basement source areas. Based on available data, reservoir quality is directly related to sandstone texture and detrital composition (factors of provenance and facies), compaction (a factor of burial depth/temperature), and degree or type of diagenetic alteration. Best quality sandstones are predicted to occur in the late Cretaceous post-rift succession of GSB and locally in CB, either where sediment is derived from local granitoids, or where high-energy depositional processes have resulted in quartz-enriched compositions.

Aim: Albumin can be covalently modified at surface lysine residues and thus the circulation contains a mixture of native albumin (i.e. not modified) and albumin with varying degrees of modification. Uptake and lysosomal degradation of glomerular filtered albumin by proximal tubular cells via the megalin scavenger receptor is considered an important mechanism to limit albumin loss in the urine. However, whether this is a general mechanism of tubular uptake of albumin or if this is restricted to modified albumin is unknown. To address this question, we investigated the uptake of modified versus native albumin by proximal tubular cells. Methods: A well-characterized proximal tubular cell model of albumin uptake was used to compare the uptake of modified albumin (covalent labelling of lysine residues with fluorescent probes) to that of native recombinant human albumin (rHA) labelled with 14 C during protein synthesis ( 14 C-rHA). Results: Opossum kidney (OK) cells showed significant uptake of fluorescence-labelled albumin via an endocytosis mechanism. This uptake was inhibited by an equimolar ratio of different types of covalently modified albumin; however, purified bovine serum albumin and rHA failed to compete with the uptake of fluorescence-labelled albumin. In contrast, OK cells failed to endocytose native 14 C-rHA despite efficiently endocytosing covalently modified rHA. Conclusion: Our studies show that OK cells preferentially endocytose covalently-modified albumin compared to native albumin. This apparent selectivity of the megalin scavenger receptor complex suggests a specific role for this pathway in the removal of modified albumin from the circulation.