Search

Global plant sulphur (S) deficiency is increasing because of a reduction in sulphate-based fertiliser application combined with continuous S withdrawal during harvest. Here, we applied 13C, 15N, 14C, and 35S quad labelling of the S-containing amino acids cysteine (Cys) and methionine (Met) to understand S cycling and microbial S transformations in the soil. The soil microorganisms absorbed the applied Cys and Met within minutes and released SO42-within hours. The SO42-was reutilised by the MB within days. The initial microbial utilisation and SO42-release were determined by amino acid structure. Met released 2.5-fold less SO42-than Cys. The microbial biomass retained comparatively more C and S from Met than Cys. The microorganisms decomposed Cys to pyruvate and H2S whereas they converted Met to a-ketobutyrate and S-CH3. The microbial stoichiometries of C, N, and S derived from Cys and Met were balanced after 4 d by Cys-derived SO42-uptake and Met-derived CO2release. The microbial C:N:S ratio dynamics showed rapid C utilisation and loss, stable N levels, and S accumulation. Thus, short-term organic S utilisation by soil microorganisms is determined by amino acid structure whilst long-term organic S utilisation by soil microorganisms is determined by microbially controlled stoichiometry.

Global plant sulphur (S) deficiency is increasing because of a reduction in sulphate-based fertiliser application combined with continuous S withdrawal during harvest. Here, we applied 13C, 15N, 14C, and 35S quad labelling of the S-containing amino acids cysteine (Cys) and methionine (Met) to understand S cycling and microbial S transformations in the soil. The soil microorganisms absorbed the applied Cys and Met within minutes and released SO42−within hours. The SO42−was reutilised by the MB within days. The initial microbial utilisation and SO42−release were determined by amino acid structure. Met released 2.5-fold less SO42−than Cys. The microbial biomass retained comparatively more C and S from Met than Cys. The microorganisms decomposed Cys to pyruvate and H2S whereas they converted Met to α-ketobutyrate and S-CH3. The microbial stoichiometries of C, N, and S derived from Cys and Met were balanced after 4 d by Cys-derived SO42−uptake and Met-derived CO2release. The microbial C:N:S ratio dynamics showed rapid C utilisation and loss, stable N levels, and S accumulation. Thus, short-term organic S utilisation by soil microorganisms is determined by amino acid structure whilst long-term organic S utilisation by soil microorganisms is determined by microbially controlled stoichiometry.

•Radiotherapy is a suitable option for adjuvant treatment of unresectable SSCC.•The radiotherapy dose was 55 Gy in 20 fractions.•Case report details include patient setup and radiotherapy treatment plan.•The patient remains disease free at 18-months post treatment.

Introduction: Lung cancer remains the leading cause of oncologic mortality in the United States. Computed tomography (CT) screening has begun to combat this prevalent health problem. Prior to enrollment, a shared decision-making conversation is required to ensure a patient preference decision. This is the first and only imaging study to hold this requirement and compliance has been suspected to be low, but there is limited literature proving this.Methods: At a single academic institution, 30 patients who declined and 38 patients who enrolled in CT lung cancer screening were interviewed about their shared decision-making provider conversation. All referring providers were surveyed regarding their methods of shared decision-making for CT lung cancer screening. Clinical notes were evaluated 9 months prior to 2 interventions and 6 months following the first intervention to improve clinical documentation.Results: 85% to 89% of the interviewed patients could not recall a decision aid used during the shared decision-making conversation. Zero percent of clinical notes met the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) encounter requirements for shared decision-making despite interventions to improve knowledge and ease accessibility to decision aids and documentation templates.Discussion: Lack of compliance with CMS requirements has a low patient decision satisfaction. This also places the institution at risk for financial repercussions of reimbursement which may jeopardize the longevity of screening programs. Development of strategies to improve the patient experience and provider facilitation are nascent and require a dedicated leadership team with carefully constructed electronic health record support.

This study examines the links between estuarine dynamics and longitudinal distributions of remotely sensed reflectance in estuaries. Reflectance at 655 nm from Landsat‐8 correlates with in situ measurements of surface turbidity. Images collected from 2013 to 2018 are used to investigate the spatial and temporal characteristics of reflectance distribution in six selected estuaries with different dynamics. The results show that the maximum magnitude (C max) and location (X max) of the reflectance are functions of two major forcing variables, the freshwater discharge and tidal stage. Salt wedge estuaries (i.e., the Fraser River, Connecticut River, and Columbia River estuary) are affected strongly by river discharge and are relatively less affected by tidal forcing. In salt wedge estuaries, the C maxvalues along the river channel are correlated with river discharge, while the X maxvalues generally are not. In partially mixed to strain‐induced periodic stratification (SIPS) estuaries (i.e., Delaware River) and SIPS‐to‐well‐mixed estuaries (i.e., Gironde estuary), the X maxvalues are correlated with river discharge, but the C maxvalues are not. SIPS‐to‐well‐mixed estuaries (i.e., Gironde estuary) and highly time‐dependent salt wedge to well‐mixed estuaries (i.e., Merrimack River estuary) are affected by tidal forcing. In these estuaries, the C maxvalues are correlated with tidal stage. The C maxvalues tend to be lower around high tide than low tide. Overall, the results demonstrate that remote sensing observations of ocean color can be utilized to infer subsurface estuarine processes. Satellite ocean color is a potential tool to monitor river discharge and to classify estuaries. Estuaries are dynamic environments where river freshwater mixes with seawater. The relative strength of river flow relative to flow caused by ocean tides determines how and where freshwater and seawater mix in estuaries, which in turn affects various processes important to humans, like biological productivity and diversity, harbor siltation, and transport of pollutants. It is a challenge to classify estuaries on a global scale due to limited in situ observations. However, satellite remote sensing observations are able to provide repeated, snapshot views of surface water color over large spatial scale. In this study, we examine the links between estuarine dynamics and remote sensing observations in six different estuaries using satellite imagery. The observations demonstrate that satellite‐derived maximum magnitude and position in surface reflectance, which is related to particle concentration, are correlated with river flow and tidal forcing, which can be used to infer different types of estuaries. Remotely sensed observations can also be useful for inferring the subsurface water mixing and sediment resuspension in estuaries. In addition, the responses of maximum in surface particle concentration and its location to river discharge can be used for satellite‐based estimation of river discharge. The spatial and temporal variability of Rrsdistribution indicate different types of estuariesRemotely sensed observations are useful for inferring the subsurface estuarine processesReflectance‐based discharge retrieval offers a new potential approach for riverine and estuarine monitoring

Electronic consultations allow synchronous and asynchronous primary care provider–to-radiologist communication through a shared electronic medical record platform, leveraging radiologists’ breadth of knowledge, potentially decreasing health care costs, and improving patient and physician satisfaction and overall population health.

Optical properties are used to understand the spatial and temporal variability of particle properties and distribution within the Columbia River Estuary, especially in the salinity transition zone and in the estuarine turbidity maximum region. Observations of optical properties in the Columbia River Estuary are consistent with the established model that the river water brings more organic, smaller particles into the estuary, where they flocculate and settle into the salt wedge seaward of the density front. Large tidal currents resuspend mineral‐rich, larger aggregates from the seabed, which accumulate at the density front. Optical proxies for particle size (beam attenuation exponent γand backscattering exponent γbb) are compared to conventional measurements. The γand γbbare different to the expected trend with Sauter mean diameter Dsof suspended particles from low‐ to medium‐salinity waters (LMW). Dsincreases in the LMW as does the γderived from a WET Labs ac‐9, which indicates that the particle population dominating the ac‐9 is decreasing in size. The most likely explanation is that flocculation acting at LMW transfers mass preferentially from medium‐sized particles to large‐sized particles that are out of the size range to which the ac‐9 is most sensitive; γbbshows no trend in the LMW. Since γbbis a proxy of proportion of fine particles versus large flocs, the variation of γbbmay be insensitive to changes in the medium‐sized particles. The overall results demonstrate that γbbis a reliable proxy for changes in particle size in a stratified environment. Suspended particles delivered by rivers affect water quality in estuaries, so effective and economical monitoring of the variability of particles is particularly important in environmental management. Direct measurements of suspended particle size, concentration, and composition from water samples require substantial time and labor, which has driven efforts to develop indirect, yet accurate, alternative measurements of particle properties. In this study, we used optical instruments to measure particle variability within the Columbia River Estuary. The observations demonstrate that the river water delivered smaller, organic particles to the estuary, where they aggregated with one another and deposited to the seafloor. Large tidal currents resuspended mineral‐rich, larger aggregates from the seafloor, and these aggregates accumulated in the region where river waters encountered coastal ocean waters that flowed into the estuary. We observed that optical measurements related to particle size were different from the expected trend in the transition zone between fresh, river water and salty, coastal water. This unexpected trend requires more study, but we propose that it was caused by preferential aggregation of medium‐sized organic‐rich particles into large particles. This process would affect the processing of carbon, nutrients, and contaminants in estuaries. Optical properties provide a good representation of particle dynamics in the Columbia River EstuaryVariations of alternative optical proxies for particle size are different to the expected trend at salinity transition zoneObservations are consistent with a model of preferential flocculation of medium‐sized particles

The article discusses a four-day schedule at school districts that might cause global change in school level instruction, which is adjusted in to account for longer school days.

We held a technology session at the 2016 Annual Meeting of die American Society for Horticultural Science in Atlanta, GA, to provide guidance for technology choices in extension education and an opportunity to learn more about engaging new audiences, including the millennial generation (people bom between 1982 and 2000). The use of technology is now an integral part of extension-client interaction. Presenters in tiie session gave examples of when technologies such as blogs, social media accounts or web conferencing tools allowed extension personnel to increase engagement with online consumers and ultimately help fulfill extension's mission of extending knowledge and changing lives. Effective engagement requires both educators and learners to be satisfied with the exchange. It is critical to monitor the quality of these digitally facilitated exchanges as compared with traditional face-to-face interactions. Additionally, it is possible to quantify digital engagement with readily available metrics, such as "retweets" (a reposted or forwarded message) or "likes" (indication an item is appreciated). These allow innovative and substantive reporting to further justify continued use of digital technologies for enhancing client-extension relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most aquatic environments, suspended sediment is composed of loosely packed particle aggregates, termed flocs that have variable apparent densities. The apparent density of flocs, which is defined as particle dry mass over wet volume, is an important variable because it affects settling velocity and vertical sediment flux. Two established methods exist for measuring apparent density. One method uses physical measurements of sediment mass concentration combined with measurements of particle volume concentration from optical instruments to estimate apparent density. This method is laborious because it requires the collection of water samples, so it is not conducive to construction of high-resolution time series of density. Another method uses video observations of particles in a settling column to measure particle size and settling velocity. These measurements are used to solve for apparent density according to Stokes Law. The goal of this study is to develop a new method that uses the ratio of particulate beam attenuation to particle volume to estimate apparent density of sediment in suspension. Data from five studies are used to compare density estimates with the new method to the previous methods. The new optical method produces apparent densities that are correlated linearly with measurements of the ratio of dry mass to wet volume. However, the new optical method produces density estimates that do not correlate with video estimates of apparent density. This lack of correlation is due to sampling bias of the video method, which has a relatively large lower limit of resolution in particle size. Development of a higher resolution camera would eliminate the current bias in particle size and would enable further assessment of the new optical method as an accurate proxy for apparent density.

A bio-based economy has the potential to provide sustainable substitutes for petroleum-based products and new chemical building blocks for advanced materials. We previously engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae for industrial production of the isoprenoid artemisinic acid for use in antimalarial treatments. Adapting these strains for biosynthesis of other isoprenoids such as β-farnesene (C15H24), a plant sesquiterpene with versatile industrial applications, is straightforward. However, S. cerevisiae uses a chemically inefficient pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis, resulting in yield and productivity limitations incompatible with commodity-scale production. Here we use four non-native metabolic reactions to rewire central carbon metabolism in S. cerevisiae, enabling biosynthesis of cytosolic acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA, the two-carbon isoprenoid precursor) with a reduced ATP requirement, reduced loss of carbon to CO2-emitting reactions, and improved pathway redox balance. We show that strains with rewired central metabolism can devote an identical quantity of sugar to farnesene production as control strains, yet produce 25% more farnesene with that sugar while requiring 75% less oxygen. These changes lower feedstock costs and dramatically increase productivity in industrial fermentations which are by necessity oxygen-constrained. Despite altering key regulatory nodes, engineered strains grow robustly under taxing industrial conditions, maintaining stable yield for two weeks in broth that reaches >15% farnesene by volume. This illustrates that rewiring yeast central metabolism is a viable strategy for cost-effective, large-scale production of acetyl-CoA-derived molecules.

Measurements of particle area, organic suspended mass, and mineral suspended mass were collected at 9 sites on the west and south coasts of Great Britain. Multiple linear regression of particle area on organic suspended mass and mineral suspended mass was used to estimate the area-to-mass ratios of organic and mineral matter. Statistically, the null hypothesis that the organic area-to-mass ratio was 2 times the mineral ratio could not be rejected. Failure to reject this hypothesis may indicate that component particle composition is not correlated with the packing geometry of aggregated particles or the size of component particles that comprise the aggregates. Alternatively, correlations between particle parameters may exist, but they offset one another, thereby producing an organic area-to-mass ratio that is not significantly different from two times the mineral area-to-mass ratio.

For the past 50 years there has been rapid warming in the maritime Antarctic, with concurrent, and probably temperature-mediated, proliferation of the two native plants, Antarctic pearlwort (Colobanthus quitensis) and especially Antarctic hair grass (Deschampsia antarctica). In many terrestrial ecosystems at high latitudes, nitrogen (N) supply regulates primary productivity. Although the predominant view is that only inorganic and amino acid N are important sources of N for angiosperms, most N enters soil as protein. Maritime Antarctic soils have large stocks of proteinaceous N, which is released slowly as decomposition is limited by low temperatures. Consequently, an ability to acquire N at an early stage of availability is key to the success of photosynthetic organisms. Here we show that D. antarctica can acquire N through its roots as short peptides, produced at an early stage of protein decomposition, acquiring N over three times faster than as amino acid, nitrate or ammonium, and more than 160 times faster than the mosses with which it competes. Efficient acquisition of the N released in faster decomposition of soil organic matter as temperatures rise may give D. antarctica an advantage over competing mosses that has facilitated its recent proliferation in the maritime Antarctic.

Die Fragestellung des Beitrags lautet, ob und inwieweit fremdenfeindliche Einstellungen in Deutschland auf Merkmale der Person und auf Merkmale individueller sozialer Situationen zurückführbar sind. Hierzu werden bei 1779 Personen Bindungsstile als personenbezogene und soziale Desintegration als sozialstrukturelle Größe in ihrer Auswirkung auf Fremdenfeindlichkeit untersucht. Es zeigt sich, dass Bindungsstile als Prädispositionen für das Auftreten von sozialer Desintegration betrachtet werden können, die ihrerseits das Ausmaß an Fremdenfeindlichkeit determiniert: Ein sicherer Bindungsstil senkt das Ausmaß an sozialer Desintegration und darüber vermittelt die Intensität fremdenfeindlicher Einstellungen. Ein unsicherer Bindungsstil führt zu einem Anstieg an sozialer Desintegration und Fremdenfeindlichkeit. Eine Betrachtung der Bindungsstilskalen „Angst“ und „Vermeidung“ sowie kategorialer Ausprägungen von Bindungsstilen (sicher, ängstlich-ambivalent, ängstlich-vermeidend, gleichgültig-vermeidend) konkretisiert diesen Befund. Für die ermittelte Effektstruktur sind insbesondere das Ausmaß an Vermeidung sowie ein ängstlich-vermeidender Bindungsstil relevant.

The article focuses on the rehairing of bows of violins. It is posed that bows need rehairing on a regular basis. Moreover, some fine violinists can readily distinguish if their bows already need rehairing. The author said that he can rehair about fifty bows a year, and he has been doing this for thirty years. He said that a nicely rehaired bow has the right amount of high quality unbleached horsehair.

A simple stochastic model is proposed to simulate floc formation due to simultaneous aggregation and breakage processes. The model is based on the constant-number Monte Carlo method where the number of flocs is kept constant during simulations. To produce equilibrium floc-size distributions, it uses established models of flocculation and new simple formulations of breakage probability and of the probability of producing fragments of a given size from broken flocs. The concept of fractal geometry is used to describe the geometry of flocs. The maximum size of flocs allowed, the median size of component particles, and their density are the main inputs needed to simulate floc formation. Simulated steady-state floc-size distributions were compared with field data observed at different locations, and good agreement was obtained. Dimensional analysis applied to measured and simulated data revealed that floc-size distributions are self-similar and can be described by the same function, regardless of the conditions of their formation.

New models to predict settling velocity and effective density of flocs are proposed. The models are based on the concept of fractal geometry, but with the assumption of variable fractal dimension with the floc size. The best results are obtained when the fractal dimension is estimated by a power law function of the floc diameter. The models are compared with observations from 26 published data sets relating floc size to settling velocity measured under various conditions and at different locations. The floc size covered by the data varies between 1.4 and about 25,500µm. Five commonly used models are also compared to these data and found to reproduce inadequately the full range of the observations. Sensitivity analysis shows that, with the proposed models, the spread in the data may be reproduced by varying the size of primary particles from about 0.05 to 20µm. The new models are proposed for integration into numerical models to simulate sediment transport of cohesive sediments, contaminants, and biological microorganisms such as phytoplankton.