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In 1750 Pierre Poivre donated the holotype of the douc monkey Pygathrix nemaeus to R.-A. F. de Réaumur. Its type locality is here restricted from “Cochinchine” to near Da Nang, Vietnam. In 1757, Buffon appropriated the holotype for the King’s collection, wrongly inferring that the species lacks ischial callosities, and conflating it with the sifaka of Madagascar. “D’ouc” is evidently a corruption of Voọc, the Vietnamese word for colobine monkey. In 1819, a French crew shot 100 doucs before breakfast on a mountain near Da Nang. In 2016, the whole mountain population was estimated at 70. By 1831 doucs had learnt to fear gunfire, but locals accepted their proximity, and provided some protection from meat-seeking foreigners. Several doucs were collected for museums in the 19th and 20th century; in 1897 two even lived for a fortnight at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. The douc was observed and collected near Da Nang during its miraculous survival of the Vietnam War; its evergreen forest habitat surprisingly resilient. This situation is rapidly deteriorating, as forests are reduced to isolated pockets, and hunting prohibitions unenforced. The closely-monitored Mount Son Tra douc population was expanding, but tourist development is illegally eroding the Nature Reserve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For citizens in the Middle East, is wasta an accepted traditional practice or a form of corruption that has harmful effects on society? Scholarship remains divided on how exactly to view wasta, with some scholars pointing to its role in fostering in-group ties and providing a problem-solving mechanism, with others charging that wasta promotes poor governance and weak accountability. What citizens think rarely enters the picture. In this article, I argue that Jordanian citizens consider wasta a negative force in society, one that divides them from each other and makes them feel disengaged from the political life of their country. I use evidence from thirty-seven interviews with Jordanian youth, and data from the Jordanian NGO Leaders of Tomorrow's 'FADFED' initiative, a novel qualitative method for gathering opinion data from citizens. This article challenges scholars to take wasta's role in state-society tensions in the Middle East more seriously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2010, waves of protest have ebbed and now largely faded across the Arab states of the Middle East, and authoritarian politics there appear to be stronger than ever. Has dissent disappeared, or merely become harder to notice? I argue in this article that clientelism serves as an important locus of latent dissent in the Middle East, one that calls into question the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes, though it often happens away from public view. Employing data from four waves of the Arab Barometer, however, I show that the more citizens perceive clientelism to be prevalent in society, the less likely they are to willingly obey their government when they disagree with it. This finding is most pronounced among those most on the fence about obeying the government in the first place, and during periods in which overt dissent is least apparent. Clientelism beliefs also increase support for democratic alternatives in the most recent data. In addition, while clientelism should increase voting and election-related mobilization, I find inconsistent results across time. This article complicates our current understanding of the role clientelism plays in authoritarian states, and it sheds new light on the "client side" of the patron-client relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Following heat illness, a return to activity may require passing a heat tolerance test (HTT). However, there are several logistical limitations to the widespread use of the HTT. Thus, it would be advantageous to develop a test that could be conducted in a thermoneutral (~22°C) environment to predict heat tolerance status. The purpose of the current study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of using the criteria of a heart rate (HR) =130 bpm following 30 min of thermoneutral exercise in detecting heat-intolerant and heat-tolerant individuals. Material and Methods: Sixty-five subjects visited the lab on 3 separate days. The first visit consisted of completing a maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) test to assess cardiovascular fitness. For lab visits 2 and 3, subjects randomly completed a 2-hour walking treadmill test in either a hot (40°C, 40% relative humidity [RH]) or thermoneutral (22°C, 40% RH) environment. Results: Forty-eight subjects were classified as heat-intolerant and 17 subjects as heat-tolerant. Using the criterion of a HR =130 bpm at 30 min of exercise in the thermoneutral environment, specificity (54%) and sensitivity (100%) of passing the HTT was calculated. Secondary analysis using multiple regression revealed 3 significant variables for predicting ending HR during the HTT. They were: 1) absolute VO2 max (l/min), 2) age, and 3) HR at 30 min of exercise during thermoneutral exercise. Conclusions: Exercise in a thermoneutral environment had a positive predictive value of 100%, thus, if a subject has a HR =130 bpm at 30 min of exercise in a thermoneutral environment, they are very likely to fail a subsequent 2-hour HTT in the heat and be classified as heat-intolerant. Therefore, prior screening has the potential to save time and money, along with providing safety to a heat-intolerant subject. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frogs call in acoustically dense choruses to attract conspecific females. Their calls can potentially reveal their location to predators, many of which are mammals. However, frogs and mammals have very different acoustic receivers and mechanisms for determining sound source direction. We argue that frog calls may have been selected so that they are harder to locate with the direction-finding mechanisms of mammals. We focus on interaural time delay (ITD) estimation using delay-line coincidence detection (place code), and a binaural excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) ITD mechanism found in mammals with small heads (population code). We identify four "strategies" which frogs may employ to exploit the weaknesses of either mechanism. The first two strategies used by the frog confound delay estimation to increase direction ambiguity using highly periodic calls or narrowband calls. The third strategy relies on using short pulses. The E/I mechanism is susceptible to noise with sounds being pulled to the medial plane when signal-to-noise ratio is low. Together, these three strategies compromise both ongoing and onset determination of location using either mechanism. Finally, frogs call in dense choruses using various means for controlling synchrony, maintaining chorus tenure, and abruptly switching off calling, all of which serve to confound location finding. Of these strategies, only chorusing adversely impacts the localization performance of frogs' acoustic receivers. We illustrate these strategies with an analysis of calls from three different frog species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Male cattle (bulls) are often castrated as part of routine herd management. The benefits of this practice include the reduction of aggression and the elimination of unwanted pregnancies. However, castration represents an animal welfare concern as bulls are subjected to pain during and after the procedure. Surgical castration, in particular, places animals at increased risk of hemorrhage and infection. Immunocastration, a method involving vaccination against the hormones that regulate reproduction, offers a reduced-pain alternative to traditional castration, but the current products require multiple doses to effectively reduce fertility for extended periods. In an effort to improve upon current multi-dose immunocastration strategies, we evaluated the efficacy of a single-dose implantable immunocastration vaccine. This implant was designed to reduce fertility without the need for multiple doses, thus improving welfare for the animals as well as safety for producers and clinicians. The results presented here are promising and suggest that further refinement of the immunocastration implant could provide a convenient alternative to current immunocastration strategies. Immunocastration relies on the vaccine-mediated stimulation of an immune response to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in order to interrupt spermatogenesis. This approach offers a less painful alternative to traditional castration approaches but the current, commercially available options require multiple doses of vaccine to maintain sterility. Thus, a series of pilot studies were conducted to determine the feasibility of a single-dose immunocastration vaccine implant. These five studies utilized a total of 44 Holstein bulls to determine the optimal vaccine composition and validate the ability of a stainless-steel subcutaneous implant to deliver a vaccine. Outcome measures included the duration of implant retention, scrotal dimensions and temperature, implant site temperature, anti-GnRH antibodies, and serum testosterone concentration. Over the course of several studies, anti-GnRH antibodies were successfully stimulated by vaccine implants. No significant treatment effects on scrotal dimensions or testosterone were detected over time, but changes in spermatogenesis were detected across treatment groups. Results indicate that a single-dose implantable immunocastration vaccine elicits a humoral immune response and could impact spermatogenesis in bulls. These findings provide opportunities for the refinement of this technology to improve implant retention over longer periods of time. Taken together, this approach will offer producers and veterinarians an alternative to physical castration methods, to improve animal welfare during routine livestock management procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everard appears frequently in studies of English antinomianism. His sermons, printed posthumously in 1653, reveal a startling array of influences, from Maimonides to Nicholas of Cusa, and a propensity for extravagant glosses on scripture. Notably, Everard saw the gospel as an allegory for the spiritual regeneration of the reader. The literal or 'living' sense of scripture played out in the annihilation and resurrection of the individual conscience-as-script. Starting with those few divines who chose to celebrate rather than disparage him, this article considers Everard's work as a particularly colorful, but not altogether unrepresentative, sample in the thorny history of sixteenth and seventeenth century Protestant hermeneutics. Specially, Everard's work constitutes a unique merger of an older spiritual tradition with Protestant discourse on the literal sense which not only addressed long-standing issues in Puritan thought but had a real claim to the mainstream in Cromwell's England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marcus Garvey's petitions to the League of Nations on behalf of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1922 and 1928 were a central but overlooked component of his anti-colonial politics in the 1920s. In both cases, Garvey's main objective was to have the League of Nations mandate for South-West Africa transferred from South Africa and given to the Universal Negro Improvement Association, particularly in the wake of the Bondelswarts rebellion and what he considered to be South Africa's white supremacist colonial rule following the end of German imperialism in the area. These petitions reflect the significant place of southern African racial and colonial politics in the USA in this period and further reveal the agency of Namibians in political movements beyond Africa and throughout the African diaspora. Far from being ineffectual, these petitions called attention to racial injustice and set a pattern for post-Second World War diasporic politics and decolonisation movements that scholars have not hitherto appreciated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cold environments may deteriorate psychomotor performance due to slowing of neuronal signals, distractions caused by pain and discomfort, and a loss of manual dexterity. The extent to which core temperature (Tc) influences psychomotor performance in the cold has not been established. Therefore, psychomotor performance and Tc were assessed during a cold weather military training exercise to evaluate this relationship. Methods: Thirty-six military personnel (age: 26 ± 4 yr, ht: 175 ± 8 cm, wt: 79.1 ± 11.1 kg) participating in cold weather training volunteered for this study. Participants completed a 10-min immersion in cold (1°C) water, followed by 60 min of rewarming. Physiological, perceptual, and psychomotor assessments were made throughout the training. For analysis, participants were divided into groups based on their lowest achieved core temperature (< 35.0°C = HYP; 35.0-36.0°C = CS-M; > 36.0°C = CS-S). Psychomotor performance was then compared among the groups to determine the influence of Tc on performance. Results: Although cold water immersion deteriorated performance, no differences were observed among the three groups at any time point during the training for simple reaction time (HYP: 298 ± 49 ms; CS-M: 313 ± 55 ms; CS-S: 326 ± 53ms; p = 0.677). Conclusion: Findings suggest that cold water immersion deteriorates psychomotor performance which, even in the presence of mild hypothermia, is not directly influenced by Tc. Additional observations reveal large variations in Tc among a homogenous group in response to cold water immersion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human cognition unfolds in a multitude of environments, including those that are associated with extreme stressors. Successfully measuring and modeling behaviors in such environments is inherently difficult. The current effort aimed to assess variation in stability and flexibility of cognitive performance during cold stress, individual differences in errors, and physiological correlates. Fifty-seven service members completed cold water immersion during winter months. Individuals were required to immerse themselves in an outdoor pond for 10 minutes, reclothe into dry clothing, and attempt to rewarm. Simple reaction time and match-to-sample tasks were completed throughout the 90 minute procedure. To assess response stability, sample entropy was computed for the response time time-series of each task. Hierarchical clustering applied to sample entropy values identified two clusters of individuals. One highly affected group demonstrated low stability and weak flexibility by way of higher autocorrelation and more omission errors, and had lower hand temperature pre- and post-immersion. Results are discussed within the context of cold stress, adaptive behaviors, and cold stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing fish stocks for species migrating between freshwater and the sea is challenging when ecological information for life stages at sea is poorly known. Oceans offer increased opportunity for growth but also morbidity and mortality. By improving our understanding of foraging at sea we can better identify factors driving stock health and recruitment. We analysed stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C and δ15N) in scales from tagged Baltic salmon (Salmo salar) caught at sea over four decades. We found consistently divergent patterns in δ13C and δ15N between the two main basins of the Baltic Sea, which can be used to determine foraging area. Isotope analysis of amino acids revealed differences in source δ15N as the main reason for observed differences between basins. We also analysed isotopes in scales and thiamin concentrations in roe (thiamin deficiency can cause substantial fry mortality) from adult female salmon returning to a river to spawn in 2017 and 2018. Individuals with low thiamin levels were associated with offshore feeding in both basins, suggesting the deficiency syndrome is widespread in the Baltic Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Pragmatics of Democracy: A Political Theory of African American Literature before Emancipation" reads scenes of embodied experience in early African American literary culture to theorize how persons come to regard democratic cultures as productive of the most excellent forms of life. The book proposes a typology of these iterative bodily events which dispose persons toward democratic subjectivity: ecstasy, violence, impersonality, respectability, and autonomy. [E]arly African American narratives offer speculations, categories, and hermeneutics concerning democracy grounded in Black life amid new-world chattel slavery that sometimes contradict, sometimes complement those that prevailed in early US political thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a relatively brief period in the 1570s and '80s, the Family of Love was one of the most hated religious movements in England. This was due in large part to a series of polemical works by a handful of reform-minded Protestants who saw Familism as a reprise of Catholic allegorical interpretation. Members of the movement were accused of extending their loose approach to scripture to loose living and political subversion. This article examines the Family's response to these attacks. While the documents clearly show the Family on the offensive, they also exhibit a deeper concern for obedience to both the "literal" sense of scripture and the established order. Ironically, both Familists and their detractors used the famed martyr William Tyndale to measure their opponent's departure from proper Christianity. The following analysis explores this shared milieu in which Tyndale's work was both a touchstone for the marginalized Christian and a basis for broader Elizabethan arguments on the importance of obedience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses the issue on topics including the aesthetic, affective, and phenomenological properties of theatrical reinventions of slavery; and the conceptual frameworks formulated to help explain the shifts and tendencies in American theatre culture.

Variation in brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) population recruitment and structure is related to migratory patterns, which should depend on ease of access to habitats providing increased opportunity for growth. We quantified the number of young of year (YOY) as a proportion of the total number of brown trout at 24 locations on 11 streams within the Taieri catchment, New Zealand, including back calculated growth rates and emergence dates from otoliths. Locations with high absolute and relative abundance of YOY fish were related to elevation and distance from the river mainstem (habitat used by migratory fish), fish density, and the interaction between invertebrate food biomass, distance and elevation. Hatch date and growth were not related to the proportion of YOY fish, though growth was negatively correlated to total fish density. We suggest landscape features play a large role in determining recruitment and population structure. Locations at lower elevations have a high YOY density, high competition and lower growth, likely prompting out‐migration. These conditions could be created by successful return migration and spawning of large fecund fish resulting in YOY densities exceeding the habitat carrying capacity. Environmental factors, such as food availability, also played a role in determining population structure. These results provide an example of how population structure and recruitment might be controlled by local conditions and access to high growth environments in wild populations of introduced brown trout across a catchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cold acclimation occurred after seven, 90-minute immersions in 10 °C water. • Potential for cognitive performance improvement following cold acclimation. • No beneficial changes in neurophysiological function were observed. • Future work should refine the neurophysiological response to cold acclimation. Exposure to cold causes disturbances in cognitive performance that can have a profound impact on the safety, performance, and success of populations that frequent cold environments. It has recently been suggested that repeated cold stress, resulting in cold acclimation, may be a potential strategy to mitigate the cognitive impairments frequently seen upon exposure to cold temperatures. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine cognitive and neurophysiological function during repeated cold water immersion. Twelve healthy participants consisting of 8 males and 4 females (mean ± SD age: 26 ± 5 years, height: 174.0 ± 8.9 cm, weight: 75.6 ± 13.1 kg) completed seven 90-minute immersions in 10 °C water, each separated by 24 h. During immersions 1, 4, and 7, a double-digit addition task and a computer-based psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) were administered to assess cognitive performance, while neurophysiological function was assessed using electroencephalography (EEG) measurements collected during the PVT. Findings suggest that participants experienced an insulative type of cold acclimation, evidenced by greater heat retention and less shivering, with possible improvements in cognitive performance. Participants had more correct responses on the double-digit addition task on Immersion 7 (39 ± 5) compared with Immersion 1 (33 ± 6); p < 0.001, yet no differences were observed for reaction time between Immersion 7 (286 ± 31 ms) and Immersion 1 (281 ± 19 ms); p = 0.59. Additionally, EEG analyses indicate no beneficial changes in neurophysiological function. Results demonstrate that individuals who are frequently exposed to cold water may be more suited to handle certain cognitive challenges after several exposures, although additional investigations are needed to provide neurophysiological support for this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The University of Arizona (UA) Libraries are implementing a comprehensive patron-driven acquisition (PDA) system for English-language books. The goal is to increase discovery options and improve delivery of monographic content for users while increasing cost effectiveness. PDA is one part of a multi-pronged monographic acquisition system that includes patron-driven acquisition for both electronic and print books, as well as a highly selective approval plan that is complemented by librarian selection as needed. Rapid changes in technology, supply-chain management, business models, and scholarly communication provide opportunities to redefine how best to meet the needs of the academic community the UA Libraries serve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which examined the effects of short-term β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) supplementation on muscle soreness and other symptoms of muscle damage following a bout of muscle contractions. Description of HMB; Function of HMB supplementation in humans; Relative change in concentric and eccentric torque.

Noise-mapping is an effective sound visualization tool for the identification of urban noise hotspots, which is crucial to taking targeted measures to tackle environmental noise pollution. This paper develops a high-resolution wideband acoustic source mapping methodology using a portable microphone array, where the joint localization and power spectrum estimation of individual sources sparsely distributed over a large region are achieved by tomographic imaging with the multi-frequency delay-and-sum beamforming power outputs from multiple array positions. Exploiting the fact that a wideband source has a common spatial signal-support across the frequency spectrum, two-dimensional tomographic maps are produced by applying compressive sensing techniques including group least absolute shrinkage selection operator formulation and sparse Bayesian learning to promote group sparsity over multiple frequency bands. The high-resolution mapping is demonstrated with experimental data recorded with a microphone array mounted atop an electric vehicle driven along a road while playing audio clips from a loudspeaker positioned within the adjacent open field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It is well-documented that severe cold stress impairs exercise performance. Repeated immersion in cold water induces an insulative type of cold acclimation, wherein enhanced vasoconstriction leads to greater body heat retention, which may attenuate cold-induced exercise impairments. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate changes in exercise performance during a 7-day insulative type of cold acclimation.Methods: Twelve healthy participants consisting of eight males and four females (mean ± SD age: 25.6 ± 5.2 years, height: 174.0 ± 8.9 cm, weight: 75.6 ± 13.1 kg) performed a 20 min self-paced cycling test in 23 °C, 40% humidity without prior cold exposure. Twenty-four hours later they began a 7-day cold acclimation protocol (daily 90 min immersion in 10 °C water). On days one, four, and seven of cold acclimation, participants completed the same cycling test. Measurements of work completed, core and skin temperatures, heart rate, skin blood flow, perceived exertion, and thermal sensation were measured during each cycling test.Results: Successful insulative cold acclimation was observed. Work produced during the baseline cycling test (220 ± 70 kJ) was greater (p < 0.001) than all three tests that were performed following immersions (195 ± 58, 197 ± 60, and 194 ± 62 kJ) despite similar ratings of perceived exertion during each test, suggesting that cold exposure impaired cycling performance. This impairment, however, was not attenuated over the cold acclimation period.Conclusions: Results suggest that insulative cold acclimation does not attenuate impairments in exercise performance that were observed following acute cold water immersion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Audio classification techniques often depend on the availability of a large labeled training dataset for successful performance. However, in many application domains of audio classification (e.g., wildlife monitoring), obtaining labeled data is still a costly and laborious process. Motivated by this observation, a technique is proposed to efficiently learn a clean template from a few labeled, but likely corrupted (by noise and interferences), data samples. This learning can be done efficiently via tensorial dynamic time warping on the articulation index-based time-frequency representations of audio data. The learned template can then be used in audio classification following the standard template-based approach. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms both (1) the recurrent neural network approach and (2) the state-of-the-art in the template-based approach on a wildlife detection application with few training samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Athletes, occupational workers, and military personnel experience cold temperatures through cold air exposure or cold water immersion, both of which impair cognitive performance. Prior work has shown that neurophysiological pathways may be sensitive to the effects of temperature acclimation and, therefore, cold acclimation may be a potential strategy to attenuate cold-induced cognitive impairments for populations that are frequently exposed to cold environments. This review provides an overview of studies that examine repeated cold stress, cold acclimation, and measurements of cognitive performance to determine whether or not cold acclimation provides beneficial protection against cold-induced cognitive performance decrements. Studies included in this review assessed cognitive measures of reaction time, attention, logical reasoning, information processing, and memory. Repeated cold stress, with or without evidence of cold acclimation, appears to offer no added benefit of improving cognitive performance. However, research in this area is greatly lacking and, therefore, it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions regarding the use of cold acclimation to improve cognitive performance during subsequent cold exposures. Given the current state of minimal knowledge on this topic, athletes, occupational workers, and military commands looking to specifically enhance cognitive performance in cold environments would likely not be advised to spend the time and effort required to become acclimated to cold. However, as more knowledge becomes available in this area, recommendations may change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amino acids from meals peak in the plasma at ~180 minutes postprandial. Conversely, amino acids from rapidly digestible whey protein appear in the plasma within 15 minutes and peak at 60 minutes postprandial. Therefore, we hypothesized that consuming a 20-g whey protein snack 2 hours after a standard mixed-macronutrient, lower protein breakfast (10 g) would result in peak and composite postprandial plasma essential amino acid (EAA) responses that were not different from consuming a 30-g protein breakfast alone. Using a randomized, crossover design, 12 subjects (6 men, 6 women; age: 29 ± 1 y; BMI: 26.0 ± 1.0 kg/m 2 ; mean ± SE) completed three 330-minute trials in which they consumed breakfasts containing (i) 10 g of protein (10-PRO, control), (ii) 30 g of protein (30-PRO), and (iii) 10 g of protein followed by 20 g of whey protein isolate 120 minutes later (10/20-PRO). For both 30-PRO and 10/20-PRO, EAA peaked 180 minutes after breakfast, with greater peak concentrations for 10/20-PRO than 30-PRO (Tukey adjusted, P < .0001). Essential amino acid positive incremental areas under the curve (iAUCpos) over 300 minutes were not different between 30-PRO and 10/20-PRO. Consuming a rapidly digested whey protein snack 2 hours after a slowly digested, lower protein breakfast resulted in a greater peak plasma EAA concentration but comparable plasma EAA availability than consuming a single higher protein breakfast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Warfighters often train and conduct operations in cold environments. Specifically, military trainees and divers that are repeatedly exposed to cold water may experience inadvertent cold acclimatization, which results in body heat retention. These same warfighters can quickly switch between environments (cold to hot or hot to cold) given the nature of their work. This may present a risk of early onset of hyperthermia when cold-acclimatized warfighters are subsequently exposed to physiological insults that increase body temperature, such as exercise and heat stress. However, there is currently no evidence that suggests this is the case. The purpose of this work, therefore, is to determine what impact, if any, repeated immersion in cold water has on subsequent exercise in the heat.Materials and Methods: Twelve healthy subjects (values in mean ± SD: age, 25.6 ± 5.2 years; height, 174.0 ± 8.9 cm; weight, 75.6 ± 13.1 kg) voluntarily provided written informed consent in accordance with the San Diego State University Institutional Review Board. They first completed 120 minutes of moderate treadmill walking in 40°C and 40% relative humidity. During this trial, subjects' physiological and perceptual responses were recorded. Twenty-four hours later, subjects began a cold acclimation protocol, which consisted of seven, 90-minute immersions in cold water (10°C, water level to chest). Each immersion was also separated by 24 hours. Subjects then repeated a subsequent trial of exercise in the heat 24 hours after the final immersion of the cold acclimation protocol.Results: Results from cold acclimation revealed no change in core temperature, a decrease in skin temperature, and attenuated shivering and lactate responses, which supports a successful insulative-hypothermic cold acclimation response. This type of cold acclimation response primarily results in heat retention with associated energy conservation. Findings for heat trials (pre-cold acclimation and post-cold acclimation) revealed no differences between trials for all measurements, suggesting that cold acclimation did not influence physiological or perceptual responses during exercise in the heat.Conclusion: Our findings indicate that military divers or trainees that are frequently exposed to cold water, and hence have the ability to experience cold acclimatization, will likely not be at greater risk of increased thermal strain when subsequently exposed to physical activity in hot environments. In this study, no physiological or perceptual differences were observed between trials before and after cold acclimation, suggesting that cold acclimation does not present a greater hyperthermia risk during subsequent exercise in the heat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late Miocene was an important time to understand the geological, climatic, and biotic evolution of the ancient New World tropics and the context for the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). Despite this importance, upper Miocene deposits containing diverse faunas and floras and their associated geological context are rare in Central America. We present an integrated study of the geological and paleontological context and age of a new locality from Lago Alajuela in northern Panama (Caribbean side) containing late Miocene marine and terrestrial fossils (plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates) from the Alajuela Formation. These taxa indicate predominantly estuarine and shallow marine paleoenvironments, along with terrestrial influences based on the occurrence of land mammals. Sr-isotope ratio analyses of in situ scallop shells indicate an age for the Alajuela Formation of 9.77 ± 0.22 Ma, which also equates to a latest Clarendonian (Cl3) North American Land Mammal Age. Along with the roughly contemporaneous late Miocene Gatun and Lago Bayano faunas in Panama, we now have the opportunity to reconstruct the dynamics of the Central America seaway that existed before final closure coincident with formation of the Isthmus of Panama. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who present with critical limb ischemia (CLI) have become an increasingly common and complex treatment problem for vascular surgeons. Dialysis patients have high short-term mortality rates regardless of whether revascularization is pursued. ESRD patients with CLI can be managed with: local wound care, endovascular or surgical revascularization, or amputation. Some patients may heal small foot wounds with local wound care alone, even if distal perfusion is marginal, as long as any infectious process has been controlled. Surgical revascularization has a mortality rate of 5-10% but has a high chance of limb salvage. However, overall 5-year survival may be as low as 28%. Endovascular therapy also carries a high perioperative mortality risk in this population with similar limb salvage rates. Amputation is indicated in patients with advanced stage CLI, as described by the Society for Vascular Surgery’s Wound, Ischemia and foot Infection (WIfI) system. Statistical models predict that endovascular or surgical revascularization strategies are less costly and more functionally beneficial to patients than primary amputation alone. Decisions on how to manage ESRD patients with CLI are complex but revascularization can often result in limb salvage, despite limited overall survival. Dialysis patients with good life expectancy and good quality conduit may benefit most from surgical bypass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncertain type localities undermine orangutan nomenclature. Bequeathed to the British Museum, the holotype ofPongo pygmaeus, according to Hans Sloane’s catalogue, came from Borneo and died in China. The historical evidence makes Banjarmasin its most probable type locality. William Montgomerie, Assistant Surgeon at Singapore from 1819–1827, and Senior Surgeon from 1832, supplied the holotype ofSimia morio. In 1836 an adult female orangutan reached Singapore alive from Pontianak, Borneo. The holotypes ofS. morio, S. hendrikzii, S. straussiiandP[ithecus]oweniiprobably had the same origin, as pirate attacks endangered visits to other Bornean coasts. Absent from Brunei and north Sarawak, Malaysia, throughout the Holocene, orangutans occur there only as Pleistocene subfossils at Niah.Pan vetus(the Piltdown mandible) probably came from Paku, Sarawak. We identifyPongo borneoLacépède, 1799 as an objective senior synonym ofP. wurmbiiTiedemann, 1808, correcting its type locality from Sukadana to near Pontianak. This is the earliest name for the western subspecies (previously thought nominotypical) unlessPithecus curtus, probably from the Sadong River, Sarawak, represents a separate subspecies. If so, the namePongo borneowould transfer to the southern population west of the Kahayan River, genetically distinguished at species level from the Sumatran orangutan,P. abelii. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prior to out-migration, salmonid fish typically undergo physiological and morphological changes - a process known as smolting. This study indicates that smolting in brown trout ( Salmo trutta) is affected by feeding conditions in spring immediately prior to out-migration. This conclusion was reached after experimentally testing the effect of seasonal variation in food availability on smolt status in the spring. A migratory strain of trout was administered either high or low food rations in the autumn, winter, or spring prior to release in the spring. While fish growth or condition could be affected in any season, it was spring rationing that reduced growth and growth-related variables and that caused increased smolting. Our result supports the idea that smoltification and the decision to migrate is affected by spring food availability regardless of conditions in the previous autumn or winter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), through activation of the c‐MET receptor, mediates biological processes critical for tissue regeneration; however, its clinical application is limited by protein instability and poor recombinant expression. We previously engineered an HGF fragment (eNK1) that possesses increased stability and expression yield and developed a c‐MET agonist by coupling eNK1 through an introduced cysteine residue. Here, we further characterize this eNK1 dimer and show it elicits significantly greater c‐MET activation, cell migration, and proliferation than the eNK1 monomer. The efficacy of the eNK1 dimer was similar to HGF, suggesting its promise as a c‐MET agonist.HGF is difficult to produce and unstable, highlighting a need for c‐MET agonists. A disulfide‐linked dimer (eNK1 dimer) was created from an engineered HGF fragment. The eNK1 monomer is a weak agonist and only activates c‐MET at high concentrations. The eNK1 dimer is a potent activator of c‐MET, cell migration, and proliferation. The eNK1 dimer elicits similar biological activity compared to HGF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multiple-iteration constrained conjugate gradient (MICCG) algorithm and a single-iteration constrained conjugate gradient (SICCG) algorithm are proposed to realize the widely used frequency-domain minimum-variance-distortionless-response (MVDR) beamformers and the resulting algorithms are applied to speech enhancement. The algorithms are derived based on the Lagrange method and the conjugate gradient techniques. The implementations of the algorithms avoid any form of explicit or implicit autocorrelation matrix inversion. Theoretical analysis establishes formal convergence of the algorithms. Specifically, the MICCG algorithm is developed based on a block adaptation approach and it generates a finite sequence of estimates that converge to the MVDR solution. For limited data records, the estimates of the MICCG algorithm are better than the conventional estimators and equivalent to the auxiliary vector algorithms. The SICCG algorithm is developed based on a continuous adaptation approach with a sample-by-sample updating procedure and the estimates asymptotically converge to the MVDR solution. An illustrative example using synthetic data from a uniform linear array is studied and an evaluation on real data recorded by an acoustic vector sensor array is demonstrated. Performance of the MICCG algorithm and the SICCG algorithm are compared with the state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evaluating a new species for contaminant monitoring. • Stable isotopes to deduce breeding strategy. • Isotope methods and ecological knowledge improve mercury contaminant interpretation. Contaminant monitoring in biota is important for determining environmental status and to detect or prioritize action on hazardous substances. Predators higher up a food chain are often used for monitoring of contaminants that bioaccumulate. However, it is not always possible to find higher predators that are both abundant and have a wide distribution for national or international contaminant monitoring. Great cormorants (Phalocrocorax carbo) are a widespread and increasingly common top predator of fish in fresh, brackish and salt water. We evaluate the suitability of great cormorant eggs as a matrix for contaminant monitoring by using stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur. Despite the fact that cormorants are migratory, egg isotope values showed a significant separation between five breeding colonies in Sweden (1 fresh water lake, 3 Baltic sites and 1 marine site). This high degree of separation indicates that eggs are primarily produced using local resources (not stored body resources) and that contaminants (mercury concentrations in this study) measured in eggs likely reflect levels in fish prey caught close to the breeding area. Compound specific stable isotope analysis was used to estimate cormorant trophic position (TP) and concentrations of mercury in eggs were positively related to TP. The results show that a multi-isotope approach, combined with good ecological diet knowledge allow for meaningful and comparative interpretation of mercury concentrations in biota and that great cormorant eggs appear a suitable matrix to measure locally derived and maternally transferred contaminants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Where do we find ourselves?” We ask some permutation of this question in response to life events, as Ralph Waldo Emerson does to open his haunting essay on the death of his young son, the magisterial “Experience” (1844). Commemorations also compel us to make such accountings, to break from the requisite, often monotonous routines of everyday life to assess our evolutions. The sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the American Society for Theatre Research offers such an occasion, and this forum's invitation to imagine and, perhaps, sway the direction of the organization's discursive and institutional practices over the next decade or more requires, first of all, estimating where we, as scholars of theatre and performance culture, find ourselves. Although these inspections would certainly reveal actions and innovations worthy of commemoration, the more important task is to lay bare and come to grips with those assumptions, ruts, and shibboleths in our respective fields of inquiry that have become so ingrained that they have achieved a kind of sacrosanctity. We must contest and, in many cases, abandon these conceptual and analytical habits: such efforts, though to the detriment of ideology, will be to the good of the discipline and the enrichment of our individual scholarly sensibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The least-mean-square-type (LMS-type) algorithms are known as simple and effective adaptation algorithms. However, the LMS-type algorithms have a trade-off between the convergence rate and steady-state performance. In this paper, we investigate a new variable step-size approach to achieve fast convergence rate and low steady-state misadjustment. By approximating the optimal step-size that minimizes the mean-square deviation, we derive variable step-sizes for both the time-domain normalized LMS (NLMS) algorithm and the transform-domain LMS (TDLMS) algorithm. The proposed variable step-sizes are simple quotient forms of the filtered versions of the quadratic error and very effective for the NLMS and TDLMS algorithms. The computer simulations are demonstrated in the framework of adaptive system modeling. Superior performance is obtained compared to the existing popular variable step-size approaches of the NLMS and TDLMS algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many species of chorusing frogs, callers can rapidly adjust their call timing with reference to neighboring callers so as to maintain call rate while minimizing acoustic interference. The rules governing the interactions, in particular, who is listening to whom are largely unknown, presumably influenced by distance between callers, caller density, and intensities of interfering calls. We report vocal interactions in a unison bout caller, the green tree frog ( Hyla cinerea). Using a microphone array, we monitored bouts from a local group of six callers embedded in a larger chorus. Data were analyzed in a 21-min segment at the peak of the chorus. Callers within this group were localized and their voices were separated for analysis of spatio-temporal interactions. We show that callers in this group: (1) synchronize with one another, (2) prefer to time their calls antiphonally, almost exactly at one-third and two-thirds of the call intervals of their neighbors, (3) tolerate call collision when antiphonal calling is not possible, and (4) perform discrete phase-hopping between three preferred phases when tracking other callers. Further, call collision increases and phase-locking decreases, with increasing inter-caller spacing. We conclude that the precise phase-positioning, phase-tracking, and phase-hopping minimizes acoustic jamming while maintaining chorus synchrony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative correlations in the sequential evolution of interspike intervals (ISIs) are a signature of memory in neuronal spike-trains. They provide coding benefits including firing-rate stabilization, improved detectability of weak sensory signals, and enhanced transmission of information by improving signal-to-noise ratio. Primary electrosensory afferent spike-trains in weakly electric fish fall into two categories based on the pattern of ISI correlations: non-bursting units have negative correlations which remain negative but decay to zero with increasing lags (Type I ISI correlations), and bursting units have oscillatory (alternating sign) correlation which damp to zero with increasing lags (Type II ISI correlations). Here, we predict and match observed ISI correlations in these afferents using a stochastic dynamic threshold model. We determine the ISI correlation function as a function of an arbitrary discrete noise correlation function R k , where k is a multiple of the mean ISI. The function permits forward and inverse calculations of the correlation function. Both types of correlation functions can be generated by adding colored noise to the spike threshold with Type I correlations generated with slow noise and Type II correlations generated with fast noise. A first-order autoregressive (AR) process with a single parameter is sufficient to predict and accurately match both types of afferent ISI correlation functions, with the type being determined by the sign of the AR parameter. The predicted and experimentally observed correlations are in geometric progression. The theory predicts that the limiting sum of ISI correlations is - 0.5 yielding a perfect DC-block in the power spectrum of the spike train. Observed ISI correlations from afferents have a limiting sum that is slightly larger at - 0.475 ± 0.04 ( mean ± s.d. ). We conclude that the underlying process for generating ISIs may be a simple combination of low-order AR and moving average processes and discuss the results from the perspective of optimal coding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tele-Operated Catheter Ablation, In Vivo. Introduction: The close proximity between the interventionalist and patient during catheter-based interventions for cardiac arrhythmia exposes the interventionalist to harmful radiation. A prototype remote catheter navigation system (RCNS) has been developed to reduce occupational dose. The safety, feasibility of this RCNS and a comparison of remote and conventional navigation techniques is investigated in vivo. Methods: Seven anatomical locations in the right side of the heart in porcine models were chosen as navigation targets. Using fluoroscopy and electrogram analysis, an experienced electrophysiology interventionalist manipulated a radiofrequency (RF) ablation catheter to each target using the RCNS and conventional navigation. Success rate, navigation time, exposure, exposure time and procedure time was recorded for all anatomical targets. Time to integrate the RCNS with the procedure suite was also measured. Results: All targets were successfully reached with the RCNS and conventional navigation. No erratic catheter motion was observed with the RCNS whereas 1 operation failure occurred. The anatomical targets were found to have the largest effect on navigation time (P < 0.05), exposure (P < 0.05), and exposure time (P < 0.01), although the navigation method had little to no effect on the metrics. These results suggest that remote navigation procedures can be performed with navigation times comparable to conventional bedside navigation. Conclusion: Remote navigation with the RCNS may present a safe method of reducing occupational dose, while providing comparable navigation time with conventional bedside navigation. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 23, pp. 81-87, January 2012) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Ecballium elaterium trypsin inhibitor (EETI-II), a 28-amino acid member of the knottin family of peptides, contains three interwoven disulfide bonds that form multiple solvent-exposed loops. Previously, the trypsin binding loop of EETI-II has been engineered to confer binding to several alternative molecular targets. Here, EETI-II was further explored as a molecular scaffold for polypeptide engineering by evaluating the ability to mutate two of its structurally adjacent loops. Methodology/Principal Findings: Yeast surface display was used to engineer an EETI-II mutant containing two separate integrin binding epitopes. The resulting knottin peptide was comprised of 38 amino acids, and contained 11- and 10- residue loops compared to wild-type EETI-II, which naturally contains 6- and 5-residue loops, respectively. This knottin peptide bound to αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrins with affinities in the low nanomolar range, but bound weakly to the related integrins α5β1 and αiibβ3. In addition, the engineered knottin peptide inhibited tumor cell adhesion to vitronectin, an extracellular matrix protein that binds to αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrins. A 64Cu radiolabeled version of this knottin peptide demonstrated moderate serum stability and excellent tumor-to-muscle and tumor-to-blood ratios by positron emission tomography imaging in human tumor xenograft models. Tumor uptake was ∼3-5% injected dose per gram (%ID/g) at one hour post injection, with rapid clearance of probe through the kidneys. Conclusions/Significance: We demonstrated that multiple loops of EETI-II can be mutated to bind with high affinity to tumor-associated integrin receptors. The resulting knottin peptide contained 21 (>50%) non-native amino acids within two mutated loops, indicating that extended loop lengths and sequence diversity were well tolerated within the EETI-II scaffold. A radiolabeled version of this knottin peptide showed promise for non-invasive imaging of integrin expression in living subjects. However, reduced serum and metabolic stability were observed compared to an engineered integrin-binding EETIII knottin peptide containing only one mutated loop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]