High resolution spatiotemporal patterns of flow at the landscape scale in montane non-perennial streams

Intermittent and ephemeral streams in dryland environments support diverse assemblages of aquatic and terrestrial life. Understanding when and where water flows provide insights into the availability of water, its response to external controlling factors, and potential sensitivity to climate change and a host of human activities. Knowledge regarding the timing of drying/wetting cycles can also be useful to map critical habitats for species and ecosystems that rely on these temporary water sources. However, identifying the locations and monitoring the timing of streamflow and channel sediment moisture remains a challenging endeavor. In this paper, we analyzed daily conductivity from 37 sensors distributed along 10 streams across an arid mountain front in Arizona (United States) to assess spatiotemporal patterns in flow permanence, defined as the timing and extent of water in streams. Conductivity sensors provide information on surface flow and sediment moisture, supporting a stream classification based on seasonal flow dynamics. Our results provide insight into flow responses to seasonal rainfall, highlighting stream reaches very reactive to rainfall versus those demonstrating more stable streamflow. The strength of stream responses to precipitation are explored in the context of surficial geology. In summary, conductivity data can be used to map potential stream habitat for water-dependent species in both space and time, while also providing the basis upon which sensitivity to ongoing climate change can be evaluated.     

Functional role of high-affinity anandamide transport, as revealed by selective inhibition

Anandamide, an endogenous ligand for central cannabinoid receptors, is released from neurons on depolarization and rapidly inactivated. Anandamide inactivation is not completely understood, but it may occur by transport into cells or by enzymatic hydrolysis. The compound N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)arachidonylamide (AM404) was shown to inhibit high-affinity anandamide accumulation in rat neurons and astrocytes in vitro, an indication that this accumulation resulted from carrier-mediated transport. Although AM404 did not activate cannabinoid receptors or inhibit anandamide hydrolysis, it enhanced receptor-mediated anandamide responses in vitro and in vivo. The data indicate that carrier-mediated transport may be essential for termination of the biological effects of anandamide, and may represent a potential drug target.     

Study of cavitation in superfluid helium-4 at low temperatures

We report studies of the negative pressure required to lead to the nucleation of bubbles in superfluid helium-4 in the temperature range down to 0.8 K. At the lowest temperatures studied, the tensile strength is found to be 3 bar. The results are compared with nucleation theory and the possible importance of nucleation on vortices is discussed.     

Shape Oscillations in Levitated He II Drops

We describe experiments to study the shape oscillations of levitated He II drops. Drops of approximately 0.5 cm diameter are levitated magnetically with a superconducting solenoid, and shape oscillations are induced with an ac electric field. We have measured the damping of shape oscillations as a function of temperature. The damping rate is compared to that predicted by a two fluid, hydrodynamic model, which takes account the effect of the motion in the vapor. The effects of condensation and evaporation on the motion of the drop are also considered.     

Wetting of Rough Walls

Quenched geometric disorder of a wall delimiting a spectator phase can have dramatic effects on the nature of critical wetting transitions. We consider self-affine walls in 2D with roughness exponent _W. Transfer matrix results for directed interfacial models with short-range interactions suggest that wetting turns first-order as soon as _W exceeds ₀, the anisotropy index of interface fluctuations in the bulk. Discontinuous interface depinning is best identified by a peculiar two-peak structure in the statistical distributions of wall–interface contacts obtained by sampling over disorder. On the other hand, for _W<₀ wetting remains continuous, most plausibly in the same universality class as with flat walls. This occurs both with ordered (₀ = 1/2) and with bond-disordered (₀ = 2/3) bulk. A precise location of the thresholds at _W = ₀ can be argued on the basis of an analysis of different terms in the interfacial free energy. This analysis elucidates the peculiar role played by the intrinsic interfacial roughness and suggests extensions of the results to 3D and to long-range substrate forces.     

Coalescence of Levitated He II Drops

We describe experiments to study the coalescence of He II drops levitated in a magnetic trap. Using a high speed CCD camera, we have produced movies of drops coalescing at temperatures as low as 0.7 K. We examine some interesting features of the motion during and following coalescence.     

Formaldehyde in cryoprotectant propanediol and effect on mouse zygotes

Cryopreservation of human zygotes and embryos has been routinely performed by in-vitro fertilization clinics for many years. Karran and Legge (1996) first reported that formaldehyde (FA) present in the cryoprotective solutions can have a deleterious effect on mouse oocytes. FA is a cytotoxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic chemical. The effect of FA on mouse zygotes was investigated. In addition, the concentrations of FA in propanediol (PROH) obtained from various sources were determined. Pooled 1-cell embryos were dispensed into droplets of modified Ham's F10 or human tubal fluid containing various concentrations of FA. Since bovine serum albumin (BSA) may minimize toxicity additional trials were done as above in the absence of BSA. FA concentration in the standard 1.5 M PROH, from different sources in water, was measured in the same assay using a standard curve of 0-100 microM FA. FA in a complex medium had a significant deleterious effect on embryo development and hatching but only at 1 mM concentration (P < 0.000001; see Tables I-III). There was no significant effect of FA at 100 microM. However, in a simple medium even 50 microM FA decreased embryo hatching. FA was present in 1.5 M PROH from different sources (range 1.0-35.3 microM concentration). It appears that FA concentrations do not increase with storage because FA concentrations were low even after opening and storage for 3 years on the shelf. This suggests that FA is a contaminant during the manufacturing process and may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and batch to batch. Until further studies are done to confirm the lack of toxicity to embryos during cryopreservation (with or without FA scavengers) it may be prudent to screen all batches of cryoprotectants for FA as part of quality control.     

Calculation of the Shape of S-State Electron Bubbles in Liquid Helium

We consider the shape of electron bubbles in liquid helium. Grinfeld and Kojima (Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 105301, 2003) have shown that the in a certain pressure range the 2S electron bubble is unstable against small distortions with l=3 and loses its spherical symmetry. We report more detailed calculations of this effect and also study the behavior of the 3S and 2P bubbles.