Seasonal patterns in hydrochemical mixing in three Great Lakes rivermouth ecosystems

Rivermouth ecosystems in the Laurentian Great Lakes represent complex hydrologic mixing zones where lake and river water combine to form biologically productive areas that are functionally similar to marine estuaries. As urban, industrial, shipping, and recreational centers, rivermouths are the focus of human interactions with the Great Lakes and, likewise, may represent critical habitat for larval fish and other biota. The hydrology and related geomorphology in these deltaic systems form the basis for ecosystem processes and wetland habitat structure but are poorly understood. To this end, we examined hydrogeomorphic structure and lake-tributary mixing in three rivermouths of intermediate size using water chemistry, stable isotopes, and current profiling over a five-month period. In rivermouths of this size, the maximum depth of the rivermouth ecosystem influenced water mixing, with temperature-related, density-dependent wedging and layering that isolated lake water below river water occurring in deeper systems. The inherent size of the rivermouth ecosystem, local geomorphology, and human modifications such as shoreline armoring and dredging influenced mixing by altering the propensity for density differences to occur. The improved scientific understanding and framework for characterizing hydrogeomorphic processes in Great Lakes rivermouths across a disturbance gradient is useful for conservation, management, restoration, and protection of critical habitats needed by native species.     

Use of gas liquid chromatography for monitoring the fatty acid composition of canadian rapeseed

Since 1972, Canadian rapeseed has been changing from high erucic acid types to low erucic acid types. In 1970, the Canadian Grain Commission instituted a program to monitor the fatty acid composition of rapeseed at the farm level, in railway carlot shipments and in export cargo shipments. Initially, in order to process up to 20,000 samples per year, a combined extraction and methylation procedure was developed in which methyl esters were analyzed within 5 min by manual injection on a nonpolar column. Since conversion to low erucic acid rapeseed types has been completed, other details of fatty acid composition have received more attention. In the system presently used, the rapeseed oil methyl esters are analyzed on a mixedphase column which gives good resolution of all of the major fatty acids. Through the use of a microcomputer-controlled autosampler, 50 samples can be analyzed per day. Reports are generated giving complete fatty acid composition as well as estimates of iodine value and saponification value.     

A High-Resolution Cellular Automata Traffic Simulation Model with Application in a Freeway Traffic Information System

Abstract: In this article, we describe a novel traffic information system for the freeway traffic in North Rhine‐Westphalia (NRW), the most populous German state. It consists of more than 4,000 loop detectors, a simulator, and a microscopic and macroscopic graphical interface. These should be considered as “data input,”“data processing,” and “data output,” respectively. First, we discuss the loop detectors: Their mode of operation, how and where they are located, and the quality of their measurements. Next, we describe the simulator, especially its high‐resolution cellular automaton model of traffic flows, the abstraction of the road network into tracks and nodes, how the data from the loop detectors is integrated, and we give some details on an efficient implementation of the dynamics. Finally, we discuss the graphical interfaces, which display the simulated traffic states, and we give some concluding remarks. In particular, we present the traffic information web page http://www.autobahn.nrw.de , where the simulated actual traffic state on the freeway network in NRW can be sighted.     

High-density regular arrays of nanometer-scale rods formed on silicon surfaces via femtosecond laser irradiation in water

We report on the formation of high-density regular arrays of nanometer-scale rods using femtosecond laser irradiation of a silicon surface immersed in water. The resulting surface exhibits both micrometer-scale and nanometer-scale structures. The micrometer-scale structure consists of spikes of 5-10 mum width, which are entirely covered by nanometer-scale rods that are roughly 50 nm wide and normal to the surface of the micrometer-scale spikes. The formation of the nanometer-scale rods involves several processes: refraction of laser light in highly excited silicon, interference of scattered and refracted light, rapid cooling in water, roughness-enhanced optical absorptance, and capillary instabilities.     

Disruption of Vector Host Preference with Plant Volatiles May Reduce Spread of Insect-Transmitted Plant Pathogens

Plant pathogens can manipulate the odor of their host; the odor of an infected plant is often attractive to the plant pathogen vector. It has been suggested that this odor-mediated manipulation attracts vectors and may contribute to spread of disease; however, this requires further broad demonstration among vector-pathogen systems. In addition, disruption of this indirect chemical communication between the pathogen and the vector has not been attempted. We present a model that demonstrates how a phytophathogen (Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus) can increase its spread by indirectly manipulating the behavior of its vector (Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama). The model indicates that when vectors are attracted to pathogen-infected hosts, the proportion of infected vectors increases, as well as, the proportion of infected hosts. Additionally, the peak of infected host populations occurs earlier as compared with controls. These changes in disease dynamics were more important during scenarios with higher vector mortality. Subsequently, we conducted a series of experiments to disrupt the behavior of the Asian citrus psyllid. To do so, we exposed the vector to methyl salicylate, the major compound released following host infection with the pathogen. We observed that during exposure or after pre-exposure to methyl salicylate, the host preference can be altered; indeed, the Asian citrus psyllids were unable to select infected hosts over uninfected counterparts. We suggest mechanisms to explain these interactions and potential applications of disrupting herbivore host preference with plant volatiles for sustainable management of insect vectors.     

Features of how the parameters of an induction-capacitance device affects the nickel plating process

The experimental data obtained with various parameters of an inductance-capacitance device are discussed. It is possible to change the kinetics of the electrochemical process and the structure of nickel coatings by varying inductance L and capacity C, other electrolysis conditions being similar.     

Comparative Analysis of Genome Editors Efficiency on a Model of Mice Zygotes Microinjection

Genome editing is an indispensable tool for functional genomics. The caveat of the genome-editing pipeline is a prevalence of error-prone non-homologous end joining over homologous recombination, while only the latter is suitable to introduce particularly desired genetic variants. To overcome this problem, a toolbox of genome engineering was appended by a variety of improved instruments. In this work, we compared the efficiency of a number of recently suggested improved systems for genome editing applied to the same genome regions on a murine zygote model via microinjection. As a result, we observed that homologous recombination utilizing an ssDNA template following sgRNA directed Cas9 cleavage is still the method of choice for the creation of animals with precise genome alterations.     

PD-L1 Inhibitors: Different Classes,Activities, and Mechanisms of Action

Targeting the programmed cell death protein 1/programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) interaction has become an established strategy for cancer immunotherapy. Although hundreds of small-molecule, peptide, and peptidomimetic inhibitors have been proposed in recent years, only a limited number of drug candidates show good PD-1/PD-L1 blocking activity in cell-based assays. In this article, we compare representative molecules from different classes in terms of their PD-1/PD-L1 dissociation capacity measured by HTRF and in vitro bioactivity determined by the immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) co-culture assay. We point to recent discoveries that underscore important differences in the mechanisms of action of these molecules and also indicate one principal feature that needs to be considered, which is the eventual human PD-L1 specificity.