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Pirates and an Acadian Huguenot
Get PDFA discussion of a piracy trial in 1726 Boston and an Acadian merchant
Poleward Moving Auroral Forms and Magnetic Reconnection
No full textMagnetic reconnection on the dayside magnetosphere is one of the main mechanisms for the solar wind to transfer energy and momentum to the terrestrial environment. This process is assumed to be most effective when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is southward. Poleward moving auroral forms (PMAFs) have been identified in past studies as ionospheric signatures of magnetic reconnection on the dayside. The PMAFs occurring for the positive/(negative) IMF y-component first expanded westward(dawn)/eastward(dusk) before propagating poleward. This PMAF study presents a comprehensive set of events where the initial brightening moves through a pre-existing dayside auroral arc westward(dawn)/eastward(dusk) when the IMF y-component is positive/(negative) before moving poleward during the 0500-1200 UT (0800-1500 MLT) interval
Association between Estrogen-Related Genetics and Microbial Factors in Breast Tissue
No full textBreast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent cancer globally for women. It is also a multifactorial disease with both genetic and environmental determinants. Estrogen is critically related to BC and heavily studied, but the association between the breast tissue microbiome and estrogen pathway genetics is currently unknown.
We hypothesized that the genetic variation (alternate allele frequency and genotype) in and the expression of estrogen pathway genes are associated with variations in local breast tissue microbes (top BC-associated and estrogen-metabolizing microbes). Using microbiome-GWAS analysis on 60 donated breast tissue samples (healthy, pre-diagnostic, tumor, and adjacent normal), we filtered out significant variants BCL2A1, BCL2L10, ESRRB, FOSL2-AS1, MAPK10, NOS3, RAF1, and RASGRP4 based on their association with breast cancer. These genes were then associated with differentially abundant bacterial ASVs and alpha diversity metrics using MaAsLin2. We also analyzed the expression of select variants, RAF1 and BCL2L10, via qPCR.
Our study found five significant associations between frequencies (FOSL2-AS1 and RASGRP4) with bacterial taxa (Lactobacillus, Bacteroides, and Streptococcus), 21 associations between genotypes (BCL2A1, BCL2L10, ESRRB, MAPK10, NOS3, RAF1, and RASGRP4) with bacterial taxa (Bacteroides, Bradyrhizobium, Carnobacteriu, Dermabacter, Fusobacterium, Lactobacillus, Proteus, Sphingomonas, Streptococcus, and Tissierella), genotype-tissue associations for the Mut/Mut genotype of ESRRB and MAPK10 with cancer tissue types (PD, AN, and T), and associations between estrobolome β-glucuronidase and/or β-glucosidase producers with estrogen pathway genes. We located no significant associations between alpha diversity with genetic variations and between gene expression of RAF1 and BCL2L10 with gene frequency, genotype, and microbial taxa
Drone Imagery of Submarine Groundwater Discharge Effects On Coastal Primary Productivity On Coral Reefs in Maunalua Bay, Hawai\u27i
Get PDFSubmarine groundwater discharge (SGD) plays a crucial role in coastal ecosystems, especially coral reefs, by introducing terrestrial nutrients and freshwater, significantly affecting the primary productivity of coastal ecosystems and potentially altering ecological balances. La Valle et al. (2023) emphasized the importance of SGD in nutrient distribution and algal productivity, highlighting the need for comprehensive understanding and management strategies in the face of increasing nutrient runoff due to land use changes due to increased population. To better understand the impact, our experiments utilize remote sensing and data science by using a DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise drone with a thermal imaging camera to map the distribution of SGD because the temperature of SGD is lower than surrounding ocean water, so the thermal infrared (TIR) images can show the flow and spatial extent of the SGD. These flights will be conducted under nighttime conditions to avoid solar heating artifacts. We will calibrate all images to the blackbody before and after each flight, ensuring more accurate and reliable data collection, and fly the drone over the reefs during low tide (one of two low tides per day), where SGD\u27s impacts are most significant. Given the profound impacts of SGD on biodiversity, water quality, and marine ecosystem health, the modeling of SDG impacts on the reef ecosystem that we have created is critical to developing informed coastal management and conservation strategies
Network Evaluation of Influential Sensors: A Proposed Approach
Get PDFIn 2013, the White House issued Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21) on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience to advance a nationally unified effort to ensure a secure, functioning, and resilient critical infrastructure. In 2017, US Senator Dianne Feinstein expressed her concern that inspections conducted on critical infrastructure may not adequately consider the safety consequences of increasingly extreme weather patterns linked to climate change or considerable seismic hazards. Engineers responded to these opportunities by updating surveillance and monitoring programs designed to capture actual infrastructure behavior during operations. While advances in modern instrumentation and computer technologies make it easier to acquire behavior during both normal and extreme operating conditions, interpreting the data for decision makers who ensure continued and safe infrastructure operations remains a challenge. Consequently, the need exists for the development of algorithms that can evaluate an infrastructure’s existing condition based on measurements acquired on the infrastructure during normal and extreme operations. Key to achieving this, however, is developing indicators that relate a monitoring location’s relative importance to conditions within the infrastructure.
This poster describes the development of a network centrality-based evaluation procedure to assess which measured responses of an infrastructure are the most critical for monitoring applications. The procedure is described and applied to a case study involving measured seismic responses acquired during an actual earthquake on an embankment dam. Results and implications are discussed within the context of the mathematical procedure as well as against engineering judgment
Dancing on the Knife’s Edge: Violence in the Christian Nationalist Rhetoric of Turning Point Faith’s Founder Charlie Kirk
No full textThis paper explores how Charlie Kirk, founder of the nonprofit Turning Point USA, discursively compounded his political orientations with religious storytelling to inspire reactionary political mobilization—which bears Christian Nationalist resemblances. Critical analysis of the Freedom Square Nights series launched in May 2021 at Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, illustrates Kirk’s particularism. Kirk promoted “spiritual warfare” against the “dehumanizing” and “Satanic” tactics of the “woke left,” public educators, and marginalized identities that he believes threaten American society. He urged attendees to “demand the welfare” of their cities and “reclaim the country for Christ” by proscription and “political extinction(s).” Contrastingly, Kirk reminded listeners to desire “fruits of the spirit” and “proclaim the truth and expose the darkness.” The Freedom Square Nights launched Turning Point Faith, an initiative to embolden pastors to fight what Kirk called “the great reset,” a conspiracy-and-apocalyptic-laden narrative wherein COVID-19 existed as a smokescreen to effectuate an authoritarian communist state
Impact of dietary nitrate dose on resistance exercise performance
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to assess whether various doses of BR supplementation can influence muscle performance during a battery of resistance exercises in healthy, resistance-trained males. In a double-blind, randomized crossover design, 18 males were randomly allocated to consume 4 x 70 ml of BR over four conditions: (1) 4 x 70 ml of nitrate-depleted BR for placebo (PL); (2) 1 x 70 ml of nitrate-rich BR and 3 x 70 ml of PL for a low nitrate dose (BR-LOW); (3) 2 x 70 ml of nitrate-rich BR and 2 x 70 ml of PL for a moderate nitrate dose (BR-MOD); and (4) 4 x 70 ml of nitrate-rich BR for an elevated nitrate dose (BR-HIGH). Participants reported to the laboratory 5 times over 5-wk. Following a 1 repetition max (1RM) and a familiarization to the exercise protocol, participants completed a warm up and then a protocol to assess explosive performance using a linear transducer and force plate during vertical countermovement jumps, and then back squat and bench press, in a randomized order. A resting blood sample was drawn for the determination of plasma nitrate and nitrite concentrations. A two way repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine statistical differences between blood and performance variables, and is currently in progress. These data could provide insight for dietary nitrate as an ergogenic aid and inform both supplementation guidelines and recommendations for enhancing resistance training performance in men
Textual Variants in Eudora Welty’s A Piece of News”
Get PDFEudora Welty’s “A Piece of News” presents the question, how does one achieve self-actualization? For the protagonist Ruby Fisher, the answer is language, although that answer is not clear in the original 1937 published version of the story. That story’s focal point is Ruby’s tumultuous and complicated relationship with her husband, Clyde. In contrast, the revised 1941 version from Welty’s collection A Curtain of Green shifts the focus from Ruby’s abusive marriage to her interiority. The subsequent increase in word count, shifts in narration, and emphasis on Ruby claiming her name when she reads it in a newspaper elevates the narrative to something more profound. Overall, these textual variants reveal that Welty’s extensive revisions changed not simply the storyline but also the text’s fundamental concerns. By foregrounding Ruby’s experience of sounding out the words in her name, Welty’s revised story revamps a familiar marital tale into an exploration of language, an exploration that provides a pathway to Ruby’s nascent sense of self