Morphological variation within the diatom taxon Cyclotella comensis and its importance for quantitative temperature reconstructions

1. The morphologically complex taxon Cyclotella comensis Grunow had no clear relationship with environmental parameters in a study using sediment surface samples from the Swiss Alps. The morphological heterogeneity of the taxon was investigated by applying a principal component analysis (PCA) to 9000 presence/absence descriptions of valves from surface samples of six lakes from different altitudes (15 characteristics, 100 valves each lake). The PCA allowed the classification of six morphs, which differed mainly in size and length of striae. Photographs of the morphs are shown in this paper. 2. Sixty-eight sediment surface samples were analysed using these newly defined six morphs. Summer temperature explained a major part of the variance between the morphs as assessed by a redundancy analysis (RDA). Summer temperature optima and tolerances were estimated using weighted averaging. 3. The influence of the revised C. comensis taxonomy on the diatom inferred summer temperature of a high alpine lake is discussed in a multiproxy context for the past 800 years.

Regional Specialization in Communal Agriculture: The Shakers, 1850- 1880

When the Shakers established communal farms in the Ohio Valley, they encountered a new agricultural environment that was substantially different from the familiar soils, climates, and markets of New England and the Hudson Valley. The ways in which their response to these new conditions differed by region has not been well documented. We examine patterns of specialization among the Shakers using the manuscript schedules of the federal Agricultural Censuses from 1850 through 1880. For each Shaker unit, we also recorded a random sample of five farms in the same township (or all available farms if there were fewer than five). The sample of neighboring farms included 75 in 1850, 70 in the next two census years, and 66 in 1880. A Herfindahl-type index suggested that, although the level of specialization was less among the Shakers than their neighbors, trends in specialization by the Shakers and their neighbors were remarkably similar when considered by region. Both Eastern and Western Shakers were more heavily committed to dairy and produce than were their neighbors, while Western Shakers produced more grains than did Eastern Shakers, a pattern imitated in nearby family farms. Livestock and related production was far more important to the Eastern Shakers than to the Western Shakers, again similar to patterns in the census returns from other farms. We conclude that, despite the obvious scale and organizational differences, Shaker production decisions were based on the same comparative advantages that determined production decisions of family farms.

Ms. germ. fol. 57 - Vorstellung und Bitte von Seiten des Vorstandes des israelitschen Gemeinde, die Ehen hiesiger Israeliten mit Fremden betreffend. Anlage: Verzeichnis aller seit Anfang des Jahres 1825 von hier ins Ausland verheiratheten Mannes- und Frauenspersonen unter Angabe des Jahrs ihrer Verehelichung

Alte Signatur: Jud. Ff. 50; Akzessionsnummer: 1333/17

Post-transcriptional Regulation of Mammalian Gene Expression in Non-coding Region of Target RNA

Tumor Suppressor Candidate 2 (TUSC2) is a novel tumor suppressor gene located in the human chromosome 3p21.3 region. TUSC2 mRNA transcripts could be detected on Northern blots in both normal lung and some lung cancer cell lines, but no endogenous TUSC2 protein could be detected in a majority of lung cancer cell lines. Mechanisms regulating TUSC2 protein expression and its inactivation in primary lung cancer cells are largely unknown. We investigated the role of the 5’- and 3’-untranslated regions (UTRs) of the TUSC2 gene in the regulation of TUSC2 protein expression. We found that two small upstream open-reading frames (uORFs) in the 5’UTR of TUSC2 could markedly inhibit the translational initiation of TUSC2 protein by interfering with the “scanning” of the ribosome initiation complexes. Site-specific stem-loop array reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (SLA-RT-PCR) verified several micoRNAs (miRNAs) targeted at 3’UTR and directed TUSC2 cleavage and degradation. In addition, we used the established let-7-targeted high mobility group A2 (Hmga2) mRNA as a model system to study the mechanism of regulation of target mRNA by miRNAs in mammalian cells under physiological conditions. There have been no evidence of direct link between mRNA downregulation and mRNA cleavages mediated by miRNAs. Here we showed that the endonucleolytic cleavages on mRNAs were initiated by mammalian miRNA in seed pairing style. Let-7 directed cleavage activities among the eight predicted potential target sites have varied efficiency, which are influenced by the positional and the structural contexts in the UTR. The 5’ cleaved RNA fragments were mostly oligouridylated at their 3’-termini and accumulated for delayed 5’–3’ degradation. RNA fragment oligouridylation played important roles in marking RNA fragments for delayed bulk degradation and in converting RNA degradation mode from 3’–5’ to 5’–3’ with cooperative efforts from both endonucleolytic and non-catalytic miRNA-induced silencing complex (miRISC). Our findings point to a mammalian miRNA-mediated mechanism for the regulation of mRNA that miRNA can decrease target mRNA through target mRNA cleavage and uridine addition

La institución museo en Mendoza : el Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes

El trabajo aborda a la vez la historia de una institución local en particular y su devenir en relación con el campo artístico de Mendoza y la genealogía europeizante del museo de arte impuesto como paradigma desde la formación de los estados nacionales europeos. El Museo de Bellas Artes como entidad reproductora del gusto de la burguesía y como factor de distinción social verifica en esta región americana el cumplimiento de un ciclo reforzado por la copia del modelo civilizatorio que asume como propio en la Mendoza de los siglos XIX y XX. Tras la institución del primer Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes y su posterior refundación como Museo Fader; sorprende hallar un programa museológico de cuño modernizador; atento a la realidad latinoamericana sin perder de vista la historia del sector.

Horizontal profiles of longwave and shortwave radiation components over sea ice near Barrow, Alaska during the 2011 melt

An integrated instrument package for measuring and understanding the surface radiation budget of sea ice is presented, along with results from its first deployment. The setup simultaneously measures broadband fluxes of upwelling and downwelling terrestrial and solar radiation (four components separately), spectral fluxes of incident and reflected solar radiation, and supporting data such as air temperature and humidity, surface temperature, and location (GPS), in addition to photographing the sky and observed surface during each measurement. The instruments are mounted on a small sled, allowing measurements of the radiation budget to be made at many locations in the study area to see the effect of small-scale surface processes on the large-scale radiation budget. Such observations have many applications, from calibration and validation of remote sensing products to improving our understanding of surface processes that affect atmosphere-snow-ice interactions and drive feedbacks, ultimately leading to the potential to improve climate modelling of ice-covered regions of the ocean. The photographs, spectral data, and other observations allow for improved analysis of the broadband data. An example of this is shown by using the observations made during a partly cloudy day, which show erratic variations due to passing clouds, and creating a careful estimate of what the radiation budget along the observed line would have been under uniform sky conditions, clear or overcast. Other data from the setup's first deployment, in June 2011 on fast ice near Point Barrow, Alaska, are also shown; these illustrate the rapid changes of the radiation budget during a cold period that led to refreezing and new snow well into the melt season.

Discharge data derived from five water level gauges and discharge measurements in the Aguima and Niaou catchment, Benin, West Africa

This paper analyzes the hydrological processes and the impact of soil properties and land use on these processes in tropical headwater catchment in the sub-humid part of Benin (West-Africa), the Aguima catchment. The presented study is integrated in the GLOWA IMPETUS project, which investigates the effects of global change on the water cycle and water availability on a regional scale in Morocco and Benin. The lack of field investigations concerning soil and surface hydrology in the Benin research area necessitates detailed field measurements including measurements of discharge, soil water dynamics, soil physical properties etc. on the local scale in order to understand the dominant runoff generation processes and its influencing factors. This is a pre-requisite to be able to forecast the effects which global change has on hydrological processes and water availability in the region. The paper gives an overview over the hydrologic measuring concept of the IMPETUS-Benin project focusing on measurements concerning the soil saturated conductivity ksat and discharge behaviour of two different sub-catchment of the Aguima catchment. The results of ksat measurements revealed that interflow is the dominant runoff process on the hillslopes of the investigated catchment. Concerning the impact of land use on the hydrological processes infiltration experiments showed that infiltration rates were reduced on cultivated land compared to natural land cover. This results in significant differences in runoff behaviour and runoff ratios while comparing natural and agricultural used catchments.