Group takeover by a natal male howling monkey (Alouatta palliata) and associated disappearance and injuries of immatures

As part of a long-term study on howling monkey behavior and social dynamics, a known natal male was observed taking over his group from his putative sire. Due to the accidental death of one of the adult males, this natal male had matured in a one-male group and had never observed juvenile male emigration nor adult male immigration and associated behaviors. Nevertheless, the behaviors associated with the takeover were indistinguishable from those of an immigrant male, including disappearance of immatures, one of whom was found with extensive injuries. While it cannot be said that the natal male inherited these behaviors from his presumed father, it can be said that he exhibited species-typical behaviors associated with male takeover in the absence of observational learning. © 1994 Japan Monkey Centre.

The beginnings of expertise for ballads

To study the beginning stages of expertise, 14 students, who were inexperienced with ballads, heard and recalled a series of 5 ballads over the course of 5 weeks. Compared with their first recall of the first ballad, their first recall of the fifth ballad had one and a half times as many words, two times as many rhyming words, and three times as much line structure evident in the written recall protocols. Compared with novices, the 14 beginning experts more often filled in blank spaces in novel ballads with words of the correct number of syllables and more often chose the original stanza of a novel ballad that was paired with a changed version of the stanza. The beginning experts were also able to compose, in 20 min, ballads about two thirds as long as the 10-stanza ballads they learned. Thirty characteristics were identified in the set of the five learned ballads. The ballads composed by the beginning experts used over half of these. The beginning experts also explicitly stated about one quarter of these 30 characteristics, but there was no statistical relationship between the characteristics used and the characteristics stated. Memory expertise is viewed as a pervasive aspect of cognition in which people make use of a variety of regularities in the material to be learned. © 1993 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Dominant Splice Site Mutations in PIK3R1 Cause Hyper IgM Syndrome, Lymphadenopathy and Short Stature.

The purpose of this research was to use next generation sequencing to identify mutations in patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases whose pathogenic gene mutations had not been identified. Remarkably, four unrelated patients were found by next generation sequencing to have the same heterozygous mutation in an essential donor splice site of PIK3R1 (NM_181523.2:c.1425 + 1G > A) found in three prior reports. All four had the Hyper IgM syndrome, lymphadenopathy and short stature, and one also had SHORT syndrome. They were investigated with in vitro immune studies, RT-PCR, and immunoblotting studies of the mutation's effect on mTOR pathway signaling. All patients had very low percentages of memory B cells and class-switched memory B cells and reduced numbers of naïve CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. RT-PCR confirmed the presence of both an abnormal 273 base-pair (bp) size and a normal 399 bp size band in the patient and only the normal band was present in the parents. Following anti-CD40 stimulation, patient's EBV-B cells displayed higher levels of S6 phosphorylation (mTOR complex 1 dependent event), Akt phosphorylation at serine 473 (mTOR complex 2 dependent event), and Akt phosphorylation at threonine 308 (PI3K/PDK1 dependent event) than controls, suggesting elevated mTOR signaling downstream of CD40. These observations suggest that amino acids 435-474 in PIK3R1 are important for its stability and also its ability to restrain PI3K activity. Deletion of Exon 11 leads to constitutive activation of PI3K signaling. This is the first report of this mutation and immunologic abnormalities in SHORT syndrome.

Modelos matemáticos a partir del modelo nomológico–deductivo de la explicación científica

Mostraremos a continuación la posibilidad de generar modelos matemáticos simples a partir de la explicación de un hecho físico. El marco teórico de partida es el de la explicación científica con la estructura del modelo nomológico deductivo. El uso de modelos matemáticos en este marco genera herramientas didácticas de distinto tipo, en este articulo desarrollamos brevemente el diseño de proyectos de investigación para los alumnos. El docente puede generar y luego utilizar estos proyectos de distintos modos, por ejemplo, como actividad de cierre de un curso, o también para generar una discontinuidad en el transcurso de la cursada, como actividad en paralelo que ocupe algún momento de las clases, etc.

Extreme weather events and business continuity planning

There is now a broad scientific consensus that the global climate is changing in ways that are likely to have a profound impact on human society and the natural environment over the coming decades. The challenge for Facilities Mangers is to ensure that business continuity plans acknowledge the potential for such events and have contingencies in place to ensure that their organisation can recover from an extreme weather event in a timely fashion. This paper will review current literature/theories pertinent to extreme weather events and business continuity planning; will consider issues of risk; identify the key drivers that need to be considered by Facilities Managers in preparing contingency/disaster recover plans; and identify gaps in knowledge (understanding and toolkits) that need to be addressed. The paper will also briefly outline a 3 year research project underway in the UK to address the issues

Report on trawling and other investigations carried out in the Bays on the South-East Coast of Devon during 1901 and 1902

Section 1. The Brixham fishing-grounds and fishery statistics. Section 2. Distribution and migrations of food-fishes. Section 3. The reproduction of the flat-fishes. Appendix 1. Preliminary Report on the Trawling Experiments in the Bays on the South Coast of Devon.

Continuous Plankton Records - Seasonal-Variations In The Distribution And Abundance Of Plankton In The North-Atlantic Ocean And The North-Sea

Charts are presented of the seasonal variations in the distribution of four phytoplankton and five zooplankton taxa in the North Atlantic and the North Sea. The main factors determining the seasonal variations appear to be the distribution of the main overwintering stocks, the current system and, in some instances, temperature control of the rate of population increase. Information is presented about the variation with latitude (over the range from 34° N to 65 ° N) of the seasonal regime of the plankton. On the assumption that there is a relationship between nutrient supply and vertical temperature stratification the main features of this variability can be interpreted. In the south (to about 43° N) nutrient limitation plus grazing appear to be dominant, resulting in a bimodal seasonal cycle of phytoplankton. North of about 60° N the system appears to be limited by the size of the phytoplankton stocks being grazed primarily by Calanus Finmarchicus and Euphausiacea. In an extensive zone, from about 44° N to 60° N, it would appear that the spring bloom of phytoplankton is under-exploited by grazing while in summer the zooplankton graze the daily production of the phytoplankton, the stocks of which are probably maintained by in situ nutrient regeneration. The implications, for at least this mid-latitude zone, that rates and fluxes of processes, as opposed to density dependent interactions between stocks, play a major role in the dynamics of the seasonal cycle is consistent with previously reported observations suggesting that physical environmental factors play a major role in determining year-to-year fluctuations in the abundance of the plankton.

Consequences of a simulated rapid ocean acidification event for benthic ecosystem processes and functions

Whilst the biological consequences of long-term, gradual changes in acidity associated with the oceanic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are increasingly studied, the potential effects of rapid acidification associated with a failure of sub-seabed carbon storage infrastructure have received less attention. This study investigates the effects of severe short-term (8 days) exposure to acidified seawater on infaunal mediation of ecosystem processes (bioirrigation and sediment particle redistribution) and functioning (nutrient concentrations). Following acidification, individuals of Amphiura filiformis exhibited emergent behaviour typical of a stress response, which resulted in altered bioturbation, but limited changes in nutrient cycling. Under acidified conditions, A. filiformis moved to shallower depths within the sediment and the variability in occupancy depth reduced considerably. This study indicated that rapid acidification events may not be lethal to benthic invertebrates, but may result in behavioural changes that could have longer-term implications for species survival, ecosystem structure and functioning.

Estimation of chlorophyll degradation into phaeophytinin Anaptychia ciliaris as a method to detect air pollution

Se estudia la influencia de los siguientes factores sobre el valor del cociente de feofitinización DO 435 nm/DO 415 nm en el líquen Anaptychia ciliaris (L.) Kórber: edad del líquen, concentración final de pigmentos, trasplante de los líquenes a áreas distintas sobre sustratos diferentes o similares y el valor de pH del sustrato original o el adoptado tras el trasplante. Se discute la utilización de A. ciliaris como un bioindicador de la presencia de factorcs acidificantes en la atmósfera o en el agua de lluvia que provoquen la feofitinización de las clorofilas.