Space Competition and Time Delays in Human Range Expansions. Application to the Neolithic Transition

Space competition effects are well-known in many microbiological and ecological systems. Here we analyze such an effectin human populations. The Neolithic transition (change from foraging to farming) was mainly the outcome of a demographic process that spread gradually throughout Europe from the Near East. In Northern Europe, archaeological data show a slowdown on the Neolithic rate of spread that can be related to a high indigenous (Mesolithic) population density hindering the advance as a result of the space competition between the two populations. We measure this slowdown from a database of 902 Early Neolithic sites and develop a time-delayed reaction-diffusion model with space competition between Neolithic and Mesolithic populations, to predict the observed speeds. The comparison of the predicted speed with the observations and with a previous non-delayed model show that both effects, the time delay effect due to the generation lag and the space competition between populations, are crucial in order to understand the observations

2014 Iowa Commercial Air Service Retention and Expansion Committee - Plan

Senate File 2355 Sec. 19 (Iowa Code §328.13) created a commercial air service retention and expansion committee within the aviation office of the department of transportation. The membership of the committee consisted of the director or the director’s designee; the managers of each airport in Iowa with commercial air service; two members of the senate, one appointed by the majority leader of the senate and one appointed by the minority leader of the senate; and two members of the house of representatives, one appointed by the speaker of the house and one appointed by the minority leader of the house. The committee was to develop a plan by December 31, 2014 for the retention and expansion of passenger air service in Iowa. The committee is to meet as the committee deems necessary to assess progress in implementing the plan and, if necessary, to update the plan.

Variation in the proportion of flower visitors of Arum maculatum along its distributional range in relation with community‐based climatic niche analyses

Here, we investigate the geographical constancy in the specificity level of the specialized lure-and-trap pollination antagonism involving the widespread European Arum maculatum and its associated Psychodid pollinators. Until now, studies concurred in demonstrating that one single insect species, Psychoda phalaenoides, efficiently cross-pollinated plants; researches were, however, performed locally in western Europe. In this study we characterize for the first time the flower visitors' composition at the scale of the distribution range of A. maculatum by intensively collecting plants and insects throughout the European continent. We further correlate local climatic characteristics with the community composition of visiting arthropods.Our results show that flowers are generally visited by P. phalaenoides females, but not over the whole distribution range of the plant. In some regions this fly species is less frequent or even absent and another species, Psycha grisescens, becomes the prevailing visitor. This variability is geographically structured and can be explained by climatic factors: the proportion of P. grisescens increases with higher annual precipitations and lower precipitations in the warmest trimester, two characteristics typical of the Mediterranean zone. Climate thus seems driving the specificity of this interaction, by potentially affecting the phenology of one or both interacting species, or even of volatile and heat production in the plant. This result therefore challenges the specificity of other presumably one-to-one interactions covering wide distribution ranges, and provides an example of the direct effect that the abiotic environment can have on the fate of plant-insect interactions.

Rapid Replacement of Bridge Deck Expansion Joints Study – Phase I, RB33-013, 2014

Bridge deck expansion joints are used to allow for movement of the bridge deck due to thermal expansion, dynamics loading, and other factors. More recently, expansion joints have also been utilized to prevent the passage of winter de-icing chemicals and other corrosives applied to bridge decks from penetrating and damaging substructure components of the bridge. Expansion joints are often one of the first components of a bridge deck to fail and repairing or replacing expansion joints are essential to extending the life of any bridge. In the Phase I study, the research team focused on the current means and methods of repairing and replacing bridge deck expansion joints. Research team members visited with Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) Bridge Crew Leaders to document methods of maintaining and repairing bridge deck expansion joints. Active joint replacement projects around Iowa were observed to document the means of replacing expansion joints that were beyond repair, as well as, to identify bottlenecks in the construction process that could be modified to decrease the length of expansion joint replacement projects. After maintenance and replacement strategies had been identified, a workshop was held at the Iowa State Institute for Transportation to develop ideas to better maintain and replace expansion joints. Maintenance strategies were included in the discussion as a way to extend the useful life of a joint, thus decreasing the number of joints replaced in a year and reducing the traffic disruptions.

IL-7/anti-IL-7 mAb complexes restore T cell development and induce homeostatic T Cell expansion without lymphopenia.

IL-7, a member of the common gamma-chain family of cytokines, is essential for B and T lymphocyte development and homeostasis of mature T cell subsets. Thus, naive and memory T cells are both dependent on IL-7 for survival and homeostatic proliferation under lymphopenic conditions. In line with prior findings with IL-2, we show in this study that the biological activity of IL-7 in vivo is greatly increased by association with anti-IL-7 mAb. Under in vivo conditions, IL-7/mAb complexes displayed 50- to 100-fold higher activity than free IL-7 and induced massive expansion of pre-B cells. IL-7/mAb complexes also increased thymopoiesis in normal mice and restored thymopoeisis in IL-7-deficient mice. For mature T cells, IL-7/mAb complexes induced marked homeostatic proliferation of both naive and memory CD4(+) and CD8(+) cell subsets even under normal T cell-replete conditions. Finally, IL-7/mAb complexes were able to enhance the magnitude of the primary response of Ag-specific naive CD8(+) cells. The strong stimulatory activity of IL-7/mAb complexes could be useful for treatment of immunodeficiency and cancer.

Lee County, Township 67 North Range 7 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Van Buren County, Township 67 North Range 8 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Van Buren County, Township 67 North Range 9 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Lee County, Township 68 North Range 7 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Van Buren County, Township 68 North Range 8 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Van Buren County, Township 68 North Range 9 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Van Buren County, Township 68 North Range 10 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Van Buren County, Township 68 North Range 11 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Lee County, Township 69 North Range 7 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.

Van Buren County, Township 69 North Range 8 West

Des Moines River Plat Maps.