University of Maine at Presque Isle

It has been proposed that a chronic state of inflammation correlated with aging known as inflammaging, is implicated in multiple disease states commonly observed in the elderly population. Inflammaging is associated with over-abundance of reactive oxygen species in the cell, which can lead to oxidation and damage of cellular components, increased inflammation, and activation of cell death pathways. This review focuses on inflammaging and its contribution to various age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. Recently published mechanistic details of the roles of reactive oxygen species in inflammaging and various diseases will also be discussed. Advancements in potential treatments to ameliorate inflammaging, oxidative stress, and consequently, reduce the morbidity of multiple disease states will be explored.

Management of nitrogen (N) is a challenging task and several methods individually and in combination are in use to manage its efficiency. However, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) has not been improved to a level, only 33%, as predicted by the researchers while developing nitrogen management tools and methods. The primary objective of this review article is to evaluate methods and tools available to manage nitrogen. Several methods, soil testing, plant tissue testing, spectral response, fertilizer placement and timing and vegetative indexes (leaf area index, and NDVI) through drones, handheld sensors, and satellite imagery were reviewed on the subject of user-friendly and effectiveness towards NUE. No single method was found sufficient to counter the nitrogen loss. Some methods were found time consuming and unsynchronized with N uptake behavior of particular crop, for example, plant tissue testing. Use of precision agriculture tools, such as GreenSeeker, Holland Crop Circle, drone, and satellite imagery, were found better compared to conventional methods such as soil testing, but these tools can only be used when the crop is up. Therefore, N management is possible only through inseason N application methods. When 70% of the applied nitrogen is used by the crops within 25–30 days after planting, for example, corn and potatoes, it is required to apply major N rates through inseason approach and some N at planting using soil test reports. In conclusion, this article strongly advocates using two or more methods in combination when managing N.

The tomato late blight pandemic of 2009 made late blight into a household term in much of the eastern United States. Many home gardeners and many organic producers lost most if not all of their tomato crop, and their experiences were reported in the mainstream press. Some CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) could not provide tomatoes to their members. In response, many questions emerged: How did it happen? What was unusual about this event compared to previous late blight epidemics? What is the current situation in 2012 and what can be done? It's easiest to answer these questions, and to understand the recent epidemics of late blight, if one knows a bit of the history of the disease and the biology of the causal agent, Phytophthora infestans.

This article reports on a survey of 37 educators regarding future directions in the education of students with disabilities. The survey used the Delphi technique. For the decade of the 1990s and after the year 2000, respondents' predictions included the following: The movement toward increasing inclusion will occur; the belief will prevail that people with disabilities have a right to participate in inclusive environments; students with mild disabilities will be educated in general classrooms; teachers will increase their use of instructional approaches such as cooperative learning and instructional technology; and researchers will focus on matching instructional needs with learner characteristics.

Selection on quantitative trait loci (QTL) may vary among natural environments due to differences in the genetic architecture of traits, environment-specific allelic effects or changes in the direction and magnitude of selection on specific traits. To dissect the environmental differences in selection on life history QTL across climatic regions, we grew a panel of interconnected recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of Arabidopsis thaliana in four field sites across its native European range. For each environment, we mapped QTL for growth, reproductive timing and development. Several QTL were pleiotropic across environments, three colocalizing with known functional polymorphisms in flowering time genes (CRY2, FRI and MAF2-5), but major QTL differed across field sites, showing conditional neutrality. We used structural equation models to trace selection paths from QTL to lifetime fitness in each environment. Only three QTL directly affected fruit number, measuring fitness. Most QTL had an indirect effect on fitness through their effect on bolting time or leaf length. Influence of life history traits on fitness differed dramatically across sites, resulting in different patterns of selection on reproductive timing and underlying QTL. In two oceanic field sites with high prereproductive mortality, QTL alleles contributing to early reproduction resulted in greater fruit production, conferring selective advantage, whereas alleles contributing to later reproduction resulted in larger size and higher fitness in a continental site. This demonstrates how environmental variation leads to change in both QTL effect sizes and direction of selection on traits, justifying the persistence of allelic polymorphism at life history QTL across the species range.

Active-optical sensor readings from an N non-limiting area standard established within a farm field are used to predict yield in the standard. Lower yield predictions from sensor readings obtained from other parts of the field outside of the N non-limiting standard area indicate a need for supplemental N. Active-optical sensor algorithms for predicting corn (Zea mays, L.) yield to direct in-season nitrogen (N) fertilization in corn utilize red NDVI (normalized differential vegetative index). Use of red edge NDVI might improve corn yield prediction at later growth stages when corn leaves cover the inter-row space resulting in "saturation" of red NDVI readings. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of red edge NDVI in two active-optical sensors (GreenSeeker™ and Holland Scientific Crop Circle™) improved corn yield prediction. Nitrogen rate experiments were established at 15 sites in North Dakota (ND). Sensor readings were conducted at V6 and V12 corn. Red NDVI and red edge NDVI were similar in the relationship of readings with yield at V6. At V12, the red edge NDVI was superior to the red NDVI in most comparisons, indicating that it would be most useful in developing late-season N application algorithms.

The purpose was to conduct a qualitative cross-cultural comparison of the concerns of physical educators in two countries about integration of children with and without disabilities. In-depth interviews were held with 30 regular elementary physical education teachers in Berlin (7 males, 9 females) and in the Dallas-Ft. Worth (DFW) area (2 males, 12 females), and observations were made of school settings. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) of Hall, Wallace, and Dossett (1973) guided the study. Data were analyzed by grounded theory procedures. Many concerns about integration were generalizable across cultures. In both countries, teachers reported concerns at only four of the seven stages of CBAM: personal, management, consequence, and collaboration. Most concerns focused on management. The major cultural difference was that DFW teachers reported more personal concerns (uncertainty about everyday demands and competence to meet these demands) than Berlin teachers. A dynamic systems model was proposed to guide future research.

Karst systems, sea caves, and rock shelters within the coastal temperate rain forest of Alaska's Alexander Archipelago preserve important records of regional archaeology, sea level history, glacial and climatic history, and vertebrate paleontology. Two 14C AMS dates on human bone discovered in a remote cave (49-PET-408) on Prince of Wales Island document the oldest reliably dated human in Alaska to ca. 9800 B.P. A series of 14C AMS dates from cave deposits span the past 40,000 years and provide the first evidence of Pleistocene faunas from the northwest coast of North America. Other discoveries include sea caves and marine beach deposits elevated above modern sea level, extensive solution caves, and mammalian remains of species previously undocumented within the region. Records of human activity, including cave art, artifacts, and habitation sites may provide new insights into the early human colonization of the Americas. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Research Article| March 01, 2010 The Tertiary evolution of the prolific Nanpu Sag of Bohai Bay Basin, China: Constraints from volcanic records and tectono-stratigraphic sequences Yuexia Dong; Yuexia Dong 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Long Xiao; Long Xiao † 2State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China †E-mail: longxiao@cug.edu.cn Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Haimin Zhou; Haimin Zhou 3SINOPEC Exploration & Production Research Institute, Beijing 100083, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Chunzeng Wang; Chunzeng Wang 4University of Maine at Presque Isle, Presque Isle, Maine 04769, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Jianping Zheng; Jianping Zheng 2State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Ning Zhang; Ning Zhang 2State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Wenchen Xia; Wenchen Xia 2State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Qian Ma; Qian Ma 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Jingxia Du; Jingxia Du 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Zhongxin Zhao; Zhongxin Zhao 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Hongxiang Huang Hongxiang Huang 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Yuexia Dong 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China Long Xiao † 2State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Haimin Zhou 3SINOPEC Exploration & Production Research Institute, Beijing 100083, China Chunzeng Wang 4University of Maine at Presque Isle, Presque Isle, Maine 04769, USA Jianping Zheng 2State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Ning Zhang 2State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Wenchen Xia 2State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China Qian Ma 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China Jingxia Du 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China Zhongxin Zhao 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China Hongxiang Huang 1PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, Tangshan 063004, China †E-mail: longxiao@cug.edu.cn Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 25 Feb 2009 Revision Received: 29 May 2009 Accepted: 01 Jun 2009 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 © 2010 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (2010) 122 (3-4): 609–626. https://doi.org/10.1130/B30041.1 Article history Received: 25 Feb 2009 Revision Received: 29 May 2009 Accepted: 01 Jun 2009 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Yuexia Dong, Long Xiao, Haimin Zhou, Chunzeng Wang, Jianping Zheng, Ning Zhang, Wenchen Xia, Qian Ma, Jingxia Du, Zhongxin Zhao, Hongxiang Huang; The Tertiary evolution of the prolific Nanpu Sag of Bohai Bay Basin, China: Constraints from volcanic records and tectono-stratigraphic sequences. GSA Bulletin 2010;; 122 (3-4): 609–626. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/B30041.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract The Bohai Bay Basin, located on the eastern Asian margin, is the second largest oil-production basin in China. It contains numerous depressions and sags, among which Nanpu Sag has become particularly important because of significant oil discoveries in recent years. Geologically and tectonically, however, the rifting mechanism and geodynamic evolution of the basin remain uncertain. This paper uses detailed volcanic and stratigraphic records obtained through extensive drilling and sampling in Nanpu Sag to interpret tectono-stratigraphic sequences and discuss basin dynamic evolution and crust-mantle interactions of the Bohai Bay Basin.Nanpu Sag contains voluminous volcanic rocks of dominantly alkaline basalts. Drill core samples, well logs, and seismic profiles reveal three volcanic cycles between the Eocene and Miocene Epochs. These basalts were created during a transition from garnet- to spinel-peridotite. Five tectono-stratigraphic sequences produced by episodic continental rifting have been identified, each composed of a basal coarse clastic sequence, a lower volcanic sequence, a middle deep-water clastic sequence, and an upper infilling sequence.Tectonically, Nanpu Sag experienced four evolutionary phases. The first three corresponded to three rifting events revealed by cyclic volcanism and sedimentary depositional features. The fourth phase was marked by extreme thermal subsidence and prograding fluvial deposition followed by tectonic inversion. A diapiric upper-mantle upwelling model is proposed to explain the dynamics that controlled the multiple rifting processes, the cyclic volcanism, and the periodic tectonic evolution of Nanpu Sag and the greater Bohai Bay Basin. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

The effects of cooperative learning on 417 regular-education students, acceptance of 41 of their special-education classmates were examined in an 8-month study. The participants were in Grades 5-8 in 21 classes in 2 U.S. schools. The 3 conditions were cooperative learning and competitive learning, taught by the same teachers, and competitive learning, taught by a random sample of teachers. In October and in May, the regular-education students rated each classmate's desirability as a work partner. The students' peer ratings were generally very stable, for both their regular-education classmates and their special-education classmates. Positive changes in peer ratings for both types of classmates occurred more frequently in the cooperative-learning condition than in the competitive-learning conditions.

Few studies describe root distributions at the species level in diverse forests, although belowground species interactions and traits are often assumed to affect fine-root biomass (FRB). We used molecular barcoding to study how FRB of trees relates to soil characteristics, species identity, root diversity, and root traits, and how these relationships are affected by proximity to ecotones in a temperate forest landscape. We found that soil patch root biomass increased in response to soil resources across all species, and there was little belowground vertical or horizontal spatial segregation among species. Root traits and species relative abundance did not explain significant variation in FRB after correcting for soil fertility. A positive relationship between phylogenetic diversity and FRB indicated significant belowground overyielding attributable to local root diversity. Finally, variation in FRB explained by soil fertility and diversity was reduced near ecotones, but only because of a reduction in biomass in periodically anoxic areas. These results suggest that symmetric responses to soil properties are coupled with complementary species traits and interactions to explain variation in FRB among soil patches. In addition, landscape-level dispersal among habitats and across ecotones helps explain variation in the strength of these relationships in complex landscapes.

The water regime is often the primary force driving the evolution of freshwater lakes, but how soil microbes responded to this process is far from understood. This study sampled wetland soils from a shallow lake that experienced water regime changes, Poyang Lake of China, to explore the features of bacterial and fungal community in response to water level changes. The soil physicochemical properties, T-RFLP based community structures and soil activities (including basal respiration, microbial biomass and enzymes) were all determined. Soil microbial eco-function was captured by testing the carbon metabolism with Biolog-Ecoplate. The results showed remarkable influence of the water level gradients on the soil physicochemical properties, microbial community structures and soil activities. However, the carbon utilization profile exhibited weak connections with the environmental variables and microbial community structures (p > 0.05). The microbial activities were significantly correlated with both bacterial and fungal community structures. Our results also emphasized the ascendant role of the deterministic process in the assemblages of microbial community structures and functions in wetland. In conclusion, this study revealed the discrepancy between community structures and eco-functions in response to water level gradients, and a relatively stable eco-function helped to maintain the ecosystem function of wetland from a long-term perspective.

In recent years, trust-boundary protection has become a challenging problem in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) environments. Trust boundaries separate IIoT processes and data stores in different groups based on user access privilege. Points where dataflow intersects with the trust boundary are becoming entry points for attackers. Attackers use various model skewing and intelligent techniques to generate adversarial/noisy examples that are indistinguishable from natural data. Many of the existing machine-learning (ML)-based approaches attempt to circumvent this problem. However, owing to an extremely large attack surface in the IIoT network, capturing a true distribution during training is difficult. The standard generative adversarial network (GAN) commonly generates adversarial examples for training using randomly sampled noise. However, the distribution of noisy inputs of GAN largely differs from actual distribution of data in IIoT networks and shows less robustness against adversarial attacks. Therefore, in this article, we propose a downsampler-encoder-based cooperative data generator that is trained using an algorithm to ensure better capture of the actual distribution of attack models for the large IIoT attack surface. The proposed downsampler-based data generator is alternatively updated and verified during training using a deep neural network discriminator to ensure robustness. This guarantees the performance of the generator against input sets with a high noise level at time of training and testing. Various experiments are conducted on a real IIoT testbed data set. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms conventional deep learning and other ML techniques in terms of robustness against adversarial/noisy examples in the IIoT environment.

Corn height measured manually has shown promising results in improving the relationship between active-optical (AO) sensor readings and crop yield. Manual measurement of corn height is not practical in US commercial corn production, so an alternative automatic method must be found in order to capture the benefit of including canopy height into in-season yield estimates and from there into in-season nitrogen (N) fertilizer applications. One existing alternative to measure canopy height is an acoustic height sensor. A commercial acoustic height sensor was utilized in these experiments at two corn growth stages (V6 and V12) along with AO sensors. Eight corn N rate sites in North Dakota, USA, were used to compare the acoustic height sensor as a practical alternative to manual height measurements as an additional parameter to increase the relationship between AO sensor readings and corn yield. Six N treatments, 0, 45, 90, 134, 179, and 224 kg ha−1, were applied before planting in a randomized complete block experimental design with four replications. Height measurement using the acoustic sensor provided an improved yield relationship compared to manual height at all locations. The level of improvement of the relationship between AO readings multiplied by acoustic sensor readings and yield was greater at V6 growth stage compared to the V12 growth stage. At V12, corn height measured manually and with the acoustic sensor multiplied by AO readings provided similar improvement to the relationship with yield compared to relating AO readings alone with yield at most locations. The acoustic height sensor may be useful in increasing the usefulness of AO sensor corn yield prediction algorithms for use in on-the-go in-season N application to corn particularly if the sensor height is normalized within site before combining multiple locations.

This paper summarizes the magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic results obtained with siliceous microfossils (diatoms, radiolarians, silicoflagellates) on Neogene sections recovered in the Weddell Sea (Antarctic Ocean) during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 113 (Sites 689, 690, 693, 694, 695, 696, and 697). The biostratigraphic studies resulted in the establishment of an improved and revised Neogene biosiliceous zonation for the Antarctic Ocean. The zones are calibrated directly to the geomagnetic time scale. This is the first attempt at direct calibration of Miocene Antarctic biostratigraphic zones with the geomagnetic time scale.

It has been proposed that prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) is released from astrocytic endfeet to dilate parenchymal arterioles through activation of prostanoid (EP(4)) receptors during neurovascular coupling. However, the direct effects of PGE(2) on isolated parenchymal arterioles have not been tested. Here, we examined the effects of PGE(2) on the diameter of isolated pressurized parenchymal arterioles from rat and mouse brain. Contrary to the prevailing assumption, we found that PGE(2) (0.1, 1, and 5 μmol/L) constricted rather than dilated parenchymal arterioles. Vasoconstriction to PGE(2) was prevented by inhibitors of EP(1) receptors. These results strongly argue against a direct role of PGE(2) on arterioles during neurovascular coupling.

Human expertise has become the infrastructure of the Information Age economy, and scarcity is already making the news. Reported in USA Today, a study by the Information Technology Association of America predicts a growing shortage of information-technology workers this year with 850,000 jobs unfilled (April 10, 2000). In an economy based on expertise, training will continue to remain one of the critical elements of the HPT mix of interventions. Furthermore, the ubiquitous access to information and training now provided via the Internet demands effective instructional interventions to realize its potential.

Core Ideas Satellite imagery could be used to predict yield the study crops. Satellite imagery could be used to screen fields for in‐season N application. Obtaining satellite imagery early enough in the season to screen fields for in‐season N is a problem. Algorithms using active‐optical (AO) sensors have been developed to direct in‐season N application to crops. Many farmers in the United States have a large number of farm fields to manage. Farmers using AO technology must visit each field and operate the sensor across the entire field in order to conduct in‐season N application. A field might be driven over with an on‐the‐go N fertilizer applicator, but the application might not be required. The objective of this study was to determine whether satellite imagery might be used to predict yield in sugar beet, spring wheat, corn and sunflower similar to the yield prediction possible using AO sensors. If so, the algorithms produced could be used to select fields that would benefit from in‐season N application. Two N‐rate studies in sugar beet, spring wheat, corn and sunflower, were conducted with experimental unit size of 9 by 9 m large enough to fit a satellite pixel of 5 by 5 m size within each unit. The AO sensor and satellite imagery data were related to yield of sugar beet, spring wheat, corn and sunflower in some site‐years. The problem is the ability to acquire the satellite imagery early enough in the season to be useful as a screening tool. These results indicate that even though satellite imagery could be used as a field screening tool, a better option may be to mount an AO sensor on a farm implement for an early season activity, or to explore the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

A study of 142 Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) from across Canada found a vibrant range of programming. The focus of programming remained upon the individual provided by professionals, but there were a significant minority of EAPs that had branched out and were offering services to enhance organizational wellness. All programs offered voluntary assistance with one third having a formal referral route and one third including mandated counseling for performance issues. The majority of organizations were using third-party counseling services external to the workplace though one third of the programs still employed internal counselors whereas a minority still had active peer components. The study clearly indicated the lack of utility for capping counseling services and found that the average use of uncapped services was less than the artificial ceilings the majority of organizations had placed upon the counseling that was allowed to be provided to employees. There was a lack of uniformity in terms of how utilization rates were calculated underscored by the finding that there were more than 20 different definitions in use for what a case was. This is a clear example of the need for the EAP field to come together to develop agreement upon key empirical fundamentals for the profession. The study also discovered a drift away from essential program underpinnings including fewer joint labor-management committees to administer programs, less development of formal EAP policies to govern programs, and fewer organizations engaging in new employee orientation and ongoing promotion and staff training.

The genetic basis of growth and development is often studied in constant laboratory environments; however, the environmental conditions that organisms experience in nature are often much more dynamic. We examined how daily temperature fluctuations, average temperature, day length and vernalization influence the flowering time of 59 genotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana with allelic perturbations known to affect flowering time. For a subset of genotypes, we also assessed treatment effects on morphology and growth. We identified 17 genotypes, many of which have high levels of the floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC), that bolted dramatically earlier in fluctuating - as opposed to constant - warm temperatures (mean = 22°C). This acceleration was not caused by transient VERNALIZATION INSENSITIVE 3-mediated vernalization, differential growth rates or exposure to high temperatures, and was not apparent when the average temperature was cool (mean = 12°C). Further, in constant temperatures, contrary to physiological expectations, these genotypes flowered more rapidly in cool than in warm environments. Fluctuating temperatures often reversed these responses, restoring faster bolting in warm conditions. Independently of bolting time, warm fluctuating temperature profiles also caused morphological changes associated with shade avoidance or 'high-temperature' phenotypes. Our results suggest that previous studies have overestimated the effect of the floral repressor FLC on flowering time by using constant temperature laboratory conditions.