Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo; hereafter turkeys) are an important game animal whose popularity among hunters has increased in recent decades. Yet, the number of hunters pursuing turkeys appears ...to be in flux, patterns of hunter abundance have primarily been described at broad spatial scales, and the ability of management to impact hunter numbers in the post-restoration era of management through opportunity for quality hunting is unclear. We used county-scale estimates of turkey hunter numbers collected over a 14-year period (2001-2014) and time-series analyses to evaluate the spatial scales at which spring and fall turkey hunter populations fluctuate, and also used generalized linear mixed models to evaluate whether attributes related to quality turkey hunting explain recent patterns in hunter abundance. We found heterogeneity in turkey hunter population growth at finer spatial scales than has been previously described (i.e., counties and management units), and provide evidence for spatial structuring of hunter population dynamics among counties that did not always correspond with existing management units. Specifically, the directionality of hunter population change displays spatial structure along an east-west gradient in southern Michigan. We also found little evidence that factors providing opportunity for quality turkey hunting had meaningful impacts on recent spatial-temporal patterns of hunter numbers. Our results imply that providing quality turkey hunting opportunities alone may be insufficient for sustaining populations of turkey hunters in the future, and that modern determinants of hunter participation extend beyond the availability of abundant turkey populations. Moreover, our results demonstrate that interpretation of harvest data as indices of abundance for turkey populations is difficult in the absence of hunter effort data, as changes to turkey harvest are a function of potentially fine-scaled changes in populations of hunters, not simply changes to turkey populations.
Pumilio/fem-3 mRNA binding factor (PUF) proteins bind RNA with sequence specificity and modularity, and have become exemplary scaffolds in the reengineering of new RNA specificities. Here, we report ...the in vivo RNA binding sites of wild-type (WT) and reengineered forms of the PUF proteinSaccharomyces cerevisiaePuf2p across the transcriptome. Puf2p defines an ancient protein family present throughout fungi, with divergent and distinctive PUF RNA binding domains, RNA-recognition motifs (RRMs), and prion regions. We identify sites in RNA bound to Puf2p in vivo by using two forms of UV cross-linking followed by immunopurification. The protein specifically binds more than 1,000 mRNAs, which contain multiple iterations of UAAU-binding elements. Regions outside the PUF domain, including the RRM, enhance discrimination among targets. Compensatory mutants reveal that one Puf2p molecule binds one UAAU sequence, and align the protein with the RNA site. Based on this architecture, we redesign Puf2p to bind UAAG and identify the targets of this reengineered PUF in vivo. The mutant protein finds its target site in 1,800 RNAs and yields a novel RNA network with a dramatic redistribution of binding elements. The mutant protein exhibits even greater RNA specificity than wild type. The redesigned protein decreases the abundance of RNAs in its redesigned network. These results suggest that reengineering using the PUF scaffold redirects and can even enhance specificity in vivo.
Highly charged iron (Fe(16+), here referred to as Fe XVII) produces some of the brightest X-ray emission lines from hot astrophysical objects, including galaxy clusters and stellar coronae, and it ...dominates the emission of the Sun at wavelengths near 15 ångströms. The Fe XVII spectrum is, however, poorly fitted by even the best astrophysical models. A particular problem has been that the intensity of the strongest Fe XVII line is generally weaker than predicted. This has affected the interpretation of observations by the Chandra and XMM-Newton orbiting X-ray missions, fuelling a continuing controversy over whether this discrepancy is caused by incomplete modelling of the plasma environment in these objects or by shortcomings in the treatment of the underlying atomic physics. Here we report the results of an experiment in which a target of iron ions was induced to fluoresce by subjecting it to femtosecond X-ray pulses from a free-electron laser; our aim was to isolate a key aspect of the quantum mechanical description of the line emission. Surprisingly, we find a relative oscillator strength that is unexpectedly low, differing by 3.6σ from the best quantum mechanical calculations. Our measurements suggest that the poor agreement is rooted in the quality of the underlying atomic wavefunctions rather than in insufficient modelling of collisional processes.
Microcalorimeters have the potential to provide line shapes well described by a single Gaussian broadening term of few-eV width. This attribute makes the detectors especially well suited for x-ray ...astrophysics observations; however, low-level non-Gaussian broadening terms are expected and must be characterized. These terms depend on the composition of the x-ray absorber, the detailed x-ray absorption physics, the device thermalization processes, and the incident x-ray energy. Here we present the first measurements targeted at understanding the extended line-spread function (LSF) of x-ray microcalorimeter pixels under development for the X-ray Integral Field Unit on the Athena X-ray Observatory. These pixels are composed of Mo/Au transition-edge sensors with overhanging electroplated Au/Bi absorbers. We have measured the line shapes using monochromatic x-ray sources with <; 1-eV width at several x-ray energies (0.85, 0.93, 1.25, 1.5, 5.4 and 8.0 keV) across the instrument bandpass (0.3-12 keV) and have modeled the line profiles. These results are compared to the extended LSF of the Hitomi microcalorimeter pixels that used HgTe absorbers.
Vaccination has transformed public health, most notably including the eradication of smallpox. Despite its profound historical importance, little is known of the origins and diversity of the viruses ...used in smallpox vaccination. Prior to the twentieth century, the method, source and origin of smallpox vaccinations remained unstandardised and opaque. We reconstruct and analyse viral vaccine genomes associated with smallpox vaccination from historical artefacts. Significantly, we recover viral molecules through non-destructive sampling of historical materials lacking signs of biological residues. We use the authenticated ancient genomes to reveal the evolutionary relationships of smallpox vaccination viruses within the poxviruses as a whole.
ABSTRACT The mean production factor, or broadband averaged cross-section, for solar wind charge-exchange (SWCX) with hydrogen producing emission in the ROSAT keV (R12) band is count degree−2 cm4. The ...production factor is expected to be temporally variable, and that variation is roughly 15%. These values are derived from a comparison of the long-term (background) enhancements in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey with magnetohysdrodynamic simulations of the magnetosheath. This value is 1.8-4.5 times higher than values derived from limited atomic data, suggesting that those values may be missing a large number of faint lines. This production factor is important for deriving the exact amount of keV band flux that is due to the Local Hot Bubble, for planning future observations in the keV band, and for evaluating proposals for remote sensing of the magnetosheath. The same method cannot be applied to the keV band as that band, being composed primarily of the oxygen lines, is far more sensitive to the detailed abundances and ionization balance in the solar wind. We also show, incidentally, that recent efforts to correlate XMM-Newton observing geometry with magnetosheath SWCX emission in the oxygen lines have been, quite literally, misguided. Simulations of the inner heliosphere show that broader efforts to correlate heliospheric SWCX with local solar wind parameters are unlikely to produce useful results.
Both heliophysics and planetary physics seek to understand the complex nature of the solar wind's interaction with solar system obstacles like Earth's magnetosphere, the ionospheres of Venus and ...Mars, and comets. Studies with this objective are frequently conducted with the help of single or multipoint in situ electromagnetic field and particle observations, guided by the predictions of both local and global numerical simulations, and placed in context by observations from far and extreme ultraviolet (FUV, EUV), hard X-ray, and energetic neutral atom imagers (ENA). Each proposed interaction mechanism (e.g., steady or transient magnetic reconnection, local or global magnetic reconnection, ion pick-up, or the Kelvin- Helmholtz instability) generates diagnostic plasma density structures. The significance of each mechanism to the overall interaction (as measured in terms of atmospheric/ionospheric loss at comets, Venus, and Mars or global magnetospheric/ionospheric convection at Earth) remains to be determined but can be evaluated on the basis of how often the density signatures that it generates are observed as a function of solar wind conditions. This paper reviews efforts to image the diagnostic plasma density structures in the soft (low energy, 0.1-2.0 keV) X-rays produced when high charge state solar wind ions exchange electrons with the exospheric neutrals surrounding solar system obstacles.
We present here a combined analysis of four high spectral resolution observations of the Diffuse X-ray Background, made using the University of Wisconsin-Madison/Goddard Space Flight Center X-ray ...Quantum Calorimeter sounding rocket payload. The observed spectra support the existence of a ∼0.1 keV Local Hot Bubble and a ∼0.2 keV Hot Halo, with discrepancies between repeated observations compatible with expected contributions of time-variable emission from Solar Wind Charge Exchange. An additional component of ∼0.9 keV emission observed only at low galactic latitudes can be consistently explained by unresolved dwarf M stars.
Child welfare involvement has been linked to child behavioral health issues, including increased likelihood of internalizing mental health problems such as depression and anxiety, and externalizing ...behavioral problems such as oppositional behaviors and substance use problems. One predictor of child behavioral health is caregiver mental health. Although, there remains a specific gap associated with identification of factors among caregivers that are associated with longitudinal child behavioral health trajectories. Using LONGSCAN, we explore the effects of caregiver depression on the behavioral health of children over time. Multilevel mixed-effects linear regression models showed that children with a caregiver who reported depression showed significantly higher internalizing behavioral problems over time, and significantly larger decreases in externalizing behavioral problems over time, compared to children with a caregiver who reported no depression. These findings emphasize that early interventions geared towards jointly assessing and treating parent and child mental health issues in the child welfare system may be successful at improving future behavioral health outcomes.
PDF
