scholarly journals Phylogeny and Floral Character Evolution of Mentzelia Section Bicuspidaria (Loasaceae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-314
Author(s):  
Joshua M. Brokaw ◽  
John J. Schenk ◽  
Jessica K. Devitt ◽  
Destiny J. Brokaw
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Baja California ◽  
Nuclear Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Character State ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Floral Character ◽  
Heterogeneous Landscapes ◽  
Northwestern Mexico

Abstract—Mentzelia section Bicuspidaria (Loasaceae) is a monophyletic group of desert ephemerals that inhabit the complex, heterogeneous landscapes of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. To investigate species circumscriptions and evolutionary relationships in M. sect. Bicuspidaria, we employed phylogeny reconstructions based on DNA sequences from the plastid trnL-trnF, trnS-trnfM, ndhF-rpl32, and rpl32-trnL regions and the nuclear ribosomal ITS and ETS regions. Due to evidence of discordant relationships reconstructed from the plastid and nuclear partitions, we used coalescent-based methods in addition to concatenated data sets to estimate the species tree. Maximum likelihood reconstructions based on the combined plastid and nuclear data and coalescent-based reconstructions inferred congruent, fully-resolved species-level phylogenies of M. sect. Bicuspidaria. A monophyletic M. sect. Bicuspidaria was composed of two main clades, which corresponded to a clade of species endemic to the United States composed of M. reflexa, M. tricuspis, and M. tridentata that was sister to a clade of species at least partially distributed in Mexico, composed of M. hirsutissima and M. involucrata. Despite the unusual floral morphology of M. reflexa, molecular reconstructions placed M. reflexa sister to M. tridentata. All species of M. sect. Bicuspidaria were monophyletic, except for M. hirsutissima, which was composed of two distinct lineages and paraphyletic with respect to M. involucrata. The northern clade of M. hirsutissima from California and Baja California was sister to M. involucrata, and both, in turn, were sister to a geographically disjunct southern clade of M. hirsutissima from Baja California Sur and Cedros Island. These phylogeny reconstructions provide evidence for the inclusion of five species in M. sect. Bicuspidaria and have uncovered cryptic diversity that has been largely unrecognized. Character state reconstructions based on the phylogeny of M. sect. Bicuspidaria suggest innovative and, at times, homoplasious floral evolution.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: Employment Issues in the United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 58-69
Author(s):  
Marlene Kim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Pacific Islanders ◽  
Native Hawaiians ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
High Poverty ◽  
Unemployment Rates

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in the United States face problems of discrimination, the glass ceiling, and very high long-term unemployment rates. As a diverse population, although some Asian Americans are more successful than average, others, like those from Southeast Asia and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPIs), work in low-paying jobs and suffer from high poverty rates, high unemployment rates, and low earnings. Collecting more detailed and additional data from employers, oversampling AAPIs in current data sets, making administrative data available to researchers, providing more resources for research on AAPIs, and enforcing nondiscrimination laws and affirmative action mandates would assist this population.

scholarly journals Leaf Anthracnose, a New Disease of Swallow-Worts Caused by Colletotrichum lineola from Russia

Plant Disease ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 95 (12) ◽  
pp. 1586-1586 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Berner ◽  
C. Cavin ◽  
Z. Mukhina ◽  
D. Kassanelly
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Biological Control ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Aqueous Suspension ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Unit ◽  
Leaf Spots ◽  
Pure Cultures ◽  
Appressoria Formation

Black swallow-wort, Vincetoxicum nigrum (L.) Moench (= Cynanchum louiseae Kartesz & Gandhi), and pale swallow-wort, V. rossicum (Kleopow) Borhidi (= Cynanchum rossicum (Kleopow) Borhidi), are invasive plants belonging to the family Apocynaceae and are the targets of biological control efforts to control their spread in the United States. In 2010, a disease on a related species, V. scandens Sommier & Levier, was observed in the Krasnodar area of Russia. Disease symptoms were many small, dark red-to-purple leaf spots, approximately 2 to 5 mm in diameter, with white centers. Leaf spots were found on the upper leaf surface. Leaf tips and margins of leaves bearing many of these spots were necrotic. Symptomatic leaves were collected and sent to the BSL-3 containment facility at the Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research Unit (FDWSRU) of the USDA, ARS in Frederick MD. Surface-disinfested symptomatic leaves were incubated at 20 to 25°C in sterile moist chambers. After several days, acervuli and brown setae were observed inside the leaf spots. Pure cultures, designated FDWSRU 10-002, were obtained by transferring spore masses with sterile glass needles onto 20% V8 juice agar. Seeds of V. scandens, collected in Russia, were placed in a freezer at –20°C for 6 weeks and then germinated in sterile petri plates on moist filter paper. The seedlings were then transplanted and grown in a 20°C greenhouse under 12 h of light. Koch's postulates were fulfilled as follows: 2-month-old plants each of V. scandens, V. nigrum, and V. rossicum were inoculated with spores from 2-week-old cultures of isolate 10-002. Plants were inoculated by spraying an aqueous suspension of 106 spores per ml onto each plant until all leaves were wet. Plants were placed in 20 to 24°C dew chambers for 18 h and then placed in a 20°C greenhouse. Two weeks later, diseased leaves with the same symptoms observed in the field were harvested from each species, and the fungus was reisolated from seven of seven inoculated V. scandens plants, one of two V. nigrum plants, and four of four V. rossicum plants. Measurements of fungus fruiting structures were taken from cultures grown on synthetic nutrient-poor agar (SNA) (1). Conidiophores were brown, septate, and branched. Conidia were one-celled, hyaline, smooth walled, ovoid to oblong, falcate, and 20.1 to 26.2 × 1.7 to 3.6 μm (mean ± s.d. = 23.5 ± 1.3 × 2.6 ± 0.4 μm). Lengths of the conidia conformed to the description of Colletotrichum lineola Corda (1), but the conidia were slightly narrower than described. To induce appressoria formation, approximately 104 conidia were placed on sterile dialysis membranes on top of SNA in petri dishes that were wrapped in foil and incubated at 24°C for 24 h. After this time, appressoria were observed with a microscope at ×400 magnification. The appressoria were dark brown, smooth walled, ellipsoidal, and 5.5 to 25.5 × 3.6 to 12.1 μm (mean ± s.d. = 13.4 ± 4.0 × 7.3 ± 2.1 μm), which conformed to the description of appressoria of C. lineola Corda (1). DNA sequences of ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2 were submitted to GenBank (No. HQ731491), and after BLAST analysis, aligned 100% to 15 previously identified isolates of C. lineola in GenBank. Voucher specimens of the fungus have been deposited in the U.S. National Fungus Collection and were designated as BPI 881105 and BPI 881106. Host range and efficacy tests are planned to determine the suitability of C. lineola for biological control of swallow-worts in the United States. Reference: (1) U. Damm et al. Fungal Divers. 39:45, 2009.

scholarly journals Chloroplast Noncoding DNA Sequences Reveal Genetic Distinction and Diversity between Wild and Cultivated Prunus yedoensis

2017 ◽  
Vol 142 (6) ◽  
pp. 434-443
Author(s):  
Eun Ju Cheong ◽  
Myong-Suk Cho ◽  
Seung-Chul Kim ◽  
Chan-Soo Kim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Jeju Island ◽  
Noncoding Dna ◽  
Noncoding Regions ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Prunus Yedoensis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ornamental Trees

Cultivated flowering cherries (Prunus subgenus Cerasus), which are one of the most popular ornamental trees around the world, have been developed through artificial hybridizations among wild flowering cherries. Among the hundreds of cultivars of flowering cherries, Prunus ×yedoensis ‘Somei-yoshino’ is the most common and widespread. However, its origin and genetic relationship to wild P. yedoensis, naturally occurring on Jeju Island, South Korea, have long been debated. We used sequence polymorphisms in eight chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) noncoding regions to distinguish wild and cultivated flowering cherries among 104 individuals (55 accessions). We were able to distinguish two distinct groups, one corresponding to wild P. yedoensis collections from Jeju Island and the other collections of cultivated P. ×yedoensis from Korea, Japan, and the United States. The chlorotype diversity of wild P. yedoensis in Jeju Island and cultivated P. ×yedoensis collections in the United States was quite high, suggesting multiple natural hybrid origins and long history of cultivation from different original sources, respectively.

Desert Traffic: The Dynamics of the Drug Trade in Northwestern Mexico

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric P. Perramond
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Cannabis Sativa ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Drug Industry ◽  
Total Output ◽  
Northern Mexico ◽  
Mountainous Regions ◽  
Northwestern Mexico

The semiarid expanses of northern Mexico have long been a haven for drug trafficking and shipment into the southwestern United States. During the past 3 decades, a more specialized and dedicated drug industry has used the long U.S.-Mexican border to move illicit narcotics. Northern Mexico is not a heavily indigenous zone, and yet some native populations have been adversely affected by this recent industry, and not just a few have taken a role in it. Two states in northern Mexico that still have indigenous peoples are Sonora and Chihuahua. Both of these semiarid states are more sparsely populated than the rest of Mexico, yet both share a long, expansive border with the United States. Thus, neither state has escaped the activities of the drug industry, and some of the major drug cartels are located in this region (figure 8.1), the largest in urban areas such as Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua and Culiacán in the state of Sinaloa. Although these urban areas are the economic and logistical centers of two large cartels, an aspect frequently ignored in the literature, and certainly in policy circles, is the variety of scales of production in this industry. Aside from these giant cartels, drug cultivation, production, and transportation are also common at lesser scales, and the difficulties and dangers associated with drug production and trafficking extend to these small farmers. Small plots of marijuana (Cannabis sativa) and poppies (Papaver somniferum) dot the northern Mexican landscape, especially in the foothills and high peaks of the Sierra Madre. Most of the poppy production lies further south, in the states of Michoacan, Guerrero, and Oaxaca. Marijuana (Cannabis) is by far the more common of the two illicit crops grown in Mexico, partly because of its longer history of cultivation in the country’s mountainous regions and partly because of its greater ease of integration into agriculture. Poppy fields are a lot harder to hide, both from neighbors and from more interested authorities. Marijuana is also more easily intercropped with more common agricultural crops. Intercropping is the practice of growing two or more crops in the same field or parcel of land, and it is common when farmers need to maximize total output per unit of area (Wilken 1987: 248). I have seen marijuana integrated with corn, bean, squash, sunflower, and tomato plants.

Diabetic Data Warehouses

2011 ◽  
pp. 359-363
Author(s):  
Joseph L. Breault
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
Massive Data ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
National Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Massive Data Sets ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Indicator Variables ◽  
Academy Of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences convened in 1995 for a conference on massive data sets. The presentation on health care noted that “massive applies in several dimensions . . . the data themselves are massive, both in terms of the number of observations and also in terms of the variables . . . there are tens of thousands of indicator variables coded for each patient” (Goodall, 1995, paragraph 18). We multiply this by the number of patients in the United States, which is hundreds of millions.

Riding Waves on the Mexico–United States Border: Beaches, Local Surfers and Cross-Border Processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 019372352092860
Author(s):  
Jesús Estrada Milán ◽  
Luis Escala Rabadán
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Baja California ◽  
The United States ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The Social ◽  
Transnational Cooperation ◽  
Political Actions

This article examines the social and cultural relations that take place in surfing communities on the Mexican side of the border with the United States. Through ethnographic work with surfers from Northern Baja California, we identified different cross-border processes encouraged by this lifestyle sport: the formation of binational surfing communities, commodity circulation, localism, territorial disputes, and shared environmental problems. We point out that surfing on the border creates a system of affinities and rivalries based on the identity and nationalism, marked by the inequality and asymmetry between these two countries. This article also addresses the transnational cooperation and political actions undertaken to protect the oceans and beaches enjoyed by surfers in this border region.

scholarly journals BRCA1/2 Variant Data-Sharing Practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juli M. Bollinger ◽  
Abhi Sanka ◽  
Lena Dolman ◽  
Rachel G. Liao ◽  
Robert Cook-Deegan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Clinical Management ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Clinical Laboratories ◽  
The World ◽  
Diverse Data

Accessing BRCA1/2 data facilitates the detection of disease-associated variants, which is critical to informing clinical management of risks. BRCA1/2 data sharing is complex and many practices exist. We describe current BRCA1/2 data-sharing practices, in the United States and globally, and discuss obstacles and incentives to sharing, based on 28 interviews with personnel at U.S. and non-U.S. clinical laboratories and databases. Our examination of the BRCA1/2 data-sharing landscape demonstrates strong support for and robust sharing of BRCA1/2 data around the world, increasing global accesses to diverse data sets.

scholarly journals Bed-load measurements on large, sand-bed rivers in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 06021
Author(s):  
David Abraham ◽  
Tate McAlpin ◽  
Keaton Jones
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sand Dunes ◽  
Measurement Techniques ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transport Rate ◽  
Bed Load ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Load Transport ◽  
Section Surface

The movement of bed forms (sand dunes) in large sand-bed rivers is being used to determine the transport rate of bed load. The ISSDOTv2 (Integrated Section Surface Difference Over Time version 2) methodology uses time sequenced differences of measured bathymetric surfaces to compute the bed-load transport rate. The method was verified using flume studies [1]. In general, the method provides very consistent and repeatable results, and also shows very good fidelity with most other measurement techniques. Over the last 7 years we have measured, computed and compiled what we believe to be the most extensive data set anywhere of bed-load measurements on large, sand bed rivers. Most of the measurements have been taken on the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Snake Rivers in the United States. For cases where multiple measurements were made at varying flow rates, bed-load rating curves have been produced. This paper will provide references for the methodology, but is intended more to discuss the measurements, the resulting data sets, and current and potential uses for the bed-load data.

scholarly journals Rates Versus Counts: Fall Molts of Lucy's Warblers (Vermivora Luciae)

The Auk ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 806-814
Author(s):  
Sievert Rohwer ◽  
Adolfo G. Navarro ◽  
Gary Voelker
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Late Summer ◽  
The United States ◽  
Deciduous Forests ◽  
Southwestern United States ◽  
Western Mexico ◽  
Breeding Grounds ◽  
Tropical Deciduous Forests ◽  
Northwestern Mexico

AbstractNew specimens from Sinaloa, Mexico, as well as two older specimens, show that both adult and recently fledged Lucy's Warblers (Vermivora luciae) often move far south of their breeding grounds to molt in the tropical deciduous forests of northwestern Mexico. Remarkably, the first preformative (= first prebasic) molt is complete in Lucy's Warblers, including the replacement of flight feathers, primary coverts, and rectrices; thus, previous aging criteria based on the wear and appearance of these feathers are invalid. We suggest that the recent conclusion that Lucy's Warblers molt on their breeding grounds (Voelker and McFarland 2002) is an artifact of more collecting in the southwestern United States than in western Mexico during late summer. An index of relative collecting in Mexico and the United States, as well as data from constant-effort mist netting, suggest that most Lucy's Warblers move south to molt.Tasas versus Conteos: Mudas de Otoño de Vermivora luciae

The State Wealth-Legislative Compensation Effect

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peverill Squire
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Compensation Effect ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Simple Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Labour Economics ◽  
Economics Literature

Abstract. Legislative scholars have paid almost no attention to explanations for the level of compensation provided to legislators, either within a country or cross-nationally, despite its importance to members and institutions. I posit a simple theory based on state wealth to explain differences in legislative pay. I test this theory using two novel data sets, one on 35 national assemblies, the other on subnational assemblies in Australia, Canada, Germany and the United States. Analysis of these data reveals that national or state wealth is strongly associated with legislator compensation. This finding is consistent with an intriguing analog in the labour economics literature.Résumé. Les érudits du monde législatif ne se sont guère penchés sur les raisons des divers niveaux de rémunération des législateurs, à l'échelle nationale ou transnationale, malgré l'importance du sujet pour les institutions et les membres des législatures. Pour expliquer cette disparité, j'avance une simple théorie fondée sur la richesse des États. J'évalue ensuite cette théorie en m'appuyant sur deux nouvelles bases de données, la première portant sur 35 assemblées nationales et l'autre sur des assemblées sous-nationales en Australie, au Canada, en Allemagne et aux États-Unis. Ces analyses statistiques démontrent qu'il existe effectivement un lien étroit entre la richesse de l'État et la rémunération des législateurs. Cette constatation est confirmée par une analogie fascinante dans la littérature sur l'économique du travail.

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