Myriad Mapping of nanoscale minerals reveals calcium carbonate hemihydrate in forming nacre and coral biominerals.

Calcium carbonate (CaCO) is abundant on Earth, is a major component of marine biominerals and thus of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and it plays a major role in the global carbon cycle by storing atmospheric CO into solid biominerals. Six crystalline polymorphs of CaCO are known-3 anhydrous: calcite, aragonite, vaterite, and 3 hydrated: ikaite (CaCO·6HO), monohydrocalcite (CaCO·1HO, MHC), and calcium carbonate hemihydrate (CaCO·½HO, CCHH). CCHH was recently discovered and characterized, but exclusively as a synthetic material, not as a naturally occurring mineral.

High school student cannabis use and perceptions towards cannabis in southcentral Colorado - comparing communities that permit recreational dispensaries and communities that do not.

Currently, with the legalization of cannabis and the opening of recreational dispensaries in states across the country, the question of whether or not proximity to recreational cannabis dispensaries affects high school students in terms of their cannabis use, their perceptions of the accessibility of cannabis and their perceptions on the harmfulness and wrongfulness of using cannabis is particularly relevant and timely. In 2014 in Colorado, Amendment 64 went into effect and communities were allowed to legally permit recreational cannabis dispensaries; some communities agreed to permit the opening of recreational dispensaries while other communities did not. Using data from the cross-sectional Healthy Kids Colorado Survey collected from students in randomly selected high schools in both 2013 and 2015, data on student use and perceptions towards cannabis use was analyzed comparing communities that permitted recreational cannabis dispensaries and communities that did not.

Tracer-Encapsulated Solid Pellet (TESPEL) injection system for the TJ-II stellarator.

A tracer-encapsulated solid pellet (TESPEL) injection system for the TJ-II stellarator was recently developed. In order to reduce the time and cost for the development, we combined a TESPEL injector provided by National Institute for Fusion Science with an existing TJ-II cryogenic pellet injection system. Consequently, the TESPEL injection into the TJ-II plasma was successfully achieved, which was confirmed by several pellet diagnostics including a normal-incidence spectrometer for monitoring a tracer impurity behavior.

Genetic and epigenetic differences associated with environmental gradients in replicate populations of two salt marsh perennials.

While traits and trait plasticity are partly genetically based, investigating epigenetic mechanisms may provide more nuanced understanding of the mechanisms underlying response to environment. Using AFLP and methylation-sensitive AFLP, we tested the hypothesis that differentiation to habitats along natural salt marsh environmental gradients occurs at epigenetic, but not genetic loci in two salt marsh perennials. We detected significant genetic and epigenetic structure among populations and among subpopulations, but we found multilocus patterns of differentiation to habitat type only in epigenetic variation for both species.

Fast imaging of intact and shattered cryogenic neon pellets.

Compact condensed-matter injection technologies are increasingly used in magnetic fusion. One recent application is in disruption mitigation. An imaging system with less-than-100-µm- and sub-µs-resolution is described and used to characterize intact and shattered cryogenic neon pellets.

Ecological epigenetics.

Biologists have assumed that heritable variation due to DNA sequence differences (i.e., genetic variation) allows populations of organisms to be both robust and adaptable to extreme environmental conditions.

Ecological Epigenetics: Beyond MS-AFLP.

Ecological Epigenetics studies the relationship between epigenetic variation and ecologically relevant phenotypic variation. As molecular epigenetic mechanisms often control gene expression, even across generations, they may impact many evolutionary processes. Multiple molecular epigenetic mechanisms exist, but methylation of DNA so far has dominated the Ecological Epigenetic literature.

A comparative approach to using the diabetes prevention program to reduce diabetes risk in a worksite setting.

The rapidly increasing rate of non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM) among both market economy and developing countries is a worldwide health phenomenon. The number of diabetics worldwide has been projected to increase from 135 million in 1995 to 300 million in 2025. The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of three different approaches to the implementation of the Diabetes Prevention Program, a standardized diabetes prevention curriculum, in various worksite organizations within a single community.

A compact flexible pellet injector for the TJ-II stellarator.

A compact pellet injector is being built for the TJ-II stellarator. It is an upgraded version of the "pellet injector in a suitcase" developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and installed on the Madison Symmetric Torus where it continues to be used in many plasma experiments. The design aim is to provide maximum flexibility at minimal cost, while allowing for future upgrades.