Environmental Liens and Title Insurance

Increased concern for the environment and environmental protection laws have affected title insurance. To understand this effect, it is necessary to examine our environmental problems, the environmental laws and the nature of title insurance. This article also looks at the title insurance industry\u27s reaction to these environmental risks as compared to the reaction of the property/casualty insurance industry

Regional and scale-specific effects of land use on amphibian diversity [poster]

Background/Question/Methods Habitat loss and degradation influence amphibian distributions and are important drivers of population declines. Our previous research demonstrated that road disturbance, development and wetland area consistently influence amphibian richness across regions of the U.S. Here, we examined the relative importance of these factors in different regions and at multiple spatial scales. Understanding the scales at which habitat disturbance may be affecting amphibian distributions is important for conservation planning. Specifically, we asked: 1) Over what spatial scales do distinct landscape features affect amphibian richness? and 2) Do road types (non-rural and rural) have similar effects on amphibian richness? This is the second year of a collaborative, nationwide project involving 11 U.S. colleges integrated within undergraduate biology curricula. We summarized North American Amphibian Monitoring Program data in 13 Eastern and Central U.S states and used geographic information systems to extract landscape data for 471 survey locations. We developed models to quantify the influence of landscape variables on amphibian species richness and site occupancy across five concentric buffers ranging from 300m to 10,000m. Results/Conclusions Across spatial scales, development, road density and agriculture were the best predictors of amphibian richness and site occupancy by individual species. Across regions, we found that scale did not exert a large influence on how landscape features influenced amphibian richness as effects were largely comparable across buffers. However, development and percent impervious surface had stronger influence on richness at smaller spatial scales. Richness was lower at survey locations with higher densities of non-rural and rural roads, and non-rural road density had a larger negative effect at smaller scales. Within regions, landscape features driving patterns of species richness varied. The scales at which these factors were associated with richness were highly variable within regions, suggesting the scale effects may be region specific. Our project demonstrates that networks of undergraduate students can collaborate to compile and analyze large ecological data sets, while engaging students in authentic and inquiry-based learning in landscape-scale ecology

Unlocking the power of big data in new product development

This study explores how big data can be used to enable customers to express unrecognised needs. By acquiring this information, managers can gain opportunities to develop customer-centred products. Big data can be defined as multimedia-rich and interactive low-cost information resulting from mass communication. It offers customers a better understanding of new products and provides new, simplified modes of large-scale interaction between customers and firms. Although previous studies have pointed out that firms can better understand customers’ preferences and needs by leveraging different types of available data, the situation is evolving, with increasing application of big data analytics for product development, operations and supply chain management. In order to utilise the customer information available from big data to a larger extent, managers need to identify how to establish a customer-involving environment that encourages customers to share their ideas with managers, contribute their know-how, fiddle around with new products, and express their actual preferences. We investigate a new product development project at an electronics company, STE, and describe how big data is used to connect to, interact with and involve customers in new product development in practice. Our findings reveal that big data can offer customer involvement so as to provide valuable input for developing new products. In this paper, we introduce a customer involvement approach as a new means of coming up with customer-centred new product development

Microalgae as bioreactors for bioplastic production

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) is a polyester with thermoplastic properties that is naturally occurring and produced by such bacteria as <it>Ralstonia eutropha </it>H16 and <it>Bacillus megaterium</it>. In contrast to currently utilized plastics and most synthetic polymers, PHB is biodegradable, and its production is not dependent on fossil resources making this bioplastic interesting for various industrial applications.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we report on introducing the bacterial PHB pathway of <it>R. eutropha </it>H16 into the diatom <it>Phaeodactylum tricornutum</it>, thereby demonstrating for the first time that PHB production is feasible in a microalgal system. Expression of the bacterial enzymes was sufficient to result in PHB levels of up to 10.6% of algal dry weight. The bioplastic accumulated in granule-like structures in the cytosol of the cells, as shown by light and electron microscopy.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our studies demonstrate the great potential of microalgae like the diatom <it>P. tricornutum </it>to serve as solar-powered expression factories and reveal great advantages compared to plant based production systems.</p

Genomic and biological characterization of chiltepin yellow mosaic virus, a new tymovirus infecting Capsicum annuum var. aviculare in Mexico.

The characterization of viruses infecting wild plants is a key step towards understanding the ecology of plant viruses. In this work, the complete genomic nucleotide sequence of a new tymovirus species infecting chiltepin, the wild ancestor of Capsicum annuum pepper crops, in Mexico was determined, and its host range has been explored. The genome of 6,517 nucleotides has the three open reading frames described for tymoviruses, putatively encoding an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, a movement protein and a coat protein. The 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions have structures with typical signatures of the tymoviruses. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that this new virus is closely related to the other tymoviruses isolated from solanaceous plants. Its host range is mainly limited to solanaceous species, which notably include cultivated Capsicum species. In the latter, infection resulted in a severe reduction of growth, indicating the potential of this virus to be a significant crop pathogen. The name of chiltepin yellow mosaic virus (ChiYMV) is proposed for this new tymovirus

Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 as a potential target for smoking cessation

Rationale Most habitual smokers find it difficult to quit smoking because they are dependent upon the nicotine present in tobacco smoke. Tobacco dependence is commonly treated pharmacologically using nicotine replacement therapy or drugs, such as varenicline, that target the nicotinic receptor. Relapse rates, however, remain high and there remains a need to develop novel non-nicotinic pharmacotherapies for the dependence that are more effective than existing treatments. Objective The purpose of this paper is to review the evidence from preclinical and clinical studies that drugs that antagonise the metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) in the brain are likely to be efficacious as treatments for tobacco dependence. Results Imaging studies reveal that chronic exposure to tobacco smoke reduces the density of mGluR5s in human brain. Preclinical results demonstrate that negative allosteric modulators (NAMs) at mGluR5 attenuate both nicotine self-administration and the reinstatement of responding evoked by exposure to conditioned cues paired with nicotine delivery. They also attenuate the effects of nicotine on brain dopamine pathways implicated in addiction. Conclusions Although mGluR5 NAMs attenuate most of the key facets of nicotine dependence they potentiate the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. This may limit their value as smoking cessation aids. The NAMs that have been employed most widely in preclinical studies of nicotine dependence have too many \u201coff target\u201d effects to be used clinically. However newer mGluR5 NAMs have been developed for clinical use in other indications. Future studies will determine if these agents can also be used effectively and safely to treat tobacco dependence

ElectionRumors2022: A Dataset of Election Rumors on Twitter During the 2022 US Midterms

Understanding the spread of online rumors is a pressing societal challenge and an active area of research across domains. In the context of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, one influential social media platform for sharing information -- including rumors that may be false, misleading, or unsubstantiated -- was Twitter (now renamed X). To increase understanding of the dynamics of online rumors about elections, we present and analyze a dataset of 1.81 million Twitter posts corresponding to 135 distinct rumors which spread online during the midterm election season (September 5 to December 1, 2022). We describe how this data was collected, compiled, and supplemented, and provide a series of exploratory analyses along with comparisons to a previously-published dataset on 2020 election rumors. We also conduct a mixed-methods analysis of three distinct rumors about the election in Arizona, a particularly prominent focus of 2022 election rumoring. Finally, we provide a set of potential future directions for how this dataset could be used to facilitate future research into online rumors, misinformation, and disinformation