Symbolic and political ecology among contemporary Nez Perce Indians in Idaho, USA: Functions and meanings of hunting, fishing, and gathering practices

Indigenous ecologies in industrial societies need immediate attention in light of the ongoing debate on indigenous resource rights and decreasing biodiversity. This paper examines the functions and meanings of hunting, fishing, and gathering activities among contemporary Nez Perce Indians in Idaho, USA. The collected data were analyzed with Pierre Bourdieu's (1977) concepts of “symbolic capital” and “practice” within the framework of political ecology. The results clearly demonstrate that hunting, fishing, and gathering practices play significant roles not only in social and religious but also economic and political senses within the contemporary Nez Perce society. This study suggests that investigation of indigenous ecologies in industrial societies take a synthesized approach between idealist and materialist perspectives.     

Detection of near-atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by an olfactory subsystem in the mouse

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important environmental cue for many organisms but is odorless to humans. It remains unclear whether the mammalian olfactory system can detect CO2 at concentrations around the average atmospheric level (0.038%). We demonstrated the expression of carbonic anhydrase type II (CAII), an enzyme that catabolizes CO2, in a subset of mouse olfactory neurons that express guanylyl cyclase D (GC-D+ neurons) and project axons to necklace glomeruli in the olfactory bulb. Exposure to CO2 activated these GC-D+ neurons, and exposure of a mouse to CO2 activated bulbar neurons associated with necklace glomeruli. Behavioral tests revealed CO2 detection thresholds of approximately 0.066%, and this sensitive CO2 detection required CAII activity. We conclude that mice detect CO2 at near-atmospheric concentrations through the olfactory subsystem of GC-D+ neurons.     

Magmatic dike resonances inferred from very-long-period seismic signals

Very-long-period (VLP) signals showing simple decaying harmonic oscillations with periods near 10 seconds and lasting for about 300 seconds were observed in association with an earthquake swarm that occurred beneath Hachijo Island, Japan. Results from the source-mechanism analysis and waveform simulation based on a fluid-filled crack model consistently point to the resonance of a dike filled with a basaltic magma as the source of the VLP signals. Thus, VLP signals can be used to probe the state of the fluid and dynamic processes within a volcanic system.     

Effect of ensiled hop (Humulus lupulus L.) residues on plasma acetate turnover rate in sheep

An isotope dilution method using [1‐¹³C]sodium acetate was applied to determine the effect of feeding ensiled hop (Humulus lupulus L.) residues on plasma acetate turnover rate in six adult crossbred sheep. The sheep were fed 63 g/kg body weight (BW)^0.75/day of either mixed hay of orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) and round bale silage at 3:1 ratio (Hay‐diet), or another where round bale silage was replaced by ensiled hop residues (Hop‐diet) with a crossover design each of a 3‐week period. The isotope dilution method was performed on day 21 of each dietary treatment. Dry matter digestibility was similar between diets, and nitrogen (N) digestibility was lower (P = 0.001) for Hop‐diet than Hay‐diet. However, N retention did not differ between diets. Plasma acetate concentration was lower (P = 0.04) for Hop‐diet than Hay‐diet, and the turnover rate of plasma acetate did not differ between diets. Plasma concentration of lactate and non‐esterified fatty acids were similar between diets. Hop‐diet was found almost comparable to Hay‐diet on plasma acetate turnover rate in the present experimental conditions. Therefore, it could be concluded that hop residues partially could be used as an alternative to traditionally used round bale silage for rearing sheep.     

Study on Advanced Treatment of Secondary Effluent Using Fixed-Bed Filled with Bone Char

The adsorption of a fixed bed filled with bone char was investigated in terms of its efficiency and capacity by determining operational conditions for the purpose of further reduction of organic matter and removal of phosphorus using a continuous flow of real secondary effluent. Simultaneous removals of phosphorus and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were sufficiently achieved by this fixed-bed method. Stable performance was maintained even at a linear flow velocity (abbreviated as LV) of 1.5 m h^–1. Appropriate backwashing and regeneration were required to operate the system continuously for a long period of time. During the regeneration, the use of treated water including Ca²⁺ ion was so effective that phosphorus removal efficiency increased from about 50 to 80%, and afterwards maintained over 65%, until inflow water of the volume up to 150 times as large as the volume of bone char had passed through. Even when the inflow water of the volume rose up to 200 times, the phosphorus removal efficiency could be maintained over 50%. During this operation, the adsorptions of phosphorus and COD onto the bone char surface were observed to be over 6.7 and 35 gL^–1, respectively.     

Adsorption behavior of heavy metals on biomaterials

We have investigated adsorption of Cd(II) and Pb(II) at pH 2-6.7 onto the biomaterials chitosan, coffee, green tea, tea, yuzu, aloe, and Japanese coarse tea, and onto the inorganic adsorbents, activated carbon and zeolite. High adsorptive capabilities were observed for all of the biomaterials at pH 4 and 6.7. In the adsorption of Cd(II), blend coffee, tea, green tea, and coarse tea have comparable loading capacities to activated carbon and zeolite. Although activated carbon, zeolite, and chitosan are utilized in a variety of fields such as wastewater treatment, chemical and metallurgical engineering, and analytical chemistry, these adsorbents are costly. On the other hand, processing of the test biomaterials was inexpensive, and all the biomaterials except for chitosan were able to adsorb large amounts of Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions after a convenient pretreatment of washing with water followed by drying. The high adsorption capability of the biomaterials prepared from plant materials is promising in the development of a novel, low-cost adsorbent. From these results, it is concluded that heavy metal removal using biomaterials would be an effective method for the economic treatment of wastewater. The proposed adsorption method was applied to the determination of amounts of Cd(II) and Pb(II) in water samples.     

Protection from pseudorabies virus challenge in mice by a combination of purified gII, gIII and gVI antigens.

The antigens gII, gIII and gVI were purified from the lysates of the pseudorabies virus (PRV) -infected HmLu-1 cells using Sepharose 4 B coupled with MAbs against these antigens. Mice immunized with either gII, gIII, gVI antigen or a mixture of them were challenged intraperitoneally with 8.5 x 10(3) plaque forming units of PRV. All the mice immunized with 1.5 and 4.5 micrograms of the mixture and 4.5 micrograms of the gIII antigen survived. The sera of mice immunized with the mixture had virus neutralizing activity which was independent of complement, hemagglutination inhibition activity, and recognized major (93 kilodaltons) and minor (129, 74, 68 and 50 kilodaltons) PRV proteins under reducing conditions in western blotting. The serological activity levels in the lower survival group were not different from those in the complete survival. These results indicate that the mixture of each glycoprotein is more effective for eliciting of protective immunities in mice and that serological activity do not always correlate with protection.     

Oxidative activation of O,S-dimethyl phosphoramidothiolate

O,S-Dimethyl phosphoramidothiolate, the insecticide methamidophos, is converted oxidatively into a potent anti-cholinesterase agent by the action of m-chloroperbenzoic acid. The active intermediate is not stable enough to be isolated. From some chemical evidence, the sulfoxide, i.e., dimethyl phosphoramidothiolate S-oxide, is most probably the active intermediate. A similar activation may occur by biological oxidation.     

Effects of discontinuity on heritabilities and phenotypic correlations for classified type characteristics in Japanese black heifers

The data on classified type-characteristics of 1692 Japanese Black breeding heifers were analyzed to investigate the effects of discontinuity and to estimate the heritabilities and phenotypic correlations in the underlying continuous scale. The parameters in an outward scale were computed with the equally-spaced scoring, employing mixed-model least squares procedures, and then those were adjusted for the effects of discontinuity.The effects of discontinuity for the classified type characteristics were generally minor in this applied work.     

Comparison of virulence of various hantaviruses related to hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in newborn mouse model

The virulence of hantaviruses that are antigenically related but have different genetic characteristics from the prototype of hantavirus, Hantaan (HTN) virus, was examined in newborn mice. The H5 and B78 strains of the Amur (AMR) genotype, the Bao14 strain of the Far East (FE) genotype, and the 76-118 strain of HTN virus were inoculated subcutaneously (1focus-forming unit; FFU) into newborn mice. All of the AMR and FE genotype viruses inoculated mice were died by 16 days post-infection (dpi) and 21 dpi, respectively, while 50% of the HTN virus inoculated mice survived until 30 dpi. The AMR and FE genotype viruses inoculated mice had high viral titers in the lung (1.3x10(6) to 1.3x10(8) FFU/gram [g] tissue) , brain (2.1x10(7) to 1.2x10(9) FFU/g tissue), and kidney(2.5x10(5) to 1.6x10(7) FFU/g tissue), and showed a detectable level of antibodies (titers 1:16-1:32) at 14 dpi. In contrast, the HTN virus infected mice had viruses only in the lungs at low titers (1.1-5.3x10(5) FFU/g tissue). Observations of body-weight changes revealed that the AMR and FE genotype viruses inoculated mice had lower growth rates than the HTN virus inoculated mice. These data suggest that the AMR and FE genotype viruses are more virulent than the HTN virus in newborn mice.