El Balsamar is a community that relies upon coffee trees intercropped with the balsamo tree (Myroxylon balsamum L. Harms) for a substantial portion of household income. The balsamo tree is valued for ...its resin which is used as medicine in the community and sold commercially. Farmers believe that the shade from the balsamo tree decreases coffee yield compared to the shade from non balsamo species. Thirty coffee farms were studied, each set up as a paired plot. When cover type was balsamo, coffee yield was more likely to decrease. Plots with higher basal area were more likely to be balsamo cover type. As basal area increased, coffee yield decreased. Although coffee yield is lower under balsamo cover type, farmers still continue to plant and manage coffee under this cover type. Farmers accept a lower coffee yield because balsamo resin provides an important income source. Farmers rely on the community cooperative to provide them work to support their households. The cooperative relies on the farmers to provide the labor needed to harvest coffee and extract balsamo resin.
BackgroundRespiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause severe disease in adults with cardiopulmonary conditions, such as congestive heart failure (CHF). We quantified the rate of RSV-associated ...hospitalization in adults by CHF status using population-based surveillance in the United States.MethodsPopulation-based surveillance for RSV (RSV-NET) was performed in 35 counties in seven sites during two respiratory seasons (2015-2017) from October 1-April 30. Adults (≥18 years) admitted to a hospital within the surveillance catchment area with laboratory-confirmed RSV identified by clinician-directed testing were included. Presence of underlying CHF was determined by medical chart abstraction. We calculated overall and age-stratified (<65 years and ≥65 years) RSV-associated hospitalization rates by CHF status. Estimates were adjusted for age and the under-detection of RSV. We also report rate differences (RD) and rate ratios (RR) by comparing the rates for those with and without CHF.Results2042 hospitalized RSV cases with CHF status recorded were identified. Most (60.2%, n = 1230) were ≥65 years, and 28.3% (n = 577) had CHF. The adjusted RSV hospitalization rate was 26.7 (95% CI: 22.2, 31.8) per 10,000 population in adults with CHF versus 3.3 (95% CI: 3.3, 3.3) per 10,000 in adults without CHF (RR: 8.1, 95% CI: 6.8, 9.7; RD: 23.4, 95% CI: 18.9, 28.5). Adults with CHF had higher rates of RSV-associated hospitalization in both age groups (<65 years and ≥65 years). Adults ≥65 years with CHF had the highest rate (40.5 per 10,000 population, 95% CI: 35.1, 46.6).ConclusionsAdults with CHF had 8 times the rate of RSV-associated hospitalization compared with adults without CHF. Identifying high-risk populations for RSV infection can inform future RSV vaccination policies and recommendations.
A fatigue tester that can subject tissue strips to well controlled bending, stretching, or a combination of both was designed. Although the tester is still in the prototype stage, it was designed to ...operate at up to 50 Hz.
This thesis presents the summary of several case studies on the long term performance of high recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) sections. Roadway sections which contained more than 20% RAP and that had ...been in place for at least 10 years were identified from across the United States and Canada with the help of the local agencies. The long term performances of these various recycled sections were compared directly to mixes made with similar virgin materials via measurements of distress criteria. These distress criteria included rutting, cracking, ride quality, and any overall performance rating that the local agencies used in evaluating their pavement sections. It was also insured that RAP and virgin sections were placed in the same general location and time frame as the recycled sections. In summary, pavement sections utilizing high RAP perform at a level comparable to that of virgin sections. The high RAP sections on average tend to exhibit more rutting and cracking than the virgin sections, but not to a level that significantly affected the long term performance of the pavements. The ultimate goal of this study was to provide the paving community with documentation on the long term performance of high RAP roadway sections compared to that of virgin sections.
The classical Drude model provides an accurate description of the plasma resonance of three-dimensional materials, but only partially explains two-dimensional systems where quantum mechanical effects ...dominate such as P:\(\delta\)-layers - atomically thin sheets of phosphorus dopants in silicon that induce novel electronic properties beyond traditional doping. Previously it was shown that P:\(\delta\)-layers produce a distinct Drude tail feature in ellipsometry measurements. However, the ellipsometric spectra could not be properly fit by modeling the \(\delta\)-layer as discrete layer of classical Drude metal. In particular, even for large broadening corresponding to extremely short relaxation times, a plasma resonance feature was anticipated but not evident in the experimental data. In this work, we develop a physically accurate description of this system, which reveals a general approach to designing thin films with intentionally suppressed plasma resonances. Our model takes into account the strong charge density confinement and resulting quantum mechanical description of a P:\(\delta\)-layer. We show that the absence of a plasma resonance feature results from a combination of two factors: i), the sharply varying charge density profile due to strong confinement in the direction of growth; and ii), the effective mass and relaxation time anisotropy due to valley degeneracy. The plasma resonance reappears when the atoms composing the \(\delta\)-layer are allowed to diffuse out from the plane of the layer, destroying its well-confined two-dimensional character that is critical to its novel electronic properties.
Microcomputer users are faced with an increasingly difficult choice problem in the evaluation and selection of software packages. For many reasons, users frequently must rely on expert evaluations of ...the technical functions and features of packages. This paper explores the extent to which multi-attribute choice models are capable of extracting the information content of performance ratings. Five choice models are applied to the expert ratings of software packages in the following areas: word processing, database management systems, and spreadsheet and financial planning. The evaluations and selections made under each model are compared for each software type, and guidelines are suggested for choosing between choice strategies for software evaluation.
