Differences in defensive traits of tree species may predict why some conifers are susceptible to bark beetle-fungal complexes and others are not. A symbiotic fungus (Leptographium abietinum) ...associated with the tree-killing bark beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) is phytopathogenic to host trees and may hasten tree decline during colonization by beetles, but defense responses of mature trees to the fungus have not been experimentally examined. To test the hypothesis that interspecific variation in spruce resistance is explained by defense traits we compared constitutive (bark thickness and constitutive resin ducts) and induced defenses (resin flow, monoterpene composition, concentration, phloem lesion formation, and traumatic resin ducts) between two sympatric spruces: Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii, a susceptible host) and blue spruce (P. pungens, a resistant host) in response to fungal inoculation. Four central findings emerged: (1) blue spruce has thicker outer bark and thinner phloem than Engelmann spruce, which may restrict fungal access to phloem and result in less beetle-available resource overall; (2) both spruce species induce monoterpenes in response to inoculation but blue spruce has higher constitutive monoterpene levels, induces monoterpenes more rapidly, and induces higher concentrations over a period of time consistent with spruce beetle attack duration; (3) Engelmann and blue spruce differed in the monoterpenes they upregulated in response to fungal inoculation: blue spruce upregulated α-pinene, terpinolene, and γ-terpinene, but Engelmann spruce upregulated 3-carene and linalool; and (4) blue spruce has a higher frequency of constitutive resin ducts and produces more traumatic resin ducts in annual growth increments than Engelmann spruce, though Engelmann spruce produces more resin following aseptic wounding or fungal inoculation. These findings suggest that higher constitutive resin duct densities and monoterpene concentrations, as well as the ability to rapidly induce specific monoterpenes in response to L. abietinum inoculation, are phenotypic traits associated with hosts resistant to spruce beetle colonization.
The functional residual capacity (FRC) determines the oxygenating capacity of the lung and is heavily affected in the clinical context of the acute respiratory distress syndrome. ...Nitrogen-wash-in/wash-out methods have been used to measure FRC. These methods have rarely been validated against exactly known volumes. The aim of the study was to assess the accuracy and precision of the N
washout/washin method in measuring FRC, by comparing it with set volumes in a lung simulator.
We conducted a diagnostic bench study in the Intensive Care Unit and Radiology Department of a tertiary hospital in Switzerland. Using a fully controllable high fidelity lung simulator (TestChest®), we set the functional residual capacity at 1500 ml, 2000 ml and 2500 ml and connected to the GE Carestation respirator, which includes the nitrogen washout/washin technique (INview™ tool). FRC was then set to vary by different levels of PEEP (5, 8, 12 and 15 cmH
O). The main outcome measures were bias and precision of the TestChest® when compared to the results from the washout/washin technique, according to the results of a Bland Altman Analysis. We verified our findings with volumetric computed tomography.
One hundred and thirty-five nitrogen-wash-in/wash-out measurements were taken at three levels of F
O
(0.4, 0.5, 0.6). The CT volumetry reproduced the set end-expiratory volumes at the Simulator with a bias of 4 ml. The nitrogen-wash-in/wash-out method had a bias of 603 ml with acceptable limits of agreement (95% CI 252 to - 953 ml). Changes were detected with a concordance rate of 97%.
We conclude that the TestChest® simulator is an accurate simulation tool, concerning the simulation of lung volumes. The nitrogen wash-in/wash out method correlated positively with FRC changes, despite a relatively large bias in absolute measurements. The reference volumes in the lung simulator verified with CT volumetry were very close to their expected values. The reason for the bias could not be determined.
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•The congruent matching cells (CMC) method is used here for firearm identification.•Error rates are estimated by modeling the results with theoretical distributions.•Models for one ...set of cartridge cases were successfully applied to a larger set.•After further study it should be possible to scale the method to real casework.
Estimating error rates for firearm evidence identification is a fundamental challenge in forensic science. This paper describes the recently developed congruent matching cells (CMC) method for image comparisons, its application to firearm evidence identification, and its usage and initial tests for error rate estimation. The CMC method divides compared topography images into correlation cells. Four identification parameters are defined for quantifying both the topography similarity of the correlated cell pairs and the pattern congruency of the registered cell locations. A declared match requires a significant number of CMCs, i.e., cell pairs that meet all similarity and congruency requirements. Initial testing on breech face impressions of a set of 40 cartridge cases fired with consecutively manufactured pistol slides showed wide separation between the distributions of CMC numbers observed for known matching and known non-matching image pairs. Another test on 95 cartridge cases from a different set of slides manufactured by the same process also yielded widely separated distributions. The test results were used to develop two statistical models for the probability mass function of CMC correlation scores. The models were applied to develop a framework for estimating cumulative false positive and false negative error rates and individual error rates of declared matches and non-matches for this population of breech face impressions. The prospect for applying the models to large populations and realistic case work is also discussed. The CMC method can provide a statistical foundation for estimating error rates in firearm evidence identifications, thus emulating methods used for forensic identification of DNA evidence.
The Monte Carlo simulation of the interaction of neutrons with matter relies on evaluated nuclear data libraries and models. The evaluated libraries are compilations of measured physical parameters ...(such as cross sections) combined with predictions of nuclear model calculations which have been adjusted to reproduce the experimental data. The results obtained from the simulations depend largely on the accuracy of the underlying nuclear data used, and thus it is important to have access to the nuclear data libraries available, either of general use or compiled for specific applications, and to perform exhaustive validations which cover the wide scope of application of the simulation code. In this paper we describe the work performed in order to extend the capabilities of the GEANT4 toolkit for the simulation of the interaction of neutrons with matter at neutron energies up to 20 MeV and a first verification of the results obtained. Such a work is of relevance for applications as diverse as the simulation of a neutron detector, an entire particle physics experiment, a fission or fusion nuclear reactor, a neutron shielding or a hadron therapy cancer treatment facility.
Here, Ott discusses about Martin Luther King Jr's philosophy on the US history and reality of the oppression of and violence against blacks in America. He remembers the first time that he heards ...James Cone's voice. A well-established, white scholar had just given what he thought to be a solid presentation on King's notion of the "beloved community." When he had finished, Cone was one of the first to speak in the question and answer period. Tommy Curry notes that white scholars are sometimes joined by black scholars in tending to privilege white lives over black lives. Nonviolent theorists might agree with Curry when he suggests that "liberation requires bloodshed." But Curry follows by stating that "the only difference is that Black and white academics, scholars, and theorists are willing to concede this necessity when speaking of the tolls taken on by the oppressed Black peoples of history, but shudder to theorize this stance when the demand is placed upon white lives."
The COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous global demand for personal protective equipment (PPE). Face shields are an important component of PPE for front-line workers in the context of the COVID-19 ...pandemic, providing protection of the face from splashes and sprays of virus-containing fluids. Existing face shield designs and manufacturing procedures may not allow for production and distribution of face shields in sufficient volume to meet global demand, particularly in Low and Middle-Income countries. This paper presents a simple, fast, and cost-effective curved-crease origami technique for transforming flat sheets of flexible plastic material into face shields for infection control. It is further shown that the design could be produced using a variety of manufacturing methods, ranging from manual techniques to high-volume die-cutting and creasing. This demonstrates the potential for the design to be applied in a variety of contexts depending on available materials, manufacturing capabilities and labour. An easily implemented and flexible physical-digital parametric design methodology for rapidly exploring and refining variations on the design is presented, potentially allowing others to adapt the design to accommodate a wide range of ergonomic and protection requirements.
This article is a Christian naturalist reading of Johannes Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem. The first sections briefly introduce the basic commitments of Christian naturalism and the challenge ...presented to such a theology in the mystery of death. Then, the paper shows how Brahms gives artistic expression to a naturalistic interpretation of death. Brahms uses elements from the Christian myth, especially the apocalyptic, in new ways that are helpful to Christian naturalists seeking to deal with death meaningfully and beautifully.
The BC501A sensor is a liquid scintillator frequently used in nuclear physics for detecting fast neutrons. This paper describes a hardware implementation of digital pulse shape analysis (DPSA) for ...real-time analysis. DPSA is an algorithm that extracts the physically relevant parameters from the detected BC501A signals. The hardware solution is implemented in a MicroTCA system that provides the physical, mechanical, electrical, and cooling support for an AMC board (NAMC-ZYNQ-FMC) with a Xilinx ZYNQ Ultrascale-MP SoC. The Xilinx FPGA programmable logic implements a JESD204B interface to high-speed ADCs. The physical and datalink JESD204B layers are implemented using hardware description language (HDL), while the Xilinx high-level synthesis language (HLS) is used for the transport and application layers. The DPSA algorithm is a JESD204B application layer that includes a FIR filter and a constant fraction discriminator (CFD) function, a baseline calculation function, a peak detection function, and an energy calculation function. This architecture achieves an analysis mean time of less than 100 µs per signal with an FPGA resource utilization of about 50% of its most used resources. This paper presents a high-performance DPSA embedded system that interfaces with a 1 GS/s ADC and performs accurate calculations with relatively low latency.
Some of his finest and most empirical work emerges in the penultimate chapter as Zbaraschuk clarifies the contexts, subjects, and objects of that freedom, and augments the liberationist privileging ...of the suffering of others with a hopeful call to the presence of beauty within the flow of both nature and history. * Daniel J. Ott dott@monmouthcollege.edu 1 Monmouth College, Monmouth, USA 452 D.J. Ott But Zbaraschuk slips into a kind of idealism when employing Whiteheadian and process concepts in order to widen Hodgsons understanding of Gods activity beyond human history to include nature itself. ...another perhaps more acute tension emerges when Zbaraschuk speaks constructively about God and Gods activity in the world. Just as Process and Reality sought to explain how the same basic processes and drives can account for the becoming of the simplest occasions and the emergence of the most complex societies (human beings for example), Adventures of Ideas argues that civilization with its emergent aims of Truth, Beauty, Art, Adventure, and Peace results from organic drives toward intensity and harmony.
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