Autocrat of the Armchair

Structural analysis is a standard tool to identify submodels that can be used to design model based diagnostic tests. Structural approaches typically operate on models described by a set of equations. This work extends such methods to be able to handle models with constraints, e.g. inequality constraints on state variables. The objective is to improve isolability properties of a diagnosis system by extending the class of redundancy relations. An algorithm is developed that identifies which are the constraints and equations that can be used together to derive a new test that can not be found using previous approachesCADIC

The Purchase by Railroads of Their Own Obligations

Recent studies from several authors show that it is possible to lower the fuel consumption for heavy trucks by utilizing information about the road topography ahead of the vehicle. The approach in these studies is receding horizon control where horizon length and residual cost are main topics. To approach these topics, fuel equivalents previously introduced based on physical intuition are given a mathematical interpretation in terms of Lagrange multipliers. Measures for the suboptimality, caused by the truncated horizon and the residual cost approximation, are defined and evaluated for different routes and parameters.Original Publication: Erik Hellström, Jan Åslund and Lars Nielsen, Horizon length and fuel equivalents for fuel-optimal look-ahead control, 2010, 6th IFAC Symposium Advances in Automatic Control. Copyright: INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF AUTOMATIC CONTROL IFAC.</p

Diplodia sapinea as a contributing factor in the crown dieback of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) after a severe drought

The frequency and impact of drought on global ecosystems have increased within the last century, while drought has affected tree health in many regions. Diplodia sapinea is a widespread, opportunistic pathogen infecting most conifers, causing Diplodia tip blight, thriving on hosts impacted by stress such as drought, heat, or mechanical wounding. In summer of 2018, a large-scale drought was recorded all over Europe. In late summer, pine trees all over Gotland showed crown dieback, where necrotic twigs and needles were found, especially in the upper part of the crowns. Symptoms were consistent with a potential outbreak of D. sapinea. Effects of the combination of drought and Diplodia tip blight on mortality or recovery of Scots pine in Nordic conditions are unknown. This study confirmed the presence and potential contribution of D. sapinea in the observed damages of Scots pine. Shoot blight and drought led to crown defoliation which was observed one year post-drought, while trees showed a clear recovery of newly grown shoots within the second year. Severely affected pines (>70% of the upper third of the crown with shoot blight) showed increased mortality. Recovery of the surviving trees was independent of previous dieback levels. Diplodia sapinea was most abundant in twigs with shoot blight of the symptomatic trees compared to healthy-looking twigs from the same trees and asymptomatic trees in affected and healthy pine stands. Sampling on affected and healthy sites showed possible endophytic infections with low abundance within healthy-looking twigs. Spore deposition of D. sapinea was monitored on healthy and affected sites for two consecutive years after crown damages occurred to confirm the presence of the opportunistic pathogen in the affected region. Spore deposition was observed during all seasons and correlated with high precipitation during sampling. Our observations provide insights into the emergence of Diplodia tip blight in the Northern countries and underline the potential impact of D. sapinea on tree health in the course of a changing climate

Towards Lane-Keeping Electronic Stability Control for Road-Vehicles

The emerging new idea of lane-keeping electronic stability control is investigated. In a critical situation, such as entering a road curve at excessive speed, the optimal behavior may differ from the behavior of traditional ESC, for example, by prioritizing braking over steering response. The important question that naturally arises is if this has a significant effect on safety. The main contribution here is to give a method for some first quantitative measures of this. It is based on optimal control, applied to a double-track chassis model with wheel dynamics and high-fidelity tire-force modeling. The severity of accidents grows with the square of the kinetic energy for high velocities, so using kinetic energy as a measure will at least not overestimate the usefulness of the new safety system principle. The main result is that the safety gain is significant compared to traditional approaches based on yaw rotation, for several situations and different road-condition parameters

Identifying Fraxinus excelsior tolerant to ash dieback: Visual field monitoring versus a molecular marker

Ash dieback (ADB) caused by the pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus is the cause of massive mortality of Fraxinus spp. in Europe. The aim of this work was to check for the presence of the molecular marker for ADB tolerance in mapped healthy-looking F. excelsior trees, and to compare its occurrence in trees exhibiting severe ADB symptoms. Monitoring of 135 healthy-looking F. excelsior on the island of Gotland, Sweden, showed that after 3-4 years 99.3% of these trees had 0%-10% crown damage, thus remaining in a similar health condition as when first mapped. After 5-6 years, 94.7% of these trees had 0%-10% crown damage. Molecular analysis of leaf tissues from 40 of those showed the presence of the molecular marker in 34 (85.0%) trees, while it was absent in 6 (15.0%) trees. Analysis of leaf tissues from 40 severely ADB-diseased trees showed the presence of the molecular marker in 17 (42.5%) trees, but its absence in 23 (57.5%) trees (p &lt; .0001). The results demonstrated that monitoring of healthy-looking F. excelsior is a simple and straightforward approach for the selection of presumably ADB-tolerant ash for future breeding. The cDNA-based molecular marker revealed moderate capacity on its own to discriminate between presumably ADB-tolerant and susceptible F. excelsior genotypes

Marker-Trait Associations for Tolerance to Ash Dieback in Common Ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.)

Common ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) is a tree species of significant ecological and economic importance that has suffered a devastating decline since the 1990s in Europe. Native ash species are being threatened by the alien invasive fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, which causes ash dieback. The main goal of the study was to develop markers for traits related to tolerance to ash dieback and to investigate whether genotypes selected for tolerance were genetically different from susceptible wild populations. We phenotyped 326 ash trees from Sweden for disease severity and genotyped them using 63 amplicon-derived single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers derived from genes in 40 scaffolds spanning 8 MB in total, which represents approximately 1% of the ash genome. We used a mixed linear model to test for an association between genotypic variation at these loci and disease severity of ash. In total, two SNPs were found to have significant associations. One non-synonymous SNP associated with the disease severity of ash was found in a gene predicted to encode a subtilisin-related peptidase S8/S53 domain. A second marginally significant marker was associated with an LRR gene. Our results demonstrate an inexpensive time-effective method for generating genomic data that could have potential for use in future tree breeding programs and provide information for marker-assisted selection. Our study also showed a low differentiation between genotypes selected for disease tolerance and the wild population of ash representing a range of susceptibilities to ash dieback, indicating opportunities for further selection without significantly losing genetic diversity in the ash population

Collaborative meta-analysis finds no evidence of a strong interaction between stress and 5-HTTLPR genotype contributing to the development of depression

The hypothesis that the S allele of the 5-HTTLPR serotonin transporter promoter region is associated with increased risk of depression, but only in individuals exposed to stressful situations, has generated much interest, research, and controversy since first proposed in 2003. Multiple meta-analyses combining results from heterogeneous analyses have not settled the issue. To determine the magnitude of the interaction and the conditions under which it might be observed, we performed new analyses on 31 datasets containing 38 802 European-ancestry subjects genotyped for 5-HTTLPR and assessed for depression and childhood maltreatment or other stressful life events, and meta-analyzed the results. Analyses targeted two stressors (narrow, broad) and two depression outcomes (current, lifetime). All groups that published on this topic prior to the initiation of our study and met the assessment and sample size criteria were invited to participate. Additional groups, identified by consortium members or self-identified in response to our protocol (published prior to the start of analysis1) with qualifying unpublished data were also invited to participate. A uniform data analysis script implementing the protocol was executed by each of the consortium members. Our findings do not support the interaction hypothesis. We found no subgroups or variable definitions for which an interaction between stress and 5-HTTLPR genotype was statistically significant. In contrast, our findings for the main effects of life stressors (strong risk factor) and 5-HTTLPR genotype (no impact on risk) are strikingly consistent across our contributing studies, the original study reporting the interaction, and subsequent meta-analyses. Our conclusion is that if an interaction exists in which the S allele of 5-HTTLPR increases risk of depression only in stressed individuals, then it is not broadly generalizable, but must be of modest effect size and only observable in limited situations