Shocks and the economic outlook

The U.S. economy has recently been hit by a number of supply shocks, and businesses and consumers have seen oil, food, and materials prices rise as a result. Such shocks typically take several years to play themselves out completely. I apply a downsized version of a macroeconomic forecasting model in use at the Cleveland Fed to project the likely quantitative impact of the shocks on GDP growth and consumer prices.Forecasting

Relation entre la richesse du sol en phosphore et la concentration en phosphore de l'eau de drainage dans deux agro-écosystèmes

Des concentrations en P excédant le seuil d'eutrophisation sont fréquemment mesurées dans l'eau des affluents du fleuve Saint-Laurent au Québec, Canada. Un enrichissement excessif en P des sols agricoles en serait la source. Une norme relative à la saturation en P des sols a été proposée comme critère de risque de contamination en P des eaux de surface. L'objectif de ce travail est d'étudier le lien entre la richesse en P du sol et la teneur en P de l'eau de drainage dans deux agro-écosystèmes du Québec. Le bassin versant de la rivière Boyer (BVB), dominé par des sols en pente, une forte densité animale et des productions fourragères et les Basses Terres de Montréal (BTM), dominées par des sols plats utilisés pour la production intensive de maïs et une faible densité animale sont étudiés. Le degré de saturation en P des sols du BVB est de 8 à 10 % alors que celui des BTM dépasse très souvent 15 %. Le pool du P organique est plus faible dans les sols des BTM que dans le BVB. La concentration moyenne en P de l'eau de drainage est plus élevée dans les sols du BVB (171 µg L-1) que dans ceux des BTM (98 µg L-1). Elle est corrélée à la teneur en P extrait à l'oxalate des sols argileux et à la teneur en P soluble dans l'eau ou à l'index de sorption en P des sols grossiers. Ces relations sont plus étroites pour la couche 0-5 cm de sol que pour les couches plus profondes. Les résultats de cette étude démontrent qu'il est difficile de prédire la concentration en P de l'eau de drainage de sols contrastants. Regrouper les sols selon leur texture améliore la précision de la prédiction de la teneur en P de l'eau de drainage à partir de leurs propriétés.Concentrations of P higher than the recognised threshold for eutrophication are often measured in the tributaries of the St. Lawrence river, Quebec, Canada. An excessive P enrichment of agricultural soils was identified as the potential cause of this phenomenon. This enrichment results in a decrease in the P sorption capacity of soils and an increased risk of P contamination of surface waters. A norm based on soil P saturation degree (DSPS) was proposed as an agro-environmental criterion to reduce this risk. Relationships between DSPS and other soil P attributes and surface runoff P concentration have been reported in the literature but not for tile-drainage water. The objective of this work is to study the relationship between soil P attributes and drainage water P in two agro-ecosystems of Quebec.The Boyer watershed (BW), which is dominated by soils with significant slopes, a high animal density and forage production, and the Montreal lowlands (ML), dominated by flat soils, low animal density and mostly used for corn (Zea mays L.), were studied. The A, B and C horizons from soils from the BW were sampled at three locations in tile-drained fields from farms in surplus or not of manure N in regards to crop needs. Soils were sampled in the ML according to a gradient in clay content with the same procedures. Soils were characterised for their pH, particle size distribution, Mehlich 3-extractable P (Pm3) and Al, water-soluble P (Pw), organic P (Po) and oxalate-extractable P (Pox), Al (Alox) and Fe (Feox) contents. Grab tile-drainage samples were taken in triplicate and characterised for total (TP), particulate (PP) and dissolved reactive P (RP) and unreactive P (UP).The soils of the BW are more acidic and have higher P retention capacities than ML soils. The Pw content of BW soils is lower than in ML ones in spite of comparable Pm3 contents. The DSPS (Pox /Alox + Feox) of BW soils is moderate (8 to 10 %) whereas DSPS in ML soils is often >15 %. The soil P organic pool is much smaller in the ML soils than in those from BW, probably because of more frequent tillage and lower manure C inputs.The average P concentration (TP) in drainage water was higher in soils from the BW (171 µg L-1) than from ML soils (98 µg L-1). The PP was the main P fraction in drainage water from the two ecosystems. The RP was on average 44 % of TP whereas UP was much less. The TP concentration in drainage waters was higher than 0.03 mg L-1 in most cases. The TP concentration was higher in tile-drainage waters from the BW than in the ML even though comparable Pm3 and lower DSPS were found in the BW than in ML soils. These results suggest that other criteria should be included in the prediction of the risk of P contamination of drainage waters. The results of the present study indicate that agricultural practices (crop species, manure inputs, tillage type and frequency) could have a greater influence than soil P status on the TP concentration in tile-drainage waters.A linear correlation analysis between the logarithm of the TP (TP + 0.5) and that of the different soil P attributes indicated that TP was related to the P extracted by oxalate from clay soils and by water in coarse-textured soils. These relationships were closer in the 0-5 cm soil layer than in deeper strata. Multiple regression analysis between the logarithms of drainage water P concentrations and soil attributes revealed that, when soils were grouped by texture, the prediction of TP was much more accurate than when all soils were considered. The present regulatory approach of assessing the risk of water P contamination by using the soil Pm3 and DSPS only was inadequate in the two considered agroecosystems.The results of this study indicate that the prediction of the drainage water P concentration with P attributes from contrasting soils is difficult. Grouping soils by texture improves the prediction of Pt from soil P attributes

PMH65 ADHERENCE AND PERSISTENCE TO TREATMENT IN PATIENTS WITH ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER; ANALYSES WITH THE RAMQ DATABASE

Specific cancer worry items, factor loadings, and Cronbach’s alpha for each sub scale. (DOC 36 kb

A Search for Peculiar Objects with the NASA Orbital Debris Observatory 3-m Liquid Mirror Telescope

The NASA Orbital Debris Observatory (NODO) astronomical survey uses a transit 3-m liquid mirror telescope to observe a strip of sky in 20 narrow-band filters. In this article, we analyze a subset of data from the 1996 observing season. The catalog consists of 18,000 objects with 10<V<19 observed in 10 narrow-band filters ranging from 500 nm to 950 nm. We first demonstrate the reliability of the data by fitting the Bahcall-Soneira model of the Galaxy to the NODO magnitude counts and color counts at various galactic latitudes. We then perform a hierarchical clustering analysis on the sample to extract 206 objects, out of a total of 18,000, showing peculiar spectral energy distributions. It is a measure of the reliability of the instrument that we extract so few peculiar objects. Although the data and results, per se, may not seem otherwise particularly remarkable, this work constitutes a milestone in optical astronomy since this is the first article that demonstrates astromomical research with a radically new type of mirror.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, gzipped-Postscript Revised version 27/04, added references and changed conten

Viral factors in influenza pandemic risk assessment

The threat of an influenza A virus pandemic stems from continual virus spillovers from reservoir species, a tiny fraction of which spark sustained transmission in humans. To date, no pandemic emergence of a new influenza strain has been preceded by detection of a closely related precursor in an animal or human. Nonetheless, influenza surveillance efforts are expanding, prompting a need for tools to assess the pandemic risk posed by a detected virus. The goal would be to use genetic sequence and/or biological assays of viral traits to identify those non-human influenza viruses with the greatest risk of evolving into pandemic threats, and/or to understand drivers of such evolution, to prioritize pandemic prevention or response measures. We describe such efforts, identify progress and ongoing challenges, and discuss three specific traits of influenza viruses (hemagglutinin receptor binding specificity, hemagglutinin pH of activation, and polymerase complex efficiency) that contribute to pandemic risk

CEACAM1 negatively regulates platelet-collagen interactions and thrombus growth in vitro and in vivo

Carcinoembryonic antigen cell adhesion molecule-1 (CEACAM1) is a surface glycoprotein expressed on various blood cells, epithelial cells, and vascular cells. CEACAM1 possesses adhesive and signaling properties mediated by its intrinsic immunorecep-tor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs that recruit SHP-1 protein-tyrosine phosphatase. In this study, we demonstrate that CEACAM1 is expressed on the surface and in intracellular pools of platelets. In addition, CEACAM1 serves to negatively regulate signaling of platelets by collagen through the glycoprotein VI (GPVI)/Fc receptor (FcR)-?-chain. ceacam1 -/- platelets displayed enhanced type I collagen and GPVI-selective ligand, collagen-related peptide (CRP), CRP-mediated platelet aggregation, enhanced platelet adhesion on type I collagen, and elevated CRP-mediated alpha and dense granule secretion. Platelets derived from ceacam1-/- mice form larger thrombi when perfused over a collagen matrix under arterial flow compared with wild-type mice. Furthermore, using intravital microscopy to ferric chloride-injured mesenteric arterioles, we show that thrombi formed in vivo in ceacam1-/- mice were larger and were more stable than those in wild-type mice. GPVI depletion using monoclonal antibody JAQ1 treatment of ceacam1-/- mice showed a reversal in the more stable thrombus growth phenotype. ceacam1-/- mice were more susceptible to type I collagen-induced pulmonary thromboembolism than wild-type mice. Thus, CEACAM1 acts as a negative regulator of platelet-collagen interactions and of thrombus growth involving the collagen GPVI receptor in vitro and in vivo

Increased Nitrogen Retention and Reduced Methane Emissions of Beef Cattle Grazing Legume vs. Grass Irrigated Pastures in the Mountain West USA

Grazing studies were carried out over a 5-year period using pregnant cows, yearling calves and 2-year-old heifers to investigate the influence of diet on intake, methane (CH4) emissions and retention of nitrogen (N). Monoculture legume (birdsfoot trefoil, BFT and cicer milkvetch, CMV) or grass (meadow bromegrass, MBG) pastures were rotationally stocked, and during year 4 and year 5, treatments were contrasted with total mixed rations (TMR) fed in confinement. The sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) method was used to continuously measure enteric CH4 emissions. Intake was greater on legume pastures and on TMR than on grass pastures, and enteric CH4 emissions per unit of intake were lower on legumes compared with grass pastures. Legume pastures had elevated non-fiber carbohydrate (NFC) concentrations (400 g kg−1 dry matter; DM) typical of perennial legumes cultivated in the Mountain West. A N balance calculated in 2017–2018 demonstrated that N retention was greater for TMR and legume than grass pastures. Enteric CH4 emissions of grazing cow herds account for the majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from beef production and can be significantly reduced by using highly digestible forage legumes. The N retention of legumes can potentially enhance the efficiency of N use, thereby increasing the sustainability of grasslands.EEA BordenaveFil: MacAdam, Jennifer W. Utah State University. College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences. Department of Plants, Soils and Climate; Estados Unidos.Fil: Pitcher, Lance R. Amalgamated Sugar Company; Estados UnidosFil: Bolletta, Andrea Ivana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bordenave; Argentina.Fil: Guevara Ballesteros, Raúl David. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Animal Welfare Education Centre; EspañaFil: Beauchemin, Karen A. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Lethbridge Research and Development Centre; CanadáFil: Xin, Dai. Utah State University. Utah Agricultural Experiment Station; Estados Unidos.Fil: Villalba, Juan J. Utah State University. Quinney College of Natural Resources. Department of Wildland Resources; Estados Unidos

A proposed framework for consensus-based lung tumour volume auto-segmentation in 4D computed tomography imaging.

This work aims to propose and validate a framework for tumour volume auto-segmentation based on ground-truth estimates derived from multi-physician input contours to expedite 4D-CT based lung tumour volume delineation. 4D-CT datasets of ten non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients were manually segmented by 6 physicians. Multi-expert ground truth (GT) estimates were constructed using the STAPLE algorithm for the gross tumour volume (GTV) on all respiratory phases. Next, using a deformable model-based method, multi-expert GT on each individual phase of the 4D-CT dataset was propagated to all other phases providing auto-segmented GTVs and motion encompassing internal gross target volumes (IGTVs) based on GT estimates (STAPLE) from each respiratory phase of the 4D-CT dataset. Accuracy assessment of auto-segmentation employed graph cuts for 3D-shape reconstruction and point-set registration-based analysis yielding volumetric and distance-based measures. STAPLE-based auto-segmented GTV accuracy ranged from (81.51  ±  1.92) to (97.27  ±  0.28)% volumetric overlap of the estimated ground truth. IGTV auto-segmentation showed significantly improved accuracies with reduced variance for all patients ranging from 90.87 to 98.57% volumetric overlap of the ground truth volume. Additional metrics supported these observations with statistical significance. Accuracy of auto-segmentation was shown to be largely independent of selection of the initial propagation phase. IGTV construction based on auto-segmented GTVs within the 4D-CT dataset provided accurate and reliable target volumes compared to manual segmentation-based GT estimates. While inter-/intra-observer effects were largely mitigated, the proposed segmentation workflow is more complex than that of current clinical practice and requires further development

MSLED, Neutrino Oscillations and the Cosmological Constant

We explore the implications for neutrino masses and mixings within the minimal version of the supersymmetric large-extra-dimensions scenario (MSLED). This model was proposed in {\tt hep-ph/0404135} to extract the phenomenological implications of the promising recent attempt (in {\tt hep-th/0304256}) to address the cosmological constant problem. Remarkably, we find that the simplest couplings between brane and bulk fermions within this approach can lead to a phenomenologically-viable pattern of neutrino masses and mixings that is also consistent with the supernova bounds which are usually the bane of extra-dimensional neutrino models. Under certain circumstances the MSLED scenario can lead to a lepton mixing (PMNS) matrix close to the so-called bi-maximal or the tri-bimaximal forms (which are known to provide a good description of the neutrino oscillation data). We discuss the implications of MSLED models for neutrino phenomenology.Comment: 38 pages, 1 figure; Reposted with a few additional reference