Prioritizing Preferable Locations for Increasing Urban Tree Canopy in New York City

This paper presents a set of Geographic Information System (GIS) methods for identifying and prioritizing tree planting sites in urban environments. It uses an analytical approach created by a University of Vermont service-learning class called “GIS Analysis of New York City\u27s Ecology” that was designed to provide research support to the MillionTreesNYC tree planting campaign. These methods prioritize tree planting sites based on need (whether or not trees can help address specific issues in the community) and suitability (biophysical constraints and planting partners’ existing programmatic goals). Criteria for suitability and need were based on input from three New York City tree-planting organizations. Customized spatial analysis tools and maps were created to show where each organization may contribute to increasing urban tree canopy (UTC) while also achieving their own programmatic goals. These methods and associated custom tools can help decision-makers optimize urban forestry investments with respect to biophysical and socioeconomic outcomes in a clear and accountable manner. Additionally, the framework described here may be used in other cities, can track spatial characteristics of urban ecosystems over time, and may enable further tool development for collaborative decision-making in urban natural resource management

The rate of colonization by macro-invertebrates on artificial substrate samplers

The influence of exposure time upon macro-invertebrate colonization on modified Hester-Dendy substrate samplers was investigated over a 60-day period. The duration of exposure affected the number of individuals, taxa and community diversity. The numbers of individuals colonizing the samplers reached a maximum after 39 days and then began to decrease, due to the emergence of adult insects. Coefficients of variation for the four replicate samples retrieved each sampling day fluctuated extensively throughout the study. No tendencies toward increasing or decreasing coefficients of variation were noted with increasing time of sampler exposure. The number of taxa colonizing the samplers increased throughout the study period. The community diversity index was calculated for each sampling day and this function tended to increase throughout the same period. This supports the hypothesis that an exposure period of 6 weeks, as recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, may not always provide adequate opportunity for a truly representative community of macro-invertebrates to colonize multiplate samplers. Many of the taxa were collected in quite substantial proportions after periods of absence or extreme sparseness. This is attributed to the growth of periphyton and the collection of other materials that created food and new habitats suitable for the colonization of new taxa. Investigation of the relationship between ‘equitability’ and length of exposure revealed that equitability did not vary like diversity with increased time of exposure.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72073/1/j.1365-2427.1979.tb01522.x.pd

Orientations, lattice polytopes, and group arrangements II: Modular and integral flow Polynomials of graphs

We study modular and integral flow polynomials of graphs by means of subgroup arrangements and lattice polytopes. We introduce an Eulerian equivalence relation on orientations, flow arrangements, and flow polytopes; and we apply the theory of Ehrhart polynomials to obtain properties of modular and integral flow polynomials. The emphasis is on the geometrical treatment through subgroup arrangements and Ehrhart polynomials. Such viewpoint leads to a reciprocity law on the modular flow polynomial, which gives rise to an interpretation on the values of the modular flow polynomial at negative integers and answers a question by Beck and Zaslavsky.Regal Entertainment Group (Competitive Earmarked Research Grants 600703)Regal Entertainment Group (Competitive Earmarked Research Grants 600506)Regal Entertainment Group (Competitive Earmarked Research Grants 600608

P-wave excited baryons from pion- and photo-induced hyperon production

We report evidence for $N(1710)P_{11}$, $N(1875)P_{11}$, $N(1900)P_{13}$, $\Delta(1600)P_{33}$, $\Delta(1910)P_{31}$, and $\Delta(1920)P_{33}$, and find indications that $N(1900)P_{13}$ might have a companion state at 1970\,MeV. The controversial $\Delta(1750)P_{31}$ is not seen. The evidence is derived from a study of data on pion- and photo-induced hyperon production, but other data are included as well. Most of the resonances reported here were found in the Karlsruhe-Helsinki (KH84) and the Carnegie-Mellon (CM) analyses but were challenged recently by the Data Analysis Center at GWU. Our analysis is constrained by the energy independent $\pi N$ scattering amplitudes from either KH84 or GWU. The two $\pi N$ amplitudes from KH84 or GWU, respectively, lead to slightly different $\pi N$ branching ratios of contributing resonances but the debated resonances are required in both series of fits.Comment: 22 pages, 28 figures. Some additional sets of data are adde

GWAS for Interleukin-1β levels in gingival crevicular fluid identifies IL37 variants in periodontal inflammation

There is no agnostic GWAS evidence for the genetic control of IL-1β expression in periodontal disease. Here we report a GWAS for “high” gingival crevicular fluid IL-1β expression among 4910 European-American adults and identify association signals in the IL37 locus. rs3811046 at this locus (p = 3.3 × 10−22) is associated with severe chronic periodontitis (OR = 1.50; 95% CI = 1.12–2.00), 10-year incident tooth loss (≥3 teeth: RR = 1.33; 95% CI = 1.09–1.62) and aggressive periodontitis (OR = 1.12; 95% CI = 1.01–1.26) in an independent sample of 4927 German/Dutch adults. The minor allele at rs3811046 is associated with increased expression of IL-1β in periodontal tissue. In RAW macrophages, PBMCs and transgenic mice, the IL37 variant increases expression of IL-1β and IL-6, inducing more severe periodontal disease, while IL-37 protein production is impaired and shows reduced cleavage by caspase-1. A second variant in the IL37 locus (rs2708943, p = 4.2 × 10−7) associates with attenuated IL37 mRNA expression. Overall, we demonstrate that IL37 variants modulate the inflammatory cascade in periodontal disease

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter

Search for displaced vertices arising from decays of new heavy particles in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

We present the results of a search for new, heavy particles that decay at a significant distance from their production point into a final state containing charged hadrons in association with a high-momentum muon. The search is conducted in a pp-collision data sample with a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and an integrated luminosity of 33 pb^-1 collected in 2010 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. Production of such particles is expected in various scenarios of physics beyond the standard model. We observe no signal and place limits on the production cross-section of supersymmetric particles in an R-parity-violating scenario as a function of the neutralino lifetime. Limits are presented for different squark and neutralino masses, enabling extension of the limits to a variety of other models.Comment: 8 pages plus author list (20 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version to appear in Physics Letters

Reducing heterotic M-theory to five dimensional supergravity on a manifold with boundary

This paper constructs the reduction of heterotic $M$-theory in eleven dimensions to a supergravity model on a manifold with boundary in five dimensions using a Calabi-Yau three-fold. New results are presented for the boundary terms in the action and for the boundary conditions on the bulk fields. Some general features of dualisation on a manifold with boundary are used to explain the origin of some topological terms in the action. The effect of gaugino condensation on the fermion boundary conditions leads to a `twist' in the chirality of the gravitino which can provide an uplifting mechanism in the vacuum energy to cancel the cosmological constant after moduli stabilisation.Comment: 16 pages, RevTe