The Equilibrium State of Molecular Regions in the Outer Galaxy

A summary of global properties and an evaluation of the equilibrium state of molecular regions in the outer Galaxy are presented from the decomposition of the FCRAO Outer Galaxy Survey and targeted 12CO and 13CO observations of four giant molecular cloud complexes. The ensemble of identified objects includes both small, isolated clouds and clumps within larger cloud complexes. 12CO velocity dispersions show little variation with cloud sizes for radii less than 10 pc. It is demonstrated that the internal motions of regions with molecular masses greater than 10**4 msuns are bound by self gravity, yet, the constituent clumps of cloud complexes and isolated molecular clouds with M < 10**3 msuns are not in self gravitational equilibrium. The required external pressures to maintain the equilibrium of this population are (1-2)x10**4 cm-3-K.Comment: To appear in ApJ, 32 pages, 13 figures, 2 table

Renewal Pruning Alone or in Combination with Thinning Pruning Affects Growth, Fruit Yield and Fruit Quality of Aroniaberry

Aroniaberry (Aronia mitschurinii) produces small pome fruits that possess health promoting compounds. Management practices for orchards are lacking, since aroniaberry is a relatively new crop. Pruning is an important cultural practice to optimize fruit yield in orchards. The response of an established aroniaberry orchard to pruning was evaluated over three years (2020 to 2022). Pruning treatments were as follows: 1) renewal pruning (removal of shoots to the base) only in year 1; 2) renewal pruning in year 1 + thinning to 18 shoots in year 2; 3) renewal pruning in year 1 + thinning to 9 shoots in year 2; and 4) no-pruning (control). In response to renewal pruning, plants grew uniformly and vigorously, producing 28 new vegetative primary shoots with an average length of 66 cm by the end of the first growing season. Limited flowering and fruiting occurred in the second season for plants receiving pruning treatments. Fruit yield on pruned plants was significantly less than for unpruned controls. In season 2, increased thinning of renewal-pruned plants negatively affected the number of inflorescences per plant, but positively affected individual fruit fresh weight and fruit °Brix:titratable acidity ratios. Fruits from all treatments had similar monomeric anthocyanins, total phenolics and mineral content. In season 3, flower production and predicted fruit yield from pruned plants and unpruned controls were similar, even though pruned plants were substantially smaller. In the third season, there were no longer any differences between renewed + thinned plants and those that received only renewal pruning, making shoot thinning an unnecessary practice. The results of this study demonstrate that renewal pruning can be an effective way to manage and rejuvenate an aging aroniaberry orchard

Chilling Requirements to Relieve Bud Dormancy in Black-fruited Aronia Taxonomic Groups Is Related to Ploidy and Geographic Origin

The genus Aronia Medik., also known as chokeberry, is a group of deciduous shrubs in the Rosaceae family, subtribe Malinae. The two commonly accepted black-fruited Aronia species are black chokeberry [Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Elliott] and aroniaberry [Aronia mitschurinii (A.K. Skvortsov & Maitul)]. The geographic range of wild A. melanocarpa is the Great Lakes region and the northeastern United States, with a southerly extension into the higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains. Wild A. melanocarpa found in New England are diploids, whereas plants throughout the rest of the range are tetraploids. A. mitschurinii is a cultivated hybrid between ×Sorbaronia fallax (C.K.Schneid.) C.K.Schneid. and A. melanocarpa and exists as a tetraploid. There is currently limited diversity of Aronia genotypes in the ornamental and fruit industries, and many of the current cultivars are not adapted to the southern United States and similar environs with limited chilling to break winter dormancy. The goal of this study was to determine 1) the chilling requirements for A. mitschurinii ‘Viking’ and 2) the range of chilling requirements for wild A. melanocarpa genotypes from different geographic origins. Two experiments were conducted in which plants were subjected to various chilling accumulation treatments and then moved to a greenhouse for observation of budbreak and subsequent growth. Expt. 1 was conducted at the University of Maryland at Wye, MD, and focused solely on the commercial cultivar A. mitschurinii ‘Viking’. Outdoor, ambient fall and winter temperatures were used to achieve the chilling treatments. In Expt. 1, we determined the optimal chilling requirements for A. mitschurinii ‘Viking’ to be greater than 900 h using the single temperature model. Expt. 2 was conducted at the University of Connecticut and focused on wild genotypes, plus A. mitschurinii ‘Viking’. A fixed temperature cold room was used to achieve chilling treatments. In Expt. 2, we found A. melanocarpa genotypes from southern regions in the United States required chilling accumulation of 600 h (single temperature model), compared with genotypes from northern regions that required more than 900 h of chilling accumulation. Tetraploid A. melanocarpa required 900 h of chilling to break bud, but diploid A. melanocarpa required 1200 h of chilling to break bud. Expt. 2 confirmed the 900-h chilling requirement for A. mitschurinii ‘Viking’. For both experiments, the rate of budbreak and shoot growth was positively correlated with increasing amounts of chilling

Prototyping the Semantics of a DSL using ASF+SDF: Link to Formal Verification of DSL Models

A formal definition of the semantics of a domain-specific language (DSL) is a key prerequisite for the verification of the correctness of models specified using such a DSL and of transformations applied to these models. For this reason, we implemented a prototype of the semantics of a DSL for the specification of systems consisting of concurrent, communicating objects. Using this prototype, models specified in the DSL can be transformed to labeled transition systems (LTS). This approach of transforming models to LTSs allows us to apply existing tools for visualization and verification to models with little or no further effort. The prototype is implemented using the ASF+SDF Meta-Environment, an IDE for the algebraic specification language ASF+SDF, which offers efficient execution of the transformation as well as the ability to read models and produce LTSs without any additional pre or post processing.Comment: In Proceedings AMMSE 2011, arXiv:1106.596

5-Hydroxyvitamin D concentration in paediatric cancer patients from Scotland:a prospective cohort study

Children with cancer are potentially at high risk of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] inadequacy and despite UK vitamin D supplementation guidelines their implementation remains inconsistent. Thus, we aimed to investigate 25(OH)D concentration and factors contributing to 25(OH)D inadequacy in paediatric cancer patients. A prospective cohort study of Scottish children aged <18 years, diagnosed with and treated for cancer (patients) between Aug 2010-Jan 2014 was performed, with control data from Scottish healthy children (controls). Clinical and nutritional data were collected at defined periods up to 24 months. 25(OH)D status was defined by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (2013); inadequacy [<50 nmol/L: deficiency (<25 nmol/L), insufficiency (25-50 nmol/L)], sufficiency (51-75 nmol/L), optimal (>75 nmol/L). Eighty-two patients [median(IQR) age 3.9(1.9-8.8); 56% males)] and 35 controls [median(IQR) age (6.2(4.8-9.1); 49% males] were recruited. 25(OH)D inadequacy was highly prevalent in the controls (63%; 22/35), and in the patients (64%; 42/65) at both baseline and during treatment (33-50%). Non-supplemented children had the highest prevalence of 25(OH)D inadequacy at every stage with 25(OH)D median(IQR) ranging from 32.0 (21.0-46.5) nmol/L to 45.0(28.0-64.5) nmol/L. Older age at baseline [R=-0.46; p<0.001], overnutrition (BMI ≥85th centile) at 3 months [p=0.005; RR=3.1] and not being supplemented at 6 months (p=0.04; RR=4.3) may have contributed to lower plasma 25(OH)D. Paediatric cancer patients are not at higher risk of 25(OH)D inadequacy than healthy children at diagnosis; however prevalence of 25(OH)D inadequacy is still high and non-supplemented children have a higher risk. Appropriate monitoring and therapeutic supplementation should be implemented

Time of harvest affects United States-grown Aronia mitschurinii berry polyphenols, ◦Brix, and acidity

The goal of this study was to determine how the date of harvest impacts the quality characteristics of Aronia mitschurinii (A. K. Skvortsov and Maitul.) ‘Viking’ and ‘Galicjanka’ berries. Aronia berries were collected from farms in the Midwestern and Northeastern United States over seven weeks of harvest during 2018, 2019 and 2020. The berries were analyzed for total phenol, anthocyanins, proanthocyanins, sugar, and acid. Aronia berry composition modestly deviated between each year of the study. Berries harvested in 2018 had the highest total phenols and proanthocyanidins, both increasing in content from weeks 1–5 from 15.90 ± 3.15–19.65 mg gallic acid equivalents/g fw, a 24% increase, and 2.22 ± 0.40–2.94 mg (+)-catechin equivalents/g fw, a 32% increase, respectively. Berries harvested in 2019 had the lowest total phenol and proanthocyanidin levels and had increasing anthocyanins until week 4. In 2020, aronia berry proanthocyanidins differed from those in 2018 by having 38% lower levels after the 4th week. Across years, berries had increasing ◦Brix, ◦Brix: acid, and pH throughout the seven weeks of harvest. Additionally, all years had slight, but statistically insignificant decreases in acidity over the harvest period. Moreover, analysis from berries collected in 2019 suggests no significant difference in quality factors between Viking and Galicjanka aronia cultivars. In conclusion, aronia berry total phenols, proanthocyanidins, pH, and berry size can be significantly affected by the growing year and time of harvest. Acidity was impacted more by growing year than harvest week. In contrast, anthocyanins and ◦Brix were consistent between years, but influenced considerably by the week of harvest

Spitzer IRS 16 micron Observations of the GOODS Fields

We present Spitzer 16 micron imaging of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) fields. We survey 150 square arcminutes in each of the two GOODS fields (North and South), to an average 3 sigma depth of 40 and 65 micro-Jy respectively. We detect about 1300 sources in both fields combined. We validate the photometry using the 3-24 micron spectral energy distribution of stars in the fields compared to Spitzer spectroscopic templates. Comparison with ISOCAM and AKARI observations in the same fields show reasonable agreement, though the uncertainties are large. We provide a catalog of photometry, with sources cross correlated with available Spitzer, Chandra, and HST data. Galaxy number counts show good agreement with previous results from ISOCAM and AKARI, with improved uncertainties. We examine the 16 to 24 micron flux ratio and find that for most sources it lies within the expected locus for starbursts and infrared luminous galaxies. A color cut of S_{16}/S_{24}>1.4 selects mostly sources which lie at 1.1<z<1.6, where the 24 micron passband contains both the redshifted 9.7 micron silicate absorption and the minimum between PAH emission peaks. We measure the integrated galaxy light of 16 micron sources, and find a lower limit on the galaxy contribution to the extragalactic background light at this wavelength to be 2.2\pm 0.2$ nW m^{-2} sr^{-1}.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the AJ. 53 preprint pages, including 15 figures and 8 tables. Table 1-4 are truncated in the ms.tex but are included in full in the tar file (and will be available in the online version of the AJ

Discovery of a Large ~200 kpc Gaseous Nebula at z=2.7 with the Spitzer Space Telescope

We report the discovery of a very large, spatially extended Ly alpha -emitting nebula at z=2.656 associated with a luminous mid-infrared source. The bright mid-infrared source (F(24um)=0.86 mJy) was first detected in observations made using the Spitzer Space Telescope. Existing broad-band imaging data from the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey revealed the mid-infrared source to be associated with a diffuse, spatially extended, optical counterpart in the Bw band. Spectroscopy and further imaging of this target reveals that the optical source is an almost purely line-emitting nebula with little, if any, detectable diffuse continuum emission. The Lya nebula has a luminosity of L[Lya] ~ 1.7e44 erg/s and an extent of at least 20 arcsec (160 kpc). Its central ~8 arcsec shows an ordered, monotonic velocity profile; interpreted as rotation, this region encloses a mass M = 6e12 Msun. Several sources lie within the nebula. The central region of the nebula shows narrow (~365 km/s) emission lines of CIV and HeII. The mid-infrared source is a compact object lying within the nebula, but offset from the center by a projected distance of ~2.5 arcsec (20 kpc), and likely to be an enshrouded AGN. A young star-forming galaxy lies near the northern end of the nebula. We suggest that the nebula is a site of recent multiple galaxy and AGN formation, with the spatial distribution of galaxies within the nebula perhaps tracking the formation history of the system.Comment: 37 pages (includes 11 figures). Accepted to Ap

A Core Curriculum in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences for Dentistry

INTRODUCTION: The biomedical sciences (BMS) are a central part of the dental curriculum that underpins teaching and clinical practice in all areas of dentistry. Although some specialist groups have proposed curricula in their particular topic areas, there is currently no overarching view of what should be included in a BMS curriculum for undergraduate dental programmes. To address this, the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) convened a Special Interest Group (SIG) with representatives from across Europe to develop a consensus BMS curriculum for dental programmes. CURRICULUM: This paper summarises the outcome of the deliberations of this SIG and details a consensus view from the SIG of what a BMS curriculum should include. CONCLUSIONS: Given the broad nature of BMS applied to dentistry, this curriculum framework is advisory and seeks to provide programme planners with an indicative list of topics which can be mapped to specific learning objectives within their own curricula. As dentistry becomes increasingly specialised, these will change, or some elements of the undergraduate curriculum may move to the post-graduate setting. So, this document should be seen as a beginning and it will need regular review as BMS curricula in dentistry evolve