416 research outputs found
Comparison of fungal spores concentrations measured with wideband integrated bioaerosol sensor and Hirst methodology
The aim of this work was to provide both a comparison of traditional and novel methodologies for airborne spores detection (i.e. the Hirst Burkard trap and WIBS-4) and the first quantitative study of airborne fungal concentrations in Payerne (Western Switzerland) as well as their relation to meteorological parameters. From the traditional method -Hirst trap and microscope analysis-, sixty-three propagule types (spores, sporangia and hyphae) were identified and the average spore concentrations measured over the full period amounted to 4145 ± 263.0 spores/m3. Maximum values were reached on July 19th and on August 6th. Twenty-six spore types reached average levels above 10 spores/m3. Airborne fungal propagules in Payerne showed a clear seasonal pattern, increasing from low values in early spring to maxima in summer. Daily average concentrations above 5000 spores/m3 were almost constant in summer from mid-June onwards. Weather parameters showed a relevant role for determining the observed spore concentrations. Coniferous forest, dominant in the surroundings, may be a relevant source for airborne fungal propagules as their distribution and predominant wind directions are consistent with the origin. The comparison between the two methodologies used in this campaign showed remarkably consistent patterns throughout the campaign. A correlation coefficient of 0.9 (CI 0.76â0.96) was seen between the two over the time period for daily resolutions (Hirst trap and WIBS-4). This apparent co-linearity was seen to fall away once increased resolution was employed. However at higher resolutions upon removal of Cladosporium species from the total fungal concentrations (Hirst trap), an increased correlation coefficient was again noted between the two instruments (R = 0.81 with confidence intervals of 0.74 and 0.86)
Electromagnetic Polarizabilities of Nucleons bound in Ca, O and He
Differential cross sections for elastic scattering of photons have been
measured for Ca at energies of 58 and 74 MeV and for O and He
at 61 MeV, in the angular range from 45 to 150. Evidence is obtained
that there are no significant in-medium modifications of the electromagnetic
polarizabilities except for those originating from meson exchange currents.Comment: 20 pages including 5 Figure
Meson-induced correlations of nucleons in nuclear Compton scattering
The non-resonant (seagull) contribution to the nuclear Compton amplitude at
low energies is strongly influenced by nucleon correlations arising from meson
exchange. We study this problem in a modified Fermi gas model, where nuclear
correlation functions are obtained with the help of perturbation theory. The
dependence of the mesonic seagull amplitude on the nuclear radius is
investigated and the influence of a realistic nuclear density on this amplitude
is dicussed. We found that different form factors appear for the static part
(proportional to the enhancement constant ) of the mesonic seagull
amplitude and for the parts, which contain the contribution from
electromagnetic polarizabilities.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, epsf.sty, 9 eps figures
Articulating practice through the interview to the double
The paper aims to realise the critical potential of the practice lens by contributing to the
development of a coherent set of methodologies for investigating work and
organisational activity. It does so by introducing and critically assessing the "interview
to the double" as a method to articulate and represent practice.
After briefly illustrating its history and usage, the paper analyses in depth the setting
generated by this unusual interview method. It argues that the nature of the encounter
produces narratives that are often morally connoted and idealised in character. As a
consequence the method is especially useful to capture the going concerns which orient
the conduct of the members and the normative and moral dimension of practice. The
paper also shows that because it mimics familiar instruction-giving discursive practices,
the method constitutes an effective textual device to convey this moral and normative
dimension in a way which remains faithful to its situated and contingent nature of
practice
Recommended Terminology for Aerobiological Studies
Aerobiology is an interdisciplinary science where researchers with different backgrounds are involved in different topics related to microorganism, airborne biological particles, e.g. pollen and spores, and phenology. Some concepts, words or expressions used in aerobiology have a clear definition, but are however frequently misused. Therefore, the working group âQuality Controlâ of the European Aerobiology Society (EAS) and the International Association of Aerobiology (IAA) would like to clarify some of them, their use and presentation
Real-time pollen identification using holographic imaging and fluorescence measurements
Over the past few years, a diverse range of automatic real-time instruments has been developed to respond to the needs of end users in terms of information about atmospheric bioaerosols. One of them, the SwisensPoleno Jupiter, is an airflow cytometer used for operational automatic bioaerosol monitoring. The instrument records holographic images and fluorescence information for single aerosol particles, which can be used for identification of several aerosol types, in particular different pollen taxa. To improve the pollen identification algorithm applied to the SwisensPoleno Jupiter and currently based only on the holography data, we explore the impact of merging fluorescence spectra measurements with holographic images. We demonstrate, using measurements of aerosolised pollen, that combining information from these two sources results in a considerable improvement in the classification performance compared to using only a single source (balanced accuracy of 0.992 vs. 0.968 and 0.878). This increase in performance can be ascribed to the fact that often classes which are difficult to resolve using holography alone can be well identified using fluorescence and vice versa. We also present a detailed statistical analysis of the features of the pollen grains that are measured and provide a robust, physically based insight into the algorithm's identification process. The results are expected to have a direct impact on operational pollen identification models, particularly improving the recognition of taxa responsible for respiratory allergies.</p
The Spin-Dependent Structure Functions of Nuclei in the Meson-Nucleon Theory
A theoretical approach to the investigation of spin-dependent structure
functions in deep inelastic scattering of polarized leptons off polarized
nuclei, based on the effective meson-nucleon theory and operator product
expansion method, is proposed and applied to deuteron and . The explicit
forms of the moments of the deuteron and spin-dependent structure
functions are found and numerical estimates of the influence of nuclear
structure effects are presented.Comment: 42 pages revtex, 7 postscript figures available from above e-mail
upon request. Perugia preprint DFUPG 92/9
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