Strain identity of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor is more important than richness in regulating plant and fungal performance under nutrient rich conditions

This work was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/I014527/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Hydrogen partitioning as a function of time-on-stream for an unpromoted iron-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst applied to CO hydrogenation

Sasol Ltd., the EPSRC (award reference EP/P505534/1), and the University of Glasgow are thanked for the provision of a postgraduate studentship (ALD). The STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is thanked for access to neutron beam facilities. The Royal Society is thanked for the provision of an Industry Fellowship (PBW).Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) is employed to examine the evolution of a promoter-free iron-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst (∼10 g catalyst charge) that is exposed to ambient pressure CO hydrogenation at 623 K for up to 10 days time-on-stream (T-o-S). The longer reaction time is selected to better understand how the formation of a previously described hydrocarbonaceous overlayer corresponds to the catalyst conditioning process. Although the onset of pseudo steady-state reactor performance is observed at approximately 9 h T-o-S, INS establishes that the intensity of the C-H stretching mode of the sp3-hybridized component of the hydrocarbonaceous overlayer saturates at about 24 h T-o-S, while the corresponding intensity of the C-H stretching mode of the sp2-hybridized component requires 100-200 h T-o-S to achieve saturation. This novel series of measurements reveal different aspects of the complex catalyst evolutionary process to be indirectly connected with catalytic turnover.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

PVR: Patch-to-Volume Reconstruction for Large Area Motion Correction of Fetal MRI

In this paper we present a novel method for the correction of motion artifacts that are present in fetal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans of the whole uterus. Contrary to current slice-to-volume registration (SVR) methods, requiring an inflexible anatomical enclosure of a single investigated organ, the proposed patch-to-volume reconstruction (PVR) approach is able to reconstruct a large field of view of non-rigidly deforming structures. It relaxes rigid motion assumptions by introducing a specific amount of redundant information that is exploited with parallelized patch-wise optimization, super-resolution, and automatic outlier rejection. We further describe and provide an efficient parallel implementation of PVR allowing its execution within reasonable time on commercially available graphics processing units (GPU), enabling its use in the clinical practice. We evaluate PVR's computational overhead compared to standard methods and observe improved reconstruction accuracy in presence of affine motion artifacts of approximately 30% compared to conventional SVR in synthetic experiments. Furthermore, we have evaluated our method qualitatively and quantitatively on real fetal MRI data subject to maternal breathing and sudden fetal movements. We evaluate peak-signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity index (SSIM), and cross correlation (CC) with respect to the originally acquired data and provide a method for visual inspection of reconstruction uncertainty. With these experiments we demonstrate successful application of PVR motion compensation to the whole uterus, the human fetus, and the human placenta.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. v2: wadded funders acknowledgements to preprin

1004-59 Vascular Acoustic Emissions During Angioplasty: Potential Role in Identification of Induced Dissection

A fundamental mechanism of balloon angioplasty (BA) is plaque rupture. Rupture leading to dissection, however, has been implicated as an underlyIng factor responsible for both acute and chronic adverse outcomes. Acoustic emissions (AE) — transient sound waves generated by microstructural alterations of a material subjected to mechanical stress — may provide a novel means of characterizing BA-induced tissue trauma. Using a novel acoustic sensor system, we examined the relationship between cumulative AE energy released by human arterial tissue during BA and the observed pathologic injury. Post-mortem human arterial specimens (19) were subjected to identical SA with simultaneous monitoring of intraluminal pressure and AE. Sound energy was integrated throughout the pressurization period to obtain an estimate of the cumulative AE energy released during dilatation. Postangioplasty inspection revealed a marked difference in AE energy released by specimens that experienced traumatic dissection vs. non-dissection dilatation:Sound energy released by vascular tissue undergoing balloon angioplasty discriminates dissection from non-dissection tissue trauma. Given the deleterious role that dissection can play in SA, this novel system may provide a means of improving procedural outcome

Development and Utility of Quality Metrics for Ambulatory Pediatric Cardiology in Kawasaki Disease.

The Adult Congenital and Pediatric Cardiology (ACPC) Section of the American College of Cardiology sought to develop quality indicators/metrics for ambulatory pediatric cardiology practice. The objective of this study was to report the creation of metrics for patients with Kawasaki disease. Over a period of 5 months, 12 pediatric cardiologists developed 24 quality metrics based on the most relevant statements, guidelines, and research studies pertaining to Kawasaki disease. Of the 24 metrics, the 8 metrics deemed the most important, feasible, and valid were sent on to the ACPC for consideration. Seven of the 8 metrics were approved using the RAND method by an expert panel. All 7 metrics approved by the ACPC council were accepted by ACPC membership after an "open comments" process. They have been disseminated to the pediatric cardiology community for implementation by the ACPC Quality Network

AN ANALYSIS OF SIZE, WEIGHT AND POWER (SWAP) FOR EMP SHIELDING OF THE RAAD SYSTEM

In 2019, the U.S. Army’s Future Study Program designed and led the Unified Quest Multinational Seminar Wargame. This wargame examined U.S. forces, partners, and allies’ interoperability requirements to defeat a near-peer threat in a future operational environment. As part of the seminar wargame, Army forces executed a critical air assault operation in adversary-controlled terrain to support a river crossing. This task covers multiple aspects of operational planning and coordination for an assault operation as outlined in AFC Pamphlet 71 20-1. An air assault execution revealed the challenges of performing a complex forcible entry operation in a contested, anti-access/aerial denial (A2/AD) environment. Even with future aircraft, the air assault operation was vulnerable to enemy air defense capabilities. Landing zone restrictions reduce the number of areas the multinational forces could conduct air assault operations, providing a marked advantage to near-peer adversaries in planning likely counterattack operations and increasing the risk to forces. Through a combination of integrated air defense systems (IADS), indirect fires, direct fires, and reserve formations specifically tasked with contesting air assault operations, threat forces are expected to contest the air assault force during insertion. As the report stated, the wargame demonstrated the need for new Army air assault capabilities.Major, United States ArmyMajor, United States ArmyCaptain, United States ArmyMajor, United States ArmyMajor, United States ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

An inexpensive device for monitoring patients' weights via automated hovering

Daily weight monitoring is integral to the management of heart failure (HF) [1]. Indeed, weight gain is a marker of HF decompensation, and daily weight monitoring has been associated with favorable prognosis [2]. Until now, assessment of weight has required patients to attend an in-person visit, which provides only an infrequent snapshot of their weight. Remote hovering practices have gained considerable traction during the past several years [3–7], but their use outside of research settings has been limited

The application of inelastic neutron scattering to investigate iron-based Fischer-Tropsch to olefins catalysis

Sasol Ltd., the University of Glasgow and EPSRC [award reference EP/P505534/1.] are thanked for the provision of postgraduate studentship (ALD). The STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is thanked for access to neutron beam facilities [RB 1520269/1610413]. Diamond Light Source is thanked for time on B18 beamline through the Catalysis Hub BAG application (SP15151 and rapid access beamtime SP18431). The Royal Society is thanked for the provision of an Industry Fellowship (PBW).The technique of inelastic neutron scattering (INS) is used to investigate how hydrogen is partitioned within a series of Na and S promoted iron-based Fischer-Tropsch-to-olefin catalysts. Two reaction test regimes are examined. First, reaction testing at elevated temperature and pressure demonstrate how Na/S additions enhance short chain olefin selectivity and reduce methane formation under industrially relevant reaction conditions. For a fixed level of Na incorporation (2000 ppm), sulfur concentrations of ≤ 100 ppm result in only a modest improvement in olefin selectivity. However, for sulfur values of ≥ 100 ppm there is a noticeable and systematic increase in C2-C4 olefin selectivity; rising from ∼30.0 % to 35.2% at 250 ppm. Second, using ambient pressure CO hydrogenation as a test reaction in INS and micro-reactor configurations, catalyst samples are further analysed by TPR, TPO, XRD and S K-edge XANES. INS shows the formation of a hydrocarbonaceous overlayer to be significantly attenuated by the presence of the promoters, with increasing S levels significantly reducing the intensity of the sp2 and sp3 hybridised ν(C-H) modes of the overlayer, albeit to differing degrees. A probable role for how this combination of promoters is perturbing the form of the hydrocarbonaceous overlayer to subsequently moderate the product distribution is considered.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe