MR230: Weight Tables for Tree and Shrub Species in Maine

Some biomass data on the components of tree and shrub species were collected nearly every summer from 1963 through 1978 for the express purpose of relating fresh and dry weight to the commonly measured physical dimensions of height and diameter at breast height. The first opportunity to conduct a biomass inventory occurred in 1974 in conjunction with a volume inventory of the Public Lots in Maine. In order to include all woody vegetation at least 1.0\u27 (30 cm) in height it was decided to measure all trees 1.0 (2.5 cm) and larger on a variable point sample and to measure the smaller trees and shrubs on a small fixed plot. In 1978 all of the biomass data in the files were compiled by components within species and three new sets of equations were prepared for each species relating fresh and dry weight by component, aboveground portion and the complete tree to diameter at breast height, and to height for the small saplings. These equations are presented in tabular form extending over the range of the field data in both English and Metric units.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_miscreports/1019/thumbnail.jp

Younger but sicker? : Cohort trends in disease accumulation among middle-aged and older adults in Scotland using health-linked data from the Scottish Longitudinal Study

This research was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Population Change Connecting Generations research programme, grant number ES/W002116/1. This work was supported by the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Wellcome Trust, the Government Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the British Heart Foundation Diabetes UK, and the Global Challenges Research Fund [Grant number SBF004\1093 awarded to Katherine Keenan]. The contribution from AM is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (grant number NIHR202639).Background In the United Kingdom, rising prevalence of multimorbidity—the co-occurrence of two or more chronic conditions- is coinciding with stagnation in life expectancy. We investigate patterns of disease accumulation and how they vary by birth cohort, social and environmental inequalities in Scotland, a country which has long suffered from excess mortality and poorer health outcomes relative to its neighbours. Methods Using a dataset which links census data from 1991, 2001 and 2011 to disease registers and hospitalization data, we follow cohorts of adults aged 30–69 years for 18 years. We model physical and mental disease accumulation using linear mixed-effects models. Results Recent cohorts experience higher levels of chronic disease accumulation compared to their predecessors at the same ages. Moreover, in more recently born cohorts we observe socioeconomic status disparities emerging earlier in the life course, which widen over time and with every successive cohort. Patterns of chronic conditions are also changing, and the most common diseases suffered by later born cohorts are cancer, hypertension, asthma, drug and alcohol problems and depression. Conclusion We recommend policies which target prevention of chronic disease in working age adults, considering how and why certain conditions are becoming more prevalent across time and space.Peer reviewe

B758: A Biomass Study of the Thinning Potential and Productivity of Immature Forest Stands in Maine

The purpose of this study is to establish the degree of reliability that can be placed in biomass as a means of assessing thinning potential and site productivity of immature forest stands in Maine. The above ground biomass on 205 plots representing a variety of age classes in immature hardwood and softwood stands on meso, wet, and dry sites was cut and weighed including the standing dead trees on softwood sites. In addition, 45 point sample biomass plots were located and measured in mature all aged stands. Graphical analysis was used to relate stand characteristics to age by site and species groups for the immature stands.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1064/thumbnail.jp

A discrete geometric approach for simulating the dynamics of thin viscous threads

We present a numerical model for the dynamics of thin viscous threads based on a discrete, Lagrangian formulation of the smooth equations. The model makes use of a condensed set of coordinates, called the centerline/spin representation: the kinematical constraints linking the centerline's tangent to the orientation of the material frame is used to eliminate two out of three degrees of freedom associated with rotations. Based on a description of twist inspired from discrete differential geometry and from variational principles, we build a full-fledged discrete viscous thread model, which includes in particular a discrete representation of the internal viscous stress. Consistency of the discrete model with the classical, smooth equations is established formally in the limit of a vanishing discretization length. The discrete models lends itself naturally to numerical implementation. Our numerical method is validated against reference solutions for steady coiling. The method makes it possible to simulate the unsteady behavior of thin viscous jets in a robust and efficient way, including the combined effects of inertia, stretching, bending, twisting, large rotations and surface tension

The EU societal awareness of landscape indicator: a review of its meaning, utility and performance across different scales

There is increasing recognition that agricultural landscapes meet multiple societal needs and demands beyond provision of economic and environmental goods and services. Accordingly, there have been significant calls for the inclusion of societal, amenity and cultural values in agri-environmental landscape indicators to assist policy makers in monitoring the wider impacts of land-based policies. However, capturing the amenity and cultural values that rural agrarian areas provide, by use of such indicators, presents significant challenges. The EU social awareness of landscape indicator represents a new class of generalized social indicator using a top-down methodology to capture the social dimensions of landscape without reference to the specific structural and cultural characteristics of individual landscapes. This paper reviews this indicator in the context of existing agri-environmental indicators and their differing design concepts. Using a stakeholder consultation approach in five case study regions, the potential and limitations of the indicator are evaluated, with a particular focus on its perceived meaning, utility and performance in the context of different user groups and at different geographical scales. This analysis supplements previous EU-wide assessments, through regional scale assessment of the limitations and potentialities of the indicator and the need for further data collection. The evaluation finds that the perceived meaning of the indicator does not vary with scale, but in common with all mapped indicators, the usefulness of the indicator, to different user groups, does change with scale of presentation. This indicator is viewed as most useful when presented at the scale of governance at which end users operate. The relevance of the different sub-components of the indicator are also found to vary across regions

Wavefront healing renders deep plumes seismically invisible

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86947/1/j.1365-246X.2011.05173.x.pd

Accelerated amyloid deposition, neurofibrillary degeneration and neuronal loss in double mutant APP/tau transgenic mice

Even though the idea that amyloid beta peptide accumulation is the primary event in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease has become the leading hypothesis, the causal link between aberrant amyloid precursor protein processing and tau alterations in this type of dementia remains controversial. We further investigated the role of beta-amyloid production/deposition in tau pathology and neuronal cell death in the mouse brain by crossing Tg2576 and VLW lines expressing human mutant amyloid precursor protein and human mutant tau, respectively. The resulting double transgenic mice showed enhanced amyloid deposition accompanied by neurofibrillary degeneration and overt neuronal loss in selectively vulnerable brain limbic areas. These findings challenge the idea that tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease is merely a downstream effect of amyloid production/deposition and suggest that reciprocal interactions between beta-amyloid and tau alterations may take place in vivo

Stress, strain, and B‐type olivine fabric in the fore‐arc mantle: Sensitivity tests using high‐resolution steady‐state subduction zone models

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94925/1/jgrb15022.pd