Ecological Factors Influencing Wild Pig Damage to Planted Pine and Hardwood Seedlings

Expanding wild pig (Sus scrofa) populations across the southern United States has the potential to impact longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) restoration efforts. The depredation of planted pine seedlings is the most widespread and economically costly damage caused by wild pigs in forest plantations. A better understanding of the ecological factors affecting depredation rates will allow managers to implement best management practices to reduce seedling mortality from wild pigs at their most vulnerable stage of growth. From March 2016 to March 2017, we evaluated wild pig preferences for planted pine and hardwood species at a 34.4-ha cutover site and 4.7-ha pecan (Carya illinoinensis) orchard in Bullock County, Alabama, USA. Wild pig damage differed for the 5 seedling species tested, with longleaf and cherrybark oak (Quercus pagodaefolia) being the most preferred. Ninety one percent of seedlings destroyed by wild pigs were from the cutover site. Wild pigs at the cutover site experienced substantially more hunting pressure compared to those at the other site. We believe the debris scattering practices of the logging crew following a clearcut created a desirable foraging environment that led to the initial discovery of the seedlings. The short-term protection and minimization of seedling depredation in young forest plantations may be the most realistic solution to reducing the impact of wild pigs on forestry and timber resources

Casimir force on interacting Bose-Einstein condensate

We have presented an analytic theory for the Casimir force on a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) which is confined between two parallel plates. We have considered Dirichlet boundary conditions for the condensate wave function as well as for the phonon field. We have shown that, the condensate wave function (which obeys the Gross-Pitaevskii equation) is responsible for the mean field part of Casimir force, which usually dominates over the quantum (fluctuations) part of the Casimir force.Comment: Accepted in Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physic

Validation and Performance of the LHC Cryogenic System through Commissioning of the First Sector

The cryogenic system [1] for the Large Hadron Collider accelerator is presently in its final phase of commissioning at nominal operating conditions. The refrigeration capacity for the LHC is produced using eight large cryogenic plants and eight 1.8 K refrigeration units installed on five cryogenic islands. Machine cryogenic equipment is installed in a 26.7-km circumference ring deep underground tunnel and are maintained at their nominal operating conditions via a distribution system consisting of transfer lines, cold interconnection boxes at each cryogenic island and a cryogenic distribution line. The functional analysis of the whole system during all operating conditions was established and validated during the first sector commissioning in order to maximize the system availability. Analysis, operating modes, main failure scenarios, results and performance of the cryogenic system are presented

Efficacy and Safety of Pembrolizumab in Patients Enrolled in KEYNOTE-030 in the United States: An Expanded Access Program.

KEYNOTE-030 (ClinicalTrials.gov ID, NCT02083484) was a global expanded access program that allowed access to pembrolizumab, an antiprogrammed death 1 antibody, for patients with advanced melanoma before its regulatory approval. Patients with unresectable stage III/IV melanoma that progressed after standard-of-care therapy, including ipilimumab and, if BRAF mutant, a BRAF inhibitor, were eligible to receive pembrolizumab 2 mg/kg every 3 weeks. Response was assessed by immune-related response criteria by investigator review. Adverse events (AEs) were graded according to the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0. In the United States, 979 patients enrolled between April and September 2014. Of the 947 evaluable patients, 621 (65.6%) remained on treatment and transitioned to receive commercial pembrolizumab following approval by the Food and Drug Administration, whereas 326 (34.4%) discontinued, most commonly for disease progression (39.6%) or death (26.4%). Objective response rate was 14.5% (95% confidence interval, 12.2%-16.8%) in the treated population (n=947) and 22.1% (95% confidence interval, 18.8%-25.5%) in patients who had ≥1 response assessment reported (n=619). Twelve patients achieved complete response. One hundred eighty-one (19.1%) patients experienced ≥1 treatment-related AE, most commonly general disorders (8.0%), skin/subcutaneous tissue disorders (7.3%), and gastrointestinal disorders (6.4%); 29 (3.1%) patients experienced ≥1 grade 3/4 treatment-related AE. Immune-mediated AEs were also reported. There were no treatment-related deaths. The safety and efficacy observed in this expanded access program were consistent with those previously reported for similar populations and support the use of pembrolizumab for patients with advanced melanoma

An exploratory mixed methods study of the acceptability and effectiveness of mindfulness -based cognitive therapy for patients with active depression and anxiety in primary care

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is an 8-week course developed for patients with relapsing depression that integrates mindfulness meditation practices and cognitive theory. Previous studies have demonstrated that non-depressed participants with a history of relapsing depression are protected from relapse by participating in the course. This exploratory study examined the acceptability and effectiveness of MBCT for patients in primary care with active symptoms of depression and anxiety METHODS: 13 patients with recurrent depression or recurrent depression and anxiety were recruited to take part in the study. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted three months after completing the MBCT programme. A framework approach was used to analyse the data. Beck depression inventories (BDI-II) and Beck anxiety inventories (BAI) provided quantitative data and were administered before and three months after the intervention. RESULTS: The qualitative data indicated that mindfulness training was both acceptable and beneficial to the majority of patients. For many of the participants, being in a group was an important normalising and validating experience. However most of the group believed the course was too short and thought that some form of follow up was essential. More than half the patients continued to apply mindfulness techniques three months after the course had ended. A minority of patients continued to experience significant levels of psychological distress, particularly anxiety. Statistically significant reductions in mean depression and anxiety scores were observed; the mean pre-course depression score was 35.7 and post-course score was 17.8 (p = 0.001). A similar reduction was noted for anxiety with a mean pre-course anxiety score of 32.0 and mean post course score of 20.5 (p = 0.039). Overall 8/11 (72%) patients showed improvements in BDI and 7/11 (63%) patients showed improvements in BAI. In general the results of the qualitative analysis agreed well with the quantitative changes in depression and anxiety reported. CONCLUSION: The results of this exploratory mixed methods study suggest that mindfulness based cognitive therapy may have a role to play in treating active depression and anxiety in primary care

Validation and Performance of the LHC Cryogenic System through Commissioning of the First Sector

The cryogenic system [1] for the Large Hadron Collider accelerator is presently in its final phase of commissioning at nominal operating conditions. The refrigeration capacity for the LHC is produced using eight large cryogenic plants and eight 1.8 K refrigeration units installed on five cryogenic islands. Machine cryogenic equipment is installed in a 26.7-km circumference ring deep underground tunnel and are maintained at their nominal operating conditions via a distribution system consisting of transfer lines, cold interconnection boxes at each cryogenic island and a cryogenic distribution line. The functional analysis of the whole system during all operating conditions was established and validated during the first sector commissioning in order to maximize the system availability. Analysis, operating modes, main failure scenarios, results and performance of the cryogenic system are presented

Engineering design of vertical test stand cryostat

Under Indian Institutions and Fermilab collaboration, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory are jointly developing 2K Vertical Test Stand (VTS) cryostats for testing SCRF cavities at 2K. The VTS cryostat has been designed for a large testing aperture of 86.36 cm for testing of 325 MHz Spoke resonators, 650 MHz and 1.3 GHz multi-cell SCRF cavities for Fermilab's Project-X. Units will be installed at Fermilab and RRCAT and used to test cavities for Project-X. A VTS cryostat comprises of liquid helium (LHe) vessel with internal magnetic shield, top insert plate equipped with cavity support stand and radiation shield, liquid nitrogen (LN{sub 2}) shield and vacuum vessel with external magnetic shield. The engineering design and analysis of VTS cryostat has been carried out using ASME B&PV Code and Finite Element Analysis. Design of internal and external magnetic shields was performed to limit the magnetic field inside LHe vessel at the cavity surface <1 {micro}T. Thermal analysis for LN{sub 2} shield has been performed to check the effectiveness of LN{sub 2} cooling and for compliance with ASME piping code allowable stresses

Cognitive group therapy for depressive students: The case study

The aims of this study were to assess whether a course of cognitive group therapy could help depressed students and to assess whether assimilation analysis offers a useful way of analysing students' progress through therapy. “Johanna” was a patient in a group that was designed for depressive students who had difficulties with their studies. The assimilation of Johanna's problematic experience progressed as the meetings continued from level one (unpleasant thoughts) to level six (solving the problem). Johanna's problematic experience manifested itself as severe and excessive criticism towards herself and her study performance. As the group meetings progressed, Johanna found a new kind of tolerance that increased her determination and assertiveness regarding the studies. The dialogical structure of Johanna's problematic experience changed: she found hope and she was more assertive after the process. The results indicated that this kind of psycho-educational group therapy was an effective method for treating depression. The assimilation analysis offered a useful way of analysing the therapy process