Relationship of tree survival and yield to coal-spoil characteristics

A study was made of the relationships between 7· to 8.year survival and yield of two broadleaved and five coniferous species and a number of selected chemical characteristics of Iowa coal.spoil materials. The objectives were: (1) to determine if survival and yield of these tree species are related to the chemical characteristics of the spoils, (2) to identify those spoil chemicals most closely related to survival and yield of each of the tree species tested and (3) to provide this information to permit formulation of hypotheses for future controlled experiments

Tree survival and growth on Iowa coal-spoil materials

An evaluation was made of 7- to 8- year survival and growth of 15 tree species of conifers and hardwoods planted on several classes of coal-spoil materials in southeastern Iowa. The more important results were: 1. Green ash survived better than all other species on a variety of coal-spoil materials and appeared best adapted to the more moist sites on the moderately acid to calcareous spoils. 2. Cottonwood grew much faster than all other species on a variety of coal-spoil materials and grew to more than double the height of green ash. 3. Survival and growth of eastern redcedar were best on the calcareous coal-spoil materials. This species is drouth resistant and can be planted on the drier sites. 4. Survival and growth of all pine species tested were very poor on the calcareous coal- spoil materials; apparently, these pines should not be planted on calcareous shales and glacial tills. 5. Of all species tested, jack and Virginia pine appeared best adapted to the dry sites on the strongly and moderately acid spoil materials. Pitch pine was adapted to the same materials but probably should be planted on more moist sites. 6. Red and eastern white pine were best adapted to the slightly acid, more fertile, moist, well-drained sites, and plantings of these species probably should be limited to these locations.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/specialreports/1036/thumbnail.jp

Professional Standards for School-Based Behavior Analysts

The Professional Standards for School-Based Behavior Analysts are intended to serve as an enhanced foundational layer for behavior analysts working specifically in the context of public school settings. These Professional Standards were developed by a team of behavior analysts with experience working in public schools and feedback was obtained from additional behavior analysts and other education professionals. There are five identified Professional Standard areas including: 1) Ethical & Professional Practice; 2) Collaboration; 3) Systems Capacity Building; 4) Instruction; and 5) Leadership & Policy

EXACKTE2: Exploiting the clinical consultation as a knowledge transfer and exchange environment: a study protocol

Background While the evidence suggests that the way physicians provide information to patients is crucial in helping patients decide upon a course of action, the field of knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) is silent about how the physician and the patient influence each other during clinical interactions and decision-making. Consequently, based on a novel relationship-centered model, EXACKTE2 (EXploiting the clinicAl Consultation as a Knowledge Transfer and Exchange Environment), this study proposes to assess how patients and physicians influence each other in consultations. Methods We will employ a cross-sectional study design involving 300 pairs of patients and family physicians from two primary care practice-based research networks. The consultation between patient and physician will be audio-taped and transcribed. Following the consultation, patients and physicians will complete a set of questionnaires based on the EXACKTE2 model. All questionnaires will be similar for patients and physicians. These questionnaires will assess the key concepts of our proposed model based on the essential elements of shared decision-making (SDM): definition and explanation of problem; presentation of options; discussion of pros and cons; clarification of patient values and preferences; discussion of patient ability and self-efficacy; presentation of doctor knowledge and recommendation; and checking and clarifying understanding. Patients will be contacted by phone two weeks later and asked to complete questionnaires on decisional regret and quality of life. The analysis will be conducted to compare the key concepts in the EXACKTE2 model between patients and physicians. It will also allow the assessment of how patients and physicians influence each other in consultations. Discussion Our proposed model, EXACKTE2, is aimed at advancing the science of KTE based on a relationship process when decision-making has to take place. It fosters a new KTE paradigm by putting forward a relationship-centered perspective and has the potential to reveal unknown mechanisms that underline effective KTE in clinical contexts. This will result in better understanding of the mechanisms that may promote a new generation of knowledge transfer strategies

Role of N-terminal tau domain integrity on the survival of cerebellar granule neurons

Although the role of the microtubule-binding domain of the tau protein in the modulation of microtubule assembly is widely established, other possible functions of this protein have been poorly investigated. We have analyzed the effect of adenovirally mediated expression of two fragments of the N-terminal portion - free of microtubule-binding domain - of the tau protein in cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs). We found that while the expression of the tau (1-230) fragment, as well as of full-length tau, inhibits the onset of apoptosis, the tau (1-44) fragment exerts a powerful toxic action on the same neurons. The antiapoptotic action of tau (1-230) is exerted at the level of Akt-mediated activation of the caspase cascade. On the other hand, the toxic action of the (1-44) fragment is not prevented by inhibitors of CGN apoptosis, but is fully inhibited by NMDA receptor antagonists. These findings point to a novel, physiological role of the N-terminal domain of tau, but also underlay that its possible proteolytic truncation mediated by apoptotic proteases may generate a highly toxic fragment that could contribute to neuronal death

Upsilon (nS) polarizations versus particle multiplicity in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

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Constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings using production and decay information in the four-lepton final state

© 2017 The Author A search is performed for anomalous interactions of the recently discovered Higgs boson using matrix element techniques with the information from its decay to four leptons and from associated Higgs boson production with two quark jets in either vector boson fusion or associated production with a vector boson. The data were recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 38.6fb −1 . They are combined with the data collected at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5.1 and 19.7fb −1 , respectively. All observations are consistent with the expectations for the standard model Higgs boson

Search for new long-lived particles at root s=13 TeV

A search for long-lived particles was performed with data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.6 fb(-1) collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV by the CMS experiment in 2015. The analysis exploits two customized topological trigger algorithms, and uses the multiplicity of displaced jets to search for the presence of a signal decay occurring at distances between 1 and 1000 mm. The results can be interpreted in a variety of different models. For pair-produced long-lived particles decaying to two b quarks and two leptons with equal decay rates between lepton flavors, cross sections larger than 2.5 fb are excluded for proper decay lengths between 70-100 mm for a long-lived particle mass of 1130 GeV at 95% confidence. For a specific model of pair-produced, long-lived top squarks with R-parity violating decays to a b quark and a lepton, masses below 550-1130 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence for equal branching fractions between lepton flavors, depending on the squark decay length. This mass bound is the most stringent to date for top squark proper decay lengths greater than 3 mm. (C) 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe