Projected Red Pine Yields from Aldrin-Treated and Untreated Stands Damaged by White Grub (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and Other Agents at Stand Age Ten Years

White grubs affect pine plantations by killing some trees and by reducing vigor and growth of others. Light to moderate mortality only slightly affects timber yields and financial re- turns if the level of trees remains at the number required for full utilization of the site. Reduced height growth, however, lowers apparent site quality and substantially affects yields and financial returns. The 100 year projections suggest that greater product volumes, financial returns. and higher interest rates on the investment will be gained by grub control before tree growth is reduced

IMPROVING PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

The volume densities of giant molecular clouds in M83

Using observed GALEX far-ultraviolet (FUV) fluxes and VLA images of the 21-cm HI column densities, along with estimates of the local dust abundances, we measure the volume densities of a sample of actively star-forming giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in the nearby spiral galaxy M83 on a typical resolution scale of 170 pc. Our approach is based on an equilibrium model for the cycle of molecular hydrogen formation on dust grains and photodissociation under the influence of the FUV radiation on the cloud surfaces of GMCs. We find a range of total volume densities on the surface of GMCs in M83, namely 0.1 - 400 cm-3 inside R25, 0.5 - 50 cm-3 outside R25 . Our data include a number of GMCs in the HI ring surrounding this galaxy. Finally, we discuss the effects of observational selection, which may bias our results.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure

Gravity Spy: Integrating Advanced LIGO Detector Characterization, Machine Learning, and Citizen Science

(abridged for arXiv) With the first direct detection of gravitational waves, the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has initiated a new field of astronomy by providing an alternate means of sensing the universe. The extreme sensitivity required to make such detections is achieved through exquisite isolation of all sensitive components of LIGO from non-gravitational-wave disturbances. Nonetheless, LIGO is still susceptible to a variety of instrumental and environmental sources of noise that contaminate the data. Of particular concern are noise features known as glitches, which are transient and non-Gaussian in their nature, and occur at a high enough rate so that accidental coincidence between the two LIGO detectors is non-negligible. In this paper we describe an innovative project that combines crowdsourcing with machine learning to aid in the challenging task of categorizing all of the glitches recorded by the LIGO detectors. Through the Zooniverse platform, we engage and recruit volunteers from the public to categorize images of glitches into pre-identified morphological classes and to discover new classes that appear as the detectors evolve. In addition, machine learning algorithms are used to categorize images after being trained on human-classified examples of the morphological classes. Leveraging the strengths of both classification methods, we create a combined method with the aim of improving the efficiency and accuracy of each individual classifier. The resulting classification and characterization should help LIGO scientists to identify causes of glitches and subsequently eliminate them from the data or the detector entirely, thereby improving the rate and accuracy of gravitational-wave observations. We demonstrate these methods using a small subset of data from LIGO's first observing run.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Classifying the unknown: discovering novel gravitational-wave detector glitches using similarity learning

The observation of gravitational waves from compact binary coalescences by LIGO and Virgo has begun a new era in astronomy. A critical challenge in making detections is determining whether loud transient features in the data are caused by gravitational waves or by instrumental or environmental sources. The citizen-science project \emph{Gravity Spy} has been demonstrated as an efficient infrastructure for classifying known types of noise transients (glitches) through a combination of data analysis performed by both citizen volunteers and machine learning. We present the next iteration of this project, using similarity indices to empower citizen scientists to create large data sets of unknown transients, which can then be used to facilitate supervised machine-learning characterization. This new evolution aims to alleviate a persistent challenge that plagues both citizen-science and instrumental detector work: the ability to build large samples of relatively rare events. Using two families of transient noise that appeared unexpectedly during LIGO's second observing run (O2), we demonstrate the impact that the similarity indices could have had on finding these new glitch types in the Gravity Spy program

Anatomical constraints to C4 evolution: light harvesting capacity in the bundle sheath.

In C4 photosynthesis CO2 assimilation and reduction are typically coordinated across mesophyll (M) and bundle sheath (BS) cells, respectively. This system consequently requires sufficient light to reach BS to generate enough ATP to allow ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) regeneration in BS. Leaf anatomy influences BS light penetration and therefore constrains C4 cycle functionality. Using an absorption scattering model (coded in Excel, and freely downloadable) we simulate light penetration profiles and rates of ATP production in BS across the C3 , C3 -C4 and C4 anatomical continua. We present a trade-off for light absorption between BS pigment concentration and space allocation. C3 BS anatomy limits light absorption and benefits little from high pigment concentrations. Unpigmented BS extensions increase BS light penetration. C4 and C3 -C4 anatomies have the potential to generate sufficient ATP in the BS, whereas typical C3 anatomy does not, except some C3 taxa closely related to C4 groups. Insufficient volume of BS, relative to M, will hamper a C4 cycle via insufficient BS light absorption. Thus, BS ATP production and RuBP regeneration, coupled with increased BS investments, allow greater operational plasticity. We propose that larger BS in C3 lineages may be co-opted for C3 -C4 and C4 biochemistry requirements

Expertise in physiological breech birth: A mixed-methods study

Background The safety of vaginal breech birth depends on the expertise of birth attendants, yet the meaning of “expertise” remains unclear and subjectively defined. The objective of this study was to define expertise and the roles experts may play in expanding access to this service. Methods We performed an integrative analysis of two strands of data concerning expertise in physiological breech birth, including the following: survey data from a Delphi study involving 26 very experienced clinicians (mean experience = 135 breech births) and 2 service user representatives, and interviews from a grounded theory study of 14 clinicians more moderately experienced with physiological methods (5-30 upright breech births). Data were pooled and analyzed using constant comparative methods. Results Expertise is defined by its ongoing function, the generation of comparatively good outcomes, and confidence and competence among colleagues. Although clinical experience is important, expertise is developed and expressed in social clinical roles, which expand as experience grows: clinician, mentor, specialist, and expert. To develop expertise within a service, clinicians who have an interest in breech birth should be supported to perform these roles within specialist teams. Conclusions Specialist breech teams may facilitate the development of expertise within maternity care settings. Evaluation of expertise based on enablement of women and colleagues, as well as outcomes, will potentially avoid the pitfalls of alienation produced by some forms of specialist authority

A strong redshift dependence of the broad absorption line quasar fraction

We describe the application of non-negative matrix factorisation to generate compact reconstructions of quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), with particular reference to broad absorption line quasars (BALQSOs). BAL properties are measured for SiIV lambda1400, CIV lambda1550, AlIII lambda1860 and MgII lambda2800, resulting in a catalogue of 3547 BALQSOs. Two corrections, based on extensive testing of synthetic BALQSO spectra, are applied in order to estimate the intrinsic fraction of CIV BALQSOs. First, the probability of an observed BALQSO spectrum being identified as such by our algorithm is calculated as a function of redshift, signal-to-noise ratio and BAL properties. Second, the different completenesses of the SDSS target selection algorithm for BALQSOs and non-BAL quasars are quantified. Accounting for these selection effects the intrinsic CIV BALQSO fraction is 41+/-5 per cent. Our analysis of the selection effects allows us to measure the dependence of the intrinsic CIV BALQSO fraction on luminosity and redshift. We find a factor of 3.5+/-0.4 decrease in the intrinsic fraction from the highest redshifts, z~4.0, down to z~2.0. The redshift dependence implies that an orientation effect alone is not sufficient to explain the presence of BAL troughs in some but not all quasar spectra. Our results are consistent with the intrinsic BALQSO fraction having no strong luminosity dependence, although with 3-sigma limits on the rate of change of the intrinsic fraction with luminosity of -6.9 and 7.0 per cent dex^-1 we are unable to rule out such a dependence.Comment: MNRAS in press; 28 pages, 28 figures; full data table is available until Sep 2011 at www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jta/papers/bal_nmf_table1.da

The proteasome cap RPT5/Rpt5p subunit prevents aggregation of unfolded ricin A chain

The plant cytotoxin ricin enters mammalian cells by receptor-mediated endocytosis, undergoing retrograde transport to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) where its catalytic A chain (RTA) is reductively separated from the holotoxin to enter the cytosol and inactivate ribosomes. The currently accepted model is that the bulk of ER-dislocated RTA is degraded by proteasomes. We show here that the proteasome has a more complex role in ricin intoxication than previously recognised, that the previously reported increase in sensitivity of mammalian cells to ricin in the presence of proteasome inhibitors simply reflects toxicity of the inhibitors themselves, and that RTA is a very poor substrate for proteasomal degradation. Denatured RTA and casein compete for a binding site on the regulatory particle of the 26S proteasome, but their fates differ. Casein is degraded, but the mammalian 26S proteasome AAA-ATPase subunit RPT5 acts as a chaperone that prevents aggregation of denatured RTA and stimulates recovery of catalytic RTA activity in vitro. Furthermore, in vivo, the ATPase activity of Rpt5p is required for maximal toxicity of RTA dislocated from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ER. Our results implicate RPT5/Rpt5p in the triage of substrates in which either activation (folding) or inactivation (degradation) pathways may be initiated

Crown Lengthening Revisited

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141178/1/cap0233.pd