Spatial Variation in Germination of Two Annual Brome Species in the Northern Great Plains

Downy brome or cheat grass (Bromus tectorum L.) and field brome (B. arvensis L.; Synonym = Bromus japonicus Thunb. ex Murr.; Japanese brome) are two annual exotic species that have increased the intensity and frequency of fire cycles in the Intermountain West of the United States, with millions of dollars in associated costs (DiTomaso 2000). These invasive brome species have a different impact in the Northern Great Plains of North America where they commonly co-occur in disturbed sites (White and Currie 1983, Haferkamp et al. 1993). In these mixed-grass prairie rangelands, annual bromes compete against other forage species (Haferkamp et al. 1997) and reduce litter decomposition rates (Ogle et al. 2003), which negatively impacts ecosystem services of biomass production and soil nutrient availability. In central plains croplands, downy brome invades alfalfa fields (Kapusta and Strieker 1975), wheat fields (Wicks 1984, Ostlie and Howatt 2013), and perennial grass pastures and seed production areas (Wicks 1984). Downy brome is a regulated plant in Montana (Montana Noxious Weed List, December 2013) and has been found in all counties of Montana since 1950 (Menalled et al. 2008). Field brome is found in all North American states and provinces (USDA Plants Database http://plants.usda.gov). It is used as a winter cover crop in vegetable plots and orchards in the Northeastern United States (NRCS 2006). Field brome has no formal designation in the state of Montana, although downy brome and field brome are commonly grouped together and are referred to colloquially as “cheatgrass” in the state

Excited states in bilayer graphene quantum dots

We report on ground- and excited state transport through an electrostatically defined few-hole quantum dot in bilayer graphene in both parallel and perpendicular applied magnetic fields. A remarkably clear level scheme for the two-particle spectra is found by analyzing finite bias spectroscopy data within a two-particle model including spin and valley degrees of freedom. We identify the two-hole ground-state to be a spin-triplet and valley-singlet state. This spin alignment can be seen as Hund's rule for a valley-degenerate system, which is fundamentally different to quantum dots in carbon nano tubes and GaAs-based quantum dots. The spin-singlet excited states are found to be valley-triplet states by tilting the magnetic field with respect to the sample plane. We quantify the exchange energy to be 0.35meV and measure a valley and spin g-factor of 36 and 2, respectively

Search for hidden-photon dark matter with the FUNK experiment

Many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics predict a parallel sector of a new U(1) symmetry, giving rise to hidden photons. These hidden photons are candidate particles for cold dark matter. They are expected to kinetically mix with regular photons, which leads to a tiny oscillating electric-field component accompanying dark matter particles. A conducting surface can convert such dark matter particles into photons which are emitted almost perpendicularly to the surface. The corresponding photon frequency follows from the mass of the hidden photons. In this contribution we present a preliminary result on a hidden photon search in the visible and near-UV wavelength range that was done with a large, 14 m2 spherical metallic mirror and discuss future dark matter searches in the eV and sub-eV range by application of different detectors for electromagnetic radiation.Comment: Contribution to the 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference ICRC2017, 10 to 20 July, 2017, Bexco, Busan, Korea. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1711.0296

Ability of 3 Frailty Measures to Predict Short-Term Outcomes in Older Patients Admitted for Post-Acute Inpatient Rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the ability of 3 commonly used frailty measures to predict short-term clinical outcomes in older patients admitted for post-acute inpatient rehabilitation. DESIGN Observational cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Consecutive patients (n = 207) admitted to a geriatric inpatient rehabilitation facility. METHODS Frailty on admission was assessed using a frailty index, the physical frailty phenotype, and the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS). Predictive capacity of the frailty instruments was analyzed for (1) nonhome discharge, (2) readmission to acute care, (3) functional decline, and (4) prolonged length of stay, using multivariate logistic regression models and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. RESULTS The number of patients classified as frail was 91 (44.0%) with the frailty index, 134 (64.7%) using the frailty phenotype, and 151 (73.0%) with the CFS. The 3 frailty measures revealed acceptable discriminatory accuracy for nonhome discharge (area under the curve ≥ 0.7) but differed in their predictive ability: the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for nonhome discharge was highest for the CFS [6.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.8-21.1], compared to the frailty index (4.1, 95% CI 2.0-8.4) and the frailty phenotype (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.2-6.6). For the other outcomes, discriminatory accuracy based on ROC tended to be lower and predictive ability varied according to frailty measure. Readmission to acute care from inpatient rehabilitation was predicted by all instruments, most pronounced by the frailty phenotype (OR 5.4, 95% CI 1.6-18.8) and the frailty index (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.1-5.6), and less so by the CFS (OR 1.4, 95% CI 0.5-3.8). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Frailty measures may contribute to improved prediction of outcomes in geriatric inpatient rehabilitation. The choice of the instrument may depend on the individual outcome of interest and the corresponding discriminatory ability of the frailty measure

Characterisation of Nd-doped calcium aluminosilicate parent glasses designed for the preparation of zirconolite-based glass-ceramic waste forms

4 pagesZirconolite-based (nominally CaZrTi2O7) glass-ceramics belonging to the SiO2-Al2O3-CaO-ZrO2-TiO2 system are good waste forms for the specific immobilisation of actinides. The understanding of their crystallisation processes implies to investigate the structure of the glass. Thus, the environment around Ti, Zr (nucleating agents) and Nd (trivalent actinides surrogate) was characterised in parent glasses. Electron spin resonance (ESR) study of the small amount of Ti3+ occurring in the glass enabled to identify two types of sites for titanium: the main one is of C4v or D4h symmetry. EXAFS showed that Zr occupied a quite well defined 6-7-fold coordinated site with second neighbours which could correspond to Ca/Ti and Zr. Nd environment was probed by optical spectroscopies (absorption, fluorescence), ESR and EXAFS. All these techniques demonstrated that the environment around Nd was very constrained by the glassy network. Notably, Nd occupies a highly distorted 8-9-fold coordinated site in the parent glass

Constraints on the Mode and Extent of Sedimentary Rock Alteration in Hyper-Arid and Hypo-Thermal Environments

Geologic evidence suggests that the surface of Mars has been dominated by cold, dry, and relatively stable environmental conditions over the past ~3.5 Ga. These conditions differ from those pre-sumed to be present prior to ~3.5 Ga, when observa-tions indicate that the martian surface was at least in-termittently able to support the prolonged flow of liq-uid water. Despite the more than 75% of martian his-tory dominated by cold, dry, and stable conditions, few investigations have studied weathering and alteration processes that may influence the martian surface dur-ing this time. Please see attachment

The CAT-ACT Beamline at ANKA : A new high energy X-ray spectroscopy facility for CATalysis and ACTinide research

A new hard X-ray beamline for CATalysis and ACTinide research has been built at the synchrotron radiation facility ANKA. The beamline design is dedicated to X-ray spectroscopy, including ‘flux hungry’ photon-in/photon-out and correlative techniques with a special infrastructure for radionuclide and catalysis research. The CAT-ACT beamline will help serve the growing need for high flux/hard X-ray spectroscopy in these communities. The design, the first spectra and the current status of this project are reported

Experimental investigation of homogeneous freezing of sulphuric acid particles in the aerosol chamber AIDA

The homogeneous freezing of supercooled H₂SO₄/H₂O solution droplets was investigated in the aerosol chamber AIDA (Aerosol Interactions and Dynamics in the Atmosphere) of Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe. 24 freezing experiments were performed at temperatures between 189 and 235 K with aerosol particles in the diameter range 0.05 to 1 µm. Individual experiments started at homogeneous temperatures and ice saturation ratios between 0.9 and 0.95. Cloud cooling rates up to -2.8 K min^-1 were simulated dynamically in the chamber by expansion cooling using a mechanical pump. Depending on the cooling rate and starting temperature, freezing threshold relative humidities were exceeded after expansion time periods between about 1 and 10 min. The onset of ice formation was measured with three independent methods showing good agreement among each other. Ice saturation ratios measured at the onset of ice formation increased from about 1.4 at 231 K  to about 1.75 at 189 K. The experimental data set including thermodynamic parameters as well as physical and chemical aerosol analysis provides a good basis for microphysical model applications

Sequence Analysis of the msp4 Gene of Anaplasma phagocytophilum Strains

The causative agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis was recently reclassified as Anaplasma phagocytophilum, unifying previously described bacteria that cause disease in humans, horses, dogs, and ruminants. For the characterization of genetic heterogeneity in this species, the homologue of Anaplasma marginale major surface protein 4 gene (msp4) was identified, and the coding region was PCR amplified and sequenced from a variety of sources, including 50 samples from the United States, Germany, Poland, Norway, Italy, and Switzerland and 4 samples of A. phagocytophilum-like organisms obtained from white-tailed deer in the United States. Sequence variation between strains of A. phagocytophilum (90 to 100% identity at the nucleotide level and 92 to 100% similarity at the protein level) was higher than in A. marginale. Phylogenetic analyses of msp4 sequences did not provide phylogeographic information but did differentiate strains of A. phagocytophilum obtained from ruminants from those obtained from humans, dogs, and horses. The sequence analysis of the recently discovered A. phagocytophilum msp2 gene corroborated these results. The results reported here suggest that although A. phagocytophilum-like organisms from white-tailed deer may be closely related to A. phagocytophilum, they could be more diverse. These results suggest that A. phagocytophilum strains from ruminants could share some common characteristics, including reservoirs and pathogenicity, which may be different from strains that infect humans.Fil: de la Fuente, J.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; España. Oklahoma State University; Estados UnidosFil: Massung, R. F.. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Estados UnidosFil: Wong, S. J.. Wadsworth Center; Estados UnidosFil: Chu, F. K.. Wadsworth Center for Laboratories and Research; Estados UnidosFil: Lutz, H.. University of Zurich; SuizaFil: Meli, M.. University of Zurich; SuizaFil: von Loewenich, F. D.. University Clinic of Freiburg; AlemaniaFil: Grzeszczuk, A.. Medical University of Bialystok; PoloniaFil: Torina, A.. Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia; ItaliaFil: Caracappa, S.. Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia; ItaliaFil: Mangold, Atilio Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Naranjo, Ana Verónica. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos; EspañaFil: Stuen, S.. Norwegian School of Veterinary Science; NoruegaFil: Kocan, K. M.. Oklahoma State University; Estados Unido