History of Lilac Phenological Observations in the USA

The Western Research and Demonstration Farm became a member of the “USA National Phenology Network” in 2008 when a set of cloned lilacs were planted on June 2, 2008. Phenological observations, or the date specific plant growth stages are reached, will be reported to the network and compiled with other observer data from across the nation. These observations will be used for various purposes, some of these uses may include 1) characterize seasonal weather patterns and improve predictions of crop yield, 2) help predict disease or pest outbreaks, and 3) allow the pursuit of more detailed questions of plant responses to global warming at a national scale

Mapping Temperate Vegetation Climate Adaptation Variability Using Normalized Land Surface Phenology

Climate influences geographic differences of vegetation phenology through both contemporary and historical variability. The latter effect is embodied in vegetation heterogeneity underlain by spatially varied genotype and species compositions tied to climatic adaptation. Such long-term climatic effects are difficult to map and therefore often neglected in evaluating spatially explicit phenological responses to climate change. In this study we demonstrate a way to indirectly infer the portion of land surface phenology variation that is potentially contributed by underlying genotypic differences across space. The method undertaken normalized remotely sensed vegetation start-of-season (or greenup onset) with a cloned plants-based phenological model. As the geography of phenological model prediction (first leaf) represents the instantaneous effect of contemporary climate, the normalized land surface phenology potentially reveals vegetation heterogeneity that is related to climatic adaptation. The study was done at the continental scale for the conterminous U.S., with a focus on the eastern humid temperate domain. Our findings suggest that, in an analogous scenario, if a uniform contemporary climate existed everywhere, spring vegetation greenup would occur earlier in the north than in the south. This is in accordance with known species-level clinal variations—for many temperate plant species, populations adapted to colder climates require less thermal forcing to initiate growth than those in warmer climates. This study, for the first time, shows that such geographic adaption relationships are supported at the ecosystem level. Mapping large-scale vegetation climate adaptation patterns contributes to our ability to better track geographically varied phenological responses to climate change

Mapping Temperate Vegetation Climate Adaptation Variability Using Normalized Land Surface Phenology

Climate influences geographic differences of vegetation phenology through both contemporary and historical variability. The latter effect is embodied in vegetation heterogeneity underlain by spatially varied genotype and species compositions tied to climatic adaptation. Such long-term climatic effects are difficult to map and therefore often neglected in evaluating spatially explicit phenological responses to climate change. In this study we demonstrate a way to indirectly infer the portion of land surface phenology variation that is potentially contributed by underlying genotypic differences across space. The method undertaken normalized remotely sensed vegetation start-of-season (or greenup onset) with a cloned plants-based phenological model. As the geography of phenological model prediction (first leaf) represents the instantaneous effect of contemporary climate, the normalized land surface phenology potentially reveals vegetation heterogeneity that is related to climatic adaptation. The study was done at the continental scale for the conterminous U.S., with a focus on the eastern humid temperate domain. Our findings suggest that, in an analogous scenario, if a uniform contemporary climate existed everywhere, spring vegetation greenup would occur earlier in the north than in the south. This is in accordance with known species-level clinal variations—for many temperate plant species, populations adapted to colder climates require less thermal forcing to initiate growth than those in warmer climates. This study, for the first time, shows that such geographic adaption relationships are supported at the ecosystem level. Mapping large-scale vegetation climate adaptation patterns contributes to our ability to better track geographically varied phenological responses to climate change

Monogenetic near-island seamounts in the Galapagos Archipelago

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 21(12), (2020): e2020GC008914, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GC008914.Rarely have small seamounts on the flanks of hotspot derived ocean‐island volcanoes been the targets of sampling, due to sparse high‐resolution mapping near ocean islands. In the Galápagos Archipelago, for instance, sampling has primarily targeted the subaerial volcanic edifices, with only a few studies focusing on large‐volume submarine features. Sampling restricted to these large volcanic features may present a selection bias, potentially resulting in a skewed view of magmatic and source processes because mature magmatic systems support mixing and volcanic accretion that overprints early magmatic stages. We demonstrate how finer‐scale sampling of satellite seamounts surrounding the volcanic islands in the Galápagos can be used to lessen this bias and thus, better constrain the evolution of these volcanoes. Seamounts were targeted in the vicinity of Floreana and Fernandina Islands, and between Santiago and Santa Cruz. In all regions, individual seamounts are typically monogenetic, but each seamount field requires multigenerational magmatic episodes to account for their geochemical variability. This study demonstrates that in the southern and eastern regions the seamounts are characterized by greater geochemical variability than the islands they surround but all three regions have (Sr‐Nd‐He) isotopic signatures that resemble neighboring islands. Variations in seamount chemistry from alkalic to tholeiitic near Fernandina support the concept that islands along the center of the hotspot track undergo greater mean depths of melting, as predicted by plume theory. Patterns of geochemical and isotopic enrichment of seamounts within each region support fine‐scale mantle heterogeneities in the mantle plume sourcing the Galápagos hotspot.This work was carried out with funding from National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE‐1634952 to V. D. Wanless, OCE‐1634685 to S. A. Soule). The authors have no competing interests to declare. We thank Sally Gibson and three anonymous reviewers for providing detailed and critical feedback on this manuscript.2021-05-0

Asbestos Litigation in Madison County, Illinois: The Challenge Ahead

Why is Madison County attracting so many claims and so much attention? What makes the lawsuit industry different there compared to other jurisdictions? We do not think the county’s reputation is the fault of jurors. In many cases, jurors are simply making judgments based on the evidence they are permitted to hear and the instructions they are given. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has said: “It’s a little hard to blame Madison County juries, since [cases] rarely come to trial. They’re normally settled. Instead, we wonder about the judges.” Similar concerns have been raised with respect to the Madison County Circuit Court’s handling of serious personal injury cases, such as asbestos-exposure suits. We understand that the judges in Madison County work hard, and we believe they mean well. They may view their role as helping to facilitate the resolution of claims on behalf of legitimately injured plaintiffs. For example, they may believe it is appropriate to handle asbestos cases from around the United States because asbestos litigation is national in scope. Nevertheless, it seems that the drive for efficiency is being promoted over basic fairness. It also appears that procedures adopted by the court to manage its large docket have simply invited the filing of more claims. In this Article, we will touch on some of the issues. We will then focus on asbestos litigation in Madison County, and suggest ways the asbestos litigation environment in the county should be improved and made fairer

A new approach to generating research-quality data through citizen science: The USA National Phenology Monitoring System

Phenology is one of the most sensitive biological responses to climate change, and recent changes in phenology have the potential to shake up ecosystems. In some cases, it appears they already are. Thus, for ecological reasons it is critical that we improve our understanding of species’ phenologies and how these phenologies are responding to recent, rapid climate change. Phenological events like flowering and bird migrations are easy to observe, culturally important, and, at a fundamental level, naturally inspire human curiosity— thus providing an excellent opportunity to engage citizen scientists. The USA National Phenology Network has recently initiated a national effort to encourage people at different levels of expertise—from backyard naturalists to professional scientists—to observe phenological events and contribute to a national database that will be used to greatly improve our understanding of spatio-temporal variation in phenology and associated phenological responses to climate change.

Traditional phenological observation protocols identify specific dates at which individual phenological events are observed. The scientific usefulness of long-term phenological observations could be improved with a more carefully structured protocol. At the USA-NPN we have developed a new approach that directs observers to record each day that they observe an individual plant, and to assess and report the state of specific life stages (or phenophases) as occurring or not occurring on that plant for each observation date. Evaluation is phrased in terms of simple, easy-to-understand, questions (e.g. “Do you see open flowers?”), which makes it very appropriate for a citizen science audience. From this method, a rich dataset of phenological metrics can be extracted, including the duration of a phenophase (e.g. open flowers), the beginning and end points of a phenophase (e.g. traditional phenological events such as first flower and last flower), multiple distinct occurrences of phenophases within a single growing season (e.g multiple flowering events, common in drought-prone regions), as well as quantification of sampling frequency and observational uncertainties. These features greatly enhance the utility of the resulting data for statistical analyses addressing questions such as how phenological events vary in time and space, and in response to global change. This new protocol is an important step forward, and its widespread adoption will increase the scientific value of data collected by citizen scientists.
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Device and Method for Continuously Equalizing the Charge State of Lithium Ion Battery Cells

A method of equalizing charge states of individual cells in a battery includes measuring a previous cell voltage for each cell, measuring a previous shunt current for each cell, calculating, based on the previous cell voltage and the previous shunt current, an adjusted cell voltage for each cell, determining a lowest adjusted cell voltage from among the calculated adjusted cell voltages, and calculating a new shunt current for each cell

Final Report: Theory of Advanced High Efficiency Concentrator Cells

The goal of this project was to begin -developing accurate, and ultimately predictive, device models for III-V concentrator cells. The project consisted of extending a one-dimensional numerical device model previously developed at Purdue to III-V solar cells. We also began verifying the accuracy of the code by comparing computed and measured solar cell characteristics. Gallium arsenide was selected because it is the most mature III-V technology and because GaAs solar cells have demonstrated high conversion efficiency [l,2,3]. The present device model should be useful in optimizing GaAs solar cells and forms a foundation that can be extended to other III-V homo- and heterostructure solar cells. The numerical device model developed in this work solves Poisson’s equation simultaneously with the electron and hole continuity equations without making common assumptions such as low-level injection, piece-wise uniform doping, neglect of space-charge recombination, etc. Materials models for GaAs solar cells (e. g. intrinsic carrier concentration, carrier mobilities, lifetimes, optical absorption and reflection coefficients, etc.) were compiled, evaluated, and in some cases extended. These materials models were then implemented into the numerical device model. The device model was also extended to analyze optical absorption and reflection from bare and anti-reflection (AR) coated cells. To test the GaAs cell model, we compared its predictions to measured results for an N+P cell (the shallow homojunction cell reported by Fan and co-workers) and a P+N cell (fabricated by Borrego and co-workers). In general, good agreement between theory and experiment was obtained for both concentrated and unconcentrated conditions. Although detailed comparisons of the model’s predictions with measured results continue, the present model is a useful tool for GaAs cell design and optimization

Development and analysis of spring plant phenology products: 36 years of 1-km grids over the conterminous US

Time series of phenological products provide information on the timings of recurrent biological events and on their temporal trends. This information is key to studying the impacts of climate change on our planet as well as for managing natural resources and agricultural production. Here we develop and analyze new long term phenological products: 1 km grids of the Extended Spring Indices (SI-x) over the conterminous United States from 1980 to 2015. These new products (based on Daymet daily temperature grids and created by using cloud computing) allow the analysis of two primary variables (first leaf and first bloom) and two derivative products (Damage Index and Last Freeze Day) at a much finer spatial resolution than previous gridded or interpolated products. Furthermore, our products provide enough temporal depth to reliably analyze trends and changes in the timing of spring arrival at continental scales. Validation results confirm that our products largely agree with lilac and honeysuckle leaf and flowering onset observations. The spatial analysis shows a significantly delayed spring onset in the northern US whereas in the western and the Great Lakes region, spring onset advances. The mean temporal variabilities of the indices were analyzed for the nine major climatic regions of the US and results showed a clear division into three main groups: early, average and late spring onset. Finally, the region belonging to each group was mapped. These examples show the potential of our four phenological products to improve understanding of the responses of ecosystems to a changing climat

Acute Chloroform Ingestion Successfully Treated with Intravenously Administered N-acetylcysteine

Chloroform, a halogenated hydrocarbon, causes central nervous system depression, cardiac arrhythmias, and hepatotoxicity. We describe a case of chloroform ingestion with a confirmatory serum level and resultant hepatotoxicity successfully treated with intravenously administered N-acetylcysteine (NAC). A 19-year-old man attempting suicide ingested approximately 75 mL of chloroform. He was unresponsive and intubated upon arrival. Intravenously administered NAC was started after initial stabilization was complete. His vital signs were normal. Admission laboratory values revealed normal serum electrolytes, AST, ALT, PT, BUN, creatinine, and bilirubin. Serum ethanol level was 15 mg/dL, and aspirin and acetaminophen were undetectable. The patient was extubated but developed liver function abnormalities with a peak AST of 224 IU/L, ALT of 583 IU/L, and bilirubin level reaching 16.3 mg/dL. NAC was continued through hospital day 6. Serum chloroform level obtained on admission was 91 μg/mL. The patient was discharged to psychiatry without known sequelae and normal liver function tests. The average serum chloroform level in fatal cases of inhalational chloroform poisoning was 64 μg/mL, significantly lower than our patient. The toxicity is believed to be similar in both inhalation and ingestion routes of exposure, with mortality predominantly resulting from anoxia secondary to central nervous system depression. Hepatocellular toxicity is thought to result from free radical-induced oxidative damage. Previous reports describe survival after treatment with orally administered NAC, we report the first use of intravenously administered NAC for chloroform ingestion. Acute oral ingestion of chloroform is extremely rare. Our case illustrates that with appropriate supportive care, patients can recover from chloroform ingestion, and intravenously administered NAC may be of benefit in such cases