Silviculture and the red-cockaded woodpecker: Where do we go from here?

Recent standards and guidelines for the protection and management of red-cockaded woodpecker habitat within 3/4 mi of colony sites, and also thinning within colonies to reduce basal area and midstory will have a significant effect on National Forest lands. The relation of these thinnings to forest pest management will be examined as well as the area of forest involved. Current fire regulations in relation to prescribed burns and potential fuel buildup will be examined. Plans for research, including disturbances, hazard, and risk rating for southern pine beetle and landscape changes will be presented

Iron fluorescence from within the innermost stable orbit of black hole accretion disks

The fluorescent iron Ka line is a powerful observational probe of the inner regions of black holes accretion disks. Previous studies have assumed that only material outside the radius of marginal stability can contribute to the observed line emission. Here, we show that fluorescence by material inside the radius of marginal stability, which is in the process of spiralling towards the event horizon, can have a observable influence on the iron line profile and equivalent width. For concreteness, we consider the case of a geometrically thin accretion disk, around a Schwarzschild black hole, in which fluorescence is excited by an X-ray source placed at some height above the disk and on the axis of the disk. Fully relativistic line profiles are presented for various source heights and efficiencies. It is found that the extra line flux generally emerges in the extreme red wing of the iron line, due to the large gravitational redshift experienced by photons from the region within the radius of marginal stability. We apply our models to the variable iron line seen in the ASCA spectrum of the Seyfert nucleus MCG-6-30-15. It is found that the change in the line profile, equivalent width, and continuum normalization, can be well explained as being due to a change in the height of the source above the disk. We discuss the implications of these results for distinguishing rapidly-rotating black holes from slowly rotating holes using iron line diagnostics.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal. Figures 3 to 7 replaced with corrected versions (previous figures affected by calculational error). Some changes in the best fitting parameter

Wildfire and climate impacts tree hollow density in a temperate Australian forest

Tree hollows are an important landscape resource used by fauna for shelter, nesting, and predator avoidance. In fire-prone landscapes, wildfire and climate may impact hollow dynamics; however, assessments of their concurrent impacts are rare. We conducted a field survey at 80 sites in the Sydney Basin bioregion (Australia) to understand how fire frequency, fire severity, mean annual temperature, and mean annual precipitation concurrently impacted the site-density of small- (10 cm entry width) tree hollows and tree basal scars (which mediate hollow formation via invertebrate access to heartwood), when tree-size and dead/live status were considered. A unimodal relationship occurred between medium- and large-sized hollow densities and fire frequency and severity, respectively, with hollow densities greatest at intermediate frequencies/severities. Increases of 1.82, 1.43, and 1.17 hollows per site were observed between the 1 (reference) and 2, 2 and 3, and 3 and >3 fire frequency categories. Increases of 1.26, 1.75 and 0.75 hollows per site were observed between the low (reference) and moderate, moderate and high, and high and very high fire severity categories. Fire severity was also positively associated with basal scar density, with increases of 2.52, 8.15, and 8.47 trees per site between the low (reference) and moderate, moderate and high, and high and very high categories. A weak positive and stronger negative association was observed between mean annual temperature and small-sized hollow and basal scar density, respectively. Dead and medium-sized tree density was positively associated with medium-sized hollow and basal scar tree density, respectively. Collectively, our results suggest that wildfires, and in some cases climate, have diverse and size-specific impacts on tree hollow and basal scar density. Our results imply that fire regimes that allow for moderately severe wildfire will promote larger-sized tree hollows, which are a limiting resource for many fauna species

A metamorphic inorganic framework that can be switched between eight single-crystalline states

The design of highly flexible framework materials requires organic linkers, whereas inorganic materials are more robust but inflexible. Here, by using linkable inorganic rings made up of tungsten oxide (P8W48O184) building blocks, we synthesized an inorganic single crystal material that can undergo at least eight different crystal-to-crystal transformations, with gigantic crystal volume contraction and expansion changes ranging from −2,170 to +1,720 Å3 with no reduction in crystallinity. Not only does this material undergo the largest single crystal-to-single crystal volume transformation thus far reported (to the best of our knowledge), the system also shows conformational flexibility while maintaining robustness over several cycles in the reversible uptake and release of guest molecules switching the crystal between different metamorphic states. This material combines the robustness of inorganic materials with the flexibility of organic frameworks, thereby challenging the notion that flexible materials with robustness are mutually exclusive

Calculation of a Deuterium Double Shock Hugoniot from Ab initio Simulations

We calculate the equation of state of dense deuterium with two ab initio simulations techniques, path integral Monte Carlo and density functional theory molecular dynamics, in the density range of 0.67 < rho < 1.60 g/cc. We derive the double shock Hugoniot and compare with the recent laser-driven double shock wave experiments by Mostovych et al. [1]. We find excellent agreement between the two types of microscopic simulations but a significant discrepancy with the laser-driven shock measurements.Comment: accept for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett., Nov. 2001, 4 pages, 4 figure

Computational Method for Phase Space Transport with Applications to Lobe Dynamics and Rate of Escape

Lobe dynamics and escape from a potential well are general frameworks introduced to study phase space transport in chaotic dynamical systems. While the former approach studies how regions of phase space are transported by reducing the flow to a two-dimensional map, the latter approach studies the phase space structures that lead to critical events by crossing periodic orbit around saddles. Both of these frameworks require computation with curves represented by millions of points-computing intersection points between these curves and area bounded by the segments of these curves-for quantifying the transport and escape rate. We present a theory for computing these intersection points and the area bounded between the segments of these curves based on a classification of the intersection points using equivalence class. We also present an alternate theory for curves with nontransverse intersections and a method to increase the density of points on the curves for locating the intersection points accurately.The numerical implementation of the theory presented herein is available as an open source software called Lober. We used this package to demonstrate the application of the theory to lobe dynamics that arises in fluid mechanics, and rate of escape from a potential well that arises in ship dynamics.Comment: 33 pages, 17 figure

Informing investment to reduce inequalities: a modelling approach

Background: Reducing health inequalities is an important policy objective but there is limited quantitative information about the impact of specific interventions. Objectives: To provide estimates of the impact of a range of interventions on health and health inequalities. Materials and methods: Literature reviews were conducted to identify the best evidence linking interventions to mortality and hospital admissions. We examined interventions across the determinants of health: a ‘living wage’; changes to benefits, taxation and employment; active travel; tobacco taxation; smoking cessation, alcohol brief interventions, and weight management services. A model was developed to estimate mortality and years of life lost (YLL) in intervention and comparison populations over a 20-year time period following interventions delivered only in the first year. We estimated changes in inequalities using the relative index of inequality (RII). Results: Introduction of a ‘living wage’ generated the largest beneficial health impact, with modest reductions in health inequalities. Benefits increases had modest positive impacts on health and health inequalities. Income tax increases had negative impacts on population health but reduced inequalities, while council tax increases worsened both health and health inequalities. Active travel increases had minimally positive effects on population health but widened health inequalities. Increases in employment reduced inequalities only when targeted to the most deprived groups. Tobacco taxation had modestly positive impacts on health but little impact on health inequalities. Alcohol brief interventions had modestly positive impacts on health and health inequalities only when strongly socially targeted, while smoking cessation and weight-reduction programmes had minimal impacts on health and health inequalities even when socially targeted. Conclusions: Interventions have markedly different effects on mortality, hospitalisations and inequalities. The most effective (and likely cost-effective) interventions for reducing inequalities were regulatory and tax options. Interventions focused on individual agency were much less likely to impact on inequalities, even when targeted at the most deprived communities

Vaccination with DNA plasmids expressing Gn coupled to C3d or alphavirus replicons expressing Gn protects mice against rift valley fever virus

Background: Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an arthropod-borne viral zoonosis. Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an important biological threat with the potential to spread to new susceptible areas. In addition, it is a potential biowarfare agent. Methodology/Principal Findings: We developed two potential vaccines, DNA plasmids and alphavirus replicons, expressing the Gn glycoprotein of RVFV alone or fused to three copies of complement protein, C3d. Each vaccine was administered to mice in an all DNA, all replicon, or a DNA prime/replicon boost strategy and both the humoral and cellular responses were assessed. DNA plasmids expressing Gn-C3d and alphavirus replicons expressing Gn elicited high titer neutralizing antibodies that were similar to titers elicited by the live-attenuated MP12 virus. Mice vaccinated with an inactivated form of MP12 did elicit high titer antibodies, but these antibodies were unable to neutralize RVFV infection. However, only vaccine strategies incorporating alphavirus replicons elicited cellular responses to Gn. Both vaccines strategies completely prevented weight loss and morbidity and protected against lethal RVFV challenge. Passive transfer of antisera from vaccinated mice into naïve mice showed that both DNA plasmids expressing Gn-C3d and alphavirus replicons expressing Gn elicited antibodies that protected mice as well as sera from mice immunized with MP12. Conclusion/Significance: These results show that both DNA plasmids expressing Gn-C3d and alphavirus replicons expressing Gn administered alone or in a DNA prime/replicon boost strategy are effective RVFV vaccines. These vaccine strategies provide safer alternatives to using live-attenuated RVFV vaccines for human use. © 2010 Bhardwaj et al

A feasibility trial of an instructed breathing course in prison to improve emotion regulation in people with substance use difficulties

Substance abuse can be associated with difficulties in emotion regulation. It has been proposed that advantageous emotion regulation is positively associated with heart rate variability, and that slow-paced breathing can increase values of heart rate variability. We explored the feasibility of delivering a six-week, slow-paced breathing intervention in a prison setting, and investigated the effects of the intervention on indices of emotion regulation. The final sample consisted of seven male prisoners with histories of illicit substance and alcohol abuse who were identified as presenting with difficulties in emotion regulation. During the instructed breathing sessions, a device provided a visual aid to encourage a cycle of breathing that corresponds to six breaths per minute (i.e., 0.1 Hz). Changes in scores for psychometric measures were analysed with the Reliable and Clinically Significant Change Statistic. Most participants reported improvements in scores for depression, anxiety, and stress. A qualitative account of interviews with participants and factors influencing successful delivery of sessions was also included for the purposes of triangulation and to inform on feasibility. It is concluded that further evaluation of the intervention is feasible, and that the intervention offers promise for improving emotion regulation in offenders with histories of substance use difficulties

Evaluation of the transmitted exposure through lead equivalent aprons used in a radiology department, including the contribution from backscatter

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135071/1/mp3207.pd