Utbredelse av steinfluer, døgnfluer og vårfluer i rennede vann i Øvre Heimdalen, Jotunheimen i forhold til miljøvariabler

The present study focus on the distribution of Plecoptera, Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera in an alpine stream system, related to environmental variables. The study was conducted in the valley Øvre Heimdalen situated in the Jotunheimen Mountains. Field surveys were performed in six reaches situated in an altitudinal gradient from 1085 to 1351 m a.s.l. Invertebrate sampling was performed in June, July and September 2009. Ten environmental variables were recorded during the season. A total of 31 species was identified, whereas the species Hydroptila sp. had no former records in the area. The ephemeropteran Bäetis rhodani dominated all reaches, except the outlet of Øvre Heimdalsvatn, where the trichopteran filter feeder Polycentropus flavomaculatus was recorded in high numbers. Collectors were the dominant feeding group in the outlet of Øvre Heimdalsvatn, while scrapers (grazer) dominated the other reaches. The Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) did not show a clear altitudinal gradient in the stream system investigated, but the linear regression showed a decrease in number of species with increasing altitude. A change in species composition from the inlet of Brurskardtjern to Brurskardbekken and further a change in species composition from Brurskardbekken and to the outlet of Øvre Heimdalsvatn were detected. The main explanatory environmental variables in this study were discharge, substratum size and temperature. The percentage amount of particular organic matter and levels of chlorophyll a, had intermediate influence on the distribution pattern, while environmental variables elated to channel stability (depth, current velocity and the Pfankuch index), explained little relationship to the pattern of variation in species distribution. The Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) clearly separated the outlet of Øvre Heimdalsvatn from the other stream sites situated in Brurskardbekken and the inlet stream of Brurskardtjern. This indicates that the difference in stream invertebrate fauna between alpine streams and lake outlets is the main explanation for the results in this study. Denne studien fokuserer på utbredelsen av steinfluer, døgnfluer og vårfluer i rennende vann i et alpint fjellområde i forhold til miljøvariabler. Studien ble gjennomført i Øvre Heimdalen som ligger i Jotunheimen. Feltundersøkelser ble gjort på seks stasjoner i en høydegradient fra 1085 til 1351 moh. Innsamling av evertebrater ble gjennomført i juni, juli og september 2009. Ti ulike miljøvariabler ble registrert i løpet av sesongen. Det ble totalt identifisert 31 arter, hvorav arten Hydroptila sp. ikke har blitt registrert i området tidligere. Døgnfluen Bäetis rhodani dominerte alle stasjoner, bortsett fra utløpet til Øvre Heimdalsvatn, hvor et høyt antall av vårfluen Polycentropus flavomaculatus ble registrert. Samlere var den dominerende fødeopptaksgruppen i utløpet til Øvre Heimdalsvatn, mens påvekstetere dominerte de resterende stasjonene. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) viste ikke noen klar høydegradient i det undersøkte elvesystemet, men lineær regresjon viste en nedgang i antall arter ved økende høyde over havet. Det ble påvist en endring i artssammensetningen fra innløpet til Brurskardtjern og til Brurskardbekken, og videre en endring fra Brurskardbekken og til utløpet av Øvre Heimdalsvatn. Vannføring, størrelse på bunnsubstrat og temperatur var de miljøvariablene som forklarte mest i dette studiet. Prosentandel organisk materiale og mengde klorofyll a hadde middels innflytelse på utbredelsesmønsteret, mens miljøvariabler knyttet til stabilitet (dybde, strømhastighet og Pfankuch indeks) forklarte lite av variasjonen i forhold til artenes utbredelsesmønster. Utløpet fra Øvre Heimdalsvatn ble i ordinasjonsanalysen tydelig separert fra de andre stasjonene i studiet. Dette indikerer at forskjeller i evertebratfauna mellom alpine elver og utløp fra innsjøer er hovedforklaringen på resultatene i denne studien

Simple single-field inflation models with arbitrarily small tensor/scalar ratio

We construct a family of simple single-field inflation models consistent with Planck / BICEP Keck bounds which have a parametrically small tensor amplitude and no running of the scalar spectral index. The construction consists of a constant-roll hilltop inflaton potential with the end of inflation left as a free parameter induced by higher-order operators which become dominant late in inflation. This construction directly demonstrates that there is no lower bound on the tensor/scalar ratio for simple single-field inflation models.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures (V3: Version submitted to JCAP

Cyclic Cosmology and Geodesic Completeness

We consider recently proposed bouncing cosmological models for which the Hubble parameter is periodic in time, but the scale factor grows from one cycle to the next as a mechanism for shedding entropy. Since the scale factor for a flat universe is equivalent to an overall conformal factor, it has been argued that this growth corresponds to a physically irrelevant rescaling, and such bouncing universes can be made perfectly cyclic, extending infinitely into the past and future. We show that any bouncing universe which uses growth of the scale factor to dissipate entropy must necessarily be geodesically past-incomplete, and therefore cannot be truly cyclic in time.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (V4: Version accepted by JCAP

Viral Theatres’ Pandemic Playbook - Documenting German theatre during COVID-19

This document offers an overview of the artistic research project Viral Theatres, which documents the radical changes in theatre aesthetics and infrastructure during the Covid-19 pandemic by building an online multimedia living archive that tracks these developments in interviews, video documentaries, rehearsal residencies, and case studies. Through a survey of five exemplary case studies we show how significantly the tools and practices of theatre have shifted during the pandemic and suggest that these examples belong to a reconceptualization of the idea of theatre per se. In creating an online Living Archive platform that makes these and other case studies and pandemic material accessible, Viral Theatres contributes to creative documentation of pandemic culture

Comparison of Small EV Charging Station\u27s Load Forecasts and its Impact on the Operational Costs

For an energy management system (EMS) of a charging station (CS), information on future load is crucial. Existing models primarily focus on load forecasting for large charging stations. In this study, three different load forecasting models based on real data from a public CS with two charging points are developed. The models include two persistent models and one model that utilizes a machine learning algorithm. To assess the impact of forecasting accuracy on operational costs, a case study with dynamic electricity prices and a stationary battery storage is conducted. Using the load predictions, a mixed-integer linear programming problem is formulated to optimize the scheduling of the stationary battery charging

How Do Elderly Poor Prognosis Patients Tolerate Palliative Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy for Locally Advanced Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer Stage III? A Subset Analysis From a Clinical Phase III Trial

AbstractBackgroundIn a phase III trial of patients with unresectable, locally advanced, stage III non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with a poor prognosis, palliative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) provided a significantly better outcome than chemotherapy alone, except among performance status (PS) 2 patients. In the present subgroup analysis, we evaluated the effect on patients aged ≥ 70 years (42% of all included) compared with patients aged < 70 years enrolled in the trial.Patients and MethodsAll patients received 4 courses of intravenous carboplatin and oral vinorelbine. The experimental arm also received radiotherapy (42 Gy in 15 fractions). The included patients were required to have large tumors (> 8 cm), weight loss (> 10% within the previous 6 months) and/or PS 2.ResultsThe overall survival was increased among the CRT patients in both age groups, but the difference was significant only in patients aged < 70 years (median survival, 14.8 vs. 9.7 months; P = .001; age ≥ 70 years, median survival, 10.2 vs. 9.1 months; P = .09). Patients aged ≥ 70 years experienced better preserved health-related quality of life (QOL) and significantly less hematologic toxicity. The 2- and 3-year survival was significantly increased in both age groups receiving CRT.ConclusionElderly patients aged ≥ 70 years with unresectable, stage III, locally advanced, NSLCL and a poor prognosis can tolerate CRT with the doses adjusted to age and palliative intent. These results indicate that CRT can provide both survival and QOL benefits in elderly patients, except for those with PS 2 or worse. The male predominance in the ≥ 70-year-age group and the reduced chemotherapy intensity for the patients aged > 75 years might explain the lack of significant survival improvement among those patients aged ≥ 70 years

Concurrent palliative chemoradiation leads to survival and quality of life benefits in poor prognosis stage III non-small-cell lung cancer: a randomised trial by the Norwegian Lung Cancer Study Group

Background: The palliative role of chemoradiation in the treatment of patients with locally advanced, inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer stage III and negative prognostic factors remains unresolved. Methods: Patients not eligible for curative radiotherapy were randomised to receive either chemoradiation or chemotherapy alone. Four courses of intravenous carboplatin on day 1 and oral vinorelbin on days 1 and 8 were given with 3-week intervals. Patients in the chemoradiation arm also received radiotherapy with fractionation 42 Gy/15, starting at the second chemotherapy course. The primary end point was overall survival; secondary end points were health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and toxicity. Results: Enrolment was terminated due to slow accrual after 191 patients from 25 Norwegian hospitals were randomised. Median age was 67 years and 21% had PS 2. In the chemotherapy versus the chemoradiation arm, the median overall survival was 9.7 and 12.6 months, respectively (Po0.01). One-year survival was 34.0% and 53.2% (Po0.01). Following a minor decline during treatment, HRQOL remained unchanged in the chemoradiation arm. The patients in the chemotherapy arm reported gradual deterioration during the subsequent months. In the chemoradiation arm, there were more hospital admissions related to side effects (Po0.05). Conclusion: Chemoradiation was superior to chemotherapy alone with respect to survival and HRQoL at the expense of more hospital admissions due to toxicity

Modulation of G-protein activation, calcium currents and opioid receptor phosphorylation by the pH-dependent antinociceptive agonist NFEPP

N-(3-fluoro-1-phenethylpiperidine-4-yl)-N-phenyl propionamide is a newly-designed pain killer selectively activating G-protein-coupled mu-opioid receptors (MOR) in acidic injured tissues, and therefore devoid of central side effects which are typically elicited at normal pH values in healthy tissues. However, the neuronal mechanisms underlying NFEPP's antinociceptive effects were not examined in detail so far. Voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels (VDCCs) in nociceptive neurons play a major role in the generation and inhibition of pain. In this study, we focused on the effects of NFEPP on calcium currents in rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. The inhibitory role of the G-protein subunits G(i/o) and G beta gamma on VDCCs was investigated using the blockers pertussis toxin and gallein, respectively. GTP gamma S binding, calcium signals and MOR phosphorylation were also investigated. All experiments were performed at acidic and normal pH values using NFEPP in comparison to the conventional opioid agonist fentanyl. At low pH, NFEPP produced more efficient G-protein activation in transfected HEK293 cells and significantly reduced VDCCs in depolarized DRG neurons. The latter effect was mediated by G beta gamma subunits, and NFEPP-mediated MOR phosphorylation was pH-dependent. Fentanyl's responses were not affected by pH changes. Our data indicate that NFEPP-induced MOR signaling is more effective at low pH and that the inhibition of calcium channels in DRG neurons underlies NFEPP's antinociceptive actions