Fact sheet: Assessing restoration objectives following a second-entry prescribed fire in an unharvested mixed conifer forest

Efforts to restore degraded forest ecosystems often involve thinning small-diameter trees and reintroducing surface fire; however, in some areas, such as national parks, mechanical tree thinning is kept to a minimum. In these situations, prescribed fire is the best tool available to restore historical fire regimes and forest structure over broad spatial scales

Sea ice strength development from freezing to melting in the Antarctic marginal ice zone

[EN] Sea ice growth in the Marginal Ice Zone of the Antarctic is one of the largest annual changes on earth with a huge impact on the global climate and ecology system. The principles of sea ice growth and melting in the MIZ of the Antarctic is yet not as well researched as its polar counterpart in the north.For this study, pancake ice, consolidated ice and floe ice were analyzed with a compression test in July, October and November 2019 in the marginal ice zone of the Antarctic. Newly formed pancake ice in July showed the highest compressive strength in the bottom layer (3 MPa), whereas consolidated ice was strongest at the top (5 MPa). Consolidated ice in October and November had the highest compressive strength in a middle layer with up to 13.5 MPa, the maximum strength at the top was 3 MPa. Floe ice, consisting of destroyed pack ice, did not show a clear strength development over sea ice depth.The SCALE cruises are funded by the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) through the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP), with contributions from the Department of Science and Innovation and the Department of Environmental Affairs. We are very grateful to the teams that have contributed to the success of the SCALE cruise in particular under the guidance of Marcello Vichi and J¨org Schröder.Paul, F.; Mielke, T.; Audh, R.; Lupascu, D. (2022). Sea ice strength development from freezing to melting in the Antarctic marginal ice zone. En Proceedings of the YIC 2021 - VI ECCOMAS Young Investigators Conference. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 375-385. https://doi.org/10.4995/YIC2021.2021.12249OCS37538

Divergent Pathways and Diverse Lives: The Effect of Physical Disability on the Criminal Victimization of Young Adults

Official statistics show that physical disability is strongly associated with an increased risk of experiencing violent and sexual victimization, but researchers know little about why this occurs. Do offenders target physical disability itself, or is impairment so strongly linked to other characteristics related to criminal victimization, that disability increases victimization indirectly? This dissertation examines how physical disability, demographic traits, home and family characteristics, lifecourse transitions, risky behaviors, and neighborhoods affect both violent and sexual victimization. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), Wave IV, was used to examine how physical disability creates pathways to victimization. I used mixed effect logistic regression, t-tests, and multi-group analysis with binary logistic regression to describe how disability itself acts as a pathway to victimization, and how the effects of common predictors behave differently for the disabled. Results indicate that a visible signifier of impairment directly increases the risk of sexual assault by a non-parent or guardian, but does not directly affect violent victimization. Lifecourse transitions such as increased education, owning a home, and marriage all decrease the risk of violent victimization for the non-disabled, but either have no effect for the disabled, or increase their risk. A history of criminal offending and drug use increase the risk of violence for the non-disabled, but have no effect on the disabled. Marriage and residential stability decreased the risk of sexual assault for the non-disabled, but not the disabled. Risk factors played a significant role in predicting sexual victimization. The effect of different forms of abuse varied by disability status, but in all cases where a factor had a significant effect, it was greater for the non-disabled

Renewing the Exploration Approach for Mid-Enthalpy Systems: Examples from Northern England and Scotland

After a promising start in the 1970s and 80s, the UK rather fell behind other countries in the search for viable mid-enthalpy geothermal resources. This situation began to turn around in 2004, when the first of three deep geothermal exploration boreholes were drilled in northern England. What distinguished these from earlier drilling in Cornwall was the deliberate search for naturallyhigh permeability associated with major faults, especially those that have undergone strike-slip reactivation during the Cenozoic. Boreholes at Eastgate in the North Pennines targeted buried radiothermal granite, whereas the 1,821m-deep Science Central Borehole in Newcastle upon Tyne targeted a postulated deep sedimentary aquifer (the Fell Sandstones), which were inferred to be connected laterally to the granitic heat source by a major fault (the reactivation of the Iapetus geo-suture). The drilling was in both cases rewarded with impressive heat flows, and in the case of Eastgate with what is believed to be the highest permeability yet found in a deep granite batholith anywhere in the world. In parallel with these developments, a re-assessment was made of the preexisting geothermal heat flow database for the UK, applying newly-standardised correction protocols for palaeoclimatic and topographic distortions, which were found to be particularly marked in Scotland (where only shallow boreholes had been used to establish geothermal gradients in the original 1980s analysis), Similar prospects in northern England (similar to that drilled at Science Central) are now the focus of commercial exploration efforts. Appraisal of fault dispositions relative to the present-day maximum compressive stress azimuth are being used to identify the most promising areas for intersecting fault-related permeability at depth. New geophysical tools – most notably atomic dielectric resonance scanning – are also being appraised for their ability to directly detect features (such as hot brines) which are indicative of localised convection in target fault zones and aquifers

Introducing the student designer to the role of emotion in design

Products satisfy needs beyond the functional. These needs may include aspirations, emotions, cultural and social needs. It is crucial that designers are equipped to deal with the emotional domain of products and users. Carlson (1997) considered emotion to be short term waves of feeling arising without conscious effort, whereas mood, is defined as a longer termed state with less intensity. The authors’ working definition of the ‘emotional domain’ is the range of states of mind (which may influence the body) and which are influenced by internal and external stimuli. These effects tend to be transient although an individual will have a tendency towards a particular state, such as melancholy, happiness, calmness and so on. But even here various stimuli can cause a significant swing in state of mind. But this is a highly individual effect for example, one person may find the new iMac computer delightful and cheerful, where as others, may find it irritating and repulsive

Assessment of EGFR/HER2 dimerization by FRET-FLIM utilizing Alexa-conjugated secondary antibodies in relation to targeted therapies in cancers

The expression level of the HER family is unreliable as a predictive marker for targeted therapies in cancer. Thus, there is a need to develop other biomarkers, which can be used to accurately select responsive patients for targeted therapies. The HER dimerization status may be more important than HER receptor expression per se in determining sensitivity or resistance to a given therapeutic agent. The aim of the study is to develop a FRET assay using dye conjugated secondary antibodies to assess HER receptor dimerization. Using primary antibodies from different species in conjunction with Alexa488 and Alexa546 conjugated secondary antibodies, we validated our EGFR/HER2 dimerization assay in three cell lines, EGFR positive A431 cells as well as HER2 positive breast cell lines BT474 and SKBR3 cells. Finally, we applied our assay to assess EGFR/HER2 dimerization in paraffin embedded cell pellets. Our results show promise for the assay to be applied to tumor samples in order to assess the prognostic significance and predictive value of HER receptor dimerization in various cancers

An Asymptotic Expansion and Recursive Inequalities for the Monomer-Dimer Problem

Let (lambda_d)(p) be the p monomer-dimer entropy on the d-dimensional integer lattice Z^d, where p in [0,1] is the dimer density. We give upper and lower bounds for (lambda_d)(p) in terms of expressions involving (lambda_(d-1))(q). The upper bound is based on a conjecture claiming that the p monomer-dimer entropy of an infinite subset of Z^d is bounded above by (lambda_d)(p). We compute the first three terms in the formal asymptotic expansion of (lambda_d)(p) in powers of 1/d. We prove that the lower asymptotic matching conjecture is satisfied for (lambda_d)(p).Comment: 15 pages, much more about d=1,2,

Energy and force analysis of Ti-6Al-4V linear friction welds for computational modeling input and validation data

The linear friction welding (LFW) process is finding increasing use as a manufacturing technology for the production of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V aerospace components. Computational models give an insight into the process, however, there is limited experimental data that can be used for either modeling inputs or validation. To address this problem, a design of experiments approach was used to investigate the influence of the LFW process inputs on various outputs for experimental Ti-6Al-4V welds. The finite element analysis software DEFORM was also used in conjunction with the experimental findings to investigate the heating of the workpieces. Key findings showed that the average interface force and coefficient of friction during each phase of the process were insensitive to the rubbing velocity; the coefficient of friction was not coulombic and varied between 0.3 and 1.3 depending on the process conditions; and the interface of the workpieces reached a temperature of approximately approximately 1273 K (1000 °C) at the end of phase 1. This work has enabled a greater insight into the underlying process physics and will aid future modeling investigations.EPSRC, Boeing Company, Welding Institut

Liquid-Solid Transition of Hard Spheres Under Gravity

We investigate the liquid-solid transition of two dimensional hard spheres in the presence of gravity. We determine the transition temperature and the fraction of particles in the solid regime as a function of temperature via Even-Driven molecular dynamics simulations and compare them with the theoretical predictions. We then examine the configurational statistics of a vibrating bed from the view point of the liquid-solid transition by explicitly determining the transition temperature and the effective temperature, T, of the bed, and present a relation between T and the vibration strength.Comment: 14 total pages, 4 figure