Shoot scattering phase function for Scots pine and its effect on canopy reflectance

Spectral and directional reflectance properties of coniferous forests are known to differ from those of broadleaf forests. Many reasons have been proposed for this, including differences in the optical properties of leaves and shoots, the latter being considered the basic unit in radiative transfer modeling of a coniferous canopy. Unfortunately, very little empirical data is available on the spectrodirectional scattering properties of shoots. Here, we present results of angular measurements (using an ASD FieldSpec 3 spectroradiometer mounted on LAGOS) of ten Scots pine shoots in the spectral range 400--2000 nm. The shoots were found to scatter anisotropically with most of the radiation reflected back into the hemisphere where the radiation source was positioned. To describe the measured directional scattering pattern, we propose a phase function consisting of isotropic and Lambertian scattering components. Next, we used the proposed scattering phase function in a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model. Angular reflectance of a modeled horizontally homogeneous shoot canopy has, due to shoot scattering anisotropy, an enhanced “dark spot” as compared with a canopy composed of isotropic scatterers and a quantitatively similar leaf canopy.Peer reviewe

Gold Coating of Respiratory Cilia for Scanning Electron Microscopy

The optimal thickness of gold coating of cilia for scanning electron microscopy was studied using respiratory mucosa obtained from pigs. We tested 8 different coating times, from 10 seconds to 4 minutes, which resulted in gold layer thicknesses varying from 16 ± 1 nm to 100 ± 3 nm. The thickness of the gold layer with a coating time of 60 seconds and voltage of 2.5 kV was 43 ± 5 nm. This thickness of gold layer gave good image quality without causing any electric charging. With thinner gold films, the amount of electric charging increased. When the coating time was longer, the gold layer was thicker but image quality did not improve. The thicknesses of the gold layers were measured using transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

History teaching in Finnish general upper secondary schools: Objectives and practices

In Finland, the trend towards a new kind of history teaching emphasizing the understanding of historical knowledge and historical thinking skills began in the mid-1990s, when history teaching objectives were defined much more broadly in the curriculum than previously. In this article, we examine how, in over twenty years since the changes in curriculum objectives were made, general upper secondary school teachers have come to value the curriculum objectives of history teaching and how these have impacted on their teaching. The data for this article were collected by a semi-structured survey in 2016. Using counts, percentages, means, standard deviations and medians, a descriptive exploration was made of history teachers’ perceptions of the essential objectives in teaching history and how often they were put into practice in related student activities. To investigate the balance between the objectives the teachers emphasized as the most essential and the teaching methods they actually used, we applied the Kruskal–Wallis test and the Friedman test. According to the results, what the teachers considered essential for teaching history did not correlate with their teaching methods. In addition, according to the results, this state of affairs is still undergoing change; old traditions and new objectives of history teaching are creating tensions. The results were interpreted in the light of the cultural viewpoints of Finnish teaching, the position of matriculation examinations in Finnish general upper secondary schools and the challenges the curriculum is setting for history teacher

Regional Eradication of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae From Pig Herds and Documentation of Freedom of the Disease

The objectives of this study were to 1) screen all sow herds in a region for M. hyopneumoniae, 2) to effectuate an eradication programme in all those herds which were shown to be infected with M. hyopneumoniae, and 3) to follow the success of the screening and the eradication programmes. The ultimate goal was to eradicate M. hyopneumoniae from all member herds of a cooperative slaughterhouse (153 farrowing herds + 85 farrowing-to-finishing herds + 150 specialised finishing herds) before year 2000. During 1998 and 1999, a total of 5067 colostral whey and 755 serum samples (mean, 25 samples/herd) were collected from sow herds and analysed for antibodies to M. hyopneumoniae by ELISA. Antibodies were detected in 208 (3.6%) samples. Two farrowing herds (1.3%) and 20 farrowing-to-finishing herds (23.5%) were shown to be infected with M. hyopneumoniae. A programme to eradicate the infection from these herds was undertaken. During March 2000, a survey was made to prove the success of the screening and the eradication programmes. In total, 509 serum samples were collected randomly from slaughtered finishing pigs. Antibodies to M. hyopneumoniae were not detected in 506 of the samples, whereas 3 samples were considered suspicious or positive. Accordingly, 3 herds were shown to be infected. One of the herds was previously falsely classified as non-infected. Two of the herds were finishing herds practising continuous flow system (CF). Unlike finishing herds which practice all-in/all-out management routines on herd level, CF herds do not get rid of transmissible diseases spontaneously between batches, for which reason a screening was made in the rest of the CF herds (total n = 7). Consequently, 2 more infected herds were detected. In addition to the results of the survey, a decreasing prevalence of lung lesions at slaughter (from 5.2% to 0.1%) and lack of clinical breakdowns indicated that all member herds were finally free from M. hyopneumoniae in the end of year 2000

Occupational injuries and diseases among commercial fishers in Finland 1996-2015

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Occupational injuries and diseases among commercial fishers in Finland 1996–2015

Background: Commercial fishing is recognised as one of the most hazardous professions worldwide. In Finland, commercial fishing has some special characteristics, including fishing on ice during frozen waters, and pluriactivity of the fisher family to gain additional income. The goal of this study was to describe injury characteristics among commercial fishers in Finland during the years 1996–2015. With this information, we wish to promote creation of effective safety campaigns and interventions. Materials and methods: The data for this study was acquired from The Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution, who handles the mandatory pension and occupational injury insurance of Finnish commercial fishers. Descriptive statistics was used to categorise and analyse the data that comprised the anonymized insurance history of 1954 insured fishers and reports on 1135 compensated injuries, 11 fatalities, and 53 occupational disease cases. Results: The results show, that the injury rate of Finnish commercial fishers is high. Forty per cent of the fishing-related injuries occur aboard or when entering or leaving the vessel, while 37% happened ashore, and 11% on sea or lake ice. The most common type of incident is preceded by a slip, trip, or sway followed by a fall to lower level. The injuries result in a median disability length of 21 days. An elevated risk for Finnish (vs. Swedish) speaking, as well as for male fishers was found. The occupational diseases of the studied population were for the most part results of manual, repetitive and/or physically straining work due to e.g. hauling in fishing equipment. Due to small numbers and lack of case data, it is not possible to make any further analysis of the 11 fatalities, which were all drownings. Conclusions: Based on our findings, injury prevention should be targeted, besides preventing fatalities because of drowning, at mitigating the risks for slips, trips, and falls both aboard and ashore

Reflectance properties of selected arctic-boreal land cover types: field measurements and their application in remote sensing

International audienceWe developed a mobile remote sensing measurement facility for spectral and anisotropic reflectance measurements. We measured reflection properties (BRF) of over 100 samples from most common land cover types in boreal and subarctic regions. This extensive data set serves as a unique reference opportunity for developing interpretation algorithms for remotely sensed materials as well as for modelling climatic effects in the boreal and subarctic zones. Our goniometric measurements show that the reflectances of the most common land cover types in the boreal and subarctic region can differ from each other by a factor of 100. Some types are strong forward scatterers, some backward scatterers, some reflect specularly, some have strong colours, some are bright in visual, some in infrared. We noted that spatial variations in reflectance, even among the same type of vegetation, can be well over 20%, diurnal variations of the same order and seasonal variation often over a factor of 10. This has significant consequences on the interpretation of satellite and airborne images and on the development of radiation regime models in both optical remote sensing and climate change research. We propose that the accuracy of optical remote sensing can be improved by an order of magnitude, if better physical reflectance models can be introduced. Further improvements can be reached by more optimised design of sensors and orbits/flight lines, by the effective combining of several data sources and better processing of atmospheric effects. We conclude that more extensive and systematic laboratory experiments and field measurements are needed, with more modelling effort

Model-based pattern speed estimates for 38 barred galaxies

We have modelled 38 barred galaxies by using near-IR and optical data from the Ohio State University Bright Spiral Galaxy Survey. We constructed the gravitational potentials of the galaxies from $H$-band photometry, assuming constant mass-to-light ratio. The halo component we chose corresponds to the so called universal rotation curve. In each case, we used the response of gaseous and stellar particle disc to rigidly rotating potential to determine the pattern speed. We find that the pattern speed of the bar depends roughly on the morphological type. The average value of corotation resonance radius to bar radius, $\mathcal{R}$, increases from $1.15 \pm 0.25$ in types SB0/a -- SBab to $1.44 \pm 0.29$ in SBb and $1.82\pm 0.63$ in SBbc -- SBc. Within the error estimates for the pattern speed and bar radius, all galaxies of type SBab or earlier have a fast bar ($\mathcal{R} \le 1.4$), whereas the bars in later type galaxies include both fast and slow rotators. Of 16 later type galaxies with a nominal value of $\mathcal{R} > 1.4$, there are five cases, where the fast rotating bar is ruled out by the adopted error estimates. We also study the correlation between the parameter $\mathcal{R}$ and other galactic properties. The clearest correlation is with the bar size: the slowest bars are also the shortest bars when compared to the galaxy size. A weaker correlation is seen with bar strength in a sense that slow bars tend to be weaker. These correlations leave room for a possibility that the determined pattern speed in many galaxies corresponds actually that of the spiral, which rotates more slowly than the bar. No clear correlation is seen with either the galaxy luminosity or colour.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Radial Dependence of the Pattern Speed of M51

The grand-design spiral galaxy M51 has long been a crucial target for theories of spiral structure. Studies of this iconic spiral can address the question of whether strong spiral structure is transient (e.g. interaction-driven) or long-lasting. As a clue to the origin of the structure in M51, we investigate evidence for radial variation in the spiral pattern speed using the radial Tremaine-Weinberg (TWR) method. We implement the method on CO observations tracing the ISM-dominant molecular component. Results from the method's numerical implementation--combined with regularization, which smooths intrinsically noisy solutions--indicate two distinct patterns speeds inside 4 kpc at our derived major axis PA=170 deg., both ending at corotation and both significantly higher than the conventionally adopted global value. Inspection of the rotation curve suggests that the pattern speed interior to 2 kpc lacks an ILR, consistent with the leading structure seen in HST near-IR observations. We also find tentative evidence for a lower pattern speed between 4 and 5.3 kpc measured by extending the regularized zone. As with the original TW method, uncertainty in major axis position angle (PA) is the largest source of error in the calculation; in this study, where \delta PA=+/-5 deg. a ~20% error is introduced to the parameters of the speeds at PA=170 deg. Accessory to this standard uncertainty, solutions with PA=175 deg. (also admitted by the data) exhibit only one pattern speed inside 4 kpc, and we consider this circumstance under the semblance of a radially varying PA.Comment: 14 pages in emulateapj format, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap