Effects of heat and drought on carbon and water dynamics in a regenerating semi-arid pine forest: a combined experimental and modeling approach

Predicting the net effects on the carbon and water balance of semi-arid forests under future conditions depends on ecosystem processes responding to changes in soil and atmospheric drought. Here we apply a combination of field observations and soil-plant-atmosphere modeling (SPA) to study carbon and water dynamics in a regenerating ponderosa pine forest. The effects of soil and atmospheric drought were quantified based on a field irrigation experiment combined with model simulations. To assess future effects of intensifying drought on ecosystem processes, the SPA model was run using temperature and precipitation scenarios for 2040 and 2080. Experimentally increased summer water availability clearly affected tree hydraulics and enhanced C uptake in both the observations and the model. Simulation results showed that irrigation was sufficient to eliminate soil water limitation and maintaining transpiration rates, but gross primary productivity (GPP) continued to decrease. Observations of stomatal conductance indicated a dominant role of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in limiting C uptake. This was confirmed by running the simulation under reduced atmospheric drought (VPD of 1 kPa), which largely maintained GPP rates at pre-drought conditions. The importance of VPD as a dominant driver was underlined by simulations of extreme summer conditions. We found GPP to be affected more by summer temperatures and VPD as predicted for 2080 (-17%) than by reductions in summer precipitation (-9%). Because heterotrophic respiration responded less to heat (-1%) than to reductions in precipitation (-10%), net ecosystem C uptake declined strongest under hotter (-38%) compared to drier summer conditions (-8%). Considering warming trends across all seasons (September-May: +3 °C and June-August: +4.5 °C), the negative drought effects were largely compensated by an earlier initiation of favorable growing conditions and bud break, enhancing early season GPP and needle biomass. An adverse effect, triggered by changes in early season allocation patterns, was the decline of wood and root biomass. This imbalance may increase water stress over the long term to a threshold at which ponderosa pine may not survive, and highlights the need for an integrated process understanding of the combined effects of trends and extremes

Preparation and Cross-Linking of All-Acrylamide Diblock Copolymer Nano-Objects via Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly in Aqueous Solution

Various carboxylic acid-functionalized poly( N , N -dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAC) macromolecular chain transfer agents (macro-CTAs) were chain-extended with diacetone acrylamide (DAAM) by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) aqueous dispersion polymerization at 70 °C and 20% w/w solids to produce a series of PDMAC-PDAAM diblock copolymer nano-objects via polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA). TEM studies indicate that a PDMAC macro-CTA with a mean degree of polymerization (DP) of 68 or higher results in the formation of well-defined spherical nanoparticles with mean diameters ranging from 40 to 150 nm. In contrast, either highly anisotropic worms or polydisperse vesicles are formed when relatively short macro-CTAs (DP = 40-58) are used. A phase diagram was constructed to enable accurate targeting of pure copolymer morphologies. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) and aqueous electrophoresis studies indicated that in most cases these PDMAC-PDAAM nano-objects are surprisingly resistant to changes in either solution pH or temperature. However, PDMAC40-PDAAM99 worms do undergo partial dissociation to form a mixture of relatively short worms and spheres on adjusting the solution pH from pH 2-3 to around pH 9 at 20 °C. Moreover, a change in copolymer morphology from worms to a mixture of short worms and vesicles was observed by DLS and TEM on heating this worm dispersion to 50 °C. Postpolymerization cross-linking of concentrated aqueous dispersions of PDMAC-PDAAM spheres, worms, or vesicles was performed at ambient temperature using adipic acid dihydrazide (ADH), which reacts with the hydrophobic ketone-functionalized PDAAM chains. The formation of hydrazone groups was monitored by FT-IR spectroscopy and afforded covalently stabilized nano-objects that remained intact on exposure to methanol, which is a good solvent for both blocks. Rheological studies indicated that the cross-linked worms formed a stronger gel compared to linear precursor worms

Accuracy and Limitations of Fitting and Stereoscopic Methods to Determine the Direction of Coronal Mass Ejections from Heliospheric Imagers Observations

Using data from the Heliospheric Imagers (HIs) onboard STEREO, it is possible to derive the direction of propagation of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in addition to their speed with a variety of methods. For CMEs observed by both STEREO spacecraft, it is possible to derive their direction using simultaneous observations from the twin spacecraft and also, using observations from only one spacecraft with fitting methods. This makes it possible to test and compare different analyses techniques. In this article, we propose a new fitting method based on observations from one spacecraft, which we compare to the commonly used fitting method of Sheeley et al. (1999). We also compare the results from these two fitting methods with those from two stereoscopic methods, focusing on 12 CMEs observed simultaneously by the two STEREO spacecraft in 2008 and 2009. We find evidence that the fitting method of Sheeley et al. (1999) can result in significant errors in the determination of the CME direction when the CME propagates outside of 60deg \pm 20 deg from the Sun-spacecraft line. We expect our new fitting method to be better adapted to the analysis of halo or limb CMEs with respect to the observing spacecraft. We also find some evidence that direct triangulation in the HI fields-of-view should only be applied to CMEs propagating approximatively towards Earth (\pm 20deg from the Sun-Earth line). Last, we address one of the possible sources of errors of fitting methods: the assumption of radial propagation. Using stereoscopic methods, we find that at least seven of the 12 studied CMEs had an heliospheric deflection of less than 20deg as they propagated in the HI fields-of-view, which, we believe, validates this approximation.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted to Solar Physic

Project Reach: Implementation of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Within Integrated Healthcare for Hurricane Harvey Affected Individuals

Project Reach was established to deliver evidence-based mental healthcare services to children and adults affected by Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath. Through Project Reach, an innovative multi-component assessment and treatment service is utilized to identify and treat in integrated healthcare settings both children and adults exhibiting significant behavioral health concerns in Houston. The aim is to provide sustainable, integrated mental health services through primary care and school-based settings to post-Harvey affected individuals whose emotional needs remain unmet. This paper describes the design and implementation of Project Reach as well as special considerations for implementation. The overall goal of Project Reach is to form a platform for expanding integrated services for those affected by Harvey that will maximize behavioral health outcomes while reducing cost and improving access

A 31-day time to surgery compliant exercise training programme improves aerobic health in the elderly

Background: Over 41,000 people were diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) in the UK in 2011. The incidence of CRC increases with age. Many elderly patients undergo surgery for CRC, the only curative treatment. Such patients are exposed to risks, which increase with age and reduced physical fitness. Endurance-based exercise training programmes can improve physical fitness, but such programmes do not comply with the UK, National Cancer Action Team 31-day time-to-treatment target. High-intensity interval training (HIT) can improve physical performance within 2–4 weeks, but few studies have shown HIT to be effective in elderly individuals, and those who do employ programmes longer than 31 days. Therefore, we investigated whether HIT could improve cardiorespiratory fitness in elderly volunteers, age-matched to a CRC population, within 31 days. Methods: This observational cohort study recruited 21 healthy elderly participants (8 male and 13 female; age 67 years (range 62–73 years)) who undertook cardiopulmonary exercise testing before and after completing 12 sessions of HIT within a 31-day period. Results: Peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak) (23.9 ± 4.7 vs. 26.2 ± 5.4 ml/kg/min, p = 0.0014) and oxygen consumption at anaerobic threshold (17.86 ± 4.45 vs. 20.21 ± 4.11 ml/kg/min, p = 0.008) increased after HIT. Conclusions: It is possible to improve cardiorespiratory fitness in 31 days in individuals of comparable age to those presenting for CRC surgery

Production efficiency of Feshbach molecules in fermion systems

We present a consistent nonequilibrium theory for the production of molecular dimers from a two-component quantum-degenerate fermion atomic gas, via a linear downward sweep of the magnetic field across a Feshbach resonance. This problem raises interest because it is presently unclear as to why deviations from the universal Landau-Zener formula for the transition probability at two-level crossing are observed in the experimentally measured production efficiencies. We show that the molecular conversion efficiency is represented by a power series in terms of a dimensionless parameter which, in the zero-temperature limit, depends solely on the initial gas density and the Landau-Zener parameter. Our result reveals a hindrance of the canonical Landau-Zener transition probability due to many-body effects, and presents an explanation for the experimentally observed deviations [K.E. Strecker \textit{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}, 080406 (2003)].Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Estimations of changes of the Sun's mass and the gravitation constant from the modern observations of planets and spacecraft

More than 635 000 positional observations (mostly radiotechnical) of planets and spacecraft (1961-2010), have been used for estimating possible changes of the gravitation constant, the solar mass, and semi-major axes of planets, as well as the value of the astronomical unit, related to them. The analysis of the observations has been performed on the basis of the EPM2010 ephemerides of IAA RAS in post-newtonian approximation. The obtained results indicate on decrease in the heliocentric gravitation constant per year at the level $\dot {GM_{Sun}}/GM_{Sun} = (-5.0 \pm 4.1) 10^{-14} (3\sigma).$ The positive secular changes of semi-major axes $\dot a_i/a_i$ have been obtained simultaneously for the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, as expected if the geliocentric gravitation constant is decreasing in century wise. The change of the mass of the Sun $M_{Sun}$ due to the solar radiation and the solar wind and the matter dropping on the Sun (comets, meteors, asteroids and dust) was estimated. Taking into account the maximal limits of the possible $M_{Sun}$ change, the value $\dot G/G$ falls within the interval $-4.2\cdot10^{-14} < \dot G/G < +7.5\cdot10^{-14}$ in year with the 95% probability. The astronomical unit (au) is only connected with the geliocentric gravitation constant by its definition. In the future, the connection between $GM_{Sun}$ and au should be fixed at the certain time moment, as it is inconvenient highly to have the changing value of the astronomical unit.Comment: 20 pages, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Solar System Research, 2011 (Astronomicheskii vestnik

Stochastic modelling of hydraulic conductivity derived from geotechnical data: an example applied to central Glasgow

Characterising the three-dimensional (3D) distribution of hydraulic conductivity and its variability in the shallow subsurface is fundamental to understanding groundwater behaviour and to developing conceptual and numerical groundwater models to manage the subsurface. However, directly measuring in situ hydraulic conductivity can be difficult and expensive and is rarely carried out with sufficient density in urban environments. In this study we model hydraulic conductivity for 603 sites in the unconsolidated Quaternary deposits underlying Glasgow using particle size distribution and density description widely available from geotechnical investigations. Six different models were applied and the MacDonald formula was found to be most applicable in this heterogeneous environment, comparing well with the few available in situ hydraulic conductivity data. The range of the calculated hydraulic conductivity values between the 5th and 95th percentile was 1.56×10–2–4.38mday–1 with a median of 2.26×10–1 mday–1. These modelled hydraulic conductivity data were used to develop a suite of stochastic 3D simulations conditioned to existing 3D representations of lithology. Ten per cent of the input data were excluded from the modelling process for use in a split-sample validation test, which demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach compared with non-spatial or lithologically unconstrained models. Our spatial model reduces the mean squared error between the estimated and observed values at the excluded data locations over those predicted using a simple homogeneous model by 73 %. The resulting 3D hydraulic conductivity model is of a much higher resolution than would have been possible from using only direct measurements, and will improve understanding of groundwater flow in Glasgow and reduce the spatial uncertainty of hydraulic parameters in groundwater process models. The methodology employed could be replicated in other regions where significant volumes of suitable geotechnical and site investigation data are available to predict ground conditions in areas with complex superficial deposits

Effect of Solar Wind Drag on the Determination of the Properties of Coronal Mass Ejections from Heliospheric Images

The Fixed-\Phi (F\Phi) and Harmonic Mean (HM) fitting methods are two methods to determine the average direction and velocity of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from time-elongation tracks produced by Heliospheric Imagers (HIs), such as the HIs onboard the STEREO spacecraft. Both methods assume a constant velocity in their descriptions of the time-elongation profiles of CMEs, which are used to fit the observed time-elongation data. Here, we analyze the effect of aerodynamic drag on CMEs propagating through interplanetary space, and how this drag affects the result of the F\Phi and HM fitting methods. A simple drag model is used to analytically construct time-elongation profiles which are then fitted with the two methods. It is found that higher angles and velocities give rise to greater error in both methods, reaching errors in the direction of propagation of up to 15 deg and 30 deg for the F\Phi and HM fitting methods, respectively. This is due to the physical accelerations of the CMEs being interpreted as geometrical accelerations by the fitting methods. Because of the geometrical definition of the HM fitting method, it is affected by the acceleration more greatly than the F\Phi fitting method. Overall, we find that both techniques overestimate the initial (and final) velocity and direction for fast CMEs propagating beyond 90 deg from the Sun-spacecraft line, meaning that arrival times at 1 AU would be predicted early (by up to 12 hours). We also find that the direction and arrival time of a wide and decelerating CME can be better reproduced by the F\Phi due to the cancellation of two errors: neglecting the CME width and neglecting the CME deceleration. Overall, the inaccuracies of the two fitting methods are expected to play an important role in the prediction of CME hit and arrival times as we head towards solar maximum and the STEREO spacecraft further move behind the Sun.Comment: Solar Physics, Online First, 17 page