La cantidad de madera muerta y sus tasas de descomposición asociadas en reservas forestales y bosques manejados en el noroeste de Turquía

This study describes the state of coarse dead wood (CDW) in the Forest Reserve and the Managed Forest zones of northern conifer-broadleaved mixed forest. The results showed mean total CDW volumes in the ranges 30,05±11,06 m3/ha in the Forest Reserve (6,33±2,98% of the LW volume), and 9,31±2,84 m3/ha in the Managed Forest (1,96±0,84% of the LW volume). The total CDW volume was 3,22 times higher in the Forest Reserve than in the Managed Forest. The CDWlog1 and CDWsnag1 were the most abundant CDW decay classes, whilst CDWlog2 and CDWsnag2 were the lowest. Comparisons of ratios between the Managed Forest and the Forest Reserve with abundant decay classes CDWlog1 and CDWsnag1 indicated large differences. The CDWlog1 volume was 4,09 times higher, and the CDWsnag1 volume was 3,68 times greater in the Forest Reserve than in the Managed Forest. The ratio of different CWD classes in the Managed Forest to CWD classes in the Reserve Forest confirms the pattern. In both Managed and Reserve Forest zones there is balance between total CDWlogs and total CDWsnags, but the differences between total CDWlogs and total CDWsnags was not statistically significant. The total CDW volume was significantly dependent on the forest management system. The system influenced amount and diversity of CDW. In commercially managed forest the abundance and structure of CDW retained is a compromise between the needs of timber production and nature conservation.Este estudio describe el estado de la madera muerta en la zona de reserva forestal y zonas de bosques manejados de coníferas del norte de bosques mixtos de frondosas. Los resultados mostraron que la media total de los volúmenes de madera muerta es igual a 30,05 ± 11,06 m3 / ha en la Reserva Forestal (6,33 ± 2,98% del volumen de madera en pie), y 9,31 ± 2,84 m3 / ha en los bosques manejados (1,96 ± 0,84% del volumen de LW). El volumen total de madera muerta fue de 3,22 veces mayor en la Reserva Forestal de que en el bosque administrado. Las clases de decaimiento de madera muerta más abundantes eran CDWlog1 y CDWsnag1, mientras que CDWlog2 y CDWsnag2 fueron los menos abundantes. Las comparaciones de las proporciones entre el bosque manejado y la Reserva Forestal con las clases de decaimiento más abundantes (CDWlog1 y CDWsnag1) indican grandes diferencias ente las dos zonas. El volumen CDWlog1 fue 4,09 veces mayor, y el volumen CDWsnag1 fue 3,68 veces mayor en la Reserva Forestal de que en el bosque manejado. La relación de las diferentes clases de decaimiento entre los bosques manejados y la Reserva Forestal confirma el patrón. En ambos casos, bosque manejado y zonas de reserva forestal, existe un equilibrio entre CDWlogs total y CDWsnags total, pero las diferencias entre CDWlogs total y CDWsnags total no fue estadísticamente significativa. El volumen total de madera muerta depende significativamente del sistema de gestión forestal. El sistema de manejo influye sobre la cantidad y diversidad de madera muerta. En una gestión comercial de los bosques, la abundancia y estructura de madera muerta presente es un compromiso entre las necesidades de la producción de madera y la conservación de la naturaleza

Switching Frequency Effects on the Efficiency and Harmonic Distortion in a Three-Phase Five-Level CHBMI Prototype with Multicarrier PWM Schemes: Experimental Analysis

The current climatic scenario requires the use of innovative solutions to increase the production of electricity from renewable energy sources. Multilevel Power Inverters are a promising solution to improve the penetration of renewable energy sources into the electrical grid. Moreover, the performance of MPIs is a function of the modulation strategy employed and of its features (modulation index and switching frequency). This paper presents an extended and experimental analysis of three-phase five-level Cascaded H-Bridges Multilevel Inverter performance in terms of efficiency and harmonic content considering several MC PWM modulation strategies. In detail, the CHBMI performance is analyzed by varying the modulation index and the switching frequency. For control purposes, the NI System On Module sbRIO-9651 control board, a dedicated FPGA-based control board for power electronics and drive applications programmable in the LabVIEW environment, is used. The paper describes the modulation strategies implementation, the test bench set-up, and the experimental investigations carried out. The results obtained in terms of Total Harmonic Distorsion (THD) and efficiency are analyzed, compared, and discussed

Bilateral Talus and Navicular Fractures accompanied with Unilateral Calcaneal Fracture: A Case Report

An 18-year old male patient, with a history of paragliding accident, sustaining a coronal shear fracture of the body of the talus, an anterior process fracture of the calcaneus extending to the calcaneocuboid joint and a nondisplaced navicular body fracture at the right foot and a displaced fracture of the navicular body accompanied with posteromedial process fracture of the talus at the left side was referred to our emergency clinic. For the right foot, the coronal plane fracture of the talar body was anatomically reduced and fixed with screws. For the left foot, screw fixation was performed through the lateral aspect to fix the large posteromedial fragment. Small bone fragments were removed from the left navicular fracture, and the main fragments were also fixed with screw. The talo-navicular joint was stabilised with a Kirschner wire. At 36 months follow-up, bilateral foot and ankle functions were satisfactory, Maryland scores of the right and left foot were 85 (good) and 90 (excellent), respectively, and the patient regained his full activity level by the 5th month postoperatively. With reference to the number and types of fractures in this one patient, we present a standard protocol for treatment of isolated talus, navicular and calcaneal fractures presenting together in a single foot injury

Diffusion of particles moving with constant speed

The propagation of light in a scattering medium is described as the motion of a special kind of a Brownian particle on which the fluctuating forces act only perpendicular to its velocity. This enforces strictly and dynamically the constraint of constant speed of the photon in the medium. A Fokker-Planck equation is derived for the probability distribution in the phase space assuming the transverse fluctuating force to be a white noise. Analytic expressions for the moments of the displacement $$ along with an approximate expression for the marginal probability distribution function $P(x,t)$ are obtained. Exact numerical solutions for the phase space probability distribution for various geometries are presented. The results show that the velocity distribution randomizes in a time of about eight times the mean free time ($8t^*$) only after which the diffusion approximation becomes valid. This factor of eight is a well known experimental fact. A persistence exponent of $0.435 \pm 0.005$ is calculated for this process in two dimensions by studying the survival probability of the particle in a semi-infinite medium. The case of a stochastic amplifying medium is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures(Submitted to Phys. Rev. E

Optimal coordination of TCSC and PSS2B controllers in electric power systems using MOPSO multiobjective algorithm

Oscillations are an intrinsic phenomenon in interconnected power systems, leading to steady-state stability, safety decline, transmission power limitation, and electric power systems’ ineffective exploitation by developing power systems, particularly by connecting these systems to low-load lines. In addition, they affect the economic performance of the systems. In this study, PSS2B power system stabilizers and TCSC compensators are used to improve the stability margin of power systems. In order to coordinate TCSC compensators, the MOPSO multiobjective algorithm with integral of the time-weighted absolute error (ITAE) and figure of demerit (FD) objective functions was used. The MOPSO algorithm optimization results are compared with nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGAII) and multiobjective differential evolution (MODE) algorithms. The optimization results indicated a better performance of the proposed MOPSO algorithm than NSGAII and MODE. The simulations were iterated in two scenarios by creating different loading conditions in generators. The results indicated that the proposed control system, where the coordination between PSS2B power system stabilizers and TCSC compensators using the MOPSO algorithm, is better than power systems in which PSS2B Stabilizers or TCSC compensators are utilized solely. All criteria, e.g., ITAE, FD, maximum deviation range, and the required time for power oscillation damping in hybrid control systems, have been obtained. This means more stability and accurate and proper performance

Evidences of spatial (angular) filtering of sound beams by sonic crystals

We report experimental evidences of spatial (angular) filtering of sound beams propagating through sonic crystals. We show that at specific frequencies of the incident wave the paraxial plane wave compo- nents of the beam can be efficiently transmitted through the crystal, whereas the components propagat- ing at large angles are strongly reflected or deflected (filtered out) by the crystal. The modification of the angular field distribution results in formation of sound beams of relatively high spatial quality.The work was financieall supported by Spanish Ministry of since and Innovation and European Union FEDER through projects FIS2011-29731-C02-01 and -02, Generalitat Valenciana through the procect GV/2011/2055 and the UPV through PAID-05-12.Picó Vila, R.; Pérez Arjona, I.; Sánchez Morcillo, VJ.; Staliünas, K. (2013). Evidences of spatial (angular) filtering of sound beams by sonic crystals. Applied Acoustics. 74(7):945-948. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2013.01.003S94594874

Prediction of Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE)/Extreme Ultraviolet Spectro-Photometer (ESP) Irradiance from Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) Images Using Fuzzy Image Processing and Machine Learning

YesThe cadence and resolution of solar images have been increasing dramatically with the launch of new spacecraft such as STEREO and SDO. This increase in data volume provides new opportunities for solar researchers, but the efficient processing and analysis of these data create new challenges. We introduce a fuzzy-based solar feature-detection system in this article. The proposed system processes SDO/AIA images using fuzzy rules to detect coronal holes and active regions. This system is fast and it can handle different size images. It is tested on six months of solar data (1 October 2010 to 31 March 2011) to generate filling factors (ratio of area of solar feature to area of rest of the solar disc) for active regions and coronal holes. These filling factors are then compared to SDO/EVE/ESP irradiance measurements. The correlation between active-region filling factors and irradiance measurements is found to be very high, which has encouraged us to design a time-series prediction system using Radial Basis Function Networks to predict ESP irradiance measurements from our generated filling factors

Solar flare prediction using advanced feature extraction, machine learning and feature selection

YesNovel machine-learning and feature-selection algorithms have been developed to study: (i) the flare prediction capability of magnetic feature (MF) properties generated by the recently developed Solar Monitor Active Region Tracker (SMART); (ii) SMART's MF properties that are most significantly related to flare occurrence. Spatio-temporal association algorithms are developed to associate MFs with flares from April 1996 to December 2010 in order to differentiate flaring and non-flaring MFs and enable the application of machine learning and feature selection algorithms. A machine-learning algorithm is applied to the associated datasets to determine the flare prediction capability of all 21 SMART MF properties. The prediction performance is assessed using standard forecast verification measures and compared with the prediction measures of one of the industry's standard technologies for flare prediction that is also based on machine learning - Automated Solar Activity Prediction (ASAP). The comparison shows that the combination of SMART MFs with machine learning has the potential to achieve more accurate flare prediction than ASAP. Feature selection algorithms are then applied to determine the MF properties that are most related to flare occurrence. It is found that a reduced set of 6 MF properties can achieve a similar degree of prediction accuracy as the full set of 21 SMART MF properties

Clinical, genetic, and functional characterization of the glycine receptor β-subunit A455P variant in a family affected by hyperekplexia syndrome

Hyperekplexia is a rare neurological disorder characterized by exaggerated startle response affecting newborns with the hallmark characteristics of hypertonia, apnea, and noise or touch-induced non-epileptic seizures. The genetic causes of the disease can vary and several associated genes and mutations have been reported to affect glycine receptors (GlyRs); however, the mechanistic links between GlyRs and hyperekplexia are not yet understood. Here, we describe a patient with hyperekplexia from a consanguineous family. Extensive genetic screening using exome sequencing coupled with autozygome analysis and iterative filtering supplemented by in silico prediction identified that the patient carries the homozygous missense mutation A455P in GLRB, which encodes the GlyR β-subunit. To unravel the physiological and molecular effects of A455P on GlyRs, we used electrophysiology in a heterologous system as well as immunocytochemistry, confocal microscopy, and cellular biochemistry. We found a reduction in glycine-evoked currents in N2A cells expressing the mutation compared to wild type cells. Western blot analysis also revealed a reduced amount of GlyR β protein both in cell lysates and isolated membrane fractions. In line with the above observations, co-immunoprecipitation assays suggested that the GlyR α1-subunit retained co-assembly with βA455P to form membrane-bound heteromeric receptors. Finally, structural modelling showed that the A455P mutation affected the interaction between the GlyR β-subunit transmembrane domain 4 and the other helices of the subunit. Taken together, our study identifies and validates a novel loss-of-function mutation in GlyRs whose pathogenicity is likely to cause hyperekplexia in affected individuals