Natural Resource Monitoring Progression of Forest Park’s Forested Natural Areas in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis City, MO had 121 acres managed as woodland or forested natural areas: 98 acres in Forest Park and 13 acres in O’Fallon Park. In Forest Park, standardized Missouri forest vegetation monitoring plots were started in 1993 to develop and guide habitat management such as thinning, species richness development, etc. In 2018 and 2019, a holistic Natural Resources Management Plan (NRMP) for Forest Park provided additional recommended metrics and monitoring, some of which have already begun implementation

Restoration and Management of High-Use Urban Missouri Woodlands and Forests in St. Louis

St. Louis City’s urban woodland and forested natural areas were modified, degraded, and/or overly-mature habitats requiring management intervention for ecological health, species diversity, and public safety. To accomplish long-term success in Forest Park’s woodlands and forests, restorations and management strategies seeking to “treat the problem not the symptom” was implemented. The most important best management practices for Forest Park’s woodlands and forests included forest stand improvement, prescribed burns, invasive and non-native species management, creation of public stewards, and plant material supplementation

Reactive sputtering of molybdenum-oxide gradient-index filters

Molybdenum-oxide gradient-index films are produced by reactive sputter deposition. A molybdenum metal target is sputtered continuously with an argon-oxygen gas mixture. For each target power used, a reproducible oxide composition and corresponding refractive index result. Repetitive variation of applied target power is used to produce a structure composed of discrete layers of preselect stoichiometry. The systematic control of a single process parameter, target power, simplifies the fabrication of molybdenum-oxide rugate filters. 7 refs., 6 figs

Activation Energy for Grain Growth in Bismuth Coatings

The knowledge of both activation energy and diffusion coefficient is needed for a predictive processing of grain size in coatings. However, for metals as Bismuth there is insufficient information available in the literature for these parameters. To determine these values, a method is adopted wherein an examination of the grain size is conducted for coatings deposited isothermally. The exponent for grain growth with time is determined, thereby enabling quantification of the activation energy and diffusion coefficient. Bismuth coatings that range from 10 {micro}m to 1 mm thick are deposited using electron-beam evaporation onto temperature-controlled substrate surfaces of glass and lithium fluoride. The grain size of each coating is measured upon examination of the microstructure in cross-section using the intercept method. Ideal grain growth is observed over the experimental range of deposition temperatures examined from 317 to 491 K. The activation energy (Q) for grain growth in bismuth is fit as 0.47 eV {center_dot} atom{sup -1} with a diffusion coefficient (D{sub 0}) of 3.3 x 10{sup -4} cm{sup 2} {center_dot} sec{sup -1}

High pressure, quasi-isentropic compression experiments on the Omega laser

The high energy density of pulsed lasers can be used to generate shockless loading in solids to high pressures and compressions but low temperatures. We have used the Omega laser to extend the capabilities of this technique to multi-Mbar pressures and compressions approaching a factor of 2 in aluminum foils. The energy from a 3.7 ns laser pulse is used to drive a strong shock through a 200 {micro}m polystyrene disc. The disc material unloads from a high-pressure state and expands across a 300 {micro}m vacuum gap where it stagnates against the sample to produce a smooth, monotonically increasing load with rise times from a few to {approx} 20 ns. Ramped compression reasing waves having peak pressures of 14-200 GPa (0.14-2.0 Mbar) and peak compressions {rho}/{rho}{sub 0} of 1.1-2.0 were generated in the aluminum samples using laser pulse energies of 400 J to 2 kJ. Wave profiles from a series of successively thicker targets loaded to 120 GPa show the evolution of the high-pressure compression wave within the sample. The initial loading in the sample is shockless, and develops into a shock at a depth of 20-25 {micro}m. We compare these wave profiles with hydrodynamic simulations from which we extract material temperatures and plastic strain rates behind the compression wave. Limitations and future prospects for this new shockless loading technique are discussed

Genomic Dissection of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, Including 28 Subphenotypes

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Genomic Dissection of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, Including 28 Subphenotypes journaltitle: Cell articlelink: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.05.046 content_type: article copyright: © 2018 Elsevier Inc

Omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, GALACTIC‐HF: baseline characteristics and comparison with contemporary clinical trials

Aims: The safety and efficacy of the novel selective cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is tested in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC‐HF) trial. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of participants in GALACTIC‐HF and how these compare with other contemporary trials. Methods and Results: Adults with established HFrEF, New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) ≥ II, EF ≤35%, elevated natriuretic peptides and either current hospitalization for HF or history of hospitalization/ emergency department visit for HF within a year were randomized to either placebo or omecamtiv mecarbil (pharmacokinetic‐guided dosing: 25, 37.5 or 50 mg bid). 8256 patients [male (79%), non‐white (22%), mean age 65 years] were enrolled with a mean EF 27%, ischemic etiology in 54%, NYHA II 53% and III/IV 47%, and median NT‐proBNP 1971 pg/mL. HF therapies at baseline were among the most effectively employed in contemporary HF trials. GALACTIC‐HF randomized patients representative of recent HF registries and trials with substantial numbers of patients also having characteristics understudied in previous trials including more from North America (n = 1386), enrolled as inpatients (n = 2084), systolic blood pressure < 100 mmHg (n = 1127), estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (n = 528), and treated with sacubitril‐valsartan at baseline (n = 1594). Conclusions: GALACTIC‐HF enrolled a well‐treated, high‐risk population from both inpatient and outpatient settings, which will provide a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this novel therapy, as well as informing its potential future implementation

Eutectic bonding of a Ti sputter coated, carbon aerogel wafer to a Ni foil

The formation of high energy density, storage devices is achievable using composite material systems. Alternate layering of carbon aerogel wafers and Ni foils with rnicroporous separators is a prospective composite for capacitor applications. An inherent problem exists to form a physical bond between Ni and the porous carbon wafer. The bonding process must be limited to temperatures less than 1000{degrees}C, at which point the aerogel begins to degrade. The advantage of a low temperature eutectic in the Ni-Ti alloy system solves this problem. Ti, a carbide former, is readily adherent as a sputter deposited thin film onto the carbon wafer. A vacuum bonding process is then used to join the Ni foil and Ti coating through eutectic phase formation. The parameters required for successfld bonding are described along with a structural characterization of the Ni foil-carbon aerogel wafer interface

Fabrication and evaluation of transmissive multilayer optics for 8 keV x rays. [Zone plates]

We have investigated an alternative technique for fabricating zone plates that operate in the 5 to 10 keV regime. Ultimately we plan to make zone plates by sputtering alternating layers of opaque and transparent materials onto a thin wire core, then slicing perpendicular to the core axis to produce many zone plates. This technique shows promise for making x-ray optical elements that can be used in industrial crystallography, microprobe and radiography equipment. In a previous publication we reported on the favorable comparison between the measured performance of an Al/Ta diffraction grating and our numerical simulation. In this report we concentrate on the fabrication techniques used to produce diffraction gratings and linear zone plates. 2 refs., 10 figs