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Significance Fear relapse represents a significant problem for individuals suffering from stress- and trauma-related disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder. Here, we show that locus coeruleus norepinephrine activation produces fear relapse in rats. In addition, locus coeruleus activation inverts neuronal firing properties of the prelimbic and infralimbic cortices to drive this fear relapse. Elevated noradrenergic tone and subsequent changes in prefrontal firing properties represent a therapeutic target for combating fear relapse., The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays an essential role in regulating emotion, including inhibiting fear when danger has passed. The extinction of fear, however, is labile and a number of factors, including stress, cause extinguished fear to relapse. Here we show that fear relapse in rats limits single-unit activity among infralimbic (IL) neurons, which are critical for inhibiting fear responses, and facilitates activity in prelimbic (PL) neurons involved in fear expression. Pharmacogenetic activation of noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus mimics this shift in reciprocal IL–PL spike firing, increases the expression of conditioned freezing behavior, and causes relapse of extinguished fear. Noradrenergic modulation of mPFC firing represents a mechanism for relapse and a potential target for therapeutic interventions to reduce pathological fear.

Background: Orthopaedic clinics have acquired a multitude of health professionals to improve clinic efficiency. More recently, athletic trainers (ATs) have been utilized to improve clinical efficiency and patient care because of their extensive background in musculoskeletal injuries and anatomy. Improved clinical efficiency allows for increased patient visits, potentially enhancing patient access and downstream revenue via relative value units (RVUs). Hypothesis: The addition of an AT into a sports medicine physician’s clinic will increase total patient throughput and overall RVU production. Study Design: Retrospective analysis. Level of Evidence: Level 4. Methods: Patients seen by each of the 2 primary care sports medicine physicians at St Luke’s Sports Medicine for a 2-year period were retrospectively evaluated. The initial clinic model included the physician and a medical assistant; during the second year of analysis an AT was added to the clinic staffing model. Two-tailed t tests were used to determine significant differences in patient volume between the 2 periods of data collection. Results: Through the implementation of an AT, patient throughput increased by 0.7 patients per hour over 2 half-day clinics, a 25% increase ( P < 0.01). Physician B patient visits increased by 21%, or 3.8 patients per 6.5-hour clinic day ( P < 0.01). Additionally, RVU production increased by 3.23 per half-day and 4.3 per full day for physicians A and B, respectively. Conclusion: Clinical efficiency was improved with the addition of an AT. Total physician RVUs improved, thereby raising the potential revenue of both the physician and health care institution. Employing ATs in a sports medicine clinic may improve clinical productivity and financial stability, thereby validating the incorporation of ATs into the established clinical model. Clinical Relevance: Limited research exists measuring patient throughput with an AT in a sports medicine clinic. This study investigates patient throughput and the subsequent increase in work-based RVUs.

Considerable work demonstrates that Pavlovian fear conditioning depends on N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-dependent plasticity within the amygdala. In addition, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) has also been implicated in fear conditioning, particularly in the expression of fear to poor predictors of threat. We recently found that the expression of backward (BW) fear conditioning, in which an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS) follows a footshock unconditioned stimulus (US), requires the BNST; the expression of forward (FW) fear conditioning was not disrupted by BNST inactivation. However, whether NMDA receptors within the BNST contribute to the acquisition of fear conditioning is unknown. Moreover, the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), which has extensive connections with the BNST, is critically involved in FW conditioning, however whether it participates in BW conditioning has not been explored. Here we test the specific hypothesis that the CeA and the BNST mediate the acquisition of FW and BW fear conditioning, respectively. Adult female and male rats were randomly assigned to receive bilateral infusions of the NMDA receptor antagonist, D,L-2-amino-5-phosphonovalerate (APV), into the CeA or BNST prior to FW or BW fear conditioning. We found that intra-CeA APV impaired the acquisition of both FW and BW conditioning, whereas intra-BNST APV produced selective deficits in BW conditioning. Moreover, APV in the BNST significantly reduced contextual freezing, whereas CeA NMDA receptor antagonism impeded early but not long-lasting contextual fear. Collectively, these data reveal that CeA and BNST NMDA receptors have unique roles in fear conditioning.

Background Tibial fixation of soft tissue grafts continues to be problematic in the early postoperative period after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Hypothesis No differences exist for resistance to slippage of soft tissue grafts fixed with CentraLoc, Intrafix, or 35-mm bioabsorbable interference screws. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods Bovine tibia and hoof extensor tendons were divided into 3 matched groups with 12 tibia and 12 extensor tendons in each group. Within each group, 6 specimens underwent monotonic loading to failure (1 mm/s), and 6 underwent cyclic loading (10 000 cycles, 125-325 N, 1 Hz). Results No statistically significant differences were noted in mean load to failure or stiffness. The mean load to failure (and stiffness) for the 3 types of fixation were as follows: bioabsorbable interference screw, 631.6 ± 130.1 N (88.17 ± 6.79 N/mm); Intrafix, 644.3 ± 195.2 N (81.65 ± 16.5 N/mm); and CentraLoc, 791.1 ± 72.7 N (77.89 ± 7.07 N/mm). The slippage rates under cyclic loading for the 3 types of fixation were bioabsorbable interference screw, 0.336 ± 0.074 µm/cycle; Intrafix, 27.2 ± 31.6 µm/cycle; and CentraLoc, 0.0355 ± 0.0046 µm/cycle. In this model, CentraLoc proved statistically superior in resistance to cyclic loading compared with the bioabsorbable interference screw (P < .05) and Intrafix (P < .0001). The bioabsorbable interference screw proved statistically superior to Intrafix in resistance to cyclic loading (P < .05). Conclusions In this bovine model, CentraLoc and bioabsorbable interference screws provided superior resistance to cyclic loading compared with Intrafix. Clinical Relevance CentraLoc and bioabsorbable interference screws showed superior resistance to cyclic loading, which may indicate an increased resistance to clinical failure.

For several years the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been developing a Decision Support System for Agriculture (DSS4Ag) which determines the economically optimum recipe of various fertilizers to apply at each site in a field to produce a crop, based on the existing soil fertility at each site, as well as historic production information and current prices of fertilizers and the forecast market price of the crop at harvest. In support of the growing interest in agricultural crop residues as a bioenergy feedstock, we have extended the capability of the DSS4Ag to develop a variable-rate fertilizer recipe for the simultaneous economically optimum production of both grain and straw. In this paper we report the results of 2 yr of field research testing and enhancing the DSS4Ag's ability to economically optimize the fertilization for the simultaneous production of both grain and its straw, where the straw is an agricultural crop residue that can be used as a biofeedstock. For both years, the DSS4Ag reduced the cost and amount of fertilizers used and increased grower profit, while reducing the biomass produced. The DSS4Ag results show that when a biorefinery infrastructure is in place and growers have a strong market for their straw it is not economically advantageous to increase fertilization in order to try to produce more straw. This suggests that other solutions, such as single-pass selective harvest, must be implemented to meet national goals for the amount of biomass that will be available for collection and use for bioenergy.

Despite the lack of consensus guidelines and randomized control trials, the use of arthroscopy for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee has increased over the last decade. Techniques used for the arthroscopic treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee include joint lavage, joint débridement, meniscectomy, abrasion arthroplasty, and microfracture. We performed a retrospective, evidence-based review of the current literature on the arthroscopic treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee and provide insight into the study design flaws and difficulties associated with the current research on this controversial topic. Our literature search yielded 18 relevant studies. Of these, one was Level I evidence, five were Level II, six were Level III, and six were Level IV. We found limited evidence-based research to support the use of arthroscopy as a treatment method for osteoarthritis of the knee. Arthroscopic débridement of meniscus tears and knees with low-grade osteoarthritis may have some utility, but it should not be used as a routine treatment for all patients with knee osteoarthritis.

This paper introduces the special issue, which deals with local rural people’s responses to external and internal pressures brought about by global change processes. The contributions are grouped in three categories: (1) Deforestation, land use change and local management systems, including papers on the spread of an alien wattle species in South Africa, large scale forest conservation and rehabilitation in China and consequences of government efforts to reverse deforestation in Indonesia; (2) Subsistence farming and cash crop interaction, addressed by two articles on swidden systems in Malaysia and Indonesia; and (3) Land use change and income diversification, which includes two contributions on changing livelihoods of farmers in Tanzania and Papua New Guinea and one paper developing a method for identifying and mapping the spatial distribution of farming systems in Vietnam. All articles were originally presented at an International Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2003, under the auspices of the Danish University Consortium on Environment and Development - Sustainable Land Use and Natural Resource Management (DUCED SLUSE).

A past study in Sarawak, Malaysia (Cramb, R.A., 1993. Shifting cultivation and sustainable agriculture in East Malaysia: a longitudinal case study. Agricultural Systems 42, 209–226) found among smallholder farmers a mutual buffer effect between price fluctuations in cash crops (black pepper, Piper nigrum L. and pararubber, Hevea brasiliensis M.-Arg.) and swidden or shifting cultivation of hill rice. The recent rise in international prices for black pepper provides an opportunity to test the generality of Cramb’s original findings. For about three years beginning in 1997 and concomitant with the Asian economic crisis, smallholders throughout Southeast Asia responded to the price rises by investing more labour into existing pepper gardens, as well as planting new gardens. Here, we compare the response of Iban pepper smallholders to this situation on either side of the international border separating Sarawak, Malaysia and West Kalimantan, Indonesia, with special attention to Cramb’s findings. The mutual buffering capacity of hill rice cultivation and pepper/rubber farming described by Cramb is less evident in the study communities. The primary reasons that may account for the lack of fit revolve around the extent of pepper cultivation, availability of credit or subsidy, competition with labour in hill swiddens, and presence of nearby alternatives to earn cash.

Recent advances in the knowledge of tissue homeostasis, including the tissue homeostasis theory and the envelope of function theory as proposed by Dye, have greatly increased our knowledge of the pathophysiology of osteoarthrosis after sports knee injuries. The development of these two theories has not only advanced our understanding of the treatment and prevention of osteoarthrosis after acute injuries to the knee, but has also given us guidance as to directions for future research.

SummaryThis review of the basic biology of the meniscus and its biologic response to injury demonstrates that the menisci are an integral part of the complex biomechanics of the knee. Without the menisci, knee joint function is severely compromised. Lack of the menisci may lead to progressive degene

One of the president's most conspicuous and potentially powerful uses of the bully pulpit is the televised address to the nation. With these addresses, the president has the opportunity to enter homes throughout America to speak to people directly, unfettered by the news media's questions, interpretations, and editing. The president's ability to speak to a nationwide audience has led many to believe the president has a disproportionate amount of power in leading the public and a subsequent advantage in working with other political actors. Televised addresses are often portrayed as the president's ultimate political weapon in shaping the nation's agenda, mobilizing public opinion, and building support for himself and the issue positions he espouses. Although the potential for televised addresses to influence public opinion is tremendous, there are formidable obstacles that stand in the way of the president's leading the public through national addresses (see Edwards and Wayne 1997, 115-20). One of the major challenges the president must overcome is communicating his message to a potentially inattentive audience. For a televised address to influence public opinion on particular issues or policies, the president not only must attract an audience to watch the address but he must also communicate his ideas and preferences to the public so that people are aware of them. In other words, if the president wants to influence public opinion on issues such as health care reform, an energy proposal, or a tax cut, people must be attentive enough to understand the issues the president is discussing. Only after the president has attracted an audience and has successfully conveyed to the public his preferences about an issue can he influence the public on that particular issue (see Salomon and Cohen 1978; Price and Zaller 1993). If a president has been successful at getting people to watch his address and in communicating his message to them, people will be able to "recall or remember the information after exposure" (DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach 1989, 314). The more successful a president is, the more people there will be who recall points from the speech and the more information people will recall. This article examines the president's success at using televised addresses to communicate his message to the public: How effective is the president at getting his message across to the public? With whom is he most effective? Why is the president more successful communicating his message to some rather than others? To answer these questions, this study looks at the points people remember from televised addresses. It examines the number of people who remember points from televised addresses, who the people are who remember the points, how people who remember points differ from those who do not, and why some people remember points from a speech while others do not. Examining People's Recall of Televised Presidential Addresses Although the president must attract an audience and communicate his message to the public for televised addresses to directly influence public opinion, studies have not examined the president's ability to communicate his message to the public. Studies measuring the influence of televised addresses on public opinion have implicitly assumed that because televised addresses receive extensive news coverage and are typically given during primetime hours on network television, audience attention and the president's ability to communicate his message to the public are constant and are not important variables in assessing the influence of televised addresses on public opinion (e.g., Mueller 1973; Ragsdale 1984, 1987; Simon and Ostrom 1989; Brace and Hinckley 1993; Cohen 1995). Yet, we know that the assumption that the audience is constant among televised addresses is not valid. Studies have examined the president's ability to attract an audience to watch televised addresses and have found that it is a more difficult feat for the president to accomplish than is usually recognized (Foote 1990; Baum and Kernell 1999; Welch 2000). …

Cellular structures constructed of interlocking steel sheet piles are used in marine environments as cofferdams, bulkheads, mooring dolphins, and lock guide walls. In addition to providing safety against sliding, bearing failure, overturning, and tilting, cellular structures must also be designed to prevent sheet pile interlock rupture, which can lead to catastrophic failure if the cell fill is lost. Methods commonly used to estimate sheet pile interlock tensions were developed in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1970s. These methods are based on empirical observations, and they do not explicitly account for soil–structure interactions. This paper presents the results of finite element analyses and instrumentation measurements performed to examine soilstructure interaction effects on sheet pile tensions. The finite-element analyses were used to compute sheet pile tensions at five instrumented cells, and the results are compared with measurements. The calibrated finite-element model was then used to investigate the effects of varying cell geometry, interlock behavior, sheet pile penetration depth, and foundation stiffness on sheet pile tensions. The instrumentation measurements provide data for estimating changes in sheet pile tensions due to cell fill densification, cofferdam unwatering, and bulkhead backfilling.

Excessive valgus stress applied to the medial elbow during the acceleration phase of the pitch causes forcefulwedging of the olecranon into the olecranon fossa. This process often leads to pathologic changes including osteophyte formation on the posteromedial aspect of the olecranon. This article presents our open and arthroscopic techniques for debridement of a posteromedial olecranon osteophyte and discusses some of our thoughts on evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation of the thrower with posterior impingement.

Background: Posterior dislocation continues to be a relatively common complication following total hip arthroplasty. In addition to technical and patient-associated factors, prosthetic features have also been shown to influence stability of the artificial hip joint. In this study, a dynamic model of the artificial hip joint was used to examine the influence of the size of the head of the femoral component on the range of motion prior to impingement and posterior dislocation following total hip replacement. Methods: Six fresh cadaveric specimens were dissected, and an uncemented total hip prosthesis was implanted in each. Each specimen was mounted in a mechanical testing machine and loaded with use of a system of seven cables attached to the femur and pelvis that simulated the action of the major muscle groups crossing the hip joint. The hip was taken through a range of motion similar to that experienced when rising from a seated position. The three-dimensional position of the femur at the points of impingement and dislocation was recorded electronically. The range of joint motion was tested with prosthetic femoral heads of four different diameters (twenty-two, twenty-six, twenty-eight, and thirty-two millimeters). Results: Significant associations were noted between the femoral head size and the degree of flexion at dislocation in ten (p = 0.001), twenty (p < 0.001), and thirty (p = 0.003) degrees of adduction. Increasing the femoral head size from twenty-two to twenty-eight millimeters increased the range of flexion by an average of 5.6 degrees prior to impingement and by an average of 7.6 degrees prior to posterior dislocation; however, increasing the head size from twenty-eight to thirty-two millimeters did not lead to more significant improvement in the range of joint motion. The site of impingement prior to dislocation varied with the size of the femoral head. With a twenty-two-millimeter head, impingement occurred between the neck of the femoral prosthesis and the acetabular liner, whereas with a thirty-two-millimeter head, impingement most frequently occurred between the osseous femur and the pelvis. Conclusions: With the particular prosthesis that was tested, increasing the diameter of the femoral head component increased the range of motion prior to impingement and dislocation, decreased the prevalence of prosthetic impingement, and increased the prevalence of osseous impingement. Clinical Relevance: These results suggest that femoral heads with a twenty-eight-millimeter diameter increase the range of motion after total hip replacement. This may be beneficial when additional factors compromising joint stability are encountered.

Even though nationally televised addresses provide the president the opportunity to speak directly to the American people and are a potentially powerful tool for influencing public opinion, scholars have little understanding of the people the president speaks to when he delivers televised addresses. This study examines the audience for televised presidential addresses. Specifically, it looks at the size of the audience for televised addresses, the differences between people who watch televised addresses and those who do not watch, and explains why some people watch the addresses while others do not. To answer these questions I use a unique set of national opinion surveys conducted by Richard Wirthlin, who served as Ronald Reagan's pollster throughout Reagan's years as president. I find that even though televised addresses are given on network television, the president is not assured a large television audience. Moreover, I find that there is a difference between people who watch televised addresses and th...

Development of management plans collaboratively with local people (e.g. co-management) is now an important means of protected area conservation. Yet formal protected area managers often need more specific information about the local people with whom they want to co-manage resources. We propose wider use of a method, which we describe, for studying time allocation, as an early step in the co-management of conservation areas. Use of time allocation data in co-management is illustrated from a conservation project in Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve (DSWR) in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Data from spot observations were analysed at three levels, namely those of 'macro-categories' (production, reproduction and leisure), an intermediate level (e.g. agriculture and food preparation), and that of individual activities (such as fishing, collection of forest foods and hunting).In the DSWR, the allocation of time differed according to gender, ethnicity and seasonality, throughout the year of the study. Our experience suggests that knowledge of such patterns of behaviour can help conservation area managers to understand local people's needs and desires better, improve managers' rapport with local people, and make better cooperative plans with local people.

Posterior sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) dislocations are most often stable after reduction but may be associated with significant complications related to the location of the medial head of the clavicle within the mediastinum. In rare instances, a posterior SCJ dislocation is irreducible or redislocates after a closed reduction. Because of the potential hazards related to compression of vital structures within the superior mediastinum, open reduction and internal fixation is usually required. Although open reduction is widely accepted as the method of choice, the best method for achieving stable fixation remains unanswered. We present the case of an unstable SCJ stabilized, in anatomic position, with two large-bore cannulated screws in conjunction with open reduction. We believe that the risk of hardware migration reported with the use of pins and wires and its catastrophic complications are greatly minimized using our technique.

The Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group to President George W. Bush, titled the National Energy Policy, recognized renewable and alternative energy sectors as among the fastest growing in the United States, and identified biomass as one source for renewable energy. Agricultural crop residues are a significant renewable biomass resource from which to produce not only energy but also biobased products. In 2001, American farmers harvested 68.8 million acres of corn for grain, 48.7 million acres of wheat, and 4.3 million acres of barley. The available crop residues from these acreages represent a significant amount of available and renewable biomass. But for many years, research in support of crop production methodologies has been aimed at producing the best economic return to the farmer for the grain. In most cases, the crop residue production was either ignored, or the secondary objective of the research was to reduce the residue produced. Corn stalks have become shorter and thinner. Wheat stems have shortened. Now, in support of our national policies, interest in using crop residues as a biomass feedstock has risen. With this growing interest in crop residues, economically optimum simultaneous production of both the grain and the crop residue becomes of significant interest. In our paper we discuss new strategies for grain production involving optimum variable-rate fertilization of the crop for the simultaneous production of both the grain and the crop residue biomass. This ongoing research involved a full-field test in 2002 in which the goal was economically optimized simultaneous production of wheat and straw using site-specific variable-rate fertilization. Results from the 2002 harvest suggest some improvement over using traditional uniform fertilization, but economically efficient biomass production was not accomplished. Ongoing field tests are being conducted in 2003 using information gained in the 2002 field tests.

Using the backfill placement method of analysis, the authors were able to use a limited amount of data on soil properties and limited instrumentation readings to estimate lock performance from initial construction through major flood events, including siltation. Results of the complete soil-structure-foundation interaction analyses for four operational load cases were critical in interpreting instrumentation measurements. A distinction was made between soil-structure interaction of the compacted sand backfill and the stem walls and the interaction of the compacted sand backfill and the culvert walls. This investigation considered the characterization of the range in magnitudes and distributions of horizontal earth pressure coefficient, Kh, and vertical earth pressure coefficient, Kv, along the stem and culvert walls for each load case. Expressing the effective normal pressure and vertical shear stress along lock walls, in relation to earth pressure coefficients, allowed for the precise recovery of both normal and shear stresses for use in simplified design tools.

"This article focuses on a team???s collaborative conservation experience, beginning in 1991 in Danau Sentarum National Park in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The experience of three teams is recounted as they worked collaboratively with local Malay and Iban communities to manage the flooded and lowland tropical forest area. Relations between conservation workers and communities are discussed, and social capital among conservation workers is highlighted as another centrally important feature in conservation success. Subsequent involvement of the network of concerned researchers is also described. Central points of the article are 1) that conservation practices are socially embedded, and 2) that a ???best practices??? approach is inadequate when personal characteristics, experiences, and networks have such long lasting impacts on conservation itself."

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical examination are tools commonly used in the diagnosis of meniscus tears. It has been suggested routine MRI before therapeutic arthroscopy for clinically diagnosed meniscus tears will reduce the number and cost of unnecessary invasive procedures. We designed a systematic review of prospective cohort studies comparing MRI and clinical examination to arthroscopy to diagnosis meniscus tears. Thirty-two relevant studies were identified by a literature review. Careful evaluation by an experienced examiner identifies patients with surgically treatable meniscus lesions with equal or better reliability than MRI. MRI is superior when indications for arthroscopy are solely diagnostic. However, the methods by which such a clinician arrives at a conclusion have not been identified. To create an evidence-based algorithm for the diagnosis of a meniscus tear future investigations should prospectively assess the value of commonly used aspects of the patient history and meniscus tests. MRI is useful, but should be reserved for situations in which an experienced clinician requires further information before arriving at a diagnosis. Indications for arthroscopy should be therapeutic, not diagnostic in nature.

The study was designed to examine the relationship between self-reported intensity of headache and surface EMG. 98 patients, diagnosed by their neurologists with “muscle-contraction headaches” (tension-type headaches) were referred to evaluate their suitability for biofeedback therapy. At the time of examination, they were asked to rate their average headache intensity on a 10-point scale. Surface EMG data were collected to assess actual muscle contraction. Analysis indicated that among patients diagnosed with muscle contraction headache, there is a positive significant correlation between self-reported intensity of headache and actual muscle-contraction. The current data lend support to the hypothesis that the tension in the headaches currently described as “tension-type” may in fact refer to actual muscular tension or contraction.

Composition and pretreatment studies of corn stover and wheat stover anatomical fractions clearly show that some corn and wheat stover anatomical fractions are of higher value than others as a biofeedstock. This premise, along with soil sustainability and erosion control concerns, provides the motivation for the selective harvest concept for separating and collecting the higher value residue fractions in a combine during grain harvest. This study recognizes the analysis of anatomical fractions as theoretical feedstock quality targets, but not as practical targets for developing selective harvest technologies. Rather, practical quality targets were established that identified the residue separation requirements of a selective harvest combine. Data are presented that show that a current grain combine is not capable of achieving the fidelity of residue fractionation established by the performance targets. However, using a virtual engineering approach based on an understanding of the fluid dynamics of the air stream separation, the separation fidelity can be significantly improved without significant changes to the harvester design. A virtual engineering model of a grain combine was developed and used to perform simulations of the residue separator performance. The engineered residue separator was then built into a selective harvest test combine, and tests performed to evaluate the separation fidelity. Field tests were run both with and without the residue separator installed in the test combine, and the chaff and straw residue streams were collected during harvest of Challis soft white spring wheat. The separation fidelity accomplished both with and without the residue separator was quantified by laboratory screening analysis. The screening results showed that the engineered baffle separator did a remarkable job of effecting highfidelity separation of the straw and chaff residue streams, improving the chaff stream purity and increasing the straw stream yield.

In order to meet the U. S. government’s goal of supplementing the energy available from petroleum by increasing the production of energy from renewable resources, increased production of bioenergy has become one of the new goals of the United States government and our society. U.S. Executive Orders and new Federal Legislation have mandated changes in government procedures and caused reorganizations within the government to support these goals. The Biomass Research and Development Initiative is a multi-agency effort to coordinate and accelerate all U.S. Federal biobased products and bioenergy research and development. The Initiative is managed by the National Biomass Coordination Office, which is staffed by both the DOE and the USDA. One of the most readily available sources of biomass from which to produce bioenergy is an agricultural crop residue, of which straw from small grains is the most feasible residue with which to start. For the straw residue to be used its collection must be energy efficient and its removal must not impact the sustainability of the growing environment. In addition, its collection must be economically advantageous to the producer. To do all that, a single pass multi-component harvester system is most desirable. Results from our first prototype suggest that current combines probably do adequate threshing and that a separate chassis can be developed that does additional separation and that is economically feasible.

The Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee established a goal that biomass will supply 5% of the nation’s power, 20% of its transportation fuels, and 25% of its chemicals by 2030. These combined goals are approximately equivalent to 30% of the country’s current petroleum consumption. The benefits of a robust biorefinery industry supplying this amount of domestically produced power, fuels, and products are considerable, including decreased demand for imported oil, revenue to the depressed agricultural industry, and revitalized rural economies. A consistent supply of highquality, low-cost feedstock is vital to achieving this goal. This biomass roadmap defines the research and development (R&D) path to supplying the feedstock needs of the biorefinery and to achieving the important national goals set for biomass. To meet these goals, the biorefinery industry must be more sustainable than the systems it will replace. Sustainability hinges on the economic profitability of all participants, on environmental impact of every step in the process, and on social impact of the product and its production. In early 2003, a series of colloquies were held to define and prioritize the R&D needs for supplying feedstock to the biorefinery in a sustainable manner. These colloquies involved participants and stakeholders inmore » the feedstock supply chain, including growers, transporters, equipment manufacturers, and processors as well as environmental groups and others with a vested interest in ensuring the sustainability of the biorefinery. From this series of colloquies, four high-level strategic goals were set for the feedstock area: • Biomass Availability – By 2030, 1 billion dry tons of lignocellulosic feedstock is needed annually to achieve the power, fuel, and chemical production goals set by the Biomass Research and Development Technology Advisory Production Committee • Sustainability – Production and use of the 1 billion dry tons annually must be accomplished in a sustainable manner • Feedstock Infrastructure – An integrated feedstock supply system must be developed and implemented that can serve the feedstock needs of the biorefinery at the cost, quality, and consistency of the set targets • System Profitability – Economic profitability and sustainability need to be ensured for all required participants in the feedstock supply system. For each step in the biomass supply process—production, harvesting and collection, storage, preprocessing, system integration, and transportation—this roadmap addresses the current technical situations, performance targets, technical barriers, R&D needs, and R&D priorities to overcome technical barriers and achieve performance targets. Crop residue biomass is an attractive starting feedstock, which shows the best near-term promise as a biorefinery feedstock. Because crop residue is a by-product of grain production, it is an abundant, underutilized, and low cost biomass resource. Corn stover and cereal straw are the two most abundant crop residues available in the United States. Therefore, this roadmap focuses primarily on the R&D needed for using these biomass sources as viable biorefinery feedstocks. However, achieving the goal of 1 billion dry tons of lignocellulosic feedstock will require the use of other biomass sources such as dedicated energy crops. In the long term, the R&D needs identified in this roadmap will need to accommodate these other sources of biomass as well.« less

A magnetic sense has been demonstrated in several species, including mice. It has been suggested that the basis of this sense, and its role in navigation, rests on the existence of ferromagnetic materials in the brain. Several researchers have shown changes in navigation during exposure to relatively weak magnetic fields, which presumably interact with magnetite in the brain. In this study, mice were exposed to the powerful magnetic field of an MRI scanner and their left-right discrimination learning was compared with a control group. Results indicate a significant decrement in such learning ability immediately after exposure. Suggestions for future research are presented.

Tarsal navicular fractures in athletes, although rare, can present both a diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma. Failure to recognize this injury and initiate treatment early can have devastating consequences. The physician must have a high index of suspicion for the injury in any patient with midfoot pain after a direct blow. Two case reports of tarsal navicular fractures sustained by baseball players at bat in which the diagnosis was not made early are presented.

Other than fatal pulmonary embolism and deep infection, dislocation following total hip replacement remains probably the most vexing complication to patient and surgeon. Subluxation and dislocation are complex, poorly understood phenomena. Many important questions in this area unfortunately do not lend themselves well to clinical or registry study. Appropriate realistic laboratory models have been lacking. This article synthesizes new work undertaken independently by two groups of biomechanical investigators using very different, but complimentary, methodologies to study the mechanisms of dislocation, and especially the influence of specific design and surgical variables.

The purpose of this study was to define the topography of the articular surface of the femoral condyles and to develop a method for computerized topographic matching of donor and recipient sites for osteochondral transplantation. The condyles of seven fresh cadaveric femurs were mounted on the rotating stage of a laser-based coordinate measuring machine. An anatomic coordinate system defining the articular surface of the condyles was created. Customized software was developed to allow selection and topographic matching of osteochondral graft donor and recipient sites from any location on the surface of the condyles. For cartilage defects within the weightbearing portions of the medial or lateral femoral condyles, grafts taken from sites from the most medial or lateral portions of the patellar groove provided a significantly better topographic match than did grafts taken from the central intercondylar notch.

This theoretical manual for pile foundations describes the background and research and the applied methodologies used in the analysis and design of pile foundations. This research was developed through the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center by the Computer-Aided Structural Engineering (CASE) Project. Several of the procedures have been implemented in the CASE Committee computer programs CAXPILE, CPGA, and COM624. Theoretical development of these engineering procedures and discussions of the limitations of each method are presented.

The BAG focuses on the social criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, a topic that has been the subject of considerable controversy and uncertainty. It is designed for people interested in assessing sustainable forest management, but who do not have a high degree of expertise in social sciences. This manual describes six simple methods designed for use by biophysical scientists with a college education. These methods can also be used by assessors with higher levels of expertise in social sciences, but they are presented in a 'cookbook' format. 'The Scoring and Analysis Guide', to be used with 'the BAG', provides additional help in making assessments of human well being, including a specific scoring method. It also provides increasingly detailed levels of guidance in analysis

The BAG focuses on the social criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, a topic that has been the subject of considerable controversy and uncertainty. It is designed for people interested in assessing sustainable forest management, but who do not have a high degree of expertise in social sciences. This manual describes six simple methods designed for use by biophysical scientists with a college education. These methods can also be used by assessors with higher levels of expertise in social sciences, but they are presented in a 'cookbook' format. 'The Scoring and Analysis Guide', to be used with 'the BAG', provides additional help in making assessments of human well being, including a specific scoring method. It also provides increasingly detailed levels of guidance in analysis.

The Grab Bag' is designed to complement 'the BAG' and for use by social scientists who may find 'the BAG' overly prescriptive. The eight methods presented are either more difficult for non-social scientists to use or, in a couple of cases, can substitute for one or more method presented in 'the BAG'. 'The Scoring and Analysis Guide' provides the user with help in making an actual assessment of the social C&I, based on the results of these methods.

This report describes the Shear Ring Method and the computer program RingWall. The Shear Ring Method was developed based on observations that the conventional soil structure interaction analysis (beam on elastic foundation) did not accurately duplicate the results of full scale test results or plane strain finite element results on floodwalls. From tests and analyses, the principal mode of motion was found to be horizontal with a rotational component and the soil, as opposed to the pile, was the major component of the system that determines the overall deformations. The Shear Ring Method models the two dimensional geometry of the pile soil system using plane strain finite elements, but the analysis is reduced to a one dimensional model as in the conventional SSL. The reduction is obtained by assuming that the soil deformation due to an unbalanced geometry or loading will result essentially in a rotational failure. This method was found to produce reasonably accurate results compared with those of nonlinear, plane strain finite element analyses of typical floodwall sections and is considerably easier to perform. The method was subsequently extended to single anchored sheet pile walls.

This paper makes use of data from a methodological pre-test conducted in and around Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Its purpose was to contribute to the development of principles, criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management (SFM). The particular topic investigated here is Ointer-generational access to resourcesO, an issue widely deemed important Ð and very difficult to assess Ð in sustainable forest management. The methods pre-tested are described, and earlier versions of the principles, criteria and indicators are re-evaluated, re-ordered and scored in a dual attempt

This paper reports the results of a pre-test in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, of four methods designed to assess the level and nature of participation by local people in forest management quickly and easily. Two of the methods the “Iterative Continuum Method” (ICM) and the participatory card sorting method were deemed helpful. One method, the communication network analysis, was discarded in its current form. The final method, the researcher guide on the functions of participation, was felt in need of revision. Although the hypothesised firnctions of participation are not wrong, in our opinion, they reflect a way of looking at forest management which, we concluded, needs rethinking.In our discussion of the change needed we make use of Jordan’s concept of “authoritative knowledge” and “social” or “cultural capital” (Berkes and Folke 1994; Ostrom 1994).We also suggest substituting “rights and obligations to manage the forest co-operatively “ for “participation”in places like Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve (DSWR), where sustainable forest management is being assessed. Finally we conclude that, given the dynamism and complexity that characterise natural forests and their inhabitants, co-operation among all stakeholders in an ongoing dialogue is probably the only way that sustainable forest management can in fact occur.We urge researchers to continue the search for simple, inexpensive and reliable tools for assessing the issue we have called “participation in forest management.”

The minimal effective dose of growth hormone (GH) to promote growth in children on dialysis or following renal transplantation remains unsettled. In order to study the issue, "low-dose" GH was administered to children with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) receiving chronic automated peritoneal dialysis (APD, n = 6, 4 males, 2 females) or following renal transplantation (T, n = 9, 8 males, 1 female). No APD patient was GH deficient, while 1 T patient (no. 2) had data consistent with GH deficiency, although he was obese (body mass index = 34 kg/m2). The mean dose of GH after 6 and 12 months of treatment was 0.16 +/- 0.02 and 0.22 +/- 0.07 versus 0.16 +/- 0.03 and 0.27 +/- 0.21 mg/kg per week for APD and T patients, respectively. When analyzing all patients, there were no significant differences before or after 6 and 12 months of GH therapy within or between the two groups, in terms of height velocity, bone age, renal function (in the T group) and height Z-scores (Z-Ht). However, the height velocity Z-score (Z-HV) increased significantly at 6 and 12 months compared with baseline in the APD patients only (P0.05). When the 2 T patients with the most impaired renal function were excluded from the analysis, Z-HV also increased significantly in the T patients after 12 months of GH (P0.02). We conclude that following "low-dose" GH therapy, children with ESRD treated with APD or T have similar increases in HV, allowing maintenance of Z-Ht but not "catch-up" growth.

A research program at the University of Colorado at Boulder investigated time-variant reliability assessment of concrete gravity structures founded on rock for different loading conditions. In the course of this investigation, a methodology was developed for reliability analysis of anchored monolith structures under corrosion effects. This paper presents a brief overview of the methodology for time-variant reliability assessment of existing concrete gravity structures under corrosion effects.

Lock and Dam No. 1 on the Red River Waterway has experienced a serious siltation problem since its completion in 1983. This technical report summarizes the results of a soil-structure interaction analysis of a potentially permanent, low-maintenance solution to this problem, i.e., construction of a reinforced soil retaining wall adjacent to the riverside lock wall. The principal objective of this research was to assess potential lock performance after construction of a reinforced soil retaining wall adjacent to the riverside lock wall. Due to the nature of the problem, the conventional analysis techniques, which are based upon the equations of equilibrium and used in the design of reinforced soil retaining walls, did not provide sufficient information to satisfactorily evaluate performance of this structure with regard to its interaction with the lock and the surrounding foundation soil strate. The general purpose, nonlinear, incremental construction, finite element computer program, SOILSTRUCT was used to analyze the complex soil-structure interaction by simulating the staged construction. Earth pressures, Soil reinforcement, Finite elements, Soil-structure interaction.

In his Perspective “Overkill and sustainable use” (21 March, p. [1851][1]), Martyn Murray suggests that “[c]onsideration of episodes of overkill and sustainable use in human history may inform the prevailing conservation paradigm” and presents traditional anthropological scenarios of

This article examines the information the news media provide about public opinion polls. To do this, the study uses standards established by the American Association for Public Opinion Researchers and the National Council on Public Polls to evaluate how polls about the presidential election were reported in four major national newspapers and four smaller newspapers in the fall of 2000. The study found that some newspapers do better at providing information about polls than others, almost all articles do not disclose important information about polls, a newspaper does a better job at providing information about polls sponsored by the newspaper itself than it does about outside polls, and large, national newspapers do no better at reporting information about polls than smaller, more locally oriented newspapers. The article concludes that the media do not disclose the “minimal essential information” for the public to determine a poll’s reliability and validity and that it would be in the best interest of polling organizations, newspapers, and the public for more information to be provided about the polls that are made public.