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We investigated whether differences were detectable in the volume and shape of the dorsal thalamus on magnetic resonance imaging in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). Manual segmentation of the left and right thalami on magnetic resonance imaging scans occurred in 22 patients with clinically diagnosed PSP and 23 healthy controls; thalamic volumes (left, right, total) were calculated. Between group differences were explored by multivariate analysis of co-variance, using age and intracranial volume as covariates. Analysis of the shape of the thalamus was performed using the spherical harmonic point distribution method software package. Patients with PSP were found to have significant bilateral thalamic atrophy on magnetic resonance imaging; there was significant shape deflation over the anterior-lateral and anterior-ventral surfaces bilaterally, and over the right caudal thalamus. Recognizing decreased thalamic morphology in PSP patients in vivo may be an important component of an ensemble of diagnostic biomarkers in the future, particularly given the difficulty of distinguishing PSP from other Parkinsonian conditions early in the disease course.

Swedish boreal streams were modified to transport timber by pushing boulders to stream sides, creating levees that disconnected streams from riparian areas. Many streams have since been restored and our goal was to understand how this affects riparian nitrogen (N) cycling. We compared the natural abundance of delta N-15 isotopes in foliage and roots of Filipendula ulmaria plus soils and litter along streams restored 2-25 years ago. We measured sources of N, potential immobilization of N, namely plant diversity and biomass, and the amount and sources of carbon (C) to determine if these were important for describing riparian N cycling. The delta N-15 of F. ulmaria foliage changed dramatically just after restoration compared to the channelized, disconnected state and then converged over the next 25 years with the steady-state reference. The disturbance and reconnection of the stream with the riparian zone during restoration created a short-term pulse of N availability and gaseous losses of N as a result of enhanced microbial processing of N. With increasing time since restoration, N availability appears to have decreased, and N sources changed to those derived from mycorrhizae, amino acids, or the humus layer, or there was enhanced N-use efficiency by older, more diverse plant communities.

Currently, toxic and carcinogenic hydrazine propellants are commonly used in spacecraft propulsion. These propellants impose distinctive environmental challenges and consequential hazardous conditions. With an increasing level of future space activities and applications, the significance of greener space propulsion becomes even more pronounced. In this article, a selected number of promising green space propellants are reviewed and investigated for various space missions. In-depth system studies in relation to the aforementioned propulsion architectures further unveil possible approaches for advanced green propulsion systems of the future.

Riparian zones support some of the most dynamic and species-rich plant communities in cold regions. A common conception among plant ecologists is that flooding during the season when plants are dormant generally has little effect on the survival and production of riparian vegetation. We show that winter floods may also be of fundamental importance for the composition of riverine vegetation. We investigated the effects of ice formation on riparian and in-stream vegetation in northern Sweden using a combination of experiments and observations in 25 reaches, spanning a gradient from ice-free to ice-rich reaches. The ice-rich reaches were characterized by high production of frazil and anchor ice. In a couple of experiments, we exposed riparian vegetation to experimentally induced winter flooding, which reduced the dominant dwarf-shrub cover and led to colonization of a species-rich forb-dominated vegetation. In another experiment, natural winter floods caused by anchor-ice formation removed plant mimics both in the in-stream and in the riparian zone, further supporting the result that anchor ice maintains dynamic plant communities. With a warmer winter climate, ice-induced winter floods may first increase in frequency because of more frequent shifts between freezing and thawing during winter, but further warming and shortening of the winter might make them less common than today. If ice-induced winter floods become reduced in number because of a warming climate, an important disturbance agent for riparian and in-stream vegetation will be removed, leading to reduced species richness in streams and rivers in cold regions. Given that such regions are expected to have more plant species in the future because of immigration from the south, the distribution of species richness among habitats can be expected to show novel patterns.

The national guidelines for design of silage bunker silo walls are not available today. The present calculation and design is based on previously issued guidelines. These were elaborated to be used in designing silo wall heights of maximum 3 m. There are reasons to believe that these guidelines overestimate the forces and pressures, mainly from silage juice, that are occurring especially for silo walls > 3 m. This could result in over-sizing, material waste and increased investment costs. The aim of the project is to determine silage physical properties of importance for the horizontal wall pressure and evaluate maximum silage juice level of silos with a wall height of 3 m or more. The data will form a basis for new national design guidelines and a revised Swedish Standard. The ultimate goal is to lower the investment costs for silage bunker silos. A pressure profile was acquired by means of transducers mounted on a “ladder rack” placed vertically along the inside silo wall. The pressure on the transducers was recorded by a data acquisition system displaying static and total load (pressures imposed by silage matter and compacting tractor). The silage juice levels were measured by slotted 16 mm steel pipes placed vertically along the silo walls. The level inside the pipe was determined by a measuring stick. Additionally the juice level could be registered in one of the legs of the “ladder rack”. Silage juice level measurement were carried out during two seasons, all together in 24 silos, while pressure profiles were measured during 10 grass and maize harvests in one season, with approximately 400 pressure profiles at each harvest. The static loads were recorded with no tractor present and total loads as a tractor was passing in front of the transducer racks. The difference between the static and the total load was defined as the dynamic load. Preliminary results show that the silage juice level can vary considerably between harvests within the farm due to weather conditions and geographic location in Sweden. Mean of peak levels was approximately 40% of the silage height. A direct relation was found between grass silage juice level and silage total solid content. The silage juice level tends to remain stable during the storage but can be radically redistributed between layers within the silo. Tentative pressure profile results show that the dynamic pressure created by the compacting tractor is largely concentrated to the first half metre below the vehicle when driving 0.1-0.5 m from the silo wall. Pressure measurements after filling the silo show an increase in wall pressure. The pressure profile results are presently under evaluation. Key words: Silo, wall, silage, pressure, force.

Stream restoration usually relies on ecological theories presuming that increased habitat heterogeneity leads to higher biodiversity. However, to test this hypothesis a quantitative metric of overa ...

We reviewed follow-up studies from Finnish and Swedish streams that have been restored after timber floating to assess the abiotic and biotic responses to restoration. More specifically, from a review of 18 case studies (16 published and 2 unpublished), we determined whether different taxonomic groups react differently or require different periods of time to respond to the same type of restoration. Restoration entailed returning coarse sediment (cobbles and boulders) and sometimes large wood to previously channelized turbulent reaches, primarily with the objective of meeting habitat requirements of naturally reproducing salmonid fish. The restored streams showed a consistent increase in channel complexity and retention capacity, but the biotic responses were weak or absent in most species groups. Aquatic mosses growing on boulders were drastically reduced shortly after restoration, but in most studies, they recovered after a few years. Riparian plants, macroinvertebrates and fish did not show any consistent trends in response. We discuss seven alternative explanations to these inconsistent results and conclude that two decades is probably too short a time for most organisms to recover. We recommend long-term monitoring using standardized methods, a landscape-scale perspective and a wider range of organisms to improve the basis for judging to what extent restoration in boreal streams has achieved its goal of reducing the impacts from timber floating.

Question: How does germination and establishment of non-resident plant species differ among major types of wetland ecosystems in boreal forest landscapes? Location: A 250-km(2) large boreal forest ...

Ice dynamics is an important factor affecting vegetation in high-altitude and high-latitude streams and rivers. During the last few decades, knowledge about ice in streams and rivers has increased ...

Recent developments of an advanced numerical model for Continuous Casting of steel unveiled at the previous 2010 CSSCR Conference in Sapporo, Japan are presented. These include coupling of the existing multiphase, heat transfer and solidification model to argon injection for tracking bubble trajectories in the SEN, metal bulk and across the slag bed after passing through the metal surface. Hence, description of a method for adding gas injection in combination with a multiphase model for tracking metal/slag interfaces (Discrete Phase Model + Volume Of Fluid, DPM+VOF) is given. Validation is supported by tests on a revamped Continuous Casting Simulator (CCS-1) based on a low melting point alloy, which can realistically replicate the flow conditions in the caster. Metal-slag-argon flow predictions were compared to observations in the physical model showing good agreement on features such as discharging jets, rolls, standing waves and argon distribution measured through a variety of techniques such as ultrasound, electromagnetic probes and video sequences. Ultimately, the model makes possible the prediction of stable or unstable flows within the mould as a function of different argon flow-rates and bubble sizes. Application to industrial practice is an ongoing task and preliminary results are illustrated. The robustness of the model combined with direct observations in CCS-1 make possible the description of phenomena difficult to observe in the caster (e.g. argon injection and metal flow), but critical for the stability of the process and the quality of cast products.

elating restoration ecology to policy is one of the aims of the Society for Ecological Restoration and its journal Restoration Ecology. As an interdisciplinary team of researchers in both ecological science and political science, we have struggled with how policy-relevant language is and could be deployed in restoration ecology. Using language in scientific publications that resonates with overarching policy questions may facilitate linkages between researcher investigations and decision-makers' concerns on all levels. Climate change is the most important environmental problem of our time and to provide policymakers with new relevant knowledge on this problem is of outmost importance. To determine whether or not policy-specific language was being included in restoration ecology science, we surveyed the field of restoration ecology from 2008 to 2010, identifying 1,029 articles, which we further examined for the inclusion of climate change as a key element of the research. We found that of the 58 articles with “climate change” or “global warming” in the abstract, only 3 identified specific policies relevant to the research results. We believe that restoration ecologists are failing to include themselves in policy formation and implementation of issues such as climate change within journals focused on restoration ecology. We suggest that more explicit reference to policies and terminology recognizable to policymakers might enhance the impact of restoration ecology on decision-making processes.

BackgroundVariants within the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene are recognized as the most frequent genetic cause of Parkinson's disease. Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 variation related to disease susceptibility displays many features that reflect the nature of complex, late-onset sporadic disorders like Parkinson's disease. MethodsThe Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson's Disease Consortium recently performed the largest genetic association study for variants in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene across 23 different sites in 15 countries. ResultsHerein, we detail the allele frequencies for the novel risk factors (p.A419V and p.M1646T) and the protective haplotype (p.N551K-R1398H-K1423K) nominated in the original publication. Simple population allele frequencies not only can provide insight into the clinical relevance of specific variants but also can help genetically define patient groups. ConclusionsEstablishing individual patient-based genomic susceptibility profiles that incorporate both risk factors and protective factors will determine future diagnostic and treatment strategies. (c) 2013 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (Less)

Ecological restoration increases, but evaluation of restoration efforts is inadequate because reliable performance indicators are lacking. As plants are important actors in ecological restoration, we suggest that they be used as metres, i.e. phytometers, of restoration success. Phytometer plants are transplanted to different conditions to integrate measures of the prevailing conditions. We analysed 109 studies for the use of phytometers and especially their applicability to evaluate ecological restoration. Most studies employed single species and life-stages and focused on habitat conditions and environmental impacts. Most experiments were conducted on grasslands in moist temperate regions. Growth was the dominant response variable, in long-term studies often combined with reproductive output and plant survival. Only five studies specifically evaluated ecological restoration, implying that its potential is not yet realised. We found phytometers promising in evaluating restoration outcomes given that they are easy to measure, can provide rapid results, and serve as integrative indicators of environmental conditions with the ability of covering many aspects of plant life and ecosystem processes. To evaluate restoration success with high resolution and generality, we suggest a combination of different phytometer species, life-forms and life-stages, and experimental periods >1 year to reduce effects of transplantation and between-year variation and to account for time lags in ecological processes and changes after restoration.

Von Economo neurons (VEN) are bipolar neurons located in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the frontoinsular cortex (FI), areas affected early in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), in which VEN may constitute a selectively vulnerable cellular population. Aim A previous study has shown a selective loss of VEN in FTD above other neurons in the ACC of FTD. The aim of this study was to confirm this finding in a larger cohort, using a different methodology, and to examine VEN loss in relation to neuropathological severity and molecular pathology. Methods VEN and neighbouring neurons (NN) were quantified in layer Va and Vb of the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in 21 cases of behavioural variant FTD, 10 cases of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 10 non-demented controls (NDC). Results A marked VEN reduction was seen in all FTD cases. In the neuropathologically early cases of FTD (n=13), VEN/10000 NN was significantly reduced by 53 % compared with NDC (p

The purpose of the study was to develop a method for analysis of diffusion parameters along white matter (WM) tracts, using spatial normalization based on anatomical landmarks, and to introduce the apparent area coefficient (AAC). The method's applicability was tested in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFO) in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and healthy controls (HCs).A framework for analysis of diffusion parameters was developed. Spatial normalization of the tracts was performed using anatomical landmarks, to avoid deformations caused by cerebral atrophy. Initially, 38 HCs were used to optimize a threshold for the minimal size of regions that differ between groups. The fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, AAC, and the hemispheric asymmetry index (AI), were compared between 11 PSP patients and 15 HCs.The method was feasible for analysis of PSP patients and HCs. The AI showed that the observed hemispheric asymmetry of AAC was significantly larger in PSP patients compared with HCs in small regions of the IFO.The method was successfully employed for analysis of diffusion parameters along the IFO in a patient group. This method can be potentially useful in studies of WM diseases, with or without cerebral atrophy.

Disinhibition is an important symptom in neurodegenerative diseases. However, the clinico-anatomical underpinnings remain controversial. We explored the anatomical correlates of disinhibition in neurodegenerative disease using the perspective of grey and white matter imaging. Disinhibition was assessed with a neuropsychological test and a caregiver information-based clinical rating scale in 21 patients with prefrontal syndromes due to behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (n = 12) or progressive supranuclear palsy (n = 9), and healthy controls (n = 25). Cortical thickness was assessed using the Freesurfer software on 3T MRI data. The integrity of selected white matter tracts was determined by the fractional anisotropy (FA) from Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Disinhibition correlated with the cortical thickness of the right parahippocampal gyrus, right orbitofrontal cortex and right insula and the FA of the right uncinate fasciculus and right anterior cingulum. Notably, no relationship was seen with the thickness of ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Our results support an associative model of inhibitory control, distributed in a medial temporal lobe-insular-orbitofrontal network, connected by the intercommunicating white matter tracts. This reconciles some of the divergences among previous studies, but also questions the current conceptualisation of the "prefrontal" syndrome and the central role attributed to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in inhibitory control.

Environmental fluctuations exert strong control on behavior, survival, and fitness of stream biota. Technical improvements increasingly allow for tracking the response of large numbers of individuals to environmental fluctuations, for instance, by remote detection of animals equipped with PIT (passive integrated transponder) tags. PIT tags were implanted into 393 juvenile and adult brown trout Salmo trutta L. and European sculpin Cottus gobio L. in a boreal stream subjected to considerable ice formation. With weekly trackings over 6 months, we quantified apparent survival and detection probability in relation to biological, environmental, and methodological factors. Individuals with a higher physical condition in autumn showed a higher apparent survival; this pattern was consistent across all species and age classes. Detection probability decreased with increasing thickness of the surface ice layer; this effect was most pronounced for juvenile trout and benthic‐living sculpin, both tagged with smaller‐sized tags. Detection probability was reduced in structurally complex habitats. Our study demonstrates that apparent survival and particularly detection probability may show pronounced spatiotemporal variation. In order to compare results from different sampling occasions and sites, a good knowledge of the study site and of the regulating factors is crucial. © 2016 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Objectives: To investigate informal caregivers' psychological well-being and predicted increase in psychological well-being, when caring for persons with dementia (PwDs) living at home, related to caregiver, PwD and formal care (FC) factors.Method: A cohort study at baseline and 3 months' follow-up in eight European countries. Caregivers included (n = 1223) were caring for PwDs aged >= 65 years at home. Data on caregivers, PwDs and FC were collected using standardized instruments. Regression analysis of factors associated with caregiver psychological well-being at baseline and 3 months later was performed.Results: Factors associated with caregiver psychological well-being at baseline were positive experience of caregiving, low caregiver burden, high quality of life (QoL) for caregivers, male gender of PwD, high QoL of PwD, few neuropsychiatric symptoms and depressive symptoms for the PwD. At follow-up, caregivers with increased psychological well-being experienced of quality of care (QoC) higher and were more often using dementia specific service. Predicting factors for caregivers' increased psychological well-being were less caregiver burden, positive experience of caregiving, less supervision of the PwD and higher caregiver QoL, if PwD were male, had higher QoL and less neuropsychiatric symptoms. Furthermore, higher QoC predicted increased caregivers' psychological well-being.Conclusion: Informal caregiving for PwDs living at home is a complex task. Our study shows that caregivers' psychological well-being was associated with, among other things, less caregiver burden and higher QoL. Professionals should be aware of PwD neuropsychiatric symptoms that might affect caregivers' psychological well-being, and provide proper care and treatment for caregivers and PwDs.

Special Feature: Quantifying resilience., Understanding and predicting ecosystem responses to multiple environmental pressures is a long-standing interest in ecology and environmental management. However, few studies have examined how the functional features of freshwater biological communities vary along multiple gradients of environmental stress. Furthermore, modelling these functional features for a whole river network constitutes a strong potential basis to improve ecosystem management. We explored how functional redundancy of biological communities (FR, a functional feature related to the stability, resistance and resilience of ecosystems) responds to single and multiple environmental filters. We compared these responses with those of functional richness, evenness and divergence. We used riparian vegetation of a Mediterranean basin, and three of the main environmental filters affecting freshwater communities in such regions, that is drought, flow regulation and agricultural intensity, thus considering the potential effect of natural environmental variability. We also assessed the predictability of FR and estimated it for the entire river network. We found that all functional measures decreased with increasing environmental filter intensity. However, FR was more sensitive to single and multiple environmental filters compared to other functional measures. The best-fitting model explained 59% of the FR variability and included agriculture, drought and flow regulation and the pairwise interactions of agriculture with drought and flow regulation. The parameters of the FR models differed from null model expectations reflecting a non-random decline along stress gradients. Synthesis and applications. We found non-random detrimental effects along environmental filters' gradients for riparian functional redundancy (the most sensitive functional index), meaning that increased stress could jeopardize stability, resistance and resilience of these systems. In general, agriculture caused the greatest impact on functional redundancy and functional diversity measures, being the most important stressor for riparian functionality in the study area. Temporary streams flowing through an agricultural, regulated basin had reduced values of functional redundancy, whereas the free-flowing medium-sized, perennial water courses flowing through unaltered sub-basins displayed higher values of functional redundancy and potentially greater stability against human impacts. All these findings along with the predicted basin-wide variation of functional redundancy can assist environmental managers in improving monitoring and ecosystem management., D.B. and D.S.-F. were supported by a predoctoral (FPU) and postdoctoral grant (Juan de la Cierva programme), respectively, both from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Finally, C.G.-C. was supported by the MARS project (Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water resources under multiple stress), funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme, contract no. 603378.

Aims: Gestational diabetes mellitus affects approximately 7% of all pregnant women. Some of these women develop autoantibodies that are generally characteristic of Type 1 diabetes. Autoantibodies targeting glutamic acid decarboxylase and tyrosine phosphatase-like protein are the most frequently reported. A recently identified autoantigen in Type 1 diabetes is zinc transporter 8. Some reports suggest that the frequency of zinc transporter 8 antibodies is as high as glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies in Type 1 diabetes and thus a good diagnostic marker for autoimmune diabetes. There are currently no reports of zinc transporter 8 antibodies in gestational diabetes. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the frequency of zinc transporter 8 antibodies in patients at clinical onset of gestational diabetes mellitus. Methods: Subjects included in this pilot study were all diagnosed with gestational diabetes at Skane University Hospital, Lund, Sweden, 2009-2010 (n = 193). Sera samples were analysed for antibodies using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay according to the manufacturers' instructions. Results: We found that 19/193 patients with gestational diabetes, diagnosed in 2009-2010, were positive for at least one autoantibody. Glutamic acid decarboxylase was the most common single autoantibody (52.6%; 10/19), followed by zinc transporter 8 (21.1%; 4/19) and tyrosine phosphatase-like protein (15.8%; 3/19). Combinations of two or more antibodies were rare (10.5%; 2/19). Conclusions: In this study, we found that zinc transporter 8 added 2.1% (4/193) of autoantibody positivity in women with gestational diabetes who were negative for glutamic acid decarboxylase and tyrosine phosphatase-like protein antibodies. Glutamic acid decarboxylase was still the most prevalent autoantibody in gestational diabetes, but, as zinc transporter 8 was present even in the absence of glutamic acid decarboxylase, this autoantibody could be an important independent marker of autoimmunity in gestational diabetes. © 2012 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine © 2012 Diabetes UK.

Dam removal to restore ecologically impaired rivers is becoming increasingly common. While the target often is to facilitate fish migration, dam removal has also been assumed to benefit other types ...

Dams are obstructing rivers worldwide, impairing habitat and migration opportunities for many freshwater fish species; however, global data linking dam and fish distributions have been limited. Here, we quantify dam obstruction at the biogeographic scale of freshwater ecoregion, which provides the spatial framework necessary to assess the risk of fish species loss due to dams and allows us to identify both ecoregions and genera at risk. Nearly 50% of the 397 assessed freshwater ecoregions are obstructed by large- and medium-size dams, and approximately 27% face additional downstream obstruction. A synthesis of obstruction data and fish traits indicates that taxa such as lampreys (Lampetra spp.), eels (Anguilla spp.), and shads (Alosa spp.) are at particular risk of species loss. Threatened ecoregions with heavy dam obstruction and above-average counts of total, diadromous, or endemic species are found on all continents and include the Murray-Darling Province, Southern Italy, the Lower and Middle Indus Basin, West Korea, the South Atlantic region of the United States, the Upper Parana, and Mobile Bay ecoregions. Manuscript version included in dissertation with title "Dam obstruction among the world's freshwater ecoregions and implications for global freshwater fish diversity"

Reutilization of agricultural buildings for rural tourism (RT) is an area that is significantly expanding today. Buildings originally constructed for agricultural production, processing and housing are an essential part of most RT operations, both as a key resource and a significant cost centre. This study compared the perceptions of RT operators about visitors' opinions of buildings with visitors' actual opinions and attempted to identify the building feature preferences of tourists. The empirical evidence was collected using a 0–4 grade Likert-scale questionnaire that was either internet-based or provided in printed form. The results showed that RT operators partially misinterpreted how visitors view and experience reused buildings and the services therein. Although visitors found building technological factors to be less important than operators did, in a comparison of aggregated tourism-related and building-related factors both operators and visitors considered building-related factors to be of higher...

Increasing numbers of horses are being kept for sports and leisure purposes in peri-urban areas throughout the Western world. This expansion of the equestrian sector represents a multifunctional transition, with new production of rural goods and services and increasing influence on land use. In Sweden, the number of horses has increased from 70,000 to approximately 300,000 over the last 30 years. This increase is putting pressure on the traditional Right of Public Access, an old custom allowing the public to walk, cycle or ride on private or state-owned property. This paper analyses multifunctional land use in peri-urban areas in order to provide a deeper understanding of the potential conflicts arising due to the expanding equine sector and to assess how these can affect the Swedish right of public access and spatial planning. A survey of horse riders and landowners in three peri-urban regions of Sweden revealed that these groups differ in their attitudes towards the Right of Public Access. The data also showed that the expanding equine sector is generating new demands on rural areas and there are questions regarding how the current system of open accessibility can meet the increasing market for equestrian leisure activities. The main conclusion is that there seems to be a strong need for intervention and deliberate creation of new ways of handling the accessibility question, where both a bottom-up and top-down approach may be useful.

Aim With climate change, reliable predictions of future species geographic distributions are becoming increasingly important for the design of appropriate conservation measures. Species distributio ...

In this work, we discuss the possibility of a new approach to measuring oxygen isotope ratios in fossil meteorite samples, specifically one based on nuclear reaction analysis (NRA). Variations of oxygen ratios within meteoritic chromite grains can help to determine the type of meteorite to which the grains originally belonged. In this work, we have evaluated the possibility to use the reaction O-18(p, alpha)N-15 just above the 846 keV resonance to estimate the relative oxygen-18 content in a number of test samples. Another technique has to be employed for oxygen-16 measurements. A large area segmented silicon detector is used to detect the produced alpha particles. Results of the experimental O-18 measurements for a number of samples including four extraterrestrial chromite grains are presented and compared with SIMNRA simulations. The advantage of a segmented silicon detector in the form of inherent pile-up suppression can be clearly seen in the current work. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Riparian plant communities are primarily structured by the hydrological regime of the stream. Models of climate change predict increased temperatures and changed patterns of precipitation that w ...

Despite the recognized importance of reservoirs and dams, global datasets describing their characteristics and geographical distribution are largely incomplete. To enable advanced assessments of the role and effects of dams within the global river network and to support strategies for mitigating ecohydrological and socioeconomic costs, we introduce here the spatially explicit and hydrologically linked Global Reservoir and Dam database (GRanD). As of early 2011, GRanD contains information regarding 6862 dams and their associated reservoirs, with a total storage capacity of 6197 km3. On the basis of these records, we estimate that about 16.7 million reservoirs larger than 0.01 ha – with a combined storage capacity of approximately 8070 km3 – may exist worldwide, increasing Earth's terrestrial surface water area by more than 305 000 km2. We find that 575 900 river kilometers, or 7.6% of the world's rivers with average flows above 1 cubic meter per second (m3 s−1), are affected by a cumulative upstream reservoir capacity that exceeds 2% of their annual flow; the impact is highest for large rivers with average flows above 1000 m3 s−1, of which 46.7% are affected. Finally, a sensitivity analysis suggests that smaller reservoirs have substantial impacts on the spatial extent of flow alterations despite their minor role in total reservoir capacity. Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/100125

Slow-colonizing forest understorey plants are probably not able to rapidly adjust their distribution range following large-scale climate change. Therefore, the acclimation potential to climate change within their actual occupied habitats will likely be key for their short-and long-term persistence. We combined transplant experiments along a latitudinal gradient with open-top chambers to assess the effects of temperature on phenology, growth and reproductive performance of multiple populations of slow-colonizing understorey plants, using the spring flowering geophytic forb Anemone nemorosa and the early summer flowering grass Milium effusum as study species. In both species, emergence time and start of flowering clearly advanced with increasing temperatures. Vegetative growth (plant height, aboveground biomass) and reproductive success (seed mass, seed germination and germinable seed output) of A. nemorosa benefited from higher temperatures. Climate warming may thus increase future competitive ability and colonization rates of this species. Apart from the effects on phenology, growth and reproductive performance of M. effusum generally decreased when transplanted southwards (e. g., plant size and number of individuals decreased towards the south) and was probably more limited by light availability in the south. Specific leaf area of both species increased when transplanted southwards, but decreased with open-top chamber installation in A. nemorosa. In general, individuals of both species transplanted at the home site performed best, suggesting local adaptation. We conclude that contrasting understorey plants may display divergent plasticity in response to changing temperatures which may alter future understorey community dynamics.

Evapotranspiration (ET), which links water, energy and the carbon cycle in terrestrial ecosystems, is an important eco-hydrological process, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. To determine the crop coefficient (K-c) over a 2-year period for a temperate desert steppe in Inner Mongolia, China, ET was measured using the eddy covariance method and the reference evapotranspiration (ET0) was estimated from site meteorological data. The results showed that the seasonal variation of ET differed on an annual timescale between the 2 consecutive years, exhibiting a multi-peak curve in 2008 and a single peak in 2009. The mean daily K-c values were 0.15 and 0.17 in 2 years, varying from 0.009 to 0.75 in 2008 and from 0.005 to 0.58 in 2009. The 5-day moving average for K-c values was mainly affected by SWC10cm and R-n, and the regression coefficients (R-2) were 58.9 and 69.5%, respectively. These results will aid in making accurate and quantitative assessments of the vulnerability of the sparse vegetation to climate change.Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The process of measuring in software engineering has already been standardized in the ISO/IEC 15939 standard, where activities related to identifying, creating, and evaluating of measures are described. In the process of measuring software entities, however, an organization usually needs to create custom measurement systems, which are intended to collect, analyze, and present data for a specific purpose. In this paper, we present a proven industrial process for developing measurement systems including the artifacts and deliverables important for a successful deployment of measurement systems in industry. The process has been elicited during a case study at Ericsson and is used in the organization for over 3 years when the paper was written. The process is supported by a framework that simplifies the implementation of the measurement systems and shortens the time from the initial idea to a working measurement system by the factor of 5 compared with using a standard development process not tailored for measurement systems. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

1. Many rivers and streams experience pronounced ice dynamics caused by the formation of anchor and frazil ice, leading to flooding and disturbance of riparian and aquatic communities. The effect ...

Climate change is expected to alter the magnitude and variation of flow in streams and rivers, hence providing new conditions for riverine communities. We evaluated plant ecological responses to climate change by transplanting turfs of riparian vegetation to new elevations in the riparian zone, thus simulating expected changes in water-level variation, and monitored the results over 6 years. Turfs moved to higher elevations decreased in biomass and increased in species richness, whereas turfs transplanted to lower elevations gained biomass but lost species. Transplanted plant communities responded slowly to the new hydrologic conditions. After 6 years, biomass of transplanted turfs was statistically indistinguishable from target level controls, but species richness and species composition of transplants were intermediate between original and target levels. By using projections of future stream flow according to IPCC climate change scenarios, we predict likely changes to riparian vegetation in boreal rivers. Climate-driven hydrologic changes are predicted to result in narrower riparian zones along the studied Vindel River in northern Sweden towards the end of the 21st century. Present riparian plant communities are projected to be replaced by terrestrial communities at high elevations as a result of lower-magnitude spring floods, and by amphibious or aquatic communities at low elevations as a result of higher autumn and winter flows. Changes to riparian vegetation may be larger in other boreal climate regions: snow melt fed spring floods are predicted to disappear in southern parts of the boreal zone, which would result in considerable loss of riparian habitat. Our study emphasizes the importance of long-term ecological field experiments given that plant communities often respond slowly and in a nonlinear fashion to external pressures.

1. Flow dynamics is a major determinant of riparian plant communities. Therefore, flowregulation may heavily affect riparian ecosystems. Despite the large number of damsworldwide, little specific i ...

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a Parkinson's Disease (PD)-like alpha-synucleinopathy clinically characterized by dysautonomia, parkinsonism, cerebellar ataxia, and pyramidal signs in any combination. We aimed to determine whether the clinical presentation of MSA as well as diagnostic and therapeutic strategies differ across Europe and Israel. In 19 European MSA Study Group centres all consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of MSA were recruited from 2001 to 2005. A standardized minimal data set was obtained from all patients. Four-hundred thirty-seven MSA patients from 19 centres in 10 countries were included. Mean age at onset was 57.8 years; mean disease duration at inclusion was 5.8 years. According to the consensus criteria 68% were classified as parkinsonian type (MSA-P) and 32% as cerebellar type (MSA-C) (probable MSA: 72%, possible MSA: 28%). Symptomatic dysautonomia was present in almost all patients, and urinary dysfunction (83%) more common than symptomatic orthostatic hypotension (75%). Cerebellar ataxia was present in 64%, and parkinsonism in 87%, of all cases. No significant differences in the clinical presentation were observed between the participating countries. In contrast, diagnostic work up and therapeutic strategies were heterogeneous. Less than a third of patients with documented orthostatic hypotension or neurogenic bladder disturbance were receiving treatment. This largest clinical series of MSA patients reported so far shows that the disease presents uniformly across Europe. The observed differences in diagnostic and therapeutic management including lack of therapy for dysautonomia emphasize the need for future guidelines in these areas. (C) 2010 Movement Disorder Society

Hydropower is often presented as a clean and renewable energy source that is environmentally preferable to fossil fuels or nuclear power. Hydropower production, however, fundamentally transforms ri ...

Geografisk Tidsskrift—Danish Journal of Geography 110(1):81–98, 2010 An increasing number of land use conflicts involving planning practice, equine activities and businesses and neighbouring landowners and residents have occurred in Swedish peri-urban areas. In a case study the disturbances and benefits arising from horses experienced by residents in two different areas of Sweden were investigated, together with a study of the attitudes of local planners to horse keeping near residential areas and subsequent policy documents. The results from the study found few conflicts between residents and horse keeping but revealed diverging practice and policy between municipalities, which may create a legal insecurity for the involved stakeholders. The results were mirrored in the broader perspective of spatial planning facing new challenges in the wake of the urban-rural diffusion. This was obtained by means of current planning theory discourse in examining the effects of set-back distance from rural cont...

River management practices have altered the hydrological regimes of many rivers and also altered the availability of regeneration niches for riparian species. We investigated the impact of changed hydrological regimes on the sex ratios and the Spatial Segregation of the Sexes (SSS) in the dioecious species Salix myrsinifolia Salisb.–phylicifolia L. and S. lapponum L. by studying the free-flowing Vindel River and the regulated Ume River in northern Sweden. We surveyed sex ratios of these species in 12 river reaches on the Vindel River and in 17 reaches on the Ume River. In addition, we surveyed the sex and location above mean river stage of 1,002 individuals across both river systems to investigate the SSS of both species. Cuttings were collected from male and female individuals of S. myrsinifolia–phylicifolia from both rivers and subjected to four different water table regimes in a greenhouse experiment to investigate growth response between the sexes. We found an M/F sex ratio in both river systems similar to the regional norm of 0.62 for S. myrsinifolia–phylicifolia and of 0.42 for S. lapponum. We found no evidence of SSS in either the free-flowing Vindel River or the regulated Ume River. In the greenhouse experiment, hydrological regime had a significant effect on shoot and root dry weight and on root length. Significantly higher shoot dry weights were found in females than in males and significantly different shoot and root dry weights were found between cuttings taken from the two rivers. We concluded that changed hydrological regimes are likely to alter dimensions of the regeneration niche and therefore to influence sex ratios and SSS at an early successional stage, making it difficult to find clear spatial patterns once these species reach maturity and can be sexed.

Background: Previous studies have indicated that transthyretin (TTR) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are altered in depression and dementia. The present study aimed to investigate whether CSF TTR can be used to discriminate between patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) with or without medication, as well as to reveal whether CSF TTR correlates with depression in dementia. Methods: CSF samples from 59 patients with AD, 13 patients with DLB and 13 healthy controls were collected, and biochemical analysis was performed. Subjects were assessed for the presence of depression. Results: No significant differences in CSF TTR were found between AD, DLB, and control subjects or between depressed and non-depressed dementia patients. Interestingly, we found a significant reduction in CSF TTR (14%) in AD patients who were medicated with cholinesterase inhibitors compared to those AD patients who were not. Conclusions: Significant reductions in CSF TTR were found after cholinesterase inhibitor treatment in patients with AD compared to untreated individuals. CSF TTR was unaltered in patients with DLB and had no relationship to depression in the present cohort with dementias.

Inadequate floor properties are considered the primary cause of the majority of claw disorders in pigs but to date no clear relationship has been found between claw disorders and floor properties such as friction and surface abrasiveness. To determine this relationship, the factors controlling pig gait must be characterised. This study examined unprovoked pig gait on a concrete floor in clean conditions and compared it with gait in fouled floor conditions. Kinematics were used to record gait parameters such as walking speed, stride length, swing and stance time, stride elevation together with limb support phases, gait symmetry, diagonality and duty factor. On clean floors, pigs had an unprovoked symmetrical gait with alternating two- and three-beat support phases and a high rate of diagonality. Stride length, swing and stance time and stride elevation showed little variation. Pigs altered their gait in accordance with floor conditions to maintain gait control by reducing walking speed, lowering diagonality and employing more three-limb support phases. Pigs also shortened their stride length and prolonged their stance time.

Emergence of Meligethes parasitoids from previous year's rape plots were recorded using emergence boxes. Three species were collected: Phradis interstitialis, P. morionellus and Tersilochus heterocerus. Catches from ploughed and fallow plots were compared. In 1977 a total of 104 and 17 parasitoids/m2 were emerged from fallow plots that had winter and spring rape the previous year. Corresponding values for ploughed plots were 13 and 9 parasitoids/m2. In 1978 the emergence from the previous year's spring rape plots were 181 and 84 parasitoids/m2 for fallow and ploughed plots, respectively. Phradis interstitialis emerged 9–13 days before the other two species. Males of all three species appeared before females. In the trials 1981–1983 the emergence of the three pollen beetle parasitoids from winter wheat plots which had winter rape the previous year, were recorded. The winter wheat was sown using different kinds of cultivation technique. As an average four times as many parasitoids/m2 emerged from direct drilled plots compared to plots that were disk harrowed or ploughed. There was no difference between fallow and direct drilled plots (46 parasitoids/m2). There were no differences in winter wheat yields between the plots. Zusammenfassung Zur Wirkung des Pflugens auf das Schlupfen der Rapsglanzkafer (Meligethes)-Parasitoiden nach der Uberwinterung Unter Verwendung von Schlupfboxen wurde das Ausschlupfen von Meligethes-Parasitoiden auf vorjahrigen Rapsfeldern untersucht. Drei Arten wurden festgestellt: Phradis interstitialis, P. morionellus und Tersilochus heterocerus. Die Fange aus gepflugten und brachliegenden Flachen wurden verglichen. 1977 schlupften a. 104, b. 17 Parasitoide/m2 aus Brachflachen, die a. Winterund b. Fruhjahrsraps im vergangenen Jahr trugen. Die entsprechenden Werte fur die gepflugten Felder betrugen 13 und 9 Parasitoide/m2. 1978 lauteten die Schlupfzahlen aus vorjahrig Fruhjahrsraps tragenden Flachen 181 bzw. 84 Parasitoide/m2 auf Brachflachen bzw. gepflugten Flachen. Phradis interstitialis schlupfte 9-13 Tage vor den beiden anderen Arten. Bei allen drei Arten schlupften die Mannchen vor den Weibchen. Bei den Versuchen 1981-83 wurde das Schlupfen der drei Meligethes-Parasitoiden aus Winterweizenfeldern, die im Vorjahr Winterraps trugen, erfast. Der Winterweizen wurde mit verschiedenen Kultivierungstechniken gesat. Im Mittel schlupften viermal so viele Parasitoide/m2 aus gedrillten Parzellen, verglichen mit solchen, die geeggt oder gepflugt waren. Es bestand kein Unterschied zwischen Brachflachen und gedrillten Flachen (46 Parasitoide/m2). Auch bestand zwischen den Flachen kein Unterschied in der Winterweizenernte.

The effect of using different binding agents in combination with hemp shives and fibres in Lime-Hemp Concrete (LHC) building material was examined. LHC is a light composite building material with building lime as binding agents and hemp (Cannabis sativa) as a renewable raw material from agriculture. Contemporary LHC only uses the woody core part of the hemp, the shive. However, using both hemp shives and fibres may improve the mechanical strength, eliminating the need for a fibre separation process. The aim was to elucidate the feasibility of using the entire fragmented hemp stalk in an LHC, and to determine some important material properties such as compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, water sorption and frost resistance. LHC with varying inclusions of the lime-based binders were tested, as were five mixes using the binding agents hydrated lime, hydraulic lime, and cement. Specimens were cured for 12 weeks at room temperature and 40 days in a carbonation room (4.5 vol% CO2), and tested for mechanical properties, water sorption and frost resistance. Using both shives and fibres in LHC may be advantageous for countries such as Sweden where facilities for separating hemp from shives are not commercially available. (C) 2009 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (Less)

The design and first results from a Double Sided Silicon Strip Detector (DSSSD) recently installed at the Lund Nuclear Microprobe facility (NMP) are presented. The detector has 64 sector strips and 32 ring strips, which in combination give more than 2000 detector cells, each with characteristics comparable with a standard surface barrier detector (SBD). The detector has been tested both with radioactive sources and with different ion beams and energies. The most striking features are the high rate virtually pile-up free operation and also the possibility of detailed measurement of angular distributions. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The GeoPIXE software for quantitative PIXE trace element imaging and analysis is a well established package for evaluation of characteristic X-ray data for both PIXE and SXRF. For the case of microbeam applications on semi-thick samples knowledge of the local areal density distribution is important for precise quantification. A technique is reported to achieve this using the measurement of beam particle energy loss as it traverses the sample, as in scanning transmission ion microscopy (STIM). New functionality is added to the GeoPIXE code through integration of routines for STIM sorting of event-by-event data to create elemental maps of the mean energy after traversing the sample. Integration of stopping powers for a given sample matrix then permits the measured energy loss to be related to the local areal density. In a further step, this information is used for X-ray absorption corrections made directly to the PIXE analysis results. As a complement, user-written plugins operating on single STIM spectra have been used to compare the estimated areal density from chosen spots with the corresponding values calculated with the new GeoPIXE routines. The additions made to the code allow a more precise quantification to be done on inhomogeneous, semi-thick samples. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (Less)

As in every engineering discipline, metrics play an important role in software development, with the difference that almost all software projects need the customization of metrics used. In other engineering disciplines, the notion of a measurement system (i.e. a tool used to collect, calculate, and report quantitative data) is well known and defined, whereas it is not as widely used in software engineering. In this paper we present a framework for developing custom measurement systems and its industrial evaluation in a software development unit within Ericsson. The results include the framework for designing measurement systems and its evaluation in real life projects at the company. The results show that with the help of ISO/IEC standards, measurement systems can be effectively used in software industry and that the presented framework improves the way of working with metrics. This paper contributes with the presentation of how automation of metrics collection and processing can be successfully introduced into a large organization and shows the benefits of it: increased efficiency of metrics collection, increased adoption of metrics in the organization, independence from individuals and standardized nomenclature for metrics in the organization.