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Rationale: Over the last two decades, sports economists and management scholars alike have increasingly begun modeling the tv demand for professional sports, most notably association football. However, there as yet exists no empirical study on whether the observed mechanisms are robust across different distribution channels. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, we add to this still-emerging literature stream by analyzing the robustness of otherwise well-explored determinants of tv demand across different distribution channels (free-to-air and pay-tv), also distinguishing between male and female tv audiences. Findings/research contribution: Interestingly, exploring the German tv demand for F1 racing at two different tv channels holding non-exclusive media rights between 2011 and 2017, we note that the effects of most (e.g. the starting time, weather), though not all, determinants are robust across the two different channels and the two audience groups. Practical implications: Our results thus suggest that media right holders interested in maximizing television audience demand for a sport broadcast are well-advised to add nuance to their communication efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

White oak mortality is a significant concern in forest ecosystems due to its impact on biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Understanding the factors influencing white oak mortality is crucial for effective forest management and conservation efforts. In this study, we aimed to investigate the spatial pattern of WOM rates across the eastern US and explore the underlying processes behind the observed spatial patterns. Multicycle forest inventory and analysis data were compiled to capture all white oak plots. WOM data were selected across plot systems that utilized declining basal areas between two periods. Ripley's K function was used to study the spatial pattern of WOM rates. Results showed clustered patterns of WOM rates at local and broad scales that may indicate stand-level competition and regional variables affecting white oaks' dynamics across southern and northern regions. Results also indicated random patterns at broad scales, suggesting variations in topographic and hydrological conditions across the south and northern regions. However, the central region indicated both clustered and random patterns at the local scale that might be associated with inter-species competition and the possibility of environmental heterogeneity, respectively. Furthermore, uniform patterns of WOM rate at a broad scale across all regions might suggest regions with spatially homogeneous environmental factors acting on the dynamics of white oaks. This research might be helpful in identifying impacted areas of white oaks at varying scales. Future research is needed to comprehensively assess biotic and abiotic factors at various spatial scales aimed at mitigating WOM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate, precise, and reliable chromatographic and spectrophotometric methods were developed for determining clindamycin (CLD) in pharmaceutical formulations. The spectrophotometric method was adopted for flow injection analysis (FIA). The method is based on the online oxidation of CLD and measuring the absorbance of the resulting product using a flow cell at 605 nm. Experimental conditions, including FIA variables and reaction conditions, were optimized. The chromatographic separation was achieved using a C8 column and an isocratic mobile phase. The composition of the mobile phase selected for the analysis consists of a mixture of phosphate buffer (50%), MeOH (35%), and ACN (15%), adjusted to a pH of 3.47 by phosphoric acid. The eluent was monitored with a UV detector at 205 nm. The linearity range was 10–200 and 50–800 µg/mL for the FIA and HPLC, respectively. The applicability of the FIA and HPLC methods was validated by analyzing CLD in synthetic and commercial pharmaceutical products. No significant interferences were observed from the common excipients usually used in commercial formulations.

A low‐power multibit delta–sigma modulator (DSM) based on a passive and unattenuated summation scheme is proposed. The summation circuit achieves multiplication of the voltage signal carried on the summation capacitor through a bidirectional sampling technique, thereby compensating for the inherent attenuation caused by passive summation, which eliminates the need for an active operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) to achieve perfect summation. Here, a second‐order DSM based on a 4‐bit first‐order passive noise‐shaping (NS) SAR quantizer is employed to satisfy the SNDR requirements exceeding 100 dB, which validates the reliability of the summation scheme. In addition, a cascoded floating inverter amplifier (FIA) is used as the core OTA to further improve system energy efficiency. Simulation results demonstrate that at a supply voltage of 1.2 V and a bandwidth of 20 kHz, the SNDR reaches 102.62 dB, power consumption is only 148.32 μW, and the Schreier figure‐of‐merit (FoM) of the SNDR is 183.92 dB. The results demonstrate that the proposed DSM has considerable potential for widespread application in the audio domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows how probability sampling and citizen science efforts can complement each other, using the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program and the ongoing search by the National Register of Champion Trees (NRCT) for the largest specimen of each naturally occurring tree species in the United States as an example. We develop a ratio statistic (Z s ) that uses the difference in size of the largest tree of a species from each database to order the tree species according to the assumed ease with which a larger specimen than the current national champion might be found. Our results show ninety-two candidate species that have been recorded by FIA for which there is no national champion and sixty-five species for which a new champion should be easy to find. In a supplemental table, we show ninety-four species listed as observable by FIA in the NRCT but not recorded in the FIA sample. Study Implications: An interest in forests and forestry is always accompanied by an interest in trees, especially very big trees. Two very different ways of learning about trees are analyzed concurrently in a way that reveals their complementarity. The two efforts are the probability sample, conducted by the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program, and the citizen science effort known as the National Register of Champion Trees (NRCT). We develop a statistic that will help tree sleuths find champion trees and provide FIA practitioners with a quality control measure and an indication of which species would benefit from an increase in sample intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In general, concepts such as chemical equilibria and classical analytical chemistry, as well as instrumental methods such as potentiometry and flow injection analysis (FIA), are taught separately in the curricula of chemistry-related degree programs. However, FIA provides an opportunity to connect all of these important topics. This article shows how simple experiments can be used to link the fundamentals of FIA and potentiometry to the fundamentals of chemical equilibria and teach them in a sustainable way. The experiments were designed for undergraduate environmental science students with basic knowledge of chemical equilibria and classical analytical chemistry and minimal knowledge of electrochemistry. However, they can also be integrated into various courses on instrumental analysis in chemistry-related degree programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonnative invasive plant species (NNIPS) cause significant damage to the native forest ecosystems in the southern United States forestlands, such as habitat degradation, ecological instability, and biodiversity loss. Taking the state of Alabama as an example, we used more than 5,000 permanent United States Department of Agriculture-Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots measured between 2001 and 2019 over three measurement cycles to test the suitable modeling unit for quantifying invasion patterns and associated factors for regional NNIPS monitoring and management. NNIPS heavily infest Alabama's forestlands, and forestlands plagued with at least one NNIPS have increased over time: 41.1%, 50.8%, and 54.8% during the past three measurements. Lonicera japonica (Thunb.) was the most abundant NNIPS in Alabama, with at least 26% of its forested lands infested. The FIA data were aggregated with multiple spatial units: five levels of hydrological units, three levels of ecological units, and a county level. Invasion indices were calculated for all spatial units based on NNIPS' presence/absence and average cover in each plot. The best modeling unit was identified based on Moran's test, with the county-level modeling unit providing the best Moran's I value over all measurement periods. Influencing factors of invasion were evaluated based on spatial lag models. Our models show that the invasion index decreased with increases in public forest areas in a county. In contrast, the human population density of neighboring counties positively influenced the invasion index.

A modular microflow injection analysis (microFIA) system for the determination of Fe(III) in a bioleaching reactor has been designed, developed and validated. The different modules of the analyzer (mixer, diluter, disperser and detector) were 3D-printed. Fe(III) quantification is due by measuring the color intensity of the chelate formed between Fe(III) and salicylic acid at 525 nm. The device has been designed to dilute, disperse and detect high Fe(III) concentrations in the form of an inexpensive multi-step photometric flow cell that uses an light-emitting diode (LED) as a light source and an light-dependent resistor (LDR) as a light intensity detector. This microFIA system has been shown to be suitable for automatic and continuous determination of Fe(III) in the operation of a bioreactor for the oxidation of Fe(II). The device has a good repeatability (less than 5% of coefficient of variation in the whole range of concentrations) and accuracy of around 100%. The analyzer features an exceptional wide linear range, between 25 and 6000 mg·L−1. The device was successfully applied to the determination of Fe(III) in real samples. The obtained results proved that the method is applicable for accurate, precise, rapid, and low-cost colorimetric analysis and didn't show significant differences with a conventional UV–Vis method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study outlines the development of novel boronic acids as catalysts for the direct synthesis of amides from carboxylic acids and amines. The Lewis acidity of the boronic acids was estimated by means of computational techniques, and the observed increase in catalytic activity was corroborated by kinetic data derived from a model reaction. Our investigations led to the discovery of a set of ortho‐(sulfonyloxy)benzeneboronic acids that compared favorably with the established state‐of‐the‐art. These newly developed catalysts demonstrated efficacy in the coupling of aliphatic, aromatic, and heteroaromatic acids, as well as primary and secondary amines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research developed an analytical methodology for the analysis of total polyphenols in wines, using a flow injection analysis system (FIA) with amperometric detection, using an electrode modified with multilayer carbon nanotubes. For this purpose, the procedure for the elaboration of MWCNTs dispersions, using polyethylenimine as dispersing agent and its use for the modification of glassy carbon electrodes, was initially evaluated. The processing conditions were: 0.50 mg-mL-1 nanomaterial concentration, 0.25% (m/m) PEI, 2000 J of dispersion energy in PEI, centrifugation (2500 rpm; 20 min) and finally, redispersion in water applying 2000 J of energy. These electrodes show lower oxidation potentials, higher peak intensity and lower I/C ratios than the unmodified electrodes. Finally, this FIA methodology was developed incorporating the optimized electrode [GCE(PEI-Water/MWCNTs)], in order to detect and quantify total polyphenols, obtaining improvements in stability, reproducibility, greater sensitivity and possibility of selective detection of these compounds, in the analysis of white wines made with two types of grapes: Verdejo and Airén. This developed methodology could provide additional information from electrochemical indices, generating an alternative analysis to spectrophotometric studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Baghdad Science Journal is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ecologists are increasingly relying on national forest inventories to address a wide variety of issues. The 'FIESTA' R package (Forest Inventory ESTimation and Analysis) is a tool that enables customized investigations using the extensive sample-based inventory data collected across all lands in the US by the US Dept of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program. To date, the complex nature of the FIA inventory constrains many users to conduct only limited analyses through existing tools with pre-specified geographic boundaries, timeframes, and auxiliary data under a single statistical estimation process. Yet, the rapid evolution of available remotely sensed data and statistical methods present the opportunity to conduct spatial and temporal analyses of forest attributes that are much more relevant to many pressing ecological, environmental, economic, and social issues in the US, The 'FIESTA' package was developed to augment the current set of available tools by providing a flexible platform that accommodates evolving technologies and leading-edge estimation techniques. The package contains a collection of functions that can query FIA databases, summarize sample-based inventory data, extract and aggregate auxiliary spatial data, and generate estimates with associated variances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric CO2 concentrations are dependent on land-atmosphere carbon fluxes resultant from forest dynamics and land-use changes. These fluxes are not well-constrained, in part because reliable baseline estimates of forest carbon stocks and the associated uncertainties are lacking. NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) produces estimates of aboveground biomass density (AGBD) that are unique because GEDI's hybrid estimation framework enables formal uncertainty calculations that accompany the biomass estimates. However, GEDI's estimates are not without issue; a recent validation using design-based AGBD estimates from the US Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program revealed systematic differences between GEDI and FIA estimates within a hexagon tessellation of the continental United States. Here, we explored these differences and identified two issues impacting GEDI's estimation process: incomplete filtering of low quality GEDI observations and regional biases in GEDI's footprint-level biomass models. We developed a solution to each, in the form of improved data filtering and GEDI-FIA fusion AGBD models, developed in a scale-invariant small area estimation framework, that were compatible with hybrid estimation. We calibrated 10 regional Fay-Herriot models at the hexagon scale for application at the unit scale of GEDI footprints, for which we provide a mathematical justification and empirical testing of the models' scale-invariance. These models predicted realistic distributions of unit level AGBD, with equal or improved performance relative to GEDI's L4A models for all regions. We then produced GEDI-FIA fusion estimates that were more precise than the FIA estimates and resulted in a bias reduction of 86.7% relative to the original GEDI estimates: 19.3% due to improved data filtering and 67.5% due to the new AGBD models. Our findings indicate that (1) small area estimation models trained in a scale-invariant framework can produce realistic predictions of AGBD, and (2) there is substantial spatial variability in the relationship between GEDI forest structure metrics and AGBD. This work is a step toward achieving reliable baseline forest carbon stocks, provides a viable methodology for training remote sensing biomass models, and may serve as a reference for other investigations of GEDI AGBD estimates.

Copyright of Fire Ecology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Fog-Induced Attenuation (FIA) is crucial in assessing the performance of Free-Space Optics (FSO) systems for optimal results. The goal of this work is to characterize FIA seasonally and yearly at the selected optical wavelengths over selected locations in Nigeria. FIA has been analyzed using five (5) years (2012–2016) visibility measurements data for Abuja, Ikeja, Jos, Port Harcourt, Ilorin, Makurdi, and Sokoto locations in Nigeria. The visibility re-analysis data were obtained from achieves of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).over the selected locations. The characterization has been based on three different frequencies and their respective optical wavelengths (850 nm/352 THz, 1300 nm/230 THz, and 1550 nm/193 THz). The sensitivity of the FIA to cloud cover rate (information on visibility range) and the comprehensive cumulative distribution rate at the selected frequencies were also examined. The results show that a minimal FIA of about 0.4 dB/km can be achieved at 1550 nm/193 THz for optimal link planning and design of FSO communication links in Nigeria. However, attenuation of 0.25 dB/km can be achieved at link availability of 99.99 % for FSO transmission in the commercial city of Lagos (Ikeja) at the same 1550 nm/193 THz under bad weather conditions. However, due to additional dust in the region, FIA can extend up to 0.6 dB/km in Sokoto (arid region) under the same conditions. The variation pattern in the arid region and the associated ones will require a high-power laser with special mitigation techniques to improve the chances of link availability for optimal performance.

Aim: Anticipating when and where changes in species' demographic rates will lead to range shifts in response to changing climate remains a major challenge. Despite evidence of increasing mortality in dry forests across the globe in response to drought and warming temperatures, the overall impacts on the distribution of dry forests are largely unknown because we lack comparable large‐scale data on tree recruitment rates. Here, our aim was to develop range‐wide population models for dry forest tree species (pinyon pine and juniper), quantifying both mortality and recruitment, to better understand where and under what conditions species range contractions are occurring. Location: Western United States. Major taxa studied: Two pinyon pine (Pinus spp.) and three juniper (Juniperus spp.) species. Methods: We developed range‐wide demographic models for five species using forest inventory data from across the western United States and estimated population trends and climate vulnerability. Results: We find that four of the five species are declining in parts of their range, with Pinus edulis having the largest proportion of populations declining (24%). Population vulnerability increases with aridity and temperature, with up to ~50% of populations declining in the warmest and driest conditions. Mortality and recruitment were both essential to explaining where populations are declining. Main conclusions Our results suggest that dry forest species are undergoing an active range shift driven by both changing recruitment and mortality, and that increasing temperatures and drought threaten the long‐term viability of many of these species in their current range. While four of the five species examined were experiencing some declines, P. edulis is currently most vulnerable. Management actions such as reducing tree density may be able to mitigate some of these impacts. The framework we present to estimate range‐wide demographic rates can be applied to other species to determine where range contractions are most likely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High‐resolution microstructural analysis of porphyroblast inclusion trails integrated with Sm‐Nd garnet geochronology has provided new insight into the tectonic history of the Betic‐Rif orogen. Three principal age groups of porphyroblasts are demonstrated with distinctly oriented inclusion‐trails. Inclusion‐trail curvature axes or "FIA" (Foliation Inflexion/Intersection Axes) are shown to represent "fossilized" crenulation axes from which a succession of different crustal shortening directions can be deduced. The regional consistency of microstructural orientations and their geometric relationship with multiple sets of macroscopic folds reveal the composite character of the Gibraltar Arc formed by a superposition of different folding directions and associated lineations. Bulk‐garnet ages of 35–22 Ma obtained from five micaschist samples of the Alpujarride‐Sebtide complex (ASC) and of 35–13 Ma from four micaschists of the Nevado‐Filabride complex (NFC) allow to deduce NNE‐SSW directed shortening in the Late Eocene changing to NW‐SE shortening in the early Oligocene, alternating with suborthogonal NE‐SW shortening during the Miocene. These directions can be related to a major swing in the direction of relative Africa‐Iberia plate‐motion known from kinematic modeling of magnetic seafloor anomalies, and subsequent dynamic interference between plate convergence and suborthogonal "tectonic escape" of the Alboran Domain. Coupled to previously established P‐T‐t paths, the new garnet ages support a common tectono‐metamorphic evolution of the ASC and NFC as laterally equivalent orogenic domains until, in the Miocene, the second became re‐buried under the first. Plain Language Summary: A 3D microstructural analysis of tectonic foliations preserved within garnet porphyroblasts combined with radiometric dating of these crystals has allowed reconstruction of a complex tectonic history experienced by the Betic‐Rif orogen, the strongly curved mountain belt connecting southern Spain and Morocco. Multiple porphyroblast age groups can be linked to differently oriented microfolds preserved within these metamorphic crystals. The specific ages and orientations of these microstructures measured using conventional thin sections and X‐ray tomography can be matched to known changes in the direction of convergence of the African and Iberian plates, thus demonstrating a powerful new tool for reconstructing past plate motions. Key Points: Three sets of microfolds (Foliation Inflexion/Intersection Axis, FIA) preserved within garnet porphyroblasts of the Betic‐Rif orogen record changes in crustal shortening directionNew Sm‐Nd garnet ages reveal Eocene to Miocene tectonism in the Nevado‐Filabride complexIntegration of FIA data with garnet geochronology shown powerful tool for reconstructing past plate motions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Introduction Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a gram‐positive opportunistic pathogen, there are currently no high effective vaccine against S. aureus in humans and animals, the development of an efficient vaccine remains an important challenge to prevent S. aureus infection. Here, we prepared Als3‐Th‐cell‐epitope‐Target of RNAIII Activating Protein (TRAP) (ATT) proteins plus the novel combined adjuvants to develop a promising vaccine candidate against S. aureus. Methods The recombinant pET‐28a (+)‐att plasmids were constructed, and the ATT proteins were expressed and obtained, then, ATT plus Freund's adjuvant or the novel combined adjuvants of cytosine‐phosphate‐guanosine oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG), muramyl dipeptides (MDP), and FIA were immunized in mice. After booster immunization, the levels of interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ), interleukin‐4 (IL‐4), IL‐10 and IL‐17A cytokine were evaluated, the humoral immune responses against TRAP were detected in mice, and the survival rate of mice was confirmed by challenge assay. Results The mice immunized with ATT plus Freund's adjuvant exhibited significantly higher level of IFN‐γ, IL‐4, IL‐10, and IL‐17A, and displayed the stronger humoral immune response against TRAP than control groups, importantly, the survival rate of these mice was significantly higher than control groups. In addition, compared with the control groups, ATT + CpG + MDP + FIA group was elicited significantly higher level of IFN‐γ, IL‐4, IL‐10, and IL‐17A and was triggered the stronger humoral immune responses against TRAP, moreover, generated the higher survival rate of mice. Conclusion Als3 epitopes significantly enhanced TRAP immunogenicity. ATT plus the novel combined adjuvants of CpG, MDP, and FIA induced the strong immune response and protection against S. aureus, revealing the combination of CpG, MDP, and FIA adjuvant acts the synergistic effect.

There is a growing body of evidence that mesic tree species are increasing in importance across much of the eastern US. This increase is often observed in tandem with a decrease in the abundance and importance of species considered to be better adapted to disturbance and drier conditions (e.g., Quercus species). Concern over this transition is related to several factors, including the potential that this transition is self-reinforcing (termed “mesophication”), will result in decreased resiliency of forests to a variety of disturbances, and may negatively impact ecosystem functioning, timber value, and wildlife habitat. Evidence for shifts in composition provide broad-scale support for mesophication, but we lack information on the fine-scale factors that drive the associated functional changes. Understanding this variability is particularly important as managers work to develop site-and condition-specific management practices to target stands or portions of the landscape where this transition is occurring or is likely to occur in the future. To address this knowledge gap and identify forests that are most susceptible to mesophication (which we evaluate as a functional shift to less drought or fire tolerant, or more shade tolerant, forests), we used data from the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program to determine what fine-scale factors impact the rate (change through time) and degree (difference between the overstory and midstory) of change in eastern US forests. We found that mesophication varies along stand and environmental gradients, but this relationship depended on the functional trait examined. For example, shade and drought tolerance suggest mesophication is greatest at sites with more acidic soils, while fire tolerance suggests mesophication increases with soil pH. Mesophication was also generally more pronounced in older stands, stands with more variable diameters, and in wetter sites, but plots categorized as “hydric” were often highly variable. Our results provide evidence that stand-scale conditions impact current and potential future changes in trait conditions and composition across eastern US forests. We provide a starting point for managers looking to prioritize portions of the landscape most at risk and developing treatments to address the compositional and functional changes associated with mesophication.

Wood duck females often nest in tree cavities located in large-diameter deciduous trees. Temporal changes in forest age and composition during recent decades may have influenced the abundance of stems with suitable nesting cavities in the forested portion of Northern MN, United States. Thus, we ascertained whether temporal changes in the abundance of such stems occurred in this area during six Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) evaluation cycles (i.e., 1977 to 2015–2019). We used FIA data and independently estimated proportions of stems with suitable cavities in different tree-species, health-status, and diameter classes to estimate change in the abundance of such stems at three spatial scales. These spatial scales increased in areal extent from a study area to three ecological subsections to the Laurentian Mixed Forest ecological province. We used a Bayesian analytical approach to accommodate changes in FIA protocols among cycles. Both the abundance of stems with suitable cavities and an attribute associated with cavity occurrence changed during the analysis period, but findings were not entirely consistent among spatial scales. The estimated abundance of both suitable stems overall and those of late-successional tree species generally increased at all scales during the analysis period. Since 1990, increases in the abundance of health-impacted stems that were suitable for nesting occurred at all spatial scales. Our estimated densities of suitable stems during the 2005–2009 (1.20 [85% CrI: 1.04–1.39] suitable stems / ha) and 2015–2019 cycles (1.41 [85% CrI: 1.21–1.63] suitable stems / ha) were substantially greater than the

Native stingless bees (Meliponini) from Brazil make (geo)propolis which is largely used in folk medicine, specially by indigenous and quilombos communities and beekeepers´ families but are progressively being recognized for their pharmacological activities. In this study, the ethanolic extracts of (geo)propolis (EEGs) from Melipona marginata , M. quadrifasciata , M. scutellaris , and Tetragonisca angustula were analysed by Flow injection analysis (FIA) and Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) in a high resolution Orbitrap mass analyser (HRMS) to investigate and compare their chemical profile. Untargeted metabolomic approach based on UHPLC-HRMS experiments, and bioinformatic tools, allowed to annotate 59 compounds from diverse classes such as: flavonoids, phenolic compounds, sugars, terpenoids, and lipids. In addition, using multivariate tools and Flow injection- high resolution mass spectrometry (FIA-HRMS), it was possible to classify samples and identify marker ions related to the bee species or genus and to the geographical origin as a proof of concept. [Display omitted] • Geographical origin and bee species affect (geo)propolis metabolome. • 59 compounds annotated with high level of confidence. • ANOVA loadings and p-values suggest biomarkers for each type of (geo)propolis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical attacks, including passive Side-Channel Analysis and active Fault Injection Analysis, are considered among the most powerful threats against physical cryptographic implementations. These attacks are well known and research provides many specialized countermeasures to protect cryptographic implementations against them. Still, only a limited number of combined countermeasures, i.e., countermeasures that protect implementations against multiple attacks simultaneously, were proposed in the past. Due to increasing complexity and reciprocal effects, design of efficient and reliable combined countermeasures requires longstanding expertise in hardware design and security. With the help of formal security specifications and adversary models, automated verification can streamline development cycles, increase quality, and facilitate development of robust cryptographic implementations. In this work, we revise and refine formal security notions for combined protection mechanisms and specifically embed them in the context of hardware implementations. Based on this, we present the first automated verification framework that can verify physical security properties of hardware circuits with respect to combined physical attacks. To this end, we conduct several case studies to demonstrate the capabilities and advantages of our framework, analyzing secure building blocks (gadgets), S-boxes build from Toffoli gates, and the ParTI scheme. For the first time, we reveal security flaws in analyzed structures due to reciprocal effects, highlighting the importance of continuously integrating security verification into modern design and development cycles.

In this work, we present RAMBAM, a novel concept of designing countermeasures against side-channel attacks and the Statistical Ineffective Fault Attack (specifically SIFA-1) on AES that employs redundant representations of finite field elements. From this concept, we derive a family of protected hardware implementations of AES. A fundamental property of RAMBAM is a security parameter d that along with other attributes of the scheme allows for making trade-offs between gate count, maximal frequency, performance, level of robustness to the first and higher-order side-channel attacks, and protection against SIFA-1. We present an analytical model that explains how the scheme reduces the leakage and how the design choices affect it. Furthermore, we demonstrate experimentally how different design choices achieve the required goals. In particular, the compact version exhibits a gate count as low as 12.075 kGE, while maintaining adequate protection. The performance-oriented version provides latency as low as one round per cycle, thus combining protection against SCA and SIFA-1 with high performance which is one of the original design goals of AES. Finally, we assess the leakage of the scheme for the first and the second (bivariate) orders using TVLA methodology on an FPGA implementation and observe resilience to at least 348M traces with 16 Sboxes.

Since the 1990s, functional diversity has attracted growing attention from biodiversity scientists. In recent years, various functional diversity indices have been proposed; but many of them presented conceptual and/or practical limitations. We recently developed a functional diversity index, Functional Extension and Evenness (FEE), to overcome some of the limitations. In this paper, we describe the content and major features of a new R package, FEEr, which serves as a tool for calculating the FEE index. The FEEr package includes one major core function to accomplish the FEE calculation and several support functions to provide important intermediate results relevant to the FEE calculation. To demonstrate the usage of this package, we present an abbreviated case study of quantifying the taxonomic and functional diversities of national forest inventory plots in the state of Tennessee, United States. In this application, we compare the correlations between species richness and FEE values in these plots. We also briefly summarize how species richness and FEE values vary among forest types and ecoprovinces in Tennessee. The results indicate that species richness and the FEE index reflect complementary aspects of the biodiversity profile in Tennessee’s forests. The functional diversity package outlined in this work provides a comprehensive foundation for subsequent analyses to address the needs of biodiversity conservation.

Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a gram‐positive opportunistic pathogen, there are currently no high effective vaccine against S. aureus in humans and animals, the development of an efficient vaccine remains an important challenge to prevent S. aureus infection. Here, we prepared Als3‐Th‐cell‐epitope‐Target of RNAIII Activating Protein (TRAP) (ATT) proteins plus the novel combined adjuvants to develop a promising vaccine candidate against S. aureus. Methods: The recombinant pET‐28a (+)‐att plasmids were constructed, and the ATT proteins were expressed and obtained, then, ATT plus Freund's adjuvant or the novel combined adjuvants of cytosine‐phosphate‐guanosine oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG), muramyl dipeptides (MDP), and FIA were immunized in mice. After booster immunization, the levels of interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ), interleukin‐4 (IL‐4), IL‐10 and IL‐17A cytokine were evaluated, the humoral immune responses against TRAP were detected in mice, and the survival rate of mice was confirmed by challenge assay. Results: The mice immunized with ATT plus Freund's adjuvant exhibited significantly higher level of IFN‐γ, IL‐4, IL‐10, and IL‐17A, and displayed the stronger humoral immune response against TRAP than control groups, importantly, the survival rate of these mice was significantly higher than control groups. In addition, compared with the control groups, ATT + CpG + MDP + FIA group was elicited significantly higher level of IFN‐γ, IL‐4, IL‐10, and IL‐17A and was triggered the stronger humoral immune responses against TRAP, moreover, generated the higher survival rate of mice. Conclusion: Als3 epitopes significantly enhanced TRAP immunogenicity. ATT plus the novel combined adjuvants of CpG, MDP, and FIA induced the strong immune response and protection against S. aureus, revealing the combination of CpG, MDP, and FIA adjuvant acts the synergistic effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fault Injection Analysis is seen as a powerful attack against implementations of cryptographic algorithms. Over the last two decades, researchers proposed a plethora of countermeasures to secure such implementations. However, the design process and implementation are still error-prone, complex, and manual tasks which require long-standing experience in hardware design and physical security. Moreover, the validation of the claimed security is often only done by empirical testing in a very late stage of the design process. To prevent such empirical testing strategies, approaches based on formal verification are applied instead providing the designer early feedback. In this work, we present a fault verification framework to validate the security of countermeasures against fault-injection attacks designed for ICs. The verification framework works on netlist-level, parses the given digital circuit into a model based on Binary Decision Diagrams, and performs symbolic fault injections. This verification approach constitutes a novel strategy to evaluate protected hardware designs against fault injections offering new opportunities as performing full analyses under a given fault models. Eventually, we apply the proposed verification framework to real-world implementations of well-established countermeasures against fault-injection attacks. Here, we consider protected designs of the lightweight ciphers CRAFT and LED-64 as well as AES. Due to several optimization strategies, our tool is able to perform more than 90 million fault injections in a single-round CRAFT design and evaluate the security in under 50 min while the symbolic simulation approach considers all 2128 primary inputs.

Elbert Little's tree species range maps and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) are two important data sources used to create historic and current tree species distributions. Yet, explicit comparisons do not exist between the two data sets. We developed a statistical procedure to compare forty-seven tree species of expert-drawn Little's range maps to point-to-grid maps of FIA in terms of their northern and southern range extent and range porosity. First, we computed varying percentiles of species occurrence for northern and southern ranges using empirical cumulative distribution functions. Then, we evaluated distributional differences between the maps using the nonparametric two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-Darling statistics and compared these results to the conventional Jaccard dissimilarity index. Our methods found map dissimilarities near northern and southern range extents and range porosity that conventional methods failed to detect. We also found that map disparity is related to an untraceable source of errors related to abundance of species for Little's range map and, to a lesser extent, forest area changes over the forty years. We conclude that Little's range map has an overall tendency to draw generous range extents with little emphasis on range porosity for abundant species compared to FIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes changes in timberland ownership from 2003 to 2012 across the northern United States based on Forest Inventory and Analysis data identified according to five ownership categories. A total of 26,940 FIA plots that were remeasured between selected years were used for the analysis. Publicly available corporate ownership data were investigated and used to differentiate industrial and institutional (timber investment management organizations [TIMO] and real estate investment trusts [REIT]) ownership. Kernel density, Ripley's K-function, and multinomial logistic regression (MLR) methods were used to study spatial patterns of timberland ownership and to explore statistical relationships. Among FIA plots showing ownership changes, the largest observed shift was from industrial to institutional ownership, with a 45% increase in the number of plots, equivalent to almost 1.4 million acres of timberland area. Bivariate Ripley's K-function showed significant clustering for shifts between industrial and institutional ownership. A MLR model identified forest type as a significant factor associated with the transition of industrial timberlands to either institutional or family forest ownership. In addition, shifts from industrial to institutional ownership were related to road access and population density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and sensitive indirect spectrophotometric flow injection analysis (FIA) method for the determination of cefixime (CF), ceftriaxone (CFTR), cefotaxime (CFX) and cefuroxime (CFU) in pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluids has been suggested. Drugs under investigation are firstly oxidized by excess N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in acidic medium, then the excess NBS is reacted with Rhodamine B (RB) to bleach its pinkish red color. Chemical variables and flow injection variables are all optimized to enhance reproducibility and sensitivity. The suggested procedure followed Beer’s law over concentration ranges of 5 – 30 μg.ml-1 for all tested drugs. The method is successfully applied to the determinations of the drugs under investigation in different pharmaceutical preparations. Results obtained by the suggested method were in excellent agreement with those obtained by the formal HPLC methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Structures at different scales are correlated with each other. • These structures show remarkable resemblance relative to each other. • These structures represents different episodes of deformation events in an area (Lesser Himalaya). Detailed micro and meso structural investigation of schistose rocks from Mula Gori area, Lesser Himalaya (Pakistan), has been carried out to deduce the early history of deformation. From these analysis four deformation events (D 1 , D 2 , D 3 and D 4) have been inferred. The D 1 is preserved as inclusion trails in FIA 1 garnet porphyroblasts and the fold axis of macroscopic fold in the studied area. They display NNE-SSW orientation and NW-SE shortening. The D 2 event resulted in N-S foliations, mineral lineations, and fold axes. The D 3 event resulted in E-W trending FIA 2, foliations and mineral lineations indicating N-S shortening. The D 4 fashioned NNW-SSE oriented fabrics similar to Hazara Kashmir syntaxis resulted from ENE-WSW bulk shortening. The shortening direction of structures in Mula Gori region, Lesser Himalaya, NW Pakistan show resemblance to the main shortening directions during the episodic collision between India and Asia. The insights from micro and meso structures and its relation with main regional shortening directions depict an early lateral collision of Indian and Eurasian lithospheric plates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the utilization of small-scale and highly parallelized cultivation platforms embedded in laboratory robotics, microbial phenotyping and bioprocess development have been substantially accelerated, thus generating a bottleneck in bioanalytical bioprocess sample analytics. While microscale cultivation platforms allow the monitoring of typical process parameters, only limited information about product and by-product formation is provided without comprehensive analytics. The use of liquid chromatography mass spectrometry can provide such a comprehensive and quantitative insight, but is often limited by analysis runtime and throughput. In this study, we developed and evaluated six methods for amino acid quantification based on two strong cation exchanger columns and a dilute and shoot approach in hyphenation with either a triple-quadrupole or a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Isotope dilution mass spectrometry with 13C15N labeled amino acids was used to correct for matrix effects. The versatility of the methods for metabolite profiling studies of microbial cultivation supernatants is confirmed by a detailed method validation study. The methods using chromatography columns showed a linear range of approx. 4 orders of magnitude, sufficient response factors, and low quantification limits (7–443 nM) for single analytes. Overall, relative standard deviation was comparable for all analytes, with < 8% and < 11% for unbuffered and buffered media, respectively. The dilute and shoot methods with an analysis time of 1 min provided similar performance but showed a factor of up to 35 times higher throughput. The performance and applicability of the dilute and shoot method are demonstrated using a library of Corynebacterium glutamicum strains producing l-histidine, obtained from random mutagenesis, which were cultivated in a microscale cultivation platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the strategic plan required by the Agricultural Act of 2014, the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program is initiating a strategic inventory of the nation's urban forests. The inventory is designed to provide timely and credible data on urban forests, thereby meeting an expanding need for information on trees located in communities where more than 80% of people live. The program monitors the status and trends of trees in urban settings (i.e. urban forests), enabling assessment of their composition and structure, ecosystem services and values, health, and risk from pests and disease. At full implementation with funding, resources, and partnerships in place, the program as designed would provide annual updates of urban forest conditions on approximately 68 million acres of land and for 100 of the most populous cities in the United States. The traditional forestland inventory of FIA continues and is complemented by the new urban inventory providing the means for a more complete assessment of the tree and forest resources across the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonnative invasive plant species (NNIPS) cause significant damage to the native forest ecosystems in the southern United States forestlands, such as habitat degradation, ecological instability, and biodiversity loss. Taking the state of Alabama as an example, we used more than 5,000 permanent United States Department of Agriculture-Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots measured between 2001 and 2019 over three measurement cycles to test the suitable modeling unit for quantifying invasion patterns and associated factors for regional NNIPS monitoring and management. NNIPS heavily infest Alabama's forestlands, and forestlands plagued with at least one NNIPS have increased over time: 41.1%, 50.8%, and 54.8% during the past three measurements. Lonicera japonica (Thunb.) was the most abundant NNIPS in Alabama, with at least 26% of its forested lands infested. The FIA data were aggregated with multiple spatial units: five levels of hydrological units, three levels of ecological units, and a county level. Invasion indices were calculated for all spatial units based on NNIPS' presence/absence and average cover in each plot. The best modeling unit was identified based on Moran's test, with the county-level modeling unit providing the best Moran's I value over all measurement periods. Influencing factors of invasion were evaluated based on spatial lag models. Our models show that the invasion index decreased with increases in public forest areas in a county. In contrast, the human population density of neighboring counties positively influenced the invasion index., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

In situ detection and quantification of reaction intermediates and products is of paramount importance in applied and fundamental research. In the present work, differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) is coupled with flow injection analysis (FIA) to study the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) on a carbon screen-printed electrode (SPE) modified with a carbon-supported platinum (Pt/C) catalyst. Using this approach, the gaseous and volatile species produced during an electrochemical reaction of interest can be detected and quantified. The reported results support the viability of the novel setup, which can be employed not only for the HER, but also for a vast diversity of electrochemical reactions occurring at various modified SPEs.

Signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are required to annually report economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions and removals, including the forest sector. National forest inventory (NFI) is considered the main source of data for reporting forest carbon stocks and changes to UNFCCC. However, NFI samples are often collected asynchronously across regions in intervals of 5–10 years or sub-sampled annually, both introducing uncertainties in estimating annual carbon stock changes by missing a wide range of forest disturbance and recovery processes. Here, we integrate satellite observations with forest inventory data across the conterminous United States to improve the spatial and temporal resolution of NFI for estimating annual carbon stocks and changes. We used more than 120 000 permanent plots from the US forest inventory and analysis (FIA) data, surveyed periodically at sampling rate of 15%–20% per year across the US to develop non-parametric remote sensing-based models of aboveground biomass carbon density (AGC) at 1 ha spatial resolution for the years 2005, 2010, 2015, 2016, and 2017. The model provided a relatively unbiased estimation of AGC compared to ground inventory estimates at plot, county, and state scales. The uncertainty of the biomass maps and their contributions to estimates of forest carbon stock changes at county and state levels were quantified. Our results suggest that adding spatial and temporal dimensions to the forest inventory data, will significantly improve the accuracy and precision of carbon stocks and changes at jurisdictional scales.

A new and highly sensitive spectrophotometric based flow injection analysis method has been developed for the determination of copper (II). N, N'-o-phenylene-bis (3-methoxysalicylideneimine) (H2IF) was used as a new chromogenic reagent. The absorbance was measured at λmax = 420 nm. Various factors affecting complex formation have been investigated. For example, the pH effect, reagent concentration was studied. Under optimum conditions, Beer's law was met in the range of 3.18–318 µg L−1 copper (II) concentration. The system required no mixing chamber and allowed a sample throughput > 60 sample per hour for 20 µL injection volume. The interaction of the various ions was investigated and the experimental results were reported. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of the amount of copper (II) found in pharmaceutical samples and water samples. The validity and applicability of the method was confirmed by AAS and standard reference material SPS-WW2 (Wastewater) analysis.

Aim: Climate change has impacted forest ecosystems, leading to species‐level tree migration. However, the impacts of climate change on forest communities are mostly unknown. Here, we assess changes to forest communities at three scales: within‐community changes in species composition, individual community spatial shifts and changes across all communities. Location: Eastern USA. Major taxa studied: Forest tree species. Methods: Using a region‐wide forest inventory dataset from the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis Program with > 70,000 plots, we identified forest communities using the latent Dirichlet allocation method. We analysed changes in species composition within communities and assessed community‐level spatial shifts over the last three decades to quantify the responses of individual communities to climate change. We used the distribution of forest communities across climate conditions to predict where communities could migrate to during the study period and compared climate‐predicted shifts with observed community shifts. Changes across all communities were modelled as a function of climatic and non‐climatic variables using generalized linear mixed‐effects models. Results: We identified 12 regional forest communities of the eastern USA, which varied in their stability of species composition over the study period. All communities experienced relatively short yet significant shifts in their spatial distribution (median = 8.0 km/decade). Historical climate and changes in seasonal temperature variability were the best predictors of change across all communities. However, the distance and direction of individual community migration were poorly predicted by climate change, and the observed direction was often the opposite of the predicted direction. Main conclusions: Forest communities shifted their distributions over the last three decades, but climate change outpaced the rate of community migration. Continued lags between climate change and forest community responses and the lack of migration in the direction predicted by climate change might lead to the inability of forests to keep up with changing climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Disturbances of varying frequency and intensity shape the species composition, stand structure, and functions of forests. This study assessed the frequency and distribution of disturbances caused by eight agents (insects, diseases, fire, animals, weather, other vegetation, human, and unknown) in the forests of the southeastern United States from 1995 to 2018. We used data from 88,722 inventory measurements of 33,531 plots from the USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis database to assess disturbance among different forest types and to different canopy strata. Disturbances were detected in approximately 14 percent of the plots, located mostly in pine-dominated forest types. Fire was the most frequent disturbance agent (occurring 6 percent of the time), followed by weather and animal agents. The agents that caused the highest mortality rate during the period for saplings were silvicultural treatments (8.6 percent), other vegetation (5.6 percent), and fire (4.4 percent), whereas for trees they were silvicultural treatments (9.8 percent), weather (1.9 percent) and insects (1.7 percent). The forest type that appeared to have been most affected by disturbances was longleaf–slash pine of the Coastal Plain. These results are useful for understanding the spatiotemporal distribution of disturbance events in different southeastern forest types and locations and for guiding forest management activities to mitigate potential impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]