Predicting forest successional stages using multitemporal Landsat imagery with forest inventory and analysis data

Forest succession is an important ecological process that has profound biophysical, biological and biogeochemical implications in terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, information on forest successional stages over an extensive forested landscape is crucial for us to understand ecosystem processes, such as carbon assimilation and energy interception. This study explored the potential of using Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plot data to extract forest successional stage information from remotely sensed imagery with three widely used predictive models, linear regression (LR), decision trees (DTs) and neural networks (NNs). The predictive results in this study agree with previous findings that multitemporal Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery can improve the accuracy of forest successional stage prediction compared to models using a single image. Because of the overlap of spectral signatures of forests in different successional stages, it is difficult to accurately separate forest successional stages into more than three broad age classes (young, mature and old) with reasonable accuracy based on the age information of FIA plots and the spectral data of the plots from Landsat TM imagery. Given the mixed spectral response of forest age classes, new approaches need to be explored to improve the prediction of forest successional stages using FIA data.     

Subconjunctival mitomycin C for the treatment of ocular cicatricial pemphigoid

PURPOSE: The authors performed a prospective evaluation of the efficacy of treating ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (OCP) with subconjunctival mitomycin C. DESIGN: Unmasked, prospective, internally controlled case series. METHODS: Patients were eligible for treatment with subconjunctival mitomycin C under three criteria: (1) significant complications of systemic immunosuppressant therapy; (2) markedly asymmetric conjunctival disease; and (3) end-stage OCP. All patients received monocular subconjunctival injections of 0.25 ml of 0.2 mg/ml mitomycin C to both the superior and inferior bulbar conjunctivae in the eye with the more severe disease. RESULTS: Nine eyes of nine patients (mean age, 74 years) were treated with subconjunctival mitomycin C to the more-involved eye and were followed for a mean of 23.5 months (range, 12-40 months). Eight of nine patients showed quiescence of their OCP in the treated eye based on serial evaluation of conjunctival cicatrization and grading of conjunctival erythema. Five of the nine untreated eyes showed progression of the conjunctival disease. One patient required concomitant systemic immunosuppressive therapy after subconjunctival mitomycin C. Two patients underwent successful visual rehabilitative surgery in the mitomycin C-treated eye. CONCLUSION: The use of subconjunctival mitomycin C may be effective in preventing progression of conjunctival cicatrization and erythema in patients with OCP. No complications of mitomycin C treatment were noted. Long-term follow-up and further investigation into the efficacy of subconjunctival mitomycin C in the management of OCP is warranted.     

Automated Separation and Conductimetric Determination of Inorganic Nitrogen

Experiments were conducted for the evaluation of a continuous flow conductimetric method that measures the inorganic nitrogen compounds ammonia (NH3) and combined nitrite (NO2?) and nitrate (NO3?). Approximately 300 analyses were performed using the method during experiments to estimate the method detection level, to determine the bias and precision, and to determine the equivalency of the method to others found in Standard Methods. An estimated method detection level of 0.01 mg N∕L (NH3–N, NO3?–N, or NO2?–N) was measured. Precision values for ammonia and nitrate standards at concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 75 mg∕L NH3–N or NO3?–N did not exceed 5.5 and 4%, respectively. Recovery values for ammonia and nitrate standards at the same concentration range did not exceed 104.8 and 103%, respectively. At concentrations of 0.05 mg∕L NH3–N or NO3?–N, the precision values were 12.5 and 11%, respectively, which were high relative to others obtained in this study but are within the range of values reported in Standard Methods.     

Computational modeling of medium spiny projection neurons innucleus accumbens: toward the cellular mechanisms of afferent streamintegration

The nucleus accumbens (Nacc) regulates the major feedback pathways linking prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala. We describe simulations of a biophysical level model of a single medium spiny projection (MSP) neuron, the principle cell of the Nacc. The model suggests that the unusual bistable membrane potential of MSP cells arises from the interplay between two potassium currents, K_IR and K_A. We find that the transition from the membrane potential down state (~-85 mV) to the upstate (~-60 mV) requires a significant barrage of synchronized inputs, and that ongoing afferent stimulation is required to maintain the cell in the up state. The Nacc receives the densest dopominergic innervation in the brain, and the model demonstrates, in agreement with recent experimental evidence, that dopamine acts to increase the energy barrier to membrane potential state transitions. Through its action on K_IR and L-type Ca²⁺ channels, dopamine selectively lowers cell gain in the down state and increases it in the up state, a mechanism for context-dependent gain control. These findings suggest a mechanism of afferent pattern integration in the accumbens arising from transient synchronization among ensembles of MSP neurons. We attempt to relate these findings to possible origins of abnormalities of sensory gating in schizophrenia     

Relinquishing the placebo: Alternatives for psychotherapy outcome research.

Comments on the article by W. Wilkins (see record 1986-25162-001) on placebo problems in psychotherapy research and suggests a refinement of efficacy research strategies that will allow such comparisons while relinquishing the use of a placebo construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Specificity of empathy-induced helping: Evidence for altruistic motivation.

This experiment investigated altruistic vs. egoistic interpretations of the effect of empathic concern on helping. The empathy–altruism hypothesis posits that empathic concern arouses an altruistic motivation to relieve the distress of another person; the negative state relief interpretation proposes that the effect of empathic concern is mediated by sadness, which produces an egoistic motivation to reduce one's own unpleasant state. 96 male and 96 female Ss first listened with an imagine or observe set to another person's problem and then were given an opportunity to help that person with the same problem or with a different problem. Consistent with the empathy–altruism hypothesis, imagine-set Ss helped more often than did observe-set Ss for the same problem but not for a different one. In addition, only empathic concern associated with the specific problem related to helping. Although sadness was related to helping, it did not account for the effect of empathic concern. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new high-precision optical technique to measure magnetostrictionof a thin magnetic film deposited on a substrate

The drive in data storage technology towards utilizing magnetic films with lower magnetostriction (to reduce the magnetoelastic energy term) and reduced thickness has resulted in the requirement for more sensitive, reliable, and easy-to-use tools to monitor magnetostriction. A measurement tool based on an in-plane rotating and saturating magnetic field and laser-beam-deflection technique, which is able to meet these requirements, is described. The tool developed offers high accuracy, large dynamic range, long-term stability, simple sample insertion, and a fast, easy measurement procedure. With this tool, the measurement of small magnetostriction coefficients of thin soft-magnetic films can become a simple, fast, and reliable procedure, thus helping the development of magnetic thin-film production processes and routine composition control     

Thermo-Optic Switching Effect Based on Fluid-Filled Photonic Crystal Fiber

We report a thermo-optic switching effect with a high extinction ratio of 30 dB by means of filling a fluid into air holes of a solid-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF). Such an effect can perform a turn on–off operation of the transmitted light via a small temperature adjustment of $pm$10 $^{circ}hbox{C}$. The switching function attributes to the absorption of the filled fluid in combination with the interaction between the core mode and the excited “fluid rod” modes, resulting from the thermo-optic effect of the filled fluid.