Successful Extension Research Articles

Modeling Tree Recovery in Wind-Disturbed Forests with Dense Understory Species under Climate Change

Future climate conditions will alter the frequency and intensity of typhoons. Thus, post-windthrow management, which can enhance tree recovery in wind-disturbed forests with dense understory species, is essential for sustainable forest management to adapt to climate change. This study explores management options that can recover the above-ground biomass (AGB) and tree species composition after windthrow damage even under climate change. A case study area was established in the Oshima–Hiyama National Forest in southern Hokkaido, northern Japan, which were damaged by typhoons in late August 2016. We incorporated the understory species Sasa kurilensis as understory vegetation into the LANDIS-II Net Ecosystem Carbon and Nitrogen Succession extension v6.3 model to simulate the outcome of tree establishment under climate change. AGB recovery up to the year 2100 at 1,753 damaged grid cells was simulated for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change representative concentration pathway (RCP) 2.6 and 8.5 scenarios. Different post-windthrow management cases were designed by varying the treatment of fallen trees and the types of trees planted. The results demonstrated that salvage logging and planting successfully recovered the AGB by 2050 at the landscape scale regardless of the climate change scenario, whereas leaving fallen trees in the damaged site or salvage logging only did not facilitate the recovery of AGB. Leaving fallen trees in damaged grid cells as ecological legacies recovered the AGB only in damaged grid cells with a sufficient number of advanced seedlings of adequate types of species irrespective of the climate change scenario. The decreasing water equivalent of snowpack in the RCP scenarios caused Sasa kurilensis mortality and promoted the recovery of AGB of trees. The dominant species recovered in natural forests, which experienced either salvage logging or leaving trees in the damaged site, varied among climate change scenarios. The warmer climate condition facilitated the recovery of Fagus crenata by 2100. These results can help designing a robust forest recovery even in uncertain future climate.

3D reconstruction of bird flight trajectories using a single video camera.

Video cameras are finding increasing use in the study and analysis of bird flight over short ranges. However, reconstruction of flight trajectories in three dimensions typically requires the use of multiple cameras and elaborate calibration procedures. We present an alternative approach that uses a single video camera and a simple calibration procedure for the reconstruction of such trajectories. The technique combines prior knowledge of the wingspan of the bird with a camera calibration procedure that needs to be used only once in the lifetime of the system. The system delivers the exact 3D coordinates of the position of the bird at the time of every full wing extension and uses interpolated height estimates to compute the 3D positions of the bird in the video frames between successive wing extensions. The system is inexpensive, compact and portable, and can be easily deployed in the laboratory as well as the field.

Vesiculophora diversiseptata gen. & sp. nov. and Anapleurothecium clavatum & Podosporium simile spp. nov. from the Brazilian Amazon

Three asexual fungi are described and illustrated from the Brazilian Amazon:Vesiculophora diversiseptata as a new genus and species; and Anapleurothecium clavatum and Podosporium simile as new species. Vesiculophora diversiseptata is characterized by its conidiophores becoming scorpioid after successive subacroauxic extensions and monoblastic conidiogenous cells that produce heteroseptate, brown phragmoconidia; A. clavatum is distinguished by its ellipsoidal to clavate, 3-euseptate, brown conidia; and P. simile is characterized by its synnematous conidiomata with monotretic conidiogenous cells and brown, 3–11-eusepatate, mainly obclavate, verrucose conidia. Additionally, Pleurothecium leptospermi is transferred to Anapleurothecium.

Innovating the Archetype: Discovering the Boundaries of the Triangular Designer Space

The introduction of innovations can be more successful when launched under an established brand name, e.g. as a brand extension. However, the role of the appearance of the design is often underexposed, whereas the visual appearance of products is known as a critical determinant of consumer response and product success. Based on current literature, designers and design managers only know what to design, but suffer from a lack of knowledge how to design more successful brand extensions. When designing the visual appearance of these extensions we can rely on the strong and recognizable identity of the brand (typicality), but also have to create a completely new product (novelty) referring to the much-debated MAYA Principle (Most Advanced, Yet Acceptable). In this paper we recognize the limitations of the MAYA principle and claim that the success of brand extensions cannot be explained by a simple negative linear equation of opposites as typicality versus novelty. The results of two design case studies about speakers and headphones show that at least three determinants play an important role when designing the appearance of brand extensions; product typicality (does the design look like the archetype product), novelty (how novel is the design) and brand fit (does the design refer to the brand characteristics). Besides that we argue that the optimal balance between those three actors will also be determined by the type of product (archetype or multitype). The results indicate a higher importance of a novel visual styling for speakers and a stronger connection between typicality and brand fit for headphones. To support the design process even further, we will present our findings with the aid of the Triangular Designers space that helps designers and design managers to strategically make decisions to launch successful brand extensions.

A multilingual preregistered replication of the semantic mismatch effect on serial recall.

Visual-verbal serial recall is disrupted when task-irrelevant background speech has to be ignored. Contrary to previous suggestion, it has recently been shown that the magnitude of disruption may be accentuated by the semantic properties of the irrelevant speech. Sentences ending with unexpected words that did not match the preceding semantic context were more disruptive than sentences ending with expected words. This particular instantiation of a deviation effect has been termed the semantic mismatch effect. To establish a new phenomenon, it is necessary to show that the effect can be independently replicated and does not depend on specific boundary conditions such as the language of the stimulus material. Here we report a preregistered replication of the semantic mismatch effect in which we examined the effect of unexpected words in 4 different languages (English, French, German, and Swedish) across 4 different laboratories. Participants performed a serial recall task while ignoring sentences with expected or unexpected words that were recorded using text-to-speech software. Independent of language, sentences ending with unexpected words were more disruptive than sentences ending with expected words. In line with previous results, there was no evidence of habituation of the semantic mismatch effect in the form of a decrease in disruption with repeated exposure to the occurrence of unexpected words. The successful replication and extension of the effect to different languages indicates the expression of a general and robust mechanism that reacts to violations of expectancies based on the semantic content of the irrelevant speech. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

CR-fuzzy sets and their applications

Pythagorean fuzzy set is one of the successful extensions of the fuzzy set for handling uncertainties in information. Under this environment, in this paper, we introduce a new type of generalized fuzzy sets is called CR-fuzzy sets and compare CR-fuzzy sets with Pythagorean fuzzy sets and Fermatean fuzzy sets. The set operations, score function and accuracy function of CR-fuzzy sets will study along with their several properties.

High Mechanical Properties of Stretching Oriented Poly(butylene succinate) with Two-Step Chain Extension.

The structure, morphology, fracture toughness and flaw sensitivity length scale of chain-extended poly(butylene succinate) with various pre-stretch ratios were studied. PBS modification adopted from a multifunctional, commercially available chain-extension containing nine epoxy groups (ADR9) as the first step chain extension and hydroxyl addition modified dioxazoline (BOZ) as the second step. Time-temperature superposition (TTS) studies show that the viscosity increased sharply and the degree of molecular branching increased. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) confirm successful chain extension reactions. The orientation of the polymer in the pre-stretch state is such that spherulites deformation along the stretching direction was observed by polarized light optical microscopy (PLOM). The fracture toughness of sample (λfix = 5) is Γ ≈ 106 J m-2 and its critical flaw sensitivity length scale is Γ/Wc ≈ 0.01 m, approximately 5 times higher than PBS without chain-extension (Γ ≈ 2 × 105 J m-2 and Γ/Wc ≈ 0.002 m, respectively). The notch sensitivity of chain-extended PBS is significantly reduced, which is due to the orientation of spherulites more effectively preventing crack propagation. The principle can be generalized to other high toughness material systems.

Politische Karriere und sozialer Aufstieg. Konservative und christlichsoziale Politiker aus Vorarlberg als Beispiel (1860-1918/19)

"Political Career and Social Advancement. Conservative and Christian Social Politicians from Vorarlberg as an Example (1860-1918/19). As far as the political developments in Vorarlberg were concerned, Martin Thurnher and Johann Kohler have lived in a time of rapid changes. Many of the newly elected deputies to the provincial parliament in 1870, and later also to the Imperial Council, now came from a petty or lower middle-class milieu. For them, political involvement, supported by structural factors such as the successive extension of voting rights to lower social strata, and the increasingly professional self-organization of the Catholic-conservative camp, provided an opportunity for social mobility. Martin Thurnher and Johann Kohler are just two examples of how political engagement enabled social advancement. Further quantitative and qualitative research would provide important insights into the social processes set in motion by the emergence of modern mass parties and the expansion of political participation. Keywords: social mobility, parliamentarism, Habsburg Monarchy, Imperial Council "

Virtual-Goal-Guided RRT for Visual Servoing of Mobile Robots With FOV Constraint

In this article, a virtual-goal-guided rapidly exploring random tree (RRT)-based visual servoing approach is proposed for nonholonomic mobile robots to simultaneously satisfy the field-of-view (FOV) constraint and the velocity constraints during the motion toward the desired pose. The presented approach contains two parts: 1) trajectory planning in the scaled Euclidean space and 2) trajectory tracking control. For the trajectory planning part, a new virtual-goal-guided RRT algorithm is designed to guarantee the FOV constraint and the velocity constraints by iteratively exploring the scaled Euclidean space in the presence of unknown image depth. Specifically, a virtual goal directly behind the desired pose is set to guide the tree to extend laterally into the area wherein the robot is easier to satisfy the FOV constraint. In addition, the lateral extension of the tree also helps decrease the lateral error of the robot as much as possible. Following each successful extension toward the virtual goal node, a greedy extension from the newly explored node to the desired pose is attempted using a polar stabilization controller, so that the planned trajectory can accurately arrive at the desired pose. Each newly explored edge in the scaled space is projected into the image space to check for the FOV limit. For the visual tracking part, the final searched trajectory in the scaled space is first transformed into image feature trajectories, which are then tracked by an image-based visual tracking controller. Experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

1,1,3,3-Tetramethylguanidine-Mediated Zwitterionic Ring-Opening Polymerization of Sarcosine-Derived N-Thiocarboxyanhydride toward Well-Defined Polysarcosine.

Zwitterionic ring-opening polymerization (ZROP) of sarcosine-derived N-thiocarboxyanhydrides (Me-NNTAs) can be induced by using 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidine (TMG) initiators in CH2Cl2 at 25 °C, rapidly producing well-defined polysarcosine polymers with controlled molecular weights (Mn = 1.9–37 kg/mol) and narrow molecular weight distributions (Đ = 1.01–1.12). The reaction exhibits characteristics of a living polymerization, evidenced by pseudo-first-order polymerization kinetics, the linear increase of polymer molecular weight (Mn) with conversion, and the successful chain extension experiments. The polymerization is proposed to proceed via propagating macro-zwitterions bearing a cationic 1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium and an anionic thiocarbamate chain end. The TMG not only initiates the polymerization but also serves to stabilize the thiocarbamate chain end where the monomer addition occurs. Because of the enhanced hydrolytic stability of Me-NNTA, the polymerization can be conducted without the rigorous exclusion of moisture, further enhancing the appeal of the method to access well-defined polysarcosine.

Albumin-binding as a universal strategy for half-life extension

With the development of recombinant DNA technology, a growing number of peptides and proteins are being applied to clinical treatment of diseases. However, a huge challenge needed to be addressed for many therapeutic peptides or proteins is that their half-lives in circulation is short due to rapid renal clearance and enzymatic degradation. To overcome the challenge, half-life extension strategies have been extensively developed. Albumin-binding strategy, whether covalent or non-covalent, represent a widely applied and highly successful half-life extension strategy, and many products have been marketed or tested in clinical trials. This review focuses on the utilization of albumin for half-life prolongation and emphasizes on the albumin-binding drugs already on the market or in the clinical stage. We summarize the related techniques including genetic fusion, chemical conjugation, non-covalent binding fatty acid and protein moieties.

EFFECT OF CHITOSAN AND SODIUM CHLORIDE APPLICATION ON THE STORAGE STABILITY OF COOKED WALNUT SEEDS

Samples of cooked walnut (Tetracarpidium conophorum) seeds were subjected to proximate and microbiological analysis. The nuts were divided into eight groups and subjected to various preservative hurdles for 20 days. Proximate analysis showed that the nut had moisture, lipid, protein, ash, carbohydrate and crude fibre content of 46.70±1.50, 6.00±0.05, 53.53±2.31, 2.96±0.06, 32.79±1.50 and 4.72±0.15 respectively. Microbiological analysis showed the presence of bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Leuconostoc spp, Pseudomonas spp and Escherichia coli. Fungi isolates include Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida spp, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus. Among the bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, and Leuconostoc spp had the highest percentage (100%) occurrence. Saccharomyces cerevisiae was predominant (80%) among the fungi. Sample preserved with sodium chloride and stored at 4±10C had the least microbial count (3.00log10cfu/g) compared to others. The best preservative hurdle in the study was the application of 1000?g/g of chitosan for 2 weeks. Chitosan preserved walnut not only remained fresh but had chemical composition like the freshly cooked sample. The results show that Tetracarpidium conophorum is a good source of protein for man and animals as it contains nutrients that are necessary for maintenance of body cells and tissues. Successful shelf-life extension can be achieved using crab chitosan

4 Conversion to an Online Delivery Method for the Tennessee Master Horse Program

Abstract Functional Extension programming for equine owners and business operators brings unique challenges when compared to other commodity producers. The initial Tennessee Master Horse Program (TMHP) curriculum and delivery method was modeled from other successful Extension programs using a county-based, in-person training model; however, implementation of county-level offerings of the TMHP for 4 years only yielded 218 participants. Thus, our objective was to pilot a new online program format for the TMHP and to assess participant feedback to dictate future programming efforts. Data were analyzed using STATA SE 16.1 and all results are reported as mean ± SD. The THMP was hosted by the state Equine Extension Program within the Google Classroom platform and contained 12 synchronous webinars with successive recordings, 3 scenarios for participant response, 10 question submission assignments, and 14 opportunities to explore outside resources pertaining to topic areas. Topics covered included responsible horse ownership, pasture management, nutrition, forages, waste management, health and diseases, economics, and equine training programs. Total participants (n = 201) from 12 states were reached, with 162 ± 29 (min=110, max=201) live attendees each week and 35 ± 4.1 (min=15, max=61) views per recorded YouTube video. During live sessions, 56 ± 18 (min=21, max=75) questions were asked and answered, and an additional 82 ± 35 (min=43, max=140) questions per week were submitted in the Google Classroom. In the final TMHP evaluation survey, 99% (n = 95) of respondents indicated they would recommend this training to others, which may be due to highly satisfactory ratings for speakers (4.54 ± 0.15 on a 1 to 5 scale, min=1, max=5) from participants. These results indicate a high acceptance rate among participants and that an online delivery method could be an effective approach for conducting and expanding the scope of future TMHP offerings.

On the Origin and the Amplitude of T‐Square Resistivity in Fermi Liquids

AbstractIn 1937, Baber, Landau, and Pomeranchuk postulated that collisions between electrons generates a contribution to the electric resistivity of metals with a distinct T2 temperature dependence. The amplitude of this term is small in common metals, but dominant in metals hosting either heavy carriers or a low concentration of them. The temperature dependence is set by the size of the scattering phase, but the microscopic source of dissipation is not straightforward. To explain how electron–electron collisions lead to momentum leak, Umklapp events or multiple electron reservoirs have been invoked. This interpretation is challenged by several experimental observations: the persistence of T‐square resistivity in dilute metals (in which the two mechanisms are irrelevant), the successful extension of Kadowaki–Woods scaling to dilute metals, and the observation of a size‐dependent T‐square thermal resistivity () and its WiedemannFranz correlation with T‐square electrical resistivity. This paper argues that much insight is provided by the case of normal liquid 3He where the T‐square temperature dependence of energy and momentum diffusivity is driven by fermionfermion collisions. The amplitude of T‐square resistivity in 3He and in metals share a common scaling. Thus, the ubiquitous T‐square electrical resistivity ultimately stems from the Fermi‐liquid temperature dependence of momentum diffusivity.

Multicriteria q-Rung orthopair fuzzy decision analysis: a novel approach based on Archimedean aggregation operators with the confidence levels

The confidence levels can reduce the influence of the unreasonable evaluation value that was given by the decision-maker on the decision-making results. The Archimedean t-norm and t-conorm (ATS) also have many advantages for the processing of uncertain data. Under this environment, the confidence q-rung orthopair fuzzy aggregation operator based on ATS is one of the most successful extensions of confidence q-rung orthopair fuzzy numbers in which we decrease the deviation caused by the subjective perspective of the decision-maker in the multicriteria group decision-making problems. In this paper, we propose weighted, ordered weighted averaging aggregation operators and weighted, ordered weighted geometric aggregation operators based on ATS, respectively. Moreover, the properties and four specific forms associated with aggregation operators are also investigated. In this study, a novel MCGDM approach is introduced by using the proposed operator. A reasonable example is proposed and compared the results that are obtained by our operators and that in the existing literature, so as to verify the rationality and flexible of our method. From the study, we concluded that the proposed method can reduce the impact of extreme data, and make decision-making results more reasonable by considering the attitudes of decision-makers.

Development of Instrument to Assess Influence of Extension Conference on Intended Outcomes

The Annual Conference for Mississippi State University Extension is the sole event at which the majority of Extension personnel gather for networking, organizational updates, recognition of efforts, and professional development. Extension leaders plan this conference with intended outcomes but without ever evaluating those outcomes beyond attendee satisfaction. We developed an evaluation instrument to determine how certain conference events influence participants’ critical psychological states and ultimately, their perceived motivation, professional enrichment, opportunities for networking, professional accountability, and organizational awareness. Rather than simply assessing attendee satisfaction, this instrument may help inform planning for successive Extension conferences and other professional development events.

Range-Extended Confocal Chromatic Sensor System for Double-Sided Measurement of Optical Components With High Lateral Resolution

This paper presents a strategy to break the tradeoff between the thickness measuring range of a confocal chromatic sensor (CCS) and its lateral imaging resolution. By combining the sensor with a linear stage, the thickness measuring range is no longer limited by chromatic dispersion, but by the focusing power of the sensor optics. The principle is demonstrated with a prototype setup that utilizes a CCS with a spot size of 6 μm and a spec-sheet thickness measuring range of 300 μm. By implementing the proposed mechatronic approach, a successful extension of the measuring range by a factor of 17 is achieved while preserving the lateral resolution of 2.46 μm for thickness measurements. The proposed measurement scheme is validated by measuring lateral surface features on a 1.2mm thick lenslet array from the backside.

A tentative tracking of the SARS-Cov2 pandemic in France, based on a corrected SIR model including vaccination effects

We developed successive extensions of the SIR model in order to track the dynamics of the SARS-Cov2 disease. The analysis of health system available data is published in a chronicle accessible on the net: https://corona-circule.github.io/lettres/. This chronicle was initiated on late march 2020 and up to now contains 50 issues. A constant concern was the reliability of the data: for instance, we very soon evidenced that the number of confirmed cases, because of the asymptomatic carriers and the erratic testing policy, was hugely underestimated. By the end of 2020 we made a basic change in the model which consisted in accounting for a constant contagiousness time (SIR-tcc) instead of the probabilistic evolution of the end of the infection assumed so far. Recently we completed this SIR-tcc model for the vaccination effects in order to properly track the evolution of the group immunity threshold. Calculations were performed using the Excel facility (Microsoft), allowing a manual fitting of the model parameters. The results have dealt with a large number of countries, but we focus here on the data regarding France. Further pieces of information are also presented, in order to help elucidating some the factors responsible for the complex history of the pandemic dynamics. (submitted dec 14th 2021)

A note on augmented unprojected Krylov subspace methods

Subspace recycling iterative methods and other subspace augmentation schemes are a successful extension to Krylov subspace methods in which a Krylov subspace is augmented with a fixed subspace spanned by vectors deemed to be helpful in accelerating convergence or conveying knowledge of the solution. Recently, a survey was published, in which a framework describing the vast majority of such methods was proposed [Soodhalter et al., GAMM-Mitt., 43 (2020), Art. e202000016]. In many of these methods, the Krylov subspace is one generated by the system matrix composed with a projector that depends on the augmentation space. However, it is not a requirement that a projected Krylov subspace be used. There are augmentation methods built on using Krylov subspaces generated by the original system matrix, and these methods also fit into the general framework. In this note, we observe that one gains implementation benefits by considering such augmentation methods with unprojected Krylov subspaces in the general framework. We demonstrate this by applying the idea to the R3GMRES method proposed in [Dong et al., Electron., Trans., Numer., Anal., 42 (2014), pp. 136–146] to obtain a simplified implementation and to connect that algorithm to early augmentation schemes based on flexible preconditioning [Saad, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl., 18 (1997)].

Random and Diblock Thermoresponsive Oligo(ethylene glycol)-Based Copolymers Synthesized via Photo-Induced RAFT Polymerization.

Amphiphilic random and diblock thermoresponsive oligo(ethylene glycol)-based (co)polymers were synthesized via photoiniferter polymerization under visible light using trithiocarbonate as a chain transfer agent. The effect of solvent, light intensity and wavelength on the rate of the process was investigated. It was shown that blue and green LED light could initiate RAFT polymerization of macromonomers without an exogenous initiator at room temperature, giving bottlebrush polymers with low dispersity at sufficiently high conversions achieved in 1–2 h. The pseudo-living mechanism of polymerization and high chain-end fidelity were confirmed by successful chain extension. Thermoresponsive properties of the copolymers in aqueous solutions were studied via turbidimetry and laser light scattering. Random copolymers of methoxy- and alkoxy oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylates of a specified length formed unimolecular micelles in water with a hydrophobic core consisting of a polymer backbone and alkyl groups and a hydrophilic oligo(ethylene glycol) shell. In contrast, the diblock copolymer formed huge multimolecular micelles.