Tree structure and diversity shape the biomass of primary temperate mountain forests

Primary forests are spatially diverse terrestrial ecosystems with unique characteristics,being naturally regenerative and heterogeneous,which supports the stability of their carbon storage through the accumulation of live and dead biomass.Yet,little is known about the interactions between biomass stocks,tree genus diversity and structure across a temperate montane primary forest.Here,we investigated the relationship between tree structure(variability in basal area and tree size),genus-level diversity(abundance,tree diversity)and biomass stocks in temperate primary mountain forests across Central and Eastern Europe.We used inventory data from726 permanent sample plots from mixed beech and spruce across the Carpathian Mountains.We used nonlinear regression to analyse the spatial variability in forest biomass,structure,and genus-level diversity and how they interact with plot-level tree age,disturbances,temperature and altitude.We found that the combined effects of genus and structural indices were important for addressing the variability in biomass across different spatial scales.Local processes in disturbance regimes and uneven tree age support forest hete rogeneity and the accumulation of live and dead biomass through the natural regeneration,growth and decay of the forest ecosystem.Structural complexities in basal area index,supporte d by genus-level abundance,positively influence total biomass stocks,which was modulated by tree age and disturbances.Spruce forests showed higher tree density and basal area than mixed beech forests,though mixed beech still contributes significantly to biomass across landscapes.Forest heterogeneity was strongly influenced by complexities in forest composition(tree genus diversity,structure).We addressed the importance of primary forests as stable carbon stores,achieved through structure and diversity.Safeguarding such ecosystems is critical for ensuring the stability of the primary forest,carbon store and biodiversity into the future.

Silicon photonics for telecom and data‐com applications

In recent decades,silicon photonics has attracted much attention in telecom and data-com areas.Constituted of high refractive-index contrast waveguides on silicon-on-insulator(SOI),a variety of integrated photonic passive and active devices have been implemented supported by excellent optical properties of silicon in the mid-infrared spectrum.The main advantage of the silicon photonics is the ability to use complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS)process-compatible fabrication technologies,resulting in high-volume production at low cost.On the other hand,explosively growing traffic in the telecom,data center and high-performance computer demands the data flow to have high speed,wide bandwidth,low cost,and high energy-efficiency,as well as the photonics and electronics to be integrated for ultra-fast data transfer in networks.In practical applications,silicon photonics started with optical interconnect transceivers in the data-com first,and has been now extended to innovative applications such as multi-port optical switches in the telecom network node and integrated optical phased arrays(OPAs)in light detection and ranging(LiDAR).This paper overviews the progresses of silicon photonics from four points reflecting the recent advances mentioned above.CMOS-based silicon photonic platform technologies,applications to optical transceiver in the data-com network,applications to multi-port optical switches in the telecom network and applications to OPA in LiDAR system.

Study of Resistance to Stress and Burnout among Public Health Professionals: The Case of Nurses and Physicians at Ibn Sina Hospital in Rabat Morocco

Occupational stress presents a major public health problem. It is the subject of many works in Morocco and in the world. Our work focuses on the study of stress resistance among nurses and physicians working in services at Ibn Sina Hospital in Rabat, Morocco. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between resistance status, burnout and level of psychological distress. A self-questionnaire is provided to all respondents. It includes questions about socio-demographic and professional, clinical, also neuropsychological tests such as the stress resistance test (CTRS), the burnout scale (MBI) and the general health questionnaire (GHQ12). This study shows that 42% of nurses and physicians have a high level of emotional exhaustion, high level of depersonalization affects 49% of nurses and physicians and subjects with low professional achievement account for 67% and 54% of nurses and physicians suffer from psychological distress. The stress test reveals that 88% of subjects have a low or moderate level of stress resistance and only 12% have good resistance. Thus, our study sheds new light on the understanding of stress at work by using new measurement and evaluation methods such as TRS, with the aim of reducing or eliminating the impact of occupational stress in hospitals.

Genotype × Environment Interaction for Iron Concentration of Rice in Central Java of Indonesia

To explore the effect of genotype and genotype x environment interaction on Fe concentration in rice grains, Fe concentrations of 10 genotypes were analyzed across eight paddy field environments during 2007-2008 using the AMMI-biplot method. Experiments were conducted using a randomized completely block design with three replications in eight environments. Results indicated that environment （E）, genotype （G） and genotype x environment interaction （GE） significantly affected Fe concentration in rice grains. Environment explained 74.43 % of total （G＋E＋GE） variation, whereas G and GE captured 5.60% and 19.67%, respectively. Rice genotype Barumun was desirable in terms of the highest ability and stability for Fe concentration in rice grains. Environment in genotype Cilongok was the best representative of the overall environments and the most powerful to discriminate rice genotypes.

Biometric technology overview

Biometrics was identified as one amongst 10 emerging technologies which would change the world in the twenty-first century. Components and processes of biometric system and the relevant technologies are explained in this article. Examples of biometric applications and trends of biometric research, together with industry development, are introduced, which illustrate the challenges and opportunities of this technology.

Study of Psychological Resilience among Health Care Professionals, in Ibn Sina Hospital/Rabat/Morocco

Psychological resilience is the ability to maintain personal and professional wellbeing in the face of on-going work stress and adversity. The aim is to investigate the state of the psychological resilience of Health Care Professionals (HCP) and the potential risk factors. The study that we conducted carries out a sample of 230 persons (150 nurses and 80 doctors) belonging to the different services of Ibn Sina Hospital of Rabat/Morocco, using two scales. One is a questionnaire containing most of the socio-demographic characteristics, and clinical characteristics. The second is the Dispositional Resilience Scale-15 (DRS15). Otherwise, our results indicate a relatively low rate of resilience of health staff practicing at Ibn Sina Hospital in Rabat/Morocco. 81% of HCP have “low resilience”, 16% have shown “moderate resilience” and only 3% are in the “good resilience” range, based on analyzes of resilience scale results DSR15. The results of the DRS15 validation study indicate a positive correlation between engagement, control and challenge, as well as improved inter and intra-item correlation. Our study also indicates a statistically significant relationship between resilience and socio-economic difficulties of HCP. Sex, marital status, seniority, work schedule and medical history are risk factors. Indeed, women are more resilient than men, single people are more vulnerable than married couples, and new recruits are less resistant than older ones. In addition, the 12/36 continuous work schedule has a protective factor for HCP. These results go in the same direction as those found by some studies. Thus, the results of our study are encouraging and can be used for decision-making in this case.

Evaluating the Effect of Various Walking Conditions on KINECT-based Gait Recognition

Human gait is one of the unobtrusive behavioral biometrics that has been extensively studied for various commercial and government applications.Biometric security,medical rehabilitation,virtual reality,and autonomous driving cars are some of the fields of study that rely on accurate gait recognition.While majority of studies have been focused on achieving very high recognition performance on a specific dataset,different issues arise in the real-world applications of this technology.This research is one of the first to evaluate the effects of changing walking speeds and directions on gait recognition rates under various walking conditions.Dataset was collected using the KINECT sensor.To draw an overall conclusion about the effects of walking speed and di-rection to the sensor,we define distance features and angle features.Furthermore,we propose two feature fusion methods for person recognition.Results of the study provide insights into how walking speeds and walking di-rections to the KINECT sensor influence the accuracy of gait recognition.

Individual Responses to Creatine Supplementation on Muscular Power is Modulated by Gene Polymorphisms in Military Recruits

Purpose The aim was to explore five established SNPs(rs1815739,rs1805086,rs2700352,rs28497577,and rs28357094)that are known to modulate skeletal muscle protein kinetics in response to creatine supplementation.Methods A randomized,placebo-controlled,repeated measures design was used.Participants(n=152)were rand-omized divided into one of two groups:CREA(20 g/day creatine monohydrate)or PLAC:(dextrose)for 7 days.SNP were assessed,and participants were classified accordingly.Before and after supplementation,anthropometrics(height and body mass)and performance measures(vertical jump,countermovement vertical jump,squat jump,abdominal crunches,and maximum push-ups)were assessed.Results CREA gained more body mass than PLAC(CREA:Δ0.864±0.06 kg;PLAC:Δ0.154±0.07 kg,P<0.001).In the CREA group,the presence of an A allele for the MYLK1 polymorphism was related to changes in countermovement jump height(P=0.027;effect size[d]=0.41)and leg power(P=0.040,effect size[d]=0.18).The total number of abdominal crunches after supplementation was influenced by treatments and SPP1 gene(P=0.041).A higher number of abdominal crunches was associated with the G allele in the CREA group and the TT genotype in the PLAC group(effect size[d]=0.04).Conclusion Collectively,short-term creatine supplementation increased body mass but was unable to alter muscle perfor-mance.However,following creatine supplementation,participants expressing A alleles in the MYLK1 polymorphism had a greater increase in jump height and leg power and participants expressing G alleles in the SPP1 gene had greater improve-ments in abdominal crunch performance.

Whole body vibration and auriculotherapy improve handgrip strength in individuals with knee osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVE: To verify the action of non-pharmacological interventions, whole body vibration exercise (WBVE) and auriculotherapy (AT) on the management of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) analyzing the handgrip strength (HS). METHODS: One hundred twelve participants with KOA were allocated in (a) WBVE group with peak-to-peak displacement of 2.5 to 7.5 mm, frequency from 5 up to 14 Hz, acceleration peak from 0.12 up to 2.95 g (2 d/weekly for 5 weeks),(b) AT group, points of both ears (Kidney, Knee-correspondent point and Shenmen) were stimulated with seeds,(c) WBVE + AT group and (d) respective control groups. HS was assessed in all the participants, in acute and cumulative responses. RESULTS: The intervention with WBVE alone and combined with AT improved (P < 0.05), in a cumulative response, the HS. CONCLUSION: WBVE alone or combined with AT might promote biological effects that interfere with the HS in individuals with KOA.

Global wood anatomical perspective on the onset of the Late Antique Little Ice Age (LALIA) in the mid-6th century CE

Linked to major volcanic eruptions around 536 and 540 CE, the onset of the Late Antique Little Ice Age has been described as the coldest period of the past two millennia. The exact timing and spatial extent of this exceptional cold phase are, however, still under debate because of the limited resolution and geographical distribution of the available proxy archives. Here, we use 106 wood anatomical thin sections from 23forest sites and 20 tree species in both hemispheres to search for cell-level fingerprints of ephemeral summer cooling between 530 and 550 CE. After cross-dating and double-staining, we identified 89Blue Rings(lack of cell wall lignification), nine Frost Rings(cell deformation and collapse), and 93Light Rings(reduced cell wall thickening) in the Northern Hemisphere. Our network reveals evidence for the strongest temperature depression between mid-July and early-August 536 CE across North America and Eurasia, whereas more localised cold spells occurred in the summers of 532, 540–43, and548 CE. The lack of anatomical signatures in the austral trees suggests limited incursion of stratospheric volcanic aerosol into the Southern Hemisphere extra-tropics, that any forcing was mitigated by atmosphere-ocean dynamical responses and/or concentrated outside the growing season, or a combination of factors. Our findings demonstrate the advantage of wood anatomical investigations over traditional dendrochronological measurements, provide a benchmark for Earth system models, support cross-disciplinary studies into the entanglements of climate and history, and question the relevance of global climate averages.