scholarly journals New Models for Predicting Diameter at Breast Height from Stump Dimensions

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Westfall

Abstract Models to predict dbh from stump dimensions are presented for 18 species groups. Data used to fit the models were collected across thirteen states in the northeastern United States. Primarily because of the presence of multiple measurements from each tree, a mixed-effects modeling approach was used to account for the lack of independence among observations. The heterogeneous error variance was described as a function of stump diameter, which allowed for more accurate representation of prediction intervals. Application of the mean response model (fixed-effects parameters only) to independent data indicated an average absolute error between 0.2 and 0.7 in. for most groups. An additional advantage is that random-effect parameters allow the model to be calibrated to local conditions if some additional data are available. An example is provided that indicates the local calibration results in a mean residual value that is closer to zero compared with the mean response model. Efforts in other locales to use stump information to inform dbh predictions can obtain the same advancements by adopting a similar modeling methodology.

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 32-33
Author(s):  
Hunter Ford ◽  
Massimo Bionaz ◽  
Serkan Ates ◽  
Joe Klopfenstein ◽  
Jorge Vanegas ◽  
...  

Abstract The objective was to test the effect on the immune status by feeding a combination of chicory-plantain and Se-yeast in lactating ewes subjected to intramammary infection (IMI) with 2×107CFU of Strep uberis in both glands. For the purpose we enrolled 28 Polypay lactating sheep from a prior study where they were randomly allocated to receive chicory (CS) or grass (GC) silage and either 3.6 mg of Se/day as Se-yeast (DiaMune, Diamond V) (Y) or isoenergetic-isonitrogenous alfalfa meal (C) for 2 months. For the present study, ewes were kept on the original dietary regiment except the CT group received a chicory-plantain silage(50% each). Blood was collected prior to and for 10 days after IMI for a complete blood count(VetScan HM5), leukocytes migration, and rectal temperature (RT). Data were analyzed using GLIMMIX (SAS)with time, silage type, and Se and their interactions as the fixed effects and ewe as random effect with significance declared at P ≤ 0.05. RT was lower in chicory vs. grass before IMI and Se limited the RT increase after IMI. Total WBC levels tended (P = 0.06) to increase in animals fed with Se after IMI, which was driven by a larger number of lymphocytes. Hematocrit, red blood cells, and hemoglobin were strongly decreased by IMI. The mean cell volume was overall larger in ewes fed with chicory-plantain silage while mean cell hemoglobin was larger in animal fed with grass silage. The platelet distribution width was affected by silage*Se interaction due to a positive effect by Se in grass-fed but negative in chicory-plantain-fed ewes. Migration of neutrophils was larger in animals fed with chicory-plantain before IMI but similar between groups after IMI. Overall, these findings indicate that Se supplementation can increase lymphocytes with no effect on neutrophils while activity of neutrophils is positively affected by feeding chicory-plantain silage.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joaquín Martínez-Minaya ◽  
David V Conesa ◽  
Antonio López-Quílez ◽  
Jose Luís Mira ◽  
Antonio Vicent

Circular leaf spot (CLS), caused by Plurivorosphaerella nawae, is a serious disease affecting persimmon (Diospyros kaki) that induces necrotic lesions on leaves, defoliation and fruit drop. Under Mediterranean conditions, P. nawae forms pseudothecia in the leaf litter during winter and ascospores are released in spring infecting susceptible leaves. Persimmon growers are advised to apply fungicides for CLS control during the period of inoculum availability, which was defined based on ascospore counts under the microscope. A model of inoculum availability of P. nawae was developed and evaluated as an alternative to ascospore counts. Leaf litter samples were collected weekly in L’Alcúdia (Spain) from 2010 to 2015. Leaves were soaked, placed in a wind tunnel, and the ascospores of P. nawae released were counted. Hierarchical Bayesian beta regression methods were used to model the dynamics of ascospore production in the leaf litter. The selected model included accumulated degree days (ADD) and ADD taking into account the vapor pressure deficit (ADDvpd) as fixed effects, and year as random effect. This model had a mean absolute error of 0.042 and a root mean square error of 0.062. The beta regression model was evaluated in four orchards from 2010 to 2015. Higher accuracy was obtained at the beginning and the end of the ascospore production period, which are the events of interest to schedule fungicide sprays for CLS control in Spain. This same modeling framework can be extended to other fungal plant pathogens whose inoculum dynamics are expressed as proportion data.


1986 ◽  
Vol 55 (01) ◽  
pp. 108-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Köhler ◽  
P Hellstern ◽  
C Miyashita ◽  
G von Blohn ◽  
E Wenzel

SummaryThis study was performed to evaluate the influence of different routes of administration on the efficacy of DDAVP treatment. Ten healthy volunteers received DDAVP intranasally (i.n.), subcutaneously (s.c.) and intravenously (i.v.) in a randomized cross-over trial. Factor XII and high molecular weight (HMW)-kininogen levels increased only slightly after DDAVP administration. The mean increase of factor VIII: C was 3.1 (i. v.), 2.3 (s. c.), and 1.3 (i.n.) - fold over baseline. Ristocetin cofactor (von Willebrand factor antigen) increased 3.1 (2.5), 2.0 (2.3) and 1.2 (1.2) - fold over baseline mean values after i.v., s.c. and i.n. DDAVP, respectively. The half-disappearance time of factor VIII and von Willebrand factor (vWF) after DDAVP ranged from five (factor VIII: C) to eight hours (vWF). The mean increase of fibrinolytic activity was more pronounced after i.v. DDAVP. The antidiuretic effect was moderate with no apparent differences between the routes of application. This study provides further evidence that both i.v. and s.c. DDAVP administration result in an appropriate and reliable stimulation of haemostasis. An additional advantage of s. c. administration is its suitability for home treatment.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edila Arnaud Ferreira Moura

This work presents the results of a study about the reproductive behavior of riverine women living in the Sustainable Development Reserve Amanã, in the Middle Solimões region, state of Amazonas. The study was done in 2001 with the objective of identify aspects of the reproductive behavior of 83 women, collected through reproductive history methodology. These women live in small localities along the rivers and lakes in the middle of the Amazonian forest. The study identified that these women initialize their reproductive period at the age of 17, in average, and the mean age of their last pregnancy occurs at the age of 42, considering those above 50 years old. 36% of these 83 women had lost one or more of their children before the age of five. Only 16% use contraceptives and 12% are sterilized. They don’t have access to the basic health assistance in a regular basis and the local midwives are extremely important in their assistance during pregnancy and delivery. This study em phasizes the importance of reproductive health programs including those social and cultural local conditions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 69 (11) ◽  
pp. 1881-1893 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verena M. Trenkel ◽  
Mark V. Bravington ◽  
Pascal Lorance

Catch curves are widely used to estimate total mortality for exploited marine populations. The usual population dynamics model assumes constant recruitment across years and constant total mortality. We extend this to include annual recruitment and annual total mortality. Recruitment is treated as an uncorrelated random effect, while total mortality is modelled by a random walk. Data requirements are minimal as only proportions-at-age and total catches are needed. We obtain the effective sample size for aggregated proportion-at-age data based on fitting Dirichlet-multinomial distributions to the raw sampling data. Parameter estimation is carried out by approximate likelihood. We use simulations to study parameter estimability and estimation bias of four model versions, including models treating mortality as fixed effects and misspecified models. All model versions were, in general, estimable, though for certain parameter values or replicate runs they were not. Relative estimation bias of final year total mortalities and depletion rates were lower for the proposed random effects model compared with the fixed effects version for total mortality. The model is demonstrated for the case of blue ling (Molva dypterygia) to the west of the British Isles for the period 1988 to 2011.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_4) ◽  
pp. 220-221
Author(s):  
Caroline L Francisco ◽  
André M Castilhos ◽  
Daiane C Marques da Silva ◽  
Fabiola Martinez da Silva ◽  
Aline S Aranha ◽  
...  

Abstract This study evaluated the use of the infrared thermography (IT) as a tool to identify the temperament of 75 non-castrated water buffaloes (390±32 days of age; 310±61.27 kg of initial body weight) of 3 genetic groups (GG:Jafarabadi, Mediterranean, and Murrah; n = 25 for each GG). The animals were classified for temperament through the temperament score (TSc) obtained by the mean of the sum of the scores of the time of entry into the squeeze chute (1 to 5: 1=greater time spent for entry; 5=less time spent for entry) and the exit velocity score (1 to 5: 1=lower speed; 5=higher speed) calculated after the period of adaptation to the feedlot (d0). The animals were categorized into adequate (ADQ; TSc≤3) or excitable (EXC; TSc >3) temperaments. The rectal temperature was measured and IT images were obtained (Testo 882 Thermal Imager, Testo, Inc, Germany) from regions of the chest, eye, snout, cheek, foreleg (left side), ribs, hind legs, rear area (left side), and scrotum on d0. Data were analyzed using MIXED procedure in SAS, considering the GG, temperament, and the resulting interaction as fixed effects. Correlation was analyzed using the CORR procedure of SAS. There were no effects of interactions (P ≥ 0.14). ADQ animals showed lower rectal (P = 0.02) and ribs (P = 0.05) temperatures than EXC animals (Table1). Tendencies for temperament effect were detected for chest (P = 0.06) and rear area (P = 0.07). There was no effect of temperament for other variables (P = 0.19). Positive correlations were verified between the TSc and rectal (r=0.36; P < 0.01), chest (r=0.35; P < 0.01), and rear area (r=0.33; P < 0.01) temperatures. Tendency for a positive correlation was detected between TSc and scrotum (r=0.23; P = 0.07). In conclusion, the temperament causes changes in the temperature of some body regions suggesting the IT technology may be a promising tool for assessing the temperament of water buffaloes. Supported by FAPESP (#2018/25939-1; #2014/05473-7).


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3771
Author(s):  
Alexey Kashevnik ◽  
Walaa Othman ◽  
Igor Ryabchikov ◽  
Nikolay Shilov

Meditation practice is mental health training. It helps people to reduce stress and suppress negative thoughts. In this paper, we propose a camera-based meditation evaluation system, that helps meditators to improve their performance. We rely on two main criteria to measure the focus: the breathing characteristics (respiratory rate, breathing rhythmicity and stability), and the body movement. We introduce a contactless sensor to measure the respiratory rate based on a smartphone camera by detecting the chest keypoint at each frame, using an optical flow based algorithm to calculate the displacement between frames, filtering and de-noising the chest movement signal, and calculating the number of real peaks in this signal. We also present an approach to detecting the movement of different body parts (head, thorax, shoulders, elbows, wrists, stomach and knees). We have collected a non-annotated dataset for meditation practice videos consists of ninety videos and the annotated dataset consists of eight videos. The non-annotated dataset was categorized into beginner and professional meditators and was used for the development of the algorithm and for tuning the parameters. The annotated dataset was used for evaluation and showed that human activity during meditation practice could be correctly estimated by the presented approach and that the mean absolute error for the respiratory rate is around 1.75 BPM, which can be considered tolerable for the meditation application.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 22-22
Author(s):  
Charles A Zumbaugh ◽  
Susannah A Gonia ◽  
Kathryn M Payne ◽  
Thomas B Wilson

Abstract The objectives of this experiment were to determine changes in the nutritive value and ergot alkaloid concentrations of endophyte-infected tall fescue hay and haylage during a 180-d storage period. Forage from a single field of Kentucky-31 tall fescue was cut for hay in late June and allowed to dry in the field. The dry matter (DM) of the windrow of cut forage was measured every 2 h after clipping. Forage was sampled from the windrow in 6 location blocks once forage DM reached target levels for haylage and hay treatments. Haylage and hay samples were taken when the DM of the windrow reached 50% and 80%, respectively. Seven subsamples of each treatment within block were chopped to 1.91 cm in length with a lettuce chopper and vacuum sealed in oxygen-excluding bags. Sample bags were stored indoors and opened at 30 d intervals over the 180-d storage period. Samples were analyzed for pH, nutritive value, and individual ergot alkaloid concentrations using high-performance liquid chromatography. Within each storage day, treatment within block was considered the experimental unit. Data were analyzed in SAS using the MIXED procedure with fixed effects of treatment, day, and the treatment by day interaction. Location block was considered a random effect. As expected, pH was decreased for haylage compared to hay at all time points (P < 0.01) and DM was greater (P < 0.01) for hay compared to haylage. Neutral detergent fiber values were greater (P < 0.01) for hay compared to haylage and declined during storage (P < 0.01). Total ergot alkaloid concentrations did not differ by treatment (P = 0.61), but ergovaline concentrations declined (P < 0.01) during storage. Collectively, these results indicate minimal differences in nutritive value and ergot alkaloid concentrations between hay and haylage during storage, and that ergovaline concentrations decline during storage.


Author(s):  
Rachel J Sorensen ◽  
James S Drouillard ◽  
Teresa L Douthit ◽  
Qinghong Ran ◽  
Douglas G Marthaler ◽  
...  

Abstract The effect of hay type on the microbiome of the equine gastrointestinal tract is relatively unexplored. Our objective was to characterize the cecal and fecal microbiome of mature horses consuming alfalfa or Smooth Bromegrass (brome) hay. Six cecally cannulated horses were used in a split plot design run as a crossover in 2 periods. Whole plot treatment was ad libitum access to brome or alfalfa hay fed over two 21-d acclimation periods with subplots of sampling location (cecum and rectum) and sampling hour. Each acclimation period was followed by a 24-h collection period where cecal and fecal samples were collected every 3 h for analysis of pH and volatile fatty acids (VFA). Fecal and cecal samples were pooled and sent to a commercial lab (MR DNA, Shallowater, TX) for amplification of the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene and sequenced using Illumina HiSeq. Main effects of hay on VFA, pH, and taxonomic abundances were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS 9.4 with fixed effects of hay, hour, location, period, all possible interactions and random effect of horse. Alpha and β diversity were analyzed using the R Dame package. Horses fed alfalfa had greater fecal than cecal pH (P ≤ 0.05) whereas horses fed brome had greater cecal than fecal pH (P ≤ 0.05). Regardless of hay type, total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations were greater (P ≤ 0.05) in the cecum than in feces, and alfalfa resulted in greater (P ≤ 0.05) VFA concentrations than brome in both sampling locations. Alpha diversity was greater (P ≤ 0.05) in fecal compared to cecal samples. Microbial community structure within each sampling location and hay type differed from one another (P ≤ 0.05). Bacteroidetes were greater (P ≤ 0.05) in the cecum compared to the rectum, regardless of hay type. Firmicutes and Firmicutes:Bacteroidetes were greater (P ≤ 0.05) in the feces compared to cecal samples of alfalfa-fed horses. In all, fermentation parameters and bacterial abundances were impacted by hay type and sampling location in the hindgut.


Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Jiwei Fan ◽  
Xiaogang Yang ◽  
Ruitao Lu ◽  
Xueli Xie ◽  
Weipeng Li

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and related technologies have played an active role in the prevention and control of novel coronaviruses at home and abroad, especially in epidemic prevention, surveillance, and elimination. However, the existing UAVs have a single function, limited processing capacity, and poor interaction. To overcome these shortcomings, we designed an intelligent anti-epidemic patrol detection and warning flight system, which integrates UAV autonomous navigation, deep learning, intelligent voice, and other technologies. Based on the convolution neural network and deep learning technology, the system possesses a crowd density detection method and a face mask detection method, which can detect the position of dense crowds. Intelligent voice alarm technology was used to achieve an intelligent alarm system for abnormal situations, such as crowd-gathering areas and people without masks, and to carry out intelligent dissemination of epidemic prevention policies, which provides a powerful technical means for epidemic prevention and delaying their spread. To verify the superiority and feasibility of the system, high-precision online analysis was carried out for the crowd in the inspection area, and pedestrians’ faces were detected on the ground to identify whether they were wearing a mask. The experimental results show that the mean absolute error (MAE) of the crowd density detection was less than 8.4, and the mean average precision (mAP) of face mask detection was 61.42%. The system can provide convenient and accurate evaluation information for decision-makers and meets the requirements of real-time and accurate detection.


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