[1] In this study, an ecohydrological Cellular Automata Tree-Grass-Shrub Simulator (CATGraSS) is presented. CATGraSS is driven by pulses of rainfall and daily solar radiation. In the model, each cell can hold a single plant type (tree, shrub, tree seedlings, shrub seedlings, grass) or can be bare soil. Plant competition is modeled explicitly by keeping track of mortality and establishment of plants, both calculated probabilistically based on soil moisture stress. Topographic influence on incoming shortwave radiation is treated explicitly, which leads to spatial variations in potential evapotranspiration and soil moisture over storm and interstorm time scales, and plant distribution over annual time scales. The model is implemented in a small basin (3.3 km 2 ) in central New Mexico, USA, where north facing slopes are characterized by a juniper pine and grass savanna, and south facing slopes by creosotebush shrubs and grasses. Representing the current climate by a seasonal-varying Poisson rectangular pulse rainfall model, CATGraSS is calibrated against the existing plant patterns in the study catchment. The model is then used in a series of numerical experiments. CATGraSS is first run on flat terrain to examine the role of topography on plant patterns. Consistent with our observation in the region, this ''flat run'' gave a shrubland ecosystem with scattered grasses and trees. Model sensitivity to rainfall is investigated in a limited number of simulations by altering rainfall frequency-magnitude statistics, and seasonality. The sensitivity runs suggest that changes in the storm characteristics could lead to a dramatic reorganization of the plant composition on topography in central New Mexico. CATGraSS results underscore the importance of solar irradiance in determining vegetation composition over complex terrain under a waterlimited ecosystem.Citation: Zhou, X. E. Istanbulluoglu, and E. R. Vivoni (2013), Modeling the ecohydrological role of aspect-controlled radiation on tree-grass-shrub coexistence in a semiarid climate, Water Resour.

This paper addresses the need for surveillance of fugitive methane emissions over broad geographical regions. Most existing techniques suffer from being either extensive (but qualitative) or quantitative (but intensive with poor scalability). A total of two novel advancements are made here. First, a recursive Bayesian method is presented for probabilistically characterizing fugitive point-sources from mobile sensor data. This approach is made possible by a new cross-plume integrated dispersion formulation that overcomes much of the need for time-averaging concentration data. The method is tested here against a limited data set of controlled methane release and shown to perform well. We then present an information-theoretic approach to plan the paths of the sensor-equipped vehicle, where the path is chosen so as to maximize expected reduction in integrated target source rate uncertainty in the region, subject to given starting and ending positions and prevailing meteorological conditions. The information-driven sensor path planning algorithm is tested and shown to provide robust results across a wide range of conditions. An overall system concept is presented for optionally piggybacking of these techniques onto normal industry maintenance operations using sensor-equipped work trucks.

Colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) is a specific biomarker for microglia. In this study, we developed a novel PET radioligand for CSF1R, 11C-GW2580, and compared it to a reported CSF1R tracer, 11C-CPPC, in mouse models of acute and chronic neuroinflammation and a rhesus monkey. Dynamic 11C-GW2580- and 11C-CPPC-PET images were quantified by reference tissue-based models and standardized uptake value ratio. Both tracers exhibited increased uptake in the lesioned striata of lipopolysaccharide-injected mice and in the forebrains of AppNL-G-F/NL-G-F-knock-in mice, spatially in agreement with an increased 18-kDa translocator protein radioligand retention. Moreover, 11C-GW2580 captured changes in CSF1R availability more sensitively than 11C-CPPC, with a larger dynamic range and a smaller inter-individual variability, in these model animals. PET imaging of CSF1R in a rhesus monkey displayed moderate-to-high tracer retention in the brain at baseline. Homologous blocker (i. e. unlabeled tracer) treatment reduced the uptake of 11C-GW2580 by ∼30% in all examined brain regions except for centrum semi-ovale white matter, but did not affect the retention of 11C-CPPC. In summary, our results demonstrated that 11C-GW2580-PET captured inflammatory microgliosis in the mouse brain with higher sensitivity than a reported radioligand, and displayed saturable binding in the monkey brain, potentially providing an imaging-based quantitative biomarker for reactive microgliosis.

Digital twins, Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things are becoming ever more important in the process industry. The Semantic Web, linked data, knowledge graphs and web services/agents are key technologies for implementing the above concepts. In this paper, we present a comprehensive semantic agent composition framework. It enables automatic agent discovery and composition to Highlights • The light-weight ontology, OntoAgent, has been developed based on MSM

Early in its evolution, Enterococcus faecium acquired traits that allowed it to become a successful nosocomial pathogen. E. faecium inherent tenacity to build resistance to antibiotics and environmental stressors that allows the species to thrive in hospital environments. The continual wide use of antibiotics in medicine has been an important driver in the evolution of E. faecium becoming a highly proficient hospital pathogen. For successful prevention and reduction of nosocomial infections with vancomycin resistant E. faecium (VREfm), it is essential to focus on reducing VREfm carriage and spread. The aim of this review is to incorporate microbiological insights of E. faecium into practical infection control recommendations, to reduce the spread of hospital-acquired VREfm (carriage and infections). The spread of VREfm can be controlled by intensified cleaning procedures, antibiotic stewardship, rapid screening of VREfm carriage focused on high-risk populations, and identification of transmission routes through accurate detection and typing methods in outbreak situations. Further, for successful management of E. faecium, continual innovation in the fields of diagnostics, treatment, and eradication is necessary.

In this paper, we develop a set of software agents which improve a knowledge-graph containing thermodynamic data of chemical species by means of quantum chemical calculations and error-canceling balanced reactions. The knowledge-graph represents species-associated information by making use of the principles of linked data, as employed in the Semantic Web, where concepts correspond to vertices and relationships between the concepts correspond to edges of the graph. We implement this representation by means of ontologies, which formalize the definition of concepts and their relationships, as a critical step to achieve interoperability between heterogeneous data formats and software. The agents, which conduct quantum chemical calculations and derive the estimates of standard enthalpies of formation, update the knowledge-graph with newly obtained results, improving data values, and adding nodes and connections between them. A key distinguishing feature of our approach is that it extends an existing, general-purpose knowledge-graph, called J-Park Simulator (http://theworldavatar.com), and its ecosystem of autonomous agents, thus enabling seamless cross-domain applications in wider contexts. To this end, we demonstrate how quantum calculations can directly affect the atmospheric dispersion of pollutants in an industrial emission use-case.

Adenosine A 2A receptors (A 2A Rs) are highly expressed in the human striatum, and at lower densities in the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus, and cells of the immune system. Antagonists of these receptors are potentially useful for the treatment of motor fluctuations, epilepsy, postischemic brain damage, or cognitive impairment, and for the control of an immune checkpoint during immunotherapy of cancer. A 2A R agonists may suppress transplant rejection and graft-versus-host disease; be used to treat inflammatory disorders such as asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and rheumatoid arthritis; be locally applied to promote wound healing and be employed in a strategy for transient opening of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) so that therapeutic drugs and monoclonal antibodies can enter the brain. Increasing A 2A R signaling in adipose tissue is also a potential strategy to combat obesity. Several radioligands for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of A 2A Rs have been developed in recent years. This review article presents a critical overview of the potential therapeutic applications of A 2A R ligands, the use of A 2A R imaging in drug development, and opportunities and limitations of PET imaging in future research. C

Microglia are the resident phagocytes of the central nervous system, and microglial activation is considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Recent studies with single-cell RNA analysis of CNS cells in Alzheimer’s disease and diverse other neurodegenerative conditions revealed that the transition from homeostatic microglia to disease-associated microglia was defined by changes of gene expression levels, including down-regulation of the P2Y12 receptor gene (P2Y12R). However, it is yet to be clarified in Alzheimer’s disease brains whether and when this down-regulation occurs in response to amyloid-βand tau depositions, which are core pathological processes in the disease etiology. To further evaluate the significance of P2Y12 receptor alterations in the neurodegenerative pathway of Alzheimer’s disease and allied disorders, we generated an anti-P2Y12 receptor antibody and examined P2Y12 receptor expressions in the brains of humans and model mice bearing amyloid-β and tau pathologies. We observed that the brains of both Alzheimer’s disease and non-Alzheimer’s disease tauopathy patients and tauopathy model mice (rTg4510 and PS19 mouse lines) displayed declined microglial P2Y12 receptor levels in regions enriched with tau inclusions, despite an increase in the total microglial population. Notably, diminution of microglial immunoreactivity with P2Y12 receptor was noticeable prior to massive accumulations of phosphorylated tau aggregates and neurodegeneration in rTg4510 mouse brains, despite a progressive increase of total microglial population. On the other hand, Iba1-positive microglia encompassing compact and dense-cored amyloid-β plaques expressed P2Y12 receptor at varying levels in amyloid precursor protein (APP) mouse models (APP23 and AppNL-F/NL-F mice). By contrast, neuritic plaques in Alzheimer’s disease brains were associated with P2Y12 receptor-negative microglia. These data suggest that the down-regulation of microglia P2Y12 receptor, which is characteristic of disease-associated microglia, is intimately associated with tau rather than amyloid-β pathologies from an early stage and could be a sensitive index for neuroinflammatory responses to Alzheimer’s disease-related neurodegenerative processes.