Landscape mosaics maps as a basis for spatial assessment and negotiation of ecosystem services and their trade-offs at the meso-scale: Examples from Laos, Madagascar and China

Mapping ecosystem services (ES) and their trade-offs is a key requirement for informed decision making for land use planning and management of natural resources that aim to move towards increasing the sustainability of landscapes. The negotiations of the purposes of landscapes and the services they should provide are difficult as there is an increasing number of stakeholders active at different levels with a variety of interests present on one particular landscape.Traditionally, land cover data is at the basis for mapping and spatial monitoring of ecosystem services. In light of complex landscapes it is however questionable whether land cover per se and as a spatial base unit is suitable for monitoring and management at the meso-scale. Often the characteristics of a landscape are defined by prevalence, composition and specific spatial and temporal patterns of different land cover types. The spatial delineation of shifting cultivation agriculture represents a prominent example of a land use system with its different land use intensities that requires alternative methodologies that go beyond the common remote sensing approaches of pixel-based land cover analysis due to the spatial and temporal dynamics of rotating cultivated and fallow fields.Against this background we advocate that adopting a landscape perspective to spatial planning and decision making offers new space for negotiation and collaboration, taking into account the needs of local resource users, and of the global community. For this purpose we introduce landscape mosaicsdefined as new spatial unit describing generalized land use types. Landscape mosaics have allowed us to chart different land use systems and land use intensities and permitted us to delineate changes in these land use systems based on changes of external claims on these landscapes. The underlying idea behindthe landscape mosaics is to use land cover data typically derived from remote sensing data and to analyse and classify spatial patterns of this land cover data using a moving window approach. We developed the landscape mosaics approach in tropical, forest dominated landscapesparticularly shifting cultivation areas and present examples ofour work from northern Laos, eastern Madagascarand Yunnan Province in China.

Multi-scale micro-structure generation strategy for up-scaling transport in clays

Clays and claystones are used as backfill and barrier materials in the design of waste repositories, because they act as hydraulic barriers and retain contaminants. Transport through such barriers occurs mainly by molecular diffusion. There is thus an interest to relate the diffusion properties of clays to their structural properties. In previous work, we have developed a concept for up-scaling pore-scale molecular diffusion coefficients using a grid-based model for the sample pore structure. Here we present an operational algorithm which can generate such model pore structures of polymineral materials. The obtained pore maps match the rock’s mineralogical components and its macroscopic properties such as porosity, grain and pore size distributions. Representative ensembles of grains in 2D or 3D are created by a lattice Monte Carlo (MC) method, which minimizes the interfacial energy of grains starting from an initial grain distribution. Pores are generated at grain boundaries and/or within grains. The method is general and allows to generate anisotropic structures with grains of approximately predetermined shapes, or with mixtures of different grain types. A specific focus of this study was on the simulation of clay-like materials. The generated clay pore maps were then used to derive upscaled effective diffusion coefficients for non-sorbing tracers using a homogenization technique. The large number of generated maps allowed to check the relations between micro-structural features of clays and their effective transport parameters, as is required to explain and extrapolate experimental diffusion results. As examples, we present a set of 2D and 3D simulations and investigated the effects of nanopores within particles (interlayer pores) and micropores between particles. Archie’s simple power law is followed in systems with only micropores. When nanopores are present, additional parameters are required; the data reveal that effective diffusion coefficients could be described by a sum of two power functions, related to the micro- and nanoporosity. We further used the model to investigate the relationships between particle orientation and effective transport properties of the sample.

The potential of stomata analysis in conifers to estimate presence of conifer trees: examples from the Alps

To estimate whether or not a plant taxon found in the fossil record was locally present may be difficult if only pollen is analyzed. Plant macrofossils, in contrast, provide a clear indication of a taxon's local presence, although in some lake sediments or peats, macrofossils may be rare or degraded. For conifers, the stomata found on pollen slides are derived from needles and thus provide a valuable proxy for local presence and they can be identified to genus level. From previously published studies, a transect across the Alps based on 13 sites is presented. For basal samples in sandy silt above the till with high pollen values of Pinus, for example, we may distinguish pine pollen from distant sources (samples with no stomata), from reworked pollen (samples with stomata present). The first apparent local presence of most conifer genera based on stomata often but not always occurs together with the phase of rapid pollen increase (rational limit). An exception is Larix, with its annual deposition of needles and heavy poorly dispersed pollen, for it often shows the first stomata earlier, at the empirical pollen limit. The decline and potential local extinction of a conifer can sometimes be shown in the stomata record. The decline may have been caused by climatic change, competition, or human impact. In situations where conifers form the timberline, the stomata record may indicate timberline fluctuations. In the discussion of immigration or migration of taxa we advocate the use of the cautious term ``apparent local presence'' to include some uncertainties. Absence of a taxon is impossible to prove.

4-year clinical outcomes and predictors of repeat revascularization in patients treated with new-generation drug-eluting stents: a report from the RESOLUTE All-Comers trial (A Randomized Comparison of a Zotarolimus-Eluting Stent With an Everolimus-Eluting Stent for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention)

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to investigate 4-year outcomes and predictors of repeat revascularization in patients treated with the Resolute zotarolimus-eluting stent (R-ZES) (Medtronic, Minneapolis, Minnesota) and XIENCE V everolimus-eluting stent (EES) (Abbott Vascular, Abbott Park, Illinois) in the RESOLUTE (A Randomized Comparison of a Zotarolimus-Eluting Stent With an Everolimus-Eluting Stent for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) All-Comers trial. BACKGROUND Data on long-term outcomes of new-generation drug-eluting stents are limited, and predictors of repeat revascularization due to restenosis and/or progression of disease are largely unknown. METHODS Patients were randomly assigned to treatment with the R-ZES (n = 1,140) or the EES (n = 1,152). We assessed pre-specified safety and efficacy outcomes at 4 years including target lesion failure and stent thrombosis. Predictors of revascularization at 4 years were identified by Cox regression analysis. RESULTS At 4 years, the rates of target lesion failure (15.2% vs. 14.6%, p = 0.68), cardiac death (5.4% vs. 4.7%, p = 0.44), and target vessel myocardial infarction (5.3% vs. 5.4%, p = 1.00), clinically-indicated target lesion revascularization (TLR) (7.0% vs. 6.5%, p = 0.62), and definite/probable stent thrombosis (2.3% vs. 1.6%, p = 0.23) were similar with the R-ZES and EES. Independent predictors of TLR were age, insulin-treated diabetes, SYNTAX (Synergy between PCI with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) score, treatment of saphenous vein grafts, ostial lesions, and in-stent restenosis. Independent predictors of any revascularization were age, diabetes, previous percutaneous coronary intervention, absence of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, smaller reference vessel diameter, SYNTAX score, and treatment of left anterior descending, right coronary artery, saphenous vein grafts, ostial lesions, or in-stent restenosis. CONCLUSIONS R-ZES and EES demonstrated similar safety and efficacy throughout 4 years. TLR represented less than one-half of all repeat revascularization procedures. Patient- and lesion-related factors predicting the risk of TLR and any revascularization showed considerable overlap. (A Randomized Comparison of a Zotarolimus-Eluting Stent With an Everolimus-Eluting Stent for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention [RESOLUTE-AC]; NCT00617084).

Third-Generation-Cephalosporin-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae Isolates from Humans and Companion Animals in Switzerland: Spread of a DHA-Producing Sequence Type 11 Clone in a Veterinary Setting.

Characterization of third-generation-cephalosporin-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates originating mainly from one human hospital (n = 22) and one companion animal hospital (n = 25) in Bern (Switzerland) revealed the absence of epidemiological links between human and animal isolates. Human infections were not associated with the spread of any specific clone, while the majority of animal infections were due to K. pneumoniae sequence type 11 isolates producing plasmidic DHA AmpC. This clonal dissemination within the veterinary hospital emphasizes the need for effective infection control practices.

Granular flow in polymineralic rocks bearing sheet silicates: New evidence from natural examples

Natural deformation in carbonate mylonites bearing sheet silicates occurs via a complex interaction of granular flow and solution transfer processes and involves continuous cycles of dissolution, grain boundary diffusion, nucleation and growth. In this way, new sheet silicates (a) nucleate within voids formed by grain boundary sliding of calcite grains. (b) grow, and (c) rotate towards the shear plane. As a consequence, small mica grains show a wide range of orientations with respect to the shear plane, but moderate to large grains are subparallel both to each other and to the shear plane. Increases of average grain sizes with increasing temperature of sheet silicates in mica-rich layers is more pronounced than in mica-poor layers. In the calcitic matrix however, sheet silicates can only grow via solution-precipitation and mass transfer processes. Therefore, the observed grain size variability indicates drastic differences in mass transfer behavior between the individual layers, which might be related to differences in the fluid flux. Based on these observations, a conceptual model for the microfabric evolution in sheet silicate bearing mylonites is presented. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Yellow laser light generation by frequency doubling of the output from a master oscillator fiber power amplifier system

We present a power-scalable approach for yellow laser-light generation based on standard Ytterbium (Yb) doped fibers. To force the cavity to lase at 1154 nm, far above the gain-maximum, measures must be taken to fulfill lasing condition and to suppress competing amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in the high-gain region. To prove the principle we built a fiber-laser cavity and a fiber-amplifier both at 1154 nm. In between cavity and amplifier we suppressed the ASE by 70 dB using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based filter. Finally we demonstrated efficient single pass frequency doubling to 577 nm with a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal (PPLN). With our linearly polarized 1154 nm master oscillator power fiber amplifier (MOFA) system we achieved slope efficiencies of more than 15 % inside the cavity and 24 % with the fiber-amplifier. The frequency doubling followed the predicted optimal efficiency achievable with a PPLN crystal. So far we generated 1.5 W at 1154nm and 90 mW at 577 nm. Our MOFA approach for generation of 1154 nm laser radiation is power-scalable by using multi-stage amplifiers and large mode-area fibers and is therefore very promising for building a high power yellow laser-light source of several tens of Watt.

European experience with the second-generation Edwards SAPIEN XT transcatheter heart valve in patients with severe aortic stenosis: 1-year outcomes from the SOURCE XT Registry

OBJECTIVES The SOURCE XT Registry (Edwards SAPIEN XT Aortic Bioprosthesis Multi-Region Outcome Registry) assessed the use and clinical outcomes with the SAPIEN XT (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California) valve in the real-world setting. BACKGROUND Transcatheter aortic valve replacement is an established treatment for high-risk/inoperable patients with severe aortic stenosis. The SAPIEN XT is a balloon-expandable valve with enhanced features allowing delivery via a lower profile sheath. METHODS The SOURCE XT Registry is a prospective, multicenter, post-approval study. Data from 2,688 patients at 99 sites were analyzed. The main outcome measures were all-cause mortality, stroke, major vascular complications, bleeding, and pacemaker implantations at 30-days and 1 year post-procedure. RESULTS The mean age was 81.4 ± 6.6 years, 42.3% were male, and the mean logistic EuroSCORE (European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation) was 20.4 ± 12.4%. Patients had a high burden of coronary disease (44.2%), diabetes (29.4%), renal insufficiency (28.9%), atrial fibrillation (25.6%), and peripheral vascular disease (21.2%). Survival was 93.7% at 30 days and 80.6% at 1 year. At 30-day follow-up, the stroke rate was 3.6%, the rate of major vascular complications was 6.5%, the rate of life-threatening bleeding was 5.5%, the rate of new pacemakers was 9.5%, and the rate of moderate/severe paravalvular leak was 5.5%. Multivariable analysis identified nontransfemoral approach (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.84; p < 0.0001), renal insufficiency (HR: 1.53; p < 0.0001), liver disease (HR: 1.67; p = 0.0453), moderate/severe tricuspid regurgitation (HR: 1.47; p = 0.0019), porcelain aorta (HR: 1.47; p = 0.0352), and atrial fibrillation (HR: 1.41; p = 0.0014), with the highest HRs for 1-year mortality. Major vascular complications and major/life-threatening bleeding were the most frequently seen complications associated with a significant increase in 1-year mortality. CONCLUSIONS The SOURCE XT Registry demonstrated appropriate use of the SAPIEN XT THV in the first year post-commercialization in Europe. The safety profile is sustained, and clinical benefits have been established in the real-world setting. (SOURCE XT Registry; NCT01238497).

Impact of body mass index on long-term clinical outcomes after second-generation drug eluting stent implantation: Insights from the international global RESOLUTE program

BACKGROUND An increased body mass index (BMI) is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular disease and reduction in life expectancy. However, several studies reported improved clinical outcomes in obese patients treated for cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the present study is to investigate the impact of BMI on long-term clinical outcomes after implantation of zotarolimus eluting stents. METHODS Individual patient data were pooled from the RESOLUTE Clinical Program comprising five trials worldwide. The study population was sorted according to BMI tertiles and clinical outcomes were evaluated at 2-year follow-up. RESULTS Data from a total of 5,127 patients receiving the R-ZES were included in the present study. BMI tertiles were as follow: I tertile (≤ 25.95 kg/m(2) -Low or normal weight) 1,727 patients; II tertile (>25.95 ≤ 29.74 kg/m(2) -overweight) 1,695 patients, and III tertile (>29.74 kg/m(2) -obese) 1,705 patients. At 2-years follow-up no difference was found for patients with high BMI (III tertile) compared with patients with normal or low BMI (I tertile) in terms of target lesion failure (I-III tertile, HR [95% CI] = 0.89 [0.69, 1.14], P = 0.341; major adverse cardiac events (I-III tertile, HR [95% CI] = 0.90 [0.72, 1.14], P = 0.389; cardiac death (I-III tertile, HR [95% CI] = 1.20 [0.73, 1.99], P = 0.476); myocardial infarction (I-III tertile, HR [95% CI] = 0.86 [0.55, 1.35], P = 0.509; clinically-driven target lesion revascularization (I-III tertile, HR [95% CI] = 0.75 [0.53, 1.08], P = 0.123; definite or probable stent thrombosis (I-III tertile, HR [95% CI] = 0.98 [0.49, 1.99], P = 0.964. CONCLUSIONS In the present study, the patients' body mass index was found to have no impact on long-term clinical outcomes after coronary artery interventions.