TY - JOUR A1 - Dobbertin, Matthias A1 - Eilmann, Britta A1 - Bleuler, Peter A1 - Giuggiola, Arnaud A1 - Graf Pannatier, Elisabeth A1 - Landolt, Werner A1 - Schleppi, Patrick A1 - Rigling, Andreas T1 - Effect of irrigation on needle morphology, shoot and stem growth in a drought-exposed Pinus sylvestris forest JF - Tree Physiology N2 - In Valais, Switzerland, Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) are declining, mainly following drought. To assess the impact of drought on tree growth and survival, an irrigation experiment was initiated in 2003 in a mature pine forest, approximately doubling the annual precipitation. Tree crown transparency (lack of foliage) and leaf area index (LAI) were annually assessed. Seven irrigated and six control trees were felled in 2006, and needles, stem discs and branches were taken for growth analysis. Irrigation in 2004 and 2005, both with below-average precipitation, increased needle size, area and mass, stem growth and, with a 1-year delay, shoot length. This led to a relative decrease in tree crown transparency (−14%) and to an increase in stand LAI (+20%). Irrigation increased needle length by 70%, shoot length by 100% and ring width by 120%, regardless of crown transparency. Crown transparency correlated positively with mean needle size, shoot length and ring width and negatively with specific leaf area. Trees with high crown transparency (low growth, short needles) experienced similar increases in needle mass and growth with irrigation than trees with low transparency (high growth, long needles), indicating that seemingly declining trees were able to ‘recover’ when water supply became sufficient. A simple drought index before and during the irrigation explained most of the variation found in the parameters for both irrigated and control trees. Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpp123 SN - 1758-4469 (Online) SN - 0829-318X (Print) VL - 30 IS - 3 SP - 346 EP - 360 PB - Oxford University Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Helmig, Ilka T1 - Nitty - fontnames illustrated JF - Slanted KW - Illustration KW - Typographie Y1 - 2010 SN - 1867-6510 IS - 11 SP - 68 EP - 69 PB - Slanted Publishers CY - Karlsruhe ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Egli, Simon A1 - Ayer, François A1 - Peter, Martina A1 - Eilmann, Britta A1 - Rigling, Andreas T1 - Is forest mushroom productivity driven by tree growth? Results from a thinning experiment JF - Annals of Forest Science N2 - • Most of the edible forest mushrooms are mycorrhizal and depend on carbohydrates produced by the associated trees. Fruiting patterns of these fungi are not yet fully understood since climatic factors alone do not completely explain mushroom occurrence. • The objective of this study was to retrospectively find out if changing tree growth following an increment thinning has influenced the diversity patterns and productivity of associated forest mushrooms in the fungus reserve La Chanéaz, Switzerland. • The results reveal a clear temporal relationship between the thinning, the growth reaction of trees and the reaction of the fungal community, especially for the ectomycorrhizal species. The tree-ring width of the formerly suppressed beech trees and the fruit body number increased after thinning, leading to a significantly positive correlation between fruit body numbers and tree-ring width. • Fruit body production was influenced by previous annual tree growth, the best accordance was found between fruit body production and the tree-ring width two years previously. • The results support the hypothesis that ectomycorrhizal fruit body production must be linked with the growth of the associated host trees. Moreover, the findings indicate the importance of including mycorrhizal fungi as important players when discussing a tree as a carbon source or sink. Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/forest/2010011 SN - 1286-4560 (Print) SN - 1297-966X (Online) VL - 67 IS - 5 SP - 509 PB - Springer CY - Paris ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grajewski, Matthias A1 - Köster, Michael A1 - Turek, Stefam T1 - Numerical analysis and implementational aspects of a new multilevel grid deformation method JF - Applied Numerical Mathematics N2 - Recently, we introduced and mathematically analysed a new method for grid deformation (Grajewski et al., 2009) [15] we call basic deformation method (BDM) here. It generalises the method proposed by Liao et al. (Bochev et al., 1996; Cai et al., 2004; Liao and Anderson, 1992) [4], [6], [20]. In this article, we employ the BDM as core of a new multilevel deformation method (MDM) which leads to vast improvements regarding robustness, accuracy and speed. We achieve this by splitting up the deformation process in a sequence of easier subproblems and by exploiting grid hierarchy. Being of optimal asymptotic complexity, we experience speed-ups up to a factor of 15 in our test cases compared to the BDM. This gives our MDM the potential for tackling large grids and time-dependent problems, where possibly the grid must be dynamically deformed once per time step according to the user's needs. Moreover, we elaborate on implementational aspects, in particular efficient grid searching, which is a key ingredient of the BDM. Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnum.2010.03.017 SN - 0168-9274 VL - 60 IS - 8 SP - 767 EP - 781 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bragard, Michael A1 - Soltau, N. A1 - Thomas, S. A1 - De Doncker, R. W. T1 - The balance of renewable sources and user demands in grids : power electronics for modular battery energy storage systems JF - IEEE transactions on power electronics N2 - The continuously growing amount of renewable sources starts compromising the stability of electrical grids. Contradictory to fossil fuel power plants, energy production of wind and photovoltaic (PV) energy is fluctuating. Although predictions have significantly improved, an outage of multi-MW offshore wind farms poses a challenging problem. One solution could be the integration of storage systems in the grid. After a short overview, this paper focuses on two exemplary battery storage systems, including the required power electronics. The grid integration, as well as the optimal usage of volatile energy reserves, is presented for a 5- kW PV system for home application, as well as for a 100- MW medium-voltage system, intended for wind farm usage. The efficiency and cost of topologies are investigated as a key parameter for large-scale integration of renewable power at medium- and low-voltage. Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/TPEL.2010.2085455 SN - 0885-8993 VL - 25 IS - 12 SP - 3049 EP - 3056 PB - IEEE CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Eilmann, Britta A1 - Buchmann, Nina A1 - Siegwolf, Rolf A1 - Saurer, Matthias A1 - Cherubini, Paolo A1 - Rigling, Andreas T1 - Fast response of Scots pine to improved water availability reflected in tree-ring width and δ13C JF - Plant, Cell and Environment N2 - Drought-induced forest decline, like the Scots pine mortality in inner-Alpine valleys, will gain in importance as the frequency and severity of drought events are expected to increase. To understand how chronic drought affects tree growth and tree-ring δ13C values, we studied mature Scots pine in an irrigation experiment in an inner-Alpine valley. Tree growth and isotope analyses were carried out at the annual and seasonal scale. At the seasonal scale, maximum δ13C values were measured after the hottest and driest period of the year, and were associated with decreasing growth rates. Inter-annual δ13C values in early- and latewood showed a strong correlation with annual climatic conditions and an immediate decrease as a response to irrigation. This indicates a tight coupling between wood formation and the freshly produced assimilates for trees exposed to chronic drought. This rapid appearance of the isotopic signal is a strong indication for an immediate and direct transfer of newly synthesized assimilates for biomass production. The fast appearance and the distinct isotopic signal suggest a low availability of old stored carbohydrates. If this was a sign for C-storage depletion, an increasing mortality could be expected when stressors increase the need for carbohydrate for defence, repair or regeneration. Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2010.02153.x SN - 1365-3040 (Online) SN - 0140-7791 (Print) VL - 33 IS - 8 SP - 1351 EP - 1360 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fonti, Patrick A1 - von Arx, Georg A1 - García-González, Ignacio A1 - Eilmann, Britta A1 - Sass-Klaassen, Ute G. W. A1 - Gärtner, Holger A1 - Eckstein, Dieter T1 - Studying global change through investigation of the plastic responses of xylem anatomy in tree rings JF - New Phytologist N2 - Variability in xylem anatomy is of interest to plant scientists because of the role water transport plays in plant performance and survival. Insights into plant adjustments to changing environmental conditions have mainly been obtained through structural and functional comparative studies between taxa or within taxa on contrasting sites or along environmental gradients. Yet, a gap exists regarding the study of hydraulic adjustments in response to environmental changes over the lifetimes of plants. In trees, dated tree-ring series are often exploited to reconstruct dynamics in ecological conditions, and recent work in which wood-anatomical variables have been used in dendrochronology has produced promising results. Environmental signals identified in water-conducting cells carry novel information reflecting changes in regional conditions and are mostly related to short, sub-annual intervals. Although the idea of investigating environmental signals through wood anatomical time series goes back to the 1960s, it is only recently that low-cost computerized image-analysis systems have enabled increased scientific output in this field. We believe that the study of tree-ring anatomy is emerging as a promising approach in tree biology and climate change research, particularly if complemented by physiological and ecological studies. This contribution presents the rationale, the potential, and the methodological challenges of this innovative approach. Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.03030.x SN - 1469-8137 (Online) SN - 0028-646X (Print) VL - 185 IS - 1 SP - 42 EP - 53 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Siqueira, Jose R. A1 - Maki, Rafael M. A1 - Paulovich, Fernando V. A1 - Werner, Frederik A1 - Poghossian, Arshak A1 - Oliveira, Maria C. F. de A1 - Zucolotto, Valtencir A1 - Oliveira, Osvaldo N. Jr. A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef T1 - Use of information visualization methods eliminating cross talk in multiple sensing units investigated for a light-addressable potentiometric sensor JF - Analytical Chemistry N2 - The integration of nanostructured films containing biomolecules and silicon-based technologies is a promising direction for reaching miniaturized biosensors that exhibit high sensitivity and selectivity. A challenge, however, is to avoid cross talk among sensing units in an array with multiple sensors located on a small area. In this letter, we describe an array of 16 sensing units of a light-addressable potentiometric sensor (LAPS), which was made with layer-by-layer (LbL) films of a poly(amidomine) dendrimer (PAMAM) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), coated with a layer of the enzyme penicillinase. A visual inspection of the data from constant-current measurements with liquid samples containing distinct concentrations of penicillin, glucose, or a buffer indicated a possible cross talk between units that contained penicillinase and those that did not. With the use of multidimensional data projection techniques, normally employed in information visualization methods, we managed to distinguish the results from the modified LAPS, even in cases where the units were adjacent to each other. Furthermore, the plots generated with the interactive document map (IDMAP) projection technique enabled the distinction of the different concentrations of penicillin, from 5 mmol L−1 down to 0.5 mmol L−1. Data visualization also confirmed the enhanced performance of the sensing units containing carbon nanotubes, consistent with the analysis of results for LAPS sensors. The use of visual analytics, as with projection methods, may be essential to handle a large amount of data generated in multiple sensor arrays to achieve high performance in miniaturized systems Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/ac9024076 SN - 0003-2700 VL - 82 IS - 1 SP - 61 EP - 65 PB - ACS Publications CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grottke, O. A1 - Braunschweig, T. A1 - Philippen, B. A1 - Gatzweiler, Karl-Heinz A1 - Gronloh, N. A1 - Staat, Manfred A1 - Rossaint, R. A1 - Tolba, R. T1 - A new model for blunt liver injuries in the swine JF - European Surgical Research N2 - Background: To elaborate the impact of new haemostatic agents we developed an instrument for the pressure-controlled induction of blunt liver injuries in a porcine animal model. Materials and Methods: A dilutional coagulopathy of 80% of animal blood volume was induced in 9 anaesthetized pigs. Animals were randomly assigned to be injured with a force of 112 Newton (N) (n = 1), 224 ± 19 N (n = 4) or 355 ± 35 N (n = 4). The impact of injury was measured by blood loss, survival time and coagulation parameters. Liver histology was obtained to evaluate the degree of liver injury. Results: The profound haemodilution resulted in a significant alteration of all coagulation parameters. After inflicting the injury with 355 ± 35 N, both the survival time (30 ± 9 min; p = 0.006) and blood loss (68 ± 16 ml min–1, p = 0.002) were significantly different as compared to injuries with 224 ± 19 N (survival time: 76 ± 20 min, blood loss: 23 ± 4 ml min–1). In contrast, an injury with 112 N led to an insignificant blood loss of only 239 ml. Conclusion: We developed a pressure-controlled clamp that allows for the induction of blunt liver traumas with highly reproducible injuries with a positive correlation with blood loss and survival. Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1159/000265053 SN - 1421-9921 VL - 44 IS - 2 SP - 65 EP - 73 PB - Karger CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Christen, Marc A1 - Kowalski, Julia A1 - Bartelt, Perry T1 - RAMMS: Numerical simulation of dense snow avalanches in three-dimensional terrain JF - Cold Regions Science and Technology N2 - Numerical avalanche dynamics models have become an essential part of snow engineering. Coupled with field observations and historical records, they are especially helpful in understanding avalanche flow in complex terrain. However, their application poses several new challenges to avalanche engineers. A detailed understanding of the avalanche phenomena is required to construct hazard scenarios which involve the careful specification of initial conditions (release zone location and dimensions) and definition of appropriate friction parameters. The interpretation of simulation results requires an understanding of the numerical solution schemes and easy to use visualization tools. We discuss these problems by presenting the computer model RAMMS, which was specially designed by the SLF as a practical tool for avalanche engineers. RAMMS solves the depth-averaged equations governing avalanche flow with accurate second-order numerical solution schemes. The model allows the specification of multiple release zones in three-dimensional terrain. Snow cover entrainment is considered. Furthermore, two different flow rheologies can be applied: the standard Voellmy–Salm (VS) approach or a random kinetic energy (RKE) model, which accounts for the random motion and inelastic interaction between snow granules. We present the governing differential equations, highlight some of the input and output features of RAMMS and then apply the models with entrainment to simulate two well-documented avalanche events recorded at the Vallée de la Sionne test site. KW - RAMMS KW - snow KW - avalanche Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2010.04.005 SN - 1872-7441 VL - 63 IS - 1-2 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -