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In Czechia, harvesters contributed 43% of the total annual timber production in 2022. It is assumed that harvester technology will continue to be used intensively in the future, even though there is a change in the tree species composition of forests after the recent bark beetle outbreak and an increase in the use of close-to-nature forest management. The aim of this study was to analyse the over- and under-bark volume estimates of European larch timber produced by a harvester in Czechia. This study used the M3s price category for volume estimation. This volume was compared with the M3toDE price category. The M3toDE price category underestimated the over-bark volume by 5.59% compared to the M3s price category. However, for use in forestry practice in Czechia it is currently necessary to use the M3toDE price category. Therefore, the M3toDE price category was used to compare under-bark volumes according to different bark deduction methods. Differences were found between all the five methods investigated. Understanding this sub-issue will help in training operators, acquiring comprehensive knowledge about the functioning of harvester software and maximising the economic effect of the sale of larch timber.

In Czechia, harvesters contributed 43% of the total annual timber production in 2022. It is assumed that harvester technology will continue to be used intensively in the future, even though there is a change in the tree species composition of forests after the recent bark beetle outbreak and an increase in the use of close-to-nature forest management. The aim of this study was to analyse the over- and under-bark volume estimates of European larch timber produced by a harvester in Czechia. This study used the M3s price category for volume estimation. This volume was compared with the M3toDE price category. The M3toDE price category underestimated the over-bark volume by 5.59% compared to the M3s price category. However, for use in forestry practice in Czechia it is currently necessary to use the M3toDE price category. Therefore, the M3toDE price category was used to compare under-bark volumes according to different bark deduction methods. Differences were found between all the five methods investigated. Understanding this sub-issue will help in training operators, acquiring comprehensive knowledge about the functioning of harvester software and maximising the economic effect of the sale of larch timber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing industry faces increasing complexity in the performance of assembly tasks due to escalating demand for complex products with a greater number of variations. Operators require robust assistance systems to enhance productivity, efficiency, and safety. However, existing support services often fall short when operators encounter unstructured open questions and incomplete sentences due to primarily relying on procedural digital work instructions. This draws attention to the need for practical application of natural language processing (NLP) techniques. This study addresses these challenges by introducing a domain-specific dataset tailored to assembly tasks, capturing unique language patterns and linguistic characteristics. We explore strategies to process declarative and imperative sentences, including incomplete ones, effectively. Thorough evaluation of three pre-trained NLP libraries—NLTK, SPACY, and Stanford—is performed to assess their effectiveness in handling assembly-related concepts and ability to address the domain's distinctive challenges. Our findings demonstrate the efficient performance of these open-source NLP libraries in accurately handling assembly-related concepts. By providing valuable insights, our research contributes to developing intelligent operator assistance systems, bridging the gap between NLP techniques and the assembly domain within manufacturing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precision forestry is a useful technique to help forest stakeholders with proper sustainable forest management. Modern sensors and technologies, with special reference to the sustainability of forest operations, can be applied on a variety of levels, including the monitoring of forest activities regarding the three pillars (economy, environment, and society). In this review, we summarised the current level of knowledge regarding the use of precision forestry techniques for monitoring forest operations. We concentrated on recent data from the last five years (2019–2023). We demonstrated how an Industry 4.0 strategy for remote and proximal monitoring of working performance can be effective when using CAN-bus and StanForD data collected by modern forest machines. The same information can be effectively used to create maps of soil trafficability and to evaluate the patterns of skid tracks or strip roads built as a result of forest intervention. Similar information can be gathered in the case of small-scale forestry by using GNSS-RF (Global Navigation Satellite Systems—Radio Frequency) or even monitoring systems based on smartwatches or smartphones. LiDAR and Structure for Motion (SfM) photogrammetry are both useful tools for tracking soil rutting and disturbances caused by the passage of forest machinery. SfM offers denser point clouds and a more approachable method, whereas laser scanning can be considerably faster but needs a more experienced operator and better data-processing skills. Finally, in terms of the social component of sustainability, the use of location sharing technologies is strongly advised, based for instance on GNSS—RF to monitor the security of forest workers as they operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Sweden, nature conservation management (NCM) is not applied to the extent needed to avoid negative impacts on biodiversity in voluntary set-asides and formal reserves. A limiting factor is the uncertainty of the costs for the operations caused by a lack of models for estimating costs and revenues in mechanized NCM. These may explain why some operations are highly profitable while others result in a net loss. Our aim was to compare harvester time consumption in NCM operations to final felling operations and estimate the added cost. Harvesting in 14 NCM stands and 399 final felling stands were studied using follow-up data. Harvesting intensity in NCM treatments varied generally between 25% and 50% of the standing volume. Time consumption in NCM operations was 1.1 to 1.4 times greater than in final felling, depending on management goal, machine size, and tree volume. Increased harvester time consumption is not the only factor influencing logging costs in an NCM operation. Compared to final felling, forwarder time consumption is expected to increase in the same way as in thinning operations. Field visits during spring 2022 allowed visual inspections of the stands after harvest and showed that NCM plans were generally followed with minor deviations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the extensive use of cut-to-length mechanized systems, harvester data remains largely underutilized by most stakeholders in Germany. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine how business processes should be restructured to allow for a continuous use of forest machine data, with the main focus on harvester production data, along the German wood supply chain. We also wanted to identify possible benefits and challenges of the restructuring through a qualitative analysis of the newly designed business process. The Bavarian State Forest Enterprise was chosen for a case study approach. Based on expert interviews, the current and to-be processes were modeled. Results obtained from the qualitative data indicated that an integration of harvester data is achievable in Germany. Harvester data from forest operations can be provided to all subsequent activities along the supply chain. Core changes were the addition of a digital work order, the data exchange between harvester and forwarder, the pile order and the exchange of production data. Benefits for every stakeholder were determined. Through the reengineered process, harvesting and timber information are available and known at an earlier stage of the process, throughput information stations could be eliminated and working comfort could be improved. Ecological benefits could also be achieved through an anticipated reduction of CO2 emissions and protection of sensitive nature areas. Negative consequences of harvester data integration could appear in the social sphere and were in line with the reduction of personal contact. Challenges for the implementation in reality, besides the legal...

In this paper, I develop a critical assessment of epistemic instrumentalism as advocated by Kyle Stanford (2006). Epistemic instrumentalism is based on the claim that the criterion for the reliability of any theory is the absence of what Stanford calls ‘unconceived alternatives’. This means that the theory is reliable if and only if it does not admit of alternatives. Since most scientific theories do admit of unconceived alternatives, Stanford claims, they cannot be reliable. In contrast, ‘common sense’ claims are not exposed to unconceived alternatives, therefore they are reliable. Here, I analyse the definition of ‘common sense’ and argue that it is equally vulnerable to the ‘problem of unconceived alternatives’, pushing epistemic instrumentalism position to scepticism. The consequence is that the position of epistemic instrumentalist has nothing to stand on.

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In ancient times, science was practiced only by the privileged, primarily because of its poor accessibility. However, the development of ICT has enabled modern man to make science much more accessible to him/her. For that reason, today, there are many more scientists who are trying to change the world for the better with their activities. In the race for new knowledge and original discoveries, scientists want to be better than others. Different metrics are used to measure quality among scientists. Stanford University recently published an updated list of the best scientists in the world, which is considered one of the most prestigious. On a recently published list, three editors of Montenegrin Journal of Sports Science and Medicine: Yousef Saleh Khader, Sergej M. Ostojic and Stevo Popovic have been ranked among the world's top 2% most-cited scientists in 2020 and the purpose of this editorial is to recognize and promote their scientific impact and scientific excellence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term machine-derived data sets comprising 140,000 trees were collected from four harvesters of equal age and similar working conditions, into two machine size classes, viz. two Ponsse Bears and two smaller Ponsse Beavers. Productivity functions for each size class were modelled using a nonlinear mixed effects approach. Based on these functions, unit costs and their sensitivity to utilization rates and cost of capital were assessed. Results showed that despite considerably higher capital costs (32%) on the Bear, a 50% higher mean productivity resulted in a unit cost only 17% higher than the Beaver in a disadvantageous scenario (high interest rates and low utilisation), and a 6% lower unit cost than the Beaver in an advantageous scenario (low interest and high utilisation), within the range of tree sizes observed. Between these extremes, only marginal differences in unit costs were observed. This demonstrates that the difference in ownership and operating costs between larger and smaller harvesters is largely negated by the difference in productivity rates. These results can provide useful insight into timber harvester investment decisions. Harvesters from two adjacent size classes can be used interchangeably at the same unit cost within a wide range of tree sizes despite productivity differences. It should be noted that increased repair costs and an eventual reduction in expected economic lifetime on a smaller harvester, or the negative effects of using a larger harvester in smaller trees, e.g. thinning operations, were not taken into account in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archive documents, press news and pictorial and photo-graphic portraits allow the reconstruction of the origin and the special history of the set of diamonds and emeralds jewels made by Félix Sam-per in 1862 for the Spanish Queen Isabella II, whose magnificence was praised and rewarded at the time.

Patch cutting is beneficial for many ecosystem services, but the effects of the management system on operations have not been analyzed. A two-machine system with harvester and forwarder is often used in mechanized cut-to-length operations. The aim of this study was to analyze differences in harvester and forwarder productivity in final felling and patch cutting, and estimate their effects on net revenues per harvested m3. Harvester time consumption was studied using automatic data collection from the machine computer. The data set comprised approximately 18,150 trees harvested during 48 shifts. Analyzes were based on shift level averages. In the observed interval of 0.30–0.60 m3 average tree volume, patch cutting productivity was 20–15% lower compared to final felling. Forwarding was analyzed in three steps. First, a GIS analysis of terrain transport distance found that patch cutting increased forwarding distance by 29%. Secondly, a time study found that loading and unloading times were 16% greater in patch cutting than in final felling. Thirdly, a theoretical analysis found that total forwarder time consumption was 16% higher in patch cuts than in final felling areas. Operational costs in patch cutting were 18% higher than in final felling, thereby reducing net revenues from harvesting operations by 4%. While operational costs were found to be higher in patch cutting than final felling, they are lower than the costs expected for other continuous cover forest management systems. Investigations of later stages of patch cutting are needed before full conclusions regarding the management system can be drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowing credible records of harvested timber is in the interest of the forest owner, forest entrepreneur and timber-sector stakeholder. Therefore, the objective of the research was to determine the share of unrecorded Norway spruce timber volume in length allowance on the total timber volume produced by harvester technology in Czechia. We analyzed 176,980 merchantable logs (total volume of 10,333 m3) produced by 15 harvesters. Primary data were obtained from.stm files. Logs were categorized into five grades according to metric and qualitative requirements of the customers, also butt logs were distinguished. Statistical analysis were processed in the Statistica 13 package. Results showed that 1.99% of the volume of produced timber were excluded from the primary forestry records. Mean unrecorded volume of length allowance to assortments that contained both the cross-cut and cutting window allowances, varied from 2.99% up to 3.16%, while 0.27% to 0.46% of volume were unrecorded for those assortments that contained only the cutting window. In higher quality grades, we found shorter logs had a higher mean relative volume of length allowance than longer logs. The mean relative volumes of length allowances also varied between butt and other logs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the centennial of the Russian Revolution, the article recounts the remarkable experiences of an American eyewitness to the Revolution: historian Frank A. Golder (1877–1929). Golder is best remembered today as the man responsible for amassing the extraordinary Russia and East European collections housed at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives at Stanford University. He was in St. Petersburg in 1914 when Russia entered the Great War; he was in Petrograd in 1917 when the February Revolution brought an end to the Romanov dynasty; he was in Soviet Russia in 1921– 1923 as a famine relief worker, a collector of books, periodicals, and manuscripts, and a political observer of Lenin's government; and he was in the Soviet Union for extended visits in 1925 and 1927, recording the changes in Soviet society after Lenin. Golder kept a detailed diary and was a prolific correspondent and thus left behind extensive documentation of his Russian sojourns. These record his personal efforts to reestablish Russian-American cultural ties suspended during Russia's time of troubles, to serve as a link and a lifeline. The article describes Golder's connections to artists and intellectuals in the Russian capitals and focuses on two cultural institutions: the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Rumiantsev Museum Library (today the Russian State Library) in Moscow.

The CTL logging method, linked to the harvester technology, has an increasing share on the total annual felling in the Czech Republic. The aim of our study was to determine the relative share of unrecorded volume in length allowances on the total volume of merchantable timber, as produced by harvesters. We also analyzed the volume differences in length allowances in assortment groups. Data were gathered from *.STM files, 221 235 spruce logs were evaluated. The total volume of unrecorded timber in length allowances of merchantable assortments represented 2.19% of the total recorded timber volume. After dividing the logs into individual assortment groups, we found that in the groups Roundwood and Aggregate, the average relative volume in length allowances ranged from 2.41% to 2.43%, while in the group Pulpwood was only 1.22%. Significant differences between the relative timber volumes in length allowances were also found in individual groups of assortments after categorization of logs according to their nominal length and midspan diameter. In the groups Roundwood and Pulpwood, we found significantly lower relative timber volumes in length allowances for butt logs compared to other logs. The results can be used for estimation of unrecorded timber volume in length allowances to supplement forest management records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I review prominent historical arguments against scientific realism to indicate how they display a systematic overshooting in the conclusions drawn from the historical evidence. The root of the overshooting can be located in some critical, undue presuppositions regarding realism. I will highlight these presuppositions in connection with both Laudan's 'Old induction' and Stanford's New induction, and then delineate a minimal realist view that does without the problematic presuppositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than a decade ago, a formalized fellowship training program in medical device innovation, the first of its kind, was created at Stanford University. Now in its 15th year, the Stanford Biodesign Fellowship Program is a 10-month program whereby postgraduate students with a prior background in medicine, engineering, and/or business form interdisciplinary teams for an experiential process of identifying unmet clinical needs, inventing new solutions, and implementing these ideas (the 3 “I’s”). A key component of this structured process is focused attention on needs finding and characterization, which differs from the traditional “tech-push” model (i.e., technologies looking for problems to solve). Although the Stanford Biodesign process can be applied to a wide variety of clinical areas, cardiovascular medicine is particularly well suited, given the breadth of clinical presentations it touches and its history of innovation to solve important clinical problems. Physicians play a vital role in the process, especially for needs identification and characterization. This paper outlines the Stanford Biodesign process and presents an argument for its repeat applicability, discusses its relevance to physicians and to cardiologists in particular, and provides a case study of the process that resulted in a currently available cardiovascular medical technology that came directly from the Fellowship Program.

A series of localized high-temperature granulite-facies domains ('hot spots') are present within the regional (10–100 km2scale) amphibolite-facies rocks of the Central Maine Terrane in central New Hampshire (NH), USA. Based on the spatial coincidence of a thermal anomaly and contours of depressed δ18O values centered on networks of quartz–graphite and pegmatitic veins in the vicinity of Bristol, NH, it was proposed in an earlier study that large-scale ascending hot fluid focused through a vein network drove heating and introduced isotopically distinct fluids. The thermal anomaly could be preserved only if the timescales of heating were extremely short, otherwise conduction would smooth the field temperature gradient. Herein, we conduct a petrological test to estimate the peak temperatures and the durations of metamorphism across the Bristol region, using pseudosection analysis as well as forward modeling of garnet growth–diffusion–resorption profiles. This region attained granulite-facies conditions in the sillimanite–K-feldspar–cordierite zone over a larger area than previously mapped. Cordierite is variably present, which reflects bulk compositional controls on its stability as well as its destruction during retrogression. The forward modeling reveals protracted (5–8 Myr) granulite-facies conditions of 0·5–0·6 GPa and ∼750–820°C, and an overall counterclockwise P – T path. Furthermore, a short-lived thermal anomaly or 'spike' (>100°C, ∼0·15 Myr) is superimposed on the granulite-facies core, reaching ultrahigh-temperature (UHT) conditions >900°C, much higher than previously recognized in the area. The short timescale is fully consistent with the localized radius of the thermal anomaly of ∼1·5 km. Subsequently, the area underwent variably developed amphibolite-facies retrogression at ∼650°C and 0·4–0·5 GPa, accompanied by fluid infiltration, garnet breakdown, and muscovite growth. The transient thermal spike and the counterclockwise P – T path indicate that heat transfer could not have been solely the result of internal heating of overthickened crust. We posit that external heat fluxes driven by Acadian plutonism, in addition to heat generation in crust enriched in heat-producing elements, led to the granulite-facies metamorphism. Magmatic loading in the crust, potentially in response to an elevated basal heat flux during the Acadian orogeny, can account for the counterclockwise P – T path. Heat transported advectively by channelized flow of magma or magma evolving hydrothermal fluids is the most likely cause of the transient and local UHT thermal anomaly. The results show that UHT metamorphic events can be extremely brief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1870s, Leland Stanford allegedly wagered $25,000 to prove the theory that all four of a horse's hooves leave the ground when it travels at a gallop. While the anecdote is largely considered to be untrue, the wager has been repeatedly refuted across close to a century of writing on Stanford and Eadweard Muybridge's role in the development of motion pictures. In examining the disavowal of the wager myth, this article argues the refutations illustrate contradictions between science and representation that remain central to the history of motion-picture technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S., in the late 1970s and early 1980s, academic research centers that were tightly linked to the semiconductor industry began to proliferate – at exactly the same time as the first academic start-up companies in biotech, and slightly before the first U.S. industrial semiconductor research consortia. I show that some of the same factors stimulated institutional entrepreneurs to found both industrial consortia and academic centers. But industrial consortia and academic centers were not just co-emergent. They were also commingled organizational forms – consortia took advantage of ties to academic centers andvice versa. Thus, any understanding of the one must account for the other as well. However, academic microelectronics research centers possessed greater flexibility to forge alliances with other industries than did industrial consortia – a flexibility they increasingly took advantage of in the 1990s, as their importance to their original patrons in the semiconductor industry receded. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Type A aortic dissection is an acute condition that requires urgent surgical intervention. However, in a subset of patients, aortic dissections go undiagnosed and become chronic, thereby allowing the dissected wall to undergo a distinct remodeling process from that of the surrounding intact wall. Here, we observe the biomechanical and histological changes in the aortic wall of two patients with chronic Type A aortic dissection. Partial or complete disruption of the elastic structure of the medial layer was observed in the dissected wall of both patients; however, aortic stiffness in the region of dissection covaried with a change in collagen content. A ~50% increase in viscous energy loss was observed in the region of dissection of both patients which suggests an impaired elastic recoil and Windkessel function of the proximal aorta. MMP expression (2 and 9) differed between the dissected and intact wall and was distinct between the two patients. Our observations suggest that an active remodeling process occurs in the dissected aortic wall resulting in a vastly different biomechanical behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Large amount of evidence supports the contribution of the Stanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) to a global chronic disease management strategy. However, many studies have suggested further exploring of the factors influencing acceptance and completion of participants in this program.Objective: This study aimed to describe and examine factors associated with acceptance and completion rates of the CDSMP among frequent users of health care services, and to highlight the experience of patients and peer leaders who facilitated the program.Methods: A descriptive design with mixed sequential data was used. Acceptance and completion rates were calculated and their relationship with patient characteristics was examined in regression analysis (n = 167). Interviews were conducted among patients who accepted (n = 11) and refused (n = 13) to participate and with the program coordinator. Focus groups were held with the seven peer leaders who facilitated the program. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.Results: Of the 167 patients invited, 60 (36%) accepted to participate in the program. Group format was the most frequent reason to decline the invitation to participate. Twenty-eight participants (47%) completed the program. Participants who dropped out during the program raised different reasons such as poor health and too much heterogeneity among participants. Factors such as location, schedule, content, group composition and facilitation were considered as important elements contributing to the success of the program.Conclusion: The CDSMP could therefore be considered as a self-management support option for this vulnerable clientele, while taking measures to avoid too much heterogeneity among participants to improve completion rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Alan E. Gelfand was born April 17, 1945, in the Bronx, New York. He attended public grade schools and did his undergraduate work at what was then called City College of New York (CCNY, now CUNY), excelling at mathematics. He then surprised and saddened his mother by going all the way across the country to Stanford to graduate school, where he completed his dissertation in 1969 under the direction of Professor Herbert Solomon, making him an academic grandson of Herman Rubin and Harold Hotelling. Alan then accepted a faculty position at the University of Connecticut (UConn) where he was promoted to tenured associate professor in 1975 and to full professor in 1980. A few years later he became interested in decision theory, then empirical Bayes, which eventually led to the publication of Gelfand and Smith [J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 85 (1990) 398-409], the paper that introduced the Gibbs sampler to most statisticians and revolutionized Bayesian computing. In the mid-1990s, Alan's interests turned strongly to spatial statistics, leading to fundamental contributions in spatially-varying coefficient models, coregionalization, and spatial boundary analysis (wombling). He spent 33 years on the faculty at UConn, retiring in 2002 to become the James B. Duke Professor of Statistics and Decision Sciences at Duke University, serving as chair from 2007-2012. At Duke, he has continued his work in spatial methodology while increasing his impact in the environmental sciences. To date, he has published over 260 papers and 6 books; he has also supervised 36 Ph.D. dissertations and 10 postdocs. This interview was done just prior to a conference of his family, academic descendants, and colleagues to celebrate his 70th birthday and his contributions to statistics which took place on April 19-22, 2015 at Duke University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Included in these web pages are the statements—the dismissive reviews—of some prominent education policy researchers. Most of their statements are inaccurate; it is possible that all of them are. Certainly, all of them are misleading. Each linked file includes the dismissive statements, the names of the lead authors (in bold when known) and co-authors, title, source, date, and, page numbers for the statement and hyperlink to the source, when available, all listed in reverse chronological order. “Dismissive review” is the general term. In the “type” column of the files, a finer distinction is made among simply “dismissive”—meaning a claim that there is no or little previous research, “denigrating”—meaning a claim that previous research exists but is so inferior it is not worth even citing, and “firstness”—a claim to be the first in the history of the world to ever conduct such a study. For the most part, I have included statements made by “serial dismissers”, researchers who dismiss repeatedly on a variety of topics. This is done to help counter the argument that they might be innocent, actually did make an effort to look for previous research, and simply could not find it. In most cases they dismiss a research literature that is hundreds or thousands of studies deep. And, when they do that repeatedly across a variety of topics, the odds that their dismissive behavior could be innocent fade to minuscule. - See more at: http://nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Resources/DismissiveList.htm#sthash.TXzlmZhZ.dpuf

European Patent No. 2430454 of Stanford University is open to opposition before the European Patent Office if such opposition is filed by 23 October 2013. This is the European equivalent of the US Patent that raised such controversy in this journal in August 2013 as being a patent on time. The European Patent, which is directed to a method of selecting embryos for implantation using the results of time-lapse microscopy, should, in the present authors' opinion, be revoked as being directed to a method of medical diagnosis, which is unpatentable under European patent law. The only party currently opposing Stanford's patent is a competitor, Unisense FertiliTech A/S which is itself seeking to patent similar methods in Europe; the objection that Stanford has patented a method of diagnosis has not been raised by Unisense FertiliTech. We submit that Stanford's patent should be opposed to safeguard competition and to protect the freedom to operate of clinicians. In this paper we explain how Stanford's patent should fail under European law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike most accounts of the origins of Silicon Valley, this essay insists that the valley today is rooted in the Gold Rush, and only through understanding this can scholars fully comprehend the roots of the innovation process that so characterizes the region today. The Gold Rush began a long gestation period in the region’s technical sciences that, with its physical, economic and geographic characteristics, comprised a petri dish in which innovations flourished. Early on communities of interest emerged among the original Argonauts around hydraulic engineering and among later adventurers around hydroelectric power, electric-power transmission, radio technology and microwave electronics. Over the years their members included mechanics, inventors, engineers, academics and entrepreneurs, and they found like-minded souls in San Francisco Bay Area technical and scientific organizations, social clubs and educational institutions, where they all overlapped with each other and created the foundations for the modern Silicon Valley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute aortic syndrome is made up of three entities: aortic dissection, intramural hematoma, and penetrating ulcer. The common denominator for this pathology is the disruption of the middle layer with bleeding along the wall of the aorta resulting in separation of the layers or in some cases break trauma. Early diagnosis of aortic dissection is essential to improve the outcome, since mortality of natural evolution in the fi rst 24 hours is 20% and 7 days of 62%. One of the most significant diagnostic errors is to confuse the dissection of the aorta with a heart attack, especially if thrombolytic therapy is indicated. The aim of our event is to describe type A aortic dissection Stanford and I DeBakey in 30 year old patient who presented to the emergency department of the hospital Cardiology XXI Century, Mexican Institute of Social Security, with an emphasis on diagnosis and treatment methods to be established in the emergency department in order to decrease mortality in these patients. The pathophysiological mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of aortic dissection are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Productivity models produced using time differences between consecutive StanForD stem files collected by harvester onboard computers were compared with models produced using traditional time and motion techniques for the same initial trees. Three sites were studied in Pinus radiata plantation clearfell operations across southern Australia. Delays and trees with multiple leaders or broken tops were removed from the data. This was done for the stem file data using filters. The same filters were applied to data from all sites. No significant differences were found between the models at each site, though the stem file productivity models generally had a poorer fit than the time and motion models. The advantages of using stem files for modelling are the ready availability of stem file data, which enables rapid creation of generalised harvester productivity models and avoids short-term changes in productivity caused by the presence of an observer (the “Hawthorne effect”). Disadvantages are the inability to account for unforeseen changes in conditions during data collection, and the inability to isolate work-cycle time-element data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stanford, in Exceeding Our Grasp, presents a powerful version of the pessimistic meta-induction. He claims that theories typically have empirically inequivalent but nonetheless well-confirmed, serious alternatives which are unconceived. This claim should be uncontroversial. But it alone is no threat to scientific realism. The threat comes from Stanford's further crucial claim, supported by historical examples, that a theory's unconceived alternatives are 'radically distinct' from it; there is no 'continuity'. A standard realist reply to the meta-induction is that past failures do not imply present ones because present theories are more successful than past ones. I have preferred to emphasize that present methodology is better than past ones. Stanford's response to the standard reply is surprisingly brief and inadequate. He defends the inference from the uncontroversial claim but not that from the crucial one. He does not show that past discontinuity implies present discontinuity. Realism survives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an autobiographical account of the author’s childhood struggle to survive in Stanford’s Learning House, a behaviorist program in the 1970s designed to help delinquents change. “The Minotaur of the Behaviorist Maze” offers an insider’s perspective on the consequences of treating a child as a stimulus–response organism in need of modification rather than as a human being in search of restoration of his or her innate wholeness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Harvesters estimate bark thickness primarily from diameter over bark (DOB) and use it to estimate log volume and value. Harvester bark thickness estimation errors can reduce returns through poor bucking optimisation and out-of-specification logs. Radiata pine bark thickness data from harvested logs and permanent sample plots (PSP) were analysed to determine best-fit coefficients for current and potential future harvester bark thickness models. The most suitable current harvester bark thickness model for radiata pine is: double bark thickness = b 0 + b 1*DOB (the ‘DOB model’). This describes a straight line, whereas radiata pine bark relative to DOB is thicker near the stem base and consistent over the remainder. PSP data set coefficients for this model overestimated upper stem bark thickness and underestimated lower stem values. The harvester model for Scots pine bark fitted better than the DOB model for diameters <400 mm but performed poorly for larger logs, as it is restricted to trees with a diameter at breast height <590 mm. Two better models were identified: (1) a model using relative height to account for bark thickness changes with height, and (2) implementing separate DOB models for the bottom 10% and top 90% of the stem split by relative height. These approaches require approval by the StanForD committee to be implemented. Prior to approval, the upper 90% model coefficients could be applied to the entire stem to improve upper 90% stem volume and value predictions at the expense of the lower 10%. Further research will determine if this approach produces acceptable results when optimising bucking. Increasing variability of bark thickness estimates with increasing DOB in the PSP data set may reflect manual measurement errors with thicker bark or may show that additional explanatory variables are needed. Efforts to identify new variables would need to be weighed against additional returns and probable reductions in numbers of larger trees by as the clearfell age is reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On an international comparison basis, Australia's utilisation of forest residues remains very low. While there are numerous factors contributing to this low utilisation, this is greatly explained by the limited timely and accurate data on availability, quality, and location of residues generated during harvesting operations. This manuscript reports on the development and testing of a new freeware tool called FIELD (Forest Inventory Electronic Live Data), which supports the real-time monitoring and estimation of forestry harvesting residues. As inputs, FIELD uses StanForD pri files and geo-location data extracted from the harvester's onboard computer in combination with locally developed species-specific allometric equations. Using a case study, this paper describes how FIELD works operationally and illustrates the range of support features that the tool can provide to decision-makers by producing real-time data on the availability, quality, and location of harvesting residues. In addition, it is discussed how the tool can contribute to supporting decisions during forest operations associated with the feasibility of residue utilisation in specific site conditions. Our results show that it is possible to estimate the availability of harvesting residues at geo-located sites dynamically, although further testing of the tool is required for a more accurate estimation and monitoring of harvesting residues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harvesters produce one third of timber in Czechia. The aim of this study was to analyze the over- and under-bark volume estimates of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) timber produced by a mid-performance harvester. The data were collected between March 2017 and June 2018. In total, 4661 stems cut into 29,834 logs were analyzed. For volume estimation, StanForD offers several price categories using various algorithms. Three of these price categories are relevant for Czech forestry—M3s, M3toDE, and M3miDE. The M3s price category is based on the estimation of partial volumes of 10 cm long sections, which are summed. Therefore, this price category represents the volume estimation closest to the true volume. By comparison, the M3toDE and M3miDE price categories use the same algorithm for volume estimation, which is based on the Huber formula using a midspan diameter rounded down to the nearest whole centimeter. The M3toDE price category underestimated the over-bark volume by 6.48% compared to the reference price category M3s. The mean log volume estimated through the M3s price category was significantly higher than the M3toDE volume both in individual grades and without grading. We found significant differences between under-bark volume estimates by the diameter band bark deduction method (DBM) and the parametric linear bark deduction method (PLM) used in harvester's systems according to the Guidelines for Electronic Scaling of Timber for Harvesters in Czechia (GEH) for Scots pine butt logs with rough bark, and also for other logs with normal bark thickness. To obtain under-bark volume estimates of Scots pine timber that are comparable with the Guidelines for Timber Scaling in Czechia (GTS) using the parametric nonlinear bark deduction method (PNM), we recommend using the algorithm of the M3toDE price category, with double bark thickness determined by the diameter band bark deduction method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timber is the most important source of revenue in forestry and, therefore, is necessary to precisely estimate its volume. The share of timber volume produced by harvesters is annually growing in many European countries. Suitable settings of harvesters will allow us to achieve the most accurate volume estimates of the produced timber. In this study, we compared the different methods of log volume estimation applied by control and information systems of harvesters. The aim was to analyze the price categories that can be set up in the StanForD standard and to determine the differences between the algorithms used for log volume estimations. We obtained the data from *.STM files collected from March 2017 until June 2018 on a medium-size harvester. We analyzed price categories and found seven different algorithms used to estimate the log volumes. Log volume estimates according to Algorithm A2 were considered as standard because these estimates should be closest to the true log volumes. Significant differences, except the difference between Algorithm A2 and Algorithm A3, were found between log volumes estimated by different algorithms. After categorization of logs to assortments, the results showed that significant differences existed between algorithms in each assortment. In the roundwood assortment, which contains the most valuable logs, a difference of more than 6% was found between the log volumes estimated by Algorithm A5 and Algorithm A2. This is interesting because Algorithm A5 is widely used in some Central European countries. To obtain volumes closest to the true volumes, we should use Algorithm A2 for the harvester production outputs. The resulting differences between the algorithms can be used to estimate the volume difference between harvester outputs using the different price categories. Understanding this setting of harvesters and the differences between the price categories will provide users useful information in applied forest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]