Predicting Post-Dive Inert Gas Bubble Grades in Non-Decompression Scuba Diving with Air: Simplified Model for Enhanced Diver Safety.

Background: Even well-planned no-decompression dives can still produce inert gas bubbles that increase decompression sickness risk. A previously proposed formula for predicting post-dive bubble grades integrates individual factors (age, breathing gas consumption) with dive parameters (maximum depth, surface interval). This study aimed to confirm the formula's validity in an independent dataset and to find out whether detailed dive profile data are of further relevance in predicting echocardiography-derived post-dive bubble grades.

Tree Diversity Increases Forest Temperature Buffering via Enhancing Canopy Density and Structural Diversity.

Global warming is increasing the frequency and intensity of climate extremes. Forests may buffer climate extremes by creating their own attenuated microclimate below their canopy, which maintains forest functioning and biodiversity. However, the effect of tree diversity on temperature buffering in forests is largely unexplored.

Wholesale flat subduction of the Indian slab and northward mantle convective flow: Plateau growth and driving force of the India-Asia collision.

The tectonic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau has been influenced by continental collision and postcollisional convergence of Indian and Eurasian plates, both of which have undoubtedly imposed their imprints on the lithosphere and upper-mantle structures beneath the collision zone. However, the mode by which the Indian Plate has subducted beneath Tibet, and its driving forces, have been highly uncertain. Here, we present seismic evidence from a full-waveform tomographic model that reveals flat subduction of the Indian Plate beneath nearly the entire plateau at [Formula: see text]300 km depth, implying that the slab may have transitioned to positive/neutral buoyancy and is no longer capable of supporting steep-angle deep subduction.

Hidden cascades of seismic ice stream deformation.

Ice streams are major regulators of sea level change. However, standard viscous flow simulations of their evolution have limited predictive power owing to incomplete understanding of involved processes. On the Greenland ice sheet, borehole fiber-optic observations revealed a brittle deformation mode that is incompatible with viscous flow, over length scales similar to the resolution of modern ice sheet models: englacial ice quake cascades that are unobservable at the surface.

Transcranial ultrasound modeling using the spectral-element method.

This work explores techniques for accurately modeling the propagation of ultrasound waves in lossy fluid-solid media, such as within transcranial ultrasound, using the spectral-element method. The objectives of this work are twofold, namely, (1) to present a formulation of the coupled viscoacoustic-viscoelastic wave equation for the spectral-element method in order to incorporate attenuation in both fluid and solid regions and (2) to provide an end-to-end workflow for performing spectral-element simulations in transcranial ultrasound. The matrix-free implementation of this high-order finite-element method is very well-suited for performing waveform-based ultrasound simulations for both transcranial imaging and focused ultrasound treatment thanks to its excellent accuracy, flexibility for dealing with complex geometries, and computational efficiency.

Full-waveform inversion reveals diverse origins of lower mantle positive wave speed anomalies.

Determining Earth's structure is paramount to unravel its interior dynamics. Seismic tomography reveals positive wave speed anomalies throughout the mantle that spatially correlate with the expected locations of subducted slabs. This correlation has been widely applied in plate reconstructions and geodynamic modelling.

Diversity-enhanced canopy space occupation and leaf functional diversity jointly promote overyielding in tropical tree communities.

Understanding the mechanisms that drive biodiversity-productivity relationships is critical for guiding forest restoration. Although complementarity among trees in the canopy space has been suggested as a key mechanism for greater productivity in mixed-species tree communities, empirical evidence remains limited. Here, we used data from a tropical tree diversity experiment to disentangle the effects of tree species richness and community functional characteristics (community-weighted mean and functional diversity of leaf traits) on canopy space filling, and how these effects are related to overyielding.

Combining multiple investigative approaches to unravel functional responses to global change in the understorey of temperate forests.

Plant communities are being exposed to changing environmental conditions all around the globe, leading to alterations in plant diversity, community composition, and ecosystem functioning. For herbaceous understorey communities in temperate forests, responses to global change are postulated to be complex, due to the presence of a tree layer that modulates understorey responses to external pressures such as climate change and changes in atmospheric nitrogen deposition rates. Multiple investigative approaches have been put forward as tools to detect, quantify and predict understorey responses to these global-change drivers, including, among others, distributed resurvey studies and manipulative experiments.

Hill-Chao numbers allow decomposing gamma multifunctionality into alpha and beta components.

Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) research has provided strong evidence and mechanistic underpinnings to support positive effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning, from single to multiple functions. This research has provided knowledge gained mainly at the local alpha scale (i.e.

Regional Anesthesia for Acute Pain Treatment in Pre-Hospital and In-Hospital Emergency Medicine.

Background: More than half of all emergency department patients seek help for acute pain, which is usually of musculoskeletal origin. Acute pain is often inadequately treated even today, particularly in children and in older patients. In this study, we assess the potential role of regional anesthetic methods in improving the treatment of pain in the preclinical and clinical emergency setting.

Tree diversity increases productivity through enhancing structural complexity across mycorrhizal types.

Tree species diversity and mycorrhizal associations play a central role for forest productivity, but factors driving positive biodiversity-productivity relationships remain poorly understood. In a biodiversity experiment manipulating tree diversity and mycorrhizal associations, we examined the roles of above- and belowground processes in modulating wood productivity in young temperate tree communities and potential underlying mechanisms. We found that tree species richness, but not mycorrhizal associations, increased forest productivity by enhancing aboveground structural complexity within communities.

Long-range fiber-optic earthquake sensing by active phase noise cancellation.

We present a long-range fiber-optic environmental deformation sensor based on active phase noise cancellation (PNC) in metrological frequency dissemination. PNC sensing exploits recordings of a compensation frequency that is commonly discarded. Without the need for dedicated measurement devices, it operates synchronously with metrological services, suggesting that existing phase-stabilized metrological networks can be co-used effortlessly as environmental sensors.

Enhancing the structural diversity between forest patches-A concept and real-world experiment to study biodiversity, multifunctionality and forest resilience across spatial scales.

Intensification of land use by humans has led to a homogenization of landscapes and decreasing resilience of ecosystems globally due to a loss of biodiversity, including the majority of forests. Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) research has provided compelling evidence for a positive effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functions and services at the local (α-diversity) scale, but we largely lack empirical evidence on how the loss of between-patch β-diversity affects biodiversity and multifunctionality at the landscape scale (γ-diversity). Here, we present a novel concept and experimental framework for elucidating BEF patterns at α-, β-, and γ-scales in real landscapes at a forest management-relevant scale.

Sensitive seismic sensors based on microwave frequency fiber interferometry in commercially deployed cables.

The use of fiber infrastructures for environmental sensing is attracting global interest, as optical fibers emerge as low cost and easily accessible platforms exhibiting a large terrestrial deployment. Moreover, optical fiber networks offer the unique advantage of providing observations of submarine areas, where the sparse existence of permanent seismic instrumentation due to cost and difficulties in deployment limits the availability of high-resolution subsea information on natural hazards in both time and space. The use of optical techniques that leverage pre-existing fiber infrastructure can efficiently provide higher resolution coverage and pave the way for the identification of the detailed structure of the Earth especially on seismogenic submarine faults.

Diffuse ultrasound computed tomography.

An alternative approach to acquire transmission travel time data is proposed, exploiting the geometry of devices commonly used in ultrasound computed tomography for medical imaging or non-destructive testing with ultrasonic waves. The intent is to (i) shorten acquisition time for devices with a large number of emitters, (ii) to eliminate the calibration step, and (iii) to suppress instrument noise. Inspired by seismic ambient field interferometry, the method rests on the active excitation of diffuse ultrasonic wavefields and the extraction of deterministic travel time information by inter-station correlation.

Species richness stabilizes productivity via asynchrony and drought-tolerance diversity in a large-scale tree biodiversity experiment.

Extreme climatic events threaten forests and their climate mitigation potential globally. Understanding the drivers promoting ecosystem stability is therefore considered crucial for mitigating adverse climate change effects on forests. Here, we use structural equation models to explain how tree species richness, asynchronous species dynamics, species-level population stability, and drought-tolerance traits relate to the stability of forest productivity along an experimentally manipulated species richness gradient ranging from 1 to 24 tree species.

[Development and validation of a course concept for Tactical Medical Mining Rescue : Standardized training curriculum for mine rescue teams].

Background: Structural changes in modern mining industry increase the potential for medical emergencies. Furthermore, rescue times in mining are prolonged and public medical resources are not consistently available.

Objectives: We sought to train mine rescue brigade lay people to cover medical emergencies in mining.

Sonographic Estimation Rather Than Quantification of Fluid Status Using Inferior Vena Cava and Other Major Vessel Parameters in a Non-Bleeding Fluid Loss and Centralization Model.

Objective: A well-accepted step in emergency sonography is the estimation of a fluid deficit through Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) diameter variability with known cut-offs especially in bleeding. We sought to answer, whether a non-bleeding fluid deficit can be quantified through sonographic assessment of IVC diameter variability and related aortic parameters. Sport divers were used as human hypovolemic vasoconstriction models since immersion is known to cause relevant volume depletion through vasoconstriction and induced diuresis.

A Doppler ultrasound self-monitoring approach for detection of relevant individual decompression stress in scuba diving.

Observing modern decompression protocols alone cannot fully prevent diving injuries especially in repetitive diving. Professional audio Doppler bubble measurements are not available to sports scuba divers. If those non-professionals were able to learn audio Doppler self-assessment for bubble grading, such skill could provide significant information on individual decisions with respect to diving safety.

What shapes ground beetle assemblages in a tree species-rich subtropical forest?

As woody plants provide much of the trophic basis for food webs in forests their species richness, but also stand age and numerous further variables such as vegetation structure, soil properties and elevation can shape assemblages of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae). However, the combined impact of these numerous variables on ground beetle diversity and community structure has rarely been studied simultaneously. Therefore, ground beetles were studied in 27 plots in a highly diverse and structurally heterogeneous subtropical forest ecosystem, the Gutianshan National Park (southeast China) using pitfall traps and flight interception traps.

Tree species richness modulates water supply in the local tree neighbourhood: evidence from wood C signatures in a large-scale forest experiment.

Biodiversity is considered to mitigate the adverse effects of changing precipitation patterns. However, our understanding of how tree diversity at the local neighbourhood scale modulates the water use and leaf physiology of individual trees remains unclear. We made use of a large-scale tree diversity experiment in subtropical China to study eight tree species along an experimentally manipulated gradient of local neighbourhood tree species richness.

Estimating Inert Gas Bubbling from Simple SCUBA Diving Parameters.

Inert gas bubbles frequently occur in SCUBA divers' vascular systems, eventually leading to decompression accidents. Only in professional settings, dive profiles can be adjusted on individual basis depending on bubble grades detected through ultrasonography. A total of 342 open-circuit air dives following sports diving profiles were assessed using echocardiography.