The triple-sidedness of “I can’t breathe”

On Juneteenth, Friday, June 19, 2020, unionized workers of the Durham Workers Assembly of Durham, North Carolina, held a rally in front of Durham Police Headquarters to “defund the police” in support of the national Black Lives Matter movement protesting in massive numbers in the streets of US cities and being met with overwhelming police repression. Black Lives Matter marches in the streets of cities and towns of the United States continued, as the world looked on

Relationship between Early Inflammatory Response and Clinical Evolution of the Severe Multiorgan Failure in Mechanical Circulatory Support-Treated Patients

Background. The mechanical circulatory support (MCS) is an effective treatment in critically ill patients with end-stage heart failure (ESHF) that, however, may cause a severe multiorgan failure syndrome (MOFS) in these subjects. The impact of altered inflammatory response, associated to MOFS, on clinical evolution of MCS postimplantation patients has not been yet clarified. Methods. Circulating cytokines, adhesion molecules, and a marker of monocyte activation (neopterin) were determined in 53MCStreated patients, at preimplant and until 2 weeks. MOFS was evaluated by total sequential organ failure assessment score (tSOFA). Results. During MCS treatment, 32 patients experienced moderate MOFS (tSOFA< 11; A group), while 21 patients experienced severe MOFS (tSOFA? 11) with favorable (B group) or adverse (&#55349;&#56411; = 13, C group) outcomes. At preimplant, higher values of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were the only parameter independently associated with A group. In C group, during the first postoperative week, high levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-&#55349;&#57084;, and an increase of neopterin and adhesionmolecules, precede tSOFA worsening and exitus. Conclusions.TheMCS patients of C group show an excessive release to IL-8 and TNF-&#55349;&#57084;, and monocyte-endothelial activation after surgery, that might contribute to the unfavourable evolution of severe MOFS

Assessment of forest biomass and carbon stocks at stand level using site-specific primary data to support forest management

-Introduction • Quantification and mapping of forest Ecosystem Services (ESs) is essential to identify effective forest management practices and to support environmental institutions in the decision-making processes; • To mitigate climate change, the most important forest ESs are: (i) carbon stock and (ii) woody biomasssupply; • The use of models based on site-specific primary (measured) data collected in Forest Management Plans (FMPs) is essential to support the sustainable forest management. General objectives • To develop a model to quantify and map (1) carbon stock (ES1) and (2) woody biomass extracted from the forests (ES2) at stand level using site-specific primary data: 1.ES1 (modeling of carbon dynamics in forest): to calculate the mass of carbon (t·year-1) stocked in different pools over time according to the forest management practices; 2.ES2 (analysis of woody biomass harvesting chains): to calculate the mass (tDM·year-1) of different woody assortments extracted from the forest over time and economic (€·tDM-1) and environmental costs (tCO2eq·tDM-1) of the machinery chains. Materials and methods Results Development of an interactive model for multi-level forest management. Direct users will be Mountains Communities (U1) and supply chain operators i.e. forestry enterprises (U2) Regarding U1: information about woody biomass (and C) and its evolution over time will be provided to support sustainable and multifunctional planning and management; regarding U2: indications to minimize the economic and environmental costs of woody biomass production will be provided to promote a greater use of local forestry resources

High Accuracy Site-Specific Secondary Data for Mechanical Field Operations to Support LCA Studies

The aim of the study was to quantify site-specific secondary data of mechanical field operations for EU barley cropping. By the model ENVIAM v2, each operation was subdivided into 13 working times and, for each of them, the amount of total consuming inputs (fuel, lubricant and AdBlue\uae) and emissions of exhaust gases into the atmosphere were calculated. The amount of partial consuming inputs (machinery mass) and emissions of heavy metals into the soil were also quantified. Three scenarios (S) were identified: S1\u2009=\u200950 ha, S2\u2009=\u2009100 ha, S3\u2009=\u2009200 ha, with the same: agronomic conditions, operations sequence, type of machines used and cropping inputs. For each scenario, two barley ideotypes were analyzed: (i) currently in use (BarNow, 2018) and (ii) future (BarPlus, 2030). BarPlus is characterized by: (i) higher grain and straw yield, Nitrogen fertilization rate and machinery Effective Field Capacity, (ii) use of TIER 5 fuel engines, (iii) lower specific minimum fuel consumption. BarNow inputs (kg\ub7ha 121) were: fuel\u2009=\u200967 \uf7 74, lubricant\u2009=\u20090.56 \uf7 0.73, mass\u2009=\u20097.9 \uf7 8.8. BarPlus inputs (kg\ub7ha 121) were: fuel\u2009=\u200955 \uf7 60, lubricant\u2009=\u20090.53 \uf7 0.69, AdBlue\uae\u2009=\u20092.8 \uf7 3.0, mass\u2009=\u20097.2 \uf7 8.0. The highest fuel and mass consumptions were in both cases related to tillage operations

Estimation of carbon storage of forest biomass for voluntary carbon markets: preliminary results

Estimating the carbon storage of forests is essential to support climate change mitigation and promote the transition into a low-carbon emission economy. To achieve this goal, voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) are essential. VCMs are promoted by a spontaneous demand, not imposed by binding targets, as the regulated ones. In Italy, only in Veneto and Piedmont Regions (Northern Italy), VCMs through forestry activities were carried out. Valle Camonica District (Northern Italy, Lombardy Region) is ready for a local VCM, but carbon storage of its forests was never estimated. The aim of this work was to estimate the total carbon storage (TCS; t C ha 121) of forest biomass of Valle Camonica District, at the stand level, taking into account: (1) aboveground biomass, (2) belowground biomass, (3) deadwood, and (4) litter. We developed a user-friendly model, based on site-specifc primary (measured) data, and we applied it to a dataset of 2019 stands extracted from 45 Forest Management Plans. Preliminary results showed that, in 2016, the TCS achieved 76.02 t C ha 121. The aboveground biomass was the most relevant carbon pool (48.86 t C ha 121; 64.27% of TCS). From 2017 to 2029, through multifunctional forest management, the TCS could increase of 2.48 t C ha 121 (+3.26%). In the same period, assuming to convert coppices stands to high forests, an additional TCS of 0.78 t C ha 121 (equal to 2.85 t CO2 ha 121) in the aboveground biomass could be achieved without increasing forest areas. The additional carbon could be certifed and exchanged on a VCM, contributing to climate change mitigation at a local level

High accuracy site-specific secondary data for mechanical field operations to support LCA studies

INTRODUCTION • Agricultural operations are strongly influenced by site-specific pedological and climatic working conditions. The use of the same machine in different site-specific conditions, as well as the performance of the same operation in equal site-specific conditions (but with different machines), strongly influence the environmental costs of the operation itself; • Methodologies to quantify the environmental impacts of mechanical field operations are widely applied, but, usually, system inputs and outputs come from international databases or literature and rarely represent the studied situation. GENERAL OBJECTIVES • To quantify site-specific secondary data related to mechanical field operations in EU cereal cropping, from primary soil tillage to grain and straw transportation, paying particular attention to barley; • To use this environmental inventory to perform the LCA analysis related to barley cultivation in EU. RESULTS and DISCUSSION Fuel consumptions – and the corresponding emissions into the atmosphere – strongly depend on both tractor’s engine loads and duration of each working time: the assumption of a constant engine load (maximum value) for each working time – and thus a constant specific fuel consumption – leads to wrong evaluations in terms of fuel consumptions and emissions; • BarNow inputs amounted to: fuel FC = 67-74 kg·ha-1, lubricants LC = 0.56-0.73 kg·ha-1 and mass MC = 7.9-8.8 kg·ha-1. Emissions of CO2 amounted to EMCO2 = 211-233 kg·ha-1. BarPlus inputs amounted to: FC = 55-60 kg·ha-1, LC = 0.54-0.69 kg·ha-1, MC = 7.2-8.0 kg·ha-1 and AdB = 2.8-3.0 kg·ha-1. EMCO2 = 173-189 kg·ha-1. The highest fuel (and consequently CO2 emissions) and mass consumptions are, in any scenario, related to tillage operation

The moving boundaries of social heat: gambling in rural China

Whilst gambling for money was prohibited during the Maoist era, since the 1980s it has become very common in many rural areas of central China. It is often the major communal activity in many villages, a focus point of daily gossip and an object of government campaigns. I describe several forms of gambling common in Bashan Township, Eastern Hubei Province, and relate them to local discourses on capability/skill and luck/fate. Gambling reproduces ‘social heat’, which is a desired form of social effervescence as long as it remains within certain boundaries. But the boundaries of accepted gambling and social heat in local sociality as well as those given in official representations and state discourse, are contested, and both stand in an ambiguous relationship to each other; a relationship that is described in terms of ‘cultural intimacy’. Using medium-range concepts such as ‘social heat’ and ‘cultural intimacy’ the article attempts to avoid the pitfalls of totalizing approaches which explain popular gambling as consequence of or resistance to ‘neoliberalism’

Myocardial interleukin-6 in the setting of left ventricular mechanical assistance: relation with outcome and C-reactive protein

Background: In left ventricular assist device (LVAD) recipients, plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-6 are associated with Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) profiles, reflecting postoperative risk. However, it is not clear how the cardiac. Conclusions: Cardiac IL-6 levels do not contribute to improve risk profile of LVAD recipients in relation to clinical inpatient post-implantation. Instead, plasma IL-6 and serum CRP concentrations are more effective in predicting the severity of the clinical course in the early phase of LVAD therapy. level of IL-6, detectable on the tissue samples at the time of implantation, can contribute to predict the post-operative outcome

A Preliminary Model for Forestry Machinery Chain Selection and Calculation of Operating Costs for Wood Recovery

Selecting the most suitable machines to use for wood recovery is essential for computing the operating costs of the whole forestry machinery chain (FMC). Nevertheless, a generalized approach for selecting the most suitable FMC and quantifying the corresponding economic performances for wood recovery (i.e., harvesting and long-distance transport) is still missing. The primary aim of this study is to describe a decision support model, called FOREstry MAchinery chain selection (“FOREMA v1”), which is able to (i) select the most feasible FMC and (ii) calculate the costs (such as EUR·h−1; EUR·t−1 of dry matter, DM) of each operation (OP) comprising the FMC. The model is made up of three different modules (Ms): machinery chain selection (M1), machinery chain organization (M2), and cost calculation (M3). In M1, feasible FMCs are defined according to seven technical parameters that characterize the forest area. For each FMC, FOREMA v1 defines the sequence of OPs and the types of machines that can potentially be used. Once the characteristics of the area in which wood recovery occurs are processed, the user selects the types of machines to use according to the model’s suggestions. In M2 and M3, the user is supported in organizing the FMC (e.g., calculation of the required time, working productivity, and so on) and computing the operating costs. The secondary aim of this study is to discuss a case study focused on chips production for energy generation, providing empirical evidence on how FOREMA v1 works. The proposed model provides a systematic approach for the selection and optimization of the most suitable FMC to adopt for biomass recovery, thus supporting decision-making processes. The results showed that felling had the lowest cost per unit of time (63.7 EUR·h−1) but the highest cost per unit of mass (35.4 EUR·t DM−1) due to its longer working time and lower productivity. Loading and long-distance transport incurred the highest costs both per unit of time (223.5 EUR·h−1) and per unit of mass (29.4 EUR·t DM−1), attributed to the use of medium–small-sized trailers coupled with tractors operating at low speeds, leading to a high number of cycles. For the entire FMC the costs were equal to 147.3 EUR·h−1 and 101.1 EUR·t DM−