The Southern Ocean (SO) carbon sink has strengthened substantially since the year 2000, following a decade of a weakening trend. However, the surface ocean pCO2 data underlying this trend reversal ...are sparse, requiring a substantial amount of extrapolation to map the data. Here we use nine different pCO2 mapping products to investigate the SO trends and their sensitivity to the mapping procedure. We find a robust temporal coherence for the entire SO, with eight of the nine products agreeing on the sign of the decadal trends, that is, a weakening CO2 sink trend in the 1990s (on average 0.22 ± 0.24 pg C yr−1 decade−1), and a strengthening sink trend during the 2000s (−0.35 ± 0.23 pg C yr−1 decade−1). Spatially, the multiproduct mean reveals rather uniform trends, but the confidence is limited, given the small number of statistically significant trends from the individual products, particularly during the data‐sparse 1990–1999 period.
Plain Language Summary
The Southern Ocean plays an important role in regulating Earth's climate as it takes up a substantial amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby limiting the effect of global warming. However, this part of the global ocean is also the least well observed and observational data are sparse. Therefore, to study Southern Ocean carbon uptake, data interpolation methods are used to estimate the variability of the carbon uptake from the few existing observations. This poses the question on how reliable these estimates are. The Surface Ocean CO2 Mapping intercomparison project aims to do exactly that, that is, test how reliable current estimates are by comparing results from different methods. Here we compare the results from nine data interpolation methods in the Southern Ocean from 1990 to 2010 and find a broad and encouraging agreement regarding decadal carbon uptake signals, whereas a spatially more refined analysis reveals much less agreement locally, illustrating the need to continue the measurement effort in the Southern Ocean.
Key Points
We compare decadal trends of an ensemble of nine observation‐based Delta pCO2 products in the Southern Ocean
Eight out of nine products reveal a weakening sink trend calculated for the 1990s, and a strengthening sink in the 2000s
The spatial pattern of the multiproduct mean trends is rather uniform in both periods
This paper reports the results of an international interlaboratory study led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on the measurement of high-pressure surface excess carbon ...dioxide adsorption isotherms on NIST Reference Material RM 8852 (ammonium ZSM-5 zeolite), at 293.15 K (20 °C) from 1 kPa up to 4.5 MPa. Eleven laboratories participated in this exercise and, for the first time, high-pressure adsorption reference data are reported using a reference material. An empirical reference equation
n
e
x
=
d
(
1
+
exp
-
ln
(
P
)
+
a
/
b
)
c
,
n
ex
-surface excess uptake (mmol/g),
P
-equilibrium pressure (MPa),
a
= −6.22,
b
= 1.97,
c
= 4.73, and
d
= 3.87 along with the 95% uncertainty interval (
U
k
= 2
= 0.075 mmol/g) were determined for the reference isotherm using a Bayesian, Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Together, this zeolitic reference material and the associated adsorption data provide a means for laboratories to test and validate high-pressure adsorption equipment and measurements. Recommendations are provided for measuring reliable high-pressure adsorption isotherms using this material, including activation procedures, data processing methods to determine surface excess uptake, and the appropriate equation of state to be used.
The NNE-trending Upper Rhine Graben (URG) of the European Cenozoic Rift System developed from c. 47 Ma onwards in response to changing lithospheric stresses in the northwestern foreland of the Alps. ...The composite graben structure consists of three segments, each c. 100 km long and 30–40 km wide, but flares to c. 60 km near its southern and to c. 80 km near its northern termination. Normal faulting induced a total extension of 5–8 km of the 1–2 km thick Mesozoic sedimentary Franconian platform and underlying Variscan basement rocks. However, distribution of an up to 3.5 km thick sedimentary graben fill and cumulative displacements near Eastern and Western Main Border fault systems suggest that subsidence of the graben floor and shoulder uplift created strong cross-sectional asymmetries. Cumulative W-down displacements >3 km along strongly segmented transfer faults in the east contrast with E-down displacements <3 km and major monoclinal “block fields” in the west. Both location and asymmetry of the URG appear to be related to lithospheric shear zones that originated within the central parts of the Variscan orogen between c. 330 and 315 Ma. Following pervasive deformation, HT/LP regional metamorphism and emplacement of granodioritic-granitic plutons a c. 50-km-thick orogenic crust were thinned to an about 30-km-thick two-layered crust above a reconsolidated and relatively planar crust-mantle boundary (Moho). In the URG area extensional thinning of the crust appears to have occurred mainly along a composite NNE-striking and mainly W-down “East Rhine Detachment”, which is partly exposed along the Wehratal, Omerskopf, Otzberg and other mylonitic-cataclastic shear zones in the basement of the eastern graben shoulder. These shear zones probably extend into lower crustal levels, where they are revealed as gently W-dipping seismic reflectors beneath and west of the URG. Major W-down displacements probably account for the mapped abundance of high-grade metamorphic basement rocks on the eastern graben shoulder in contrast to the predominantly low-grade metamorphic to unmetamorphosed sedimentary-volcanic rocks exposed on the western shoulder. Although between c. 310 and 270 Ma NE-trending Permocarboniferous volcanic-sedimentary basins of the URG area subsided along upper crustal faults that mimic the trend of Variscan faults, initial broad lithospheric cooling from c. 270–200 Ma led to subsidence of a distinctly NNE- to SSW-oriented embayment that was probably underlain by thinner Palaeozoic crust in the area of the NNE-trending East Rhine Detachment. After re-emergence of the platform above sea level in late Mesozoic times, the deep-reaching W-dipping “extensional defects” of the East Rhine Detachment exerted a primary lithospheric scale control on both location and cross-sectional asymmetry of the Cenozoic graben structure. NE- and NW-striking, strongly altered and more shallow rooted Permocarboniferous or Mesozoic faults exerted secondary upper crustal controls on transfer faults and the accommodation zones near the terminations and segment boundaries of the URG. Deep crustal to upper lithospheric asymmetries continue to influence the neotectonic setting of the URG, such as westward rising earthquake hypocentres. Seismic activity along the URG appears to be part of a >600 km long zone that delimits the trailing edge of a SW-moving lithospheric block. In the URG area, NE–SW-oriented seismic anisotropy at sublithospheric depths of c. 60–80 km suggest active mantle flow in this direction as a possible driving force for the reactivation of pre-graben lithospheric shear zones.
There is growing interest in cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells on the integrated therapy of patients with RCC, especially those in the late stage or refractory to conventional chemotherapy and ...radiotherapy. In this review, a total of 15 clinical studies including 681 patients enrolled in CIK cell immunotherapy were outlined. Three-hundred-and-eighty-two patients with RCC were treated with CIK cells alone or in combination with DC vaccination, targeted agents sunitinib or sorafenib, and the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab. Significantly improved 3-year overall survival rate was reported in four trials, whereas remarkably longer median progression-free survival was observed in three studies. Adverse reactions were mild and usually controllable fever and fatigue. Besides, preclinical research progresses were reviewed to increase our understanding about the underlying mechanisms of CIK cell cytotoxicity and identify potential targets to enhance their anti-tumor activity. These studies suggest that CIK cell-based immunotherapy has potential clinical benefits with a good safety profile and could become a promising approach in the combined therapies of RCC patients. However, further large-scale studies are required to evaluate the clinical efficacy of CIK cells and more efforts should be performed to identify the optimal CIK cell-based therapeutic regimen for RCC patients.
A MAPS based vertex detector for the STAR experiment at RHIC Greiner, L.; Anderssen, E.; Matis, H.S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2011, Letnik:
650, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The STAR experiment at RHIC is in the process of upgrading the inner detector region of the experiment to improve the vertex resolution. We describe the current design of a MAPS based vertex ...detector, which is the innermost and highest resolution detector of the set of three planned upgrade detectors. This detector will enable the identification of decay vertices displaced from the interaction vertex by 100–150
μm and extend the capabilities of the STAR detector in the heavy flavor domain. We present selected detector design characteristics and prototyping results, which help to validate the design in preparation for the construction of the detector.
Immigration has taken the central stage in world politics, especially in the developed countries like Germany, where the continuous flow of immigrants has been well documented since 1960s. ...Strikingly, emerging data suggest that migrant patients have a poorer response to the treatment and lower survival rates in their new host country, raising concerns about health disparities. Herein, we present our investigation on the treatment response rate and cancer survival in German patients with and without an immigrant background that were treated at our comprehensive cancer center in Germany.
Initially, we considered 8162 cancer patients treated at the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO), University Hospital Bonn, Germany (April 2002-December 2015) for matched-pair analysis. Subsequently, the German patients with a migration background and those from the native German population were manually identified and catalogued using a highly specific name-based algorithm. The clinical parameters such as demographic characteristics, tumor characteristics, defined staging criteria, and primary therapy were further adjusted. Using these stringent criteria, a total of 422 patients (n = 211, Germans with migration background; n = 211, native German population) were screened to compare for the treatment response and survival rates (i.e., 5-year overall survival, progression-free survival, and time to progression).
Compared to the cohort with migration background, the cohort without migration background was slightly older (54.9 vs. 57.9 years) while having the same sex distribution (54.5% vs. 55.0% female) and longer follow-up time (36.9 vs. 42.6 months). We did not find significant differences in cancer survival (5-year overall survival, P = 0.771) and the response rates (Overall Remission Rate; McNemar's test, P = 0.346) between both collectives.
Contrary to prior reports, we found no significant differences in cancer survival between German patients with immigrant background and native German patients. Nevertheless, the advanced treatment protocols implemented at our comprehensive cancer center may possibly account for the low variance in outcome. To conduct similar studies with a broader perspective, we propose that certain risk factors (country-of-origin-specific infections, dietary habits, epigenetics for chronic diseases etc.) should be considered, specially in the future studies that will recruit new arrivals from the 2015 German refugee crisis.
COLLECTIVE FLOW IN HEAVY-ION COLLISIONS Reisdorf, W.; Ritter, H. G.
Annual review of nuclear and particle science,
12/1997, Letnik:
47, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
▪ Abstract We provide an overview of collective flow phenomena observed in heavy ion collisions from the Fermi energy range up to CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) energies. We summarize the ...experimental data in terms of the various observed aspects of flow, namely directed flow in the reaction plane, elliptic flow in- and out-of-plane, and azimuthally symmetric radial flow originating from the expansion of the hot and compressed reaction zone. Also reviewed are the theoretical concepts developed to simulate the complex reactions with the aim of extracting fundamental properties of hot and compressed nuclear matter.
Here, we report a systematic measurement of cumulants, Cn, for net-proton, proton, and antiproton multiplicity distributions, and correlation functions, κn, for proton and antiproton multiplicity ...distributions up to the fourth order in Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 7.7, 11.5, 14.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 54.4, 62.4, and 200 GeV. The Cn and κn are presented as a function of collision energy, centrality and kinematic acceptance in rapidity, y, and transverse momentum, pT. The data were taken during the first phase of the Beam Energy Scan (BES) program (2010–2017) at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) facility. The measurements are carried out at midrapidity (|y| < 0.5) and transverse momentum 0.4 < pT < 2.0GeV/c, using the STAR detector at RHIC. We observe a nonmonotonic energy dependence (√sNN = 7.7–62.4 GeV) of the net-proton C4/C2 with the significance of 3.1σ for the 0–5% central Au+Au collisions. This is consistent with the expectations of critical fluctuations in a QCD-inspired model. Thermal and transport model calculations show a monotonic variation with √sNN. For the multiparticle correlation functions, we observe significant negative values for a two-particle correlation function, κ2, of protons and antiprotons, which are mainly due to the effects of baryon number conservation. Furthermore, it is found that the four-particle correlation function, κ4, of protons plays a role in determining the energy dependence of proton C4/C1 below 19.6 GeV, which cannot be understood by the effect of baryon number conservation.
We chose an Elaeis interspecific pseudo-backcross of first generation (E. oleifera × E. guineensis) × E. guineensis to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for fatty acid composition of palm oil. ...A dense microsatellite linkage map of 362 loci spanned 1.485 cM, representing the 16 pairs of homologous chromosomes in the Elaeis genus from which we traced segregating alleles from both E. oleifera and E. guineensis grandparents. The relative linear orders of mapped loci suggested the probable absence of chromosome rearrangements between the E. oleifera and E. guineensis genomes. A total of 19 QTL associated to the palm oil fatty acid composition were evidenced. The QTL positions and the species origin as well as the estimated effects of the QTL marker alleles were in coherence with the knowledge of the oil biosynthesis pathway in plants and with the individual phenotypic correlations between the traits. The mapping of chosen Elaeis key genes related to oleic acid C18:1, using intra-gene SNPs, supported several QTLs underlying notably FATA and SAD enzymes. The high number of hyper-variable SSR loci of known relative linear orders and the QTL information make these resources valuable for such mapping study in other Elaeis breeding materials.
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