Cloud and aerosol data acquired by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Convair‐580 aircraft in, above, and below single‐layer arctic stratocumulus cloud during the Indirect and Semi‐Direct ...Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC) in April 2008 were used to test three aerosol indirect effects hypothesized to act in mixed‐phase clouds: the riming indirect effect, the glaciation indirect effect, and the thermodynamic indirect effect. The data showed a correlation of R = 0.78 between liquid drop number concentration, Nliq inside cloud and ambient aerosol number concentration NPCASP below cloud. This, combined with increasing liquid water content LWC with height above cloud base and the nearly constant vertical profile of Nliq, suggested that liquid drops nucleated from aerosol at cloud base. No evidence of a riming indirect effect was observed, but a strong correlation of R = 0.69 between ice crystal number concentration Ni and NPCASP above cloud was noted. Increases in ice nuclei (IN) concentration with NPCASP above cloud for 2 flight dates combined with the subadiabatic LWC profiles suggest possible mixing of IN from cloud top consistent with the glaciation indirect effect. The lower Nice and lower effective radius rel for the more polluted ISDAC cases compared to data collected in cleaner single‐layer stratocumulus conditions during the Mixed‐Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment is consistent with the operation of the thermodynamic indirect effect. However, more data in a wider variety of meteorological and surface conditions, with greater variations in aerosol forcing, are required to identify the dominant aerosol forcing mechanisms in mixed‐phase arctic clouds.
Key Points
In entrainment from above arctic clouds may enhance ice crystal concentration
No strong evidence for a riming indirect effect was found
Thermodynamic indirect effect is consistent with ISDAC and M‐PACE
In animal communication, functionally referential alarm calls elicit the same behavioral responses as their referents, despite their typically distinct bioacoustic traits. Yet the auditory forebrain ...in at least one songbird species, the black-capped chickadee Poecile atricapillus, responds similarly to threat calls and their referent predatory owl calls, as assessed by immediate early gene responses in the secondary auditory forebrain nuclei. Whether and where in the brain such perceptual and cognitive equivalence is processed remains to be understood in most other avian systems. Here, we studied the functional neurogenomic (non-) equivalence of acoustic threat stimuli perception by the red-winged blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus in response to the actual calls of the obligate brood parasitic brown-headed cowbird Molothrus ater and the referential anti-parasitic alarm calls of the yellow warbler Setophaga petechia, upon which the blackbird is known to eavesdrop. Using RNA-sequencing from neural tissue in the auditory lobule (primary and secondary auditory nuclei combined), in contrast to previous findings, we found significant differences in the gene expression profiles of both an immediate early gene, ZENK (egr-1), and other song-system relevant gene-products in blackbirds responding to cowbird vs. warbler calls. In turn, direct cues of threats (including conspecific intruder calls and nest-predator calls) elicited higher ZENK and other differential gene expression patterns compared to harmless heterospecific calls. These patterns are consistent with a perceptual non-equivalence in the auditory forebrain of adult male red-winged blackbirds in response to referential calls and the calls of their referents.
Objective
In dried blood spot analysis, punch location and variations in applied sample volume and haematocrit can produce different measured concentrations of analytes. We investigated the magnitude ...of these effects in newborn screening in the UK.
Methods
Heparinized blood spiked with thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), phenylalanine, tyrosine, leucine, methionine, octanoyl carnitine (C8), and immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) was spotted onto filter paper: (i) at a constant haematocrit of 50% at various volumes, and (ii) at a range of haematocrits using a constant volume. Subpunches (3.2 mm) of the dried blood spots were then analysed.
Results
Compared with a central punch from a 50 µL blood spot with 50% haematocrit, 10 µL spots can have significantly lower measured concentrations of all analytes, with decreases of 15% or more observed for leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine. Punching at the edge of a spot can increase measured concentrations up to 35%. Higher haematocrit decreased measured TSH and C8 yet increased amino acids and IRT by 15% compared with 50% haematocrit. Lower haematocrits had the opposite effect, but only with higher concentrations of some analytes.
Conclusions
Differences in blood spot size, haematocrit and punch location substantially affect measured concentrations for analytes used in the UK newborn screening programme, and this could affect false positive and negative rates. To minimize analytical bias, these variables should be controlled or adjusted for where possible.
Floodplain reconnection and wetland restoration projects are increasingly implemented to enhance flood resiliency, and these nature-based solutions can also achieve co-benefits of nutrient storage ...and improved habitats. Considering the multiple and sometimes incompatible objectives of stakeholders for uses of riverside lands, a decision-support tool linked to a hydraulic model would enable planners to simulate floodplain restoration scenarios while also quantifying and assessing the trade-offs between the stakeholder objectives to arrive at optimal restoration designs. We illustrate a simple ranking approach using an n-dimensional objective function to represent key stakeholders engaged in restoration. We applied our approach in a watershed in central Vermont (USA) that has been identified by regional and state-level stakeholders as an important location to mitigate flooding damages but also to improve water quality – all within a context of increasing development pressures on riparian lands and limited financial resources to accomplish restoration. Eleven different floodplain reconnection and wetland restoration modifications were combined in six scenarios and simulated with 2D Hydrologic Engineering Center's River Analysis System (2D HEC-RAS), along with a baseline (no-action) scenario. Only modest attenuation of peak flows for 2-, 25-, 50- and 100-year design storms was achieved by the floodplain restoration scenarios due to the steep setting, and flashy nature of the watershed. Yet, several scenarios of floodplain reconnection projects more than met the necessary annual phosphorus load reductions targeted under a Total Maximum Daily Load implementation plan. Our approach provided planners with a ranking of restoration scenarios that best met multiple stakeholder objectives and allowed effectiveness of alternate design scenarios to be quantified, justified, and visualized to promote consensus decision-making.
Display omitted
•Floodplain reconnection design is a complex process considering many objectives.•We created an n-dimensional objective function to rank river restoration scenarios.•Quantified five flood resiliency, water quality, and socioeconomic objectives.•Case study modeled floodplain reconnection scenarios to determine best scenario.•Minor flood resiliency benefits but substantial water quality benefits were found.
Irrigated urban agriculture (UA) supports the economy and health of urban inhabitants in low-income countries. This system is often characterized by high nutrient inputs and mostly utilizes ...wastewater for irrigation. Biochar has been proposed to increase crop yields and improve soil properties. In this study, we assessed the transient effect of rice husk biochar (20 t ha−1) and/or fertilizer (NPK: 15-15-15) on microbial respiration, microbial biomass carbon and enzyme activities of irrigated (wastewater and tap water) soil from an UA field experiment in the Guinea savannah zones of Ghana. Our results showed an increase by up to 123% in soil organic carbon (SOC) after a year of biochar application, while hot water extractable carbon (HWEC) was increased by only 11 to 26% and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) by 34%. Basal respiration was significantly increased in mineral fertilized soil by up to 46% but decreased by 12–45% under wastewater irrigation. Overall, the metabolic quotient (qCO2) indicated less stress for the microbial community and increased carbon use efficiency with biochar application and wastewater irrigation. Total enzymes activity was increased under wastewater irrigation and biochar treated soils exhibit a more diverse composition of C-cycling enzymes and a higher activity of aminopeptidases. Biochar and wastewater showed positive effects on biological soil properties and contributed to soil fertility. Our results suggest beneficial effects of biochar on non-biochar SOC stocks in the long term.
Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death among women over 65 years of age in the United States.
1
In 1992 it accounted for more than 45 percent of all deaths in women, which is more than ...the proportion due to all forms of cancer combined.
2
Case fatality rates after hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction decreased for both women and men from 1987 through 1994.
3
However, several studies have found that women receive less aggressive in-hospital therapy for acute myocardial infarction than do men,
4
–
15
even though studies have reported that the beneficial effects of thrombolytic agents, aspirin, beta-blockers, . . .
Technetium and transuranic elements (TRUs) are long-lived radionuclides, produced as a result of nuclear power generation. Co-immobilisation of these radionuclides in a ceramic wasteform is ...attractive as they are problematic for vitrification and would reduce the demand on a future geological disposal facility. A range of zirconolite ceramics have been produced via an oxide route using the surrogates Mo and Ce with a view to the co-immobilisation of Tc and TRUs. The resultant materials were characterised by XRD, SEM-EDX, TEM and XAS. Final phase assemblage was found to be affected by target stoichiometry, the Ca precursor used, processing temperature and processing atmosphere. Through appropriate optimisation of processing conditions and target stoichiometry, the results of this study show co-immobilisation of Tc and TRUs is a promising approach.
Recently determined structures of the
Escherichia coli catabolite activator protein (CAP) in complex with DNA, and in complex with the RNA polymerase α subunit C-terminal domain (αCTD) and DNA, have ...yielded insights into how CAP binds DNA and activates transcription. Comparison of multiple structures of CAP–DNA complexes has revealed the contributions of direct and indirect readout to DNA binding by CAP. The structure of the CAP–αCTD–DNA complex has provided the first structural description of interactions between a transcription activator and its functional target within the general transcription machinery. Using the structure of the CAP–αCTD–DNA complex, the structure of an RNA polymerase–DNA complex, and restraints from biophysical, biochemical and genetic experiments, it has been possible to construct detailed three-dimensional models of intact class I and class II transcription activation complexes.
Disease surveillance in wildlife populations presents a logistical challenge, yet is critical in gaining a deeper understanding of the presence and impact of wildlife pathogens. Erinaceus coronavirus ...(EriCoV), a clade C Betacoronavirus, was first described in Western European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) in Germany. Here, our objective was to determine whether EriCoV is present, and if it is associated with disease, in Great Britain (GB). An EriCoV-specific BRYT-Green® real-time reverse transcription PCR assay was used to test 351 samples of faeces or distal large intestinal tract contents collected from casualty or dead hedgehogs from a wide area across GB. Viral RNA was detected in 10.8% (38) samples; however, the virus was not detected in any of the 61 samples tested from Scotland. The full genome sequence of the British EriCoV strain was determined using next generation sequencing; it shared 94% identity with a German EriCoV sequence. Multivariate statistical models using hedgehog case history data, faecal specimen descriptions and post-mortem examination findings found no significant associations indicative of disease associated with EriCoV in hedgehogs. These findings indicate that the Western European hedgehog is a reservoir host of EriCoV in the absence of apparent disease.
RAIN IN SHALLOW CUMULUS OVER THE OCEAN Rauber, Robert M.; Stevens, Bjorn; Ochs, Harry T. ...
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society,
12/2007, Letnik:
88, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Shallow, maritime cumuli are ubiquitous over much of the tropical oceans, and characterizing their properties is important to understanding weather and climate. The Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean ...(RICO) field campaign, which took place during November 2004–January 2005 in the trades over the western Atlantic, emphasized measurements of processes related to the formation of rain in shallow cumuli, and how rain subsequently modifies the structure and ensemble statistics of trade wind clouds. Eight weeks of nearly continuous S-band polarimetric radar sampling, 57 flights from three heavily instrumented research aircraft, and a suite of ground- and ship-based instrumentation provided data on trade wind clouds with unprecedented resolution. Observational strategies employed during RICO capitalized on the advances in remote sensing and other instrumentation to provide insight into processes that span a range of scales and that lie at the heart of questions relating to the cause and effects of rain from shallow maritime cumuli.
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