bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
San José V: la CEE promueve la integración económica de Centroamérica
Authors: El Editor
Published: March 2022

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ECA Estudios Centroamericanos, Vol. 44, No. 485, 1989: 233-237.
Effective communication as a catalyst for employee performance within selected Municipalities at KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa
Authors:   , Sineke Ntombizandile Victoria
Published: March 2022

Communication is the adhesive that binds people irrespective of their backgrounds. It is the skill of passing information from one person to another. However, effective communication deals with understating emotions and intentions behind the information. Therefore, managers in leadership positions need to understand the manner in which the best effort can be obtained from the workforce, following which communication systems management should be reviewed to ensure it is effective. The aim of the study is to establish whether communicating effectively with employees could improve employee performance in a municipality. In this regard, the study ascertained the extent to which the sharing of ideas creates openness among municipal employees, in addition to whether regular feedback contributes to improved municipal employee performance. Furthermore, the study also investigated whether open channels of communication mitigate misunderstandings and whether the recognition of employee opinions increases employee performance. To establish the stated objectives, the study used a mixed method research approach, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. Data were collected from the uBuhlebezwe Municipality, where a sample size of 80 respondents was obtained by using a simple random sampling technique. For the qualitative research, 10 employees were gathered by means of convenience sampling, through a focus group at the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality. The results from both methods showed that effective communication was the best tool to change employee performance in municipalities, acting as a catalyst. However, this is largely dependent on the effectiveness and availability of channels of communication. The main recommendations to municipal managers and heads of departments are that they should use effective communication as a strategic tool and appreciate all employee opinions, regardless of their positions in an organisation. Managers in a municipal setting should also involve employees in decision-making, most importantly during policy formulation. It is further important that municipal employees are provided with sufficient resources to be able to perform their day-to-day duties, as inadequate resources lead to poor performance and lack of communication. The provision of regular and honest feedback to employees with regard to their strengths and weakness could additionally improve employee performance and increase productivity. Conversely, lack of communication could lead to misunderstandings and incorrect interpretation of information messages by employees.
APPROACH TO AUTOMATED STRUCTURING OF EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES BASED ON THE METHOD OF RECURSIVE REDUCTION
Authors: Haiko S. I. , Prykhodniuk V. V.
Published: March 2022

The article is devoted to the issues of automated structuring of educational information resources, presented in natural language texts, with the purpose of creating interactive documents based on them. The problems of formation, processing, presentation, use and integration of large volumes of interdisciplinary knowledge are considered. Prospects for the development of information technologies designed to create a formalized system of knowledge in specific subject areas are substantiated. The article analyzes the most common analytical systems that are designed to process natural language texts and can be used to solve this problem. The article proposes a way to evaluate software based on multicriteria optimization. The criteria for such an assessment are identified and justified and its results are presented. Based on the obtained results, it is shown that the most effective tool for solving the problem is the system “Recursive reducer”, which allows to analyze a wide range of documents and present the results in various forms, including XML ontologies that can be used in the work of cognitive IT technology (CIT) “Polyhedron”. The article gives a brief description of the mathematical model on which the “Recursive reducer” based on the use of λ-expressions works. λ-expressions are used to form specialized recursive functions that perform the tasks of identifying tokens in the input text and forming objects. The use of an ontological document classifier to improve the efficiency of a recursive reducer is further described. Article also gives an example of it’s usage — automated structuring of educational information resource, presented by the curriculum in chemistry (advanced training), its presentation in the form of an ontology and creation on its basis of an interactive document by means of CIT “Polyhedron”.
Influence of plant ecophysiology on ozone dry deposition: comparing between multiplicative and photosynthesis-based dry deposition schemes and their responses to rising CO2 level
Authors: Sun Shihan , Tai Amos P. K. , Yung David H. Y. , Wong Anthony Y. H. , Ducker Jason A. , Holmes Christopher D.
Published: March 2022

Abstract. Dry deposition is a key process for surface ozone
(O3) removal. Stomatal uptake is a major component of O3 dry
deposition, which is parameterized differently in current land surface
models and chemical transport models. We developed and used a standalone
terrestrial biosphere model, driven by a unified set of prescribed
meteorology, to evaluate two widely used dry deposition modeling frameworks,
Wesely (1989) and Zhang et al. (2003), with different configurations of
stomatal resistance: (1) the default multiplicative method in the Wesely
scheme (W89) and Zhang et al. (2003) scheme (Z03), (2) the traditional
photosynthesis-based Farquhar–Ball–Berry (FBB) stomatal algorithm, and (3) the
Medlyn stomatal algorithm (MED) based on optimization theory. We found that
using the FBB stomatal approach that captures ecophysiological responses to
environmental factors, especially to water stress, can generally improve the
simulated dry deposition velocities compared with multiplicative schemes.
The MED stomatal approach produces higher stomatal conductance than FBB and
is likely to overestimate dry deposition velocities for major vegetation
types, but its performance is greatly improved when spatially varying slope
parameters based on annual mean precipitation are used. Large discrepancies
were also found in stomatal responses to rising CO2 levels from 390
to 550 ppm: the multiplicative stomatal method with an empirical CO2
response function produces reduction (−35 %) in global stomatal
conductance on average much larger than that with the photosynthesis-based
stomatal method (−14 %–19 %). Our results show the potential biases in
O3 sink caused by errors in model structure especially in the Wesely
dry deposition scheme and the importance of using photosynthesis-based
representation of stomatal resistance in dry deposition schemes under a
changing climate and rising CO2 concentration.
Integrated redundancy measure for the analysis of water distribution network
Authors: Pandey Jyotsna , Vemavarapu Venkata Srinivas
Published: March 2022

The directional nature and complex interconnections of a water distribution network (WDN) layout make it challenging to analyze its performance. The interplay of nodes and links in a WDN creates inherent redundancy in the network layout, which should be accounted for in performance assessment. Previous studies mainly focussed on the hydraulic nature of WDN redundancy. In this respect, to understand the importance of topological configuration on the performance of WDN, it is imperative to have proper measures to provide a comprehensive picture of the WDN redundancy. This study presents a new redundancy measure that integrates topological and hydraulic redundancies. Complex network theory (CNT) offers an option to gain insight into the topological behavior of a WDN. Nodal indegree, a directional CNT metric based on connections incident on a node, can provide information about the redundancy of various configurations of WDNs. Hydraulic nodal redundancy index is based on entropy value of demand fraction determined based on incident pipes/links. Our investigations indicate a high correlation between hydraulic redundancy and indegree ranging from 0.80 to 0.99, implying that nodal indegree is an effective CNT metric. The effectiveness of the proposed integrated redundancy measure is demonstrated by application to WDNs having different configurations (tree, looped, and mixed). The study gives new insight into the overall redundant nature of WDNs. The integrated redundancy measure is found to be better for evaluating existing WDNs and analyzing new network layouts at the planning and design stage.
Region-specific multiple-approach separation of river hydrograph using the GrWat R package
Authors: Samsonov Timofey , Rets Ekaterina , Kireeva Maria
Published: March 2022

River hydrograph separation is one of the most important operations applied to the streamflow data. Numerous separation techniques and and their software implementations have been developed so far. In operational practice of Russian hydrological organizations and research institutes an event-based approach is commonly used for the hydrograph separation. Different meteorological events such as temperature transition through zero and rains are recognized in meteorological data, and then the corresponding changes in river hydrograph are identified, which eventually helps to attribute each peak in hydrograph with corresponding genetic component. The base flow component is traditionally defined according to Kudelin’s approach, taking into consideration different schemes of surface-ground water runoff interaction. In contrast, the most widespread separation approach in Western school is filtering-based. Lyne-Hollick, Maxwell, Boughton, Jakeman, Chapman and some more sophisiticated filters can be applied to separate the flow into quick and base. Results of two approaches are quite different, especially in terms of the baseflow component. In current study we present the updated open-source grwat R package, which puts both worlds together. It contains both the genetic event based and filtering-based hydrograph separation approaches with the ability to mix them together. In particular, applying the filtering-based separation inside the detected genetic events provides curve of the baseflow well corresponding to tracer-based studies. The second novelty of the package is the intellectual procedure for determination of the second-order events that complicate the freshet (seasonal) flood, such as rain floods. Finally, the updated package contains the internal spatial database of hydrograph separation parameters which is obtained over the European territory of Russia through experimental work. This database allows automated selection of the optimal separation parameters based on the location of the river gauge supplied by package user. The database can be extended to other regions of the world through collaborative work of package users.

The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 19-77-10032
Aerosols and Chemistry in the CMIP6 models – new science from AerChemMIP
Authors: Collins William
Published: March 2022

Phase six of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) was the first CMIP to include significant numbers of climate models with interactive aerosols and chemistry. The AerChemMIP project was designed to understand the effects of interactive representation of aerosols and chemistry in model simulations of the past and future climate, and also to take advantage of this to further our fundamental understanding of aerosol and chemistry processes in the climate system.

The four science objectives of AerChemMIP were:

How have anthropogenic emissions contributed to global radiative forcing and affected regional climate over the historical period?

How might future policies (on climate, air quality and land use) affect the abundances of NTCFs and their climate impacts?

How do uncertainties in historical NTCF emissions affect radiative forcing estimates?

How important are climate feedbacks to natural NTCF emissions, atmospheric composition, and radiative effects?

 

The AerChemMIP project has already led to more than 15 published papers. These advanced our knowledge in: the evolution of aerosol and chemical processes over the historical period, the contributions of these species to past radiative forcing and climate and their effect on future climate, and the impacts of different scenarios for future atmospheric composition and air quality. These have all made significant contributions to the IPCC 6th Assessment Report. We show that including interactive aerosols and chemistry in climate models is crucial to simulating past and future climates, provided we understand the behaviour of the fundamental processes.
Constraining the production rate of reactive oxygen species from air pollution in the human lung with EPR spectroscopy and mechanisms in cloud chemistry models
Authors: Mishra Ashmi , Dovrou Eleni , Lelieveld Steven , Pöschl Ulrich , Berkemeier Thomas
Published: March 2022

Inhalation of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can cause adverse health effects.1 PM2.5 contains redox-active components which trigger the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the lungs. In the presence of transition metals, H2O2, the most stable ROS, is converted into the highly reactive OH radical through Fenton chemistry. Many of these reactions are known from cloud chemistry models,2 however, the kinetics of the reactions in the human body are also affected by the presence of antioxidants and proteins. Antioxidants may scavenge ROS, but also enable efficient redox cycling of transition metals, perpetuating Fenton chemistry. Situationally, this may lead to an increase or reduction of ROS production in the human lung.

We performed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies of the Fenton reaction with a spin-trapping agent at physiologically relevant conditions using antioxidants and proteins as a cell-free surrogate for lung lining fluid. By applying a kinetic model, these complex reaction mechanisms can be constrained through inverse modelling, the process in which model parameters are determined from fitting to experimental data.3 We describe how this method can be used to constrain chemical rate coefficients and how it can help to direct laboratory experiments.4 As further constraint to the inferred reaction rates, we harness the extensive chemical mechanism available in cloud chemistry models.2 We implement the rates of the reactions between antioxidations, transition metals, and ROS into the KM-SUB-ELF model5,6  to infer the oxidative stress of PM2.5, the key component of air pollution that interconverts stable ROS (H2O2) to the noxious OH radical. 

 

[1] R.T. Burnett et al, Environ. Health Perspect. 122, 397−403, (2014).

[2] H. Herrmann et al, Chemosphere, 38, 1223-1232, (1999).

[3] T. Berkemeier et al, Atmos. Chem. Phys. 17, 8021–8029, (2017).

[4] T. Berkemeier et al, ACS Earth Space Chem. 5(12), 3313–3323, (2021).

[5] S. Lelieveld et al,  Environ. Sci. Tech. 55 (20), 14069-14079, (2021).

[6] P. Lakey et al, Sci. Rep. 6, 32916 (2016).
A re-evaluation of the 5th October 1948 M7.3 Ashgabat earthquake (Turkmenistan) 
Authors: Marshall Neill , Walker Richard , Ou Qi , Gruetzner Christoph
Published: March 2022

The 1948 M 7.3 Ashgabat earthquake, killing over 38,000 people, occurred in the dextral strike-slip Kopeh Dagh fault zone in the Iran-Turkmenistan border region. Previously, it has been debated which fault(s) it occurred on and whether this earthquake was a thrust/reverse, strike-slip, or multi-fault earthquake, as published focal mechanisms suggest it had a reverse mechanism. We relocated the hypocentre using historical seismograms and present a new strike-slip focal mechanism. We used Pleiades satellite stereo imagery to produce Digital Elevation Models of part of the ruptured area. These data reveal clear strike-slip faults where surface ruptures were mapped in 1948. The earthquake did not rupture the Main Kopeh Dagh fault, but instead these subsidiary faults, highlighting the importance of considering lesser faults in seismic hazard models.
Is there an impact of resolving the stratosphere on ENSO? A first approach from EC-EARTH
Authors: Rodrigo Mario , García-Serrano Javier , Bladé Ileana
Published: March 2022

The European Consortium EC-EARTH climate model version 3.1 is used to assess the effects of a well-resolved stratosphere on the representation of El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and in particular on the simulation of extreme El Niño events, known as super El Niños. Three 100-year long experiments with fixed radiative forcing representative of present climate are compared: one with the top at 0.01hPa and 91 vertical levels (HIGH-TOP or HT), another with the top at 5hPa and 62 vertical levels (LOW-TOP or LT), and another high-top experiment but with the stratosphere nudged to the climatology of HT from 10hPa upwards (NUDG). The differences in vertical resolution between HT and LT start at around 100hPa. By comparing HT with LT we explore the influence of increased vertical resolution above the tropopause on ENSO, while by comparing HT with NUDG we evaluate the influence of stratospheric variability, with special emphasis on the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO). No extreme ENSO events occur in the two simulations without QBO (LT and NUDG), while HT is able to simulate such extreme events. These super El Niños coincide with a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and the westerly phase of the QBO in the lower stratosphere during boreal summer and fall. Previous studies have proposed an interaction between El Niño and IOD-related sea surface temperature anomalies to explain the existence of super El Niños. Our work suggests that this interaction alone is not enough in our climate model to simulate super El Niños. We postulate that changes in the upper tropospheric circulation over the Indian Ocean-Maritime Continent during boreal summer and fall, related to the westerly phase of the QBO, establish favourable conditions for the development of El Niños, increasing the probability of having super El Niños.
3D Imaging of the crust and uppermost mantle of the Northeast Atlantic, from Madeira and Canaries to the Atlas-Gibraltar zone
Authors: Silveira Graça , Carvalho Joana , Kiselev Sergey , Stutzmann Eleonore , Schimmel Martin
Published: March 2022

Madeira and Canaries are two intraplate hotspots located in the Northeast Atlantic, west of the Moroccan coast.  Within project SIGHT (SeIsmic and Geochemical constraints on the Madeira HoTspot system) we propose to answer the following questions: a) Is Madeira´s volcanism fed by a deep-seated mantle plume? b) Do the Madeira and Canary hotspots have a common or distinct origin? and c) What is the lithospheric nature of the corridor between the Canaries and the Atlas-Gibraltar?

The recent work of Civiero et al. (2021), combining results from seismic tomography, shear-wave splitting and gravity along with plate reconstruction, revealed that differently evolved upwellings might exist below the volcanic Canary and Madeira islands, with the Madeira hotspot possibly fed by a later-stage plumelet. However, a clear picture of the crust and uppermost mantle is still missing, and questions about how thick the crust is and the eventual presence of crustal underplating still need to be answered. 

We performed an ambient noise tomography using data from 50 seismic stations that we selected carefully to obtain the best inter-station path coverage. We processed the data in the period band between 10 to 50 sec, which will allow us to get, for the first time, a crustal and uppermost mantle tomographic model for the study region. The daily traces were cross-correlated using the phase cross-correlation technique, followed by a time-frequency weighted stack methodology developed by Schimmel et al. (2011). After computing the Rayleigh-wave group-velocity measurements, we inverted them to obtain the 2D group-velocity maps for different periods. In the period band of 10 to
20 s, the velocity maps evince low velocities beneath Madeira and Canary Islands and the Gulf of Cadiz region. Higher velocities characterize the remaining oceanic area. When the period increases (36 s) , some of the Canary Islands show slightly higher velocities, whereas others still present lower velocities. As expected, the low-velocity anomaly beneath the Gulf of Cadiz becomes stronger while the ones beneath the islands become weaker. Even so, the islands still show low velocities.

To determine the depth structure beneath the study area, we extracted velocity values at the different points of the group-velocity maps at different periods. We will then invert them to build a 1D S-wave velocity profile for each grid point as a function of depth. We will discuss the obtained 3D shear-wave velocity maps in the area's geodynamic context.

This is a contribution to projects SIGHT (Ref. PTDC/CTA-GEF/30264/2017). The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support FCT through project UIDB/50019/2020 – IDL.
On Planktic Foraminifera Calcification Crisis in the Deccan Benchmark Interval of Bidart, France
Authors: Punekar Jahnavi , Patra Subham , Keller Gerta
Published: March 2022

The Late Maastrichtian Deccan volcanic pulses contributed to a cumulative biotic stress that set the stage for the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary (KPB) mass extinction. The high-flux emissions of volcanogenic CO2 and SO2 into the atmosphere likely led to ocean acidification. The resultant carbonate crisis has been hypothesized as a key stressor for marine calcifying biota such as planktic foraminifera. The final ~50 ky of the Cretaceous at Bidart (France) record a unique concurrence of anomalous bulk-rock low magnetic susceptibility, high Hg/TOC, and high planktic foraminifera fragmentation index. This study documents new evidence of a biological (calcification) crisis in the geochemical and taphonomic Deccan benchmark interval.

The onset of the hypothesized acidification interval (~0.5 m below KPB) coincides with abrupt changes in the relative abundances of the heavily calcified globotruncanid (~30 to ~17%) and larger biserial tests (~38 to ~55%). The absolute abundances of target groups/species however show a marked decline in both the biserials and globotruncanids. The counts per gram within the benchmark fluctuate considerably. At the KPB, the relative abundances of robust tests are high, partly due to taphonomic overestimation. However, absolute abundances unequivocally show a decline in all analyzed groups e.g., globotruncanids, biserials, racemiguembelinids and Planomalina brazoensis. The benchmark interval also records smaller-than-average test sizes of Globotruncana arca, Globotruncana mariei, Heterohelix globulosa, Pseudoguembelina hariaensis, Pseudotextularia elegans, Pseudoguembelina carsayae, Pseudoguembelina palpebra, Rugoglobigerina rugosa and P. brazoensis, indicating intraspecific dwarfing. This same interval also records a measurable decrease in the test-wall thickness amongst adult (>150 µm) specimens of H. globulosa, R. rugosa, P. elegans, P. brazoensis, further substantiating a carbonate crisis. The interpolation of geochemical, taphonomic and the new biological evidences strongly validate an ocean acidification event spanning ~50 ky preceding the KPB, a duration more consistent with Deccan volcanism as the cause.
Forecasting solar wind conditions at Mars using transfer learning
Authors: Durward Sofija
Published: March 2022

The solar wind and its variability is well understood at Earth. However, at distances larger than 1AU the is less clear, mostly due to the lack of in-situ measurements. In this study we use transfer learning principles to infer solar wind conditions at Mars in periods where no measurements are available, with the aim of better illuminating the interaction between the partially magnetised Martian plasma environment and the upstream solar wind. Initially, a convolutional neural network (CNN) model for forecasting measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field, solar wind velocity, density and dynamic pressure is trained on terrestrial solar wind data. Afterwards, knowledge from this model is incorporated into a secondary CNN model which is used for predicting solar wind conditions upstream of Mars up to 5 hours in the future. We present the results of this study as well as the opportunities to expand this method for use at other planets.
Smart application for soil description
Authors: Vasilyeva Nadezda , Vladimirov Artem , Vasiliev Taras , Pashkov Alexander
Published: March 2022

We develop a smart soil information system that allows to plan field experiments and create soil descriptions. It includes a dashboard, where one can build a terrain profile, see a supposed soil profile description at a selected point (based on different maps and all available information, all related objects such as maps, papers mentioning this locus, probabilistic distributions of soil properties with depth requested from available databases), and thus provides decision support at the level of planning field trips and experiments.

Another key component of the system facilitates the field description of the soil, and most importantly, creates it in a machine-readable form. The developed soil description module is based on a formalization scheme with a “data acquisition method” as its central element. The method contains all information about the types of described objects, resulting objects, type of soil property value and units. The system allows you to add and use any user-defined templates or description standards.

The application features smart suggestions which are continuously updated based on already supplied information and include for example properties such as horizon index and soil name in different classifications that are generated by machine-learning algorithms.

Formalized soil descriptions allow to further link all subsequent field and laboratory experimental results carried out on studied locations, soil surface, profiles and samples by different research groups. While detailed information of data acquisition method is important to further evaluate the data uncertainty.

We plan to develop this project as an open-source, i.a. to expand the database of methods for description of soils and other landscape-related objects.
A probabilistic model to explain drainage network evolution and emerging scaling laws of river networks 
Authors: Borse Dnyanesh , Biswal Basudev
Published: March 2022

River networks have been studied in geosciences and hydrology for many theoretical and practical purposes. Self-organization into self-similar tree-like network patterns is observed in many natural phenomena including river networks, blood vessels, vascular organization in plants, lightning etc. River networks self-organize into tree-like network patterns as a result of complex landscape evolution processes. All of these patterns follow certain statistical scaling laws. There have been attempts to explain river network evolution, but it is still unclear how networks self-organize into such patterns. These power-law scaling relationships mainly include Hack’s law, exceeding probability distribution for contributing area and upstream length. Although various models exist in the literature, many questions related to river-network evolution are yet to be answered. In particular, the existing models try little to explain the diversity of network characteristics. We propose a new modeling framework that explains drainage network evolution considering certain key physical processes associated with randomness. The model follows the growth of drainage networks in the headward direction based on probabilistic decisions. The model comprises two free parameters and is demonstrated using a planar matrix. The simulation results show the formation of tree-like drainage networks that exhibit power-law scaling relationships as observed in natural river networks. Furthermore, the model parameters provide flexibility to generate networks with different shapes and characteristics.
Ground Water Effects on Soil Moisture and Regional Climate using WRF-NoahMP Model Over Ganga Basin, India
Authors: Huggannavar Vinayak , Jayaluxmi Indu
Published: March 2022

Soil moisture plays a crucial role in partitioning surface fluxes. Several studies in past have highlighted the role of soil moisture in Land-Atmosphere (L-A) interactions. Understanding such interactions through regional climate models helps improve the simulation of global and regional hydrological processes. On the contrary, shallow subsurface groundwater also affects soil moisture variations. This calls for an accurate representation of physical processes involved in soil moisture interactions with groundwater. In addition, Shallow groundwater is known to act as a source and sink to the overlying soil layer during dry and wet seasons respectively. In this study, we analyze the impact of two different groundwater models in the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model coupled with the Noah-MP land surface model over the Ganga basin, India. Two experiments were carried out, one with the default-free drainage approach (CTL) and another with Miguez-Macho groundwater model (GW). The period of study was between 2008-2014. Preliminary analysis revealed that GW simulations improved soil moisture for the top and bottom-most soil layers. Reduction in temporal dry bias by around 91mm was observed for precipitation during the monsoon season. Dry bias in latent heat flux over the region also improved by 28 W/m2. GW run improved soil moisture and precipitation representation compared to CTL run. In summary, our results advocate the need for a better representation of groundwater within coupled regional climate models for improved simulation of hydrological processes
Spatial analysis of cancer distribution in Gomel and Mogilev oblasts of Belarus as a preliminary stage for revealing the provoking local factors
Authors: Romanov Sergey , Chervan Aleksander , Korobova Elena
Published: March 2022

A series of maps using different GIS spatial analysis techniques were constructed to perform spatial analysis of the distribution of oncological diseases in Belorussia. Mapping was based on the data of the national cancer register, which contains considerable information of all cancer cases of different localization and allows separation of different sex and age groups of the population. Preliminary data verification showed a high variation of cancer cases in different areas. The second step of the research confirmed the high spatial heterogeneity of medical data when the maps characterizing different variation levels of cancer cases were made using a specialized GIS. After that, the regional zoning was carried out for the Gomel and Mogilev regions most subjected to the Chernobyl radionuclides fallout in Belarus and the areas with a significant difference in the level of general and localized cancer rates were separated. The general picture showed that the actual risk level of the oncological diseases (including those of different localization) spatially varies by four times or even more. Such a significant change in the frequency of occurrence of cancer cases of mans and women within limited areas univocally showed on the local factors that can provoke such an increase in morbidity. Considerable radioactive contamination after the Chernobyl accident within this area obvious could be such a factor. However, the obtained maps showed a high level of differentiation before the Chernobyl catastrophe and no definite correlation with radionuclide fallout maps. In any case, in our opinion, the revealed zones of enhanced cancer morbidity and those where the morbidity appeared to be minimal should become the objects of priority study. Those which represent the highest density of cancer cases need priority examination and prevention.

The study was partly funded by RFBR and BRFBR project #20-55-00012 and BRFBR project # Х20Р-386. 
Does porosity really matter? A first model for dissolution-enabled deformation bands in low porosity rocks based on microstructural analysis of calcarenite from Cotiella Basin, Spain. 
Authors: Taxopoulou Maria Eleni , Beaudoin Nicolas E. , Aubourg Charles , Charalampidou Elli-Maria , Centrella Stephen
Published: March 2022

We report for the first time deformation features functionally described as deformation bands developed in low porosity rocks. This observation contradicts existing knowledge that deformation bands develop only in highly porous rocks. The studied formation is a bioclastic calcarenite of the Upper Cretaceous Maciños Unit in the Cotiella Massif. It is part of a megaflap adjacent to a salt diapir that has experienced extensional tectonics before the Pyrenean contraction. The bands present thickness variations, and in places they imitate the appearance of stylolites. This observation raises the question: how do deformation bands form in low porosity rocks?

To answer the question, we combine field observations with microstructural analysis to identify the occurring processes for the formation of deformation bands within low porosity rocks. After using optical microscopy and cathodoluminescence spectroscopy to conduct a petrographic study, we observe that the rock underwent multiple diagenetic cycles before the deformation stage, confirming that its porosity was significantly reduced before the deformation stage. Subsequently, we characterized the quartz grains inside the host rock and the dissolution-enabled deformation bands, using non-destructive imaging techniques. Three-dimensional image analysis from X-ray microtomography scans shows low grain size variations between the quartz grains in the host rock and in the bands, suggesting minor grain fracturing along the bands. However, grain reorientation has been reported for the quartz grains inside the bands, in relation to those in the host rock. Strain analysis was performed from Electron Backscattered Diffraction measurements, revealing higher strain along the quartz grain contacts inside the deformation band, compared to those in the host rock and stylolites. Our current data suggest that new porosity was created from local dissolution of the matrix, so the less soluble quartz grains were placed in contact. By wrapping-up the above observations, we propose a conceptual model that demonstrates the genesis and evolution of dissolution-enabled deformation bands in low porosity rocks, through local dissolution of the micritic matrix and transient porosity increase.
Long-term trends towards delayed autumn senescence prevail over short-term effects by high early-season CO2 assimilation
Authors: Marqués Laura , Hufkens Koen , Bigler Christof , Crowther Thomas W. , Zohner Constantin M. , Stocker Benjamin D.
Published: March 2022

Understanding how leaf autumn phenology varies at different spatio-temporal scales is key to accurately predicting phenological changes under future climate. Recent projections and observations of autumn phenology in deciduous temperate and boreal forests appear conflicting. At the interannual scale, autumn senescence correlates positively with spring leaf-out and negatively with growing season total photosynthesis. These links have been interpreted as the effect of premature carbon sink saturation with potentially far-reaching consequences for carbon cycle projections in a high-CO2 world. In this study, we use multi-decadal ground and remote-sensing observations to show that these relationships are opposite at the interannual and the decadal time scales. We found a decadal trend towards later autumn senescence in parallel with a trend towards increasing photosynthesis, despite their negative relationship at the interannual scale. Our findings reveal that the leaf longevity constraint has not remained stationary over longer time scales. These shifting relationships suggest a gradual acclimation of phenology, leading to a relief of effects that dominate year-to-year variations. This apparent acclimation implies that in the long run, trees may benefit from increased photosynthesis under rising CO2 and evade a direct effect by which increased photosynthesis induces an earlier leaf senescence. This apparent plasticity in phenology appears to have driven plants towards optimal functioning in a changing climate.
Present and future fire regime in Iberia
Authors: Calheiros Tomás , Pereira Mário , Silva João , Benali Akli , Nunes João
Published: March 2022

In the last decades, Mediterranean Europe has been highly affected by wildfires. Larger wildfires and impacts occurred during and as a result of extreme fire weather, as observed in recent years. In the Iberian Peninsula, the influence of the fire weather on the fire incidence is particularly important, and the purpose of this study was to investigate in detail this relationship and its influence on the current and future fire regime.

The Daily Severity Rating (DSR) and the other indices of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System were computed using the ECMWF Reanalysis v5 (ERA5) and CORDEX atmospheric datasets. The meteorological variables needed to compute the FWI indices were the air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and daily accumulated precipitation, at 12 UTC. We defined the Number of Extreme Days (NED) using extreme values of DSR and Drought Code and related them with the Normalized Burnt Area (NBA), loaded from Portuguese and Spanish wildfire official datasets. A cluster analysis was performed on NBA, revealing four pyro-regions characterized by different intra-annual variability of NBA. The strong link between the NED and the NBA intra-annual patterns was used to project the future pyro-regions, using a climate ensemble for two future scenarios.

Finally, we investigate the relationship between extreme wildfires and fire weather at a finer spatial scale in Continental Portugal, namely between extreme DSRp and large wildfires at the municipal level. We used weather data from ERA5 to compute DSR percentiles (DSRp) for an extended summer period (defined between 15th May and 31st October) and combine it with large (>100 ha) burnt areas (BA), with the purpose to identify the DSRp value responsible of a large amount of BA (80 or 90%) at the municipality level. A cluster analysis was performed using the relationship between DSRp and BA, in each municipality of Continental Portugal. Obtained clusters are distinguished by differences in land cover, revealing that higher (lower) DSRp is needed to explain the same high percentage of total BA when forest (scrublands) is the predominant affected vegetation type.

Our findings include recent changes in fire regimes in the recent past, a strong relationship between NED and NBA, that explain those observed changes and can be used to anticipate future fire regimes. Projected changes in NED suggest different future pyro-regions mapping in the Iberian Peninsula. Forest or shrublands prevalence has a significant influence on the spatial variability of the relationship between the extreme DSR threshold and most of total BA at the municipality level, particularly in Portugal.
Fluorescent Characteristics of respiratory aerosol generated by a variety of speech and therapy activities.
Authors: Moss Maxamillian , Topping David , Reid Jonathan , Harrison Joshua , Archer Justice , Szczepanska Alicja , Bzdek Bryan , Saccente-Kennedy Brian , Epstein Ruth , Costello Declan , Calder James , Shah Pallav
Published: March 2022

The importance of bio-aerosols across the earth system has been known for some time. With the unfortunate situation arising from the COVID19 pandemic, attention has turned to appropriate detection technologies that could be used to better understand the contribution of aerosols generated from the lung in various settings. In this project, the wideband Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor (WIBS-NEO) was deployed in a zero-background clinical environment which permitted the aerosols measured to be directly ascribed to specific vocalisations undertaken. The fluorescent signatures of expelled aerosol from a variety of human participants were captured during individual speech and language therapy activities (speaking, humming, sustained phonation, fricatives, projection, and tongue trills). In this presentation we present the varying fluorescent signatures and particle morphologies.

Furthermore, millions across the UK have now adopted face coverings into their day to day lives with one of the most widely adopted and commonplace being the disposable surgical face mask. Yet, questions still remain as to what types of vocalisations produce the most aerosols and the efficacy of the face mask in reducing transmission. To supplement this, measurements with the WIBS-NEO were conducted where participants did not wear a mask, and then subsequently repeated wearing a surgical mask. The fluorescent intensity, concentration (cm3), size (um), and asphericity were then compared for each activity with and without a mask.

 

WIBS-NEO information:

https://www.dropletmeasurement.com/product/wideband-integrated-bioaerosol-sensor/

Example paper using the WIBS:

E.Toprak and M. Schnaiter, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2013, 13, 225–243.

 
A Comparative Analysis of Jupiter’s Northern Aurora using Juno’s MWR, UVS, and JIRAM Instruments
Authors: Hodges Amoree , Steffes Paul , Greathouse Thomas , Mura Alessandro , Gladstone Randy , Waite Hunter , Oyafuso Fabiano , Brown Shannon , Levin Steven , Bolton Scott
Published: March 2022

This study continues the work from Hodges et al. (2020) to further analyze microwave emissions associated with Jupiter’s aurorae as seen by the 600 MHz channel of the MicroWave Radiometer (MWR) onboard the Juno spacecraft. The MWR can obtain spatial maps of the northern aurora. These maps allow a two-dimensional comparison of auroral observations at microwave, ultraviolet, and infrared frequencies. Each spectral region provides information on different particles of the auroral plasma. For example, microwave observations provide information on the electron density content and structure. Ultraviolet observations provide insight on the content and morphology of the Lyman series of H and the Lyman, Werner, and Rydberg bands of H­2. Lastly, infrared observations provide information on the content and structure of H3+ ions.

            The UltraViolet Spectrograph (UVS) and the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) have higher resolution observations than the MWR (Gladstone et al. 2014; Adriani et al. 2014; Janssen et al. 2017). To compare observations from these three instruments, the UVS and JIRAM observations are convolved with the antenna beam-pattern of the 5x5 patch antenna array for the 600 MHz channel with a half-power beamwidth 20° (Janssen et al. 2017). The convolution allows UVS and JIRAM data to smear and provide a resolution similar to MWR observations. This process facilitates the comparative analysis of microwave, ultraviolet, and infrared observations of Jupiter’s northern aurora. This work reports on the results of the convolved UVS and JIRAM maps compared to MWR observations from previous perijoves.
Finding better numerical solutions for circulation along piecewise-constant coastlines in ocean models
Authors: Nasser Antoine-Alexis , Madec Gurvan , Debreu Laurent , De Lavergne Casimir
Published: March 2022

Using a 1/4° shallow water model, Adcroft & Marshall (1998) show that the solution obtained on a rotated mesh depends on the angle between the numerical grid and the physical coastline. They conclude that piecewise constant coastline exert a spurious form stress on the model boundary current.

Here, we reproduce these results and test the combination of free-slip and no-slip boundary conditions with the stress tensors’ vorticity-divergence and symmetric forms. We show that, for all angles of rotation, the equilibrium solutions actually remain similar, provided that the system has numerically converged (i.e. higher resolution with physics unchanged). It appears that having at least 4 grid-points by internal radius of deformation is necessary to accurately represent flows along coastlines. Surprisingly, the symmetric tensor combined with the free-slip condition leads to dynamics that are insensitive to resolution and akin to no-slip. We argue that the way the free-slip condition is implemented with the symmetric tensor is not suitable. We propose an alternative implementation and discuss its advantages and limitations.
3D Digital Outcrop Model-based quantification of fracture intensity: the Discontinuity Intensity Calculator and Estimator (DICE) open-source application
Authors: Menegoni Niccolò , Giordan Daniele , Perotti Cesare
Published: March 2022

In outcrop-based fracture studies, the quantification of fracture intensity is often limited by the limitations of the manual sampling technique, characterized by punctual measurements (e.g. sampling spot, scanline, scanwindow) and moderate biases (e.g. fracture length truncation, technical and personal errors). The proximal remote sensing technologies, as terrestrial or Uncrafted Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based LiDAR and photogrammetry, can help to overcome these limitations due to the possibility to obtain high-resolution and accurate quantitative data from the digital twin of the outcrop, the so-called Digital Outcrop Model (DOM). The DOMs can be very useful in outcrop-based fracture studies because their analysis allows to obtain several quantitative information with manual and/or automatic methods and with continuity in each position of the outcrop, increasing the accuracy of the fracture intensity estimations. However, due to the novelty of DOM technology and the lack of well-defined DOM-based fracture sampling procedures, these huge fracture datasets are often difficult to study and interpret, and therefore, the benefits of the DOM cannot be fully exploited. 

For this reason we present a complete workflow based on the DICE (Discontinuity Intensity Calculator and Estimator) open-source MATLAB© application that allows to quantitatively characterize the fractures of rocky outcrops from the 3D Digital Outcrop Models (DOMs). The proposed workflow consists in the following steps: (1) fracture mapping onto the 3D DOMs; (2) calculation of the fractures dimension, position and orientation; (iii) determination by DICE algorithm of the discontinuity parameters (persistence/dimension, distribution, spacing and intensity) using different 3D sampling techniques (3D scanline, 3D circular scan window and spherical scan volume). The differences of these sampling techniques and the fracture intensity parameters that can be obtained (p10, p21, p32) are discussed, showing the advantages and limitations of each DICE method.