bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Identification of novel sources of genetic variation for the improvement of cold germination ability in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)
Authors: Shim Junghyun , Gannaban Ritchel B. , de los Reyes Benildo G. , Angeles-Shim Rosalyn B.
Published: October 2019

Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) is inherently susceptible to low temperature stress especially during the early seedling growth and boll maturation stages. The goal of the study is to identify novel sources of genetic variation that can be used to improve cold tolerance of cotton during seed germination. Genetic diversity analysis of thirty accessions from the coreGossypiumDiversity Reference Set (GDRS) and twenty recombinant inbred lines derived from intercrossing cotton mutants with altered fatty acid content profiles established genetic variation in the test germplasm based on simple sequence repeat (SSR) genotyping. The mutants clustered in a single clade, whereas the GDRS accessions were separated into four different clades. Screening for germination ability at 12 °C and 15 °C showed that the fatty acid mutants had a significantly better overall germination compared to the GDRS accessions. Hydropriming improved the germination rate and uniformity of the GDRS accessions at 12 °C and 15 °C but not those of the fatty acid mutants, which recorded a better overall germination at 15 °C even without hydropriming. The tolerance of the FA mutants to cold stress during germination is proposed to be conferred by the higher proportion of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids in the mutants compared to the GDRS accessions. Principal component analysis established phenotypic patterns of variation that is consistent with the observed genotypic variation in the test germplasm. Results of the study indicate the potential of the mutants and select GDRS accessions as donors in breeding for cold germination ability.
Local Scale Displacement Fields in Grains–Structure Interactions Under Cyclic Loading: Experiments and Simulations
Authors: Antony S. J. , Jahanger Zuhair Kadhim
Published: October 2019

Soils encounter cyclic loading conditions in situ, for example during the earthquakes and in the construction sequences of pavements. Investigations on the local scale displacements of the soil grain and their failure patterns under the cyclic loading conditions are relatively scarce in the literature. In this study, the local displacement fields of a dense sand layer interacting with a rigid footing under the plane-strain condition are examined using both experiments and simulations. Three commonly used types of cyclic loading conditions were applied on the footing. Digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) is used to measure the local scale displacement fields in the soil, and to understand the evolution of the failure envelopes in the sand media under the cyclic loading conditions. The experimental results are compared with corresponding finite element analysis (FEA), in which experimentally-characterised constitutive relations are fed as an input into the FEM simulations. For comparison purposes, the case of footing subjected to the quasi-static loading condition was also studied. In general, the results show a good level of agreement between the results of the experiments and simulations conducted here. Overall, relatively shallower but wider displacement fields are observed under the cyclic loading, when compared with that of the quasi-static load test. The vorticity regions are highly localized at the shear bands in the sand media under the ultimate load. The research contributes to new understanding on the local scale displacement fields and their link to the bearing capacity of the footing under the cyclic loading environments.
Intermediate filaments in the medial rectus muscles in patients with concomitant exotropia
Authors: Shen Tao , Lin Jing , Li Xiuling , Deng Daming
Published: October 2019

Purpose

Distribution of intermediate filament (IF) proteins in normal extraocular muscles (EOMs) showed that the EOMs differ significantly from the other muscles in the body with respect to their IFs composition, including desmin and nestin. The aim of the present study was to investigate the pathological changes in the medial rectus (MR) in patients with concomitant exotropia (XT).

Methods

Forty-six MR muscle samples from 46 patients with XT were analyzed pathologically and processed for immunohistochemistry with specific antibodies against desmin and nestin.

Results

Although most of MR muscles remained normal structures relatively, they presented high expression of desmin, and in contrast, nestin was absent in a large proportion of the MR muscles.

Conclusion

Desmin, which is downregulated in normal EOMs, had high expression in MR muscles of patients with XT. Nestin, which is present in a high proportion of normal EOMs, was downregulated in MR muscles of patients with XT.
Thermal oxidation of sputtered nickel nano-film as hole transport layer for high performance perovskite solar cells
Authors: Aboulsaad Mustafa , El Tahan Ayman , Soliman Moataz , El-Sheikh Said , Ebrahim Shaker
Published: October 2019

The effect of rapid oxidation temperature on the sputtered nickel (Ni) films to act as a hole transport layer (HTL) for perovskite solar cell (PSCs) was investigated. A nano-sputtered Ni film with a thickness about 100 nm was oxidized at a range of different oxidation temperatures between 350 and 650 °C to work as HTL in an inverted p–i–n configuration. DC Hall measurement in van der Pauw configuration and photoluminescence spectroscopy were used to measure the charge’s mobility and extraction of nickel oxide (NiO) films. The behaviour of the carrier concentration measurements of NiO layers at different oxidation temperatures showed that the Ni layer oxidized at 450 °C had the highest carrier concentration among the other samples. The performance measurements of the fabricated PSCs showed that the nickel oxide hole-transporting layer which has been oxidized at the optimum oxidation temperature of 450 °C has the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 12.05%. Moreover, the characteristic parameters of the optimum cell such as the open-circuit voltage (VOC), short-circuit current density (JSC) and fill factor (FF) were 0.92 V, 19.80 mA/cm2and 0.331, respectively.
Determination of 210Po in air filters from metallurgic industry
Authors: Szaciłowski Grzegorz , Ośko Jakub , Pliszczyński Tomasz
Published: October 2019

The elevated concentration of 210Po attached to aerosol particles inside a non-ferrous metal refinery was studied. The aerosols were collected on Petrianov or glass-fiber filters and subsequently subjected to radiochemical procedure consisting of acid leaching and concentration by micro co-precipitation with manganese oxide. For the activity determination alpha spectrometry and liquid scintillation counting (LSC) were applied. The obtained results showed that usually observed polonium concentration inside the plant was lower than 78 mBq m−3, however short spikes up to 7430 ± 710 mBq m−3 (related to the specific thermal process) were also observed.
An optimisation tool for robust community detection algorithms using content and topology information
Authors: Bhih Amhmed , Johnson Princy , Randles Martin
Published: October 2019

With the recent prevalence of information networks, the topic of community detection has gained much interest among researchers. In real-world networks, node attribute (content information) is also available in addition to topology information. However, the collected topology information for networks is usually noisy when there are missing edges. Furthermore, the existing community detection methods generally focus on topology information and largely ignore the content information. This makes the task of community detection for incomplete networks very challenging. A new method is proposed that seeks to address this issue and help improve the performance of the existing community detection algorithms by considering both sources of information, i.e. topology and content. Empirical results demonstrate that our proposed method is robust and can detect more meaningful community structures within networks having incomplete information, than the conventional methods that consider only topology information.
Structured carbon foam derived from waste biomass: application to endocrine disruptor adsorption
Authors: Zbair Mohamed , Ojala Satu , Khallok Hamza , Ainassaari Kaisu , El Assal Zouhair , Hatim Zineb , Keiski Riitta L. , Bensitel Mohamed , Brahmi Rachid
Published: October 2019

In this paper, a novel structured carbon foam has been prepared from argan nut shell (ANS) was developed and applied in bisphenol A (BPA) removal from water. The results showed that the prepared carbon foam remove 93% of BPA (60 mg/L). The BPA equilibrium data obeyed the Liu isotherm, displaying a maximum uptake capacity of 323.0 mg/g at 20 °C. The calculated free enthalpy change (∆H° = − 4.8 kJ/mol) indicated the existence of physical adsorption between BPA and carbon foam. Avrami kinetic model was able to explain the experimental results. From the regeneration tests, we conclude that the prepared carbon foam has a good potential to be used as an economic and efficient adsorbent for BPA removal from contaminated water. Based on these results and the fact that the developed structured carbon foam is very easy to separate from treated water, it can serve as an interesting material for real water treatment applications.
Current understanding and applications of the cold sintering process
Authors: Yu Tong , Cheng Jiang , Li Lu , Sun Benshuang , Bao Xujin , Zhang Hongtao
Published: October 2019

In traditional ceramic processing techniques, high sintering temperature is necessary to achieve fully dense microstructures. But it can cause various problems including warpage, overfiring, element evaporation, and polymorphic transformation. To overcome these drawbacks, a novel processing technique called “cold sintering process (CSP)” has been explored by Randall et al. CSP enables densification of ceramics at ultra-low temperature (⩽300°C) with the assistance of transient aqueous solution and applied pressure. In CSP, the processing conditions including aqueous solution, pressure, temperature, and sintering duration play critical roles in the densification and properties of ceramics, which will be reviewed. The review will also include the applications of CSP in solid-state rechargeable batteries. Finally, the perspectives about CSP is proposed.
Study of the management efficiency of the drinking water supply in arid areas: case of Bechar city (southwest of Algeria)
Authors: Kendouci Mohammed Amin , Bendida Ali , Mebarki Saliha , Kharroubi Benali
Published: October 2019

Bechar, a typical Saharan city with an arid climate, receives an average annual rainfall of around 72 mm. Two resources ensure the supply of drinking water to the city of Bechar; the first comes from a catchment field consisting of eight boreholes, and the second comes from the Djorf Torba dam located in the west at about 45 km where is located the drinking water treatment plant. Water scarcity and water supply disruption have caused residents of Bechar city connected to the water supply system to invest in relatively expensive storage and pumping facilities to meet their domestic needs. The survey was conducted on a sample of 20% of the population of Bechar city in a period of 4 months. Through the survey, we have reached that 74% of citizens of Bechar city are not satisfied with the quality and quantity of water and 59% of respondents are not satisfied with the water pressure and are therefore forced to use the pumps.
Correction to: Microbial Exchange via Fomites and Implications for Human Health
Authors: Stephens Brent , Azimi Parham , Thoemmes Megan S. , Heidarinejad Mohammad , Allen Joseph G. , Gilbert Jack A.
Published: October 2019

The article Microbial Exchange via Fomites and Implications for Human Health, written by Brent Stephens, Parham Azimi, Megan S. Thoemmes, Mohammad Heidarinejad, Joseph G. Allen, and Jack A. Gilbert, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal
MAuto: Automatic Mobile Game Testing Tool Using Image-Matching Based Approach
Authors: Tuovenen J. , Oussalah M. , Kostakos P.
Published: October 2019

The exponential increase in the speed of the mobile industry has led to a decreasing quality in many associated mobile apps. Besides, the number of distinct Android devices reached thousands. This challenged the development of universally accepted test applications that can run on all devices. This paper focuses on the development of a new mobile game testing framework, referred to, MAuto. MAuto records the user actions in the game and replays the tests on any Android device. MAuto uses image recognition, through AKAZE features, to record the test cases and the Appium framework to replay the user actions automatically. The feasibility of the developed tool has been demonstrated through testing on the Clash of Clans mobile game.
‘Mimicking’ the West? Russia's legitimization discourse from Georgia war to the annexation of Crimea
Authors: Rotaru Vasile
Published: October 2019

The 2008 Georgia war represented a turning point in Russian foreign policy. It was for the first time since the dissolution of the Soviet Union when Moscow invaded an independent country and for the first time when two members of the Council of Europe fought against each other. A premiere for Russian post-Soviet foreign policy was registered in 2014 too. The annexation of Crimea represented the first incorporation of foreign territories by Moscow since World War II. These two events generated the West's protest and blatantly contradict Russia's proclaimed foreign policy discourse centered around the respect for states' sovereignty and equality of actors in the international system. Starting from the assertion that the formulation of Russia's foreign policy is determined by the West's international behavior — Moscow looking whether to emulate or to find alternatives to it; the present paper will compare Russia's legitimization arguments for the 2008 war and the 2014 annexation of Crimea trying to assess how Moscow answers Western criticism and whether there is a continuity in Russian official legitimization narratives.
Zooarchaeological Database Preservation, Multiscalar Data Integration, and the Collaboration of the Eastern Archaic Faunal Working Group
Authors: Neusius Sarah W. , Styles Bonnie W. , Peres Tanya M. , Walker Renee B. , Crothers George M. , Smith Beverley A. , Colburn Mona L.
Published: October 2019

Data preservation, reuse, and synthesis are important goals in contemporary archaeological research that have been addressed by the recent collaboration of the Eastern Archaic Faunal Working Group (EAFWG). We used the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) to preserve 60 significant legacy faunal databases from 23 Archaic period archaeological sites located in several contiguous subregions of the interior North American Eastern Woodlands. In order to resolve the problem of synthesizing non-standardized databases, we used the ontology and integration tools available in tDAR to explore comparability and combine datasets so that our research questions about aquatic resource use during the Archaic could be addressed at multiple scales. The challenges of making digital databases accessible for reuse, including the addition of metadata, and of linking disparate data in queryable datasets are significant but worth the effort. Our experience provides one example of how collaborative research may productively resolve problems in making legacy data accessible and usable for synthetic archaeological research.
Archaeological Analysis in the Information Age: Guidelines for Maximizing the Reach, Comprehensiveness, and Longevity of Data
Authors: Kansa Sarah W. , Atici Levent , Kansa Eric C. , Meadow Richard H.
Published: October 2019

With the advent of the Web, increased emphasis on “research data management,” and innovations in reproducible research practices, scholars have more incentives and opportunities to document and disseminate their primary data. This article seeks to guide archaeologists in data sharing by highlighting recurring challenges in reusing archived data gleaned from observations on workflows and reanalysis efforts involving datasets published over the past 15 years by Open Context. Based on our findings, we propose specific guidelines to improve data management, documentation, and publishing practices so that primary data can be more efficiently discovered, understood, aggregated, and synthesized by wider research communities.
MULTIVARIATE GEOMETRIC TAIL- AND RANGE-VALUE-AT-RISK
Authors: Herrmann Klaus , Hofert Marius , Mailhot Mélina
Published: October 2019

A generalization of range-value-at-risk (RVaR) and tail-value-at-risk (TVaR) for d-dimensional distribution functions is introduced. Properties of these new risk measures are studied and illustrated. We provide special cases, applications and a comparison with traditional univariate and multivariate versions of the TVaR and RVaR.
POLITICS IN SCHOOLGIRL DEBATING CULTURES IN ENGLAND, 1886–1914
Authors: SUNDERLAND HELEN
Published: October 2019

Debating was an important part of schoolgirls’ political education in late Victorian and Edwardian England that has been overlooked in the scholarship on female education and civics instruction. Debates offered middle- and working-class schoolgirls an embodied and interactive education for citizenship. Considering both the content of discussions and the process of debating, this article argues that school debates provided a unique opportunity for girls to discuss political ideas and develop political skills. Debates became intertwined with girls’ peer cultures, challenging contemporary and historiographical assumptions of girlhood apoliticism. Positioning girls as political subjects sheds new light on political change in modern Britain. Schoolgirl debates show how gendered political boundaries were shifting in this period. Within the unique space of the school debating chamber, girls were free to appropriate and subvert ‘masculine’ political subjects and ways of speaking. In mock parliaments, schoolgirls re-created the archetypal male political space of the House of Commons, demonstrating their familiarity with parliamentary politics. Schoolgirl debates therefore foreshadowed initiatives that promoted women's citizenship after partial suffrage was achieved in 1918, and they help to explain how the first women voters were assimilated easily into existing party and constitutional politics.
Determinants of diabetes in Bangladesh using two approaches: an analysis of the Demographic and Health Survey 2011
Authors: Swasey Krystal K. , Gupta Rajat Das , Nayeem Jannatun , Kibria Gulam Muhammed Al
Published: October 2019

This cross-sectional study analysed data from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2011 to investigate factors associated with diabetes in Bangladesh. Data were analysed using logistic and log-binomial regressions to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and prevalence ratios (PRs), respectively. Among the 7544 respondents aged ≥35 years, the estimated prevalence of diabetes was 11.0%. In the adjusted analysis, survey participants in the age group 55–64 years (adjusted PR [APR]: 1.8, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.4, 2.2; adjusted OR [AOR]: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.5, 2.5) and those with at least secondary education level (APR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.6; AOR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.0, 1.7) were more likely to have diabetes than those in the age group 35–44 years and those with no education. Furthermore, respondents living in Khulna (APR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.4, 0.6; AOR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.3, 0.6) were less likely to have diabetes than people living in Barisal. While adjusted estimates of PR and OR were similar in terms of significance of association, the magnitude of the point estimate was attenuated in PR compared with the OR. Nevertheless, the measured factors still had a significant association with diabetes in Bangladesh. The results of this study suggest that Bangladeshi adults would benefit from increased education on, and awareness of, the risk factors for diabetes. Focused public health intervention should target these high-risk populations.
Effect of chronic suppurative otitis media on distortion product otoacoustic emission input–output functions in conventional and ultra-high frequencies
Authors: Kirubaharane S I , Palani S , Alexander A , Sreenivasan A
Published: October 2019

Background

Detection and valid measurements of distortion product otoacoustic emissions are not influenced by cochlear status alone, but also by middle-ear status. There is a need to understand the use of ultra-high frequency distortion product otoacoustic emissions in cases of abnormal distortion product otoacoustic emission findings for conventional frequencies related to the middle-ear condition.

Method

The present study investigated distortion product otoacoustic emission input–output functions in conventional and ultra-high frequencies in: 37 adults with chronic suppurative otitis media (clinical group) and 37 adults with normal hearing sensitivity (control group).

Results

There were significant reductions in distortion product otoacoustic emission amplitude and mean signal-to-noise ratio in the clinical group compared to the control group, especially for conventional frequencies.

Conclusion

There was a significant reduction in the rate of ears with measurable distortion product otoacoustic emissions in the clinical group, especially for conventional frequencies. The effect of chronic suppurative otitis media was more pronounced in the conventional frequency range compared to the smaller effect seen in the ultra-high frequency range.
ASYMPTOTIC THEORY FOR KERNEL ESTIMATORS UNDER MODERATE DEVIATIONS FROM A UNIT ROOT, WITH AN APPLICATION TO THE ASYMPTOTIC SIZE OF NONPARAMETRIC TESTS
Authors: Duffy James A.
Published: October 2019

We provide new asymptotic theory for kernel density estimators, when these are applied to autoregressive processes exhibiting moderate deviations from a unit root. This fills a gap in the existing literature, which has to date considered only nearly integrated and stationary autoregressive processes. These results have applications to nonparametric predictive regression models. In particular, we show that the null rejection probability of a nonparametric t test is controlled uniformly in the degree of persistence of the regressor. This provides a rigorous justification for the validity of the usual nonparametric inferential procedures, even in cases where regressors may be highly persistent.
Do Fitting Emotions Tell Us Anything About Well-Being?
Authors: Fanciullo James
Published: October 2019

In a recent article in this journal, Tobias Fuchs has offered a ‘working test’ for well-being. According to this test, if it is fitting to feel compassion for a subject because they have some property, then the subject is badly off because they have that property. Since subjects of deception seem a fitting target for compassion, this test is said to imply that a number of important views, including hedonism, are false. I argue that this line of reasoning is mistaken: seems fitting does not imply is badly off. I suggest that Fuchs's test can tell us little about well-being that we do not already know; and ultimately, tests of the sort he proposes can yield little insight into the nature of well-being.
Ecological costs of discrimination: racism, red cedar and resilience in farm bill conservation policy in Oklahoma
Authors: Fagundes Colton , Picciano Lorette , Tillman Willard , Mleczko Jennifer , Schwier Stephanie , Graddy-Lovelace Garrett , Hall Felicia , Watson Tracy
Published: October 2019

This article makes the case that the legacy of institutional racism by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is connected to the encroachment of the invasive speciesJuniperus virginiana(eastern red cedar) on farming land. Red cedar's encroachment impacts Black farmers disproportionately in Oklahoma, even as it undermines broader USDA conservation goals and ability to adapt to climate change. As such, this case study illustrates the shortcomings of Farm Bill Conservation Title programs to address ecological issues across the landscape—shortcomings that hinder farmers' ability to carry out long-term adaptation and mitigate risks. Conversely, we show how the work of Oklahoma Black Historical Research Project, Inc. and the Rural Coalition has been vital allies in Black farmers inter-related struggles against racial injustice and red cedar. Thus, we argue community-based organizations have a pivotal, but under-supported, role to play in the shaping and application of farm bill programs and funds.
Effect of Urbanization on Ozone and Resultant Health Effects in the Pearl River Delta Region of China
Authors: Yim Steve Hung Lam , Wang Mengya , Gu Yefu , Yang Yuanjian , Dong Guanghui , Li Qingxiang
Published: October 2019

The United Nations has reported that 55% of the global population resides in urban areas, and 68% of the population is expected to be urban dwellers by 2050. Urbanization has critical implications for global land cover. Relevant literature has provided evidence attributing climatic effects to urban expansion; however, few studies have investigated the effect on public health and pollutant sensitivity to emissions. This study aimed to characterize the effect of urbanization‐induced changes in regional climate on ozone (O3), to evaluate ozone sensitivity to nitrogen oxide (NOx) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, and to estimate premature mortalities due to O3 exposure. We employed atmospheric models with the higher‐order decoupled direct method to simulate effects of urbanization on O3 and to determine O3 sensitivity to NOx and VOC emissions. China‐specific concentration response functions were utilized to estimate cardiovascular and respiratory mortalities due to ozone exposure. Urbanization increased O3, which translated to a 39.6% increase in O3‐induced premature mortality (1,100 deaths). Moreover, O3 has become less/more sensitive to unit changes in NOx and VOC emissions in various cities. Urban greening may reduce urban temperature, but it may increase O3 in some cities due to the additional VOC emissions of greening. These findings highlight the strong interactions between land use policies, urban climate adaptation strategies, and air quality policies, suggesting the need of cobeneficial strategies and policies. We proposed a precision environmental management concept that emphasizes the importance of considering the specific atmospheric condition and composition of a city when formulating its environmental policies.
Impacts of Subtropical Highs on Summertime Precipitation in North America
Authors: Schmidt Daniel F. , Grise Kevin M.
Published: October 2019

Numerous observational studies have found that the Hadley cells are expanding poleward in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and model results suggest that such expansion is likely to continue throughout this century as a result of global warming. This has led to concerns that the subtropical dry zones may also shift poleward. However, precipitation changes associated with Hadley cell width are zonally asymmetric—especially in the Northern Hemisphere—suggesting that a more regional focus may give a clearer picture of these changes. In this study, we consider the influence of the Northern Hemisphere subtropical highs on summertime precipitation in North America and contrast this with the influence of Hadley cell expansion. Specifically, we consider the North Pacific and North Atlantic subtropical highs (NPSH and NASH, respectively) and define, for each of these, three indices representing longitude, latitude, and strength. We find that short‐term (monthly) precipitation variability over North America has comparable sensitivities to all six indices. However, for projections of 21st century climate change, North American summertime precipitation trends are driven more strongly by the longitudes of the highs than by their latitudes or strengths. Since the Hadley cells are defined with zonal‐mean quantities, much of the impact of these subtropical high shifts cannot be captured by Hadley cell metrics.
Experimental Petrology to Understand Europa's Crust
Authors: Muñoz‐Iglesias V. , Prieto‐Ballesteros O. , López I.
Published: October 2019

The Jovian moon Europa is a prime target for astrobiology. A global subsurface water ocean and a geologically young surface provide evidence of an active planetary body with a potential deep habitable environment. Tectonism and cryomagmatism are both agents of resurfacing, with structures on the surface spatially related to reddish non‐icy materials that could represent crystallized volatile and salt‐rich fluids from the interior, possibly from the ocean or shallower aqueous bodies. Cryomagmatism could therefore be a mechanism for exposing the underlying liquid layers to the surface and could hold paramount importance for understanding the physical and chemical evolution of fluids during their ascent and emplacement and their connection with geological features at the surface. With these premises, we perform a set of laboratory experiments simulating the evolution of different fluids under the conditions in Europa's crust. These experiments allow us to constrain the physico‐chemical and textural changes experienced by the different fluids and solids that are potentially emplaced within the icy crust and determine how they are affected by such secondary processes as reheating, melting, and ultimate recrystallization (e.g., in response to the emplacement of a second diapir close to the first one or tidal reheating). Based on these experimental results, we explore the connection of cryomagmas and their evolution near the surface to geologic features present on Europa's surface, such as pits, uplifts/domes, and microchaos regions, as well as the link with explosive cryovolcanism responsible for putative plumes at Europa.
Autogenic Organization of Syn‐Tectonic Sedimentary Patterns in Deepwater Foldbelts: A Simple Dynamic Model
Authors: Lotero‐Vélez A. , Yarbuh I. , Borges‐Santana O. , Spelz‐Madero R. M. , Negrete‐Aranda R. , Contreras J.
Published: October 2019

We present a dynamical model that links through multiple length and time scales the formation of detachment folds, degradation of topography, and deposition of sheet‐like sedimentary bodies in deepwater foldbelt environments based on a nonlinear reaction–diffusion equation. We represent the stratigraphic response predicted by our model in a two‐dimensional parametric space whose axes are given by the Peclet number (Pe), the ratio of the mass transported by tectonic uplift and the mass transferred by diffusive hillslope processes, and the sediment delivery number (Sd), the ratio of sediments transported by density currents to those produced by intrabasinal processes. Notably, we identify three well‐defined regions of sedimentary behavior in that parametric space: a central domain (Pe > 2,Sd > 2) of cyclic stratigraphy produced by self‐sustained oscillations in the sedimentary system and two regions near the graph axes of stable sedimentation in which a continuous stratigraphy is produced. In the central domain, all the mass fluxes are equally important. This creates the conditions for a series of complex interaction between hillslope sediment transport, fold growth, and sedimentation. The other two regions correspond to end‐members in which either the Pe or Sd is small. For small Pe values, topographic degradation and sediment dispersal by hillslope transport dominate over tectonic uplift. Thus, any tectonic perturbation appearing in the system dissipates readily. For small Sd values, sediment transport is dominated by creep, and the system rapidly evolves toward a steady state.
Peatland Contribution to Stream Organic Carbon Exports From a Montane Watershed
Authors: Rosset T. , Gandois L. , Le Roux G. , Teisserenc R. , Durantez Jimenez P. , Camboulive T. , Binet S.
Published: October 2019

Mountains contain many small and fragmented peatlands within watersheds. As they are difficult to monitor, their role in the water and carbon cycle is often disregarded. This study aims to assess the stream organic carbon exports from a montane peatland and characterizes its contribution to the water chemistry in a headstream watershed. High frequency in situ monitoring of turbidity and fDOM were used to quantify respectively particulate organic carbon (POC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exports at the inlet and outlet of a peatland over three years in a French Pyrenean watershed (1,343 m.a.s.l.). The DOC and POC signals are both highly dynamic, characterized by numerous short peaks lasting from a few hours to a few days. Forty‐six percent of the exports occurred during 9% of the time corresponding to the highest flows monitored at the outlet. Despite its small area (3%) within the watershed, the peatland contributes at least 63% of the DOC export at the outlet. The specific DOC flux ranges from 16.1 ± 0.4 to 34.6 ± 1.5 g m2year−1. POC contributes 17% of the total stream organic carbon exports from the watershed. As the frequency of extreme climatic events is expected to increase in the context of climate change, further studies should be conducted to understand the evolution of underestimated mountainous peatland carbon fluxes and their implication in the carbon cycle of headwaters.
Coping With Extreme Events: Growth and Water‐Use Efficiency of Trees in Western Mexico During the Driest and Wettest Periods of the Past One Hundred Sixty Years
Authors: Castruita‐Esparza Luis U. , Silva Lucas C.R. , Gómez‐Guerrero Armando , Villanueva‐Díaz José , Correa‐Díaz Arian , Horwath William R.
Published: October 2019

Understanding how trees respond to extreme events is important to predict how climate change will impact forests in the future. In this study, we report changes in radial growth and tree‐ring carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) stable isotope ratios of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas‐fir) in western Mexico. Tree growth was compared with δ13C and δ18O ratios recorded during dry and wet periods caused by El Niño‐Southern Oscillation since 1850. The three driest and three wettest events during the studied period caused tree growth decline of up to 50% followed by 6–10 years of slow recovery until baseline growth was regained. Wet events resulted in up to 17% growth increase, a positive effect that persisted for no more than 3–5 years. Stable isotope ratios recorded physiological adjustments that in some cases correlated significantly with tree growth. Excursions in tree‐ring Δ13C and δ18O isotope ratios suggest that trees cope with dry and wet periods with proportional but divergent adjustments in photosynthesis versus stomatal conductance. Notably, the intrinsic water‐use efficiency—that is, the ratio between carbon assimilation and water loss through transpiration—was positively correlated with tree basal growth only during dry periods. We found no significant correlations between growth and intrinsic water‐use efficiency during wet periods. Contrary to expectations, rising CO2 levels over the past ~160 years did not affect tree growth response to precipitation variability.
Ensembles of Global Climate Model Variants Designed for the Quantification and Constraint of Uncertainty in Aerosols and Their Radiative Forcing
Authors: Yoshioka M. , Regayre L. A. , Pringle K. J. , Johnson J. S. , Mann G. W. , Partridge D. G. , Sexton D. M. H. , Lister G. M. S. , Schutgens N. , Stier P. , Kipling Z. , Bellouin N. , Browse J. , Booth B. B. B. , Johnson C. E. , Johnson B. , Mollard J. D. P. , Lee L. , Carslaw K. S.
Published: October 2019

Tropospheric aerosol radiative forcing has persisted for many years as one of the major causes of uncertainty in global climate model simulations. To sample the range of plausible aerosol and atmospheric states and perform robust statistical analyses of the radiative forcing, it is important to account for the combined effects of many sources of model uncertainty, which is rarely done due to the high computational cost. This paper describes the designs of two ensembles of the Met Office Hadley Centre Global Environment Model‐U.K. Chemistry and Aerosol global climate model and provides the first analyses of the uncertainties in aerosol radiative forcing and their causes. The first ensemble was designed to comprehensively sample uncertainty in the aerosol state, while the other samples additional uncertainties in the physical model related to clouds, humidity, and radiation, thereby allowing an analysis of uncertainty in the aerosol effective radiative forcing. Each ensemble consists of around 200 simulations of the preindustrial and present‐day atmospheres. The uncertainty in aerosol radiative forcing in our ensembles is comparable to the range of estimates from multimodel intercomparison projects. The mean aerosol effective radiative forcing is −1.45 W/m2 (credible interval of −2.07 to −0.81 W/m2), which encompasses but is more negative than the −1.17 W/m2 in the 2013 Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project and −0.90 W/m2 in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report. The ensembles can be used to reduce aerosol radiative forcing uncertainty by challenging them with multiple measurements as well as to isolate potential causes of multimodel differences.
Intense Hurricane Activity Over the Past 1500 Years at South Andros Island, The Bahamas
Authors: Wallace E. J. , Donnelly J. P. , van Hengstum P. J. , Wiman C. , Sullivan R. M. , Winkler T. S. , d'Entremont N. E. , Toomey M. , Albury N.
Published: October 2019

Hurricanes cause substantial loss of life and resources in coastal areas. Unfortunately, historical hurricane records are too short and incomplete to capture hurricane‐climate interactions on multi‐decadal and longer timescales. Coarse‐grained, hurricane‐induced deposits preserved in blue holes in the Caribbean can provide records of past hurricane activity extending back thousands of years. Here we present a high resolution record of intense hurricane events over the past 1500 years from a blue hole on South Andros Island on the Great Bahama Bank. This record is corroborated by shorter reconstructions from cores collected at two nearby blue holes. The record contains coarse‐grained event deposits attributable to known historical hurricane strikes within age uncertainties. Over the past 1500 years, South Andros shows evidence of four active periods of hurricane activity. None of these active intervals occurred in the past 163 years. We suggest that Intertropical Convergence Zone position modulates hurricane activity on the island based on a correlation with Cariaco Basin titanium concentrations. An anomalous gap in activity on South Andros Island in the early 13th century corresponds to a period of increased volcanism. The patterns of hurricane activity reconstructed from South Andros Island closely match those from the northeastern Gulf of Mexico but are anti‐phased with records from New England. We suggest that either changes in local environmental conditions (e.g., SSTs) or a northeastward shift in storm tracks can account for the increased activity in the western North Atlantic when the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Caribbean are less active.
Retro‐foreland Basin Development in Response to Proto‐Tethyan Ocean Closure, NE Tibet Plateau
Authors: Yan Zhen , Fu Changlei , Aitchison Jonathan C. , Buckman Solomon , Niu Manlan , Cao Bo , Sun Yi , Guo Xianqing , Wang Zongqi , Zhou Renjie
Published: October 2019

The compositions and ages of the sediments within retro or foreland basins that are formed and preserved adjacent to collisional orogens can reflect the nature of colliding tectonic elements. The nonmarine Yaoshuiquan and Huabaoshan formations in the South Qilian belt on the NE Tibetan Plateau deposited within a retro‐foreland basin setting during latest Ordovician to Late Silurian time in response to arc‐continent collision. Detritus derivation from a Cambro‐Ordovician arc‐ophiolite complex contains mixed 530‐480 Ma oceanic‐crust together with contributions from a 479‐450 Ma continental‐arc early in development of the basin. The Cambrian arc‐accretionary system and Central Qilian block united to form the basement of a continental arc at ~450 Ma, and both then contributed sediments to the Lianhuashan‐Huabaoshan basin. After the Hualong complex accreted to the north, a broad Andean‐type margin developed along the southern margin of the Central Qilian block from 450 to 440 Ma. These processes generated a wider basin that received detritus from both the south and the north. Consumption of the Proto‐Tethyan Ocean ended with collision between the Qaidam and Hualong blocks, which led to mass wasting of detritus from the Andean‐type igneous rocks and both blocks with the basin from 440 to 420 Ma.
Predicted climate shifts within terrestrial protected areas worldwide
Authors: Hoffmann Samuel , Irl Severin D. H. , Beierkuhnlein Carl
Published: October 2019

Protected areas (PA) are refugia of biodiversity. However, anthropogenic climate change induces a redistribution of life on Earth that affects the effectiveness of PAs. When species are forced to migrate from protected to unprotected areas to track suitable climate, they often face degraded habitats in human-dominated landscapes and a higher extinction threat. Here, we assess how climate conditions are expected to shift within the world’s terrestrial PAs (n = 137,432). PAs in the temperate and northern high-latitude biomes are predicted to obtain especially high area proportions of climate conditions that are novel within the PA network at the local, regional and global scale by the end of this century. These PAs are predominantly small, at low elevation, with low environmental heterogeneity, high human pressure, and low biotic uniqueness. Our results guide adaptation measures towards PAs that are strongly affected by climate change, and of low adaption capacity and high conservation value.
Dielectric multi-momentum meta-transformer in the visible
Authors: Jin Lei , Huang Yao-Wei , Jin Zhongwei , Devlin Robert C. , Dong Zhaogang , Mei Shengtao , Jiang Menghua , Chen Wei Ting , Wei Zhun , Liu Hong , Teng Jinghua , Danner Aaron , Li Xiangping , Xiao Shumin , Zhang Shuang , Yu Changyuan , Yang Joel K. W. , Capasso Federico , Qiu Cheng-Wei
Published: October 2019

Metasurfaces as artificially nanostructured interfaces hold significant potential for multi-functionality, which may play a pivotal role in the next-generation compact nano-devices. The majority of multi-tasked metasurfaces encode or encrypt multi-information either into the carefully tailored metasurfaces or in pre-set complex incident beam arrays. Here, we propose and demonstrate a multi-momentum transformation metasurface (i.e., meta-transformer), by fully synergizing intrinsic properties of light, e.g., orbital angular momentum (OAM) and linear momentum (LM), with a fixed phase profile imparted by a metasurface. The OAM meta-transformer reconstructs different topologically charged beams into on-axis distinct patterns in the same plane. The LM meta-transformer converts red, green and blue illuminations to the on-axis images of “R”, “G” and “B” as well as vivid color holograms, respectively. Thanks to the infinite states of light-metasurface phase combinations, such ultra-compact meta-transformer has potential in information storage, nanophotonics, optical integration and optical encryption.
Molecular features of the UNC-45 chaperone critical for binding and folding muscle myosin
Authors: Hellerschmied Doris , Lehner Anita , Franicevic Nina , Arnese Renato , Johnson Chloe , Vogel Antonia , Meinhart Anton , Kurzbauer Robert , Deszcz Luiza , Gazda Linn , Geeves Michael , Clausen Tim
Published: October 2019

Myosin is a motor protein that is essential for a variety of processes ranging from intracellular transport to muscle contraction. Folding and assembly of myosin relies on a specific chaperone, UNC-45. To address its substrate-targeting mechanism, we reconstitute the interplay between Caenorhabditis elegans UNC-45 and muscle myosin MHC-B in insect cells. In addition to providing a cellular chaperone assay, the established system enabled us to produce large amounts of functional muscle myosin, as evidenced by a biochemical and structural characterization, and to directly monitor substrate binding to UNC-45. Data from in vitro and cellular chaperone assays, together with crystal structures of binding-deficient UNC-45 mutants, highlight the importance of utilizing a flexible myosin-binding domain. This so-called UCS domain can adopt discrete conformations to efficiently bind and fold substrate. Moreover, our data uncover the molecular basis of temperature-sensitive UNC-45 mutations underlying one of the most prominent motility defects in C. elegans.
Plasmonic layer-selective all-optical switching of magnetization with nanometer resolution
Authors: Ignatyeva D. O. , Davies C. S. , Sylgacheva D. A. , Tsukamoto A. , Yoshikawa H. , Kapralov P. O. , Kirilyuk A. , Belotelov V. I. , Kimel A. V.
Published: October 2019

All-optical magnetization reversal with femtosecond laser pulses facilitates the fastest and least dissipative magnetic recording, but writing magnetic bits with spatial resolution better than the wavelength of light has so far been seen as a major challenge. Here, we demonstrate that a single femtosecond laser pulse of wavelength 800 nm can be used to toggle the magnetization exclusively within one of two 10-nm thick magnetic nanolayers, separated by just 80 nm, without affecting the other one. The choice of the addressed layer is enabled by the excitation of a plasmon-polariton at a targeted interface of the nanostructure, and realized merely by rotating the polarization-axis of the linearly-polarized ultrashort optical pulse by 90°. Our results unveil a robust tool that can be deployed to reliably switch magnetization in targeted nanolayers of heterostructures, and paves the way to increasing the storage density of opto-magnetic recording by a factor of at least 2.
A comprehensive study of metabolite genetics reveals strong pleiotropy and heterogeneity across time and context
Authors: Gallois Apolline , Mefford Joel , Ko Arthur , Vaysse Amaury , Julienne Hanna , Ala-Korpela Mika , Laakso Markku , Zaitlen Noah , Pajukanta Päivi , Aschard Hugues
Published: October 2019

Genetic studies of metabolites have identified thousands of variants, many of which are associated with downstream metabolic and obesogenic disorders. However, these studies have relied on univariate analyses, reducing power and limiting context-specific understanding. Here we aim to provide an integrated perspective of the genetic basis of metabolites by leveraging the Finnish Metabolic Syndrome In Men (METSIM) cohort, a unique genetic resource which contains metabolic measurements, mostly lipids, across distinct time points as well as information on statin usage. We increase effective sample size by an average of two-fold by applying the Covariates for Multi-phenotype Studies (CMS) approach, identifying 588 significant SNP-metabolite associations, including 228 new associations. Our analysis pinpoints a small number of master metabolic regulator genes, balancing the relative proportion of dozens of metabolite levels. We further identify associations to changes in metabolic levels across time as well as genetic interactions with statin at both the master metabolic regulator and genome-wide level.