bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Kierkegaard and divine-command theory: replies to Quinn and Evans
Authors: MANIS R. ZACHARY
Published: April 2009

One of the most important recent developments in the discussion of Kierkegaard's ethics is an interpretation defended, in different forms, by Philip Quinn and Stephen Evans. Both argue that a divine-command theory of moral obligation (DCT) is to be found in Works of Love. Against this view, I argue that, despite significant overlap between DCT and the view of moral obligation found in Works of Love, there is at least one essential difference between the two: the former, but not the latter, is committed to the claim that, necessarily, p is morally obligatory only if God commands that p.
F. H. Jacobi on faith, or what it takes to be an irrationalist
Authors: CROWE BENJAMIN D.
Published: April 2009

F. H. Jacobi (1743–1819), a key figure in the philosophical debates at the close of the eighteenth century in Germany, has long been regarded as an irrationalist for allegedly advocating a blind ‘leap of faith’. The central claim of this essay is that this venerable charge is misplaced. Following a reconstruction of what a charge of irrationalism might amount to, two of Jacobi's most important works, the Spinoza Letters (1785) and David Hume (1787), are scrutinized for traces of irrationalism. Far from being an irrationalist, Jacobi is best read as questioning the analytical-geometrical model of rationality popular among his contemporaries, and of proposing a more naturalistic theory of rationality that situates it more firmly in human psychology, the ultimate import of which lies in a reconceptualization of the relation between faith and reason.
Some moral critique of theodicy is misplaced, but not all
Authors: SIMPSON ROBERT
Published: April 2009

Several recent critiques of theodicy have incorporated some form of moral objection to the theodical enterprise, in which the critic argues that one ought not to engage in the practice of theodicy. In defending theodical practice against the moral critique, Atle O. Søvik argues that the moral critique (1) begs the question against theodicy, and (2) misapprehends the implications of the claim that it is inappropriate to espouse a theodicy in certain situations. In this paper I suggest some sympathetic emendations for Søvik's theodical apologetic, but I argue against Søvik's claim that the moral critique of theodicy is altogether irrelevant.
Family Secrets: Law and Understandings of Openness in Everyday Relationships
Authors: SMART CAROL
Published: April 2009

Uncovering old or historical family secrets has become an enjoyable pastime yet in contemporary families the keeping of secrets, especially those relating to reproduction and paternity, is seen increasingly as undesirable. This article explores these issues and the growing tendency for family law and policy to favour exposing genetic truths – seeing this form of scientific veracity as crucial to child welfare and equality. The article explores the changing contexts of family secrets (using data drawn from the Mass Observation Archive) and seeks to locate these secrets in their cultural and historical context. An argument against imposing a simple solution (in the form of genetic truth) onto complex relationships is pursued.
The ‘British Policy Style’ and Mental Health: Beyond the Headlines
Authors: CAIRNEY PAUL
Published: April 2009

Recent Mental Health Acts provide evidence of diverging UK and Scottish government policy styles. The UK legislative process lasted almost ten years following attempts by ministers to impose decisions and an unprecedented level of sustained opposition from interest groups. In contrast, the consultation process in Scotland was consensual, producing high levels of stakeholder ‘ownership’. This article considers two narratives on the generalisability of this experience. The first suggests that it confirms a ‘majoritarian’ British policy style, based on the centralisation of power afforded by a first-past-the-post electoral system (Lijphart, 1999). Diverging styles are likely because widespread hopes for consensus politics in the devolved territories have been underpinned by proportional representation. The second suggests that most policy-making is consensual, based on the diffusion of power across policy sectors and the ‘logic of consultation’ between governments and interest groups (Jordan and Richardson, 1982). The legislative process deviated temporarily from the ‘normal’ British policy style which is more apparent when we consider mental health policy as a whole. Overall, the evidence points to more than one picture of British styles; it suggests that broad conclusions on ‘majoritarian’ systems must be qualified by detailed empirical investigation.
Poverty, Maternal Depression, Family Status and Children's Cognitive and Behavioural Development in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Study
Authors: KIERNAN KATHLEEN E. , MENSAH FIONA K.
Published: April 2009

Improving children's lives is high on the UK policy agenda. In this study for a recent birth cohort of UK children we examine how three aspects of parental resources – income, mother's mental well-being and family status – in early childhood enhance or compromise their children's cognitive and behavioural development. As well as examining how these three aspects of parental resources separately and jointly affect children's well-being, we also enquire whether persistent poverty or persistent maternal depression are more deleterious for children's current well-being than periodic episodes of poverty and depression. We find strong associations between poverty and young children's intellectual and behavioural development, and persistent poverty was found to be particularly important in relation to children's cognitive development. Maternal depression (net of other factors) was more weakly related to cognitive development but strongly related to whether children were exhibiting behaviour problems, and persistent depression amplified the situation. Family status, net of other factors (most noticeably poverty), was only weakly associated with children's development.
The Contemporary Significance of International Human Rights Law
Authors: BUERGENTHAL THOMAS
Published: April 2009

Judge Buergenthal argues that the increased acceptance by states of international human rights obligations proclaimed in UN and regional treaties, reinforced by the jurisprudence of international and regional tribunals, accounts for the substantial progress that has been made in the protection of human rights throughout the world. The resultant political significance of international human rights law and the international community's growing expectation of compliance with that law explain why states engaging in large-scale human rights violations increasingly risk serious political and economic consequences for such practices. A state's continuing non-compliance with its international human rights obligations tends also to lead to the gradual loss by its government of the national and international legitimacy it needs in order to govern, which may in time contribute to its fall.
Kelsen – Which Kelsen? A Reapplication of the Pure Theory to International Law
Authors: KAMMERHOFER JÖRG
Published: April 2009

Hans Kelsen is known both as a legal theorist and as an international lawyer. This article shows that his theory of international law is an integral part of the Kelsenian Pure Theory of Law. Two areas of international law are analysed: first, Kelsen's coercive order paradigm and its relationship to the bellum iustum doctrine; second, the Kelsenian notion of the unity of all law vis-à-vis theories of the relationship of international and municipal law. In a second step, the results of Kelsenian general legal theory of the late period – as interpreted and developed by the present author – are reapplied to selected doctrines of international law. Thus is the coercive order paradigm resolved, the unity of law dissolved, and the UN Charter reinterpreted to show that the concretization of norms as positive international law cannot be unmade by a scholarship usurping the right to make law.
Constitutionalism as Liberal-Juridical Consciousness: Echoes from International Law's Past
Authors: COLLINS RICHARD
Published: April 2009

The future of international law is uncertain. The long-hoped-for revitalization of international law and its institutional structures following the end of the Cold War now seems at risk from an increasing deformalization of, and neo-liberal disregard for, international law. Meanwhile European international lawyers are responding by reasserting a Kantian project for a global constitution under an international rule of law. In this article I attempt to position these recent claims that the international legal order is undergoing a process of constitutional transformation in the context of a long-standing connection, since at least the post-revolutionary nineteenth century, between the idea of a positive international law and the emerging structures of the European constitutional nation-state. If one can trace a cosmopolitan or constitutional project to the influence of domestic public law from this time, one can also trace the inherent tension between international law's promise of a substantive ‘good life’, or sense of justice, and its purported legitimacy in a commitment to a voluntarist, or contractarian, form of obligation. These simultaneous commitments seem incompatible, but are inseparable from international law's embedded liberalism, which requires interplay between them to make sense of progress in the absence of any explicit underlying philosophy. In tracing similarities in concerns from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first, as well as repetitions in legal arguments, I suggest that the alternatives of American empire and a (European) vision of global constitutionalism are merely necessary oppositions, reflecting this broader tension underlying the discipline. Because lawyers avoid clarity on what is taken for granted in a leap from (selective) empirical realism towards assertive normative ambition, I argue that it is a mainstream, liberal-juridical consciousness – rather than any explicit legal theory – which continues to sustain shared assumptions about international law's past, as well as a promise of a future liberal world order. The apparently opposing visions of future world order are merely different sides of the same coin: each reflecting back, but each ultimately sustained by the other.
The Natural Environment in Times of Armed Conflict: A Concern for International War Crimes Law?
Authors: PETERSON INES
Published: April 2009

Article 8(2)(b)(iv), second alternative, of the Statute of the International Criminal Court lists as a war crime the launching of an attack that may cause excessive damage to the natural environment. The incorporation of this offence into the ICC Statute appears to be a great achievement, as it is the first time that such conduct has expressly been declared to entail individual criminal responsibility under an international treaty. It is, however, submitted that Article 8(2)(b)(iv), second alternative, of the ICC Statute, suffers from a serious lack of definition. In addition, the provision depends on an extremely high damage threshold which further complicates its application in practice.
The Principle of Non-intervention
Authors: JAMNEJAD MAZIAR , WOOD MICHAEL
Published: April 2009

This article examines the existence, nature, and content of the non-intervention principle in contemporary international law, concentrating on the application of the principle to areas other than the use of force. It looks at the historical development of the principle and the sources and evidence of the law, in particular resolutions of the UN General Assembly, the decisions of the International Court of Justice, and the practice of states. The article then considers some specific treaty-based applications of the principle, and explores how far the principle may apply to non-treaty, non-forcible situations. It next considers a number of circumstances that may preclude the wrongfulness of intervention (Security Council authorization, consent, and countermeasures), before drawing some tentative conclusions.
Evaluation of Gram-positive rod surveillance for early anthrax detection
Authors: MLYNARSKI D. , RABATSKY-EHR T. , PETIT S. , PURVIANCE K. , MSHAR P. A. , BEGIER E. M. , JOHNSON D. G. , HADLER J. L.
Published: April 2009

Since 2003, Connecticut laboratories have reported Gram-positive rod (GPR) isolates detected within 32 h of inoculation from blood or cerebrospinal fluid. The objectives were to rapidly identify inhalational anthrax and unusual Clostridium spp. infections, and to establish round-the-clock laboratory reporting of potential indicators of bioterrorism. From 2003 to 2006, Connecticut's GPR surveillance system identified 1134 isolates, including 657 Bacillus spp. (none B. anthracis) and 241 Clostridium spp. Reporting completeness and timeliness improved to 93% and 92%, respectively. Baseline rates of Bacillus spp., Clostridium spp. and other GPR findings have been established and are stable. Thus far, no cases of anthrax and no unusual clusters of Clostridium spp. have been detected by the GPR surveillance system. This system would probably have confirmed the inhalational anthrax case in Pennsylvania in 2006 3 days sooner than traditional reporting. Using audits and ongoing evaluation, the system has evolved into a highly functional 24/7 laboratory telephone reporting system with almost complete reporting.
GIS-based spatial, temporal, and space–time analysis of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome
Authors: WU W. , GUO J.-Q. , YIN Z.-H. , WANG P. , ZHOU B.-S.
Published: April 2009

We obtained a list of all reported cases of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Shenyang, China, during 1990–2003, and used GIS-based scan statistics to determine the distribution of HFRS cases and to identify key areas and periods for future risk-factor research. Spatial cluster analysis suggested three areas were at increased risk for HFRS. Temporal cluster analysis suggested one period was at increased risk for HFRS. Space–time cluster analysis suggested six areas from 1995 to 1996 and four areas from 1998 to 2003 were at increased risk for HFRS. We also discussed the likely reasons for these clusters. We conclude that GIS-based scan statistics may provide an opportunity to classify the epidemic situation of HFRS, and we can pursue future investigations to study the likely factors responsible for the increased disease risk based on the classification.
Millian Qualitative Superiorities and Utilitarianism, Part II
Authors: RILEY JONATHAN
Published: April 2009

I continue my argument that Millian qualitative superiorities are infinite superiorities: one pleasant feeling, or type of pleasant feeling, is qualitatively superior to another in Mill's sense if and only if even a bit of the superior is more pleasant (and thus more valuable) than any finite quantity of the inferior, however large. This gives rise to a hierarchy of higher and lower pleasures such that a reasonable hedonist always refuses to sacrifice a higher for a lower irrespective of the finite amounts of each. Some indication of why this absolute refusal may be reasonable is provided in the course of outlining the content of the Millian hierarchy. It emerges that Mill's hedonistic utilitarianism has an extraordinary structure because it gives absolute priority over competing considerations to a code of justice that distributes equal rights and correlative duties for all. His utilitarianism also recognizes that certain aesthetic and spiritual pleasures may be qualitatively superior even to the pleasant feeling of security associated with the moral sentiment of justice. Thus, for instance, a noble individual may reasonably choose to waive his own rights so as to perform beautiful supererogatory actions that provide great benefits for others at the sacrifice of the right-holder's own vital interests.
It Ain't My World
Authors: WEINBERG RIVKA
Published: April 2009

It seems we have some obligation to aid some others, but it's unclear why, to whom, and to what extent. Many consequentialists claim that we are obligated to help everyone to the marginal utility point but they do so without examining why we are obligated to aid others at all. I argue that we must investigate the basis of our duty to aid others in order to determine the nature and extent of our obligation. Although some consequentialists, notably, Kagan, Singer and Unger, present arguments intended to justify some of consequentialism's most counter-intuitive demands, they take the less counter-intuitive demands for granted and justify the steeper demands on the basis of their relevant similarity to the more palatable ones. The result of this strategy is that many of consequentialism's steeper demands free-ride on a superficial similarity with less taxing demands. This allows consequentialism to broaden our obligations beyond the reach of justification. I examine three possible explanations of our duty to aid others, namely, intuition, fairness and self-interest, and argue that none of them justify consequentialism's runaway demands.
Treating Others Merely as Means
Authors: KERSTEIN SAMUEL
Published: April 2009

In the Formula of Humanity, Kant embraces the principle that it is wrong for us to treat others merely as means. For contemporary Kantian ethicists, this Mere Means Principle plays the role of a moral constraint: it limits what we may do, even in the service of promoting the overall good. But substantive interpretations of the principle generate implausible results in relatively ordinary cases. On one interpretation, for example, you treat your opponent in a tennis tournament merely as a means and thus wrongly when you try, through defeating him, to win first place. The article aims to develop a reconstruction of the Mere Means Principle that has more plausible implications than do rival reconstructions. It sets out a sufficient condition for an agent's treating another merely as a means. This condition is intended to be Kantian, but not necessarily one that Kant endorses.
Pain's Evils
Authors: SWENSON ADAM
Published: April 2009

The traditional accounts of pain's intrinsic badness assume a false view of what pains are. Insofar as they are normatively significant, pains are not just painful sensations. A pain is a composite of a painful sensation and a set of beliefs, desires, emotions and other mental states. A pain's intrinsic properties can include inter alia depression, anxiety, fear, desires, feelings of helplessness and the pain's meaning. This undermines the traditional accounts of pain's intrinsic badness. Pain is intrinsically bad in two distinct and historically unnoticed ways. First, most writers hold that pain's intrinsic badness lies either in its unpleasantness or in its being disliked. Given my wider conception of pain, I believe it is both. Pain's first intrinsic evil lies in a conjunction of all the traditional candidates for its source. Pain's second intrinsic evil lies in the way it necessarily undermines the self-control necessary for intrinsic goods like autonomy.
Degrees of Fairness and Proportional Chances
Authors: CURETON ADAM
Published: April 2009

Suppose the following: two groups of people require our aid but we can help only one group; there are more people in the first group than in the second group; every person in both groups has an equal claim on our aid; and we have a duty to help and no other special obligations or duties. I argue that there exists at least one fairness function, which is a function that measures the goodness of degrees of fairness, that implies that we should follow a procedure of proportional chances to determine which group to aid.
Is the Body Special? Review of Cécile Fabre, Whose Body is it Anyway? Justice and the Integrity of the Person
Authors: EYAL NIR
Published: April 2009

Both left libertarians, who support the redistribution of income and wealth through taxation, and right libertarians, who oppose redistributive taxation, share an important view: that, looming catastrophes aside, the state must never redistribute any part of our body or our person without our consent. Cécile Fabre rejects that view. For her, just as the undeservedly poor have a just claim to money from their fellow citizens in order to lead a minimally flourishing life (here Fabre sides with left libertarians), the undeservedly ‘medically poor’ have a just claim to help from fellow citizens in order to lead such a life. Such obligatory help may in principle involve even the supply of body parts for transplantation. The state ought to exact such resources from the medically rich whenever doing so would secure the prospect of a minimally flourishing life to the medically poor without denying that prospect to anyone else. Fabre criticizes Ronald Dworkin's belief in ‘a prophylactic line that comes close to making the body inviolate, that is, making body parts not parts of social resources at all’. For her, ‘Duties to help . . . do not stop at material resources: they involve the body . . . in invasive ways’ (p. 119).
Against Body Exceptionalism: A Reply to Eyal
Authors: FABRE CÉCILE
Published: April 2009

It is hard to do justice, in a short reply, to Eyal's excellent review. Accordingly, I will focus on what I take to be its central claim – namely that I fail to give proper consideration to the extent to which the forced extraction of (live) body parts undermines individuals' opportunities for self-respect. According to Eyal, ‘body exceptionalism’ (the view that body parts, unlike material resources, are not appropriate subject matter for duties of justice) can be defended on the following grounds: ‘People usually see trespass into a person and into objects they associate with a person – especially into a person's body – as utterly disrespectful towards that person and her autonomy’ (pp. 236–7). And later: ‘Whether or not organ confiscation is truly disrespectful . . . its widespread and intractable perception as a humiliating violation counts heavily against it, because it can thwart opportunities for self-respect’ (p. 238).
Effect of recipient breed on delivery rate of cloned miniature pig
Authors: Koo Ok Jae , Park Hee Jung , Kwon Dae Kee , Kang Jung Taek , Jang Goo , Lee Byeong Chun
Published: April 2009

The miniature pig is regarded as a better organ donor breed for xenotransplantation than other pig breeds because the size of their organs is similar to that of humans. To improve efficiency of cloned miniature pig production, we analysed the effect of breed difference between donor cells and embryo recipients on pregnancy rate and delivery rate. Cloned porcine embryos derived from domestic or miniature pig donor cells were transferred to domestic or miniature recipient pigs. Delivery rate was significantly higher when embryos reconstructed with miniature pig donor cells were transferred to miniature pig recipients as compared with that of embryos transferred to domestic pig recipients. However, pregnancy rates were similar between the two groups. The breed of donor cells, but not of embryo recipients, seems likely to affect litter size. From a 13 610 gene cDNA microarray, 1551 (11.7%) genes showed significantly different levels of expression between the fetuses of the two breeds. Vascular endothelial growth factor and c-kit ligand genes related to implantation and maintenance of pregnancy were significantly down-regulated in miniature pigs. In conclusion, the differential gene expression in fetuses interferes with proper fetal/maternal interactions, and results in late-stage pregnancy loss. Our results indicate that the miniature pig is the preferred embryo recipient breed than domestic pig for producing cloned miniature piglets.
Mars polar cap: a habitat for elementary life
Authors: Wallis M.K. , Wickramasinghe J.T. , Wickramasinghe N.C.
Published: April 2009

Ices in the Martian polar caps are potential habitats for various species of microorganisms. Salts in the ice and biological anti-freeze polymers maintain liquid in cracks in the ices far below 0°C, possibly down to the mean 220–240 K. Sub-surface microbial life is shielded from ultraviolet (UV) radiation, but could potentially be activated on south-facing slopes under the midday, midsummer Sun. Such life would be limited by low levels of vapour, little transport of nutrients, low light levels below a protective dirt-crust, frost accumulation at night and in shadows, and little if any active translocation of organisms. As in the Antarctic and in permafrost, movement to new habitats depends on geo-climatic changes, which for Mars's north polar cap occur on a 50 000 year scale, except for rare meteorite impacts.
Contrasting intrainterstadial climatic evolution between high and middle North Atlantic latitudes: A close‐up of Greenland Interstadials 8 and 12
Authors: Sánchez Goñi María Fernanda , Landais Amaelle , Cacho Isabel , Duprat Josette , Rossignol Linda
Published: April 2009

Three highly resolved pollen and sea surface temperature records from the Iberian margin (36–42°N) reveal the local evolution of vegetation and climate associated with the rapid climatic variability of marine isotope stage 3. The comparison of the climate at these midlatitudes with δD and d excess from Greenland ice cores shows that the north‐south climatic gradient underwent strong variations during the long Greenland Interstadials (GIs) 8 and 12. After the Northern Hemispheric rapid warming at the Greenland Stadial (GS)‐GI transition, the trend during the first part of the GI is a Greenland cooling and an Iberian warming. This increase of the North Atlantic climatic gradient led to moisture transportation to Greenland from midlatitudes (lightest d excess) and to a drying episode in Iberia. The subsequent temperature decrease in Greenland and Iberia associated with the precipitation increase in the latter region occurred when the major source of Greenland precipitation shifted to lower latitudes (d excess increase).
Influence of low Arctic sea‐ice minima on anomalously cold Eurasian winters
Authors: Honda Meiji , Inoue Jun , Yamane Shozo
Published: April 2009

Influence of low Arctic sea‐ice minima in early autumn on the wintertime climate over Eurasia is investigated. Observational evidence shows that significant cold anomalies over the Far East in early winter and zonally elongated cold anomalies from Europe to Far East in late winter are associated with the decrease of the Arctic sea‐ice cover in the preceding summer‐to‐autumn seasons. Results from numerical experiments using an atmospheric general circulation model support these notions. The remote response in early winter is regarded as a stationary Rossby wave generated thermally through an anomalous turbulent heat fluxes as a result of anomalous ice‐cover over the Barents‐Kara Seas in late autumn, which tends to induce an amplification of the Siberian high causing colder conditions over the Far East. The late‐winter cold anomalies over Eurasia are also reproduced in our experiment, which is associated with the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation.
Toward adapted time‐dependent magnetospheric models: A simple approach based on tuning the standard model
Authors: Kubyshkina M. , Sergeev V. , Tsyganenko N. , Angelopoulos V. , Runov A. , Singer H. , Glassmeier K. H. , Auster H. U. , Baumjohann W.
Published: April 2009

We suggest and test a simple procedure to adapt a magnetic field model by fitting it to observations made simultaneously by several spacecraft. This is done by varying input parameters of a standard model (T96) to find the best fit to the observed field at each time step. As a result we obtain a time‐dependent model which can be used for evaluating the quality of the standard model and of the mapping at any particular time, to navigate in the magnetosphere and reproduce its variable configuration during large‐scale dynamical events. This procedure was tested using observations made by five Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) and other complementary (e.g., GOES) spacecraft during the tail season of THEMIS mission (January–March 2008), for which a simplest version of the adapted model was routinely calculated and has been made publicly available. We also use the proton isotropic boundaries observed by low‐altitude NOAA spacecraft for independent evaluation of the obtained field models. We found that in quiet conditions deviations of ionospheric footprints between standard and adapted models are generally small (within 1° of latitude), whereas during substorms they may be as large as several degrees, because of stretching and dipolarizations of magnetospheric configuration. We found that the variable tilt of the tail current sheet, partly caused by variations of nonradial component of the solar wind flow, is an additional important factor influencing the modeling result and the mapping quality. By analyzing the adapted models constructed at the time of auroral breakup onset, we conclude that this simple approach is not yet sufficiently accurate to evaluate the source distance in the magnetotail.
Cluster observations and numerical modeling of energy‐dispersed ionospheric H+ ions bouncing at the plasma sheet boundary layer
Authors: Bosqued J. M. , Ashour‐Abdalla M. , Umeda T. , El Alaoui M. , Peroomian V. , Frey H. U. , Marchaudon A. , Laakso H.
Published: April 2009

The Cluster mission offers a unique opportunity to investigate the origin of the energy‐dispersed ion structures frequently observed at 4.5–5 RE altitude in the auroral region. We present a detailed study of the 14 February 2001 northern pass, characterized by the successive observation by three spacecraft of a series of energy‐dispersed structures at ∼72–75° ILAT in a region of poleward convection. Equatorward, the satellites also observed a localized, steady, and intense source of outflowing energetic (3–10 keV) H+ and O+ ions. These substructures were modeled by launching millions of H+ ions from this ionospheric source and following them through time‐dependent electric and magnetic fields obtained from a global MHD simulation of this event. Despite the complexity of ion orbits, the simulations showed that a large number of ions returned to the Cluster location, poleward of their source, in a number of adjacent or overlapping energy‐latitude substructures with the correct dispersion. The first dispersed echo was unexpectedly generated by “half‐bouncing” ions that interacted with the current sheet to return to the same hemisphere. The time‐shifted observations made by two Cluster (SC1 and SC3) spacecrafts were correctly reproduced. Almost all the ions returning to the spacecraft underwent a ∼2–5 keV nonadiabatic acceleration at each interaction with the current sheet in a very confined resonant region. This acceleration explains the overall energy increase from one structure to the next. This event confirms the importance of the ionospheric source in populating bouncing ion clusters within the magnetosphere, even at high latitudes.
Magnetic latitude and local time dependence of the amplitude of geomagnetic sudden commencements
Authors: Shinbori Atsuki , Tsuji Yuji , Kikuchi Takashi , Araki Tohru , Watari Shinichi
Published: April 2009

Statistical analysis of the main impulse (MI) amplitude of geomagnetic sudden commencements (SCs) in a region from the middle latitudes to equator has been made using the long‐term geomagnetic field data obtained from the Yap (geomagnetic latitude, θ = 0.38°), Guam (θ = 5.22°), Okinawa (θ = 16.54°), Kakioka (θ = 27.18°), Memanbetsu (θ = 35.16°), and St. Paratunka (θ = 45.58°) stations. The magnetic local time (MLT) dependence of SC amplitude in the middle latitudes showed magnetic field variations produced by two‐cell ionospheric currents (DP 2‐type currents) which are driven by the dawn‐to‐dusk electric field accompanying a pair of field‐aligned currents (FACs). The effect of the DP 2‐type currents at least expands to the low latitude (θ = 16.54°). In this region, the DL part of SC produced by the enhanced Chapman‐Ferraro currents can be dominant, but the DP part of SC contaminated 7% of the DL one. On the other hand, at the daytime equator between 8:00 and 16:00 (MLT), the SC amplitude is considerably enhanced with its peak amplitude of 3.24 (normalized SYM‐H value) around 11:00 (MLT) due to the Cowling effect. Another interesting point is that the SC amplitude in the nighttime sector was enhanced at all the stations again, and its peak value increases with increasing magnetic latitude. This result suggests that the effect of the FACs associated with the MI phase of SC expands to the equator.
A diffusive equilibrium model for the plasma density in Saturn's magnetosphere
Authors: Persoon A. M. , Gurnett D. A. , Santolik O. , Kurth W. S. , Faden J. B. , Groene J. B. , Lewis G. R. , Coates A. J. , Wilson R. J. , Tokar R. L. , Wahlund J.‐E. , Moncuquet M.
Published: April 2009

Electron density measurements have been obtained by the Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument for more than 50 passes through Saturn's inner magnetosphere from 30 June 2004 to 30 September 2007. The electron densities are derived from RPWS measurements of the upper hybrid resonance frequency and span latitudes up to 35° and L values from 3.6 to 10. The electron density measurements are combined with ion anisotropy measurements from the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) and electron temperature measurements from the RPWS and CAPS to develop a diffusive equilibrium model for the distribution of water group ions, hydrogen ions, and electrons in the inner region of Saturn's magnetosphere. The model uses an analytical solution of the field‐aligned force equation, including the ambipolar electric field, to determine the equatorial ion densities and scale heights as a function of L. Density contour plots for water group ions, hydrogen ions, and electrons are presented.
Iteratively constructive sequential design of experiments and surveys with nonlinear parameter‐data relationships
Authors: Guest T. , Curtis A.
Published: April 2009

In experimental design, the main aim is to minimize postexperimental uncertainty on parameters by maximizing relevant information collected in a data set. Using an entropy‐based method constructed on a Bayesian framework, it is possible to design experiments for highly nonlinear problems. However, the method is computationally infeasible for design spaces with even a few dimensions. We introduce an iteratively constructive method that reduces the computational demand by introducing one new datum at a time for the design. The method reduces the multidimensional design space to a single‐dimensional space at each iteration by fixing the experimental setup of the previous iteration. Both a synthetic experiment using a highly nonlinear parameter‐data relationship and a seismic amplitude versus offset (AVO) experiment are used to illustrate that the results produced by the iteratively constructive method closely match the results of a global design method at a fraction of the computational cost. This work thus extends the class of iterative design methods to nonlinear problems and makes fully nonlinear design methods applicable to higher dimensional real‐world problems.
Tomography and thermal state of the Cocos plate subduction beneath Mexico City
Authors: Husker Allen , Davis Paul M.
Published: April 2009

The geometry and thermal state of the subducting Cocos plate beneath Mexico City has been enigmatic because of the absence of a deep Wadati‐Benioff zone. We present a tomographic image of the slab based on inversion of 8869 teleseismic P wave travel times measured on a portable broadband seismic network. The images combined with receiver function analysis show that the slab runs flat from the coast to near Mexico City, where it dives into the mantle just before the Trans‐Mexican Volcanic Belt with a dip of ∼75°. It continues down to a depth of ∼500 km at a distance of 400 km from the trench, where the tomography reveals that the dipping portion ends. As well as standard block tomography, we invert the travel time residuals for the parameters of a thermal slab model and find a slab thickness of 40 km that is consistent with the (15 Ma) age of the Cocos plate. The combination of a young hot plate and truncation at depth can explain the lack of deep seismicity due to high temperatures and lower negative buoyancy compared with an older, thicker, nontruncated plate.
A new global marine magnetic anomaly data set
Authors: Quesnel Y. , Catalán M. , Ishihara T.
Published: April 2009

The Geophysical Data System (GEODAS) stores more than 20 million magnetic measurements acquired over oceans and seas since the 1950s. Usually, the original total field (TF) and magnetic anomaly values are both stored. The anomaly results from the subtraction of the core and external magnetic field estimates from TF values. The most recent International Geomagnetic Reference Field models available at the time of the surveys were used to estimate the core field component (these models were revised later). External fields were estimated from magnetic observatory data. However, most of the measurements were not corrected for the external fields. Here we use comprehensive models to properly remove the core and external magnetic fields from all original TF measurements stored in the GEODAS. Besides, a track‐by‐track analysis of each data is necessary mainly to correct or to remove many shifted values as well as to reduce the noise in some track lines. Two additional processes are applied to obtain a data set coherent over the world. It includes an adjustment of long‐wavelength magnetic anomalies using the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) ‐720 model, plus a line leveling method which mainly reduced some inconsistencies between different surveys. The root mean square of the crossover differences was reduced from 179.6 to 35.9 nT. Comparisons of magnetic anomaly maps before and after our treatment also highlight an improvement in the quality and the coherence of the data set. This study will serve to build a new World Digital Magnetic Anomaly Map.
Diagnosis of wave activity in a heavy‐rainfall event
Authors: Gao Shouting , Ran Lingkun
Published: April 2009

Three general wave‐activity laws with an inclusion of ageostrophic winds are derived in a nonhydrostatic dynamic framework by introducing an arbitrary scalar ϕ into potential vorticity theorem. The wave activity theory may be applied to diagnoses of mesoscale weather systems. It is shown that the general wave‐activity densities cannot represent monochromatic wave but slowly varying wave train. They cannot be transported through the surface of perturbation scalar ϕe and can neither be created nor destroyed within a layer bounded by the two ϕe surfaces. The general wave‐activity law associated with perturbation vertical velocity is embodied by setting the arbitrary scalar ϕ to specific humidity, equivalent potential temperature, and virtual potential temperature, respectively. The simulation data of a heavy‐rainfall event by the ARPS model are used to calculate the three specific wave‐activity densities and to study their laws. It is shown that the three specific wave‐activity densities are closely related to the simulated rain rate. This suggests that they may serve as track for detecting precipitation. The variation of moist wave‐activity density is mainly caused by the wave‐activity flux divergence associated with the vertical component of perturbation pressure gradient force.
Observed stratospheric downward reflection and its relation to upward pulses of wave activity
Authors: Harnik N.
Published: April 2009

We examine the differences between observed stratospheric vertical wave reflection and wave absorption events, which differ in that the wave‐induced deceleration remains confined to upper levels in the former. The two types of events signify two types of stratospheric winter dynamics, associated with different downward coupling to the troposphere. Using time‐lagged composites, we find that the main factor influencing which event will occur is the duration, in time, of the upward pulse of wave activity entering the stratosphere from the troposphere. Short pulses accelerate the flow at their trailing edge in the lower stratosphere while they decelerate it at upper levels, resulting in a vertical shear reversal, and corresponding downward reflection, while long pulses continue decelerating the vortex at progressively lower levels. The confinement of deceleration to upper levels for short‐wave–forcing pulses is also found in an idealized model of an interaction between a planetary wave and the stratospheric vortex, although some aspects of the wave geometry evolution, and thus vertical reflection, are not captured realistically in the model. The results suggest that the stratospheric influence on the type of wave interaction, in reality, is indirect, through a possible effect on the duration of upward wave fluxes through the tropopause.
Glaciochemical evidence in an East Antarctica ice core of a recent (AD 1450–1850) neoglacial episode
Authors: Li Yuansheng , Cole‐Dai Jihong , Zhou Liya
Published: April 2009

Chemical analysis of a shallow (82.5 m) ice core from a location (DT263) in the essentially unexplored area of Princess Elizabeth Land, East Antarctica, has been used to construct a continuous, high‐resolution 780‐year (AD 1207–1996) glaciochemical record. During the twentieth century, snow accumulation rates and concentrations of chemical species in snow appear to be stable with short‐term variations, indicating relatively stable and warm climatic conditions. The period of AD 1450–1850 in this record is characterized by sharply reduced snow accumulation rates and decreased concentrations of several chemical species that suffer postdepositional losses linked to very low accumulation rates. These characteristics are consistent with colder climatic conditions and suggest that this is likely a neoglacial episode. The timing of this episode coincides with the Little Ice Age (LIA), a relatively cold period in the Northern Hemisphere between the beginning of the fifteenth century and the end of the nineteenth century. Evidence in ice core and sedimentary records also indicates neoglacial conditions in some Southern Hemisphere locations during the general time frame of LIA. The DT263 record, along with a few published ice core records, points to the existence of an LIA‐type climatic episode in Antarctica between the fifteenth century and the twentieth century. However, other Antarctic ice core records show no such evidence. Together, these records highlight the regional differences in Holocene climate variations in Antarctica. The DT263 record suggests that colder and drier conditions prevailed during the LIA time period at the eastern Indian Ocean sector of East Antarctica.
Mechanism of lightning‐associated infrasonic pulses from thunderclouds
Authors: Pasko Victor P.
Published: April 2009

It has been pointed by C. T. R. Wilson in 1920 that sudden reduction of the electric field inside a thundercloud immediately following a lightning discharge should produce an infrasound signature. In the present work, a model based on linearized equations of acoustics with classical viscosity and atmospheric gravitational stratification effects is employed to study electrostatic production of 0.1–1‐Hz infrasonic waves from thunderclouds, with particular emphasis on the still poorly understood initial compression phase of the observed infrasonic waveforms. It is demonstrated that a growth of charge density in thundercloud prior to lightning discharge on time scales on the order of 2 to 6 s, comparable with typical documented time scales of generation of charge in thunderclouds, leads to formation of a pressure reduction in the thundercloud. This is accompanied by emission of compression waves closely resembling those observed in experiments prior to arrival of a rarefaction pulse generated in accordance with the electrostatic mechanism originally proposed by C. T. R. Wilson and further developed by Dessler in 1973 and Few in 1985. The arguments advanced in the present study agree with the ideas of Bohannon and collaborators formulated in 1977 indicating a rapid intensification of the field prior to the lightning discharge. However, we provide a quantitative demonstration that the intensification does not need to be as fast as 0.5 s proposed by these authors.
New Zealand dimming and brightening
Authors: Liley J. B.
Published: April 2009

Recent papers in the international literature on global dimming found a mixed pattern in data from New Zealand. Closer analysis of pyranometer data from four long‐term sites shows a downward trend up to 1990, with a reversal at three of them after that time. How much can be attributed to the direct aerosol effect is uncertain from the pyranometer data, but aerosol optical depth data from Lauder show too little aerosol for this to be a substantial component. A comparison with much longer records of sunshine hours shows that there was a trend of increasing cloudiness to around 1990, and a decline since then, consistent with the global pattern.
Influence of future anthropogenic emissions on climate, natural emissions, and air quality
Authors: Jacobson Mark Z. , Streets David G.
Published: April 2009

This study examines the effects of future anthropogenic emissions on climate, and the resulting feedback to natural emissions and air quality. Speciated sector‐ and region‐specific 2030 emission factors were developed to produce gas and particle emission inventories that followed Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) A1B and B1 emission trajectories. Current and future climate model simulations were run, in which anthropogenic emission changes affected climate, which fed back to natural emissions from lightning (NO, NO2, HONO, HNO3, N2O, H2O2, HO2, CO), soils (dust, bacteria, NO, N2O, H2, CH4, H2S, DMS, OCS, CS2), the ocean (bacteria, sea spray, DMS, N2O, H2, CH4), vegetation (pollen, spores, isoprene, monoterpenes, methanol, other VOCs), and photosynthesis/respiration. New methods were derived to calculate lightning flash rates as a function of size‐resolved collisions and other physical principles and pollen, spore, and bacteria emissions. Although the B1 scenario was “cleaner” than the A1B scenario, global warming increased more in the B1 scenario because much A1B warming was masked by additional reflective aerosol particles. Thus neither scenario is entirely beneficial from a climate and health perspective, and the best control measure is to reduce warming gases and warming/cooling particles together. Lightning emissions declined by ∼3% in the B1 scenario and ∼12% in the A1B scenario as the number of ice crystals, thus charge‐separating bounceoffs, decreased. Net primary production increased by ∼2% in both scenarios. Emissions of isoprene and monoterpenes increased by ∼1% in the A1B scenario and 4–5% in the B1 scenario. Near‐surface ozone increased by ∼14% in the A1B scenario and ∼4% in the B1 scenario, reducing ambient isoprene in the latter case. Gases from soils increased in both scenarios due to higher temperatures. Near‐surface PM2.5 mass increased by ∼2% in the A1B scenario and decreased by ∼2% in the B1 scenario. The resulting 1.4% higher aerosol optical depths (AODs) in the A1B scenario decreased ocean wind speeds and thus ocean sea spray and bacteria emissions; ∼5% lower AODs in the B1 scenario had the opposite effect.