bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Medial Arterial Calcification
Authors: Ho Chin Yee , Shanahan Catherine M.
Published: June 2016

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a global health issue that is becoming more prevalent in an aging world population. Diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease are also on the increase, and both are associated with accelerated vascular calcification and an unfavorable prognosis in PAD. These data challenge the traditional athero-centric view of PAD, instead pointing toward a disease process complicated by medial arterial calcification. Like atherosclerosis, aging is a potent risk factor for medial arterial calcification, and accelerated vascular aging may underpin the devastating manifestations of PAD, particularly in patients prone to calcification. Consequently, this review will attempt to dissect the relationship between medial arterial calcification and atherosclerosis in PAD and identify common as well as novel risk factors that may contribute to and accelerate progression of PAD. In this context, we focus on the complex interplay between oxidative stress, DNA damage, and vascular aging, as well as the unexplored role of neuropathy.
Role of PGC-1α in Vascular Regulation
Authors: Kadlec Andrew O. , Chabowski Dawid S. , Ait-Aissa Karima , Gutterman David D.
Published: June 2016

Mitochondrial dysfunction results in high levels of oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage, leading to disruption of endothelial homeostasis. Recent discoveries have clarified several pathways, whereby mitochondrial dysregulation contributes to endothelial dysfunction and vascular disease burden. One such pathway centers around peroxisome proliferator receptor-γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α), a transcriptional coactivator linked to mitochondrial biogenesis and antioxidant defense, among other functions. Although primarily investigated for its therapeutic potential in obesity and skeletal muscle differentiation, the ability of PGC-1α to alter a multitude of cellular functions has sparked interest in its role in the vasculature. Within this context, recent studies demonstrate that PGC-1α plays a key role in endothelial cell and smooth muscle cell regulation through effects on oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammation, and cell proliferation. The ability of PGC-1α to affect these parameters is relevant to vascular disease progression, particularly in relation to atherosclerosis. Upregulation of PGC-1α can prevent the development of, and even encourage regression of, atherosclerotic lesions. Therefore, PGC-1α is poised to serve as a promising target in vascular disease. This review details recent findings related to PGC-1α in vascular regulation, regulation of PGC-1α itself, the role of PGC-1α in atherosclerosis, and therapies that target this key protein.
Long-Term Mortality in Patients With Radiation-Associated Coronary Artery Disease Treated With Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
Authors: Reed Grant W. , Masri Ahmad , Griffin Brian P. , Kapadia Samir R. , Ellis Stephen G. , Desai Milind Y.
Published: June 2016

Background—

The incidence and predictors of long-term mortality after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for radiation-associated coronary artery disease are unknown.

Methods and Results—

In this observational study of 314 patients (age, 65.2±11.4 years; 233 [74%] women) treated with PCI, 157 patients with previous external beam radiation therapy (XRT) were matched 1:1 with 157 comparison patients with atherosclerotic coronary artery disease without previous XRT, based on age, sex, lesion artery, and PCI type. The primary end point was all-cause mortality, and the secondary end point was cardiovascular mortality. After follow-up of 6.6±5.5 years, there were 101 deaths; 59 in the XRT group and 42 in the comparison group (
P
=0.04). On Cox proportional hazards multivariable survival analysis, previous XRT remained an independent predictor of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 1.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.21–2.85;
P
=0.004) and cardiovascular mortality (HR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.06–2.89;
P
=0.03). Additional independent predictors of increased all-cause mortality included balloon angioplasty or bare-metal stent placement compared with drug-eluting stent placement (HR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.61–3.97;
P
<0.0001), SYNTAX (Synergy Between PCI With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) score of ≥11 (the sample median; HR, 1.99; 95% CI, 1.32–3.04;
P
<0.001), New York Heart Association functional class ≥3 (HR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.15–2.91;
P
=0.012), history of smoking (HR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.10–3.09;
P
=0.022), and age ≥65 years (HR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.07–2.07;
P
=0.024).

Conclusions—

Compared with patients with typical atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, patients with radiation-associated coronary artery disease are at higher risk for mortality after PCI. Previous XRT exposure is independently associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients treated with PCI.
Long‐Term Survival of Individuals Born With Congenital Heart Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Best Kate E. , Rankin Judith
Published: June 2016

Background

Estimates of long‐term survival are required to adequately assess the variety of health and social services required by those with congenital heart disease (
CHD
) throughout their lives.

Methods and Results

Medline, Embase, and Scopus were searched from inception to June 2015 using Me
SH
headings and keywords. Population‐based studies that ascertained all persons born with
CHD
within a predefined area and reported survival estimates at ≥5 years were included. Unadjusted survival estimates for each
CHD
subtype at ages 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, and so forth were extracted. Pooled survival estimates for each age were calculated using meta‐analyses. Metaregression was performed to examine the impact of study period on survival. Of 7840 identified articles, 16 met the inclusion criteria. Among those with
CHD
, pooled 1‐year survival was 87.0% (95%
CI
82.1–91.2), pooled 5‐year survival was 85.4% (95%
CI
79.4–90.5), and pooled 10‐year survival was 81.4% (95%
CI
73.8–87.9). There was significant heterogeneity of survival estimates among articles (
P
<0.001 for 1‐, 5‐, and 10‐year survival). A more recent study period was significantly associated with greater survival at ages 1 year (
P
=0.047), 5 years (
P
=0.013), and 10 years (
P
=0.046). Survival varied by
CHD
subtype, with 5‐year survival being greatest for those with ventricular septal defect (96.3%, 95%
CI
93.7–98.2) and lowest for those with hypoplastic left heart (12.5%, 95%
CI
0.0–41.4).

Conclusions

Among persons with
CHD
, the mortality rate is greatest during the first year of life; however, this systematic review and meta‐analysis showed that survival decreases gradually after infancy and into adulthood.
Parsing Linear Context-Free Rewriting Systems with Fast Matrix Multiplication
Authors: Cohen Shay B. , Gildea Daniel
Published: June 2016

We describe a recognition algorithm for a subset of binary linear context-free rewriting systems (LCFRS) with running time O(nωd) where M(m) = O(mω) is the running time for m × m matrix multiplication and d is the “contact rank” of the LCFRS—the maximal number of combination and non-combination points that appear in the grammar rules. We also show that this algorithm can be used as a subroutine to obtain a recognition algorithm for general binary LCFRS with running time O(nωd+1). The currently best known ω is smaller than 2.38. Our result provides another proof for the best known result for parsing mildly context-sensitive formalisms such as combinatory categorial grammars, head grammars, linear indexed grammars, and tree-adjoining grammars, which can be parsed in time O(n4.76). It also shows that inversion transduction grammars can be parsed in time O(n5.76). In addition, binary LCFRS subsumes many other formalisms and types of grammars, for some of which we also improve the asymptotic complexity of parsing.
String Kernels for Native Language Identification: Insights from Behind the Curtains
Authors: Ionescu Radu Tudor , Popescu Marius , Cahill Aoife
Published: June 2016

The most common approach in text mining classification tasks is to rely on features like words, part-of-speech tags, stems, or some other high-level linguistic features. Recently, an approach that uses only character p-grams as features has been proposed for the task of native language identification (NLI). The approach obtained state-of-the-art results by combining several string kernels using multiple kernel learning. Despite the fact that the approach based on string kernels performs so well, several questions about this method remain unanswered. First, it is not clear why such a simple approach can compete with far more complex approaches that take words, lemmas, syntactic information, or even semantics into account. Second, although the approach is designed to be language independent, all experiments to date have been on English. This work is an extensive study that aims to systematically present the string kernel approach and to clarify the open questions mentioned above.

A broad set of native language identification experiments were conducted to compare the string kernels approach with other state-of-the-art methods. The empirical results obtained in all of the experiments conducted in this work indicate that the proposed approach achieves state-of-the-art performance in NLI, reaching an accuracy that is 1.7% above the top scoring system of the 2013 NLI Shared Task. Furthermore, the results obtained on both the Arabic and the Norwegian corpora demonstrate that the proposed approach is language independent. In the Arabic native language identification task, string kernels show an increase of more than 17% over the best accuracy reported so far. The results of string kernels on Norwegian native language identification are also significantly better than the state-of-the-art approach. In addition, in a cross-corpus experiment, the proposed approach shows that it can also be topic independent, improving the state-of-the-art system by 32.3%.

To gain additional insights about the string kernels approach, the features selected by the classifier as being more discriminating are analyzed in this work. The analysis also offers information about localized language transfer effects, since the features used by the proposed model are p-grams of various lengths. The features captured by the model typically include stems, function words, and word prefixes and suffixes, which have the potential to generalize over purely word-based features. By analyzing the discriminating features, this article offers insights into two kinds of language transfer effects, namely, word choice (lexical transfer) and morphological differences. The goal of the current study is to give a full view of the string kernels approach and shed some light on why this approach works so well.
Word Imageability Enhances Association-memory by Increasing Hippocampal Engagement
Authors: Caplan Jeremy B. , Madan Christopher R.
Published: June 2016

The hippocampus is thought to support association-memory, particularly when tested with cued recall. One of the most well-known and studied factors that influences accuracy of verbal association-memory is imageability; participants remember pairs of high-imageability words better than pairs of low-imageability words. High-imageability words are also remembered better in tests of item-memory. However, we previously found that item-memory effects could not explain the enhancement in cued recall, suggesting that imageability enhances association-memory strength. Here we report an fMRI study designed to ask, what is the role of the hippocampus in the memory advantage for associations due to imageability? We tested two alternative hypotheses: (1) Recruitment Hypothesis: High-imageability pairs are remembered better because they recruit the underlying hippocampal association-memory function more effectively. Alternatively, (2) Bypassing Hypothesis: Imageability functions by making the association-forming process easier, enhancing memory in a way that bypasses the hippocampus, as has been found, for example, with explicit unitization imagery strategies. Results found, first, hippocampal BOLD signal was greater during study and recall of high- than low-imageability word pairs. Second, the difference in activity between recalled and forgotten pairs showed a main effect, but no significant interaction with imageability, challenging the bypassing hypothesis, but consistent with the predictions derived from the recruitment hypothesis. Our findings suggest that certain stimulus properties, like imageability, may leverage, rather than avoid, the associative function of the hippocampus to support superior association-memory.
Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation Does Not Enhance the Effects of Working Memory Training
Authors: Holmes Joni , Byrne Elizabeth M. , Gathercole Susan E. , Ewbank Michael P.
Published: June 2016

Transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), a noninvasive brain stimulation technique, enhances the generalization and sustainability of gains following mathematical training. Here it is combined for the first time with working memory training in a double-blind randomized controlled trial. Adults completed 10 sessions of Cogmed Working Memory Training with either active tRNS or sham stimulation applied bilaterally to dorsolateral pFC. Training was associated with gains on both the training tasks and on untrained tests of working memory that shared overlapping processes with the training tasks, but not with improvements on working memory tasks with distinct processing demands or tests of other cognitive abilities (e.g., IQ, maths). There was no evidence that tRNS increased the magnitude or transfer of these gains. Thus, combining tRNS with Cogmed Working Memory Training provides no additional therapeutic value.
The Role of Color in Search Templates for Real-world Target Objects
Authors: Nako Rebecca , Smith Tim J. , Eimer Martin
Published: June 2016

During visual search, target representations (attentional templates) control the allocation of attention to template-matching objects. The activation of new attentional templates can be prompted by verbal or pictorial target specifications. We measured the N2pc component of the ERP as a temporal marker of attentional target selection to determine the role of color signals in search templates for real-world search target objects that are set up in response to word or picture cues. On each trial run, a word cue (e.g., “apple”) was followed by three search displays that contained the cued target object among three distractors. The selection of the first target was based on the word cue only, whereas selection of the two subsequent targets could be controlled by templates set up after the first visual presentation of the target (picture cue). In different trial runs, search displays either contained objects in their natural colors or monochromatic objects. These two display types were presented in different blocks (Experiment 1) or in random order within each block (Experiment 2). RTs were faster, and target N2pc components emerged earlier for the second and third display of each trial run relative to the first display, demonstrating that pictures are more effective than word cues in guiding search. N2pc components were triggered more rapidly for targets in the second and third display in trial runs with colored displays. This demonstrates that when visual target attributes are fully specified by picture cues, the additional presence of color signals in target templates facilitates the speed with which attention is allocated to template-matching objects. No such selection benefits for colored targets were found when search templates were set up in response to word cues. Experiment 2 showed that color templates activated by word cues can even impair the attentional selection of noncolored targets. Results provide new insights into the status of color during the guidance of visual search for real-world target objects. Color is a powerful guiding feature when the precise visual properties of these objects are known but seems to be less important when search targets are specified by word cues.
Professional Music Training and Novel Word Learning: From Faster Semantic Encoding to Longer-lasting Word Representations
Authors: Dittinger Eva , Barbaroux Mylène , D'Imperio Mariapaola , Jäncke Lutz , Elmer Stefan , Besson Mireille
Published: June 2016

On the basis of previous results showing that music training positively influences different aspects of speech perception and cognition, the aim of this series of experiments was to test the hypothesis that adult professional musicians would learn the meaning of novel words through picture–word associations more efficiently than controls without music training (i.e., fewer errors and faster RTs). We also expected musicians to show faster changes in brain electrical activity than controls, in particular regarding the N400 component that develops with word learning. In line with these hypotheses, musicians outperformed controls in the most difficult semantic task. Moreover, although a frontally distributed N400 component developed in both groups of participants after only a few minutes of novel word learning, in musicians this frontal distribution rapidly shifted to parietal scalp sites, as typically found for the N400 elicited by known words. Finally, musicians showed evidence for better long-term memory for novel words 5 months after the main experimental session. Results are discussed in terms of cascading effects from enhanced perception to memory as well as in terms of multifaceted improvements of cognitive processing due to music training. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing that music training influences semantic aspects of language processing in adults. These results open new perspectives for education in showing that early music training can facilitate later foreign language learning. Moreover, the design used in the present experiment can help to specify the stages of word learning that are impaired in children and adults with word learning difficulties.
Enhancing Mechanism for Protection of Constitutional Rights in Viet Nam Today
Authors: Hoang Van Nghia Hoang
Published: June 2016

This article’s overall goal is to examine the development of constitutional rights and their mechanisms for protection and promotion in Viet Nam through the case of the right to environment. Utilising legal methods, as well as qualitative and quantitative methods, the research investigates the ways in which the right to environment has been protected in Viet Nam through examining the case of the Thi Vai River. Given the strengths and weaknesses of Viet Nam’s existing legal system and its mechanisms for human rights protection through accessing the case of the citizen’s right to environment, the article proposes several recommendations for better protecting and promoting constitutional rights. These include further improving its legal system, establishing independent institutions and effective mechanisms (such as the Constitutional Council, Ombudsman, a National Human Rights Body, and an Environmental Court), and enhancing education, training and dissemination of international human rights law and constitutional rights for all.
Juvenile (In)justice: Children in Conflict with the Law in Indonesia
Authors: Davies Sharyn Graham , Robson Jazz
Published: June 2016

Two significant events occurred in Indonesia in 2014 in relation to children in conflict with the law. First, Indonesia’s Law No. 11/2012 on the Juvenile Criminal Justice System came into effect on 30 July, with the first minors being tried on 12 August 2014. Second, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (uncrc) presented its concluding observations to Indonesia’s periodic report. It is timely to reflect on the progress Indonesia is making in respect to children in conflict with the law. In providing the first systematic analysis of Indonesia’s juvenile justice system, we trace the history of juvenile justice in Indonesia, outlining both international and national conventions and laws applicable to Indonesia. We assess judicial and pragmatic progress and highlight areas of continuing concern regarding children in conflict with the law in Indonesia. We conclude that despite Indonesia becoming an early signatory to the un Convention on the Rights of the Child (uncrc) and the nation’s subsequent ratification of child-friendly judicial policies, Indonesia has failed to follow through on its various commitments. This failure demonstrates not only the difficulties of effecting change in a super-diverse country with systemic corruption and poverty, but suggests a concern in Indonesia for presenting a positive public image above substantively improving the lives of children in conflict with the law. We argue that while Indonesia’s law changes are positive, adequate resources must be allocated to ensure successful implementation. We conclude by suggesting that indigenous restorative justice practices can be utilised to strengthen Indonesia’s juvenile justice system.
Human Trafficking and China: Challenges of Domestic Criminalisation and Interpretation
Authors: Ling Bonny
Published: June 2016

In recent years, the Chinese government has notably begun to address the issue of trafficking in persons through several high-profile national initiatives. The State Council of the People’s Republic of China released the country’s first national anti-trafficking plan in December 2007, followed by China’s accession to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children in February 2010. However, tackling human trafficking is a serious domestic challenge. This article argues that China’s response to its trafficking problem is obstructed by a legal definition in its criminal law that falls short of international standards. These shortfalls include the exclusion of adult male victims and predicating domestic criminalisation on the purpose of selling a person as opposed to the element of exploitation. Because the offence of trafficking is defined and applied differently in China, examining these particular aspects of the domestic criminal offence is critical to a fuller understanding of human trafficking in the country. This article discusses these important ramifications and also traces the legal history of China’s criminalisation of trafficking since the adoption of the country’s first criminal law in 1979, focusing on the disappearance of an inclusive, gender-neutral approach to the crime of human trafficking in the Chinese context.
Cheilolejeunea amazonica (Lejeuneaceae, Marchantiophyta), a new tepui species from northern Brazil
Authors: BASTOS CID JOSÉ PASSOS , ZARTMAN CHARLES E.
Published: June 2016

Cheilolejeunea amazonica, a new species currently known only from one outlying sandstone tepui of the Guiana Highlands in northern Brazil, Serra Aracá, is described and illustrated. This new taxon is phenotypically aligned with Cheilolejeunea Sect. Strepsilejeunea due to its sharply pointed leaf apex. Locally, the plant is abundant growing in large mats on vertical sandstone seeps along streams draining the northeastern flanks of this tepui.
Hexactinellida (Porifera) from the Drake Passage (Southern Ocean) with a description of three new species
Authors: GOODWIN CLAIRE E. , BERMAN JADE , JANUSSEN DORTE , GÖCKE CHRISTIAN , HENDRY KATHARINE R.
Published: June 2016

The Drake Passage has over 20 seamounts and ridges but it is notorious for large waves, fierce storms and strong currents that make benthic sampling difficult and therefore infrequent. Seamounts often have diverse sponge communities and may have high levels of endemism. Hexactinellida from Sars Seamount, an area in which the sponges had not previously been studied, and the Shackleton fracture zone were collected on a research cruise by the Nathaniel B Palmer in the Drake Passage, Southern Ocean. In total, from all cruise stations, 103 specimens of Hexactinellida were collected, however many appeared to be fragments of dead specimens and could not be identified due to missing microscleres. From Sars Seamount 127 sponge specimens were taken and from the Shackleton Fracture Zone 76 sponge specimens were taken; of these 36 and 16 respectively were Hexactinellida. From these two areas three new species of Hexactinellida are described: Doconesthes robinsoni sp. nov., Sympagella walleri sp. nov. and Caulophacus palmeri sp. nov and new records were made of Aulocalyx irregularis and Rossella antarctica.
Eigenmannia besouro, a new species of the Eigenmannia trilineata species-group (Gymnotiformes: Sternopygidae) from the rio São Francisco basin, northeastern Brazil
Authors: PEIXOTO LUIZ ANTÔNIO W. , WOSIACKI WOLMAR B.
Published: June 2016

A new species of the Eigenmannia trilineata species-group is described from the rio São Francisco basin, Brazil. It is distinguished from closely related species by a unique set of characters, including a subterminal mouth, the presence of ii,13–14 pectoral-fin rays, a coronomeckelian bone that is 30% the length of Meckel’s cartilage, the specific pattern of the dentition of the premaxilla and dentary, and the more anterior origin of the superior midlateral stripe. Comments on species of the E. trilineata species-group are presented.
A new genus and species of Xyphosiini (Diptera: Tephritidae) from Iran
Authors: MEMARI FATEMEH , NAMIN SAEED MOHAMADZADE , HAKIMITABAR MASOUD
Published: June 2016

Valera, a monotypic new genus (Tephritidae, Tephritinae, Xyphosiini) and Valera ariana n. sp., the type and only known species, are described from Iran. Systematic relationships with other Xyphosiini are discussed and a key to the genera of the tribe Xyphosiini is presented.
Unraveling the Teleconnection Mechanisms that Induce Wintertime Temperature Anomalies over the Northern Hemisphere Continents in Response to the MJO
Authors: Seo Kyong-Hwan , Lee Hyun-Ju , Frierson Dargan M. W.
Published: June 2016

Significant extratropical surface air temperature variations arise as a result of teleconnections induced by the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). The authors elucidate the detailed physical processes responsible for the development of temperature anomalies over Northern Hemisphere continents in response to MJO-induced heating using an intraseasonal perturbation thermodynamic equation and a wave activity tracing technique. A quantitative assessment demonstrates that surface air temperature variations are due to dynamical processes associated with a meridionally propagating Rossby wave train. Over East Asia, a local Hadley circulation causes adiabatic subsidence following MJO phase 3 to be a main driver for the warming. Meanwhile, for North America and eastern Europe, horizontal temperature advection by northerlies or southerlies is the key process for warming or cooling. A ray-tracing analysis illustrates that Rossby waves with zonal wavenumbers 2 and 3 influence the surface warming over North America and a faster wavenumber 4 affects surface temperature over eastern Europe. Although recent studies demonstrate the impacts of the Arctic Oscillation, Arctic sea ice melting, and Eurasian snow cover variations on extremely cold wintertime episodes over the NH extratropics, the weather and climate there are still considerably modulated through teleconnections induced by the tropical heat forcing. In addition, the authors show that the MJO is a real source of predictability for strong warm/cold events over these continents, suggesting a higher possibility of making a skillful forecast of temperature extremes with over 1 month of lead time.
Inferring Aerosol Cooling from Hydrological Sensitivity
Authors: DelSole Timothy , Yan Xiaoqin , Tippett Michael K.
Published: June 2016

Hydrological sensitivity is the change in global-mean precipitation per degree of global-mean temperature change. This paper shows that the hydrological sensitivity of the response to anthropogenic aerosol forcing is distinct from that of the combined response to all other forcings and that this difference is sufficient to infer the associated cooling in global-mean temperature. This result is demonstrated using temperature and precipitation data generated by climate models and is robust across different climate models. Remarkably, greenhouse gas warming and aerosol cooling can be estimated in a model without using any spatial or temporal gradient information in the response, provided temperature data are augmented by precipitation data. Over the late twentieth century, the hydrological sensitivities of climate models differ significantly from that of observations. Whether this discrepancy can be attributed to observational error, which is substantial as different estimates of global-mean precipitation are not even significantly correlated with each other, or to model error is unclear. The results highlight the urgency to construct accurate estimates of global precipitation from past observations and for reducing model uncertainty in hydrological sensitivity. This paper also clarifies that previous estimates of hydrological sensitivity are limited in that standard regression methods neglect temperature–precipitation relations that occur through internal variability. An alternative method for estimating hydrological sensitivity that overcomes this limitation is presented.
Southern Hemisphere Summer Mesopause Responses to El Niño–Southern Oscillation
Authors: Li Tao , Calvo Natalia , Yue Jia , Russell James M. , Smith Anne K. , Mlynczak Martin G. , Chandran Amal , Dou Xiankang , Liu Alan Z.
Published: June 2016

In the Southern Hemisphere (SH) polar region, satellite observations reveal a significant upper-mesosphere cooling and a lower-thermosphere warming during warm ENSO events in December. An opposite pattern is observed in the tropical mesopause region. The observed upper-mesosphere cooling agrees with a climate model simulation. Analysis of the simulation suggests that enhanced planetary wave (PW) dissipation in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) high-latitude stratosphere during El Niño strengthens the Brewer–Dobson circulation and cools the equatorial stratosphere. This increases the magnitude of the SH stratosphere meridional temperature gradient and thus causes the anomalous stratospheric easterly zonal wind and early breakdown of the SH stratospheric polar vortex. The resulting perturbation to gravity wave (GW) filtering causes anomalous SH mesospheric eastward GW forcing and polar upwelling and cooling. In addition, constructive inference of ENSO and quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) could lead to stronger stratospheric easterly zonal wind anomalies at the SH high latitudes in November and December and early breakdown of the SH stratospheric polar vortex during warm ENSO events in the easterly QBO phase (defined by the equatorial zonal wind at ~25 hPa). This would in turn cause much more SH mesospheric eastward GW forcing and much colder polar temperatures, and hence it would induce an early onset time of SH summer polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs). The opposite mechanism occurs during cold ENSO events in the westerly QBO phase. This implies that ENSO together with QBO could significantly modulate the breakdown time of SH stratospheric polar vortex and the onset time of SH PMC.
Recent Extreme Arctic Temperatures are due to a Split Polar Vortex
Authors: Overland James E. , Wang Muyin
Published: June 2016

There were extensive regions of Arctic temperature extremes in January and February 2016 that continued into April. For January, the Arctic-wide averaged temperature anomaly was 2.0°C above the previous record of 3.0°C based on four reanalysis products. Midlatitude atmospheric circulation played a major role in producing such extreme temperatures. Extensive low geopotential heights at 700 hPa extended over the southeastern United States, across the Atlantic, and well into the Arctic. Low geopotential heights along the Aleutian Islands and a ridge along northwestern North America contributed southerly wind flow. These two regions of low geopotential height were seen as a major split in the tropospheric polar vortex over the Arctic. Warm air advection north of central Eurasia reinforced the ridge that split the flow near the North Pole. Winter 2015 and 2016 geopotential height fields represented an eastward shift in the longwave atmospheric circulation pattern compared to earlier in the decade (2010–13). Certainly Arctic amplification will continue, and 2016 shows that there can be major Arctic contributions from midlatitudes. Whether Arctic amplification feedbacks are accelerated by the combination of recent thinner, more mobile Arctic sea ice and occasional extreme atmospheric circulation events from midlatitudes is an interesting conjecture.
Subpixel Characterization of HIRS Spectral Radiances Using Cloud Properties from AVHRR
Authors: Staten Paul W. , Kahn Brian H. , Schreier Mathias M. , Heidinger Andrew K.
Published: June 2016

This paper describes a cloud type radiance record derived from NOAA polar-orbiting weather satellites using cloud properties retrieved from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and spectral brightness temperatures (Tb) observed by the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS). The authors seek to produce a seamless, global-scale, long-term record of cloud type and Tb statistics intended to better characterize clouds from seasonal to decadal time scales. Herein, the methodology is described in which the cloud type statistics retrieved from AVHRR are interpolated onto each HIRS footprint using two cloud classification methods. This approach is tested over the northeast tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean region, which contains a wide variety of cloud types during a significant ENSO variation from 2008 to 2009. It is shown that the Tb histograms sorted by cloud type are realistic for all HIRS channels. The magnitude of Tb biases among spatially coincident satellite intersections over the northeast Pacific is a function of cloud type and wavelength. While the sign of the bias can change, the magnitudes are generally small for NOAA-18 and NOAA-19, and NOAA-19 and MetOp-A intersections. The authors further show that the differences between calculated standard deviations of cloud-typed Tb well exceed intersatellite calibration uncertainties. The authors argue that consideration of higher-order statistical moments determined from spectral infrared observations may serve as a useful long-term measure of small-scale spatial changes, in particular cloud types over the HIRS–AVHRR observing record.
Evaluation of the Utility of Static and Adaptive Mesh Refinement for Idealized Tropical Cyclone Problems in a Spectral Element Shallow-Water Model
Authors: Hendricks Eric A. , Kopera Michal A. , Giraldo Francis X. , Peng Melinda S. , Doyle James D. , Jiang Qingfang
Published: June 2016

The utility of static and adaptive mesh refinement (SMR and AMR, respectively) are examined for idealized tropical cyclone (TC) simulations in a two-dimensional spectral element f-plane shallow-water model. The SMR simulations have varying sizes of the statically refined meshes (geometry based) while the AMR simulations use a potential vorticity (PV) threshold to adaptively refine the mesh to the evolving TC. Numerical simulations are conducted for four cases: (i) TC-like vortex advecting in a uniform flow, (ii) binary vortex interaction, (iii) barotropic instability of a PV ring, and (iv) barotropic instability of a thin strip of PV. For each case, a uniform grid high-resolution “truth” simulation is compared to two different SMR simulations and three different AMR simulations for accuracy and efficiency. The multiple SMR and AMR simulations have variations in the number of fully refined elements in the vicinity of the TC. For these idealized cases, it is found that the SMR and AMR simulations are able to resolve the vortex dynamical processes (e.g., barotropic instability, Rossby wave breaking, and filamentation) as well as the truth simulations, with no significant loss in accuracy in the refined region in the vortex vicinity and with significant speedups (factors of 4–15, depending on the total number of refined elements). The overall accuracy is enhanced by a greater area of fully refined mesh in both the SMR and AMR simulations.
Diagnosing Observation Error Correlations for Doppler Radar Radial Winds in the Met Office UKV Model Using Observation-Minus-Background and Observation-Minus-Analysis Statistics
Authors: Waller J. A. , Simonin D. , Dance S. L. , Nichols N. K. , Ballard S. P.
Published: June 2016

With the development of convection-permitting numerical weather prediction the efficient use of high-resolution observations in data assimilation is becoming increasingly important. The operational assimilation of these observations, such as Doppler radar radial winds (DRWs), is now common, although to avoid violating the assumption of uncorrelated observation errors the observation density is severely reduced. To improve the quantity of observations used and the impact that they have on the forecast requires the introduction of the full, potentially correlated, error statistics. In this work, observation error statistics are calculated for the DRWs that are assimilated into the Met Office high-resolution U.K. model (UKV) using a diagnostic that makes use of statistical averages of observation-minus-background and observation-minus-analysis residuals. This is the first in-depth study using the diagnostic to estimate both horizontal and along-beam observation error statistics. The new results obtained show that the DRW error standard deviations are similar to those used operationally and increase as the observation height increases. Surprisingly, the estimated observation error correlation length scales are longer than the operational thinning distance. They are dependent both on the height of the observation and on the distance of the observation away from the radar. Further tests show that the long correlations cannot be attributed to the background error covariance matrix used in the assimilation, although they are, in part, a result of using superobservations and a simplified observation operator. The inclusion of correlated error statistics in the assimilation allows less thinning of the data and hence better use of the high-resolution observations.
An Examination of Model and Official National Hurricane Center Tropical Cyclone Size Forecasts
Authors: Cangialosi John P. , Landsea Christopher W.
Published: June 2016

While the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has been issuing analyses and forecasts of tropical cyclone wind radii for several years, little documentation has been provided about the errors in these forecasts. A key hurdle in providing routine verification of these forecasts is that the uncertainty in the wind radii best tracks is quite large for tropical cyclones that are well away from land and unmonitored by aircraft reconnaissance. This study evaluates the errors of a subset of NHC and model 34-, 50-, and 64-kt (1 kt = 0.514 m s−1) wind radii forecasts from 2008 through 2012 that had aircraft reconnaissance available at both the initial and verification times. The results show that the NHC wind radii average errors increased with forecast time but were skillful when compared against climatology and persistence. The dynamical models, however, were not skillful and had errors that were much larger than the NHC forecasts, with substantial negative (too small) biases even after accounting for their initial size differences versus the tropical cyclone’s current wind radii. Improvements in wind radii forecasting will come about through a combination of better methods for observing tropical cyclone size as well as enhanced prediction techniques (dynamical models, statistical methods, and consensus approaches).
Inflammatory cytokines in major depressive disorder: A case–control study
Authors: Cassano Paolo , Bui Eric , Rogers Andrew H , Walton Zandra E , Ross Rachel , Zeng Mary , Nadal-Vicens Mireya , Mischoulon David , Baker Amanda W , Keshaviah Aparna , Worthington John , Hoge Elizabeth A , Alpert Jonathan , Fava Maurizio , Wong Kwok K , Simon Naomi M
Published: June 2016

Introduction:

There is mixed evidence in the literature on the role of inflammation in major depressive disorder. Contradictory findings are attributed to lack of rigorous characterization of study subjects, to the presence of concomitant medical illnesses, to the small sample sizes, and to the limited number of cytokines tested.

Methods:

Subjects aged 18–70 years, diagnosed with major depressive disorder and presenting with chronic course of illness, as well as matched controls ( n = 236), were evaluated by trained raters and provided blood for cytokine measurements. Cytokine levels in EDTA plasma were measured with the MILLIPLEX Multi-Analyte Profiling Human Cytokine/Chemokine Assay employing Luminex technology. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare cytokine levels between major depressive disorder subjects and healthy volunteers, before (interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α) and after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (IL-1α, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-7, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12(p40), IL-12(p70), IL-13, IL-15, IFN-γ-inducible protein 10, Eotaxin, interferon-γ, monotype chemoattractant protein-1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and vascular endothelial growth factor).

Results:

There were no significant differences in cytokine levels between major depressive disorder subjects and controls, both prior to and after correction for multiple analyses (significance set at p ⩽ 0.05 and p ⩽ 0.002, respectively).

Conclusion:

Our well-characterized examination of cytokine plasma levels did not support the association of major depressive disorder with systemic inflammation. The heterogeneity of major depressive disorder, as well as a potential sampling bias selecting for non-inflammatory depression, might have determined our findings discordant with the literature.
Verbal-Spatial and Visuospatial Coding of the SNARC Effect
Authors: Li Mengxia , Lv Hongyun , Abdukerim Ziwida , Zhang Yanjun , Qiao Fuqiang , Li Qiwei
Published: June 2016

Using the magnitude comparison task, the current study tested verbal-spatial and visuospatial coding accounts by comparing the spatial-numerical association of response codes effect in 30 Chinese-speaking and 60 bilingual Uighur Chinese participants. The experimental tasks were presented using Chinese words for 30 Chinese-speaking and 30 bilingual Uighur Chinese participants, while only Uighur words were presented to the remaining 30 bilingual Uighur Chinese participants. Overall, the results of the current study showed that verbal-spatial coding could be applied to the experimental task when presented using Chinese words, but visuospatial coding could be applied to the experimental task when presented using Uighur words. The findings demonstrated that spatial coding was flexible and depended upon the language context in which the experimental task was presented.
Supporting Mathematics Understanding Through Funds of Knowledge
Authors: Williams Julie J. , Tunks Jeanne , Gonzalez-Carriedo Ricardo , Faulkenberry Eileen , Middlemiss Wendy
Published: June 2016

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the unique funds of knowledge among three Hispanic families living in the same city, specifically, how parents supported their children’s mathematics learning through funds of knowledge. Participants contributed to their children’s mathematics learning by promoting the five National Council of Teachers of Mathematics process standards—problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication, connection, and representation. Participating parents shared knowledge with their children through questioning and discussion, providing experiences, and promoting practice. In this study, participants valued education and supported their children’s mathematics learning at home and school activities.
An approach to maintaining hydrological networks in the face of land use change
Authors: Cuthbert Andrew , Tyler Mary-Ellen
Published: June 2016

Ephemeral drainage patterns in the prairie pothole region of southern Alberta are not well understood at the landscape level. Municipal land use planning generally places very few constraints on development, which can leave the existing landscape topography and drainage patterns highly modified and engineered. Few if any features that exist within the pre-development landscape remain post-development. Part of the residential or industrial land development process is the creation of master drainage plans which focus on collecting and moving precipitation or snow melt away from roads and buildings through drainage ponds and piping systems. However, in prairie pothole landscapes, there is a landscape hydrology system that connects wetlands and sub-surface soil moisture flows and involves significant ephemeral components. These existing landscape flow systems provide ecosystem services in both flood and drought conditions. However, conventional land conversion processes do not generally recognize existing landscape processes like hydraulic connectivity in the development process. This creates a gap between the standard engineering approach and landscape structure and function which puts landscape processes and services at risk of being lost over time. The method demonstrated in this paper has been designed to bridge pre-development and post-development conditions for hydrologic flow systems. This method can be used as an additional cross-scalar information “layer” for use in the planning process to identify how utilities, roads and building sites can be spatially organized to complement rather than conflict with existing landscape flow systems in areas with minimal topographic relief and specifically in Prairie Pothole Region landscapes. This relatively simple technique can help reduce infrastructure costs and enables development to maintain natural flow systems and cross-scalar hydraulic connectivity.
The weight of water: Benchmarking for public water services
Authors: McDonald David A
Published: June 2016

The use of benchmarking and performance indicators to evaluate and compare water operators is a relatively new phenomenon. It has been taking place in the private sector since the 1970s but only migrated to public services over the past two decades. It is now widespread in the water sector, but there are emerging concerns about its commercial bias and relatively undemocratic processes. This paper reviews the history of benchmarking in the water sector, discusses arguments for and against its use, and proposes an alternative performance evaluation framework that may help to better account for universality, sustainability and democratic forms of governance, particularly with public water operators in low-income settings in the global South. I argue that shared forms of performance measurement can be useful but only if they are more explicit about recognizing local difference and if they become better at promoting public awareness and advancing equity. The paper also asks why existing water benchmarking systems do not explicitly differentiate between public and private water operators, and proposes indicators that may help promote non-commercialized forms of public water services. The proposals are necessarily tentative and preliminary – calling for more empirical and theoretical research on the topic – but do offer concrete alternative benchmarking possibilities for further debate and exploration.