bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Abortion and Potential
Authors: Daniels Charles B.
Published: May 2010

In a recent article “Abortion and Simple Consciousness' (Journal of Philosophy, V. LXXIV, N. 3, pp. 159–172), Werner S. Pluhar puts forward the following view:

A few words of explanation are in order. The reasoning can, I think, be summed up as follows: If one thinks that being conscious is what gives beings rights (and this seems to be a fairly common idea), then what justifies preferential treatment for humans as opposed to sentient members of other species? The fact, or so the answer goes, that humans have a higher degree of consciousness than do members of other species. But human fetuses do not have a higher degree of consciousness than, say, adult dogs. What justifies preferential treatment of human fetuses as opposed to adult dogs? The fact that human fetuses have a higher potential for reaching a higher degree of consciousness than do adult dogs. The liberal who holds that future generations have rights, e.g., to a healthy environment, thereby holds that merely potentially conscious beings have rights. If we have a right to life, then future generations also have that right. But fetuses are no less potentially conscious beings than unconceived future generations. So even a liberal must concede that if we have a right to life, fetuses have a right to life, and that it is at least prima facie wrong to destroy them by abortion.
L'analyse épistémologique du rapport organe-fonction (étude critique de l'ouvrage de R. Bernier et P. Pirlot, Organe et Fonction).
Authors: Duchesneau François
Published: May 2010

L'objectif de l'ouvrage de R. Bernier et P. Pirlot est d'être un essai de «biophilosophie». L'organisation du texte détermine la mise en oeuvre de ce projet, nous serions meme porté à dire qu'ici la fonction et l'organe participent du même scheme de détermination causale et/ou fonctionnelle. Mais peut-être les auteurs pretendraient-ils que nous jouons sur les mots en assimilant par analogie indue le projet finalise de deux «biophilosophes» à l'illusoire argumentation teleologique que certains «philosophes», voire certains scientifiques devenus «philosophes», s'obstinent à retracer dans les figures les plus positives de l'explication biologique. Sans jeu de mots, nous le promettons cette fois, lafonction du livre de R. Bernier et P. Pirlot est de tenter la reduction des subterfuges téléologiques qui hantent parfois le langage théorique de la biologie et qui subvertissent à coup sûr les analyses de certains métaphysiciens de la biologie.
Le réalisme essentiel de Guillaume d'Occam: réponse à M. Panaccio: II
Authors: Galibois Roland
Published: May 2010

On aura lu dans le présent numéro de Dialogue une longue étude critique, où Claude Panaccio analyse la traduction, par Roland Galibois, du Commentaire d'Occam sur le Livre des Prédicables de Porphyre, ainsi que mon introduction à ce texte.

On nous permettra sans doute d'y répondre, et on trouvera ci-après l'excellente justification que R. Galibois donne de sa traduction.
The exhumation of the western Greater Caucasus: a thermochronometric study
Authors: VINCENT STEPHEN J. , CARTER ANDREW , LAVRISHCHEV VLADIMIR A. , RICE SAMUEL P. , BARABADZE TEIMURAZ G. , HOVIUS NIELS
Published: May 2010

This study provides 39 new thermochronometric analyses from the western part of the Greater Caucasus, a region in which existing data are extremely limited and of questionable quality. The new results are consistent with field studies that identify Triassic to Middle Jurassic (Cimmerian) and Oligo-Miocene (Alpine) orogenic erosional events. An inverse relationship between the fission track and depositional ages of Oligo-Miocene sedimentary samples also implies some degree of Eocene erosion of the Greater Caucasus and intermediate sediment storage. Cooling ages and field relationships within the core of the range, west of Mt Elbrus, require ~5 km of Permo-Triassic exhumation and restrict the overall amount of Cenozoic exhumation to ~2.5 km. Current exhumation rates are typically low, and do not support a Plio-Pleistocene increase in climate-driven denudation. High (~1 km Ma−1) rates of exhumation are restricted to the southern flank of the range in northwest Georgia. Despite a general lack of significant seismicity within the study region, this exhumation peak is close to the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in the Caucasus (Ms = 7.0). This may suggest that exhumation is associated with the decoupling of the sedimentary succession from its crystalline basement in the southern part of the range and the inversion of the largely Jurassic fill of the Greater Caucasus basin. Rates of exhumation are compatible with this being driven by active shortening. Further sampling and analysis are required to provide a higher-resolution, low-temperature thermochronology of Alpine exhumation, to isolate the drivers for Palaeogene Dziruli Massif cooling and uplift, and to constrain better the extent of the current, localized phase of rapid exhumation.
On broadband jet–ring interaction noise and aerofoil turbulence-interaction noise predictions
Authors: ROGER MICHEL
Published: May 2010

The aerodynamic noise of a thin rigid annulus (referred to as the ring here) placed in the mixing layer of a subsonic circular jet is investigated in the paper, both theoretically and experimentally. From the experimental point of view, the jet–ring configuration is understood as an axisymmetric alternative to more usual ones involving a rectangular aerofoil held between parallel side plates, dedicated to the study of the noise due to the impingement of upstream turbulence. The main advantages of the circular geometry are a minimum background noise, the absence of tip effects and more specifically the account for all radiation angles from the surface in the far-field acoustic signature. The circular set-up is well suited for the study of pure broadband interaction noise only if the flow remains free of self-sustained oscillations. This is ensured by keeping a sufficient interaction distance between the nozzle and the ring, and by shaping serrations on the nozzle lip. From the theoretical point of view, an analytical model is derived as a straightforward extension of existing formulations. The induced unsteady lift forces on the ring are first inferred from a linearized unsteady aerodynamic theory and the far field is calculated in a second step by a radiation integral. This relates the far-field acoustic pressure power spectral density (PSD) to the two-wavenumber spectrum of the radial turbulent velocity at the ring location, by means of an aeroacoustic transfer function. The latter is shown asymptotically identical to the one detailed in the Appendix for a rectangular aerofoil, in the limit of relatively high frequencies. The analytical acoustic predictions are found to agree well with the measurements over an extended frequency range, provided that the model is fed with turbulent velocity input data measured by a hot-wire probe. Indirectly, this agreement validates the transfer function for a rectangular aerofoil at oblique radiation angles, which is not achievable in a set-up involving side plates and a rectangular nozzle.
Asymptotic theory of the elastohydrodynamic adhesion and gliding motion of a solid particle over soft and sticky substrates at low Reynolds numbers
Authors: URZAY JAVIER
Published: May 2010

This analysis makes use of asymptotic analyses and numerical methods to address, in the limit of small Reynolds and ionic Péclet numbers and small clearances, the canonical problem of the forces exerted on a small solid spherical particle undergoing slow translation and rotation in an incompressible fluid moving parallel to an elastic substrate, subject to electric double-layer and van der Waals intermolecular forces, as a representative example of particle gliding and the idealized swimming dynamics of more complex bodies near soft and sticky surfaces in a physiological solvent. The competition of the hydrodynamic, intermolecular and surface-deformation effects induces a lift force, and drag-force and drift-force perturbations, which do not scale linearly with the velocities, and produce a non-additivity of the intermolecular effects by reducing the intensity of the repulsive forces and by increasing the intensity of the attractive forces. The lift force enhances a reversible elastohydrodynamic adhesion regime in both ionized and deionized solvents, in which lateral motion and lift-off from the substrate can occur. An irreversible elastohydrodynamic adhesion regime, produced by elastic instabilities in the form of surface bifurcations in the substrate, is found to exist for both positive and negative lift forces and is enhanced by small gliding velocities and large substrate compliances, for which critical thresholds are calculated for both ionized and deionized solvents. Elastohydrodynamic corrections are derived for the critical coagulation concentration of electrolyte predicted by the Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) standard theory of colloid stabilization. The corrected DLVO critical concentration is unable to describe the adhesion process when the substrate is sufficiently compliant or when the solvent is deionized. These effects may have consequences on the lateral motility and adhesion of small particles and swimming micro-organisms to soft and sticky substrates, in which the reversible or irreversible character of the adhesion process may be influenced not only by the solvent ionic strength, as described by the DLVO theory, but also by the motion kinematics and the substrate mechanical properties.
Retirement lifestyles in a niche housing market: park-home living in England
Authors: BEVAN MARK
Published: May 2010

Park homes are a small, niche sector of the United Kingdom housing market. This paper reports a study of 40 residents of park-homes that focused on their motivations for choosing this form of accommodation, and on their views about and experiences of park-home living. Whilst the sector has long provided a low-cost housing option for people of all ages, in recent years it has increasingly aligned itself as a lifestyle choice for older people. Despite their diverse reasons for moving to park homes, most respondents reported very positive experiences of park-home living and shared similar views about the benefits, but there were a few dissenting voices. Two conceptual frameworks are used to help understand the experiences of the respondents. ‘Elective belonging’ offers a way of contextualising the narratives that people articulate about their lifestyle choices and that affirm their sense of biographical continuity even having moved to new locations. This notion also helps frame some of the tensions that arise among the residents. The second framework, ‘biographical disruption’, is a way of framing the stories that the respondents told when their lives had not followed the anticipated trajectory and by which they coped and made sense of the circumstances which soured their chosen lifestyle.
The Error of Young Cyrus: The Bill of Conformity and Jacobean Kingship, 1603–1624
Authors: Smith David A.
Published: May 2010

James I's declaration to the Parliament of 1621 was quickly followed on March 31, 1621, by a proclamation abolishing “bills of conformity”—a remedy for insolvent debtors in the English courts of equity. MPs had raised conformity as a grievance early in the session, and debate was one-sided. James's admission, and the proclamation suppressing conformity that followed, explained that debtors exhibited the bills for “no other end or purpose, but to defeat or delay their just and honest Creditors.” Conformity was “so great an evill” that it had encouraged “wilfull Bankerupts,” caused a scarcity of money, and triggered a trade depression. A statute passed in the Parliament of 1624 closed the remaining loopholes and abolished conformity.
“Taking a Nickel Out of the Cash Register”: Statutory Renegotiation of Military Contracts and the Politics of Profit Control in the United States during World War II
Authors: Wilson Mark R.
Published: May 2010

At 10:00 AM on September 24, 1943, James F. Lincoln, the sixty-year-old president and owner of the Lincoln Electric Company of Cleveland, Ohio, entered a meeting with U.S. Navy officials who wanted to discuss his company's recent earnings. A former Ohio State University football team captain and active supporter of the Republican Party, the outspoken Lincoln had already made it clear that he objected to the whole proceeding. One of the nation's leading suppliers of welding equipment, Lincoln's company had seen its sales boom since the beginning of World War II, as shipbuilders, aircraft producers, and other prime contractors demanded more welding machines and electrodes. Now, after a year of correspondence and preparations, the U.S. Navy had asked Lincoln to come to Washington to discuss how much of the company's 1942 profits were fair, and how much should be returned to the United States.
James Madison and Common-Law Constitutionalism
Authors: Konig David Thomas
Published: May 2010

In 1789 James Madison and Thomas Jefferson engaged in one of their many exchanges on constitutionalism. As with other Jeffersonian flights of philosophy, the younger Madison had to rein in the excesses of his senior partner and collaborator. The issue at hand was Jefferson's famous opinion “that the earth belongs in usufruct to the living.” So confident was Jefferson in the truth of this idea that he called it “self-evident.” Their exchange has received insightful and comprehensive analysis, which needs no revisiting here. Adrienne Koch, whose treatment of this “intellectual reciprocity” is among our most careful, sees it as revealing the essence of the two men, pitting the “more speculative and more daring” Jefferson against “the more astute politician” Madison.
The “Madison Problem” Revisited
Authors: Onuf Peter S.
Published: May 2010

James Madison was a “law student or demi-lawyer,” Mary Sarah Bilder writes, with misgivings about his own role in the lawyers' world that he helped bring into being under the new federal Constitution. If Madison was the Constitution's “father,” his offspring seemed somewhat misbegotten. Structurally and ideologically the new regime was “federalist,” Alison LaCroix explains, with courts and lawyers “mediating among multiple levels of government” that retained a significant degree of separation and autonomy. But this was just what Madison had hoped to avoid. The demi-lawyer instead pushed hard for a “republican remedy” for the Confederation's pathologies, a structural solution to the centrifugal tendencies that jeopardized union and republican government. His proposed federal veto and council of revision would have constituted a “republican prerogative, via Congress” to check recalcitrant state legislatures. In effect, LaCroix concludes, Madison “envisioned the legislatures”—state and federal—“operating almost as a single system—a compound legislature comprising inferior and superior bodies.” Convinced by deep study and hard experience that federations must fail, the Madison who promoted the Virginia Plan was an ultranationalist, or anti-federalist.
SOME MODELS IN A MUDDLE: Lineage and house in Classic Maya social organization
Authors: Watanabe John M.
Published: May 2010

This commentary addresses ethnographic and theoretical problems in the recent debate over lineages and houses in Classic Maya society. On the one hand, proponents of segmentary lineage models miss ambiguities between filiation and descent, residential and corporate groups in the Maya ethnographies they use for their analogies. On the other hand, supporters of Lévi-Strauss's house model fail to appreciate the relative instead of absolute differences between descent theory and alliance theory that underlie lineage and house models and make it difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between them archaeologically. Both look to descriptive, largely static types derived from elsewhere and then argue which best fits Classic Maya society rather than build models that define the relevant components of social organization—filiation, descent, alliance, residence—and then theorize how differently patterned relations between these components might yield the institutional groupings we find on (or in the case of archaeology, in) the ground.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CLASSIC MAYA SOCIAL ORGANIZATION FROM CARACOL, BELIZE
Authors: Chase Diane Z. , Chase Arlen F.
Published: May 2010

Inferring ancient social and political organization from the archaeological record is a difficult task. Generally, the models used to interpret the Classic-period Maya (a.d.250–900) have been borrowed from other societies and other times and thus also reflect etic conceptions of the past. Maya social and political organization has been interpreted as varying in complexity. Those who would model a less complex Classic Maya social structure have tended to employ lineage models and segmentation. Models of a more complex Classic Maya civilization focus on different social levels and on a breakdown of some kinship systems. Other models, such as that of the “noble house,” represent attempts to find a middle ground. Yet archaeological and epigraphic data that have been gathered for the Classic Maya place parameters on any interpretation that is generated. Data collected from Caracol, Belize, over the past 19 years can be used to illustrate the problems that arise in the strict application of “ideal” social models to the Classic Maya situation. These same data also provide parameters for the reconstruction of ancient sociopolitical organization.
THE WAY THINGS FALL APART: Social organization and the Classic Maya collapse of Copan
Authors: Manahan T. Kam
Published: May 2010

While the recent application of the house model to archaeology (Joyce and Gillespie 2000Beyond Kinship: Social and Material Reproduction in House Societies. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia) has renewed interest in the nature of Classic Maya social organization, the relationships between Classic Maya social units and Classic Maya polities remain poorly understood. This article examines the effects of the Classic Maya collapse of Copan, Honduras on its constituent social units in an effort to ascertain the flexibility and resilience of these groups within larger political structures. Previous researchers suggested that Copan's collapse was limited largely to the ruling elite. However, the Copan Postclassic Archaeological Project has documented a distinct, possibly foreign occupation in the site center froma.d.950 to 1100. These data suggest that the longevity of all Classic Copaneco social groups in the wake of dynastic collapse was significantly shorter than some have postulated. These data demonstrate that Classic Maya social units were not semiautonomous groups but, instead, were integrated within polities. Thus, they must be understood within larger political frameworks.
MULTISCALAR MODEL OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS AND COMMUNITIES IN LATE CLASSIC COPAN MAYA SOCIETY
Authors: Freter AnnCorinne
Published: May 2010

A variety of models contribute to our understanding of Classic Maya sociopolitical structure. Few, however, consider the variability that existed within Maya systems, and the temporal and spatial scales of analysis have often been limited, especially with respect to the commoner segment of society. One model that has focused attention on this component of the Maya is thesian otot, described by Charles Wisdom (1940The Chorti Indians of Guatemala. University of Chicago Press) and introduced for the Copan Maya by William Fash (1983 Deducing Social Organization from Classic Maya Settlement Patterns: A Case Study from the Copan Valley. InCivilization in the Ancient Americas: Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey. University of New Mexico Press and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University). Based on data from a 135-km2regional settlement survey and excavations of the Copan Valley in Honduras, it is argued that this model, in conjunction with other, broader models of Classic Maya society, offers a useful perspective from which to construct a multiscalar model of ancient Copan social organization. The variability amongsian otot, particularly in terms of economic production, is considered. The ceramic data from Copan suggest that ceramic production among commoner units was communal, and the possibility for community cooperatives is raised. Finally, the dynamic scale and productive relations among the commoners are considered in light of broader sociopolitical changes in the processual history of the Copan polity. It is concluded that the intersection of social, political, and economic institutional frameworks needs to be more comprehensively investigated from varied scales, both temporal and settlement, to appreciate fully the diversity of Maya social organization during the Late Classic/Terminal Classic transition.
Cultural aspects of music perception: Validation of a Greek version of the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusias
Authors: PARASKEVOPOULOS EVANGELOS , TSAPKINI KYRANA , PERETZ ISABELLE
Published: May 2010

Despite music’s universality, people perceive and interpret music according to their cultural background. The existing music perception batteries, however, do not take into account possible cultural differences. We adapted the Montreal Battery of Evaluation of Amusias (MBEA) into the requirements of Eastern (Greek) music, where rhythm and melody scales are different from the ones used in Western music. We obtained norms for both the original version of MBEA and its Greek adaptation from the same Greek participants because they are exposed to both genres (traditional and Eastern). Results indicate that some parts of the original MBEA such as the meter test would not be suitable for evaluating the musical abilities of populations with a different musical tradition. Instead, our version of the MBEA, the Greek Battery of Evaluation of Amusia (GBEA) should be preferred in assessing music perception in cultures or individuals influenced by Eastern or both traditions. We also report the results of a congenitally amusic individual (B.Z.) evaluated with both batteries showing that GBEA is a more sensitive tool to evaluate her impairment in music perception. (JINS, 2010, 16, 695–704.)
APPARENT LONG MEMORY IN TIME SERIES AS AN ARTIFACT OF A TIME-VARYING MEAN: CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVES TO THE FRACTIONALLY INTEGRATED MODEL
Authors: Ashley Richard A. , Patterson Douglas M.
Published: May 2010

Structural breaks and switching processes are known to induce apparent long memory in a time series. Here we show that any significant time variation in the mean renders the sample correlogram (and related spectral estimates) inconsistent. In particular, smooth time variation in the mean—i.e., even a weak trend, either stochastic or deterministic—induces apparent long memory. This apparent long memory can be eliminated by either high-pass filtering or by detrending. Here we demonstrate the effectiveness in this regard of nonlinear detrending via penalized-spline nonparametric regression. A time-varying mean can be of economic interest in its own right. This suggests that isolating out and separately examining both a local mean (i.e., a nonlinear trend or the realization of a stochastic trend) and deviations from it is preferable as a modeling strategy to simply estimating a fractionally integrated model. We illustrate the superiority of this strategy using stock return volatility data.
A NONCOMMUTATIVE GENERALIZATION OF STONE DUALITY
Authors: Lawson M. V.
Published: May 2010

We prove that the category of boolean inverse monoids is dually equivalent to the category of boolean groupoids. This generalizes the classical Stone duality between boolean algebras and boolean spaces. As an instance of this duality, we show that the boolean inverse monoid Cn associated with the Cuntz groupoid Gn is the strong orthogonal completion of the polycyclic (or Cuntz) monoid Pn. The group of units of Cn is the Thompson group Vn,1.
Experimental characterization of the cyclostationary low-frequency noise of microwave semiconductor devices under large signal operation
Authors: Lisboa de Souza Antonio Augusto , Dupouy Emmanuel , Nallatamby Jean-Christophe , Prigent Michel , Obregon Juan
Published: May 2010

This paper presents a detailed experimental analysis of the cyclostationary properties of low-frequency (LF) noise sources of microwave bipolar devices, in order to improve the LF noise description in compact models. Such models are used to help designers on predicting circuit performances such as phase and amplitude noise in oscillators. We start by reviewing the most relevant experimental and simulation results on the subject, and then investigate the model of conductance fluctuations proposed to explain the 1/f noise of carbon resistors. This simple linear case serves as a basis for understanding the complex case of a non-linear device under large-signal periodic operation. We then present the large-signal small-signal analysis of a pumped junction, focusing on the process of converting the fundamental LF noise process, a current fluctuation, into voltage fluctuations. We show why a stationary noise model would lead to an increase of the voltage noise observed around DC when the device is pumped, while the voltage noise would decrease if a cyclostationary model was used. A great amount of experimental data is presented not only to support our analysis, but also as a mean to distinguish between the two noise processes under consideration: stationary or cyclostationary. The goal of our noise measurement technique was to maximize the difference between those two concepts. Throughout the paper, we revisit some known concepts and show how some experimental results may lead to misinterpretations.
Assessing Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Across Countries
Authors: Di Giunta Laura , Eisenberg Nancy , Kupfer Anne , Steca Patrizia , Tramontano Carlo , Caprara Gian Vittorio
Published: May 2010

The Perceived Empathic Self-Efficacy Scale (PESE) and the Perceived Social Self-Efficacy Scale (PSSE) were developed to assess, respectively, individuals’ self-efficacy beliefs regarding both empathic responding to others’ needs or feelings and managing interpersonal relationships. In this study of young adults, a unidimensional factorial structure of both scales was found in Italy, the United States, and Bolivia. Complete invariance at the metric level and partial invariance at the scalar level were found across gender and countries for both scales. The construct and incremental validity of both PESE and PSSE were further examined in a different sample of Italian young adults. Patterns of association of the PESE or PSSE with self-esteem, psychological well-being, and the use of adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies were found, often over and beyond their associations with empathy or extraversion, respectively.
Analysis of the Psychometric Properties of an Assessment Tool for Deviant Behavior in Adolescence
Authors: Molinengo Giorgia , Testa Silvia
Published: May 2010

The study explores the psychometric properties of a deviant behavior scale for adolescents based on Jessor’s problem behavior theory. The sample consisted of 2191 Italian adolescents aged between 13 and 24 years (M = 16.2, SD = 1.6) attending different types of secondary schools in Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta. The results demonstrate goodness of fit for a three interrelated factor model corresponding to the three most common deviant behaviors in adolescents – “physical aggression,” “theft and vandalism,” and “lying and disobedience.” Furthermore, the three dimensions prove to possess a satisfactory degree of reliability. Multigroup analyses show that the three-factor structure is substantially stable over age and gender subgroups.
An empirical geomorphology‐based approach to the spatial prediction of soil thickness at catchment scale
Authors: Catani Filippo , Segoni Samuele , Falorni Giacomo
Published: May 2010

Catchment modeling in areas dominated by active geomorphologic processes, such as soil erosion and landsliding, is often hampered by the lack of reliable methods for the spatial estimation of soil depth. In a catchment, soil thickness h can vary as a function of many different and interplaying factors, such as underlying lithology, climate, gradient, hillslope curvature, upslope contributing area, and vegetation cover, making the distributed estimation of h challenging and often unreliable. In this work we present an alternative methodology which links soil thickness to gradient, horizontal and vertical slope curvature, and relative position within the hillslope profile. While the relationship with gradient and curvature should reflect the kinematic stability of the regolith cover, allowing greater soil thicknesses over planar and concave areas, the distance from the hill crest (or from the valley bottom) accounts for the position within the soil toposequence. This last parameter is fundamental; points having equal gradient and curvature can have significantly different soil thickness due to their dissimilar position along the hillslope profile. The proposed model has been implemented in a geographic information system environment and tested in the Terzona Creek basin in central Italy. Results are in good agreement with field data (mean absolute error is 11 cm with 8.5 cm standard deviation) and average errors are lower than those obtained with other topography‐based methods, where mean absolute error ranges from 47 cm for a model based on curvature, position, and slope gradient to 94 cm for a model based solely on slope gradient. As a further test, the predicted soil thickness was used to determine derived quantities, such as the factor of safety for landsliding potential. Our model, when compared to other empirical methods, returns the best results and, therefore, can improve the prediction of soil losses and sediment production when utilized in conjunction with hydrological and landsliding models.
Responses of mesosphere and lower thermosphere temperatures to gravity wave forcing during stratospheric sudden warming
Authors: Yamashita Chihoko , Liu Han‐Li , Chu Xinzhao
Published: May 2010

We examine the responses of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) temperatures to gravity waves (GWs) during stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) using TIME‐GCM through modifying GW parameters. Our study confirms that the height of GW forcing region is mainly determined by GW amplitude and wavelength, and its vertical depth is closely tied to the spectral width of GW phase speed. The GW forcing controls the pattern and strength of residual circulation and thereby the characteristics of the MLT cooling and warming regions. The planetary wave (PW) forcing in the MLT also affects the vertical depth and magnitude of MLT temperature anomalies through further modifying the residual circulation. These PWs in MLT are likely generated in‐situ by the GW forcing at high latitudes. Therefore, the mechanisms of GW controlling the MLT temperature during a SSW are directly through GW forcing and indirectly through generating PWs in‐situ.
Observations of S410p and S350p phases at seismograph stations in California
Authors: Vinnik Lev , Ren Yong , Stutzmann Eleonore , Farra Veronique , Kiselev Sergey
Published: May 2010

We analyze a new set of seismic data from seismograph stations in California. This data set consists of nearly 5000 S receiver functions for 47 seismograph stations. As a rule, the stacked SRFs display a distinct S410p seismic phase (S wave converted to P at the 410 km discontinuity). The wave paths of S410p sample the upper mantle beneath California and the neighboring region of the Pacific. In northernmost California the S410p travel times are close to those of the IASP91 global model. Further south, S410p usually arrives about 2 s earlier than predicted by the IASP91 model. This early arrival can be explained either by an anomalously high Vp/Vs velocity ratio (1.9 in a 125 km thick layer of the upper mantle versus 1.8 in IASP91), by a depression of the 410 km discontinuity of 15 km, or by a combination of both effects with smaller amplitudes. We observe systematically S350p phase which is converted from a negative discontinuity (with a lower S velocity at the lower side) near a depth of 350 km. The observations of S350p are indicative of a low S velocity layer a few tens of kilometers thick atop the 410 km discontinuity beneath southern California and the neighboring oceanic region. Some receiver functions also display S480p phase, which is interpreted as evidence of an intermittent low‐velocity layer in the transition zone.
Estimated global ocean wind power potential from QuikSCAT observations, accounting for turbine characteristics and siting
Authors: Capps Scott B. , Zender Charles S.
Published: May 2010

For the first time, global ocean usable wind power is evaluated for modern offshore turbine characteristics including hub height, usable portion of the wind speed distribution, and siting depth. Mean wind power increases by 30%, 69%, and 73% within the tropics and Northern and Southern Hemisphere extratropics, respectively, between hub heights of 10 m and 100 m. A turbine with a cut‐out speed of 25 m s−1 (30 m s−1) within the Northern Hemisphere storm track harvests between 55% (82%) and 85% (>98%) of available power. Within this region, a 2–3 m s−1 change in cut‐out speed can result in a 5–7% change in usable power. Eighty meter wind power accumulates at a rate of 20–45 MW km2 m−2 per meter depth increase from the shore to the shelf break. Beyond the shelf break, wind power accumulates at a slower rate (<12 MW km2 m−2 m−1). The combined impact of all three characteristics on available wind power is assessed for three technology tiers: existing, planned, and future innovations. Usable percent of 80 m available global ocean wind power ranges from 0.40% for existing to 2.73% for future envisioned turbine specifications. Offshore wind power production is estimated using three offshore wind turbine power curves, three ocean depth limits and two siting densities. Global offshore wind power is as much as 39 TW (54% of onshore) and is maximized for the smallest and least powerful of the three turbine specifications evaluated.
Daily to decadal patterns of precipitation, humidity, and photosynthetic physiology recorded in the spines of the columnar cactus, Carnegiea gigantea
Authors: English Nathan B. , Dettman David L. , Sandquist Darren R. , Williams David G.
Published: May 2010

Isotopic analyses of cactus spines grown serially from the apex of long‐lived columnar cactuses may be useful for climatological and ecological studies if time series can be reliably determined from spines. To characterize the timescales over which spines may record this information, we measured spine growth in saguaro cactus over days, months, and years with time‐lapse photography, periodic marking, and postbomb radiocarbon dating and then analyzed isotopic variability over these same timescales and compared these measurements to local climate. We used daily increments of growth, visible as transverse bands of light and dark tissue in spines, as chronometers to develop diurnally resolved δ13C and δ18O records from three spines grown in series over a 70 day period. We also constructed a 22 year record of δ13C variations from spine tips arranged in chronological sequence along the side of a 4 m tall, single‐stemmed saguaro. We evaluated two mechanisms potentially responsible for daily, weekly, and annual variability in δ13C values of spines; both related to vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Our data suggest that stomatal conductance is unlikely to be the determinant of δ13C variation in spines. We suggest that either VPD‐induced changes in the balance of nighttime‐ and daytime‐assimilated CO2 or mesophyll‐limited diffusion of CO2 at night are the most likely determinant of δ13C variation in spines. Intra‐annual and interannual variability of δ18O in spine tissue appears to be controlled by the mass balance of 18O‐depleted water taken up after rain events and evaporative enrichment of 18O in tissue water between rains. We were able to estimate the annual growth and areole generation rate of a saguaro cactus from its 22 yearlong isotopic record because VPD, rainfall, and evaporation exhibit strong annual cycles in the Sonoran Desert and these variations are recorded in the oxygen and carbon isotope ratios of spines.
Temporal and spatial variability of dissolved inorganic carbon in a boreal stream network: Concentrations and downstream fluxes
Authors: Wallin Marcus , Buffam Ishi , Öquist Mats , Laudon Hjalmar , Bishop Kevin
Published: May 2010

Carbon dioxide (CO2) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations and export were analyzed throughout a 67 km2 boreal stream network in northern Sweden. 700 DIC and CO2 samples from 14 subcatchments were collected in 2006 and 2007. All sites were consistently supersaturated in CO2 with respect to the atmosphere. Temporal variability of DIC and CO2 concentration was best correlated with discharge, with concentrations generally diluting at high discharge. However, the variability in CO2 concentration was also dependent on the specific pH range of the stream, as variability was greatest in acidic headwater streams and lowest in larger circumneutral streams. In the larger ones the increase in the CO2 proportion of DIC at increased discharge counteracts the dilution of CO2. The shift toward proportionally more CO2 of the DIC at higher discharge is caused by decline in pH. Spatial patterns showed that DIC and CO2 concentrations were best correlated with peatland coverage of the subcatchment. The highest concentrations were found in headwater streams draining peatlands. The downstream export of DIC from the catchment outlet constitutes 19% of the total downstream export of carbon (DIC + DOC), or 0.7 (±0.09) g C m−2 yr−1. This study demonstrates the importance of including fluvial fluxes of inorganic carbon in landscape carbon budgets via runoff, and also highlights the need to account for stream evasion of CO2 to the atmosphere in such estimates since it can be larger than the downstream DIC export.
A field‐scale reactive transport model for U(VI) migration influenced by coupled multirate mass transfer and surface complexation reactions
Authors: Ma R. , Zheng C. , Prommer H. , Greskowiak J. , Liu C. , Zachara J. , Rockhold M.
Published: May 2010

This study explores field‐scale modeling of U(VI) reactive transport through incorporation of laboratory and field data. A field‐scale reactive transport model was developed on the basis of laboratory‐characterized U(VI) surface complexation reactions (SCRs) and multirate mass transfer processes, as well as field‐measured hydrogeochemical conditions at the U.S. Department of Energy, Hanford 300 Area (300 A), Washington. The model was used to assess the importance of multirate mass transfer processes on U(VI) reactive transport and to evaluate the effect of variable geochemical conditions caused by dynamic river water‐groundwater interactions on U(VI) plume migration. Model simulations revealed complex spatiotemporal relationships between groundwater composition and U(VI) speciation, adsorption, and plume migration. In general, river water intrusion enhances uranium adsorption and lowers aqueous uranium concentration because river water dilution increases pH and decreases aqueous bicarbonate concentration, leading to overall enhanced U(VI) surface complexation. Strong U(VI) retardation was computed for the field‐measured hydrogeochemical conditions, suggesting a slow dissipation of the U(VI) plume, a phenomenon consistent with field observations. The simulations also showed that SCR‐retarded U(VI) migration becomes more dynamic and synchronous with the groundwater flow field when multirate mass transfer processes are involved. Breakthrough curves at selected locations and the temporal changes in the calculated mass during the 20 year simulation period indicated that uranium adsorption/desorption never attained steady state because of the dynamic flow field and groundwater composition variations caused by river water intrusion. Thus, the multirate SCR model appears to be a crucial consideration for future reactive transport simulations of uranium contaminants at the Hanford 300 A site and elsewhere under similar hydrogeochemical conditions.
Use of A‐Train data to estimate convective buoyancy and entrainment rate
Authors: Luo Zhengzhao Johnny , Liu G. Y. , Stephens Graeme L.
Published: May 2010

This study describes a satellite‐based method to estimate simultaneously convective buoyancy (B) and entrainment rate (λ). The measurement requirements are cloud‐top height (CTH), cloud‐top temperature (CTT), cloud profiling information (from radar and lidar), and ambient sounding. Initial results of the new method applied to A‐Train data are presented. It is observed that tropical oceanic convection above the boundary layer fall into two groups: deep convection (DC) and cumulus congestus (Cg). DC tend to have negative buoyancy near cloud top andλ< 10%/km. Cg are further divided into two groups due to the snapshot view of the A‐Train: one has positive buoyancy andλ≤ 10%/km and the other has negative buoyancy andλreaching up to 50%/km. Uncertainty analysis is conducted showing that CTT and CTH are the primary source of errors, but they do not affect our conclusions qualitatively. Brief comparisons with previous studies indicate the results of this study are broadly consistent with these earlier studies. Although most of the initial results are expected, this study represents the first time, to our knowledge, that satellite data are used to estimate convective buoyancy and entrainment rate. This new, space‐borne method presents an opportunity for a number of follow‐up investigations. For example, it serves as a bridge to connect A‐Train observations (and follow‐up missions) to GCM cumulus parameterizations.
Major shifts in multidecadal moisture variability in the Mid‐Atlantic region during the last 240 years
Authors: Zhao Cheng , Yu Zicheng , Li Long , Bebout Gray
Published: May 2010

The paucity of high‐resolution paleoclimate records limits our ability to extend instrumental data into a longer time‐frame and to better understand multidecadal climate variations in the Mid‐Atlantic region. Here we present an ∼2 year‐resolution endogenic calcite δ18O record for the last ∼240 years from a freeze core at White Lake in northern New Jersey. The δ18O data, consistent with the paleosalinity reconstructions from Chesapeake Bay, suggest regional‐scale multidecadal moisture variations, including dry conditions at 1780–1840, wet conditions at 1840–1920, and ∼20 year moisture oscillations after 1920. We attribute these moisture changes to shifts in the extent and location of the jet stream and resultant change in storm track trajectories, with eastward and seaward displacement of storm tracks corresponding to dry climate. The increase in moisture variability since 1920, shortly after the steady increase in global air temperature, suggests that change in mean climate state can induce large changes in moisture variability.
Improved expression of secreted and membrane‐targeted proteins in insect cells
Authors: Hitchman Richard B. , Possee Robert D. , Siaterli Evangelia , Richards Kevin S. , Clayton Amber J. , Bird Louise E. , Owens Raymond J. , Carpentier David C. J. , King Fiona L. , Danquah John O. , Spink Karen G. , King Linda A.
Published: May 2010

Secretory and membrane‐bound proteins are generally produced in lower amounts in insect cells compared with cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins. There may be many reasons for this, including degradation of recombinant proteins by proteases, competition for cellular resources between native and recombinant proteins, and physical blockage of the secretory pathways. In the present study, we describe the construction of a baculovirus in which chiA (chitinase) and cath (cathepsin) genes have been deleted and show improved recombinant protein expression using this vector. We confirmed the complete removal of both genes by PCR, restriction enzyme analysis and enzyme assays, and the modified virus DNA was shown to be stable in bacterial cells over multiple passages. A selection of recombinant genes were inserted into the double‐deletion virus and their expression levels compared with recombinant viruses that had single or no gene deletions. In all instances, the double‐deletion viruses showed greatly enhanced levels of protein production for both secreted and nuclear/cytoplasmic proteins. In summary, we have conclusively demonstrated the importance of this deletion vector for the high‐level production of recombinant proteins.
Immunohistochemical evidence of lactoferrin in human embryo–fetal bone and cartilage tissues
Authors: Antonio Ieni , Valeria Barresi , Maddalena Grosso , Giovanni Tuccari
Published: May 2010

Lf (lactoferrin) is an 80‐kDa iron‐binding protein, which has been suggested to promote bone growth in murine models. In view of this, we aimed to analyse the immunohistochemical distribution of Lf in human embryonal and fetal bone and cartilaginous tissues at different gestational weeks in order to evaluate whether a role for this protein might be proposed also in human osteogenesis. Bone and cartilaginous specimens were taken at autopsy from 25 fetuses (8–34 weeks of gestation). Ten samples of human adult bone and cartilage were also submitted to the immunohistochemical procedures. Sections, 4‐μm thick, were cut from formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded tissue blocks and stained with a monoclonal antibody against human Lf, following antigen retrieval procedures. Lf immunoreactivity was maily localized in the mesenchymal cells forming the periosteum as well as in chondroblasts at the eighth gestational week; a strong Lf immunoexpression in immature osteocytes and osteoblasts was noted up to the 18th gestation week, with a considerable decrease by the 24th week. No Lf expression was found in any bone area after the 30th and up to the 34th week of gestation. Our data seem to suggest an important role for Lf as a bone growth regulator in the early phases of the human endochondral ossification, with an anabolic action similar to that previously reported in cell culture lines and in animal models.
Transcriptional alteration of matrix‐related gene expression in cultured human disc cells by nanoparticles of a bismethanophosphonate fullerene
Authors: Yang Xinlin , Wan Yueping , Qiao Xinge , Arlet Vincent , Li Xudong
Published: May 2010

Fullerene and its derivatives have been extensively studied in the biomedical field. Their biological activities towards various cell types have been reported, and previous results have implicated their potential uses as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy of tumour and photoinactivation of bacteria and viruses, antioxidative/cytoprotective reagents and carriers for drug delivery. We describe here the effects of a BMPF (bismethanophosphonate fullerene) on matrix‐related gene expression in cultured human disc cells by real‐time reverse transcriptase PCR. Mediation of BMPF into water by DMSO leads to formation of an aqueous suspension of nanoparticles (denoted as nano‐BMPF) with a very narrow size distribution and an average size of 136.3 nm. Moreover, nano‐BMPF could induce a down‐regulation of gene expression of matrix proteins aggrecan, type I collagen and type II collagen and an up‐regulation of gene expression of matrix metalloproteinase 3. IL‐1Ra (IL‐1 receptor antagonist), but not IL‐1 receptor 1, is transcriptionally inhibited by nano‐BMPF. These data indicated a disc degeneration‐inducing activity of nano‐BMPF, raising concerns of possible adverse effects, while a fullerene‐based treatment of disc diseases is employed.