Evaluation of the mechanisms acting on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in CESM2 for the 1pctCO2 experiment

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a crucial component of the Earth's climate system due to its fundamental role in heat distribution, carbon and oxygen transport, and the weather. Other climate components, such as the atmosphere and sea ice, influence the AMOC. Evaluating the physical mechanisms of those interactions is paramount to increasing knowledge about AMOC's functioning. In this study, the authors used outputs from the Community Earth System Model version 2 and observational data to investigate changes in the AMOC and the associated physical processes. Two DECK experiments were evaluated: piControl and 1pctCO2 , with an annual increase of 1% of atmospheric CO2 . The analysis revealed a significant decrease in the AMOC, associated with changes in mixed layer depth and buoyancy in high latitudes of the North Atlantic, resulting in the shutdown of deep convection and potentially affecting the formation of North Atlantic Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water. A vital aspect observed in this study is the association between increased runoff and reduced water evaporation, giving rise to a positive feedback process. Consequently, the rates of freshwater spreading have intensified during this period, which could lead to an accelerated disruption of the AMOC beyond the projections of existing models

Big Data 4.0: The Era of Big Intelligence

Big data has had significant impacts on our lives, economies, academia and industries over the past decade. The current questions are: What is the future of big data? What era do we live in? This article addresses these questions by looking at meta as an operation and argues that we are living in the era of big intelligence through analyzing from meta (big data) to big intelligence. More specifically, this article will analyze big data from an evolutionary perspective. The article overviews data, information, knowledge, and intelligence (DIKI) and reveals their relationships. After analyzing meta as an operation, this article explores Meta (DIKE) and its relationship. It reveals 5 Bigs consisting of big data, big information, big knowledge, big intelligence and big analytics. Applying meta on 5 Bigs, this article infers that Big Data 4.0 = meta4 (big data) = big intelligence. This article analyzes how intelligent big analytics support big intelligence. The proposed approach in this research might facilitate the research and development of big data, big data analytics, business intelligence, artificial intelligence, and data science

Control of the Dust Vertical Distribution over Western Africa by Convection and Scavenging

Saharan dust represents more than 50% of the total desert dust emitted around the globe and its radiative effect significantly affects the atmospheric circulation at a continental scale. Previous studies on dust vertical distribution and the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) showed some shortcomings that could be attributed to imperfect representation of the effects of deep convection and scavenging. The authors investigate here the role of deep convective transport and scavenging on the vertical distribution of mineral dust over Western Africa. Using multi-year (2006–2010) simulations performed with the variable-resolution (zoomed) version of the LMDZ climate model. Simulations are compared with aerosol amounts recorded by the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and with vertical profiles of the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) measurements. LMDZ allows a thorough examination of the respective roles of deep convective transport, convective and stratiform scavenging, boundary layer transport, and advection processes on the vertical mineral dust distribution over Western Africa. The comparison of simulated dust Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and distribution with measurements suggest that scavenging in deep convection and subsequent re-evaporation of dusty rainfall in the lower troposphere are critical processes for explaining the vertical distribution of desert dust. These processes play a key role in maintaining a well-defined dust layer with a sharp transition at the top of the SAL and in establishing the seasonal cycle of dust distribution. This vertical distribution is further reshaped offshore in the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) over the Atlantic Ocean by marine boundary layer turbulent and convective transport and wet deposition at the surface

Antibacterial Potential of Pulp Capping Materials

A critical analysis of the antibacterial effect of the main representatives of calcium silicate cements (CSCs) was made. An analysis of the most frequently used methods for screening the antibacterial activity of materials has been made. The inhibitory activity of CSCs against major types of microorganisms such as Candia albicans, E. faecalis, and strains streptococcus was evaluated and compared. The antibacterial effects of CSCs are not yet well and completely known because no evidence compares the antibacterial properties of bioceramic materials with a uniform methodological approach. It is important to provide standardization of testing methods for evaluating the antibacterial potential of the materials and different bacterial strains. To this stage, there are no reproducible and standardized methods for evaluating of antibacterial activity of CSCs

Analysis of the Geometry of Wear Tracks in Laser Deposited Stellite 6 Coatings

A model has been developed to predict the wear groove geometry resulting from wear testing of Stellite 6 coatings on ferrous and nickel-based alloys produced by laser cladding with powers of 1 kW and 1.8 kW. Although the predictions of the model are close to the observed values, they differ in ways that can be accounted for by the incorrect assumption that only abrasive wear occurs. Abrasive wear is dominant, but there is also evidence that adhesive wear and plastic deformation occur and change the geometry and macrostructures of the wear tracks, particularly for the coatings on a Ni-based superalloy substrate. Significant differences were observed in wear track geometries and macrostructures for coatings on the substrates investigated and these differences correlate well with measured differences in the wear loss of the Stellite coatings

Exploring Careers for a Clearer Future Work-Self: The Influence of Proactive Personality as a Moderator

Middle school serves as a pivotal juncture in career development, where adolescents grapple with adaptability challenges during transitional phases such as entrance exams and the selection of elective majors. Simultaneously, they embark on integrating their ongoing learning tasks with their ideal aspirations to lay the groundwork for future career development. Against this backdrop, the significance of career exploration and understanding future developmental directions becomes particularly pronounced. To investigate the intricate relationship between career exploration and the clarity of one’s future work-self, along with the moderating role of proactive personality, this study employed the career exploration scale, proactive personality scale, and clarity of future work-self scale. Data from 457 high school students were collected, revealing a substantial positive correlation between career exploration and both future work self-clarity and proactive personality. Adjusting for gender and age highlighted proactive personality as a regulatory factor influencing the relationship between career exploration and future work self-clarity. Furthermore, the results underscored the crucial moderating role of proactive personality in shaping the connection between career exploration and the clarity of future work-self. In-depth analysis revealed noteworthy interactions, particularly with the environmental exploration dimension (standard coefficient of 0.849, p < 0.001). Similarly, interactions with self-exploration, goal-system exploration, and information quantity dimensions were also significant, featuring standard coefficients of 0.905 (p = 0.002), 0.935 (p < 0.001), and 0.854 (p < 0.001), respectively. In essence, these findings illuminate the nuanced dynamics at play, emphasizing the amplified connection between career exploration and the clarity of future work-self in the presence of higher proactive personality levels. This insight holds implications for educators, counselors, and researchers invested in fostering comprehensive career development strategies for adolescents

Ishikawa Diagram, Gray Numbers and Pareto Principle for the Analysis of the Causes of WEEE Production in Cameroon: Case of SMEs Implementing ISO 14001:2015

The issue of Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in Africa lacks a concrete answer at present. This study aimed to provide an integrated approach using qualitative and quantitative research methods based on the 80/20 principle and the grey system theory, in order to address the uncertainty in the existing literature. First, through a qualitative approach, the authors analysed the environment for the management of WEEE by eight companies in Cameroon, through a literature review and observations made in the field under the framework of the ISO 14001:2015 standard. Then, the weights of the selected cause of the WEEE using grey system theory were proposed and applied, combining the findings from both the qualitative and quantitative methods. Based on the data obtained through the analysis, the research results indicate that the assessed Cameroonian companies dealing with WEEE management can implement measures to reduce WEEE

Multi-decadal Changes of the Impact of El Niño Events on Tibetan Plateau Summer Precipitation

Precipitation on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has an important effect on the water supply and demand of the downstream population. Involving recent climate change, the multi-decadal variations of the impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events on regional climate were observed. In this work, the authors investigated the changes in summer precipitation over TP during 1950–2019. At the multi-decadal scale, the authors found that the inhabiting impact of El Niño events on the TP summer precipitation has strengthened since the late 1970s. The main factor contributing to this phenomenon is the significant amplification in the decadal amplitude of El Niño during 1978–2019 accompanied by a discernible escalation in the frequency of El Niño events. This phenomenon induces anomalous perturbations in sea surface temperatures (SST) within the tropical Indo-Pacific region, consequently weakening the atmospheric vapor transport from the western Pacific to the TP. Additionally, conspicuous anomalies in subsidence motion are observed longitudinally and latitudinally across the TP which significantly contributes to a curtailed supply of atmospheric moisture. These results bear profound implications for the multi-decadal prediction of the TP climate

Report of Lupus Encephalopathy in Two Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

How do you make a diagnosis of lupus encephalopathy (LE) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) concurrent with neurological and psychiatric abnormalities? This is a challenging question. We encountered two cases of SLE associated with LE. One involving the rigidity of the lefs due to extraparamidal vasculitis while the other involved mental illness due to frontal lobe atrophy respectively. The patient in case 2 experienced the attacks of Renault's sign, suggesting a systemic vasculitis. A final diagnosis of LE was established on the basis of elevated concentration of anti-ds-DNA in serum. The authors realized that the neurological or psychiatric symptoms in patients with rheumatic diseases should be carefully recognized in order to avoid a missed diagnosis of LE

Sliding Mode-Based Distributed Trajectory Tracking Control of Four-body Train Systems

This paper considers the speed tracking of a four-body train system modelled mathematically based on Newton’s second law, which is described by a large-scale interconnected system with four subsystems. Uncertainties are included in the systems to represent the potential impacts on system performance caused by mechanical wear and external environmental changes. An adaptive sliding mode technique is employed to design a distributed control scheme to guarantee tracking accuracy. Coordinate transformations are introduced to transfer the model of train systems to a system in regular form to facilitate the design of the hyperplane and controllers. The Barbashin-Krasovskii theorem is employed to show the reachability of the hyperplane. In simulations, the Gaussian function is chosen as the desired signal, representing time-varying characteristics relevant to real-world situations, and the result demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed control strategy