The impact of conventional surface data upon VAS regression retrievals in the lower troposphere

Surface temperature and dewpoint reports are added to the infrared radiances from the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) in order to improve the retrieval of temperature and moisture profiles in the lower troposphere. The conventional (airways) surface data are combined with the twelve VAS channels as additional predictors in a ridge regression retrieval scheme, with the aim of using all available data to make high resolution space-time interpolations of the radiosonde network. For one day of VAS observations, retrievals using only VAS radiances are compared with retrievals using VAS radiances plus surface data. Temperature retrieval accuracy evaluated at coincident radiosonde sites shows a significant impact within the boundary layer. Dewpoint retrieval accuracy shows a broader improvement within the lowest tropospheric layers. The most dramatic impact of surface data is observed in the improved relative spatial and temporal continuity of low-level fields retrieved over the Midwestern United States

WAIS-IV performance of working-age Polish people in the UK

Objectives: Clinical neuropsychologists are increasingly called upon to undertake cognitive assessment of clients who have English as an additional language. We sought to investigate how linguistic disadvantage affected performance on a widely-used cognitive test. Design: A cross-sectional, between groups study, in which UK residents with English as an additional language were examined on the WAIS-IV in English. Scores were compared to those of a primary English-speaking group, matched for sex, age, and years of education. Methods: 100 working-age Polish participants, males and females, from a range of educational and SES groups, were recruited from London and nearby areas, and individually examined on the 10 core WAIS-IV-UK subtests. Individuals’ scores were compared to the manual norms to derive subtest age-scaled scores and the main indices. A control group of 100 primary English speakers (individually matched to the Polish participants on sex, age, and years of education) was taken from the UK standardization sample. Group means were compared, along with item-level inspection for bias. Results: The Polish group were disadvantaged mainly on verbal tasks, but this affected their scores on tests of working memory. Measures of processing speed and visual functions were less affected; though differences emerged on tests widely considered culture-fair. In some cases, the Polish sample outperformed the UK controls. These differences should be borne in mind when interpreting individual test performances

Assessment of VAS soundings in the analysis of a preconvective environment

Retrievals from the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) are combined with conventional data to assess the impact of geosynchronous satellite soundings upon the analysis of a preconvective environment. VAS retrievals of temperature, dewpoint, equivalent potential temperature, precipitable water, and lifted index are derived with 60 km resolution at 3 hour intervals. When VAS fields are combined with analyses from conventional data sources, mesoscale regions with convective instability are more clearly delineated prior to the rapid development of the thunderstorms. The retrievals differentiate isolated areas in which air extends throughout the lower troposphere from those regions where moisture is confined to a thin layer near the Earth's surface. The analyses of the VAS retrievals identify significant spatial gradients and temporal changes in the thermal and moisture fields, especially in the regions between radiosonde observations

Improved VAS regression soundings of mesoscale temperature structure observed during the 1982 atmospheric variability experiment

An Atmospheric Variability Experiment (AVE) was conducted over the central U.S. in the spring of 1982, collecting radiosonde date to verify mesoscale soundings from the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) on the GOES satellite. Previously published VAS/AVE comparisons for the 6 March 1982 case found that the satellite retrievals scarcely detected a low level temperature inversion or a mid-tropospheric cold pool over a special mesoscale radiosonde verification network in north central Texas. The previously published regression and physical retrieval algorithms did not fully utilize VAS' sensitivity to important subsynoptic thermal features. Therefore, the 6 March 1982 case was reprocessed adding two enhancements to the VAS regression retrieval algorithm: (1) the regression matrix was determined using AVE profile data obtained in the region at asynoptic times, and (2) more optimistic signal-to-noise statistical conditioning factors were applied to the VAS temperature sounding channels. The new VAS soundings resolve more of the low level temperature inversion and mid-level cold pool. Most of the improvements stems from the utilization of asynoptic radiosonde observations at NWS sites. This case suggests that VAS regression soundings may require a ground-based asynoptic profiler network to bridge the gap between the synoptic radiosonde network and the high resolution geosynchronous satellite observations during the day

Constructing a broadly inclusive seed plant phylogeny

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143673/1/ajb21019_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143673/2/ajb21019.pd

Universality of Cluster Dynamics

We have studied the kinetics of cluster formation for dynamical systems of dimensions up to $n=8$ interacting through elastic collisions or coalescence. These systems could serve as possible models for gas kinetics, polymerization and self-assembly. In the case of elastic collisions, we found that the cluster size probability distribution undergoes a phase transition at a critical time which can be predicted from the average time between collisions. This enables forecasting of rare events based on limited statistical sampling of the collision dynamics over short time windows. The analysis was extended to L$^p$-normed spaces ($p=1,...,\infty$) to allow for some amount of interpenetration or volume exclusion. The results for the elastic collisions are consistent with previously published low-dimensional results in that a power law is observed for the empirical cluster size distribution at the critical time. We found that the same power law also exists for all dimensions $n=2,...,8$, 2D L$^p$ norms, and even for coalescing collisions in 2D. This broad universality in behavior may be indicative of a more fundamental process governing the growth of clusters

Fragmented Geographies: Tada Fumio and the Japanese Empire in Manchuria, Mengjiang, and Korea

This paper explores the placement and function of the discipline of geography in the expansion of the Japanese empire, doing so through the prism of the work and field research of Tada Fumio, a leading geographer in Japan both before and after 1945. This examination of this aspect of Tada Fumio's career and its interweaving with the construction and consolidation of Japan's empire will broaden recent studies of imperial Japan's simultaneous encounter with geopolitics and fascism while engaging with Japan's developing ideas about geography as a political and cultural discipline. This paper demonstrates the importance of the entwined histories of Japanese and German geographers in the Japanese empire, as well as documenting Tada Fumio's activities in Manchuria (northeast China) and on the Korean peninsula. Finally, the paper reveals fissures in the historical record of Japanese geographers in continental Asia and, until such time as more subaltern voices can be found, seeks to lay down the foundation for further research on the study of geography in the Japanese empire

German Studies of Koreans in Manchuria: Gustav Fochler-Hauke and the Influence of Karl Haushofer’s National Socialist Geopolitics

This article analyses scholarship and memoir writing by German geographer Gustav Fochler-Hauke with respect to Korean settlement in Manchuria, and along the Tumen and Yalu/Amnok rivers in the 1930s and early 40s. The research note demonstrates that while Focher-Hauke’s work has its value—not least due to the access he received thanks to the Japanese military government—his concepts of geopolitics and the influence of his mentor and collaborator, Karl Haushofer, renders the work flawed; its value as a historical source for scholars today is therefore limited. The research note begins with Fochler-Hauke’s rising profile within German geopolitical studies and turns toward that field’s documentation of Koreans in Manchuria, the role of borders between Korea and Manchuria, the blind eye turned toward Korean resistance to Japan, and the rehabilitation of some of these scholars and works after World War II

Planar Airy beam light-sheet for two-photon microscopy

We demonstrate the first planar Airy light-sheet microscope. Fluorescence light-sheet microscopy has become the method of choice to study large biological samples with cellular or sub-cellular resolution. The propagation-invariant Airy beam enables a ten-fold increase in field-of-view with single-photon excitation; however, the characteristic asymmetry of the light-sheet limits its potential for multi-photon excitation. Here we show how a planar light-sheet can be formed from the curved propagation-invariant Airy beam. The resulting symmetric light sheet excites two-photon fluorescence uniformly across an extended field-of-view without the need for deconvolution. We demonstrate the method for rapid two-photon imaging of large volumes of neuronal tissue.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Brain volume in chronic ketamine users - Relationship to sub-threshold psychotic symptoms and relevance to schizophrenia

RATIONALE: Ketamine may model aspects of schizophrenia arising through NMDA receptor activity deficits. Although acute ketamine can induce effects resembling both positive and negative psychotic symptoms, chronic use may be a closer model of idiopathic psychosis. OBJECTIVES: We tested the hypotheses that ketamine users had lower brain volumes, as measured using MRI, and greater sub-threshold psychotic symptoms relative to a poly-drug user control group. METHODS: Ketamine users (n = 17) and poly-drug using controls (n = 19) were included in the study. All underwent volumetric MRI imaging and measurement of sub-threshold psychotic symptoms using the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental State (CAARMS). Freesurfer was used to analyse differences in regional brain volume, cortical surface area and thickness between ketamine users and controls. The relationship between CAARMS ratings and brain volume was also investigated in ketamine users. RESULTS: Ketamine users were found to have significantly lower grey matter volumes of the nucleus accumbens, caudate nucleus, cerebellum and total cortex (FDR p \u3c 0.05; Cohen\u27s d = 0.36-0.75). Within the cortex, ketamine users had significantly lower grey matter volumes within the frontal, temporal and parietal cortices (Cohen\u27s d 0.7-1.31; FDR p \u3c 0.05). They also had significantly higher sub-threshold psychotic symptoms (p \u3c 0.05). Frequency of ketamine use showed an inverse correlation with cerebellar volume (p \u3c 0.001), but there was no relationship between regional brain volumes and sub-threshold psychotic symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic ketamine use may cause lower grey matter volumes as well as inducing sub-threshold psychotic symptoms, although these likely arise through distinct mechanisms