Implementation of sequential cropping into JULESvn5.2 land-surface model

Land-surface models (LSMs) typically simulate a single crop per year in a field or location. However, actual cropping systems are characterized by a succession of distinct crop cycles that are sometimes interspersed with long periods of bare soil. Sequential cropping (also known as multiple or double cropping) is particularly common in tropical regions, where the crop seasons are largely dictated by the main wet season. In this paper, we implement sequential cropping in a branch of the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) and demonstrate its use at sites in France and India. We simulate all the crops grown within a year in a field or location in a seamless way to understand how sequential cropping influences the surface fluxes of a land-surface model. We evaluate JULES with sequential cropping in Avignon, France, providing over 15 years of continuous flux observations (a point simulation). We apply JULES with sequential cropping to simulate the rice–wheat rotation in a regional 25 km resolution gridded simulation for the northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and four single-grid-box simulations across these states, where each simulation is a 25 km grid box. The inclusion of a secondary crop in JULES using the sequential cropping method presented does not change the crop growth or development of the primary crop. During the secondary crop growing period, the carbon and energy fluxes for Avignon and India are modified; they are largely unchanged for the primary crop growing period. For India, the inclusion of a secondary crop using this sequential cropping method affects the available soil moisture in the top 1.0 m throughout the year, with larger fluctuations in sequential crops compared with single-crop simulations even outside the secondary crop growing period. JULES simulates sequential cropping in Avignon, the four India locations and the regional run, representing both crops within one growing season in each of the crop rotations presented. This development is a step forward in the ability of JULES to simulate crops in tropical regions where this cropping system is already prevalent. It also provides the opportunity to assess the potential for other regions to implement sequential cropping as an adaptation to climate change

Recognizing Speech in a Novel Accent: The Motor Theory of Speech Perception Reframed

The motor theory of speech perception holds that we perceive the speech of another in terms of a motor representation of that speech. However, when we have learned to recognize a foreign accent, it seems plausible that recognition of a word rarely involves reconstruction of the speech gestures of the speaker rather than the listener. To better assess the motor theory and this observation, we proceed in three stages. Part 1 places the motor theory of speech perception in a larger framework based on our earlier models of the adaptive formation of mirror neurons for grasping, and for viewing extensions of that mirror system as part of a larger system for neuro-linguistic processing, augmented by the present consideration of recognizing speech in a novel accent. Part 2 then offers a novel computational model of how a listener comes to understand the speech of someone speaking the listener's native language with a foreign accent. The core tenet of the model is that the listener uses hypotheses about the word the speaker is currently uttering to update probabilities linking the sound produced by the speaker to phonemes in the native language repertoire of the listener. This, on average, improves the recognition of later words. This model is neutral regarding the nature of the representations it uses (motor vs. auditory). It serve as a reference point for the discussion in Part 3, which proposes a dual-stream neuro-linguistic architecture to revisits claims for and against the motor theory of speech perception and the relevance of mirror neurons, and extracts some implications for the reframing of the motor theory

Has education lost sight of children?

The reflections presented in this chapter are informed by clinical and personal experiences of school education in the UK. There are many challenges for children and young people in the modern education system and for the professionals who support them. In the UK, there are significant gaps between the highly selective education provided to those who pay privately for it and to the majority of those educated in the state-funded system. Though literacy rates have improved around the world, many children, particularly boys, do not finish their education for reasons such as boredom, behavioural difficulties or because education does not ‘pay’. Violence, bullying, and sexual harassment are issues faced by many children in schools and there are disturbing trends of excluding children who present with behavioural problems at school whose origins are not explored. Excluded children are then educated with other children who may also have multiple problems which often just make the situation worse. The experience of clinicians suggests that school-related mental health problems are increasing in severity. Are mental health services dealing with the consequences of an education system that is not meeting children’s needs? An education system that is testing- and performance-based may not be serving many children well if it is driving important decisions about them at increasingly younger ages. Labelling of children and setting them on educational career paths can occur well before they reach secondary schools, limiting potential very early on in their developmental trajectory. Furthermore, the emphasis at school on testing may come at the expense of creativity and other forms of intelligence, which are also valuable and important. Meanwhile the employment marketplace requires people with widely different skills, with an emphasis on innovation, creativity, and problem solving. Is education losing sight of the children it is educating

Infarction in the territory of the anterior cerebral artery: clinical study of 51 patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Little is known about clinical features and prognosis of patients with ischaemic stroke caused by infarction in the territory of the anterior cerebral artery (ACA). This single centre, retrospective study was conducted with the following objectives: a) to describe the clinical characteristics and short-term outcome of stroke patients with ACA infarction as compared with that of patients with ischaemic stroke due to middle cerebral artery (MCA) and posterior cerebral artery (PCA) infarctions, and b) to identify predictors of ACA stroke.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty-one patients with ACA stroke were included in the "Sagrat Cor Hospital of Barcelona Stroke Registry" during a period of 19 years (1986–2004). Data from stroke patients are entered in the stroke registry following a standardized protocol with 161 items regarding demographics, risk factors, clinical features, laboratory and neuroimaging data, complications and outcome. The characteristics of these 51 patients with ACA stroke were compared with those of the 1355 patients with MCA infarctions and 232 patients with PCA infarctions included in the registry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Infarctions of the ACA accounted for 1.3% of all cases of stroke (<it>n </it>= 3808) and 1.8% of cerebral infarctions (<it>n </it>= 2704). Stroke subtypes included cardioembolic infarction in 45.1% of patients, atherothrombotic infarction in 29.4%, lacunar infarct in 11.8%, infarct of unknown cause in 11.8% and infarction of unusual aetiology in 2%. In-hospital mortality was 7.8% (<it>n </it>= 4). Only 5 (9.8%) patients were symptom-free at hospital discharge. Speech disturbances (odds ratio [OR] = 0.48) and altered consciousness (OR = 0.31) were independent variables of ACA stroke in comparison with MCA infarction, whereas limb weakness (OR = 9.11), cardioembolism as stroke mechanism (OR = 2.49) and sensory deficit (OR = 0.35) were independent variables associated with ACA stroke in comparison with PCA infarction.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Cardioembolism is the main cause of brain infarction in the territory of the ACA. Several clinical features are more frequent in stroke patients with ACA infarction than in patients with ischaemic stroke due to infarction in the MCA and PCA territories.</p

The role of emergency neurology in Italy: outcome of a consensus meeting for a intersociety position

A possible definition of clinical, educational and organizing aspects of emergency neurology in Italy is reported in this position paper of Emergency Neurology Intersociety Group, created in 2008 among the two neurological Societies in Italy: Società Italiana di Neurologia and Società di Neuroscienze Ospedaliere. The aim of this Group has been the evaluation of the role of neurologist in the emergency setting of Italian hospitals, as well as of the description of different scenarios in which a ward dedicated to a semi-intensive care of neurological emergencies could have a role in the actual organization of academic or general hospitals in our Country. The actual great relevance of neurologist activity in the inpatients treatment, in fact, is actually misleaded as it is the considerable significance of neurological expertise, techniques and support in hospital care pathways also involving neurological manifestations throughout the course of other diseases. Finally, the possible contents of educational programs orienting neurological specialty towards a better comprehension and management of emergency neurological problems either in terms of specific formation or of techniques to be learned by emergency neurologist, are reported as a results of the Consensus Workshop hold in Castiglioncello (LI) in September 12th, 2009

Dendritic Cell Subtypes from Lymph Nodes and Blood Show Contrasted Gene Expression Programs upon Bluetongue Virus Infection

Chantier qualité GAHuman and animal hemorrhagic viruses initially target dendritic cells (DCs). It has been proposed, but not documented, that both plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) and conventional DCs (cDCs) may participate in the cytokine storm encountered in these infections. In order to evaluate the contribution of DCs in hemorrhagic virus pathogenesis, we performed a genome-wide expression analysis during infection by Bluetongue virus (BTV), a double-stranded RNA virus that induces hemorrhagic fever in sheep and initially infects cDCs. Both pDCs and cDCs accumulated in regional lymph nodes and spleen during BTV infection. The gene response profiles were performed at the onset of the disease and markedly differed with the DC subtypes and their lymphoid organ location. An integrative knowledge-based analysis revealed that blood pDCs displayed a gene signature related to activation of systemic inflammation and permeability of vasculature. In contrast, the gene profile of pDCs and cDCs in lymph nodes was oriented to inhibition of inflammation, whereas spleen cDCs did not show a clear functional orientation. These analyses indicate that tissue location and DC subtype affect the functional gene expression program induced by BTV and suggest the involvement of blood pDCs in the inflammation and plasma leakage/hemorrhage during BTV infection in the real natural host of the virus. These findings open the avenue to target DCs for therapeutic interventions in viral hemorrhagic diseases

Full Sequence and Comparative Analysis of the Plasmid pAPEC-1 of Avian Pathogenic E. coli χ7122 (O78∶K80∶H9)

(APEC), are very diverse. They cause a complex of diseases in Human, animals, and birds. Even though large plasmids are often associated with the virulence of ExPEC, their characterization is still in its infancy., are also present in the sequence of pAPEC-1. The comparison of the pAPEC-1 sequence with the two available plasmid sequences reveals more gene loss and reorganization than previously appreciated. The presence of pAPEC-1-associated genes is assessed in human ExPEC by PCR. Many patterns of association between genes are found.The pathotype typical of pAPEC-1 was present in some human strains, which indicates a horizontal transfer between strains and the zoonotic risk of APEC strains. ColV plasmids could have common virulence genes that could be acquired by transposition, without sharing genes of plasmid function

Estimating the monthly pCO2 distribution in the north Atlantic using a self-organizing neural network

Here we present monthly, basin-wide maps of the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) for the North Atlantic on a 1° latitude by 1° longitude grid for years 2004 through 2006 inclusive. The maps have been computed using a neural network technique which reconstructs the non-linear relationships between three biogeochemical parameters and marine pCO 2. A self organizing map (SOM) neural network has been trained using 389 000 triplets of the SeaWiFS-MODIS chlorophyll-a concentration, the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis sea surface temperature, and the FOAM mixed layer depth. The trained SOM was labelled with 137 000 underway pCO2 measurements collected in situ during 2004, 2005 and 2006 in the North Atlantic, spanning the range of 208 to 437 µatm. The root mean square error (RMSE) of the neural network fit to the data is 11.6 µatm, which equals to just above 3 per cent of an average pCO2 value in the in situ dataset. The seasonal pCO2 cycle as well as estimates of the interannual variability in the major biogeochemical provinces are presented and discussed. High resolution combined with basin-wide coverage makes the maps a useful tool for several applications such as the monitoring of basin-wide air-sea CO2 fluxes or improvement of seasonal and interannual marine CO2 cycles in future model predictions. The method itself is a valuable alternative to traditional statistical modelling techniques used in geosciences