Impact of high carbon amendments and pre-crops on soil bacterial communities

A 2-year outdoor mesocosm experiment was carried out to determine the effects of high C amendments (HCAs; wheat straw and sawdust) compared to a control with no addition of HCAs (no-HCA) and 2 different crop rotation systems (spring barley/winter barley and faba bean/winter barley) on soil bacterial communities using a molecular barcoding approach. Samples were analyzed after pre-crop harvest (T1) and harvest of winter barley (T2). Our data demonstrate a clear drop in bacterial diversity after winter barley harvest in the no-HCA and wheat straw treatment compared to the pre-crops. Sawdust application had a stabilizing effect on bacterial diversity compared to the pre-crops and induced an increase in carbon (C) stocks in soil which were however negatively correlated with yields. Main responders in the no-HCA and wheat straw treatment compared to the pre-crops were bacteria of the phyla Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes which were enriched and bacteria belonging to Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadetes, Proteobacteria, and Gemmatimonadaceae which were depleted. Overall differences between wheat straw-amended and no-HCA control samples were small and included single ASVs from various phyla. In sawdust-amended samples, only a shift of some Proteobacteria families was observed compared to the no-HCA control. Overall, pre-crop plant species had small influence on the observed response pattern of the soil microbiome towards the amendments and was only visible for wheat straw

Physics at the CLIC e+e−\mathrm{e^{+}e^{-}} Linear Collider Input to the Snowmass process 2013

This paper summarizes the physics potential of the CLIC high-energy e+e- linear collider. It provides input to the Snowmass 2013 process for the energy-frontier working groups on The Higgs Boson (HE1), Precision Study of Electroweak Interactions (HE2), Fully Understanding the Top Quark (HE3), as well as The Path Beyond the Standard Model -- New Particles, Forces, and Dimensions (HE4). It is accompanied by a paper describing the CLIC accelerator study, submitted to the Frontier Capabilities group of the Snowmass process

Sea Level Variability and Change

Land surface albedo represents the fraction of solar radiation scattered backward by land surfaces. In the presence of vegetation, surface albedo results from complex nonlinear radiation transfer processes determining the amount of radiation that is scattered by the vegetation and its background, transmitted through the vegetation layer, or absorbed by the vegetation layer and its background. Anomalies in mid- and high latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere result mainly from interannual variations in snow cover extent and duration in winter and spring. The large negative anomalies over the United States reflect the lack of snowfall and snowpack over the Rockies, the Midwest, and much of the eastern half of the country.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

State of the Climate in 2012

For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Nevertheless, other large-scale climate patterns and extreme weather events impacted various regions during the year. A negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation from mid-January to early February contributed to frigid conditions in parts of northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia. A lack of rain during the 2012 wet season led to the worst drought in at least the past three decades for northeastern Brazil. Central North America also experienced one of its most severe droughts on record. The Caribbean observed a very wet dry season and it was the Sahel's wettest rainy season in 50 years. Overall, the 2012 average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces ranked among the 10 warmest years on record. The global land surface temperature alone was also among the 10 warmest on record. In the upper atmosphere, the average stratospheric temperature was record or near-record cold, depending on the dataset. After a 30-year warming trend from 1970 to 1999 for global sea surface temperatures, the period 2000-12 had little further trend. This may be linked to the prevalence of La Ni a-like conditions during the 21st century. Heat content in the upper 700 m of the ocean remained near record high levels in 2012. Net increases from 2011 to 2012 were observed at 700-m to 2000-m depth and even in the abyssal ocean below. Following sharp decreases in to the effects of La Ni a, sea levels rebounded to reach records highs in 2012. The increased hydrological cycle seen in recent years continued, with more evaporation in drier locations and more precipitation in rainy areas. In a pattern that has held since 2004, salty areas of the ocean surfaces and subsurfaces were anomalously salty on average, while fresher areas were anomalously fresh. Global tropical cyclone activity during 2012 was near average, with a total of 84 storms compared with the 1981-2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010 and 2011, the North Atlantic was the only hurricane basin that experienced above-normal activity. In this basin, Sandy brought devastation to Cuba and parts of the eastern North American seaboard. All other basins experienced either near-or below-normal tropical cyclone activity. Only three tropical cyclones reached Category 5 intensity-all in Bopha became the only storm in the historical record to produce winds greater than 130 kt south of 7 N. It was also the costliest storm to affect the Philippines and killed more than 1000 residents. Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September and Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June both reached new record lows. June snow cover extent is now declining at a faster rate (-17.6% per decade) than September sea ice extent (-13.0% per decade). Permafrost temperatures reached record high values in northernmost Alaska. A new melt extent record occurred on 11-12 July on the Greenland ice sheet; 97% of the ice sheet showed some form of melt, four times greater than the average melt for this time of year. The climate in Antarctica was relatively stable overall. The largest maximum sea ice extent since records begain in 1978 was observed in September 2012. In the stratosphere, warm air led to the second smallest ozone hole in the past two decades. Even so, the springtime ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060. Following a slight decline associated with the global 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached a record 9.5 +/- 0.5 Pg C in 2011 and a new record of 9.7 +/- 0.5 Pg C is estimated for 2012. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 2.1 ppm in 2012, to 392.6 ppm. In spring 2012, 2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm at 7 of the 13 Arctic observation sites. Globally, other greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide also continued to rise in concentration and the combined effect now represents a 32% increase in radiative forcing over a 1990 baseline. Concentrations of most ozone depleting substances continued to fall

Outcomes in Newly Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation and History of Acute Coronary Syndromes: Insights from GARFIELD-AF

BACKGROUND: Many patients with atrial fibrillation have concomitant coronary artery disease with or without acute coronary syndromes and are in need of additional antithrombotic therapy. There are few data on the long-term clinical outcome of atrial fibrillation patients with a history of acute coronary syndrome. This is a 2-year study of atrial fibrillation patients with or without a history of acute coronary syndromes