Comparison of shear measurements and mixing predictions with a direct observation of diapycnal mixing in the Atlantic thermocline

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 1995. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 100 no.C7 (1995): 13481–13498, doi:10.1029/95JC01023.Four sets of velocity and density profiles have been measured with an autonomous profiler during an upper ocean intentional‐tracer (SF6) diapycnal diffusivity measurement, the North Atlantic Tracer Release Experiment (NATRE). The tracer was injected near 310 m depth in the Canary Basin. Two profile sets were collected 6 months after tracer release, and two were collected 1 year after release, all within the horizontal boundaries of the SF6 patch. Shear and strain can be combined with turbulent kinetic energy dissipation and diffusivity measurements (published elsewhere) to test existing expressions for dissipation and diffusivity due to shear‐induced turbulence. These expressions arise from internal‐wave decay modeling. One expression of dissipation parameterized in terms of shear, based on stochastic nonlinear internal‐wave interaction, has fared well empirically; its extension to estimate diffusivity is evaluated. Shear variance of the first two data sets was about 1.6 times GM76, and 2.5 to 3.0 times GM76 in the later sets. The average parameterized mixing estimate computed using all of the temporally limited shear measurements overestimates annual mean NATRE diffusivity, 1.5 × 10−5 m2 s−1, by a factor of 1.2. A modified parameterization gives an underestimate. To first order, this supports the present understanding of open‐ocean diffusivity in terms of fine‐scale shear and internal‐wave decay, that is, the slow diapycnal mixing was not a consequence of unusually low shear. Adjustment of the shear‐induced mixing models to better fit the data is not warranted because of the lack of direct comparability between the various measurements, the expected natural variability of the shear, and sampling errors.This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant OCE-9216204

Improved SAAO–2MASS photometry transformations

Near-infrared photometry of 599 stars is used to calculate transformations from the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) JHK system to the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) JHKS system. Both several-term formal regression relations and simplified transformations are presented. Inverse transformations (i.e. 2MASS to SAAO) are also given. The presence of non-linearities in some colour terms is highlighted.Web of Scienc

It's Hard to Learn How Gravity and Electromagnetism Couple

We construct the most general effective Lagrangian coupling gravity and electromagnetism up to mass dimension 6 by enumerating all possible non-minimal coupling terms respecting both diffeomorphism and gauge invariance. In all, there are only two unique terms after field re-definitions; one is known to arise from loop effects in QED while the other is a parity violating term which may be generated by weak interactions within the standard model of particle physics. We show that neither the cosmological propagation of light nor, contrary to earlier claims, solar system tests of General Relativity are useful probes of these terms. These non-minimal couplings of gravity and electromagnetism may remain a mystery for the foreseeable future.Comment: 9 pages. Minor corrections made. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Results of consecutive training procedures in pediatric cardiac surgery

This report from a single institution describes the results of consecutive pediatric heart operations done by trainees under the supervision of a senior surgeon. The 3.1% mortality seen in 1067 index operations is comparable across procedures and risk bands to risk-stratified results reported by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. With appropriate mentorship, surgeons-in-training are able to achieve good results as first operators

Trained immunity or tolerance : opposing functional programs induced in human monocytes after engagement of various pattern recognition receptors

Article Accepted Date: 29 January 2014. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS D.C.I. received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement HEALTH-2010-260338 (“Fungi in the setting of inflammation, allergy and autoimmune diseases: translating basic science into clinical practices” [ALLFUN]) (awarded to M.G.N.). M.G.N. and J.Q. were supported by a Vici grant of the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research (awarded to M.G.N.). This work was supported, in part, by National Institutes of Health grant GM53522 to D.L.W. N.A.R.G. was supported by the Wellcome Trust.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Design and Conduct of the Cost of Justice Survey

The “Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada” survey (“CoJ survey”) 1 is a national everyday legal problems survey carried out as part of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice’s Cost of Justice project (CFCJ). 2 The CoJ survey was conducted by the Institute for Social Research (ISR), York University, on behalf of the CFCJ, between September 2013 and May 2014. The 3,051 main study interviews were completed with randomly selected adults from randomly selected households over land line telephones. An additional set of 212 cell phone interviews were also conducted (discussed further below). The interviews averaged just over 21 minutes in length and the response rate was 42%. This technical report briefly outlines the design and conduct of the survey