Temporal Variability of Diapycnal Mixing in Shag Rocks Passage

Diapycnal mixing rates in the oceans have been shown to have a great deal of spatial variability, but the temporal variability has been little studied. Here we present results from a method developed to calculate diapycnal diffusivity from moored Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) velocity shear profiles. An 18-month time series of diffusivity is presented from data taken by a LongRanger ADCP moored at 2400 m depth, 600 m above the sea floor, in Shag Rocks Passage, a deep passage in the North Scotia Ridge (Southern Ocean). The Polar Front is constrained to pass through this passage, and the strong currents and complex topography are expected to result in enhanced mixing. The spatial distribution of diffusivity in Shag Rocks Passage deduced from lowered ADCP shear is consistent with published values for similar regions, with diffusivity possibly as large as 90 × 10-4 m2 s-1 near the sea floor, decreasing to the expected background level of ~ 0.1 × 10-4 m2 s-1 in areas away from topography. The moored ADCP profiles spanned a depth range of 2400 to 1800 m; thus the moored time series was obtained from a region of moderately enhanced diffusivity. The diffusivity time series has a median of 3.3 × 10-4 m2 s-1 and a range of 0.5 × 10-4 m2 s-1 to 57 × 10-4 m2 s-1. There is no significant signal at annual or semiannual periods, but there is evidence of signals at periods of approximately fourteen days (likely due to the spring-neaps tidal cycle), and at periods of 3.8 and 2.6 days most likely due to topographically-trapped waves propagating around the local seamount. Using the observed stratification and an axisymmetric seamount, of similar dimensions to the one west of the mooring, in a model of baroclinic topographically-trapped waves, produces periods of 3.8 and 2.6 days, in agreement with the signals observed. The diffusivity is anti-correlated with the rotary coefficient (indicating that stronger mixing occurs during times of upward energy propagation), which suggests that mixing occurs due to the breaking of internal waves generated at topography

Molecularly Engineered Self-Assembling Membranes for Cell-Mediated Degradation

The use of peptide engineering to develop self-assembling membranes that are responsive to cellular enzyme activities is reported. The membranes are obtained by combining hyaluronan (HA) and a rationally designed peptide amphiphile (PA) containing a proteolytic domain (GPQGIWGQ octapeptide) sensitive to matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1). Insertion of an octapeptide in a typical PA structure does not disturb its self-assembly into fibrillar nanostructures neither the ability to form membranes with HA. In vitro enzymatic degradation with hyaluronidase and MMP-1 shows that membranes containing the MMP-1 substrate exhibit enhanced enzymatic degradation, compared with control membranes (absence of MMP-1 cleavable peptide or containing a MMP-1 insensitive sequence), being completely degraded after 7 days. Cell viability and proliferation is minimally affected by the enzymatically cleavable functionality of the membrane, but the presence of MMP-1 cleavable sequence does stimulate the secretion of MMP-1 by fibroblasts and interfere with matrix deposition, particularly the deposition of collagen. By showing cell-responsiveness to biochemical signals presented on self-assembling membranes, this study highlights the ability of modulating certain cellular activities through matrix engineering. This concept can be further explored to understand the cellular remodeling process and as a strategy to develop artificial matrices with more biomimetic degradation for tissue engineering applications.This work was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Operational Competitiveness Programme "COMPETE" (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-014758) and national funds through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the project PTDC/EBB-BIO/114523/2009. The authors also thank a start-up grant provided by the School of Engineering and Materials Science at QMUL. D.S.F. gratefully acknowledges FCT for the PhD scholarship (SFRH/BD/44977/2008)

A light-driven, one-dimensional dimethylsulfide biogeochemical cycling model for the Sargasso Sea

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. 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 113 (2008): G02009, doi:10.1029/2007JG000426.We evaluate the extent to which dimethylsulfide (DMS) cycling in an open-ocean environment can be constrained and parameterized utilizing emerging evidence for the significant impacts of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) on the marine organic sulfur cycle. Using the Dacey et al. (1998) 1992–1994 Sargasso Sea DMS data set, in conjunction with an offline turbulent mixing model, we develop and optimize a light driven, one-dimensional DMS model for the upper 140 m. The DMS numerical model is primarily diagnostic in that it incorporates observations of bacterial, phytoplankton, physical, and optical quantities concurrently measured as part of the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) and Bermuda Bio-Optical Project (BBOP) programs. With the exception of sea-to-air ventilation, each of the sulfur cycling terms is explicitly parameterized or altered by the radiation field. Overall, the model shows considerable skill in capturing the salient features of the DMS distribution, specifically the observed DMS summer paradox whereby peak summer DMS concentrations occur coincident with annual minima in phytoplankton pigment biomass and primary production. The dominant processes controlling the upper-ocean DMS concentrations are phytoplankton UVR-induced DMS release superimposed upon more surface oriented processes such as photolysis and sea-to-air ventilation. The results also demonstrate that mixing alone is not enough to parameterize DMS distributions in this environment. It is critical to directly parameterize the seasonal changes in the flux and attenuation of solar radiation in the upper water column to describe the DMS distribution with depth and allow for experimentation under a variety of climate change scenarios.This work was supported by NASA under an Earth System Science Fellowship, a WHOI Ocean and Climate Change Institute Postdoctoral scholarship, and NSF OCE-0525928

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

The extracellular matrix and insulin resistance

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a highly dynamic compartment that undergoes remodeling as a result of injury and repair. Over the past decade, mounting evidence in humans and rodents suggest that ECM remodeling is associated with diet-induced insulin resistance in several metabolic tissues. Additionally, integrin receptors for the ECM have also been implicated in the regulation of insulin action. This review will address what is currently known about the ECM, integrins and insulin action in the muscle, liver and adipose tissue. Understanding how ECM remodeling and integrin signaling regulates insulin action may aid in the development of new therapeutic targets for the treatment of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes

Performance and Operation of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The operation and general performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter using cosmic-ray muons are described. These muons were recorded after the closure of the CMS detector in late 2008. The calorimeter is made of lead tungstate crystals and the overall status of the 75848 channels corresponding to the barrel and endcap detectors is reported. The stability of crucial operational parameters, such as high voltage, temperature and electronic noise, is summarised and the performance of the light monitoring system is presented

A double-diffusive interface tank for dynamic-response studies

Author Posting. © Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of Sears Foundation for Marine Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Marine Research 63 (2005): 263-289, doi:10.1357/0022240053693842.A large tank capable of long-term maintenance of a sharp temperature-salinity interface has been developed and applied to measurements of the dynamical response of oceanographic sensors. A two-layer salt-stratified system is heated from below and cooled from above to provide two convectively mixed layers with a thin double-diffusive interface separating them. A temperature jump exceeding 10°C can be maintained over 1–2 cm (a vertical temperature gradient of order 103°C/m) for several weeks. A variable speed-lowering system allows testing of the dynamic response of conductivity and temperature sensors in full-size oceanographic instruments. An acoustic echo sounder and shadowgraph system provide nondisruptive monitoring of the interface and layer microstructure. Tests of several sensor systems show how data from the facility is used to determine sensor response times using several fitting techniques and the speed dependence of thermometer time constants is illustrated. The linearity of the conductivity–temperature relationship across the interface is proposed as a figure of merit for design of lag-correction filters to accurately match temperature and conductivity sensors for the computation of salinity. The effects of finite interface thickness, slow sensor sampling rates and the thermal mass of the conductivity cell are treated. Sensor response characterization is especially important for autonomous instruments where data processing and compression must be performed in-situ, but is also helpful in the development of new sensors and in assuring accurate salinity records from traditional wire-lowered and towed systems.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation, grants OCE-97-11869 and OCE-02-40956, NOAA CORC grant 154368 and a WHOI Mellon Technical Staff Award