Studies of Tiros and Nimbus radiometric observations Final report

Data analyses of Tiros and Nimbus radiometric observation

〔研究ノート〕Curriculum, Collaboration, and Coaching: A Multi-Faceted Approach to Study Abroad Preparation

The American College Readiness Track was created as part of an intensive English study abroad program in order to prepare female Japanese students for matriculation at universities that use English as the medium of instruction. This paper describes the specific goals of this academic track and the development of its curriculum using a backward design approach. The paper also explains the process used in selecting faculty to teach in the track, the professional development activities organized to prepare those faculty members for their assignments, and the ways in which the faculty collaborated to further develop and improve the track. In addition, the paper discusses the introduction of coaching into the American College Readiness Track. Coaching is defined, and its benefits are described. Cultural considerations, for example, the reinforcement of hierarchy inherent in the Japanese language and Japanese students' relative reticence in the classroom environment are also discussed in relation to their impact on the coaching process.departmental bulletin pape

Iodine dynamics in the terrestrial environment

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of soil properties on soil iodine dynamics and uptake to plants. Soil and vegetation samples were collected from across eastern Northern Ireland (NI) to form the basis of most experimental work; samples from the Rothamsted Park Grass archive were used to investigate the role of changing soil chemistry through time and due to selected fertiliser applications; and iodine dynamics in humic acid (HA) were studied to improve understanding of the role of organic matter in soils. Input of iodine in rainfall was considered in the context of samples from both locations, and the additional influences of coastal proximity, soil type and underlying geology were reviewed for the NI samples. Total iodine analysis was carried out using extraction with TMAH and quantification by ICP-MS; aqueous iodine speciation was determined using HPLC and SEC coupled with ICP-MS. The most important iodine inputs to both soil and vegetation were found to be directly from the sea in coastally-exposed locations, and from rainfall in other cases. Soil organic matter (measured as soil organic carbon, SOC) was determined to be involved in both retaining a portion of recalcitrant iodine in soil and HA, and in promoting sorption of both iodide and iodate in highly organic soils. Metal oxides (Fe, Mn and Al) were found to be important in rapid sorption of iodate to soils with SOC ≤ 38 %, and there was an indication that they may be involved in promoting the reaction of iodide with organic matter. Replenishment of a transient phyto-available pool was essential for provision of iodine to vegetation. The availability of recently added iodine (as 129IO3-) in the pot experiment was controlled by its sorption onto the solid phase, and near-constant input from irrigation water was the major source of vegetation iodine in most cases. Rainfall was shown to be important in controlling vegetation iodine concentrations in field situations. In soils collected from very coastally-exposed locations, the soil iodine concentration was extremely high and therefore a greater proportion of labile native iodine was available for uptake; irrigation sources were much less important. This work improves understanding of soil iodine dynamics and the important factors controlling iodine speciation and availability to plants. Results can be used to inform practices regarding provision of iodine to crops for both humans and grazing animals

Investigation of mesoscale cloud features viewed by LANDSAT

The author has identified the following significant results. Some 50 LANDSAT images displaying mesoscale cloud features were analyzed. This analysis was based on the Rayleigh-Kuettner model describing the formation of that type of mesoscale cloud feature. This model lends itself to computation of the average wind speed in northerly flow from the dimensions of the cloud band configurations measured from a LANDSAT image. In nearly every case, necessary conditions of a curved wind profile and orientation of the cloud streets within 20 degrees of the direction of the mean wind in the convective layer were met. Verification of the results by direct observation was hampered, however, by the incompatibility of the resolution of conventional rawinsonde observations with the scale of the banded cloud patterns measured from LANDSAT data. Comparison seems to be somewhat better in northerly flows than in southerly flows, with the largest discrepancies in wind speed being within 8m/sec, or a factor of two

Iron(III)-catalyzed chlorination of activated arenes

A general and regioselective method for the chlorination of activated arenes has been developed. The transformation uses iron(III) triflimide as a powerful Lewis acid for the activation of N-chlorosuccinimide and the subsequent chlorination of a wide range of anisole, aniline, acetanilide and phenol derivatives. The reaction was utilized for the late-stage mono- and di-chlorination of a range of target compounds such as the natural product nitrofungin, the antibacterial agent chloroxylenol and the herbicide chloroxynil. The facile nature of this transformation was demonstrated with the development of one-pot tandem iron-catalyzed dihalogenation processes allowing highly regioselective formation of different carbon-halogen bonds. The synthetic utility of the resulting dihalogenated aryl compounds as building blocks was established with the synthesis of natural products and pharmaceutically relevant targets

Rayleigh-Taylor instability of crystallization waves at the superfluid-solid 4He interface

At the superfluid-solid 4He interface there exist crystallization waves having much in common with gravitational-capillary waves at the interface between two normal fluids. The Rayleigh-Taylor instability is an instability of the interface which can be realized when the lighter fluid is propelling the heavier one. We investigate here the analogues of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability for the superfluid-solid 4He interface. In the case of a uniformly accelerated interface the instability occurs only for a growing solid phase when the magnitude of the acceleration exceeds some critical value independent of the surface stiffness. For the Richtmyer-Meshkov limiting case of an impulsively accelerated interface, the onset of instability does not depend on the sign of the interface acceleration. In both cases the effect of crystallization wave damping is to reduce the perturbation growth-rate of the Taylor unstable interface.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, RevTe

The effect of absent blood flow on the zebrafish cerebral and trunk vasculature

The role of blood flow in vascular development is complex and context-dependent. In this study, we quantify the effect of the lack of blood flow on embryonic vascular development on two vascular beds, namely the cerebral and trunk vasculature in zebrafish. We perform this by analysing vascular topology, endothelial cell (EC) number, EC distribution, apoptosis, and inflammatory response in animals with normal blood flow or absent blood flow. We find that absent blood flow reduced vascular area and EC number significantly in both examined vascular beds, but the effect is more severe in the cerebral vasculature, and severity increases over time. Absent blood flow leads to an increase in non-EC-specific apoptosis without increasing tissue inflammation, as quantified by cerebral immune cell numbers and nitric oxide. Similarly, while stereotypic vascular patterning in the trunk is maintained, intra-cerebral vessels show altered patterning, which is likely to be due to vessels failing to initiate effective fusion and anastomosis rather than sprouting or path-seeking. In conclusion, blood flow is essential for cellular survival in both the trunk and cerebral vasculature, but particularly intra-cerebral vessels are affected by the lack of blood flow, suggesting that responses to blood flow differ between these two vascular beds

Surface Region of Superfluid Helium as an Inhomogeneous Bose-Condensed Gas

We present arguments that the low density surface region of self-bounded superfluid $^4$He systems is an inhomogeneous dilute Bose gas, with almost all of the atoms occupying the same single-particle state at $T = 0$. Numerical evidence for this complete Bose-Einstein condensation was first given by the many-body variational calculations of $^4$He droplets by Lewart, Pandharipande and Pieper in 1988. We show that the low density surface region can be treated rigorously using a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the Bose order parameter.Comment: 4 pages, 1 Postscript figur

Reporting in rodent models of 'chemobrain': a systematic review assessing compliance with the ARRIVE guidelines

Published online: 2 June 2021Patients diagnosed with cancer are often plagued with debilitating side effects post-chemotherapy treatment. One such side effect is chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment or ‘chemobrain’. Rodent models are commonly used to investigate pathogenesis and potential therapeutic strategies. However, concerns have been raised regarding inadequacies in reporting of animal studies rendering them unreliable and irreproducible. The aim of this systematic review was to assess compliance with the ARRIVE reporting guidelines in peer-reviewed publications evaluating chemotherapy-induced cognitive changes in rodent models, and to determine if the introduction of the ARRIVE guidelines has improved quality of reporting. A comprehensive search was conducted to identify relevant peer-reviewed publications. Ninety-seven studies met the eligibility criteria, and publication compliance with the ARRIVE guideline reporting was assessed. No studies achieved full adherence with the ARRIVE guidelines. Furthermore, no significant improvement was demonstrated in the overall compliance score post-ARRIVE. Given the lack of standardisation of animal models in this research area, these results pose particular threat to future progress and translation of findings in this area of research. These results highlight the need for stricter adherence to the ARRIVE guidelines by journal editors and reviewers. Animal Ethics Committees also have an important educative role in improving knowledge and awareness of the guidelines amongst researchers.Rebecca P. George, Ines Semendric, Eleanor R. Bowley-Schubert, Christine T. Chivonivoni, Alexandra P. Warrender, Alexandra L. Whittake