Historic 2005 toxic bloom of Alexandrium fundyense in the west Gulf of Maine : 1. In situ observations of coastal hydrography and circulation

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): C07039, doi:10.1029/2007JC004601.An extensive Alexandrium fundyense bloom occurred along the coast of the Gulf of Maine in late spring and early summer 2005. To understand the physical aspects of bloom's initiation and development, in situ observations from both a coast-wide ship survey and the coastal observing network were used to characterize coastal circulation and hydrography during that time period. Comparisons between these in situ observations and their respective long-term means revealed anomalous ocean conditions during May 2005: waters were warmer and fresher coast-wide owing to more surface heating and river runoff; coastal currents were at least 2 times stronger than their climatological means. Surface winds were also anomalous in the form of both episodic bursts of northeast winds and a downwelling-favorable mean condition. These factors may have favored more vigorous along-shore transport and nearshore aggregation of toxic A. fundyense cells (a red tide) in 2005.Research support was provided through the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health, National Science Foundation (NSF) grant OCE-0430723 and National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) grant 1-P50-ES012742-01, ECOHAB program through NSF grant OCE-9808173 and NOAA grant NA96OP0099, and GOMTOX program through NOAA NA06NOS4780245

Studying the Learning Environment of EL Newcomer Students in the Schooling Process

In this study, we examined the schooling process of newcomer students in secondary urban schools involving survey research with newcomers and other ELs (n=268). Additionally, we conducted focus groups with students (n=10) and educators (n=12). Through qualitative measures, we examined: (a) grade level placement, (b) content area placement, and (c) academic challenges confounded by L1 proficiency, previous academic experiences, and socio-cultural experiences among newcomers. We employed quantitative methods (e.g., Descriptive, Chi Square, Factor Analysis) to detect group differences in regard to perceptions of the classroom learning environment as a function of time in the United States. In general, the Principal Component Factor analysis yielded ten factors that accounted for 66.8% of the variance. These factors provide insight into key components for the development of effective classroom learning environments in order to serve EL newcomers in the schooling process. The implications for teaching and learning practices within the classroom and school learning environments of EL newcomers are discussed

Data assimilative hindcast of the Gulf of Maine coastal circulation

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2005. 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 110 (2005): C10011, doi:10.1029/2004JC002807.A data assimilative model hindcast of the Gulf of Maine (GOM) coastal circulation during an 11 day field survey in early summer 2003 is presented. In situ observations include surface winds, coastal sea levels, and shelf hydrography as well as moored and shipboard acoustic Doppler D current profiler (ADCP) currents. The hindcast system consists of both forward and inverse models. The forward model is a three-dimensional, nonlinear finite element ocean circulation model, and the inverse models are its linearized frequency domain and time domain counterparts. The model hindcast assimilates both coastal sea levels and ADCP current measurements via the inversion for the unknown sea level open boundary conditions. Model skill is evaluated by the divergence of the observed and modeled drifter trajectories. A mean drifter divergence rate (1.78 km d−1) is found, demonstrating the utility of the inverse data assimilation modeling system in the coastal ocean setting. Model hindcast also reveals complicated hydrodynamic structures and synoptic variability in the GOM coastal circulation and their influences on coastal water material property transport. The complex bottom bathymetric setting offshore of Penobscot and Casco bays is shown to be able to generate local upwelling and downwelling that may be important in local plankton dynamics.This work was supported by CSCOR/COP/ NOAA as part of NOAA MERHAB program. DJM gratefully acknowledges support from JPL through the ocean vector wind science team. DRL and KWS acknowledge support of NOAA/COP ECOHAB program

Production of the top-pions at the THERA collider based γp\gamma p collisions

In the framework of the topcolor-assisted technicolor (TC2) models, we study the production of the top-pions $\pi^{0}_{t}$, $\pi_{t}^{\pm}$ via the processes $ep\to\gamma c\to\pi^{0}_{t}c$ and $ep\to\gamma c\to\pi^{\pm}_{t}b$ mediated by the anomalous top coupling $tc\gamma$. We find that the production cross section of the process $ep\to\gamma c\to\pi^{0}_{t}c$ is very small. With reasonable values of the parameters in TC2 models, the production cross section of the process $ep\to\gamma c\to\pi^{\pm}_{t}b$ can reach $1.2pb$. The charged top-pions $\pi^{\pm}_{t}$ might be directly observed via this process at the THERA collider based $\gamma p$ collisions.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

A PCP Pincer Ligand for Coordination Polymers with Versatile Chemical Reactivity: Selective Activation of CO2 Gas over CO Gas in the Solid State

A tetra(carboxylated) PCP pincer ligand has been synthesized as a building block for porous coordination polymers (PCPs). The air- and moisture-stable PCP metalloligands are rigid tetratopic linkers that are geometrically akin to ligands used in the synthesis of robust metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Here, the design principle is demonstrated by cyclometalation with Pd(II) Cl and subsequent use of the metalloligand to prepare a crystalline 3D MOF by direct reaction with Co(II) ions and structural resolution by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The Pd-Cl groups inside the pores are accessible to post-synthetic modifications that facilitate chemical reactions previously unobserved in MOFs: a Pd-CH3 activated material undergoes rapid insertion of CO2 gas to give Pd-OC(O)CH3 at 1 atm and 298 K. However, since the material is highly selective for the adsorption of CO2 over CO, a Pd-N3 modified version resists CO insertion under the same conditions

Model simulations of the Bay of Fundy Gyre : 2. Hindcasts for 2005–2007 reveal interannual variability in retentiveness

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2009. 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 114 (2009): C09005, doi:10.1029/2008JC004948.A persistent gyre at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy results from a combination of tidal rectification and buoyancy forcing. Here we assess recent interannual variability in the strength of the gyre using data assimilative model simulations. Realistic hindcast representations of the gyre are considered during cruises in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Assimilation of shipboard and moored acoustic Doppler current profiler velocities is used to improve the skill of the simulations, as quantified by comparison with nonassimilated drifter trajectories. Our hindcasts suggest a weakening of the gyre system during May 2005. Retention of simulated passive particles in the gyre during that period was highly reduced. A recovery of the dense water pool in the deep part of the basin by June 2006 resulted in a return to particle retention characteristics similar to climatology. Retention estimates reached a maximum during May 2007 (subsurface) and June–July 2007 (near surface). Interannual variability in the strength of the gyre was primarily modulated by the stratification of the dense water pool inside the Grand Manan Basin. These changes in stratification were associated with mixing conditions the preceding fall–winter and/or advectively driven modification of water mass properties.The preparation of this paper was supported by NSF grant OCE-0430724, NIEHS grant 1P50-ES01274201 (Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health), andNOAAgrant NA06NOS4780245 (GOMTOX). Additional support was provided by NSF grant DMS-0417769

Barotropic tides on the southeast New England shelf : a view from a hybrid data assimilative modeling approach

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2006. 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 111 (2006): C08002, doi:10.1029/2005JC003254.A high-resolution hybrid data assimilative (DA) modeling system is used to study barotropic tides and tidal dynamics on the southeast New England shelf. In situ observations include tidal harmonics of 5 major tidal constituents [M2, S2, N2, O1, and K1] analyzed from coastal sea level and bottom pressure gauges. The DA system consists of both forward and inverse models. The former is the three-dimensional, finite difference, nonlinear Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). The latter is a three-dimensional linearized, frequency domain, finite element model TRUXTON. The DA system assimilates in situ observations via the inversion for the barotropic tidal open boundary conditions (OBCs). Model skill is evaluated by comparing the misfits between the observed and modeled tidal harmonics. The assimilation scheme is found effective and efficient in correcting the tidal OBCs, which in turn improve ROMS tidal solutions. Up to 50% decreases of model/data misfits are achieved after inverse data assimilation. Co-amplitude and co-phase maps and tidal current ellipses for each of 5 tidal constituents are generated, revealing complex tidal variability in this transition region between the tidally amplified Gulf of Maine in the northeast and the tidally much less energetic Middle Atlantic Bight in the southwest. Detailed examinations on the residual circulation, energetics, and momentum balances of the M2 tide reveal the key roles of the unique bottom bathymetry of Nantucket Shoals and the complex coastal geometry in affecting the regional tidal dynamics.This work was supported by WHOI Coastal Ocean Institute Research Award. J.W. acknowledges support of the Office of Naval Research

Model initialization in a tidally energetic regime : a dynamically adjusted objective analysis

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ocean Modelling 36 (2011): 219-227, doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2011.01.001.A simple improvement to objective analysis of hydrographic data is proposed to eliminate spatial aliasing e ects in tidally energetic regions. The proposed method consists of the evaluation of anomalies from observations with respect to circulation model elds. The procedure is run iteratively to achieve convergence. The method is applied in the Bay of Fundy and compared with traditional objective analysis procedures and dynamically adjusted climatological elds. The hydrographic skill (di erence between observed and model temperature and salinity) of the dynamically adjusted objective analysis is signi cantly improved by reducing bias and correcting the vertical structure. Representation of the observed velocities is also improved. The resulting ow is consistent with the known circulation in the Bay.The preparation of this paper was supported by NSF/NIEHS grant OCE- 0430724 (Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health) and NOAA grant NA06NOS4780245 (GOMTOX)

Unparticle Physics and A_{FB}^b on the Z pole

An attempt has been made to address the 3\sigma anomaly of the forward-backward asymmetry of b quark in LEP data via an unparticle sector. For most part of the parameter space except certain particular regions, the anomaly could not be explained away plausibly, when constraints from other LEP observables are taken into account.Comment: Version to appear in Phys. Lett. B. 13 pages, 5 figure

Flavorful Z′Z^\prime signatures at LHC and ILC

There are lots of new physics models which predict an extra neutral gauge boson, referred as Z'-boson. In a certain class of these new physics models, the Z'-boson has flavor-dependent couplings with the fermions in the Standard Model (SM). Based on a simple model in which couplings of the SM fermions in the third generation with the Z'-boson are different from those of the corresponding fermions in the first two generations, we study the signatures of Z'-boson at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the International Linear Collider (ILC). We show that at the LHC, the Z'-boson with mass around 1 TeV can be produced through the Drell-Yan processes and its dilepton decay modes provide us clean signatures not only for the resonant production of Z'-boson but also for flavor-dependences of the production cross sections. We also study fermion pair productions at the ILC involving the virtual Z'-boson exchange. Even though the center-of-energy of the ILC is much lower than a Z'-boson mass, the angular distributions and the forward-backward asymmetries of fermion pair productions show not only sizable deviations from the SM predictions but also significant flavor-dependences.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, some typos corrected, the version to appear in PL