Intercontinental transport of nitrogen oxide pollution plumes

We describe the first satellite observation of intercontinental transport of nitrogen oxides emitted by power plants, verified by simulations with a particle tracer model. The analysis of such episodes shows that anthropogenic NO_x plumes may influence the atmospheric chemistry thousands of kilometers away from its origin, as well as the ocean they traverse due to nitrogen fertilization. This kind of monitoring became possible by applying an improved algorithm to extract the tropospheric fraction of NO₂ from the spectral data coming from the GOME instrument.<br> <br> As an example we show the observation of NO₂ in the time period 4--14 May, 1998, from the South African Plateau to Australia which was possible due to favourable weather conditions during that time period which availed the satellite measurement. This episode was also simulated with the Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART which uses NO_x emissions taken from an inventory for industrial emissions in South Africa and is driven with analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Additionally lightning emissions were taken into account by utilizing Lightning Imaging Sensor data. Lightning was found to contribute probably not more than 25% of the resulting concentrations. Both, the measured and simulated emission plume show matching patterns while traversing the Indian Ocean to Australia and show great resemblance to the aerosol and CO₂ transport observed by Piketh et al. (2000)

Bildfolgenanalyse in der Umweltphysik: Wasseroberflächenwellen und Gasaustausch zwischen Atmosphäre und Gewässern

Bildsequenzen von Wasseroberflächenwellen und Grenzschicht werden als neue Anwendung der Bildfolgenanalyse vorgestellt. Die Möglichkeiten der Auswertung mit Hilfe der Fouriertransformation und der Laplace- Pyramide werden diskutiert. Die quantitative Bildanalyse eröffnet weit reichende experimentelle Möglichkeiten für diesen Bereich der Umweltphysik; zugleich können sich aber auch Anstöße für die Weiterentwicklung der Bildfolgenanalyse als Methode ergeben

Microbreaking and the enhancement of air-water transfer velocity

The role of microscale wave breaking in controlling the air-water transfer of heat and gas is investigated in a laboratory wind-wave tank. The local heat transfer velocity, kH, is measured using an active infrared technique and the tank-averaged gas transfer velocity, kG, is measured using conservative mass balances. Simultaneous, colocated infrared and wave slope imagery show that wave-related areas of thermal boundary layer disruption and renewal are the turbulent wakes of microscale breaking waves, or microbreakers. The fractional area coverage of microbreakers, AB, is found to be 0.1–0.4 in the wind speed range 4.2–9.3 m s−1 for cleaned and surfactant-influenced surfaces, and kH and kG are correlated with AB. The correlation of kH with AB is independent of fetch and the presence of surfactants, while that for kG with AB depends on surfactants. Additionally, AB is correlated with the mean square wave slope, 〈S2〉, which has shown promise as a correlate for kG in previous studies. The ratio of kH measured inside and outside the microbreaker wakes is 3.4, demonstrating that at these wind speeds, up to 75% of the transfer is the direct result of microbreaking. These results provide quantitative evidence that microbreaking is the dominant mechanism contributing to air-water heat and gas transfer at low to moderate wind speeds

Brain erythropoietin fine-tunes a counterbalance between neurodifferentiation and microglia in the adult hippocampus

In adult cornu ammonis hippocampi, erythropoietin (EPO) expression drives the differentiation of new neurons, independent of DNA synthesis, and increases dendritic spine density. This substantial brain hardware upgrade is part of a regulatory circle: during motor-cognitive challenge, neurons experience ‘‘functional’’ hypoxia, triggering neuronal EPO production, which in turn promotes improved performance. Here, we show an unexpected involvement of resident microglia. During EPO upregulation and stimulated neurodifferentiation, either by functional or inspiratory hypoxia, microglia numbers decrease. Treating mice with recombinant human (rh)EPO or exposure to hypoxia recapitulates these changes and reveals the involvement of neuronally expressed IL-34 and microglial CSF1R. Surprisingly, EPO affects microglia in phases, initially by inducing apoptosis, later by reducing proliferation, and overall dampens microglia activity and metabolism, as verified by selective genetic targeting of either the microglial or pyramidal neuronal EPO receptor. We suggest that during accelerating neuronal differentiation, EPO acts as regulator of the CSF1R-dependent microglia

Proteomics as a quality control tool of pharmaceutical probiotic bacterial lysate products

Probiotic bacteria have a wide range of applications in veterinary and human therapeutics. Inactivated probiotics are complex samples and quality control (QC) should measure as many molecular features as possible. Capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry (CE/MS) has been used as a multidimensional and high throughput method for the identification and validation of biomarkers of disease in complex biological samples such as biofluids. In this study we evaluate the suitability of CE/MS to measure the consistency of different lots of the probiotic formulation Pro-Symbioflor which is a bacterial lysate of heat-inactivated Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis. Over 5000 peptides were detected by CE/MS in 5 different lots of the bacterial lysate and in a sample of culture medium. 71 to 75% of the total peptide content was identical in all lots. This percentage increased to 87–89% when allowing the absence of a peptide in one of the 5 samples. These results, based on over 2000 peptides, suggest high similarity of the 5 different lots. Sequence analysis identified peptides of both E. coli and E. faecalis and peptides originating from the culture medium, thus confirming the presence of the strains in the formulation. Ontology analysis suggested that the majority of the peptides identified for E. coli originated from the cell membrane or the fimbrium, while peptides identified for E. faecalis were enriched for peptides originating from the cytoplasm. The bacterial lysate peptides as a whole are recognised as highly conserved molecular patterns by the innate immune system as microbe associated molecular pattern (MAMP). Sequence analysis also identified the presence of soybean, yeast and casein protein fragments that are part of the formulation of the culture medium. In conclusion CE/MS seems an appropriate QC tool to analyze complex biological products such as inactivated probiotic formulations and allows determining the similarity between lots

ImageParser: a tool for finite element generation from three-dimensional medical images

BACKGROUND: The finite element method (FEM) is a powerful mathematical tool to simulate and visualize the mechanical deformation of tissues and organs during medical examinations or interventions. It is yet a challenge to build up an FEM mesh directly from a volumetric image partially because the regions (or structures) of interest (ROIs) may be irregular and fuzzy. METHODS: A software package, ImageParser, is developed to generate an FEM mesh from 3-D tomographic medical images. This software uses a semi-automatic method to detect ROIs from the context of image including neighboring tissues and organs, completes segmentation of different tissues, and meshes the organ into elements. RESULTS: The ImageParser is shown to build up an FEM model for simulating the mechanical responses of the breast based on 3-D CT images. The breast is compressed by two plate paddles under an overall displacement as large as 20% of the initial distance between the paddles. The strain and tangential Young's modulus distributions are specified for the biomechanical analysis of breast tissues. CONCLUSION: The ImageParser can successfully exact the geometry of ROIs from a complex medical image and generate the FEM mesh with customer-defined segmentation information

Defining and quantifying microscale wave breaking with infrared imagery

Breaking without air entrainment of very short wind-forced waves, or microscale wave breaking, is undoubtedly widespread over the oceans and may prove to be a significant mechanism for enhancing the transfer of heat and gas across the air-sea interface. However, quantifying the effects of microscale wave breaking has been difficult because the phenomenon lacks the visible manifestation of whitecapping. In this brief report we present limited but promising laboratory measurements which show that microscale wave breaking associated with evolving wind waves disturbs the thermal boundary layer at the air-water interface, producing signatures that can be detected with infrared imagery. Simultaneous video and infrared observations show that the infrared signature itself may serve as a practical means of defining and characterizing the microscale breaking process. The infrared imagery is used to quantify microscale breaking waves in terms of the frequency of occurrence and the areal coverage, which is substantial under the moderate wind speed conditions investigated. The results imply that ”bursting“ phenomena observed beneath laboratory wind waves are likely produced by microscale breaking waves but that not all microscale breaking waves produce bursts. Oceanic measurements show the ability to quantify microscale wave breaking in the field. Our results demonstrate that infrared techniques can provide the information necessary to quantify the breaking process for inclusion in models of air-sea heat and gas fluxes, as well as unprecedented details on the origin and evolution of microscale wave breaking

Hybrid Mechanical Systems

We discuss hybrid systems in which a mechanical oscillator is coupled to another (microscopic) quantum system, such as trapped atoms or ions, solid-state spin qubits, or superconducting devices. We summarize and compare different coupling schemes and describe first experimental implementations. Hybrid mechanical systems enable new approaches to quantum control of mechanical objects, precision sensing, and quantum information processing.Comment: To cite this review, please refer to the published book chapter (see Journal-ref and DOI). This v2 corresponds to the published versio

Measurement of functional microcirculatory geometry and velocity distributions using automated image analysis

This study describes a new method for analyzing microcirculatory videos. It introduces algorithms for quantitative assessment of vessel length, diameter, the functional microcirculatory density distribution and red blood-cell (RBC) velocity in individual vessels as well as its distribution. The technique was validated and compared to commercial software. The method was applied to the sublingual microcirculation in a healthy volunteer and in a patient during cardiac surgery. Analysis time was reduced from hours to minutes compared to previous methods requiring manual vessel identification. Vessel diameter was detected with high accuracy (>80%, d > 3 pixels). Capillary length was estimated within 5 pixels accuracy. Velocity estimation was very accurate (>95%) in the range [2.5, 1,000] pixels/s. RBC velocity was reduced by 70% during the first 10 s of cardiac luxation. The present method has been shown to be fast and accurate and provides increased insight into the functional properties of the microcirculation