Uncertainty in near-surface wind speed trends at seasonal time scales

Observational studies have identified wind speed trends in the last decades [1,2] attributed to several factors such as changes in the land use, aerosol emissions or atmospheric circulation. However, in spite of the potential impact of this long-term variability in wind energy activities, this type of variability has not been fully characterized yet. As a consequence such information is not currently incorporated in wind power decision-making processes related to planning and management. long-term wind speed variability. For some of these users it is still difficult to identify the most suitable dataset for their specific needs, because a comparison of the quality of the wind speed data from different reanalyses at global scale is not readily available. For this reason, the present study investigates the wind speed long-term trends at global scale in the last decades (1981-2015) using three state-of-the-art reanalyses: ERA-Interim (ERA-I), the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55) and Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2)

Microsolvation of Mg2+, Ca2+: Strong influence of formal charges in hydrogen bond networks

A stochastic exploration of the quantum conformational spaces in the microsolvation of divalent cations with explicit consideration of up to six solvent molecules [Mg (H 2 O) n )]2+, (n = 3, 4, 5, 6) at the B3LYP, MP2, CCSD(T) levels is presented. We find several cases in which the formal charge in Mg2+ causes dissociation of water molecules in the first solvation shell, leaving a hydroxide ion available to interact with the central cation, the released proton being transferred to outer solvation shells in a Grotthus type mechanism; this particular finding sheds light on the capacity of Mg2+ to promote formation of hydroxide anions, a process necessary to regulate proton transfer in enzymes with exonuclease activity. Two distinct types of hydrogen bonds, scattered over a wide range of distances (1.35–2.15 Å) were identified. We find that in inner solvation shells, where hydrogen bond networks are severely disturbed, most of the interaction energies come from electrostatic and polarization+charge transfer, while in outer solvation shells the situation approximates that of pure water clusters

CAV-2 Vector Development and Gene Transfer in the Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems

The options available for genetic modification of cells of the central nervous system (CNS) have greatly increased in the last decade. The current panoply of viral and nonviral vectors provides multifunctional platforms to deliver expression cassettes to many structures and nuclei. These cassettes can replace defective genes, modify a given pathway perturbed by diseases, or express proteins that can be selectively activated by drugs or light to extinguish or excite neurons. This review focuses on the use of canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2) vectors for gene transfer to neurons in the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system. We discuss (1) recent advances in vector production, (2) why CAV-2 vectors preferentially transduce neurons, (3) the mechanism underlying their widespread distribution via retrograde axonal transport, (4) how CAV-2 vectors have been used to address structure/function, and (5) their therapeutic applications

Caracterización preliminar de frutos de granada china (Passiflora ligularis Juss.) en Hueyapan y Teziutlán, Puebla

En la Sierra Nororiental de Puebla, México, los frutos de granada china son muy apreciados por la población local, pero existen pocos datos sobre su calidad hortofrutícola. Con el fin de iniciar la selección de individuos productores de frutos de buena calidad, se tomaron como muestra diez frutos de 20 plantas, cinco de cada localidad, Talzinta, Nexpan, Tanamacoyan y Mexcalcuautla, para analizarlos física (peso, diámetro, color, porcentaje de los componentes del fruto) y bioquímicamente (sólidos solubles totales, pH, acidez titulable, densidad del jugo). El valor medio para peso de frutos varió de 85 a 57 g; el porcentaje de pulpa de 81 a 51%; y el contenido de sólidos solubles totales (SST) fue de 17.5 a 12.2 ºB. El análisis de conglomerados, a una distancia euclidiana de 12.6, formó cinco grupos; en los grupos 2, 3 y 4 se observaron frutos de mayor tamaño (+ 75 g), con altos porcentajes de pulpa (60%) y valores aceptables de SST (14 ºB); éstos fueron los colectados en Talzinta y Nexpan. El análisis de componentes principales (CP) indicó que los primeros cinco CP explicaron el 75% de la variabilidad observada; siendo 25 y 18% la variabilidad que explican los CP 1 y CP 2, respectivamente. CP 1 estuvo altamente influenciado por el diámetro polar (0.900), luminosidad (-0.767) y el peso fresco del fruto (0.750); el CP 2 se relacionó con porcentaje de pulpa (0.866), porcentaje de cáscara (-0.866) y porcentaje de semillas (0.857). Esta información permitirá iniciar la selección de individuos productores de fruto de buena calidad, en la región de Teziutlán, PueblaEn la Sierra Nororiental de Puebla, MÈxico, los frutos de granada china son muy apreciados por la poblaciÛn local, pero existen pocos datos sobre su calidad hortofrutÌcola. Con el fin de iniciar la selecciÛn de individuos productores de frutos de buena calidad, se tomaron como muestra diez frutos de 20 plantas, cinco de cada localidad, Talzinta, Nexpan, Tanamacoyan y Mexcalcuautla, para analizarlos fÌsica (peso, di·metro, color, porcentaje de los componentes del fruto) y bioquÌmicamente (sÛlidos solubles totales, pH, acidez titulable, densidad del jugo). El valor medio para peso de frutos variÛ de 85 a 57 g; el porcentaje de pulpa de 81 a 51%; y el contenido de sÛlidos solubles totales (SST) fue de 17.5 a 12.2 ºB. El an·lisis de conglomerados, a una distancia euclidiana de 12.6, formÛ cinco grupos; en los grupos 2, 3 y 4 se observaron frutos de mayor tamaÒo (+ 75 g), con altos porcentajes de pulpa (60%) y valores aceptables de SST (14 ºB); Èstos fueron los colectados en Talzinta y Nexpan. El an·lisis de componentes principales (CP) indicÛ que los primeros cinco CP explicaron el 75% de la variabilidad observada; siendo 25 y 18% la variabilidad que explican los CP 1 y CP 2, respectivamente. CP 1 estuvo altamente influenciado por el di·metro polar (0.900), luminosidad ( 0.767) y el peso fresco del fruto (0.750); el CP 2 se relacionÛ con porcentaje de pulpa (0.866), porcentaje de c·scara ( 0.866) y porcentaje de semillas (0.857). Esta informaciÛn permitir· iniciar la selecciÛn de individuos productores de fruto de buena calidad, en la regiÛn de Teziutl·n, Puebla

Assessing systematic literature review bias: kaizen events in hospitals case study

A systematic literature review (SLR) is a protocol used to identify publications, select relevant publications, collect data, conduct scientometric analyses, and report research results (SLR outcomes or findings). Despite the increasing use of SLR to assess the maturity or evolution of a research field, as Engineering Management, there are a limit number of publications focused to test SLR biases. Therefore, the purposes of this investigation are to test search field bias (precise SLR vs. sensitive SLR) and to identify statistically significant differences between SLR outcomes. In order to achieve these goals, a three steps methodology was used in three platforms/databases. First, a precise SLR in ProQuest (search terms only in abstract) was conducted to identify publications describing a single Kaizen event in a hospital. From these publications, five metrics were assessed: new authors per year, number of authors per paper, number of publications per year, Kaizen event duration (days), and number of tools used during the Kaizen event per paper. Second, a sensitive SLR in ProQuest (search term in full text) was conducted using the same search terms, exclusion criteria, and metrics from the first step. Third, t-test hypotheses were conducted in SPSS version 20 to identify statistically significant difference for each metric between precise SLR vs. sensitive SLR. The same three steps were used in two more platforms/databases: EBSCOhost and Scopus. Initial results from this ongoing investigation show statistically significant differences between precise SLR and sensitive SLR for some of the five metrics assessed, such as the number of publications per year. Final results will be available in November 2018.N/

High Trait Anger, Interpersonal Context, and the Recognition of Anger Problems

Background: High trait anger is usually destructive for individuals and their relationships. This proneness to anger is reflected in frequent angry feelings, for longer periods of time, and with higher levels of physical arousal and negative expressions (e.g., insulting or arguing with others). Unfortunately, not all individuals with high trait anger recognize the problem. Objective: This research assessed the contribution of the interpersonal context (e.g., family members, friends, and boyfriend/girlfriend) to recognize anger problems. Methods: We recruited 192 individuals with high trait anger who completed questionnaires about 1) recognition of anger problems, 2) how they are perceived by others in terms of anger (i.e., “being irascible”), and 3) if they care about what others think about their anger. Research Design: Cross-sectional. Results: Individuals who recognized their anger problems perceived they have received more messages of “You are very irascible” from their social contexts, while those who do not recognize anger problems, have received these messages less often. Moreover, the higher the extent to which the individuals care about what other people think or say about their anger (i.e., higher importance attached to messages from others), the more it contributed to a higher recognition of anger problems. In addition, a lower importance attached to such messages was related to a lower recognition of such problems. Recognition of anger problems was higher in participants who had a boyfriend/girlfriend (versus those who did not have one), and in female (versus male) participants

ChaLearn Looking at People Challenge 2014: Dataset and Results

This paper summarizes the ChaLearn Looking at People 2014 challenge data and the results obtained by the participants. The competition was split into three independent tracks: human pose recovery from RGB data, action and interaction recognition from RGB data sequences, and multi-modal gesture recognition from RGB-Depth sequences. For all the tracks, the goal was to perform user-independent recognition in sequences of continuous images using the overlapping Jaccard index as the evaluation measure. In this edition of the ChaLearn challenge, two large novel data sets were made publicly available and the Microsoft Codalab platform were used to manage the competition. Outstanding results were achieved in the three challenge tracks, with accuracy results of 0.20, 0.50, and 0.85 for pose recovery, action/interaction recognition, and multi-modal gesture recognition, respectively

Kulla, a container-centric construction model for building infrastructure-agnostic distributed and parallel applications

This paper presents the design, development, and implementation of Kulla, a virtual container-centric construction model that mixes loosely coupled structures with a parallel programming model for building infrastructure-agnostic distributed and parallel applications. In Kulla, applications, dependencies and environment settings, are mapped with construction units called Kulla-Blocks. A parallel programming model enables developers to couple those interoperable structures for creating constructive structures named Kulla-Bricks. In these structures, continuous dataflow and parallel patterns can be created without modifying the code of applications. Methods such as Divide&Containerize (data parallelism), Pipe&Blocks (streaming), and Manager/Block (task parallelism) were developed to create Kulla-Bricks. Recursive combinations of Kulla instances can be grouped in deployment structures called Kulla-Boxes, which are encapsulated into VCs to create infrastructure-agnostic parallel and/or distributed applications. Deployment strategies were created for Kulla-Boxes to improve the IT resource profitability. To show the feasibility and flexibility of this model, solutions combining real-world applications were implemented by using Kulla instances to compose parallel and/or distributed system deployed on different IT infrastructures. An experimental evaluation based on use cases solving satellite and medical image processing problems revealed the efficiency of Kulla model in comparison with some traditional state-of-the-art solutions.This work has been partially supported by the EU project "ASPIDE: Exascale Programing Models for Extreme Data Processing" under grant 801091 and the project "CABAHLA-CM: Convergencia Big data-Hpc: de los sensores a las Aplicaciones" S2018/TCS-4423 from Madrid Regional Government

Deep lithospheric structures along the southern central Chile Margin from wide-angle P-wave modellilng

Crustal- and upper-mantle structures of the subduction zone in south central Chile, between 42 degrees S and 46 degrees S, are determined from seismic wide-angle reflection and refraction data, using the seismic ray tracing method to calculate minimum parameter models. Three profiles along differently aged segments of the subducting Nazca Plate were analysed in order to study subduction zone structure dependencies related to the age, that is, thermal state, of the incoming plate. The age of the oceanic crust at the trench ranges from 3 Ma on the southernmost profile, immediately north of the Chile triple junction, to 6.5 Ma old about 100 km to the north, and to 14.5 Ma old another 200 km further north, off the Island of Chiloe. Remarkable similarities appear in the structures of both the incoming as well as the overriding plate. The oceanic Nazca Plate is around 5 km thick, with a slightly increasing thickness northward, reflecting temperature changes at the time of crustal generation. The trench basin is about 2 km thick except in the south where the Chile Ridge is close to the deformation front and only a small, 800-m-thick trench infill could develop. In south central Chile, typically three quarters (1.5 km) of the trench sediments subduct below the decollement in the subduction channel. To the north and south of the study area, only about one quarter to one third of the sediments subducts, the rest is accreted above. Similarities in the overriding plate are the width of the active accretionary prism, 35-50 km, and a strong lateral crustal velocity gradient zone about 75-80 km landward from the deformation front, where landward upper-crustal velocities of over 5.0-5.4 km s<SU-1</SU decrease seaward to around 4.5 km s<SU-1</SU within about 10 km, which possibly represents a palaeo-backstop. This zone is also accompanied by strong intraplate seismicity. Differences in the subduction zone structures exist in the outer rise region, where the northern profile exhibits a clear bulge of uplifted oceanic lithosphere prior to subduction whereas the younger structures have a less developed outer rise. This plate bending is accompanied by strongly reduced rock velocities on the northern profile due to fracturing and possible hydration of the crust and upper mantle. The southern profiles do not exhibit such a strong alteration of the lithosphere, although this effect may be counteracted by plate cooling effects, which are reflected in increasing rock velocities away from the spreading centre. Overall there appears little influence of incoming plate age on the subduction zone structure which may explain why the M-w = 9.5 great Chile earthquake from 1960 ruptured through all these differing age segments. The rupture area, however, appears to coincide with a relatively thick subduction channel