Vertical distribution of wind speed, temperature and humidity above a water surface

An observational program is described which has been used to obtain an accurate determination of vertical profiles of wind speed, temperature, and vapor pressure over a salt water inlet with an over-water air fetch of about five miles. The wind profiles show systematic anomalies of 1 or 2 %, which are not explainable as instrumental or observational error. The curvature of wind profiles over water shows the same dependence on Richardson number as that found by others over land. Temperature profiles are similar in this respect, but curvature of the vapor pressure profiles shows little dependence on stability. Values of the resistance coefficient computed from wind profiles are at the lower limit of those reported by most other investigators...

Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics

The atmospheric greenhouse effect, an idea that many authors trace back to the traditional works of Fourier (1824), Tyndall (1861), and Arrhenius (1896), and which is still supported in global climatology, essentially describes a fictitious mechanism, in which a planetary atmosphere acts as a heat pump driven by an environment that is radiatively interacting with but radiatively equilibrated to the atmospheric system. According to the second law of thermodynamics such a planetary machine can never exist. Nevertheless, in almost all texts of global climatology and in a widespread secondary literature it is taken for granted that such mechanism is real and stands on a firm scientific foundation. In this paper the popular conjecture is analyzed and the underlying physical principles are clarified. By showing that (a) there are no common physical laws between the warming phenomenon in glass houses and the fictitious atmospheric greenhouse effects, (b) there are no calculations to determine an average surface temperature of a planet, (c) the frequently mentioned difference of 33 degrees Celsius is a meaningless number calculated wrongly, (d) the formulas of cavity radiation are used inappropriately, (e) the assumption of a radiative balance is unphysical, (f) thermal conductivity and friction must not be set to zero, the atmospheric greenhouse conjecture is falsified.Comment: 115 pages, 32 figures, 13 tables (some typos corrected

Understanding language evolution : beyond Pan-centrism

Language does not fossilize but this does not mean that the language's evolutionary timeline is lost forever. Great apes provide a window back in time on our last prelinguistic ancestor's communication and cognition. Phylogeny and cladistics implicitly conjure Pan (chimpanzees, bonobos) as a superior (often the only) model for language evolution compared with earlier diverging lineages, Gorilla and Pongo (orangutans). Here, in reviewing the literature, it is shown that Pan do not surpass other great apes along genetic, cognitive, ecologic, or vocal traits that are putatively paramount for language onset and evolution. Instead, revived herein is the idea that only by abandoning single-species models and learning about the variation among great apes, there might be a chance to retrieve lost fragments of the evolutionary timeline of language.PostprintPeer reviewe

Effect of river size on Amazonian primate community structure: a biogeographic analysis using updated taxonomic assessments

The mechanisms that underlie the diversification of Neotropical primates remain contested. One mechanism that has found support is the riverine barrier hypothesis (RBH), which postulates that large rivers impede gene flow between populations on opposite riverbanks and promote allopatric speciation. Ayres and Clutton‐Brock (1992) demonstrated that larger Amazonian rivers acted as barriers, delineating the distribution limits of primate species. However, profound changes in taxonomy and species concepts have led to the proliferation of Neotropical primate taxa, which may have reduced support for their results. Using the most recent taxonomic assessments and distribution maps, we tested the effect of increasing river size on the similarity of opposite riverbank primate communities in the Amazon. First, we conducted a literature review of primate taxonomy and developed a comprehensive spatial database, then applied geographical information system to query mapped primate ranges against the riverine geography of the Amazon watershed to produce a similarity index for opposite riverbank communities. Finally, we ran models to test how measures of river size predicted levels of similarity. We found that, almost without exception, similarity scores were lower than scores from Ayres and Clutton‐Brock (1992) for the same rivers. Our model showed a significant negative relationship between streamflow and similarity in all tests, and found river width significant for the segmented Amazon, but not for multiple Amazon watershed rivers. Our results support the RBH insofar as they provide evidence for the prediction that rivers with higher streamflow act as more substantial barriers to dispersal, and accordingly exhibit greater variation in community composition between riverbank

Structural Analysis of a Repetitive Protein Sequence Motif in Strepsirrhine Primate Amelogenin

Strepsirrhines are members of a primate suborder that has a distinctive set of features associated with the development of the dentition. Amelogenin (AMEL), the better known of the enamel matrix proteins, forms 90% of the secreted organic matrix during amelogenesis. Although AMEL has been sequenced in numerous mammalian lineages, the only reported strepsirrhine AMEL sequences are those of the ring-tailed lemur and galago, which contain a set of additional proline-rich tandem repeats absent in all other primates species analyzed to date, but present in some non-primate mammals. Here, we first determined that these repeats are present in AMEL from three additional lemur species and thus are likely to be widespread throughout this group. To evaluate the functional relevance of these repeats in strepsirrhines, we engineered a mutated murine amelogenin sequence containing a similar proline-rich sequence to that of Lemur catta. In the monomeric form, the MQP insertions had no influence on the secondary structure or refolding properties, whereas in the assembled form, the insertions increased the hydrodynamic radii. We speculate that increased AMEL nanosphere size may influence enamel formation in strepsirrhine primates

Does Presentation Format Influence Visual Size Discrimination in Tufted Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus spp.)?

Most experimental paradigms to study visual cognition in humans and non-human species are based on discrimination tasks involving the choice between two or more visual stimuli. To this end, different types of stimuli and procedures for stimuli presentation are used, which highlights the necessity to compare data obtained with different methods. The present study assessed whether, and to what extent, capuchin monkeys\u27 ability to solve a size discrimination problem is influenced by the type of procedure used to present the problem. Capuchins\u27 ability to generalise knowledge across different tasks was also evaluated. We trained eight adult tufted capuchin monkeys to select the larger of two stimuli of the same shape and different sizes by using pairs of food items (Experiment 1), computer images (Experiment 1) and objects (Experiment 2). Our results indicated that monkeys achieved the learning criterion faster with food stimuli compared to both images and objects. They also required consistently fewer trials with objects than with images. Moreover, female capuchins had higher levels of acquisition accuracy with food stimuli than with images. Finally, capuchins did not immediately transfer the solution of the problem acquired in one task condition to the other conditions. Overall, these findings suggest that - even in relatively simple visual discrimination problems where a single perceptual dimension (i.e., size) has to be judged - learning speed strongly depends on the mode of presentation

Confrontational scavenging as a possible source for language and cooperation

The emergence of language and the high degree of cooperation found among humans seems to require more than a straightforward enhancement of primate traits. Some triggering episode unique to human ancestors was likely necessary. Here it is argued that confrontational scavenging was such an episode. Arguments for and against an established confrontational scavenging niche are discussed, as well as the probable effects of such a niche on language and co-operation. Finally, several possible directions for future research are suggested

Performance of a frost hollow as a hemispherical thermal radiometer

Radiant sky hemispheric temperature, snow-surface temperature, and thermal profiles within the snowpack were measured at night in a frost hollow in southeastern Michigan, U.S.A. Snow-surface temperatures remained 3° to 5°C colder than air temperatures at 3 m above the snow surface and 6° to 7°C colder than air temperatures at 18 m, the height of the hollow's rim above its floor. Due to suppression of turbulent heat transfer, the energy balance at the surface was dominated by net longwave radiation; energy involved in sensible heat transfer through the snow was equal to only about 10% of the incoming longwave radiation. Incoming longwave radiation can be expressed as a linear function of surface temperature by means of a regression equation, which yields a coefficient of determination of 0.75. Die Strahlungstemperatur der Himmelshemisphäre, die Schneeoberflächentemperatur und thermische Profile in der Schneedecke wurden in einer klaren Nacht in einer Frostmulde im Südosten von Michigan, U.S.A., gemessen. Die Schneeoberflächentemperatur blieb 3 bis 5°C kälter als die Lufttemperatur in 3 m über der Schneeoberfläche und um 6 bis 7°C kälter als die Lufttemperatur in 18 m Höhe, das ist die Höhe des oberen Randes der Mulde über ihrem Boden. Bei Bestimmung der turbulenten Wärmeübertragung war der Energiehaushalt an der Oberfläche von der langwelligen Strahlungsbilanz beherrscht. Die mit der Transport fühlbarer Wärme durch den Schnee verbundene Energie betrug nur ungefähr 10% der langwelligen Einstrahlung. Die langwellige Einstrahlung kann durch eine lineare Funktion der Oberflächentemperatur mittels einer Regressionsgleichung ausgedrückt werden, die einen Regressionskoeffizienten von 0,75 ergibt.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41662/1/703_2005_Article_BF02273978.pd