145 research outputs found
Prediction of word recognition in the first half of grade 1
Item does not contain fulltextEarly detection of reading problems is important to prevent an enduring lag in reading skills. We studied the relationship between speed of word recognition (after six months of grade 1 education) and four kindergarten pre-literacy skills: letter knowledge, phonological awareness and naming speed for both digits and letters. Our sample consisted of 178 pupils divided over seven classes. In agreement with the literature, we found that all four kindergarten tests were related to speed of word recognition in grade 1. We also performed a multiple regression analysis with a set of background variables and the four kindergarten tests. The model explained 53% of the variance in speed of word recognition. However, only letter knowledge and naming speed for digits had a significant direct effect. Our conclusion is, nevertheless, that all four kindergarten tests should be used to identify children at risk for reading problems.10 p
Annual patterns in phytoplankton phenology in Antarctic coastal waters explained by environmental drivers
Coastal zones of Antarctica harbor rich but highly variable phytoplankton communities. The mechanisms that control the dynamics of these communities are not well defined. Here we elucidate the mechanisms that drive seasonal species succession, based on algal photophysiological characteristics and environmental factors. For this, phytoplankton community structure together with oceanographic parameters was studied over a 5âyear period (2012â2017) at Rothera Station at Ryder Bay (Western Antarctic Peninsula). Algal pigment patterns and photophysiological studies based on fluorescence analyses were combined with data from the Rothera TimeâSeries program. Considerable interannual variation was observed, related to variations in windâmixing, ice cover and an El Niño event. Clear patterns in the succession of algal classes became manifest when combining the data collected over the five successive years. In spring, autotrophic flagellates with a high light affinity were the first to profit from increasing light and sea ice melt. These algae most likely originated from seaâice communities, stressing the role of sea ice as a seeding vector for the spring bloom. Diatoms became dominant towards summer in more stratified and warmer surface waters. These communities displayed significantly lower photoflexibility than spring communities. There are strong indications for mixotrophy in cryptophytes, which would explain much of their apparently random occurrence. Climate models predict continuing retreat of Antarctic seaâice during the course of this century. For the nearâfuture we predict that the marginal seaâice zone will still harbor significant communities of haptophytes and chlorophytes, whereas increasing temperatures will mainly be beneficial for diatoms
Photosynthetic responses in Phaeocystis antarctica towards varying light and iron conditions
The effects of iron limitation on photoacclimation to a dynamic light regime were studied in Phaeocystis antarctica. Batch cultures were grown under a sinusoidal light regime, mimicking vertical mixing, under both iron-sufficient and -limiting conditions. Iron-replete cells responded to changes in light intensity by rapid xanthophyll cycling. Maximum irradiance coincided with maximum ratios of diatoxanthin/diadinoxanthin (dt/dd). The maximum quantum yield of photosynthesis (F-v /F-m) was negatively related to both irradiance and dt/dd. Full recovery of F-v /F-m by the end of the light period suggested successful photoacclimation. Iron-limited cells displayed characteristics of high light acclimation. The ratio of xanthophyll pigments to chlorophyll a was three times higher compared to iron-replete cells. Down-regulation of photosynthetic activity was moderated. It is argued that under iron limitation cells maintain a permanent state of high energy quenching to avoid photoinhibition during exposure to high irradiance. Iron-limited cells could maintain a high growth potential due to an increased absorption capacity as recorded by in vivo absorption, which balanced a decrease in F-v/F-m . The increase in the chlorophyll a-specific absorption cross section was related to an increase in carotenoid pigments and a reduction in the package effect. These experiments show that P. antarctica can acclimate successfully to conditions as they prevail in the Antarctic ocean, which may explain the success of this species
Thin and transient meltwater layers and false bottoms in the Arctic sea ice packâRecent insights on these historically overlooked features
The rapid melt of snow and sea ice during the Arctic summer provides a significant source of low-salinity meltwater to the surface ocean on the local scale. The accumulation of this meltwater on, under, and around sea ice floes can result in relatively thin meltwater layers in the upper ocean. Due to the small-scale nature of these upper-ocean features, typically on the order of 1 m thick or less, they are rarely detected by standard methods, but are nevertheless pervasive and critically important in Arctic summer. Observations during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition in summer 2020 focused on the evolution of such layers and made significant advancements in understanding their role in the coupled Arctic system. Here we provide a review of thin meltwater layers in the Arctic, with emphasis on the new findings from MOSAiC. Both prior and recent observational datasets indicate an intermittent yet long-lasting (weeks to months) meltwater layer in the upper ocean on the order of 0.1 m to 1.0 m in thickness, with a large spatial range. The presence of meltwater layers impacts the physical system by reducing bottom ice melt and allowing new ice formation via false bottom growth. Collectively, the meltwater layer and false bottoms reduce atmosphere-ocean exchanges of momentum, energy, and material. The impacts on the coupled Arctic system are far-reaching, including acting as a barrier for nutrient and gas exchange and impacting ecosystem diversity and productivity
Nuclear structure studies with the 7Li(e,e'p) reaction
Experimental momentum distributions for the transitions to the ground state
and first excited state of 6He have been measured via the reaction
7Li(e,e'p)6He, in the missing momentum range from -70 to 260 MeV/c. They are
compared to theoretical distributions calculated with mean-field wave functions
and with variational Monte Carlo (VMC) wave functions which include strong
state-dependent correlations in both 7Li and 6He. These VMC calculations
provide a parameter-free prediction of the momentum distribution that
reproduces the measured data, including its normalization. The deduced summed
spectroscopic factor for the two transitions is 0.58 +/- 0.05, in perfect
agreement with the VMC value of 0.60. This is the first successful comparison
of experiment and ab initio theory for spectroscopic factors in p-shell nuclei.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Model Calculations for the Two-Fragment Electro-Disintegration of He
Differential cross sections for the electro-disintegration process are calculated, using a model in which
the final state interaction is included by means of a nucleon-nucleus (3+1)
potential constructed via Marchenko inversion. The required bound-state wave
functions are calculated within the integrodifferential equation approach
(IDEA). In our model the important condition that the initial bound state and
the final scattering state are orthogonal is fulfilled. The sensitivity of the
cross section to the input interaction in certain kinematical regions
is investigated. The approach adopted could be useful in reactions involving
few cluster systems where effective interactions are not well known and exact
methods are presently unavailable. Although, our Plane-Wave Impulse
Approximation results exhibit, similarly to other calculations, a dip in the
five-fold differential cross-section around a missing momentum of , it is argued that this is an artifact of the omission of re-scattering
four-nucleon processes.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication by Phys.Rev.
Impact of sea-ice melt on dimethyl sulfide (sulfoniopropionate) inventories in surface waters of Marguerite Bay, West Antarctic Peninsula
The Southern Ocean is a hotspot of the climate-relevant organic sulfur compound dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Spatial and temporal variability in DMS concentration is higher than in any other oceanic region, especially in the marginal ice zone. During a one-week expedition across the continental shelf of the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), from the shelf break into Marguerite Bay, in January 2015, spatial heterogeneity of DMS and its precursor dimethyl sulfoniopropionate (DMSP) was studied and linked with environmental conditions, including sea-ice melt events. Concentrations of sulfur compounds, particulate organic carbon (POC) and chlorophyll a in the surface waters varied by a factor of 5â6 over the entire transect. DMS and DMSP concentrations were an order of magnitude higher than currently inferred in climatologies for the WAP region. Particulate DMSP concentrations were correlated most strongly with POC and the abundance of haptophyte algae within the phytoplankton community, which, in turn, was linked with sea-ice melt. The strong sea-ice signal in the distribution of DMS(P) implies that DMS(P) production is likely to decrease with ongoing reductions in sea-ice cover along the WAP. This has implications for feedback processes on the region's climate system
Methods for biogeochemical studies of sea ice: The state of the art, caveats, and recommendations
AbstractOver the past two decades, with recognition that the oceanâs sea-ice cover is neither insensitive to climate change nor a barrier to light and matter, research in sea-ice biogeochemistry has accelerated significantly, bringing together a multi-disciplinary community from a variety of fields. This disciplinary diversity has contributed a wide range of methodological techniques and approaches to sea-ice studies, complicating comparisons of the results and the development of conceptual and numerical models to describe the important biogeochemical processes occurring in sea ice. Almost all chemical elements, compounds, and biogeochemical processes relevant to Earth system science are measured in sea ice, with published methods available for determining biomass, pigments, net community production, primary production, bacterial activity, macronutrients, numerous natural and anthropogenic organic compounds, trace elements, reactive and inert gases, sulfur species, the carbon dioxide system parameters, stable isotopes, and water-ice-atmosphere fluxes of gases, liquids, and solids. For most of these measurements, multiple sampling and processing techniques are available, but to date there has been little intercomparison or intercalibration between methods. In addition, researchers collect different types of ancillary data and document their samples differently, further confounding comparisons between studies. These problems are compounded by the heterogeneity of sea ice, in which even adjacent cores can have dramatically different biogeochemical compositions. We recommend that, in future investigations, researchers design their programs based on nested sampling patterns, collect a core suite of ancillary measurements, and employ a standard approach for sample identification and documentation. In addition, intercalibration exercises are most critically needed for measurements of biomass, primary production, nutrients, dissolved and particulate organic matter (including exopolymers), the CO2 system, air-ice gas fluxes, and aerosol production. We also encourage the development of in situ probes robust enough for long-term deployment in sea ice, particularly for biological parameters, the CO2 system, and other gases.This manuscript is a product of SCOR working group 140 on Biogeochemical Exchange Processes at Sea-Ice Interfaces
(BEPSII); we thank BEPSII chairs Jacqueline Stefels and Nadja Steiner and SCOR executive director Ed Urban for their
practical and moral support of this endeavour. This manuscript was first conceived at an EU COST Action 735 workshop
held in Amsterdam in April 2011; in addition to COST 735, we thank the other participants of the âmethodsâ break-out
group at that meeting, namely Gerhard Dieckmann, Christoph Garbe, and Claire Hughes. Our editors, Steve Ackley and
Jody Deming, and our reviewers, Mats Granskog and two anonymous reviewers, provided invaluable advice that not only
identified and helped fill in some gaps, but also suggested additional ways to make what is by nature a rather dry subject
(methods) at least a bit more interesting and accessible. We also thank the librarians at the Institute of Ocean Sciences for
their unflagging efforts to track down the more obscure references we required. Finally, and most importantly, we thank
everyone who has braved the unknown and made the new measurements that have helped build sea-ice biogeochemistry
into the robust and exciting field it has become.This is the final published article, originally published in Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 3: 000038, doi: 10.12952/journal.elementa.00003
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