Benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation on the supply, management, and use of water resources in the United States

Climate change impacts on water resources in the United States are likely to be far-reaching and substantial because the water is integral to climate, and the water sector spans many parts of the economy. This paper estimates impacts and damages from five water resource-related models addressing runoff, drought risk, economics of water supply/demand, water stress, and flooding damages. The models differ in the water system assessed, spatial scale, and unit of assessment, but together provide a quantitative and descriptive richness in characterizing water sector effects that no single model can capture. The results, driven by a consistent set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and climate scenarios, examine uncertainty from emissions, climate sensitivity, and climate model selection. While calculating the net impact of climate change on the water sector as a whole may be impractical, broad conclusions can be drawn regarding patterns of change and benefits of GHG mitigation. Four key findings emerge: 1) GHG mitigation substantially reduces hydro-climatic impacts on the water sector; 2) GHG mitigation provides substantial national economic benefits in water resources related sectors; 3) the models show a strong signal of wetting for the Eastern US and a strong signal of drying in the Southwest; and 4) unmanaged hydrologic systems impacts show strong correlation with the change in magnitude and direction of precipitation and temperature from climate models, but managed water resource systems and regional economic systems show lower correlation with changes in climate variables due to non-linearities created by water infrastructure and the socio-economic changes in non-climate driven water demand

Collaborative multidisciplinary learning : quantity surveying students’ perspectives

The construction industry is highly fragmented and is known for its adversarial culture, culminating in poor quality projects not completed on time or within budget. The aim of this study is thus to guide the design of QS programme curricula in order to help students develop the requisite knowledge and skills to work more collaboratively in their multi-disciplinary future workplaces. A qualitative approach was considered appropriate as the authors were concerned with gathering an initial understanding of what students think of multi-disciplinary learning. The data collection method used was a questionnaire which was developed by the Behaviours4Collaboration (B4C) team. Knowledge gaps were still found across all the key areas where a future QS practitioner needs to be collaborative (either as a project contributor or as a project leader) despite the need for change instigated by the multi-disciplinary (BIM) education revolution. The study concludes that universities will need to be selective in teaching, and innovative in reorienting, QS education so that a collaborative BIM education can be effected in stages, increasing in complexity as the students’ technical knowledge grows. This will help students to build the competencies needed to make them future leaders. It will also support programme currency and delivery

Mapping quantitative trait loci in line cross with repeat records

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Phenotypes with repeat records from one individual or multiple individuals were often encountered in practices of mapping QTL in linecross. The current genetic mapping method for a trait with repeat records is adopted by simply replacing the phenotype by the average value of the repeat records. This simple treatment has not sufficiently utilized the information from the replication and ignored the impacts of the permanent environmental effects on the accuracy of the estimated QTL.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We propose to map QTL by using the repeatability model to directly analyze the repeat records rather than simply analyze the mean phenotype, improving the efficiency of QTL detecting because of adequately utilizing the information from data and allowing for the permanent environmental effects. A maximum likelihood method implemented via the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm is applied to perform the parameter estimation of the repeatability model. The superiority of the mapping method based on the repeatability model over simple analysis using the mean phenotype was demonstrated by a series of simulations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results suggest that the proposed method can serve as a powerful alternative to existing methods. By mean of the repeatability model, utilizing the repeat records on individual may improve the efficiency of QTL detecting in line cross.</p

Coherent motion of stereocilia assures the concerted gating of hair-cell transduction channels

The hair cell's mechanoreceptive organelle, the hair bundle, is highly sensitive because its transduction channels open over a very narrow range of displacements. The synchronous gating of transduction channels also underlies the active hair-bundle motility that amplifies and tunes responsiveness. The extent to which the gating of independent transduction channels is coordinated depends on how tightly individual stereocilia are constrained to move as a unit. Using dual-beam interferometry in the bullfrog's sacculus, we found that thermal movements of stereocilia located as far apart as a bundle's opposite edges display high coherence and negligible phase lag. Because the mechanical degrees of freedom of stereocilia are strongly constrained, a force applied anywhere in the hair bundle deflects the structure as a unit. This feature assures the concerted gating of transduction channels that maximizes the sensitivity of mechanoelectrical transduction and enhances the hair bundle's capacity to amplify its inputs.Comment: 24 pages, including 6 figures, published in 200

Parametric hazard rate models for long-term sickness absence

PURPOSE: In research on the time to onset of sickness absence and the duration of sickness absence episodes, Cox proportional hazard models are in common use. However, parametric models are to be preferred when time in itself is considered as independent variable. This study compares parametric hazard rate models for the onset of long-term sickness absence and return to work. METHOD: Prospective cohort study on sickness absence with four follow-up years of 53,830 employees working in the private sector in the Netherlands. The time to onset of long-term (>6 weeks) sickness absence and return to work were modelled by parametric hazard rate models. RESULTS: The exponential parametric model with a constant hazard rate most accurately described the time to onset of long-term sickness absence. Gompertz-Makeham models with monotonically declining hazard rates best described return to work. CONCLUSIONS: Parametric models offer more possibilities than commonly used models for time-dependent processes as sickness absence and return to work. However, the advantages of parametric models above Cox models apply mainly for return to work and less for onset of long-term sickness absence

Saddle point localization of molecular wavefunctions

The quantum mechanical description of isomerization is based on bound eigenstates of the molecular potential energy surface. For the near-minimum regions there is a textbook-based relationship between the potential and eigenenergies. Here we show how the saddle point region that connects the two minima is encoded in the eigenstates of the model quartic potential and in the energy levels of the [H, C, N] potential energy surface. We model the spacing of the eigenenergies with the energy dependent classical oscillation frequency decreasing to zero at the saddle point. The eigenstates with the smallest spacing are localized at the saddle point. The analysis of the HCN???HNC isomerization states shows that the eigenstates with small energy spacing relative to the effective (v1, v3, l) bending potentials are highly localized in the bending coordinate at the transition state. These spectroscopically detectable states represent a chemical marker of the transition state in the eigenenergy spectrum. The method developed here provides a basis for modeling characteristic patterns in the eigenenergy spectrum of bound states

Galactose Epimerase Deficiency: Expanding the Phenotype

Galactose epimerase deficiency is an inborn error of metabolism due to uridine diphosphate-galactose-4'-epimerase (GALE) deficiency. We report the clinical presentation, genetic and biochemical studies in two siblings with generalized GALE deficiency.Patient 1: The first child was born with a dysmorphic syndrome. Failure to thrive was noticed during the first year. Episodes of heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy, followed by liver failure, occurred between 12 and 42 months. The finding of a serum transferrin isoelectrofocusing (IEF) type 1 pattern led to the suspicion of a congenital disorder of glycosylation (CDG). Follow-up disclosed psychomotor disability, deafness, and nuclear cataracts.Patient 2: The sibling of patient 1 was born with short limbs and hip dysplasia. She is deceased in the neonatal period due to intraventricular hemorrhage in the context of liver failure. Investigation disclosed galactosuria and normal transferrin glycosylation.Next-generation sequence panel analysis for CDG syndrome revealed the previously reported c.280G>A (p.[V94M]) homozygous mutation in the GALE gene. Enzymatic studies in erythrocytes (patient 1) and fibroblasts (patients 1 and 2) revealed markedly reduced GALE activity confirming generalized GALE deficiency. This report describes the fourth family with generalized GALE deficiency, expanding the clinical spectrum of this disorder, since major cardiac involvement has not been reported before.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio