Atlas of the global distribution of atmospheric heating during the global weather experiment

Global distributions of atmospheric heating for the annual cycle of the Global Weather Experiment are estimated from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Level 3b data set. Distributions of monthly, seasonally, and annually averaged heating are presented for isentropic and isobaric layers within the troposphere and for the troposphere as a whole. The distributions depict a large-scale structure of atmospheric heating that appears spatially and temporally consistent with known features of the global circulation and the seasonal evolution

Aging, Emotion, Attention, and Binding in the Taboo Stroop Task: Data and Theories.

How does aging impact relations between emotion, memory, and attention? To address this question, young and older adults named the font colors of taboo and neutral words, some of which recurred in the same font color or screen location throughout two color-naming experiments. The results indicated longer color-naming response times (RTs) for taboo than neutral base-words (taboo Stroop interference); better incidental recognition of colors and locations consistently associated with taboo versus neutral words (taboo context-memory enhancement); and greater speed-up in color-naming RTs with repetition of color-consistent than color-inconsistent taboo words, but no analogous speed-up with repetition of location-consistent or location-inconsistent taboo words (the consistency type by repetition interaction for taboo words). All three phenomena remained constant with aging, consistent with the transmission deficit hypothesis and binding theory, where familiar emotional words trigger age-invariant reactions for prioritizing the binding of contextual features to the source of emotion. Binding theory also accurately predicted the interaction between consistency type and repetition for taboo words. However, one or more aspects of these phenomena failed to support the inhibition deficit hypothesis, resource capacity theory, or socio-emotional selectivity theory. We conclude that binding theory warrants further test in a range of paradigms, and that relations between aging and emotion, memory, and attention may depend on whether the task and stimuli trigger fast-reaction, involuntary binding processes, as in the taboo Stroop paradigm

Source parameters of moderate size earthquakes and the importance of receiver crustal structure in interpreting observations of local earthquakes

Broadband observations of three central California earthquakes as recorded on opposite sides of the San Andreas fault zone are studied. The earthquake mechanisms are of the strike-slip type occurring along the fault at epicentral distances between 15 and 30 km. The seismograms obtained at the two sites are distinctly dissimilar in both amplitude and wave shape even though they are at roughly the same azimuth. We suppose that the earthquake excitation is identical for the two sites and that the differences in seismograms are caused by the receiver structure. The problem is idealized by assuming that the first 10 sec of each record can be modeled synthetically with a point shear dislocation embedded in a half-space with a two-layer upper-crustal model appropriate for each site. The results determined by matching the observations indicate that the durations for these events with M_L = 4 to 5 are about 0.3 to 0.6 sec. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that accurate estimate of source parameters can only be accomplished after a detailed appreciation of crustal structure

Blue Crab Larval Dispersion and Retention in the Mississippi Bight

A conceptual hypothesis relating physical forcing to dispersion and retention was developed for blue crab larvae within the Mississippi Eight. The spawning period for blue crabs in the northern Gulf of Mexico is protracted. Hatching of eggs occurs near the barrier islands and mouths of coastal bays from March through October. Larvae are released on ebbing tides and spend the next 30 to 50 d offshore where they develop through seven zoeal stages before undergoing metamorphosis to megalopae. Duration of the megalopal stage is variable but generally persists from 6 to 20 d. Blue crabs recruit to Gulf estuaries as megalopae. During the critical planktonic phase in their life history, larvae are subject to the vagaries of seasonal circulation patterns which can either return them to nearshore where they can successfully settle, or lose them at sea. Archived currents from a 3-dimensional, primitive equation, sigma-coordinate model of the Gulf of Mexico, driven by climatological winds and damped to surface salinity and temperature, were used to study advection of blue crab larvae in the Mississippi Eight. Data suggest that seasonal circulation patterns driven by average wind stress provide a window of opportunity for blue crab larval dispersion offshore and return nearshore during the appropriate period in their development for settlement as megalopae. in the Mississippi Eight, this window usually occurs between April and October. Large basin-scale events, such as Loop Current intrusions and spin-off eddy generation, may interrupt this circulation pattern and change the settlement success rate. Variations in the seasonal forcing, due to anomalous winds, or basin-scale events may contribute to fluctuations in levels of harvestable adult blue crabs

Climate-related hydrological regimes and their effects on abundance of juvenile blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico

The abundance of juvenile blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico was investigated in response to climate-related hydrological regimes. Two distinct periods of blue crab abundance (1, 1973–94 and 2, 1997–2005) were associated with two opposite climaterelated hydrological regimes. Period 1 was characterized by high numbers of crabs, whereas period 2 was characterized by low numbers of crabs. The cold phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and high north-south wind momentum were associated with period 1. Hydrological conditions associated with phases of the AMO and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) in conjunction with the north-south wind momentum may favor blue crab productivity by influencing blue crab predation dynamics through the exclusion of predators. About 25% (22–28%) of the variability in blue crab abundance was explained by a north–south wind momentum in concert with either salinity, precipitation, or the Palmer drought severity index, or by a combination of the NAO and preci

Flora and Phytogeographical History of Ledges State Park, Boone County, Iowa

The Ledges State Park flora includes 437 species of vascular plants, several of which are unusual for central Iowa. The flora is surprisingly diverse considering its western location. The current distributions and occurrences of plants in the Ledges suggest the influence of historic plant migrations. The Ledges flora is composed of three elements, eastern mesophytic species, southern zerophytic species and northern boreal species. The dissected topography of the Ledges State Park has allowed boreal species, relics of northern forests, to persist in the protected canyon habitats

Upwelling in the Humboldt Coastal Current near Valparaiso, Chile

In December, 1975, an upwelling study was conducted at Punta Curaumilla near Valparaiso, Chile. Previous work (Silva, 1973) had indicated a zone of relatively intense upwelling around this point of land. In the present study , a bathythermograph survey confirmed the presence of the intensification, identified as a tongue of cool water extending seaward and equatorward of the point. Following Arthur\u27s (1965) scale analysis it is suggested that the acceleration of relative vorticity past the point of land is responsible for intensification...

Association between 5-Year clinical outcome in patients with nonmedically evacuated mild blast traumatic brain injury and clinical measures collected within 7 days postinjury in combat

Importance: Although previous work has examined clinical outcomes in combat-deployed veterans, questions remain regarding how symptoms evolve or resolve following mild blast traumatic brain injury (TBI) treated in theater and their association with long-term outcomes. Objective: To characterize 5-year outcome in patients with nonmedically evacuated blast concussion compared with combat-deployed controls and understand what clinical measures collected acutely in theater are associated with 5-year outcome. Design, Setting, and Participants: A prospective, longitudinal cohort study including 45 service members with mild blast TBI within 7 days of injury (mean 4 days) and 45 combat deployed nonconcussed controls was carried out. Enrollment occurred in Afghanistan at the point of injury with evaluation of 5-year outcome in the United States. The enrollment occurred from March to September 2012 with 5-year follow up completed from April 2017 to May 2018. Data analysis was completed from June to July 2018. Exposures: Concussive blast TBI. All patients were treated in theater, and none required medical evacuation. Main Outcomes and Measures: Clinical measures collected in theater included measures for concussion symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression symptoms, balance performance, combat exposure intensity, cognitive performance, and demographics. Five-year outcome evaluation included measures for global disability, neurobehavioral impairment, PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, and 10 domains of cognitive function. Forward selection multivariate regression was used to determine predictors of 5-year outcome for global disability, neurobehavior impairment, PTSD, and cognitive function. Results: Nonmedically evacuated patients with concussive blast injury (n = 45; 44 men, mean [SD] age, 31 [5] years) fared poorly at 5-year follow-up compared with combat-deployed controls (n = 45; 35 men; mean [SD] age, 34 [7] years) on global disability, neurobehavioral impairment, and psychiatric symptoms, whereas cognitive changes were unremarkable. Acute predictors of 5-year outcome consistently identified TBI diagnosis with contribution from acute concussion and mental health symptoms and select measures of cognitive performance depending on the model for 5-year global disability (area under the curve following bootstrap validation [AUCBV] = 0.79), neurobehavioral impairment (correlation following bootstrap validation [RBV] = 0.60), PTSD severity (RBV = 0.36), or cognitive performance (RBV = 0.34). Conclusions and Relevance: Service members with concussive blast injuries fared poorly at 5-year outcome. The results support a more focused acute screening of mental health following TBI diagnosis as strong indicators of poor long-term outcome. This extends prior work examining outcome in patients with concussive blast injury to the larger nonmedically evacuated population