7,206 research outputs found
Climate-Vegetation-Feedbacks as a Mechanism for Accelerated Climate Change: The onset of the African Humid Period
Paleo-environmental records and models indicate that the African Humid Period (AHPabruptly ended about 5000-4000 years before present (BP). Some proxies indicate alsan abrupt onset of the AHP between 14,000 and 11,000 BP. How important are local orbitaforcing, ice-sheet forcing, greenhouse gas forcing, and the reorganization of the AtlantiMeridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) for changes in the African Monsoon/vegetatiosystem? Here we use transient simulations with climate-vegetation models of differencomplexity to identify the factors that control the onset of the African Monsoon/VegetationWe test the following hypothesis:(1) There is no indication for insolation-thresholds for the onset/break of the AHP.(2) Forcing from CO2/ice-sheets significantly controls the climate of North Africa.(3) CO2 fertilization contributes to the vegetation changes over North Africa.(4) A shutdown of the AMOC is as important as orbital insolation for the African Monsoon
Si-induced superconductivity and structural transformations in DyRh4B4
DyRh4B4 has been known to crystallize in the primitive tetragonal
(pt)-structure and to exhibit a ferromagnetic transition at 12 K, the highest
magnetic transition temperature in the entire series of the RRh4B4 materials
[1]. We show here that our silicon-added samples of the nominal composition
DyRh4B4Si0.2 exhibit superconductivity below Tc ~ 4.5 K and an
antiferromagnetic transition below TN ~ 2.7 K. The 12 K transition observed in
the pt-DyRh4B4 is completely suppressed. Our annealed samples mainly consist of
domains of the chemical composition DyRh3.9B4.2Si0.08. These domains contain
two crystallographic phases belonging to the body-centred tetragonal
(bct)-structure and the orthorhombic (o)-structure. We have reasons to suggest
that superconductivity and antiferromagnetic ordering arise from bct- DyRh4B4
phase and, therefore, coexist below TN ~ 2.7 K.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in Journal of Alloys
and Compound
Atlantic CFC data in CARINA
Water column data of carbon and carbon-relevant parameters have been collected and merged into
a new database called CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). In order to provide a consistent data set, all data
have been examined for systematic biases and adjusted if necessary (secondary quality control (QC)). The
CARINA data set is divided into three regions: the Arctic/Nordic Seas, the Atlantic region and the Southern
Ocean. Here we present the CFC data for the Atlantic region, including the chlorofluorocarbons CFC-11,
CFC-12 and CFC-113 as well as carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). The methods applied for the secondary quality
control, a crossover analyses, the investigation of CFC ratios in the ocean and the CFC surface saturation are
presented. Based on the results, the CFC data of some cruises are adjusted by a certain factor or given a “poor”
quality flag
Three body problem in a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate
We derive the explicit three body contact potential for a dilute condensed
Bose gas from microscopic theory. The three body coupling constant exhibits the
general form predicted by T.T. Wu [Phys. Rev. 113, 1390 (1959)] and is
determined in terms of the amplitudes of two and three body collisions in
vacuum. In the present form the coupling constant becomes accessible to
quantitative studies which should provide the crucial link between few body
collisions and the stability of condensates with attractive two body forces
The QSO evolution derived from the HBQS and other complete QSO surveys
An ESO Key programme dedicated to an Homogeneous Bright QSO Survey (HBQS) has
been completed. 327 QSOs (Mb<-23, 0.3<z<2.2) have been selected over 555 deg^2
with 15<B<18.75. For B<16.4 the QSO surface density turns out to be a factor
2.2 higher than what measured by the PG survey, corresponding to a surface
density of 0.013+/-.006 deg^{-2}. If the Edinburgh QSO Survey is included, an
overdensity of a factor 2.5 is observed, corresponding to a density of
0.016+/-0.005 deg^{-2}. In order to derive the QSO optical luminosity function
(LF) we used Monte Carlo simulations that take into account of the selection
criteria, photometric errors and QSO spectral slope distribution. The LF can be
represented with a Pure Luminosity Evolution (L(z)\propto(1+z)^k) of a two
power law both for q_0=0.5 and q_0=0.1. For q_0=0.5 k=3.26, slower than the
previous Boyle's (1992) estimations of k=3.45. A flatter slope beta=-3.72 of
the bright part of the LF is also required. The observed overdensity of bright
QSOs is concentrated at z<0.6. It results that in the range 0.3<z<0.6 the
luminosity function is flatter than observed at higher redshifts. In this
redshift range, for Mb<-25, 32 QSOs are observed instead of 19 expected from
our best-fit PLE model. This feature requires a luminosity dependent luminosity
evolution in order to satisfactorily represent the data in the whole 0.3<z<2.2
interval.Comment: Invited talk in "Wide Field Spectroscopy" (20-24 May 1996, Athens),
eds. M. Kontizas et al. 6 pages and 3 eps figures, LaTex file, uses epfs.sty
and crckapb.sty (included
A linear method for the retrieval of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence from GOME-2 and SCIAMACHY data
Global retrievals of near-infrared sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF)
have been achieved in the last few years by means of a number of space-borne
atmospheric spectrometers. Here, we present a new retrieval method for medium
spectral resolution instruments such as the Global Ozone Monitoring
Experiment-2 (GOME-2) and the SCanning Imaging Absorption SpectroMeter for
Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY). Building upon the previous work by
Guanter et al. (2013) and Joiner et al. (2013), our approach provides a
solution for the selection of the number of free parameters. In particular, a
backward elimination algorithm is applied to optimize the number of
coefficients to fit, which reduces also the retrieval noise and selects the
number of state vector elements automatically. A sensitivity analysis with
simulated spectra has been utilized to evaluate the performance of our
retrieval approach. The method has also been applied to estimate SIF at 740 nm
from real spectra from GOME-2 and for the first time, from SCIAMACHY. We find
a good correspondence of the absolute SIF values and the spatial patterns from
the two sensors, which suggests the robustness of the proposed retrieval
method. In addition, we compare our results to existing SIF data sets, examine
uncertainties and use our GOME-2 retrievals to show empirically the relatively
low sensitivity of the SIF retrieval to cloud contamination
Motion Deblurring in the Wild
The task of image deblurring is a very ill-posed problem as both the image
and the blur are unknown. Moreover, when pictures are taken in the wild, this
task becomes even more challenging due to the blur varying spatially and the
occlusions between the object. Due to the complexity of the general image model
we propose a novel convolutional network architecture which directly generates
the sharp image.This network is built in three stages, and exploits the
benefits of pyramid schemes often used in blind deconvolution. One of the main
difficulties in training such a network is to design a suitable dataset. While
useful data can be obtained by synthetically blurring a collection of images,
more realistic data must be collected in the wild. To obtain such data we use a
high frame rate video camera and keep one frame as the sharp image and frame
average as the corresponding blurred image. We show that this realistic dataset
is key in achieving state-of-the-art performance and dealing with occlusions
The spectrum of phenotypes associated with mutations in steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1, NR5A1, Ad4BP) includes severe penoscrotal hypospadias in 46,XY males without adrenal insufficiency
OBJECTIVE. Hypospadias is a frequent congenital anomaly but in most cases an underlying cause is not found. Steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1, NR5A1, Ad4BP) is a key regulator of human sex development and an increasing number of SF-1 (NR5A1) mutations are reported in 46,XY disorders of sex development (DSD). We hypothesized that NR5A1 mutations could be identified in boys with hypospadias.
DESIGN AND METHODS. Mutational analysis of NR5A1 in 60 individuals with varying degrees of hypospadias from the German DSD network.
RESULTS. Heterozygous NR5A1 mutations were found in three out of 60 cases. These three individuals represented the most severe end of the spectrum studied as they presented with penoscrotal hypospadias, variable androgenization of the phallus and undescended testes (three out of 20 cases (15%) with this phenotype). Testosterone was low in all three patients and inhibin B/anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) were low in two patients. Two patients had a clear male gender assignment. Gender re-assignment to male occurred in the third case. Two patients harbored heterozygous nonsense mutations (p.Q107X/WT, p.E11X/WT). One patient had a heterozygous splice site mutation in intron 2 (c.103-3A/WT) predicted to disrupt the main DNA-binding motif. Functional studies of the nonsense mutants showed impaired transcriptional activation of an SF-1-responsive promoter (Cyp11a). To date, adrenal insufficiency has not occurred in any of the patients.
CONCLUSIONS. SF-1 (NR5A1) mutations should be considered in 46,XY individuals with severe (penoscrotal) hypospadias, especially if undescended testes, low testosterone, or low inhibin B/AMH levels are present. SF-1 mutations in milder forms of idiopathic hypospadias are unlikely to be common
- …