Comment on 'High-income does not protect against hurricane losses'

Geiger et al (Environ. Res. Lett. 2016 11 084012) employ two functional relationships to characterize hurricane damage in the USA—either based on GDP (one exponent) or on per capita GDP and population (two exponents). From the Akaike Information Criterion the authors cannot reject the former kind in favor of the latter. The different approaches, however, lead to divergent projections of future hurricane losses. In this comment, we argue that there is no rigorous evidence in [1] to give preference to one or the other approach, and the conclusion that high-income does not protect against hurricane losses needs to be revisited. As a perspective, it needs to be mentioned that the previously published relationship between GDP and population could unify both approaches

Comparison of storm damage functions and their performance

Winter storms are the most costly natural hazard for European residential property. We compare four distinct storm damage functions with respect to their forecast accuracy and variability, with particular regard to the most severe winter storms. The analysis focuses on daily loss estimates under differing spatial aggregation, ranging from district to country level. We discuss the broad and heavily skewed distribution of insured losses posing difficulties for both the calibration and the evaluation of damage functions. From theoretical considerations, we provide a synthesis between the frequently discussed cubic wind–damage relationship and recent studies that report much steeper damage functions for European winter storms. The performance of the storm loss models is evaluated for two sources of wind gust data, direct observations by the German Weather Service and ERA-Interim reanalysis data. While the choice of gust data has little impact on the evaluation of German storm loss, spatially resolved coefficients of variation reveal dependence between model and data choice. The comparison shows that the probabilistic models by Heneka et al. (2006) and Prahl et al. (2012) both provide accurate loss predictions for moderate to extreme losses, with generally small coefficients of variation. We favour the latter model in terms of model applicability. Application of the versatile deterministic model by Klawa and Ulbrich (2003) should be restricted to extreme loss, for which it shows the least bias and errors comparable to the probabilistic model by Prahl et al. (2012)

Neutrino-induced deuteron disintegration experiment

Cross sections for the disintegration of the deuteron via neutral-current (NCD) and charged-current (CCD) interactions with reactor antineutrinos are measured to be 6.08 +/- 0.77 x 10^(-45) cm-sq and 9.83 +/- 2.04 x 10^(-45) cm-sq per neutrino, respectively, in excellent agreement with current calculations. Since the experimental NCD value depends upon the CCD value, if we use the theoretical value for the CCD reaction, we obtain the improved value of 5.98 +/- 0.54 x 10^(-45) for the NCD cross section. The neutral-current reaction allows a unique measurement of the isovector-axial vector coupling constant in the hadronic weak interaction (beta). In the standard model, this constant is predicted to be exactly 1, independent of the Weinberg angle. We measure a value of beta^2 = 1.01 +/- 0.16. Using the above improved value for the NCD cross section, beta^2 becomes 0.99 +/- 0.10.Comment: 22pages, 9 figure

Intimate Partner Violence in Urban, Rural, and Remote Areas: An Investigation of Offense Severity and Risk Factors

This study compared the severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the relationship between risk factors for IPV and overall risk judgements of future IPV in urban, rural and remote areas. IPV risk assessments conducted by the Swedish police between 2010 and 2014 in urban (n = 564), rural (n = 456), and remote (n = 196) areas were examined. Rurality was associated with the severity of IPV reported, as well as the presence of risk factors and their relationship to overall risk judgements. Cases in remote areas included more severe IPV as well as more risk factors

Large-Area Liquid Scintillation Detector Slab

A low-cost detector 18' x 2' x 5" has been developed for an underground cosmic ray neutrino experiment. The liquid employed is a high-clarity mineral oil-based mixture, and light is guided to the ends of the detector by total internal reflection at the surface of the Lucite container. Signals from 2 five-inch photomultipliers at each end give energy and event location for single penetrating particles, with relatively good discrimination against natural radioactivity by virtue of the substantial thickness. Data are presented on the response function of the tank, energy resolution, rates and thresholds. A number of modifications that have been tried are also described

Gut barrier-microbiota imbalances in early life lead to higher sensitivity to inflammation in a murine model of C-section delivery

Background Most interactions between the host and its microbiota occur at the gut barrier, and primary colonizers are essential in the gut barrier maturation in the early life. The mother–ofspring transmission of microorganisms is the most important factor infuencing microbial colonization in mammals, and C‑section delivery (CSD) is an impor‑ tant disruptive factor of this transfer. Recently, the deregulation of symbiotic host‑microbe interactions in early life has been shown to alter the maturation of the immune system, predisposing the host to gut barrier dysfunction and infammation. The main goal of this study is to decipher the role of the early‑life gut microbiota‑barrier alterations and its links with later‑life risks of intestinal infammation in a murine model of CSD. Results The higher sensitivity to chemically induced infammation in CSD mice is related to excessive exposure to a too diverse microbiota too early in life. This early microbial stimulus has short‑term consequences on the host homeo‑ stasis. It switches the pup’s immune response to an infammatory context and alters the epithelium structure and the mucus‑producing cells, disrupting gut homeostasis. This presence of a too diverse microbiota in the very early life involves a disproportionate short‑chain fatty acids ratio and an excessive antigen exposure across the vulnerable gut barrier in the frst days of life, before the gut closure. Besides, as shown by microbiota transfer experiments, the microbiota is causal in the high sensitivity of CSD mice to chemical‑induced colitis and in most of the phenotypical parameters found altered in early life. Finally, supplementation with lactobacilli, the main bacterial group impacted by CSD in mice, reverts the higher sensitivity to infammation in ex‑germ‑free mice colonized by CSD pups’ microbiota. Conclusions Early‑life gut microbiota‑host crosstalk alterations related to CSD could be the linchpin behind the phe‑ notypic efects that lead to increased susceptibility to an induced infammation later in life in mice. Keywords C‑section delivery, Microbiota, Primary colonization, Early life, Infammation, Gut barrier, Murine modelinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio