833 research outputs found
Liquid cloud optical property retrieval and associated uncertainties using multi-angular and bispectral measurements of the airborne radiometer OSIRIS
In remote sensing applications, clouds are generally characterized by two properties: cloud optical thickness (COT) and effective radius of
waterâice particles (Reff), as well as additionally by geometric properties when specific information is available. Most of the current
operational passive remote sensing algorithms use a mono-angular bispectral method to retrieve COT and Reff. They are based on
pre-computed lookup tables while assuming a homogeneous plane-parallel cloud layer. In this work, we use the formalism of the optimal estimation
method, applied to airborne near-infrared high-resolution multi-angular measurements, to retrieve COT and Reff as well as the corresponding
uncertainties related to the measurement errors, the non-retrieved parameters, and the cloud model assumptions. The measurements used were
acquired by the airborne radiometer OSIRIS (Observing System Including PolaRization in the Solar Infrared Spectrum), developed by the Laboratoire
d'Optique Atmosphérique. It provides multi-angular measurements at a resolution of tens of meters, which is very suitable for refining our knowledge of cloud
properties and their high spatial variability. OSIRIS is based on the POLDER (POlarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances) concept
as a prototype of the future 3MI (Multi-viewing Multi-channel Multi-polarization Imager) planned to be launched on the EUMETSAT-ESA MetOp-SG platform in 2024. The approach used allows the
exploitation of all the angular information available for each pixel to overcome the radiance angular effects. More consistent cloud properties with
lower uncertainty compared to operational mono-directional retrieval methods (traditional bispectral method) are then obtained. The framework of the
optimal estimation method also provides the possibility to estimate uncertainties of different sources. Three types of errors were evaluated:
(1)Â errors related to measurement uncertainties, which reach 6â% and 12â% for COT and Reff, respectively, (2)Â errors related to an
incorrect estimation of the ancillary data that remain below 0.5â%, and (3)Â errors related to the simplified cloud physical model assuming
independent pixel approximation. We show that not considering the in-cloud heterogeneous vertical profiles and the 3DÂ radiative transfer effects
leads to an average uncertainty of 5â% and 4â% for COT and 13â% and 9â% for Reff.</p
Use of the industrial property system in Colombia (2018): A supervised learning application
The purpose of this paper is to establish ways to predict the spatial distribution of the use of the intellectual property system from information on industrial property applications and grants (distinctive signs and new creations) and copyright registrations in 2018. This will be done using supervised learning algorithms applied to information on industrial property applications and grants (trademarks and new creations) and copyright registrations in 2018. Within the findings, 4 algorithms were identified with a level of explanation higher than 80%: (i) Linear Regression, with an elastic network regularization; (ii) Stochastic Gradient Descent, with Hinge loss function, Ringe regularization (L2) and a constant learning rate; (iii) Neural Networks, with 1,000 layers, with Adamâs solution algorithm and 2,000 iterations; (iv) Random Forest, with 10 tree
Biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and organic viticulture: A glass half-full
Organic farming is a promising but still debated option to ensure sustainable agriculture. However, whether organic farming fosters synergies or mitigates tradeoffs between biodiversity, ecosystem services and crop production has rarely been quantified. Here, we investigate relationships between multitrophic diversity (14 taxa above and belowground), yield, natural pest control and soil quality (14 proxies of ecosystem services) in organic and conventional vineyards along a landscape gradient. Organic farming enhanced biodiversity and pest control, but decreased wine production. Compared to conventional systems, multitrophic diversity was 15 % higher, and pest control services were 9 % higher in organic systems, while wine production was 11 % lower. Regardless of management type, we found a strong tradeoff between wine production and pest control, but not between wine production and biodiversity. The landscape context was not a strong moderator of organic farming effects across taxa groups and ecosystem services, but affected specific taxa and ecosystem services, especially natural pest control. Our study reveals that wine production and biodiversity conservation do not necessarily exclude each other, which implies the existence of a safe operating space where biodiversity and wine production can be combined. We conclude that organic farming can contribute to improve the sustainability of viticulture, but needs to be complemented by management options at the local and landscape scales in order to fully balance biodiversity conservation with the simultaneous provision of multiple ecosystem services.This research was funded by the research project SECBIVIT, which was funded through the 2017â2018 Belmont Forum and BiodivERsA joint call for research proposals, under the BiodivScen ERA-Net COFUND program, with the funding organizations: Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciĂłn (Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciĂłn/Spain, grant PCI2018-092938; MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033); Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (grant number I 4025-B32); Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF/Germany) (grant number 031A349I); French National Research Agency (ANR); Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO); National Science Foundation (grant #1850943); and Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development, and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI). The authors also acknowledge the support of the ECOPHYTO 2+ Plan under the grant X4IN33VI (OPERA project) as well as the support the French National Research Agency (ANR) under the grant 20-PCPA-0010 (PPR Vitae, Cultivating the grapevine without pesticides: towards agroecological wine-producing socio-ecosystems). We thank Evelyne Thys and Hugo Hernandez for their help in field sampling, Lionel Delbac for the Lobesia botrana rearing, Alexis Saintilan for identifying pollinators, and Edith Gruber for identifying earthworms
Sabotage in Contests: A Survey
A contest is a situation in which individuals expend irretrievable resources to win valuable prize(s). âSabotageâ is a deliberate and costly act of damaging a rivalâs' likelihood of winning the contest. Sabotage can be observed in, e.g., sports, war, promotion tournaments, political or marketing campaigns. In this article, we provide a model and various perspectives on such sabotage activities and review the economics literature analyzing the act of sabotage in contests. We discuss the theories and evidence highlighting the means of sabotage, why sabotage occurs, and the effects of sabotage on individual players and on overall welfare, along with possible mechanisms to reduce sabotage. We note that most sabotage activities are aimed at the ablest player, the possibility of sabotage reduces productive effort exerted by the players, and sabotage may lessen the effectiveness of public policies, such as affirmative action, or information revelation in contests. We discuss various policies that a designer may employ to counteract sabotage activities. We conclude by pointing out some areas of future research
Stratospheric aerosols from the Sarychev volcano eruption in the 2009 Arctic summer
Aerosols from the Sarychev volcano eruption (Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan) were observed in the Arctic lower stratosphere a few days after the strongest SO2 injection which occurred on 15 and 16 June 2009. From the observations provided by the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) an estimated 0.9 Tg of sulphur dioxide was injected into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). The resultant stratospheric sulphate aerosols were detected from satellites by the Optical Spectrograph and Infrared Imaging System (OSIRIS) limb sounder and by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and from the surface by the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Changes (NDACC) lidar deployed at OHP (Observatoire de Haute-Provence, France). By the first week of July the aerosol plume had spread out over the entire Arctic region. The Sarychev-induced stratospheric aerosol over the Kiruna region (north of Sweden) was measured by the Stratospheric and Tropospheric Aerosol Counter (STAC) during eight balloon flights planned in August and September 2009. During this balloon campaign the Micro RadiomĂštre Ballon (MicroRADIBAL) and the Spectroscopie d'Absorption Lunaire pour l'Observation des Minoritaires Ozone et NOx (SALOMON) remote-sensing instruments also observed these aerosols. Aerosol concentrations returned to near-background levels by spring 2010. The effective radius, the surface area density (SAD), the aerosol extinction, and the total sulphur mass from STAC in situ measurements are enhanced with mean values in the range 0.15-0.21 ÎŒm, 5.5-14.7 ÎŒm2 cm-3, 5.5-29.5 Ă 10-4 km-1, and 4.9-12.6 Ă 10-10 kg[S] kg-1[air], respectively, between 14 km and 18 km. The observed and modelled e-folding time of sulphate aerosols from the Sarychev eruption is around 70-80 days, a value much shorter than the 12-14 months calculated for aerosols from the 1991 eruption of Mt Pinatubo. The OSIRIS stratospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 750 nm is enhanced by a factor of 6, with a value of 0.02 in late July compared to 0.0035 before the eruption. The HadGEM2 and MIMOSA model outputs indicate that aerosol layers in polar region up to 14-15 km are largely modulated by stratosphere-troposphere exchange processes. The spatial extent of the Sarychev plume is well represented in the HadGEM2 model with lower altitudes of the plume being controlled by upper tropospheric troughs which displace the plume downward and upper altitudes around 18-20 km, in agreement with lidar observations. Good consistency is found between the HadGEM2 sulphur mass density and the value inferred from the STAC observations, with a maximum located about 1 km above the tropopause ranging from 1 to 2 Ă 10 -9 kg[S] kg-1[air], which is one order of magnitude higher than the background level. © Author(s) 2013.The authors thank the CNES balloon
launching team for successful operations and the Swedish Space
Corporation at Esrange. The ETHER database (CNES-INSUCNRS)
and the CNES âsous-direction Ballonâ are partners of the
project. The StraPolEt ÂŽ e project has been funded by the French ÂŽ
âAgence Nationale de la Rechercheâ (ANR-BLAN08-1-31627),
the âCentre National dâEtudes Spatialesâ (CNES), and the âInstitut ÂŽ
Polaire Paul-Emile Victorâ (IPEV). The AEROWAVE (Aerosols,
Water Vapor and Electricity) and the HALOHA (HALOgen in
High Altitudes) projects have been funded by the recently created
French CNES-INSU Balloon Committee (so-called CSTB). We are
grateful to Slimane Bekki and David Cugniet for their constructive
comments about the AER-UPMC 2-D model, to Marc-Antoine
Drouin for his help about the MIMOSA model, and to the LPC2E
technical team for this successful campaign. Jim Haywood and
Andy Jones were supported by the Joint DECC/Defra Met Office
Hadley Centre Climate Programme (GA01101). IASI was developed
and built under the responsibility of the Centre National
dâEtudes Spatiales (CNES, France). It is flown on board the Metop ÂŽ
satellites as part of the EUMETSAT Polar System. The IASI L1
data are received through the EUMETCast near-real-time data
distribution service. L. Clarisse is a postdoctoral researcher with
FRS-FNRS. We acknowledge the CALIOP team for acquiring
and processing data as well as the ICARE team for providing and
maintaining the computational facilities to store them. Odin is a
Swedish-led satellite project funded jointly by Sweden (SNSB),
Canada (CSA), France (CNES), and Finland (Tekes). This study
was supported by the French VOLTAIRE Labex (Laboratoire
dâExcellence ANR-10-LABX-100-01) managed by the University
of Orleans
Evaluation of the limitations and methods to improve rapid phage-based detection of viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in the blood of experimentally infected cattle
Background
Disseminated infection and bacteraemia is an underreported and under-researched aspect of Johneâs disease. This is mainly due to the time it takes for Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) to grow and lack of sensitivity of culture. Viable MAP cells can be detected in the blood of cattle suffering from Johneâs disease within 48 h using peptide-mediated magnetic separation (PMMS) followed by bacteriophage amplification. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the first detection of MAP in the blood of experimentally exposed cattle using the PMMS-bacteriophage assay and to compare these results with the immune response of the animal based on serum ELISA and shedding of MAP by faecal culture.
Results
Using the PMMS-phage assay, seven out of the 19 (37 %) MAP-exposed animals that were tested were positive for viable MAP cells although very low numbers of MAP were detected. Two of these animals were positive by faecal culture and one was positive by serum ELISA. There was no correlation between PMMS-phage assay results and the faecal and serum ELISA results. None of the control animals (10) were positive for MAP using any of the four detection methods. Investigations carried out into the efficiency of the assay; found that the PMMS step was the limiting factor reducing the sensitivity of the phage assay. A modified method using the phage assay directly on isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (without PMMS) was found to be superior to the PMMS isolation step.
Conclusions
This proof of concept study has shown that viable MAP cells are present in the blood of MAP-exposed cattle prior to the onset of clinical signs. Although only one time point was tested, the ability to detect viable MAP in the blood of subclinically infected animals by the rapid phage-based method has the potential to increase the understanding of the pathogenesis of Johneâs disease progression by warranting further research on the presence of MAP in blood
The Co-Regulation of Emotions Between Mothers and their Children with Autism
Thirty-four toddlers with autism and their mothers participated in an early intervention targeting joint engagement. Across the 24 intervention sessions, any significant distress episode in the child was coded for emotion regulation outcomes including child negativity, child emotion self-regulation, and mother emotion co-regulation. Results revealed that emotion regulation strategies by both mother and child were employed during distress episodes. An effect of intervention was found such that children decreased their expression of negativity across the intervention and mothers increased their emotional and motivational scaffolding. The results of this study indicate a positive effect of an intervention targeting joint engagement on emotion co-regulation outcomes
Ocean Drilling Perspectives on Meteorite Impacts
Extraterrestrial impacts that reshape the surfaces of rocky bodies are ubiquitous in the solar system. On early Earth, impact structures may have nurtured the evolution of life. More recently, a large meteorite impact off the YucatĂĄn Peninsula in Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous caused the disappearance of 75% of species known from the fossil record, including non-avian dinosaurs, and cleared the way for the dominance of mammals and the eventual evolution of humans. Understanding the fundamental processes associated with impact events is critical to understanding the history of life on Earth, and the potential for life in our solar system and beyond.
Scientific ocean drilling has generated a large amount of unique data on impact pro- cesses. In particular, the YucatĂĄn Chicxulub impact is the single largest and most sig- nificant impact event that can be studied by sampling in modern ocean basins, and marine sediment cores have been instrumental in quantifying its environmental, cli- matological, and biological effects. Drilling in the Chicxulub crater has significantly advanced our understanding of fundamental impact processes, notably the formation of peak rings in large impact craters, but these data have also raised new questions to be addressed with future drilling. Within the Chicxulub crater, the nature and thickness of the melt sheet in the central basin is unknown, and an expanded Paleocene hemipelagic section would provide insights to both the recovery of life and the climatic changes that followed the impact. Globally, new cores collected from todayâs central Pacific could directly sample the downrange ejecta of this northeast-southwest trending impact.
Extraterrestrial impacts have been controversially suggested as primary drivers for many important paleoclimatic and environmental events throughout Earth history. However, marine sediment archives collected via scientific ocean drilling and geo- chemical proxies (e.g., osmium isotopes) provide a long-term archive of major impact events in recent Earth history and show that, other than the end-Cretaceous, impacts do not appear to drive significant environmental changes
Probing the hydrothermal system of the Chicxulub impact crater
The ~180-km-diameter Chicxulub peak-ring crater and ~240-km multiring basin, produced by the impact that terminated the Cretaceous, is the largest remaining intact impact basin on Earth. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Expedition 364 drilled to a depth of 1335 m below the sea floor into the peak ring, providing a unique opportunity to study the thermal and chemical modification of Earthâs crust caused by the impact. The recovered core shows the crater hosted a spatially extensive hydrothermal system that chemically and mineralogically modified ~1.4 Ă 105 km3 of Earthâs crust, a volume more than nine times that of the Yellowstone Caldera system. Initially, high temperatures of 300° to 400°C and an independent geomagnetic polarity clock indicate the hydrothermal system was long lived, in excess of 106 years
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