Antarctic station-based seasonal pressure reconstructions since 1905: 2. Variability and trends during the twentieth century

The Antarctic seasonal station-based pressure reconstructions evaluated in our companion paper are evaluated here to provide additional knowledge on Antarctic pressure variability during the twentieth century. In the period from 1905 to 1956, we find that the Hadley Centre gridded sea level pressure data set compared the best with our reconstructions, perhaps due to similar methods to estimate pressure without direct observations. The primary focus on the twentieth century Antarctic pressure variability was in summer and winter, as these were the seasons with the highest reconstruction skill. In summer, there is considerable interannual variability that was spatially uniform across all of Antarctica. Notable high pressure anomalies were found in the summers of 1911/1912 and 1925/1926; both summers correspond to negative phases of the Southern Annular Mode as well as El Niño events in the tropical Pacific. In addition, negative summer pressure trends during the last ~40 years across all of Antarctica are unique in the context of 30 year trends throughout the entire twentieth century, suggesting a strong component of anthropogenic forcing on the recent summer trends. In contrast, mean winter pressure is less variable from year to year during the early twentieth century, and there is less similarity between the pressure variations along the Antarctic Peninsula compared to the rest of the continent. No significant pressure trends were found consistently across all Antarctica (although some significant regional trends can be identified), and low-frequency, multidecadal-scale variability appears to dominate the historical pressure variations in this season

Antarctic Station Based Seasonal Pressure Reconstructions Since 1905, Part 1: Reconstruction Evaluation

Seasonal mean Antarctic pressures at 17 stations are reconstructed based on the method of principal component regression, employing midlatitude pressure data as predictors. Several reconstruction methods were performed in order to assess the stability and reliability of the reconstructions obtained, including performing the reconstructions over a shorter 30 year window and withholding the remaining data for an independent validation. Generally, there were small differences between the various approaches, but typically reconstructions conducted on data with the trends still present and over the full period of observations achieved the highest skill. Seasonally, reconstruction skill was high in austral summer across the entire Antarctic continent. Reconstructions that employed gridded pressure data over oceans as well as the observations (here termed “pseudoreconstructions”) also performed remarkably well in austral winter. Spatially, the reconstruction skill was highest near the Antarctic Peninsula in all seasons, and weakest in coastal East Antarctica and the Antarctic Interior during austral spring and autumn; the spatial variability of the skill in part reflects the distance to the nearest midlatitude predictor. Nonetheless, for nearly all seasons and locations the observed trends since 1957 were well captured by the reconstructions, as was the low-frequency decadal-scale variability. These results suggest Antarctic pressure observations can be extended throughout the twentieth century with high confidence, especially in summer, allowing for a more precise understanding of the role and magnitude of natural atmospheric circulation variability across Antarctica

TCTAP A-046 Comparison of Two-and Three-dimensional Quantitative Coronary Angiography to Intravascular Ultrasound in the Assessment of Left Main Bifurcation Lesions

Sexual transmission is the primary route of HIV-1 infection, and DC subsets are thought to be involved in viral dissemination to T cells. In the genital mucosa, two main subsets of DCs are present: epithelial LCs capture and degrade HIV-1 through C-type lectin Langerin, whereas subepithelial DCs express DC-SIGN, which facilitates HIV-1 transmission to T cells. As there is currently no HIV-1 vaccine availab

Public rules about using and owning real estate in Cuba

The discussion on urban land continues to be absent in most of the specialized Cuban literature about planning and economic policies, despite its relevance. In very thorough essays about the present challenges and future development of the Cuban economy, nothing is said about the need for adequate public land policies and the implementation of public value capture mechanisms as part of the economic development of the country. The issue is complex, there is a void of almost half a century of not dealing with land value, but these reasons are not sufficient to justify the continued lack of vision in this direction, all the more when the Cuban cities are in desperate need to reverse the deterioration and stagnation that affects them. The Cuban state determines the general rules under which citizens and organisations may own and use real estate. These are rules about property rights and about the limitations - in compliance with aspects such as state security, environmental and heritage protection, economic development, social equity and human and civil rights – on exercising those rights. In doing this, the Cuban state is no different from other states: most states make such rules and enforce them when necessary. What is particular to Cuba is the content of those rules. In particular, the Cuban state has the monopoly to perform land development and management. There are public institutions to plan and deal with all of these aspects, and there are no recognised real estate markets in the country. Another important aspect is the utmost importance given to planning. But in spite of this, Cuban urban planners have rarely been certain of what will be built and where. The main reason for this may be that, despite the numerous master plans to study and anticipate development trends, most of the decisions ultimately involve top officials who envision the projects and establish the investment priorities according to the public interests or needs and the historical moment, irrespective of the plans. This article intends to give a clear picture of how things are done in the public sector, how the administration works, and under which legal framework. I will look at the physical planning system and its importance in the location and implementation of land use, investment projects and housing programs, and at the legal procedures that include licenses for construction, demolition, habitat and other licenses for heritage conservation and redevelopment. I will analyze the difficulties faced by the Cuban planning and legal system with respect to land and urban development, in the attempt to understand the limits imposed by the government on land and urban development, and I will explore to what extent those limits are to blame for the increasing irregularities and violations at all levels of the formal procedures for land and property. I will also introduce the public and personal rights concerning housing, buying and selling, permutes, donations and other tenure alternatives; and clarify the civil responsibilities, namely types of ownership, properties, property registers and so forth in order to expose the opportunities and accessibility of the system but also its limitations

Functional Requirements for Assistive Technology for People with Cognitive Impairments and Dementia

The amount of technological aids on the market to support people in their everyday functioning is increasing. For example mobile telephone, electronic diary, skyping and domotics. Many of these aids are too complicated to operate for people with cognitive impairments, like dementia. For technology to be practicable and useful for them, it will have to meet certain requirements. This paper addresses the needs and impairments of people with dementia, and the functional requirements for assistive technology for people with dementia. © 2012 Springer-Verlag

Opening the GATE : systems thinking from the global assistive technology alliance

Purpose: This paper describes international actions to collaborate in the assistive technology (AT) arena and provides an update of programmes supporting AT globally. Methods: The World Health Organisation (WHO) identifies the severe global uneven distribution of resources, expertise and extensive unmet need for AT, as well the optimistic substantial capability for innovations and developments in appropriate and sustainable AT design, development and delivery. Systems thinking and market shaping are identified as means to address these challenges and leverage the ingenuity and expertise of AT stakeholders. Results: This paper is a ‘call to action’, showcasing emerging AT networks as exemplars of a distributed, but integrated mechanism for addressing AT needs globally, and describing the Global Alliance of Assistive Technology Organisations (GAATO) as a vehicle to facilitate this global networking. Conclusion: Partners in this Global Alliance aim to advance the field of assistive technology by promoting shared research, policy advocacy, educating people and organisations within and outside the field, teaching, training and knowledge transfer by pulling together broad-based membership organisations

New Results for the Correlation Functions of the Ising Model and the Transverse Ising Chain

In this paper we show how an infinite system of coupled Toda-type nonlinear differential equations derived by one of us can be used efficiently to calculate the time-dependent pair-correlations in the Ising chain in a transverse field. The results are seen to match extremely well long large-time asymptotic expansions newly derived here. For our initial conditions we use new long asymptotic expansions for the equal-time pair correlation functions of the transverse Ising chain, extending an old result of T.T. Wu for the 2d Ising model. Using this one can also study the equal-time wavevector-dependent correlation function of the quantum chain, a.k.a. the q-dependent diagonal susceptibility in the 2d Ising model, in great detail with very little computational effort.Comment: LaTeX 2e, 31 pages, 8 figures (16 eps files). vs2: Two references added and minor changes of style. vs3: Corrections made and reference adde

Assessment of resolution and intercenter reproducibility of results of genotyping Staphylococcus aureus by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of SmaI macrorestriction fragments: a multicenter study

Twenty well-characterized isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were used to study the optimal resolution and interlaboratory reproducibility of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of DNA macrorestriction fragments. Five identical isolates (one PFGE type), 5 isolates that produced related PFGE subtypes, and 10 isolates with unique PFGE patterns were analyzed blindly in 12 different laboratories by in-house protocols. In several laboratories a standardized PFGE protocol with a commercial kit was applied successfully as well. Eight of the centers correctly identified the genetic homogeneity of the identical isolates by both the in-house and standard protocols. Four of 12 laboratories failed to produce interpretable data by the standardized protocol, due to technical problems (primarily plug preparation). With the five rel

Defective removal of ribonucleotides from DNA promotes systemic autoimmunity

Genome integrity is continuously challenged by the DNA damage that arises during normal cell metabolism. Biallelic mutations in the genes encoding the genome surveillance enzyme ribonuclease H2 (RNase H2) cause Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS), a pediatric disorder that shares features with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Here we determined that heterozygous parents of AGS patients exhibit an intermediate autoimmune phenotype and demonstrated a genetic association between rare RNASEH2 sequence variants and SLE. Evaluation of patient cells revealed that SLE- and AGS-associated mutations impair RNase H2 function and result in accumulation of ribonucleotides in genomic DNA. The ensuing chronic low level of DNA damage triggered a DNA damage response characterized by constitutive p53 phosphorylation and senescence. Patient fibroblasts exhibited constitutive upregulation of IFN-stimulated genes and an enhanced type I IFN response to the immunostimulatory nucleic acid polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid and UV light irradiation, linking RNase H2 deficiency to potentiation of innate immune signaling. Moreover, UV-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer formation was markedly enhanced in ribonucleotide-containing DNA, providing a mechanism for photosensitivity in RNase H2-associated SLE. Collectively, our findings implicate RNase H2 in the pathogenesis of SLE and suggest a role of DNA damage-associated pathways in the initiation of autoimmunity