A Regional Modeling Study of the Entraining Mediterranean Outflow

[1] We have evaluated a regional-scale simulation of the Mediterranean outflow by comparison with field data obtained in the 1988 Gulf of Cadiz Expedition. Our ocean model is based upon the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) and includes the Richardson number-dependent entrainment parameterization of Xu et al. (2006). Given realistic topography and sufficient resolution, the model reproduces naturally the major, observed features of the Mediterranean outflow in the Gulf of Cadiz: the downstream evolution of temperature, salinity, and velocity profiles, the mean path and the spreading of the outflow plume, and most importantly, the localized, strong entrainment that has been observed to occur just west of the Strait of Gibraltar. As in all numerical solutions, there is some sensitivity to horizontal and vertical resolution. When the resolution is made coarser, the simulated currents are less vigorous and there is consequently less entrainment. Our Richardson number-dependent entrainment parameterization is therefore not recommended for direct application in coarse-resolution climate models. We have used the high-resolution regional model to investigate the response of the Mediterranean outflow to a change in the freshwater balance over the Mediterranean basin. The results are found in close agreement with the marginal sea boundary condition (MSBC): A more saline and dense Mediterranean deep water generates a significantly greater volume transport of the Mediterranean product water having only very slightly greater salinity

Willpower and Conscious Percept: Volitional Switching in Binocular Rivalry

When dissimilar images are presented to the left and right eyes, awareness switches spontaneously between the two images, such that one of the images is suppressed from awareness while the other is perceptually dominant. For over 170 years, it has been accepted that even though the periods of dominance are subject to attentional processes, we have no inherent control over perceptual switching. Here, we revisit this issue in response to evidence that top-down attention can target perceptually suppressed ‘vision for action’ representations in the dorsal stream. We investigated volitional control over rivalry between apparent motion (AM), drifting (DM) and stationary (ST) grating pairs. Observers demonstrated a remarkable ability to generate intentional switches in the AM and D conditions, but not in the ST condition. Corresponding switches in the pursuit direction of optokinetic nystagmus verified this finding objectively. We showed it is unlikely that intentional perceptual switches were triggered by saccadic eye movements, because their frequency was reduced substantially in the volitional condition and did not change around the time of perceptual switches. Hence, we propose that synergy between dorsal and ventral stream representations provides the missing link in establishing volitional control over rivalrous conscious percepts

CPT: pharmacometrics & systems pharmacology

In 2014, our research network was involved in the evaluation of favipiravir, an anti‐influenza polymerase inhibitor, against Ebola virus. In this review, we discuss how mathematical modeling was used, first to propose a relevant dosing regimen in humans, and then to optimize its antiviral efficacy in a nonhuman primate (NHP) model. The data collected in NHPs were finally used to develop a model of Ebola pathogenesis integrating the interactions among the virus, the innate and adaptive immune response, and the action of favipiravir. We conclude the review of this work by discussing how these results are of relevance for future human studies in the context of Ebola virus, but also for other emerging viral diseases for which no therapeutics are available