Climatic warming and accompanying changes in the ecological regime of the Black Sea during 1990s

The Black Sea ecosystem is shown to experience abrupt shifts in its all trophic levels from primary producers to apex predators in 1995 - 1996. It arises as a manifestation of concurrent changes in its physical climate introduced by intensive warming of its surface waters as well as abrupt increases in the mean sea level and the net annual mean fresh water flux. The warming is evident in the annual-mean sea surface temperature (SST) data by a continuous rise at a rate of similar to 0.25 degreesC per year, following a strong cooling phase in 1991 - 1993. The most intense warming event with similar to2 degreesC increase in the SST took place during winters of the 1994 - 1996 period. It also coincides with 4 cm yr(-1) net sea level rise in the basin, and substantial change in the annual mean net fresh water flux from 150 km(3) yr(-1) in 1993 to 420 km(3) yr(-1) in 1997. The subsurface signature of warming is marked by a gradual depletion of the Cold Intermediate Layer ( characterized by T \u3c 8 °C) throughout the basin during the same period. Winters of the warming phase are characterized by weaker vertical turbulent mixing and upwelling velocity, stronger stratification and, subsequently, reduced upward nutrient supply from the nutricline. From 1996 onward, the major late winter-early spring peak of the classical annual phytoplankton biomass structure observed prior to mid- 90s was, therefore, either weakened or disappeared altogether depending on local meteorological and oceanographic conditions during each of these years. The effect of bottom-up limited unfavorable phytoplankton growth is reflected at higher trophic levels (e.g., mesozooplankton, gelatinous macrozooplankton, and pelagic fishes) in the form of their reduced stocks after 1995

Modeling distinct vertical biogeochemical structure of the Black Sea: Dynamical coupling of the oxic, suboxic, and anoxic layers

A one-dimensional, vertically resolved, physical-biogeochemical model is used to provide a unified representation of the dynamically coupled oxic-suboxic-anoxic system for the interior Black Sea. The model relates the annual cycle of plankton production in the form of a series of successive phytoplankton, mesozooplankton, and higher consumer blooms to organic matter generation and to the remineralization-ammonification-nitrification-dentrification chain of the nitrogen cycle as well as to anaerobic sulfide oxidation in the suboxic-anoxic interface zone. The simulations indicate that oxygen consumption during remineralixation and nitrification, together with a lack of ventilation of subsurface waters due to the presence of strong stratification, are the two main factors limiting aerobic biogeochemical activity to the upper similar to 75 m of the water column, which approximately corresponds to the level of nitrate maximum. The position of the upper boundary and thus the thickness of the suboxic layer are controlled by upper layer biological processes. The quasi-permanent character of this layer and the stability of the suboxic-anoxic interface within the last several decades are maintained by a constant rate of nitrate supply from the nitrate maximum zone. Nitrate is consumed to, oxidize sinking particulate organic matter as well as hydrogen sulfide and ammonium transported upward from deeper levels

Emergency crowd simulation for outdoor environments

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We simulate virtual crowds in emergency situations caused by an incident, such as a fire, an explosion, or a terrorist attack. We use a continuum dynamics-based approach to simulate the escaping crowd, which produces more efficient simulations than the agent-based approaches. Only the close proximity of the incident region, which includes the crowd affected by the incident, is simulated. We use a model-based rendering approach where a polygonal mesh is rendered for each agent according to the agent's skeletal motion. To speed up the animation and visualization, we employ an offline occlusion culling technique. We animate and render a pedestrian model only if it is visible according to the static visibility information computed. In the pre-processing stage, the navigable area is decomposed into a grid of cells and the from-region visibility of these cells is computed with the help of hardware occlusion queries. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

EwE-F 1.0: an implementation of Ecopath with Ecosim in Fortran 95/2003 for coupling and integration with other models

Abstract. Societal and scientific challenges foster the implementation of the ecosystem approach to marine ecosystem analysis and management, which is a comprehensive means of integrating the direct and indirect effects of multiple stressors on the different components of ecosystems, from physical to chemical and biological and from viruses to fishes and marine mammals. Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) is a widely used software package, which offers capability for a dynamic description of the multiple interactions occurring within a food web, and, potentially, a crucial component of an integrated platform supporting the ecosystem approach. However, being written for the Microsoft .NET framework, seamless integration of this code with Fortran-based physical and/or biogeochemical oceanographic models is technically not straightforward. In this work we release a re-coding of EwE in Fortran (EwE-F). We believe that the availability of a Fortran version of EwE is an important step towards setting up coupled/integrated modelling schemes utilising this widely adopted software because it (i) increases portability of the EwE models and (ii) provides additional flexibility towards integrating EwE with Fortran-based modelling schemes. Furthermore, EwE-F might help modellers using the Fortran programming language to get close to the EwE approach. In the present work, first fundamentals of EwE-F are introduced, followed by validation of EwE-F against standard EwE utilising sample models. Afterwards, an end-to-end (E2E) ecological representation of the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea) ecosystem is presented as an example of online two-way coupling between an EwE-F food web model and a biogeochemical model. Finally, the possibilities that having EwE-F opens up are discussed

Platform work, exploitation, and migrant worker resistance: evidence from Berlin and London

For migrant workers who do not have access to other means of income, the platform economy offers a viable yet exploitative alternative to the conventional labour market. Migrant workers are used as a source of cheap labour by platforms – and yet, they are not disempowered. They are at the heart of a growing platform worker movement. Across different international contexts, migrants have played a key role in leading strikes and other forms of collective action. This article traces the struggles of migrant platform workers in Berlin and London to explore how working conditions, work experiences, and strategies for collective action are shaped at the intersection of multiple precarities along lines of employment and migration status. Combining data collected through research by the Fairwork project with participant observation and ethnography, the article argues that migrant workers are more than an exploitable resource: they are harbingers of change

Implementasi Program Wirausaha Baru Oleh Dinas Tenaga Kerja Dan Transmigrasi Dalam Mendukung Gerdu Kempling Kota Semarang Tahun 2014

The Government of Semarang through Local Regulation Number 4 of 2008 about poverty reduction in Semarang City which is an acceleration in poverty reduction efforts. The strategy called Gerdu Kempling (Integrated Health, Economy, Education, Infrastructure, and Environment ) and one of the program that is New Entrepreneur Program by Dinas Tenaga Kerja dan Transmigrasi Kota Semarang. This research was meant to find out how the implementation of New Entrepreneur Program by Dinas Tenaga Kerja Dan Transmigrasi that supports Gerdu Kempling Kota Semarang in 2014 and knowing the influence factors of this implementation. New Entrepreneur Program has been part of Gerdu Kempling starting in 2011. There are three locations in this research: Village of Bulusan, Ngadirgo and Padangsari. This research using qualitative descriptive research methods. The subject in this study consisted of eight (8) informants. The results showed that the implementation of New Entrepreneur Program are still less effective that is seen from the precision implementation aspects. The factors that influence the implementation such as the goals and basic of policy, resource policy, communication and implementation activities, the implementing agency characteristics, external conditions as well as the disposition of the implementor are still less optimal too. Based on these conclusions, the researcher recommend to the implementation agency and target of this program need high commitment and take maximal advantages for sustainable in order to achieve the purpose of this program

1 Pengaruh Mengkonsumsi Rebusan Daun Sirsak Terhadap Penurunan Nyeri Pada Penderita Gout Artritis Di Wilayah Kerja Puskesmas Pineleng

Gout artritis merupakan penyakit yang ditandai dengan nyeri yang terjadi berulang-ulang yang disebabkan adanya endapan kristal monosodium urat yang tertumpuk di dalam sendi sebagai akibat tingginya kadar asam urat di dalam darah. Mengkonsumsi rebusan daun sirsak (Anonna muricata) adalah salah satu jenis terapi nonfamakologi yang bertujuan untuk menurunkan tingkat nyeri pada penderita gout artritis karena senyawa yang terkandung dalam daun sirsak berfungsi sebagai analgetik yang mempu mengurangi nyeri gout.Tujuan penelitan ini adalah untuk menganalisis pengaruh mengkonsumsi rebusan daun sirsak terhadap penurunan nyeri pada penderita gout artritis di wilayah kerja Puskesmas Pineleng.Sampel diambil dengan menggunakan total sampling yaitu 34 orang yang memenuhi kriteria inklusi.Desain penelitian yang digunakan adalah Time Series Design dan data yang dikumpulkan dari responden menggunakan lembar observasi.Hasil penelitian uji Wilcoxon sign rank test pada hasil akhir didapatkan nilai p = 0,004 < α = 0,005 sehingga dapat diambil Kesimpulan bahwa hipotesis penelitian diterima, hal ini menunjukan bahwa ada pengaruh mengkonsumsi rebusan daun sirsak terhadap penurunan nyeri pada penderita gout artritis di wilayah kerja Puskesmas Pineleng.Saran untuk penelitian selanjutnya dapat menggunakan populasi yang lebih besar untuk hasil yang lebih akurat serta dapat mengembangkan penelitian tentang pengaruh mengkonsumsi rebusan daun sirsak terhadap variabel yang lain seperti penurunan tekanan darah pada penderita hipertensi

Ocular changes in primary hypothyroidism

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To determine the ocular changes related to hypothyrodism in newly diagnosed patients without orbitopathy.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Thirty-three patients diagnosed to have primary overt hypothyroidism were enrolled in the study. All subjects were assigned to underwent central corneal thickness (CCT), anterior chamber volume, depth and angle measurements with the Scheimpflug camera (Pentacam, Oculus) and cup to disc ratio (C/D), mean retinal thickness and mean retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurements with optical coherence tomography (OCT) in addition to ophthalmological examination preceeding the replacement therapy and at the 1^st, 3^rdand 6^thmonths of treatment.</p> <p>The mean age of the patients included in the study were 40.58 ± 1.32 years. The thyroid hormone levels return to normal levels in all patients during the follow-up period, however the mean intraocular pressure (IOP) revealed no significant change. The mean CCT was 538.05 ± 3.85 μ initially and demonstrated no statistically significant change as the anterior chamber volume, depth and angle measurements did. The mean C/D ratio was 0.29 ± 0.03 and the mean retinal thickness was 255.83 ± 19.49 μ initially and the treatment did not give rise to any significant change. The mean RNFL thickness was also stable during the control visits, so no statistically significant change was encountered.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Neither hypothyroidism, nor its replacement therapy gave rise to any change of IOP, CCT, anterior chamber parameters, RNFL, retinal thickness and C/D ratio.</p

Hydroblack 91 : report of the CTD Intercalibration Workshop

An Intercalibration Workshop was held at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (W.H.O.I.) from 1-10 December, 1991, for the CTD data acquired during HYDROBLACK '91. This intercalibration exercise was a prelude to an interdisciplinary HYDROBLACK '91 intercalibration to be held in Crimea, Ukraine, in February, 1992, incorporating the full suite of physical, biological, and chemical measurements acquired during the cruise. HYDROBLACK '91 acquired for the first time a complete hydrographic, biological, and chemical data set for the entire Black Sea, to 200 m water depth, with the participation of all Black Sea riparian countres as well as the U.S. Nearly 300 hydrographic stations were occupied to full water depth; biological and chemical measurements were made at 100 of these stations. This quasi-synoptic survey was accomplished using five ships during an interval of approximately three weeks. Results show some disparities between CTD's from the different regions, but the intercalibrated results show a consistent and high resolution detail of the dynamic topography and other physical characteristics of the entire Black Sea basin. The intercalibrated data set is now available within each country and from W.H.O.I., and will form the basis for studies on ocean physics as well as interdisciplinary issues such as oxygen depletion within the basin and hydrogen sulfide distribution. This effort provides an intercalibrated, spatially-dense baseline against which all future and past measurements can be compared. In spite of significant economic pressures arising from the changes in the eastern European countries, and the inadequate scientific exchange with the west during the past two decades, HYDROBLACK '91 is considered a success and a model for future international scientific and monitoring efforts thoughout the Black Sea. Similar efforts are anticipated twice-yearly in the framework of the new Cooperative Marine Science Program for the Black Sea.Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation through Grant No. OCE-9121788, the Vetleson Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Mobil Foundation, Inc. and the Regional Environmental Center for Central & Eastern Europe (Budapest)

Effectiveness of durvalumab versus chemotherapy in metastatic urothelial cancer: an observational, indirect comparison

Aim: To compare the overall survival of patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) who failed platinum-based chemotherapy and received durvalumab or chemotherapy. / Patients & methods: In an indirect comparison of patients with mUC who failed platinum-based chemotherapy, those who received durvalumab in a single-arm study were matched to patients from the Flatiron oncology electronic medical record database who received chemotherapy (n = 158 for each cohort). Matching was based on propensity scores. Kaplan–Meier methods and Cox regression models were utilized. / Results: Median overall survival was 11.2 months (95% CI: 7.2–16.9) for durvalumab versus 8.2 months (95% CI: 6.7–9.8) for chemotherapy (hazard ratio: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.48–0.84). / Conclusion: As a second-line therapy for mUC, durvalumab was associated with longer overall survival than chemotherapy