141 research outputs found

    Supplementary Material to Quantifying Memory and Persistence in the Atmosphere–Land/Ocean Carbon System

    Get PDF
    The Supplementary Material download gives access to 1. the Supplementary Information (SI) file; and 2. the Supplementary Data (SD) file supporting the manuscript Quantifying memory and persistence in the atmosphere–land/ocean carbon system, submitted for publication as a research article in Earth Systems Dynamics (https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-439-2022). The SI file is a PDF document. It combines ten sections which provide full explanations of the mathematics used in the manuscript or other useful information allowing to keep the manuscript short and readable. The ten sections are referred to as Supplement Information 1 to Supplement Information 10 in the manuscript. The SD file is an Excel document. It consists of 16 worksheets which are referred to as Supplement Data 1 to Supplement Data 16 in the manuscript. The introductory worksheet (Supplementary Data Guide) to the SD file provides a list of contents to guide a user through the 16 worksheets

    Quantifying memory and persistence in the atmosphere–land and ocean carbon system

    Get PDF
    Here we intend to further the understanding of the planetary burden (and its dynamics) caused by the effect of the continued increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel burning and land use as well as by global warming from a new rheological (stress–strain) perspective. That is, we perceive the emission of anthropogenic CO2 into the atmosphere as a stressor and survey the condition of Earth in stress–strain units (stress in units of Pa, strain in units of 1) – allowing access to and insight into previously unknown characteristics reflecting Earth's rheological status. We use the idea of a Maxwell body consisting of elastic and damping (viscous) elements to reflect the overall behavior of the atmosphere–land and ocean system in response to the continued increase in CO2 emissions between 1850 and 2015. Thus, from the standpoint of a global observer, we see that the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is increasing (rather quickly). Concomitantly, the atmosphere is warming and expanding, while some of the carbon is being locked away (rather slowly) in land and oceans, likewise under the influence of global warming. It is not known how reversible and how out of sync the latter process (uptake of carbon by sinks) is in relation to the former (expansion of the atmosphere). All we know is that the slower process remembers the influence of the faster one, which runs ahead. Important questions arise as to whether this global-scale memory – Earth's memory – can be identified and quantified, how it behaves dynamically, and, last but not least, how it interlinks with persistence by which we understand Earth's path dependency. We go beyond textbook knowledge by introducing three parameters that characterize the system: delay time, memory, and persistence. The three parameters depend, ceteris paribus, solely on the system's characteristic viscoelastic behavior and allow deeper and novel insights into that system. The parameters come with their own limits which govern the behavior of the atmosphere–land and ocean carbon system, independently from any external target values (such as temperature targets justified by means of global change research). We find that since 1850, the atmosphere–land and ocean system has been trapped progressively in terms of persistence (i.e., it will become progressively more difficult to relax the system), while its ability to build up memory has been reduced. The ability of a system to build up memory effectively can be understood as its ability to respond still within its natural regime or, if the build-up of memory is limited, as a measure for system failures globally in the future. Approximately 60 % of Earth's memory had already been exploited by humankind prior to 1959. Based on these stress–strain insights we expect that the atmosphere–land and ocean carbon system will be forced outside its natural regime well before 2050 if the current trend in emissions is not reversed immediately and sustainably

    Mapping global cropland field size

    Get PDF
    A new 1 km global IIASA-IFPRI cropland percentage map for the baseline year 2005 has been developed which integrates a number of individual cropland maps at global to regional to national scales. The individual map products include existing global land cover maps such as GlobCover 2005 and MODIS v.5, regional maps such as AFRICOVER and national maps from mapping agencies and other organizations. The different products are ranked at the national level using crowdsourced data from Geo-Wiki to create a map that reflects the likelihood of cropland. Calibration with national and subnational crop statistics was then undertaken to distribute the cropland within each country and subnational unit. The new IIASA-IFPRI cropland product has been validated using very high-resolution satellite imagery via Geo-Wiki and has an overall accuracy of 82.4%. It has also been compared with the EarthStat cropland product and shows a lower root mean square error on an independent data set collected from Geo-Wiki. The first ever global field size map was produced at the same resolution as the IIASA-IFPRI cropland map based on interpolation of field size data collected via a Geo-Wiki crowdsourcing campaign. A validation exercise of the global field size map revealed satisfactory agreement with control data, particularly given the relatively modest size of the field size data set used to create the map. Both are critical inputs to global agricultural monitoring in the frame of GEOGLAM and will serve the global land modelling and integrated assessment community, in particular for improving land use models that require baseline cropland information. These products are freely available for downloading from the http://cropland.geo-wiki.org website

    Lambda production in central Pb+Pb collisions at CERN-SPS energies

    Full text link
    In this paper we present recent results from the NA49 experiment for Λ\Lambda and Λˉ\bar{\Lambda} hyperons produced in central Pb+Pb collisions at 40, 80 and 158 A⋅\cdotGeV. Transverse mass spectra and rapidity distributions for Λ\Lambda are shown for all three energies. The shape of the rapidity distribution becomes flatter with increasing beam energy. The multiplicities at mid-rapidity as well as the total yields are studied as a function of collision energy including AGS measurements. The ratio Λ/π\Lambda/\pi at mid-rapidity and in 4π\pi has a maximum around 40 A⋅\cdotGeV. In addition, Λˉ\bar{\Lambda} rapidity distributions have been measured at 40 and 80 A⋅\cdotGeV, which allows to study the Λˉ\bar{\Lambda}/Λ\Lambda ratio.Comment: SQM proceedings. J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys.: submitte

    Strangeness from 20 AGeV to 158 AGeV

    Full text link
    New results from the energy scan programme of NA49, in particular kaon production at 30 AGeV and phi production at 40 and 80 AGeV are presented. The K+/pi+ ratio shows a pronounced maximum at 30 AGeV; the kaon slope parameters are constant at SPS energies. Both findings support the scenario of a phase transition at about 30 AGeV beam energy. The phi/pi ratio increases smoothly with beam energy, showing an energy dependence similar to K-/pi-. The measured particle yields can be reproduced by a hadron gas model, with chemical freeze-out parameters on a smooth curve in the T-muB plane. The transverse spectra can be understood as resulting from a rapidly expanding, locally equilibrated source. No evidence for an earlier kinetic decoupling of heavy hyperons is found.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of "Strangeness in Quark Matter 2003" (March 2003, Atlantic Beach NC, USA), to be published in Journal of Physics G. 11 pages, 14 figure

    The impact of customer-specific marketing expenses on customer retention and customer profitability

    Get PDF
    We study the effects of customer-specific marketing expenses on customer retention and customer profitability in a business-to-business setting. Using data from a company providing hygiene services, we look at the impact of a hitherto unstudied type of expense targeted at individual customer relationships: the offering of free equipment to customers. The data allow tracking the activities performed in more than 4,500 customer relationships over a period of 4 years. Retention rates are higher for customers targeted with free equipment, but this effect results from an interaction with customer size. First-order dynamic panel data analyses show that the impact of targeted marketing expenses on customer dollar profit is positive for large customers, but there is no effect for smaller customers. Thus, targeted marketing expenses seem to be a tool for relationship maintenance rather than customer development: they help in retaining large customers that generate more profit, but they do not seem to work in developing new customers into larger, more profitable ones

    Deoxygedunin, a Natural Product with Potent Neurotrophic Activity in Mice

    Get PDF
    Gedunin, a family of natural products from the Indian neem tree, possess a variety of biological activities. Here we report the discovery of deoxygedunin, which activates the mouse TrkB receptor and its downstream signaling cascades. Deoxygedunin is orally available and activates TrkB in mouse brain in a BDNF-independent way. Strikingly, it prevents the degeneration of vestibular ganglion in BDNF −/− pups. Moreover, deoxygedunin robustly protects rat neurons from cell death in a TrkB-dependent manner. Further, administration of deoxygedunin into mice displays potent neuroprotective, anti-depressant and learning enhancement effects, all of which are mediated by the TrkB receptor. Hence, deoxygedunin imitates BDNF's biological activities through activating TrkB, providing a powerful therapeutic tool for treatment of various neurological diseases
    • …
    corecore