An intercomparison of intraseasonal variability in general circulation models and observations

Low frequency oscillations appearing in three GCM seasonal cycle integrations are compared with the analyses of the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF). All three models have the same resolution: 4 deg latitude by 5 deg longitude, with 9 levels. The dominant phase speeds and the differential vertical structure of the heating profiles in the GCMs are in general agreement with current theory involving the positive feedback between latent heating and moist static stability. All three GCMs fail to capture the detailed evolution in the different stages of the development and decay of the oscillation. The results suggest that an improvement in the boundary layer moisture processes may be crucial for a better simulation of the oscillation

Role of sea ice on satellite-observed chlorophyll-a concentration variations during spring bloom in the East/Japan sea

The relationship between the spring bloom along the Primorye coast and the sea ice of the Tatarskiy Strait in the northern region of the East/Japan Sea, a semi-enclosed marginal sea in the North Pacific, was investigated using the ten-year SeaWiFS chlorophyll-a concentration data and DMSP/SSMI sea ice concentration data from 1998 to 2007. Year-to-year variations in the chlorophyll-a concentrations in the spring were positively correlated with those of the sea ice concentrations in the Tatarskiy Strait in the previous winter with a correlation coefficient of 0.77. Abrupt increases in nutrients, essential for the spring bloom in the upper ocean during spring, were supplied from sea ice-melted waters. Time series of vertical distributions of the nutrients indicated that phosphate concentrations were extremely elevated in the upper ocean (less than 100 m) without any connection to high concentrations in the deep waters below. The water mass from sea ice provided preferable conditions for the spring bloom through changes in the vertical stratification structure of the water columns. Along-coast ratios of stability parameters between two neighboring months clearly showed the rapid progression of the generation of a shallow pycnocline due to fresh water originating from sea ice. This study addressed the importance of the physical environment for biogeochemical processes in semi-enclosed marginal seas affected by local sea ice. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.1166Ysciescopu

Characterisation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa related to bovine mastitis

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the causative pathogens of bovine mastitis. Most P. aeruginosa strains possess the type III secretion system (TTSS), which may increase somatic cell counts (SCCs) in milk from mastitis-affected cows. Moreover, most of P. aeruginosa cells can form biofilms, thereby reducing antibiotic efficacy. In this study, the presence and effect of TTSS-related genotypes on increase of SCCs among 122 P. aeruginosa isolates obtained from raw milk samples from mastitis-affected cows and their antibiotic susceptibility at planktonic and biofilm status were investigated. Based on the presence of TTSS-related genes a total of 82.7% of the isolates were found to harbour exoU and/or exoS genes, including the invasive (exoU-/exoS+, 69.4%), cytotoxic (exoU+/exoS-, 8.3%) and cytotoxic/invasive strains (exoU+/ exoS+, 5.0%). Milk containing exoS-positive isolates had higher SCCs than those containing exoS-negative isolates. The majority of isolates showed gentamicin, amikacin, meropenem and ciprofloxacin susceptibility at planktonic status. However, the susceptibility was decreased at the biofilm status. Based on minimum biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC)/minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ratios, the range of change in antibiotic susceptibility varied widely depending on the antibiotics (from ≥ 3.1-fold to ≥ 475.0-fold). In conclusion, most P. aeruginosa isolates studied here had a genotype related to increase in SCCs. The efficiency of antibiotic therapy against P. aeruginosa-related bovine mastitis could be improved by analysing both the MBEC and the MIC of isolates

Temperature dependent core-level photoemission study of UNiSn

UNiSn undergoes an anomalous phase transition at T-N = 47 K, at which temperature it transforms from an antiferromagnetic metal to a paramagnetic semiconductor with an energy gap similar or equal to 70 meV. In order to investigate how the electronic structure of UNiSn changes as it crosses the transition temperature, we have used the X ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) technique from 20 to 70 K. According to the XPS studies, the U 4f core levels are almost temperature independent while the Ni 2p core levels and the satellite structure display a weak anomaly at T-N

A new version of the HBSC Family Affluence Scale - FAS III: Scottish qualitative findings from the International FAS Development Study

A critical review of the Family Affluence Scale (FAS) concluded that FAS II was no longer discriminatory within very rich or very poor countries, where a very high or a very low proportion of children were categorised as high FAS or low FAS respectively (Currie et al. 2008). The review concluded that a new version of FAS - FAS III - should be developed to take into account current trends in family consumption patterns across the European region, the US and Canada. In 2012, the FAS Development and Validation Study was conducted in eight countries - Denmark, Greenland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Scotland. This paper describes the Scottish qualitative findings from this study. The Scottish qualitative fieldwork comprising cognitive interviews and focus groups sampled from 11, 13 and 15 year-old participants from 18 of the most- and least- economically deprived schools. These qualitative results were used to inform the final FAS III recommendations.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Orbital Elements of Comet C/1490 Y1 and the Quadrantid shower

The Quadrantid shower, one of the most intense showers, has been observed at the beginning of January each year. However, the origin of the meteors is still unknown. It was Hasegawa (1979) who first suggested comet C/1490 Y1 to be the likely origin of the shower based on the historical records of East Asia. We analyse the records of Jo-Seon-Wang-Jo-Sil-Lok (the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty in ancient Korea) and calculate the preliminary orbital elements of comet C/1490 Y1 using a modified Gauss method. We find that comet C/1490 Y1 was a periodic one and its orbital path was very similar to that of the Quadrantid meteor stream. The determined orbital elements are perifocal passage time Tp=2265652.2983 days (7.8 Jan. 1491 in UT), perifocal distance q=0.769 AU, eccentricity e=0.747, semimajor axis a=3.04 AU, argument of the perifocus omega=164.03 degrees, longitude of ascending node Omega=283.00 degrees, and inclination i=70.22 degrees for the epoch of J2000.0. We, therefore, conclude that our result verifies the suggestion that the comet C/1490 Y1 is the origin of the Quandrantid meteor shower, but was a periodic comet. We dicuss a possible link between this comet and the asteroid 2003 EH1 as well.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Enhancing Fundamental Robot-Assisted Surgical Proficiency by Using a Portable Virtual Simulator

Background. The development of a virtual reality (VR) training platform provides an affordable interface. The learning effect of VR and the capability of skill transfer from the VR environment to clinical tasks require more investigation. Methods. Here, 14 medical students performed 2 fundamental surgical tasks—bimanual carrying (BC) and peg transfer (PT)—in actual and virtual environments. Participants in the VR group received VR training, whereas participants in the control group played a 3D game. The learning effect was examined by comparing kinematics between pretraining and posttraining in the da Vinci Surgical System. Differences between VR and playing the 3D game were also examined. Results. Those who were trained with the VR simulator had significantly better performance in both actual PT (P = .002) and BC (P \u3c .001) tasks. The time to task completion and the total distance traveled were significantly decreased in both surgical tasks in the VR group compared with the 3D game group. However, playing the 3D game showed no significant enhancement of fundamental surgical skills in the actual PT task. The difference between pretraining and posttraining was significantly larger in the VR group than in the 3D game group in both the time to task completion (P = .002) and the total distance traveled (P = .027) for the actual PT task. Participants who played the 3D game seemed to perform even worse in posttraining. Conclusions. Training with the portable VR simulator improved robot-assisted surgical skill proficiency in comparison to playing a 3D game

AGT on the S-duality Wall

Three-dimensional gauge theory T[G] arises on a domain wall between four-dimensional N=4 SYM theories with the gauge groups G and its S-dual G^L. We argue that the N=2^* mass deformation of the bulk theory induces a mass-deformation of the theory T[G] on the wall. The partition functions of the theory T[SU(2)] and its mass-deformation on the three-sphere are shown to coincide with the transformation coefficient of Liouville one-point conformal block on torus under the S-duality.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures. v2: Revised the analysis in sections 3.3 and 4. Notes and references added. Version to appear in JHE

Insulin Secretion and Incretin Hormone Concentration in Women with Previous Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

BackgroundWe examined the change in the levels of incretin hormone and effects of glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) on insulin secretion in women with previous gestational diabetes (pGDM).MethodsA 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was conducted on 34 women with pGDM. In addition, 11 women with normal glucose tolerance, matched for age, height and weight, were also tested. The insulin, GIP, GLP-1, and glucagon concentrations were measured, and their anthropometric and biochemical markers were also measured.ResultsAmong 34 women with pGDM, 18 had normal glucose tolerance, 13 had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 1 had diabetes. No significant differences were found in GLP-1 concentration between the pGDM and control group. However, a significantly high level of glucagon was present in the pGDM group at 30 minutes into the OGTT. The GIP concentration was elevated at 30 minutes and 60 minutes in the pGDM group. With the exception of the 30-minute timepoint, women with IGT had significantly high blood glucose from 0 to 120 minutes. However, there was no significant difference in insulin or GLP-1 concentration. The GIP level was significantly high from 0 to 90 minutes in patients diagnosed with IGT.ConclusionGLP-1 secretion does not differ between pGDM patients and normal women. GIP was elevated, but that does not seem to induce in increase in insulin secretion. Therefore, we conclude that other factors such as heredity and environment play important roles in the development of type 2 diabetes