Seasonality in the Surface Energy Balance of Tundra in the Lower Mackenzie River Basin

This study details seasonal characteristics in the annual surface energy balance of upland and lowland tundra during the 1998–99 water year (Y2). It contrasts the results with the 1997–98 water year (Y1) and relates the findings to the climatic normals for the lower Mackenzie River basin region. Both years were much warmer than the long-term average, with Y1 being both warmer and wetter than Y2. Six seasons are defined as early winter, midwinter, late winter, spring, summer, and fall. The most rapid changes in the surface energy balance occur in spring, fall, and late winter. Of these, spring is the most dynamic, and there is distinct asymmetry between rates of change in spring and those in fall. Rates of change of potential insolation (extraterrestrial solar radiation) in late winter, spring, and fall are within 10% of one another, being highest in late winter and smallest in spring. Rates of change in air temperature and ground temperature are twice as large in spring as in fall and late winter, when they are about the same. Rates of change in components of the energy balance in spring are twice and 4 times as large as in fall and late winter, respectively. The timing of snowpack ripening and snowmelt is the major agent determining the magnitude of asymmetry between fall and spring. This timing is a result of interaction between the solar cycle, air temperature, and snowpack longevity. Based on evidence from this study, potential surface responses to a 18C increase in air temperature are small to moderate in most seasons, but are large in spring when increases range from 7% to 10% of average surface energy fluxes

Circadian clock and light input system in the sea urchin larva

A circadian clock is an endogenous time-keeping mechanism that synchronizes several biological processes with local environment. In metazoans the circadian system is driven by a regulatory network of so called ―clock‖ genes interconnected in transcriptional-translational feedback loops that generate rhythmicity at mRNA and protein level. Sea urchin and its molecular tools can facilitate the comprehension of the evolution of the time-keeping mechanism in bilaterians. For this purpose we identified and analysed the expression of orthologous clock genes in the sea urchin larvae. Genome survey identifies almost all canonical clock genes known in protostomes and deuterostomes, with exception of period, indicating that the last common ancestor of all bilaterians already had a complex clock toolkit. Quantitative gene expression data reveal that the circadian clock begins to oscillate consistently in the free-living larva. Sp_vcry and sp_tim mRNA cycle in both light/dark (LD) and free running (DD) conditions; several other genes consistently show oscillation in LD condition only; while, neither sp_clock, nor sp_bmal have rhythmic expression. Interestingly, in-situ hybridization of key sea urchin clock genes together with cell markers (e.g. serotonin) suggest the presence of two types of light perceiving cells in the apical region of the larva: serotoninergic cells expressing sp_dcry and no-serotoninergic cells expressing sp_opsin3.2. Furthermore, functional analysis was performed to discern linkages in the regulatory network of clock genes. In larvae entrained to light/dark cycles, knockdown of sp_dcry induces arrythmicity in the expression of itself, reduction of amplitude of oscillation in sp_vcry, and reduction of amplitude of oscillation and lower levels of expression in sp_tim. Knockdown of sp_opsin3.2 reduces levels of expression of sp_hlf; and sp_vcry knockdown induces arrythmicity in sp_tim. Importantly, our study highlights differences in the architecture and gene regulation of the sea urchin larval circadian clock compared to other metazoan clocks

THE BRIDGE WEB SITE GROWING AND SUSTAINING PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN OCEAN SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

When physicist Tim Berners-Lee and a team of fellow scientists at the European Center for High Energy Physics (CERN) launched the first-ever Web site in 1989, their goal was to make it easier for scientists to access research documents and scientific data (CERN, 2008). In 1998, Virginia Sea Grant educators at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) had a similar goal: to make ocean science educational resources and current research data more accessible to classroom teachers. The Virginia Sea Grant education team took the first step toward accomplishing this goal by launching a Web site of its own, called "Bridge." The name was inspired by the idea of a ship's bridge with a teacher at the helm, navigating "an ocean of marine education data." It also represents a bridge spanning the divide between the education and the ocean research communities, which is the essence of the Bridge project's mission

Superconductivity up to 29 K in SrFe2As2 and BaFe2As2 at high pressures

We report the discovery of superconductivity at high pressure in SrFe2As2 and BaFe2As2. The superconducting transition temperatures are up to 27 K in SrFe2As2 and 29 K in BaFe2As2, making these the highest pressure-induced superconducting materials discovered thus far.Comment: Accepted in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte

Predicting Elective Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Surgical Cancellations Based on Patient Demographics.

Purpose:To evaluate whether patient demographics are associated with cancellation of elective orthopaedic sports medicine surgical procedures. Methods:We retrospectively reviewed the electronic medical records of 761 patients who were scheduled to undergo an elective sports medicine orthopaedic operation from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2017. The patients were divided into 2 groups: those who underwent the scheduled procedure (group A) and those in whom the operation was canceled for any reason prior to the surgical date and not rescheduled (group B). Univariate analysis assessed patient factors consisting of age, sex, race, language, marital status, occupation status, type of insurance (Medicaid or Medicare vs private), smoking history, employment status, and history of surgery to determine which demographic factors led to an increased risk of elective case cancellation. Results:Patients who canceled were significantly older (46.5 years vs 41.5 years, t = 2.432, P = .015) than those who do not. In addition, current smokers (22.5% vs 10.9%, χ2 = 10.85, P = .001), patients with Medicare or Medicaid versus private insurance (16.7% vs 10.0%, χ2 = 5.35, P = .021), non-English-speaking patients (29.5% vs 11.6%, χ2 = 11.43, P = .001), and patients without a history of surgery requiring anesthesia (18.8% vs 9.6%, χ2 = 9.96, P = .002) were all more likely to cancel. When all studied variables were examined in a logistic regression analysis, of the above demographic variables, only insurance status was no longer significant, given its correlation with age and language. Conclusions:Increased age (≥46.5 years), non-English speaking, smoking, lack of a history of surgery requiring anesthesia, and Medicaid or Medicare insurance were found to contribute to an increased risk of elective orthopaedic surgery cancellation. Level of Evidence:Level III, case-control study

Shake table tests for the seismic fragility evaluation of hospital rooms

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Health care facilities may undergo severe and widespread damage that impairs the functionality of the system when it is stricken by an earthquake. Such detrimental response is emphasized either for the hospital buildings designed primarily for gravity loads or without employing base isolation/supplemental damping systems. Moreover, these buildings need to warrant operability especially in the aftermath of moderate-to-severe earthquake ground motions. The provisions implemented in the new seismic codes allow obtaining adequate seismic performance for the hospital structural components; nevertheless, they do not provide definite yet reliable rules to design and protect the building contents. To date, very few experimental tests have been carried out on hospital buildings equipped with nonstructural components as well as building contents. The present paper is aimed at establishing the limit states for a typical health care room and deriving empirical fragility curves by considering a systemic approach. Toward this aim, a full scale three-dimensional model of an examination (out patients consultation) room is constructed and tested dynamically by using the shaking table facility of the University of Naples, Italy. The sample room contains a number of typical medical components, which are either directly connected to the panel boards of the perimeter walls or behave as simple freestanding elements. The outcomes of the comprehensive shaking table tests carried out on the examination room have been utilized to derive fragility curves based on a systemic approach

A cnidarian homologue of an insect gustatory receptor functions in developmental body patterning.

Insect gustatory and odorant receptors (GRs and ORs) form a superfamily of novel transmembrane proteins, which are expressed in chemosensory neurons that detect environmental stimuli. Here we identify homologues of GRs (Gustatory receptor-like (Grl) genes) in genomes across Protostomia, Deuterostomia and non-Bilateria. Surprisingly, two Grls in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis, NvecGrl1 and NvecGrl2, are expressed early in development, in the blastula and gastrula, but not at later stages when a putative chemosensory organ forms. NvecGrl1 transcripts are detected around the aboral pole, considered the equivalent to the head-forming region of Bilateria. Morpholino-mediated knockdown of NvecGrl1 causes developmental patterning defects of this region, leading to animals lacking the apical sensory organ. A deuterostome Grl from the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus displays similar patterns of developmental expression. These results reveal an early evolutionary origin of the insect chemosensory receptor family and raise the possibility that their ancestral role was in embryonic development

Acoustic characteristics evaluation of an innovative metamaterial obtained through 3D printing technique

The reduction of interior noise level in the transportation sector is a big problem to cope with in view to increase the comfort of passengers. For this reason a great emphasis from the research community is devoted to develop new technology which are able to satisfy the mechanical requirements with concrete benefits from the acoustic point of view. Currently, it does not exist a solution for wideband range of frequency. Indeed, porous materials are characterized by outstanding dissipation in the high frequency range but they exhibit poor performance in the low and medium frequency range, where instead resonant cavities systems have the best performances but with narrow-band sound absorption. For this reason, the design and development of new materials which offers a good acoustic absorption over a wide range of frequencies is requested. In this paper, a hybrid metamaterial is designed, by coupling resonant cavities with micro-porous material and obtained through additive manufacturing technique which enables to model complex geometries that could not be feasible with classical manufacturing. Numerical and experimental studies have been conducted on the manufactured samples of PLA, with an interesting focus on the effect of each parameter which affects the absorption properties