367 research outputs found
Past warming trend constrains future warming in CMIP6 models
Future global warming estimates have been similar across past assessments, but several climate models of the latest Sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) simulate much stronger warming, apparently inconsistent with past assessments. Here, we show that projected future warming is correlated with the simulated warming trend during recent decades across CMIP5 and CMIP6 models, enabling us to constrain future warming based on consistency with the observed warming. These findings carry important policy-relevant implications: The observationally constrained CMIP6 median warming in high emissions and ambitious mitigation scenarios is over 16 and 14% lower by 2050 compared to the raw CMIP6 median, respectively, and over 14 and 8% lower by 2090, relative to 1995–2014. Observationally constrained CMIP6 warming is consistent with previous assessments based on CMIP5 models, and in an ambitious mitigation scenario, the likely range is consistent with reaching the Paris Agreement target
The Red Flour Beetle as a Model for Bacterial Oral Infections
Experimental infection systems are important for studying antagonistic interactions and coevolution between hosts and their pathogens. The red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum and the spore-forming bacterial insect pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are widely used and tractable model organisms. However, they have not been employed yet as an efficient experimental system to study host-pathogen interactions. We used a high throughput oral infection protocol to infect T. castaneum insects with coleopteran specific B. thuringiensis bv. tenebrionis (Btt) bacteria. We found that larval mortality depends on the dietary spore concentration and on the duration of exposure to the spores. Furthermore, differential susceptibility of larvae from different T. castaneum populations indicates that the host genetic background influences infection success. The recovery of high numbers of infectious spores from the cadavers indicates successful replication of bacteria in the host and suggests that Btt could establish infectious cycles in T. castaneum in nature. We were able to transfer plasmids from Btt to a non-pathogenic but genetically well-characterised Bt strain, which was thereafter able to successfully infect T. castaneum, suggesting that factors residing on the plasmids are important for the virulence of Btt. The availability of a genetically accessible strain will provide an ideal model for more in-depth analyses of pathogenicity factors during oral infections. Combined with the availability of the full genome sequence of T. castaneum, this system will enable analyses of host responses during infection, as well as addressing basic questions concerning host-parasite coevolution
Colloidal stability of nanoparticles derived from simulated cloud-processed mineral dusts.
AbstractLaboratory simulation of cloud processing of three model dust types with distinct Fe-content (Moroccan dust, Libyan dust and Etna ash) and reference goethite and ferrihydrite were conducted in order to gain a better understanding of natural nanomaterial inputs and their environmental fate and bioavailability. The resulting nanoparticles (NPs) were characterised for Fe dissolution kinetics, aggregation/size distribution, micromorphology and colloidal stability of particle suspensions using a multi-method approach. We demonstrated that the: (i) acid-leachable Fe concentration was highest in volcanic ash (1mMg−1 dust) and was followed by Libyan and Moroccan dust with an order of magnitude lower levels; (ii) acid leached Fe concentration in theLibyan dust). The common occurrence of Fe-rich "natural nanoparticles" in atmospheric dust derived materials may indicate their more ubiquitous presence in the marine environment than previously thought
Effects of engineered silver nanoparticles on the growth and activity of ecologically important microbes
Summary: Currently, little is known about the impact of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on ecologically important microorganisms such as ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). We performed a multi-analytical approach to demonstrate the effects of uncapped nanosilver (uAgNP), capped nanosilver (cAgNP) and Ag2SO4 on the activities of the AOB: Nitrosomonas europaea, Nitrosospira multiformis and Nitrosococcus oceani, and the growth of Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis as model bacterial systems in relation to AgNP type and concentration. All Ag treatments caused significant inhibition to the nitrification potential rates (NPRs) of Nitrosomonas europaea (decreased from 34 to cAgNP>uAgNP. In conclusion, AgNPs (especially cAgNPs) and Ag2SO4 adversely affected AOB activities and thus have the potential to severely impact key microbially driven processes such as nitrification in the environment
On mesogranulation, network formation and supergranulation
We present arguments which show that in all likelihood mesogranulation is not
a true scale of solar convection but the combination of the effects of both
highly energetic granules, which give birth to strong positive divergences
(SPDs) among which we find exploders, and averaging effects of data processing.
The important role played by SPDs in horizontal velocity fields appears in the
spectra of these fields where the scale 4 Mm is most energetic; we
illustrate the effect of averaging with a one-dimensional toy model which shows
how two independent non-moving (but evolving) structures can be transformed
into a single moving structure when time and space resolution are degraded.
The role of SPDs in the formation of the photospheric network is shown by
computing the advection of floating corks by the granular flow. The coincidence
of the network bright points distribution and that of the corks is remarkable.
We conclude with the possibility that supergranulation is not a proper scale of
convection but the result of a large-scale instability of the granular flow,
which manifests itself through a correlation of the flows generated by SPDs.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Merging nano-genotoxicology with eco-genotoxicology: An integrated approach to determine interactive genotoxic and sub-lethal toxic effects of C-60 fullerenes and fluoranthene in marine mussels, Mytilus sp.
A Regularized Discrete Laminate Parametrization Technique with Applications to Wing-Box Design Optimization
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97055/1/AIAA2012-1519.pd
Femtosecond multimodal imaging with a laser-driven X-ray source
Laser-plasma accelerators are compact linear accelerators based on the interaction of high-power lasers with plasma to form accelerating structures up to 1000 times smaller than standard radiofrequency cavities, and they come with an embedded X-ray source, namely betatron source, with unique properties: small source size and femtosecond pulse duration. A still unexplored possibility to exploit the betatron source comes from combining it with imaging methods able to encode multiple information like transmission and phase into a single-shot acquisition approach. In this work, we combine edge illumination-beam tracking (EI-BT) with a betatron X-ray source and present the demonstration of multimodal imaging (transmission, refraction, and scattering) with a compact light source down to the femtosecond timescale. The advantage of EI-BT is that it allows multimodal X-ray imaging technique, granting access to transmission, refraction and scattering signals from standard low-coherence laboratory X-ray sources in a single shot
Wave vector dependence of the dynamics in supercooled metallic liquids
We present a detailed investigation of the wave vector dependence of
collective atomic motion in Au49Cu26.9Si16.3Ag5.5Pd2.3 and Pd42.5Cu27Ni9.5P21
supercooled liquids close to the glass transition temperature. Using x-ray
photon correlation spectroscopy in a precedent uncovered spatial range of only
few interatomic distances, we show that the microscopic structural relaxation
process follows in phase the structure with a marked slowing down at the main
average inter-particle distance. This behavior is accompanied by dramatic
changes in the shape of the intermediate scattering functions which suggest the
presence of large dynamical heterogeneities at length-scales corresponding to
few particle diameters. A ballistic-like mechanism of particle motion seems to
govern the structural relaxation of the two systems in the highly viscous
phase, likely associated to hopping of caged particles in agreement with
theoretical studies
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