Tales of the venerable Honolulu tide gauge

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2006. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 36 (2006): 967-996, doi:10.1175/JPO2876.1.Surface expressions of internal tides constitute a significant component of the total recorded tide. The internal component is strongly modulated by the time-variable density structure, and the resulting perturbation of the recorded tide gives a welcome look at twentieth-century interannual and secular variability. Time series of mean sea level hSL(t) and total recorded M2 vector aTT(t) are extracted from the Honolulu 1905–2000 and Hilo 1947–2000 (Hawaii) tide records. Internal tide parameters are derived from the intertidal continuum surrounding the M2 frequency line and from a Cartesian display of aTT(t), yielding aST = 16.6 and 22.1 cm, aIT = 1.8 and 1.0 cm for surface and internal tides at Honolulu and Hilo, respectively. The proposed model aTT(t) = aST + aIT cosθIT(t) is of a phase-modulated internal tide generated by the surface tide at some remote point and traveling to the tide gauge with velocity modulated by the underlying variable density structure. Mean sea level hSL(t) [a surrogate for the density structure and hence for θIT(t)] is coherent with aIT(t) within the decadal band 0.2–0.5 cycles per year. For both the decadal band and the century drift the recorded M2 amplitude is high when sea level is high, according to δaTT = O(0.1δhSL). The authors attribute the recorded secular increase in the Honolulu M2 amplitude from aTT = 16.1 to 16.9 cm between 1915 and 2000 to a 28° rotation of the internal tide vector in response to ocean warming

Megafaunal Community Structure of Andaman Seamounts Including the Back-Arc Basin – A Quantitative Exploration from the Indian Ocean

Species rich benthic communities have been reported from some seamounts, predominantly from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but the fauna and habitats on Indian Ocean seamounts are still poorly known. This study focuses on two seamounts, a submarine volcano (cratered seamount – CSM) and a non-volcano (SM2) in the Andaman Back–arc Basin (ABB), and the basin itself. The main purpose was to explore and generate regional biodiversity data from summit and flank (upper slope) of the Andaman seamounts for comparison with other seamounts worldwide. We also investigated how substratum types affect the megafaunal community structure along the ABB. Underwater video recordings from TeleVision guided Gripper (TVG) lowerings were used to describe the benthic community structure along the ABB and both seamounts. We found 13 varieties of substratum in the study area. The CSM has hard substratum, such as boulders and cobbles, whereas the SM2 was dominated by cobbles and fine sediment. The highest abundance of megabenthic communities was recorded on the flank of the CSM. Species richness and diversity were higher at the flank of the CSM than other are of ABB. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (nMDS) analysis of substratum types showed 50% similarity between the flanks of both seamounts, because both sites have a component of cobbles mixed with fine sediments in their substratum. Further, nMDS of faunal abundance revealed two groups, each restricted to one of the seamounts, suggesting faunal distinctness between them. The sessile fauna corals and poriferans showed a significant positive relation with cobbles and fine sediments substratum, while the mobile categories echinoderms and arthropods showed a significant positive relation with fine sediments only

The Australian Racism, Acceptance, and Cultural-Ethnocentrism Scale (RACES): item response theory findings

BACKGROUND: Racism and associated discrimination are pervasive and persistent challenges with multiple cumulative deleterious effects contributing to inequities in various health outcomes. Globally, research over the past decade has shown consistent associations between racism and negative health concerns. Such research confirms that race endures as one of the strongest predictors of poor health. Due to the lack of validated Australian measures of racist attitudes, RACES (Racism, Acceptance, and Cultural-Ethnocentrism Scale) was developed. METHODS: Here, we examine RACES’ psychometric properties, including the latent structure, utilising Item Response Theory (IRT). Unidimensional and Multidimensional Rating Scale Model (RSM) Rasch analyses were utilised with 296 Victorian primary school students and 182 adolescents and 220 adults from the Australian community. RESULTS: RACES was demonstrated to be a robust 24-item three-dimensional scale of Accepting Attitudes (12 items), Racist Attitudes (8 items), and Ethnocentric Attitudes (4 items). RSM Rasch analyses provide strong support for the instrument as a robust measure of racist attitudes in the Australian context, and for the overall factorial and construct validity of RACES across primary school children, adolescents, and adults. CONCLUSIONS: RACES provides a reliable and valid measure that can be utilised across the lifespan to evaluate attitudes towards all racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious groups. A core function of RACES is to assess the effectiveness of interventions to reduce community levels of racism and in turn inequities in health outcomes within Australia. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12939-016-0338-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Spontaneous and visually driven high‐frequency oscillations in the occipital cortex: Intracranial recording in epileptic patients

High‐frequency oscillations (HFOs) at ≥80 Hz of nonepileptic nature spontaneously emerge from human cerebral cortex. In 10 patients with extraoccipital lobe epilepsy, we compared the spectral‐spatial characteristics of HFOs spontaneously arising from the nonepileptic occipital cortex with those of HFOs driven by a visual task as well as epileptogenic HFOs arising from the extraoccipital seizure focus. We identified spontaneous HFOs at ≥80 Hz with a mean duration of 330 ms intermittently emerging from the occipital cortex during interictal slow‐wave sleep. The spectral frequency band of spontaneous occipital HFOs was similar to that of visually driven HFOs. Spontaneous occipital HFOs were spatially sparse and confined to smaller areas, whereas visually driven HFOs involved the larger areas including the more rostral sites. Neither spectral frequency band nor amplitude of spontaneous occipital HFOs significantly differed from those of epileptogenic HFOs. Spontaneous occipital HFOs were strongly locked to the phase of delta activity, but the strength of δ‐phase coupling decayed from 1 to 3 Hz. Conversely, epileptogenic extraoccipital HFOs were locked to the phase of delta activity about equally in the range from 1 to 3 Hz. The occipital cortex spontaneously generates physiological HFOs which may stand out on electrocorticography traces as prominently as pathological HFOs arising from elsewhere; this observation should be taken into consideration during presurgical evaluation. Coupling of spontaneous delta and HFOs may increase the understanding of significance of δ‐oscillations during slow‐wave sleep. Further studies are warranted to determine whether δ‐phase coupling distinguishes physiological from pathological HFOs or simply differs across anatomical locations. Hum Brain Mapp , 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90310/1/21233_ftp.pd

Sequencing three crocodilian genomes to illuminate the evolution of archosaurs and amniotes

The International Crocodilian Genomes Working Group (ICGWG) will sequence and assemble the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) and Indian gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) genomes. The status of these projects and our planned analyses are described

Idarubicin dose escalation during consolidation therapy for adult acute myeloid leukemia

Purpose Higher doses of the anthracycline daunorubicin during induction therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have been shown to improve remission rates and survival. We hypothesized that improvements in outcomes in adult AML may be further achieved by increased anthracycline dose during consolidation therapy. Patients and Methods Patients with AML in complete remission after induction therapy were randomly assigned to receive two cycles of consolidation therapy with cytarabine 100 mg/m daily for 5 days, etoposide 75 mg/m daily for 5 days, and idarubicin 9 mg/m daily for either 2 or 3 days (standard and intensive arms, respectively). The primary end point was leukemia-free survival (LFS). Results Two hundred ninety-three patients 16 to 60 years of age, excluding those with core binding factor AML and acute promyelocytic leukemia, were randomly assigned to treatment groups (146 to the standard arm and 147 to the intensive arm). Both groups were balanced for age, karyotypic risk, and FLT3–internal tandem duplication and NPM1 gene mutations. One hundred twenty patients in the standard arm (82%) and 95 patients in the intensive arm (65%) completed planned consolidation (P, .001). Durations of severe neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were prolonged in the intensive arm, but there were no differences in serious nonhematological toxicities. With a median follow-up of 5.3 years (range, 0.6 to 9.9 years), there was a statistically significant improvement in LFS in the intensive arm compared with the standard arm (3-year LFS, 47% [95% CI, 40% to 56%] v 35% [95% CI, 28% to 44%]; P = .045). At 5 years, the overall survival rate was 57% in the intensive arm and 47% in the standard arm (P = .092). There was no evidence of selective benefit of intensive consolidation within the cytogenetic or FLT3–internal tandem duplication and NPM1 gene mutation subgroups. Conclusion An increased cumulative dose of idarubicin during consolidation therapy for adult AML resulted in improved LFS, without increased nonhematologic toxicity

HB 2067, HD 2, Relating to the Protection of Environmental Resources - Statement for Senate Committees on Agriculture, Energy, and Ocean Resources; Planning and Environment Public Hearing - March 16, 1988

187A-6, 183-4

HB 2067, Relating to the Protection of Environmental Resources - House Committee on Ocean and Marine Resources, Public Hearing - February 1, 1988

187A-6, 183-4

A Comparative Evaluation of Computer Literacy Amongst Dental Educators and Students

A task-oriented questionnaire was designed, aiming to quickly assess competence with the use of computers. The questionnaire consisted of distinct computer-related skills, representing various competences in educational computer use. A total score from 0 to 49 was calculated upon completion of the questionnaire, based on the sum of all the positively identified competences. The questionnaire was distributed to an international group of leading dental educators during the DentEd Global Congress in Prague in 2001 and to a cohort of first year dental students (2001) in the Dental Faculty, University of Malmo, Sweden. Certain attitudes towards the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in dental education were also measured through Visual Analogue Scales in the educator’s group. A total of 149 questionnaires were collected from the educators’ group and 58 from the dental students. There was no significant difference in the average computer competence score between the two groups. The educators’ group average score was 20.7 (SD 9.9) and students’ average was 18.1 (SD 8.5). A significant positive correlation (r ¼ 0.395277, P < 0.0001) was found between the competence measured by the questionnaire and the year of graduation in the educators’ group. The attitudes towards the role of ICT in dental education amongst the educators were very positive, regardless of their competence with computers, year of graduation or academic position. The results from this study indicate that there is wide diversity in computer competence amongst both students and academic staff. In addition, students’ actual competence in the use of computers might not be as high as is often perceived through self-assessment and ordinal scales