An Enhanced Archive Facilitating Climate Impacts and Adaptation Analysis

We describe the expansion of a publicly available archive of downscaled climate and hydrology projections for the United States. Those studying or planning to adapt to future climate impacts demand downscaled climate model output for local or regional use. The archive we describe attempts to fulfill this need by providing data in several formats, selectable to meet user needs. Our archive has served as a resource for climate impacts modelers, water managers, educators, and others. Over 1,400 individuals have transferred more than 50 TB of data from the archive. In response to user demands, the archive has expanded from monthly downscaled data to include daily data to facilitate investigations of phenomena sensitive to daily to monthly temperature and precipitation, including extremes in these quantities. New developments include downscaled output from the new Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) climate model simulations at both the monthly and daily time scales, as well as simulations of surface hydrologi- cal variables. The web interface allows the extraction of individual projections or ensemble statistics for user-defined regions, promoting the rapid assessment of model consensus and uncertainty for future projections of precipitation, temperature, and hydrology. The archive is accessible online (http://gdo-dcp.ucllnl.org/downscaled_ cmip_projections)

Harmonic moment dynamics in Laplacian growth

Harmonic moments are integrals of integer powers of z = x+iy over a domain. Here the domain is an exterior of a bubble of air growing in an oil layer between two horizontal closely spaced plates. Harmonic moments are a natural basis for such Laplacian growth phenomena because, unlike other representations, these moments linearize the zero surface tension problem (Richardson, 1972), so that all moments except the lowest one are conserved in time. For non-zero surface tension, we show that the the harmonic moments decay in time rather than exhibiting the divergences of other representations. Our laboratory observations confirm the theoretical predictions and demonstrate that an interface dynamics description in terms of harmonic moments is physically realizable and robust. In addition, by extending the theory to include surface tension, we obtain from measurements of the time evolution of the harmonic moments a value for the surface tension that is within 20% of the accepted value.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

A Process and Outcome Evaluation of a Shelter for Homeless Young Women

To evaluate the processes and outcomes of a short-term shelter, both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered via participant observation, focus group interviews with shelter staff and residents, and individual interviews with a sample of 40 young women who had been homeless prior to using the shelter. The process evaluation showed that the shelter staff strived to utilize an empowerment philosophy in their relationships with residents, but that there were many challenges to implementing this philosophy. The outcome evaluation showed that, at a 3-month follow-up, the participants reported significant improvements in housing, income, independence, and life satisfaction, but most continued to experience poverty and a number of other difficulties. The results were discussed in terms of the implications for future research and the value and limitations of shelters for dealing with homeless youth. The need for more sustained and comprehensive program interventions and supportive social policies was underscored

Electoral bias at the 2015 general election: reducing Labour’s electoral advantage

Electoral bias results in an asymmetrical seat distribution between parties with similar vote shares. Over recent British general elections Labour held an advantage because it efficiently converted votes into seats. Following the 2015 election result this advantage has reduced considerably, principally because Labour’s vote distribution saw it accumulate more ineffective votes, particularly where electoral support was not converted into seats. By contrast, the vote distribution of the Conservative party is now superior to that of Labour because it acquired fewer wasted votes although Labour retains a modest advantage overall because it benefits from inequalities in electorate size and differences in voter turnout. Features of the 2015 election, however, raise general methodological challenges for decomposing electoral bias. The analysis, therefore, considers the effect of substituting the Liberal Democrats as the third party with the United Kingdom Independence Party. It also examines the outcome in Scotland separately from that in England and Wales. Following this analysis it becomes clear that the method for decomposing electoral bias requires clearer guidelines for its application in specific settings

Anatomy and origin of authochthonous late Pleistocene forced regression deposits, east Coromandel inner shelf, New Zealand: implications for the development and definition of the regressive systems tract

High-resolution seismic reflection data from the east Coromandel coast, New Zealand, provide details of the sequence stratigraphy beneath an autochthonous, wave dominated inner shelf margin during the late Quaternary (0-140 ka). Since c. 1 Ma, the shelf has experienced limited subsidence and fluvial sediment input, producing a depositional regime characterised by extensive reworking of coastal and shelf sediments during glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations. It appears that only one complete fifth-order (c. 100 000 yr) depositional sequence is preserved beneath the inner shelf, the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence, suggesting any earlier Quaternary sequences were mainly cannibalised into successively younger sequences. The predominantly Holocene-age Whangamata Sequence is also evident in seismic data and modern coastal deposits, and represents an incomplete depositional sequence in its early stages of formation. A prominent aspect of the sequence stratigraphy off parts of the east Coromandel coast is the presence of forced regressive deposits (FRDs) within the regressive systems tract (RST) of the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence. The FRDs are interpreted to represent regressive barrier-shoreface sands that were sourced from erosion and onshore reworking of underlying Pleistocene sediments during the period of slow falling sea level from isotope stages 5 to 2 (c. 112-18 ka). The RST is volumetrically the most significant depositional component of the Waihi Sequence; the regressive deposits form a 15-20 m thick, sharp-based, tabular seismic unit that downsteps and progrades continuously across the inner shelf. The sequence boundary for the Waihi Sequence is placed at the most prominent, regionally correlative, and chronostratigraphically significant surface, namely an erosional unconformity characterised in many areas by large incised valleys that was generated above the RST. This unconformity is interpreted as a surface of maximum subaerial erosion generated during the last glacial lowstand (c. 18 ka). Although the base of the RST is associated with a prominent regressive surface of erosion, this is not used as the sequence boundary as it is highly diachronous and difficult to identify and correlate where FRDs are not developed. The previous highstand deposits are limited to subaerial barrier deposits preserved behind several modern Holocene barriers along the coast, while the transgressive systems tract is preserved locally as incised-valley fill deposits beneath the regressive surface of erosion at the base of the RST. Many documented late Pleistocene RSTs have been actively sourced from fluvial systems feeding the shelf and building basinward-thickening, often stacked wedges of FRDs, for which the name allochthonous FRDs is suggested. The Waihi Sequence RST is unusual in that it appears to have been sourced predominantly from reworking of underlying shelf sediments, and thus represents an autochthonous FRD. Autochthonous FRDs are also present on the Forster-Tuncurry shelf in southeast Australia, and may be a common feature in other shelf settings with low subsidence and low sediment supply rates, provided shelf gradients are not too steep, and an underlying source of unconsolidated shelf sediments is available to source FRDs. The preservation potential of such autochthonous FRDs in ancient deposits is probably low given that they are likely to be cannibalised during subsequent sea-level falls

Voltage Responses to Optical Pulses of Unbiased Normal and Superconducting Samples

The direct transformation of the energy of an incident high-energy photon into a measurable potential difference within an absorbing metal is investigated. Experimental evidence is presented that the effect arises from the inherent energy dependence of the electronic density of states, rather than from a simple temperature excursion. The similarities between the results on Al and YBa2Cu3O7 samples indicate that the effect is universal in nature. We assert it may be used as the basis of a fast, energy resolving, individual photon detector for the ultraviolet radiation and x-rays

Myogenic cell proliferation and generation of a reversible tumorigenic phenotype are triggered by preirradiation of the recipient site

Environmental influences have profound yet reversible effects on the behavior of resident cells. Earlier data have indicated that the amount of muscle formed from implanted myogenic cells is greatly augmented by prior irradiation (18 Gy) of the host mouse muscle. Here we confirm this phenomenon, showing that it varies between host mouse strains. However, it is unclear whether it is due to secretion of proliferative factors or reduction of antiproliferative agents. To investigate this further, we have exploited the observation that the immortal myogenic C2 C12 cell line forms tumors far more rapidly in irradiated than in nonirradiated host muscle. We show that the effect of preirradiation on tumor formation is persistent and dose dependent. However, C2 C12 cells are not irreversibly compelled to form undifferentiated tumor cells by the irradiated muscle environment and are still capable of forming large amounts of muscle when reimplanted into a nonirradiated muscle. In a clonal analysis of this effect, we discovered that C2 C12 cells have a bimodal propensity to form tumors; some clones form no tumors even after extensive periods in irradiated graft sites, whereas others rapidly form extensive tumors. This illustrates the subtle interplay between the phenotype of implanted cells and the factors in the muscle environment

Platelet actin nodules are podosome-like structures dependent on Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein and ARP2/3 complex

The actin nodule is a novel F-actin structure present in platelets during early spreading. However, only limited detail is known regarding nodule organization and function. Here we use electron microscopy, SIM and dSTORM super-resolution, and live-cell TIRF microscopy to characterize the structural organization and signalling pathways associated with nodule formation. Nodules are composed of up to four actin-rich structures linked together by actin bundles. They are enriched in the adhesion-related proteins talin and vinculin, have a central core of tyrosine phosphorylated proteins and are depleted of integrins at the plasma membrane. Nodule formation is dependent on Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp) and the ARP2/3 complex. WASp(-/-) mouse blood displays impaired platelet aggregate formation at arteriolar shear rates. We propose actin nodules are platelet podosome-related structures required for platelet-platelet interaction and their absence contributes to the bleeding diathesis of Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome