Book reviews

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Advances in the homogenization of daily peak wind gusts: an application to the Australian series

Póster presentado en: EGU General Assembly 2018 celebrada del 8 al 13 de abril en Viena, Austria.Daily Peak Wind Gusts (DPWG) time-series are valuable data for evaluation of wind related hazard risk to the population and different economic sectors. Yet wind time-series are prone to be affected by inhomogeneities temporally and spatially (e.g. through change of instruments at a site compared to surrounding sites) that may mislead the studies of their variability and trends. The aim of this work is to present the advances in the homogenization of DPWG by analyzing 548 sites time-series across Australia covering the 1941-2016 time period. Due to the low correlation coefficients between these series, especially in the first decades when the station density is much lower, the average wind speed data from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis were tried as reference series. However, their lower correlations with the DPWG data suggests avoiding this approach. We proposed a robust monthly homogenization using the R package Climatol, which detected 353 break-points at the monthly scale. Some of them were supported by the history of the stations, but detailed analysis of the metadata of 35 selected stations did not find a good correspondence since many changes do not necessarily produce inhomogeneities. When NCEP/NCAR reanalysis are used as references, more break-points are detected around 2003, but it is not clear whether they are due to a general change of the DPWG algorithm in the observation network or rather an artifact due to inhomogeneities in the reanalysis series. The monthly dates of the detected break-points were used in a new application of the Climatol package to adjust the series at daily basis, yielding a homogenized and filled DPWG database for assessing the variability of extreme wind events. Resultant trends of the homogenized DPWG series showed the benefits of the homogenization in the form a much lower dispersion of their values.This work has been also supported by the Project “Detection and attribution of changes in extreme wind gusts ove rland” (2017-03780) funded by the Swedish Research Council, and the MULTITEST (Multiple verification of automatic software homogenizing monthly temperatura and precipitation series; CGL2014-52901-P) Project ,funded b ythe Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity

Evaluation of MealSense©: A Sensory Integration-Based Feeding Support Program for Parents.

IMPORTANCE: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience feeding challenges related to difficulties with sensory integration. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the content, acceptability, and usefulness of MealSense©, an online parent education program for children with ASD who have feeding challenges related to poor sensory integration. DESIGN: A descriptive study in which experts reviewed and rated MealSense content for consistency with Ayres Sensory Integration® (ASI) principles and evidence-based practices in feeding. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of expert reviewers (n = 5) and parents of children with ASD and feeding challenges (n = 5). RESULTS: Expert ratings (n = 5) met criteria showing that MealSense is consistent with ASI and evidence-based practices in feeding. Parent ratings (n = 5) met criteria showing that MealSense is acceptable and useful. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: MealSense is acceptable and useful to parents of children with ASD and is consistent with ASI and evidence-based practices in feeding. What This Article Adds: This study provides preliminary support for MealSense as an evidence-based tool to supplement direct intervention for children with ASD and feeding difficulties. Further research is needed to determine its efficacy in improving the transfer of feeding skills into the home environment

Veterinary practitioners’ selection of diagnostic tests for the primary evaluation of colic in the horse

The aim of this study was to survey veterinary practitioners’ selection of diagnostic tests for horses with clinical signs of abdominal pain. A questionnaire was distributed to veterinary surgeons involved in the primary evaluation of horses with abdominal pain, including the respondent's demographics, selection of diagnostic tests and factors affecting decision-making. Data analysis included descriptive analysis, categorisation of free text and simple univariable correlations to explore the relationships between independent variables and the relative self-estimated frequency that diagnostic tests were performed. A total of 228 responses were analysed. Participants worked in mixed practice (55.7 per cent), first opinion equine (22.8 per cent), first and second opinion equine (17.9 per cent) and referral practice (3.1 per cent). The majority (48.2 per cent, 105/218) were very confident managing a colic case (confidence level 4/5). The most frequently used diagnostic tests were ‘response to analgesia’ (87.2±24.0 per cent cases), rectal examination (75.9±21.2 per cent) and nasogastric intubation (43.8±27.6 per cent). Approach varied between practitioners, and for all diagnostic tests with frequency of use ranging from 0 to 100 per cent of cases. ‘Risk to personal safety’ was the most common reason for not using rectal examination. Practitioner's opinion of their confidence level in managing a colic case was associated with how frequently they used different diagnostic tests. There was marked variation in practitioners’ approaches, highlighting the need for further evidence to support decision-making

Modelling the Wolbachia incompatible insect technique: strategies for effective mosquito population elimination

Background: The Wolbachia incompatible insect technique (IIT) shows promise as a method for eliminating populations of invasive mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Culicidae) and reducing the incidence of vector-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika. Successful implementation of this biological control strategy relies on high-fidelity separation of male from female insects in mass production systems for inundative release into landscapes. Processes for sex-separating mosquitoes are typically error-prone and laborious, and IIT programmes run the risk of releasing Wolbachia-infected females and replacing wild mosquito populations. Results: We introduce a simple Markov population process model for studying mosquito populations subjected to a Wolbachia-IIT programme which exhibit an unstable equilibrium threshold. The model is used to study, in silico, scenarios that are likely to yield a successful elimination result. Our results suggest that elimination is best achieved by releasing males at rates that adapt to the ever-decreasing wild population, thus reducing the risk of releasing Wolbachia-infected females while reducing costs. Conclusions: While very high-fidelity sex separation is required to avoid establishment, release programmes tend to be robust to the release of a small number of Wolbachia-infected females. These findings will inform and enhance the next generation of Wolbachia-IIT population control strategies that are already showing great promise in field trials

An approach to homogenize daily peak wind gusts: an application to the Australian series

Daily Peak Wind Gust (DPWG) time series are important for the evaluation of wind-related hazard risks to different socioeconomic and environmental sectors. Yet, wind time series analyses can be impacted by several artefacts, both tempo-rally and spatially, which may introduce inhomogeneities that mislead the study of their decadal variability and trends. The aim of this study is to present a strategy in the homogenization of a challenging climate extreme such as the DPWG using 548 time series across Australia for 1941–2016. This automatic homogenization of DPWG is implemented in the recently developed Version 3.1 of the R package Climatol. This approach is an advance in homogenization of climate records as it identifies 353 break points based on monthly data, splits the daily series into homo- geneous subperiods, and homogenizes them without needing the monthly corrections. The major advantages of this homogenization strategy are its ability to: (a) automatically homogenize a large number of DPWG series, including short-term ones and without needing site metadata (e.g., the change in observational equipment in 2010/2011 was correctly identified); (b) use the closest reference series even not sharing a common period with candidate series or presenting missing data; and (c) supply homogenized series, correcting anomalous data (quality control by spatial coherence), and filling in all the missing data. The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis wind speed data were also trialled in aiding homogenization given the station density was very low during the early decades of the record; however, reanalysis data did not improve the homogenization. Application of this approach found a reduced range of DPWG trends based on site data, and an increased negative regional trend of this climate extreme, compared to raw data and homogenized data using NCEP/NCAR. The analysis produced the first homogenized DPWG dataset to assess and attribute long-term variability of extreme winds across Australia.C.A.-M. received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 703733 (STILLING project). This work was also supported by the project “Detection and attribution of changes in extreme wind gusts over land” (2017-03780) funded by the Vetenskapsrådet, and the MULTITEST (Multiple verification of automatic software homogenizing monthly temperature and precipitation series; CGL2014-52901-P) project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity

A new approach to homogenize daily peak wind gusts: an application to the Australian series

Póster presentado en: EMS Annual Meeting - European Conference for Applied Meteorology and Climatology 2018, celebrado en Budapest del 3 al 7 de septiembre de 2018.Daily Peak Wind Gusts (DPWG) time-series are valuable data for the evaluation of wind related hazard risks to different socioeconomic and environmental sectors. Yet wind time-series analyses can be impacted by several artefacts, both temporally and spatially, that may introduce inhomogeneities that mislead the studies of their decadal variability and trends. The aim of this study is to present a new strategy in the homogenization of a challenging climate extreme such as the DPWG using 548 time-series across Australia for 1941-2016. This automatic homogenization of DPWG is implemented in the recently developed Version 3.0 of the R package Climatol. The new approach is an advance in homogenization of climate records as identifies 353 breakpoints based on monthly data, splits the daily series into homogeneous sub-periods, and homogenizes them without needing the monthly corrections. The major advantages of this homogenization strategy are its ability to: (i) automatically homogenize a large number of DPWG series, including short-term ones and without needing site metadata (e.g., the change in observational equipment in 2010/2011 was correctly identified); (ii) use the closest reference series even not sharing a common period with candidate series or presenting missing data; and (iii) supply homogenized series, correcting anomalous data (quality control by spatial coherence), and filling in all the missing data. The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis wind speed data was also trialled in aiding homogenization given the station density was very low during the early decades of the record; however, reanalysis data did not improve the homogenization. Application of the new approach found a reduced range of DPWG trends based on site data, and an increased negative regional trend of this climate extreme, compared to raw data and homogenized data using NCEP/NCAR. The analysis produced the first homogenized DPWG dataset to assess and attribute long-term variability of extreme winds across Australia.This work has been also supported by the Project “Detection and attribution of changes inextreme wind gusts over land ”(2017-03780) funded by the Swedish Research Council, and the MULTITEST (Multiple verification of automatic software homogenizing monthly temperatura and precipitation series; CGL2014-52901-P) project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity

Acute exercise alters skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration and H2O2 emission in response to hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp in middle-aged obese men

Obesity, sedentary lifestyle and aging are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and impaired insulin sensitivity. Acute exercise increases insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle; however, whether mitochondria are involved in these processes remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of insulin stimulation at rest and after acute exercise on skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiratory function (JO2) and hydrogen peroxide emission (JH2O2), and the associations with insulin sensitivity in obese, sedentary men. Nine men (means ± SD: 57 ± 6 years; BMI 33 ± 5 kg.m2) underwent hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps in two separate trials 1–3 weeks apart: one under resting conditions, and another 1 hour after high-intensity exercise (4x4 min cycling at 95% HRpeak). Muscle biopsies were obtained at baseline, and pre/post clamp to measure JO2 with high-resolution respirometry and JH2O2 via Amplex UltraRed from permeabilized fibers. Post-exercise, both JO2 and JH2O2 during ADP stimulated state-3/OXPHOS respiration were lower compared to baseline (P<0.05), but not after subsequent insulin stimulation. JH2O2 was lower post-exercise and after subsequent insulin stimulation compared to insulin stimulation in the rest trial during succinate supported state-4/leak respiration (P<0.05). In contrast, JH2O2 increased during complex-I supported leak respiration with insulin after exercise compared with resting conditions (P<0.05). Resting insulin sensitivity and JH2O2 during complex-I leak respiration were positively correlated (r = 0.77, P<0.05). We conclude that in obese, older and sedentary men, acute exercise modifies skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration and H2O2 emission responses to hyperinsulinemia in a respiratory state-specific manner, which may have implications for metabolic diseases involving insulin resistance

An evaluation of the Wii Nunchuk as an alternative assistive device for people with intellectual and physical disabilities using switch controlled software

Many people with intellectual disabilities also have physical difficulties which prevent them from using standard computer control devices. Custom made alternative devices for those with special needs can be expensive and the low unit turnover makes the prospect unattractive to potential manufacturers. One solution is to explore the potential of devices used in contemporary gaming technology, such as the Nintendo Wii. The Wii Nunchuk has the potential to replace joystick functions with the advantages of not being surface bound and easier for some individuals to grasp. This study evaluated the feasibility of using the Nunchuk by comparing its performance as a switch with the participant's usual switch. Twenty three volunteers aged between 17 and 21 with intellectual and physical disabilities completed a Single Switch Performance Test using the new device and their familiar device. For most functions of the switch, there was no significant difference between the participants' performance using the Nunchuck and their familiar device. Additional analysis found that some participants' performance did improve whilst using the Nunchuck, but this was not significantly related to physical or cognitive ability. Those whose performance was better with the Nunchuk were more likely to hold it in the conventional way than were those who had better performance with their familiar device. This merits it being offered as a possible alternative to currently available switches for those with physical difficulties affecting their grip