1,959 research outputs found
A comprehensive, multi-process box-model approach to glacial-interglacial carbon cycling
The canonical question of which physical, chemical or biological mechanisms were responsible for oceanic uptake of atmospheric CO2 during the last glacial is yet unanswered. Insight from paleo proxies has led to a multitude of hypotheses but none so far have been convincingly supported in three dimensional numerical modelling experiments. The processes that influence the CO2 uptake and export production are inter-related and too complex to solve conceptually while complex numerical models are time consuming and expensive to run which severely limits the combinations of mechanisms that can be explored. Instead, an intermediate inverse box model approach is used here in which the whole parameter space is explored. The glacial circulation and biological production states are derived from these using proxies of glacial export production and the need to draw down CO2 into the ocean. We find that circulation patterns which explain glacial observations include reduced Antarctic Bottom Water formation and high latitude mixing and to a lesser extent reduced equatorial upwelling. The proposed mechanism of CO2 uptake by an increase of eddies in the Southern Ocean, leading to a reduced residual circulation, is not supported. Regarding biological mechanisms, an increase in the nutrient utilization in either the equatorial regions or the northern polar latitudes can reduce atmospheric CO2 and satisfy proxies of glacial export production. Consistent with previous studies, CO2 is drawn down more easily through increased productivity in the Antarctic region than the sub-Antarctic, but that violates observations of lower export production there
Formation of magnetic minerals at hydrocarbon-generation conditions
In this paper, we report the pyrolysis and formation of magnetic minerals in three source rock samples from the Wessex Basin in Dorset, southern England. The experimental conditions in the laboratory recreated the catagenesis environment of oil source rocks. Magnetic analysis of both the heated and the unheated samples at room temperature and at very low-temperatures (5 K), coupled with transmission electron-microscopy imaging and X-ray analysis, revealed the formation of nanometre-sized (<10 nm), magnetic particles that varied across the rock samples analysed, but more importantly across the pyrolysis temperature range. Magnetic measurements demonstrated the formation of these magnetic minerals peaked at 250 °C for all rock samples and then decreased at 300 °C before rising again at 320 °C. The newly formed magnetic minerals are suggested to be primarily pyrrhotite, though magnetite and greigite are also thought to be present. The sizes of the magnetic minerals formed suggest a propensity to migrate together with oil potentially explaining the magnetic anomalies observed above and within oil fields
Parenting stress, maternal depression and child mental health in a Melbourne cohort before and during the COVIDâ19 pandemic
Aim
This paper aims to examine the maternal and child mental health and parenting outcomes in the context of COVID-19 pandemic conditions using a sample from Melbourne, Australia â a city exposed to one of the longest lockdowns world-wide in response to the pandemic.
Methods
This study utilises observational data from a prospective, pregnancy cohort, Mercy Pregnancy Emotional Wellbeing Study and includes 468 women and their children followed up in Melbourne to 3â4âyears postpartum pre-COVID pandemic and compared to those followed up during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results
When compared to mothers followed up at 3â4âyears postpartum pre-pandemic, those followed up during the COVID-19 pandemic showed higher depressive symptoms with a steep incline in their symptom trajectory (EMMdifference = 1.72, Bonferroni-corrected Pâ<â0.01, d = 0.35) and had a three times higher risk of scoring 13 or above on the EPDS (aRR = 3.22, Bonferroni-corrected Pâ<â0.01). Although this increase was not associated with the variation in the duration of exposure to pandemic conditions, the steep increase in depressive symptoms was more pronounced in those with pre-existing depressive disorders. There was no difference in parenting stress or adjusted childhood mental health symptoms or disorder.
Conclusions
Our findings highlight the vulnerability of those with pre-existing clinical mental health disorders and the need for adequate clinical care for this vulnerable group. Equally, our study indicates the possibility that parenting and early childhood mental health outcomes, at least in the short term, may be resilient
Control of a hybrid modular multilevel converter during grid voltage unbalance
The recently proposed parallel hybrid modular multilevel converter is considered to be a low loss, low component count converter with soft switching capability of the âmainâ bridge. The converter has similar advantages to other emerging modular multilevel converter circuits being considered for HVDC power transmission. However, during ac network unbalance the individual âchain-linksâ exchange unequal amounts of power with the grid which requires appropriate remedial action. This paper presents research into the performance of the converter and proposes a suitable control method that enables the converter to operate during grid voltage unbalance. The proposed control concept involves the use of asymmetric third harmonic voltage generation in the âchain-linksâ of the converter to redistribute the power exchanged between the individual âchain-linksâ and the grid. Mathematical analysis and simulation modelling with results are presented to support the work described
Sensing Subjective Well-being from Social Media
Subjective Well-being(SWB), which refers to how people experience the quality
of their lives, is of great use to public policy-makers as well as economic,
sociological research, etc. Traditionally, the measurement of SWB relies on
time-consuming and costly self-report questionnaires. Nowadays, people are
motivated to share their experiences and feelings on social media, so we
propose to sense SWB from the vast user generated data on social media. By
utilizing 1785 users' social media data with SWB labels, we train machine
learning models that are able to "sense" individual SWB from users' social
media. Our model, which attains the state-by-art prediction accuracy, can then
be used to identify SWB of large population of social media users in time with
very low cost.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figures, 2 tables, 10th International Conference, AMT
2014, Warsaw, Poland, August 11-14, 2014. Proceeding
Effects of Strong Magnetic Fields in Strange Baryonic Matter
We investigate the effects of very strong magnetic fields upon the equation
of state of dense bayonic matter in which hyperons are present. In the presence
of a magnetic field, the equation of state above nuclear density is
significantly affected both by Landau quantization and magnetic moment
interactions, but only for field strengths G. The former
tends to soften the EOS and increase proton and lepton abundances, while the
latter produces an overall stiffening of the EOS. Each results in a supression
of hyperons relative to the field-free case. The structure of a neutron star
is, however, primarily determined by the magnetic field stress. We utilize
existing general relativistic magneto-hydrostatic calculations to demonstrate
that maximum average fields within a stable neutron are limited to values G. This is not large enough to significantly influence
particle compositions or the matter pressure, unless fluctuations dominate the
average field strengths in the interior or configurations with significantly
larger field gradients are considered.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. To be submitted to Phys. Lett.
Rurality as a predictor of perinatal mental health and wellâbeing in an Australian cohort
Objective
Perinatal emotional well-being is more than the presence or absence of depressive and anxiety disorders; it encompasses a wide range of factors that contribute to emotional well-being. This study compares perinatal well-being between women living in metropolitan and rural regions.
Design
Prospective, longitudinal cohort.
Participants/setting
Eight hundred and six women from Victoria and Western Australia recruited before 20âweeks of pregnancy and followed up to 12âmonths postpartum.
Main outcome measures
Rurality was assessed using the Modified Monash Model (MM Model) with 578 in metropolitan cities MM1, 185 in regional and large rural towns MM2-MM3 and 43 in rural to remote MM4-MM7. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-IV) was administered at recruitment to assess depression, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were measured using the Edinburgh Post-natal Depression Scale and the State and Trait Anxiety Scale, respectively. Other measures included stressful events, diet, exercise, partner support, parenting and sleep.
Results
The prevalence of depressive disorders did not differ across rurality. There was also no difference in breastfeeding cessation, exercise, sleep or partner support. Women living in rural communities and who also had depression reported significantly higher parenting stress than metropolitan women and lower access to parenting activities.
Conclusions
Our study suggests while many of the challenges of the perinatal period were shared between women in all areas, there were important differences in parenting stress and access to activities. Furthermore, these findings suggest that guidelines and interventions designed for perinatal mental health should consider rurality
On the nature of the short duration GRB 050906
The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com. Copyright Blackwell Publishing DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11953.xPeer reviewe
Heat transfer enhancement in turbulent drag reducing surfactant solutions by agitated heat exchangers
Drag reducing solutions can reduce turbulent pressure loss by
nearly 90% and can decrease pumping energy requirements and
increase flow rates in fluid flow systems. Unfortunately, drag
reduced flow is accompanied by lower convective heat transfer
coefficients, which is undesirable in district heating and cooling
systems, heated tube bundles for undersea petroleum production,
and other recirculating heat transport systems.
In this study, three different rotating agitators were installed
inside the inner tube of a concentric tube heat exchanger to enhance
heat transfer in a surfactant drag reducing solution. An
earlier mathematical model for heat transfer in scraped surface
heat exchangers was adapted for this application so that the effectiveness
of agitators with different geometries could be compared
quantitatively. In addition, an enhancement efficiency factor was
defined to compare power efficiency with previous methods. It
was found that agitation can increase the inner heat transfer coefficient
to exceed that of pure water; heat transfer reduction compared
to water was reduced from 60% to -20%. In addition, the
enhancement can be more energy-efficient than that of previously
studied static mixers.Papers presented to the 12th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Costa de Sol, Spain on 11-13 July 2016
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