Generation of attenuation corrected images from lidar data

The interpretation of data generated by aerosol backscatter lidars is often facilitated by presentation of RHI and PPI images. These pictures are especially useful in studies of atmospheric boundary layer structure where convective elements, stratifications and aerosol laden plumes can be easily delineated. Procedures used at the University of Wisconsin to generate lidar images on a color enhanced raster scan display are described

Wet Belly in Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Relation to Body Condition, Body Temperature and Blood Constituents

Wet belly, when the reindeer becomes wet over the lower parts of the thorax and abdomen, sometimes occurs in reindeer during feeding. In a feeding experiment, 11 out of 69 reindeer were affected by wet belly. The problem was first observed in 7 animals during a period of restricted feed intake. When the animals were then fed standard rations, 3 additional animals fed only silage, and 1 fed pellets and silage, became wet. Four animals died and 1 had to be euthanised. To investigate why reindeer developed wet belly, we compared data from healthy reindeer and reindeer affected by wet belly. Urea, plasma protein, glucose, insulin and cortisol were affected by restricted feed intake or by diet but did not generally differ between healthy reindeer and those with wet belly. The wet animals had low body temperature and the deaths occurred during a period of especially cold weather. Animals that died were emaciated and showed different signs of infections and stress. In a second experiment, with 20 reindeer, the feeding procedure of the most affected group in the first experiment was repeated, but none of the reindeer showed any signs of wet belly. The study shows that wet belly is not induced by any specific diet and may affect also lichen-fed reindeer. The fluid making the fur wet was proven to be of internal origin. Mortality was caused by emaciation, probably secondary to reduced energy intake caused by diseases and/or unsuitable feed

Dense packing on uniform lattices

We study the Hard Core Model on the graphs ${\rm {\bf \scriptstyle G}}$ obtained from Archimedean tilings i.e. configurations in $\scriptstyle \{0,1\}^{{\rm {\bf G}}}$ with the nearest neighbor 1's forbidden. Our particular aim in choosing these graphs is to obtain insight to the geometry of the densest packings in a uniform discrete set-up. We establish density bounds, optimal configurations reaching them in all cases, and introduce a probabilistic cellular automaton that generates the legal configurations. Its rule involves a parameter which can be naturally characterized as packing pressure. It can have a critical value but from packing point of view just as interesting are the noncritical cases. These phenomena are related to the exponential size of the set of densest packings and more specifically whether these packings are maximally symmetric, simple laminated or essentially random packings.Comment: 18 page

The Immunogenetic Conundrum of Preeclampsia

Pregnancy is an immunological challenge to the mother. The fetal tissues including the placenta must be protected from activation of the maternal immune system. On the other hand, the placental tissue sheds into the maternal circulation and must be adequately identified and phagocytized by the maternal immune system. During a healthy pregnancy, numerous immunosuppressive processes take place that allow the allograft fetus to thrive under exposure to humoral and cellular components of the maternal immune system. Breakdown of immune tolerance may result in sterile inflammation and cause adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preeclampsia, a vascular disease of the pregnancy with unpredictable course and symptoms from several organs. Immunological incompatibility between mother and fetus is strongly indicated in preeclampsia. Recently, genetic factors linking immunological pathways to predisposition to preeclampsia have been identified. In this mini-review genetic variation in immunological factors are discussed in the context of preeclampsia. Specifically, we explore immunogenetic and immunomodulary mechanisms contributing to loss of tolerance, inflammation, and autoimmunity in preeclampsia.Peer reviewe

Trophic ecology of piscivorous Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus (L.)) in subarctic lakes with contrasting food-web structures

The trophic ecology of piscivorous Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus (L.); charr) in the food webs of large subarctic lakes is not well understood. We assessed charr diets, parasites, growth, maturity, and stable isotope ratios in Fennoscandian subarctic lakes dominated by monomorphic or polymorphic whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus (L.)) populations. Charr density was low in all lakes, except in profundal habitats. Charr shifted to piscivory at small size (16-25 cm total length) and consumed a range of prey-fish sizes (2-25 cm). Cannibalism was observed in a few individuals from one monomorphic whitefish lake. Charr matured at 37-51 cm (5-8 years old), grew to 52-74 cm maximum observed length and 47-83 cm asymptotic length. Charr increased total area of convex hull and core stable isotopic diversity area of the fish community by 51-98% and 44-51% in monomorphic whitefish lakes, but only 8-11% and 7-10% in polymorphic whitefish lakes. The difference was due to increasing food-chain length in monomorphic whitefish lakes, whereas reliance on littoral carbon did not change. Charr were the top piscivores in monomorphic whitefish lakes, but played a less important role in polymorphic whitefish lakes, which contained a more diverse predator fauna.Peer reviewe

Estimation of the order parameter exponent of critical cellular automata using the enhanced coherent anomaly method.

The stochastic cellular automaton of Rule 18 defined by Wolfram [Rev. Mod. Phys. 55 601 (1983)] has been investigated by the enhanced coherent anomaly method. Reliable estimate was found for the $\beta$ critical exponent, based on moderate sized ($n \le 7$) clusters.Comment: 6 pages, RevTeX file, figure available from [email protected]

Estrogen Receptor Status in Relation to Risk of Contralateral Breast Cancer-A Population-Based Cohort Study

10.1371/journal.pone.0046535PLoS ONE710

A Tabu Search Based Approach for Graph Layout

This paper describes an automated tabu search based method for drawing general graph layouts with straight lines. To our knowledge, this is the first time tabu methods have been applied to graph drawing. We formulated the task as a multi-criteria optimization problem with a number of metrics which are used in a weighted fitness function to measure the aesthetic quality of the graph layout. The main goal of this work is to speed up the graph layout process without sacrificing layout quality. To achieve this, we use a tabu search based method that goes through a predefined number of iterations to minimize the value of the fitness function. Tabu search always chooses the best solution in the neighbourhood. This may lead to cycling, so a tabu list is used to store moves that are not permitted, meaning that the algorithm does not choose previous solutions for a set period of time. We evaluate the method according to the time spent to draw a graph and the quality of the drawn graphs. We give experimental results applied on random graphs and we provide statistical evidence that our method outperforms a fast search-based drawing method (hill climbing) in execution time while it produces comparably good graph layouts.We also demonstrate the method on real world graph datasets to show that we can reproduce similar results in a real world setting

Cyclone-induced surface ozone and HDO depletion in the Arctic

Ground-based, satellite, and reanalysis datasets were used to identify two similar cyclone-induced surface ozone depletion events at Eureka, Canada (80.1° N, 86.4° W), in March 2007 and April 2011. These two events were coincident with observations of hydrogen deuterium oxide (HDO) depletion, indicating that condensation and sublimation occurred during the transport of the ozone-depleted air masses. Ice clouds (vapour and crystals) and aerosols were detected by lidar and radar when the ozone- and HDO-depleted air masses arrived over Eureka. For the 2007 event, an ice cloud layer was coincident with an aloft ozone depletion layer at 870 m altitude on 2–3 March, indicating this ice cloud layer contained bromine-enriched blowing-snow particles. Over the following 3 days, a shallow surface ozone depletion event (ODE) was observed at Eureka after the precipitation of bromine-enriched particles onto the local snowpack. A chemistry–climate model (UKCA) and a chemical transport model (pTOMCAT) were used to simulate the surface ozone depletion events. Incorporating the latest surface snow salinity data obtained for the Weddell Sea into the models resulted in improved agreement between the modelled and measured BrO concentrations above Eureka. MERRA-2 global reanalysis data and the FLEXPART particle dispersion model were used to study the link between the ozone and HDO depletion. In general, the modelled ozone and BrO showed good agreement with the ground-based observations; however, the modelled BrO and ozone in the near-surface layer are quite sensitive to the snow salinity. HDO depletion observed during these two blowing-snow ODEs was found to be weaker than pure Rayleigh fractionation. This work provides evidence of a blowing-snow sublimation process, which is a key step in producing bromine-enriched sea-salt aerosol

From clear lakes to murky waters - tracing the functional response of high-latitude lake communities to concurrent 'greening' and 'browning'

Climate change and the intensification of land use practices are causing widespread eutrophication of subarctic lakes. The implications of this rapid change for lake ecosystem function remain poorly understood. To assess how freshwater communities respond to such profound changes in their habitat and resource availability, we conducted a space-for-time analysis of food-web structure in 30 lakes situated across a temperature-productivity gradient equivalent to the predicted future climate of subarctic Europe (temperature +3 degrees C, precipitation +30% and nutrient +45 mu g L-1 total phosphorus). Along this gradient, we observed an increase in the assimilation of pelagic-derived carbon from 25 to 75% throughout primary, secondary and tertiary consumers. This shift was overwhelmingly driven by the consumption of pelagic detritus by benthic primary consumers and was not accompanied by increased pelagic foraging by higher trophic level consumers. Our data also revealed a convergence of the carbon isotope ratios of pelagic and benthic food web endmembers in the warmest, most productive lakes indicating that the incorporation of terrestrial derived carbon into aquatic food webs increases as land use intensifies. These results, reflecting changes along a gradient characteristic of the predicted future environment throughout the subarctic, indicate that climate and land use driven eutrophication and browning are radically altering the function and fuelling of aquatic food webs in this biome.Peer reviewe