Almost sure existence of global weak solutions for super-critical Navier-Stokes equations

In this paper we show that after suitable data randomization there exists a large set of super-critical periodic initial data, in $H^{-\alpha}({\mathbb T}^d)$ for some $\alpha(d) > 0$, for both 2d and 3d Navier-Stokes equations for which global energy bounds are proved. As a consequence, we obtain almost sure super-critical global weak solutions. We also show that in 2d these global weak solutions are unique.Comment: 22 pages, a revised argument in Section 5, the $d=3$ cas

A permafrost warming in a cooling Antarctica?

The magnitude and even direction of recent Antarctic climate change is still debated because the paucity of long and complete instrumental data records. While along Antarctic Peninsula a strong warming coupled with large retreat of glaciers occurred, in continental Antarctica a cooling was recently detected. Here, the first existing permafrost data set longer than 10 years recorded in continental Antarctica is presented. Since 1997 summer ground surface temperature showed a strong warming trend (0.31\ub0C per year) although the air temperature was almost stable. The summer ground surface temperature increase seemed to be influenced mainly by the increase of the total summer radiation as confirmed also by the increase of the summer thawing degree days. In the same period the active layer exhibited a thickening trend (1 cm per year) comparable with the thickening rates observed in several Arctic locations where air warming occurred. At all the investigated depths permafrost exhibited an increase of mean annual temperature of approximately 0.1\ub0C per year. The dichotomy between active layer thickness and air temperature trends can produce large unexepected and unmodelled impacts on ecosystems and CO2 balance

Relationships between vegetation patterns and periglacial landforms in northwestern Svalbard

We studied the small-scale vegetation pattern in the high Arctic at Ny Angstromlesund to assess if the plant distribution was related to periglacial landforms. The whole area has been deglaciated for millennia but only a modest part of the area was covered by mature vegetation. The plant cover varied considerably in relation to ground patterning originated by periglacial processes, especially frost heave, frost creep, gelifluction and ice segregation, giving rise to a mosaic of microhabitats sharply differing from each other as regards physical properties and microclimate. The distributional patterns of vascular plants, lichens and bryophytes were primarily affected by complex responses to substrate texture, soil moisture content and substrate disturbance. Since global warming will probably affect both periglacial processes and plant responses to altered habitat conditions, we concluded that long-term monitoring of relationships between landforms and vegetation represents a suitable tool for assessing the impact of global change on arctic regions

Global wellposedness for a certain class of large initial data for the 3D Navier-Stokes Equations

In this article, we consider a special class of initial data to the 3D Navier-Stokes equations on the torus, in which there is a certain degree of orthogonality in the components of the initial data. We showed that, under such conditions, the Navier-Stokes equations are globally wellposed. We also showed that there exists large initial data, in the sense of the critical norm $B^{-1}_{\infty,\infty}$ that satisfies the conditions that we considered.Comment: 13 pages, updated references for v

Unexpected impacts of climate change on Alpine vegetation

The vegetation in a high alpine site of the European Alps experienced changes in area between 1953 and 2003 as a result of climate change. Shrubs showed rapid expansion rates of 5.6% per decade at altitudes between 2400 m and 2500 m. Above 2500 m, vegetation coverage exhibited unexpected patterns of regression associated with increased precipitation and permafrost degradation. As these changes follow a sharp increase in both summer and annual temperatures after 1980, we suggest that vegetation of the alpine (2400-2800 m) and nival (above 2800 m) belts respond in a fast and flexible way, contradicting previous hypotheses that alpine and nival species appear to have a natural inertia and are able to tolerate an increase of 1-2 degrees C in mean air temperature

Global regularity for the supercritical dissipative quasi-geostrophic equation with large dispersive forcing

We consider the 2D quasi-geostrophic equation with supercritical dissipation and dispersive forcing in the whole space. When the dispersive amplitude parameter is large enough, we prove the global well-posedness of strong solution to the equation with large initial data. We also show the strong convergence result as the amplitude parameter goes to $\infty$. Both results rely on the Strichartz-type estimates for the corresponding linear equation.Comment: 26page

Specificity Between Lactobacilli And Hymenopteran Hosts Is The Exception Rather Than The Rule

Lactobacilli (Lactobacillales: Lactobacillaceae) are well known for their roles in food fermentation, as probiotics, and in human health, but they can also be dominant members of the microbiota of some species of Hymenoptera (ants, bees, and wasps). Honey bees and bumble bees associate with host-specific lactobacilli, and some evidence suggests that these lactobacilli are important for bee health. Social transmission helps maintain associations between these bees and their respective microbiota. To determine whether lactobacilli associated with social hymenopteran hosts are generally host specific, we gathered publicly available Lactobacillus 16S rRNA gene sequences, along with Lactobacillus sequences from 454 pyrosequencing surveys of six other hymenopteran species (three sweat bees and three ants). We determined the comparative secondary structural models of 16S rRNA, which allowed us to accurately align the entire 16S rRNA gene, including fast-evolving regions. BLAST searches and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic reconstructions confirmed that honey and bumble bees have host-specific Lactobacillus associates. Regardless of colony size or within-colony oral sharing of food (trophallaxis), sweat bees and ants associate with lactobacilli that are closely related to those found in vertebrate hosts or in diverse environments. Why honey and bumble bees associate with host-specific lactobacilli while other social Hymenoptera do not remains an open question. Lactobacilli are known to inhibit the growth of other microbes and can be beneficial whether they are coevolved with their host or are recruited by the host from environmental sources through mechanisms of partner choice.National Science Foundation PRFB-1003133, DEB-0919519Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board 01923, National Institutes of Health GM067317Integrative BiologyCellular and Molecular BiologyCenter for Computational Biology and BioinformaticsBrackenridge Field Laborator

Well-posedness of the Viscous Boussinesq System in Besov Spaces of Negative Order Near Index s=−1s=-1

This paper is concerned with well-posedness of the Boussinesq system. We prove that the $n$ ($n\ge2$) dimensional Boussinesq system is well-psoed for small initial data $(\vec{u}_0,\theta_0)$ ($\nabla\cdot\vec{u}_0=0$) either in $({B}^{-1}_{\infty,1}\cap{B^{-1,1}_{\infty,\infty}})\times{B}^{-1}_{p,r}$ or in ${B^{-1,1}_{\infty,\infty}}\times{B}^{-1,\epsilon}_{p,\infty}$ if $r\in[1,\infty]$, $\epsilon>0$ and $p\in(\frac{n}{2},\infty)$, where $B^{s,\epsilon}_{p,q}$ ($s\in\mathbb{R}$, $1\leq p,q\leq\infty$, $\epsilon>0$) is the logarithmically modified Besov space to the standard Besov space $B^{s}_{p,q}$. We also prove that this system is well-posed for small initial data in $({B}^{-1}_{\infty,1}\cap{B^{-1,1}_{\infty,\infty}})\times({B}^{-1}_{\frac{n}{2},1}\cap{B^{-1,1}_{\frac{n}{2},\infty}})$.Comment: 18 page

Modeling of the Rheological Properties of Asphalt Binder and Asphalt Mortar Containing Recycled Asphalt Material

Abstract The use of recycled materials in asphalt pavements increased significantly over the years, determining well known environmental and economic benefits. Many research agencies and road authorities evaluated the impact of Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) on pavement performance. Nevertheless, the mechanism governing the interaction between virgin asphalt binder and aged RAP binder is not well understood. In this paper, the effect of RAP on the rheological properties of asphalt binders and mortars is experimentally evaluated, and theoretically modeled with the objective of defining a relationship between the linear viscoelastic (LVE) properties of binders and those of the corresponding mortars. Three asphalt binder types, obtained by blending a hard and a soft binder at three different percentages, were mixed with three different contents of a Selected fraction of Recycled Asphalt Pavement, called SRAP, for preparing the asphalt mortar samples. Dynamic Shear Rheomether tests were performed on binders and mortars to determining the complex modulus over a wide range of temperatures and frequencies. The rheological properties of the compound of virgin and RAP binder were evaluated by using a new approach based on a modified version of the Nielsen model, avoiding the extraction and recovery method. The results were then modelled by using the analogical 2S2P1D model, consisting of one spring, two parabolic and one-dashpot elements combined in series and then assembled together with a second spring in parallel. Based on test results, a simple experimental relationship between the characteristic times of the binder and the percentage of RAP in the mortar was found

ACCELERATING CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON ALPINE GLACIER FOREFIELD ECOSYSTEMS IN THE EUROPEAN ALPS

In the European Alps the increase in air temperature was more than twice the increase in global mean temperature over the last 50 years. The abiotic ( glacial) and the biotic components ( plants and vegetation) of the mountain environment are showing ample evidence of climate change impacts. In the Alps most small glaciers (80% of total glacial coverage and an important contribution to water resources) could disappear in the next decades. Recently climate change was demonstrated to affect higher levels of ecological systems, with vegetation exhibiting surface area changes, indicating that alpine and nival vegetation may be able to respond in a fast and flexible way in response to 1-2 degrees C warming. We analyzed the glacier evolution ( terminus fluctuations, mass balances, surface area variations), local climate, and vegetation succession on the forefield of Sforzellina Glacier ( Upper Valtellina, central Italian Alps) over the past three decades. We aimed to quantify the impacts of climate change on coupled biotic and abiotic components of high alpine ecosystems, to verify if an acceleration was occurring on them during the last decade (i.e., 1996-2006) and to assess whether new specific strategies were adopted for plant colonization and development. All the glaciological data indicate that a glacial retreat and shrinkage occurred and was much stronger after 2002 than during the last 35 years. Vegetation started to colonize surfaces deglaciated for only one year, with a rate at least four times greater than that reported in the literature for the establishment of scattered individuals and about two times greater for the well-established discontinuous early-successional community. The colonization strategy changed: the first colonizers are early-successional, scree slopes, and perennial clonal species with high phenotypic plasticity rather than pioneer and snowbed species. This impressive acceleration coincided with only slight local summer warming ( approximately +0.5 degrees C) and a poorly documented local decrease in the snow cover depth and duration. Are we facing accelerated ecological responses to climatic changes and/or did we go beyond a threshold over which major ecosystem changes may occur in response to even minor climatic variations?