Migration patterns under different scenarios of sea level rise

We propose a framework to examine future migration patterns of people under different sea level rise scenarios using models of human migration. Specifically, we couple a sea level rise model with a data-driven model of human migration, creating a generalized joint model of climate driven migration that can be used to simulate population distributions under potential future sea level rise scenarios. We show how this joint model relaxes assumptions in existing efforts to model climate driven human migration, and use it to simulate how migration, driven by sea level rise, differs from baseline migration patterns. Our results show that the effects of sea level rise are pervasive, expanding beyond coastal areas via increased migration, and disproportionately affecting some areas of the United States. The code for reproducing this study is available at https://github.com/calebrob6/migration-slr.Comment: In submission to PLOS On

A possible dearth of hot gas in galaxy groups at intermediate redshift

We examine the X-ray luminosity of galaxy groups in the CNOC2 survey, at redshifts 0.1 < z < 0.6. Previous work examining the gravitational lensing signal of the CNOC2 groups has shown that they are likely to be genuine, gravitationally bound objects. Of the 21 groups in the field of view of the EPIC-PN camera on XMM-Newton, not one was visible in over 100 ksec of observation, even though three of the them have velocity dispersions high enough that they would easily be visible if their luminosities scaled with their velocity dispersions in the same way as nearby groups' luminosities scale. We consider the possibility that this is due to the reported velocity dispersions being erroneously high, and conclude that this is unlikely. We therefore find tentative evidence that groups at intermediate redshift are underluminous relative to their local cousins.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, reference added in section 1, typos corrected, published in Ap

Synesthesia and memory: an exploratory analysis

Few studies have measured how the memory of individuals with synesthesia, a perceptual phenomenon in which a stimulus triggers a separate sensory experience, is affected because of their novel perceptual experiences. The studies that have examined synesthesia and enhanced memory have been inconclusive, as some have found those with synesthesia exhibit superior memory capabilities, while other studies have not. This study sought to replicate previous studies that have found effects of color congruency. The participant M.P., a female with grapheme-color synesthesia, was given lists of words that were either congruent to her synesthetic experience, random colors, or words in black ink, then tested over her memory for the lists. Results were then compared to mean scores of a control group (n = 15). Results indicate a deviation from the hypothesis, as M.P. did not exhibit superior memory for congruent information, but rather a potentially enhanced ability to suppress color information

Phenotype ontologies and cross-species analysis for translational research

The use of model organisms as tools for the investigation of human genetic variation has significantly and rapidly advanced our understanding of the aetiologies underlying hereditary traits. However, while equivalences in the DNA sequence of two species may be readily inferred through evolutionary models, the identification of equivalence in the phenotypic consequences resulting from comparable genetic variation is far from straightforward, limiting the value of the modelling paradigm. In this review, we provide an overview of the emerging statistical and computational approaches to objectively identify phenotypic equivalence between human and model organisms with examples from the vertebrate models, mouse and zebrafish. Firstly, we discuss enrichment approaches, which deem the most frequent phenotype among the orthologues of a set of genes associated with a common human phenotype as the orthologous phenotype, or phenolog, in the model species. Secondly, we introduce and discuss computational reasoning approaches to identify phenotypic equivalences made possible through the development of intra- and interspecies ontologies. Finally, we consider the particular challenges involved in modelling neuropsychiatric disorders, which illustrate many of the remaining difficulties in developing comprehensive and unequivocal interspecies phenotype mappings

Silicon carbide absorption features: dust formation in the outflows of extreme carbon stars

Infrared carbon stars without visible counterparts are generally known as extreme carbon stars. We have selected a subset of these stars with absorption features in the 10-13 $\mu$m range, which has been tentatively attributed to silicon carbide (SiC). We add three new objects meeting these criterion to the seven previously known, bringing our total sample to ten sources. We also present the result of radiative transfer modeling for these stars, comparing these results to those of previous studies. In order to constrain model parameters, we use published mass-loss rates, expansion velocities and theoretical dust condensation models to determine the dust condensation temperature. These show that the inner dust temperatures of the dust shells for these sources are significantly higher than previously assumed. This also implies that the dominant dust species should be graphite instead of amorphous carbon. In combination with the higher condensation temperature we show that this results in a much higher acceleration of the dust grains than would be expected from previous work. Our model results suggest that the very optically thick stage of evolution does not coincide with the timescales for the superwind, but rather, that this is a very short-lived phase. Additionally, we compare model and observational parameters in an attempt to find any correlations. Finally, we show that the spectrum of one source, IRAS 17534$-$3030, strongly implies that the 10-13 $\mu$m feature is due to a solid state rather than a molecular species.Comment: 13 Figure