ADCIRC v55 Modeling the Earth, Mesh Resolution Effects and Removing Time Step Contraints

ADCIRC is considered to be a coastal model. The aims of the new v55 of ADCIRC are to extend it to a global model and improve stability and mass-conservation issues associated with GWCE formulation

Gendering Human Rights Violations: The case of interpersonal violence: Final Report 2004-2007

Three years of project work are hardly enough to declare that a radical change has taken place in the overall understanding of violence in interpersonal relationships. However, it is fair to say that a new basis for conceptualising and using knowledge on violence has been laid by this Coordination Action on Human Rights Violations (CAHRV). The final report of CAHRV details on the objectives, methodology and scope of the project. But what is the value of this type of project for the European Union? How does this project contribute to the overall policy objectives of the EU

EU research on social sciences and humanities: The social problem of men volume 1

Within the Fifth Framework Programme of the European Union for Research and Technological Development (RTD), the Key Action "Improving the socio-economic knowledge base" carried broad and ambitious objectives, namely to improve our understanding of the structural changes taking place in European society, to identify ways of managing these changes and to promote the active involvement of European citizens in shaping their own futures. A further important aim was to mobilise the research communities in the social sciences and humanities at the European level and to provide scientific support to policies at various levels, with particular attention to EU policy fields

Formation of millisecond pulsars with CO white dwarf companions - II. Accretion, spin-up, true ages and comparison to MSPs with He white dwarf companions

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are mainly characterised by their spin periods, B-fields and masses - quantities which are largely affected by previous interactions with a companion star in a binary system. In this paper, we investigate the formation mechanism of MSPs by considering the pulsar recycling process in both intermediate-mass X-ray binaries (IMXBs) and low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). The IMXBs mainly lead to the formation of binary MSPs with a massive carbon-oxygen (CO) or an oxygen-neon-magnesium white dwarf (ONeMg WD) companion, whereas the LMXBs form recycled pulsars with a helium white dwarf (He WD) companion. We discuss the accretion physics leading to the spin-up line in the PPdot-diagram and demonstrate that such a line cannot be uniquely defined. We derive a simple expression for the amount of accreted mass needed for any given pulsar to achieve its equilibrium spin and apply this to explain the observed differences of the spin distributions of recycled pulsars with different types of companions. From numerical calculations we present further evidence for significant loss of rotational energy in accreting X-ray MSPs in LMXBs during the Roche-lobe decoupling phase (Tauris 2012) and demonstrate that the same effect is negligible in IMXBs. We examine the recycling of pulsars with CO WD companions via Case BB Roche-lobe overflow (RLO) of naked helium stars in post common envelope binaries. We find that such pulsars typically accrete of the order 0.002-0.007 M_sun which is just about sufficient to explain their observed spin periods. We introduce isochrones of radio MSPs in the PPdot-diagram to follow their spin evolution and discuss their true ages from comparison with observations. Finally, we apply our results of the spin-up process to the massive pulsar J1614-2230 (Paper I) and put new constraints on the birth masses of a number of recycled pulsars. [Abridged]Comment: MNRAS in press, 32 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables, appendix. Version 2: minor typos correcte

The properties of discs around planets and brown dwarfs as evidence for disc fragmentation

Direct imaging searches have revealed many very low mass objects, including a small number of planetary-mass objects, as wide-orbit companions to young stars. The formation mechanism of these objects remains uncertain. In this paper, we present the predictions of the disc fragmentation model regarding the properties of the discs around such low-mass objects. We find that the discs around objects that have formed by fragmentation in discs hosted by Sun-like stars (referred to as parent discs and parent stars) are more massive than expected from the M disc-M∗relation (which is derived for stars with masses M∗>0.2M). Accordingly, the accretion rates on to these objects are also higher than expected from thė M∗−M∗relation. Moreover, there is no significant correlation between the mass of the brown dwarf or planet with the mass of its disc nor with the accretion rate from the disc on to it. The discs around objects that form by disc fragmentation have larger than expected masses as they accrete gas from the disc of their parent star during the first few kyr after they form. The amount of gas that they accrete and therefore their mass depend on how they move in their parent disc and how they interact with it. Observations of disc masses and accretion rates on to very low mass objectsareconsistentwiththepredictionsofthediscfragmentationmodel.Futureobservations (e.g. by Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) of disc masses and accretion rates on to substellar objects that have even lower masses (young planets and young, low-mass brown dwarfs), where the scaling relations predicted by the disc fragmentation model diverge significantly from the corresponding relations established for higher mass stars, will test the predictions of this model

Low serum cortisol predicts early death following acute myocardial infarction

<b>Objective</b>: Low serum cortisol concentrations have been associated with adverse prognosis in critical illness of diverse aetiology. We aimed to determine whether low serum cortisol concentrations are associated with adverse prognosis in patients with acute myocardial infarction. <b>Design</b>: Nested case-control study. <b>Setting</b>: Prospective cohort study of consecutive patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction to 9 Scottish hospitals. <b>Patients</b>: 100 patients who survived 30 days (controls) and 100 patients who died within 30 days (cases). <b>Measurements and Main Results</b>: Admission cortisol concentrations were lower in patients who died than those who survived (median 1,189 versus 1,355 nmol/L, p<0.001). A cortisol concentration in the bottom quartile (<1,136 nmol/L) was a strong predictor of death within 30 days, and remained so after adjustment for age and cardiac troponin concentration (adjusted OR 8.78, 95% CI 3.09-24.96, p<0.001). <b>Conclusions</b>: Patients who mount a lesser cortisol stress response to acute myocardial infarction have a poorer early prognosis

A protein interaction map for cell polarity development

Many genes required for cell polarity development in budding yeast have been identified and arranged into a functional hierarchy. Core elements of the hierarchy are widely conserved, underlying cell polarity development in diverse eukaryotes. To enumerate more fully the protein–protein interactions that mediate cell polarity development, and to uncover novel mechanisms that coordinate the numerous events involved, we carried out a large-scale two-hybrid experiment. 68 Gal4 DNA binding domain fusions of yeast proteins associated with the actin cytoskeleton, septins, the secretory apparatus, and Rho-type GTPases were used to screen an array of yeast transformants that express ∼90% of the predicted Saccharomyces cerevisiae open reading frames as Gal4 activation domain fusions. 191 protein–protein interactions were detected, of which 128 had not been described previously. 44 interactions implicated 20 previously uncharacterized proteins in cell polarity development. Further insights into possible roles of 13 of these proteins were revealed by their multiple two-hybrid interactions and by subcellular localization. Included in the interaction network were associations of Cdc42 and Rho1 pathways with proteins involved in exocytosis, septin organization, actin assembly, microtubule organization, autophagy, cytokinesis, and cell wall synthesis. Other interactions suggested direct connections between Rho1- and Cdc42-regulated pathways; the secretory apparatus and regulators of polarity establishment; actin assembly and the morphogenesis checkpoint; and the exocytic and endocytic machinery. In total, a network of interactions that provide an integrated response of signaling proteins, the cytoskeleton, and organelles to the spatial cues that direct polarity development was revealed

Terrestrial Reserve Networks Do Not Adequately Represent Aquatic Ecosystems

Las áreas protegidas son una piedra angular de la conservación y han sido diseñadas principalmente alrededor de atributos terrestres. Las especies y ecosistemas dulceacuícolas se encuentran en peligro, pero la efectividad de las áreas protegidas existentes para representar las características dulceacuícolas es poco conocida. Utilizando las aguas interiores de Michigan como un caso de prueba, cuantificamos la cobertura de cuatro atributos dulceacuícolas clave (humedales, zonas ribereñas, recarga de agua subterránea y especies raras) en las tierras conservadas y las comparamos con la representación de los atributos terrestres. Los humedales estaban incluidos en las áreas protegidas más a menudo que lo esperado por azar, pero las zonas ribereñas estuvieron insuficientemente representadas en todas las tierras protegidas (GAP1–3), particularmente en manantiales y ríos grandes. Sin embargo, las zonas ribereñas estuvieron bien representadas en las tierras con protección estricta (GAP 1–2) debido a la contribución del Programa Nacional de Ríos Silvestres y Escénicos. La representación de áreas de recarga de aguas subterráneas generalmente fue proporcional al área de la red de reservas dentro de cuencas hidrológicas, aunque un sitio importante de recarga asociado con algunos de los ríos más valiosos en Michigan estaba casi totalmente desprotegido. La representación de especies en áreas protegidas difirió significativamente entre las especies acuáticas obligadas, de humedales y terrestres, con una representación generalmente mayor para las especies terrestres y menor para las acuáticas. Nuestros resultados ilustran la necesidad de evaluar y atender la representación de los atributos dulceacuícolas dentro de las áreas protegidas y el valor de ampliar el análisis de brechas y otras evaluaciones de áreas protegidas para incluir los procesos ecosistémicos claves que son requisito para la conservación a largo plazo de especies y ecosistemas. Concluimos que las redes de áreas protegidas orientadas al medio terrestre proporcionan una red de seguridad débil para los atributos acuáticos, lo que significa que se requiere planeación y manejo complementario tanto para objetivos de conservación dulceacuícolas como terrestres.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79138/1/COBI_1460_sm_AppendixS3.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79138/2/COBI_1460_sm_AppendixS1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79138/3/j.1523-1739.2010.01460.x.pd