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Sample records for change response explains

  1. A double-integration hypothesis to explain ocean ecosystem response to climate forcing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Lorenzo, Emanuele; Ohman, Mark D.

    2013-01-01

    Long-term time series of marine ecological indicators often are characterized by large-amplitude state transitions that can persist for decades. Understanding the significance of these variations depends critically on the underlying hypotheses characterizing expected natural variability. Using a linear autoregressive model in combination with long-term zooplankton observations off the California coast, we show that cumulative integrations of white-noise atmospheric forcing can generate marine population responses that are characterized by strong transitions and prolonged apparent state changes. This model provides a baseline hypothesis for explaining ecosystem variability and for interpreting the significance of abrupt responses and climate change signatures in marine ecosystems. PMID:23341628

  2. Explaining topic prevalence in answers to open-ended survey questions about climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tvinnereim, Endre; Fløttum, Kjersti

    2015-08-01

    Citizens’ opinions are crucial for action on climate change, but are, owing to the complexity of the issue, diverse and potentially unformed. We contribute to the understanding of public views on climate change and to knowledge needed by decision-makers by using a new approach to analyse answers to the open survey question `what comes to mind when you hear the words `climate change’?’. We apply automated text analysis, specifically structural topic modelling, which induces distinct topics based on the relative frequencies of the words used in 2,115 responses. From these data, originating from the new, nationally representative Norwegian Citizen Panel, four distinct topics emerge: Weather/Ice, Future/Impact, Money/Consumption and Attribution. We find that Norwegians emphasize societal aspects of climate change more than do respondents in previous US and UK studies. Furthermore, variables that explain variation in closed questions, such as gender and education, yield different and surprising results when employed to explain variation in what respondents emphasize. Finally, the sharp distinction between scepticism and acceptance of conventional climate science, often seen in previous studies, blurs in many textual responses as scepticism frequently turns into ambivalence.

  3. Do changes in connectivity explain desertification?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desertification, broad-scale land degradation in drylands, is a major environmental hazard facing inhabitants of the world’s deserts as well as an important component of global change. There is no unifying framework that simply and effectively explains different forms of desertification. Here we arg...

  4. Linking Native and Invader Traits Explains Native Spider Population Responses to Plant Invasion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer N Smith

    Full Text Available Theoretically, the functional traits of native species should determine how natives respond to invader-driven changes. To explore this idea, we simulated a large-scale plant invasion using dead spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe stems to determine if native spiders' web-building behaviors could explain differences in spider population responses to structural changes arising from C. stoebe invasion. After two years, irregular web-spiders were >30 times more abundant and orb weavers were >23 times more abundant on simulated invasion plots compared to controls. Additionally, irregular web-spiders on simulated invasion plots built webs that were 4.4 times larger and 5.0 times more likely to capture prey, leading to >2-fold increases in recruitment. Orb-weavers showed no differences in web size or prey captures between treatments. Web-spider responses to simulated invasion mimicked patterns following natural invasions, confirming that C. stoebe's architecture is likely the primary attribute driving native spider responses to these invasions. Differences in spider responses were attributable to differences in web construction behaviors relative to historic web substrate constraints. Orb-weavers in this system constructed webs between multiple plants, so they were limited by the overall quantity of native substrates but not by the architecture of individual native plant species. Irregular web-spiders built their webs within individual plants and were greatly constrained by the diminutive architecture of native plant substrates, so they were limited both by quantity and quality of native substrates. Evaluating native species traits in the context of invader-driven change can explain invasion outcomes and help to identify factors limiting native populations.

  5. Ecological and methodological drivers of species’ distribution and phenology responses to climate change

    KAUST Repository

    Brown, Christopher J.

    2015-12-10

    Climate change is shifting species’ distribution and phenology. Ecological traits, such as mobility or reproductive mode, explain variation in observed rates of shift for some taxa. However, estimates of relationships between traits and climate responses could be influenced by how responses are measured. We compiled a global dataset of 651 published marine species’ responses to climate change, from 47 papers on distribution shifts and 32 papers on phenology change. We assessed the relative importance of two classes of predictors of the rate of change, ecological traits of the responding taxa and methodological approaches for quantifying biological responses. Methodological differences explained 22% of the variation in range shifts, more than the 7.8% of the variation explained by ecological traits. For phenology change, methodological approaches accounted for 4% of the variation in measurements, whereas 8% of the variation was explained by ecological traits. Our ability to predict responses from traits was hindered by poor representation of species from the tropics, where temperature isotherms are moving most rapidly. Thus, the mean rate of distribution change may be underestimated by this and other global syntheses. Our analyses indicate that methodological approaches should be explicitly considered when designing, analysing and comparing results among studies. To improve climate impact studies, we recommend that: (1) re-analyses of existing time-series state how the existing datasets may limit the inferences about possible climate responses; (2) qualitative comparisons of species’ responses across different studies be limited to studies with similar methodological approaches; (3) meta-analyses of climate responses include methodological attributes as covariates and; (4) that new time series be designed to include detection of early warnings of change or ecologically relevant change. Greater consideration of methodological attributes will improve the

  6. Public concern for air quality: explaining change in Toronto, Canada, 1967-1978

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dworkin, J M [Univ of Arizona, Tucson; Pijawka, K D

    1982-01-01

    The paper presents the results of an empirical study of the change in perception of air quality in Toronto, Canada from 1968-1978. The data show a shift in public concern with and awareness of air quality. Despite the fact that the 1978 population regarded air quality as degraded, air pollution declined as a public concern, requiring a less serious response by government than other societal problems. The results of the study were reviewed in the context of existing perception studies. In explaining change, the study found: (1) perception of ambient air quality was not related to air pollution levels; (2) air pollution declines as a public concern as other socioeconomic problems surface; and (3) the mass media has an important role in affecting public attitudes and behavior over environmental quality issues.

  7. Ecological and methodological drivers of species’ distribution and phenology responses to climate change

    KAUST Repository

    Brown, Christopher J.; O'Connor, Mary I.; Poloczanska, Elvira S.; Schoeman, David S.; Buckley, Lauren B.; Burrows, Michael T.; Duarte, Carlos M.; Halpern, Benjamin S.; Pandolfi, John M.; Parmesan, Camille; Richardson, Anthony J.

    2015-01-01

    the 7.8% of the variation explained by ecological traits. For phenology change, methodological approaches accounted for 4% of the variation in measurements, whereas 8% of the variation was explained by ecological traits. Our ability to predict responses

  8. Do structural changes (eg, collagen/matrix) explain the response to therapeutic exercises in tendinopathy: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drew, Benjamin T; Smith, Toby O; Littlewood, Chris; Sturrock, Ben

    2014-06-01

    Previous reviews have highlighted the benefit of loaded therapeutic exercise in the treatment of tendinopathy. Changes in observable structural outcomes have been suggested as a possible explanation for this response to therapeutic exercise. However, the mechanism for the efficacy of therapeutic exercise remains unclear. To systematically review the relationship between the observable structural change and clinical outcomes following therapeutic exercise. An electronic search of AMED, CiNAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, PEDro and SPORTDiscus was undertaken from their inception to June 2012. Any study design that incorporated observable structural outcomes and clinical outcomes when assessing the effect of therapeutic exercise on participants with tendinopathy. Included studies were appraised for risk of bias using the tool developed by the Cochrane Back Review Group. Due to heterogeneity of studies, a qualitative synthesis was undertaken. Twenty articles describing 625 patients were included. Overall, there is a strong evidence to refute any observable structural change as an explanation for the response to therapeutic exercise when treated by eccentric exercise training. Moderate evidence does exist to support the response of heavy-slow resistance training (HSR). The available literature does not support observable structural change as an explanation for the response of therapeutic exercise except for some support from HSR. Future research should focus on indentifying other explanations including neural, biochemical and myogenic changes. Registered with PROSPERO, registration number CRD42011001638. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  9. A marker of biological age explains individual variation in the strength of the adult stress response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrews, Clare; Nettle, Daniel; Larriva, Maria; Gillespie, Robert; Reichert, Sophie; Brilot, Ben O; Bedford, Thomas; Monaghan, Pat; Spencer, Karen A; Bateson, Melissa

    2017-09-01

    The acute stress response functions to prioritize behavioural and physiological processes that maximize survival in the face of immediate threat. There is variation between individuals in the strength of the adult stress response that is of interest in both evolutionary biology and medicine. Age is an established source of this variation-stress responsiveness diminishes with increasing age in a range of species-but unexplained variation remains. Since individuals of the same chronological age may differ markedly in their pace of biological ageing, we asked whether biological age-measured here via erythrocyte telomere length-predicts variation in stress responsiveness in adult animals of the same chronological age. We studied two cohorts of European starlings in which we had previously manipulated the rate of biological ageing by experimentally altering the competition experienced by chicks in the fortnight following hatching. We predicted that individuals with greater developmental telomere attrition, and hence greater biological age, would show an attenuated corticosterone (CORT) response to an acute stressor when tested as adults. In both cohorts, we found that birds with greater developmental telomere attrition had lower peak CORT levels and a more negative change in CORT levels between 15 and 30 min following stress exposure. Our results, therefore, provide strong evidence that a measure of biological age explains individual variation in stress responsiveness: birds that were biologically older were less stress responsive. Our results provide a novel explanation for the phenomenon of developmental programming of the stress response: observed changes in stress physiology as a result of exposure to early-life adversity may reflect changes in ageing.

  10. Microhabitat and Climatic Niche Change Explain Patterns of Diversification among Frog Families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moen, Daniel S; Wiens, John J

    2017-07-01

    A major goal of ecology and evolutionary biology is to explain patterns of species richness among clades. Differences in rates of net diversification (speciation minus extinction over time) may often explain these patterns, but the factors that drive variation in diversification rates remain uncertain. Three important candidates are climatic niche position (e.g., whether clades are primarily temperate or tropical), rates of climatic niche change among species within clades, and microhabitat (e.g., aquatic, terrestrial, arboreal). The first two factors have been tested separately in several studies, but the relative importance of all three is largely unknown. Here we explore the correlates of diversification among families of frogs, which collectively represent ∼88% of amphibian species. We assemble and analyze data on phylogeny, climate, and microhabitat for thousands of species. We find that the best-fitting phylogenetic multiple regression model includes all three types of variables: microhabitat, rates of climatic niche change, and climatic niche position. This model explains 67% of the variation in diversification rates among frog families, with arboreal microhabitat explaining ∼31%, niche rates ∼25%, and climatic niche position ∼11%. Surprisingly, we show that microhabitat can have a much stronger influence on diversification than climatic niche position or rates of climatic niche change.

  11. Predator-induced changes in metabolism cannot explain the growth/predation risk tradeoff.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ulrich K Steiner

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Defence against predators is usually accompanied by declining rates of growth or development. The classical growth/predation risk tradeoff assumes reduced activity as the cause of these declines. However, in many cases these costs cannot be explained by reduced foraging effort or enhanced allocation to defensive structures under predation risk. Here, we tested for a physiological origin of defence costs by measuring oxygen consumption in tadpoles (Rana temporaria exposed to predation risk over short and long periods of time. The short term reaction was an increase in oxygen consumption, consistent with the "fight-or-flight" response observed in many organisms. The long term reaction showed the opposite pattern: tadpoles reduced oxygen consumption after three weeks exposure to predators, which would act to reduce the growth cost of predator defence. The results point to an instantaneous and reversible stress response to predation risk. This suggests that the tradeoff between avoiding predators and growing rapidly is not caused by changes in metabolic rate, and must be sought in other behavioural or physiological processes.

  12. Explaining life history variation in a changing climate across a species' range

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Neuheimer, Anna B.; MacKenzie, Brian R.

    2014-01-01

    Timing of reproduction greatly influences offspring success and resulting population production. Explaining and predicting species' dynamics necessitates disentangling the intrinsic (genotypic) and extrinsic (climatic) factors controlling reproductive timing. Here we explore temporal and spatial...... changes in spawning time for 21 populations of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) across the species' range (40 degrees to 80 degrees N). We estimate spawning time using a physiologically relevant metric that includes information on fish thermal history (degree-days, DD). First, we estimate spawning DD among...... years (within populations) to show how recent changes in spawning time can be explained by local changes in temperature. Second, we employ spawning DD to identify temperature-independent trends in spawning time among populations that are consistent with parallel adaptive evolution and the evolutionary...

  13. Climate and terrain factors explaining streamflow response and recession in Australian catchments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. I. J. M. van Dijk

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Daily streamflow data were analysed to assess which climate and terrain factors best explain streamflow response in 183 Australian catchments. Assessed descriptors of catchment response included the parameters of fitted baseflow models, and baseflow index (BFI, average quick flow and average baseflow derived by baseflow separation. The variation in response between catchments was compared with indicators of catchment climate, morphology, geology, soils and land use. Spatial coherence in the residual unexplained variation was investigated using semi-variogram techniques. A linear reservoir model (one parameter; recession coefficient produced baseflow estimates as good as those obtained using a non-linear reservoir (two parameters and for practical purposes was therefore considered an appropriate balance between simplicity and explanatory performance. About a third (27–34% of the spatial variation in recession coefficients and BFI was explained by catchment climate indicators, with another 53% of variation being spatially correlated over distances of 100–150 km, probably indicative of substrate characteristics not captured by the available soil and geology data. The shortest recession half-times occurred in the driest catchments and were attributed to intermittent occurrence of fast-draining (possibly perched groundwater. Most (70–84% of the variation in average baseflow and quick flow was explained by rainfall and climate characteristics; another 20% of variation was spatially correlated over distances of 300–700 km, possibly reflecting a combination of terrain and climate factors. It is concluded that catchment streamflow response can be predicted quite well on the basis of catchment climate alone. The prediction of baseflow recession response should be improved further if relevant substrate properties were identified and measured.

  14. Plant community responses to simultaneous changes in temperature, nitrogen availability, and invasion.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elise S Gornish

    Full Text Available Increasing rates of change in climate have been observed across the planet and have contributed to the ongoing range shifts observed for many species. Although ecologists are now using a variety of approaches to study how much and through what mechanisms increasing temperature and nutrient pollution may influence the invasions inherent in range shifts, accurate predictions are still lacking.In this study, we conducted a factorial experiment, simultaneously manipulating warming, nitrogen addition and introduction of Pityopsis aspera, to determine how range-shifting species affect a plant community. We quantified the resident community using ordination scores, then used structural equation modeling to examine hypotheses related to how plants respond to a network of experimental treatments and environmental variables. Variation in soil pH explained plant community response to nitrogen addition in the absence of invasion. However, in the presence of invasion, the direct effect of nitrogen on the community was negligible and soil moisture was important for explaining nitrogen effects. We did not find effects of warming on the native plant community in the absence of invasion. In the presence of invasion, however, warming had negative effects on functional richness directly and invasion and herbivory explained the overall positive effect of warming on the plant community.This work highlights the variation in the biotic and abiotic factors responsible for explaining independent and collective climate change effects over a short time scale. Future work should consider the complex and non-additive relationships among factors of climate change and invasion in order to capture more ecologically relevant features of our changing environment.

  15. Regional Distribution Shifts Help Explain Local Changes in Wintering Raptor Abundance: Implications for Interpreting Population Trends

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paprocki, Neil; Heath, Julie A.; Novak, Stephen J.

    2014-01-01

    Studies of multiple taxa across broad-scales suggest that species distributions are shifting poleward in response to global climate change. Recognizing the influence of distribution shifts on population indices will be an important part of interpreting trends within management units because current practice often assumes that changes in local populations reflect local habitat conditions. However, the individual- and population-level processes that drive distribution shifts may occur across a large, regional scale and have little to do with the habitats within the management unit. We examined the latitudinal center of abundance for the winter distributions of six western North America raptor species using Christmas Bird Counts from 1975–2011. Also, we considered whether population indices within western North America Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) were explained by distribution shifts. All six raptors had significant poleward shifts in their wintering distributions over time. Rough-legged Hawks (Buteo lagopus) and Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) showed the fastest rate of change, with 8.41 km yr−1 and 7.74 km yr−1 shifts, respectively. Raptors may be particularly responsive to warming winters because of variable migration tendencies, intraspecific competition for nesting sites that drives males to winter farther north, or both. Overall, 40% of BCR population trend models were improved by incorporating information about wintering distributions; however, support for the effect of distribution on BCR indices varied by species with Rough-legged Hawks showing the most evidence. These results emphasize the importance of understanding how regional distribution shifts influence local-scale population indices. If global climate change is altering distribution patterns, then trends within some management units may not reflect changes in local habitat conditions. The methods used to monitor and manage bird populations within local BCRs will fundamentally change as

  16. Regional distribution shifts help explain local changes in wintering raptor abundance: implications for interpreting population trends.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neil Paprocki

    Full Text Available Studies of multiple taxa across broad-scales suggest that species distributions are shifting poleward in response to global climate change. Recognizing the influence of distribution shifts on population indices will be an important part of interpreting trends within management units because current practice often assumes that changes in local populations reflect local habitat conditions. However, the individual- and population-level processes that drive distribution shifts may occur across a large, regional scale and have little to do with the habitats within the management unit. We examined the latitudinal center of abundance for the winter distributions of six western North America raptor species using Christmas Bird Counts from 1975-2011. Also, we considered whether population indices within western North America Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs were explained by distribution shifts. All six raptors had significant poleward shifts in their wintering distributions over time. Rough-legged Hawks (Buteo lagopus and Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos showed the fastest rate of change, with 8.41 km yr(-1 and 7.74 km yr(-1 shifts, respectively. Raptors may be particularly responsive to warming winters because of variable migration tendencies, intraspecific competition for nesting sites that drives males to winter farther north, or both. Overall, 40% of BCR population trend models were improved by incorporating information about wintering distributions; however, support for the effect of distribution on BCR indices varied by species with Rough-legged Hawks showing the most evidence. These results emphasize the importance of understanding how regional distribution shifts influence local-scale population indices. If global climate change is altering distribution patterns, then trends within some management units may not reflect changes in local habitat conditions. The methods used to monitor and manage bird populations within local BCRs will fundamentally

  17. Developmental change in social responsibility during adolescence: An ecological perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wray-Lake, Laura; Syvertsen, Amy K; Flanagan, Constance A

    2016-01-01

    Social responsibility can be defined as a set of prosocial values representing personal commitments to contribute to community and society. Little is known about developmental change-and predictors of that change-in social responsibility during adolescence. The present study used an accelerated longitudinal research design to investigate the developmental trajectory of social responsibility values and ecological assets across family, school, community, and peer settings that predict these values. Data come from a 3-year study of 3,683 U.S. adolescents enrolled in upper-level elementary, middle, and high schools in rural, semiurban, and urban communities. Social responsibility values significantly decreased from age 9 to 16 before leveling off in later adolescence. Family compassion messages and democratic climate, school solidarity, community connectedness, and trusted friendship, positively predicted within-person change in adolescents' social responsibility values. These findings held after accounting for other individual-level and demographic factors and provide support for the role of ecological assets in adolescents' social responsibility development. In addition, fair society beliefs and volunteer experience had positive between- and within-person associations with social responsibility values. The manuscript discusses theoretical and practical implications of the conclusion that declines in ecological assets may partly explain age-related declines in social responsibility values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Evolution and behavioural responses to human-induced rapid environmental change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sih, Andrew; Ferrari, Maud C O; Harris, David J

    2011-03-01

    Almost all organisms live in environments that have been altered, to some degree, by human activities. Because behaviour mediates interactions between an individual and its environment, the ability of organisms to behave appropriately under these new conditions is crucial for determining their immediate success or failure in these modified environments. While hundreds of species are suffering dramatically from these environmental changes, others, such as urbanized and pest species, are doing better than ever. Our goal is to provide insights into explaining such variation. We first summarize the responses of some species to novel situations, including novel risks and resources, habitat loss/fragmentation, pollutants and climate change. Using a sensory ecology approach, we present a mechanistic framework for predicting variation in behavioural responses to environmental change, drawing from models of decision-making processes and an understanding of the selective background against which they evolved. Where immediate behavioural responses are inadequate, learning or evolutionary adaptation may prove useful, although these mechanisms are also constrained by evolutionary history. Although predicting the responses of species to environmental change is difficult, we highlight the need for a better understanding of the role of evolutionary history in shaping individuals' responses to their environment and provide suggestion for future work.

  19. Explaining Consumer Safe Food Handling Through Behavior-Change Theories: A Systematic Review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Ian; Reimer, Danielle; Greig, Judy; Meldrum, Richard; Turgeon, Patricia; Waddell, Lisa

    2017-11-01

    Consumers often engage in unsafe food handling behaviors at home. Previous studies have investigated the ability of behavior-change theories to explain and predict these behaviors. The purpose of this review was to determine which theories are most consistently associated with consumers' safe food handling behaviors across the published literature. A standardized systematic review methodology was used, consisting of the following steps: comprehensive search strategy; relevance screening of identified references; confirmation of relevance and characterization of relevant articles; risk-of-bias assessment; data extraction; and descriptive analysis of study results. A total of 20 relevant studies were identified; they were mostly conducted in Australia (40%) and the United States (35%) and used a cross-sectional design (65%). Most studies targeted young adults (65%), and none focused on high-risk consumer groups. The outcomes of 70% of studies received high overall risk-of-bias ratings, largely due to a lack of control for confounding variables. The most commonly applied theory was the Theory of Planned Behavior (45% of studies), which, along with other investigated theories of behavior change, was frequently associated with consumer safe food handling behavioral intentions and behaviors. However, overall, there was wide variation in the specific constructs found to be significantly associated and in the percentage of variance explained in each outcome across studies. The results suggest that multiple theories of behavior change can help to explain consumer safe food handling behaviors and could be adopted to guide the development of future behavior-change interventions. In these contexts, theories should be appropriately selected and adapted to meet the needs of the specific target population and context of interest.

  20. Shifts in the microbial community structure explain the response of soil respiration to land-use change but not to climate warming

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nazaries, Loïc; Tottey, William; Robinson, Lucinda

    2015-01-01

    Soil stores more carbon (C) than plants and atmosphere combined and it is vulnerable to increased microbial respiration under projected global changes including land-use change and future climate scenarios (mainly elevated temperature). Land-use change is known to have a direct impact on soil...... of this feedback response of Rs to global change. To identify the mechanisms of Rs response to land-use change and climate warming, we first investigated Rs from different land use types. Soil respiration was estimated seasonally from four different Scottish land uses: moorland, birch woodland, grassland and pine......, estimated by Multiplex Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (MT-RFLP) and 454 pyrosequencing, was significantly different under each land use type. A strong correlation of Rs with soil properties (pH, inorganic N, C:N ratio and moisture) and with microbial community structure was identified...

  1. A Hierarchical Bayes Error Correction Model to Explain Dynamic Effects of Price Changes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    D. Fok (Dennis); R. Paap (Richard); C. Horváth (Csilla); Ph.H.B.F. Franses (Philip Hans)

    2005-01-01

    textabstractThe authors put forward a sales response model to explain the differences in immediate and dynamic effects of promotional prices and regular prices on sales. The model consists of a vector autoregression rewritten in error-correction format which allows to disentangle the immediate

  2. System analysis of the dynamic response of the coronary circulation to a sudden change in heart rate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dankelman, J; Stassen, H G; Spaan, J A

    1990-03-01

    In this study the response of driving pressure/flow ration on an abrupt change in heart rate was analysed. The difference between the response obtained with constant pressure and constant flow perfusion was also studied. The responses show a fast initial reversed phase followed by a slow phase caused by regulation. To test whether the initial phase could be the result of mechanical changes in the coronary circulation, a model for regulation was extended by the addition of four different mechanical models originating from the literature. These extended models were able to explain the fast initial phase. However, the mechanical model consisting of an intramyocardial compliance (C = 0.08 ml mm Hg-1 100 g-1) with a variable venous resistance, and the model consisting of a waterfall and a small compliance (C = 0.007 ml mm Hg-1 100g-1) both explained these responses best. The analysis showed that there is no direct relationship between rate of change of vascular tone and rate of change of pressure/flow ratio. However, on the basis of the two extended models, it can be predicted that the half-time for the response of regulation to be complete is about 9s with constant pressure perfusion and 15 s with constant flow perfusion.

  3. Can responses to basic non-numerical visual features explain neural numerosity responses?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Harvey, Ben M; Dumoulin, Serge O

    2017-01-01

    Humans and many animals can distinguish between stimuli that differ in numerosity, the number of objects in a set. Human and macaque parietal lobes contain neurons that respond to changes in stimulus numerosity. However, basic non-numerical visual features can affect neural responses to and

  4. Can responses to basic non-numerical visual features explain neural numerosity responses?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, Ben M; Dumoulin, Serge O

    2017-04-01

    Humans and many animals can distinguish between stimuli that differ in numerosity, the number of objects in a set. Human and macaque parietal lobes contain neurons that respond to changes in stimulus numerosity. However, basic non-numerical visual features can affect neural responses to and perception of numerosity, and visual features often co-vary with numerosity. Therefore, it is debated whether numerosity or co-varying low-level visual features underlie neural and behavioral responses to numerosity. To test the hypothesis that non-numerical visual features underlie neural numerosity responses in a human parietal numerosity map, we analyze responses to a group of numerosity stimulus configurations that have the same numerosity progression but vary considerably in their non-numerical visual features. Using ultra-high-field (7T) fMRI, we measure responses to these stimulus configurations in an area of posterior parietal cortex whose responses are believed to reflect numerosity-selective activity. We describe an fMRI analysis method to distinguish between alternative models of neural response functions, following a population receptive field (pRF) modeling approach. For each stimulus configuration, we first quantify the relationships between numerosity and several non-numerical visual features that have been proposed to underlie performance in numerosity discrimination tasks. We then determine how well responses to these non-numerical visual features predict the observed fMRI responses, and compare this to the predictions of responses to numerosity. We demonstrate that a numerosity response model predicts observed responses more accurately than models of responses to simple non-numerical visual features. As such, neural responses in cognitive processing need not reflect simpler properties of early sensory inputs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Explaining international co-authorship in global environmental change research

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jappe, A.

    2006-04-15

    This paper maps the domain of earth and environmental sciences (EES) and investigates the relationship between cognitive problem structures and internationalisation patterns, drawing on the concepts of systemic versus cumulative global environmental change (GEC) and mutual task dependence in scientific fields. We find that scientific output concentration and internationalisation are significantly higher in the systemic GEC fields of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences and Oceanography than in the cumulative GEC fields Ecology and Water Resources. The relationship is explained by stronger mutual task dependence in systemic GEC fields. In contrast, the portion of co-authorships with developing, emerging and transition countries among all international publications is larger for Water Resources than for the three other fields, consistent with the most pressing needs for STI capacity development in these countries. (orig.)

  6. CO2-Induced Changes in Wheat Grain Composition: Meta-Analysis and Response Functions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malin C. Broberg

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Elevated carbon dioxide (eCO2 stimulates wheat grain yield, but simultaneously reduces protein/nitrogen (N concentration. Also, other essential nutrients are subject to change. This study is a synthesis of wheat experiments with eCO2, estimating the effects on N, minerals (B, Ca, Cd, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, S, Zn, and starch. The analysis was performed by (i deriving response functions to assess the gradual change in element concentration with increasing CO2 concentration, (ii meta-analysis to test the average magnitude and significance of observed effects, and (iii relating CO2 effects on minerals to effects on N and grain yield. Responses ranged from zero to strong negative effects of eCO2 on mineral concentration, with the largest reductions for the nutritionally important elements of N, Fe, S, Zn, and Mg. Together with the positive but small and non-significant effect on starch concentration, the large variation in effects suggests that CO2-induced responses cannot be explained only by a simple dilution model. To explain the observed pattern, uptake and transport mechanisms may have to be considered, along with the link of different elements to N uptake. Our study shows that eCO2 has a significant effect on wheat grain stoichiometry, with implications for human nutrition in a world of rising CO2.

  7. Agricultural management explains historic changes in regional soil carbon stocks

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Wesemael, Bas; Paustian, Keith; Meersmans, Jeroen; Goidts, Esther; Barancikova, Gabriela; Easter, Mark

    2010-01-01

    Agriculture is considered to be among the economic sectors having the greatest greenhouse gas mitigation potential, largely via soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. However, it remains a challenge to accurately quantify SOC stock changes at regional to national scales. SOC stock changes resulting from SOC inventory systems are only available for a few countries and the trends vary widely between studies. Process-based models can provide insight in the drivers of SOC changes, but accurate input data are currently not available at these spatial scales. Here we use measurements from a soil inventory dating from the 1960s and resampled in 2006 covering the major soil types and agricultural regions in Belgium together with region-specific land use and management data and a process-based model. The largest decreases in SOC stocks occurred in poorly drained grassland soils (clays and floodplain soils), consistent with drainage improvements since 1960. Large increases in SOC in well drained grassland soils appear to be a legacy effect of widespread conversion of cropland to grassland before 1960. SOC in cropland increased only in sandy lowland soils, driven by increasing manure additions. Modeled land use and management impacts accounted for more than 70% of the variation in observed SOC changes, and no bias could be demonstrated. There was no significant effect of climate trends since 1960 on observed SOC changes. SOC monitoring networks are being established in many countries. Our results demonstrate that detailed and long-term land management data are crucial to explain the observed SOC changes for such networks. PMID:20679194

  8. Forest Owners' Response to Climate Change: University Education Trumps Value Profile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blennow, Kristina; Persson, Johannes; Persson, Erik; Hanewinkel, Marc

    2016-01-01

    Do forest owners' levels of education or value profiles explain their responses to climate change? The cultural cognition thesis (CCT) has cast serious doubt on the familiar and often criticized "knowledge deficit" model, which says that laypeople are less concerned about climate change because they lack scientific knowledge. Advocates of CCT maintain that citizens with the highest degrees of scientific literacy and numeracy are not the most concerned about climate change. Rather, this is the group in which cultural polarization is greatest, and thus individuals with more limited scientific literacy and numeracy are more concerned about climate change under certain circumstances than those with higher scientific literacy and numeracy. The CCT predicts that cultural and other values will trump the positive effects of education on some forest owners' attitudes to climate change. Here, using survey data collected in 2010 from 766 private forest owners in Sweden and Germany, we provide the first evidence that perceptions of climate change risk are uncorrelated with, or sometimes positively correlated with, education level and can be explained without reference to cultural or other values. We conclude that the recent claim that advanced scientific literacy and numeracy polarizes perceptions of climate change risk is unsupported by the forest owner data. In neither of the two countries was university education found to reduce the perception of risk from climate change. Indeed in most cases university education increased the perception of risk. Even more importantly, the effect of university education was not dependent on the individuals' value profile.

  9. Forest Owners' Response to Climate Change: University Education Trumps Value Profile.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristina Blennow

    Full Text Available Do forest owners' levels of education or value profiles explain their responses to climate change? The cultural cognition thesis (CCT has cast serious doubt on the familiar and often criticized "knowledge deficit" model, which says that laypeople are less concerned about climate change because they lack scientific knowledge. Advocates of CCT maintain that citizens with the highest degrees of scientific literacy and numeracy are not the most concerned about climate change. Rather, this is the group in which cultural polarization is greatest, and thus individuals with more limited scientific literacy and numeracy are more concerned about climate change under certain circumstances than those with higher scientific literacy and numeracy. The CCT predicts that cultural and other values will trump the positive effects of education on some forest owners' attitudes to climate change. Here, using survey data collected in 2010 from 766 private forest owners in Sweden and Germany, we provide the first evidence that perceptions of climate change risk are uncorrelated with, or sometimes positively correlated with, education level and can be explained without reference to cultural or other values. We conclude that the recent claim that advanced scientific literacy and numeracy polarizes perceptions of climate change risk is unsupported by the forest owner data. In neither of the two countries was university education found to reduce the perception of risk from climate change. Indeed in most cases university education increased the perception of risk. Even more importantly, the effect of university education was not dependent on the individuals' value profile.

  10. Responsibility and climate change

    OpenAIRE

    Jamieson, Dale

    2015-01-01

    Ibegin by providing some background to conceptions of responsibility. I note the extent of disagreement in this area, the diverse and cross-cutting distinctions that are deployed, and the relative neglect of some important problems. These facts make it difficult to attribute responsibility for climate change, but so do some features of climate change itself which I go on to illuminate. Attributions of responsibility are often contested sites because such attributions are fundamentally pragmat...

  11. Are low Danish fertility rates explained by changes in timing of births?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hvidtfeldt, Ulla A; Gerster, Mette; Knudsen, Lisbeth B

    2010-01-01

    AIMS: The most commonly used indicator of fertility, the period total fertility rate (TFR(p)), tends to underestimate actual fertility when women delay childbearing. The objective of this study was to examine to which extent fluctuations in Danish fertility rates result from changes in timing...... from the Danish Fertility of Women and Couples Dataset, 1980-2001. We evaluated fluctuations in period fertility rates by the tempo-adjusted TFR(') - a proposed variant of the conventional TFR(p) taking period changes in timing of births into account. Tempo-effects were given by the difference between...... of births and, thus, whether the conventional TFR(p) is a distorted indicator of fertility quantum. In addition, we investigated whether such changes in timing explained the observed regional differences in the TFR(p) in Denmark. METHODS: The study applied age-, period-, county-, and parity-specific data...

  12. Nonlinear flowering responses to climate: are species approaching their limits of phenological change?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iler, Amy M.; Høye, Toke T.; Inouye, David W.; Schmidt, Niels M.

    2013-01-01

    Many alpine and subalpine plant species exhibit phenological advancements in association with earlier snowmelt. While the phenology of some plant species does not advance beyond a threshold snowmelt date, the prevalence of such threshold phenological responses within plant communities is largely unknown. We therefore examined the shape of flowering phenology responses (linear versus nonlinear) to climate using two long-term datasets from plant communities in snow-dominated environments: Gothic, CO, USA (1974–2011) and Zackenberg, Greenland (1996–2011). For a total of 64 species, we determined whether a linear or nonlinear regression model best explained interannual variation in flowering phenology in response to increasing temperatures and advancing snowmelt dates. The most common nonlinear trend was for species to flower earlier as snowmelt advanced, with either no change or a slower rate of change when snowmelt was early (average 20% of cases). By contrast, some species advanced their flowering at a faster rate over the warmest temperatures relative to cooler temperatures (average 5% of cases). Thus, some species seem to be approaching their limits of phenological change in response to snowmelt but not temperature. Such phenological thresholds could either be a result of minimum springtime photoperiod cues for flowering or a slower rate of adaptive change in flowering time relative to changing climatic conditions. PMID:23836793

  13. Explaining pathological changes in axonal excitability through dynamical analysis of conductance-based models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coggan, Jay S.; Ocker, Gabriel K.; Sejnowski, Terrence J.; Prescott, Steven A.

    2011-10-01

    Neurons rely on action potentials, or spikes, to relay information. Pathological changes in spike generation likely contribute to certain enigmatic features of neurological disease, like paroxysmal attacks of pain and muscle spasm. Paroxysmal symptoms are characterized by abrupt onset and short duration, and are associated with abnormal spiking although the exact pathophysiology remains unclear. To help decipher the biophysical basis for 'paroxysmal' spiking, we replicated afterdischarge (i.e. continued spiking after a brief stimulus) in a minimal conductance-based axon model. We then applied nonlinear dynamical analysis to explain the dynamical basis for initiation and termination of afterdischarge. A perturbation could abruptly switch the system between two (quasi-)stable attractor states: rest and repetitive spiking. This bistability was a consequence of slow positive feedback mediated by persistent inward current. Initiation of afterdischarge was explained by activation of the persistent inward current forcing the system to cross a saddle point that separates the basins of attraction associated with each attractor. Termination of afterdischarge was explained by the attractor associated with repetitive spiking being destroyed. This occurred when ultra-slow negative feedback, such as intracellular sodium accumulation, caused the saddle point and stable limit cycle to collide; in that regard, the active attractor is not truly stable when the slowest dynamics are taken into account. The model also explains other features of paroxysmal symptoms, including temporal summation and refractoriness.

  14. Leaders as Corporate Responsibility Spokesperson: How Leaders Explain Liabilites Via Corporate Web Sites?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Burcu Öksüz

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to reveal the corporate social responsibility (CSR understandings of corporations from the leaders’ perspective and discuss how leaders define and explain CSR practices their organizations executed as spokesperson via social media channels of their organizations.  In this context, a content analysis aiming to display the ideas of Turkey’s top 250 corporations’ leaders (CEO, chairman of the board, general manager designated by Istanbul Chamber of Industry in 2013. The leader messages about different dimensions of CSR and CSR practices that are partaking in corporate web sites were examined. According to the results of the analysis, it is found that the leaders act as responsible leaders, and also the spokesperson of their corporations. In addition it is found out that responsible leaders included multiplexed information on different dimensions and various practices of CSR in their social media messages.

  15. Lags in the response of mountain plant communities to climate change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Alexander, Jake M; Chalmandrier, Loïc; Lenoir, Jonathan

    2018-01-01

    Rapid climatic changes and increasing human influence at high elevations around the world will have profound impacts on mountain biodiversity. However, forecasts from statistical models (e.g. species distribution models) rarely consider that plant community changes could substantially lag behind...... plant species' spread along elevational gradients, "establishment lags" following their arrival in recipient communities, and "extinction lags" of resident species. Variation in lags is explained by variation among species in physiological and demographic responses, by effects of altered biotic...... turnover in future communities might lag behind simple expectations based on species' range shifts with unlimited dispersal. The model shows a combined contribution of altered biotic interactions and dispersal lags to plant community turnover along an elevational gradient following climate warming. Our...

  16. Cognitive Abilities Explaining Age-Related Changes in Time Perception of Short and Long Durations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zelanti, Pierre S.; Droit-Volet, Sylvie

    2011-01-01

    The current study investigated how the development of cognitive abilities explains the age-related changes in temporal judgment over short and long duration ranges from 0.5 to 30 s. Children (5- and 9-year-olds) as well as adults were given a temporal bisection task with four different duration ranges: a duration range shorter than 1 s, two…

  17. Strain-specific responses of Emiliania huxleyi to changing seawater carbonate chemistry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Ziveri

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Four strains of the coccolithophore E. huxleyi (RCC1212, RCC1216, RCC1238, RCC1256 were grown in dilute batch culture at four CO2 levels ranging from ~200 μatm to ~1200 μatm. Growth rate, particulate organic carbon content, and particulate inorganic carbon content were measured, and organic and inorganic carbon production calculated. The four strains did not show a uniform response to carbonate chemistry changes in any of the analysed parameters and none of the four strains displayed a response pattern previously described for this species. We conclude that the sensitivity of different strains of E. huxleyi to acidification differs substantially and that this likely has a genetic basis. We propose that this can explain apparently contradictory results reported in the literature.

  18. An Integrated Model to Explain How Corporate Social Responsibility Affects Corporate Financial Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chin-Shien Lin

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR on financial performance has important implications for enterprises, communities, and countries, and the significance of this issue cannot be ignored. Therefore, this paper proposes an integrated model to explain the influence of CSR on financial performance with intellectual capital as a mediator and industry type as a moderator. Empirical results indicate that intellectual capital mediates the relationship between CSR and financial performance, and industry type moderates the direct influence of CSR on financial performance. Such results have critical implications for both academia and practice.

  19. Forest response to rising CO2 drives zonally asymmetric rainfall change over tropical land

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kooperman, Gabriel J.; Chen, Yang; Hoffman, Forrest M.; Koven, Charles D.; Lindsay, Keith; Pritchard, Michael S.; Swann, Abigail L. S.; Randerson, James T.

    2018-05-01

    Understanding how anthropogenic CO2 emissions will influence future precipitation is critical for sustainably managing ecosystems, particularly for drought-sensitive tropical forests. Although tropical precipitation change remains uncertain, nearly all models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 predict a strengthening zonal precipitation asymmetry by 2100, with relative increases over Asian and African tropical forests and decreases over South American forests. Here we show that the plant physiological response to increasing CO2 is a primary mechanism responsible for this pattern. Applying a simulation design in the Community Earth System Model in which CO2 increases are isolated over individual continents, we demonstrate that different circulation, moisture and stability changes arise over each continent due to declines in stomatal conductance and transpiration. The sum of local atmospheric responses over individual continents explains the pan-tropical precipitation asymmetry. Our analysis suggests that South American forests may be more vulnerable to rising CO2 than Asian or African forests.

  20. Plant-induced changes in soil chemistry do not explain differences in uranium transfer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duquene, L.; Vandenhove, H.; Tack, F.; Avoort, E. van der; Hees, M. van; Wannijn, J.

    2006-01-01

    A greenhouse experiment was set up with maize, ryegrass, Indian mustard, wheat and pea to evaluate to what extent differences in uranium (U) transfer factors can be explained by root-mediated changes in selected soil properties. The experiment involved an acid and an alkaline soil contaminated with 238 U. U soil-to-shoot transfer factors (TFs) ranged between 0.0005 and 0.021 on the acid soil and between 0.007 and 0.179 on the alkaline soil. Indian mustard showed the highest U uptake in shoots and maize the lowest. The root TFs, only available for the acid soil, ranged from 0.58 for maize and Indian mustard to 1.38 for ryegrass. The difference in U uptake between the two soils and the five plants was only partially explained by the different initial U concentrations in soil solution or differences in soil properties in the two soils. However, we obtained a significant relation for differences in shoot TFs observed between the two soils when relating shoot TFs with concentration of UO 2 2+ and uranyl carbonate complexes in soil solution (R 2 = 0.88). The physiological mechanisms by which root-to-shoot U transfer is inhibited or promoted seemed at least as important as the plant-induced changes in soil characteristics in determining soil-to-shoot TFs

  1. Changes in the Response Properties of Inferior Colliculus Neurons Relating to Tinnitus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berger, Joel I.; Coomber, Ben; Wells, Tobias T.; Wallace, Mark N.; Palmer, Alan R.

    2014-01-01

    Tinnitus is often identified in animal models by using the gap prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle. Impaired gap detection following acoustic over-exposure (AOE) is thought to be caused by tinnitus “filling in” the gap, thus, reducing its salience. This presumably involves altered perception, and could conceivably be caused by changes at the level of the neocortex, i.e., cortical reorganization. Alternatively, reduced gap detection ability might reflect poorer temporal processing in the brainstem, caused by AOE; in which case, impaired gap detection would not be a reliable indicator of tinnitus. We tested the latter hypothesis by examining gap detection in inferior colliculus (IC) neurons following AOE. Seven of nine unilaterally noise-exposed guinea pigs exhibited behavioral evidence of tinnitus. In these tinnitus animals, neural gap detection thresholds (GDTs) in the IC significantly increased in response to broadband noise stimuli, but not to pure tones or narrow-band noise. In addition, when IC neurons were sub-divided according to temporal response profile (onset vs. sustained firing patterns), we found a significant increase in the proportion of onset-type responses after AOE. Importantly, however, GDTs were still considerably shorter than gap durations commonly used in objective behavioral tests for tinnitus. These data indicate that the neural changes observed in the IC are insufficient to explain deficits in behavioral gap detection that are commonly attributed to tinnitus. The subtle changes in IC neuron response profiles following AOE warrant further investigation. PMID:25346722

  2. Phenological response to climate change in China: a meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ge, Quansheng; Wang, Huanjiong; Rutishauser, This; Dai, Junhu

    2015-01-01

    The change in the phenology of plants or animals reflects the response of living systems to climate change. Numerous studies have reported a consistent earlier spring phenophases in many parts of middle and high latitudes reflecting increasing temperatures with the exception of China. A systematic analysis of Chinese phenological response could complement the assessment of climate change impact for the whole Northern Hemisphere. Here, we analyze 1263 phenological time series (1960-2011, with 20+ years data) of 112 species extracted from 48 studies across 145 sites in China. Taxonomic groups include trees, shrubs, herbs, birds, amphibians and insects. Results demonstrate that 90.8% of the spring/summer phenophases time series show earlier trends and 69.0% of the autumn phenophases records show later trends. For spring/summer phenophases, the mean advance across all the taxonomic groups was 2.75 days decade(-1) ranging between 2.11 and 6.11 days decade(-1) for insects and amphibians, respectively. Herbs and amphibians show significantly stronger advancement than trees, shrubs and insect. The response of phenophases of different taxonomic groups in autumn is more complex: trees, shrubs, herbs and insects show a delay between 1.93 and 4.84 days decade(-1), while other groups reveal an advancement ranging from 1.10 to 2.11 days decade(-1) . For woody plants (including trees and shrubs), the stronger shifts toward earlier spring/summer were detected from the data series starting from more recent decades (1980s-2000s). The geographic factors (latitude, longitude and altitude) could only explain 9% and 3% of the overall variance in spring/summer and autumn phenological trends, respectively. The rate of change in spring/summer phenophase of woody plants (1960s-2000s) generally matches measured local warming across 49 sites in China (R=-0.33, P<0.05). © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Inactivity periods and postural change speed can explain atypical postural change patterns of Caenorhabditis elegans mutants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukunaga, Tsukasa; Iwasaki, Wataru

    2017-01-19

    With rapid advances in genome sequencing and editing technologies, systematic and quantitative analysis of animal behavior is expected to be another key to facilitating data-driven behavioral genetics. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a model organism in this field. Several video-tracking systems are available for automatically recording behavioral data for the nematode, but computational methods for analyzing these data are still under development. In this study, we applied the Gaussian mixture model-based binning method to time-series postural data for 322 C. elegans strains. We revealed that the occurrence patterns of the postural states and the transition patterns among these states have a relationship as expected, and such a relationship must be taken into account to identify strains with atypical behaviors that are different from those of wild type. Based on this observation, we identified several strains that exhibit atypical transition patterns that cannot be fully explained by their occurrence patterns of postural states. Surprisingly, we found that two simple factors-overall acceleration of postural movement and elimination of inactivity periods-explained the behavioral characteristics of strains with very atypical transition patterns; therefore, computational analysis of animal behavior must be accompanied by evaluation of the effects of these simple factors. Finally, we found that the npr-1 and npr-3 mutants have similar behavioral patterns that were not predictable by sequence homology, proving that our data-driven approach can reveal the functions of genes that have not yet been characterized. We propose that elimination of inactivity periods and overall acceleration of postural change speed can explain behavioral phenotypes of strains with very atypical postural transition patterns. Our methods and results constitute guidelines for effectively finding strains that show "truly" interesting behaviors and systematically uncovering novel gene

  4. Morphological change to birds over 120 years is not explained by thermal adaptation to climate change.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volker Salewski

    Full Text Available Changes in morphology have been postulated as one of the responses of animals to global warming, with increasing ambient temperatures leading to decreasing body size. However, the results of previous studies are inconsistent. Problems related to the analyses of trends in body size may be related to the short-term nature of data sets, to the selection of surrogates for body size, to the appropriate models for data analyses, and to the interpretation as morphology may change in response to ecological drivers other than climate and irrespective of size. Using generalized additive models, we analysed trends in three morphological traits of 4529 specimens of eleven bird species collected between 1889 and 2010 in southern Germany and adjacent areas. Changes and trends in morphology over time were not consistent when all species and traits were considered. Six of the eleven species displayed a significant association of tarsus length with time but the direction of the association varied. Wing length decreased in the majority of species but there were few significant trends in wing pointedness. Few of the traits were significantly associated with mean ambient temperatures. We argue that although there are significant changes in morphology over time there is no consistent trend for decreasing body size and therefore no support for the hypothesis of decreasing body size because of climate change. Non-consistent trends of change in surrogates for size within species indicate that fluctuations are influenced by factors other than temperature, and that not all surrogates may represent size appropriately. Future analyses should carefully select measures of body size and consider alternative hypotheses for change.

  5. Anomalous behavior in the third harmonic generation z response through dispersion induced shape changes and matching χ(3)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pillai, Rajesh S.; Brakenhoff, G. J.; Müller, M.

    2006-09-01

    The third harmonic generation (THG) axial response in the vicinity of an interface formed by two isotropic materials of normal dispersion is typically single peaked, with the maximum intensity at the interface position. Here it is shown experimentally that this THG z response may show anomalous behavior—being double peaked with a dip coinciding with the interface position—when the THG contributions from both materials are of similar magnitude. The observed anomalous behavior is explained, using paraxial Gaussian theory, by considering dispersion induced shape changes in the THG z response.

  6. Computer jargon explained

    CERN Document Server

    Enticknap, Nicholas

    2014-01-01

    Computer Jargon Explained is a feature in Computer Weekly publications that discusses 68 of the most commonly used technical computing terms. The book explains what the terms mean and why the terms are important to computer professionals. The text also discusses how the terms relate to the trends and developments that are driving the information technology industry. Computer jargon irritates non-computer people and in turn causes problems for computer people. The technology and the industry are changing so rapidly; it is very hard even for professionals to keep updated. Computer people do not

  7. Explaining between-race differences in African-American and European-American women's responses to breast density notification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manning, Mark; Albrecht, Terrance L; Yilmaz-Saab, Zeynep; Penner, Louis; Norman, Andria; Purrington, Kristen

    2017-12-01

    Prior research shows between-race differences in women's knowledge and emotions related to having dense breasts, thus suggesting that between-race differences in behavioral decision-making following receipt of breast density (BD) notifications are likely. Guided by the theory of planned behavior, this study examined differences in emotion-related responses (i.e., anxiety, worry, confusion) and behavioral cognition (e.g., intentions, behavioral attitudes) following receipt of BD notifications among African American (AA) and European American (EA) women. This study also examined whether race-related perceptions (i.e., discrimination, group-based medical mistrust), relevant knowledge and socioeconomic status (SES) explained the between race differences. Michigan women (N = 457) who presented for routine screening mammogram and had dense breasts, no prior breast cancer diagnoses, and had screen-negative mammograms were recruited from July, 2015 to March 2016. MANOVA was used to examine between race differences in psychological responses (i.e., emotional responses and behavioral cognition), and a multi-group structural regression model was used to examine whether race-related constructs, knowledge and SES mediated the effect of race on emotional responses and behavioral cognition. Prior awareness of BD was accounted for in all analyses. AA women generally reported more negative psychological responses to receiving BD notifications regardless of prior BD awareness. AA women had more favorable perceptions related to talking to their physicians about the BD notifications. Generally, race-related perceptions, SES, and related knowledge partially accounted for the effect of race on psychological response. Race-related perceptions and SES partially accounted for the differences in behavioral intentions. Between-race differences in emotional responses to BD notifications did not explain differences in women's intentions to discuss BD notifications with their physicians

  8. Explaining drug policy: Towards an historical sociology of policy change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seddon, Toby

    2011-11-01

    The goal of seeking to understand the development over time of drug policies is a specific version of the more general intellectual project of finding ways of explaining social change. The latter has been a preoccupation of some of the greatest thinkers within the social sciences of the last 200 years, from Foucault all the way back to the three nineteenth-century pioneers, Marx, Durkheim and Weber. I describe this body of work as 'historical sociology'. In this paper, I outline how a particular approach to historical sociology can be fruitfully drawn upon to understand the development of drug policy, using by way of illustration the example of the analysis of a recent transformation in British drug policy: the rise of the criminal justice agenda. I conclude by arguing that by looking at developments in drug policy in this way, some new insights are opened up. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Can ammonia tolerance amongst lichen functional groups be explained by physiological responses?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Munzi, S.; Cruz, C.; Branquinho, C.; Pinho, P.; Leith, I.D.; Sheppard, L.J.

    2014-01-01

    Ammonia (NH 3 ) empirical critical levels for Europe were re-evaluated in 2009, based mainly on the ecological responses of lichen communities without acknowledging the physiological differences between oligotrophic and nitrophytic species. Here, we compare a nitrogen sensitive lichen (Evernia prunastri) with a nitrogen tolerant one (Xanthoria parietina), focussing on their physiological response (Fv/Fm) to short-term NH 3 exposure and their frequency of occurrence along an NH 3 field gradient. Both frequency and Fv/Fm of E. prunastri decreased abruptly above 3 μg m −3 NH 3 suggesting direct adverse effects of NH 3 on its photosynthetic performance. By contrast, X. parietina increased its frequency with NH 3 , despite showing decreased capacity of photosystem II above 50 μg m −3 NH 3 , suggesting that the ecological success of X. parietina at ammonia-rich sites might be related to indirect effects of increased nitrogen (NH 3 ) availability. These results highlight the need to establish NH 3 critical levels based on oligotrophic lichen species. - Highlights: • Physiological response and ecological behavior were compared in two contrasting lichens. • NH 3 reduces Fv/Fm in both the N sensitive E. prunastri and the N tolerant X. parietina. • In the field frequency of occurrence correlated with NH 3 concentration. • NH 3 indirectly provides the nitrophytic X. parietina with ecological advantages. • Oligotrophs more accurately indicate increasing NH 3 concentrations than nitrophytes. - Physiological response to ammonia helps to explain lichen functional groups

  10. Competition, predation and species responses to environmental change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jiang, Lin; Kulczychi, A. [Rutgers Univ., Cook College, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, New Brunswick, NJ (United States)

    2004-08-01

    Despite much effort over the past decade on the ecological consequences of global warming, ecologists still have little understanding of the importance of interspecific interactions in species responses to environmental change. Models predict that predation should mitigate species responses to environmental change, and that interspecific competition should aggravate species responses to environmental change. To test this prediction, we studied how predation and competition affected the responses of two ciliates, Colpidiumstriatum and Parameciumtetraurelia, to temperature change in laboratory microcosms. We found that neither predation nor competition altered the responses of Colpidiumstratum to temperature change, and that competition but not predation altered the responses of Paramecium tetraurelia to temperature change. Asymmetric interactions and temperature-dependent interactions may have contributed to the disparity between model predictions and experimental results. Our results suggest that models ignoring inherent complexities in ecological communities may be inadequate in forecasting species responses to environmental change. (au)

  11. When change causes stress: Effects of self-construal and change consequences

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wisse, B.M.; Sleebos, E.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: Organizational change can be a major stress factor for employees. We investigate if stress responses can be explained by the extent to which there is a match between employee self-construal (in personal or collective terms) and change consequences (i.e., does the change particularly have

  12. Climate change: believing and seeing implies adapting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blennow, Kristina; Persson, Johannes; Tomé, Margarida; Hanewinkel, Marc

    2012-01-01

    Knowledge of factors that trigger human response to climate change is crucial for effective climate change policy communication. Climate change has been claimed to have low salience as a risk issue because it cannot be directly experienced. Still, personal factors such as strength of belief in local effects of climate change have been shown to correlate strongly with responses to climate change and there is a growing literature on the hypothesis that personal experience of climate change (and/or its effects) explains responses to climate change. Here we provide, using survey data from 845 private forest owners operating in a wide range of bio-climatic as well as economic-social-political structures in a latitudinal gradient across Europe, the first evidence that the personal strength of belief and perception of local effects of climate change, highly significantly explain human responses to climate change. A logistic regression model was fitted to the two variables, estimating expected probabilities ranging from 0.07 (SD ± 0.01) to 0.81 (SD ± 0.03) for self-reported adaptive measures taken. Adding socio-demographic variables improved the fit, estimating expected probabilities ranging from 0.022 (SD ± 0.008) to 0.91 (SD ± 0.02). We conclude that to explain and predict adaptation to climate change, the combination of personal experience and belief must be considered.

  13. Climate change: believing and seeing implies adapting.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristina Blennow

    Full Text Available Knowledge of factors that trigger human response to climate change is crucial for effective climate change policy communication. Climate change has been claimed to have low salience as a risk issue because it cannot be directly experienced. Still, personal factors such as strength of belief in local effects of climate change have been shown to correlate strongly with responses to climate change and there is a growing literature on the hypothesis that personal experience of climate change (and/or its effects explains responses to climate change. Here we provide, using survey data from 845 private forest owners operating in a wide range of bio-climatic as well as economic-social-political structures in a latitudinal gradient across Europe, the first evidence that the personal strength of belief and perception of local effects of climate change, highly significantly explain human responses to climate change. A logistic regression model was fitted to the two variables, estimating expected probabilities ranging from 0.07 (SD ± 0.01 to 0.81 (SD ± 0.03 for self-reported adaptive measures taken. Adding socio-demographic variables improved the fit, estimating expected probabilities ranging from 0.022 (SD ± 0.008 to 0.91 (SD ± 0.02. We conclude that to explain and predict adaptation to climate change, the combination of personal experience and belief must be considered.

  14. Ecological responses to recent climate change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Walther, Gian-Reto [Hannover Univ., Inst. of Geobotany, Hannover (Germany); Post, Eric [Pennsylvania State Univ., Dept. of Biology, University Park, PA (United States); Convey, Peter [British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge (United Kingdom); Menzel, Annette [Technical Univ. Munich, Dept. of Ecology, Freising (Germany); Parmesan, Camille [Texas Univ., Patterson Labs., Integrative Biology Dept., Austin, TX (United States); Beebee, Trevor J.C. [Sussex Univ., School of Biological Sciences, Brighton (United Kingdom); Fromentin, Jean-Marc [IFREMER, Centre Halieutique Mediterraneen et Tropical, Sete, 34 (France); Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove [Queensland Univ., Centre for Marine Studies, St Lucia, QLD (Australia); Bairlein, Franz [Institute for Avian Research ' Vogelwarte Helgoland' , Wilhelmshaven (Germany)

    2002-03-28

    There is now ample evidence of the ecological impacts of recent climate change, from polar terrestrial to tropical marine environments. The responses of both flora and fauna span an array of ecosystems and organisational hierarchies, from the species to the community levels. Despite continued uncertainty as to community and ecosystem trajectories under global change, our review exposes a coherent pattern of ecological change across systems. Although we are only at an early stage in the projected trends of global warming, ecological responses to recent climate change are already clearly visible. (Author)

  15. Predator-induced changes in metabolism cannot explain the growth/predation risk tradeoff

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Steiner, Uli; Van Buskirk, Josh

    2009-01-01

    , consistent with the "fight-or-flight" response observed in many organisms. The long term reaction showed the opposite pattern: tadpoles reduced oxygen consumption after three weeks exposure to predators, which would act to reduce the growth cost of predator defence. The results point to an instantaneous...... and reversible stress response to predation risk. This suggests that the tradeoff between avoiding predators and growing rapidly is not caused by changes in metabolic rate, and must be sought in other behavioural or physiological processes....

  16. Long-term ecophysiological responses to climate change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boesgaard, Kristine Stove; Ro-Poulsen, Helge

    Plant physiology is affected by climate change. Acclimations of photosynthetic processes are induced by short-term changes in climatic conditions. Further acclimation can be caused by longterm adjustments to climate change due to ecosystem-feedbacks. The aim of this PhD was to investigate plant...... term responses of plant physiology to the climate change factors were investigated. In the CLIMAITE-experiment it has been shown that 2 years of treatment altered physiological responses in Deschampsiaand Calluna. In the work of this PhD similar responses were observed after 6 years of treatment...... physiological responses to climate change in a seasonal and long-term perspective. The effects of elevated CO2, passive night time warming and periodic summer drought as single factor and in combination, on plant physiology were investigated in the long-term multifactorial field experiment CLIMAITE in a Danish...

  17. Behavioural responses to human-induced environmental change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuomainen, Ulla; Candolin, Ulrika

    2011-08-01

    The initial response of individuals to human-induced environmental change is often behavioural. This can improve the performance of individuals under sudden, large-scale perturbations and maintain viable populations. The response can also give additional time for genetic changes to arise and, hence, facilitate adaptation to new conditions. On the other hand, maladaptive responses, which reduce individual fitness, may occur when individuals encounter conditions that the population has not experienced during its evolutionary history, which can decrease population viability. A growing number of studies find human disturbances to induce behavioural responses, both directly and by altering factors that influence fitness. Common causes of behavioural responses are changes in the transmission of information, the concentration of endocrine disrupters, the availability of resources, the possibility of dispersal, and the abundance of interacting species. Frequent responses are alterations in habitat choice, movements, foraging, social behaviour and reproductive behaviour. Behavioural responses depend on the genetically determined reaction norm of the individuals, which evolves over generations. Populations first respond with individual behavioural plasticity, whereafter changes may arise through innovations and the social transmission of behavioural patterns within and across generations, and, finally, by evolution of the behavioural response over generations. Only a restricted number of species show behavioural adaptations that make them thrive in severely disturbed environments. Hence, rapid human-induced disturbances often decrease the diversity of native species, while facilitating the spread of invasive species with highly plastic behaviours. Consequently, behavioural responses to human-induced environmental change can have profound effects on the distribution, adaptation, speciation and extinction of populations and, hence, on biodiversity. A better understanding of

  18. Students' Development and Use of Models to Explain Electrostatic Interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayer, Kristin Elizabeth

    The National Research Council (2012) recently published A Framework for K-12 Science Education that describes a vision for science classrooms where students engage in three dimensions--scientific and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas--to explain phenomena or observations they can make about the universe around them. This vision of science instruction is a significant shift from current classroom instruction. This dissertation provides detailed examples of how students developed and used models to build causal explanations of phenomena. I co-taught classes that focused on having students develop and revise models of electric fields and atomic structure using a curriculum that was designed to align with the three-dimensional vision of learning. I developed case studies of eleven students from these classes. I analyzed the students' responses and interviewed the students throughout the school year. By comparing and contrasting the analysis across the analysis of students' interviews, I identified four themes: 1) students could apply their ideas to explain novel and abstract phenomena; 2) students struggled to connect changes in their atomic models to evidence, but ended up with dynamic models of atomic structure that they could apply to explain phenomena; 3) students developed models of atomic structure that they applied to explain phenomena, but they did not use models of electric fields in this way; and 4) too much focus on details interfered with students' ability to apply their models to explain new phenomena. This dissertation highlights the importance of focusing on phenomena in classrooms that aim at aligning with three-dimensional learning. Students struggled to focus on specific content and apply their ideas to explain phenomena at the same time. In order to apply ideas to new context, students had to shift their focus from recalling ideas to applying the ideas they do have. A focus on phenomena allowed students to show

  19. Changes in materials properties explain the effects of humidity on gecko adhesion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puthoff, Jonathan B; Prowse, Michael S; Wilkinson, Matt; Autumn, Kellar

    2010-11-01

    Geckos owe their remarkable stickiness to millions of dry setae on their toes, and the mechanism of adhesion in gecko setae has been the topic of scientific scrutiny for over two centuries. Previously, we demonstrated that van der Waals forces are sufficient for strong adhesion and friction in gecko setae, and that water-based capillary adhesion is not required. However, recent studies demonstrated that adhesion increases with relative humidity (RH) and proposed that surface hydration and capillary water bridge formation is important or even necessary. In this study, we confirmed a significant effect of RH on gecko adhesion, but rejected the capillary adhesion hypothesis. While contact forces of isolated tokay gecko setal arrays increased with humidity, the increase was similar on hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces, inconsistent with a capillary mechanism. Contact forces increased with RH even at high shear rates, where capillary bridge formation is too slow to affect adhesion. How then can a humidity-related increase in adhesion and friction be explained? The effect of RH on the mechanical properties of setal β-keratin has escaped consideration until now. We discovered that an increase in RH softens setae and increases viscoelastic damping, which increases adhesion. Changes in setal materials properties, not capillary forces, fully explain humidity-enhanced adhesion, and van der Waals forces remain the only empirically supported mechanism of adhesion in geckos.

  20. Climate change response framework overview: Chapter 1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chris Swanston; Maria Janowiak; Patricia Butler

    2012-01-01

    Managers currently face the immense challenge of anticipating the effects of climate change on forest ecosystems and then developing and applying management responses for adapting forests to future conditions. The Climate Change Response Framework (CCRF) is a highly collaborative approach to helping land managers understand the potential effects of climate change on...

  1. Explaining Dynamic Strategies for Defending Company Legitimacy : The Changing Outcomes of Anti-Sweatshop Campaigns in France and Switzerland

    OpenAIRE

    Balsiger, Philip

    2018-01-01

    This article analyzes and compares the dynamically changing outcomes of anti-sweatshop campaigns in France and Switzerland through a qualitative comparative case study using interviews and analysis of firsthand and secondary data. In both countries, some targeted firms made early concessions and later withdrew from those concessions. To explain these changing outcomes over time, the article develops a perspective that puts emphasis on interaction phases and highlights corporate strategic resp...

  2. Response diversity determines the resilience of ecosystems to environmental change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mori, Akira S; Furukawa, Takuya; Sasaki, Takehiro

    2013-05-01

    A growing body of evidence highlights the importance of biodiversity for ecosystem stability and the maintenance of optimal ecosystem functionality. Conservation measures are thus essential to safeguard the ecosystem services that biodiversity provides and human society needs. Current anthropogenic threats may lead to detrimental (and perhaps irreversible) ecosystem degradation, providing strong motivation to evaluate the response of ecological communities to various anthropogenic pressures. In particular, ecosystem functions that sustain key ecosystem services should be identified and prioritized for conservation action. Traditional diversity measures (e.g. 'species richness') may not adequately capture the aspects of biodiversity most relevant to ecosystem stability and functionality, but several new concepts may be more appropriate. These include 'response diversity', describing the variation of responses to environmental change among species of a particular community. Response diversity may also be a key determinant of ecosystem resilience in the face of anthropogenic pressures and environmental uncertainty. However, current understanding of response diversity is poor, and we see an urgent need to disentangle the conceptual strands that pervade studies of the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Our review clarifies the links between response diversity and the maintenance of ecosystem functionality by focusing on the insurance hypothesis of biodiversity and the concept of functional redundancy. We provide a conceptual model to describe how loss of response diversity may cause ecosystem degradation through decreased ecosystem resilience. We explicitly explain how response diversity contributes to functional compensation and to spatio-temporal complementarity among species, leading to long-term maintenance of ecosystem multifunctionality. Recent quantitative studies suggest that traditional diversity measures may often be uncoupled from

  3. Species interactions reverse grassland responses to changing climate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suttle, K B; Thomsen, Meredith A; Power, Mary E

    2007-02-02

    Predictions of ecological response to climate change are based largely on direct climatic effects on species. We show that, in a California grassland, species interactions strongly influence responses to changing climate, overturning direct climatic effects within 5 years. We manipulated the seasonality and intensity of rainfall over large, replicate plots in accordance with projections of leading climate models and examined responses across several trophic levels. Changes in seasonal water availability had pronounced effects on individual species, but as precipitation regimes were sustained across years, feedbacks and species interactions overrode autecological responses to water and reversed community trajectories. Conditions that sharply increased production and diversity through 2 years caused simplification of the food web and deep reductions in consumer abundance after 5 years. Changes in these natural grassland communities suggest a prominent role for species interactions in ecosystem response to climate change.

  4. Responses of soil respiration to soil management changes in an agropastoral ecotone in Inner Mongolia, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Haili; Tang, Haiping

    2018-01-01

    Studying the responses of soil respiration ( R s ) to soil management changes is critical for enhancing our understanding of the global carbon cycle and has practical implications for grassland management. Therefore, the objectives of this study were (1) quantify daily and seasonal patterns of R s , (2) evaluate the influence of abiotic factors on R s , and (3) detect the effects of soil management changes on R s . We hypothesized that (1) most of daily and seasonal variation in R s could be explained by soil temperature ( T s ) and soil water content ( S w ), (2) soil management changes could significantly affect R s , and (3) soil management changes affected R s via the significant change in abiotic and biotic factors. In situ R s values were monitored in an agropastoral ecotone in Inner Mongolia, China, during the growing seasons in 2009 (August to October) and 2010 (May to October). The soil management changes sequences included free grazing grassland (FG), cropland (CL), grazing enclosure grassland (GE), and abandoned cultivated grassland (AC). During the growing season in 2010, cumulative R s for FG, CL, GE, and AC averaged 265.97, 344.74, 236.70, and 226.42 gC m -2  year -1 , respectively. The T s and S w significantly influenced R s and explained 66%-86% of the variability in daily R s . Monthly mean temperature and precipitation explained 78%-96% of the variability in monthly R s . The results clearly showed that R s was increased by 29% with the conversion of FG to CL and decreased by 35% and 11% with the conversion of CL to AC and FG to GE. The factors impacting the change in R s under different soil management changes sequences varied. Our results confirm the tested hypotheses. The increase in Q 1 0 and litter biomass induced by conversion of FG to GE could lead to increased R s if the climate warming. We suggest that after proper natural restoration period, grasslands should be utilized properly to decrease R s .

  5. Climate Change: Ethics and Collective Responsibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peacock, K.; Brown, M. B.; Mann, M. E.; Lewandowsky, S.

    2014-12-01

    Climate change poses grave risks for societies and people all around the earth. Though details of the risks remain uncertain, they include accelerating sea level rise and ocean acidification, regional drought, floods and heat waves, crop failures and more: dangerous changes are already occurring, while GHG emissions continue to grow, ice melts, water expands, temperature rises, and weather patterns shift. Our roles as individuals and nations in producing the emissions of GHGs responsible for this episode of climate change, and the actions that could be taken to mitigate it, raise difficult ethical questions. When we are responsible for putting others in danger, we have a duty to mitigate that danger. But our sense of responsibility is diluted here: each individual act contributes only minutely to the overall risks, and the links between individual acts and the harms they produce are complex, indirect and involve many other agents. In these circumstances, our sense of personal responsibility is diminished and uncoordinated, individual responses to the risks become ineffective. We propose a view of the ethics of climate change that begins with the tragedy of the commons: Free use of a shared, indispensable resource can lead to catastrophe as the resource is overrun, and the destruction of the commons arises from choices that are individuallyrational, if each person's choice is made independently of others'. Finally, individuals often fail to make ethical choices when the links between individual actions and their negative outcomes are obscure, when individual choices are made separately and privately, and when special interests stand to gain from actions that are generally harmful. Philosophical work in ethics has emphasized the role of ethics in enabling cooperation between individuals and coordinating group responses to problems, while recent work on social rules has modeled them as generalized forbiddings, taught and enforced by 'blocking' behaviours which

  6. Explaining global increases in water use efficiency: why have we overestimated responses to rising atmospheric CO(2 in natural forest ecosystems?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucas C R Silva

    Full Text Available The analysis of tree-ring carbon isotope composition (δ(13C has been widely used to estimate spatio-temporal variations in intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE of tree species. Numerous studies have reported widespread increases in iWUE coinciding with rising atmospheric CO(2 over the past century. While this could represent a coherent global response, the fact that increases of similar magnitude were observed across biomes with no apparent effect on tree growth raises the question of whether iWUE calculations reflect actual physiological responses to elevated CO(2 levels.Here we use Monte Carlo simulations to test if an artifact of calculation could explain observed increases in iWUE. We show that highly significant positive relationships between iWUE and CO(2 occur even when simulated data (randomized δ(13C values spanning the observed range are used in place of actual tree-ring δ(13C measurements. From simulated data sets we calculated non-physiological changes in iWUE from 1900 to present and across a 4000 m altitudinal range. This generated results strikingly similar to those reported in recent studies encompassing 22 species from tropical, subtropical, temperate, boreal and mediterranean ecosystems. Only 6 of 49 surveyed case studies showed increases in iWUE significantly higher than predicted from random values.Our results reveal that increases in iWUE estimated from tree-ring δ(13C occur independently of changes in (13C discrimination that characterize physiological responses to elevated CO(2. Due to a correlation with CO(2 concentration, which is used as an independent factor in the iWUE calculation, any tree-ring δ(13C data set would inevitably generate increasing iWUE over time. Therefore, although consistent, previously reported trends in iWUE do not necessarily reflect a coherent global response to rising atmospheric CO(2. We discuss the significance of these findings and suggest ways to distinguish real from artificial

  7. Extension Agrometeorology as the Answer to Stakeholder Realities: Response Farming and the Consequences of Climate Change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Durton Nanja

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Extension agrometeorology is applied in agrometeorological extension work to advice and serve farmers. In agrometeorology, response farming has been developed decades ago. Climate change complicates response farming, but does not alter it. This paper reports on new operationalization of that response farming in new educational commitments in agroclimatology. It is explained how “Science Field Shops” are an example in Indonesia. This was based on a thorough analysis of what climate change means for farmers in Asia. For Africa, we report on eying the training of agrometeorological extension trainers (“product intermediaries” in West Africa, based on a thorough analysis of what climate change means for farmers in Africa. We also compare experience with reaching farmers in South Africa and farmer communities in Zambia, as new forms of supporting response farming, all under conditions of a changing climate. The paper, for the first time, connects results from four different programs the senior author is taking part in. There is first and foremost the need for training material to make it possible for the product intermediaries to participate in training extension intermediaries. This should, particularly, bring new knowledge to farmers. With what is presently available and with new approaches, climate extension should be developed and tested with farmers in ways that improve farmer preparedness and decision making.

  8. Responses to Change Helping People Make Transitions

    CERN Document Server

    (CCL), Center for Creative Leadership

    2011-01-01

    The ongoing state of many organizations is one of change. People who experience major change tend to exhibit one of four patterns of response: entrenched, overwhelmed, poser, or learner. As a leader, you need to understand the patterns of response that people express and to customize intervention strategies to help them make the transition. People can pass through a given response stage and move to one that is more effective--especially if you provide timely intervention and support. This guidebook will help you understand how people, including yourself, are responding to change and what you c

  9. Monitoring adaptive genetic responses to environmental change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, M.M.; Olivieri, I.; Waller, D.M.

    2012-01-01

    Widespread environmental changes including climate change, selective harvesting and landscape alterations now greatly affect selection regimes for most organisms. How animals and plants can adapt to these altered environments via contemporary evolution is thus of strong interest. We discuss how...... for selection and establishing clear links between genetic and environmental change. We then review a few exemplary studies that explore adaptive responses to climate change in Drosophila, selective responses to hunting and fishing, and contemporary evolution in Daphnia using resurrected resting eggs. We...

  10. Classifying Multi-Model Wheat Yield Impact Response Surfaces Showing Sensitivity to Temperature and Precipitation Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fronzek, Stefan; Pirttioja, Nina; Carter, Timothy R.; Bindi, Marco; Hoffmann, Holger; Palosuo, Taru; Ruiz-Ramos, Margarita; Tao, Fulu; Trnka, Miroslav; Acutis, Marco; hide

    2017-01-01

    Crop growth simulation models can differ greatly in their treatment of key processes and hence in their response to environmental conditions. Here, we used an ensemble of 26 process-based wheat models applied at sites across a European transect to compare their sensitivity to changes in temperature (minus 2 to plus 9 degrees Centigrade) and precipitation (minus 50 to plus 50 percent). Model results were analysed by plotting them as impact response surfaces (IRSs), classifying the IRS patterns of individual model simulations, describing these classes and analysing factors that may explain the major differences in model responses. The model ensemble was used to simulate yields of winter and spring wheat at four sites in Finland, Germany and Spain. Results were plotted as IRSs that show changes in yields relative to the baseline with respect to temperature and precipitation. IRSs of 30-year means and selected extreme years were classified using two approaches describing their pattern. The expert diagnostic approach (EDA) combines two aspects of IRS patterns: location of the maximum yield (nine classes) and strength of the yield response with respect to climate (four classes), resulting in a total of 36 combined classes defined using criteria pre-specified by experts. The statistical diagnostic approach (SDA) groups IRSs by comparing their pattern and magnitude, without attempting to interpret these features. It applies a hierarchical clustering method, grouping response patterns using a distance metric that combines the spatial correlation and Euclidian distance between IRS pairs. The two approaches were used to investigate whether different patterns of yield response could be related to different properties of the crop models, specifically their genealogy, calibration and process description. Although no single model property across a large model ensemble was found to explain the integrated yield response to temperature and precipitation perturbations, the

  11. Application of first order rate kinetics to explain changes in bloom toxicity—the importance of understanding cell toxin quotas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orr, Philip T.; Willis, Anusuya; Burford, Michele A.

    2018-04-01

    Cyanobacteria are oxygenic photosynthetic Gram-negative bacteria that can form potentially toxic blooms in eutrophic and slow flowing aquatic ecosystems. Bloom toxicity varies spatially and temporally, but understanding the mechanisms that drive these changes remains largely a mystery. Changes in bloom toxicity may result from changes in intracellular toxin pool sizes of cyanotoxins with differing molecular toxicities, and/or from changes in the cell concentrations of toxic and non-toxic cyanobacterial species or strains within bloom populations. We show here how first-order rate kinetics at the cellular level can be used to explain how environmental conditions drive changes in bloom toxicity at the ecological level. First order rate constants can be calculated for changes in cell concentration (μ c: specific cell division rate) or the volumetric biomass concentration (μ g: specific growth rate) between short time intervals throughout the cell cycle. Similar first order rate constants can be calculated for changes in nett volumetric cyanotoxin concentration (μ tox: specific cyanotoxin production rate) over similar time intervals. How μ c (or μ g ) covaries with μ tox over the cell cycle shows conclusively when cyanotoxins are being produced and metabolised, and how the toxicity of cells change in response to environment stressors. When μ tox/μ c>1, cyanotoxin cell quotas increase and individual cells become more toxic because the nett cyanotoxin production rate is higher than the cell division rate. When μ tox/μ c=1, cell cyanotoxin quotas remains fixed because the nett cyanotoxin production rate matches the cell division rate. When μ tox/μ ccyanotoxin cell quota decreases because either the nett cyanotoxin production rate is lower than the cell division rate, or metabolic breakdown and/or secretion of cyanotoxins is occurring. These fundamental equations describe cyanotoxin metabolism dynamics at the cellular level and provide the necessary

  12. Defining response capacity to enhance climate change policy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tompkins, Emma L.; Neil Adger, W.

    2005-01-01

    Climate change adaptation and mitigation decisions made by governments are usually taken in different policy domains. At the individual level however, adaptation and mitigation activities are undertaken together as part of the management of risk and resources. We propose that a useful starting point to develop a national climate policy is to understand what societal response might mean in practice. First we frame the set of responses at the national policy level as a trade off between investment in the development and diffusion of new technology, and investment in encouraging and enabling society to change its behaviour and or adopt the new technology. We argue that these are the pertinent trade-offs, rather than those usually posited between climate change mitigation and adaptation. The preference for a policy response that focuses more on technological innovation rather than one that focuses on changing social behaviour will be influenced by the capacity of different societies to change their greenhouse gas emissions; by perceived vulnerability to climate impacts; and by capacity to modify social behaviour and physical environment. Starting with this complete vision of response options should enable policy makers to re-evaluate the risk environment and the set of response options available to them. From here, policy makers should consider who is responsible for making climate response decisions and when actions should be taken. Institutional arrangements dictate social and political acceptability of different policies, they structure worldviews, and they determine the provision of resources for investment in technological innovation and social change. The importance of focussing on the timing of the response is emphasised to maximise the potential for adjustments through social learning and institutional change at different policy scales. We argue that the ability to respond to climate change is both enabled and constrained by social and technological conditions

  13. Eco-theological Responses to Climate Change in Oceania

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rubow, Cecilie; Bird, Cliff

    2016-01-01

    to reform classical theologies and church practices. Secondly, we identify challenges facing the contextual theologies, among them recent claims about climate-change-denying responses by Biblicist Christians in the Pacific region. These challenges apart, we suggest, thirdly, that the churches are important......This paper explores eco-theological responses to climate change in Oceania. First, we review central texts in the contextual theological tradition in Oceania, focusing on recent responses to climate change. This points to a body of theological texts integrating climate change into a broader effort...

  14. National policy response to climate change in South Africa

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Garland, Rebecca M

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available The South African government has taken several steps in response to climate change and its associated threats to human health. The National Climate Change Response Plan White Paper defines government's vision for effective climate change response...

  15. Multi-step inhibition explains HIV-1 protease inhibitor pharmacodynamics and resistance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rabi, S. Alireza; Laird, Gregory M.; Durand, Christine M.; Laskey, Sarah; Shan, Liang; Bailey, Justin R.; Chioma, Stanley; Moore, Richard D.; Siliciano, Robert F.

    2013-01-01

    HIV-1 protease inhibitors (PIs) are among the most effective antiretroviral drugs. They are characterized by highly cooperative dose-response curves that are not explained by current pharmacodynamic theory. An unresolved problem affecting the clinical use of PIs is that patients who fail PI-containing regimens often have virus that lacks protease mutations, in apparent violation of fundamental evolutionary theory. Here, we show that these unresolved issues can be explained through analysis of the effects of PIs on distinct steps in the viral life cycle. We found that PIs do not affect virion release from infected cells but block entry, reverse transcription, and post–reverse transcription steps. The overall dose-response curves could be reconstructed by combining the curves for each step using the Bliss independence principle, showing that independent inhibition of multiple distinct steps in the life cycle generates the highly cooperative dose-response curves that make these drugs uniquely effective. Approximately half of the inhibitory potential of PIs is manifest at the entry step, likely reflecting interactions between the uncleaved Gag and the cytoplasmic tail (CT) of the Env protein. Sequence changes in the CT alone, which are ignored in current clinical tests for PI resistance, conferred PI resistance, providing an explanation for PI failure without resistance. PMID:23979165

  16. A Note on Explaining Away and Paradoxical Results in Multidimensional Item Response Theory. Research Report. ETS RR-12-13

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Rijn, Peter W.; Rijmen, Frank

    2012-01-01

    Hooker and colleagues addressed a paradoxical situation that can arise in the application of multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) models to educational test data. We demonstrate that this MIRT paradox is an instance of the explaining-away phenomenon in Bayesian networks, and we attempt to enhance the understanding of MIRT models by placing…

  17. Climate change, responsibility, and justice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jamieson, Dale

    2010-09-01

    In this paper I make the following claims. In order to see anthropogenic climate change as clearly involving moral wrongs and global injustices, we will have to revise some central concepts in these domains. Moreover, climate change threatens another value ("respect for nature") that cannot easily be taken up by concerns of global justice or moral responsibility.

  18. Climate change effects on enchytraeid performance in metal-polluted soils explained from changes in metal bioavailability and bioaccumulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González-Alcaraz, M Nazaret; van Gestel, Cornelis A M

    2015-10-01

    Climate change may alter physical, chemical and biological properties of ecosystems, affecting organisms but also the fate of chemical pollutants. This study aimed to find out how changes in climate conditions (air temperature, soil moisture content) affect the toxicity of metal-polluted soils to the soft-bodied soil organism Enchytraeus crypticus, linking enchytraeid performance with changes in soil available and body metal concentrations. Bioassays with E. crypticus were performed under different combinations of air temperature (20 and 25 °C) and soil moisture content (50% and 30% of the soil water holding capacity, WHC) in dilution series of three metal-polluted soils (mine tailing, forest and watercourse). After 21 d exposure, enchytraeid reproduction was determined, and soil available (extracted with 0.01 M CaCl2) and body Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations in surviving adults were determined. In general, Cd, Pb and Zn availability decreased upon incubation under the different climate scenarios. In the watercourse soil, with initially higher available metal concentrations (678 µg Cd kg(-1), 807 µg Pb kg(-1) and 31,020 µg Zn kg(-1)), decreases were greatest at 50% WHC probably due to metal immobilization as carbonates. Enchytraeid reproduction was negatively affected by higher available metal concentrations, with reductions up to 98% in the watercourse soil compared to the control soil at 30% WHC. Bioaccumulation of Cd, Pb and Zn was higher when drier conditions were combined with the higher temperature of 25 °C. Changes in metal bioavailability and bioaccumulation explained the toxicity of soil polluted by metal mine wastes to enchytraeids under changing environmental conditions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Road user behaviour changes following a self-explaining roads intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackie, Hamish W; Charlton, Samuel G; Baas, Peter H; Villasenor, Pablo C

    2013-01-01

    The self-explaining roads (SER) approach uses road designs that evoke correct expectations and driving behaviours from road users to create a safe and user-friendly road network. Following the implementation of an SER process and retrofitting of local and collector roads in a suburb within Auckland City, lower speeds on local roads and less variation in speed on both local and collector roads were achieved, along with a closer match between actual and perceived safe speeds. Preliminary analyses of crash data shows that the project has resulted in a 30% reduction crash numbers and an 86% reduction in crash costs per annum, since the road changes were completed. In order to further understand the outcomes from this project, a study was carried out to measure the effects of the SER intervention on the activity and behaviour of all road users. Video was collected over nine separate days, at nine different locations, both before and after SER construction. Road user behaviour categories were developed for all potential road users at different location types and then used to code the video data. Following SER construction, on local roads there was a relatively higher proportion of pedestrians, less uniformity in vehicle lane keeping and less indicating by motorists along with less through traffic, reflecting a more informal/low speed local road environment. Pedestrians were less constrained on local roads following SER construction, possibly reflecting a perceptually safer and more user-friendly environment. These behaviours were not generally evident on collector roads, a trend also shown by the previous study of speed changes. Given that one of the objectives of SER is to match road user behaviour with functionally different road categories, the road user behaviour differences demonstrated on different road types within the SER trial area provides further reinforcement of a successful SER trial. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Explaining the dependence of climatic response of tree radial growth on permafrost

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bryukhanova, Marina; Benkova, Anna; von Arx, Georg; Fonti, Patrick; Simanko, Valentina; Kirdyanov, Alexander; Shashkin, Alexander

    2015-04-01

    In northern regions of Siberia it is infrequent to have long-term observations of the variability of soil features, phenological data, duration of the growing season, which can be used to infer the influence of the environment on tree growth and productivity. The best way to understand tree-growth and tree responses to environmental changes is to make use of mechanistic models, allowing to combine already available experiment/field data with other parameters based on biological principles of tree growth. The goal of our study is to estimate which tree species (deciduous, conifer deciduous or conifer evergreen) is more plastic under possible climate changes in permafrost zone. The studied object is located in the northern part of central Siberia, Russia (64°N, 100°E). The study plot was selected within a post-fire succession and representatives for 100 years old even aged mixed forest of Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Rupr. and Betula pubescens Ehrh. with few exemplars of Spruce (Picea obovata Ledeb.). To understand physiological response of larch, birch and spruce trees to climatic changes the ecological-physiological process-based model of tree photosynthesis (Benkova and Shashkin 2003) was applied. Multiparametric tree-ring chronologies were analyzed and correlated with climatic parameters over the last 77 years. This work is supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Grant from the President of RF for Young Scientists MK-1589.2014.4).

  1. Response-reinforcer dependency and resistance to change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cançado, Carlos R X; Abreu-Rodrigues, Josele; Aló, Raquel Moreira; Hauck, Flávia; Doughty, Adam H

    2018-01-01

    The effects of the response-reinforcer dependency on resistance to change were studied in three experiments with rats. In Experiment 1, lever pressing produced reinforcers at similar rates after variable interreinforcer intervals in each component of a two-component multiple schedule. Across conditions, in the fixed component, all reinforcers were response-dependent; in the alternative component, the percentage of response-dependent reinforcers was 100, 50 (i.e., 50% response-dependent and 50% response-independent) or 10% (i.e., 10% response-dependent and 90% response-independent). Resistance to extinction was greater in the alternative than in the fixed component when the dependency in the former was 10%, but was similar between components when this dependency was 100 or 50%. In Experiment 2, a three-component multiple schedule was used. The dependency was 100% in one component and 10% in the other two. The 10% components differed on how reinforcers were programmed. In one component, as in Experiment 1, a reinforcer had to be collected before the scheduling of other response-dependent or independent reinforcers. In the other component, response-dependent and -independent reinforcers were programmed by superimposing a variable-time schedule on an independent variable-interval schedule. Regardless of the procedure used to program the dependency, resistance to extinction was greater in the 10% components than in the 100% component. These results were replicated in Experiment 3 in which, instead of extinction, VT schedules replaced the baseline schedules in each multiple-schedule component during the test. We argue that the relative change in dependency from Baseline to Test, which is greater when baseline dependencies are high rather than low, could account for the differential resistance to change in the present experiments. The inconsistencies in results across the present and previous experiments suggest that the effects of dependency on resistance to change are

  2. The radiative heating response to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maycock, Amanda

    2016-04-01

    The structure and magnitude of radiative heating rates in the atmosphere can change markedly in response to climate forcings; diagnosing the causes of these changes can aid in understanding parts of the large-scale circulation response to climate change. This study separates the relative drivers of projected changes in longwave and shortwave radiative heating rates over the 21st century into contributions from radiatively active gases, such as carbon dioxide, ozone and water vapour, and from changes in atmospheric and surface temperatures. Results are shown using novel radiative diagnostics applied to timeslice experiments from the UM-UKCA chemistry-climate model; these online estimates are compared to offline radiative transfer calculations. Line-by-line calculations showing spectrally-resolved changes in heating rates due to different gases will also be presented.

  3. Legacy nutrient dynamics and patterns of catchment response under changing land use and management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Attinger, S.; Van, M. K.; Basu, N. B.

    2017-12-01

    Watersheds are complex heterogeneous systems that store, transform, and release water and nutrients under a broad distribution of both natural and anthropogenic controls. Many current watershed models, from complex numerical models to simpler reservoir-type models, are considered to be well-developed in their ability to predict fluxes of water and nutrients to streams and groundwater. They are generally less adept, however, at capturing watershed storage dynamics. In other words, many current models are run with an assumption of steady-state dynamics, and focus on nutrient flows rather than changes in nutrient stocks within watersheds. Although these commonly used modeling approaches may be able to adequately capture short-term watershed dynamics, they are unable to represent the clear nonlinearities or hysteresis responses observed in watersheds experiencing significant changes in nutrient inputs. To address such a lack, we have, in the present work, developed a parsimonious modeling approach designed to capture long-term catchment responses to spatial and temporal changes in nutrient inputs. In this approach, we conceptualize the catchment as a biogeochemical reactor that is driven by nutrient inputs, characterized internally by both biogeochemical degradation and residence or travel time distributions, resulting in a specific nutrient output. For the model simulations, we define a range of different scenarios to represent real-world changes in land use and management implemented to improve water quality. We then introduce the concept of state-space trajectories to describe system responses to these potential changes in anthropogenic forcings. We also increase model complexity, in a stepwise fashion, by dividing the catchment into multiple biogeochemical reactors, coupled in series or in parallel. Using this approach, we attempt to answer the following questions: (1) What level of model complexity is needed to capture observed system responses? (2) How can we

  4. Can species-specific prey responses to chemical cues explain prey susceptibility to predation?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Šmejkal, Marek; Ricard, Daniel; Sajdlová, Zuzana; Čech, Martin; Vejřík, Lukáš; Blabolil, Petr; Vejříková, Ivana; Prchalová, Marie; Vašek, Mojmír; Souza, Allan T; Brönmark, Christer; Peterka, Jiří

    2018-05-01

    The perception of danger represents an essential ability of prey for gaining an informational advantage over their natural enemies. Especially in complex environments or at night, animals strongly rely on chemoreception to avoid predators. The ability to recognize danger by chemical cues and subsequent adaptive responses to predation threats should generally increase prey survival. Recent findings suggest that European catfish ( Silurus glanis ) introduction induce changes in fish community and we tested whether the direction of change can be attributed to differences in chemical cue perception. We tested behavioral response to chemical cues using three species of freshwater fish common in European water: rudd ( Scardinius erythrophthalmus ), roach ( Rutilus rutilus ), and perch ( Perca fluviatilis ). Further, we conducted a prey selectivity experiment to evaluate the prey preferences of the European catfish. Roach exhibited the strongest reaction to chemical cues, rudd decreased use of refuge and perch did not alter any behavior in the experiment. These findings suggest that chemical cue perception might be behind community data change and we encourage collecting more community data of tested prey species before and after European catfish introduction to test the hypothesis. We conclude that used prey species can be used as a model species to verify whether chemical cue perception enhances prey survival.

  5. Cortical Thickness Changes Associated with Photoparoxysmal Response

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hanganu, Alexandru; Groppa, Stanislav A; Deuschl, Günther

    2014-01-01

    Photoparoxysmal response (PPR) is an EEG trait of spike and spike-wave discharges in response to photic stimulation that is closely linked to idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). In our previous studies we showed that PPR is associated with functional alterations in the occipital and frontal co...... in the occipital lobe, frontoparietal regions and temporal lobe, which also show functional changes associated with PPR. Patients with epilepsy present changes in the temporal lobe and supplementary motor area.......-positive-subjects presented a significant decrease of cortical thickness in the temporal cortex in the same group contrast. IGE patients exhibited lower cortical thickness in the temporal lobe bilaterally and in the right paracentral region in comparison to PPR-positive-subjects. Our study demonstrates structural changes......Photoparoxysmal response (PPR) is an EEG trait of spike and spike-wave discharges in response to photic stimulation that is closely linked to idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). In our previous studies we showed that PPR is associated with functional alterations in the occipital and frontal...

  6. Could the long term cover change of three Mediterranean shrubs be explained by their photosynthetic responses to drought in a rainfall exclusion experiment ?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liberati, Dario; De Dato, Giovanbattista; Guidolotti, Gabriele; De Angelis, Paolo

    2013-04-01

    In the Mediterranean climates water stress is considered to be the main environmental factor limiting plant growth. In front of water limitations plants have developed a wide diversity of adaptation mechanism, and co-occurring species often display different physiological, functional, and life history strategies. In the contest of a rainfall exclusion experiment (project INCREASE), the present work is aimed to assess if the seasonal response of photosynthesis to the water stress (based on gas exchange data collected during 2010) can explain the long term change in the cover degree (assessed by seven pin point survey carried out from 2001 to 2012) of the three main species present in the Italian experimental site, Cistus monspeliensis L. (Cistaceae), Dorycnium pentaphyllum Scop. (Fabaceae) and Helichrysum italicum subsp. microphyllum (Willd.) Nyman (Asteraceae) From 2001 to 2012, in the untreated plots, the cover degree increased in C. monspeliensis (+ 0.34% per year), did not show any significant trend in D. pentaphyllum and decreased in H. italicum (- 1.54% per year). In the same period the rainfall exclusion system has worked during Spring and Autumn, mainly reducing the soil water content of the drought plots in Autumn: this treatment did not affect the cover trend of D. pentaphyllum and H. italicum, whereas C. monspeliensis displayed in the drought plots an opposite dynamic (- 1.23% per year) compared to the natural conditions. During 2010 all monitored species reached the maximum photosynthesis rates in spring, with a depression during summer drought and a recovery after the first Autumn rainfalls. The recovery of the spring rates was almost complete in C. monspeliensis and D. pentaphyllum, while in H. italicum did not exceed the 30% of the spring value. The rainfall exclusion reduced the photosynthesis rates in C. monspeliensis and H. italicum in Autumn. In the control plots the opposite cover trend observed in C. monspeliensis and H.italicum could be

  7. Explaining the food safety behaviours of food handlers using theories of behaviour change: a systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Ian; Thaivalappil, Abhinand; Greig, Judy; Meldrum, Richard; Waddell, Lisa

    2018-06-01

    Theories of behaviour change can explain the factors affecting food handlers' use of food safety practices. A systematic review was conducted on this topic to identify which theories have been applied in this area and to determine which theories are the most consistent predictors of food handlers' behaviours. Standard systematic review procedures were followed: comprehensive search strategy; relevance screening of abstracts; article characterization; data extraction; risk-of-bias assessment; and descriptive analysis. Among 19 relevant studies, the most commonly investigated theories were the Theory of Planned Behaviour (n = 9 studies) and Health Belief Model (n = 5). All investigated theories were useful to explain food handlers' behavioural intentions and behaviours related to food safety across different settings, and could serve as useful frameworks for future research and practice. However, there was wide variability in the predictive ability of the theories and their specific constructs, indicating theories should be adapted to the local context of application.

  8. The role and responsibilities of top executives with regard to climate change: the British Petroleum case

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Corinne Gendron; Bernard Girard; Silvester Ivanaj; Vera Ivanaj; Alice Friser

    2017-01-01

    At the same time as they massively exploit conventional energy sources, the main gas and oil companies of the world claim to be involved in the fight against climate change. This article aims to explain this ambiguity by exploring the way CEOs perceive their responsibilities towards society but also towards climate change. In order to do this, parallels are drawn between British Petroleum's public image following its famous Beyond Petroleum campaign, the official speeches of the company's former CEO's before the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, and the key elements of the subsequent disaster management programme. This analysis highlights that the main obstacle to a genuine and sustained environmental commitment from these companies resides in the firm's corporate governance which ensure that the shareholder's interests remain the CEO's number one priority. This implies that convincing shareholders to fight climate change is necessary

  9. Health complaints and wind turbines: The efficacy of explaining the nocebo response to reduce symptom reporting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crichton, Fiona; Petrie, Keith J

    2015-07-01

    A number of people are reporting an environmental sensitivity to sub-audible windfarm sound (infrasound), characterised by the experience of recurrent non-specific symptoms. A causal link between exposure and symptoms is not indicated by empirical evidence. Research indicates symptoms may be explained by the nocebo response, whereby health concerns and negative expectations, created from social discourse and media reports, trigger symptom reporting. The experimental aim was to test whether providing a nocebo explanation for symptoms, to individuals reporting symptomatic experiences during infrasound exposure, would ameliorate symptoms during further exposure. Sixty-six volunteers were randomly assigned to nocebo explanation or biological explanation groups. Participants were concurrently exposed to infrasound and audible windfarm sound, while reporting on current symptoms and mood, during two exposure sessions. Preceding session one, participants watched a presentation integrating media warnings about purported health risks posed by windfarm infrasound. Before session two, nocebo explanation participants viewed material outlining how nocebo responding could explain symptom reporting. Instead biological explanation participants watched material presenting pathophysiological theories for symptoms. During session one, participants reported increased symptoms and mood deterioration from baseline assessment. During session two symptom reporting and mood deterioration was maintained by biological explanation participants, while mood and symptoms reported by nocebo explanation participants returned to baseline levels. Results indicate that providing an explanation of the nocebo response, followed by exposure to infrasound, has the potential to operate as an intervention to reduce symptomatic experiences in people reporting symptoms attributed to windfarm generated infrasound. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Neural response to pictorial health warning labels can predict smoking behavioral change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riddle, Philip J; Newman-Norlund, Roger D; Baer, Jessica; Thrasher, James F

    2016-11-01

    In order to improve our understanding of how pictorial health warning labels (HWLs) influence smoking behavior, we examined whether brain activity helps to explain smoking behavior above and beyond self-reported effectiveness of HWLs. We measured the neural response in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the amygdala while adult smokers viewed HWLs. Two weeks later, participants' self-reported smoking behavior and biomarkers of smoking behavior were reassessed. We compared multiple models predicting change in self-reported smoking behavior (cigarettes per day [CPD]) and change in a biomarkers of smoke exposure (expired carbon monoxide [CO]). Brain activity in the vmPFC and amygdala not only predicted changes in CO, but also accounted for outcome variance above and beyond self-report data. Neural data were most useful in predicting behavioral change as quantified by the objective biomarker (CO). This pattern of activity was significantly modulated by individuals' intention to quit. The finding that both cognitive (vmPFC) and affective (amygdala) brain areas contributed to these models supports the idea that smokers respond to HWLs in a cognitive-affective manner. Based on our findings, researchers may wish to consider using neural data from both cognitive and affective networks when attempting to predict behavioral change in certain populations (e.g. cigarette smokers). © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press.

  11. Employees' responses to an organizational merger: Intraindividual change in organizational identification, attachment, and turnover.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sung, Wookje; Woehler, Meredith L; Fagan, Jesse M; Grosser, Travis J; Floyd, Theresa M; Labianca, Giuseppe Joe

    2017-06-01

    The authors used pre-post merger data from 599 employees experiencing a major corporate merger to compare 3 conceptual models based on the logic of social identity theory (SIT) and exchange theory to explain employees' merger responses. At issue is how perceived change in employees' own jobs and roles (i.e., personal valence) and perceived change in their organization's status and merger appropriateness (i.e., organizational valence) affect their changing organizational identification, attachment attitudes, and voluntary turnover. The first model suggests that organizational identification and organizational attachment develop independently and have distinct antecedents. The second model posits that organizational identification mediates the relationships between change in organizational and personal valence and change in attachment and turnover. The third model posits that change in personal valence moderates the relationship between changes in organizational valence and in organizational identification and attachment. Using latent difference score (LDS) modeling in an SEM framework and survival analysis, the results suggest an emergent fourth model that integrates the first and second models: Although change in organizational identification during the merger mediates the relationship between change in personal status and organizational valence and change in attachment, there is a direct and unmediated relationship between change in personal valence and attachment. This integrated model has implications for M&A theory and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Prepulse inhibition of auditory change-related cortical responses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Inui Koji

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Prepulse inhibition (PPI of the startle response is an important tool to investigate the biology of schizophrenia. PPI is usually observed by use of a startle reflex such as blinking following an intense sound. A similar phenomenon has not been reported for cortical responses. Results In 12 healthy subjects, change-related cortical activity in response to an abrupt increase of sound pressure by 5 dB above the background of 65 dB SPL (test stimulus was measured using magnetoencephalography. The test stimulus evoked a clear cortical response peaking at around 130 ms (Change-N1m. In Experiment 1, effects of the intensity of a prepulse (0.5 ~ 5 dB on the test response were examined using a paired stimulation paradigm. In Experiment 2, effects of the interval between the prepulse and test stimulus were examined using interstimulus intervals (ISIs of 50 ~ 350 ms. When the test stimulus was preceded by the prepulse, the Change-N1m was more strongly inhibited by a stronger prepulse (Experiment 1 and a shorter ISI prepulse (Experiment 2. In addition, the amplitude of the test Change-N1m correlated positively with both the amplitude of the prepulse-evoked response and the degree of inhibition, suggesting that subjects who are more sensitive to the auditory change are more strongly inhibited by the prepulse. Conclusions Since Change-N1m is easy to measure and control, it would be a valuable tool to investigate mechanisms of sensory gating or the biology of certain mental diseases such as schizophrenia.

  13. Grasshopper community response to climatic change: variation along an elevational gradient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nufio, César R; McGuire, Chris R; Bowers, M Deane; Guralnick, Robert P

    2010-09-23

    The impacts of climate change on phenological responses of species and communities are well-documented; however, many such studies are correlational and so less effective at assessing the causal links between changes in climate and changes in phenology. Using grasshopper communities found along an elevational gradient, we present an ideal system along the Front Range of Colorado USA that provides a mechanistic link between climate and phenology. This study utilizes past (1959-1960) and present (2006-2008) surveys of grasshopper communities and daily temperature records to quantify the relationship between amount and timing of warming across years and elevations, and grasshopper timing to adulthood. Grasshopper communities were surveyed at four sites, Chautauqua Mesa (1752 m), A1 (2195 m), B1 (2591 m), and C1 (3048 m), located in prairie, lower montane, upper montane, and subalpine life zones, respectively. Changes to earlier first appearance of adults depended on the degree to which a site warmed. The lowest site showed little warming and little phenological advancement. The next highest site (A1) warmed a small, but significant, amount and grasshopper species there showed inconsistent phenological advancements. The two highest sites warmed the most, and at these sites grasshoppers showed significant phenological advancements. At these sites, late-developing species showed the greatest advancements, a pattern that correlated with an increase in rate of late-season warming. The number of growing degree days (GDDs) associated with the time to adulthood for a species was unchanged across the past and present surveys, suggesting that phenological advancement depended on when a set number of GDDs is reached during a season. Our analyses provide clear evidence that variation in amount and timing of warming over the growing season explains the vast majority of phenological variation in this system. Our results move past simple correlation and provide a stronger process

  14. Grasshopper community response to climatic change: variation along an elevational gradient.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    César R Nufio

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available The impacts of climate change on phenological responses of species and communities are well-documented; however, many such studies are correlational and so less effective at assessing the causal links between changes in climate and changes in phenology. Using grasshopper communities found along an elevational gradient, we present an ideal system along the Front Range of Colorado USA that provides a mechanistic link between climate and phenology.This study utilizes past (1959-1960 and present (2006-2008 surveys of grasshopper communities and daily temperature records to quantify the relationship between amount and timing of warming across years and elevations, and grasshopper timing to adulthood. Grasshopper communities were surveyed at four sites, Chautauqua Mesa (1752 m, A1 (2195 m, B1 (2591 m, and C1 (3048 m, located in prairie, lower montane, upper montane, and subalpine life zones, respectively. Changes to earlier first appearance of adults depended on the degree to which a site warmed. The lowest site showed little warming and little phenological advancement. The next highest site (A1 warmed a small, but significant, amount and grasshopper species there showed inconsistent phenological advancements. The two highest sites warmed the most, and at these sites grasshoppers showed significant phenological advancements. At these sites, late-developing species showed the greatest advancements, a pattern that correlated with an increase in rate of late-season warming. The number of growing degree days (GDDs associated with the time to adulthood for a species was unchanged across the past and present surveys, suggesting that phenological advancement depended on when a set number of GDDs is reached during a season.Our analyses provide clear evidence that variation in amount and timing of warming over the growing season explains the vast majority of phenological variation in this system. Our results move past simple correlation and provide a stronger

  15. Dryland responses to global change suggest the potential for rapid non-linear responses to some changes but resilience to others

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, S.; Ferrenberg, S.; Tucker, C.; Rutherford, W. A.; Wertin, T. M.; McHugh, T. A.; Morrissey, E.; Kuske, C.; Belnap, J.

    2017-12-01

    Drylands represent our planet's largest terrestrial biome, making up over 35% of Earth's land surface. In the context of this vast areal extent, it is no surprise that recent research suggests dryland inter-annual variability and responses to change have the potential to drive biogeochemical cycles and climate at the global-scale. Further, the data we do have suggest drylands can respond rapidly and non-linearly to change. Nevertheless, our understanding of the cross-system consistency of and mechanisms behind dryland responses to a changed environment remains relatively poor. This poor understanding hinders not only our larger understanding of terrestrial ecosystem function, but also our capacity to forecast future global biogeochemical cycles and climate. Here we present data from a series of Colorado Plateau manipulation experiments - including climate, land use, and nitrogen deposition manipulations - to explore how vascular plants, microbial communities, and biological soil crusts (a community of mosses, lichens, and/or cyanobacteria living in the interspace among vascular plants in arid and semiarid ecosystems worldwide) respond to a host of environmental changes. These responses include not only assessments of community composition, but of their function as well. We will explore photosynthesis, net soil CO2 exchange, soil carbon stocks and chemistry, albedo, and nutrient cycling. The experiments were begun with independent questions and cover a range of environmental change drivers and scientific approaches, but together offer a relatively holistic picture of how some drylands can change their structure and function in response to change. In particular, the data show very high ecosystem vulnerability to particular drivers, but surprising resilience to others, suggesting a multi-faceted response of these diverse systems.

  16. Responsibility for private sector adaptation to climate change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tina Schneider

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007 indicates that vulnerable industries should adapt to the increasing likelihood of extreme weather events along with slowly shifting mean annual temperatures and precipitation patterns, to prevent major damages or periods of inoperability in the future. Most articles in the literature on business management frame organizational adaptation to climate change as a private action. This makes adaptation the sole responsibility of a company, for its sole benefit, and overlooks the fact that some companies provide critical goods and services such a food, water, electricity, and medical care, that are so vital to society that even a short-term setback in operations could put public security at risk. This raises the following questions: (1 Who is responsible for climate change adaptation by private-sector suppliers of critical infrastructure? (2 How can those who are identified to be responsible, actually be held to assume their responsibility for adapting to climate change? These questions will be addressed through a comprehensive review of the literature on business management, complemented by a review of specialized literature on public management. This review leads to several conclusions. Even though tasks that formerly belonged to the state have been taken over by private companies, the state still holds ultimate responsibility in the event of failure of private-sector owned utilities, insofar as they are "critical infrastructure." Therefore, it remains the state's responsibility to foster adaptation to climate change with appropriate action. In theory, effective ways of assuming this responsibility, while enabling critical infrastructure providers the flexibility adapt to climate change, would be to delegate adaptation to an agency, or to conduct negotiations with stakeholders. In view of this theory, Germany will be used as a case study to demonstrate how private-sector critical infrastructure

  17. Explaining the Diverse Response of the Ultra-relativistic Van Allen Radiation Belt to Solar Wind Forcing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mann, I. R.; Ozeke, L.; Murphy, K. R.; Claudepierre, S. G.; Rae, J.; Milling, D. K.; Kale, A.; Baker, D. N.

    2017-12-01

    The NASA Van Allen Probes have opened a new window on the dynamics of ultra-relativistic electrons in the Van Allen radiation belts. Under different solar wind forcing the outer belt is seen to respond in a variety of apparently diverse and sometimes remarkable ways. For example, sometimes a third radiation belt is carved out (e.g., September 2012), or the belts can remain depleted for 10 days or more (September 2014). More usually there is a sequential response of a strong and sometimes rapid depletion followed by a re-energization, the latter increasing outer belt electron flux by orders of magnitude on hour timescales during some of the strongest storms of this solar cycle (e.g., March 2013, March 2015). Such dynamics also appear to be often bounded at low-L by an apparently impenetrable barrier at L 2.8 through which ultra-relativistic electrons do not penetrate. Many studies in the Van Allen Probes era have sought explanations for these apparently diverse features, often incorporating the effects from multiple plasma waves. In contrast, we show how this apparently diverse behaviour can instead be explained by one dominant process: ULF wave radial transport. Once ULF wave transport rates are accurately specified by observations, and coupled to the dynamical variation of the outer boundary condition at the edge of the outer belt, the observed diverse responses can all be explained. However, in order to get good agreement with observations, the modeling reveals the importance of still currently unexplained very fast loss in the main phase which results in an almost total extinction of the belts and decouples pre- and post-storm ultra-relativistic electron flux on hour timescales. Similarly, varying plasmasheet source populations are seen to be of critical importance such that near-tail dynamics play a crucial role in Van Allen belt dynamics. Nonetheless, simple models incorporating accurate transport rates derived directly from ULF wave measurements are shown to

  18. National policy response to climate change in South Africa | Garland ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The South African government has taken several steps in response to climate change and its associated threats to human health. The National Climate Change Response Plan White Paper defines government's vision for effective climate change response and transitioning to a climate-resilient, low-carbon economy.

  19. Phylogenetic responses of forest trees to global change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senior, John K; Schweitzer, Jennifer A; O'Reilly-Wapstra, Julianne; Chapman, Samantha K; Steane, Dorothy; Langley, Adam; Bailey, Joseph K

    2013-01-01

    In a rapidly changing biosphere, approaches to understanding the ecology and evolution of forest species will be critical to predict and mitigate the effects of anthropogenic global change on forest ecosystems. Utilizing 26 forest species in a factorial experiment with two levels each of atmospheric CO2 and soil nitrogen, we examined the hypothesis that phylogeny would influence plant performance in response to elevated CO2 and nitrogen fertilization. We found highly idiosyncratic responses at the species level. However, significant, among-genetic lineage responses were present across a molecularly determined phylogeny, indicating that past evolutionary history may have an important role in the response of whole genetic lineages to future global change. These data imply that some genetic lineages will perform well and that others will not, depending upon the environmental context.

  20. Responsiveness and minimal clinically important change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, David Høyrup; Frost, Poul; Falla, Deborah

    2015-01-01

    Study Design A prospective cohort study nested in a randomized controlled trial. Objectives To determine and compare responsiveness and minimal clinically important change of the modified Constant score (CS) and the Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS). Background The OSS and the CS are commonly used...... to assess shoulder outcomes. However, few studies have evaluated the measurement properties of the OSS and CS in terms of responsiveness and minimal clinically important change. Methods The study included 126 patients who reported having difficulty returning to usual activities 8 to 12 weeks after...... were observed for the CS and the OSS. Minimal clinically important change ROC values were 6 points for the OSS and 11 points for the CS, with upper 95% cutoff limits of 12 and 22 points, respectively. Conclusion The CS and the OSS were both suitable for assessing improvement after decompression surgery....

  1. Modeling dynamics of tundra plant communities on the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, in response to climate change and grazing pressure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Q; Epstein, H E; Frost, G V; Walker, D A; Forbes, B C

    2011-01-01

    Understanding the responses of the arctic tundra biome to a changing climate requires knowledge of the complex interactions among the climate, soils and biological system. This study investigates the individual and interaction effects of climate change and reindeer grazing across a variety of climate zones and soil texture types on tundra vegetation community dynamics using an arctic vegetation model that incorporates the reindeer diet, where grazing is a function of both foliar nitrogen concentration and reindeer forage preference. We found that grazing is important, in addition to the latitudinal climate gradient, in controlling tundra plant community composition, explaining about 13% of the total variance in model simulations for all arctic tundra subzones. The decrease in biomass of lichen, deciduous shrub and graminoid plant functional types caused by grazing is potentially dampened by climate warming. Moss biomass had a nonlinear response to increased grazing intensity, and such responses were stronger when warming was present. Our results suggest that evergreen shrubs may benefit from increased grazing intensity due to their low palatability, yet a growth rate sensitivity analysis suggests that changes in nutrient uptake rates may result in different shrub responses to grazing pressure. Heavy grazing caused plant communities to shift from shrub tundra toward moss, graminoid-dominated tundra in subzones C and D when evergreen shrub growth rates were decreased in the model. The response of moss, lichen and forbs to warming varied across the different subzones. Initial vegetation responses to climate change during transient warming are different from the long term equilibrium responses due to shifts in the controlling mechanisms (nutrient limitation versus competition) within tundra plant communities.

  2. Climate change, climatic variation and extreme biological responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palmer, Georgina; Platts, Philip J; Brereton, Tom; Chapman, Jason W; Dytham, Calvin; Fox, Richard; Pearce-Higgins, James W; Roy, David B; Hill, Jane K; Thomas, Chris D

    2017-06-19

    Extreme climatic events could be major drivers of biodiversity change, but it is unclear whether extreme biological changes are (i) individualistic (species- or group-specific), (ii) commonly associated with unusual climatic events and/or (iii) important determinants of long-term population trends. Using population time series for 238 widespread species (207 Lepidoptera and 31 birds) in England since 1968, we found that population 'crashes' (outliers in terms of species' year-to-year population changes) were 46% more frequent than population 'explosions'. (i) Every year, at least three species experienced extreme changes in population size, and in 41 of the 44 years considered, some species experienced population crashes while others simultaneously experienced population explosions. This suggests that, even within the same broad taxonomic groups, species are exhibiting individualistic dynamics, most probably driven by their responses to different, short-term events associated with climatic variability. (ii) Six out of 44 years showed a significant excess of species experiencing extreme population changes (5 years for Lepidoptera, 1 for birds). These 'consensus years' were associated with climatically extreme years, consistent with a link between extreme population responses and climatic variability, although not all climatically extreme years generated excess numbers of extreme population responses. (iii) Links between extreme population changes and long-term population trends were absent in Lepidoptera and modest (but significant) in birds. We conclude that extreme biological responses are individualistic, in the sense that the extreme population changes of most species are taking place in different years, and that long-term trends of widespread species have not, to date, been dominated by these extreme changes.This article is part of the themed issue 'Behavioural, ecological and evolutionary responses to extreme climatic events'. © 2017 The Authors.

  3. Intraspecific priority effects modify compensatory responses to changes in hatching phenology in an amphibian.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murillo-Rincón, Andrea P; Kolter, Nora A; Laurila, Anssi; Orizaola, Germán

    2017-01-01

    In seasonal environments, modifications in the phenology of life-history events can alter the strength of time constraints experienced by organisms. Offspring can compensate for a change in timing of hatching by modifying their growth and development trajectories. However, intra- and interspecific interactions may affect these compensatory responses, in particular if differences in phenology between cohorts lead to significant priority effects (i.e. the competitive advantage that early-hatching individuals have over late-hatching ones). Here, we conducted a factorial experiment to determine whether intraspecific priority effects can alter compensatory phenotypic responses to hatching delay in a synchronic breeder by rearing moor frog (Rana arvalis) tadpoles in different combinations of phenological delay and food abundance. Tadpoles compensated for the hatching delay by speeding up their development, but only when reared in groups of individuals with identical hatching phenology. In mixed phenology groups, strong competitive effects by non-delayed tadpoles prevented the compensatory responses and delayed larvae metamorphosed later than in single phenology treatments. Non-delayed individuals gained advantage from developing with delayed larvae by increasing their developmental and growth rates as compared to single phenology groups. Food shortage prolonged larval period and reduced mass at metamorphosis in all treatments, but it did not prevent compensatory developmental responses in larvae reared in single phenology groups. This study demonstrates that strong intraspecific priority effects can constrain the compensatory growth and developmental responses to phenological change, and that priority effects can be an important factor explaining the maintenance of synchronic life histories (i.e. explosive breeding) in seasonal environments. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology © 2016 British Ecological Society.

  4. Modeling adaptive and non-adaptive responses to environmental change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Coulson, Tim; Kendall, Bruce E; Barthold, Julia A.

    2017-01-01

    , with plastic responses being either adaptive or non-adaptive. We develop an approach that links quantitative genetic theory with data-driven structured models to allow prediction of population responses to environmental change via plasticity and adaptive evolution. After introducing general new theory, we...... construct a number of example models to demonstrate that evolutionary responses to environmental change over the short-term will be considerably slower than plastic responses, and that the rate of adaptive evolution to a new environment depends upon whether plastic responses are adaptive or non-adaptive....... Parameterization of the models we develop requires information on genetic and phenotypic variation and demography that will not always be available, meaning that simpler models will often be required to predict responses to environmental change. We consequently develop a method to examine whether the full...

  5. Changes in Vascular Plant Biodiversity in the Netherlands in the 20th Century Explained by their Climatic and other Environmental Characteristics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tamis, W.L.M.; Van der Meijden, R.; Udo de Haes, H.A. [Nationaal Herbarium Nederland/Leiden University Branch, P.O. Box 9514, 2300, RA, Leiden (Netherlands); Van ' t Zelfde, M. [Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9518, 2300, RA, Leiden (Netherlands)

    2005-09-01

    In the Netherlands nation-wide databases are available with about 10 million records of occurrences of vascular plant species in the 20th century on a scale of approximately 1 km{sup 2}. These data were analysed with a view to identifying relationships between changes in botanical biodiversity and climatic and other environmental factors. Prior to analysis the data were corrected for several major forms of survey bias. The records were broken down into three periods: 1902-1949, 1975-1984 and 1985-1999. Using multiple regression analysis, differences between successive periods were related to plant functional characteristics as explanatory variables. Between the periods 1902-1949 and 1975-1984 there were small but significant increases in the presence of both thermophilic ('warm') and psychrophilic ('cold') species. However, in the final decades of the 20th century there was a marked increase in thermophilic species only, coinciding with the marked increase in ambient temperature observed during this period, evidence at least of a rapid response of Dutch flora to climate change. Urbanisation was also examined as an alternative explanation for the increase in thermophilic plant species and was found to explain only 50% of the increased presence of such species in the final decades of the 20th century. Besides temperature-related effects, the most important change during the 20th century was a strong decline in oligotrophic and a marked increase in eutrophic plant species.

  6. Separating the role of biotic interactions and climate in determining adaptive response of plants to climate change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomiolo, Sara; Van der Putten, Wim H; Tielbörger, Katja

    2015-05-01

    Altered rainfall regimes will greatly affect the response of plant species to climate change. However, little is known about how direct effects of changing precipitation on plant performance may depend on other abiotic factors and biotic interactions. We used reciprocal transplants between climatically very different sites with simultaneous manipulation of soil, plant population origin, and neighbor conditions to evaluate local adaptation and possible adaptive response of four Eastern Mediterranean annual plant species to climate change. The effect of site on plant performance was negligible, but soil origin had a strong effect on fecundity, most likely due to differential water retaining ability. Competition by neighbors strongly reduced fitness. We separated the effects of the abiotic and biotic soil properties on plant performance by repeating the field experiment in a greenhouse under homogenous environmental conditions and including a soil biota manipulation treatment. As in the field, plant performance differed among soil origins and neighbor treatments. Moreover, we found plant species-specific responses to soil biota that may be best explained by the differential sensitivity to negative and positive soil biota effects. Overall, under the conditions of our experiment with two contrasting sites, biotic interactions had a strong effect on plant fitness that interacted with and eventually overrode climate. Because climate and biotic interactions covary, reciprocal transplants and climate gradient studies should consider soil biotic interactions and abiotic conditions when evaluating climate change effects on plant performance.

  7. The Educational Aspirations of Saudi Arabian Youth: Implications for Creating a New Framework to Explain Saudi Arabian Society

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sim, Woohyang

    2016-01-01

    Higher education in Saudi Arabia has garnered immense praise for its rapid expansion and developments in both quantity and quality. In response to this, the tertiary school enrollment in Saudi Arabia is rapidly rising. These achievements can be explained by changes in educational policies. However, studies regarding youth's awareness are scarce.…

  8. [Does co-operation research provide approaches to explain the changes in the German hospital market?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raible, C; Leidl, R

    2004-11-01

    The German hospital market faces an extensive process of consolidation. In this change hospitals consider cooperation as one possibility to improve competitiveness. To investigate explanations of changes in the German hospital market by theoretical approaches of cooperation research. The aims and mechanism of the theories, their relevance in terms of contents and their potential for empirical tests were used as criteria to assess the approaches, with current and future trends in the German hospital market providing the framework. Based on literature review, six theoretical approaches were investigated: industrial organization, transaction cost theory, game theory, resource dependency, institutional theory, and co-operative investment and finance theory. In addition, the data needed to empirically test the theories were specified. As a general problem, some of the theoretical approaches set a perfect market as a precondition. This precondition is not met by the heavily regulated German hospital market. Given the current regulations and the assessment criteria, industrial organization as well as resource-dependency and institutional theory approaches showed the highest potential to explain various aspects of the changes in the hospital market. So far, none of the approaches investigated provides a comprehensive and empirically tested explanation of the changes in the German hospital market. However, some of the approaches provide a theoretical background for part of the changes. As this dynamic market is economically of high significance, there is a need for further development and empirical testing of relevant theoretical approaches.

  9. Do competitors modulate rare plant response to precipitation change?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levine, J.M.; Kathryn, Mceachern A.; Cowan, C.

    2010-01-01

    Ecologists increasingly suspect that climate change will directly impact species physiology, demography, and phenology, but also indirectly affect these measures via changes to the surrounding community. Unfortunately, few studies examine both the direct and indirect pathways of impact. Doing so is important because altered competitive pressures can reduce or magnify the direct responses of a focal species to climate change. Here, we examine the effects of changing rainfall on three rare annual plant species in the presence and absence of competition on the California Channel Islands. We used rain-out shelters and hand watering to exclude and augment early, late, and season-long rainfall, spanning the wide range of precipitation change forecast for the region. In the absence of competition, droughts reduced the population growth rates of two of three focal annuals, while increased rainfall was only sometimes beneficial, As compared to the focal species, the dominant competitors were more sensitive to the precipitation treatments, benefiting from increased season-long precipitation and harmed by droughts. Importantly, the response of two of three competitors to the precipitation treatments tended to be positively correlated with those of the focal annuals. Although this leads to the expectation that increased competition will counter the direct benefits of favorable conditions, such indirect effects of precipitation change proved weak to nonexistent in our experiment. Competitors had little influence on the precipitation response of two focal species, due to their low sensitivity to competition and highly variable precipitation responses. Competition did affect how our third focal species responded to precipitation change, but this effect only approached significance, and whether it truly resulted from competitor response to precipitation change was unclear. Our work suggests that even when competitors respond to climate change, these responses may have little

  10. Changes of brain response induced by simulated weightlessness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Jinhe; Yan, Gongdong; Guan, Zhiqiang

    The characteristics change of brain response was studied during 15° head-down tilt (HDT) comparing with 45° head-up tilt (HUT). The brain responses evaluated included the EEG power spectra change at rest and during mental arithmetic, and the event-related potentials (ERPs) of somatosensory, selective attention and mental arithmetic activities. The prominent feature of brain response change during HDT revealed that the brain function was inhibited to some extent. Such inhibition included that the significant increment of "40Hz" activity during HUT arithmetic almost disappeared during HDT arithmetic, and that the positive-potential effect induced by HDT presented in all kinds of ERPs measured, but the slow negative wave reflecting mental arithmetic and memory process was elongated. These data suggest that the brain function be affected profoundly by the simulated weightlessness, therefore, the brain function change during space flight should be studied systematically.

  11. Modelling contrasting responses of wetland productivity to changes in water table depth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. F. Grant

    2012-11-01

    declined with increasing WTD in a year with a shallow water table, but rose in a year with a deeper one. The model thus provided an integrated set of hypotheses for explaining site-specific and sometimes contrasting responses of wetland productivity to changes in WTD as found in different field experiments.

  12. Baseline response rates affect resistance to change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuroda, Toshikazu; Cook, James E; Lattal, Kennon A

    2018-01-01

    The effect of response rates on resistance to change, measured as resistance to extinction, was examined in two experiments. In Experiment 1, responding in transition from a variable-ratio schedule and its yoked-interval counterpart to extinction was compared with pigeons. Following training on a multiple variable-ratio yoked-interval schedule of reinforcement, in which response rates were higher in the former component, reinforcement was removed from both components during a single extended extinction session. Resistance to extinction in the yoked-interval component was always either greater or equal to that in the variable-ratio component. In Experiment 2, resistance to extinction was compared for two groups of rats that exhibited either high or low response rates when maintained on identical variable-interval schedules. Resistance to extinction was greater for the lower-response-rate group. These results suggest that baseline response rate can contribute to resistance to change. Such effects, however, can only be revealed when baseline response rate and reinforcement rate are disentangled (Experiments 1 and 2) from the more usual circumstance where the two covary. Furthermore, they are more cleanly revealed when the programmed contingencies controlling high and low response rates are identical, as in Experiment 2. © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

  13. Convergence and divergence, a concept for explaining drug actions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watanabe, Takehiko; Kamisaki, Yoshinori; Timmerman, Henk

    2004-10-01

    For the teaching and/or learning about drug actions and for the discovery and development of new drugs, it is important to understand how drugs act on living bodies. So far, there has been no clear description on the general principle of drug action in pharmacology textbooks. We propose two principles to depict the action mechanism of drugs. The first is that most, if not all, drugs act on proteins at the molecular level, that is, enzymes, receptors, ion channels, and transporters. The second is that a drug may cause divergent or convergent responses, resulting in changes of a physiological or pathological function of the human body. The concept of divergence and convergence can be used to explain the complex individuality of drug actions.

  14. China's response to climate change issues after Paris Climate Change Conference

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yun Gao

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The Paris Climate Change Conference was successfully concluded with the Paris Agreement, which is a milestone for the world in collectively combating climate change. By participating in IPCC assessments and conducting national climate change assessments, China has been increasing its understanding of the issue. For the first time, China's top leader attended the Conference of the Parties, which indicates the acknowledgement of the rationality and necessity of climate change response by China at different levels. Moreover, this participation reflects China's commitment to including climate change in its ecology improvement program and pursuing a low-carbon society and economy. In order to ensure the success of the Paris Conference, China has contributed significantly. China's constructive participation in global governance shows that China is a responsible power. These principles such as the creation of a future of win–win cooperation with each country contributing to the best of its ability; a future of the rule of law, fairness, and justice; and a future of inclusiveness, mutual learning, and common development will serve as China's guidelines in its efforts to facilitate the implementation of the Paris Agreement and participate in the design of international systems.

  15. China's response to climate change issues after Paris Climate Change Conference

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    GAO Yun

    2016-01-01

    The Paris Climate Change Conference was successfully concluded with the Paris Agreement, which is a milestone for the world in collectively combating climate change. By participating in IPCC assessments and conducting national climate change assessments, China has been increasing its understanding of the issue. For the first time, China's top leader attended the Conference of the Parties, which indicates the acknowledgement of the rationality and necessity of climate change response by China at different levels. Moreover, this participation reflects China's commitment to including climate change in its ecology improvement program and pursuing a low-carbon society and economy. In order to ensure the success of the Paris Conference, China has contributed significantly. China's constructive participation in global governance shows that China is a responsible power. These principles such as the creation of a future of winewin cooperation with each country contributing to the best of its ability;a future of the rule of law, fairness, and justice;and a future of inclusiveness, mutual learning, and common development will serve as China's guidelines in its efforts to facilitate the implementation of the Paris Agreement and participate in the design of international systems.

  16. Lags in the response of mountain plant communities to climate change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, Jake M; Chalmandrier, Loïc; Lenoir, Jonathan; Burgess, Treena I; Essl, Franz; Haider, Sylvia; Kueffer, Christoph; McDougall, Keith; Milbau, Ann; Nuñez, Martin A; Pauchard, Aníbal; Rabitsch, Wolfgang; Rew, Lisa J; Sanders, Nathan J; Pellissier, Loïc

    2018-02-01

    Rapid climatic changes and increasing human influence at high elevations around the world will have profound impacts on mountain biodiversity. However, forecasts from statistical models (e.g. species distribution models) rarely consider that plant community changes could substantially lag behind climatic changes, hindering our ability to make temporally realistic projections for the coming century. Indeed, the magnitudes of lags, and the relative importance of the different factors giving rise to them, remain poorly understood. We review evidence for three types of lag: "dispersal lags" affecting plant species' spread along elevational gradients, "establishment lags" following their arrival in recipient communities, and "extinction lags" of resident species. Variation in lags is explained by variation among species in physiological and demographic responses, by effects of altered biotic interactions, and by aspects of the physical environment. Of these, altered biotic interactions could contribute substantially to establishment and extinction lags, yet impacts of biotic interactions on range dynamics are poorly understood. We develop a mechanistic community model to illustrate how species turnover in future communities might lag behind simple expectations based on species' range shifts with unlimited dispersal. The model shows a combined contribution of altered biotic interactions and dispersal lags to plant community turnover along an elevational gradient following climate warming. Our review and simulation support the view that accounting for disequilibrium range dynamics will be essential for realistic forecasts of patterns of biodiversity under climate change, with implications for the conservation of mountain species and the ecosystem functions they provide. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. Lags in the response of mountain plant communities to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, Jake M.; Chalmandrier, Loïc; Lenoir, Jonathan; Burgess, Treena I.; Essl, Franz; Haider, Sylvia; Kueffer, Christoph; McDougall, Keith; Milbau, Ann; Nuñez, Martin A.; Pauchard, Aníbal; Rabitsch, Wolfgang; Rew, Lisa J.; Sanders, Nathan J.; Pellissier, Loïc

    2018-01-01

    Rapid climatic changes and increasing human influence at high elevations around the world will have profound impacts on mountain biodiversity. However, forecasts from statistical models (e.g. species distribution models) rarely consider that plant community changes could substantially lag behind climatic changes, hindering our ability to make temporally realistic projections for the coming century. Indeed, the magnitudes of lags, and the relative importance of the different factors giving rise to them, remain poorly understood. We review evidence for three types of lag: “dispersal lags” affecting plant species’ spread along elevational gradients, “establishment lags” following their arrival in recipient communities, and “extinction lags” of resident species. Variation in lags is explained by variation among species in physiological and demographic responses, by effects of altered biotic interactions, and by aspects of the physical environment. Of these, altered biotic interactions could contribute substantially to establishment and extinction lags, yet impacts of biotic interactions on range dynamics are poorly understood. We develop a mechanistic community model to illustrate how species turnover in future communities might lag behind simple expectations based on species’ range shifts with unlimited dispersal. The model shows a combined contribution of altered biotic interactions and dispersal lags to plant community turnover along an elevational gradient following climate warming. Our review and simulation support the view that accounting for disequilibrium range dynamics will be essential for realistic forecasts of patterns of biodiversity under climate change, with implications for the conservation of mountain species and the ecosystem functions they provide. PMID:29112781

  18. A dampened land use change climate response towards the tropics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Molen, van der M.K.; Hurk, van den B.J.J.M.; Hazeleger, W.

    2011-01-01

    In climate simulations we find a pronounced meridional (equator to pole) gradient of climate response to land cover change. Climate response approaches zero in the tropics, and increases towards the poles. The meridional gradient in climate response to land cover change results from damping

  19. The Role of Forcing and Internal Dynamics in explaining the 'Medieval Climate Anomaly'

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goossee, Hugues; Crespin, Elisabeth; Dubinkina, Svetlana; Loutre, Marie-France; Mann, Michael E.; Renssen, Hans; Shindell, Drew

    2012-01-01

    Proxy reconstructions suggest that peak global temperature during the past warm interval known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, roughly 950-1250 AD) has been exceeded only during the most recent decades. To better understand the origin of this warm period, we use model simulations constrained by data assimilation establishing the spatial pattern of temperature changes that is most consistent with forcing estimates, model physics and the empirical information contained in paleoclimate proxy records. These numerical experiments demonstrate that the reconstructed spatial temperature pattern of the MCA can be explained by a simple thermodynamical response of the climate system to relatively weak changes in radiative forcing combined with a modification of the atmospheric circulation, displaying some similarities with the positive phase of the so-called Arctic Oscillation, and with northward shifts in the position of the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio currents. The mechanisms underlying the MCA are thus quite different from anthropogenic mechanisms responsible for modern global warming.

  20. Explaining trends in alcohol-related harms in Scotland 1991-2011 (II): policy, social norms, the alcohol market, clinical changes and a synthesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCartney, G; Bouttell, J; Craig, N; Craig, P; Graham, L; Lakha, F; Lewsey, J; McAdams, R; MacPherson, M; Minton, J; Parkinson, J; Robinson, M; Shipton, D; Taulbut, M; Walsh, D; Beeston, C

    2016-03-01

    To provide a basis for evaluating post-2007 alcohol policy in Scotland, this paper tests the extent to which pre-2007 policy, the alcohol market, culture or clinical changes might explain differences in the magnitude and trends in alcohol-related mortality outcomes in Scotland compared to England & Wales (E&W). Rapid literature reviews, descriptive analysis of routine data and narrative synthesis. We assessed the impact of pre-2007 Scottish policy and policy in the comparison areas in relation to the literature on effective alcohol policy. Rapid literature reviews were conducted to assess cultural changes and the potential role of substitution effects between alcohol and illicit drugs. The availability of alcohol was assessed by examining the trends in the number of alcohol outlets over time. The impact of clinical changes was assessed in consultation with key informants. The impact of all the identified factors were then summarised and synthesised narratively. The companion paper showed that part of the rise and fall in alcohol-related mortality in Scotland, and part of the differing trend to E&W, were predicted by a model linking income trends and alcohol-related mortality. Lagged effects from historical deindustrialisation and socio-economic changes exposures also remain plausible from the available data. This paper shows that policy differences or changes prior to 2007 are unlikely to have been important in explaining the trends. There is some evidence that aspects of alcohol culture in Scotland may be different (more concentrated and home drinking) but it seems unlikely that this has been an important driver of the trends or the differences with E&W other than through interaction with changing incomes and lagged socio-economic effects. Substitution effects with illicit drugs and clinical changes are unlikely to have substantially changed alcohol-related harms: however, the increase in alcohol availability across the UK is likely to partly explain the rise in

  1. The response of glaciers to climate change

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Klok, Elisabeth Jantina

    2003-01-01

    The research described in this thesis addresses two aspects of the response of glaciers to climate change. The first aspect deals with the physical processes that govern the interaction between glaciers and climate change and was treated by (1) studying the spatial and temporal variation of the

  2. Measuring and explaining house price developments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    De Vries, P.

    2010-01-01

    This study discusses ways of measuring and explaining the development of house prices. The goal of the research underpinning this dissertation was to develop a methodological framework for studying these developments. This framework relates, first, to correcting for changes in the composition of

  3. A method for analyzing changing prison populations: explaining the growth of the elderly in prison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luallen, Jeremy; Kling, Ryan

    2014-12-01

    For the past several decades, the U.S. prison system has witnessed a steady and persistent increase in the ages of prison populations. Given the additional costs and burdens placed on prisons as they house older inmates, this aging trend has generated intense interest among policy makers and academics who seek to understand why prison populations are getting older. This article presents a method for evaluating drivers influencing the change in age distributions among prisoners. We define a methodological approach and demonstrate its application using prison data from four states reporting to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Corrections Reporting Program. We find that since 2000, the primary driver of overall growth in the elderly populations in prison (defined as inmates over 50) is the increasing admission age of offenders entering prison. Moreover, changes in offense mix and sentence length/time served over the last decade have had significantly less influence on the age composition of prison populations. We also find that the impact of explanatory factors varies across states and offense types. For example, prison admission and exit rates explain much of the change in elderly drug offenders in New York, but not elderly violent offenders, where admission age plays a much stronger explanatory role. Our analysis offers an effective demonstration that supports the use of this method as an important and informative first step toward understanding components of change that affect the problem of prison aging. © The Author(s) 2014.

  4. Characterizing changes in soil bacterial community structure in response to short-term warming

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xiong, Jinbo [State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing China; School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Ningbo China; Sun, Huaibo [State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing China; Peng, Fei [Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou China; Zhang, Huayong [State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing China; Xue, Xian [Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou China; Gibbons, Sean M. [Argonne National Laboratory Biosciences Division, Argonne IL USA; Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago IL USA; Gilbert, Jack A. [Argonne National Laboratory Biosciences Division, Argonne IL USA; Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago IL USA; Chu, Haiyan [State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing China

    2014-02-18

    High altitude alpine meadows are experiencing considerably greater than average increases in soil surface temperature, potentially as a result of ongoing climate change. The effects of warming on plant productivity and soil edaphic variables have been established previously, but the influence of warming on soil microbial community structure has not been well characterized. Here, the impact of 15 months of soil warming (both + 1 and + 2 degrees C) on bacterial community structure was examined in a field experiment on a Tibetan plateau alpine meadow using bar-coded pyrosequencing. Warming significantly changed (P < 0.05) the structure of the soil bacterial community, but the alpha diversity was not dramatically affected. Changes in the abundance of the Actinobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria were found to contribute the most to differences between ambient (AT) and artificially warmed conditions. A variance partitioning analysis (VPA) showed that warming directly explained 7.15% variation in bacterial community structure, while warming-induced changes in soil edaphic and plant phenotypic properties indirectly accounted for 28.3% and 20.6% of the community variance, respectively. Interestingly, certain taxa showed an inconsistent response to the two warming treatments, for example Deltaproteobacteria showed a decreased relative abundance at + 1 degrees C, but a return to AT control relative abundance at + 2 degrees C. This suggests complex microbial dynamics that could result from conditional dependencies between bacterial taxa.

  5. Cultural responses to climate change during the late Holocene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    deMenocal, P B

    2001-04-27

    Modern complex societies exhibit marked resilience to interannual-to- decadal droughts, but cultural responses to multidecadal-to-multicentury droughts can only be addressed by integrating detailed archaeological and paleoclimatic records. Four case studies drawn from New and Old World civilizations document societal responses to prolonged drought, including population dislocations, urban abandonment, and state collapse. Further study of past cultural adaptations to persistent climate change may provide valuable perspective on possible responses of modern societies to future climate change.

  6. Plant community responses to climate change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kongstad, J.

    2012-07-01

    ecosystem more resilient to the climatic treatments than expected. We also found that the amount of flowering culms of D. flexuosa increased in response to increased CO{sub 2}, whereas the seed germination success decreased. The bryophyte biomass and the nitrogen content decreased in response to nitrogen addition. Even such apparently minor changes might, given time, affect the plant composition and thereby possibly also the major ecosystem processes. Further, we observed changes in the aboveground plant composition in response to the climate manipulations at the Mols site, where C. vulgaris was regenerating after a disturbance. Here a decrease in biomass of the pioneer stage was seen, when subjected to the drought treatment compared to warmed and control treatments. I therefore conclude, that the stage of the C. vulgaris population as well as the magnitude and frequency of disturbances determine the effects of future climate change on the plant community in heathland ecosystems. (Author)

  7. The Parana paradox: can a model explain the decadal impacts of climate variability and land-cover change?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, E.; Moorcroft, P. R.; Livino, A.; Briscoe, J.

    2013-12-01

    Since the 1970s, despite a decrease in rainfall, flow in the Parana river has increased. This paradox is explored using the Ecosystem Demography (ED) model. If there were no change in land cover, the modeled runoff decreased from the 1970s to the 2000s by 11.8% (with 1970 land cover) or 18.8% (with 2008 land cover). When the model is run holding climate constant, the decadal average of the modeled runoff increased by 24.4% (with the 1970s climate) or by 33.6% (with 2000s climate). When the model is run allowing both the actual climate and land-cover changes, the model gives an increase in the decadal average of runoff by 8.5%. This agrees well with 10.5% increase in the actual stream flow as measured at Itaipu. There are three main conclusions from this work. First, the ED model is able to explain a major, paradoxical, reality in the Parana basin. Second, it is necessary to take into account both climate and land use changes when exploring past or future changes in river flows. Third, the ED model, now coupled with a regional climate model (i.e., EDBRAMS), is a sound basis for exploring likely changes in river flows in major South American rivers.

  8. Variations in body morphology explain sex differences in thermoeffector function during compensable heat stress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Notley, Sean R; Park, Joonhee; Tagami, Kyoko; Ohnishi, Norikazu; Taylor, Nigel A S

    2017-05-01

    What is the central question of this study? Can sex-related differences in cutaneous vascular and sudomotor responses be explained primarily by variations in the ratio between body surface area and mass during compensable exercise that elicits equivalent heat-loss requirements and mean body temperature changes across participants? What is the main finding and its importance? Mass-specific surface area was a significant determinant of vasomotor and sudomotor responses in men and women, explaining 10-48% of the individual thermoeffector variance. Nonetheless, after accounting for changes in mean body temperature and morphological differences, sex explained only 5% of that inter-individual variability. It was concluded that sex differences in thermoeffector function are morphologically dependent, but not sex dependent. Sex is sometimes thought to be an independent modulator of cutaneous vasomotor and sudomotor function during heat exposure. Nevertheless, it was hypothesized that, when assessed during compensable exercise that evoked equal heat-loss requirements across participants, sex differences in those thermoeffectors would be explained by variations in the ratio between body surface area and mass (specific surface area). To evaluate that possibility, vasomotor and sudomotor functions were assessed in 60 individuals (36 men and 24 women) with widely varying (overlapping) specific surface areas (range, 232.3-292.7 and 241.2-303.1 cm 2  kg -1 , respectively). Subjects completed two trials in compensable conditions (28°C, 36% relative humidity) involving rest (20 min) and steady-state cycling (45 min) at fixed, area-specific metabolic heat-production rates (light, ∼135 W m -2 ; moderate, ∼200 W m -2 ). Equivalent heat-loss requirements and mean body temperature changes were evoked across participants. Forearm blood flow and vascular conductance were positively related to specific surface area during light work in men (r = 0.67 and r = 0

  9. A dampened land use change climate response towards the tropics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Molen, M.K. van der [Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt (Netherlands); Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), Department of Meteorology and Air Quality, Wageningen (Netherlands); Hurk, B.J.J.M. van den; Hazeleger, W. [Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt (Netherlands)

    2011-11-15

    In climate simulations we find a pronounced meridional (equator to pole) gradient of climate response to land cover change. Climate response approaches zero in the tropics, and increases towards the poles. The meridional gradient in climate response to land cover change results from damping feedbacks in the tropics, rather than from polar amplification. The main cause for the damping in the tropics is the decrease in cloud cover after deforestation, resulting in increased incoming radiation at the surface and a lower planetary albedo, both counteracting the increase in surface albedo with deforestation. In our simulations, deforestation was also associated with a decrease in sensible heat flux but not a clear signal in evaporation. Meridional differences in climate response have implications for attribution of observed climate change, as well as for climate change mitigation strategies. (orig.)

  10. Climate change adapatation response at local government level

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Mambo, Julia

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The climate change response policy gives the mandate to all municipalities and other levels of government to develop and implement climate chnage adaptation response. The availability of appropriate information is essential for this process...

  11. Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) change their activity patterns in response to frugivory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masi, Shelly; Cipolletta, Chloé; Robbins, Martha M

    2009-02-01

    The most important environmental factor explaining interspecies variation in ecology and sociality of the great apes is likely to be variation in resource availability. Relatively little is known about the activity patterns of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), which inhabit a dramatically different environment from the well-studied mountain gorillas (G. beringei beringei). This study aims to provide a detailed quantification of western lowland gorillas' activity budgets using direct observations on one habituated group in Bai Hokou, Central African Republic. We examined how activity patterns of both sexes are shaped by seasonal frugivory. Activity was recorded with 5-min instantaneous sampling between December 2004 and December 2005. During the high-frugivory period the gorillas spent less time feeding and more time traveling than during the low-frugivory period. The silverback spent less time feeding but more time resting than both females and immatures, which likely results from a combination of social and physiological factors. When compared with mountain gorillas, western lowland gorillas spend more time feeding (67 vs. 55%) and traveling (12 vs. 6.5%), but less time resting (21 vs. 34%) and engaging in social/other activities (0.5 vs. 3.6%). This disparity in activity budgets of western lowland gorillas and mountain gorillas may be explained by the more frugivorous diet and the greater dispersion of food resources experienced by western lowland gorillas. Like other apes, western lowland gorillas change their activity patterns in response to changes in the diet. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  12. The View from Inside the System: How Police Explain Their Response to Sexual Assault.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Jessica; Campbell, Rebecca; Cain, Debi

    2016-12-01

    Prior research has documented the problematic community response to sexual assault: the majority of sexual assaults reported to police are never prosecuted. Social dominance theory suggests that this response is a form of institutional discrimination, intended to maintain existing social structures, and that police personnel likely draw upon shared ideologies to justify their decision-making in sexual assault case investigations. This study drew upon social dominance theory to examine how police justified their investigatory decisions to identify potential leverage points for change. The study revealed that the likelihood of a case referral to the prosecutor increased with each additional investigative step completed; of the different types of justifications provided by police for a less-than-thorough investigative response and stalled case, blaming the victim for the poor police investigation proved to be the most damaging to case progression; and the type of explanation provided by police was impacted by specific case variables. As suggested by social dominance theory, the study demonstrates that police rely on several different mechanisms to justify their response to sexual assault; implementing criminal justice system policies that target and interrupt these mechanisms has the potential to improve this response, regardless of specific case factors. © Society for Community Research and Action 2016.

  13. Dynamical response of the magnetotail to changes of the solar wind direction: an MHD modeling perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. A. Sergeev

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available We performed global MHD simulations to investigate the magnetotail response to the solar wind directional changes (Vz-variations. These changes, although small, cause significant variations of the neutral sheet shape and location even in the near and middle tail regions. They display a complicated temporal response, in which ~60 to 80% of the final shift of the neutral sheet in Z direction occurs within first 10–15 min (less for faster solar wind, whereas a much longer time (exceeding half hour is required to reach a new equilibrium. The asymptotic equilibrium shape of the simulated neutral sheet is consistent with predictions of Tsyganenko-Fairfield (2004 empirical model. To visualize a physical origin of the north-south tail motion we compared the values of the total pressure in the northern and southern tail lobes and found a considerable difference (10–15% for only 6° change of the solar wind direction used in the simulation. That difference builds up during the passage of the solar wind directional discontinuity and is responsible for the vertical shift of the neutral sheet, although some pressure difference remains in the near tail even near the new equilibrium. Surprisingly, at a given tailward distance, the response was found to be first initiated in the tail center (the "leader effect", rather than near the flanks, which can be explained by the wave propagation in the tail, and which may have interesting implications for the substorm triggering studies. The present results have serious implications for the data-based modeling, as they place constraints on the accuracy of tail magnetic configurations to be derived for specific events using data of multi-spacecraft missions, e.g. such as THEMIS.

  14. Plasticity and genetic adaptation mediate amphibian and reptile responses to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urban, Mark C; Richardson, Jonathan L; Freidenfelds, Nicole A

    2014-01-01

    Phenotypic plasticity and genetic adaptation are predicted to mitigate some of the negative biotic consequences of climate change. Here, we evaluate evidence for plastic and evolutionary responses to climate variation in amphibians and reptiles via a literature review and meta-analysis. We included studies that either document phenotypic changes through time or space. Plasticity had a clear and ubiquitous role in promoting phenotypic changes in response to climate variation. For adaptive evolution, we found no direct evidence for evolution of amphibians or reptiles in response to climate change over time. However, we found many studies that documented adaptive responses to climate along spatial gradients. Plasticity provided a mixture of adaptive and maladaptive responses to climate change, highlighting that plasticity frequently, but not always, could ameliorate climate change. Based on our review, we advocate for more experiments that survey genetic changes through time in response to climate change. Overall, plastic and genetic variation in amphibians and reptiles could buffer some of the formidable threats from climate change, but large uncertainties remain owing to limited data. PMID:24454550

  15. Using social cognitive theory to explain consumers' behavioral intentions in response to direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Henry N; Lipowski, Earlene E; Cline, Rebecca J W

    2005-06-01

    Previous research describing consumers' communication behaviors in response to direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) suggests a social cognitive rationale to explain DTCA-related communication behavior. Guided by social cognitive theory, the objective of this study was to explore outcome expectancy and self-efficacy beliefs as predictors of individuals' intentions to communicate with their physicians about an advertised drug. One hundred and seven female college students completed a questionnaire, read an advertisement for an oral contraceptive drug, and completed a second questionnaire. The questionnaires assessed participants' self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs, intended communication behavior, and demographic information. Pearson product-moment correlation analyses showed that outcome expectancy (r=0.75, Pbehavior (B=1.56, Padvertised drug [t(106)=14.75, Pconsumers' plans for interacting with physicians in response to DTCA. Health care providers can use these results to guide communication with patients regarding DTCA and meet patients' drug-related informational expectations.

  16. Regional Distribution Shifts Help Explain Local Changes in Wintering Raptor Abundance: Implications for Interpreting Population Trends

    OpenAIRE

    Paprocki, Neil; Heath, Julie A.; Novak, Stephen J.

    2014-01-01

    Studies of multiple taxa across broad-scales suggest that species distributions are shifting poleward in response to global climate change. Recognizing the influence of distribution shifts on population indices will be an important part of interpreting trends within management units because current practice often assumes that changes in local populations reflect local habitat conditions. However, the individual- and population-level processes that drive distribution shifts may occur across a ...

  17. Are depressive persons capable of describing changes in their reactions without being able to explain them? A proof of a cybernetic hypothesis of depression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leibetseder, Max; Kamolz, Thomas

    2004-01-01

    Many studies on the autobiographical memory and the explanation of reasons for success and failure proved that persons suffering from major depression tend to overgeneralize. This study examines the hypothesis that changes of reactions caused by a depressive disorder can be described by the affected persons but not explained. Persons suffering from major depression and persons with posttraumatic stress disorder or disturbance of accommodation with depressive mood (= reactive form of a depressive disorder) were presented with a list of modalities (behaviour, emotional and physical reactions) characteristic for depression. They were asked to identify modalities applicable to them and to describe and explain them. Their responses were analysed using a content analysis and assigned to the categories description and explanation. Persons with a major depression tended to use explanations or evaluations rather than descriptions for their depression-related modalities. Those persons suffering from a reactive form of depressive disorder tended to prefer evaluations. These results support the assumption that states of depression cause general descriptions of depression-relevant behaviour. The specific characteristics that have been perceived confirm the general concepts, which however make the patient prone to the respective selective perceptions. Persons suffering from a reactive form of depressive mood cannot be assumed to have this tendency of self-affirmation. Their depressive state may be maintained by perseverating general pessimistic schemes. It must however be conceded that it was not possible to control the physical comorbidity methodically and to take its effects into consideration, even though only persons without serious illnesses were included in the samples. This study did not verify whether other clinical groups, like patients suffering from anxiety, show the same patterns of explaining and describing their problems. It should furthermore be reviewed how other

  18. Social identity change in response to discrimination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perozzo, Cristina; de la Sablonnière, Roxane; Auger, Emilie; Caron-Diotte, Mathieu

    2016-09-01

    This study investigated the conditions under which discrimination can lead to social identity changes among members of a minority group. Both positive and negative relations between perceptions of discrimination and social identity have previously been reported. To explain the conflicting results and understand the complex reality of members of stigmatized groups, we argue that group-based emotions (e.g., group-based dissatisfaction) and ambiguity of discrimination cues (i.e., overt vs. ambiguous) need to be considered. We hypothesized that perceptions of discrimination would play a moderating role between group-based dissatisfaction and social identity change in a context of ambiguous, but not of overt, discrimination. The sample was comprised of 151 Arab Muslims living in the province of Quebec. Participants read fictitious newspaper articles portraying either overt (n = 76) or ambiguous (n = 75) discrimination towards in-group members. Results revealed that for participants in the overt discrimination condition, only group-based dissatisfaction was positively associated with social identity change. In contrast, for the participants in the ambiguous discrimination condition, those who perceived little discrimination and felt low group-based dissatisfaction reported a decrease in social identity. However, those who perceived low group discrimination and felt high group-based dissatisfaction reported a positive social identity change. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

  19. Explaining Away Intuitions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan Ichikawa

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available What is it to explain away an intuition? Philosophers regularly attempt to explain intuitions away, but it is often unclear what the success conditions for their project consist in. I attempt to articulate some of these conditions, taking philosophical case studies as guides, and arguing that many attempts to explain away intuitions underestimate the challenge the project of explaining away involves. I will conclude, therefore, that explaining away intuitions is a more difficult task than has sometimes been appreciated; I also suggest, however, that the importance of explaining away intuitions has often been exaggerated.

  20. Climate Change Science: The Literacy of Geography Teachers in the Western Cape Province, South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anyanwu, Raymond; Le Grange, Lesley; Beets, Peter

    2015-01-01

    One of the universal responses to tackling global climate change is teaching climate change concepts at all levels of formal education. This response requires, among other things, teachers who are fully literate about climate change science, so that they can explain the concepts underlying the causes, impacts and solutions of climate change as…

  1. Climate Change Effects on Agriculture: Economic Responses to Biophysical Shocks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nelson, Gerald C.; Valin, Hugo; Sands, Ronald D.; Havlik, Petr; Ahammad, Helal; Deryng, Delphine; Elliott, Joshua; Fujimori, Shinichiro; Hasegawa, Tomoko; Heyhoe, Edwina

    2014-01-01

    Agricultural production is sensitive to weather and thus directly affected by climate change. Plausible estimates of these climate change impacts require combined use of climate, crop, and economic models. Results from previous studies vary substantially due to differences in models, scenarios, and data. This paper is part of a collective effort to systematically integrate these three types of models. We focus on the economic component of the assessment, investigating how nine global economic models of agriculture represent endogenous responses to seven standardized climate change scenarios produced by two climate and five crop models. These responses include adjustments in yields, area, consumption, and international trade. We apply biophysical shocks derived from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's representative concentration pathway with end-of-century radiative forcing of 8.5 W/m(sup 2). The mean biophysical yield effect with no incremental CO2 fertilization is a 17% reduction globally by 2050 relative to a scenario with unchanging climate. Endogenous economic responses reduce yield loss to 11%, increase area of major crops by 11%, and reduce consumption by 3%. Agricultural production, cropland area, trade, and prices show the greatest degree of variability in response to climate change, and consumption the lowest. The sources of these differences include model structure and specification; in particular, model assumptions about ease of land use conversion, intensification, and trade. This study identifies where models disagree on the relative responses to climate shocks and highlights research activities needed to improve the representation of agricultural adaptation responses to climate change.

  2. Electronic Health Record (EHR) Organizational Change: Explaining Resistance Through Profession, Organizational Experience, and EHR Communication Quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrett, Ashley K

    2018-04-01

    The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by the U.S. government in 2009 mandates that all healthcare organizations adopt a certified electronic health record (EHR) system by 2015. Failure to comply will result in Medicare reimbursement penalties, which steadily increase with each year of delinquency. There are several repercussions of this seemingly top-down, rule-bound organizational change-one of which is employee resistance. Given the penalties for violating EHR meaningful use standards are ongoing, resistance to this mandate presents a serious issue for healthcare organizations. This study surveyed 345 employees in one healthcare organization that recently implemented an EHR. Analysis of variance results offer theoretical and pragmatic contributions by demonstrating physicians, nurses, and employees with more experience in their organization are the most resistant to EHR change. The job characteristics model is used to explain these findings. Hierarchical regression analyses also demonstrate the quality of communication surrounding EHR implementation-from both formal and informal sources-is negatively associated with EHR resistance and positively associated with perceived EHR implementation success and EHR's perceived relative advantage.

  3. Relaxation response induces temporal transcriptome changes in energy metabolism, insulin secretion and inflammatory pathways.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manoj K Bhasin

    Full Text Available The relaxation response (RR is the counterpart of the stress response. Millennia-old practices evoking the RR include meditation, yoga and repetitive prayer. Although RR elicitation is an effective therapeutic intervention that counteracts the adverse clinical effects of stress in disorders including hypertension, anxiety, insomnia and aging, the underlying molecular mechanisms that explain these clinical benefits remain undetermined. To assess rapid time-dependent (temporal genomic changes during one session of RR practice among healthy practitioners with years of RR practice and also in novices before and after 8 weeks of RR training, we measured the transcriptome in peripheral blood prior to, immediately after, and 15 minutes after listening to an RR-eliciting or a health education CD. Both short-term and long-term practitioners evoked significant temporal gene expression changes with greater significance in the latter as compared to novices. RR practice enhanced expression of genes associated with energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, insulin secretion and telomere maintenance, and reduced expression of genes linked to inflammatory response and stress-related pathways. Interactive network analyses of RR-affected pathways identified mitochondrial ATP synthase and insulin (INS as top upregulated critical molecules (focus hubs and NF-κB pathway genes as top downregulated focus hubs. Our results for the first time indicate that RR elicitation, particularly after long-term practice, may evoke its downstream health benefits by improving mitochondrial energy production and utilization and thus promoting mitochondrial resiliency through upregulation of ATPase and insulin function. Mitochondrial resiliency might also be promoted by RR-induced downregulation of NF-κB-associated upstream and downstream targets that mitigates stress.

  4. Do familiarity and expectations change perception? Drivers’ glances and response to changes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Martens, M.H.; Fox, M.

    2007-01-01

    The present study shows that repeated exposure to a road environment changes eye movement behaviour. In addition, repeated exposure may result in inadequate responses to unexpected changes in the road environment. Participants drove a low-cost simulator while their eye movements were recorded. With

  5. The dominant role of climate change in determining changes in evapotranspiration in Xinjiang, China from 2001 to 2012.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Xiuliang; Bai, Jie; Li, Longhui; Kurban, Alishir; De Maeyer, Philippe

    2017-01-01

    The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China has experienced significant land cover and climate change since the beginning of the 21st century. However, a reasonable simulation of evapotranspiration (ET) and its response to environmental factors are still unclear. For this study, to simulate ET and its response to climate and land cover change in Xinjiang, China from 2001 to 2012, we used the Common Land Model (CoLM) by adding irrigation effects for cropland and modifying root distributions and the root water uptake process for shrubland. Our results indicate that mean annual ET from 2001 to 2012 was 131.22 (±21.78) mm/year and demonstrated no significant trend (p = 0.12). The model simulation also indicates that climate change was capable of explaining 99% of inter-annual ET variability; land cover change only explained 1%. Land cover change caused by the expansion of croplands increased annual ET by 1.11 mm while climate change, mainly resulting from both decreased temperature and precipitation, reduced ET by 21.90 mm. Our results imply that climate change plays a dominant role in determining changes in ET, and also highlight the need for appropriate land-use strategies for managing water sources in dryland ecosystems within Xinjiang.

  6. The dominant role of climate change in determining changes in evapotranspiration in Xinjiang, China from 2001 to 2012.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiuliang Yuan

    Full Text Available The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China has experienced significant land cover and climate change since the beginning of the 21st century. However, a reasonable simulation of evapotranspiration (ET and its response to environmental factors are still unclear. For this study, to simulate ET and its response to climate and land cover change in Xinjiang, China from 2001 to 2012, we used the Common Land Model (CoLM by adding irrigation effects for cropland and modifying root distributions and the root water uptake process for shrubland. Our results indicate that mean annual ET from 2001 to 2012 was 131.22 (±21.78 mm/year and demonstrated no significant trend (p = 0.12. The model simulation also indicates that climate change was capable of explaining 99% of inter-annual ET variability; land cover change only explained 1%. Land cover change caused by the expansion of croplands increased annual ET by 1.11 mm while climate change, mainly resulting from both decreased temperature and precipitation, reduced ET by 21.90 mm. Our results imply that climate change plays a dominant role in determining changes in ET, and also highlight the need for appropriate land-use strategies for managing water sources in dryland ecosystems within Xinjiang.

  7. A probabilistic model of ecosystem response to climate change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shevliakova, E.; Dowlatabadi, H.

    1994-01-01

    Anthropogenic activities are leading to rapid changes in land cover and emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These changes can bring about climate change typified by average global temperatures rising by 1--5 C over the next century. Climate change of this magnitude is likely to alter the distribution of terrestrial ecosystems on a large scale. Options available for dealing with such change are abatement of emissions, adaptation, and geoengineering. The integrated assessment of climate change demands that frameworks be developed where all the elements of the climate problem are present (from economic activity to climate change and its impacts on market and non-market goods and services). Integrated climate assessment requires multiple impact metrics and multi-attribute utility functions to simulate the response of different key actors/decision-makers to the actual physical impacts (rather than a dollar value) of the climate-damage vs. policy-cost debate. This necessitates direct modeling of ecosystem impacts of climate change. The authors have developed a probabilistic model of ecosystem response to global change. This model differs from previous efforts in that it is statistically estimated using actual ecosystem and climate data yielding a joint multivariate probability of prevalence for each ecosystem, given climatic conditions. The authors expect this approach to permit simulation of inertia and competition which have, so far, been absent in transfer models of continental-scale ecosystem response to global change. Thus, although the probability of one ecotype will dominate others at a given point, others would have the possibility of establishing an early foothold

  8. Rapid bedrock uplift in the Antarctic Peninsula explained by viscoelastic response to recent ice unloading

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nield, Grace A.; Barletta, Valentina Roberta; Bordoni, Andrea

    2014-01-01

    Since 1995 several ice shelves in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula have collapsed and triggered ice-mass unloading, invoking a solid Earth response that has been recorded at continuous GPS (cGPS) stations. A previous attempt to model the observation of rapid uplift following the 2002 breakup...... of the Palmer cGPS station since 2002 cannot be explained by elastic deformation alone. We apply a viscoelastic model with linear Maxwell rheology to predict uplift since 1995 and test the fit to the Palmer cGPS time series, finding a well constrained upper mantle viscosity but less sensitivity to lithospheric...... thickness. We further constrain the best fitting Earth model by including six cGPS stations deployed after 2009 (the LARISSA network), with vertical velocities in the range 1.7 to 14.9 mm/yr. This results in a best fitting Earth model with lithospheric thickness of 100–140 km and upper mantle viscosity of 6...

  9. Developmental Change in Social Responsibility during Adolescence: An Ecological Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wray-Lake, Laura; Syvertsen, Amy K.; Flanagan, Constance A.

    2016-01-01

    Social responsibility can be defined as a set of prosocial values representing personal commitments to contribute to community and society. Little is known about developmental change--and predictors of that change--in social responsibility during adolescence. The present study used an accelerated longitudinal research design to investigate the…

  10. Dimensional Modeling By Using a New Response to Slowly Changing Dimensions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frank, L.; Frank, C.; Jensen, Christian Søndergaard

    2005-01-01

    solutions/responses to handling the aggregation problems caused by slowly changing dimensions. In this paper, we will describe a fourth solution. A special aspect of our new response is that it should be used before the other responses, as it will change the design of the data warehouse. Afterwards, it may...

  11. Forest ecotone response to climate change: sensitivity to temperature response functional forms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loehle, C. [National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Naperville, IL (United States)

    2000-10-01

    Past simulation studies have been in general agreement that climatic change could have adverse effects on forests, including geographic range shrinkages, conversion to grassland, and catastrophic forest decline or dieback. Some other recent studies, however, concluded that this agreement is generally based on parabolic temperature response rather than functional responses or data, and may therefore exaggerate dieback effects. This paper proposes a new model of temperature response that is based on a trade-off between cold tolerance and growth rate. In this model, the growth rate increases at first, and then levels off with increasing growing degree-days. Species from more southern regions have a higher minimum temperature and a faster maximum height growth rate. It is argued that faster growth rates of southern types lead to their competitive superiority in warmer environments and that such temperature response should produce less dieback and slower rates of change than the more common parabolic response model. Theoretical justification of this model is provided, followed by application of the model to a simulated ecotone under a warming scenario. Results of the study based on the proposed asymptotic model showed no dieback and only a gradual ecotone movement north, suggesting that ecotone shifts will, in fact, take many hundreds to thousands of years, with the result that species will not face the risk of extinction. 56 refs., 1 tab., 8 figs.

  12. Integration of anatomical and external response mappings explains crossing effects in tactile localization: A probabilistic modeling approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Badde, Stephanie; Heed, Tobias; Röder, Brigitte

    2016-04-01

    To act upon a tactile stimulus its original skin-based, anatomical spatial code has to be transformed into an external, posture-dependent reference frame, a process known as tactile remapping. When the limbs are crossed, anatomical and external location codes are in conflict, leading to a decline in tactile localization accuracy. It is unknown whether this impairment originates from the integration of the resulting external localization response with the original, anatomical one or from a failure of tactile remapping in crossed postures. We fitted probabilistic models based on these diverging accounts to the data from three tactile localization experiments. Hand crossing disturbed tactile left-right location choices in all experiments. Furthermore, the size of these crossing effects was modulated by stimulus configuration and task instructions. The best model accounted for these results by integration of the external response mapping with the original, anatomical one, while applying identical integration weights for uncrossed and crossed postures. Thus, the model explained the data without assuming failures of remapping. Moreover, performance differences across tasks were accounted for by non-individual parameter adjustments, indicating that individual participants' task adaptation results from one common functional mechanism. These results suggest that remapping is an automatic and accurate process, and that the observed localization impairments in touch result from a cognitively controlled integration process that combines anatomically and externally coded responses.

  13. Hydrogen isotope response to changing salinity and rainfall in Australian mangroves.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ladd, S Nemiah; Sachs, Julian P

    2015-12-01

    Hydrogen isotope ratios ((2) H/(1) H, δ(2) H) of leaf waxes covary with those in precipitation and are therefore a useful paleohydrologic proxy. Mangroves are an exception to this relationship because their δ(2) H values are also influenced by salinity. The mechanisms underlying this response were investigated by measuring leaf lipid δ(2) H and leaf and xylem water δ(2) H and δ(18) O values from three mangrove species over 9.5 months in a subtropical Australian estuary. Net (2) H/(1) H fractionation between surface water and leaf lipids decreased by 0.5-1.0‰ ppt(-1) for n-alkanes and 0.4-0.8‰ ppt(-1) for isoprenoids. Xylem water was (2) H depleted relative to surface water, reflecting (2) H discrimination of 4-10‰ during water uptake at all salinities and opportunistic uptake of freshwater at high salinity. However, leaf water (2) H enrichment relative to estuary water was insensitive to salinity and identical for all species. Therefore, variations in leaf and xylem water δ(2) H values cannot explain the salinity-dependent (2) H depletion in leaf lipids, nor the 30‰ range in leaf lipid δ(2) H values among species. Biochemical changes in direct response to salt stress, such as increased compatible solute production or preferential use of stored carbohydrates, and/or the timing of lipid production and subsequent turnover rates, are more likely causes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Climate change but not unemployment explains the changing suicidality in Thessaloniki Greece (2000-2012).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fountoulakis, Konstantinos N; Savopoulos, Christos; Zannis, Prodromos; Apostolopoulou, Martha; Fountoukidis, Ilias; Kakaletsis, Nikolaos; Kanellos, Ilias; Dimellis, Dimos; Hyphantis, Thomas; Tsikerdekis, Athanasios; Pompili, Maurizio; Hatzitolios, Apostolos I

    2016-03-15

    Recently there was a debate concerning the etiology behind attempts and completed suicides. The aim of the current study was to search for possible correlations between the rates of attempted and completed suicide and climate variables and regional unemployment per year in the county of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, northern Greece, for the years 2000-12. The regional rates of suicide and attempted suicide as well as regional unemployment were available from previous publications of the authors. The climate variables were calculated from the daily E-OBS gridded dataset which is based on observational data Only the male suicide rates correlate significantly with high mean annual temperature but not with unemployment. The multiple linear regression analysis results suggest that temperature is the only variable that determines male suicides and explains 51% of their variance. Unemployment fails to contribute significantly to the model. There seems to be a seasonal distribution for attempts with mean rates being higher for the period from May to October and the rates clearly correlate with temperature. The highest mean rates were observed during May and August and the lowest during December and February. Multiple linear regression analysis suggests that temperature also determines the female attempts rate although the explained variable is significant but very low (3-5%) Climate variables and specifically high temperature correlate both with suicide and attempted suicide rates but with a different way between males and females. The climate effect was stronger than the effect of unemployment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Climate modelling, uncertainty and responses to predictions of change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henderson-Sellers, A.

    1996-01-01

    Article 4.1(F) of the Framework Convention on Climate Change commits all parties to take climate change considerations into account, to the extent feasible, in relevant social, economic and environmental policies and actions and to employ methods such as impact assessments to minimize adverse effects of climate change. This could be achieved by, inter alia, incorporating climate change risk assessment into development planning processes, i.e. relating climatic change to issues of habitability and sustainability. Adaptation is an ubiquitous and beneficial natural and human strategy. Future adaptation (adjustment) to climate is inevitable at the least to decrease the vulnerability to current climatic impacts. An urgent issue is the mismatch between the predictions of global climatic change and the need for information on local to regional change in order to develop adaptation strategies. Mitigation efforts are essential since the more successful mitigation activities are, the less need there will be for adaptation responses. And, mitigation responses can be global (e.g. a uniform percentage reduction in greenhouse gas emissions) while adaptation responses will be local to regional in character and therefore depend upon confident predictions of regional climatic change. The dilemma facing policymakers is that scientists have considerable confidence in likely global climatic changes but virtually zero confidence in regional changes. Mitigation and adaptation strategies relevant to climatic change can most usefully be developed in the context of sound understanding of climate, especially the near-surface continental climate, permitting discussion of societally relevant issues. But, climate models can't yet deliver this type of regionally and locationally specific prediction and some aspects of current research even seem to indicate increased uncertainty. These topics are explored in this paper using the specific example of the prediction of land-surface climate changes

  16. Explaining Physics – What Skills does a good Explainer Need?

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN. Geneva; Bartels, Hauke

    2018-01-01

    Explaining physics in a way that it is both scientifically correct and comprehensible is a highly demanding practice. But are explanations an effective way to teach physics? Under which circumstances should a physics teacher explain – and is there such a thing as a guideline for effective instructional explanations? Of course, explaining is more than just presenting content knowledge in clear language – but what more? In our talk, we want to discuss empirical studies on instructional explanations from science education and psychology to address these questions. Among other things, we will refer to results from a large study aiming to research whether teacher education contributes to the development of explaining skills. Besides, we will give insights into a project that seeks to measure explaining skills with an interactive online test instrument.

  17. Long-term culture change related to rapid response system implementation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, Jennifer; Johansson, Anna; Lennes, Inga; Hsu, Douglas; Tess, Anjala; Howell, Michael

    2014-12-01

    Increasing attention to patient safety in training hospitals may come at the expense of trainee autonomy and professional growth. This study sought to examine changes in medical trainees' self-reported behaviour after the institution-wide implementation of a rapid response system. We conducted a two-point cross-sectional survey of medical trainees in 2006, during the implementation of a rapid response system, and in 2010, in a single academic medical centre. A novel instrument was used to measure trainee likelihood of calling for supervisory assistance, perception of autonomy, and comfort in managing decompensating patients. Non-parametric tests to assess for change were used and year of training was evaluated as an effect modifier. Response rates were 38% in 2006 and 70% in 2010. After 5 years of the full implementation of the rapid response system, residents were significantly more likely to report calling their attending physicians for assistance (rising from 40% to 65% of relevant situations; p autonomy at 5 years after the implementation of the rapid response system. These changes were mirrored in the actual use of the rapid response system, which increased by 41% during the 5-year period after adjustment for patient volume (p < 0.0001). A primary team-focused implementation of a rapid response system was associated with durable changes in resident physicians' reported behaviour, including increased comfort with involving more experienced physicians and managing unstable patients. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  18. Coccolithophore calcification response to past ocean acidification and climate change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Dea, Sarah A; Gibbs, Samantha J; Bown, Paul R; Young, Jeremy R; Poulton, Alex J; Newsam, Cherry; Wilson, Paul A

    2014-11-17

    Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are forcing rapid ocean chemistry changes and causing ocean acidification (OA), which is of particular significance for calcifying organisms, including planktonic coccolithophores. Detailed analysis of coccolithophore skeletons enables comparison of calcite production in modern and fossil cells in order to investigate biomineralization response of ancient coccolithophores to climate change. Here we show that the two dominant coccolithophore taxa across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) OA global warming event (~56 million years ago) exhibited morphological response to environmental change and both showed reduced calcification rates. However, only Coccolithus pelagicus exhibits a transient thinning of coccoliths, immediately before the PETM, that may have been OA-induced. Changing coccolith thickness may affect calcite production more significantly in the dominant modern species Emiliania huxleyi, but, overall, these PETM records indicate that the environmental factors that govern taxonomic composition and growth rate will most strongly influence coccolithophore calcification response to anthropogenic change.

  19. A plant's perspective of extremes: terrestrial plant responses to changing climatic variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyer, Christopher P O; Leuzinger, Sebastian; Rammig, Anja; Wolf, Annett; Bartholomeus, Ruud P; Bonfante, Antonello; de Lorenzi, Francesca; Dury, Marie; Gloning, Philipp; Abou Jaoudé, Renée; Klein, Tamir; Kuster, Thomas M; Martins, Monica; Niedrist, Georg; Riccardi, Maria; Wohlfahrt, Georg; de Angelis, Paolo; de Dato, Giovanbattista; François, Louis; Menzel, Annette; Pereira, Marízia

    2013-01-01

    We review observational, experimental, and model results on how plants respond to extreme climatic conditions induced by changing climatic variability. Distinguishing between impacts of changing mean climatic conditions and changing climatic variability on terrestrial ecosystems is generally underrated in current studies. The goals of our review are thus (1) to identify plant processes that are vulnerable to changes in the variability of climatic variables rather than to changes in their mean, and (2) to depict/evaluate available study designs to quantify responses of plants to changing climatic variability. We find that phenology is largely affected by changing mean climate but also that impacts of climatic variability are much less studied, although potentially damaging. We note that plant water relations seem to be very vulnerable to extremes driven by changes in temperature and precipitation and that heat-waves and flooding have stronger impacts on physiological processes than changing mean climate. Moreover, interacting phenological and physiological processes are likely to further complicate plant responses to changing climatic variability. Phenological and physiological processes and their interactions culminate in even more sophisticated responses to changing mean climate and climatic variability at the species and community level. Generally, observational studies are well suited to study plant responses to changing mean climate, but less suitable to gain a mechanistic understanding of plant responses to climatic variability. Experiments seem best suited to simulate extreme events. In models, temporal resolution and model structure are crucial to capture plant responses to changing climatic variability. We highlight that a combination of experimental, observational, and/or modeling studies have the potential to overcome important caveats of the respective individual approaches. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  20. Numerical modelling of landscape and sediment flux response to precipitation rate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armitage, John J.; Whittaker, Alexander C.; Zakari, Mustapha; Campforts, Benjamin

    2018-02-01

    both models respond more quickly to a wetting event than a drying event, and we argue that this asymmetry in response time has significant implications for depositional stratigraphies. Finally, we evaluate the extent to which these constraints on response times and sediment fluxes from simple models help us understand the geological record of landscape response to rapid environmental changes in the past, such as the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). In the Spanish Pyrenees, for instance, a relatively rapid (10 to 50 kyr) duration of the deposition of gravel is observed for a climatic shift that is thought to be towards increased precipitation rates. We suggest that the rapid response observed is more easily explained through a diffusive transport model because (1) the model has a faster response time, which is consistent with the documented stratigraphic data, (2) there is a high-amplitude spike in sediment flux, and (3) the assumption of instantaneous transport is difficult to justify for the transport of large grain sizes as an alluvial bedload. Consequently, while these end-member models do not reproduce all the complexity of processes seen in real landscapes, we argue that variations in long-term erosional dynamics within source catchments can fundamentally control when, how, and where sedimentary archives can record past environmental change.

  1. Numerical modelling of landscape and sediment flux response to precipitation rate change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. J. Armitage

    2018-02-01

    important finding is that both models respond more quickly to a wetting event than a drying event, and we argue that this asymmetry in response time has significant implications for depositional stratigraphies. Finally, we evaluate the extent to which these constraints on response times and sediment fluxes from simple models help us understand the geological record of landscape response to rapid environmental changes in the past, such as the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM. In the Spanish Pyrenees, for instance, a relatively rapid (10 to 50 kyr duration of the deposition of gravel is observed for a climatic shift that is thought to be towards increased precipitation rates. We suggest that the rapid response observed is more easily explained through a diffusive transport model because (1 the model has a faster response time, which is consistent with the documented stratigraphic data, (2 there is a high-amplitude spike in sediment flux, and (3 the assumption of instantaneous transport is difficult to justify for the transport of large grain sizes as an alluvial bedload. Consequently, while these end-member models do not reproduce all the complexity of processes seen in real landscapes, we argue that variations in long-term erosional dynamics within source catchments can fundamentally control when, how, and where sedimentary archives can record past environmental change.

  2. Hydrological Responses to Land-Use Change Scenarios under Constant and Changed Climatic Conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ling; Nan, Zhuotong; Yu, Wenjun; Ge, Yingchun

    2016-02-01

    This study quantified the hydrological responses to land-use change scenarios in the upper and middle Heihe River basin (HRB), northwest China, under constant and changed climatic conditions by combining a land-use/cover change model (dynamic conversion of land use and its effects, Dyna-CLUE) and a hydrological model (soil and water assessment tool, SWAT). Five land-use change scenarios, i.e., historical trend (HT), ecological protection (EP), strict ecological protection (SEP), economic development (ED), and rapid economic development (RED) scenarios, were established. Under constant climatic condition, hydrological variations are only induced by land-use changes in different scenarios. The changes in mean streamflow at the outlets of the upper and the middle HRB are not pronounced, although the different scenarios produce different outcomes. However, more pronounced changes are observed on a subbasin level. The frequency of extreme flood is projected to decrease under the SEP scenario, while under the other scenarios, no changes can be found. Two emission scenarios (A1B and B1) of three general circulation models (HadCM3, CGCM3, and CCSM3) were employed to generate future possible climatic conditions. Under changed climatic condition, hydrological variations are induced by the combination of land-use and climatic changes. The results indicate that the impacts of land-use changes become secondary when the changed climatic conditions have been considered. The frequencies of extreme flood and drought are projected to decrease and increase, respectively, under all climate scenarios. Although some agreements can be reached, pronounced difference of hydrological responses can be observed for different climate scenarios of different GCMs.

  3. Explaining time changes in oral health-related quality of life in England: a decomposition analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsakos, Georgios; Guarnizo-Herreño, Carol C; O'Connor, Rhiannon; Wildman, John; Steele, Jimmy G; Allen, Patrick Finbarr

    2017-12-01

    Oral diseases are highly prevalent and impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). However, time changes in OHRQoL have been scarcely investigated in the current context of general improvement in clinical oral health. This study aims to examine changes in OHRQoL between 1998 and 2009 among adults in England, and to analyse the contribution of demographics, socioeconomic characteristics and clinical oral health measures. Using data from two nationally representative surveys in England, we assessed changes in the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14), in both the sample overall (n=12 027) and by quasi-cohorts. We calculated the prevalence and extent of oral impacts and summary OHIP-14 scores. An Oaxaca-Blinder type decomposition analysis was used to assess the contribution of demographics (age, gender, marital status), socioeconomic position (education, occupation) and clinical measures (presence of decay, number of missing teeth, having advanced periodontitis). There were significant improvements in OHRQoL, predominantly among those that experienced oral impacts occasionally, but no difference in the proportion with frequent oral impacts. The decomposition model showed that 43% (-4.07/-9.47) of the decrease in prevalence of oral impacts reported occasionally or more often was accounted by the model explanatory variables. Improvements in clinical oral health and the effect of ageing itself accounted for most of the explained change in OHRQoL, but the effect of these factors varied substantially across the lifecourse and quasi-cohorts. These decomposition findings indicate that broader determinants could be primarily targeted to influence OHRQoL in different age groups or across different adult cohorts. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  4. Leaf development and demography explain photosynthetic seasonality in Amazon evergreen forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Jin; Albert, Lauren; Lopes, Aline; Restrepo-Coupe, Natalia; Hayek, Matthew; Wiedemann, Kenia T.; Guan, Kaiyu; Stark, Scott C.; Christoffersen, Bradley; Prohaska, Neill; Tavares, Julia V.; Marostica, Suelen; Kobayashi, Hideki; Ferreira, Maurocio L.; Campos, Kleber Silva; da Silva, Rodrigo; Brando, Paulo M.; Dye, Dennis G.; Huxman, Travis E.; Huete, Alfredo; Nelson, Bruce; Saleska, Scott

    2016-01-01

    In evergreen tropical forests, the extent, magnitude, and controls on photosynthetic seasonality are poorly resolved and inadequately represented in Earth system models. Combining camera observations with ecosystem carbon dioxide fluxes at forests across rainfall gradients in Amazônia, we show that aggregate canopy phenology, not seasonality of climate drivers, is the primary cause of photosynthetic seasonality in these forests. Specifically, synchronization of new leaf growth with dry season litterfall shifts canopy composition toward younger, more light-use efficient leaves, explaining large seasonal increases (~27%) in ecosystem photosynthesis. Coordinated leaf development and demography thus reconcile seemingly disparate observations at different scales and indicate that accounting for leaf-level phenology is critical for accurately simulating ecosystem-scale responses to climate change.

  5. Tourists’ Environmentally Responsible Behavior in Response to Climate Change and Tourist Experiences in Nature-Based Tourism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ju Hyoung Han

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Nature-based tourism destinations—locations in which economic viability and environmental responsibility are sought—are sensitive to climate change and its effects on important environmental components of the tourism areas. To meet the dual roles, it is important for destination marketers and resources managers to provide quality experiences for tourists and to induce tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior in such destinations. This study documents the importance of perceptions toward climate change and tourist experiences in determining tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior while enjoying holidays at nature-based tourism destinations in Jeju Island, South Korea. Two hundred and eleven Korean and 204 Chinese tourists marked dominant tourist arrivals to the island, and responded to the survey questionnaire. Results showed that perceptions toward climate change and tourist experiences affect Korean tourists’ environmentally responsible behavior intentions, whereas tourist experiences—not perceptions toward climate change—only significantly affect Chinese tourists’ behavior intention. In a nature-based tourism context under the pressure of climate change and adverse environmental effects as consequences of tourism activities, resources managers and destination marketers need to develop environmental campaigns or informative tourist programs to formulate environmentally responsible behavior as well as to increase tourist quality experiences among domestic and international tourists.

  6. Myasthenia Gravis Impairment Index: Responsiveness, meaningful change, and relative efficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnett, Carolina; Bril, Vera; Kapral, Moira; Kulkarni, Abhaya V; Davis, Aileen M

    2017-12-05

    To study responsiveness and meaningful change of the Myasthenia Gravis Impairment Index (MGII) and its relative efficiency compared to other measures. We enrolled 95 patients receiving prednisone, IV immunoglobulin (IVIg), or plasma exchange (PLEX) and 54 controls. Patients were assessed with the MGII and other measures-including the Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis Score, Myasthenia Gravis Composite, and Myasthenia Gravis Activities of Daily Living-at baseline and 3-4 weeks after treatment. Statistical markers of responsiveness included between-groups and within-group differences, and we estimated the relative efficiency of the MGII compared to other measures. Patient-meaningful change was assessed with an anchor-based method, using the patient's impression of change. We determined the minimal detectable change (MDC) and the minimal important difference (MID) at the group and individual level. Treated patients had a higher change in MGII scores than controls (analysis of covariance p 1 favoring the MGII. The MGII demonstrated responsiveness to prednisone, IVIg, and PLEX in patients with myasthenia. There is a differential response in ocular and generalized symptoms to type of therapy. The MGII has higher relative efficiency than comparison measures and is viable for use in clinical trials. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.

  7. Multi-type Tectonic Responses to Plate Motion Changes of Mega-Offset Transform Faults at the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, F.; Lin, J.; Yang, H.; Zhou, Z.

    2017-12-01

    Magmatic and tectonic responses of a mid-ocean ridge system to plate motion changes can provide important constraints on the mechanisms of ridge-transform interaction and lithospheric properties. Here we present new analysis of multi-type responses of the mega-offset transform faults at the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge (PAR) system to plate motion changes in the last 12 Ma. Detailed analysis of the Heezen, Tharp, and Udintsev transform faults showed that the extensional stresses induced by plate motion changes could have been released through a combination of magmatic and tectonic processes: (1) For a number of ridge segments with abundant magma supply, plate motion changes might have caused the lateral transport of magma along the ridge axis and into the abutting transform valley, forming curved "hook" ridges at the ridge-transform intersection. (2) Plate motion changes might also have caused vertical deformation on steeply-dipping transtensional faults that were developed along the Heezen, Tharp, and Udintsev transform faults. (3) Distinct zones of intensive tectonic deformation, resembling belts of "rift zones", were found to be sub-parallel to the investigated transform faults. These rift-like deformation zones were hypothesized to have developed when the stresses required to drive the vertical deformation on the steeply-dipping transtensional faults along the transform faults becomes excessive, and thus deformation on off-transform "rift zones" became favored. (4) However, to explain the observed large offsets on the steeply-dipping transtensional faults, the transform faults must be relatively weak with low apparent friction coefficient comparing to the adjacent lithospheric plates.

  8. Biodiversity and global change. Adaptative responses to global change: results and prospective. IFB-GICC restitution colloquium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Despres, L.; Hossaert-Mckey, M.; Martin, J.F.; Pont, D.; Valero, M.; Chave, J.; Benizri, E.; Amiaud, B.; Boury-Esnault, N.; Fritz, H.; Lavelle, P.; Martin, F.; Poulet, S.; Blanchard, F.; Cheddadi, R.; Dupouey, J.L.; Hulle, M.; Michaux, J.; Souissi, S.; Bridault, A.; Dambrine, E.; Gomez, B.; Thevenard, F.; Legendre, S.; Suc, J.P.; Zeitoun, V.; Bezancon, G.; Frascaria-Lacoste, N.; Ponsard, S.; Bourguet, D.; Vigne, J.D.; Doyen, L.; Joly, P.; Gourlet-Fleury, S.; Garnier, E.; Lebaron, Ph.; Boulinier, Th.; Chuine, I.; Jiguet, F.; Couvet, D.; Soussana, J.F.; Weimerskirsch, H.; Grosbois, V.; Bretagnolle, V.

    2006-01-01

    Global change is the consequence of the worldwide human print on ecology. The uncontrolled use of fossil fuels, the urbanization, the intensifying of agriculture, the homogenization of life styles and cultures, the homogenization of fauna and vegetation, the commercial trades, the bio-invasions, the over-exploitation of resources and the emergence of new economic powers (China, India, Brazil..) represent an adaptative dynamics of interactions which affects the overall biosphere and the adaptative capacities and the future of all species. Biodiversity is an ecological and societal insurance against the risks and uncertainties linked with global change. The French institute of biodiversity (IFB) has created a working group in charge of a study on global change and biodiversity, in particular in terms of: speed and acceleration of processes, interaction between the different organization levels of the world of living, scale changes, and adaptative capacities. 38 projects with an interdisciplinary approach have been retained by the IFB and the Ministry of ecology and sustainable development. The conclusion of these projects were presented at this restitution colloquium and are summarized in this document. The presentations are organized in 7 sessions dealing with: global changes and adaptation mechanisms; functional responses to global changes; spatial responses to global changes; temporal responses to global changes; selective answers to global changes; available tools and ecological services; scenarios and projections. (J.S.)

  9. Catecholamine responses to changes in posture during human pregnancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whittaker, P G; Gerrard, J; Lind, T

    1985-06-01

    Human pregnancy may induce changes in the sensitivity of the cardiovascular system to endogenous catecholamines. This was investigated in multigravid women with little likelihood of unsuspected vascular disease. The responses of blood pressure, pulse rate, plasma noradrenaline and adrenaline to a change in posture from semi-recumbency to standing were assessed in six normotensive women at 36 weeks gestation and in six non-pregnant control subjects. Standing for 10 min caused a surge in blood pressure, pulse rate and plasma noradrenaline in non-pregnant women. The pregnant women, whose basal levels of noradrenaline were higher than those in non-pregnant women, showed a slower noradrenergic response to postural change, and this response had less effect upon the cardiovascular indices. Blood pressure dropped immediately on standing and pulse rate remained unaffected throughout. It is suggested that some women may maintain a non-pregnant level of pressor sensitivity during pregnancy and thereby become hypertensive.

  10. Phenological changes in bamboo carbohydrates explain the preference for culm over leaves by giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca during spring.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katrina K Knott

    Full Text Available Seasonal changes in the foodscape force herbivores to select different plant species or plant parts to meet nutritional requirements. We examined whether the search for calorie-rich carbohydrates explained giant panda's selection for bamboo culm over leaves during spring. Leaves and culms were collected from four Phyllostachys bamboos (P. aurea, P. aureosulcata, P. glauca, and P. nuda once per month over 18-27 months. Monthly changes in annual plant part nutrients were examined, and compared to seasonal foraging behaviors of captive giant pandas. Although total fiber was greater (p<0.0001 in culm (85.6 ± 0.5% than leaves (55.3 ± 0.4% throughout the year, culm fiber was at its lowest in spring (79-85% when culm selection by giant pandas exceeded 70% of their overall diet. Culm starch also was greatest (p = 0.044 during spring (5.5 ± 1.1% and 2.5-fold the percentage of starch in leaves (2.2 ± 0.6%. The free sugars in spring culm consisted of a high proportion of glucose (35% and fructose (47%, whereas sucrose made up 42% of the total free sugar content of spring leaves. Bound sugars in culm consisted of 60% glucose and 38% xylose likely representative of hemicellulose. The concentrations of bound sugars (hemicelluloses in spring culms (543.7 ± 13.0 mg/g was greater (p<0.001 than in leaves (373.0 ± 14.8 mg/g. These data help explain a long-standing question in giant panda foraging ecology: why consume the plant part with the lowest protein and fat during the energetically intensive spring breeding season? Giant pandas likely prefer spring culm that contains abundant mono- and polysaccharides made more bioavailable as a result of reduced fiber content. These data suggest that phenological changes in bamboo plant part nutrition drive foraging decisions by giant pandas.

  11. Anomalies in the detection of change: When changes in sample size are mistaken for changes in proportions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiedler, Klaus; Kareev, Yaakov; Avrahami, Judith; Beier, Susanne; Kutzner, Florian; Hütter, Mandy

    2016-01-01

    Detecting changes, in performance, sales, markets, risks, social relations, or public opinions, constitutes an important adaptive function. In a sequential paradigm devised to investigate detection of change, every trial provides a sample of binary outcomes (e.g., correct vs. incorrect student responses). Participants have to decide whether the proportion of a focal feature (e.g., correct responses) in the population from which the sample is drawn has decreased, remained constant, or increased. Strong and persistent anomalies in change detection arise when changes in proportional quantities vary orthogonally to changes in absolute sample size. Proportional increases are readily detected and nonchanges are erroneously perceived as increases when absolute sample size increases. Conversely, decreasing sample size facilitates the correct detection of proportional decreases and the erroneous perception of nonchanges as decreases. These anomalies are however confined to experienced samples of elementary raw events from which proportions have to be inferred inductively. They disappear when sample proportions are described as percentages in a normalized probability format. To explain these challenging findings, it is essential to understand the inductive-learning constraints imposed on decisions from experience.

  12. Neutralizing antibodies explain the poor clinical response to Interferon beta in a small proportion of patients with Multiple Sclerosis: a retrospective study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cefaro Luca

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Neutralizing antibodies (NAbs against Interferon beta (IFNβ are reported to be associated with poor clinical response to therapy in multiple sclerosis (MS patients. We aimed to quantify the contribution of NAbs to the sub-optimal response of IFNβ treatment. Methods We studied the prevalence of NAbs in MS patients grouped according to their clinical response to IFNβ during the treatment period. Patients were classified as: group A, developing ≥ 1 relapse after the first 6 months of therapy; group B, exhibiting confirmed disability progression after the first 6 months of therapy, with or without superimposed relapses; group C, presenting a stable disease course during therapy. A cytopathic effect assay tested the presence of NAbs in a cohort of ambulatory MS patients treated with one of the available IFNβ formulations for at least one year. NAbs positivity was defined as NAbs titre ≥ 20 TRU. Results Seventeen patients (12.1% were NAbs positive. NAbs positivity correlated with poorer clinical response (p Conclusion The majority of patients with poor clinical response are NAbs negative suggesting that NAbs explains only partially the sub-optimal response to IFNβ.

  13. Regional climate change and national responsibilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, James; Sato, Makiko

    2016-03-01

    Global warming over the past several decades is now large enough that regional climate change is emerging above the noise of natural variability, especially in the summer at middle latitudes and year-round at low latitudes. Despite the small magnitude of warming relative to weather fluctuations, effects of the warming already have notable social and economic impacts. Global warming of 2 °C relative to preindustrial would shift the ‘bell curve’ defining temperature anomalies a factor of three larger than observed changes since the middle of the 20th century, with highly deleterious consequences. There is striking incongruity between the global distribution of nations principally responsible for fossil fuel CO2 emissions, known to be the main cause of climate change, and the regions suffering the greatest consequences from the warming, a fact with substantial implications for global energy and climate policies.

  14. Realized niches explain spatial gradients in seasonal abundance of phytoplankton groups in the South China Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Wupeng; Wang, Lei; Laws, Edward; Xie, Yuyuan; Chen, Jixin; Liu, Xin; Chen, Bingzhang; Huang, Bangqin

    2018-03-01

    A basic albeit elusive goal of ocean science is to predict the structure of biological communities from the multitude of environmental conditions they experience. Estimates of the realized niche-based traits (realized traits) of phytoplankton species or functional groups in temperate seas have shown that response traits can help reveal the mechanisms responsible for structuring phytoplankton communities, but such approaches have not been tested in tropical and subtropical marginal seas. Here, we used decadal-scale studies of pigment-based phytoplankton groups and environmental conditions in the South China Sea to test whether realized traits could explain the biogeographic patterns of phytoplankton variability. We estimated the mean and breadth of the phytoplankton realized niches based on responses of the group-specific phytoplankton composition to key environmental factors, and we showed that variations of major phytoplankton groups in this system can be explained by different adaptive trade-offs to constraints imposed by temperature, irradiance, and nutrient concentrations. Differences in the patterns of trade-offs clearly separated the dominant groups from one another and generated four sets of realized traits that mirrored the observed biogeographic distribution patterns. The phytoplankton realized niches and their associated traits that we characterized in the present study could help to predict responses of phytoplankton to changes in environmental conditions in the South China Sea and could be incorporated into global biogeochemical models to anticipate shifts in community structure under future climate scenarios.

  15. 77 FR 76034 - National Water Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-12-26

    ... Strategy: Response to Climate Change AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of... Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change'' (2012 Strategy). The Strategy describes a set of long-term visions and goals for the management of water resources in light of climate change and charts key...

  16. Conveying the Science of Climate Change: Explaining Natural Variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chanton, J.

    2011-12-01

    One of the main problems in climate change education is reconciling the role of humans and natural variability. The climate is always changing, so how can humans have a role in causing change? How do we reconcile and differentiate the anthropogenic effect from natural variability? This talk will offer several approaches that have been successful for the author. First, the context of climate change during the Pleistocene must be addressed. Second, is the role of the industrial revolution in significantly altering Pleistocene cycles, and introduction of the concept of the Anthropocene. Finally the positive feedbacks between climatic nudging due to increased insolation and greenhouse gas forcing can be likened to a rock rolling down a hill, without a leading cause. This approach has proven successful in presentations to undergraduates to state agencies.

  17. Metabolic changes in serum metabolome in response to a meal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shrestha, Aahana; Müllner, Elisabeth; Poutanen, Kaisa; Mykkänen, Hannu; Moazzami, Ali A

    2017-03-01

    The change in serum metabolic response from fasting state to postprandial state provides novel insights into the impact of a single meal on human metabolism. Therefore, this study explored changes in serum metabolite profile after a single meal. Nineteen healthy postmenopausal women with normal glucose tolerance participated in the study. They received a meal consisting of refined wheat bread (50 g carbohydrates, 9 g protein, 4.2 g fat and 2.7 g dietary fibre), 40 g cucumber and 300 mL noncaloric orange drink. Blood samples were collected at fasting and five postprandial time points. Metabolic profile was measured by nuclear magnetic resonance and targeted liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Changes over time were assessed with multivariate models and ANOVA, with baseline as control. The metabolomic analyses demonstrated alterations in phospholipids, amino acids and their breakdown products, glycolytic products, acylcarnitines and ketone bodies after a single meal. More specifically, phosphatidylcholines, lysophosphatidylcholines and citrate displayed an overall declining pattern, while leucine, isoleucine, methionine and succinate increased initially but declined thereafter. A sharp decline in acylcarnitines and ketone bodies and increase in glycolytic products postprandially suggest a switch in the body's energy source from β-oxidation to glycolysis. Moreover, individuals with relatively high postprandial insulin responses generated a higher postprandial leucine responses compared to participants with lower insulin responses. The study demonstrated complex changes from catabolic to anabolic metabolism after a meal and indicated that the extent of postprandial responses is different between individuals with high and low insulin response.

  18. Changes in the Social Responsibility Attitudes of Engineering Students Over Time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bielefeldt, Angela R; Canney, Nathan E

    2016-10-01

    This research explored how engineering student views of their responsibility toward helping individuals and society through their profession, so-called social responsibility, change over time. A survey instrument was administered to students initially primarily in their first year, senior year, or graduate studies majoring in mechanical, civil, or environmental engineering at five institutions in September 2012, April 2013, and March 2014. The majority of the students (57 %) did not change significantly in their social responsibility attitudes, but 23 % decreased and 20 % increased. The students who increased, decreased, or remained the same in their social responsibility attitudes over time did not differ significantly in terms of gender, academic rank, or major. Some differences were found between institutions. Students who decreased in social responsibility initially possessed more positive social responsibility attitudes, were less likely to indicate that college courses impacted their views of social responsibility, and were more likely to have decreased in the frequency that they participated in volunteer activities, compared to students who did not change or increased their social responsibility. Although the large percentage of engineering students who decreased their social responsibility during college was disappointing, it is encouraging that courses and participation in volunteer activities may combat this trend.

  19. Variation in adult stress resistance does not explain vulnerability to climate change in copper butterflies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klockmann, Michael; Wallmeyer, Leonard; Fischer, Klaus

    2017-03-15

    Ongoing climate change is a major threat to biodiversity. However, although many species clearly suffer from ongoing climate change, others benefit from it, for example, by showing range expansions. However, which specific features determine a species' vulnerability to climate change? Phenotypic plasticity, which has been described as the first line of defence against environmental change, may be of utmost importance here. Against this background, we here compare plasticity in stress tolerance in 3 copper butterfly species, which differ arguably in their vulnerability to climate change. Specifically, we investigated heat, cold and desiccation resistance after acclimatization to different temperatures in the adult stage. We demonstrate that acclimation at a higher temperature increased heat but decreased cold tolerance and desiccation resistance. Contrary to our predictions, species did not show pronounced variation in stress resistance, though plastic capacities in temperature stress resistance did vary across species. Overall, our results seemed to reflect population-rather than species-specific patterns. We conclude that the geographical origin of the populations used should be considered even in comparative studies. However, our results suggest that, in the 3 species studied here, vulnerability to climate change is not in the first place determined by stress resistance in the adult stage. As entomological studies focus all too often on adults only, we argue that more research effort should be dedicated to other developmental stages when trying to understand insect responses to environmental change. © 2017 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

  20. Complex and changing patterns of natural selection explain the evolution of the human hip.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grabowski, Mark; Roseman, Charles C

    2015-08-01

    Causal explanations for the dramatic changes that occurred during the evolution of the human hip focus largely on selection for bipedal function and locomotor efficiency. These hypotheses rest on two critical assumptions. The first-that these anatomical changes served functional roles in bipedalism-has been supported in numerous analyses showing how postcranial changes likely affected locomotion. The second-that morphological changes that did play functional roles in bipedalism were the result of selection for that behavior-has not been previously explored and represents a major gap in our understanding of hominin hip evolution. Here we use evolutionary quantitative genetic models to test the hypothesis that strong directional selection on many individual aspects of morphology was responsible for the large differences observed across a sample of fossil hominin hips spanning the Plio-Pleistocene. Our approach uses covariance among traits and the differences between relatively complete fossils to estimate the net selection pressures that drove the major transitions in hominin hip evolution. Our findings show a complex and changing pattern of natural selection drove hominin hip evolution, and that many, but not all, traits hypothesized to play functional roles in bipedalism evolved as a direct result of natural selection. While the rate of evolutionary change for all transitions explored here does not exceed the amount expected if evolution was occurring solely through neutral processes, it was far above rates of evolution for morphological traits in other mammalian groups. Given that stasis is the norm in the mammalian fossil record, our results suggest that large shifts in the adaptive landscape drove hominin evolution. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. America's Churning Races: Race and Ethnicity Response Changes Between Census 2000 and the 2010 Census.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liebler, Carolyn A; Porter, Sonya R; Fernandez, Leticia E; Noon, James M; Ennis, Sharon R

    2017-02-01

    A person's racial or ethnic self-identification can change over time and across contexts, which is a component of population change not usually considered in studies that use race and ethnicity as variables. To facilitate incorporation of this aspect of population change, we show patterns and directions of individual-level race and Hispanic response change throughout the United States and among all federally recognized race/ethnic groups. We use internal U.S. Census Bureau data from the 2000 and 2010 censuses in which responses have been linked at the individual level (N = 162 million). Approximately 9.8 million people (6.1 %) in our data have a different race and/or Hispanic-origin response in 2010 than they did in 2000. Race response change was especially common among those reported as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, in a multiple-race response group, or Hispanic. People reported as non-Hispanic white, black, or Asian in 2000 usually had the same response in 2010 (3 %, 6 %, and 9 % of responses changed, respectively). Hispanic/non-Hispanic ethnicity responses were also usually consistent (13 % and 1 %, respectively, changed). We found a variety of response change patterns, which we detail. In many race/Hispanic response groups, we see population churn in the form of large countervailing flows of response changes that are hidden in cross-sectional data. We find that response changes happen across ages, sexes, regions, and response modes, with interesting variation across racial/ethnic categories. Researchers should address the implications of race and Hispanic-origin response change when designing analyses and interpreting results.

  2. Japanese responses to social change--making the strange familiar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lock, M

    1983-12-01

    Understanding the concept of a "sense of coherence" can be useful in trying to account for successful and healthy adaptations to situations of social change and migration. Certain fundamental dynamics of social life in Japan contribute to a sense of coherence in the lives of Japanese today. Analysts of modern Japan have noted that it has not become a replica of western societies in that primary social groups take precedence over individual needs and autonomy. Moreover, although the Japanese personality may be characterized as multilayered, one dominant aspect is the tendency to suppress negative feelings-towards intimates, family and those in authority. This tendency has implications for the patient-physician relationship, which tends to be ritualized to protect a patient's innermost feelings. Because there has never been a split between mind and body in Japanese thinking there is no concept of mental health that is separate from physical health; rather, patients and physicians readily accept that illness is an expression of stress on the social level. As a corollary, the responsibility for healing is felt to be in the hands of patients and their families, with physicians playing the part of skilled and sympathetic technicians. Ascribing the origins of a cultural identity risks stereotyping, but understanding the reasons for the continuity of certain values in Japanese immigrants will enable physicians to use these values to advantage, and explains the healthy adaptation of these immigrants to the disruption of migration.

  3. Corporate responses to climate change: the role of partnerships

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kolk, A.; Pinkse, J.; Hull van Houten, L.; Martens, P.; Chang, C.T.

    2010-01-01

    This chapter relates to the NWO-funded research project "‘Getting down to business’: Economic responses to climate change," which studied the (potential) contribution of business to climate change mitigation and adaptation. After an introductory overview of the overall project and its main findings,

  4. Prediction of permeability changes in an excavation response zone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kinoshita, Naoto; Ishii, Takashi; Kuroda, Hidetaka; Tada, Hiroyuki

    1992-01-01

    In geologic disposal of radioactive wastes, stress changes due to cavern excavation may expand the existing fractures and create possible bypasses for groundwater. This paper proposes a simple method for predicting permeability changes in the excavation response zones. Numerical analyses using this method predict that the response zones created by cavern excavation would differ greatly in thickness and permeability depending on the depth of the cavern site and the initial in-situ stress, that when the cavern site is deeper, response zones would expand more and permeability would increases more, and that if the ratio of horizontal to vertical in-situ stress is small, extensive permeable zones at the crown and the bottom would occur, whereas if the ratio is large, extensive permeable zones would occur in the side walls. (orig.)

  5. Sixty-Five Million Years of Change in Temperature and Topography Explain Evolutionary History in Eastern North American Plethodontid Salamanders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnes, Richard; Clark, Adam Thomas

    2017-07-01

    For many taxa and systems, species richness peaks at midelevations. One potential explanation for this pattern is that large-scale changes in climate and geography have, over evolutionary time, selected for traits that are favored under conditions found in contemporary midelevation regions. To test this hypothesis, we use records of historical temperature and topographic changes over the past 65 Myr to construct a general simulation model of plethodontid salamander evolution in eastern North America. We then explore possible mechanisms constraining species to midelevation bands by using the model to predict plethodontid evolutionary history and contemporary geographic distributions. Our results show that models that incorporate both temperature and topographic changes are better able to predict these patterns, suggesting that both processes may have played an important role in driving plethodontid evolution in the region. Additionally, our model (whose annotated source code is included as a supplement) represents a proof of concept to encourage future work that takes advantage of recent advances in computing power to combine models of ecology, evolution, and earth history to better explain the abundance and distribution of species over time.

  6. Reform, change, and continuity in Finnish health care.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Häkkinen, Unto; Lehto, Juhani

    2005-01-01

    This article describes some essential aspects of the Finnish political and governmental system and the evolution of the basic institutional elements of the health care system. We examine the developments that gave rise to a series of health care reforms and reform proposals in the late 1980s and early 1990s and relate them to changes in health care expenditure, structure, and performance. Finally, we discuss the relationship between policy changes, reforms, and health system changes and the strength of neo-institutional theory in explaining both continuity and change. Much of the change in Finnish health care can be explained by institutional path dependency. The tradition of strong but small local authorities and the lack of legitimate democratic regional authorities as well as the coexistence of a dominant Beveridge-style health system with a marginal Bismarckian element explain the specific path of Finnish health care reform. Public responsibility for health care has been decentralized to smaller local authorities (known as municipalities) more than in any other country. Even an exceptionally deep economic recession in the early 1990s did not lead to systems change; rather, the economic imperative was met by the traditional centralized policy pattern. Some of the developments of the 1990s are, however, difficult to explain by institutional theory. Thus, there is a need for testing alternative theories as well.

  7. Allergen-induced changes in airway responsiveness are related to baseline airway responsiveness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    deBruinWeller, MS; Weller, FR; RijssenbeekNouwens, LHM; Jansen, HM; deMonchy, JGR

    In the literature, bronchial allergen challenge is usually reported to result in an increase in histamine-induced airway responsiveness (AR). The present study investigated the relation between baseline AR and allergen-induced changes in AR. The effect of allergen challenge on AR was investigated in

  8. A plant’s perspective of extremes: Terrestrial plant responses to changing climatic variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reyer, C.; Leuzinger, S.; Rammig, A.; Wolf, A.; Bartholomeus, R. P.; Bonfante, A.; de Lorenzi, F.; Dury, M.; Gloning, P.; Abou Jaoudé, R.; Klein, T.; Kuster, T. M.; Martins, M.; Niedrist, G.; Riccardi, M.; Wohlfahrt, G.; de Angelis, P.; de Dato, G.; François, L.; Menzel, A.; Pereira, M.

    2013-01-01

    We review observational, experimental and model results on how plants respond to extreme climatic conditions induced by changing climatic variability. Distinguishing between impacts of changing mean climatic conditions and changing climatic variability on terrestrial ecosystems is generally underrated in current studies. The goals of our review are thus (1) to identify plant processes that are vulnerable to changes in the variability of climatic variables rather than to changes in their mean, and (2) to depict/evaluate available study designs to quantify responses of plants to changing climatic variability. We find that phenology is largely affected by changing mean climate but also that impacts of climatic variability are much less studied but potentially damaging. We note that plant water relations seem to be very vulnerable to extremes driven by changes in temperature and precipitation and that heatwaves and flooding have stronger impacts on physiological processes than changing mean climate. Moreover, interacting phenological and physiological processes are likely to further complicate plant responses to changing climatic variability. Phenological and physiological processes and their interactions culminate in even more sophisticated responses to changing mean climate and climatic variability at the species and community level. Generally, observational studies are well suited to study plant responses to changing mean climate, but less suitable to gain a mechanistic understanding of plant responses to climatic variability. Experiments seem best suited to simulate extreme events. In models, temporal resolution and model structure are crucial to capture plant responses to changing climatic variability. We highlight that a combination of experimental, observational and /or modeling studies have the potential to overcome important caveats of the respective individual approaches. PMID:23504722

  9. The 20th anniversary of interleukin-2 therapy: bimodal role explaining longstanding random induction of complete clinical responses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coventry, Brendon J; Ashdown, Martin L

    2012-01-01

    This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the approval by the US Food and Drug Administration of interleukin-2 (IL2) for use in cancer therapy, initially for renal cell carcinoma and later for melanoma. IL2 therapy for cancer has stood the test of time, with continued widespread use in Europe, parts of Asia, and the US. Clinical complete responses are variably reported at 5%–20% for advanced malignant melanoma and renal cell carcinoma, with strong durable responses and sustained long-term 5–10-year survival being typical if complete responses are generated. The literature was reviewed for the actions and clinical effects of IL2 on subsets of T cells. The influence of IL2 on clinical efficacy was also sought. The review revealed that IL2 is capable of stimulating different populations of T cells in humans to induce either T effector or T regulatory responses. This apparent “functional paradox” has confounded a clear understanding of the mechanisms behind the clinical effects that are observed during and following administration of IL2 therapy. An average complete response rate of around 7% in small and large clinical trials using IL2 for advanced renal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma has been shown from a recent review of the literature. This review considers the published literature concerning the actions and emerging clinical effects of IL2 therapy, spanning its 20-year period in clinical use. It further details some of the recently described “bimodal” effects of IL2 to explain the apparent functional paradox, and how IL2 might be harnessed to emerge rapidly as a much more effective and predictable clinical agent in the near future

  10. Climate change and our responsibilities as chemists

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bassam Z. Shakhashiri

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available For almost all of 4.5 billion years, natural forces have shaped Earth’s environment. But, during the past century, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, which has had enormous benefits for humans, the effects of human activities have become the main driver for climate change. The increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels for energy to power the revolution causes an energy imbalance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing planetary emission. The imbalance is warming the planet and causing the atmosphere and oceans to warm, ice to melt, sea level to rise, and weather extremes to increase. In addition, dissolution of part of the carbon dioxide in the oceans is causing them to acidify, with possible negative effects on marine biota. As citizens of an interconnected global society and scientists who have the background to understand climate change, we have a responsibility first to understand the science. One resource that is available to help is the American Chemical Society Climate Science Toolkit, www.acs.org/climatescience. With this understanding our further responsibility as citizen scientists is to engage others in deliberative discussions on the science, to take actions ourselves to adapt to and mitigate human-caused climate change, and urge others to follow our example.

  11. High-time resolution conjugate SuperDARN radar observations of the dayside convection response to changes in IMF By

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Chisham

    2000-02-01

    Full Text Available We present data from conjugate SuperDARN radars describing the high-latitude ionosphere's response to changes in the direction of IMF By during a period of steady IMF Bz southward and Bx positive. During this interval, the radars were operating in a special mode which gave high-time resolution data (30 s sampling period on three adjacent beams with a full scan every 3 min. The location of the radars around magnetic local noon at the time of the event allowed detailed observations of the variations in the ionospheric convection patterns close to the cusp region as IMF By varied. A significant time delay was observed in the ionospheric response to the IMF By changes between the two hemispheres. This is explained as being partially a consequence of the location of the dominant merging region on the magnetopause, which is ~8-12RE closer to the northern ionosphere than to the southern ionosphere (along the magnetic field line due to the dipole tilt of the magnetosphere and the orientation of the IMF. This interpretation supports the anti-parallel merging hypothesis and highlights the importance of the IMF Bx component in solar wind-magnetosphere coupling.Key words: Ionosphere (plasma convection - Magnetospheric physics (magnetopause, cusp, and boundary layers; solar wind - magnetosphere interactions

  12. Can the Theory of Motivation Explain Migration Decisions?

    OpenAIRE

    Natálie Reichlová

    2005-01-01

    According to Abraham Maslow's motivational theory, human action is motivated by five groups of human needs. The model introduced in this paper exploits Maslow's theory to explain migration flows between regions. In the model, movement from one place to another influences migrant's utility through three various ways. First, through change in wage caused by different wage levels in each location. Second, through changes in utility connected with individuals safety needs and finally, through dis...

  13. Climate engineering research : A precautionary response to climate change?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reynolds, J.L.; Fleurke, F.M.

    2013-01-01

    In the face of dire forecasts for anthropogenic climate change, climate engineering is increasingly discussed as a possible additional set of responses to reduce climate change’s threat. These proposals have been controversial, in part because they – like climate change itself – pose uncertain risks

  14. Extrinsic and Intrinsic Responses to Environmental Change: Insights from Terrestrial Paleoecological Archives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seddon, A. W. R.; Mackay, A. W.

    2015-12-01

    Current understanding of ecological behaviour indicates that systems can experience sudden and abrupt changes in state, driven either by a large external change in environmental conditions (extrinsically forced), or the result of a set local feedbacks and site-specific interactions (intrinsically mediated responses). Responses mediated by intrinsic processes are notoriously diffi- cult to predict, they can occur as slow environmental variables gradually erode the resilience of the system eventually resulting in threshold transitions between alternative stable states. Finding ways to identify, model and predict such complex ecosystem behavior has been identified as a priority research challenge for both ecology and paleoecology. The paleoecological record can play a role in understanding the processes behind abrupt ecological change because it enables the reconstruction of processes occurring over decadal-centennial timescales or longer. Therefore, paleoecological data can be used to identify the existence of ecological thresholds and to investigate the environmental processes that can lead to loss of resilience and abrupt transitions between alternate states. In addition, incidences of abrupt vegetation changes in the past can serve as palaeoecological model systems; analogues of abrupt dynamics which can be used to test theories surrounding ecological responses to climate change. Here, I present examples from a range of terrestrial ecosystems (Holocene environmental changes from a coastal lagoon in the Galapagos Islands; Northern European vegetation changes since the last deglaciation; the North American hemlock decline) demonstrating evidence of abrupt ecosystem change. For each system I present a set of statistical techniques tailored to distin- guish between extrinsic versus intrinsically mediated ecological responses. Examples are provided from both single sites (i.e. landscape scale) and multiple sites (regional-continental scale). These techniques provide a

  15. Response of switchgrass yield to future climate change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tulbure, Mirela G; Wimberly, Michael C; Owens, Vance N

    2012-01-01

    A climate envelope approach was used to model the response of switchgrass, a model bioenergy species in the United States, to future climate change. The model was built using general additive models (GAMs), and switchgrass yields collected at 45 field trial locations as the response variable. The model incorporated variables previously shown to be the main determinants of switchgrass yield, and utilized current and predicted 1 km climate data from WorldClim. The models were run with current WorldClim data and compared with results of predicted yield obtained using two climate change scenarios across three global change models for three time steps. Results did not predict an increase in maximum switchgrass yield but showed an overall shift in areas of high switchgrass productivity for both cytotypes. For upland cytotypes, the shift in high yields was concentrated in northern and north-eastern areas where there were increases in average growing season temperature, whereas for lowland cultivars the areas where yields were projected to increase were associated with increases in average early growing season precipitation. These results highlight the fact that the influences of climate change on switchgrass yield are spatially heterogeneous and vary depending on cytotype. Knowledge of spatial distribution of suitable areas for switchgrass production under climate change should be incorporated into planning of current and future biofuel production. Understanding how switchgrass yields will be affected by future changes in climate is important for achieving a sustainable biofuels economy. (letter)

  16. Climate change science: The literacy of Geography teachers in the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This response requires, among other things, teachers who are fully literate about climate change science, so that they can explain the concepts underlying the causes, impacts and solutions of climate change as accurately as possible to learners. The main intention of this study was to understand high school Geography ...

  17. Climate change and irrigation. An Australian response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pigram, J.J.

    1995-01-01

    Climatic changes on a global or regional scale, resulting from human activities, and the likely effects of such changes on Australia were discussed. Irrigation concerns of the Murray-Darling Basin in southeast Australia associated with global climate were described. Potential risks for regional economies and communities (agriculture in this instance) which may be significant, were assessed. Restructuring of the irrigation industry, and appropriate policy initiatives were urged now, while there is still some time to prepare. Application of the 'Precautionary Principle' to reduce global climate change effects was recommended. (This principle states that in areas threatened by severe climatic change lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as an excuse to delay decisive measures designed to mitigate environmental degradation). Bold policy adjustments and the creation of a new institutional framework to promote sustainable resource management were called for. It was suggested that the region could become a 'laboratory' for the whole world for assessing the effectiveness of managerial responses to environmental changes

  18. The role of forcing and internal dynamics in explaining the ''Medieval Climate Anomaly''

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Goosse, Hugues; Crespin, Elisabeth; Dubinkina, Svetlana; Loutre, Marie-France; Sallaz-Damaz, Yoann [Universite Catholique de Louvain, Earth and Life Institute, Georges Lemaitre Centre for Earth and Climate Research, Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium); Mann, Michael E. [Pennsylvania State University, Department of Meteorology and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, University Park, PA (United States); Renssen, Hans [Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Section Climate Change and Landscape Dynamics, Department of Earth Sciences, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Shindell, Drew [NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York City, NY (United States)

    2012-12-15

    Proxy reconstructions suggest that peak global temperature during the past warm interval known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA, roughly 950-1250 AD) has been exceeded only during the most recent decades. To better understand the origin of this warm period, we use model simulations constrained by data assimilation establishing the spatial pattern of temperature changes that is most consistent with forcing estimates, model physics and the empirical information contained in paleoclimate proxy records. These numerical experiments demonstrate that the reconstructed spatial temperature pattern of the MCA can be explained by a simple thermodynamical response of the climate system to relatively weak changes in radiative forcing combined with a modification of the atmospheric circulation, displaying some similarities with the positive phase of the so-called Arctic Oscillation, and with northward shifts in the position of the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio currents. The mechanisms underlying the MCA are thus quite different from anthropogenic mechanisms responsible for modern global warming. (orig.)

  19. Livelihood responses to climate change in the Niger-delta ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Today, climatic changes coupled with oil exploration activeities in the region have negatively impacted on the environment. This has resulted in the alteration of habitats, biodiversity los and pollution of water bodies. This paper assesses livelihood responses of local people to climate change and the implications for food ...

  20. Behavioural responses to human-induced change: Why fishing should not be ignored.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaz Pauli, Beatriz; Sih, Andrew

    2017-03-01

    Change in behaviour is usually the first response to human-induced environmental change and key for determining whether a species adapts to environmental change or becomes maladapted. Thus, understanding the behavioural response to human-induced changes is crucial in the interplay between ecology, evolution, conservation and management. Yet the behavioural response to fishing activities has been largely ignored. We review studies contrasting how fish behaviour affects catch by passive (e.g., long lines, angling) versus active gears (e.g., trawls, seines). We show that fishing not only targets certain behaviours, but it leads to a multitrait response including behavioural, physiological and life-history traits with population, community and ecosystem consequences. Fisheries-driven change (plastic or evolutionary) of fish behaviour and its correlated traits could impact fish populations well beyond their survival per se , affecting predation risk, foraging behaviour, dispersal, parental care, etc., and hence numerous ecological issues including population dynamics and trophic cascades . In particular, we discuss implications of behavioural responses to fishing for fisheries management and population resilience. More research on these topics, however, is needed to draw general conclusions, and we suggest fruitful directions for future studies.

  1. Can Protection Motivation Theory explain farmers'adaptation to Climate change/variability decision making in the Gambia?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bagagnan, A. R.

    2016-12-01

    In the Gambia, Changes in the climate pattern has affected and continue to affect the agriculture sector and therefore calling for effective adaptation policies. The present study aimed to explain farmers' adoption of climate change adaptation measure through the protection motivation theory in The Central River Region of The Gambia. Primary data were collected in all the eight communities of the study area. A transect walk was conducted first followed by a survey with 283 informants. The perception variables were referring to the past 20 years while the stated implementation was addressing the current adaptation practices. Results showed that on one hand, most of the perception variables such as severity, ability to withstand, and internal barriers are significantly correlated to protection motivation and on the other hand Protection motivation and stated implementation for water conservation technique are strongly correlated. Structural Equation Modeling confirms the mediation role of Protection motivation between Farmers stated implementation and their perception of climate variability. Decrease in soil water storage capacity, degradation of the quality of soil surface structure, decrease of the length of the growing season are factors that motivate farmers to implement an adaptation measure. Cost of the implementation and farmers' vulnerability are factors that prevent farmers to implement an adaptation measure. The cost of the implementation is the main barrier to farmers `protection motivation. Therefore the study suggested that farmers' awareness about climate change/variability should be increased through farmers' field school and awareness campaigns, farmers' resilience should be improved and adaptation measures should be made accessible to farmers through loans facilities and subsidizes application.

  2. Contrasted demographic responses facing future climate change in Southern Ocean seabirds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbraud, Christophe; Rivalan, Philippe; Inchausti, Pablo; Nevoux, Marie; Rolland, Virginie; Weimerskirch, Henri

    2011-01-01

    1. Recent climate change has affected a wide range of species, but predicting population responses to projected climate change using population dynamics theory and models remains challenging, and very few attempts have been made. The Southern Ocean sea surface temperature and sea ice extent are projected to warm and shrink as concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases increase, and several top predator species are affected by fluctuations in these oceanographic variables. 2. We compared and projected the population responses of three seabird species living in sub-tropical, sub-Antarctic and Antarctic biomes to predicted climate change over the next 50 years. Using stochastic population models we combined long-term demographic datasets and projections of sea surface temperature and sea ice extent for three different IPCC emission scenarios (from most to least severe: A1B, A2, B1) from general circulation models of Earth's climate. 3. We found that climate mostly affected the probability to breed successfully, and in one case adult survival. Interestingly, frequent nonlinear relationships in demographic responses to climate were detected. Models forced by future predicted climatic change provided contrasted population responses depending on the species considered. The northernmost distributed species was predicted to be little affected by a future warming of the Southern Ocean, whereas steep declines were projected for the more southerly distributed species due to sea surface temperature warming and decrease in sea ice extent. For the most southerly distributed species, the A1B and B1 emission scenarios were respectively the most and less damaging. For the two other species, population responses were similar for all emission scenarios. 4. This is among the first attempts to study the demographic responses for several populations with contrasted environmental conditions, which illustrates that investigating the effects of climate change on core population dynamics

  3. Foraging plasticity of breeding Northern Rockhopper Penguins, Eudyptes moseleyi, in response to changing energy requirements

    KAUST Repository

    Booth, Jenny Marie

    2018-04-02

    During the breeding season, seabirds must balance the changing demands of self- and off-spring provisioning with the constraints imposed by central-place foraging. Recently, it was shown that Northern Rockhopper Penguins at Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean switch diet from lower to higher trophic level prey throughout their breeding cycle. Here, we investigated if this switch is reflected in their foraging behaviour, using time-depth recorders to study the diving behaviour of 27 guard and 10 crèche birds during the breeding season 2010 at Tristan da Cunha and obtaining complementary stomach contents of 20 birds. While no significant effects of breeding stage were detected on any foraging trip or dive parameters, stage/prey had a significant effect on feeding dive parameters, with dive duration, bottom time, and maximum depth explaining the majority of the dissimilarity amongst categories. We verified the previously shown dietary shift from zooplankton and cephalopods during the guard stage to a higher-energy fish-based diet during the crèche stage, which was reflected in a change in dive behaviour from shorter, shallower to longer, deeper dives. This prey switching behaviour may reflect preferential selection to account for the increased physiological needs of chicks or simply mirror changes in local prey abundance. Nonetheless, we show that Northern Rockhopper Penguins demonstrate behavioural plasticity as a response to their changing energy requirements, which is a critical trait when living in a spatio-temporally heterogeneous environment. This ability is likely to be particularly important under extrinsic constraints such as long-term environmental change.

  4. Co-evolutionary organisational response development model (CORD): a case study of an Australian energy company climate change responses

    OpenAIRE

    Mishra, Kirti

    2016-01-01

    The thesis reports an investigation of the effects of the complex, evolving relationships between organisations and their environments. This examination is a case study of the responses of an Australian energy company to effects of climate change, and aims to enhance understanding of how organisational responses to climate change develop and evolve over time.    The impact of climate change on the contemporary organisational environment has multiple aspects – natural, ec...

  5. Explaining the Evolution of Poverty

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arndt, Channing; Hussain, Azhar; Jones, Edward Samuel

    2012-01-01

    We provide a comprehensive approach for analyzing the evolution of poverty using Mozambique as a case study. Bringing together data from disparate sources, we develop a novel “back-casting” framework that links a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to a micro-simulation poverty module....... This framework provides a new approach to explaining and decomposing the evolution of poverty, as well as to examining rigorously the coherence between poverty, economic growth, and inequality outcomes. Finally, various simple but useful and rarely-applied approaches to considering regional changes in poverty...

  6. Does climate change explain the decline of a trans-Saharan Afro-Palaearctic migrant?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearce-Higgins, J W; Yalden, D W; Dougall, T W; Beale, C M

    2009-03-01

    There is an urgent need to understand how climate change will impact on demographic parameters of vulnerable species. Migrants are regarded as particularly vulnerable to climate change; phenological mismatch has resulted in the local decline of one passerine, whilst variations in the survival of others have been related to African weather conditions. However, there have been few demographic studies on trans-Saharan non-passerine migrants, despite these showing stronger declines across Europe than passerines. We therefore analyse the effects of climate on the survival and productivity of common sandpipers Actitis hypoleucos, a declining non-passerine long-distant migrant using 28 years' data from the Peak District, England. Adult survival rates were significantly negatively correlated with winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), being lower when winters were warm and wet in western Europe and cool and dry in northwest Africa. Annual variation in the productivity of the population was positively correlated with June temperature, but not with an index of phenological mismatch. The 59% population decline appears largely to have been driven by reductions in adult survival, with local productivity poorly correlated with subsequent population change, suggesting a low degree of natal philopatry. Winter NAO was not significantly correlated with adult survival rates in a second, Scottish Borders population, studied for 12 years. Variation in climatic conditions alone does not therefore appear to be responsible for common sandpiper declines. Unlike some passerine migrants, there was no evidence for climate-driven reductions in productivity, although the apparent importance of immigration in determining local recruitment complicates the assessment of productivity effects. We suggest that further studies to diagnose common sandpiper declines should focus on changes in the condition of migratory stop-over or wintering locations. Where possible, these analyses should be repeated

  7. Time-dependent changes in rat lymphocyte activity in response to isolation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jessop, J.J.; Bayer, B.M.

    1986-01-01

    The authors have found that isolation of rats, previously adapted to group-housing conditions, resulted in time-dependent changes in mitogenic and cytolytic responses of lymphocytes. A depression (40-60%) of the uptake of 3 H-thymidine by splenic and blood lymphocytes stimulated with either phytohemagglutinin (PHA) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was observed during the first 48 hours after transfer of the animals to individual cages. Within 4 days the mitogenic response increased and was comparable to that of animals which had been continuously group-housed. The response continued to increase and by 10 days was enhanced by 2 to 4 fold and remained elevated for at least 8 weeks. Similar changes in activity were observed with both splenic and blood lymphocytes, however, thymic lymphocytes taken from isolated animals demonstrated no change in reactivity to PHA. As with mitogenic responses, the cytolytic activity of splenic lymphocytes was also depressed during the initial days of isolation and as isolation continued, the activity returned to normal and was significantly enhanced (80%) within 5 weeks. These data show that changes in lymphocyte activity are dependent on the duration of exposure to isolated housing conditions and may be a part of the acute, adaptive and chronic phases of the response of rats to the stress of isolation

  8. The structural response of the cornea to changes in stromal hydration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, Sally; White, Tomas; Boote, Craig; Kamma-Lorger, Christina S; Bell, James; Sorenson, Thomas; Terrill, Nick; Shebanova, Olga; Meek, Keith M

    2017-06-01

    The primary aim of this study was to quantify the relationship between corneal structure and hydration in humans and pigs. X-ray scattering data were collected from human and porcine corneas equilibrated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to varying levels of hydration, to obtain measurements of collagen fibril diameter, interfibrillar spacing (IFS) and intermolecular spacing. Both species showed a strong positive linear correlation between hydration and IFS 2 and a nonlinear, bi-phasic relationship between hydration and fibril diameter, whereby fibril diameter increased up to approximately physiological hydration, H = 3.0, with little change thereafter. Above H = 3.0, porcine corneas exhibited a larger fibril diameter than human corneas ( p < 0.001). Intermolecular spacing also varied with hydration in a bi-phasic manner but reached a maximum value at a lower hydration ( H = 1.5) than fibril diameter. Human corneas displayed a higher intermolecular spacing than porcine corneas at all hydrations ( p < 0.0001). Human and porcine corneas required a similar PEG concentration to reach physiological hydration, suggesting that the total fixed charge that gives rise to the swelling pressure is the same. The difference in their structural responses to hydration can be explained by variations in molecular cross-linking and intra/interfibrillar water partitioning. © 2017 The Authors.

  9. Rib Geometry Explains Variation in Dynamic Structural Response: Potential Implications for Frontal Impact Fracture Risk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murach, Michelle M; Kang, Yun-Seok; Goldman, Samuel D; Schafman, Michelle A; Schlecht, Stephen H; Moorhouse, Kevin; Bolte, John H; Agnew, Amanda M

    2017-09-01

    The human thorax is commonly injured in motor vehicle crashes, and despite advancements in occupant safety rib fractures are highly prevalent. The objective of this study was to quantify the ability of gross and cross-sectional geometry, separately and in combination, to explain variation of human rib structural properties. One hundred and twenty-two whole mid-level ribs from 76 fresh post-mortem human subjects were tested in a dynamic frontal impact scenario. Structural properties (peak force and stiffness) were successfully predicted (p rib cross-sectional geometry obtained via direct histological imaging (total area, cortical area, and section modulus) and were improved further when utilizing a combination of cross-sectional and gross geometry (robusticity, whole bone strength index). Additionally, preliminary application of a novel, adaptive thresholding technique, allowed for total area and robusticity to be measured on a subsample of standard clinical CT scans with varied success. These results can be used to understand variation in individual rib response to frontal loading as well as identify important geometric parameters, which could ultimately improve injury criteria as well as the biofidelity of anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) and finite element (FE) models of the human thorax.

  10. Canonical Cortical Circuit Model Explains Rivalry, Intermittent Rivalry, and Rivalry Memory.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shashaank Vattikuti

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available It has been shown that the same canonical cortical circuit model with mutual inhibition and a fatigue process can explain perceptual rivalry and other neurophysiological responses to a range of static stimuli. However, it has been proposed that this model cannot explain responses to dynamic inputs such as found in intermittent rivalry and rivalry memory, where maintenance of a percept when the stimulus is absent is required. This challenges the universality of the basic canonical cortical circuit. Here, we show that by including an overlooked realistic small nonspecific background neural activity, the same basic model can reproduce intermittent rivalry and rivalry memory without compromising static rivalry and other cortical phenomena. The background activity induces a mutual-inhibition mechanism for short-term memory, which is robust to noise and where fine-tuning of recurrent excitation or inclusion of sub-threshold currents or synaptic facilitation is unnecessary. We prove existence conditions for the mechanism and show that it can explain experimental results from the quartet apparent motion illusion, which is a prototypical intermittent rivalry stimulus.

  11. Diverging temperature responses of CO2 assimilation and plant development explain the overall effect of temperature on biomass accumulation in wheat leaves and grains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collins, Nicholas C; Parent, Boris

    2017-01-09

    There is a growing consensus in the literature that rising temperatures influence the rate of biomass accumulation by shortening the development of plant organs and the whole plant and by altering rates of respiration and photosynthesis. A model describing the net effects of these processes on biomass would be useful, but would need to reconcile reported differences in the effects of night and day temperature on plant productivity. In this study, the working hypothesis was that the temperature responses of CO 2 assimilation and plant development rates were divergent, and that their net effects could explain observed differences in biomass accumulation. In wheat (Triticum aestivum) plants, we followed the temperature responses of photosynthesis, respiration and leaf elongation, and confirmed that their responses diverged. We measured the amount of carbon assimilated per "unit of plant development" in each scenario and compared it to the biomass that accumulated in growing leaves and grains. Our results suggested that, up to a temperature optimum, the rate of any developmental process increased with temperature more rapidly than that of CO 2 assimilation and that this discrepancy, summarised by the CO 2 assimilation rate per unit of plant development, could explain the observed reductions in biomass accumulation in plant organs under high temperatures. The model described the effects of night and day temperature equally well, and offers a simple framework for describing the effects of temperature on plant growth. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.

  12. America’s Churning Races: Race and Ethnic Response Changes between Census 2000 and the 2010 Census

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liebler, Carolyn A.; Porter, Sonya R.; Fernandez, Leticia E.; Noon, James M.; Ennis, Sharon R.

    2017-01-01

    Race and ethnicity responses can change over time and across contexts – a component of population change not usually considered in studies that use race and ethnicity as variables. To facilitate incorporation of this aspect of population change, we show patterns and directions of individual-level race and Hispanic response change throughout the U.S. and among all federally recognized race/ethnic groups. We use internal Census Bureau data from the 2000 and 2010 censuses in which responses have been linked at the individual level (N = 162 million). About 9.8 million people (6.1 percent) in our data have a different race and/or Hispanic origin response in 2010 than they did in 2000. Race response change was especially common among those reported as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, in a multiple-race response group, or Hispanic. People reported as non-Hispanic white, black, or Asian in 2000 usually had the same response in 2010 (3%, 6% and 9% of responses changed, respectively). Hispanic/non-Hispanic ethnicity responses were also usually consistent (13% and 1% changed). There were a variety of response change patterns, which we detail. In many race/Hispanic response groups, there is population churn in the form of large countervailing flows of response changes that are hidden in cross-sectional data. We find that response changes happen across ages, sexes, regions, and response modes, with interesting variation across race/ethnic categories. Researchers should think through and discuss the implications of race and Hispanic origin response change when designing analyses and interpreting results. PMID:28105578

  13. Is Dealing with Climate Change a Corporation's Responsibility? A Social Contract Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unsworth, Kerrie L; Russell, Sally V; Davis, Matthew C

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we argue that individuals - as members of society - play an important role in the expectations of whether or not companies are responsible for addressing environmental issues, and whether or not governments should regulate them. From this perspective of corporate social responsibility as a social contract we report the results of a survey of 1066 individuals. The aim of the survey was to assess participants' belief in anthropogenic climate change, free-market ideology, and beliefs around who is responsible for dealing with climate change. Results showed that both climate change views and free market ideology have a strong effect on beliefs that companies are responsible for dealing with climate change and on support for regulatory policy to that end. Furthermore, we found that free market ideology is a barrier in the support of corporate regulatory policy. The implications of these findings for research, policy, and practice are discussed.

  14. Can Knowledge Deficit Explain Societal Perception of Climate Change Risk?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitra, R.; McNeal, K.; Bondell, H.

    2014-12-01

    Climate change literacy efforts have had a rough journey in the past decade. Although scientists have become increasingly convinced about anthropological climate change, change in public opinion has been underwhelming. The unexplained gap between scientific consensus and public opinion has made this topic an important research area in the realm of public understanding of science. Recent research on climate change risk perception (CCRP) has advanced an intriguing hypothesis, namely, cultural cognition thesis (CCT), which posits that the public has adequate knowledge to understand climate change science but people tend to use this knowledge solely to promote their culturally motivated view-point of climate change. This talk provides evidence to demonstrate that despite culture playing a significant role in influencing CCRP, knowledge deficiency remains a persistent problem in our society and contributes to the aforementioned gap. However, such deficits can remain undiagnosed due to limitations of survey design.

  15. Overriding actions in Parkinson’s disease : Impaired stopping and changing of motor responses

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van den Wildenberg, W.P.M.; Ridderinkhof, K.R.; van Wouwe, N.C.; Neimat, J.S.; Bashore, T.R.; Wylie, S.A.

    2017-01-01

    We administered a stop-change paradigm, an extended version of the stop task that requires (a) stopping an ongoing motor response and (b) changing to an alternative (change) response. Performance of a group of patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) and taking dopaminergic medication was

  16. Dynamical feedback between circadian clock and sucrose availability explains adaptive response of starch metabolism to various photoperiods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francois Gabriel Feugier

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Plants deal with resource management during all their life. During the day they feed on photosynthetic carbon, sucrose, while storing a part into starch for night use. Careful control of carbon partitioning, starch degradation and sucrose export rates is crucial to avoid carbon starvation, insuring optimal growth whatever the photoperiod. Efficient regulation of these key metabolic rates can give an evolutionary advantage to plants. Here we propose a model of adaptive starch metabolism in response to various photoperiods. We assume the three key metabolic rates to be circadian regulated in leaves and that their phases of oscillations are shifted in response to sucrose starvation. We performed gradient descents for various photoperiod conditions to find the corresponding optimal sets of phase shifts that minimize starvation. Results at convergence were all consistent with experimental data: i diurnal starch profile showed linear increase during the day and linear decrease at night; ii shorter photoperiod tended to increase starch synthesis speed while decreasing its degradation speed during the longer night; iii sudden early dusk showed slower starch degradation during the longer night. Profiles that best explained observations corresponded to circadian regulation of all rates. This theoretical study would establish a framework for future research on feedback between starch metabolism and circadian clock as well as plant productivity.

  17. Which plant trait explains the variations in relative growth rate and its response to elevated carbon dioxide concentration among Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes derived from a variety of habitats?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oguchi, Riichi; Ozaki, Hiroshi; Hanada, Kousuke; Hikosaka, Kouki

    2016-03-01

    Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration ([CO2]) enhances plant growth, but this enhancement varies considerably. It is still uncertain which plant traits are quantitatively related to the variation in plant growth. To identify the traits responsible, we developed a growth analysis model that included primary parameters associated with morphology, nitrogen (N) use, and leaf and root activities. We analysed the vegetative growth of 44 ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana L. grown at ambient and elevated [CO2] (800 μmol mol(-1)). The 44 ecotypes were selected such that they were derived from various altitudes and latitudes. Relative growth rate (RGR; growth rate per unit plant mass) and its response to [CO2] varied by 1.5- and 1.7-fold among ecotypes, respectively. The variation in RGR at both [CO2]s was mainly explained by the variation in leaf N productivity (LNP; growth rate per leaf N),which was strongly related to photosynthetic N use efficiency (PNUE). The variation in the response of RGR to [CO2] was also explained by the variation in the response of LNP to [CO2]. Genomic analyses indicated that there was no phylogenetic constraint on inter-ecotype variation in the CO2 response of RGR or LNP. We conclude that the significant variation in plant growth and its response to [CO2] among ecotypes reflects the variation in N use for photosynthesis among ecotypes, and that the response of PNUE to CO2 is an important target for predicting and/or breeding plants that have high growth rates at elevated [CO2].

  18. Can changes in psychosocial factors and residency explain the decrease in physical activity during the transition from high school to college or university?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Dyck, Delfien; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Deliens, Tom; Deforche, Benedicte

    2015-04-01

    When students make the transition from high school to college or university, their physical activity (PA) levels decrease strongly. Consequently, it is of crucial importance to identify the determinants of this decline in PA. The study aims were to (1) examine changes in psychosocial factors in students during the transition from high school to college/university, (2) examine if changes in psychosocial factors and residency can predict changes in PA, and (3) investigate the moderating effects of residency on the relationship between changes in psychosocial factors and changes in PA. Between March 2008 and October 2010, 291 Flemish students participated in a longitudinal study, with baseline measurements during the final year of high school and follow-up measurements at the start of second year of college/university. At both time points, participants completed a questionnaire assessing demographics, active transportation, leisure-time sports, psychosocial variables, and residency. Repeated measures MANOVA analyses and multiple moderated hierarchic regression analyses were conducted. Modeling, self-efficacy, competition-related benefits, and health-related, external and social barriers decreased, while health-related benefits and time-related barriers increased from baseline to follow-up. Decreases in modeling and time-related barriers were associated with a decrease in active transportation (adjusted R(2) = 3.2%); residency, decreases in self-efficacy, competition-related benefits, and increases in health- and time-related barriers predicted a decrease in leisure-time sports (adjusted R(2) = 29.3%). Residency only moderated two associations between psychosocial factors and changes in PA. Residency and changes in psychosocial factors were mainly important to explain the decrease in leisure-time sports. Other factors such as distance to college/university are likely more important to explain the decrease in active transportation; these are worth exploring in

  19. Soil bacterial community responses to global changes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bergmark, Lasse

    competing and very contrasting plant types (Calluna and Deschampsia) dominated the vegetation. This led to Manuscript 3 where the impact and responses of the climate change manipulations on the microbial community composition was investigated under the contrasting vegetation types. Our results show a high......Soil bacteria and archaea are essential for ecosystem functioning and plant growth through their degradation of organic matter and turnover of nutrients. But since the majority of soil bacteria and archaea are unclassified and “nonculturable” the functionality of the microbial community and its...... overall importance for ecosystem function in soil is poorly understood. Global change factors may affect the diversity and functioning of soil prokaryotes and thereby ecosystem functioning. To gain a better understanding of the effects of global changes it is of fundamental importance to classify...

  20. THE RESOURCE-BASED VIEW OR STAKEHOLDER THEORY: WHICH BETTER EXPLAINS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agata Adamska

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Stakeholder behavior and reputation are held to be the two main factors explaining the positive correlation between corporate social responsibility and financial performance. To date, however, researchers have not determined which of these factors is of greater significance. The results of this study indicate that the relative effects of stakeholder behavior and reputation are affected by market conditions. During a crisis, the former factor plays a greater role, while the latter becomes more prominent during the period of market recovery in the wake of a crisis. These findings have important practical ramifications as they provide guidance to companies on how to allocate their CSR budgets depending on the state of the economy to maximize their effect on the bottom line.

  1. When and where to move: Dynamic occupancy models explain the range dynamics of a food nomadic bird under climate and land cover change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalle, Riddhika; Ramesh, Tharmalingam; Downs, Colleen T

    2018-01-01

    Globally, long-term research is critical to monitor the responses of tropical species to climate and land cover change at the range scale. Citizen science surveys can reveal the long-term persistence of poorly known nomadic tropical birds occupying fragmented forest patches. We applied dynamic occupancy models to 13 years (2002-2014) of citizen science-driven presence/absence data on Cape parrot (Poicephalus robustus), a food nomadic bird endemic to South Africa. We modeled its underlying range dynamics as a function of resource distribution, and change in climate and land cover through the estimation of colonization and extinction patterns. The range occupancy of Cape parrot changed little over time (ψ = 0.75-0.83) because extinction was balanced by recolonization. Yet, there was considerable regional variability in occupancy and detection probability increased over the years. Colonizations increased with warmer temperature and area of orchards, thus explaining their range shifts southeastwards in recent years. Although colonizations were higher in the presence of nests and yellowwood trees (Afrocarpus and Podocarpus spp.), the extinctions in small forest patches (≤227 ha) and during low precipitation (≤41 mm) are attributed to resource constraints and unsuitable climatic conditions. Loss of indigenous forest cover and artificial lake/water bodies increased extinction probabilities of Cape parrot. The land use matrix (fruit farms, gardens, and cultivations) surrounding forest patches provides alternative food sources, thereby facilitating spatiotemporal colonization and extinction in the human-modified matrix. Our models show that Cape parrots are vulnerable to extreme climatic conditions such as drought which is predicted to increase under climate change. Therefore, management of optimum sized high-quality forest patches is essential for long-term survival of Cape parrot populations. Our novel application of dynamic occupancy models to long-term citizen

  2. Maturation of cortical mismatch responses to occasional pitch change in early infancy: effects of presentation rate and magnitude of change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Chao; Hotson, Lisa; Trainor, Laurel J

    2009-01-01

    Previous studies have reported two types of event-related potential (ERP) mismatch responses in infants to infrequent auditory changes: a broad discriminative positivity in younger infants and a negativity resembling adult mismatch negativity (MMN) in older infants. In the present study, we investigated whether the positive discriminative slow wave and the adult-like MMN are functionally distinct by examining how they are affected by presentation rate and magnitude of change. We measured ERPs from adults, 2-month-olds, and 4-month-olds to a repeating piano tone (standard) that occasionally changed in pitch (deviant). The pitch changes between standards and deviants were either small (1/12 octave) or large (1/2 octave) in magnitude, and the stimulus presentation rate was either slow (800 ms SOA) or fast (400 ms SOA). As the presentation rate increased, both adults and 4-month-olds showed an MMN response that decreased in latency, but was unaffected in amplitude. As the magnitude of the pitch change increased, MMN increased in amplitude. On the other hand, only a broad positive mismatch response was seen in 2-month-olds. As the presentation rate increased, 2-month-olds' responses to standard tones decreased in amplitude while their responses to deviant tones were unaffected. The magnitude of the pitch change did not affect 2-month-olds' responses. These results suggest that pitch is processed differently in auditory cortex by 2-month-olds and 4-month-olds, and that a cortical change-detection mechanism for pitch discrimination similar to that of adults emerges between 2 and 4 months of age.

  3. Holocene Substrate Influences on Plant and Fire Response to Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briles, C.; Whitlock, C. L.

    2011-12-01

    The role of substrates in facilitating plant responses to climate change in the past has received little attention. Ecological studies, documenting the relative role of fertile and infertile substrates in mediating the effects of climate change, lack the temporal information that paleoecological lake studies provide on how plants have responded under equal, larger and more rapid past climate events than today. In this paper, pollen and macroscopic charcoal preserved in the sediments of eight lakes surrounded by infertile ultramafic soils and more fertile soils in the Klamath Mountains of northern California were analyzed. Comparison of late-Quaternary paleoecological sites suggests that infertile and fertile substrates supported distinctly different plant communities. Trees and shrubs on infertile substrates were less responsive to climate change than those on fertile substrates, with the only major compositional change occurring at the glacial/interglacial transition (~11.5ka), when temperature rose 5oC. Trees and shrubs on fertile substrates were more responsive to climate changes, and tracked climate by moving along elevational gradients, including during more recent climate events such as the Little Ice Age and Medieval Climate Anomaly. Fire regimes were similar until 4ka on both substrate types. After 4ka, understory fuels on infertile substrates became sparse and fire activity decreased, while on fertile substrates forests became increasingly denser and fire activity increased. The complacency of plant communities on infertile sites to climate change contrasts with the individualistic and rapid adjustments of species on fertile sites. The findings differ from observations on shorter time scales that show the most change in herb cover and richness in the last 60 years on infertile substrates. Thus, the paleorecord provides unique long-term ecological data necessary to evaluate the response of plants to future climate change under different levels of soil

  4. Baroreflex Responses to Acute Changes in Blood Volume in Humans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Cynthia A.; Tatro, Dana L.; Ludwig, David A.; Convertino, Victor A.

    1990-01-01

    To test the hypothesis that acute changes in plasma volume affect the stimulus-response relations of high- and low- pressure baroreflexes, eight men (27-44 yr old) underwent measurements for carotid-cardiac and cardiopulmonary baro-reflex responses under the following three volemic conditions: hypovolemic, normovolemic, and hypervolemic. The stimulus- response relation of the carotid-cardiac response curve was generated using a neck cuff device, which delivered pressure changes between +40 and -65 mmHg in continuous steps of 15 mmHg. The stimulus-response relationship, of the cardio-pulmonary baroreflex were studied by measurements of Forearm Vascular Resistance (FVR) and Peripheral Venous Pressure (PVP) during low levels of lower body negative pressure (O to -20 mmHg). The results indicate greater demand for vasoconstriction for equal reductions in venous pressure during progressive hypovolemia; this condition may compromise the capacity to provide adequate peripheral resistance during severe orthostatic stress. Fluid loading before reentry after spaceflight may act to restore vasoconstrictive capacity of the cardiopulmonary baroreflex but may not be an effective countermeasure against potential post- flight impairment of the carotid-cardiac baroreflex.

  5. Evolution of plasticity and adaptive responses to climate change along climate gradients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kingsolver, Joel G; Buckley, Lauren B

    2017-08-16

    The relative contributions of phenotypic plasticity and adaptive evolution to the responses of species to recent and future climate change are poorly understood. We combine recent (1960-2010) climate and phenotypic data with microclimate, heat balance, demographic and evolutionary models to address this issue for a montane butterfly, Colias eriphyle , along an elevational gradient. Our focal phenotype, wing solar absorptivity, responds plastically to developmental (pupal) temperatures and plays a central role in thermoregulatory adaptation in adults. Here, we show that both the phenotypic and adaptive consequences of plasticity vary with elevation. Seasonal changes in weather generate seasonal variation in phenotypic selection on mean and plasticity of absorptivity, especially at lower elevations. In response to climate change in the past 60 years, our models predict evolutionary declines in mean absorptivity (but little change in plasticity) at high elevations, and evolutionary increases in plasticity (but little change in mean) at low elevation. The importance of plasticity depends on the magnitude of seasonal variation in climate relative to interannual variation. Our results suggest that selection and evolution of both trait means and plasticity can contribute to adaptive response to climate change in this system. They also illustrate how plasticity can facilitate rather than retard adaptive evolutionary responses to directional climate change in seasonal environments. © 2017 The Author(s).

  6. Nonlinear dynamics in ecosystem response to climatic change: Case studies and policy implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkett, Virginia R.; Wilcox, Douglas A.; Stottlemyer, Robert; Barrow, Wylie; Fagre, Dan; Baron, Jill S.; Price, Jeff; Nielsen, Jennifer L.; Allen, Craig D.; Peterson, David L.; Ruggerone, Greg; Doyle, Thomas

    2005-01-01

    Many biological, hydrological, and geological processes are interactively linked in ecosystems. These ecological phenomena normally vary within bounded ranges, but rapid, nonlinear changes to markedly different conditions can be triggered by even small differences if threshold values are exceeded. Intrinsic and extrinsic ecological thresholds can lead to effects that cascade among systems, precluding accurate modeling and prediction of system response to climate change. Ten case studies from North America illustrate how changes in climate can lead to rapid, threshold-type responses within ecological communities; the case studies also highlight the role of human activities that alter the rate or direction of system response to climate change. Understanding and anticipating nonlinear dynamics are important aspects of adaptation planning since responses of biological resources to changes in the physical climate system are not necessarily proportional and sometimes, as in the case of complex ecological systems, inherently nonlinear.

  7. Natural responses to Quaternary climatic change in the Nevada Test Site region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gibson, J.D.

    1993-01-01

    Migration of hazardous contaminants within geologic settings depends on natural processes. Climatic fluctuations can affect the magnitudes and rates of many of these processes. In any long-term environmental evaluation of natural processes, responses to climatic change must be considered. Four generalized categories of natural responses to Quaternary climatic change are recognized for the Nevada Test Site (NTS) region of southwestern Nevada and adjacent California: (1) biologic, (2) geomorphic, (3) hydrologic (including surface and subsurface) and (4) pedologic/diagenetic. Specific examples that correspond to the four categories illustrate the broad range of complex natural processes the are affected by climatic change. These responses dictate the potential effects of climatic change on contaminant transport, effects that are being examined by existing and planned environmental-restoration and waste-management programs within the region. Regulatory requirements for many of these programs include long-term (>10,000-year) waste isolation because of radiologic components. The purpose here is not to be exhaustive in documenting all known natural responses to climatic change in the NTS region, but rather to give a flavor of the scope of interdisciplinary and interrelated fields of Quaternary science that must be considered in evaluating the possible effects of climatic change on long-term environmental programs

  8. Environmental variation and population responses to global change

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lawson, Callum R.; Vindenes, Yngvild; Bailey, Liam; van de Pol, Martijn

    2015-01-01

    Species' responses to environmental changes such as global warming are affected not only by trends in mean conditions, but also by natural and human-induced environmental fluctuations. Methods are needed to predict how such environmental variation affects ecological and evolutionary processes, in

  9. The response of soil processes to climate change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Emmett, B.A.; Beier, C.; Estiarte, M.

    2004-01-01

    Predicted changes in climate may affect key soil processes such as respiration and net nitrogen (N) mineralization and thus key ecosystem functions such as carbon (C) storage and nutrient availability. To identify the sensitivity of shrubland soils to predicted climate changes, we have carried out...... the environmental gradient with the results from the manipulation experiments provides evidence for strong climate controls on soil respiration, net N mineralization and nitrification, and litter decomposition. Trends of 0%-19% increases of soil respiration in response to warming and decreases of 3%-29% in response...... to drought were observed. Across the environmental gradient and below soil temperatures of 20degreesC at a depth of 5-10 cm, a mean Q(10) of 4.1 in respiration rates was observed although this varied from 2.4 to 7.0 between sites. Highest Q(10), values were observed in Spain and the UK and were therefore...

  10. Ice-Shelf Melt Response to Changing Winds and Glacier Dynamics in the Amundsen Sea Sector, Antarctica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donat-Magnin, Marion; Jourdain, Nicolas C.; Spence, Paul; Le Sommer, Julien; Gallée, Hubert; Durand, Gaël.

    2017-12-01

    It has been suggested that the coastal Southern Ocean subsurface may warm over the 21st century in response to strengthening and poleward shifting winds, with potential adverse effects on West Antarctic glaciers. However, using a 1/12° ocean regional model that includes ice-shelf cavities, we find a more complex response to changing winds in the Amundsen Sea. Simulated offshore subsurface waters get colder under strengthened and poleward shifted winds representative of the SAM projected trend. The buoyancy-driven circulation induced by ice-shelf melt transports this cold offshore anomaly onto the continental shelf, leading to cooling and decreased melt below 450 m. In the vicinity of ice-shelf fronts, Ekman pumping contributes to raise the isotherms in response to changing winds. This effect overwhelms the horizontal transport of colder offshore waters at intermediate depths (between 200 and 450 m), and therefore increases melt rates in the upper part of the ice-shelf cavities, which reinforces the buoyancy-driven circulation and further contributes to raise the isotherms. Then, prescribing an extreme grounding line retreat projected for 2100, the total melt rates simulated underneath Thwaites and Pine Island are multiplied by 2.5. Such increase is explained by a larger ocean/ice interface exposed to CDW, which is then amplified by a stronger melt-induced circulation along the ice draft. Our main conclusions are that (1) outputs from ocean models that do not represent ice shelf cavities (e.g., CMIP5 models) should not be directly used to predict the thermal forcing of future ice shelf cavities; (2) coupled ocean/ice sheet models with a velocity-dependent melt formulation are needed for future projections of glaciers experiencing a significant grounding line retreat.

  11. Can selection explain the protective effects of farming on asthma?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wijnand Eduard

    2015-09-01

    No healthy worker selection into farming was observed and changes in asthma prevalence due to early retirement were small. Selection effects are therefore unlikely to explain the protective effects of farming on asthma.

  12. On the explaining-away phenomenon in multivariate latent variable models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Rijn, Peter; Rijmen, Frank

    2015-02-01

    Many probabilistic models for psychological and educational measurements contain latent variables. Well-known examples are factor analysis, item response theory, and latent class model families. We discuss what is referred to as the 'explaining-away' phenomenon in the context of such latent variable models. This phenomenon can occur when multiple latent variables are related to the same observed variable, and can elicit seemingly counterintuitive conditional dependencies between latent variables given observed variables. We illustrate the implications of explaining away for a number of well-known latent variable models by using both theoretical and real data examples. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  13. Moral Responsibilities to Future Generations : A Comparative Study on Human Rights Theory and Confucianism

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Teng, F.

    2018-01-01

    In this dissertation I have explored the moral justification for intergenerational responsibilities in the context of climate change. It looks for reasons, from different moral traditions, which may explain why we should accept the idea of moral responsibilities to future generations and what do we

  14. Emotional Responses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Flemming; Christensen, Sverre Riis; Lundsteen, Steen

    2007-01-01

    Recent neurological research has pointed to the importance of fundamental emotional processes for most kinds of human behaviour. Measures of emotional response tendencies towards brands seem to reveal intangible aspects of brand equity, particularly in a marketing context. In this paper a procedure...... for estimating such emotional brand equity is presented and findings from two successive studies of more than 100 brands are reported. It demonstrates how changes that occur between two years are explainable in terms of factors identifiable in the markets, and that the measures otherwise are stable over time...

  15. Fruit response to water-scarcity and biochemical changes : Water relations and biochemical changes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rodríguez, P.; Galindo Egea, Alejandro; Collado-González, J.; Medina, S.; Corell, M.; Memmi, H.; Girón, I.F.; Centeno, A.; Martín-Palomo, M.J.; Cruz, Z.N.; Carbonell-Barrachina, A.A.; Hernandez, F.; Torrecillas, A.; Moriana, A.; Pérez-López, D.; Garcia Tejero, Ivan Francisco; Duran Zuazo, Victor Hugo

    2018-01-01

    The aim of this chapter is to give a general idea of the fruit response to water-scarcity conditions, paying special attention to fruit water relations modification and fruit composition changes, which are key for fruit quality. The strengths and weaknesses of fruit water relations measurement

  16. Motivation for change as a predictor of treatment response for dysthymia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frías Ibáñez, Álvaro; González Vallespí, Laura; Palma Sevillano, Carol; Farriols Hernando, Núria

    2016-05-01

    Dysthymia constitutes a chronic, mild affective disorder characterized by heterogeneous treatment effects. Several predictors of clinical response and attendance have been postulated, although research on the role of the psychological variables involved in this mental disorder is still scarce. Fifty-four adult patients, who met criteria for dysthymia completed an ongoing naturalistic treatment based on the brief interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT-B), which was delivered bimonthly over 16 months. As potential predictor variables, the therapeutic alliance, coping strategies, perceived self-efficacy, and motivation for change were measured at baseline. Outcome variables were response to treatment (Clinical Global Impression and Beck’s Depression Inventory) and treatment attendance. Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses revealed that higher motivation for change predicted better response to treatment. Moreover, higher motivation for change also predicted treatment attendance. Therapeutic alliance was not a predictor variable of neither clinical response nor treatment attendance. These preliminary findings support the adjunctive use of motivational interviewing (MI) techniques in the treatment of dysthymia. Further research with larger sample size and follow-up assessment is warranted.

  17. Response of Sphagna to the changing environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vasander, H [Helsinki Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Forest Ecology; Jauhiainen, J; Silvola, J [Joensuu Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Biology; Karsisto, M [Finnish Forest Research Inst., Vantaa (Finland)

    1997-12-31

    During last decade, considerable interest has been focused to assess the influence of human activities on ecosystems. The increasing trend in the atmospheric concentration of CO{sub 2} has been predicted to continue till the next century and the amount of nitrogen deposition in the northern hemisphere has increased markedly. Substantial interest has been focused on predicting how these changes will affect on plants. Most boreal mire ecosystems are dominated by mosses of the genus Sphagnum, the litter of which constitutes the main component in the peat deposits and is an important CO{sub 2} sink via peat formation. Since virtually nothing was known about the growth response of peat mosses to elevated concentrations of CO{sub 2} and alerting changes in species composition were detected in the sensitive ombrotrophic mire vegetation under increased N deposition in central Europe, this study was established. Laboratory experiments focused on measurements of the patterns of growth, production and plant metabolism at increased CO{sub 2} and N deposition levels in peat moss species. Long term field experiments were established to study the growth response and spatial competition of two interacting Sphagnum species under the increased nitrogen deposition levels

  18. Response of Sphagna to the changing environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vasander, H. [Helsinki Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Forest Ecology; Jauhiainen, J.; Silvola, J. [Joensuu Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Biology; Karsisto, M. [Finnish Forest Research Inst., Vantaa (Finland)

    1996-12-31

    During last decade, considerable interest has been focused to assess the influence of human activities on ecosystems. The increasing trend in the atmospheric concentration of CO{sub 2} has been predicted to continue till the next century and the amount of nitrogen deposition in the northern hemisphere has increased markedly. Substantial interest has been focused on predicting how these changes will affect on plants. Most boreal mire ecosystems are dominated by mosses of the genus Sphagnum, the litter of which constitutes the main component in the peat deposits and is an important CO{sub 2} sink via peat formation. Since virtually nothing was known about the growth response of peat mosses to elevated concentrations of CO{sub 2} and alerting changes in species composition were detected in the sensitive ombrotrophic mire vegetation under increased N deposition in central Europe, this study was established. Laboratory experiments focused on measurements of the patterns of growth, production and plant metabolism at increased CO{sub 2} and N deposition levels in peat moss species. Long term field experiments were established to study the growth response and spatial competition of two interacting Sphagnum species under the increased nitrogen deposition levels

  19. A conceptual connectivity framework for understanding geomorphic change in human-impacted fluvial systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pöppl, Ronald; Keesstra, Saskia; Maroulis, Jerry

    2017-04-01

    Human-induced landscape change is difficult to predict due to the complexity inherent in both geomorphic and social systems as well as due to emerging coupling relationships between them. To better understand system complexity and system response to change, connectivity has become an important research paradigm within various disciplines including geomorphology, hydrology and ecology. With the proposed conceptual connectivity framework on geomorphic change in human-impacted fluvial systems a cautionary note is flagged regarding the need (i) to include and to systematically conceptualise the role of different types of human agency in altering connectivity relationships in geomorphic systems and (ii) to integrate notions of human-environment interactions to connectivity concepts in geomorphology to better explain causes and trajectories of landscape change. Underpinned by case study examples, the presented conceptual framework is able to explain how geomorphic response of fluvial systems to human disturbance is determined by system-specific boundary conditions (incl. system history, related legacy effects and lag times), vegetation dynamics and human-induced functional relationships (i.e. feedback mechanisms) between the different spatial dimensions of connectivity. It is further demonstrated how changes in social systems can trigger a process-response feedback loop between social and geomorphic systems that further governs the trajectory of landscape change in coupled human-geomorphic systems.

  20. Vegetation physiology controls continental water cycle responses to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemordant, L. A.; Swann, A. L. S.; Cook, B.; Scheff, J.; Gentine, P.

    2017-12-01

    Abstract per se:Predicting how climate change will affect the hydrologic cycle is of utmost importance for ecological systems and for human life and activities. A typical perspective is that global warming will cause an intensification of the mean state, the so-called "dry gets drier, wet gets wetter" paradigm. While this result is robust over the oceans, recent works suggest it may be less appropriate for terrestrial regions. Using Earth System Models (ESMs) with decoupled surface (vegetation physiology, PHYS) and atmospheric (radiative, ATMO) CO2 responses, we show that the CO2 physiological response dominates the change in the continental hydrologic cycle compared to radiative and precipitation changes due to increased atmospheric CO2, counter to previous assumptions. Using multiple linear regression analysis, we estimate the individual contribution of each of the three main drivers, precipitation, radiation and physiological CO2 forcing (see attached figure). Our analysis reveals that physiological effects dominate changes for 3 key indicators of dryness and/or vegetation stress (namely LAI, P-ET and EF) over the largest fraction of the globe, except for soil moisture which exhibits a more complex response. This highlights the key role of vegetation in controlling future terrestrial hydrologic response.Legend of the Figure attached:Decomposition along the three main drivers of LAI (a), P-ET (b), EF (c) in the control run. Green quantifies the effect of the vegetation physiology based on the run PHYS; red and blue quantify the contribution of, respectively, net radiation and precipitation, based on multiple linear regression in ATMO. Pie charts show for each variable the fraction (labelled in %) of land under the main influence (more than 50% of the changes is attributed to this driver) of one the three main drivers (green for grid points dominated by vegetation physiology, red for grid points dominated by net radiation, and blue for grid points dominated by the

  1. Development and Assessment of Self-explaining Skills in College Chemistry Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Villalta-Cerdas, Adrian

    procedural knowledge through self-explanation of examples or conceptual understanding through self-explanation of textual information and concepts. Instead, it focused on an experience closer to doing science by presenting a familiar phenomenon to the participants and a fact that would potentially induce cognitive imbalance to then prompt them to self-explain. This work used a multi-condition, mixed-method approach to categorize students' self-explaining behaviors in response to learning tasks and link it to the performance in a post-learning task. Students were randomly assigned to conditions that included the following: studying an experts' explanation, explaining correct and incorrect answers, explaining agreement with another's answer, and explaining one's own answer for others to use. Data were gathered in the classroom ecology of a university, large-enrollment general chemistry course. Content and construct validity evidence support the functionality of the research instruments for the assessment of conceptual understanding of entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. An in-depth analysis of the post-learning task showed that the data collected from the instrument is reliable, consistent and reproducible. Findings supported an association between the self-explaining tasks and students' self-explaining behaviors. Results showed distinct categorical self-explaining behaviors in students' written responses. These self-explaining behaviors were associated with the self-explaining task given to the students. Thoughtful design of learning tasks can effectively elicit engagement in sophisticated self-explaining in natural, large-enrollment college chemistry classroom environments. Comparison analyses of performance in the post-learning task suggested that in the context of large-enrollment college chemistry classroom environments, self-explaining activities improved students' conceptual understanding in chemistry. Overall, the work showed that students can self-explain

  2. Temperature extremes in Europe: mechanisms and responses to climatic change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cattiaux, Julien

    2010-01-01

    Europe witnessed a spate of record-breaking warm seasons during the 2000's. As illustrated by the devastating heat-wave of the summer 2003, these episodes induced strong societal and environmental impacts. Such occurrence of exceptional events over a relatively short time period raised up many questionings in the present context of climate change. In particular, can recent temperature extremes be considered as 'previews' of future climate conditions? Do they result from an increasing temperature variability? These questions constitute the main motivations of this thesis. Thus, our work aims to contribute to the understanding of physical mechanisms responsible for seasonal temperature extremes in Europe, in order to anticipate their future statistical characteristics. Involved processes are assessed by both statistical data-analysis of observations and climate projections and regional modeling experiments. First we show that while the inter-annual European temperature variability appears driven by disturbances in the North-Atlantic dynamics, the recent warming is likely to be dissociated with potential circulation changes. This inconsistency climaxes during the exceptionally mild autumn of 2006, whose temperature anomaly is only half explained by the atmospheric flow. Recent warm surface conditions in the North-Atlantic ocean seem to substantially contribute to the European warming in autumn-winter, through the establishment of advective and radiative processes. In spring-summer, since both advection by the westerlies and Atlantic warming are reduced, more local processes appear predominant (e.g. soil moisture, clouds, aerosols). Then the issue of future evolution of the relationship between North-Atlantic dynamics and European temperatures is addressed, based on climate projections of the International Panel on Climate Change. Multi-model analysis, using both flow-analogues and weather regimes methods, show that the inconsistency noticed over recent decades is

  3. Liberal Education and the American Dream, 1920-1950: Educators' Responses to Changing Times.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guyotte, Roland L.

    Changes between 1920 and 1950 in the American idea of going to college, from an aspiration into a right, are described. The interplay among educational leaders during this period illuminates many of their uncertainties and concerns. One element in the debate is the centrality of liberal education as a normative concept to explain and prescribe for…

  4. The Sensitivity to Change and Responsiveness of the Adult Responses to Children’s Symptoms in Children and Adolescents With Chronic Pain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alberts, Nicole; Langer, Shelby L.; Levy, Rona L.; Walker, Lynn S.; Palermo, Tonya M.

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Objective  To examine the sensitivity to change and responsiveness of the Adult Responses to Children’s Symptoms (ARCS) among parents of youth with chronic pain.  Methods  Participants included 330 youth (89 children aged 7–11 years, 241 children aged 12–17 years) and their parents who participated in randomized controlled trials of family-based cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic pain. Child pain and disability, parental emotional functioning, and parental responses to child pain were assessed at baseline and posttreatment.  Results  The Protect and Monitor scales of the ARCS were sensitive to change following intervention for both developmental groups, with clinically meaningful reductions in these behaviors, thereby demonstrating responsiveness. Among the adolescent sample, greater change on some ARCS scales was associated with better parental emotional functioning and lower child pain at posttreatment.  Conclusions  Findings support the sensitivity to change and responsiveness of the Protect and Monitor scales among parents of youth with chronic pain. PMID:26493601

  5. Using a model based fourth-corner analysis to explain vegetation change following an extraordinary fire disturbance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venn, S E; Pickering, C M; Butler, S A; Letten, A D

    2016-11-01

    In ecosystems where large-scale disturbances are infrequent, the mode of succession may be difficult to discern and floristic surveys alone cannot be used determine the underlying processes causing vegetation change. To determine the causes of vegetation change in response to a large-scale fire event, we combined traditional floristic survey data, plant functional traits and environmental variables in a model-based solution to the fourth-corner problem. This approach allowed us to describe the trait-environment relationship and provides an intuitive matrix of environment by trait interaction coefficients. We could then quantify the strength and direction of associations between plant traits, species life-forms and environmental factors in two alpine plant communities over nine years post-fire. Initially, the fire drastically reduced vegetation cover and species density to very low levels. The fourth-corner analysis interaction coefficients indicated that over the course of the nine-year study a high abundance of graminoids, a low abundance of shrubs, tall species and those with high leaf dry matter content had the strongest associations with the two plant communities. We also found evidence for functional homogenisation between these two communities using this novel technique. Analysing plant traits and species responses post-fire in this manner can be used to infer the ecological processes driving shifts in vegetation.

  6. Changes in cerebro-cerebellar interaction during response inhibition after performance improvement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirose, Satoshi; Jimura, Koji; Kunimatsu, Akira; Abe, Osamu; Ohtomo, Kuni; Miyashita, Yasushi; Konishi, Seiki

    2014-10-01

    It has been demonstrated that motor learning is supported by the cerebellum and the cerebro-cerebellar interaction. Response inhibition involves motor responses and the higher-order inhibition that controls the motor responses. In this functional MRI study, we measured the cerebro-cerebellar interaction during response inhibition in two separate days of task performance, and detected the changes in the interaction following performance improvement. Behaviorally, performance improved in the second day, compared to the first day. The psycho-physiological interaction (PPI) analysis revealed the interaction decrease from the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC) to the cerebellum (lobule VII or VI). It was also revealed that the interaction increased from the same cerebellar region to the primary motor area. These results suggest the involvement of the cerebellum in response inhibition, and raise the possibility that the performance improvement was supported by the changes in the cerebro-cerebellar interaction. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Adaptive gain modulation in V1 explains contextual modifications during bisection learning.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roland Schäfer

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The neuronal processing of visual stimuli in primary visual cortex (V1 can be modified by perceptual training. Training in bisection discrimination, for instance, changes the contextual interactions in V1 elicited by parallel lines. Before training, two parallel lines inhibit their individual V1-responses. After bisection training, inhibition turns into non-symmetric excitation while performing the bisection task. Yet, the receptive field of the V1 neurons evaluated by a single line does not change during task performance. We present a model of recurrent processing in V1 where the neuronal gain can be modulated by a global attentional signal. Perceptual learning mainly consists in strengthening this attentional signal, leading to a more effective gain modulation. The model reproduces both the psychophysical results on bisection learning and the modified contextual interactions observed in V1 during task performance. It makes several predictions, for instance that imagery training should improve the performance, or that a slight stimulus wiggling can strongly affect the representation in V1 while performing the task. We conclude that strengthening a top-down induced gain increase can explain perceptual learning, and that this top-down signal can modify lateral interactions within V1, without significantly changing the classical receptive field of V1 neurons.

  8. Hypocretin/orexin loss changes the hypothalamic immune response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanaka, Susumu; Takizawa, Nae; Honda, Yoshiko; Koike, Taro; Oe, Souichi; Toyoda, Hiromi; Kodama, Tohru; Yamada, Hisao

    2016-10-01

    Hypocretin, also known as orexin, maintains the vigilance state and regulates various physiological processes, such as arousal, sleep, food intake, energy expenditure, and reward. Previously, we found that when wild-type mice and hypocretin/ataxin-3 littermates (which are depleted of hypothalamic hypocretin-expressing neurons postnatally) were administered lipopolysaccharide (LPS), the two genotypes exhibited significant differences in their sleep/wake cycle, including differences in the degree of increase in sleep periods and in recovery from sickness behaviour. In the present study, we examined changes in the hypothalamic vigilance system and in the hypothalamic expression of inflammatory factors in response to LPS in hypocretin/ataxin-3 mice. Peripheral immune challenge with LPS affected the hypothalamic immune response and vigilance states. This response was altered by the loss of hypocretin. Hypocretin expression was inhibited after LPS injection in both hypocretin/ataxin-3 mice and their wild-type littermates, but expression was completely abolished only in hypocretin/ataxin-3 mice. Increases in the number of histidine decarboxylase (HDC)-positive cells and in Hdc mRNA expression were found in hypocretin/ataxin-3 mice, and this increase was suppressed by LPS. Hypocretin loss did not impact the change in expression of hypothalamic inflammatory factors in response to LPS, except for interferon gamma and colony stimulating factor 3. The number of c-Fos-positive/HDC-positive cells in hypocretin/ataxin-3 mice administered LPS injections was elevated, even during the rest period, in all areas, suggesting that there is an increase in the activity of histaminergic neurons in hypocretin/ataxin-3 mice following LPS injection. Taken together, our results suggest a novel role for hypocretin in the hypothalamic response to peripheral immune challenge. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the pathophysiology of narcolepsy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All

  9. Loudness Change in Response to Dynamic Acoustic Intensity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsen, Kirk N.; Stevens, Catherine J.; Tardieu, Julien

    2010-01-01

    Three experiments investigate psychological, methodological, and domain-specific characteristics of loudness change in response to sounds that continuously increase in intensity (up-ramps), relative to sounds that decrease (down-ramps). Timbre (vowel, violin), layer (monotone, chord), and duration (1.8 s, 3.6 s) were manipulated in Experiment 1.…

  10. Genetic predictors of response to antidepressants in the GENDEP project

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Uher, Rudolf; Huezo-Diaz, Patricia; Perroud, Nader

    2009-01-01

    -reuptake-inhibiting and norepinephrine-reuptake-inhibiting antidepressants. A total of 116 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 10 candidate genes were genotyped in 760 adult patients with moderate-to-severe depression, treated with escitalopram (a serotonin reuptake inhibitor) or nortriptyline (a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor......) for 12 weeks in an open-label part-randomized multicenter study. The effect of genetic variants on change in depressive symptoms was evaluated using mixed linear models. Several variants in a serotonin receptor gene (HTR2A) predicted response to escitalopram with one marker (rs9316233) explaining 1...... to the serotonin-reuptake-inhibiting escitalopram, genes encoding proteins in norepinephrine signaling influencing response to the norepinephrine-reuptake-inhibiting nortriptyline and a common pathway gene influencing response to both antidepressants. The single marker associations explained only a small...

  11. Measuring Labour Supply Responses to Tax Changes by Use of Exogenous Tax Reforms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Graversen, Ebbe Krogh

    1996-01-01

    This paper estimates average labour supply responses to tax changes for women in Denmark using the tax reform in 1987 as a natural experiment to identify the responsiveness to tax changes. Both changes in the participation rate and in worki ng hous are considered. A nonparametric difference......-in-difference (DID) estimator and a suitable modified parametric DID estimator are used to estimate the labour supply responses and calculate labour supply elasticities with respect to marg inal tax rates and wage rates net of taxes. Finally, we simulate the effect of the fully implemented Danish 1994/1998 tax...

  12. Soil Landscape Pattern Changes in Response to Rural Anthropogenic Activity across Tiaoxi Watershed, China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Rui; Jiang, Diwei; Christakos, George; Fei, Xufeng; Wu, Jiaping

    2016-01-01

    Soil sealing (loss of soil resources due to extensive land covering for the purpose of house building, road construction etc.) and subsequent soil landscape pattern changes constitute typical environmental problems in many places worldwide. Previous studies concentrated on soil sealing in urbanized regions, whereas rural areas have not been given sufficient attention. Accordingly, this paper studies soil landscape pattern dynamics (i.e., landscape pattern changes in response to rural anthropogenic activities) in the Tiaoxi watershed (Zhejiang province, eastern China), in which surface sealing is by far the predominant component of human forcing with respect to environmental change. A novel approach of quantifying the impacts of rural anthropogenic activities on soil resources is presented. Specifically, quantitative relationships were derived between five soil landscape pattern metrics (patch density, edge density, shape index, Shannon’s diversity index and aggregation index) and three rural anthropogenic activity indicators (anthropogenic activity intensity, distance to towns, and distance to roads) at two landscape block scales (3 and 5 km) between 1985 and 2010. The results showed that the Tiaoxi watershed experienced extensive rural settlement expansion and high rates of soil sealing. Soil landscapes became more fragmented, more irregular, more isolated, and less diverse. Relationships between soil landscape pattern changes and rural anthropogenic activities differed with the scale (spatial and temporal) and variable considered. In particular, the anthropogenic activity intensity was found to be the most important indicator explaining social development intensity, whereas the other two proximity indicators had a significant impact at certain temporal interval. In combination with scale effects, spatial dependency (correlation) was shown to play a key role that should be carefully taken into consideration in any relevant environmental study. Overall, the

  13. Watershed scale response to climate change--Trout Lake Basin, Wisconsin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, John F.; Hunt, Randall J.; Hay, Lauren E.; Markstrom, Steven L.

    2012-01-01

    General Circulation Model simulations of future climate through 2099 project a wide range of possible scenarios. To determine the sensitivity and potential effect of long-term climate change on the freshwater resources of the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey Global Change study, "An integrated watershed scale response to global change in selected basins across the United States" was started in 2008. The long-term goal of this national study is to provide the foundation for hydrologically based climate change studies across the nation.

  14. Genomic counter-stress changes induced by the relaxation response.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeffery A Dusek

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Mind-body practices that elicit the relaxation response (RR have been used worldwide for millennia to prevent and treat disease. The RR is characterized by decreased oxygen consumption, increased exhaled nitric oxide, and reduced psychological distress. It is believed to be the counterpart of the stress response that exhibits a distinct pattern of physiology and transcriptional profile. We hypothesized that RR elicitation results in characteristic gene expression changes that can be used to measure physiological responses elicited by the RR in an unbiased fashion.We assessed whole blood transcriptional profiles in 19 healthy, long-term practitioners of daily RR practice (group M, 19 healthy controls (group N(1, and 20 N(1 individuals who completed 8 weeks of RR training (group N(2. 2209 genes were differentially expressed in group M relative to group N(1 (p<0.05 and 1561 genes in group N(2 compared to group N(1 (p<0.05. Importantly, 433 (p<10(-10 of 2209 and 1561 differentially expressed genes were shared among long-term (M and short-term practitioners (N(2. Gene ontology and gene set enrichment analyses revealed significant alterations in cellular metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation, generation of reactive oxygen species and response to oxidative stress in long-term and short-term practitioners of daily RR practice that may counteract cellular damage related to chronic psychological stress. A significant number of genes and pathways were confirmed in an independent validation set containing 5 N(1 controls, 5 N(2 short-term and 6 M long-term practitioners.This study provides the first compelling evidence that the RR elicits specific gene expression changes in short-term and long-term practitioners. Our results suggest consistent and constitutive changes in gene expression resulting from RR may relate to long term physiological effects. Our study may stimulate new investigations into applying transcriptional profiling for accurately measuring

  15. Explaining clinical behaviors using multiple theoretical models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eccles Martin P

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In the field of implementation research, there is an increased interest in use of theory when designing implementation research studies involving behavior change. In 2003, we initiated a series of five studies to establish a scientific rationale for interventions to translate research findings into clinical practice by exploring the performance of a number of different, commonly used, overlapping behavioral theories and models. We reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the methods, the performance of the theories, and consider where these methods sit alongside the range of methods for studying healthcare professional behavior change. Methods These were five studies of the theory-based cognitions and clinical behaviors (taking dental radiographs, performing dental restorations, placing fissure sealants, managing upper respiratory tract infections without prescribing antibiotics, managing low back pain without ordering lumbar spine x-rays of random samples of primary care dentists and physicians. Measures were derived for the explanatory theoretical constructs in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT, and Illness Representations specified by the Common Sense Self Regulation Model (CSSRM. We constructed self-report measures of two constructs from Learning Theory (LT, a measure of Implementation Intentions (II, and the Precaution Adoption Process. We collected data on theory-based cognitions (explanatory measures and two interim outcome measures (stated behavioral intention and simulated behavior by postal questionnaire survey during the 12-month period to which objective measures of behavior (collected from routine administrative sources were related. Planned analyses explored the predictive value of theories in explaining variance in intention, behavioral simulation and behavior. Results Response rates across the five surveys ranged from 21% to 48%; we achieved the target sample size for three of

  16. Explaining clinical behaviors using multiple theoretical models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eccles, Martin P; Grimshaw, Jeremy M; MacLennan, Graeme; Bonetti, Debbie; Glidewell, Liz; Pitts, Nigel B; Steen, Nick; Thomas, Ruth; Walker, Anne; Johnston, Marie

    2012-10-17

    In the field of implementation research, there is an increased interest in use of theory when designing implementation research studies involving behavior change. In 2003, we initiated a series of five studies to establish a scientific rationale for interventions to translate research findings into clinical practice by exploring the performance of a number of different, commonly used, overlapping behavioral theories and models. We reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the methods, the performance of the theories, and consider where these methods sit alongside the range of methods for studying healthcare professional behavior change. These were five studies of the theory-based cognitions and clinical behaviors (taking dental radiographs, performing dental restorations, placing fissure sealants, managing upper respiratory tract infections without prescribing antibiotics, managing low back pain without ordering lumbar spine x-rays) of random samples of primary care dentists and physicians. Measures were derived for the explanatory theoretical constructs in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), and Illness Representations specified by the Common Sense Self Regulation Model (CSSRM). We constructed self-report measures of two constructs from Learning Theory (LT), a measure of Implementation Intentions (II), and the Precaution Adoption Process. We collected data on theory-based cognitions (explanatory measures) and two interim outcome measures (stated behavioral intention and simulated behavior) by postal questionnaire survey during the 12-month period to which objective measures of behavior (collected from routine administrative sources) were related. Planned analyses explored the predictive value of theories in explaining variance in intention, behavioral simulation and behavior. Response rates across the five surveys ranged from 21% to 48%; we achieved the target sample size for three of the five surveys. For the predictor variables

  17. Is Dealing with Climate Change a Corporation’s Responsibility? A Social Contract Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unsworth, Kerrie L.; Russell, Sally V.; Davis, Matthew C.

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we argue that individuals – as members of society – play an important role in the expectations of whether or not companies are responsible for addressing environmental issues, and whether or not governments should regulate them. From this perspective of corporate social responsibility as a social contract we report the results of a survey of 1066 individuals. The aim of the survey was to assess participants’ belief in anthropogenic climate change, free-market ideology, and beliefs around who is responsible for dealing with climate change. Results showed that both climate change views and free market ideology have a strong effect on beliefs that companies are responsible for dealing with climate change and on support for regulatory policy to that end. Furthermore, we found that free market ideology is a barrier in the support of corporate regulatory policy. The implications of these findings for research, policy, and practice are discussed. PMID:27588009

  18. Coordinated approaches to quantify long-term ecosystem dynamics in response to global change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Y.; Melillo, J.; Niu, S.

    2011-01-01

    a coordinated approach that combines long-term, large-scale global change experiments with process studies and modeling. Long-term global change manipulative experiments, especially in high-priority ecosystems such as tropical forests and high-latitude regions, are essential to maximize information gain......Many serious ecosystem consequences of climate change will take decades or even centuries to emerge. Long-term ecological responses to global change are strongly regulated by slow processes, such as changes in species composition, carbon dynamics in soil and by long-lived plants, and accumulation...... to be the most effective strategy to gain the best information on long-term ecosystem dynamics in response to global change....

  19. Sound characteristics of Terapon jorbua as a response to temperature changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amron; Jaya, I.; Hestirianoto, T.; Juterzenka, K. v.

    2017-10-01

    The change of water temperature has potential impact on the behavior of aquatic animal including fish which generated by their sound productivity and characteristics. This research aimed to study the response of sound productivity and characteristics of Terapon jorbua to temperature change. As a response to temperature increase, T. jorbua to have decreased the number of sound productivity. Two characteristic parameters of fish sound, i.e. intensity and frequency as were quadratic increased during the water temperature rises. In contrast, pulse duration was quadratic decreased.

  20. Controlling response dependence in the measurement of change using the Rasch model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrich, David

    2017-01-01

    The advantages of using person location estimates from the Rasch model over raw scores for the measurement of change using a common test include the linearization of scores and the automatic handling of statistical properties of repeated measurements. However, the application of the model requires that the responses to the items are statistically independent in the sense that the specific responses to the items on the first time of testing do not affect the responses at a second time. This requirement implies that the responses to the items at both times of assessment are governed only by the invariant location parameters of the items at the two times of testing and the location parameters of each person each time. A specific form of dependence that is pertinent when the same items are used is when the observed response to an item at the second time of testing is affected by the response to the same item at the first time, a form of dependence which has been referred to as response dependence. This paper presents the logic of applying the Rasch model to quantify, control and remove the effect of response dependence in the measurement of change when the same items are used on two occasions. The logic is illustrated with four sets of simulation studies with dichotomous items and with a small example of real data. It is shown that the presence of response dependence can reduce the evidence of change, a reduction which may impact interpretations at the individual, research, and policy levels.

  1. A longitudinal study to explain strategies to change weight and muscles among normal weight and overweight children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCabe, M P; Ricciardelli, L A; Holt, K

    2005-12-01

    Previous research has indicated that both boys and girls strive for a slim body, with boys having an additional focus on a muscular body build. The current study was designed to evaluate the utility of a biopsychosocial model to explain body image and body change strategies among children. The study evaluated changes over time in body image and strategies to lose weight and increase muscles among 132 normal weight and 67 overweight boys (mean age = 9.23 years) and 158 normal weight and 55 overweight girls (mean age = 9.33 years). The predictive role of BMI, positive and negative affect, self-esteem and perceived sociocultural pressures to lose weight or increase muscle on body image and body change strategies over a 16 month period was evaluated. All participants completed the questionnaire on both occasions. The results demonstrated that both overweight boys and girls were more likely to be dissatisfied with their weight, place more importance on their weight, engage in more strategies to lose weight as well as perceive more pressure to lose weight. Overweight boys and girls were also more likely to report lower levels of self-esteem and positive affect, and higher levels of negative affect, and reported a reduction in their self-esteem over time. Regression analyses demonstrated that among overweight boys, low self-esteem and high levels of perceived pressure to lose weight predicted weight dissatisfaction; for overweight girls, weight dissatisfaction was also predicted by low levels of self-esteem. The implication of these findings in terms of factors contributing to the adoption of health risk behaviors among children is discussed.

  2. How Stakeholder Sensing and Anticipations Shape the Firm’s Strategic Response Capability

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hallin, Carina Antonia; Andersen, Torben Juul; Ooi, Can-Seng

    We outline a strategic response capability framework drawing on cognitive neuroscience to explain stakeholder sensing and anticipations as essential input to environmental analysis. Stakeholders receive stimuli from ongoing interactions with the firm and thereby sense current environmental changes...

  3. Ultrafast Photovoltaic Response in Ferroelectric Nanolayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Daranciang, Dan

    2012-02-15

    We show that light drives large-amplitude structural changes in thin films of the prototypical ferroelectric PbTiO3 via direct coupling to its intrinsic photovoltaic response. Using time-resolved x-ray scattering to visualize atomic displacements on femtosecond timescales, photoinduced changes in the unit-cell tetragonality are observed. These are driven by the motion of photogenerated free charges within the ferroelectric and can be simply explained by a model including both shift and screening currents, associated with the displacement of electrons first antiparallel to and then parallel to the ferroelectric polarization direction.

  4. Ultrafast Photovoltaic Response in Ferroelectric Nanolayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Daranciang, Dan

    2012-01-01

    We show that light drives large-amplitude structural changes in thin films of the prototypical ferroelectric PbTiO3 via direct coupling to its intrinsic photovoltaic response. Using time-resolved x-ray scattering to visualize atomic displacements on femtosecond timescales, photoinduced changes in the unit-cell tetragonality are observed. These are driven by the motion of photogenerated free charges within the ferroelectric and can be simply explained by a model including both shift and screening currents, associated with the displacement of electrons first antiparallel to and then parallel to the ferroelectric polarization direction.

  5. Explaining Support Vector Machines: A Color Based Nomogram.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vanya Van Belle

    Full Text Available Support vector machines (SVMs are very popular tools for classification, regression and other problems. Due to the large choice of kernels they can be applied with, a large variety of data can be analysed using these tools. Machine learning thanks its popularity to the good performance of the resulting models. However, interpreting the models is far from obvious, especially when non-linear kernels are used. Hence, the methods are used as black boxes. As a consequence, the use of SVMs is less supported in areas where interpretability is important and where people are held responsible for the decisions made by models.In this work, we investigate whether SVMs using linear, polynomial and RBF kernels can be explained such that interpretations for model-based decisions can be provided. We further indicate when SVMs can be explained and in which situations interpretation of SVMs is (hitherto not possible. Here, explainability is defined as the ability to produce the final decision based on a sum of contributions which depend on one single or at most two input variables.Our experiments on simulated and real-life data show that explainability of an SVM depends on the chosen parameter values (degree of polynomial kernel, width of RBF kernel and regularization constant. When several combinations of parameter values yield the same cross-validation performance, combinations with a lower polynomial degree or a larger kernel width have a higher chance of being explainable.This work summarizes SVM classifiers obtained with linear, polynomial and RBF kernels in a single plot. Linear and polynomial kernels up to the second degree are represented exactly. For other kernels an indication of the reliability of the approximation is presented. The complete methodology is available as an R package and two apps and a movie are provided to illustrate the possibilities offered by the method.

  6. Common cortical responses evoked by appearance, disappearance and change of the human face

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kida Tetsuo

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To segregate luminance-related, face-related and non-specific components involved in spatio-temporal dynamics of cortical activations to a face stimulus, we recorded cortical responses to face appearance (Onset, disappearance (Offset, and change (Change using magnetoencephalography. Results Activity in and around the primary visual cortex (V1/V2 showed luminance-dependent behavior. Any of the three events evoked activity in the middle occipital gyrus (MOG at 150 ms and temporo-parietal junction (TPJ at 250 ms after the onset of each event. Onset and Change activated the fusiform gyrus (FG, while Offset did not. This FG activation showed a triphasic waveform, consistent with results of intracranial recordings in humans. Conclusion Analysis employed in this study successfully segregated four different elements involved in the spatio-temporal dynamics of cortical activations in response to a face stimulus. The results show the responses of MOG and TPJ to be associated with non-specific processes, such as the detection of abrupt changes or exogenous attention. Activity in FG corresponds to a face-specific response recorded by intracranial studies, and that in V1/V2 is related to a change in luminance.

  7. Streamflow response to climate and landuse changes in a coastal watershed in North Carolina

    Science.gov (United States)

    S. Qi; G. Sun; Y. Wang; S.G. McNulty; J.A. Moore Myers

    2009-01-01

    It is essential to examine the sensitivity of hydrologic responses to climate and landuse change across different physiographic regions in order to formulate sound water management policies for local response to projected global change. This study used the a simulation model to examine the potential impacts of climate and landuse changes on streamflow of the...

  8. On the role of circulation changes in future Northern Hemisphere hydroclimate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seager, R.; Ting, M.; Simpson, I.; Shaw, T.

    2015-12-01

    The "dry-get-drier, wet-get-wetter", otherwise known as "rich-get-richer, poor-get-poorer" concept of the hydrological cycle response to rising greenhouse gases was a major advance in terms of perception of climate change in the research community and the winder public. It provides a good description of hydroclimate change in many regions but especially over the oceans. Here there is a clear divide between wet regions, with positive precipitation minus evaporation (P-E), and dry regions with negative P-E. However over land, long term P-E is either zero or positive and balanced by streamflow and it is not so simple to divide between wet and dry regions. What is more, the simple wet-get-wetter, dry-get-drier paradigm is based only on thermodynamics with rising humidity causing increased amplitude of moisture convergence and moisture divergence and, hence, larger variations in P-E. It is now being realized more and more that changes in atmospheric circulation can also drive changes in moisture convergence/divergence and that a full explanation of hydrological cycle change requires attention to circulation change. This will be illustrated with reference to North America and the Mediterranean region. In both case changes in the mean circulation are important drivers of regional hydroclimate change. Model-projected North American hydroclimate change in winter is strongly influenced by a lengthening of the zonal scale of intermediate-scale stationary waves forced by extratropical heating. Wetting at the west coast, drying in the interior southwest and wetting at the US east coast are stronger in models that have a climatological wave field that exaggerates these waves than in models that have more realistic amplitude wave fields. Intense Mediterranean region drying in both summer and winter is also explained in part by shifts towards regional high pressure that, as of now, have not been fully explained. In neither southwest North America nor the Mediterranean, despite the

  9. Changing Climate Drives Lagging and Accelerating Glacier Responses and Accelerating Adjustments of the Hazard Regime

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kargel, Jeffrey

    2013-04-01

    It is virtually universally recognized among climate and cryospheric scientists that climate and greenhouse gas abundances are closely correlated. Disagreements mainly pertain to the fundamental triggers for large fluctuations in climate and greenhouse gases during the pre-industrial era, and exactly how coupling is achieved amongst the dynamic solid Earth, the Sun, orbital and rotational dynamics, greenhouse gas abundances, and climate. Also unsettled is the climate sensitivity defined as the absolute linkage between the magnitude of climate warming/cooling and greenhouse gas increase/decrease. Important questions concern lagging responses (either greenhouse gases lagging climate fluctuations, or vice versa) and the causes of the lags. In terms of glacier and ice sheet responses to climate change, there also exist several processes causing lagging responses to climate change inputs. The simplest parameterization giving a glacier's lagging response time, τ, is that given by Jóhanneson et al. (1989), modified slightly here as τ = b/h, where b is a measure of ablation rate and h is a measure of glacier thickness. The exact definitions of τ, b, and h are subject to some interpretive license, but for a back-of-the-envelope approximation, we may take b as the magnitude of the mean ablation rate over the whole ablation area, and h as the mean glacier thickness in the glacier ablation zone. τ remains a bit ambiguous but may be considered as an exponential time scale for a decreasing response of b to a climatic step change. For some climate changes, b and h can be taken as the values prior to the climate change, but for large climatic shifts, this parameterization must be iterated. The actual response of a glacier at any time is the sum of exponentially decreasing responses from past changes. (Several aspects of glacier dynamics cause various glacier responses to differ from this idealized glacier-response theory.) Some important details relating to the retreat (or

  10. Phylogenetic conservatism and trait correlates of spring phenological responses to climate change in northeast China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Du, Yanjun; Chen, Jingru; Willis, Charles G; Zhou, Zhiqiang; Liu, Tong; Dai, Wujun; Zhao, Yuan; Ma, Keping

    2017-09-01

    Climate change has resulted in major changes in plant phenology across the globe that includes leaf-out date and flowering time. The ability of species to respond to climate change, in part, depends on their response to climate as a phenological cue in general. Species that are not phenologically responsive may suffer in the face of continued climate change. Comparative studies of phenology have found phylogeny to be a reliable predictor of mean leaf-out date and flowering time at both the local and global scales. This is less true for flowering time response (i.e., the correlation between phenological timing and climate factors), while no study to date has explored whether the response of leaf-out date to climate factors exhibits phylogenetic signal. We used a 52-year observational phenological dataset for 52 woody species from the Forest Botanical Garden of Heilongjiang Province, China, to test phylogenetic signal in leaf-out date and flowering time, as well as, the response of these two phenological traits to both temperature and winter precipitation. Leaf-out date and flowering time were significantly responsive to temperature for most species, advancing, on average, 3.11 and 2.87 day/°C, respectively. Both leaf-out and flowering, and their responses to temperature exhibited significant phylogenetic signals. The response of leaf-out date to precipitation exhibited no phylogenetic signal, while flowering time response to precipitation did. Native species tended to have a weaker flowering response to temperature than non-native species. Earlier leaf-out species tended to have a greater response to winter precipitation. This study is the first to assess phylogenetic signal of leaf-out response to climate change, which suggests, that climate change has the potential to shape the plant communities, not only through flowering sensitivity, but also through leaf-out sensitivity.

  11. Anticipated water quality changes in response to climate change and potential consequences for inland fishes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yushun; Todd, Andrew S.; Murphy, Margaret H.; Lomnicky, Gregg

    2016-01-01

    Healthy freshwater ecosystems are a critical component of the world's economy, with a critical role in maintaining public health, inland biological diversity, and overall quality of life. Globally, our climate is changing, with air temperature and precipitation regimes deviating significantly from historical patterns. Healthy freshwater ecosystems are a critical component of the world's economy, with a critical role in maintaining public health, inland biological diversity, and overall quality of life. Globally, our climate is changing, with air temperature and precipitation regimes deviating significantly from historical patterns. Changes anticipated with climate change in the future are likely to have a profound effect on inland aquatic ecosystems through diverse pathways, including changes in water quality. In this brief article, we present an initial discussion of several of the water quality responses that can be anticipated to occur within inland water bodies with climate change and how those changes are likely to impact fishes.

  12. Modeling the role of behavior in wildlife responses to landscape change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Land-use change alters landscapes at different rates and to different degrees. Wildlife responses to shifting habitat conditions vary from species to species depending on the rate of landscape change, species’ life history traits, and aspects of behavior such as dispersal patter...

  13. Linear response of vibrated granular systems to sudden changes in the vibration intensity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brey, J. Javier; Prados, A.

    2001-01-01

    The short-term memory effects recently observed in vibration-induced compaction of granular materials are studied. It is shown that they can be explained by means of quite plausible hypothesis about the mesoscopic description of the evolution of the system. The existence of a critical time separating regimes of 'anomalous' and 'normal' responses is predicted. A simple model fitting into the general framework is analyzed in the detail. The relationship between this paper and previous studies is discussed

  14. A global synthesis of animal phenological responses to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohen, Jeremy M.; Lajeunesse, Marc J.; Rohr, Jason R.

    2018-03-01

    Shifts in phenology are already resulting in disruptions to the timing of migration and breeding, and asynchronies between interacting species1-5. Recent syntheses have concluded that trophic level1, latitude6 and how phenological responses are measured7 are key to determining the strength of phenological responses to climate change. However, researchers still lack a comprehensive framework that can predict responses to climate change globally and across diverse taxa. Here, we synthesize hundreds of published time series of animal phenology from across the planet to show that temperature primarily drives phenological responses at mid-latitudes, with precipitation becoming important at lower latitudes, probably reflecting factors that drive seasonality in each region. Phylogeny and body size are associated with the strength of phenological shifts, suggesting emerging asynchronies between interacting species that differ in body size, such as hosts and parasites and predators and prey. Finally, although there are many compelling biological explanations for spring phenological delays, some examples of delays are associated with short annual records that are prone to sampling error. Our findings arm biologists with predictions concerning which climatic variables and organismal traits drive phenological shifts.

  15. Do differences in attitudes explain differences in national climate change policies?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tjernstroem, E.; Tietenberg, T.

    2008-01-01

    In meeting the threat posed by climate change nations have responded quite differently. Using an extensive data set this study explores factors that affect individuals' attitudes towards climate change and how those attitudes ultimately affect national climate change policy. The results show that attitudes do indeed matter in implementing policy and that attitudes are shaped not only by how individuals react to the specific attributes of climate change, but also by information, by the openness of society and by attitudes toward the trustworthiness of government. (author)

  16. Children's Theories and the Drive to Explain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwitzgebel, Eric

    Debate has been growing in developmental psychology over how much the cognitive development of children is like theory change in science. Useful debate on this topic requires a clear understanding of what it would be for a child to have a theory. I argue that existing accounts of theories within philosophy of science and developmental psychology either are less precise than is ideal for the task or cannot capture everyday theorizing of the sort that children, if they theorize, must do. I then propose an account of theories that ties theories and explanation very closely together, treating theories primarily as products of a drive to explain. I clarify some of the positions people have taken regarding the theory theory of development, and I conclude by proposing that psychologists interested in the ''theory theory'' look for patterns of affect and arousal in development that would accompany the existence of a drive to explain.

  17. Responses to climate and economic risks and opportunities across national and ecological boundaries: changing household strategies on the Mongolian plateau

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brown, Daniel G; Agrawal, Arun; Wang, Jun; Sass, Daniel A; Hua, Jin; Xie, Yichun

    2013-01-01

    Climate changes on the Mongolian Plateau are creating new challenges for the households and communities of the region. Much of the existing research on household choices in response to climate variability and change focuses on environmental risks and stresses. In contrast, our analysis highlights the importance of taking into account environmental and economic opportunities in explaining household adaptation choices. We surveyed over 750 households arrayed along an ecological gradient and matched across the national border in Mongolia and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, asking what changes in livelihoods strategies households made over the last ten years, and analyzed these choices in two broad categories of options: diversification and livestock management. We combined these data with remotely sensed information about vegetation growth and self-reported exposure to price fluctuations. Our statistical results showed that households experiencing lower ecological and economic variability, higher average levels of vegetation growth, and with greater levels of material wealth, were often those that undertook more actions to improve their conditions in the face of variability. The findings have implications both for how interventions aimed at supporting ongoing choices might be targeted and for theory construction related to social adaptation. (letter)

  18. Trajectories of grassland ecosystem change in response to experimental manipulations of precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knapp, Alan; Smith, Melinda; Collins, Scott; Blair, John; Briggs, John

    2010-05-01

    Understanding and predicting the dynamics of ecological systems has always been central to Ecology. Today, ecologists recognize that in addition to natural and human-caused disturbances, a fundamentally different type of ecosystem change is being driven by the combined and cumulative effects of anthropogenic activities affecting earth's climate and biogeochemical cycles. This type of change is historically unprecedented in magnitude, and as a consequence, such alterations are leading to trajectories of change in ecological responses that differ radically from those observed in the past. Through both short- and long-term experiments, we have been trying to better understand the mechanisms and consequences of ecological change in grassland ecosystems likely to result from changes in precipitation regimes. We have manipulated a key resource for most grasslands (water) and modulators of water availability (temperature) in field experiments that vary from 1-17 years in duration, and used even longer-term monitoring data from the Konza Prairie LTER program to assess how grassland communities and ecosystems will respond to changes in water availability. Trajectories of change in aboveground net primary production (ANPP) in sites subjected to 17 years of soil water augmentation were strongly non-linear with a marked increase in the stimulation of ANPP after year 8 (from 25% to 65%). Lags in alterations in grassland community composition are posited to be responsible for the form of this trajectory of change. In contrast, responses in ANPP to chronic increases in soil moisture variability appear to have decreased over a 10-yr period of manipulation, although the net effects of more variable precipitation inputs were to reduce ANPP, alter the genetic structure of the dominant grass species, increase soil nitrogen availability and reduce soil respiration. The loss of sensitivity to increased resource variability was not reflected in adjacent plots where precipitation was

  19. Glacial ocean circulation and stratification explained by reduced atmospheric temperature

    OpenAIRE

    Jansen, Malte F.

    2016-01-01

    To understand climatic swings between glacial and interglacial climates we need to explain the observed fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), which in turn are most likely driven by changes in the deep ocean circulation. This study presents a model for differences in the deep ocean circulation between glacial and interglacial climates consistent with both our physical understanding and various proxy observations. The results suggest that observed changes in ocean circulation and s...

  20. Response of winter fine particulate matter concentrations to emission and meteorology changes in North China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Gao

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The winter haze is a growing problem in North China, but the causes are not well understood. The chemistry version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-Chem was applied in North China to examine how PM2.5 concentrations change in response to changes in emissions (sulfur dioxide (SO2, black carbon (BC, organic carbon (OC, ammonia (NH3, and nitrogen oxides (NOx, as well as meteorology (temperature, relative humidity (RH, and wind speeds changes in winter. From 1960 to 2010, the dramatic changes in emissions lead to +260 % increases in sulfate, +320 % increases in nitrate, +300 % increases in ammonium, +160 % increases in BC, and +50 % increases in OC. The responses of PM2.5 to individual emission species indicate that the simultaneous increases in SO2, NH3, and NOx emissions dominated the increases in PM2.5 concentrations. PM2.5 shows more notable increases in response to changes in SO2 and NH3 as compared to increases in response to changes in NOx emissions. In addition, OC also accounts for a large fraction in PM2.5 changes. These results provide some implications for haze pollution control. The responses of PM2.5 concentrations to temperature increases are dominated by changes in wind fields and mixing heights. PM2.5 shows relatively smaller changes in response to temperature increases and RH decreases compared to changes in response to changes in wind speed and aerosol feedbacks. From 1960 to 2010, aerosol feedbacks have been significantly enhanced due to higher aerosol loadings. The discussions in this study indicate that dramatic changes in emissions are the main cause of increasing haze events in North China, and long-term trends in atmospheric circulations may be another important cause since PM2.5 is shown to be substantially affected by wind speed and aerosol feedbacks. More studies are necessary to get a better understanding of the aerosol–circulation interactions.

  1. The zonal-mean and regional tropospheric pressure responses to changes in ionospheric potential

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Limin; Tinsley, Brian; Wang, Lin; Burns, Gary

    2018-06-01

    Global reanalysis data reveal daily surface pressure responses to changes in the global ionospheric potential in both polar and sub-polar regions. We use 21 years of data to show that the pressure response to externally-induced ionospheric potential changes, that are due to the interplanetary magnetic field east-west (IMF By) component, are present in two separate decadal intervals, and follow the opposite ionospheric potential changes in the Arctic and Antarctic for a given By. We use the 4 years of available data to show that the pressure responses to changes in internally generated ionospheric potential, that are caused by low-latitude thunderstorms and highly electrified clouds, agree in sign and sensitivity with those externally generated. We have determined that the daily varying pressure responses are stronger in local winter and spring. The pressure responses at polar latitudes are predominantly over the Antarctic and Greenland ice caps, and those at sub-polar latitudes are of opposite sign, mainly over oceans. A lead-lag analysis confirms that the responses maximize within two days of the ionospheric potential input. Regions of surface pressure fluctuating by about 4 hPa in winter are found with ionospheric potential changes of about 40 kV. The consistent pressure response to the independent external and internal inputs strongly supports the reality of a cloud microphysical mechanism affected by the global electric circuit. A speculative mechanism involves the ionosphere-earth current density Jz, which produces space charge at cloud boundaries and electrically charged droplets and aerosol particles. Ultrafine aerosol particles, under the action of electro-anti-scavenging, are enabled to grow to condensation nuclei size, affecting cloud microphysics and cloud opacity and surface pressure on time scales of hours.

  2. America's Climate Choices: Informing an Effective Response to Climate Change (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liverman, D. M.; McConnell, M. C.; Raven, P.

    2010-12-01

    At the request of Congress, the National Academy of Sciences convened a series of coordinated activities to provide advice on actions and strategies that the nation can take to respond to climate change. As part of this suite of activities, this study examines information needs and recommends ways the federal government can better inform responses by enhancing climate change and greenhouse gas information and reporting systems and by improving climate communication and education. Demand for better information to support climate-related decisions has grown rapidly as people, organizations, and governments have moved ahead with plans and actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change. To meet this demand, good information systems and services are needed. Without such systems, decision makers cannot evaluate whether particular policies and actions are achieving their goals or should be modified. Although the many non-federal efforts to reduce emissions and/or adapt to future climate changes carry considerable potential to reduce risks related to climate change, there is currently no comprehensive way to assess the effectiveness of those efforts. In addition, the diverse climate change responses to date have resulted in a patchwork of regional, state, and local policies that has prompted many state and business leaders to call for the development of a more predictable and coherent policy environment at the federal level. This report demonstrates that the nation lacks comprehensive, robust, and credible information and reporting systems to inform climate choices and evaluate their effectiveness. This report also argues that decision makers can benefit from a systematic and iterative framework for responding to climate change, in which decisions and policies can be revised in light of new information and experience and that improved information and reporting systems allow for ongoing evaluation of responses to climate risks. The

  3. ECJ judges read the morning papers. Explaining the turnaround of European citizenship jurisprudence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Blauberger, Michael; Heindlmaier, Anita; Kramer, Dion

    2018-01-01

    . While the ECJ extended EU citizens’ rights even against strong opposition by member state governments, its recent shift reflects changes in the broader political context, i.e. the politicisation of free movement in the European Union (EU). The article theorizes Court responsiveness to politicisation......Recent jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) marks a striking shift towards a more restrictive interpretation of EU citizens’ rights. The Court’s turnaround is not only highly relevant for practical debates about ‘Social Europe’ or ‘welfare migration’, but also enlightening from...... a more general, theoretical viewpoint. Several recent studies on the ECJ have argued that the Court is largely constrained by member state governments’ threats of legislative override and non-compliance. We show that an additional mechanism is necessary to explain the Court’s turnaround on citizenship...

  4. Modeling Answer Change Behavior: An Application of a Generalized Item Response Tree Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeon, Minjeong; De Boeck, Paul; van der Linden, Wim

    2017-01-01

    We present a novel application of a generalized item response tree model to investigate test takers' answer change behavior. The model allows us to simultaneously model the observed patterns of the initial and final responses after an answer change as a function of a set of latent traits and item parameters. The proposed application is illustrated…

  5. Plagiarism explainer for students

    OpenAIRE

    Barba, Lorena A.

    2016-01-01

    A slide deck to serve as an explainer of plagiarism in academic settings, with a personal viewpoint. For my students.Also on SpeakerDeck:https://speakerdeck.com/labarba/plagiarism-explainer-for-students(The slide viewer on SpeakerDeck is much nicer.)

  6. Phenotypic plasticity as an adaptive response to predictable and unpredictable environmental changes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Manenti, Tommaso

    Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of a genotype to modify its phenotype in response to environmental changes as a consequence of an interaction between genes and environment (Bradshaw, 1965). Plasticity contributes to the vast phenotypic variation observed in natural populations. Many examples...... of a plastic response are expected to depend on the environmental conditions experienced by organisms. Thus, in populations exposed to a non-changing environment, the plastic machinery might be a waste of resources. Contrary, in populations experiencing varying environmental conditions, plasticity is expected...... such as anti-predator behaviours or the activation of mechanisms to prevent thermal stress injuries suggest that plasticity is an adaptive response, favoured by natural selection. At the same time, organisms do show limited plastic responses, indicating that this ability is not for free. Costs and benefits...

  7. German financial media's responsiveness to Deutsche Bank's cultural change

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Strauß, N.

    2015-01-01

    Based on first-order and second-order agenda building theory, this study analyzes the responsiveness of German financial media to frames of the "cultural change" proclaimed in the banking industry, exemplified by Deutsche Bank. Findings suggest a difference between the two major German financial

  8. Climate model diversity in the Northern Hemisphere Polar vortex response to climate change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simpson, I.; Seager, R.; Hitchcock, P.; Cohen, N.

    2017-12-01

    Global climate models vary widely in their predictions of the future of the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex, with some showing a significant strengthening of the vortex, some showing a significant weakening and others displaying a response that is not outside of the range expected from internal variability alone. This inter-model spread in stratospheric predictions may account for some inter-model spread in tropospheric predictions with important implications for the storm tracks and regional climate change, particularly for the North Atlantic sector. Here, our current state of understanding of this model spread and its tropospheric impacts will be reviewed. Previous studies have proposed relationships between a models polar vortex response to climate change and its present day vortex climatology while others have demonstrated links between a models polar vortex response and changing wave activity coming up from the troposphere below under a warming climate. The extent to which these mechanisms can account for the spread in polar vortex changes exhibited by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, phase 5 models will be assessed. In addition, preliminary results from a series of idealized experiments with the Community Atmosphere Model will be presented. In these experiments, nudging of the stratospheric zonal mean state has been imposed to mimic the inter-model spread in the polar vortex response to climate change so that the downward influence of the spread in zonal mean stratospheric responses on the tropospheric circulation can be assessed within one model.

  9. Responses of mycorrhizal fungi and other rootassociated fungi to climate change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Merrild, Marie Porret

    Climate change is expected to affect many terrestrial ecosystem processes. Mycorrhizal fungi are important to soil carbon (C) and nutrient cycling thus changes in abundance of mycorrhizal fungi could alter ecosystem functioning. The aim of the present thesis was therefore to investigate responses...... of mycorrhizal fungi to climate change in a seasonal and long-term perspective. Effects of elevated CO2 (510 ppm), night-time warming and extended summer drought were investigated in the long-term field experiment CLIMAITE located in a Danish semi-natural heathland. Mycorrhizal colonization was investigated...... levels. Colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi increased under elevated CO2 and warming in spring while ericoid mycorrhiza (ErM) colonisation decreased in response to drought and warming. Increased AM colonization correlated with higher phosphorus and nitrogen root pools. Dark septate...

  10. Tuned Normalization Explains the Size of Attention Modulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Amy M.; Ray, Supratim; Maunsell, John H. R.

    2012-01-01

    SUMMARY The effect of attention on firing rates varies considerably within a single cortical area. The firing rate of some neurons is greatly modulated by attention while others are hardly affected. The reason for this variability across neurons is unknown. We found that the variability in attention modulation across neurons in area MT of macaques can be well explained by variability in the strength of tuned normalization across neurons. The presence of tuned normalization also explains a striking asymmetry in attention effects within neurons: when two stimuli are in a neuron’s receptive field, directing attention to the preferred stimulus modulates firing rates more than directing attention to the non-preferred stimulus. These findings show that much of the neuron-to-neuron variability in modulation of responses by attention depends on variability in the way the neurons process multiple stimuli, rather than differences in the influence of top-down signals related to attention. PMID:22365552

  11. Tuned normalization explains the size of attention modulations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Amy M; Ray, Supratim; Maunsell, John H R

    2012-02-23

    The effect of attention on firing rates varies considerably within a single cortical area. The firing rate of some neurons is greatly modulated by attention while others are hardly affected. The reason for this variability across neurons is unknown. We found that the variability in attention modulation across neurons in area MT of macaques can be well explained by variability in the strength of tuned normalization across neurons. The presence of tuned normalization also explains a striking asymmetry in attention effects within neurons: when two stimuli are in a neuron's receptive field, directing attention to the preferred stimulus modulates firing rates more than directing attention to the nonpreferred stimulus. These findings show that much of the neuron-to-neuron variability in modulation of responses by attention depends on variability in the way the neurons process multiple stimuli, rather than differences in the influence of top-down signals related to attention. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Changes in DNA methylation fingerprint of Quercus ilex trees in response to experimental field drought simulating projected climate change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rico, L; Ogaya, R; Barbeta, A; Peñuelas, J

    2014-03-01

    Rapid genetic changes in plants have been reported in response to current climate change. We assessed the capacity of trees in a natural forest to produce rapid acclimation responses based on epigenetic modifications. We analysed natural populations of Quercus ilex, the dominant tree species of Mediterranean forests, using the methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) technique to assess patterns and levels of methylation in individuals from unstressed forest plots and from plots experimentally exposed to drought for 12 years at levels projected for the coming decades. The percentage of hypermethylated loci increased, and the percentage of fully methylated loci clearly decreased in plants exposed to drought. Multivariate analyses exploring the status of methylation at MSAP loci also showed clear differentiation depending on stress. The PCA scores for the MSAP profiles clearly separated the genetic from the epigenetic structure, and also significantly separated the samples within each group in response to drought. Changes in DNA methylation highlight the large capacity of plants to rapidly acclimate to changing environmental conditions, including trees with long life spans, and our results demonstrate those changes. These changes, although unable to prevent the decreased growth and higher mortality associated with this experimental drought, occurred together with a dampening in such decreases as the long-term treatment progressed. © 2013 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

  13. Quaternary climate changes explain diversity among reptiles and amphibians

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bastos Araujo, Miguel; Nogués-Bravo, David; Diniz-Filho, Alexandre F.

    2008-01-01

    debated without reaching consensus. Here, we test the proposition that European species richness of reptiles and amphibians is driven by climate changes in the Quaternary. We find that climate stability between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the present day is a better predictor of species richness...

  14. Spatially tuned normalization explains attention modulation variance within neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ni, Amy M; Maunsell, John H R

    2017-09-01

    Spatial attention improves perception of attended parts of a scene, a behavioral enhancement accompanied by modulations of neuronal firing rates. These modulations vary in size across neurons in the same brain area. Models of normalization explain much of this variance in attention modulation with differences in tuned normalization across neurons (Lee J, Maunsell JHR. PLoS One 4: e4651, 2009; Ni AM, Ray S, Maunsell JHR. Neuron 73: 803-813, 2012). However, recent studies suggest that normalization tuning varies with spatial location both across and within neurons (Ruff DA, Alberts JJ, Cohen MR. J Neurophysiol 116: 1375-1386, 2016; Verhoef BE, Maunsell JHR. eLife 5: e17256, 2016). Here we show directly that attention modulation and normalization tuning do in fact covary within individual neurons, in addition to across neurons as previously demonstrated. We recorded the activity of isolated neurons in the middle temporal area of two rhesus monkeys as they performed a change-detection task that controlled the focus of spatial attention. Using the same two drifting Gabor stimuli and the same two receptive field locations for each neuron, we found that switching which stimulus was presented at which location affected both attention modulation and normalization in a correlated way within neurons. We present an equal-maximum-suppression spatially tuned normalization model that explains this covariance both across and within neurons: each stimulus generates equally strong suppression of its own excitatory drive, but its suppression of distant stimuli is typically less. This new model specifies how the tuned normalization associated with each stimulus location varies across space both within and across neurons, changing our understanding of the normalization mechanism and how attention modulations depend on this mechanism. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Tuned normalization studies have demonstrated that the variance in attention modulation size seen across neurons from the same cortical

  15. 77 FR 19661 - Draft National Water Program 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-02

    ... 2012 Strategy: Response to Climate Change AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice... change challenges to its mission of protecting human health and the environment. Climate change alters... even temporal nature of effects, climate change will pose challenges to various aspects of water...

  16. From sounds to words: a neurocomputational model of adaptation, inhibition and memory processes in auditory change detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garagnani, Max; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2011-01-01

    Most animals detect sudden changes in trains of repeated stimuli but only some can learn a wide range of sensory patterns and recognise them later, a skill crucial for the evolutionary success of higher mammals. Here we use a neural model mimicking the cortical anatomy of sensory and motor areas and their connections to explain brain activity indexing auditory change and memory access. Our simulations indicate that while neuronal adaptation and local inhibition of cortical activity can explain aspects of change detection as observed when a repeated unfamiliar sound changes in frequency, the brain dynamics elicited by auditory stimulation with well-known patterns (such as meaningful words) cannot be accounted for on the basis of adaptation and inhibition alone. Specifically, we show that the stronger brain responses observed to familiar stimuli in passive oddball tasks are best explained in terms of activation of memory circuits that emerged in the cortex during the learning of these stimuli. Such memory circuits, and the activation enhancement they entail, are absent for unfamiliar stimuli. The model illustrates how basic neurobiological mechanisms, including neuronal adaptation, lateral inhibition, and Hebbian learning, underlie neuronal assembly formation and dynamics, and differentially contribute to the brain's major change detection response, the mismatch negativity. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Exploiting temporal variability to understand tree recruitment response to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ines Ibanez; James S. Clark; Shannon LaDeau; Janneke Hill Ris Lambers

    2007-01-01

    Predicting vegetation shifts under climate change is a challenging endeavor, given the complex interactions between biotic and abiotic variables that influence demographic rates. To determine how current trends and variation in climate change affect seedling establishment, we analyzed demographic responses to spatiotemporal variation to temperature and soil moisture in...

  18. Decreases in beetle body size linked to climate change and warming temperatures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Michelle; Kaur, Katrina M; Soleimani Pari, Sina; Sarai, Karnjit; Chan, Denessa; Yao, Christine H; Porto, Paula; Toor, Anmol; Toor, Harpawantaj S; Fograscher, Katrina

    2018-05-01

    Body size is a fundamental ecological trait and is correlated with population dynamics, community structure and function, and ecosystem fluxes. Laboratory data from broad taxonomic groups suggest that a widespread response to a warming world may be an overall decrease in organism body size. However, given the myriad of biotic and abiotic factors that can also influence organism body size in the wild, it is unclear whether results from these laboratory assays hold in nature. Here we use datasets spanning 30 to 100 years to examine whether the body size of wild-caught beetles has changed over time, whether body size changes are correlated with increased temperatures, and we frame these results using predictions derived from a quantitative review of laboratory responses of 22 beetle species to temperature. We found that 95% of laboratory-reared beetles decreased in size with increased rearing temperature, with larger-bodied species shrinking disproportionately more than smaller-bodied beetles. In addition, the museum datasets revealed that larger-bodied beetle species have decreased in size over time, that mean beetle body size explains much of the interspecific variation in beetle responses to temperature, and that long-term beetle size changes are explained by increases in autumn temperature and decreases in spring temperature in this region. Our data demonstrate that the relationship between body size and temperature of wild-caught beetles matches relatively well with results from laboratory studies, and that variation in this relationship is largely explained by interspecific variation in mean beetle body size. This long-term beetle dataset is one of the most comprehensive arthropod body size datasets compiled to date, it improves predictions regarding the shrinking of organisms with global climate change, and together with the meta-analysis data, call for new hypotheses to explain why larger-bodied organisms may be more sensitive to temperature. © 2018 The

  19. Complexity explained

    CERN Document Server

    Erdi, Peter

    2008-01-01

    This book explains why complex systems research is important in understanding the structure, function and dynamics of complex natural and social phenomena. Readers will learn the basic concepts and methods of complex system research.

  20. Climate Change, Health, and Communication: A Primer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chadwick, Amy E

    2016-01-01

    Climate change is one of the most serious and pervasive challenges facing us today. Our changing climate has implications not only for the ecosystems upon which we depend, but also for human health. Health communication scholars are well-positioned to aid in the mitigation of and response to climate change and its health effects. To help theorists, researchers, and practitioners engage in these efforts, this primer explains relevant issues and vocabulary associated with climate change and its impacts on health. First, this primer provides an overview of climate change, its causes and consequences, and its impacts on health. Then, the primer describes ways to decrease impacts and identifies roles for health communication scholars in efforts to address climate change and its health effects.

  1. Wealth, wages and wedlock : Explaining the college gender gap reversal

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reijnders, Laurie

    2018-01-01

    We study the role of changes in the wage structure and expectations about marriage in explaining the college gender gap reversal. With strongly diminishing marginal utility of wealth and in the presence of a gender wage gap, single women have a greater incentive than single men to invest in

  2. A model of the responses of ecotones to climate change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Noble, I.R. (Australian National University, Canberra, ACT (Australia). Research School of Biological Sciences, Ecosystem Dynamics Group)

    1993-08-01

    It has been suggested that global climatic change may be detected by monitoring the positions of ecotones. The author built a model of the dynamics of ecotones similar to those found in altitudinal or latitudinal treelines, where a slow tendency for the ecotone to advance is counterbalanced by disturbances such as fire or landslides. The model showed that the response of such ecotones to a wide range of simulated climate changes was slow and that the ecotone front was dissected. It would appear that such ecotones would not make suitable sites for monitoring climate change.

  3. The wireless internet explained

    CERN Document Server

    Rhoton, John

    2001-01-01

    The Wireless Internet Explained covers the full spectrum of wireless technologies from a wide range of vendors, including initiatives by Microsoft and Compaq. The Wireless Internet Explained takes a practical look at wireless technology. Rhoton explains the concepts behind the physics, and provides an overview that clarifies the convoluted set of standards heaped together under the umbrella of wireless. It then expands on these technical foundations to give a panorama of the increasingly crowded landscape of wireless product offerings. When it comes to actual implementation the book gives abundant down-to-earth advice on topics ranging from the selection and deployment of mobile devices to the extremely sensitive subject of security.Written by an expert on Internet messaging, the author of Digital Press''s successful Programmer''s Guide to Internet Mail and X.400 and SMTP: Battle of the E-mail Protocols, The Wireless Internet Explained describes and evaluates the current state of the fast-growing and crucial...

  4. Improving models to predict phenological responses to global change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Richardson, Andrew D. [Harvard College, Cambridge, MA (United States)

    2015-11-25

    The term phenology describes both the seasonal rhythms of plants and animals, and the study of these rhythms. Plant phenological processes, including, for example, when leaves emerge in the spring and change color in the autumn, are highly responsive to variation in weather (e.g. a warm vs. cold spring) as well as longer-term changes in climate (e.g. warming trends and changes in the timing and amount of rainfall). We conducted a study to investigate the phenological response of northern peatland communities to global change. Field work was conducted at the SPRUCE experiment in northern Minnesota, where we installed 10 digital cameras. Imagery from the cameras is being used to track shifts in plant phenology driven by elevated carbon dioxide and elevated temperature in the different SPRUCE experimental treatments. Camera imagery and derived products (“greenness”) is being posted in near-real time on a publicly available web page (http://phenocam.sr.unh.edu/webcam/gallery/). The images will provide a permanent visual record of the progression of the experiment over the next 10 years. Integrated with other measurements collected as part of the SPRUCE program, this study is providing insight into the degree to which phenology may mediate future shifts in carbon uptake and storage by peatland ecosystems. In the future, these data will be used to develop improved models of vegetation phenology, which will be tested against ground observations collected by a local collaborator.

  5. Incumbent response to disruptive innovation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaulio, Matti; Thorén, Kent; Rohrbeck, René

    in relation to disruptive change. In relation to technical change the case company has successfully in transferred its technology from one generation to the next during more than 20 years. In relation to business model change the case company has been proactive but not successful in major business model......This article presents a preliminary analysis of a retrospective longitudinal case study of an incumbent, the Swedish-Finnish Telecom operator TeliaSonera AB, with focus on its responses to technical and business model change. Findings nuance the general understanding of Telco’s as passive actors...... changes, however successful in minor business model adaptions. An implication hereof is that the business model concept as such has low predictive power in explaining success and failure and is in the need of an operationalization. In addition, the article discusses the relationship between technological...

  6. Phytoplankton responses to changes in macrophyte density in a ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The response of phytoplankton population dynamics to changes in densities of Nymphaea lotus L. and Polygonum limbatum Meisn. was studied in an artificial pond in Zaria, Nigeria, from June to November 2007. Antagonistic effects of these macrophytes on Netrium sp., Staurastrum sp., Ulothrix sp., Marssionella sp. and ...

  7. Response of Coprophagus Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae on changes of vegetation structure in various habitat types at Lore Lindu National Park, Central Sulawesi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CHRISTIAN H. SCHULZE

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available This study analysed the response of dung beetles − a group of beetles which play a major role in decomposition of dung and animal carcasses − to changes of vegetation structure due to forest conversion to different human-made habitat types at the margin of Lore Lindu National Park. Therefore, dung beetles were sampled at natural forest, cacao agroforestry systems and open area. A total of 28 species of coprophagus beetle species were recorded from the sampled sites. Species richness and abundance of dung beetles, particularly of large species, decreased from forest towards agroforestry systems and open areas. However, more than 80 % of the species recorded in natural forest were found in cacao agroforestry systems Of the measured habitat parameters, particularly the number of tree species, air temperature, and canopy cover had a significant power for explaining changes in dung beetle ensembles along the gradient of land-use intensity.

  8. Changes of interannual NAO variability in response to greenhouse gases forcing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dong, Buwen; Sutton, Rowan T.; Woollings, Tim [University of Reading, National Centre for Atmospheric Science, Department of Meteorology, Reading (United Kingdom)

    2011-10-15

    Observations show that there was change in interannual North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) variability in the mid-1970s. This change was characterized by an eastward shift of the NAO action centres, a poleward shift of zonal wind anomalies and a downstream extension of climate anomalies associated with the NAO. The NAO interannual variability for the period after the mid-1970s has an annular mode structure that penetrates deeply into the stratosphere, indicating a strengthened relationship between the NAO and the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and strengthened stratosphere-troposphere coupling. In this study we have investigated possible causes of these changes in the NAO by carrying out experiments with an atmospheric GCM. The model is forced either by doubling CO{sub 2}, or increasing sea surface temperatures (SST), or both. In the case of SST forcing the SST anomaly is derived from a coupled model simulation forced by increasing CO{sub 2}. Results indicate that SST and CO{sub 2} change both force a poleward and eastward shift in the pattern of interannual NAO variability and the associated poleward shift of zonal wind anomalies, similar to the observations. The effect of SST change can be understood in terms of mean changes in the troposphere. The direct effect of CO{sub 2} change, in contrast, can not be understood in terms of mean changes in the troposphere. However, there is a significant response in the stratosphere, characterized by a strengthened climatological polar vortex with strongly enhanced interannual variability. In this case, the NAO interannual variability has a strong link with the variability over the North Pacific, as in the annular AO pattern, and is also strongly related to the stratospheric vortex, indicating strengthened stratosphere-troposphere coupling. The similarity of changes in many characteristics of NAO interannual variability between the model response to doubling CO{sub 2} and those in observations in the mid-1970s implies that the

  9. Lineage-specific responses of tooth shape in murine rodents (murinae, rodentia) to late Miocene dietary change in the Siwaliks of Pakistan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimura, Yuri; Jacobs, Louis L; Flynn, Lawrence J

    2013-01-01

    Past ecological responses of mammals to climate change are recognized in the fossil record by adaptive significance of morphological variations. To understand the role of dietary behavior on functional adaptations of dental morphology in rodent evolution, we examine evolutionary change of tooth shape in late Miocene Siwalik murine rodents, which experienced a dietary shift toward C4 diets during late Miocene ecological change indicated by carbon isotopic evidence. Geometric morphometric analysis in the outline of upper first molars captures dichotomous lineages of Siwalik murines, in agreement with phylogenetic hypotheses of previous studies (two distinct clades: the Karnimata and Progonomys clades), and indicates lineage-specific functional responses to mechanical properties of their diets. Tooth shapes of the two clades are similar at their sympatric origin but deviate from each other with decreasing overlap through time. Shape change in the Karnimata clade is associated with greater efficiency of propalinal chewing for tough diets than in the Progonomys clade. Larger body mass in Karnimata may be related to exploitation of lower-quality food items, such as grasses, than in smaller-bodied Progonomys. The functional and ecophysiological aspects of Karnimata exploiting C4 grasses are concordant with their isotopic dietary preference relative to Progonomys. Lineage-specific selection was differentially greater in Karnimata, and a faster rate of shape change toward derived Karnimata facilitated inclusion of C4 grasses in the diet. Sympatric speciation in these clades is most plausibly explained by interspecific competition on resource utilization between the two, based on comparisons of our results with the carbon isotope data. Interspecific competition with Karnimata may have suppressed morphological innovation of the Progonomys clade. Pairwise analyses of morphological and carbon isotope data can uncover ecological causes of sympatric speciation and define

  10. Lineage-specific responses of tooth shape in murine rodents (murinae, rodentia to late Miocene dietary change in the Siwaliks of Pakistan.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuri Kimura

    Full Text Available Past ecological responses of mammals to climate change are recognized in the fossil record by adaptive significance of morphological variations. To understand the role of dietary behavior on functional adaptations of dental morphology in rodent evolution, we examine evolutionary change of tooth shape in late Miocene Siwalik murine rodents, which experienced a dietary shift toward C4 diets during late Miocene ecological change indicated by carbon isotopic evidence. Geometric morphometric analysis in the outline of upper first molars captures dichotomous lineages of Siwalik murines, in agreement with phylogenetic hypotheses of previous studies (two distinct clades: the Karnimata and Progonomys clades, and indicates lineage-specific functional responses to mechanical properties of their diets. Tooth shapes of the two clades are similar at their sympatric origin but deviate from each other with decreasing overlap through time. Shape change in the Karnimata clade is associated with greater efficiency of propalinal chewing for tough diets than in the Progonomys clade. Larger body mass in Karnimata may be related to exploitation of lower-quality food items, such as grasses, than in smaller-bodied Progonomys. The functional and ecophysiological aspects of Karnimata exploiting C4 grasses are concordant with their isotopic dietary preference relative to Progonomys. Lineage-specific selection was differentially greater in Karnimata, and a faster rate of shape change toward derived Karnimata facilitated inclusion of C4 grasses in the diet. Sympatric speciation in these clades is most plausibly explained by interspecific competition on resource utilization between the two, based on comparisons of our results with the carbon isotope data. Interspecific competition with Karnimata may have suppressed morphological innovation of the Progonomys clade. Pairwise analyses of morphological and carbon isotope data can uncover ecological causes of sympatric speciation

  11. Dietary change: what are the responses and roles of significant others?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paisley, Judy; Beanlands, Heather; Goldman, Joanne; Evers, Susan; Chappell, Janet

    2008-01-01

    This study examined the impact of one person's dietary change on the experiences of a significant other with whom they regularly shared meals. Qualitative constant comparison approach using semistructured interviews. Community-based. Forty-two participants were recruited using a stratified purposive sampling strategy. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed using NUD*IST, version 4.0 software (Qualitative Solutions and Research, Melbourne, Australia, 1997) and manual coding. Most dietary changers had modified their diets in response to a disease diagnosis (eg, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, hypoglycemia, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), ulcer, allergies). Others had changed their diets for personal reasons (eg, weight loss, vegetarian diets). The dietary changes included dietary fat reduction, conversion to vegetarian or vegan diets, restriction of total kilocalorie intake, and elimination or reduction of specific food items. Significant others described a range of emotional responses to the dietary change, including cooperation, encouragement, skepticism, and anger. Significant others' descriptions of the roles that they played in the dietary change were positive (enabling), neutral (neither enabling nor inhibiting), or negative (inhibiting). Most significant others played positive roles; few played neutral or negative roles. Understanding dietary change from the perspective of significant others can enable nutrition professionals to develop strategies to promote dietary modifications as a shared activity.

  12. Forest responses to tropospheric ozone and global climate change: an analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kickert, R N; Krupa, S V

    1990-01-01

    In this paper an analysis is provided on: what we know, what we need to know, and what we need to do, to further our understanding of the relationships between tropospheric ozone (O(3)), global climate change and forest responses. The relationships between global geographic distributions of forest ecosystems and potential geographic regions of high photochemical smog by the year 2025 AD are described. While the emphasis is on the effects of tropospheric O(3) on forest ecosystems, discussion is presented to understand such effects in the context of global climate change. One particular strong point of this paper is the audit of published surface O(3) data by photochemical smog region that reveals important forest/woodland geographic regions where little or no O(3) data exist even though the potential threat to forests in those regions appears to be large. The concepts and considerations relevant to the examination of ecosystem responses as a whole, rather than simply tree stands alone are reviewed. A brief argument is provided to stimulate the modification of the concept of simple cause and effect relationships in viewing total ecosystems. Our knowledge of O(3) exposure and its effects on the energy, nutrient and hydrological flow within the ecosystem are described. Modeling strategies for such systems are reviewed. A discussion of responses of forests to potential multiple climatic changes is provided. An important concept in this paper is that changes in water exchange processes throughout the hydrological cycle can be used as early warning indicators of forest responses to O(3). Another strength of this paper is the integration of information on structural and functional processes of ecosystems and their responses to O(3). An admitted weakness of this analysis is that the information on integrated ecosystem responses is based overwhelmingly on the San Bernardino Forest ecosystem research program of the 1970s because of a lack of similar studies. In the final

  13. Systolic blood pressure decline in very old individuals is explained by deteriorating health: Longitudinal changes from Umeå85+/GERDA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weidung, Bodil; Toots, Annika; Nordström, Peter; Carlberg, Bo; Gustafson, Yngve

    2017-12-01

    Declining systolic blood pressure (SBP) is common in very old age and is associated with adverse events, such as dementia. Knowledge of factors associated with SBP changes could explain the etiology of this decline in SBP. This study investigated longitudinal changes in socioeconomic factors, medical conditions, drug prescriptions, and assessments and their associations with SBP changes among very old followed individuals.The study was based on data from the Umeå85+/Gerontological Regional Database (GERDA) cohort study, which provided cross-sectional and longitudinal data on participants aged 85, 90, and ≥95 years from 2000 to 2015. Follow-up assessments were conducted after 5 years. The main outcome was a change in SBP. Factors associated with SBP changes were assessed using multivariate linear regression models.In the Umeå85+/GERDA study, 454 surviving individuals underwent follow-up assessment after 5 years. Of these, 297 had SBP measured at baseline and follow-up. The mean change ± standard deviation in SBP was -12 ± 25 mm Hg. SBP decline was associated independently with later investigation year (P = .009), higher baseline SBP (P < .001), baseline antidepressant prescription (P = .011), incident acute myocardial infarction during follow-up (P = .003), new diuretic prescription during follow-up (P = .044), and a decline in the Barthel Activities of Daily Living index at follow-up (P < .001).In conclusion, SBP declines among very old individuals. This decline seems to be associated with initial SBP level, investigation year, and health-related factors. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Development of infant mismatch responses to auditory pattern changes between 2 and 4 months old.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Chao; Hotson, Lisa; Trainor, Laurel J

    2009-02-01

    In order to process speech and music, the auditory cortex must learn to process patterns of sounds. Our previous studies showed that with a stream consisting of a repeating (standard) sound, younger infants show an increase in the amplitude of a positive slow wave in response to occasional changes (deviants) in pitch or duration, whereas older infants show a faster negative response that resembles mismatch negativity (MMN) in adults (Trainor et al., 2001, 2003; He et al., 2007). MMN reflects an automatic change-detection process that does not require attention, conscious awareness or behavioural response for its elicitation (Picton et al., 2000; Näätänen et al., 2007). It is an important tool for understanding auditory perception because MMN reflects a change-detection mechanism, and not simply that repetition of a stimulus results in a refractory state of sensory neural circuits while occasional changes to a new sound activate new non-refractory neural circuits (Näätänen et al., 2005). For example, MMN is elicited by a change in the pattern of a repeating note sequence, even when no new notes are introduced that could activate new sensory circuits (Alain et al., 1994, 1999;Schröger et al., 1996). In the present study, we show that in response to a change in the pattern of two repeating tones, MMN in 4-month-olds remains robust whereas the 2-month-old response does not. This indicates that the MMN response to a change in pattern at 4 months reflects the activation of a change-detection mechanism similarly as in adults.

  15. Initial immunological changes as predictors for house dust mite immunotherapy response.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gómez, E; Fernández, T D; Doña, I; Rondon, C; Campo, P; Gomez, F; Salas, M; Gonzalez, M; Perkins, J R; Palomares, F; Blanca, M; Torres, M J; Mayorga, C

    2015-10-01

    Although specific immunotherapy is the only aetiological treatment for allergic disorders, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Specific immunotherapy induces changes in lymphocyte Th subsets from Th2 to Th1/Treg. Whether differences in immunological patterns underlie patient response to immunotherapy has not yet been established. We studied the immunological changes occurring during a 1-year period of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (DP) immunotherapy and their relation with clinical outcome. We included 34 patients with DP allergy who received subcutaneous specific immunotherapy (SCIT) for 1 year. Following treatment, patients were classified as responders or non-responders. Fourteen allergic subjects who did not receive SCIT were included as controls. Peripheral blood was obtained at 0, 1, 3, 6 and 12 months and cultured with nDer p 1. Phenotypic changes, cytokine production and basophil response were analysed by flow cytometry; transcription factors were measured by mRNA quantification. Serum immunoglobulin levels were also measured. After 1 year of SCIT, 82% of cases showed improved symptoms (responders). Although increases in sIgG4 were observed, BAT reactivity was not modified in these patients. Increases in T-BET/FOXP3 as well as nDer p 1-specific Th1/Treg frequencies were also observed, along with a decrease in Th2, Th9 and Th17. These changes corresponded to changes in cytokine levels. Patients who respond well to DP-SCIT show immunological differences compared to non-responders. In responders, basal differences include a lower frequency of Th1 and higher frequencies of Th2, Th9 and Th17 cells. After 1 year of treatment, an increased production of sIgG4 was observed in responders, along with a change in Th2 response towards Th1/Treg. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. Chromatin changes in response to drought, salinity, heat, and cold stresses in plants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jong-Myong eKim

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Chromatin regulation is essential to regulate genes and genome activities. In plants, the alteration of histone modification and DNA methylation are coordinated with changes in the expression of stress-responsive genes to adapt to environmental changes. Several chromatin regulators have been shown to be involved in the regulation of stress-responsive gene networks under abiotic stress conditions. Specific histone modification sites and the histone modifiers that regulate key stress-responsive genes have been identified by genetic and biochemical approaches, revealing the importance of chromatin regulation in plant stress responses. Recent studies have also suggested that histone modification plays an important role in plant stress memory. In this review, we summarize recent progress on the regulation and alteration of histone modification (acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation, and SUMOylation in response to the abiotic stresses, drought, high-salinity, heat, and cold in plants.

  17. Epigenetics and obesity: a relationship waiting to be explained.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Symonds, Michael E; Budge, Helen; Frazier-Wood, Alexis C

    2013-01-01

    Obesity can have multifactorial causes that may change with development and are not simply attributable to one's genetic constitution. To date, expensive and laborious genome-wide association studies have only ascribed a small contribution of genetic variants to obesity. The emergence of the field of epigenetics now offers a new paradigm with which to study excess fat mass. Currently, however, there are no compelling epigenetic studies to explain the role of epigenetics in obesity, especially from a developmental perspective. It is clear that until there are advances in the understanding of the main mechanisms by which different fat types, i.e. brown, beige, and white, are established and how these differ between depots and species, population-based studies designed to determine specific aspects of epigenetics will be potentially limited. Obesity is a slowly evolving condition that is not simply explained by changes in the intake of one macronutrient. The latest advances in epigenetics, coupled with the establishment of relevant longitudinal models of obesity, which incorporate functionally relevant end points, may now permit the precise contribution of epigenetic modifications to excess fat mass to be effectively studied. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  18. Respons imun humoral pada pulpitis (Humoral immune response on pulpitis)

    OpenAIRE

    Widodo, Trijoedani

    2005-01-01

    Pulpitis is an inflammation process on dental pulp tissue, and usually as the continuous of caries. The microorganism in the caries is a potential immunogenic triggering the immune respons, both humoral and celluler immune responses. The aim of this research is to explain the humoral immune response changes in the dental pulp tissues of pulpitis. This research was done on three group samples: Irreversible pulpitis, Reversible pulpitis and sound teeth as the control group. The result showed th...

  19. Response of seasonal soil freeze depth to climate change across China

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Xiaoqing; Zhang, Tingjun; Frauenfeld, Oliver W.; Wang, Kang; Cao, Bin; Zhong, Xinyue; Su, Hang; Mu, Cuicui

    2017-05-01

    The response of seasonal soil freeze depth to climate change has repercussions for the surface energy and water balance, ecosystems, the carbon cycle, and soil nutrient exchange. Despite its importance, the response of soil freeze depth to climate change is largely unknown. This study employs the Stefan solution and observations from 845 meteorological stations to investigate the response of variations in soil freeze depth to climate change across China. Observations include daily air temperatures, daily soil temperatures at various depths, mean monthly gridded air temperatures, and the normalized difference vegetation index. Results show that soil freeze depth decreased significantly at a rate of -0.18 ± 0.03 cm yr-1, resulting in a net decrease of 8.05 ± 1.5 cm over 1967-2012 across China. On the regional scale, soil freeze depth decreases varied between 0.0 and 0.4 cm yr-1 in most parts of China during 1950-2009. By investigating potential climatic and environmental driving factors of soil freeze depth variability, we find that mean annual air temperature and ground surface temperature, air thawing index, ground surface thawing index, and vegetation growth are all negatively associated with soil freeze depth. Changes in snow depth are not correlated with soil freeze depth. Air and ground surface freezing indices are positively correlated with soil freeze depth. Comparing these potential driving factors of soil freeze depth, we find that freezing index and vegetation growth are more strongly correlated with soil freeze depth, while snow depth is not significant. We conclude that air temperature increases are responsible for the decrease in seasonal freeze depth. These results are important for understanding the soil freeze-thaw dynamics and the impacts of soil freeze depth on ecosystem and hydrological process.

  20. Can Equity Volatility Explain the Global Loan Pricing Puzzle?

    OpenAIRE

    Lewis Gaul; Pinar Uysal

    2013-01-01

    This paper examines whether unobservable differences in firm volatility are responsible for the global loan pricing puzzle, which is the observation that corporate loan interest rates appear to be lower in Europe than in the United States. We analyze whether equity volatility, an error prone measure of firm volatility, can explain this difference in loan spreads. We show that using equity volatility in OLS regressions will result in biased and inconsistent estimates of the difference in U.S. ...

  1. Threshold responses of forest birds to landscape changes around exurban development.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcela Suarez-Rubio

    Full Text Available Low-density residential development (i.e., exurban development is often embedded within a matrix of protected areas and natural amenities, raising concern about its ecological consequences. Forest-dependent species are particularly susceptible to human settlement even at low housing densities typical of exurban areas. However, few studies have examined the response of forest birds to this increasingly common form of land conversion. The aim of this study was to assess whether, how, and at what scale forest birds respond to changes in habitat due to exurban growth. We evaluated changes in habitat composition (amount and configuration (arrangement for forest and forest-edge species around North America Breeding Bird Survey (BBS stops between 1986 and 2009. We used Threshold Indicator Taxa Analysis to detect change points in species occurrence at two spatial extents (400-m and 1-km radius buffer. Our results show that exurban development reduced forest cover and increased habitat fragmentation around BBS stops. Forest birds responded nonlinearly to most measures of habitat loss and fragmentation at both the local and landscape extents. However, the strength and even direction of the response changed with the extent for several of the metrics. The majority of forest birds' responses could be predicted by their habitat preferences indicating that management practices in exurban areas might target the maintenance of forested habitats, for example through easements or more focused management for birds within existing or new protected areas.

  2. Tributaries affect the thermal response of lakes to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Råman Vinnå, Love; Wüest, Alfred; Zappa, Massimiliano; Fink, Gabriel; Bouffard, Damien

    2018-01-01

    Thermal responses of inland waters to climate change varies on global and regional scales. The extent of warming is determined by system-specific characteristics such as fluvial input. Here we examine the impact of ongoing climate change on two alpine tributaries, the Aare River and the Rhône River, and their respective downstream peri-alpine lakes: Lake Biel and Lake Geneva. We propagate regional atmospheric temperature effects into river discharge projections. These, together with anthropogenic heat sources, are in turn incorporated into simple and efficient deterministic models that predict future water temperatures, river-borne suspended sediment concentration (SSC), lake stratification and river intrusion depth/volume in the lakes. Climate-induced shifts in river discharge regimes, including seasonal flow variations, act as positive and negative feedbacks in influencing river water temperature and SSC. Differences in temperature and heating regimes between rivers and lakes in turn result in large seasonal shifts in warming of downstream lakes. The extent of this repressive effect on warming is controlled by the lakes hydraulic residence time. Previous studies suggest that climate change will diminish deep-water oxygen renewal in lakes. We find that climate-related seasonal variations in river temperatures and SSC shift deep penetrating river intrusions from summer towards winter. Thus potentially counteracting the otherwise negative effects associated with climate change on deep-water oxygen content. Our findings provide a template for evaluating the response of similar hydrologic systems to on-going climate change.

  3. Tributaries affect the thermal response of lakes to climate change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Råman Vinnå

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Thermal responses of inland waters to climate change varies on global and regional scales. The extent of warming is determined by system-specific characteristics such as fluvial input. Here we examine the impact of ongoing climate change on two alpine tributaries, the Aare River and the Rhône River, and their respective downstream peri-alpine lakes: Lake Biel and Lake Geneva. We propagate regional atmospheric temperature effects into river discharge projections. These, together with anthropogenic heat sources, are in turn incorporated into simple and efficient deterministic models that predict future water temperatures, river-borne suspended sediment concentration (SSC, lake stratification and river intrusion depth/volume in the lakes. Climate-induced shifts in river discharge regimes, including seasonal flow variations, act as positive and negative feedbacks in influencing river water temperature and SSC. Differences in temperature and heating regimes between rivers and lakes in turn result in large seasonal shifts in warming of downstream lakes. The extent of this repressive effect on warming is controlled by the lakes hydraulic residence time. Previous studies suggest that climate change will diminish deep-water oxygen renewal in lakes. We find that climate-related seasonal variations in river temperatures and SSC shift deep penetrating river intrusions from summer towards winter. Thus potentially counteracting the otherwise negative effects associated with climate change on deep-water oxygen content. Our findings provide a template for evaluating the response of similar hydrologic systems to on-going climate change.

  4. Responses of northern forest plants to atmospheric changes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laine, K; Huttunen, S; Kauppi, M; Ohtonen, R; Laehdesmaeki, P [Oulu Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Biology

    1997-12-31

    This research programme has been under way since 1990 to study the long-term synergistic effects of air pollutants and changing climatic conditions on the northern forest ecosystem and to increase the knowledge of climatic change and its consequences for the fragile northern nature. Ecological, physiological, morphological and biochemical methods have been used to study the responses of forest trees, dwarf shrubs, lichens and soil biology to environmental changes. The research programme is divided into four subprojects concentrating on different ecosystem levels. The subprojects are: (1) life, growth and survival strategies of northern dwarf shrubs under the pressure of a changing environment, (2) forest trees under the impact of air pollutants, increasing CO{sub 2} and UV-B, (3) susceptibility of lichens to air pollution and climatic change and (4) impact of elevated atmospheric CO{sub 2} and O{sub 3} on soil biology with special reference to carbon allocation and N fixation in symbiotic systems. This report summarizes the results of short-term experiments which showed many ecological and physiological changes in almost all elements of the northern boreal forests. These species-level measurements focused on the key species of the northern boreal forest, which have been thought to be useful in large-scale ecosystem experiments and modelling. The results will also facilitate the further studies on the patterns of plant species distribution and northern ecosystem function with respect to the environmental parameters that are expected to change along with global change (e.g. temperature, airchemistry, UV-B, snow condition)

  5. Responses of northern forest plants to atmospheric changes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laine, K.; Huttunen, S.; Kauppi, M.; Ohtonen, R.; Laehdesmaeki, P. [Oulu Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Biology

    1996-12-31

    This research programme has been under way since 1990 to study the long-term synergistic effects of air pollutants and changing climatic conditions on the northern forest ecosystem and to increase the knowledge of climatic change and its consequences for the fragile northern nature. Ecological, physiological, morphological and biochemical methods have been used to study the responses of forest trees, dwarf shrubs, lichens and soil biology to environmental changes. The research programme is divided into four subprojects concentrating on different ecosystem levels. The subprojects are: (1) life, growth and survival strategies of northern dwarf shrubs under the pressure of a changing environment, (2) forest trees under the impact of air pollutants, increasing CO{sub 2} and UV-B, (3) susceptibility of lichens to air pollution and climatic change and (4) impact of elevated atmospheric CO{sub 2} and O{sub 3} on soil biology with special reference to carbon allocation and N fixation in symbiotic systems. This report summarizes the results of short-term experiments which showed many ecological and physiological changes in almost all elements of the northern boreal forests. These species-level measurements focused on the key species of the northern boreal forest, which have been thought to be useful in large-scale ecosystem experiments and modelling. The results will also facilitate the further studies on the patterns of plant species distribution and northern ecosystem function with respect to the environmental parameters that are expected to change along with global change (e.g. temperature, airchemistry, UV-B, snow condition)

  6. Plate-wide stress relaxation explains European Palaeocene basin inversions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, S.B.; Thomsen, Erik; Hansen, D.L.

    2005-01-01

    of the in-plane tectonic stress. The onset of relaxation inversions was plate-wide and simultaneous, and may have been triggered by stress changes caused by elevation of the North Atlantic lithosphere by the Iceland plume or the drop in NS convergence rate between Africa and Europe.......During Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic times many Paleozoic and Mesozoic rifts and basin structures in the interior of the European continent underwent several phases of inversion. The main phases occurred during the Late Cretaceous and Middle Paleocene, and have been explained by pulses...... Paleocene phase was characterized by domal uplift of a wider area with only mild fault movements, and formation of more distal and shallow marginal troughs. A simple flexural model explains how domal, secondary inversion follows inevitably from primary, convergence related inversion upon relaxation...

  7. Response of MnBi-Bi eutectic to freezing rate changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nair, M.; Fu, T.-W.; Wilcox, W. R.; Doddi, K.; Ravishankar, P. S.; Larson, D.

    1982-01-01

    Reference is made to a study by Fu and Wilcox (1981), which treated theoretically the influence on freezing rate of sudden changes in translation rate in the Bridgman-Stockbarger technique. This treatment is extended here to a linear ramped translation rate and an oscillatory freezing rate. It is found that oscillations above a few hertz are highly damped in small-diameter apparatus. An experimental test is carried out of the theoretical predictions for a sudden change of translation rate. The MnBi-Bi eutectic is solidified with current-induced interface demarcation. The experimental results accord reasonably well with theory if the silica ampoule wall is assumed to either (1) contribute only a resistance to heat exchange between the sample and the furnace wall or (2) transmit heat effectively in the axial direction by radiation. In an attempt to explain the fact that a finer microstructure is obtained in space, MnBi-Bi microstructure is determined when the freezing rate is increased or decreased rapidly. Preliminary results suggest that fiber branching does not occur as readily as fiber termination.

  8. Explaining neural signals in human visual cortex with an associative learning model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Jiefeng; Schmajuk, Nestor; Egner, Tobias

    2012-08-01

    "Predictive coding" models posit a key role for associative learning in visual cognition, viewing perceptual inference as a process of matching (learned) top-down predictions (or expectations) against bottom-up sensory evidence. At the neural level, these models propose that each region along the visual processing hierarchy entails one set of processing units encoding predictions of bottom-up input, and another set computing mismatches (prediction error or surprise) between predictions and evidence. This contrasts with traditional views of visual neurons operating purely as bottom-up feature detectors. In support of the predictive coding hypothesis, a recent human neuroimaging study (Egner, Monti, & Summerfield, 2010) showed that neural population responses to expected and unexpected face and house stimuli in the "fusiform face area" (FFA) could be well-described as a summation of hypothetical face-expectation and -surprise signals, but not by feature detector responses. Here, we used computer simulations to test whether these imaging data could be formally explained within the broader framework of a mathematical neural network model of associative learning (Schmajuk, Gray, & Lam, 1996). Results show that FFA responses could be fit very closely by model variables coding for conditional predictions (and their violations) of stimuli that unconditionally activate the FFA. These data document that neural population signals in the ventral visual stream that deviate from classic feature detection responses can formally be explained by associative prediction and surprise signals.

  9. Modeling metabolic response to changes of enzyme amount in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Based on the work of Hynne et al. (2001), in an in silico model of glycolysis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae is established by introducing an enzyme amount multiple factor (.) into the kinetic equations. The model is aimed to predict the metabolic response to the change of enzyme amount. With the help of .α, the amounts of ...

  10. Cosmopolitan Species As Models for Ecophysiological Responses to Global Change: The Common Reed Phragmites australis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Franziska Eller

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Phragmites australis is a cosmopolitan grass and often the dominant species in the ecosystems it inhabits. Due to high intraspecific diversity and phenotypic plasticity, P. australis has an extensive ecological amplitude and a great capacity to acclimate to adverse environmental conditions; it can therefore offer valuable insights into plant responses to global change. Here we review the ecology and ecophysiology of prominent P. australis lineages and their responses to multiple forms of global change. Key findings of our review are that: (1 P. australis lineages are well-adapted to regions of their phylogeographic origin and therefore respond differently to changes in climatic conditions such as temperature or atmospheric CO2; (2 each lineage consists of populations that may occur in geographically different habitats and contain multiple genotypes; (3 the phenotypic plasticity of functional and fitness-related traits of a genotype determine the responses to global change factors; (4 genotypes with high plasticity to environmental drivers may acclimate or even vastly expand their ranges, genotypes of medium plasticity must acclimate or experience range-shifts, and those with low plasticity may face local extinction; (5 responses to ancillary types of global change, like shifting levels of soil salinity, flooding, and drought, are not consistent within lineages and depend on adaptation of individual genotypes. These patterns suggest that the diverse lineages of P. australis will undergo intense selective pressure in the face of global change such that the distributions and interactions of co-occurring lineages, as well as those of genotypes within-lineages, are very likely to be altered. We propose that the strong latitudinal clines within and between P. australis lineages can be a useful tool for predicting plant responses to climate change in general and present a conceptual framework for using P. australis lineages to predict plant responses

  11. Imagining Change: An Integrative Approach toward Explaining the Motivational Role of Mental Imagery in Pro-environmental Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boomsma, Christine; Pahl, Sabine; Andrade, Jackie

    2016-01-01

    Climate change and other long-term environmental issues are often perceived as abstract and difficult to imagine. The images a person associates with environmental change, i.e., a person’s environmental mental images, can be influenced by the visual information they come across in the public domain. This paper reviews the literature on this topic across social, environmental, and cognitive psychology, and the wider social sciences; thereby responding to a call for more critical investigations into people’s responses to visual information. By integrating the literature we come to a better understanding of the lack in vivid and concrete environmental mental imagery reported by the public, the link between environmental mental images and goals, and how affectively charged external images could help in making mental imagery less abstract. Preliminary research reports on the development of a new measure of environmental mental imagery and three tests of the relationship between environmental mental imagery, pro-environmental goals and behavior. Furthermore, the paper provides a program of research, drawing upon approaches from different disciplines, to set out the next steps needed to examine how and why we should encourage the public to imagine environmental change. PMID:27909415

  12. On the response of the tropical atmosphere to large-scale deforestation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eltahir, E. A. B.; Bras, R. L.

    1993-01-01

    Recent studies on the Amazon deforestation problem predict that removal of the forest will result in a higher surface temperature, a significant reduction in evaporation and precipitation, and possibly significant changes in the tropical circulation. Here, we discuss the basic mechanisms contributing to the response of the tropical atmosphere to deforestation. A simple linear model of the tropical atmosphere is used in studying the effects of deforestation on climate. It is suggested that the impact of large-scale deforestation on the circulation of the tropical atmosphere consists of two components: the response of the tropical circulation to the negative change in precipitation (heating), and the response of the same circulation to the positive change in surface temperature. Owing to their different signs, the changes in predicted temperature and precipitation excite competing responses working in opposite directions. The predicted change in tropical circulation determines the change, if any, in atmospheric moisture convergence, which is equivalent to the change in run-off. The dependence of run-off predictions on the relative magnitudes of the predicted changes in precipitation and surface temperature implies that the predictions about run-off are highly sensitive, which explains, at least partly, the disagreement between the different models concerning the sign of the predicted change in Amazonian run-off.

  13. Seventh Grade Students' Conceptions of Global Warming and Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepardson, Daniel P.; Niyogi, Dev; Choi, Soyoung; Charusombat, Umarporn

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate seventh grade students' conceptions of global warming and climate change. The study was descriptive in nature and involved the collection of qualitative data from 91 seventh grade students from three different schools in the Midwest, USA. An open response and draw and explain assessment instrument was…

  14. Longitudinal Changes in Depressive Circuitry in Response to Neuromodulation Therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yagna Pathak

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD is a public health problem worldwide. There is increasing interest in using non-invasive therapies such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS to treat MDD. However, the changes induced by rTMS on neural circuits remain poorly characterized. The present study aims to test whether the brain regions previously targeted by deep brain stimulation (DBS in the treatment of MDD respond to rTMS, and whether functional connectivity measures can predict clinical response.Methods: rTMS (20 sessions was administered to five MDD patients at the left-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (L-DLPFC over 4 weeks. Magnetoencephalography (MEG recordings and Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS assessments were acquired before, during and after treatment. Our primary measures, obtained with MEG source imaging, were changes in power spectral density (PSD and changes in functional connectivity as measured using coherence.Results: Of the five patients, four met the clinical response criterion (40% or greater decrease in MADRS after four weeks of treatment. An increase in gamma power at the L-DLPFC was correlated with improvement in symptoms. We also found that increases in delta band connectivity between L-DLPFC/amygdala and L-DLPFC/pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC, and decreases in gamma band connectivity between L-DLPFC/subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sACC, were correlated with improvements in depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Our results suggest that non-invasive intervention techniques, such as rTMS, modulate the ongoing activity of depressive circuits targeted for DBS, and that MEG can capture these changes. Gamma oscillations may originate from GABA-mediated inhibition, which increases synchronization of large neuronal populations, possibly leading to increased long-range functional connectivity. We postulate that responses to rTMS could provide valuable insights into early evaluation

  15. Potential for a hazardous geospheric response to projected future climate changes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGuire, B

    2010-05-28

    Periods of exceptional climate change in Earth history are associated with a dynamic response from the geosphere, involving enhanced levels of potentially hazardous geological and geomorphological activity. The response is expressed through the adjustment, modulation or triggering of a broad range of surface and crustal phenomena, including volcanic and seismic activity, submarine and subaerial landslides, tsunamis and landslide 'splash' waves, glacial outburst and rock-dam failure floods, debris flows and gas-hydrate destabilization. In relation to anthropogenic climate change, modelling studies and projection of current trends point towards increased risk in relation to a spectrum of geological and geomorphological hazards in a warmer world, while observations suggest that the ongoing rise in global average temperatures may already be eliciting a hazardous response from the geosphere. Here, the potential influences of anthropogenic warming are reviewed in relation to an array of geological and geomorphological hazards across a range of environmental settings. A programme of focused research is advocated in order to: (i) understand better those mechanisms by which contemporary climate change may drive hazardous geological and geomorphological activity; (ii) delineate those parts of the world that are most susceptible; and (iii) provide a more robust appreciation of potential impacts for society and infrastructure.

  16. Environmental change enhances cognitive abilities in fish.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Kotrschal

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Flexible or innovative behavior is advantageous, especially when animals are exposed to frequent and unpredictable environmental perturbations. Improved cognitive abilities can help animals to respond quickly and adequately to environmental dynamics, and therefore changing environments may select for higher cognitive abilities. Increased cognitive abilities can be attained, for instance, if environmental change during ontogeny triggers plastic adaptive responses improving the learning capacity of exposed individuals. We tested the learning abilities of fishes in response to experimental variation of environmental quality during ontogeny. Individuals of the cichlid fish Simochromis pleurospilus that experienced a change in food ration early in life outperformed fish kept on constant rations in a learning task later in life--irrespective of the direction of the implemented change and the mean rations received. This difference in learning abilities between individuals remained constant between juvenile and adult stages of the same fish tested 1 y apart. Neither environmental enrichment nor training through repeated neural stimulation can explain our findings, as the sensory environment was kept constant and resource availability was changed only once. Instead, our results indicate a pathway by which a single change in resource availability early in life permanently enhances the learning abilities of animals. Early perturbations of environmental quality may signal the developing individual that it lives in a changing world, requiring increased cognitive abilities to construct adequate behavioral responses.

  17. Effect of temperature changes on swelling and creep of AISI 316

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garner, F.A.; Gilbert, E.R.; Gelles, D.S.; Foster, J.P.

    1980-04-01

    A number of previous publications have shown that the swelling of cold-worked AISI 316 is quite sensitive to changes in temperature which occur during irradiation. In this report those data are expanded and reanalyzed to show that the concurrent irradiation creep is also quite sensitive to changes in irradiation temperature. An explanation is advanced to explain this behavior in terms of the sensitivity to temperture history of the radiation-induced microchemical evolution of this steel. In particular, the sensitivity to temperature history of the radiation-stabilized gamma prime phase is invoked to explain the enhanced creep and swelling behavior of AISI 316 components which experienced either gradual or abrupt decreases in temperature. The phase development observed in this steel in response to temperature changes during irradiation is also compared to the similar behavior found in aged specimens subjected to isothermal irradiation

  18. How brain and neuronal networks explain human reality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier Monserrat

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available How is human reality presented to us in phenomenological experience? It is the one we see daily in our personal and social life. We are made of matter, we are part of the evolutionary universe. In addition, a psychic life is formed in us: sensation, a system of perceptions, an integrated consciousness, a condition of psychological subject; We produce knowledge, emotions, motivations; But, above all, we have a mind that rationally moves and installs us into a world of human emotions; This emotional reason lies at the base of the search for the truth of the universe, the meaning of life and the moral responsibility, in personal and social life. Our human reality is, therefore, a personal reality. We are persons. Now, how does science, neurology, explain today the fact that our human reality possesses these properties that give us the personal condition? This should be able to be explained (this is the initial assumption from the physical-biological world. Now, in particular, how does science make it possible to explain that evolution has produced us in our condition of ratio-emotional persons? That is, what is the physical support that makes intelligible the psycho-bio-physical ontology that evolutionarily produces our personal phenomenological experience? This is, ultimately, still the fundamental question of human sciences. What science, namely neurology, must explain (that is, know the causes that have produced it is obvious: the fact of our sensibility-consciousness, our condition of psychic subjects, knowledge and emotional reason that have emerged in the universe; In such a way that, once the emotional reason emerges, it leads by itself to constitute the rational activity and the emotions of the human person aimed at building the meaning of his life. These are the issues we address in this article.

  19. Hydrological response to climate change in a glaciated catchment in the Himalayas

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Immerzeel, W.W.; Beek, L.P.H. van; Konz, M.; Shresta, A.B.; Bierkens, M.F.P.

    2012-01-01

    The analysis of climate change impact on the hydrology of high altitude glacierized catchments in the Himalayas is complex due to the high variability in climate, lack of data, large uncertainties in climate change projection and uncertainty about the response of glaciers. Therefore a high

  20. The strong selective sweep candidate gene ADRA2C does not explain domestication related changes in the stress response of chickens.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Magnus Elfwing

    Full Text Available Analysis of selective sweeps to pinpoint causative genomic regions involved in chicken domestication has revealed a strong selective sweep on chromosome 4 in layer chickens. The autoregulatory α-adrenergic receptor 2C (ADRA2C gene is the closest to the selective sweep and was proposed as an important gene in the domestication of layer chickens. The ADRA2C promoter region was also hypermethylated in comparison to the non-selected ancestor of all domesticated chicken breeds, the Red Junglefowl, further supporting its relevance. In mice the receptor is involved in the fight-or-flight response as it modulates epinephrine release from the adrenals. To investigate the involvement of ADRA2C in chicken domestication, we measured gene expression in the adrenals and radiolabeled receptor ligand in three brain regions comparing the domestic White Leghorn strain with the wild ancestor Red Junglefowl. In adrenals ADRA2C was twofold greater expressed than the related receptor gene ADRA2A, indicating that ADRA2C is the predominant modulator of epinephrine release but no strain differences were measured. In hypothalamus and amygdala, regions associated with the stress response, and in striatum, receptor binding pIC50 values ranged between 8.1-8.4, and the level was not influenced by the genotyped allele. Because chicken strains differ in morphology, physiology and behavior, differences attributed to a single gene may be lost in the noise caused by the heterogeneous genetic background. Therefore an F10 advanced intercross strain between White Leghorn and Red Junglefowl was used to investigate effects of ADRA2C alleles on fear related behaviors and fecundity. We did not find compelling genotype effects in open field, tonic immobility, aerial predator, associative learning or fecundity. Therefore we conclude that ADRA2C is probably not involved in the domestication of the stress response in chicken, and the strong selective sweep is probably caused by selection

  1. Changes in butterfly abundance in response to global warming and reforestation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Tae-Sung; Kim, Sung-Soo; Chun, Jung Hwa; Byun, Bong-Kyu; Lim, Jong-Hwan; Shin, Joon Hwan

    2010-04-01

    In the Republic of Korea, most denuded forest lands have been restored since the 1960s. In addition, the annual mean temperature in the Republic of Korea has increased approximately 1.0 degrees C during the last century, which is higher than the global mean increase of 0.74 degrees C. Such rapid environmental changes may have resulted in changes in the local butterfly fauna. For example, the number of butterflies inhabiting forests may have increased because of reforestation, whereas the number of butterflies inhabiting grasslands may have declined. Furthermore, the number of northern butterflies may have declined, whereas the number of southern butterflies may have increased in response to global warming. Therefore, we compared current data (2002 approximately 2007) regarding the abundance of butterfly species at two sites in the central portion of the Korean Peninsula to data from the late 1950s and early 1970s for the same sites. Changes in the abundance rank of each species between the two periods were evaluated to determine whether any patterns corresponded to the predicted temporal changes. The predicted changes in butterfly abundance were confirmed in this study. In addition, the results showed a different response to habitat change between northern and southern species. In northern butterfly species, butterflies inhabiting forests increased, whereas those inhabiting grasslands declined. However, the opposite was true when southern butterfly species were evaluated. Changes in the abundance indicate that habitat change may be one of the key factors related to the survival of populations that remain around the southern boundary of butterfly species.

  2. A replicated climate change field experiment reveals rapid evolutionary response in an ecologically important soil invertebrate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bataillon, Thomas; Galtier, Nicolas; Bernard, Aurelien

    2016-01-01

    to climate change in a common annelid worm using a controlled replicated experiment where climatic conditions were manipulated in a natural setting. Analyzing the transcribed genome of 15 local populations, we found that about 12% of the genetic polymorphisms exhibit differences in allele frequencies......Whether species can respond evolutionarily to current climate change is crucial for the persistence of many species. Yet, very few studies have examined genetic responses to climate change in manipulated experiments carried out innatural field conditions. We examined the evolutionary response...... associated to changes in soil temperature and soil moisture. This shows an evolutionaryresponse to realistic climate change happening over short-time scale, and calls for incorporating evolution into modelspredicting future response of species to climate change. It also shows that designed climate change...

  3. Visualizing Changes in Pretest and Post-Test Student Responses with Consistency Plots

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wittmann, Michael C.; Black, Katrina E.

    2014-01-01

    Tabular presentations of student data often hide information about the switches in responses by individual students over the course of a semester. We extend unpublished work by Kanim on "escalator diagrams," which show changes in student responses from correct to incorrect (and vice versa) while representing pre- and postinstruction…

  4. The Response of US College Enrollment to Unexpected Changes in Macroeconomic Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewing, Kris M.; Beckert, Kim A.; Ewing, Bradley T.

    2010-01-01

    This paper estimates the extent and magnitude of US college and university enrollment responses to unanticipated changes in macroeconomic activity. In particular, we consider the relationship between enrollment, economic growth, and inflation. A time series analysis known as a vector autoregression is estimated and impulse response functions are…

  5. Evolutionary History Underlies Plant Physiological Responses to Global Change Since the Last Glacial Maximum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becklin, K. M.; Medeiros, J. S.; Sale, K. R.; Ward, J. K.

    2014-12-01

    Assessing family and species-level variation in physiological responses to global change across geologic time is critical for understanding factors that underlie changes in species distributions and community composition. Ancient plant specimens preserved within packrat middens are invaluable in this context since they allow for comparisons between co-occurring plant lineages. Here we used modern and ancient plant specimens preserved within packrat middens from the Snake Range, NV to investigate the physiological responses of a mixed montane conifer community to global change since the last glacial maximum. We used a conceptual model to infer relative changes in stomatal conductance and maximum photosynthetic capacity from measures of leaf carbon isotopes, stomatal characteristics, and leaf nitrogen content. Our results indicate that most of the sampled taxa decreased stomatal conductance and/or photosynthetic capacity from glacial to modern times. However, plant families differed in the timing and magnitude of these physiological responses. Additionally, leaf-level responses were more similar within plant families than within co-occurring species assemblages. This suggests that adaptation at the level of leaf physiology may not be the main determinant of shifts in community composition, and that plant evolutionary history may drive physiological adaptation to global change over recent geologic time.

  6. Effective and responsible teaching of climate change in Earth Science-related disciplines

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, Z. P.; Greenhough, B. J.

    2009-04-01

    Climate change is a core topic within Earth Science-related courses. This vast topic covers a wide array of different aspects that could be covered, from past climatic change across a vast range of scales to environmental (and social and economic) impacts of future climatic change and strategies for reducing anthropogenic climate change. The Earth Science disciplines play a crucial role in our understanding of past, present and future climate change and the Earth system in addition to understanding leading to development of strategies and technological solutions to achieve sustainability. However, an increased knowledge of the occurrence and causes of past (natural) climate changes can lead to a lessened concern and sense of urgency and responsibility amongst students in relation to anthropogenic causes of climatic change. Two concepts integral to the teaching of climate change are those of scientific uncertainty and complexity, yet an emphasis on these concepts can lead to scepticism about future predictions and a further loss of sense of urgency. The requirement to understand the nature of scientific uncertainty and think and move between different scales in particular relating an increased knowledge of longer timescale climatic change to recent (industrialised) climate change, are clearly areas of troublesome knowledge that affect students' sense of responsibility towards their role in achieving a sustainable society. Study of the attitudes of university students in a UK HE institution on a range of Earth Science-related programmes highlights a range of different attitudes in the student body towards the subject of climate change. Students express varied amounts of ‘climate change saturation' resulting from both media and curriculum coverage, a range of views relating to the significance of humans to the global climate and a range of opinions about the relevance of environmental citizenship to their degree programme. Climate change is therefore a challenging

  7. Changes in Translational Efficiency is a Dominant Regulatory Mechanism in the Environmental Response of Bacteria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Taylor, Ronald C.; Webb-Robertson, Bobbie-Jo M.; Markillie, Lye Meng; Serres, Margrethe H.; Linggi, Bryan E.; Aldrich, Joshua T.; Hill, Eric A.; Romine, Margaret F.; Lipton, Mary S.; Wiley, H. S.

    2013-09-23

    To understand how cell physiological state affects mRNA translation, we used Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 grown under steady state conditions at either aerobic or suboxic conditions. Using a combination of quantitative proteomics and RNA-Seq, we generated high-confidence data on >1000 mRNA and protein pairs. By using a steady state model, we found that differences in protein-mRNA ratios were primarily caused by differences in the translational efficiency of specific genes. When oxygen levels were lowered, 28% of the proteins showed at least a 2-fold change in expression. Altered transcription levels appeared responsible for 26% of the protein changes, altered translational efficiency appeared responsible for 46% and a combination of both were responsible for the remaining 28%. Changes in translational efficiency were significantly correlated with the codon usage pattern of the genes and measurable tRNA pools changed in response to altered O2 levels. Our results suggest that changes in the translational efficiency of proteins, in part caused by altered tRNA pools, is a major determinant of regulated protein expression in bacteria.

  8. Evidence-Based Identification of Key Beliefs Explaining Infant Male Circumcision Motivation Among Expectant Parents in Zimbabwe: Targets for Behavior Change Messaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montaño, Daniel E; Tshimanga, Mufuta; Hamilton, Deven T; Gorn, Gerald; Kasprzyk, Danuta

    2018-02-01

    Slow adult male circumcision uptake is one factor leading some to recommend increased priority for infant male circumcision (IMC) in sub-Saharan African countries. This research, guided by the integrated behavioral model (IBM), was carried out to identify key beliefs that best explain Zimbabwean parents' motivation to have their infant sons circumcised. A quantitative survey, designed from qualitative elicitation study results, was administered to independent representative samples of 800 expectant mothers and 795 expectant fathers in two urban and two rural areas in Zimbabwe. Multiple regression analyses found IMC motivation among fathers was explained by instrumental attitude, descriptive norm and self-efficacy; while motivation among mothers was explained by instrumental attitude, injunctive norm, descriptive norm, self-efficacy, and perceived control. Regression analyses of beliefs underlying IBM constructs found some overlap but many differences in key beliefs explaining IMC motivation among mothers and fathers. We found differences in key beliefs among urban and rural parents. Urban fathers' IMC motivation was explained best by behavioral beliefs, while rural fathers' motivation was explained by both behavioral and efficacy beliefs. Urban mothers' IMC motivation was explained primarily by behavioral and normative beliefs, while rural mothers' motivation was explained mostly by behavioral beliefs. The key beliefs we identified should serve as targets for developing messages to improve demand and maximize parent uptake as IMC programs are rolled out. These targets need to be different among urban and rural expectant mothers and fathers.

  9. Carbon Dynamics in Heathlands in Response to a Changing Climate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Pia Lund

    Climate is changing, and more adverse changes are expected in the future. Changes, caused by continuously rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gasses as CO2, will affect ecosystem processes and functions in the future and hence the cycling of carbon. The vaste amount of studies have...... layers showed much slower decomposition than fine root from top layer. Higher roots biomass and allocation of carbon deeper down in the soil profile in response to elevated CO2 combined with the slower decomposition of deep roots could affect future carbon cycling, but soil carbon sequestration depends...... focused on effects of climate change on aboveground biomass, less have been conducted on belowground biomass, and the thesis is one of few studies comprising both above- and belowground biomass and take interactions of climate change factors into account. To follow the fate of carbon in the ecosystem we...

  10. Can energy fluxes be used to interpret glacial/interglacial precipitation changes in the tropics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, W. H. G.; Valdes, P. J.; Singarayer, J. S.

    2017-06-01

    Recent theoretical advances in the relationship between heat transport and the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) present an elegant framework through which to interpret past changes in tropical precipitation patterns. Using a very large ensemble of climate model simulations, we investigate whether it is possible to use this framework to interpret changes in the position of the ITCZ in response to glacial and interglacial boundary conditions. We find that the centroid of tropical precipitation, which represents the evolution of precipitation in the whole tropics, is best correlated with heat transport changes. We find that the response of the annual mean ITCZ to glacial and interglacial boundary conditions is quite different to the response of the climatological annual cycle of the ITCZ to the seasonal cycle of insolation. We show that the reason for this is that while the Hadley Circulation plays a dominant role in transporting heat over the seasonal cycle, in the annual mean response to forcing, the Hadley Circulation is not dominant. When we look regionally, rather than at the zonal mean, we find that local precipitation is poorly related either to the zonal mean ITCZ or to meridional heat transport. We demonstrate that precipitation is spatially highly variable even when the zonal mean ITCZ is in the same location. This suggests only limited use for heat transport in explaining local precipitation records; thus, there is limited scope for using heat transport changes to explain individual paleoprecipitation records.

  11. Relating climate change signals and physiographic catchment properties to clustered hydrological response types

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Köplin

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available We propose an approach to reduce a comprehensive set of 186 mesoscale catchments in Switzerland to fewer response types to climate change and to name sensitive regions as well as catchment characteristics that govern hydrological change. We classified the hydrological responses of our study catchments through an agglomerative-hierarchical cluster analysis, and we related the dominant explanatory variables, i.e. the determining catchment properties and climate change signals, to the catchments' hydrological responses by means of redundancy analysis. All clusters except for one exhibit clearly decreasing summer runoff and increasing winter runoff. This seasonal shift was observed for the near future period (2025–2046 but is particularly obvious in the far future period (2074–2095. Within a certain elevation range (between 1000 and 2500 m a.s.l., the hydrological change is basically a function of elevation, because the latter governs the dominant hydro-climatological processes associated with temperature, e.g. the ratio of liquid to solid precipitation and snow melt processes. For catchments below the stated range, hydrological change is mainly a function of precipitation change, which is not as pronounced as the temperature signal is. Future impact studies in Switzerland can be conducted on a reduced sample of catchments representing the sensitive regions or covering a range of altitudes.

  12. Trends in Global Vegetation Activity and Climatic Drivers Indicate a Decoupled Response to Climate Change.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonius G T Schut

    Full Text Available Detailed understanding of a possible decoupling between climatic drivers of plant productivity and the response of ecosystems vegetation is required. We compared trends in six NDVI metrics (1982-2010 derived from the GIMMS3g dataset with modelled biomass productivity and assessed uncertainty in trend estimates. Annual total biomass weight (TBW was calculated with the LINPAC model. Trends were determined using a simple linear regression, a Thiel-Sen medium slope and a piecewise regression (PWR with two segments. Values of NDVI metrics were related to Net Primary Production (MODIS-NPP and TBW per biome and land-use type. The simple linear and Thiel-Sen trends did not differ much whereas PWR increased the fraction of explained variation, depending on the NDVI metric considered. A positive trend in TBW indicating more favorable climatic conditions was found for 24% of pixels on land, and for 5% a negative trend. A decoupled trend, indicating positive TBW trends and monotonic negative or segmented and negative NDVI trends, was observed for 17-36% of all productive areas depending on the NDVI metric used. For only 1-2% of all pixels in productive areas, a diverging and greening trend was found despite a strong negative trend in TBW. The choice of NDVI metric used strongly affected outcomes on regional scales and differences in the fraction of explained variation in MODIS-NPP between biomes were large, and a combination of NDVI metrics is recommended for global studies. We have found an increasing difference between trends in climatic drivers and observed NDVI for large parts of the globe. Our findings suggest that future scenarios must consider impacts of constraints on plant growth such as extremes in weather and nutrient availability to predict changes in NPP and CO2 sequestration capacity.

  13. Phenotypic Plasticity Explains Response Patterns of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L. Saplings to Nitrogen Fertilization and Drought Events

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph Dziedek

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: Climate and atmospheric changes affect forest ecosystems worldwide, but little is known about the interactive effects of global change drivers on tree growth. In the present study, we analyzed single and combined effects of nitrogen (N fertilization and drought events (D on the growth of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L. saplings in a greenhouse experiment. We quantified morphological and physiological responses to treatments for one‐ and two‐year‐old plants. N fertilization increased the saplings’ aboveground biomass investments, making them more susceptible to D treatments. This was reflected by the highest tissue dieback in combined N and D treatments and a significant N × D interaction for leaf δ13C signatures. Thus, atmospheric N deposition can strengthen the drought sensitivity of beech saplings. One‐year‐old plants reacted more sensitively to D treatments than two‐year‐old plants (indicated by D‐induced shifts in leaf δ13C signatures of one‐year‐old and two‐year‐old plants by +0.5‰ and −0.2‰, respectively, attributable to their higher shoot:root‐ratios (1.8 and 1.2, respectively. In summary, the saplings’ treatment responses were determined by their phenotypic plasticity (shifts in shoot:root‐ratios, which in turn was a function of both the saplings’ age (effects of allometric growth trajectories = apparent plasticity and environmental impacts (effects of N fertilization = plastic allometry.

  14. Shorebird Migration Patterns in Response to Climate Change: A Modeling Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, James A.

    2010-01-01

    The availability of satellite remote sensing observations at multiple spatial and temporal scales, coupled with advances in climate modeling and information technologies offer new opportunities for the application of mechanistic models to predict how continental scale bird migration patterns may change in response to environmental change. In earlier studies, we explored the phenotypic plasticity of a migratory population of Pectoral sandpipers by simulating the movement patterns of an ensemble of 10,000 individual birds in response to changes in stopover locations as an indicator of the impacts of wetland loss and inter-annual variability on the fitness of migratory shorebirds. We used an individual based, biophysical migration model, driven by remotely sensed land surface data, climate data, and biological field data. Mean stop-over durations and stop-over frequency with latitude predicted from our model for nominal cases were consistent with results reported in the literature and available field data. In this study, we take advantage of new computing capabilities enabled by recent GP-GPU computing paradigms and commodity hardware (general purchase computing on graphics processing units). Several aspects of our individual based (agent modeling) approach lend themselves well to GP-GPU computing. We have been able to allocate compute-intensive tasks to the graphics processing units, and now simulate ensembles of 400,000 birds at varying spatial resolutions along the central North American flyway. We are incorporating additional, species specific, mechanistic processes to better reflect the processes underlying bird phenotypic plasticity responses to different climate change scenarios in the central U.S.

  15. Resistance to Change of Responding Maintained by Unsignaled Delays to Reinforcement: A Response-Bout Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Podlesnik, Christopher A.; Jimenez-Gomez, Corina; Ward, Ryan D.; Shahan, Timothy A.

    2006-01-01

    Previous experiments have shown that unsignaled delayed reinforcement decreases response rates and resistance to change. However, the effects of different delays to reinforcement on underlying response structure have not been investigated in conjunction with tests of resistance to change. In the present experiment, pigeons responded on a…

  16. Changes in Tax Legislation and Social Responsibility of Taxpayers and Legislative Institutions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Štager Vesna

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the cost of tax compliance which arises for taxpayers from tax complexity and the constant changes in tax legislation. A socially responsible institution for the fiscal aggression is the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, as its powers and responsibilities creates the tax position of individuals, businesses and the entire economy. The aim of our research is to encourage socially responsible behaviour of legislation institutions in adopting the tax legislation, which will help to improve the social responsibility of taxpayers and increase tax compliance.

  17. Sexual selection predicts advancement of avian spring migration in response to climate change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Spottiswoode, Claire N; Tøttrup, Anders P; Coppack, Timothy

    2006-01-01

    Global warming has led to earlier spring arrival of migratory birds, but the extent of this advancement varies greatly among species, and it remains uncertain to what degree these changes are phenotypically plastic responses or microevolutionary adaptations to changing environmental conditions. We...... suggest that sexual selection could help to understand this variation, since early spring arrival of males is favoured by female choice. Climate change could weaken the strength of natural selection opposing sexual selection for early migration, which would predict greatest advancement in species...... in the timing of first-arriving individuals, suggesting that selection has not only acted on protandrous males. These results suggest that sexual selection may have an impact on the responses of organisms to climate change, and knowledge of a species' mating system might help to inform attempts at predicting...

  18. Climate change and environmentally responsible behavior on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jee In Yoon; Gerard Kyle; Carena J. vanRiper; Stephen G. Sutton

    2012-01-01

    This study explored the relationship between Australians' perceptions of climate change, its impact on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), and predictors of environmentally responsible behavior (ERB). Our hypothesized model suggested that general attitudes toward climate change, social pressure for engaging in ERBs (subjective norms), and perceived behavioral control (...

  19. Climate Change and the Concept of Shared Responsibility

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martinsen, Franziska; Seibt, Johanna

    2013-01-01

    the spatial to the temporal dimension of such wide-scope results of individual actions. This shift from ‘global ethics’ to ‘intergenerational ethics’ and, in particular, ‘climate ethics’ requires some new analytical concepts, however. In this paper we provide a definition of wide-scope responsibility geared...... to articulate our moral concerns about emergent effects in complex systems, such as climate change. Working from Iris Marion Young’s “social connection model of responsibility”, we present a notion of shared ecological responsibility with global and intergenerational scope. We show that our account...... is not affected by the so-called non-identity objection to intergenerational ethics. Since we work from an action-theoretic rather than normative perspective, our account is ‘ethically parametrized’ in the sense that it can be combined with different conceptions of structural and intergenerational justice...

  20. Changes in responsiveness to serotonin on rat ventromedial hypothalamic neurons after food deprivation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishimura, F; Nishihara, M; Torii, K; Takahashi, M

    1996-07-01

    The effects of food deprivation on responsiveness of neurons in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) to serotonin (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and neuropeptide Y (NPY) were investigated using brain slices in vitro along with behavioral changes in vivo during fasting. Adult male rats were fasted for 48 h starting at the beginning of the dark phase (lights on: 0700-1900 h). The animals showed a significant loss of body weight on the second day of fasting and an increase in food consumption on the first day of refeeding. During fasting, voluntary locomotor activity was significantly increased in the light phase but not during the dark phase. Plasma catecholamine levels were not affected by fasting. In vitro electrophysiological study showed that, in normally fed rats, 5-HT and NE induced both excitatory and inhibitory responses, while GABA and NPY intensively suppressed unit activity in the VMH. Food deprivation for 48 h significantly changed the responsiveness of VMH neurons to 5-HT, for instance, the ratio of neurons whose activity was facilitated by 5-HT was significantly decreased. The responsiveness of VMH neurons to NE, GABA, and NPY was not affected by food deprivation. These results suggest that food deprivation decreases the facilitatory response of VMH neurons to 5-HT, and that this change in responsiveness to 5-HT is at least partially involved in the increase in food intake motivation and locomotor activity during fasting.

  1. Climate change in the oceans: Human impacts and responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allison, Edward H; Bassett, Hannah R

    2015-11-13

    Although it has far-reaching consequences for humanity, attention to climate change impacts on the ocean lags behind concern for impacts on the atmosphere and land. Understanding these impacts, as well as society's diverse perspectives and multiscale responses to the changing oceans, requires a correspondingly diverse body of scholarship in the physical, biological, and social sciences and humanities. This can ensure that a plurality of values and viewpoints is reflected in the research that informs climate policy and may enable the concerns of maritime societies and economic sectors to be heard in key adaptation and mitigation discussions. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  2. Proactive effects of memory in young and older adults: The role of change recollection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wahlheim, Christopher N.

    2015-01-01

    Age-related deficits in episodic memory are sometimes attributed to older adults being more susceptible to proactive interference. These deficits have been explained by impaired abilities to inhibit competing information and to recollect target information. In the present article, I propose that a change recollection deficit also contributes to age differences in proactive interference. Change recollection occurs when individuals can remember how information changed across episodes, and this counteracts proactive interference by preserving the temporal order of information. Three experiments were conducted to determine whether older adults are less likely to counteract proactive interference by recollecting change. Paired-associate learning paradigms with two lists of word pairs included pairs that repeated across lists, pairs that only appeared in List 2 (control items), and pairs with cues that repeated and responses that changed across lists. Young and older adults’ abilities to detect changed pairs in List 2 and to later recollect those changes at test were measured, along with cued recall of the List 2 responses and confidence in recall performance. Change recollection produced proactive facilitation in the recall of changed pairs, whereas the failure to recollect change resulted in proactive interference. Confidence judgments were sensitive to these effects. The critical finding was that older adults recollected change less than did young adults, and this partially explained older adults’ greater susceptibility to proactive interference. These findings have theoretical implications, showing that a change recollection deficit contributes to age-related deficits in episodic memory. PMID:24710672

  3. Does internal variability change in response to global warming? A large ensemble modelling study of tropical rainfall

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milinski, S.; Bader, J.; Jungclaus, J. H.; Marotzke, J.

    2017-12-01

    There is some consensus on mean state changes of rainfall under global warming; changes of the internal variability, on the other hand, are more difficult to analyse and have not been discussed as much despite their importance for understanding changes in extreme events, such as droughts or floodings. We analyse changes in the rainfall variability in the tropical Atlantic region. We use a 100-member ensemble of historical (1850-2005) model simulations with the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Earth System Model (MPI-ESM1) to identify changes of internal rainfall variability. To investigate the effects of global warming on the internal variability, we employ an additional ensemble of model simulations with stronger external forcing (1% CO2-increase per year, same integration length as the historical simulations) with 68 ensemble members. The focus of our study is on the oceanic Atlantic ITCZ. We find that the internal variability of rainfall over the tropical Atlantic does change due to global warming and that these changes in variability are larger than changes in the mean state in some regions. From splitting the total variance into patterns of variability, we see that the variability on the southern flank of the ITCZ becomes more dominant, i.e. explaining a larger fraction of the total variance in a warmer climate. In agreement with previous studies, we find that changes in the mean state show an increase and narrowing of the ITCZ. The large ensembles allow us to do a statistically robust differentiation between the changes in variability that can be explained by internal variability and those that can be attributed to the external forcing. Furthermore, we argue that internal variability in a transient climate is only well defined in the ensemble domain and not in the temporal domain, which requires the use of a large ensemble.

  4. The role of plant functional trade-offs for biodiversity changes and biome shifts under scenarios of global climatic change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Reu

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available The global geographic distribution of biodiversity and biomes is determined by species-specific physiological tolerances to climatic constraints. Current vegetation models employ empirical bioclimatic relationships to predict present-day vegetation patterns and to forecast biodiversity changes and biome shifts under climatic change. In this paper, we consider trade-offs in plant functioning and their responses under climatic changes to forecast and explain changes in plant functional richness and shifts in biome geographic distributions.

    The Jena Diversity model (JeDi simulates plant survival according to essential plant functional trade-offs, including ecophysiological processes such as water uptake, photosynthesis, allocation, reproduction and phenology. We use JeDi to quantify changes in plant functional richness and biome shifts between present-day and a range of possible future climates from two SRES emission scenarios (A2 and B1 and seven global climate models using metrics of plant functional richness and functional identity.

    Our results show (i a significant loss of plant functional richness in the tropics, (ii an increase in plant functional richness at mid and high latitudes, and (iii a pole-ward shift of biomes. While these results are consistent with the findings of empirical approaches, we are able to explain them in terms of the plant functional trade-offs involved in the allocation, metabolic and reproduction strategies of plants. We conclude that general aspects of plant physiological tolerances can be derived from functional trade-offs, which may provide a useful process- and trait-based alternative to bioclimatic relationships. Such a mechanistic approach may be particularly relevant when addressing vegetation responses to climatic changes that encounter novel combinations of climate parameters that do not exist under contemporary climate.

  5. Net root growth and nutrient acquisition in response to predicted climate change in two contrasting heathland species

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Arndal, M.F.; Merrild, M.P.; Michelsen, A.

    2013-01-01

    Accurate predictions of nutrient acquisition by plant roots and mycorrhizas are critical in modelling plant responses to climate change.We conducted a field experiment with the aim to investigate root nutrient uptake in a future climate and studied root production by ingrowth cores, mycorrhizal...... to elevated CO2. The species-specific response to the treatments suggests different sensitivity to global change factors, which could result in changed plant competitive interactions and belowground nutrient pool sizes in response to future climate change....

  6. A rate equation model of stomatal responses to vapour pressure deficit and drought

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shanahan ST

    2002-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Stomata respond to vapour pressure deficit (D – when D increases, stomata begin to close. Closure is the result of a decline in guard cell turgor, but the link between D and turgor is poorly understood. We describe a model for stomatal responses to increasing D based upon cellular water relations. The model also incorporates impacts of increasing levels of water stress upon stomatal responses to increasing D. Results The model successfully mimics the three phases of stomatal responses to D and also reproduces the impact of increasing plant water deficit upon stomatal responses to increasing D. As water stress developed, stomata regulated transpiration at ever decreasing values of D. Thus, stomatal sensitivity to D increased with increasing water stress. Predictions from the model concerning the impact of changes in cuticular transpiration upon stomatal responses to increasing D are shown to conform to experimental data. Sensitivity analyses of stomatal responses to various parameters of the model show that leaf thickness, the fraction of leaf volume that is air-space, and the fraction of mesophyll cell wall in contact with air have little impact upon behaviour of the model. In contrast, changes in cuticular conductance and membrane hydraulic conductivity have significant impacts upon model behaviour. Conclusion Cuticular transpiration is an important feature of stomatal responses to D and is the cause of the 3 phase response to D. Feed-forward behaviour of stomata does not explain stomatal responses to D as feedback, involving water loss from guard cells, can explain these responses.

  7. The Right Ventricle Explains Sex Differences in Survival in Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jacobs, W.; van de Veerdonk, M.C.; Trip, P.; de Man, F.S.; Heymans, M.W.; Marcus, J.T.; Kawut, S.M.; Bogaard, H.J.; Boonstra, A.; Vonk-Noordegraaf, A.

    2014-01-01

    Background: Male sex is an independent predictor of worse survival in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This finding might be explained by more severe pulmonary vascular disease, worse right ventricular (RV) function, or different response to therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate

  8. Changes in thermal nociceptive responses in dairy cows following experimentally induced Esherichia coli mastitis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Ditte B.; Fogsgaard, Katrine; Røntved, Christine Maria

    2011-01-01

    Mastitis is a high incidence disease in dairy cows. The acute stage is considered painful and inflammation can lead to hyperalgesia and thereby contribute to decreased welfare. The aim of this study was to examine changes in nociceptive responses toward cutaneous nociceptive laser stimulation (NLS......) in dairy cows with experimentally induced Escherichia coli mastitis, and correlate behavioral changes in nociceptive responses to clinical and paraclinical variables....

  9. Studies on climate change problems and response measures in China

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ruqiu, Y. [China National Environmental Protection Agency, Beijing (China)

    1995-06-01

    Climate has substantial influence on the development of human society. At the same time, the global climate is being affected by human activities. Since industrial revolution large amount of CO{sub 2} and other greenhouse gases have been emitted to the atmosphere, causing significant change in its composition. It is recognized that this change might be sufficient to cause change in global climate. Because of the importance of climate change issues, the Chinese government pays great attention to them. As climate change concerns almost all aspects of the social and economic development, in order to coordinate ministries and agencies of the government in their efforts to deal with climate change problems, the Coordinating Group on Climate Change under the Environmental Protection Committee of the State Council was established in February 1990. There are four working groups under the Coordinating Group, working on scientific assessment, impact assessment and response strategies, economic implication and international convention matters of climate change. A number of research and technological development projects related to climate change issues have been organized, including bilateral cooperation projects and projects supported by GEF, UNEP, UNDP, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other international organizations. (EG) 11 refs.

  10. Studies on climate change problems and response measures in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruqiu, Y.

    1995-01-01

    Climate has substantial influence on the development of human society. At the same time, the global climate is being affected by human activities. Since industrial revolution large amount of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases have been emitted to the atmosphere, causing significant change in its composition. It is recognized that this change might be sufficient to cause change in global climate. Because of the importance of climate change issues, the Chinese government pays great attention to them. As climate change concerns almost all aspects of the social and economic development, in order to coordinate ministries and agencies of the government in their efforts to deal with climate change problems, the Coordinating Group on Climate Change under the Environmental Protection Committee of the State Council was established in February 1990. There are four working groups under the Coordinating Group, working on scientific assessment, impact assessment and response strategies, economic implication and international convention matters of climate change. A number of research and technological development projects related to climate change issues have been organized, including bilateral cooperation projects and projects supported by GEF, UNEP, UNDP, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other international organizations. (EG) 11 refs

  11. School Social Workers as Response to Intervention Change Champions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deneca Winfrey Avant

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available School social workers (SSWs are known for serving students with social, emotional, and academic needs. Implementing Response to Intervention (RTI/Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS is one avenue in which SSWs play an integral role by guiding the development and implementation of student interventions. RTI/MTSS requires substantive and multifaceted system changes that involve more than simply adopting new approaches. This paradigm shift brings change which may not be desired or easily accepted by school systems. However, developing collaborative relationships and using effective leadership strategies throughout the RTI/MTSS transformation can be a pathway to success. A survey of 192 SSWs in Illinois revealed the challenges that SSWs experienced as the process of implementing RTI/MTSS transformed them into change leaders. This revelation was viewed as an opportunity to closely align social and emotional practices with students’ academic achievement.

  12. Responding to Hostility: Evidence-Based Guidance for Communication during Planned Organizational Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Kim Sydow; Carmichael, Pierson; Naidoo, Jefrey S.

    2015-01-01

    Hostile challenges to planned organization change are common and challenging to deal with effectively. Little research has explained successful responses to such stakeholder hostility. To address this gap, we use the concept of readiness to characterize the content of hostile challenges. We also use rhetorical strategies based on speech act theory…

  13. Beyond Rivalry and Camaraderie: Explaining Varying Asian Responses to China

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-01

    contemporary responses of seven states—Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia , Japan and the US—plus multilateral bodies, to China. The volume...the LDP in the 1955 System, with former bureaucrats generally representing 30% of the LDP’s Diet members, and up to 50% of cabinet members.163... Diet had ultimate, constitutionally-granted authority to regulate the bureaucracy, while the LDP had little policy expertise of its own and had to

  14. Impact of climate change on radial growth of Siberian spruce and Scots pine in North-western Russia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lopatin E

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available When adapting forest management practices to a changing environment, it is very important to understand the response of an unmanaged natural forest to climate change. The method used to identify major climatic factors influencing radial growth of Siberian spruce and Scots pine along a latitudinal gradient in north-western Russia is dendroclimatic analysis. A clear increasing long-term trend was identified in air temperature and precipitation. During the last 20 years, all meteorological stations experienced temperature increases, and 40 years ago precipitation began to increase. This is shown by the radial increment of Siberian spruce and Scots pine. Therefore, climate change could partly explain the increased forest productivity. The total variance explained by temperature varied from 22% to 41% and precipitation from 19% to 38%. The significant climatic parameters for radial increment in Komi Republic were identified, and the relation between temperature and precipitation in explained variance changes over time for Siberian spruce.

  15. Plant community mediation of ecosystem responses to global change factors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Churchill, A. C.

    2017-12-01

    Human alteration of the numerous environmental drivers affecting ecosystem processes is unprecedented in the last century, including changes in climate regimes and rapid increases in the availability of biologically active nitrogen (N). Plant communities may offer stabilizing or amplifying feedbacks mediating potential ecosystem responses to these alterations, and my research seeks to examine the conditions associated with when plant feedbacks are important for ecosystem change. My dissertation research focused on the unintended consequences of N deposition into natural landscapes, including alpine ecosystems which are particularly susceptible to adverse environmental impacts. In particular, I examined alpine plant and soil responses to N deposition 1) across multiple spatial scales throughout the Southern Rocky Mountains, 2) among diverse plant communities associated with unique environmental conditions common in the alpine of this region, and 3) among ecosystem pools of N contributing to stabilization of N inputs within those communities. I found that communities responded to inputs of N differently, often associated with traits of dominant plant species but these responses were intimately linked with the abiotic conditions of each independent community. Even so, statistical models predicting metrics of N processing in the alpine were improved by encompassing both abiotic and biotic components of the main community types.

  16. Coordinated approaches to quantify long-term ecosystem dynamics in response to global change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yiqi Luo; Jerry Melillo; Shuli Niu; Claus Beier; James S. Clark; Aime E.T. Classen; Eric Dividson; Jeffrey S. Dukes; R. Dave Evans; Christopher B. Field; Claudia I. Czimczik; Michael Keller; Bruce A. Kimball; Lara M. Kueppers; Richard J. Norby; Shannon L. Pelini; Elise Pendall; Edward Rastetter; Johan Six; Melinda Smith; Mark G. Tjoelker; Margaret S. Torn

    2011-01-01

    Many serious ecosystem consequences of climate change will take decades or even centuries to emerge. Long-term ecological responses to global change are strongly regulated by slow processes, such as changes in species composition, carbon dynamics in soil and by long-lived plants, and accumulation of nutrient capitals. Understanding and predicting these processes...

  17. Linking above and belowground responses to global change at community and ecosystem scales.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Antoninka, Anita [Northern Arizona University; Wolf, Julie [Northern Arizona University; Bowker, Matt [Northern Arizona University; Classen, Aimee T [ORNL; JohnsonPhD, Dr Nancy C [Northern Arizona University

    2009-01-01

    Cryptic belowground organisms are difficult to observe and their responses to global changes are not well understood. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that interactions among above- and belowground communities may mediate ecosystem responses to global change. We used grassland mesocosms to manipulate the abundance of one important group of soil organisms, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and to study community and ecosystem responses to CO2 and N enrichment. After two growing seasons, biomass responses of plant communities were recorded, and soil community responses were measured using microscopy, phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) and community-level physiological profiles (CLPP). Ecosystem responses were examined by measuring net primary production (NPP), evapotranspiration, total soil organic matter (SOM), and extractable mineral N. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the causal relationships among treatments and response variables. We found that while CO2 and N tended to directly impact ecosystem functions (evapotranspiration and NPP, respectively), AM fungi indirectly impacted ecosystem functions by strongly influencing the composition of plant and soil communities. For example, the presence of AM fungi had a strong influence on other root and soil fungi and soil bacteria. We found that the mycotrophic status of the dominant plant species in the mesocosms determined whether the presence of AM fungi increased or decreased NPP. Mycotrophic grasses dominated the mesocosm communities during the first growing season, and thus, the mycorrhizal treatments had the highest NPP. In contrast, non-mycotrophic forbs were dominant during the second growing season and thus, the mycorrhizal treatments had the lowest NPP. The composition of the plant community strongly influenced soil N; and the composition of the soil organisms strongly influenced SOM accumulation in the mesocosms. These results show how linkages between above- and belowground communities

  18. State responsibility and compensation for climate change damages - a legal and economic assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tol, R.S.J.; Institute for Environmental Studies, Amsterdam; Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA; Verheyen, R.

    2004-01-01

    Customary international law has that countries may do each other no harm. A country violates this rule if an activity under its control does damage to another country, and if this is done on purpose or due to carelessness. Impacts of climate change fall under this rule, which is reinforced by many declarations and treaties,including the UNFCCC. Compensation for the harm done depends on many parameters, such as emission scenarios, climate change, climate change impacts and its accounting. The compensation paid by the OECD may run up to 4% of its GDP, far exceeding the costs of climate change to the OECD directly. However, the most crucial issues are, first, from when countries can be held responsible and, second, which emissions are acceptable and which careless. This may even be interpreted such that the countries of the OECD are entitled to compensation, rather than be obliged to pay. State responsibility could substantially change international climate policy. (author)

  19. Everyday stress response targets in the science of behavior change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smyth, Joshua M; Sliwinski, Martin J; Zawadzki, Matthew J; Scott, Stacey B; Conroy, David E; Lanza, Stephanie T; Marcusson-Clavertz, David; Kim, Jinhyuk; Stawski, Robert S; Stoney, Catherine M; Buxton, Orfeu M; Sciamanna, Christopher N; Green, Paige M; Almeida, David M

    2018-02-01

    Stress is an established risk factor for negative health outcomes, and responses to everyday stress can interfere with health behaviors such as exercise and sleep. In accordance with the Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) program, we apply an experimental medicine approach to identifying stress response targets, developing stress response assays, intervening upon these targets, and testing intervention effectiveness. We evaluate an ecologically valid, within-person approach to measuring the deleterious effects of everyday stress on physical activity and sleep patterns, examining multiple stress response components (i.e., stress reactivity, stress recovery, and stress pile-up) as indexed by two key response indicators (negative affect and perseverative cognition). Our everyday stress response assay thus measures multiple malleable stress response targets that putatively shape daily health behaviors (physical activity and sleep). We hypothesize that larger reactivity, incomplete recovery, and more frequent stress responses (pile-up) will negatively impact health behavior enactment in daily life. We will identify stress-related reactivity, recovery, and response in the indicators using coordinated analyses across multiple naturalistic studies. These results are the basis for developing a new stress assay and replicating the initial findings in a new sample. This approach will advance our understanding of how specific aspects of everyday stress responses influence health behaviors, and can be used to develop and test an innovative ambulatory intervention for stress reduction in daily life to enhance health behaviors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. [Responses of Picea likiangensis radial growth to climate change in the Small Zhongdian area of Yunnan Province, Southwest China].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Zhi-Jiang; Tan, Liu-Yi; Kang, Dong-Wei; Liu, Qi-Jing; Li, Jun-Qing

    2012-03-01

    Picea likiangensis (Franch. ) Pritz. primary forest is one of the dominant forest types in the Small Zhongdian area in Shangri-La County of Yunnan Province. In this paper, the responses of P. likiangensis tree-ring width to climate change were analyzed by dendrochronological methods, and the dendrochronology was built by using relatively conservative detrending negative exponential curves or linear regression. Correlation analysis and response function analysis were applied to explore the relationships between the residual chronology series (RES) and climatic factors at different time scales, and pointer year analysis was used to explain the reasons of producing narrow and wide rings. In the study area, the radial growth of P. likiangensis and the increasing air temperature from 1990 to 2008 had definite 'abruption'. The temperature and precipitation in previous year growth season were the main factors limiting the present year radial growth, and especially, the temperature in previous July played a negative feedback role in the radial growth, while the sufficient precipitation in previous July promoted the radial growth. The differences in the temperature variation and precipitation variation in previous year were the main reasons for the formation of narrow and wide rings. P. likiangensis radial growth was not sensitive to the variation of PDSI.

  1. Assessing the implications of human land-use change for the transient climate response to cumulative carbon emissions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simmons, C T; Matthews, H D

    2016-01-01

    Recent research has shown evidence of a linear climate response to cumulative CO 2 emissions, which implies that the source, timing, and amount of emissions does not significantly influence the climate response per unit emission. Furthermore, these analyses have generally assumed that the climate response to land-use CO 2 emissions is equivalent to that of fossil fuels under the assumption that, once in the atmosphere, the radiative forcing induced by CO 2 is not sensitive to the emissions source. However, land-cover change also affects surface albedo and the strength of terrestrial carbon sinks, both of which have an additional climate effect. In this study, we use a coupled climate-carbon cycle model to assess the climate response to historical and future cumulative land-use CO 2 emissions, in order to compare it to the response to fossil fuel CO 2 . We find that when we isolate the CO 2 -induced (biogeochemical) temperature changes associated with land-use change, then the climate response to cumulative land-use emissions is equivalent to that of fossil fuel CO 2 . We show further that the globally-averaged albedo-induced biophysical cooling from land-use change is non-negligible and may be of comparable magnitude to the biogeochemical warming, with the result that the net climate response to land-use change is substantially different from a linear response to cumulative emissions. However, our new simulations suggest that the biophysical cooling from land-use change follows its own independent (negative) linear response to cumulative net land-use CO 2 emissions, which may provide a useful scaling factor for certain applications when evaluating the full transient climate response to emissions. (letter)

  2. Irregular radiation response of a chondrosarcoma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marsden, J.J.; Kember, N.F.; Shaw, J.E.H.

    1980-01-01

    The DC II mouse chondrosarcoma was shown to be a potentially valuable radiobiological tumour system since it recovered from radiation injury by regrowth from clones that could be counted in histological sections. Unfortunately, the normal growth of this tumour following s.c. implantation in the thigh was irregular both in the time before growth became evident and in the rate of growth. The response to radiation was also unreliable since tumours irradiated with the same dose (e.g. 30 Gy) showed a range of responses from shrinkage to no detectable change in growth rate. The delay in normal growth can be attributed largely to delays in vascularization while changes in growth rate may be explained by differences in tumour architecture. Radiation response may depend on variations in hypoxic fraction and in relative cellularity. Tumours having the same external dimensions may differ by a factor of 80 in the numbers of tumour cells they contain. This chondrosarcoma may prove a closer model to some human tumours than many transplantable tumours that display regular growth patterns. (author)

  3. Biocrust spectral response as affected by changing climatic conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodriguez-Caballero, Emilio; Guirado, Emilio; Escribano, Paula; Reyes, Andres; Weber, Bettina

    2017-04-01

    Drylands are characterized by scarce vegetation coverage and low rates of biological activity, both constrained by water scarcity. Under these conditions, biocrusts form key players of ecosystem functioning. They comprise complex poikilohydric communities of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens and bryophytes together with heterotrophic bacteria, archaea and fungi, which cover the uppermost soil layer. Biocrusts can cope with prolonged phases of drought, being rapidly re-activated when water becomes available again. Upon reactivation, biocrusts almost immediately turn green, fixing atmospheric carbon and nitrogen and increasing ecosystem productivity. However, due to their inconspicuous growth they have only rarely been analysed and spatially and temporally continuous information on their response to water pulses is missing. These data are particularly important under changing climatic conditions predicting an increase in aridity and variations in precipitation patterns within most of the dryland regions. In the present study, we used multi-temporal series of NDVI obtained from LANDSAT images to analyze biocrust and vegetation response to water pulses within the South African Succulent Karoo and we predicted their future response under different climate change scenarios. The results showed that biocrust and vegetation greenness are controlled by aridity, solar radiation and soil water content, showing similar annual patterns, with minimum values during dry periods that increased within the rainy season and decreased again after the onset of drought. However, biocrusts responded faster to water availability and turned green almost immediately after small rains, producing a small NDVI peak only few days after rainfall, whereas more time was needed for vegetation to grow new green tissue. However, once the photosynthetic tissue of vegetation was restored, it caused the highest increase of NDVI values after the rain. Predicted changes in precipitation patterns and aridity

  4. Hard choices : climate change in Canada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Coward, H.; Weaver, A.J. (eds.)

    2004-07-01

    This book explains the nature of climate change, the options to respond to it and the virtues of Canada's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. It includes a collection of essays by prominent Canadian scientists and scholars who discuss the impacts of climate change on Canada from physical, social, technological, economic and political perspectives. Climate change assessments have been made possible by monitoring and recording changes in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. As a result of these assessments, climate change has become an issue on policy agendas. Advanced computer models have convinced much of the scientific community that climate change will bring with it droughts, floods, hurricanes, forest fires, ice storms, blackouts, and increased warming in countries in high latitudes, including Canada, despite remaining uncertainties about how human activities will affect the climate. The authors cautioned that climate change response strategies can only be refined once these uncertainties are significantly reduced. refs., tabs., figs.

  5. Sex Behaviour Change in Response to the HIV/AIDS Threat among ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Sex Behaviour Change in Response to the HIV/AIDS Threat among University ... active, and prior studies have documented an appreciable knowledge of the HIV ... Design: A cross sectional descriptive survey of selfreported sexual behaviour ...

  6. Glacial changes in warm pool climate dominated by shelf exposure and ice sheet albedo

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Nezio, P. N.; Tierney, J. E.; Otto-Bliesner, B. L.; Timmermann, A.; Bhattacharya, T.; Brady, E. C.; Rosenbloom, N. A.

    2017-12-01

    The mechanisms driving glacial-interglacial changes in the climate of the Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP) are unclear. We addressed this issue combining model simulations and paleoclimate reconstructions of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Two drivers - the exposure of tropical shelves due to lower sea level and a monsoonal response to ice sheet albedo - explain the proxy-inferred patterns of hydroclimate change. Shelf exposure influences IPWP climate by weakening the ascending branch of the Walker circulation. This response is amplified by coupled interactions akin to the Bjerknes feedback involving a stronger sea-surface temperature (SST) gradient along the equatorial Indian Ocean (IO). Ice sheet albedo enhances the import of cold, dry air into the tropics, weakening the Afro-Asian monsoon system. This "ventilation" mechanism alters temperature contrasts between the Arabian Sea and surrounding land leading to further monsoon weakening. Additional simulations show that the altered SST patterns associated with these responses are essential for explaining the proxy-inferred changes. Together our results show that ice sheets are a first order driver of tropical climate on glacial-interglacial timescales. While glacial climates are not a straightforward analogue for the future, our finding of an active Bjerknes feedback deserves further attention in the context of future climate projections.

  7. Alpine forest-tundra ecotone response to temperature change,Sayan Mountains, Siberia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ranson, K Jon; Kharuk, Vyetcheslav I.

    2007-01-01

    Models of climate change predict shifts of vegetation zones. Tree response to climate trends is most likely observable in the forest-tundra ecotone, where temperature mainly limits tree growth. There is evidence of vegetation change on the northern treeline However, observations on alpine tree line response are controversial. In this NEESPI related study we show that during the past three decades in the forest-tundra ecotone of the Sayan Mountains, Siberia, there was an increase in forest stand crown closure, regeneration propagation into the alpine tundra, and transformation of prostrate Siberian pine and fir into arboreal forms. We found that these changes occurred since the mid 1980s, and strongly correlates with positive temperature (and to a lesser extent, precipitation) trends. Improving climate for forest growth( i.e., warmer temperatures and increased precipitation) provides competitive advantages to Siberian pine in the alpine forest-tundra ecotone, as well as in areas typically dominated by larch, where it has been found to be forming a secondary canopy layer. Substitution of deciduous conifer, larch, for evergreen conifers, decreases albedo and provides positive feedback for temperature increase.

  8. Key ecological responses to nitrogen are altered by climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greaver, T.L.; Clark, C.M.; Compton, J.E.; Vallano, D.; Talhelm, A. F.; Weaver, C.P.; Band, L.E.; Baron, Jill S.; Davidson, E.A.; Tague, C.L.; Felker-Quinn, E.; Lynch, J.A.; Herrick, J.D.; Liu, L.; Goodale, C.L.; Novak, K. J.; Haeuber, R. A.

    2016-01-01

    Climate change and anthropogenic nitrogen deposition are both important ecological threats. Evaluating their cumulative effects provides a more holistic view of ecosystem vulnerability to human activities, which would better inform policy decisions aimed to protect the sustainability of ecosystems. Our knowledge of the cumulative effects of these stressors is growing, but we lack an integrated understanding. In this Review, we describe how climate change alters key processes in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems related to nitrogen cycling and availability, and the response of ecosystems to nitrogen addition in terms of carbon cycling, acidification and biodiversity.

  9. Restorative Justice: A Changing Community Response

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Thomas G.; Ruddy, Sean

    2015-01-01

    Our purpose herein is to demonstrate how restorative justice continues to unfold globally and we explain how the use of a restorative justice ideology and intervention leads to a common alternative, not only in criminal justice institutions, but also within social agencies, such as elementary schools, and the related social support systems. We…

  10. Explaining Responses in Danish and Irish Banking to the Financial Crisis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kluth, Michael Friederich; Lynggaard, Kennet

    The 2008 global financial crises produced very different responses in Ireland and Denmark. While both countries embraced depositor guarantee schemes and recapitalization programmes, their design and adoption reveal important variations. Crucially, the Irish state initially assumed full...

  11. Temperament and character profiles associated with depression and treatment response in patients with or without comorbid substance abuse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paavonen, Vesa; Luoto, Kaisa; Koivukangas, Antti; Lassila, Antero; Leinonen, Esa; Kampman, Olli

    2016-11-30

    There is limited knowledge on the relationship between temperament and character profiles and substance abuse comorbidity in depressed patients. We recruited 127 depressed patients without alcohol use problems (non-AUP) and 89 depressed patients with alcohol use problems (AUP). We assessed all patients using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-R) at baseline and after 6 weeks of treatment. Using univariate general linear models (GLMs), we analyzed differences in TCI-R between AUP and non-AUP. GLMs were also used in analyzing the associations between TCI-R changes and antidepressive treatment responses measured with changes in Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale score (ΔMADRS). Alcohol use explained independently significant proportions of the variation in Novelty Seeking, Self-Directedness, and Persistence. Reward Dependence score change explained 14.1% of the ΔMADRS in AUP, but was non-significant in non-AUP. Character score changes in Self-Directedness and Self-Transcendence explained together 14.1% of ΔMADRS in non-AUP, whereas they were all non-significant in AUP. AUP compared with non-AUP patients had lower Self-Directedness and Persistence and higher Novelty Seeking scores. Detected changes in Reward Dependence and lower Self-Directedness in AUP patients could be reflective of different biological mechanisms associated with depressive symptomatology in alcohol abuse. Changes in character are associated with acute treatment response in non-AUP. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Comparison of Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory in Individual Change Assessment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jabrayilov, Ruslan; Emons, Wilco H. M.; Sijtsma, Klaas

    2016-01-01

    Clinical psychologists are advised to assess clinical and statistical significance when assessing change in individual patients. Individual change assessment can be conducted using either the methodologies of classical test theory (CTT) or item response theory (IRT). Researchers have been optimistic

  13. Cardiovascular responses to postural changes: differences with age for women and men

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frey, M. A.; Tomaselli, C. M.; Hoffler, W. G.

    1994-01-01

    The cardiovascular responses to postural change, and how they are affected by aging, are inadequately described in women. Therefore, the authors examined the influence of age and sex on the responses of blood pressure, cardiac output, heart rate, and other variables to change in posture. Measurements were made after 10 minutes each in the supine, seated, and standing positions in 22 men and 25 women who ranged in age from 21 to 59 years. Several variables differed, both by sex and by age, when subjects were supine. On rising, subjects' diastolic and mean arterial pressures, heart rate, total peripheral resistance (TPR), and thoracic impedance increased; cardiac output, stroke volume, and mean stroke ejection rate decreased; and changes in all variables, except heart rate, were greater from supine to sitting than sitting to standing. The increase in heart rate was greater in the younger subjects, and increases in TPR and thoracic impedance were greater in the older subjects. Stroke volume decreased less, and TPR and thoracic impedance increased more, in the women than in the men. The increase in TPR was particularly pronounced in the older women. These studies show that the cardiovascular responses to standing differ, in some respects, between the sexes and with age. The authors suggest that the sex differences are, in part, related to greater decrease of thoracic blood volume with standing in women than in men, and that the age differences result, in part, from decreased responsiveness of the high-pressure baroreceptor system.

  14. Predicting the Response of Electricity Load to Climate Change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sullivan, Patrick [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colman, Jesse [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kalendra, Eric [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

    2015-07-28

    Our purpose is to develop a methodology to quantify the impact of climate change on electric loads in the United States. We perform simple linear regression, assisted by geospatial smoothing, on paired temperature and load time-series to estimate the heating- and coolinginduced sensitivity to temperature across 300 transmission zones and 16 seasonal and diurnal time periods. The estimated load sensitivities can be coupled with climate scenarios to quantify the potential impact of climate change on load, with a primary application being long-term electricity scenarios. The method allows regional and seasonal differences in climate and load response to be reflected in the electricity scenarios. While the immediate product of this analysis was designed to mesh with the spatial and temporal resolution of a specific electricity model to enable climate change scenarios and analysis with that model, we also propose that the process could be applied for other models and purposes.

  15. Plant eco-physiological responses to multiple environmental and climate changes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rost Albert, K.

    2009-03-15

    The current global changes of temperature, precipitation, atmospheric CO{sub 2} and UV-B radiation impact in concert ecosystems and processes in an unpredictable way. Therefore multifactor experimentation is needed to unravel the variability in strength of these drivers, whether the factors act additively or synergistically and to establish cause-effect relations between ecosystem processes. This thesis deals with heath plant responses to global change factors (the CLIMAITE project). In a Danish temperate heath ecosystem elevated CO{sub 2}, experimental summer drought, and passive nighttime warming was applied in all combinations (based on the scenario for Denmark anno 2075) and the responses after one year of treatment were investigated through a growing season in Hairgrass (Deschampsia flexousa) and Heather (Calluna vulgaris). In a high arctic heath ecosystem situated in NE-Greenland UV-B exclusion experiments were conducted on Salix arctica and Vaccinium uliginosum during six years. Responses of photosynthesis performance were characterized on the leaf scale by means of leaf gas-exchange (A/Ci curves), chlorophyll-a fluorescence, leaf nitrogen, carbon and delta13C and secondary compounds. The main findings were 1) The different growth strategies of the evergreen Calluna versus the opportunistic bi-phasic Deschampsia affects the photosynthesis response to drought and autumn warming; 2) Elevated CO{sub 2} and warming synergistically increase photosynthesis in spring and autumn; 3) Summer drought decreased photosynthesis in both species, but where Calluna maintained photosynthetic metabolism then major proportion of grass leaves wilted down; 4) Elevated CO{sub 2} did not decrease stomatal conductance, but the treatments affected soil water content positively, pointing to the complex water relations when plants of contrasting growth strategy co-occur; 5) Water availability affected the magnitude of photosynthesis to a higher degree than warming and elevated CO{sub 2

  16. Antarctic fish in a changing world: metabolic, osmoregulatory and endocrine stress response

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Miguel Guerreiro

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Fish around Antarctic Peninsula are exposed to the fastest climate change rate in the planet, up to ten times higher than the global average. The evolution in extreme stenothermal isolation was a strong selective pressure for the development of a highly endemic fish fauna, with likely structural and functional constraints. To which extent can coastal notothenioid fish adjust to the conditions forecasted by the models of climate change? Experiments were run in the Arctowski (PL station at Admiralty Bay, King George Island, in 2012/13. Fish, Notothenia rossii and N. coriiceps, were collected by boat at 5-25 meter deep using fishing poles and were transferred to experimental tanks in cold rooms acclimated to natural temperatures (0-2°C. Fish were exposed to rapid/ gradual changes in water temperature or/and salinity (to 6-8°C using thermostat-controlled heaters, to 20-10‰ by addition of freshwater to recirculating tanks, over a period of up to 10 days to evaluate the response of several physiological processes. The stress endocrine axis was tested by injecting known blockers/ agonists of cortisol release and receptors. Exposure to altered conditions had no effect in immediate mortality. Increased temperature reduced overall activity and behavioral response to stimuli, although it had no clear effect on mobilization of energetic substrate. Both cortisol and gene expression of metabolic-related proteins and glucocorticoid- and mineralocorticoid receptors were modified after heat shock, but that the cortisol response to handling was reduced. The rise in temperature induced a dependent decrease in plasma osmolality while increasing branchial Na+/K+-ATPase activity, thus decreasing osmoregulatory efficiency. In conclusion, Antarctic fish are reactive to environmental change, but that their ability to accommodate rapid or adaptive responses may be compromised.

  17. Changes in stimulus and response AC/A ratio with vision therapy in Convergence Insufficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Neeraj Kumar; Mani, Revathy; Hussaindeen, Jameel Rizwana

    To evaluate the changes in the stimulus and response Accommodative Convergence to Accommodation (AC/A) ratio following vision therapy (VT) in Convergence Insufficiency (CI). Stimulus and response AC/A ratio were measured on twenty five CI participants, pre and post 10 sessions of VT. Stimulus AC/A ratio was measured using the gradient method and response AC/A ratio was calculated using modified Thorington technique with accommodative responses measured using WAM-5500 open-field autorefractor. The gradient stimulus and response AC/A cross-link ratios were compared with thirty age matched controls. Mean age of the CI and control participants were 23.3±5.2 years and 22.7±4.2 years, respectively. The mean stimulus and response AC/A ratio for CI pre therapy was 2.2±0.72 and 6.3±2.0 PD/D that changed to 4.2±0.9 and 8.28±3.31 PD/D respectively post vision therapy and these changes were statistically significant (paired t-test; paccommodation parameters in subjects with convergence insufficiency. This represents the plasticity of the AC/A crosslink ratios that could be achieved with vision therapy in CI. Copyright © 2016 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  18. Are species' responses to global change predicted by past niche evolution?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavergne, Sébastien; Evans, Margaret E. K.; Burfield, Ian J.; Jiguet, Frederic; Thuiller, Wilfried

    2013-01-01

    Predicting how and when adaptive evolution might rescue species from global change, and integrating this process into tools of biodiversity forecasting, has now become an urgent task. Here, we explored whether recent population trends of species can be explained by their past rate of niche evolution, which can be inferred from increasingly available phylogenetic and niche data. We examined the assemblage of 409 European bird species for which estimates of demographic trends between 1970 and 2000 are available, along with a species-level phylogeny and data on climatic, habitat and trophic niches. We found that species' proneness to demographic decline is associated with slow evolution of the habitat niche in the past, in addition to certain current-day life-history and ecological traits. A similar result was found at a higher taxonomic level, where families prone to decline have had a history of slower evolution of climatic and habitat niches. Our results support the view that niche conservatism can prevent some species from coping with environmental change. Thus, linking patterns of past niche evolution and contemporary species dynamics for large species samples may provide insights into how niche evolution may rescue certain lineages in the face of global change. PMID:23209172

  19. The Kok effect in Vicia faba cannot be explained solely by changes in chloroplastic CO2 concentration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckley, Thomas N; Vice, Heather; Adams, Mark A

    2017-12-01

    The Kok effect - an abrupt decline in quantum yield (QY) of net CO 2 assimilation at low photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) - is widely used to estimate respiration in the light (R), which assumes the effect is caused by light suppression of R. A recent report suggested much of the Kok effect can be explained by declining chloroplastic CO 2 concentration (c c ) at low PPFD. Several predictions arise from the hypothesis that the Kok effect is caused by declining c c , and we tested these predictions in Vicia faba. We measured CO 2 exchange at low PPFD, in 2% and 21% oxygen, in developing and mature leaves, which differed greatly in R in darkness. Our results contradicted each of the predictions based on the c c effect: QY exceeded the theoretical maximum value for photosynthetic CO 2 uptake; QY was larger in 21% than 2% oxygen; and the change in QY at the Kok effect breakpoint was unaffected by oxygen. Our results strongly suggest the Kok effect arises largely from a progressive decline in R with PPFD that includes both oxygen-sensitive and -insensitive components. We suggest an improved Kok method that accounts for high c c at low PPFD. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

  20. Transgenerational effects and impact of compensatory responses to changes in breeding phenology on antipredator defenses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orizaola, Germán; Richter-Boix, Alex; Laurila, Anssi

    2016-09-01

    As organisms living in temperate environments often have only a short time window for growth and reproduction, their life-history strategies are expected to be influenced by these time constraints. Parents may alter the pace of offspring life-history as a response to changes in breeding phenology. However, the responses to changes in time constraints must be balanced with those against other stressors, such as predation, one of the strongest and more ubiquitous selective factors in nature. Here, after experimentally modifying the timing of breeding and hatching in the moor frog (Rana arvalis), we studied how compensatory responses to delayed breeding and hatching affect antipredator strategies in amphibian larvae. We examined the activity patterns, morphology and life-history responses in tadpoles exposed to different combinations of breeding and hatching delays in the presence and absence of predators. We found clear evidence of adaptive transgenerational effects since tadpoles from delayed breeding treatments increased growth and development independently of predation risk. The presence of predators reduced tadpole activity, tadpoles from delayed breeding treatments maintaining lower activity than non-delayed ones also in the absence of predators. Tadpoles reared with predators developed deeper tails and bodies, however, tadpoles from breeding delay treatments had reduced morphological defenses as compared to non-delayed individuals. No significant effects of hatching delay were detected in this study. Our study reveals that amphibian larvae exposed to breeding delay develop compensatory life-history responses even under predation risk, but these responses trade-off with the development of morphological antipredator defenses. These results suggest that under strong time constraints organisms are selected to develop fast growth and development responses, and rely on lower activity rates as their main antipredator defense. Examining how responses to changes in

  1. Explaining NDVI trends in northern Burkina Faso

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Kjeld; Fensholt, Rasmus; Fog, Bjarne

    2014-01-01

    by a distinct spatial pattern and strongly dominated by negative trends in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The aim of the paper is to explain this distinct pattern. When studied over the period 2000–2012, using NDVI data from the MODIS sensor the spatial pattern of NDVI trends indicates that non......-climatic factors are involved. By relating NDVI trends to landscape elements and land use change we demonstrate that NDVI trends in the north-western parts of the study area are mostly related to landscape elements, while this is not the case in the south-eastern parts, where rapidly changing land use, including....... expansion of irrigation, plays a major role. It is inferred that a process of increased redistribution of fine soil material, water and vegetation from plateaus and slopes to valleys, possibly related to higher grazing pressure, may provide an explanation of the observed pattern of NDVI trends. Further work...

  2. The dependence of wintertime Mediterranean precipitation on the atmospheric circulation response to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zappa, Giuseppe; Hoskins, Brian; Shepherd, Ted

    2016-04-01

    Climate models indicate a future wintertime precipitation reduction in the Mediterranean region which may have large socio-economic impacts. However, there is large uncertainty in the amplitude of the projected precipitation reduction and this limits the possibility to inform effective adaptation planning. We analyse CMIP5 climate model output to quantify the role of atmospheric circulation in the precipitation change and the time of emergence of the Mediterranean precipitation response. It is found that a simple circulation index, i.e. the 850 hPa zonal wind (U850) in North Africa, well describes the year to year fluctuations in the area-averaged Mediterranean precipitation, with positive (i.e. westerly) U850 anomalies in North Africa being associated with positive precipitation anomalies. Under climate change, U850 in North Africa and the Mediterranean precipitation are both projected to decrease consistently with the relationship found in the inter-annual variability. This enables us to estimate that about 85% of the CMIP5 mean precipitation response and 80% of the variance in the inter-model spread are related to changes in the atmospheric circulation. In contrast, there is no significant correlation between the mean precipitation response and the global-mean surface warming across the models. We also find that the precipitation response to climate change might already emerge from internal variability by 2025 relative to 1960-1990 according to the climate models with a large circulation response. This implies that it might soon be possible to test model projections using observations. Finally, some of the mechanisms which are important for the Mediterranean circulation response in the CMIP5 models are discussed.

  3. Choice of baseline climate data impacts projected species' responses to climate change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, David J; Hartley, Andrew J; Butchart, Stuart H M; Willis, Stephen G

    2016-07-01

    Climate data created from historic climate observations are integral to most assessments of potential climate change impacts, and frequently comprise the baseline period used to infer species-climate relationships. They are often also central to downscaling coarse resolution climate simulations from General Circulation Models (GCMs) to project future climate scenarios at ecologically relevant spatial scales. Uncertainty in these baseline data can be large, particularly where weather observations are sparse and climate dynamics are complex (e.g. over mountainous or coastal regions). Yet, importantly, this uncertainty is almost universally overlooked when assessing potential responses of species to climate change. Here, we assessed the importance of historic baseline climate uncertainty for projections of species' responses to future climate change. We built species distribution models (SDMs) for 895 African bird species of conservation concern, using six different climate baselines. We projected these models to two future periods (2040-2069, 2070-2099), using downscaled climate projections, and calculated species turnover and changes in species-specific climate suitability. We found that the choice of baseline climate data constituted an important source of uncertainty in projections of both species turnover and species-specific climate suitability, often comparable with, or more important than, uncertainty arising from the choice of GCM. Importantly, the relative contribution of these factors to projection uncertainty varied spatially. Moreover, when projecting SDMs to sites of biodiversity importance (Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas), these uncertainties altered site-level impacts, which could affect conservation prioritization. Our results highlight that projections of species' responses to climate change are sensitive to uncertainty in the baseline climatology. We recommend that this should be considered routinely in such analyses. © 2016 John Wiley

  4. Biogeochemical Responses and Feedbacks to Climate Change: Synthetic Meta-Analyses Relevant to Earth System Models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    van Gestel, Natasja; Jan van Groenigen, Kees; Osenberg, Craig; Dukes, Jeffrey; Dijkstra, Paul

    2018-03-20

    This project examined the sensitivity of carbon in land ecosystems to environmental change, focusing on carbon contained in soil, and the role of carbon-nitrogen interactions in regulating ecosystem carbon storage. The project used a combination of empirical measurements, mathematical models, and statistics to partition effects of climate change on soil into processes enhancing soil carbon and processes through which it decomposes. By synthesizing results from experiments around the world, the work provided novel insight on ecological controls and responses across broad spatial and temporal scales. The project developed new approaches in meta-analysis using principles of element mass balance and large datasets to derive metrics of ecosystem responses to environmental change. The project used meta-analysis to test how nutrients regulate responses of ecosystems to elevated CO2 and warming, in particular responses of nitrogen fixation, critical for regulating long-term C balance.

  5. Regional pattern and interannual variations in global terrestrial carbon uptake in response to changes in climate and atmospheric CO2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao, Mingkui; Tao, B.; Li, Kerang; Prince, Stephen D.; Small, J.

    2005-01-01

    Atmospheric measurements indicate that the terrestrial carbon sink increased substantially from the 1980s to the 1990s, but which factors and regions were responsible for the increase are not well identified yet. Using process- and remote sensing-based ecosystem models, we show that changes in climate and atmospheric CO 2 in the period 1981-2000 enhanced net ecosystem production (NEP) and caused major geographical changes in the global distribution of NEP. In the 1980s the Americas accounted for almost all of the global NEP, but in the 1990s NEP in Eurasia and Africa became higher than that of the Americas. The year-to-year variation in global NEP was up to 2.5 Pg C (1 Pg = 10 15 g), in which 1.4 Pg C was attributable to the El Nino Southern Oscillation cycle (ENSO). NEP clearly decreased in El Nino and increased in La Nina in South America and Africa, but the response in North America and Eurasia was mixed. The estimated NEP increases accounted for only 30% of the global terrestrial carbon sink but can explain almost all of the increase from the 1980s to the 1990s. Because a large part of the increase in NEP was driven by the long-term trend of climate and atmospheric CO 2 , the increase in the global terrestrial carbon sink from the 1980s to the 1990s was a continuation of the trend since the middle of the twentieth century, rather than merely a consequence of short-time climate variability

  6. Climate change, uncertainty, and resilient fisheries: Institutional responses through integrative science

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Miller, K.; Charles, A.; Barange, M.

    2010-01-01

    This paper explores the importance of a focus on the fundamental goals of resilience and adaptive capacity in the governance of uncertain fishery systems, particularly in the context of climate change. Climate change interacts strongly with fishery systems, and adds to the inherent uncertainty...... that understanding these aspects of fishery systems and fishery governance is valuable even in the absence of climate-induced processes of change, but that attention to climate change both reinforces the need for, and facilitates the move toward, implementation of integrative science for improved fishery governance....... and processes – to support suitable institutional responses, a broader planning perspective, and development of suitable resilience-building strategies. The paper explores how synergies between institutional change and integrative science can facilitate the development of more effective fisheries policy...

  7. Remotely Sensed Northern Vegetation Response to Changing Climate: Growing Season and Productivity Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganguly, S.; Park, Taejin; Choi, Sungho; Bi, Jian; Knyazikhin, Yuri; Myneni, Ranga

    2016-01-01

    Vegetation growing season and maximum photosynthetic state determine spatiotemporal variability of seasonal total gross primary productivity of vegetation. Recent warming induced impacts accelerate shifts on growing season and physiological status over Northern vegetated land. Thus, understanding and quantifying these changes are very important. Here, we first investigate how vegetation growing season and maximum photosynthesis state are evolved and how such components contribute on inter-annual variation of seasonal total gross primary productivity. Furthermore, seasonally different response of northern vegetation to changing temperature and water availability is also investigated. We utilized both long-term remotely sensed data to extract larger scale growing season metrics (growing season start, end and duration) and productivity (i.e., growing season summed vegetation index, GSSVI) for answering these questions. We find that regionally diverged growing season shift and maximum photosynthetic state contribute differently characterized productivity inter-annual variability and trend. Also seasonally different response of vegetation gives different view of spatially varying interaction between vegetation and climate. These results highlight spatially and temporally varying vegetation dynamics and are reflective of biome-specific responses of northern vegetation to changing climate.

  8. Explaining How to Play Real-Time Strategy Games

    Science.gov (United States)

    Metoyer, Ronald; Stumpf, Simone; Neumann, Christoph; Dodge, Jonathan; Cao, Jill; Schnabel, Aaron

    Real-time strategy games share many aspects with real situations in domains such as battle planning, air traffic control, and emergency response team management which makes them appealing test-beds for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. End user annotations could help to provide supplemental information for learning algorithms, especially when training data is sparse. This paper presents a formative study to uncover how experienced users explain game play in real-time strategy games. We report the results of our analysis of explanations and discuss their characteristics that could support the design of systems for use by experienced real-time strategy game users in specifying or annotating strategy-oriented behavior.

  9. Understanding the varied response of the extratropical storm tracks to climate change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Gorman, Paul A

    2010-11-09

    Transient eddies in the extratropical storm tracks are a primary mechanism for the transport of momentum, energy, and water in the atmosphere, and as such are a major component of the climate system. Changes in the extratropical storm tracks under global warming would impact these transports, the ocean circulation and carbon cycle, and society through changing weather patterns. I show that the southern storm track intensifies in the multimodel mean of simulations of 21st century climate change, and that the seasonal cycle of storm-track intensity increases in amplitude in both hemispheres. I use observations of the present-day seasonal cycle to confirm the relationship between storm-track intensity and the mean available potential energy of the atmosphere, and show how this quantitative relationship can be used to account for much of the varied response in storm-track intensity to global warming, including substantially different responses in simulations with different climate models. The results suggest that storm-track intensity is not related in a simple way to global-mean surface temperature, so that, for example, a stronger southern storm track in response to present-day global warming does not imply it was also stronger in hothouse climates of the past.

  10. Elucidaton of DNA methylation changes in response to ionizng radiation induced double strand breaks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herrlitz, Maren Linda

    2014-07-04

    Recent studies indicate that epigenetic modifications like DNA methylation are involved in the DNA damage response to ionizing radiation (IR). In this doctoral thesis DNA methylation changes after treatment with IR within one replication cycle time frame (≤ 24 hours) were investigated and a decrease in DNA methylation at short times after IR was observed. This fast decrease cannot be explained by a passive, replication-dependent mechanism due to reduced DNMT (DNA methyltransferase) expression. Rather it is conceivable that changing the enzymatic activity of enzymes may lead to changes in DNA methylation as a response to IR. In this context especially TET (ten eleven translocation) enzymes might play a role. These oxidize Methylcytosine (5mC) to Hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) and further to formylcytosine (5fC) and carboxylcytosine (5caC), being eventually replaced by cytosine via base excision repair (BER) mechanism. For the analysis of a TET-dependent DNA demethylation an appropriate experimental cellular system was established. Therefore, global 5mC levels, TET2 expression levels and 5hmC levels in different cell lines were investigated. An anti-correlation between 5mC levels and TET2 expression was shown for all cell lines, while 5hmC and 5mC levels were correlated only in a part of the investigated cell lines and no correlation between 5hmC and TET2 expression was observed. NIH/3T3 cells, showing no TET2 expression, were chosen for experiments in which the catalytic domain of TET2 (TET2CD-GFP) was overexpressed. Using two different techniques (immunofluorescence and ELISA-based colorimetric analysis), an increase in 5hmC abundance was demonstrated as a response to TET2CD-GFP overexpression, indicating that ectopically expressed TET2 is active. Similar results were obtained when TET2CD-GFP was overexpressed in U-2 OS cells, which have a high expression level of TET2. TET2CD-GFP overexpression also led to its accumulation in nucleoli. Whether this observation

  11. Elucidaton of DNA methylation changes in response to ionizng radiation induced double strand breaks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herrlitz, Maren Linda

    2014-01-01

    Recent studies indicate that epigenetic modifications like DNA methylation are involved in the DNA damage response to ionizing radiation (IR). In this doctoral thesis DNA methylation changes after treatment with IR within one replication cycle time frame (≤ 24 hours) were investigated and a decrease in DNA methylation at short times after IR was observed. This fast decrease cannot be explained by a passive, replication-dependent mechanism due to reduced DNMT (DNA methyltransferase) expression. Rather it is conceivable that changing the enzymatic activity of enzymes may lead to changes in DNA methylation as a response to IR. In this context especially TET (ten eleven translocation) enzymes might play a role. These oxidize Methylcytosine (5mC) to Hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) and further to formylcytosine (5fC) and carboxylcytosine (5caC), being eventually replaced by cytosine via base excision repair (BER) mechanism. For the analysis of a TET-dependent DNA demethylation an appropriate experimental cellular system was established. Therefore, global 5mC levels, TET2 expression levels and 5hmC levels in different cell lines were investigated. An anti-correlation between 5mC levels and TET2 expression was shown for all cell lines, while 5hmC and 5mC levels were correlated only in a part of the investigated cell lines and no correlation between 5hmC and TET2 expression was observed. NIH/3T3 cells, showing no TET2 expression, were chosen for experiments in which the catalytic domain of TET2 (TET2CD-GFP) was overexpressed. Using two different techniques (immunofluorescence and ELISA-based colorimetric analysis), an increase in 5hmC abundance was demonstrated as a response to TET2CD-GFP overexpression, indicating that ectopically expressed TET2 is active. Similar results were obtained when TET2CD-GFP was overexpressed in U-2 OS cells, which have a high expression level of TET2. TET2CD-GFP overexpression also led to its accumulation in nucleoli. Whether this observation

  12. A Database and Meta-Analysis of Ecological Responses to Flow in the South Atlantic Region

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McManamay, Ryan A [ORNL; Orth, Dr. Donald J [Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech); Davis, Dr, Mary [Southeastern Aquatic Resources Partnership; Kauffman, John [John Kauffman LLC.

    2013-01-01

    Generalized and quantitative relationships between flow and ecology are pivotal to developing environmental flow standards based on socially acceptable ecological conditions. Informing management at regional scales requires compiling sufficient hydrologic and ecological sources of information, identifying information gaps, and creating a framework for hypothesis development and testing. We compiled studies of empirical and theoretical relationships between flow and ecology in the South Atlantic region (SAR) of the United States to evaluate their utility for the development of environmental flow standards. Using database searches, internet searches, and agency contacts, we gathered 186 sources of information that provided a qualitative or quantitative relationship between flow and ecology within states encompassing the SAR. A total of 109 of the 186 sources had sufficient information to support quantitative analyses. Ecological responses to natural changes in flow magnitude, frequency, and duration were highly variable regardless of the direction and magnitude of changes in flow. In contrast, the majority of ecological responses to anthropogenic-induced flow alterations were negative. Fish consistently showed negative responses to anthropogenic flow alterations whereas other ecological groups showed somewhat variable responses (e.g. macroinvertebrates and riparian vegetation) and even positive responses (e.g. algae). Fish and organic matter had sufficient sample sizes to stratify natural flow-ecology relationships by specific flow categories (e.g. high flow, baseflows) or by region (e.g. coastal plain, uplands). After stratifying relationships, we found that significant correlations existed between changes in natural flow and ecological responses. In addition, a regression tree explained 57% of the variation in fish responses to anthropogenic and natural changes in flow. Because of some ambiguity in interpreting the directionality in ecological responses, we

  13. Impacts and responses to environmental change in coastal livelihoods of south-west Bangladesh.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hossain, Mostafa A R; Ahmed, Munir; Ojea, Elena; Fernandes, Jose A

    2018-05-12

    Aquatic ecosystems are of global importance for maintaining high levels of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and for the number of livelihoods dependent on them. In Bangladesh, coastal and delta communities rely on these systems for a livelihood, and the sustainability of the productivity is seriously threatened by both climate change and unsustainable management. These multiple drivers of change shape the livelihood dependence and adaptation responses, where a better understanding is needed to achieve sustainable management in these systems, while maintaining and improving dependent livelihoods. This need has been addressed in this study in the region of Satkhira, in the southwest coast of Bangladesh, where livelihoods are highly dependent on aquatic systems for food supply and income. Traditional wild fish harvest in the rivers and aquaculture systems, including ghers, ponds, and crab points have been changing in terms of the uses and intensity of management, and suffering from climate change impacts as well. By means of six focus groups with 50 participants total, and validated by expert consultations, we conduct an analysis to understand the main perceived impacts from climate and human activities; and the adaptation responses from the aquatic system livelihoods. We find that biodiversity has decreased drastically, while farmed species have increased and shrimp gher farming turned more intensive becoming the main source of income. All these changes have important implications for food supply in the region and environmental sustainability. Dramatic responses taken in the communities include exit the fisheries and migration, and more adaptive responses include species diversification, crab fattening and working more on the pond and gher infrastructure. This study evidences the results of the combination of multiple stressors in productive systems and the barriers to adaptation in aquatic ecosystem dependent communities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All

  14. Exercise training alters effect of high-fat feeding on the ACTH stress response in pigs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jankord, Ryan; Ganjam, Venkataseshu K; Turk, James R; Hamilton, Marc T; Laughlin, M Harold

    2008-06-01

    Eating and physical activity behaviors influence neuroendocrine output. The purpose of this study was to test, in an animal model of diet-induced cardiovascular disease, the effects of high-fat feeding and exercise training on hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity. We hypothesized that a high-fat diet would increase circulating free fatty acids (FFAs) and decrease the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol response to an acute stressor. We also hypothesized that exercise training would reverse the high-fat diet-induced changes in FFAs and thereby restore the ACTH and cortisol response. Pigs were placed in 1 of 4 groups (normal diet, sedentary; normal diet, exercise training; high-fat diet, sedentary; high-fat diet, exercise training; n = 8/group). Animals were placed on their respective dietary and activity treatments for 16-20 weeks. After completion of the treatments animals were anesthetized and underwent surgical intubation. Blood samples were collected after surgery and the ACTH and cortisol response to surgery was determined and the circulating concentrations of FFAs, glucose, cholesterol, insulin, and IGF-1 were measured. Consistent with our hypothesis, high-fat feeding increased FFAs by 200% and decreased the ACTH stress response by 40%. In exercise-trained animals, the high-fat diet also increased FFA; however, the increase in FFA in exercise-trained pigs was accompanied by a 60% increase in the ACTH response. The divergent effect of high-fat feeding on ACTH response was not expected, as exercise training alone had no effect on the ACTH response. Results demonstrate a significant interaction between diet and exercise and their effect on the ACTH response. The divergent effects of high-fat diet could not be explained by changes in weight gain, blood glucose, insulin, or IGF-1, as these were altered by high-fat feeding, but unaffected by exercise training. Thus, the increase in FFA with high-fat feeding may explain the blunted

  15. Load response of shape-changing microswimmers scales with their swimming efficiency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedrich, Benjamin M.

    2018-04-01

    External forces acting on a microswimmer can feed back on its self-propulsion mechanism. We discuss this load response for a generic microswimmer that swims by cyclic shape changes. We show that the change in cycle frequency is proportional to the Lighthill efficiency of self-propulsion. As a specific example, we consider Najafi's three-sphere swimmer. The force-velocity relation of a microswimmer implies a correction for a formal superposition principle for active and passive motion.

  16. School District Policymaking Responses to Demographic Change in New Immigrant Destinations

    OpenAIRE

    Turner, Erica Owyang

    2011-01-01

    Since the early 1990s, immigrants from Latin America and Asia have been arriving in parts of the United States that have had little recent experience with immigration. How school district leaders respond to these demographic changes has significant consequences for students, families and communities. Yet, there is little research on why and how school district leaders are coming to enact some policies, and not others, in response to their changing demographics. This study examines policymakin...

  17. The Response of Deferred Executive Compensation to Changes in Tax Rates

    OpenAIRE

    Aspen Gorry; Kevin A. Hassett; R. Glenn Hubbard; Aparna Mathur

    2015-01-01

    Given the increasing use of stock options in executive compensation, we examine how taxes influence the choice of compensation and document that income deferral is an important margin of adjustment in response to tax rate changes. To account for this option in the empirical analysis, we explore deferral by estimating how executives’ choice of compensation between current and deferred income depends on changes in tax policy. Our empirical results suggest a significant impact of taxes on the co...

  18. Lineage-specific responses of microbial communities to environmental change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Youngblut, Nicholas D; Shade, Ashley; Read, Jordan S; McMahon, Katherine D; Whitaker, Rachel J

    2013-01-01

    A great challenge facing microbial ecology is how to define ecologically relevant taxonomic units. To address this challenge, we investigated how changing the definition of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) influences the perception of ecological patterns in microbial communities as they respond to a dramatic environmental change. We used pyrosequenced tags of the bacterial V2 16S rRNA region, as well as clone libraries constructed from the cytochrome oxidase C gene ccoN, to provide additional taxonomic resolution for the common freshwater genus Polynucleobacter. At the most highly resolved taxonomic scale, we show that distinct genotypes associated with the abundant Polynucleobacter lineages exhibit divergent spatial patterns and dramatic changes over time, while the also abundant Actinobacteria OTUs are highly coherent. This clearly demonstrates that different bacterial lineages demand different taxonomic definitions to capture ecological patterns. Based on the temporal distribution of highly resolved taxa in the hypolimnion, we demonstrate that change in the population structure of a single genotype can provide additional insight into the mechanisms of community-level responses. These results highlight the importance and feasibility of examining ecological change in microbial communities across taxonomic scales while also providing valuable insight into the ecological characteristics of ecologically coherent groups in this system.

  19. Implant Strategy-Specific Changes in Symptoms in Response to Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Christopher S; Gelow, Jill M; Chien, Christopher V; Hiatt, Shirin O; Bidwell, Julie T; Denfeld, Quin E; Grady, Kathleen L; Mudd, James O

    Although we know that the quality of life generally improves after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation, we know little about how symptoms change in response to LVAD. The purpose of this study was to compare the changes in symptoms between bridge and destination therapy patients as part of a prospective cohort study. Physical (dyspnea and wake disturbances) and affective symptoms (depression and anxiety) were measured before LVAD and at 1, 3, and 6 months after LVAD. Multiphase growth modeling was used to capture the 2 major phases of change: initial improvements between preimplant and 1 month after LVAD and subsequent improvements between 1 and 6 months after LVAD. The sample included 64 bridge and 22 destination therapy patients as the preimplant strategy. Destination patients had worse preimplant dyspnea and wake disturbances, and they experienced greater initial improvements in these symptoms compared with bridge patients (all P .05). Destination patients had worse preimplant depression (P = .042) but experienced similar initial and subsequent improvements in depression in response to LVAD compared with bridge patients (both P > .05). Destination patients had similar preimplant anxiety (P = .279) but experienced less initial and greater subsequent improvements in anxiety after LVAD compared with bridge patients (both P < .05). There are many differences in the magnitude and timing of change in symptom responses to LVAD between bridge and destination therapy patients. Detailed information on changes in specific symptoms may better inform shared decision-making regarding LVAD.

  20. Explaining Women's Success: Technological Change and the Skill Content of Women's Work

    OpenAIRE

    Sandra E. Black; Alexandra Spitz-Oener

    2010-01-01

    The closing of the gender wage gap is an ongoing phenomenon in industrialized countries. However, research has been limited in its ability to understand the causes of these changes, due in part to an inability to directly compare the work of women to that of men. In this study, we use a new approach for analyzing changes in the gender pay gap that uses direct measures of job tasks and gives a comprehensive characterization of how work for men and women has changed in recent decades. Using dat...

  1. Perceptual Bias and Loudness Change: An Investigation of Memory, Masking, and Psychophysiology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olsen, Kirk N.

    Loudness is a fundamental aspect of human auditory perception that is closely associated with a sound's physical acoustic intensity. The dynamic quality of intensity change is an inherent acoustic feature in real-world listening domains such as speech and music. However, perception of loudness change in response to continuous intensity increases (up-ramps) and decreases (down-ramps) has received relatively little empirical investigation. Overestimation of loudness change in response to up-ramps is said to be linked to an adaptive survival response associated with looming (or approaching) motion in the environment. The hypothesised 'perceptual bias' to looming auditory motion suggests why perceptual overestimation of up-ramps may occur; however it does not offer a causal explanation. It is concluded that post-stimulus judgements of perceived loudness change are significantly affected by a cognitive recency response bias that, until now, has been an artefact of experimental procedure. Perceptual end-level differences caused by duration specific sensory adaptation at peripheral and/or central stages of auditory processing may explain differences in post-stimulus judgements of loudness change. Experiments that investigate human responses to acoustic intensity dynamics, encompassing topics from basic auditory psychophysics (e.g., sensory adaptation) to cognitive-emotional appraisal of increasingly complex stimulus events such as music and auditory warnings, are proposed for future research.

  2. Metabolic responses to high-fat diets rich in n-3 or n-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in mice selected for either high body weight or leanness explain different health outcomes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nuernberg Karin

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Increasing evidence suggests that diets high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA confer health benefits by improving insulin sensitivity and lipid metabolism in liver, muscle and adipose tissue. Methods The present study investigates metabolic responses in two different lines of mice either selected for high body weight (DU6 leading to rapid obesity development, or selected for high treadmill performance (DUhTP leading to a lean phenotype. At 29 days of age the mice were fed standard chow (7.2% fat, 25.7% protein, or a high-fat diet rich in n-3 PUFA (n-3 HFD, 27.7% fat, 19% protein or a high-fat diet rich in n-6 PUFA (n-6 HFD, 27.7% fat, 18.6% protein for 8 weeks. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of these PUFA-rich high-fat diets on the fatty acid profile and on the protein expression of key components of insulin signalling pathways. Results Plasma concentrations of leptin and insulin were higher in DU6 in comparison with DUhTP mice. The high-fat diets stimulated a strong increase in leptin levels and body fat only in DU6 mice. Muscle and liver fatty acid composition were clearly changed by dietary lipid composition. In both lines of mice n-3 HFD feeding significantly reduced the hepatic insulin receptor β protein concentration which may explain decreased insulin action in liver. In contrast, protein kinase C ζ expression increased strongly in abdominal fat of n-3 HFD fed DUhTP mice, indicating enhanced insulin sensitivity in adipose tissue. Conclusions A diet high in n-3 PUFA may facilitate a shift from fuel deposition in liver to fuel storage as fat in adipose tissue in mice. Tissue specific changes in insulin sensitivity may describe, at least in part, the health improving properties of dietary n-3 PUFA. However, important genotype-diet interactions may explain why such diets have little effect in some population groups.

  3. Responses to Projected Changes in Climate and UV-B at the Species Level

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Callaghan, Terry V. [Abisko Scientific Research Station, Abisko (Sweden); Bjoern, Lars Olof [Lund Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Cell and Organism Biology; Cernov, Yuri [Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow (Russian Federation). A.N. Severtsov Inst. of Evolutionary Morphology and Animal Ecology] (and others)

    2004-11-01

    Environmental manipulation experiments showed that species respond individualistically to each environmental-change variable. The greatest responses of plants were generally to nutrient, particularly nitrogen, addition. Summer warming experiments showed that woody plant responses were dominant and that mosses and lichens became less abundant. Responses to warming were controlled by moisture availability and snow cover. Many invertebrates increased population growth in response to summer warming, as long as desiccation was not induced. CO{sub 2} and UV-B enrichment experiments showed that plant and animal responses were small. However, some microorganisms and species of fungi were sensitive to increased UV-B and some intensive mutagenic actions could, perhaps, lead to unexpected epidemic outbreaks. Tundra soil heating, CO{sub 2} enrichment and amendment with mineral nutrients generally accelerated microbial activity. Algae are likely to dominate cyanobacteria in milder climates. Expected increases in winter freeze-thaw cycles leading to ice-crust formation are likely to severely reduce winter survival rate and disrupt the population dynamics of many terrestrial animals. A deeper snow cover is likely to restrict access to winter pastures by reindeer/caribou and their ability to flee from predators while any earlier onset of the snow-free period is likely to stimulate increased plant growth. Initial species responses to climate change might occur at the sub-species level: an Arctic plant or animal species with high genetic/racial diversity has proved an ability to adapt to different environmental conditions in the past and is likely to do so also in the future. Indigenous knowledge, air photographs, satellite images and monitoring show that changes in the distributions of some species are already occurring: Arctic vegetation is becoming more shrubby and more productive, there have been recent changes in the ranges of caribou, and 'new' species of insects and

  4. Evaluating mood changes in response to anthropogenic noise with a response-slowing task in three species of zoo-housed primates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katherine A. Cronin

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available In the zoo environment, anthropogenic noise is common as sound levels fluctuate due to visitors, construction, habitat design, and special events. In this study, changes in the mood of three species of zoo-housed primates in response to a loud annual event were evaluated with the response-slowing paradigm. In this paradigm, animals experiencing anxiety slow responses on simple cognitive tasks when emotional content is displayed. Following a previously validated approach, we measured latencies to touch potentially threatening (conspecific faces with directed gaze and non-threatening (conspecific faces with averted gaze images overlaid on a grey square, relative to neutral control images (grey squares only on a touchscreen. In Experiment 1, four Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata were tested in two conditions: during a baseline (non-stressful period and opportunistically during three days during which loud jets frequently flew overhead. Results indicated a significant effect of condition, with an increase in latency to touch images of conspecific faces relative to control images during the days of the loud event. In Experiment 2, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes, n = 4 and western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla, n = 2 were tested during the same loud event following a similar methodology. The results revealed subtle changes across conditions; however, this was likely driven by the apes increasing their response speed to face stimuli relative to control stimuli over time (habituation. These findings suggest that the macaques, but not the apes, underwent detectable affective changes during the loud event. With additional development, this relatively simple paradigm may be an effective and feasible way to evaluate real-time changes in the mood of zoo-housed animals.

  5. Explaining stasis: microevolutionary studies in natural populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merilä, J; Sheldon, B C; Kruuk, L E

    2001-01-01

    Microevolution, defined as a change in the genetic constitution of a population over time, is considered to be of commonplace occurrence in nature. Its ubiquity can be inferred from the observation that quantitative genetic divergence among populations usually exceeds that to be expected due to genetic drift alone, and from numerous observations and experiments consistent with local adaptation. Experimental manipulations in natural populations have provided evidence that rapid evolutionary responses may occur in the wild. However, there are remarkably few cases where direct observations of natural populations have revealed microevolutionary changes occurring, despite the frequent demonstration of additive genetic variation and strong directional selection for particular traits. Those few cases where responses congruent with expectation have been demonstrated are restricted to changes over one generation. In this article we focus on possible explanations as to why heritable traits under apparently strong directional selection often fail to show the expected evolutionary response. To date, few of these explanations for apparent stasis have been amenable to empirical testing. We describe new methods, derived from procedures developed by animal breeding scientists, which can be used to address these explanations, and illustrate the approach with examples from long-term studies of collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) and red deer (Cervus elaphus). Understanding why most intensively studied natural populations do not appear to be evolving is an important challenge for evolutionary biology.

  6. Functional foods and urban agriculture: two responses to climate change-related food insecurity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixon, Jane M; Donati, Kelly J; Pike, Lucy L; Hattersley, Libby

    2009-01-01

    Affluent diets have negative effects on the health of the population and the environment. Moreover, the ability of industrialised agricultural ecosystems to continue to supply these diets is threatened by the anticipated consequences of climate change. By challenging the ongoing supply the diets of affluent countries, climate change provides a population and environmental health opportunity. This paper contrasts two strategies for dealing with climate change-related food insecurity. Functional foods are being positioned as one response because they are considered a hyper-efficient mechanism for supplying essential micronutrients. An alternative response is civic and urban agriculture. Rather than emphasising increased economic or nutritional efficiencies, civic agriculture presents a holistic approach to food security that is more directly connected to the economic, environmental and social factors that affect diet and health.

  7. Modified niche optima and breadths explain the historical contingency of bacterial community responses to eutrophication in coastal sediments

    KAUST Repository

    Fodelianakis, Stylianos

    2016-09-23

    Previous studies have shown that the response of bacterial communities to disturbances depends on their environmental history. Historically fluctuating habitats host communities that respond better to disturbance than communities of historically stable habitats. However, the exact ecological mechanism that drives this dependency remains unknown. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that modifications of niche optima and niche breadths of the community members are driving this dependency of bacterial responses to past environmental conditions. First, we develop a novel, simple method to calculate the niche optima and breadths of bacterial taxa regarding single environmental gradients. Then, we test this method on sediment bacterial communities of three habitats, one historically stable and less loaded and two historically more variable and more loaded habitats in terms of historical chlorophyll-α water concentration, that we subject to hypoxia via organic matter addition ex situ. We find that communities containing bacterial taxa differently adapted to hypoxia show different structural and functional responses, depending on the sediment\\'s environmental history. Specifically, in the historically less fluctuating and loaded sediments where we find more taxa poorly adapted to hypoxic conditions, communities change a lot over time and organic matter is not degraded efficiently. The opposite is true for the historically more fluctuating and loaded sediments where we find more taxa well adapted to hypoxia. Based on the community responses observed here, we also propose an alternative calculation of community resistance that takes into account how rapidly the communities respond to disturbances and not just the initial and final states of the community.

  8. Mycorrhizal mediation of plant response to atmospheric change: Air quality concepts and research considerations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafer, S R; Schoeneberger, M M

    1991-01-01

    The term 'global climate change' encompasses many physical and chemical changes in the atmosphere that have been induced by anthropogenic pollutants. Increases in concentrations of CO2 and CH4 enhance the 'greenhouse effect' of the atmosphere and may contribute to changes in temperature and precipitation patterns at the earth's surface. Nitrogen oxides and SO2 are phytotoxic and also react with other pollutants to produce other phytotoxins in the troposphere such as O3 and acidic substances. However, release of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere may cause depletion of stratospheric O3, increasing the transmittance of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation to the earth's surface. Increased intensities of UV-B could affect plants and enhance photochemical reactions that generate some phytotoxic pollutants. The role of mycorrhizae in plant responses to such stresses has received little attention. Although plans for several research programs have acknowledged the importance of drought tolerance and soil fertility in plant responses to atmospheric stresses, mycorrhizae are rarely targeted to receive specific investigation. Most vascular land plants form mycorrhizae, so the role of mycorrhizae in mediating plant responses to atmospheric change may be an important consideration in predicting effects of atmospheric changes on plants in managed and natural ecosystems.

  9. Submarine flow discharge changes as a way to explain incission-overspilling and other cycles in submarine channel sequences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milana, J. P.; Kneller, B.; Dykstra, M.

    2009-04-01

    Many studies mainly made in subsurface slopes systems using 3D seismics supported by drill data, suggest that these environments behave cyclically, with the geological time at proximal and intermediate positions in the slope, divided in times in which erosion and elaboration of deep channels prevail and thus bypass of the sediment towards lower areas, and epochs in which accumulation prevails occurring by the development of depositional leveés and eventual widening of the channel system with some over spilling possible. To understand which are the ruling mechanisms of these cycles we study in detail the depositional processes that occur at the Rosario Fm (Baja Ca, Mexico), one of the best exposed canyon and channel-levee systems. We centered this study in the gravel fractions of the system assuming that they would indicate the transport modes of the most energetic flows. After analyzing both the bed structure and facies, and the particular conglomerate fabric at certain types of large-scale bed structures, we concluded that conglomerate deposition was by simple traction mechanisms, quite comparable to what occurs at some highly concentrated and fast fluvial streams. The main difference to fluvial hyperconcentrated tractive flows lies on bedform types and scales, as bed architecture might be at one order of scale larger than fluvial systems. Most of these conglomerates can thus be explained as deposited by known bedload mechanisms, without the need to call for hypothetical mechanisms as traction-carpet freezing, sweep fallout, etc. The bedload dominated flows responsible for gravel transport produced the bed structures due to migration of three main bedforms at different balances of erosion/accumulation. These three bedforms are gravel waves, a subcritical bedform comparable to gravel dunes, capable to produce very large-scale through cross stratification at a linguoid bedform crest type reach and large-scale (2-3 m thick) sets of gravel planar cross

  10. Long-term Increases in Flower Production by Growth Forms in Response to Anthropogenic Change in a Tropical Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pau, S.; Wright, S. J.

    2016-12-01

    There is mounting evidence that anthropogenic global change is altering the ecology of tropical forests. A limited number of studies have focused on long-term trends in tropical reproductive activity, yet differences in reproductive activity should have consequences for demography and ultimately forest carbon, water, and energy balance. Here we analyze a 28-year record of tropical flower production in response to anthropogenic climate change. We show that a multi-decadal increase in flower production is most strongly driven by rising atmospheric CO2, which had approximately 8x the effect of the Multivariate ENSO Index and approximately 13x the effect of rainfall or solar radiation. Interannual peaks in flower production were associated with greater solar radiation and low rainfall during El Niño years. Observed changes in solar radiation explained flower production better than rainfall (models including solar radiation accounted for 94% of cumulative AICc weight compared to 87% for rainfall). All growth forms (lianas, canopy trees, midstory trees, and shrubs) produced more flowers with increasing CO2 except for understory treelets. The increase in flower production was matched by a lengthening of flowering duration for canopy trees and midstory trees; duration was also longer for understory treelets. Given that anthropogenic CO2 emissions will continue to climb over the next century, the long-term increase in flower production may persist unless offset by increasing cloudiness in the tropics, or until rising CO2 and/or warming temperatures associated with the greenhouse effect pass critical thresholds for plant reproduction.

  11. Modeling of oxygen transport and cellular energetics explains observations on in vivo cardiac energy metabolism.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel A Beard

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available Observations on the relationship between cardiac work rate and the levels of energy metabolites adenosine triphosphate (ATP, adenosine diphosphate (ADP, and phosphocreatine (CrP have not been satisfactorily explained by theoretical models of cardiac energy metabolism. Specifically, the in vivo stability of ATP, ADP, and CrP levels in response to changes in work and respiratory rate has eluded explanation. Here a previously developed model of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, which was developed based on data obtained from isolated cardiac mitochondria, is integrated with a spatially distributed model of oxygen transport in the myocardium to analyze data obtained from several laboratories over the past two decades. The model includes the components of the respiratory chain, the F0F1-ATPase, adenine nucleotide translocase, and the mitochondrial phosphate transporter at the mitochondrial level; adenylate kinase, creatine kinase, and ATP consumption in the cytoplasm; and oxygen transport between capillaries, interstitial fluid, and cardiomyocytes. The integrated model is able to reproduce experimental observations on ATP, ADP, CrP, and inorganic phosphate levels in canine hearts over a range of workload and during coronary hypoperfusion and predicts that cytoplasmic inorganic phosphate level is a key regulator of the rate of mitochondrial respiration at workloads for which the rate of cardiac oxygen consumption is less than or equal to approximately 12 mumol per minute per gram of tissue. At work rates corresponding to oxygen consumption higher than 12 mumol min(-1 g(-1, model predictions deviate from the experimental data, indicating that at high work rates, additional regulatory mechanisms that are not currently incorporated into the model may be important. Nevertheless, the integrated model explains metabolite levels observed at low to moderate workloads and the changes in metabolite levels and tissue oxygenation observed during graded

  12. Financial market response to extreme events indicating climatic change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anttila-Hughes, J. K.

    2016-05-01

    A variety of recent extreme climatic events are considered to be strong evidence that the climate is warming, but these incremental advances in certainty often seem ignored by non-scientists. I identify two unusual types of events that are considered to be evidence of climate change, announcements by NASA that the global annual average temperature has set a new record, and the sudden collapse of major polar ice shelves, and then conduct an event study to test whether news of these events changes investors' valuation of energy companies, a subset of firms whose future performance is closely tied to climate change. I find evidence that both classes of events have influenced energy stock prices since the 1990s, with record temperature announcements on average associated with negative returns and ice shelf collapses associated with positive returns. I identify a variety of plausible mechanisms that may be driving these differential responses, discuss implications for energy markets' views on long-term regulatory risk, and conclude that investors not only pay attention to scientifically significant climate events, but discriminate between signals carrying different information about the nature of climatic change.

  13. Response of Freshwater Systems to Local and Global Changes in Mercury Emissions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Levin L.

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Lakes and other waterways, and the biota in those waterways, receiving their mercury burden primarily via atmospheric deposition can be expected to exhibit responses to changes in deposition over an extended time period. A projected control strategy for power plant emissions of mercury was imposed on modeled U.S. plants, while international emissions were modeled for two Chinese emission scenarios: a “business-as-usual” scenario and an “expedited controls” scenario. Levels of mercury in fish were simulated in a New England lake located close to a large U.S. power plant. Results indicated that fish responses to mercury emissions changes were spread over several years, and that even severe reductions in U.S. emissions were masked by non-U.S. emissions growth.

  14. Toward a Unified Europe? Explaining Cultural Differences by Economic Development, Cultural Heritage and Historical Shocks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beugelsdijk, S.; van Schaik, A.B.T.M.

    2002-01-01

    Economic development is linked with systematic changes in basic values, but cultural change is path dependent.This is known as Inglehart's thesis.In this paper we build on his thesis and try to explain value differences across European regions.This is relevant as it fits in the ongoing discussion of

  15. Scientists in a Changed Institutional Environment: Subjective Adaptation and Social Responsibility Norms in Russia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gerber, T P; Ball, D Y

    2008-06-05

    How do scientists react when the institutional setting in which they conduct their work changes radically? How do long-standing norms regarding the social responsibility of scientists fare? What factors influence whether scientists embrace or reject the new institutions and norms? We examine these questions using data from a unique survey of 602 scientists in Russia, whose science system experienced a sustained crisis and sweeping changes in science institutions following the collapse of the Soviet Union. We develop measures of how respondents view financing based on grants and other institutional changes in the Russian science system, as well as measures of two norms regarding scientists social responsibility. We find that the majority of scientists have adapted, in the sense that they hold positive views of the new institutions, but a diversity of orientations remains. Social responsibility norms are common among Russian scientists, but far from universal. The main correlates of adaptation are age and current success at negotiating the new institutions, though prospective success, work context, and ethnicity have some of the hypothesized associations. As for social responsibility norms, the main source of variation is age: younger scientists are more likely to embrace individualistic rather than socially-oriented norms.

  16. Income responses to tax changes : evidence from the Norwegian tax reform

    OpenAIRE

    Thoresen, Thor Olav; Aarbu, Karl Ove

    1999-01-01

    Several studies, conducted on U.S. data, have found rather strong income responses to changes in marginal tax rates, when treating tax reforms as "natural experiments" and applying the differences-of-differences estimator on individual income data. The Norwegian tax reform of 1992 implied substantial increases in the net-of-tax rate (1 minus the change in the marginal tax rate) for high-income earners, and this paper provides measures of the elasticity of taxable income with respect to these ...

  17. Mangroves Response to Climate Change: A Review of Recent Findings on Mangrove Extension and Distribution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario D.P. Godoy

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Mangroves function as a natural coastline protection for erosion and inundation, providing important environmental services. Due to their geographical distribution at the continent-ocean interface, the mangrove habitat may suffer heavy impacts from global climate change, maximized by local human activities occurring in a given coastal region. This review analyzed the literature published over the last 25 years, on the documented response of mangroves to environmental change caused by global climate change, taking into consideration 104 case studies and predictive modeling, worldwide. Most studies appeared after the year 2000, as a response to the 1997 IPCC report. Although many reports showed that the world's mangrove area is decreasing due to direct anthropogenic pressure, several others, however, showed that in a variety of habitats mangroves are expanding as a response to global climate change. Worldwide, pole ward migration is extending the latitudinal limits of mangroves due to warmer winters and decreasing the frequency of extreme low temperatures, whereas in low-lying coastal plains, mangroves are migrating landward due to sea level rise, as demonstrated for the NE Brazilian coast. Taking into consideration climate change alone, mangroves in most areas will display a positive response. In some areas however, such as low-lying oceanic islands, such as in the Pacific and the Caribbean, and constrained coastlines, such as the SE Brazilian coast, mangroves will most probably not survive.

  18. Factors associated with glycemic status and ability to adapt to changing demands in people with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus: A cross-sectional study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salazar-González, Bertha Cecilia; Gallegos-Cabriales, Esther C; Rivera-Castillo, Alicia; González-Cantú, Arnulfo; Gómez-Meza, Marco Vinicio; Villarreal-Pérez, Jesús Zacarías

    2018-01-01

    Type 2 diabetes mellitus studies focus on metabolic indicators and different self-reported lifestyle or care behaviors. Self-reported instruments involve conscious process therefore responses might not reflect reality. Meanwhile implicit responses involve automatic, unconscious processes underlying social judgments and behavior. No studies have explored the combined influence of both metabolic indicators and implicit responses on lifestyle practices in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. The purpose was to investigate the explained variance of socio-demographic, metabolic, anthropometric, clinical, psychosocial, cognitive, and lifestyle variables on glycemic status and on the ability to adapt to changing demands in people with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus in Monterrey, Mexico. Adults with (n = 30, mean age 46.90 years old, 33.33% male) and without (n = 32, mean age: 41.69 years old, 21.87% male) type 2 diabetes mellitus were studied. Glycemic status was assessed using Bio-Rad D-10 Hemoglobin A1c Program, which uses ion-exchange high-performance chromatography. Stroop 2 test was used to assess the ability to changing demands. In participants with type 2 diabetes mellitus, less years of education, negative self-actualization, and higher levels of cholesterol and triglycerides explained more than 50% of the variance in glycemic status. In participants without type 2 diabetes mellitus, the variance (38.7%) was explained by total cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, high-density lipoprotein, and self-actualization scores; the latter in opposite direction. The ability to adapt to changing demands was explained by total cholesterol, malondialdehyde, insulin resistance, and triglycerides. In participants without type 2 diabetes mellitus, the contributing variables were metabolic syndrome and nutrition scores. Results showed significant effect on at least one of the following variables (socio-demographic, metabolic, or lifestyle subscale) on glycemic status

  19. How the cerebral serotonin homeostasis predicts environmental changes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kalbitzer, Jan; Kalbitzer, Urs; Knudsen, Gitte Moos

    2013-01-01

    Molecular imaging studies with positron emission tomography have revealed that the availability of serotonin transporter (5-HTT) in the human brain fluctuates over the course of the year. This effect is most pronounced in carriers of the short allele of the 5-HTT promoter region (5-HTTLPR), which...... has in several previous studies been linked to an increased risk to develop mood disorders. We argue that long-lasting fluctuations in the cerebral serotonin transmission, which is regulated via the 5-HTT, are responsible for mediating responses to environmental changes based on an assessment...... of cerebral serotonin transmission to seasonal and other forms of environmental change imparts greater behavioral flexibility, at the expense of increased vulnerability to stress. This model may explain the somewhat higher prevalence of the s-allele in some human populations dwelling at geographic latitudes...

  20. Spatial modelling of Calanus finmarchicus and Calanus helgolandicus: parameter differences explain differences in biogeography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert John Wilson

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The North Atlantic copepods Calanus finmarchicus and C. helgolandicus are moving north in response to rising temperatures. Understanding the drivers of their relative geographic distributions is required in order to anticipate future changes. To explore this, we created a new spatially explicit stage-structured model of their populations throughout the North Atlantic. Recent advances in understanding Calanus biology, including U-shaped relationships between growth and fecundity and temperature, and a new model of diapause duration are incorporated in the model. Equations were identical for both species, but some parameters were species-specific. The model was parameterized using Continuous Plankton Recorder Survey data and tested using time series of abundance and fecundity. The geographic distributions of both species were reproduced by assuming that only known interspecific differences and a difference in the temperature influence on mortality exist. We show that differences in diapause capability are not necessary to explain why C. helgolandicus is restricted to the continental shelf. Smaller body size and higher overwinter temperatures likely make true diapause implausible for C. helgolandicus. Known differences were incapable of explaining why only C. helgolandicus exists southwest of the British Isles. Further, the fecundity of C. helgolandicus in the English Channel is much lower than we predict. We hypothesize that food quality is a key influence on the population dynamics of these species. The modelling framework presented can potentially be extended to further Calanus species.

  1. Five preference-based indexes in cataract and heart failure patients were not equally responsive to change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaplan, Robert M; Tally, Steven; Hays, Ron D; Feeny, David; Ganiats, Theodore G; Palta, Mari; Fryback, Dennis G

    2011-05-01

    To compare the responsiveness to clinical change of five widely used preference-based health-related quality-of-life indexes in two longitudinal cohorts. Five generic instruments were simultaneously administered to 376 adults undergoing cataract surgery and 160 adults in heart failure management programs. Patients were assessed at baseline and reevaluated after 1 and 6 months. The measures were the Short Form (SF)-6D (based on responses scored from SF-36v2), Self-Administered Quality of Well-being Scale (QWB-SA), the EuroQol-5D developed by the EuroQol Group, the Health Utilities Indexes Mark 2 (HUI2) and Mark 3 (HUI3). Cataract patients completed the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire-25, and heart failure patients completed the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire. Responsiveness was estimated by the standardized response mean. For cataract patients, mean changes between baseline and 1-month follow-up for the generic indices ranged from 0.00 (SF-6D) to 0.052 (HUI3) and were statistically significant for all indexes except the SF-6D. For heart failure patients, only the SF-6D showed significant change from baseline to 1 month, whereas only the QWB-SA change was significant between 1 and 6 months. Preference-based methods for measuring health outcomes are not equally responsive to change. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. A cross-sectoral analysis of climate change risk drivers based on companies' responses to the CDP's climate change information request

    OpenAIRE

    Groth, Markus; Brunsmeier, Annette

    2016-01-01

    Companies are increasingly concerned with current and future climate change risks that have the potential to generate a substantial change in their business operations, revenue and/or expenditure. Therefore, the paper focusses on the companies' perspective and aims to create a higher awareness of companies' risk drivers when it comes to specific challenges of different sectors as well as each company within its sector. Based on companies' responses to the CDP's climate change information requ...

  3. A model for evaluating stream temperature response to climate change in Wisconsin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, Jana S.; Westenbroek, Stephen M.; Mitro, Matthew G.; Lyons, John D.; Kammel, Leah E.; Buchwald, Cheryl A.

    2015-01-01

    Expected climatic changes in air temperature and precipitation patterns across the State of Wisconsin may alter future stream temperature and flow regimes. As a consequence of flow and temperature changes, the composition and distribution of fish species assemblages are expected to change. In an effort to gain a better understanding of how climatic changes may affect stream temperature, an approach was developed to predict and project daily summertime stream temperature under current and future climate conditions for 94,341 stream kilometers across Wisconsin. The approach uses a combination of static landscape characteristics and dynamic time-series climatic variables as input for an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) Model integrated with a Soil-Water-Balance (SWB) Model. Future climate scenarios are based on output from downscaled General Circulation Models (GCMs). The SWB model provided a means to estimate the temporal variability in groundwater recharge and provided a mechanism to evaluate the effect of changing air temperature and precipitation on groundwater recharge and soil moisture. The Integrated Soil-Water-Balance and Artificial Neural Network version 1 (SWB-ANNv1) Model was used to simulate daily summertime stream temperature under current (1990–2008) climate and explained 76 percent of the variation in the daily mean based on validation at 67 independent sites. Results were summarized as July mean water temperature, and individual stream segments were classified by thermal class (cold, cold transition, warm transition, and warm) for comparison of current (1990–2008) with future climate conditions.

  4. Environmental change and hydrological responses in the interior of western Canada: Towards improved understanding, diagnosis, and prediction by the Changing Cold Regions Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeBeer, C. M.; Wheater, H. S.; Carey, S. K.; Pomeroy, J. W.; Stewart, R. E.

    2016-12-01

    The past several decades have been a period of rapid climatic and environmental change. In western Canada, as in other areas globally, warming and changes in precipitation have led to vast reductions in seasonal snowcover and freshwater ice cover, retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, changing forest composition and structure, increasing northern shrub coverage, and earlier timing of river flows in spring. Yet streamflow volume has exhibited a variety of responses across the region and over different time scales, and patterns of change are not easily generalizable. Improved understanding, diagnosis, and prediction of the rapidly changing components of the Earth system are key to managing uncertain water futures, but this is challenging due to complex system behavior and sometimes compensatory responses. The Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN) is a Canadian research network and GEWEX Regional Hydroclimate Project that is addressing these issues, with a geographic focus on the Saskatchewan and Mackenzie River basins. This paper will present examples of the changes that have been observed at a set of long-term and well-studied headwater research basins, and highlight how various processes confound hydrological responses here, pointing to the need for careful diagnosis. We will discuss some recent CCRN activities and progress toward improving conceptual understanding and developing scenarios of change for the 21st century, which can then be applied within process-based hydrological models for future prediction. Several priority research areas that will be a focus of continued work in CCRN will be recommended.

  5. Explaining the reductions in US corn ethanol processing costs: Testing competing hypotheses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Xiaoguang; Khanna, Madhu

    2012-01-01

    The processing costs of US corn ethanol have declined by 45% since 1983 as production volumes have increased seventeen-fold. We investigate the role of various factors that could explain this, including economies of scale, cumulative experience, induced innovation in response to rising input prices, an autonomous technological change, and trade induced competition from imported ethanol. Using data on dry-mill ethanol processing costs over the 1983–2005 period, we find evidence to show that US corn ethanol production exhibited decreasing returns to scale, that learning by doing played an important role in reducing these processing costs with a learning rate of 0.25, and that sugarcane ethanol imports contributed to making the corn ethanol industry more competitive. Other factors such as the rising prices of energy and labor did induce lower processing costs, but the effect is not statistically significant. The inclusion of these competing explanations for the reduction in processing costs of US corn ethanol lead to a significantly higher learning rate than otherwise, and this learning rate is found to be robust across specifications. - Highlights: ► We investigate the role of various factors that could explain the reduction in US corn ethanol processing costs over the period 1983–2005. ► We find that US corn ethanol production exhibited decreasing returns to scale. ► Learning by doing played an important role in reducing these costs with a learning rate of 0.25. ► Sugarcane ethanol imports contributed to making the corn ethanol industry more competitive. ► Rising prices of energy and labor did induce lower processing costs, but the effect is not statistically significant.

  6. Changes in adolescents' conflict responses associated with consecutive presentation of hypothetical conflict situations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, H D; LaVoie, J C; Eggenburg, E; Mahoney, M A; Pounds, L

    2001-10-01

    The advantages of using hypothetical situations are one reason they have been widely used to examine adolescents' responses to conflict situations. One frequently used research protocol involves presenting several conflict scenarios to participants during a single session. However, in real-life situations multiple conflicts rarely occur within short periods of time, and the nature of this presentation may be associated with changes in adolescents' reports of conflict behaviors. Trend analyses of emotional, conflict goal, and conflict tactic responses from grade 8, 10, 12, and college students to consecutively presented conflict situations showed that responses were associated with presentation of the hypothetical situations. Findings revealed an increase in reports of assertive conflict behaviors and a decrease in reports of constructive conflict behaviors with successive situation presentation. Results from the current study suggest that researchers must consider trends in responses when examining findings from successive situation presentation methodologies because adolescent reports of conflict behavior may change as situation presentation proceeds. Copyright 2001 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents.

  7. Mirror neuron activation as a function of explicit learning: changes in mu-event-related power after learning novel responses to ideomotor compatible, partially compatible, and non-compatible stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behmer, Lawrence P; Fournier, Lisa R

    2016-11-01

    Questions regarding the malleability of the mirror neuron system (MNS) continue to be debated. MNS activation has been reported when people observe another person performing biological goal-directed behaviors, such as grasping a cup. These findings support the importance of mapping goal-directed biological behavior onto one's motor repertoire as a means of understanding the actions of others. Still, other evidence supports the Associative Sequence Learning (ASL) model which predicts that the MNS responds to a variety of stimuli after sensorimotor learning, not simply biological behavior. MNS activity develops as a consequence of developing stimulus-response associations between a stimulus and its motor outcome. Findings from the ideomotor literature indicate that stimuli that are more ideomotor compatible with a response are accompanied by an increase in response activation compared to less compatible stimuli; however, non-compatible stimuli robustly activate a constituent response after sensorimotor learning. Here, we measured changes in the mu-rhythm, an EEG marker thought to index MNS activity, predicting that stimuli that differ along dimensions of ideomotor compatibility should show changes in mirror neuron activation as participants learn the respective stimulus-response associations. We observed robust mu-suppression for ideomotor-compatible hand actions and partially compatible dot animations prior to learning; however, compatible stimuli showed greater mu-suppression than partially or non-compatible stimuli after explicit learning. Additionally, non-compatible abstract stimuli exceeded baseline only after participants explicitly learned the motor responses associated with the stimuli. We conclude that the empirical differences between the biological and ASL accounts of the MNS can be explained by Ideomotor Theory. © 2016 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. Changing climate response in near-treeline bristlecone pine with elevation and aspect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salzer, Matthew W; Hughes, Malcolm K; Larson, Evan R; Bunn, Andrew G

    2014-01-01

    In the White Mountains of California, eight bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) tree-ring width chronologies were developed from trees at upper treeline and just below upper treeline along North- and South-facing elevational transects from treeline to ∼90 m below. There is evidence for a climate-response threshold between approximately 60–80 vertical m below treeline, above which trees have shown a positive growth-response to temperature and below which they do not. Chronologies from 80 m or more below treeline show a change in climate response and do not correlate strongly with temperature-sensitive chronologies developed from trees growing at upper treeline. Rather, they more closely resemble lower elevation precipitation-sensitive chronologies. At the highest sites, trees on South-facing slopes grow faster than trees on North-facing slopes. High growth rates in the treeline South-facing trees have declined since the mid-1990s. This suggests the possibility that the climate-response of the highest South-facing trees may have changed and that temperature may no longer be the main limiting factor for growth on the South aspect. These results indicate that increasing warmth may lead to a divergence between tree growth and temperature at previously temperature-limited sites. (letter)

  9. Public Agility and Change in a Network Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tom van Engers

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Preparing for change is increasingly core business for governmental organizations. The networked society and the increasing connectedness of governmental organizations have as much impact on the complexity of the change process as the complexities of the corpus of law. Change is not only driven by changes in the law; changes in the organization’s environment often create a need to redesign business processes, reallocate roles and responsibilities, and reorder tasks. Moreover, preparations for change are not limited to the internal processes and systems of these organizations. Propagation of changes to network partners and redesign of network arrangements can be an enormous challenge. In the AGILE project, we develop a design method, distributed service architecture, and supporting tools that enable organizations - administrative and otherwise - to orchestrate their law-based services in a networked environment. This paper explains the Agile approach and describes some of its key principles.

  10. Response to severe changes of load on the reactor system of nuclear ship Mutsu

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishida, Toshihisa; Kusunoki, Tsuyoshi; Ochiai, Masa-aki; Tanaka, Yoshimi; Yao, Toshiaki; Inoue, Kimio.

    1993-01-01

    The response of the nuclear power system of N.S. Mutsu to severe changes of load have been studied from records taken during the power-raising tests performed on the ship in 1990. The records examined were those involving the most severe load changes foreseen for marine reactors: (a) sharp load increase with total steam flow raised from 25 to 70 % rated full flow in 13s, (b) crash astern maneuver with the position of propulsion turbine command handle changed-taking several seconds-from cruising ahead to STOP, and after about 50s, further changed-taking 30s-to bring the astern propulsion turbine to full speed-to consume approximately 60 % rated total steam flow and (c) turbine trip with the ahead turbine intentionally tripped when operating at roughly 100 % rated total steam flow. The foregoing records from load changes-of severity beyond what is foreseen for land-based reactors-proved that the Mutsu reactor is capable of responding smoothly and securely to such severe load changes. These load changes occasioned relatively large mismatches between reactor power supply and steam flow demand, but with notable freedom from any conspicuous overshooting or hunting of the reactor power. This performance can be attributed to (a) correct functioning of the automatic power control system, (b) effective contribution of the self-regulating reactor control property deriving from the large negative feedback between moderator temperature and reactivity, and (c) the ample inventories of coolant in the primary and secondary loops. The responses to load change are discussed covering those relevant to (a) reactor power, (b) primary loop pressure, and (c) steam generator pressure, with particular reference to the differences seen in response to mild and to severe load changes. (author)

  11. Cardiovascular responses to the change from the left lateral to the upright position in pregnant hypertensives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dyer, R A; Anthony, J; Ledeboer, Q; James, M F

    2004-03-01

    To evaluate by non-invasive means, the autonomically mediated changes in heart rate and blood pressure in response to postural change in pregnancy. Ninety-one patients were studied, of whom 17 were non-pregnant controls, 21 were normotensive parturients, 22 had non-proteinuric hypertension, and 31 were pre-eclamptics. In all patients the heart rate and blood pressure response to the change from the left lateral to the erect position was measured non-invasively, during the third trimester in the pregnant groups. The change from the left lateral to the erect position induced significantly greater mean changes (increases) in systolic blood pressure in the normotensive pregnant (PC) women than all other groups (Pchanges when comparing the PC, NP and H groups. The PE group exhibited a significantly greater increase in heart rate on adopting the erect position than all other groups. Pre-eclamptics exhibit smaller changes in blood pressure than normotensive pregnant patients and non-proteinuric hypertensives on standing, while producing an exaggerated heart rate response, indicating altered autonomic compensatory mechanisms in these patients.

  12. Cellular changes in tears associated with keratoconjunctival responses induced by nasal allergy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelikan, Z

    2014-04-01

    Allergic keratoconjunctivitis occurs in a primary form, caused by an allergic reaction localized in the conjunctiva, and in a secondary form, induced by an allergic reaction originating in the nasal mucosa. Various hypersensitivity mechanisms involved in the keratoconjunctivitis forms result in different keratoconjunctival response types. To investigate the cytologic changes in tears during the secondary immediate (SIKCR), late (SLKCR), and delayed (SDYKCR) keratoconjunctival responses. In 61 patients, comprising 20 SIKCRs, 23 SLKCRs, and 18 SDYKCRs, nasal provocation tests (NPTs) with allergens and 61 phosphate-buffered control challenges were repeated and supplemented with cell counting in the tears. The SIKCR (Ptears. The SLKCR (Ptears. The cells, except mast, epithelial and goblet cells, displaying no intracellular changes, migrated probably from the conjunctival capillaries, in response to the factors released during the primary allergic reaction in the nasal mucosa and subsequently penetrating into the conjunctiva. These results demonstrate a causal role of nasal allergy and diagnostic value of NPT combined with recording of ocular features and cellular profiles in tears in some keratoconjunctivitis patients.

  13. A coupled carbon and plant hydraulic model to predict ecosystem carbon and water flux responses to disturbance and environmental change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackay, D. S.; Ewers, B. E.; Roberts, D. E.; McDowell, N. G.; Pendall, E.; Frank, J. M.; Reed, D. E.; Massman, W. J.; Mitra, B.

    2011-12-01

    Changing climate drivers including temperature, humidity, precipitation, and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations directly control land surface exchanges of CO2 and water. In a profound way these responses are modulated by disturbances that are driven by or exacerbated by climate change. Predicting these changes is challenging given that the feedbacks between environmental controls, disturbances, and fluxes are complex. Flux data in areas of bark beetle outbreaks in the western U.S.A. show differential declines in carbon and water flux in response to the occlusion of xylem by associated fungi. For example, bark beetle infestation at the GLEES AmeriFlux site manifested in a decline in summer water use efficiency to 60% in the year after peak infestation compared to previous years, and no recovery of carbon uptake following a period of high vapor pressure deficit. This points to complex feedbacks between disturbance and differential ecosystem reaction and relaxation responses. Theory based on plant hydraulics and extending to include links to carbon storage and exhaustion has potential for explaining these dynamics with simple, yet rigorous models. In this spirit we developed a coupled model that combines an existing model of canopy water and carbon flow, TREES [e.g., Loranty et al., 2010], with the Sperry et al., [1998] plant hydraulic model. The new model simultaneously solves carbon uptake and losses along with plant hydraulics, and allows for testing specific hypotheses on feedbacks between xylem dysfunction, stomatal and non-stomatal controls on photosynthesis and carbon allocation, and autotrophic and heterotrophic respiration. These are constrained through gas exchange, root vulnerability to cavitation, sap flux, and eddy covariance data in a novel model complexity-testing framework. Our analysis focuses on an ecosystem gradient spanning sagebrush to subalpine forests. Our modeling results support hypotheses on feedbacks between hydraulic dysfunction and 1) non

  14. Ultrafast terahertz-induced response of GeSbTe phase-change materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shu, Michael J. [Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Zalden, Peter [Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); PULSE Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Chen, Frank [Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Weems, Ben [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Chatzakis, Ioannis [Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Xiong, Feng; Jeyasingh, Rakesh; Pop, Eric; Philip Wong, H.-S. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States); Hoffmann, Matthias C. [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Wuttig, Matthias [I. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen (Germany); JARA–Fundamentals of Information Technology, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen (Germany); Lindenberg, Aaron M., E-mail: aaronl@stanford.edu [Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); PULSE Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025 (United States); Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)

    2014-06-23

    The time-resolved ultrafast electric field-driven response of crystalline and amorphous GeSbTe films has been measured all-optically, pumping with single-cycle terahertz pulses as a means of biasing phase-change materials on a sub-picosecond time-scale. Utilizing the near-band-gap transmission as a probe of the electronic and structural response below the switching threshold, we observe a field-induced heating of the carrier system and resolve the picosecond-time-scale energy relaxation processes and their dependence on the sample annealing condition in the crystalline phase. In the amorphous phase, an instantaneous electroabsorption response is observed, quadratic in the terahertz field, followed by field-driven lattice heating, with Ohmic behavior up to 200 kV/cm.

  15. The critical dimensions of the response-reinforcer contingency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, B A.

    2001-05-03

    Two major dimensions of any contingency of reinforcement are the temporal relation between a response and its reinforcer, and the relative frequency of the reinforcer given the response versus when the response has not occurred. Previous data demonstrate that time, per se, is not sufficient to explain the effects of delay-of-reinforcement procedures; needed in addition is some account of the events occurring in the delay interval. Moreover, the effects of the same absolute time values vary greatly across situations, such that any notion of a standard delay-of-reinforcement gradient is simplistic. The effects of reinforcers occurring in the absence of a response depend critically upon the stimulus conditions paired with those reinforcers, in much the same manner as has been shown with Pavlovian contingency effects. However, it is unclear whether the underlying basis of such effects is response competition or changes in the calculus of causation.

  16. On sponsoring and CSR involvement. Two theories explaining their effects on a company’s attractiveness for candidates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacek Wozniak

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The use of e-recruitment for hiring personnel is constantly expanding. However, the scientific understanding of factors affecting company employer brand during e-recruitment, is still poor. Research into corporate social responsibilities (CSR shows that information about the company’s involvement in these areas makes its image more positive, including its image as an employer. CSR is an umbrella concept, which includes activities similar to traditional sponsoring of sports and cultural events. Two theories explaining the impact of information on attractiveness of the employer’s brand in the e-recruitment process are presented. The aim of the text is to check which of them – cultural fit or signaling theory – more adequately explains the changes in how a candidate perceives a company’s attractiveness, when given information about its’ sports and cultural sponsoring and environment-related activities. The effect of both positive and negative information concerning a company’s activities on its employer image in the e-recruitment situation is analyzed. Data from an questionnaire filled in by 80 young full-time workers shows that positive information about a company’s CSR and sponsoring activities affects candidates according to the cultural fit model, while negative – according to the signaling theory model. The consequences for theory and managerial practice are described.

  17. Why Compositional Convection Cannot Explain Substellar Objects’ Sharp Spectral-type Transitions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leconte, Jérémy

    2018-02-01

    As brown dwarfs and young giant planets cool down, they are known to experience various chemical transitions—for example, from {CO} rich L-dwarfs to methane rich T-dwarfs. Those chemical transitions are accompanied by spectral transitions with sharpness that cannot be explained by chemistry alone. In a series of articles, Tremblin et al. proposed that some of the yet-unexplained features associated with these transitions could be explained by a reduction of the thermal gradient near the photosphere. To explain, in turn, this more isothermal profile, they invoke the presence of an instability analogous to fingering convection—compositional convection—triggered by the change in mean molecular weight of the gas due to the chemical transitions mentioned above. In this Letter, we use existing arguments to demonstrate that any turbulent transport, if present, would in fact increase the thermal gradient. This misinterpretation comes from the fact that turbulence mixes/homogenizes entropy (potential temperature) instead of temperature. So, while increasing transport, turbulence in an initially stratified atmosphere actually carries energy downward, whether it is due to fingering or any other type of compositional convection. These processes therefore cannot explain the features observed along the aforementioned transitions by reducing the thermal gradient in the atmosphere of substellar objects. Understanding the microphysical and dynamical properties of clouds at these transitions thus probably remains our best way forward.

  18. Individualistic population responses of five frog species in two changing tropical environments over time.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mason J Ryan

    Full Text Available Roughly 40% of amphibian species are in decline with habitat loss, disease, and climate change being the most cited threats. Heterogeneity of extrinsic (e.g. climate and intrinsic (e.g. local adaptations factors across a species' range should influence population response to climate change and other threats. Here we examine relative detectability changes for five direct-developing leaf litter frogs between 42-year sampling periods at one Lowland Tropical Forest site (51 m.a.s.l. and one Premontane Wet Forest site (1100 m.a.s.l. in southwest Costa Rica. We identify individualistic changes in relative detectability among populations between sampling periods at different elevations. Both common and rare species showed site-specific declines, and no species exhibited significant declines at both sites. Detection changes are correlated with changes in temperature, dry season rainfall, and leaf litter depth since 1969. Our study species share Least Concern conservation status, life history traits, and close phylogenetic relationship, yet their populations changed individualistically both within and among species. These results counter current views of the uniformity or predictability of amphibian decline response and suggest additional complexity for conservation decisions.

  19. Response of carbon fluxes and climate to orbital forcing changes in the Community Climate System Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jochum, M.; Peacock, S.; Moore, J. K.; Lindsay, K. T.

    2009-12-01

    A global general circulation model coupled to an ocean ecosystem model is used to quantify the response of carbon fluxes and climate to changes in orbital forcing. Compared to the present-day simulation, the simulation with the Earth's orbital parameters from 115,000 years ago features significantly cooler northern high latitudes, but only moderately cooler southern high latitudes. This asymmetry is explained by a 30% reduction of the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation that is caused by an increased Arctic sea-ice export and a resulting freshening of the North Atlantic. The strong northern high-latitude cooling and the direct insolation induced tropical warming lead to global shifts in precipitation and winds to the order of 10-20%. These climate shifts lead to regional differences in air-sea carbon fluxes of the same order. However, the differences in global net carbon fluxes are insignificant. This surprising result is due to several effects, two of which stand out: Firstly, colder sea surface temperature leads to a more effective solubility pump but also to increased sea-ice concentration which blocks air-sea exchange; and secondly, the weakening of Southern Ocean winds, which is predicted by some idealized studies, is small compared to its interannual variability.

  20. Effects of aging on neuromagnetic mismatch responses to pitch changes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Chia-Hsiung; Baillet, Sylvain; Hsiao, Fu-Jung; Lin, Yung-Yang

    2013-06-07

    Although aging-related alterations in the auditory sensory memory and involuntary change discrimination have been widely studied, it remains controversial whether the mismatch negativity (MMN) or its magnetic counterpart (MMNm) is modulated by physiological aging. This study aimed to examine the effects of aging on mismatch activity to pitch deviants by using a whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) together with distributed source modeling analysis. The neuromagnetic responses to oddball paradigms consisting of standards (1000 Hz, p=0.85) and deviants (1100 Hz, p=0.15) were recorded in healthy young (n=20) and aged (n=18) male adults. We used minimum norm estimate of source reconstruction to characterize the spatiotemporal neural dynamics of MMNm responses. Distributed activations to MMNm were identified in the bilateral fronto-temporo-parietal areas. Compared to younger participants, the elderly exhibited a significant reduction of cortical activation in bilateral superior temporal guri, superior temporal sulci, inferior fontal gyri, orbitofrontal cortices and right inferior parietal lobules. In conclusion, our results suggest an aging-related decline in auditory sensory memory and automatic change detection as indexed by MMNm. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Towards to An Explanation for Conceptual Change: A Mechanistic Alternative

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rusanen, Anna-Mari

    2014-07-01

    Conceptual change is one of the most studied fields in science education and psychology of learning. However, there are still some foundational issues in conceptual change research on which no clear consensus has emerged. Firstly, there is no agreement on what changes in belief and concept systems constitute conceptual change and what changes do not. Secondly, there is no consensus on what the specific mechanisms of conceptual change are. Thirdly, there is no common explanatory framework of how to explain conceptual change. In this paper a sketch for explanations of conceptual change is outlined. According to this account, the explanation for conceptual change requires (1) a description for the information processing task and (2) a sufficiently accurate and detailed description of the cognitive mechanisms responsible for the task. The scope and limits of this type of explanation are discussed.

  2. Changes in fat oxidation in response to various regimes of high intensity interval training (HIIT).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Astorino, Todd Anthony; Schubert, Matthew M

    2018-01-01

    Increased whole-body fat oxidation (FOx) has been consistently demonstrated in response to moderate intensity continuous exercise training. Completion of high intensity interval training (HIIT) and its more intense form, sprint interval training (SIT), has also been reported to increase FOx in different populations. An explanation for this increase in FOx is primarily peripheral adaptations via improvements in mitochondrial content and function. However, studies examining changes in FOx are less common in response to HIIT or SIT than those determining increases in maximal oxygen uptake which is concerning, considering that FOx has been identified as a predictor of weight gain and glycemic control. In this review, we explored physiological and methodological issues underpinning existing literature concerning changes in FOx in response to HIIT and SIT. Our results show that completion of interval training increases FOx in approximately 50% of studies, with the frequency of increased FOx higher in response to studies using HIIT compared to SIT. Significant increases in β-HAD, citrate synthase, fatty acid binding protein, or FAT/CD36 are likely responsible for the greater FOx seen in these studies. We encourage scientists to adopt strict methodological procedures to attenuate day-to-day variability in FOx, which is dramatic, and develop standardized procedures for assessing FOx, which may improve detection of changes in FOx in response to HIIT.

  3. Making sense of climate change risks and responses at the community level: A cultural-political lens

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ainka A. Granderson

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available How to better assess, communicate and respond to risks from climate change at the community level have emerged as key questions within climate risk management. Recent research to address these questions centres largely on psychological factors, exploring how cognition and emotion lead to biases in risk assessment. Yet, making sense of climate change and its responses at the community level demands attention to the cultural and political processes that shape how risk is conceived, prioritized and managed. I review the emergent literature on risk perceptions and responses to climate change using a cultural-political lens. This lens highlights how knowledge, meaning and power are produced and negotiated across multiple stakeholders at the community level. It draws attention to the different ways of constructing climate change risks and suggests an array of responses at the community level. It further illustrates how different constructions of risk intersect with agency and power to shape the capacity for response and collective action. What matters are whose constructions of risk, and whose responses, count in decision-making. I argue for greater engagement with the interpretive social sciences in research, practice and policy. The interpretive social sciences offer theories and tools for capturing and problematising the ways of knowing, sense-making and mobilising around risks from climate change. I also highlight the importance of participatory approaches in incorporating the multiplicity of interests at the community level into climate risk management in fair, transparent and culturally appropriate ways.

  4. Emotional Responses to Music: Shifts in Frontal Brain Asymmetry Mark Periods of Musical Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arjmand, Hussain-Abdulah; Hohagen, Jesper; Paton, Bryan; Rickard, Nikki S

    2017-01-01

    Recent studies have demonstrated increased activity in brain regions associated with emotion and reward when listening to pleasurable music. Unexpected change in musical features intensity and tempo - and thereby enhanced tension and anticipation - is proposed to be one of the primary mechanisms by which music induces a strong emotional response in listeners. Whether such musical features coincide with central measures of emotional response has not, however, been extensively examined. In this study, subjective and physiological measures of experienced emotion were obtained continuously from 18 participants (12 females, 6 males; 18-38 years) who listened to four stimuli-pleasant music, unpleasant music (dissonant manipulations of their own music), neutral music, and no music, in a counter-balanced order. Each stimulus was presented twice: electroencephalograph (EEG) data were collected during the first, while participants continuously subjectively rated the stimuli during the second presentation. Frontal asymmetry (FA) indices from frontal and temporal sites were calculated, and peak periods of bias toward the left (indicating a shift toward positive affect) were identified across the sample. The music pieces were also examined to define the temporal onset of key musical features. Subjective reports of emotional experience averaged across the condition confirmed participants rated their music selection as very positive, the scrambled music as negative, and the neutral music and silence as neither positive nor negative. Significant effects in FA were observed in the frontal electrode pair FC3-FC4, and the greatest increase in left bias from baseline was observed in response to pleasurable music. These results are consistent with findings from previous research. Peak FA responses at this site were also found to co-occur with key musical events relating to change, for instance, the introduction of a new motif, or an instrument change, or a change in low level acoustic

  5. Emotional Responses to Music: Shifts in Frontal Brain Asymmetry Mark Periods of Musical Change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hussain-Abdulah Arjmand

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Recent studies have demonstrated increased activity in brain regions associated with emotion and reward when listening to pleasurable music. Unexpected change in musical features intensity and tempo – and thereby enhanced tension and anticipation – is proposed to be one of the primary mechanisms by which music induces a strong emotional response in listeners. Whether such musical features coincide with central measures of emotional response has not, however, been extensively examined. In this study, subjective and physiological measures of experienced emotion were obtained continuously from 18 participants (12 females, 6 males; 18–38 years who listened to four stimuli—pleasant music, unpleasant music (dissonant manipulations of their own music, neutral music, and no music, in a counter-balanced order. Each stimulus was presented twice: electroencephalograph (EEG data were collected during the first, while participants continuously subjectively rated the stimuli during the second presentation. Frontal asymmetry (FA indices from frontal and temporal sites were calculated, and peak periods of bias toward the left (indicating a shift toward positive affect were identified across the sample. The music pieces were also examined to define the temporal onset of key musical features. Subjective reports of emotional experience averaged across the condition confirmed participants rated their music selection as very positive, the scrambled music as negative, and the neutral music and silence as neither positive nor negative. Significant effects in FA were observed in the frontal electrode pair FC3–FC4, and the greatest increase in left bias from baseline was observed in response to pleasurable music. These results are consistent with findings from previous research. Peak FA responses at this site were also found to co-occur with key musical events relating to change, for instance, the introduction of a new motif, or an instrument change, or a

  6. Explaining regional variation in home care use by demand and supply variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Noort, Olivier; Schotanus, Fredo; van de Klundert, Joris; Telgen, Jan

    2018-02-01

    In the Netherlands, home care services like district nursing and personal assistance are provided by private service provider organizations and covered by private health insurance companies which bear legal responsibility for purchasing these services. To improve value for money, their procurement increasingly replaces fee-for-service payments with population based budgets. Setting appropriate population budgets requires adaptation to the legitimate needs of the population, whereas historical costs are likely to be influenced by supply factors as well, not all of which are necessarily legitimate. Our purpose is to explain home care costs in terms of demand and supply factors. This allows for adjusting historical cost patterns when setting population based budgets. Using expenses claims of 60 Dutch municipalities, we analyze eight demand variables and five supply variables with a multiple regression model to explain variance in the number of clients per inhabitant, costs per client and costs per inhabitant. Our models explain 69% of variation in the number of clients per inhabitant, 28% of costs per client and 56% of costs per inhabitant using demand factors. Moreover, we find that supply factors explain an additional 17-23% of variation. Predictors of higher utilization are home care organizations that are integrated with intramural nursing homes, higher competition levels among home care organizations and the availability of complementary services. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  7. Thermally-assisted Magma Emplacement Explains Restless Calderas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amoruso, A.; Crescentini, L.; D'Antonio, M.; Acocella, V.

    2017-12-01

    Many calderas show repeated unrest over centuries. Though probably induced by magma, this unique behaviour is not understood and its dynamics remains elusive. To better understand these restless calderas, we interpret deformation data and build thermal models of Campi Flegrei, Italy, which is the best-known, yet most dangerous calderas, lying to the west of Naples and restless since the 1950s at least.Our elaboration of the geodetic data indicates that the inflation and deflation of magmatic sources at the same location explain most deformation, at least since the build-up of the last 1538 AD eruption. However, such a repeated magma emplacement requires a persistently hot crust.Our thermal models show that the repeated emplacement was assisted by the thermal anomaly created by magma that was intruded at shallow depth 3 ka before the last eruption and, in turn, contributed to maintain the thermal anomaly itself. This may explain the persistence of the magmatic sources promoting the restless behaviour of the Campi Flegrei caldera; moreover, it explains the crystallization, re-melting and mixing among compositionally distinct magmas recorded in young volcanic rocks.Available information at other calderas highlights similarities to Campi Flegrei, in the pattern and cause of unrest. All monitored restless calderas have either geodetically (Yellowstone, Aira Iwo-Jima, Askja, Fernandina and, partly, Long Valley) or geophysically (Rabaul, Okmok) detected sill-like intrusions inducing repeated unrest. Some calderas (Yellowstone, Long Valley) also show stable deformation pattern, where inflation insists on and mimics the resurgence uplift. The common existence of sill-like sources, also responsible for stable deformation patterns, in restless calderas suggests close similarities to Campi Flegrei. This suggests a wider applicability of our model of thermally-assisted sill emplacement, to be tested by future studies to better understand not only the dynamics of restless

  8. RAPID PENUMBRA AND LORENTZ FORCE CHANGES IN AN X1.0 SOLAR FLARE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, Zhe; Jiang, Yunchun; Yang, Jiayang; Yang, Bo; Bi, Yi

    2016-01-01

    We present observations of the violent changes in photospheric magnetic structures associated with an X1.1 flare, which occurred in a compact δ-configuration region in the following part of AR 11890 on 2013 November 8. In both central and peripheral penumbra regions of the small δ sunspot, these changes took place abruptly and permanently in the reverse direction during the flare: the inner/outer penumbra darkened/disappeared, where the magnetic fields became more horizontal/vertical. Particularly, the Lorentz force (LF) changes in the central/peripheral region had a downward/upward and inward direction, meaning that the local pressure from the upper atmosphere was enhanced/released. It indicates that the LF changes might be responsible for the penumbra changes. These observations can be well explained as the photospheric response to the coronal field reconstruction within the framework of the magnetic implosion theory and the back reaction model of flares

  9. Terrestrial ecosystem responses to global change: A research strategy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1998-09-01

    Uncertainty about the magnitude of global change effects on terrestrial ecosystems and consequent feedbacks to the atmosphere impedes sound policy planning at regional, national, and global scales. A strategy to reduce these uncertainties must include a substantial increase in funding for large-scale ecosystem experiments and a careful prioritization of research efforts. Prioritization criteria should be based on the magnitude of potential changes in environmental properties of concern to society, including productivity; biodiversity; the storage and cycling of carbon, water, and nutrients; and sensitivity of specific ecosystems to environmental change. A research strategy is proposed that builds on existing knowledge of ecosystem responses to global change by (1) expanding the spatial and temporal scale of experimental ecosystem manipulations to include processes known to occur at large scales and over long time periods; (2) quantifying poorly understood linkages among processes through the use of experiments that manipulate multiple interacting environmental factors over a broader range of relevant conditions than did past experiments; and (3) prioritizing ecosystems for major experimental manipulations on the basis of potential positive and negative impacts on ecosystem properties and processes of intrinsic and/or utilitarian value to humans and on feedbacks of terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere.

  10. Causal pathways linking environmental change with health behaviour change: Natural experimental study of new transport infrastructure and cycling to work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prins, R G; Panter, J; Heinen, E; Griffin, S J; Ogilvie, D B

    2016-06-01

    Mechanisms linking changes to the environment with changes in physical activity are poorly understood. Insights into mechanisms of interventions can help strengthen causal attribution and improve understanding of divergent response patterns. We examined the causal pathways linking exposure to new transport infrastructure with changes in cycling to work. We used baseline (2009) and follow-up (2012) data (N=469) from the Commuting and Health in Cambridge natural experimental study (Cambridge, UK). Exposure to new infrastructure in the form of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway was defined using residential proximity. Mediators studied were changes in perceptions of the route to work, theory of planned behaviour constructs and self-reported use of the new infrastructure. Outcomes were modelled as an increase, decrease or no change in weekly cycle commuting time. We used regression analyses to identify combinations of mediators forming potential pathways between exposure and outcome. We then tested these pathways in a path model and stratified analyses by baseline level of active commuting. We identified changes in perceptions of the route to work, and use of the cycle path, as potential mediators. Of these potential mediators, only use of the path significantly explained (85%) the effect of the infrastructure in increasing cycling. Path use also explained a decrease in cycling among more active commuters. The findings strengthen the causal argument that changing the environment led to changes in health-related behaviour via use of the new infrastructure, but also show how some commuters may have spent less time cycling as a result. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  11. Time-resolved dissection of early phosphoproteome and ensuing proteome changes in response to TGF-β

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    J D'Souza, Rochelle C; Knittle, Anna M; Nagaraj, Nagarjuna

    2014-01-01

    and phosphorylation and knowledge of protein interactions and transcriptional regulation provided a comprehensive representation of the dynamic signaling events underlying TGF-β-induced changes in cell behavior. Our data suggest that in epithelial cells stimulated with TGF-β, early signaling is a mixture of both pro...... changes of cultured human keratinocytes undergoing EMT and cell cycle arrest in response to stimulation with TGF-β. We quantified significant changes in 2079 proteins and 2892 phosphorylation sites regulated by TGF-β. We identified several proteins known to be involved in TGF-β-induced cellular processes...... by phosphorylation of the transcriptional regulators of the SMAD family by the TGF-β receptor complex, we observed rapid kinetics of changes in protein phosphorylation, indicating that many responses were mediated through SMAD-independent TGF-β signaling. Combined analysis of changes in protein abundance...

  12. Self-explaining roads

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Horst, A.R.A. van der; Kaptein, N.

    1999-01-01

    As a means to a sustainable safe traffic environment the concept of Self-Explaining Roads (SER) has been developed. The SER concept advocates a traffic environment that elicits safe driving behaviour simply by its design. In order to support safe driving behaviour and appropriate speed choice,

  13. EXPLAINING FOREST COMPOSITION AND BIOMASS ACROSS MULTIPLE BIOGEOGRAPHIC REGIONS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Current scientific concerns regarding the impacts of global change include the responses of forest composition and biomass to rapid changes in climate, and forest gap models, have often been used to address this issue. These models reflect the concept that forest composition and...

  14. Deconstructing the climate change response of the Northern Hemisphere wintertime storm tracks

    OpenAIRE

    Harvey, B. J.; Shaffrey, L. C.; Woollings, T. J.

    2015-01-01

    There are large uncertainties in the circulation response of the atmosphere to climate change. One manifestation of this is the substantial spread in projections for the extratropical storm tracks made by different state-of-the-art climate models. In this study we perform a series of sensitivity experiments, with the atmosphere component of a single climate model, in order to identify the causes of the differences between storm track responses in different models. In particular, the Northern ...

  15. Changes in Habitat Structure May Explain Decrease in Reintroduced Mohor Gazelle Population in the Guembeul Fauna Reserve, Senegal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eulalia Moreno

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Reintroduction is a widespread method for saving populations of endangered species from extinction. In spite of recent reviews, it is difficult to reach general conclusions about its value as a conservation tool, as authors are reluctant to publish unsuccessful results. The Mohor gazelle is a North African gazelle, extinct in the wild. Eight individuals were reintroduced in Senegal in 1984. The population grew progressively, albeit slowly, during the first 20 years after release, but then declined dramatically, until the population in 2009 was estimated at no more than 13–15 individuals. This study attempts to determine the likelihood of gazelle-habitat relationships to explain why the size of the gazelle population has diminished. Our results show that the Mohor gazelle in Guembeul is found in open habitats with less developed canopy where the grass is shorter, suggesting the possibility that changes in habitat structure have taken place during the time the gazelles have been in the Reserve, reducing the amount of suitable habitat. Reintroduction design usually concentrates on short-term factors that may affect survival of the released animals and their descendants (short-term achievement, while the key factors for assessing its success may be those that affect the long-term evolution of the population.

  16. Corporate social responsibility as an agent for social change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Justenlund, Anders; Rebelo, Sofia

    level employees (middle management/employees) go through when working according to CSR-principles, based on social motives and behaviour. A hermeneutical paradigm is applied to the understanding of human (inter-) action in relation to understand a phenomenon as CSR and motives for social change....... It is suggested that the process of positive social change is divided into four phases, which to a point can be compared to The Human Learning Process by Stuart Dreyfus. Another aspect of this paper is also to create a bottom-up approach to the implementation of CSR-principles as the majority of CSR literature......The intention of this paper is to provide a specific understanding of corporate social responsibility with a particular focus in social issues in relation to human resource development. The understanding of CSR is used to create a theoretical analytical framework that should provide researchers...

  17. Thermal sensation and thermophysiological responses with metabolic step-changes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Goto, Tomonobu; Toftum, Jørn; deDear, Richard

    2006-01-01

    at sedentary activity. In a second experimental series, subjects alternated between rest and exercise as well as between exercise at different intensities at two temperature levels. Measurements comprised skin and oesophageal temperatures, heart rate and subjective responses. Thermal sensation started to rise....... The sensitivity of thermal sensation to changes in core temperature was higher for activity down-steps than for up-steps. A model was proposed that estimates transient thermal sensation after metabolic step-changes. Based on predictions by the model, weighting factors were suggested to estimate a representative...... average metabolic rate with varying activity levels, e.g. for the prediction of thermal sensation by steady-state comfort models. The activity during the most recent 5 min should be weighted 65%, during the prior 10-5 min 25% and during the prior 20-10 min 10%....

  18. The Impact of Induction Chemotherapy and the Associated Tumor Response on Subsequent Radiation-Related Changes in Lung Function and Tumor Response

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mao Jingfang; Kocak, Zafer; Zhou Sumin; Garst, Jennifer; Evans, Elizabeth S.; Zhang Junan; Larrier, Nicole A.; Hollis, Donna R.; Folz, Rodney J.; Marks, Lawrence B.

    2007-01-01

    Purpose: To assess the impact of induction chemotherapy, and associated tumor shrinkage, on the subsequent radiation-related changes in pulmonary function and tumor response. Methods and Materials: As part of a prospective institutional review board-approved study, 91 evaluable patients treated definitively with thoracic radiation therapy (RT) for unresectable lung cancer were analyzed. The rates of RT-associated pulmonary toxicity and tumor response were compared in the patients with and without pre-RT chemotherapy. In the patients receiving induction chemotherapy, the rates of RT-associated pulmonary toxicity and tumor response were compared in the patients with and without a response (modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor criteria) to the pre-RT chemotherapy. Comparisons of the rates of improvements in pulmonary function tests (PFTs) post-RT, dyspnea requiring steroids, and percent declines in PFTs post-RT were compared in patient subgroups using Fisher's exact test, analysis of variance, and linear or logistic regression. Results: The use of pre-RT chemotherapy appears to increase the rate of radiation-induced pneumonitis (p = 0.009-0.07), but has no consistent impact on changes in PFTs. The degree of induction chemotherapy-associated tumor shrinkage is not associated with the rate of subsequent RT-associated pulmonary toxicity. The degree of tumor response to chemotherapy is not related to the degree of tumor response to RT. Conclusions: Additional study is needed to better clarify the impact of chemotherapy on radiation-associated disfunction

  19. Bringing ideas back in to historical institutionalism to explain endogenous institutional change

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carstensen, Martin B.; Schmidt, Vivien

    The problem of how to theorize endogenous institutional change remains the ‘holy grail’ of historical institutionalism. Particularly important advances have been made within scholarship on gradual institutional transformation th at has deployed concepts like institutional ambiguity and interpreta...... in relation to two key issues: Interpretive battles over compliance and enforcement; and the role of ideas in forming, maintaining and changing the coalitions of actors that support a specific institutional setup....

  20. Wave climate change, coastline response and hazard prediction in New South Wales, Australia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goodwin, Ian D.; Verdon, Danielle; Cowell, Peter

    2007-01-01

    Full text: Full text: Considerable research effort has been directed towards understanding and the gross prediction of shoreline response to sea level rise (eg. Cowell ef a/. 2003a, b). In contrast, synoptic prediction of changes in the planform configuration of shorelines in response to changes in wind and wave climates over many decades has been limited by the lack of geohistorical data on shoreline alignment evolution and long time series of wave climate. This paper presents new data sets on monthly mean wave direction variability based on: a. Waverider buoy data; b. a reconstruction of monthly mid-shelf wave direction, 1877 to 2002 AD from historical MSLP data (Goodwin 2005); and c. a multi-decadal reconstruction of wave direction, in association with the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode of climate variability, covering the past millennium. A model of coastline response to the wave climate variability is presented for northern and central New South Wales (NSW) for decadal to multi-decadal time scales, and is based on instrumental and geohistorical data. The sensitivity of the coastline position and alignment, and beach state to mean and extreme wave climate changes is demonstrated (e.g. Goodwin et al. 2006). State changes in geometric shoreline alignment rotation, sand volume (progradation/recession) for NSW and mean wave direction, are shown to be in agreement with the low-frequency change in Pacific-wide climate. Synoptic typing of climate patterns using Self Organised Mapping methods is used to downscale CSIRO GCM output for this century. The synoptic types are correlated to instrumental wave climate data and coastal behaviour. The shifts in downscaled synoptic types for 2030 and 2070 AD are then used as the basis for predicting mean wave climate changes, coastal behaviour and hazards along the NSW coastline. The associated coastal hazards relate to the definition of coastal land loss through rising sea levels and shoreline

  1. Can variation in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA-axis activity explain the relationship between depression and cognition in bipolar patients?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marieke J van der Werf-Eldering

    Full Text Available Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA axis is thought to be associated with more mood symptoms and worse cognitive functioning. This study examined whether variation in HPA axis activity underlies the association between mood symptoms and cognitive functioning.In 65 bipolar patients cognitive functioning was measured in domains of psychomotor speed, speed of information processing, attentional switching, verbal memory, visual memory, executive functioning and an overall mean score. Severity of depression was assessed by the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-self rating version. Saliva cortisol measurements were performed to calculate HPA axis indicators: cortisol awakening response, diurnal slope, the evening cortisol level and the cortisol suppression on the dexamethasone suppression test. Regression analyses of depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning on each HPA axis indicator were performed. In addition we calculated percentages explanation of the association between depressive symptoms and cognition by HPA axis indicators. Depressive symptoms were associated with dysfunction in psychomotor speed, attentional switching and the mean score, as well as with attenuation in diurnal slope value. No association was found between HPA axis activity and cognitive functioning and HPA axis activity did not explain the associations between depressive symptoms and cognition.As our study is the first one in this field specific for bipolar patients and changes in HPA-axis activity did not seem to explain the association between severity of depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning in bipolar patients, future studies are needed to evaluate other factors that might explain this relationship.

  2. Sediment dynamics in the Rhine catchment : Quantification of fluvial response to climate change and human impact

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Erkens, G.

    2009-01-01

    Fluvial systems are strongly responsive to changes in climate and land use — but take their time to show it. Accurate prediction of the timing and degree of future fluvial response requires comprehensive understanding of fluvial response in the past. This PhD-thesis studied the response of the river

  3. Dimensional response of CANDU fuel to power changes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fehrenbach, P J [Fuel Engineering Branch, Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Chalk River, ON (Canada); Hastings, I J; Morel, P A; Sage, R D; Smith, A D [Fuel Materials Branch, Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Chalk River, ON (Canada)

    1983-06-01

    The introduction of CANLUB-coated fuel cladding, modified fuel management schemes, and revisions to the sequence of control rod movements, have eliminated power ramping fuel failures in CANDU power reactors. However, an irradiation program continues at Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories to determine the effect of various design and operating parameters on the dimensional response of UO{sub 2} fuel elements to power changes, over a range of conditions outside those normally experienced by CANDU power reactor fuel. We have investigated the effect of power changes on element diameter for UO{sub 2} fuel with starting densities of 10.6 and 10.8 Mg/m{sup 3} clad in 0.4 mm thick Zircaloy, at burnups from 0 to 100 MW.h/kg U. Element diameter measurements were obtained at power using an In-Reactor Diameter Measuring Rig (IRDMR). Rates of power change over the range 0.0005 to 0.03 kW.m{sup -1}.s{sup -1} were achieved by a combination of reactor power control and use of a Helium-3 power cycling facility. Total diameter increases in unirradiated elements were about 1% at pellet interface locations for both fuel densities during the initial power increase to 60 kW/m. Diameter changes during subsequent power cycles of these elements from 55 to 100% maximum power were significantly larger for the higher density fuel, ranging from 0.3 to 0.5% compared to less than 0.1% for the standard density (10.6 Mg/m{sup 3}) fuel. In elements pre-irradiated at 27 kW/m to burnups of about 100 MW.h/kg U prior to power ramping, the diameter increases measured after ramping to 55 kW/m also varied with starting fuel density. Diameter changes at pellet interface locations were about 0.9% and 0.6% for higher density and standard density fuel respectively. (author)

  4. Time course transcriptome changes in Shewanella algae in response to salt stress.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiuping Fu

    Full Text Available Shewanella algae, which produces tetrodotoxin and exists in various seafoods, can cause human diseases, such as spondylodiscitis and bloody diarrhea. In the present study, we focused on the temporal, dynamic process in salt-stressed S. algae by monitoring the gene transcript levels at different time points after high salt exposure. Transcript changes in amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, energy metabolism, membrane transport, regulatory functions, and cellular signaling were found to be important for the high salt response in S. algae. The most common strategies used by bacteria to survive and grow in high salt environments, such as Na+ efflux, K+ uptake, glutamate transport and biosynthesis, and the accumulation of compatible solutes, were also observed in S. algae. In particular, genes involved in peptidoglycan biosynthesis and DNA repair were highly and steadily up-regulated, accompanied by rapid and instantaneous enhancement of the transcription of large- and small-ribosome subunits, which suggested that the structural changes in the cell wall and some stressful responses occurred in S. algae. Furthermore, the transcription of genes involved in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA cycle and the glycolytic pathway was decreased, whereas the transcription of genes involved in anaerobic respiration was increased. These results, demonstrating the multi-pathway reactions of S. algae in response to salt stress, increase our understanding of the microbial stress response mechanisms.

  5. Can neighborhoods explain racial/ethnic differences in adolescent inactivity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richmond, Tracy K; Field, Alison E; Rich, Michael

    2007-01-01

    To determine if neighborhoods and their attributes contribute to racial/ethnic disparities in adolescent inactivity. We undertook a cross-sectional analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 17,007), a nationally representative school-based study in the United States. Stratifying by gender, we used multivariate linear regression and multi-level modeling to determine whether neighborhood of residence may partially explain racial/ethnic disparities in adolescent physical inactivity, defined as hours viewing television or videos/DVDs and/or playing computer/video games each week. Participants lived in largely segregated communities. Black and Hispanic adolescent girls reported higher levels of inactivity than White adolescent girls (21 vs. 15 vs. 13 hours/week, respectively, p violent crime in the neighborhood was associated with inactivity, despite the individual's perception of his/her neighborhood as safe not being predictive. Although inactivity varies by race/ethnicity and gender, only in Hispanic adolescent girls does neighborhood fully explain the differential use. Our findings suggest that approaches other than changing neighborhood characteristics are needed to eliminate racial/ethnic disparities in adolescent inactivity.

  6. Early change in coping strategies in responsive treatments for borderline personality disorder: A mediation analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kramer, Ueli; Keller, Sabine; Caspar, Franz; de Roten, Yves; Despland, Jean-Nicolas; Kolly, Stéphane

    2017-05-01

    Difficulty in emotion regulation is a hallmark feature of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Therefore, change in the frequency of certain patients' coping strategies-aiming at emotion regulation-are among the most promising mechanisms of change in treatments for BPD. In parallel, it was highlighted that therapist responsiveness significantly contributed to outcome across treatment approaches (Stiles, 2009). Based on a randomized controlled trial (Kramer et al., 2014), the present process-outcome mediation analysis aims at examining the patient's early change in frequency of coping strategies-in particular the decrease in behavioral forms of coping-as potential mechanism of change in responsive treatments for BPD. A total of 57 patients with BPD were included in the present analysis, out of whom 27 were randomly assigned to a 10-session psychiatric treatment and 30 to a 10-session psychiatric treatment augmented with the responsive intervention of the motive-oriented therapeutic relationship (Caspar, 2007). The 1st, 5th, and 9th session of each therapy were transcribed and analyzed using the Coping Action Pattern Rating Scale (Perry et al., 2005; 171 sessions analyzed in total), a validated observer-rated method for assessing coping strategies in the therapy process. Psychological distress was assessed using the OQ-45 at intake, after Session 5, and after Session 10. The results confirmed a responsiveness effect associated with the motive-oriented therapeutic relationship and showed a significant decrease in frequency of behavioral forms of coping, F(1, 54) = 3.09, p = .05, d = .56, which was not different between the 2 conditions. In addition, we demonstrated that the early decrease in behavioral forms of coping between Sessions 1 and 5 partially mediated the link between the group assignment and the change in psychological distress between Sessions 5 and 10. These results shed light on the centrality of therapist responsiveness in treatments for

  7. Predictors of technical adoption and behavioural change to transport energy-saving measures in response to climate change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aini, M.S.; Chan, S.C.; Syuhaily, O.

    2013-01-01

    Energy conservation can be achieved through the adoption of technical measures or the changing of one's behaviour. A survey of 201 Malaysian public personnel was conducted to examine the predictors of these two types of transport energy-saving measures in response to climate change. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the relative acceptability of both behavioural measures with respect to gender, level of education, income, knowledge of climate change and attitude. Gender, knowledge of causes of climate change and personal norm were predictors for the acceptability of technical measures, while perceived efficacy and personal norm were the factors that influenced the acceptability of behavioural measures. The results also indicated that distinctions ought to be made between technology adoption and behaviour modifications that require lifestyle changes when assessing pro-environmental intent behaviour. The implications for theory and practice are discussed. - Highlights: • A survey was conducted to examine acceptability of transport energy-saving measures. • Gender, knowledge of causes, efficacy and personal norm are predictors of technical measures. • Personal norm and perceived efficacy influenced acceptability of behavioural change. • Both measures are strongly correlated to psychological factors than to socio-demographic variables

  8. Modeling of Andean Páramo Ecosystems’ Hydrological Response to Environmental Change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Flores-López

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available In the Peruvian Andes, water infiltration from tropical wetlands, called páramo, generates headwaters for downstream rivers. The hydrological processes of these wetlands are not well understood within the larger hydrological system, impeding efforts to mitigate the rapid environmental changes anticipated due to regional population growth and climate change. This study constructed and calibrated a Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP system model for ecosystems with sparse data in the Quiroz-Chipillico watershed in the Piura region of Peru. The model simulates the impacts of possible changes within the hydrological system to assist decision-makers in strategizing about sustainable development for the region, especially the páramo. Using scenarios designed with stakeholder participation, the WEAP model for the Quiroz-Chipillico watershed examines river headflow production, reservoir water levels, and demand coverage for downstream users when the upstream páramo and its environs are subjected to changes of temperature, precipitation, and land use. The model reveals that while temperature and precipitation changes can be expected to impact páramo water production, the anticipated land use changes will be a primary driver of hydrological responses in the páramo and subsequent changes downstream.

  9. Predicting the Responses of Soil Nitrite-Oxidizers to Multi-Factorial Global Change: A Trait-Based Approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Le Roux, Xavier; Bouskill, Nicholas J.; Niboyet, Audrey

    2016-01-01

    Soil microbial diversity is huge and a few grams of soil contain more bacterial taxa than there are bird species on Earth. This high diversity often makes predicting the responses of soil bacteria to environmental change intractable and restricts our capacity to predict the responses of soil...... functions to global change. Here, using a long-term field experiment in a California grassland, we studied the main and interactive effects of three global change factors (increased atmospheric CO2 concentration, precipitation and nitrogen addition, and all their factorial combinations, based on global...

  10. Monitoring and Correcting for Response Changes in the CMS Lead-tungstate Electromagnetic Calorimeter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferri, Federico

    2012-01-01

    The CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter (ECAL) comprises 75848 lead-tungstate scintillating crystals. Changes in the ECAL response, due to crystal radiation damage or changes in photo-detector output, are monitored in real time with a sophisticated system of lasers to allow corrections to the energy measurements to be calculated and used. The excellent intrinsic resolution of the CMS ECAL requires the monitoring system itself to be calibrated to a high precision and its stability to be controlled and understood. The components of the CMS ECAL monitoring system, and how it has evolved to include modern solid-state lasers, are described. Several physics channels are exploited to normalise the ECAL response to the changes measured by the monitoring system. These include low energy diphoton resonances, electrons from W and Z decays (using shower energy versus track momentum measurements), and the azimuthal symmetry of low energy deposits in minimum bias events. This paper describes how the monitoring system is operated, how the corrections are obtained, and the resulting ECAL performance.

  11. Climate change as a three-part ethical problem: a response to Jamieson and Gardiner.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kingston, Ewan

    2014-12-01

    Dale Jamieson has claimed that conventional human-directed ethical concepts are an inadequate means for accurately understanding our duty to respond to climate change. Furthermore, he suggests that a responsibility to respect nature can instead provide the appropriate framework with which to understand such a duty. Stephen Gardiner has responded by claiming that climate change is a clear case of ethical responsibility, but the failure of institutions to respond to it creates a (not unprecedented) political problem. In assessing the debate between Gardiner and Jamieson, I develop an analysis which shows a three-part structure to the problem of climate change, in which the problem Gardiner identifies is only one of three sub-problems of climate change. This analysis highlights difficulties with Jamieson's argument that the duty of respect for nature is necessary for a full understanding of climate ethics, and suggests how a human-directed approach based on the three-part analysis can avoid Jamieson's charge of inadequacy.

  12. Idiosyncratic responses of grizzly bear habitat to climate change based on projected food resource changes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, David R; Nielsen, Scott E; Stenhouse, Gordon B

    2014-07-01

    Climate change vulnerability assessments for species of conservation concern often use species distribution and ecological niche modeling to project changes in habitat. One of many assumptions of these approaches is that food web dependencies are consistent in time and environmental space. Species at higher trophic levels that rely on the availability of species at lower trophic levels as food may be sensitive to extinction cascades initiated by changes in the habitat of key food resources. Here we assess climate change vulnerability for Ursus arctos (grizzly bears) in the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains using projected changes to 17 of the most commonly consumed plant food items. We used presence-absence information from 7088 field plots to estimate ecological niches and to project changes in future distributions of each species. Model projections indicated idiosyncratic responses among food items. Many food items persisted or even increased, although several species were found to be vulnerable based on declines or geographic shifts in suitable habitat. These included Hedysarum alpinum (alpine sweet vetch), a critical spring and autumn root-digging resource when little else is available. Potential habitat loss was also identified for three fruiting species of lower importance to bears: Empetrum nigrum (crowberry), Vaccinium scoparium (grouseberry), and Fragaria virginiana (strawberry). A general trend towards uphill migration of bear foods may result in higher vulnerability to bear populations at low elevations, which are also those that are most likely to have human-bear conflict problems. Regardless, a wide diet breadth of grizzly bears, as well as wide environmental niches of most food items, make climate change a much lower threat to grizzly bears than other bear species such as polar bears and panda bears. We cannot exclude, however, future alterations in human behavior and land use resulting from climate change that may reduce survival rates.

  13. Geographic divergence and colour change in response to visual backgrounds and illumination intensity in bearded dragons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cadena, Viviana; Smith, Kathleen R; Endler, John A; Stuart-Fox, Devi

    2017-03-15

    Animals may improve camouflage by both dynamic colour change and local evolutionary adaptation of colour but we have little understanding of their relative importance in colour-changing species. We tested for differences in colour change in response to background colour and light intensity in two populations of central bearded dragon lizards ( Pogona vitticeps ) representing the extremes in body coloration and geographical range. We found that bearded dragons change colour in response to various backgrounds and that colour change is affected by illumination intensity. Within-individual colour change was similar in magnitude in the two populations but varied between backgrounds. However, at the endpoints of colour change, each population showed greater similarity to backgrounds that were representative of the local habitat compared with the other population, indicating local adaptation to visual backgrounds. Our results suggest that even in species that change colour, both phenotypic plasticity and geographic divergence of coloration may contribute to improved camouflage. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  14. Evidence of asymmetric behavioral responses to changes in gasoline prices and taxes for different fuel types

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bajo-Buenestado, Raúl

    2016-01-01

    Using monthly data from the Spanish gasoline retail market we explore asymmetries in consumers’ behavioral responses to changes in gasoline prices and taxes. In particular, we are interested in investigating whether an increase in gasoline taxes has a more negative impact on the demand than a –similar in magnitude– increase in the “pre-tax” price of gasoline for different fuel types. We estimate fuel consumers’ responses using a rich set of robust panel data models considering potential dynamic effects and endogeneity problems. We find evidence to confirm the existence of asymmetric responses for the demand of unleaded fuels and agricultural diesel fuel. However we cannot support this statement for the regular diesel case: for this fuel both the tax-exclusive price and the tax elasticities are roughly the same. This result agrees with the fact that “diesel drivers” tend to be better informed about changes in both fuel prices and taxes. Some implications in terms of fiscal policy and pollution and climate change policy are also discussed. - Highlights: •Provide evidence of asymmetric responses of gasoline demand due to changes in prices and taxes. •Identify differences in the elasticity of the demand of diesel fuel and unleaded gasoline. •Perform robustness checks considering dynamic effects and IV regression. •Provide some policy recommendations for future gasoline tax changes.

  15. The Localized Scleroderma Cutaneous Assessment Tool: responsiveness to change in a pediatric clinical population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelsey, Christina E; Torok, Kathryn S

    2013-08-01

    Lack of agreement on how to accurately capture disease outcomes in localized scleroderma (LS) has hindered the development of efficacious treatment protocols. The LS Cutaneous Assessment Tool (LoSCAT), consisting of the modified LS Skin Severity Index (mLoSSI) and the LS Damage Index, has potential for use in clinical trials. The goal of this article is to further evaluate the clinical responsiveness of the LoSCAT. Based on the modifiable nature of disease activity versus damage, we expected the mLoSSI to be responsive to change. At 2 study visits, a physician completed the LoSCAT and Physician Global Assessment (PGA) of Disease Activity and of Disease Damage for 29 patients with LS. Spearman correlations were used to examine the relationships between the change in the LoSCAT and the PGA scores. To evaluate contrasted group validity, patients were grouped according to disease activity classification and change scores of groups were compared. Minimal clinically important differences were calculated and compared with the standard error of measurement. Change in the mLoSSI score correlated strongly with change in the PGA of Disease Activity score, whereas change in the LS Damage Index score correlated weakly with change in the PGA of Disease Damage score. The mLoSSI and PGA of Disease Activity exhibited contrasted group validity. Minimal clinically important differences for the activity measures were greater than the respective standard errors of measurement. Only 2 study visits were included in analysis. This study gives further evidence that the LoSCAT, specifically the mLoSSI, is a responsive, valid measure of activity in LS and should be used in future treatment studies. Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Role of cerebral blood volume changes in brain specific-gravity measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Picozzi, P.; Todd, N.V.; Crockard, A.H.

    1985-01-01

    Cerebral blood volume (CBV) was calculated in gerbils from specific-gravity (SG) changes between normal and saline-perfused brains. Furthermore, changes in CBV were investigated during ischemia using carbon-14-labeled dextran (MW 70,000) as an intravascular marker. Both data were used to evaluate the possible error due to a change in CBV on the measurement of ischemic brain edema by the SG method. The methodological error found was 0.0004 for a 100% CBV change. This error is insignificant, being less than the standard deviation in the SG measured for the gerbil cortex. Thus, CBV changes are not responsible for the SG variations observed during the first phase of ischemia. These variations are better explained as an increase of brain water content during ischemia

  17. Model Stimulus-Organism-Response: Penentu Perilaku Pembelian Konsumen Secara Situasional

    OpenAIRE

    Magdalena, Nonie

    2005-01-01

    Understanding about consumer purchase behavior is an essential aspect for developing organization bussiness strategic, especially in retailing. S-O-R (Stimulus-Organism-Response) model helps the practision and academics to understand which stimulus will influence consumers and the reaction that comsumer gave. One of the stimulus that explained in this article is the situation. Situation is an aspect that had change and hardly to predict. In other words, situation will determine consumer purch...

  18. Possibilities and limitations of using historic provenance tests to infer forest species growth responses to climate change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laura P. Leites; Gerald E. Rehfeldt; Andrew P. Robinson; Nicholas L. Crookston; Barry Jaquish

    2012-01-01

    Under projected changes in global climate, the growth and survival of existing forests will depend on their ability to adjust physiologically in response to environmental change. Quantifying their capacity to adjust and whether the response is species- or population-specific is important to guide forest management strategies. New analyses of historic provenance tests...

  19. Renal Nerve Stimulation-Induced Blood Pressure Changes Predict Ambulatory Blood Pressure Response After Renal Denervation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Jong, Mark R; Adiyaman, Ahmet; Gal, Pim; Smit, Jaap Jan J; Delnoy, Peter Paul H M; Heeg, Jan-Evert; van Hasselt, Boudewijn A A M; Lau, Elizabeth O Y; Persu, Alexandre; Staessen, Jan A; Ramdat Misier, Anand R; Steinberg, Jonathan S; Elvan, Arif

    2016-09-01

    Blood pressure (BP) response to renal denervation (RDN) is highly variable and its effectiveness debated. A procedural end point for RDN may improve consistency of response. The objective of the current analysis was to look for the association between renal nerve stimulation (RNS)-induced BP increase before and after RDN and changes in ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) after RDN. Fourteen patients with drug-resistant hypertension referred for RDN were included. RNS was performed under general anesthesia at 4 sites in the right and left renal arteries, both before and immediately after RDN. RNS-induced BP changes were monitored and correlated to changes in ambulatory BP at a follow-up of 3 to 6 months after RDN. RNS resulted in a systolic BP increase of 50±27 mm Hg before RDN and systolic BP increase of 13±16 mm Hg after RDN (Pefficacy of RDN and predict BP response to RDN. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

  20. A new ‘superassemblage’ model explaining proximal-to-distal and lateral facies changes in fluvial environments, based on the Proterozoic Sanjauli Formation (Lesser Himalaya, India

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ananya Mukhopadhyay

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Facies analysis of fluvial deposits of the Proterozoic Sanjauli Formation in the Lesser Himalaya was combined with an architectural analysis. On this basis, a model was developed that may be applied to other fluvial systems as well, whether old or recent. The new model, which might be considered as an assemblage of previous models, explains lateral variations in architecture and facies but is not in all respects consistent with the standard fluvial models. The Sanjauli fluvial model is unique in that it deals with lateral facies variations due to shifts of the base-level along with fluctuations in accommodation space owing to changes in palaeoclimate.